Chapter 201: The era of upheaval (1)

Shirone trembled as he managed to stand up.

Although the load per unit area had fallen below 70%, without the mental strength of the indestructible body it would have been impossible.

The believers looked at him with surprised eyes.

If it were someone bulky like Rian, they would understand it, but seeing someone as thin as Shirone stand up was something shocking.

“You even give your lives to God. You do everything you are ordered to do. And now you say it is just one second? If for you one second was something so insignificant! Then that being you call God is not capable of granting even a single second of mercy to those who believe in him!”

Igirin clenched her teeth tightly.

159 against 159.

The proportion between faith and doubt was exactly equal.

If the count dropped even by one, her authority would disappear.

Rian’s movement became much lighter.

If he had endured loads close to 100%, then 50% was something he could handle without problems while wielding his great sword.

Rian left the statue and began to strike the glass sphere filled with black liquid.

After several consecutive impacts, the surface began to crack with a creak and the liquid started to leak out.

“Damn it! Damn it!”

The more he tried, the more impatient he became.

The amount coming out through the cracks was not enough to prevent the subjects from drowning.

The believers watched, swallowing hard, that fragile balance between life and death.

That would undoubtedly affect Igirin negatively.

After all, humans tend to side with the weaker party.

Igirin resorted to her last measure.

“Do not be deceived! The scale of my heart is judging you! If any of you doubts, I myself will reduce your life by fifty years!”

Fear, the most effective method to maintain power, made the believers’ faith return immediately.

216 against 102.

Her authority began to restore rapidly.

As the load increased, Shirone’s knees bent again.

He tried to resist by clenching his teeth, but it was useless.

Even more painful was feeling with his own body how the attitude of the believers was changing.

“Shirone…”

At that moment, Kanya approached Shirone.

Her face was completely pale.

Her mother was submerged in that dark liquid, how could she maintain her sanity?

“Can she really… live? I am talking about my mother. Can she leave smiling in front of me, Lena, and father?”

The believers shifted their gaze between Kanya and the glass sphere.

To leave smiling in front of one’s family.

For that, only one second was needed.

“Of course. Your mother does not have to die yet. You will be able to meet again and smile.”

Tears began to run down Kanya’s cheeks.

Nothing else mattered anymore.

She only wanted to see her mother.

She wanted to see her once more, like that morning.

“Then save my mother, Shirone. Please, save my mother. I do not want… I do not want her to become a giant.”

27 against 291.

Igirin opened her eyes wide.

Her authority collapsed into the abyss.

Before she could even let out a groan, the price of usurpation was activated.

Her body fell vertically and her knees crashed against the ground.

She could not move a single finger.

“Now! Go all of you and stop it!”

As the load disappeared, Shirone’s group shot forward, their feet barely touching the ground.

There was no time.

No in reality, it was already too late.

Rian destroyed the glass sphere with a single blow.

Amy turned off the switch of the liquid tank.

Tess drove her thin sword into the opening of the device and caused an internal explosion.

The families ran and pulled the subjects out of the broken spheres.

But they were covered in a viscous liquid, so they could not confirm their condition.

The believers approached with tense expressions.

If they had died, decomposition would have already begun.

No one had the courage to witness such a horrible scene.

The families began to remove the liquid.

Little by little the skin appeared, then the eyes, the nose, and the lips.

Fortunately, decomposition had not begun.

Kanya’s face was soaked in tears when she found her mother.

“Mother, mother!”

Although she had not dissolved in the liquid, she was not breathing.

Kanya’s father ran and began artificial respiration.

By opening the airways and pressing the stomach, the thick liquid came back out and the mother began to cough.

The believers burst into cheers.

At that moment, the law did not exist in their minds.

Only the joy that a life had returned to the embrace of its family mattered.

Dong. Dong. Dong.

The sound of the bell announcing the end of the Liquor of Anecdotes resounded.

A solemn silence descended over the central plaza.

The rescued subjects, supported by their families, looked at the bell.

According to the law, that day was the last of their lives.

But no one had died.

The bell rang twelve times.

That sound was engraved as an indelible memory in the hearts of the believers gathered in the plaza.

They were still believers and they still followed the law of Ra.

But it was not clear if they would continue doing so in the future.

“Chief! Are you alright?”

Peophe ran toward Igirin.

Seeing Igirin with her knees destroyed, Peophe felt guilt.

She was ashamed of having done nothing while her companions fought.

Igirin forced a smile, as if trying to reassure her young subordinate.

“I am fine. It is the price that was activated when the exceptional regulation was destroyed. It is something I must endure. Are you alright?”

“Yes. I am fine.”

“I am glad.”

Peophe could not look her in the eyes.

Although she knew she had not participated in the battle, Igirin did not scold her and instead worried about her.

It had always been difficult to deal with her superior, but at that moment she could not help but acknowledge her.

Igirin swept the plaza with an uneasy gaze.

The tilted statue, the shattered glass sphere, the device emitting black smoke.

The Liquor of Anecdotes had been completely denied.

That day was a turning point in heaven.

‘Perhaps this will cause a greater impact than when Miro appeared.’

