Chapter 65, The Order (10)
Delta had revived no matter how many times he died.
And Eriel's divine power decreased in proportion to the number of times he revived.
I realized there was some kind of connection between the two.
And that connection was the reason Delta could still act so relaxed.
He was smiling as if telling us to kill him as many more times as we wanted.
“Arlin. For angels, are life force and divine power connected?”
“...Yes. To an angel, divine power is like a mage's core, a martial artist's innate qi, or a human's blood. If an angel completely loses their divine power, they die.”
At those words, I lowered my sword.
Delta's smile grew wider.
It annoyed me.
Then I felt sorry for Eriel.
Judging from the circumstances, I didn't understand the exact principle, but it seemed Delta was able to revive because of Eriel's divine power.
If that was true, then if I kept killing Delta until Eriel's divine power ran out, he might eventually stop reviving.
But if that happened, Eriel would die as well.
I had only known Eriel for a few days, but the kindness she had shown me still remained in my heart.
If possible, I didn't want her to die.
But letting Delta leave alive like this was completely out of the question.
Letting someone as high-ranking as a Cardinal of the Order survive after becoming our enemy?
That would practically be suicide.
So I had to kill Delta while keeping Eriel alive.
Is that even possible?
There was one simple option.
I could regress to before we attacked the Order.
If I did that, the grudge between the Order and me would never have existed.
My hostile relationship with Delta would also disappear.
“Haha. Finally, we're understanding each other. You should have done this from the beginning. It seems you've given up on fighting me now, so could you untie these chains?”
“They're rather uncomfortable, you see. Haha.”
Delta smiled slyly.
I silently looked down at him, bound in chains.
And I continued standing there.
As Delta's expression gradually stiffened, Hwa-ryeon stepped closer from behind me.
“...Are we just letting him go?”
Hwa-ryeon looked at me as though leaving the decision to me.
She clearly didn't like the idea herself.
Her face showed obvious irritation toward Delta.
I told her to stay still as she hesitated over whether to touch the chains, then approached Delta.
He smiled mockingly.
“Have you finally decided to release me?”
I really hated that attitude.
He was holding the life of Eriel, who had sacrificed herself for the Order for two hundred years, hostage.
I closed my eyes as anger and irritation boiled inside me.
And while doing so, one thought suddenly came to mind.
A possible way to stop Delta's resurrection.
“...Wait.”
“Yes?”
There's no harm in trying.
I sat down beside Delta, who was lying on the ground like a caterpillar.
Then I simply stayed there.
Time passed.
Tick. Tock.
As time went by and night approached, the light from the radiance above the cathedral slowly weakened.
At the same time, Delta's expression grew increasingly stiff.
By the time there was less than an hour before nightfall, he had started sweating.
“...If you're going to release me, why not hurry up? Or just kill me?”
I stared at Delta's face.
His composure was gone, and fear was slowly beginning to rise.
Hwa-ryeon, apparently bored by the fact that I was simply sitting there, asked me a question.
“Did you think of something?”
Only Hwa-ryeon asked, but the moment she did, Arlin and Lee Yeonhee also looked at me.
They seemed curious about why I was sitting there doing nothing.
I answered readily.
“Yes. I thought of one possibility.”
The first person to react wasn't one of my companions.
It was Delta.
He spoke with an awkward expression.
“...Haha. And what would that be? I doubt it'll mean much, but I suppose I'd like to hear it just to relieve the boredom.”
“Is that so?”
I watched Delta's expression and began speaking.
To test whether my deduction was correct, I deliberately spoke with complete confidence.
If I was right, he would panic.
If I was wrong, he would laugh at me.
I looked forward to seeing which reaction I would get.
“Delta. If I kill you at night instead of during the day, you won't be able to revive. Am I right?”
“...”
That reaction gave me my answer.
Delta's expression twisted immediately.
He desperately tried not to show his emotions, but it didn't seem easy.
Confusion.
Disbelief.
Fear.
All of them rose across his face.
It was completely different from his earlier confidence.
Eventually, Delta buried his face against the ground.
If he did that, I couldn't see his expression or read his emotions.
So I grabbed him by the hair and forced his face upward.
Then I forced him to listen to the conclusion I had reached.
Irritation seeped away.
