68. Belial

"That's why, Sandalphon, like I said, I'm going to support you in punching Lucifer—I'll even lend you my help." I smiled at Sandalphon, who is sitting on the ground in front of me.

Hearing that, the anger that had appeared on Sandalphon's face immediately disappears, and now she is looking at me with an expression as if she is staring at an idiot.

"What!? You're going to punch the Supreme Primarch?" Michael sounds shocked after hearing what I said to Sandalphon.

"Yup, yup, Sandalphon also agrees with my plan, so if he shows up, the two of us will punch him."

"LIKE HELL I'M GOING TO DO THAT!" Sandalphon punches me instead, making me fall in front of her. "Ouch..."

I rub my cheek where Sandalphon hit me because she punched me really hard—I can definitely feel it...

"Why am I talking about this nonsense!? I will show Lucifer the demise of the skies and their rebirth as the heavenly realm." Sandalphon shouts angrily at me and Michael, then tries to stand even though her body is still full of wounds.

"You! You want to destroy the entire Sky Realm just to prove something to the Supreme Primarch!?" Michael says to Sandalphon while starting to unleash what remains of her energy.

Without her wings, Michael can't use her powers perfectly.

"Hehehe, that's the only way for me to make him actually do something! Lucifer isn't going to care about anything unless the entire Sky Realm is destroyed!"

That's true; Lucifer doesn't care about his surroundings unless the entire Sky Realm is destroyed. It's just too bad he died before he could help Djeeta and the others fight the otherworldly beings during their invasion.

"What happens after that?" I say while standing in front of Sandalphon.

"After you destroy the entire Sky Realm, then what?"

Hearing that, Sandalphon looks confused because she hadn't thought about it—she had only focused on her revenge against Lucifer.

"I'm... I'm going to change the world and change those mortals," Sandalphon answers me with hesitation after a few moments.

Michael after hearing Sandalphon's response, also looks confused because she knows Sandalphon doesn't have the ability to rebuild the world.

Even if she steals all of the Tetra Primarchs' wings, her abilities are still far below those of the Supreme Primarch.

Now it's my turn to look at Sandalphon like she's an idiot... No, more precisely, like someone who has no purpose—like her title, "Archangel with No Purpose."

"Sandalphon... You know you can't do any of that. The reason you're doing this is that you're hoping Lucifer is going to show up and tell you to stop," I say while shaking my head at her behavior.

"And you know Lucifer isn't going to show up because he's depending on the Singularity to stop you, and with me here, he knows I'm the one that can stop you."

"No—" Sandalphon still tries to deny what I said. "That's enough, Sandalphon!" I cut her off and stop her from saying anything else.

"Just listen to me. I'm even going to help you punch your creator, and if you want, I'll help you find your purpose." I reach out my hand to Sandalphon.

Sandalphon stares at my hand in front of her, confused about what she should do.

She keeps looking at her own hand and then back at me several times, but Michael and I just let her be because this is her decision.

If she still chooses to continue her plan to destroy the Sky Realm, it will make me sure that all of this is just a waste of time.

In that case, I'll defeat her with my full power and let Lucifer trap Sandalphon inside a cocoon for thousands of years before WMTSB 2 starts.

Because inside that cocoon, time moves faster than in the Sky Realm, so if thousands of years pass inside, only one year would have passed in this world.

And I don't want her to experience that, which is why I'm trying to change her nature now rather than letting it happen like in the game where she is defeated by Gran and the others.

After a while, I see Sandalphon slowly raise her right hand and start reaching toward the hand I extended to her.

Michael, seeing this, begins to dissipate the aura she had been emitting earlier while continuing to watch what Sandalphon will do.

But before Sandalphon can reach my hand, suddenly I sense something that makes me turn around and cover Sandalphon.

"Michael, get behind me too!" I quickly say, then use my wings to pull Michael behind me.

"What happened?!" Michael is confused about what's going on.

"Hehehe, I didn't expect you could sense me, my friend, even when I'm using all my power to hide my presence," suddenly they hear someone's voice they don't recognize.

But unlike them, I immediately recognize this voice, which makes me envelop Michael and Sandalphon with my two wings.

"Come out, Belial!!" I shout in front of me.

"Belial?" Sandalphon murmurs when she hears the name, as if she recognizes it but can't remember where she met that man.

"Well, because you already ruined the show, I have no other choice but to show up earlier." Suddenly, cracks start to appear in the air in front of us.

