Chapter 115: Fallen Angels (1)

"He... he jumped," Min-Ji whispered. "But why...?"

Gina's eyes widened with disbelief as she stood there, staring at the spot where YuWon had been only moments ago. But Yeji had the most volatile reaction.

"This is all your fault!" she shouted at Min-Ji. "If it weren't for you, YuWon would still be alive!"

Min-Ji couldn't even look Yeji in the eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.

"We need to keep moving," Yuna muttered, urging them to climb ahead. "The mole... it's still out there. We have to protect—"

But Lysandra wasn't listening. Instead of climbing up, she took a step down. Anger replaced the sad look on her face.

"I'm going to find him," she mumbled to herself. "He won't die like this... he can't leave me behind."

"Lysandra, wait!" Yuna called out, but it was no use.

Before anyone could stop her, Lysandra began climbing down the roots, her mind set on one thing—getting YuWon back, no matter what it took.

But she wasn't alone. Gina joined her and began climbing down. Even Yeji joined them and finally, Anna did, too. YuWon wasn't dead... they refused to believe it until she saw his corpse with her own eyes.

No one bothered to stop them. As they climbed down, they could feel minor tremors. The mole was still there, waiting for more people to fall. Just then, a voice interrupted them.

"Stop!"

It was strange. They knew each other's voices, and it didn't resemble anyone whom they knew before. Yeji looked up, only to see hundreds of people staring down at them from the roots above.

"We can help you recover those taken by the mole," a man wearing black robes stepped up. "But before that, you need to get up here."

***

As they climbed, the other awakeners rushed to help them. Everyone followed the worlds of the cloaked man they had seen before. They couldn't make out his face, but his black skin and feathers stuck to his back got everyone on edge.

"Only eight of you made it this time," the man sighed, joining his palms and praying for the departed. "Things are getting worse."

"Who are you?"

Gina was the first to speak up. After everything they'd been through with angels, it was normal for them to feel nervous around someone who looked like one.

The man looked at her and smiled. Slowly, he took off his cloak, showing them the burn marks all over his chest and arms. Behind him were his wings, or what used to be wings.

In place of wings, two massive holes were left and only a few feathers were stuck out of his back. It looked nothing like the wings of the angel they had grown accustomed to.

"You need not worry, mortal," he said in his soft voice. "I was once an angel, but now... I am as much of a mortal as you are. My name is Lucifer. Perhaps you've heard of me."

"Lucifer... like the fallen angel?" Yeji asked.

"Yes," Lucifer smiled at her.

Unlike Yeji and Yuna, Anna didn't know Lucifer, but she knew about the fallen angels. After all, she had once fought alongside them.

From them, she learned they were beings who had defied the will of the gods. As punishment, the gods stripped them of their divine status and threw them into the Awakened World to suffer alongside the awakeners.

They're no longer angels, but they're far from harmless creatures.

But that didn't matter. Things had changed a lot from her timeline. Back then, she only met the fallen angels in the trial against the 3rd disaster. But if fallen angels were present, thenhewould also be there.

"...take me where Asmodeus is," Anna stepped up.