Michael could not untie Raziel’s knot, not because he didn’t care about the other, nor because he thought this kind of thing like an obsession didn’t matter, but simply because he didn’t understand it.
Yes, even without the memories of that very first god, he knew one thing clearly: a life that has passed will not come back, and even a god is the same.
Besides, unlike the gods of various other fallen worlds, after the first god passed, everything of his was returned to the world, thus producing small world after small world. Without his sacrifice, there would be none of the various lives born now.
From this point alone, once that god were resurrected, the world would be destroyed at its root.
Since it was being used to support countless worlds and lives, if it suddenly vanished, collapse would occur overnight or, to exaggerate a bit, in the blink of an eye.
Thinking of what Raziel had said earlier, Michael suddenly said: “You said before that you learned of my death, and I know that no one can kill me, which means—He was resurrected.”
If the one and only god were resurrected and no life hoped for his return, then the only method was to eliminate that possibility directly just as he was about to be resurrected. And as that god’s last fragment of soul, Michael’s death would leave nothing that could be used to resurrect that god.
Thinking about it, Michael could guess what had happened in the future.
“Thinking about it now, perhaps before going to other worlds I still missed something, and this oversight led to my being schemed against by something else, and finally becoming the culprit who nearly destroyed the world.”
Michael may have lived a hard life, but that didn’t mean he was bent on death; if he hadn’t really run into something that made him despair, he would not have done such a thing as killing himself.
Raziel was also very calm now; following the other’s train of thought, he had to approve of this guess.
Michael spoke: “Since time has been twisted, and we know what irresistible factor occurred, what needs to be done becomes very clear. No, it should be said I decided this from the start and arranged what came next along this direction.”
Raziel lowered his eyes, and after a moment said: “My time is up, and don’t bully my ‘clone’ too much.”
The golden-haired archangel in front of him slowly closed his eyes, and the strong familiar aura vanished into nothing in an instant.
Michael muttered: “To be honest, who is bullying whom.”
Originally he had planned to look for clues from Heaven and the Abyss, but that would be the same as in the previous life, and he would still be unable to change the fixed future.
No, from the moment he first chose to fall, the future had already gone wrong.
【I found Thanatos, he is waiting for you in the human world.】
Michael was surprised: “The human world?”
Just at this time, Raziel opened his eyes, and looking at Michael right in front of him, blinked in confusion: “Is something wrong with me?”
Michael: “No, you’re fine, maybe you were dizzy from exhaustion.”
He didn’t know what kind of hint Raziel had given, but since it was done without exposing their identities, he could roughly guess a little.
He hadn’t yet worked out when this archangel’s memory had stopped before when he heard the other say, not loudly: “Did you just mention the human world?”
Michael: “…”
Was it too late to deny it now?
Raziel glared at the young man in front of him: “I heard it, don’t try to deny it. Could it be—”
While Michael was thinking what this one would say, the golden-haired angel slowly widened his eyes: “Did you fall in order to go to the human world?”
Michael quite wanted to say no, but in terms of facts it wasn’t wrong in the end.
Raziel did not find his own change in attitude strange.
To be honest it was really stupid, but he was just certain Michael could not be their enemy, and with that, his hostility had decreased a lot.
In the Abyss’s Eighth Level, Mammon had already started getting serious, and the number of times he used the power of darkness in his hand gradually increased. Even so, his power was still suppressed considerably.
“What’s wrong, you were so capable that time in Heaven, and now in the Abyss you’re not serious?”
Mammon wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, wiped the blood from his forehead, and said in an unfriendly tone: “I really couldn’t tell that Lord Lucifer was so bloodthirsty.”
Lucifer’s voice was gentle, and his expression was full of warmth: “No, only toward you.”
Mammon: “…The person you’re using that tone toward isn’t here, so please be normal, Archangel.”
Putting away the smile on his face, Lucifer said expressionlessly: “What, even beaten to this extent, you still won’t call Michael to ask for support?”
Mammon found this laughable and asked back: “When you were beaten badly by the Abyss’s demons back then as Archangel, did you ever think of having your God come help you?”
Lucifer didn’t see the point and only frowned: “What kind of question is that? That’s God. How could He just appear before someone because so-and-so was defeated or badly hurt? Besides, if you can’t even protect yourself, you don’t deserve to be an archangel of Heaven.”
