Chapter 63

Chapter 63. Apostle Michael

[6 Hours Before Marbas Appeared]

Michael arrived at Heesong's veterinary clinic with the exhausted Divine Beasts. He sat on a stool, shaking his leg impatiently.

"Valefor, I swear I'll kill you. I'll find a way to kill you no matter what."

After defeating Raum, Michael had been left with nothing but the right to collect his payment, yet Valefor had disappeared. This wasn't merely a betrayal. It was practically a challenge to Michael.

"If you're alive, I'll kill you. If you're already dead... you'll eventually be resurrected, so I'll wait and kill you then. When that happens, I'll make sure you can't even scream for me to spare your life."

Heesong looked at Michael with displeasure as he sat there with murderous intent blazing in his eyes.

"What have you been muttering about all this time...? Anyway, why are you here? Weren't you staying at a hotel?"

Michael temporarily set aside his fantasies about Valefor's terrible end and sat the Divine Beasts beside him.

"Whine."

"Meow."

The Divine Beasts were completely exhausted. They looked at Heesong with such pitiful expressions that she understood what Michael wanted without him saying a word. She sighed. Once again, he wanted her to look after them.

"...Haa. You poor things. You really ended up with the wrong owner."

Considering everything Michael had done until now, Heesong could easily imagine how much the Divine Beasts had suffered. She knelt to meet their eyes and gently stroked their heads.

"I'll look after you two, all right? But if you run away again, I'm confiscating your dog chews and Churu (cat treats) next time."

There was a certain weight behind the hand stroking their heads. Heesong was referring to the time the two Divine Beasts had attempted to escape while she was briefly sorting out some things she intended to sell. Since there was no guarantee they wouldn't do it again, she decided to make her warning perfectly clear.

BOOOOM!

To the still-young Samsik and Jeomrye, the things Heesong was threatening to take away were far too precious. Dog chews and Churu! She might as well have threatened to take away the greatest joys in their lives.

"Wh, whine. (P, please, anything but that.)"

"M, meow. (I'm sorry about last time. Please.)"

The Divine Beasts rubbed their heads against Heesong with tears in their eyes. Seeing their reactions, Heesong smiled gently.

"Goodness. All right, all right. Just don't do it again, okay?"

"Woof! Woof! (Got it! I'll never do it again!)"

"Meow! Myaaow! (Yeah! If Samsik tries to run away, I'll bite his tail and refuse to let go!)"

Samsik turned to look at Jeomrye after hearing those cruel words. However, Jeomrye slightly raised her head and glared at him with her narrowed eyes.

"Meow? Hiss? (What? Do you have something to say?)"

Normally, Samsik wouldn't have been intimidated. He would have argued with Jeomrye no matter how much she acted like a bully, but,

"Whine... (No...)"

Since he knew he had been the one at fault, he lowered his tail.

While the two Divine Beasts temporarily established their hierarchy, Heesong examined their condition.

"I'll have to examine them properly to be sure, but at least they don't seem to be injured anywhere. That's a relief."

"Someone might think I'm abusing animals if they heard you say that."

Heesong's eyes widened at Michael's words.

"You aren't?"

"I don't hold back from hitting someone just because she's a woman."

Faced with a threat accompanied by a raised fist, Heesong let out a helpless laugh mixed with a sigh.

"How barbaric. I'm joking, just joking. Well, you did say they're Divine Beasts. That means they'll have to face even more demons in the future, right? I can already see how difficult their lives are going to be."

Heesong looked at the Divine Beasts sympathetically. After the incident involving Glasya-Labolas, Michael had revealed the fact that Samsik and Jeomrye were Divine Beasts to the three people he had known since awakening from the coffin.

"Haa. If Holy Relics exist, why wouldn't Divine Beasts exist too?"

"To think these tiny little things are such special beings. They certainly have an unexpected charm."

"Hoho. No wonder I thought there was something special about them when they amplified my aura. So that's what they were."

Since they had already looked after the Divine Beasts and had connections with Michael, he had decided to tell them the truth. Fortunately, none of them viewed the Divine Beasts with suspicion or prejudice. They had simply accepted the explanation. Thanks to that, leaving the Divine Beasts in their care would be much easier from now on.

"Heave-ho. Come on, kids. Let's get you something tasty to eat first."

"Woof!"

"Meow!"

Heesong stood up and headed toward the container of pet food. The moment they heard the word tasty, the Divine Beasts quickly followed right behind her.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

"By the way, what's that sword?"

While pouring an even amount of food into their bowls, Heesong glanced toward the sword Michael had placed upright beside him. She was curious about the magnificent sword she had never seen before.

