The Betrayed Necromancer - Chapter 19

 Halo

"Good grief, have you no shame? Getting excited while looking at your beloved in a state like that." Crow said, looking utterly exasperated.

At those words, Gaoran glared sharply at Crow, but the arousal that had surged within him showed no signs of calming down.

"H-Hn... ugh..." 

The angel Miriel, who had been captured by the Bone Knight, began to regain consciousness.

Her hands were bound behind her back with hand-cuffs, and leg irons with an iron ball attached were fastened to her ankles, making any freedom of movement impossible.

"Where is this...?" 

Opening her eyes and looking around, Miriel caught sight of Crow and the restrained Gaoran, instantly grasping the situation. Her face twisted at a reality far worse than she could have imagined.

"You wretch, do you really think you'll get away with doing something like this...!" 

"And if I don't? What's going to happen—is God's judgment going to strike me down?"

"Such blasphemy...! Divine judgment will be cast down upon the likes of you this very instant. Lord Arion, unleash your divine punishment upon them right now!" 

Miriel shouted, looking up toward the heavens.

She wore a smile, as though absolute victory were assured. However, no matter how long she waited, no divine hammer ever came down.

"W-Why... why is this happening...?" 

"Still haven't figured it out? Your halo has already been destroyed. Its communication function is cut off. No matter how much you make a fuss, your voice will never reach your master."

"No way. My halo... was destroyed...?! Oh, how could this..." A part of Miriel's halo had been mercilessly shattered. Having lost consciousness from the shock of it being broken, she had temporarily forgotten that Crow was the one who shattered it.

However, seeing the broken halo brought those memories flooding back. Faced with such an utterly disastrous situation, Miriel's expression darkened completely.

"Lady Miriel! Are you alright?!" 

"......Gaoran. I am so sorry. Despite being sworn to protect you, I have brought myself to such a pathetic state... I cannot bear to face Lord Arion."

Miriel cast her eyes downward. Seeing her like this, Gaoran continued speaking to encourage her.

"It's not too late to give up. Surely God must realize that Lady Miriel is gone; it's only a matter of time before they find us. Let's endure this together until then!" 

"......You are right. Thank you, Gaoran. I never imagined a day would come when I would be encouraged by you."

Gaoran and Miriel exchanged gazes. Angels rarely interfere excessively with those they are assigned to protect. They typically monitor from afar, descending to help only when an abnormal crisis occurs.

Placed in the depths of hardship, the two of them finally opened their hearts to one another. However—

"Too bad, no help is coming. And even if help did arrive... it wouldn't save either of you."

Saying this, Crow grabbed Miriel and pulled her close toward himself. Watching Miriel let out a painful gasp of "Ah!", Gaoran's face twisted with intense fury.

"Damn you, how dare you..." 

"Aren't you misunderstanding something, Gaoran? This angel isn't the holy existence you imagine her to be. She's just a foolish puppet being manipulated by God."

"Haah? What on earth are you talking about?" 

Gaoran looked confused, entirely unable to grasp the meaning of those words.

While Gaoran was being tortured by the Death Tormentor, Crow had received the results of the investigation into the angel Miriel. Angels had long been a race shrouded in mystery, but after a select group of talented wizards thoroughly investigated and experimented on Miriel, various truths had come to light.

"The halo... or whatever they call it. Aside from communication functions, it has multiple capabilities, such as transmitting location data to God and stably generating angelic power." 

"......So what if it does?"

"It's astonishing that such a tiny ring possesses this much capability. But what impressed me the most was... the 'brainwashing function.' Angels are 'brainwashed' by God using the halo."

"Wh—what?!" At Crow's words, not only Gaoran but even Miriel was struck dumb with shock.

Ever since birth, the angels had been God's loyal servants. Not once had they ever doubted God's actions. "The angel race was originally an ordinary tribe not bound by God. However, God, having taken notice of their immense abilities, tampered with the angels' halos and turned them into his personal soldiers. This is the conclusion we reached after investigating history."

The historical fact that the angels were once not God's soldiers had already been completely erased by God's own hand. However, ancient texts remained in Isa Ferdinia, allowing them to deduce the truth. And by examining Miriel's halo, that hypothesis was proven to be an absolute fact.

"Killing an angel is easy. But wouldn't that be boring? I'm going to strip away all of God's soldiers and make them mine. Heh, if he finds out his favorites have been stolen, God is bound to be furious."

"Incomprehensible... I have been Lord Arion's servant from the very beginning. Being manipulated is out of the question. And even if that were true, a lowborn person like you could never break 'God's brainwashing'."

"You've got it wrong. It's the exact opposite. I am the only one who can break 'God's brainwashing'." 

"......What do you mean?"

To the bewildered Miriel, Crow revealed a startling truth. 

"A Necromancer's magical power has the ability to extinguish divine power—'divine might'. That is why God is trying so hard to wipe out Necromancers, his natural enemies. In other words, I am the only one who can set the angels free. You should be thanking me, you know?"

With those words, Crow grabbed Miriel's halo with both hands.

"S-Stop it, stop it right now—!" 

Realizing what was about to be done to her, Miriel's expression was instantly dyed in sheer terror.

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