Mammon found this person’s sense of involvement quite strong.
If he remembered right, wasn’t this one still bent on falling? Otherwise the earlier behavior of not struggling at all made no sense.
Now, with a casual mention, he’d become the angels’ side again… if Lucifer had been a little firmer in will, he wouldn’t have had his fall quota snatched.
Mammon mused for a while, thinking about whether he could keep distracting him, when he heard Michael’s voice from above.
“Time’s up. You have failed to clear the levels, please leave quickly, or I will carry out a forced expulsion.”
Gabriel had just defeated the level lord of the Seventh Level, and hearing this nearly vomited blood.
Holding his long sword, he shouted at the sky: “How did we fail? We haven’t lost.”
Lucifer also wanted to mock Michael a few times, but saw his vision blur, and just as he reached out to grab Mammon, his eyes could see again.
“Lord Lucifer?”
The Archangel turned his head, and seeing the golden-haired angel, was slightly stunned: “Raziel? How did you get to the Eighth Level?”
“The Eighth Level?”
Another voice came, and this time Lucifer said without turning his head: “Gabriel.”
Gabriel came up furiously: “Wait, weren’t we neither injured nor dead? How did we lose? What’s the basis for judging whether one clears the levels here?”
Belial yawned, looked to one side, and couldn’t help shaking his head and sighing: “You really took a miserable beating, Mammon.”
Mammon glared hard at the colleague who was speaking lightly: “Shut up. If you hadn’t been unable to strike, how would it have come to me guarding the level?”
Belial rubbed his nose and said helplessly: “It couldn’t be helped, could it? We were Lord Lucifer’s subordinates after all.”
No, if they were merely subordinates, they wouldn’t have been afraid to strike.
To put it bluntly, the relationship was simply too close, and Michael felt there would be a suspicion of going easy, so they were struck off the list of level guards.
Which made one have to mention that Michael could really see through each of his former colleagues. Or… was it a judgment made because he understood Lucifer?
After the God of the Abyss declared that the angels of Heaven had failed to clear the levels, all the angels, those who had reached the Eighth Level and those who hadn’t reached the final level, were sent by Michael through a teleportation circle to the Abyss’s First Level, the entrance of the Abyss.
Before them, the barrier that Raziel had led the angel armies to open had already returned to its original appearance.
No, that wasn’t the right way to put it.
Raziel rubbed his forehead: “The barrier has been mended. No, not only was the original barrier completed, but several barriers and teleportation circles were layered over it on the outside and in the middle.”
Gabriel: “…Wait, didn’t you raise Michael? Why is he so good at barriers?”
Lucifer did not answer.
Not that he couldn’t answer, but the answer was too cruel for him.
Michael was indeed his adopted son and subordinate, true, but in fact was also unrelated to him; the warmth between them had been full of scheming and use from the start, and moreover on his side alone.
It wasn’t that Lucifer regretted having brought Michael back; it was just that he had no way of defending himself about that time.
And he really didn’t want to say anything in rebuttal about his hands-off way of raising Michael.
He admitted that Michael’s growth had nothing to do with him. Maybe at the start this not-yet-grown angel had him in his heart too, and had thought of working hard for his father, but without realizing it, all that was left between them was the cold, icy “this is an order” and “as you command.”
Michael still hadn’t appeared, and no one knew where he was or what he was doing.
“Since it’s a clearing-the-levels game, naturally there is a time limit. Surely you angels of Heaven didn’t think… this was something without a time limit?”
Believe it or not, Gabriel, and even Lucifer, did think so.
Raziel was not very confused; before being sent back he had been talking with Michael the whole time, so he knew better than anyone that Michael truly was following the rules properly, dealing with them, the angels of Heaven, in his own unique gentle way.
If possible, he really wanted to say to Michael: you’ve used the wrong kind of gentleness.
Sighing silently, he looked at the two leading angels still reading the rules and reminded them: “On the second line of the third row, there are notes marked in another color.”
Gabriel: “…There really is.”
Lucifer: “…”
Okay, he now knew how strict Michael was about the rules of clearing levels.
To this, he had only three simple words for his former subordinate.
You’re sick!