"Oh, this?"

It was Durandal, which had entered a dormant state after consuming a great deal of power during the battle against Raum. Michael had been prepared for it to break while using divine punishment, so he was relieved that the sword itself hadn't suffered any damage.

"Durandal."

Michael had no particular reason to hide its identity, so he answered without hesitation.

"Durandal? I've heard that name somewhere before. Durandal, Durandal... The Holy Sword Durandal?!"

As someone who belonged to the Exorcism Association and crafted various tools, Heesong naturally knew the name Durandal. The problem was,

"You're joking, right? Why do you have it?!"

How could Michael possess a sword that was supposed to be overseas? Half believing him and half doubting him, Heesong hurriedly searched for Durandal on her phone.

Tap, tap.

"Because it originally belonged to me."

Michael answered just as Heesong found an image of Durandal.

"It originally... belonged to you?"

The sword in the search results looked exactly like the one in front of her. However, that didn't necessarily prove it was genuine. These days, there were plenty of places capable of producing convincing replicas. Various possibilities flashed through Heesong's mind.

Did he buy it somewhere? Or did he steal it? Come to think of it, the sword that was embedded in that cliff in France... The news said that one was fake...

But none of those possibilities could properly explain the confusing situation.

"Hmm..."

The more she thought, the more her temples began aching. Pressing her fingers against them, Heesong finally decided to ask something she had avoided bringing up until now.

"Listen, there's something I've been wondering about for a while... Just who are you? You have Holy Relics and Divine Beasts, and even the Exorcism Association seems eager to support you. If that sword really is a Holy Sword, I don't think you can be an ordinary person."

He was the owner of Divine Beasts and a Holy Sword, an opponent of Great Demons, and someone who constantly accomplished things that seemed impossible. That was the Michael Heesong had come to know during their relatively short time together. His circumstances were also something she couldn't have learned about under normal conditions.

However, that was everything Heesong knew about Michael. Where had someone so extraordinary suddenly come from? How had he become the owner of Divine Beasts and a Holy Sword? Everything about him was a mystery.

"I don't remember receiving anything from the Exorcism Association. And it's rude to tell an ordinary person that he isn't normal."

Michael's response to her question was indifferent. Since he had already told her about Durandal and the Divine Beasts, there wasn't much else he particularly needed to hide. He simply had to decide where to draw the line.

"Don't lie when I've seen everything with my own eyes! Anyway, even I have a special position in the Exorcism Association, but you seem to be treated even better than I am."

She wasn't entirely wrong. Michael had signed a mercenary contract with John and received plenty of support to help him adapt to the modern world, including a card and a mobile phone.

"So I've come up with a theory. You're a Saint who belongs to the Vatican, aren't you?! And you work directly under the Pope!"

Michael merely blinked at her completely incorrect answer. He didn't belong to the Vatican, and he certainly wasn't a Saint. As for the Pope, although he didn't know the current one, there had been a time when he had almost gotten into a fight with the previous Pope.

"No."

"Then what are you?"

Michael froze at the casually spoken question, as though she had caught him completely off guard.

...Who am I in this world?

Michael began thinking about what his existence meant in the modern era.

In the past, he had gathered companions through various means to survive in a chaotic world while searching for Helena. On days when they fought demons, they sometimes raised their glasses and drank together to celebrate their victories.

In contrast, the modern world maintained a peaceful society. He didn't need to concern himself with everything happening around him and could simply focus on the problems directly in front of him. Perhaps that was why he now found himself thinking about so many unnecessary things.

"I am..."

Some people had called him a priest, while others had called him the owner of the three Crosses. The demons of Hell called him the Adversary, and some referred to him as Helena's follower.

However, all those titles were merely names other people had given him. None of them represented the most fundamental truth about the person called Michael.

"The Lord sent you to guide us. Does that not make you an Apostle of God?"

"Haha! I never thought an old-fashioned geezer like you could say something so impressive. Well, someone like our captain certainly deserves to be called an Apostle! Apostle Michael. That sounds amazing!"

"All units! This is a holy war! Stop those filthy creatures from holding back the Apostle! Die with smiles on your faces! Kill as many as you can, and we'll enjoy a feast together in Heaven!"

Flash!

Suddenly, Michael remembered the words of his companions, people who had been erased from history. It was also the title John had used for him in the modern era and, in a way, the title closest to Michael's true identity.

I'm probably the only one who knows how much those people suffered...

Even before the Battle of Lourdes, the world had faced countless threats of the apocalypse. Every time, the companions who had trusted and followed Michael had lost their lives because of his failures.

