Chapter 320: The Truth about their Creation
El fell for Gabriels taunting. She dashed to snap Gabriels neck with everything she had, but several spears that appeared out of nowhere blocked her.
Clunk!
Thankfully, Els wings protected her, and she remained unharmed. She glared at the angels who had stopped her.
The Seraphim, the Ophanim, and the rest of the archangels stood tall to protect Gabriel, who had betrayed her in the past.
Step aside. El stepped back, seemingly unwilling to kill them.
One of the angels, Zaphkiel, replied, We cant do that.
Looking at his face, Gi-Gyu recalled the details about him from Els data. He was the head of an army, and in terms of strength, he was somewhere between the OphanimEl used to belong to this groupand the Cherubs.
Originally, the Ophanim had two leaders, but one of them wasnt present here.
Raphael. He was the only one who hadnt betrayed El; he had even sacrificed himself to help El. Gi-Gyu abruptly realized that Raphael had done all that for a girl, El, so his face turned red with jealousy.
Why am I remembering this now? This wasnt the time for him to think about silly things like this. Perhaps he had lost his mind. It also could mean that he didnt feel as threatened as he should be by this situation.
Gi-Gyu looked ahead, relieved that no one seemed to have realized what he was thinking. The situation seemed just as serious as a moment ago.
Zaphkiel stepped forward as if he represented the group and announced, Gabriel is right.
His spear still aimed at El, he continued, Look around. Do you see even a single angel on your side? No, of course not. On the day of the holy sword ceremony, why do you think we sided with Gabriel?
Of course, you didnt. Zaphkiels voice was sharp like a dagger. You claimed to have done it for our sake, but do you truly believe that?
Youre wrong! El yelled. We all decided on the holy sword ceremony in the meeting, dont you remember? I didnt decide it by myself!
We agreed because we had no choice but to obey you.
...
Your solution was the only real choice we had. After all, we had nothing left. But Gabriel suggested another solution, Zaphkiel continued, turning El rigid.
He explained, We couldnt tell it to you because there was no way you wouldve allowed it. And if you had found out, you wouldve destroyed our alternative solution and ended us all.
It appeared the other angels agreed with Zaphkiel because they remained quiet. Zaphkiel continued, What you wanted was to protect the angels pride, not our lives.
...
El turned pale. Gi-Gyu had never seen El look this confused.
She probably has been wondering about this for a long time. It had been a long time since El regained her memories about the holy sword ceremony. She had plenty of time to ponder why she was betrayed. Unlike in hell, where power trumped everything, the angels were more logical creatures. So the fact that El had been betrayed meant that her idea of pride was directly rejected.
It was no wonder El had been wanting to find out the answer, and her doubts were confirmed today. Her pride in her kind had been denied.
It was time for Gi-Gyu to step in. Youre good at making nonsense sound plausible.
Turning toward El, he asked, El, why even bother with listening to their crap?
W-what?! Zaphkiel seemed shocked. He seemingly hadnt expected Gi-Gyu to chime in.
Master
Zaphkiel yelled at El, So its true! You claim you serve God and forced us to make that decision, but you actually serve another master!
Ugh, one of the angels groaned while grabbing his arm. It was a high-ranking angel; its blood was actually holy. It was red, just like that of a human, but it held the power to give a new life to someone.
How another angel mumbled. There were ten of them, and they had been fighting a single foe together: El.
...how is she so powerful?!
The angels were startled. Every single one of them was injured to varying degrees. But unlike them, El glowed beautifully. Her wings were still untainted, and her crown was still shimmering.
Ignoring the angels shocked mumble, El shot her feathers at them. And her sword simultaneously stabbed Zaphkiel and Camael.
Clang!
Ugh! the two angels groaned. Thankfully, they survived because the other angels helped them before she could stab their hearts. But they were still badly injured. Blood poured down from their chests.
How, Zaphkiel screamed in resentment, could you be so powerful?!
El was abnormally stronger than the other angels. She had certainly been powerful in the past, but not like this. In her former life, she was called Michael. Though she was strong at the time, the ten archangels together could have defeated her. This was exactly how they had won on the day of the holy sword ceremony.
But now, things were very different.
All the angels were thinking the same thought. Were in danger.
They had planned to capture El or kill her. However, they hadnt expected it to be so hard.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Els sword moved ceaselessly, and the ten spears were no match for her.
How?! one of the angels whispered. Gabriel had told them that El would be different from before. He had explained that it was because of Kim Gi-Gyu, who was fighting Gabriel. But her improvement was still impossible to understand.
No! Zaphkiel screamed when El severed his wing. Bleeding heavily, his face crumpled in agony.
Were missing one fighter now, Zaphkiel thought grimly.They had lasted this long only because El had to simultaneously fight off ten spears. Although Zaphkiel wasnt dead, it would take him time to heal enough to fight again.
Were all going to die. All the angels looked at each other. With Zaphkiel severely injured, they could all die within a few minutes.
I knew it. I knew you would make the wrong choice again, El said coldly as she took a step back. She had no choice but to stop at that moment because the angels in front of her began screaming and changing.
Kwerrrrk!
Black wings and broken horns began appearing on the angels.
El muttered, Even your divine forms have gone corrupt.
Like the Cherubs, Ophanim and Seraphim also had another form. But the shapes they took werent the same as before. They didnt transform into divine creatures but just monsters.
All the angels have become corrupted, so I suppose I shouldnt be surprised that its no different for you, the archangels, El whispered.
It appeared that all the angels, including the archangels, had gone corrupt. El was furious because the pride she had worked so hard to protect was no more.
I guess we have gone extinct now. She realized that the angels, as a species, no longer existed. Fallen angels could not propagate, so it was all over. Their time of glory as Gods apostles was gone now.
Tears rolled down Els cheeks. Biting her lips, El opened her wings wide. There was no need to be emotional now.
Its time for me to clean up the remnants of my kind, she declared. This was the last thing she could do for the pride of the angels.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kete