Miro was much stronger than the blond boy.

But precisely because of that, she did not act impulsively.

She was someone who understood better than anyone the consequences of her actions.

‘What will happen now? An era of great change is approaching. From today on, heaven will change.’

Suddenly, Peophe positioned herself in front of Igirin in a combat stance.

Shirone’s group was approaching.

Igirin could not move for the next 24 hours.

Moreover, her knees were destroyed.

No matter what happened, this time she could not be afraid.

“D-do not come closer! The fight is already over! If you still want to attack, I myself will face you!”

Igirin stopped Peophe.

“It is fine, Peophe. I also want to speak with this boy.”

Peophe, embarrassed, stepped aside discreetly and stood next to Igirin.

Shirone crouched down to be at their level.

After always seeing them flying, seeing them on the ground allowed him to finally grasp their size.

They were truly tiny, as if they could fit in the palm of a hand.

Igirin lifted her chin proudly and spoke.

“Hmph. Child of the earthly world, even if I have lost, that does not mean that the law of God has been denied. I am also only a mid-rank member of the 72 hierarchies of fairies. Today’s victory will not turn you into a divine figure.”

“I do not care about that. I only wanted to save the life of someone who helped me. Is that wrong?”

Igirin did not believe it was wrong.

But considering the consequences that this could have in heaven, she could not be sure.

Is one life worth less than ten? No.

But what if it were one hundred million? What if it were one billion?

What decision would be made then?

Miro knew that reality.

That was why she left heaven.

In a cruel reality where one must be sacrificed for the good of many, she found a single answer.

But this boy was not like that.

He did not consider efficiency when doing what was right.

Without a doubt, he belonged to the idea that human life has no price.

An absolute good.

Igirin was feeling the same thing Arcane had felt before.

“Leave this place.”

It was the only thing she could say.

“You have caused chaos in heaven. Not even I can predict what will happen from now on. So leave. Disappear from our world as soon as possible.”

“But we…”

Before Shirone finished speaking, a red light shone from the east.

The group turned their heads in surprise.

From the second heaven, Lacia, a flash emerged.

From the distance, it was an enormous release of energy.

Everyone in the plaza covered their ears.

A vibration, as if the world were about to be destroyed, shook the sky.

As if a spear were piercing down, the red flash fell in the center of the plaza.

When the light dissipated, an angel with torn wings of light appeared.

Igirin’s eyes trembled from the impact.

“Fallen angel Ikasa… why are you here?”

The second heaven, Lacia, was the place where fallen angels were exiled.

Beings of the second heaven could enter the first, but it was extremely rare for a fallen angel to descend into the domain of the believers.

Their pride, having once been inhabitants of the sixth heaven, did not allow them to associate with humans.

Igirin understood that the seed of chaos sown by Shirone was already beginning to alter the laws of heaven.

“I am Ikasa, a low-ranking angel. Upon observing the sacred Liquor of Anecdotes, I detected a disturbance and descended to this land.”

Shirone could not stop the trembling of his body.

More than two meters tall and with a sharp gaze.

Although she retained the beauty of when she was an angel, her nature was completely different from what he expected.

If the angel he saw in the refuge of Nor resembled a shining sun, the one before him conveyed the feeling of a dying sunset.

“So you are the one who denies God. How despicable. Ignorant beings who do not even understand the love they receive and yet dare to mock God.”

Ikasa looked at Shirone with hatred.

A fallen angel belonged to the second heaven.

Therefore, she was below even the humans of the third heaven, Shehakim, who had obtained immortality.

Inferior to humans?

Not even the giants or the fairies.

Why did God value humans so much?

The anger accumulated over twenty thousand years was about to explode.

“In the name of God, I will judge you.”

Ikasa’s sacred body of light expanded, forming a halo one meter in diameter.

The enormous ring of light acted like a rail, accelerating luminous particles that shone like stars.

Igirin’s face turned pale.

Although fallen angels had lost much of their power as punishment, that strength was still far beyond what Shamayin could handle.

“Ikasa! You cannot do that! If a fallen angel opens her halo…!”

“Hohoho! The heretics will die anyway! Consider it an honor that I myself execute you!”

The pressure emanating from Ikasa caused Shirone’s mind to blur.

The difference in power was overwhelming.

This made no sense.

An existence like that should not exist in the world.

Shirone turned around with all his strength.

It was as if time had slowed down.

The air he had expelled from his lungs had not yet reached his throat.

When he was finally ready to shout, he only had one thought in his mind.

“Run!”

Arin already had the Metagate in her hand and was ready to activate it.

But even for her, one second was too long.

Faster! Faster!

She only had to press the button, but the distance of two centimeters would not close.

From behind Shirone, the wind blew.

The Metagate in Arin’s hand disappeared as if by magic.

The group was left paralyzed.

Ikasa was beside Arin, with her left hand resting on her waist, observing the Metagate in front of her eyes.

She was not invisible.

Nor was she as fast as light or as swift as the wind.

But she was clearly fast.

A speed situated somewhere between the biological and the natural.

A speed that proved that, from her birth, she was different from humans.