At one point, he had been so afraid of that responsibility and so exhausted from carrying all those memories alone that he had even made the extreme decision to abandon everything.

"Don't give up, Michael. Because you're here, everyone can still be remembered."

But Helena had taken his hand and helped him move forward again.

I don't know how much farther I still have to go, but I've already come too far to give up now.

After losing himself in those memories, Michael continued in a voice that carried both loneliness and quiet acceptance.

"An Apostle of God. No, Apostle Michael. That's what everyone used to call me."

From the 498 people who had fought against the apocalypse and been forgotten by the world to the companions who had come before them, Michael had engraved the title Apostle of God upon his heart so that he would never forget them.

"An Apostle of God...? Do people still use such embarrassing titles these days?"

Heesong narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Michael. She clearly didn't believe him.

"There's no rule saying they can't."

"Hmm. Fine. I guess there's some story behind it. I'll just remember that you're no ordinary person."

"Think whatever you want."

Perhaps it was because she was so obsessed with money, but Heesong had remarkably good instincts. Most people would have insisted that their own guess was correct, but she had sensed something in Michael's expression and decided not to press the matter.

"Then what happened to the sword I made for you?"

Now that her mind was somewhat clearer, Heesong asked about Claw Peeler. Anyone could see that Michael had Durandal but that Claw Peeler was nowhere to be found.

"It broke."

Heesong frowned at Michael's calm answer. She even turned one ear toward him, as though she desperately wanted to believe she had heard him incorrectly.

"What? I think I misheard you. Could you say that again?"

"You heard me correctly. It broke while I was saving Durandal."

Tremble, tremble!

Heesong was deeply attached to the things she created, so the news that Claw Peeler had broken nearly sent her into a fit.

"Do you have any idea how much effort went into making that?! I know I can't exactly complain if you sacrificed it to save a genuine Holy Sword, but still!!"

"Wh, whine. (S, scary.)"

"M, meow. (L, let's behave ourselves.)"

Even the Divine Beasts could feel Heesong's anger. Samsik and Jeomrye, who were even more frightened than they had been when facing Raum, clung tightly to each other.

"Just try asking me to make you something ever again!"

Michael did possess at least some conscience, so instead of arguing, he quietly covered his ears and tried to wait for the situation to pass. However, his careless attitude only caused Heesong's burning anger to grow completely cold.

Tremble... Swish.

"Do you seriously want to die?"

Her anger had now become murderous intent, and she pulled out a scalpel.

Ring, ring, ring!

At that moment, Heesong's phone rang, finally bringing the confrontation to an end. She took a deep breath to calm herself before answering.

"Hello? Oh, yeah, he's here. Yeah. Got it."

Heesong quickly finished the call and glanced sideways at Michael.

"Tch. I'd love to keep giving you hell, but... Hey, you've been summoned to Myeongdong Cathedral."

Michael frowned at the word summoned. He didn't like the way she phrased it, and he had a feeling that going to Myeongdong Cathedral would drag him into something troublesome.

"Forget it. Tell them I have more important things to do and can't come."

Michael did have important matters to attend to, such as preparing for the White Horseman's approaching arrival and finding Valefor so he could beat him senseless. However, since he had defeated Raum, one of the White Horseman's vassals, he had bought himself some time. As for Valefor, he could always catch him and carve him up later. He wasn't in any immediate hurry.

"Stop talking nonsense. Sia said she couldn't contact you, so she asked me to make sure you came if I managed to reach you."

"Why wouldn't she be able to contact..."

Michael suddenly flinched and searched his pockets.

Rustle, rustle. Crumble!

"That fucking bastard Raum..."

When he emptied his pocket, he discovered that the mobile phone he had received after the incident with Hagenti had been reduced to powder. Seeing the crumbled remains of the phone, Heesong shook her head.

"Tch. You really have no idea how valuable money is."

"Ha. Looks like I have to go anyway. Fine. Take good care of these two."

Michael still hadn't fully adapted to modern society and needed to request another mobile phone. He picked up Durandal, scratched his head vigorously, and awkwardly made his way toward the door.

"Wait! I forgot to mention the most important thing!"

Just as Michael was about to leave, Heesong remembered something and called him back. When he turned around, he saw her taking out a notebook. The moment his eyes settled on it, he was overcome by a terrible feeling.

"Pet food expenses, childcare fees, medical expenses, compensation for the emotional distress caused by breaking the sword, bringing a Holy Sword inside without permission..."

Just as expected. She was still the same money-grubbing woman.

"Know when to stop, you crazy bitch. Just charge me for the things related to these two and send me the bill!"