"This feeling!" Michael immediately senses the aura she feels from Belial.

This aura feels dark and so cunning...

"Sword of Repudiation!" I immediately summon my golden sword, and from my hand, a golden light begins to form, creating the sword.

Once the sword fully materializes, I grip it and point it toward the cracks.

The cracks grow larger and larger until they finally shatter, revealing a dark place from within.

The aura we feel becomes even stronger, and soon we can see someone walking out of that place—a man with black hair, dressed in an open black shirt and long black pants, adorned with a feather boa.

[IMAGE]

Belial, who emerges from that place, immediately looks at us with that cunning smile.

"My messiah, we finally meet," Belial says, staring at me.

"Messiah?" I hear Sandalphon murmur again.

"Who are you?!" Michael says to Belial with the dignity of the Primarch of Fire.

"Simmer down, Micel. I'm not going anywhere. You don't need to yell like that," Belial replies, not taking Michael seriously at all.

"What do you want, Belial? If you're just here to talk nonsense, get out of here!" I say to Belial while releasing the aura from my sword.

Belial, seeing me do this, just continues to watch me silently, as if he's scanning my entire body...

This is really uncomfortable because I can sense his gaze all over me...

"Still not there yet..." Belial says while shaking his head after staring at my body for a while.

Not there yet? What does that mean? But before I can ask him, we suddenly hear another voice and someone running toward us.

"Rei, are you okay!? We suddenly sensed something really dark when we were coming here!" I hear Lyria shout, along with the sound of people running toward this place.

"Stay back, everyone! This one is different from anyone you've ever fought before," I quickly say before Gran and the others can get here.

Hearing that, Gran immediately stops and holds Lyria back so she doesn't approach me. "What do you want us to do?" Gran asks me.

"Just stay back for now!"

Belial then turns to look at Gran and the others and sees two Lyrias among the group.

But when he notices the two Lyrias, he quickly sees the difference between them, which makes him laugh.

"Hahaha, I see, so that's your preference now, my messiah," Belial says, clutching his stomach as he laughs.

None of us have any idea what he means, so we don't know what to say to him.

"Ahh... I heard you're using 'Rei' as your name right now? You're much better than your previous self! Full of desire, sin of lust..."

"What is that weird guy talking about!?" Vyrn says, even more confused by what he means.

"Yeah, he's really weird..." Aliza, who is also with them, looks absolutely disgusted when she sees Belial's behavior.

"I'm really glad I'm not like that," Stan says, feeling a little pleased with himself since Aliza dislikes that kind of personality.

"Man, beast, or god... It's imperfection—deviation—that gives a person their charm, don't you think, Rei?" Belial asks me with that smile of his.

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Really now, you're still acting like that? There are people watching! But oh well, I'm going to tell you then if your friends still don't understand~"

Belial then points toward Lyria². "This world's girl in blue... Free of desire, innocent of sin... Really boring."

"Wha!? What do you mean I'm boring!!"

Belial then points to Lyria. "But this girl in blue is so majestic, full of desire and full of love~ I can even see your fluid still inside her."

"Wha!?" Everyone, except for Lyria² who doesn't understand what he means, widens their eyes and turns to look at Lyria.

"Lyria... I can't believe you're already way ahead of me," Aliza says with a look of admiration.

"What, what, what!? Why did you say that!!!" Lyria shouts at Belial, her face bright red.

"What does that mean?" Meanwhile, Lyria² doesn't understand what's happening at all.

"Don't worry about it, Lyria, just stay where you are right now," Vyrn says while covering Lyria²'s ears so she doesn't hear what the weird man is saying.

"...Supreme Primarch... Did you actually lay your hand on the girl in blue?" Michael suddenly says from behind me.

"...Why are we talking about this?"

"But now is still not the time, so for now, I really must bid you adieu." Suddenly, Belial raises his left hand, and I can see all his energy starting to gather in that hand.

"Everyone, watch out!" I shout, but Belial has already finished gathering all his energy.

We all start hearing a loud thunderclap, and then from Belial's left hand, a large energy ball surrounded by pink lightning appears.

"Lemegeton!" Belial immediately fires the energy ball at us, forming a massive pink laser that quickly heads our way.

"Damn!" It's so fast that I don't have time to use the Atheism Barrier or a technique from my sword to cut the attack.

So, without thinking, I immediately use my sword to block the attack.

*BOOOOOOOMMMM*