A smile formed on my face.
My tone naturally became gentler.
“Delta. Shouldn't you at least hear why I came to that conclusion? You seemed so interested earlier, so I'll explain.”
“...”
“I know this world is an Inner World. And if this is an Inner World, that means this place is someone's inner self.”
“...”
“Then whose Inner World is this? At first, I thought it belonged to Eriel. This place feels warm and refreshing. It seemed like the kind of atmosphere her inner world would have.”
Inside the Inner World, you could leave whenever you wanted.
You could also enter whenever you wanted.
In other words, it was kind.
Kindness.
That was something that suited Eriel perfectly.
So I had assumed without doubt that this world belonged to Eriel.
But recently, I had abandoned that idea.
An Inner World represented the mind and inner self of its owner.
If this really belonged to Eriel, then it made no sense that she couldn't move during the day and could only move at night.
If it had been the opposite, maybe.
But she was restrained during the day when everyone was active, then freed only at night when everyone else was quiet?
That made no sense.
Unless...
This was the Inner World of someone other than Eriel.
And during the day, when that person was active, they restrained Eriel and prevented her from moving.
Then everything made sense.
“Delta. According to my deduction, you're the owner of this Inner World. And for some reason, you can only use your power and act during the day.”
“...”
“During the day, you keep Eriel restrained. But at night, you can't do that, which is why she can only move then. I suspect it has something to do with the sphere that only appears above the cathedral during the day.”
“...Haha.”**
Once I finished explaining my conclusion, Delta finally opened his tightly closed mouth and laughed weakly.
His reaction indirectly confirmed that I was right.
I grinned and looked at the clock hanging on the cathedral wall.
Around twenty minutes remained until nightfall.
“So in my opinion, if I kill you at night, when you can't use your power, you probably won't revive either. Shall we test it?”
That was when Delta's attitude completely changed.
All of the confidence that had made it seem as though he stood above us disappeared.
Only cowardice and desperation remained.
He lowered his head.
“Haha... I apologize. Please spare my life.”
Delta, who had begun begging for his life, answered every question I asked.
I had clearly warned him that if he told even a single lie, I would kill him the instant night arrived.
He didn't dare try to deceive me and confessed everything.
Delta's desire to survive was far stronger than I had imagined.
Only moments earlier, he had been mocking us and looking down on us.
Now he had completely submitted.
Thanks to that overwhelming desire to live, I finally learned the entire truth.
“So you're saying you infected Eriel with Agape, and the reason was...”
“To strengthen our followers through Eriel's selfless love. And once she accumulated enough evil deeds and fell, I intended to kill her and accumulate virtue...”
“Then why did you invite Lee Yeonhee here?”
“...If Eriel died, we needed someone else who could increase the strength of our branch in her place.”
“So you planned to infect Lee Yeonhee with Agape, make her accumulate evil deeds in the same way, then kill her once she became a fallen angel?”
“Yes...”
“You're an even bigger bastard than I imagined.”
Hwa-ryeon's disbelieving laugh perfectly represented how all of us felt.
That was right.
After learning the entire truth, we reached one conclusion.
Delta was a much bigger bastard than we had ever imagined.
Even after being insulted so openly, Delta kept his servile expression and lowered his head toward us.
His attitude said that he didn't care what humiliation he endured as long as he survived.
At the same time, I could occasionally see the desire for revenge hidden underneath.
If I survive this place, I'll tear all of you apart.
He probably thought he was hiding it well.
But if there was one thing I was confident in, it was my ability to read people's emotions.
Thanks to that, I could decide Delta's fate without hesitation.
Bang, bang.
Death sentence.
I reached that conclusion immediately.
“...Now the problem is Eriel.”
The remaining issue was what to do with Eriel.
Not how to dispose of her, like Delta.
I was wondering what would happen to her afterward.
Once Delta died, the Inner World would probably collapse as well.
If that happened, Eriel would lose the place where she lived.
This place was her home.
If it disappeared, she would have nowhere to go.
But bringing her home with us would be difficult when our group was already more than large enough.
And simply abandoning her made my heart ache like it was being pricked by needles.
Well, no matter how much I thought about it, this wasn't really something I could decide by myself.
“...Ah?”
I should ask Eriel directly.
She had just woken up.
