Wayne put away his black greatsword and clapped to send intangible tentacles across the land, having the Book of Greedcollect all the displaced information. Sir Wayne was too merciful to leave the information behind as strays, so he provided them with a warm house.

At that moment, a black sphere suddenly floated out of the heart of the sphere of rotten white flesh with sweeping demonic power. Black light projected the image of the Lord of Envy. Having lost his favored general, the demon lord glared at Wayne and Hesione.

Again? Wayne drew the black greatsword, thinking that the Lord of Envy would descend to the human world once more. However, the demon lord simply cursed up a storm—he had quite the potty mouth!

Of course, his main target was Hesione rather than Wayne. The latter was only brought up when Envy mocked Hesione for losing purity.

Milne was important to the Lord of Envy for giving him bragging rights. Not even the Lord of Pride had tamed any angels, and Milne was how Envy could differentiate himself from the other demon lords. He was also a useful poster boy.

Now, the poster boy was dead.

The Lord of Envy did not understand how Milne would die so easily when he had both the brain and the brawn, and the mission was as simple as taking pictures. It happened way too quickly. Considering the time difference, Milne hadn’t been in the human world for long!

Envy strongly suspected Pride to be involved. When in doubt, always blame Pride. Pride must have envied him for finding out about Hesione’s fall; not only did Pride deny the major discovery, but he also sabotaged the evidence collection.

Yes, that must be what happened!

Hesione stared impassively as Envy spat out curses. Though the words grated on the ears, they weren’t impossible to endure. Her enemy’s curses only meant that she had done the right thing!

Moreover, Envy’s curses were nothing compared to Wayne’s scandalous remarks, stirring no reactions in her heart.

“How dull. He’s been insulting us for ten minutes,” Wayne finally said. He had never met such a petty demon. If all Seven Demon Lords were like Envy, he would be able to take their places. He would pay Envy a visit one day and replace him—no, he would replace the Lord of Greed since the epithet sounded made for him!

Eventually, Envy seemed to have gotten tired of cursing. He glared at Hesione and said, “Śār, with this adding to the existing bad blood between us, I’ll surely spread your ugly fall throughout Hell!”

“Just you wait. Heaven will sooner or later receive the news. Be ready to face your old subordinates and the other three Śārim—”

Whoosh!

Hesione shattered the Lord of Envy’s projection with the Oath Sword, her expression blank.

“He wasn’t done. That’s rude,” Wayne grumbled in complaint. Hesione was way too reckless. She should learn from him and face the bleak reality as peacefully as he, the other part of the scandal, did. Not only was he not angry, but he even felt a little proud of himself.

Yes, he did it!

The phantom re-emerged. The slash that split the black demonic sphere seemed to be causing a signal instability, and Envy’s projection flickered in and out, his voice choppy.

“Hesio...”

“Pay... Once the Gate... opens... I... human world... capture... dogs... perform in Hell...”

“Hahaha—”

With the threat, he disappeared.

The black demonic sphere remained floating in the air, covered in cracks left by the Oath Sword’s aura. Threads of black mist rose and formed an ink-black viscous vortex that stirred space itself, shaking it with powerful gravity. The sky and land ended up swept into the vortex along with the distorted space.

“Come on!”

Hesione grabbed Wayne by the elbow and unfurled her six wings, soaring into the distance.

Behind them, the compressing space collapsed all of a sudden, shredding everything within to nothing. After a humming buzz, the black sphere expanded and unleashed sweeping shockwaves in all directions.

It wasn’t Hesione’s first time dealing with the retaliation a demon made out of humiliation and frustration. She retreated quickly, bringing Wayne along, so the shockwaves didn’t get them.

Wayne looked down at the broken space below. It was shattered unevenly and hadn’t mended itself as it should. He said with a frown, “What’s going on? The projected space seems to be getting weirder.”

“It’s not strange for the space to change under the energy shockwaves,” Hesione responded with an expressionless face. First, the Laws of the Golden Law and the Seven Deadly Sins had collided. Then, Envy, one of the Seven Demon Lords, had retaliated personally. It was normal for space to ripple. After all, this was a projected space rather than the Chosen Land or the actual inner world.

Seeing her prideful attitude, Wayne felt the urge to knock her down a peg. “Śār, what did the Lord of Envy say before his departure? He said that he was going to come to the human world to capture dogs and make them perform in Hell, didn’t he? Is he running a circus?”

“You’re right. That was what he said.”

“...”

Wayne huffed when she didn’t respond with snarls, but on second thought, it was a good sign. The Śār had come to resemble him under his thorough development. See? She was even telling blatant lies right now.

It was one small step for Hesione, one giant leap for Heaven!

“The Lord of Envy mentioned a gate. He was most likely talking about the Gate of Hell. He plans to descend to the human world.” Wayne glanced at Hesione and made a bemused sound. “To my knowledge, the doorway is likely to be opened in Palis, the capital of Franc. The news has long been delivered to the Papal State, so the reincarnated angels there are likely formulating a strategy already.”

He didn’t know why the seven reincarnated angels had descended to the human world, so he was testing Hesione. He was eighty percent sure that it was related to the Gate of Hell.

Hesione didn’t say anything. Something felt wrong—she wasn’t talking about the Gate of Hell, but her body.

Mona had accepted her memories, after which they entered an accelerated integration stage, yet instead of Mona, she was the one changing. Or more accurately, Mona’s memories were in control while hers were being used as reinforcement materials to enhance Mona’s power. That was absurd!

Hesione didn’t know what was happening. She blurted out, “There is another demon in Londan, and they descended a long time ago. He’s powerful, and he sealed me before I fully awakened, leading to you being mistaken for a reincarnated angel.”

What the hell? A demon is responsible for our meeting?

Wayne’s eyes widened as he questioned the theory, but upon second thought, it made a lot of sense.

Hesione was an Śār with a high status in Heaven. A demon would believe it worthwhile to pay whatever price needed to enjoy her humiliating fall. Just seal the Śār up and hand her to a pervert, and voila, profit.

Wayne stroked his chin. Except for the biased views against him, the theory made sense in all other aspects. “Do you know who the demon could be? Would they still be in Londan?”

“I don’t know. I only know that there’s a hellish curse in me...” Hesione hadn’t told the complete truth. She said gravely, “We can’t be certain where the Gate of Hell will open just yet. It could happen in Londan. Let the other reincarnated angels handle Palis. I’ll stay in Londan just in case.”

Wayne nodded. “What about your curse? Why has Mona never mentioned it? Do you need me to examine you?”

Hesione shook her head, feeling nothing from his concern. She knew that it was a hundred percent about Mona and had nothing to do with her. She didn’t need an examination. Besides, it would definitely turn into something else.

Even if that weren’t a concern, it wasn’t Wayne’s first time examining this body. If even Hesione couldn’t find the source of the curse, there was no point in putting in more wasted effort.

She looked at the world, feeling lost. If the integration continued like this, she was very likely to disappear one day, existing only as Mona. A sense of sorrow rose in her heart. For the first time, she felt an overpowering fear of death.

She instinctively called out to the Heavenly Father, hoping that He would show her the way. Was death her fate? Was she supposed to die so that Mona could be reborn?

The Śār quickly dispersed her intrusive thoughts. Life wasn’t about eternity, but greatness. What mattered most about life wasn’t its length, but its breadth.

If death was her fate, her last mission before her disappearance would be preventing the Gate of Hell from opening.

Sensing Hesione’s powerful faith, Mona felt a pang of sympathy and stopped the integration of memories, stating that she was willing to share the body with her.

Hesione was about to praise her kindness when she added, Wayne would like a hybrid car with two uses.

(눈言눈)

Hesione glared. She didn’t know if she would die, but Mona certainly would not be reborn anew; she would only fall deeper and deeper into the abyss of corruption.

Wayne stood on the side with his eyes closed, silently searching for a way out of the projected space. The chaotic spatial disturbances pointed to the black crack below being the only exit.

It didn’t look safe!

Wayne scratched his head. He couldn’t solve this problem, but he didn’t need to. He patted the angel on her bottom. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. Remember what you’ve promised me.”

Hesione scanned the chaotic space around her with a stiff face before looking down. “Boss, after you or after me?”

Typical Hesione. Mona will always keep me behind her.

Wayne rolled his eyes. “You’re sure that the tunnel down there is the way back to the Chosen Land? You haven’t lied to me, have you?”

“I haven’t fallen that far.”

True.

Wayne nodded, pressing her shoulder down the moment Hesione flapped her wings in preparation for a dive. “Wait for your turn. I’ll go first.”

He flapped his six black wings and dove into the black crack under Hesione’s derisive gaze. Hesione followed immediately. The moment she dove out of the black crack, the world changed around her. She had returned to suburban Londan in the Chosen Land.

Before she could celebrate, her expression tensed. Wayne was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh no. He’s fallen into the inner world!”

***

Under the ruined, desolate city, a low chant reverberated through the sewer. It sounded like a prayer or some sort of summoning ritual. A black-robed figure kneeled on the ground with their hands clasped before their chest. In front of them was a massive, complex alchemy circle.

Black mist swirled and rose as a demon with six wings slowly emerged. The atmosphere suddenly turned eerie.

Wayne looked down at the magic circle at his feet and then at the cheap magic stones placed on the nodes of the circle. With a stunned look, he stared at the kneeling figure before him.

What a familiar scene!

“What, are you my master?[1]"

1. A reference to Fate/stay night. This is what Saber, the fictional, gender-bent version of King Arthur, said to the protagonist when he summoned Saber. It’s since become a well-known reference/meme. ☜