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“…Laguiel? Sandalphon?”

Somewhere in the radiant Heavenly Realm.

As Uriel ascended the endlessly connected celestial stairs, she felt the bond between the two Archangels weaken.

If it were in normal circumstances, Uriel would also have to cross into the Demon Realm and face the demons.

The Angel Guild had made contracts with angels to obtain their power and authority, and they had to pay the price for it.

One of those prices was the angels’ ‘command.’

No matter how much I was a user, I couldn’t refuse the command.

“Did I get caught again like Raphael? Seriously…”

But there was one way to ‘bypass’ without refusing the command.

Uriel had earlier crossed into the Demon Realm and killed a few low-level demons, partially fulfilling the command.

Of course, the command itself required continued mission execution until another command came up, but there was no issue with briefly ‘departing’ from the task.

As long as the mission to ‘eliminate the demons’ was continuously carried out, there would be no problem.

Uriel secretly crossed into the Heavenly Realm, planning to resolve her long-standing doubts.

‘What is she thinking? Seriously.’

The administrator of the angels, Haelro, and the God of Balance felt that way.

They had immense power and authority, and they were aware that something was being manipulated with the users and demons, but there was nothing they could do.

Especially regarding the position of the Angel Guild that had contracted with the angels.

But one couldn’t just side with the demons that mercilessly killed people.

But Gabriel and Michael were different.

‘What are they thinking to have separated everything?’

Gabriel and Michael.

They could be called the pillars of the guild, likened to the mother and father of the Angel Guild.

Michael led the guild playfully but became serious when necessary, while Gabriel tuned the aspects he missed.

Their presence was indispensable in the guild, but everything changed significantly after coming into contact with the angels.

‘When was the last time we were all together?’

I can hardly remember.

In real-time, it had only been about a year, but it felt like much longer.

What kind of plan could be in their heads?

Why are we treated like pawns…

“……”

The celestial stairs abruptly ended.

Clang!

A hammer of light appeared in Uriel’s hand.

As she swung it hard at the empty air where nothing could be seen, a hidden staircase revealed itself.

She climbed the stairs once more.

“…Now I have to talk.”

She thought of questioning the dazed Raphael, but after Lily appeared, she had forgotten most of the incident’s secrets.

Someone had wiped her memory.

In the end, she hadn’t figured out anything properly.

“I’ll go find out myself.”

Uriel vowed and finally reached the top of the light-filled staircase.

Though she had come to the Heavenly Realm several times as a prospective angel, the Heavenly Realm was indeed unfathomable.

Some places looked like well-decorated model gardens, while others appeared as plains with nothing but ‘light.’

There were beings that looked like angels wandering around, but they felt a bit off.

Sometimes, there were remnants of a past place or aspects of nature created with mysterious powers, but those were merely ‘parts’ of the whole.

Uriel had yet to discover a space where angels could actually live.

The hammer in Uriel’s hand emitted light.

“Track.”

Light particles gathered and began moving toward somewhere.

She had gained physical strength through the divine, but she could still use magic in the form of ‘skills.’

The tracking magic contained traces of Gabriel and Michael.

Items they had kept close for a long time or parts of their bodies, like hair or nails.

Usually, this kind of tracking magic wouldn’t work to find them in another dimension, but this place was different.

Woosh…!

“I found it.”

This was a shrine located quite high up in the Heavenly Realm, said to be once where a giant ‘mirror’ that reflected the world was found.

Now it was closed off, and no one sought it, but Uriel finally succeeded in climbing the stairs and stood before the mirror.

The other side of the mirror became blurry and reflected a view from beyond dimensions.

Before a serene lake, a woman was feeding numerous rabbits.

‘Gabriel!’

Uriel squinted her eyes and lunged at the mirror.

“Big sister!”

“? Uriel. Why are you here?”

“I have something to say. But what are you doing here?”

Other members of the Angel Guild were fighting endlessly, risking their lives.

Yet here was the leader of the guild, completely missing, while someone in a comparable position was leisurely feeding rabbits.

When Uriel asked in an enraged voice, Gabriel let out a small sigh.

“Why did you come? Surely, Uriel has an important mission as well.”

“Is that important right now?”

“It is important. For the contract with the angels to proceed smoothly. I told you, it was already foretold from the moment the contract was made…”

“Ha.”

Hahaha…

Crash!!!

A hammer dropped right in front of Gabriel.

The rabbits that were momentarily pulled back in shock began to flee into the woods.

Gabriel gazed at Uriel compassionately while protecting the fleeing rabbits and other surrounding beings.

Uriel bit her lip.

“Uriel.”

“…I’m sick of this. The petty back-and-forth between us, and how our guild that felt like family has fallen apart.”

“Uriel.”

“I just don’t understand what you and Michael are aiming for. What’s the big deal about saying it clearly?”

“That’s something you shouldn’t know—”

“Ah~ right! Ignorance is bliss! I’m not supposed to know about Lady Lily or the plan with the angels! That’s how it is!!”

Crash!!

Once again, the hammer struck the ground hard.

The power of the divine shattered the land and lake, and the surroundings began to morph and break apart.

Gabriel reached out and restored everything.

“…But now I truly feel a sense of disillusionment. It’s unsettling to keep following commands that evoke only questions.”

“……”

“…So just tell me. Otherwise, I won’t cooperate any further.”

Uriel declared.

If I couldn’t get a definitive answer here, I wouldn’t stand with the angels or the Angel Guild.

From the moment the contract was made, the command must be fulfilled, but Uriel was a user.

If I didn’t want to, I could simply choose to not ‘connect’ at all.

Just like the seventh archangel, Metatron, whose whereabouts are still unknown.

Gabriel seemed to let something go, her energy settling.

Uriel focused on the momentary shift in her emotion.

“…Okay. I’ll tell you.”

“Really?”

“But you must not refuse the command or anything after hearing this. Listening doesn’t mean the contract will disappear or anything.”

“Whatever, just say it! I’m dying to know.”

What kind of secret could lead to this?

Uriel kept her ears open to catch every word, and she had to doubt the first words she heard.

“…Lady Lily is a user. So she is not someone from this world.”

“Of course I know that.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Yep.”

Tap, tap.

Pieces of wood ignited, and smoke rose into the night sky.

Next to the young Lily, who had set up a campfire and was stirring the flames, Yena answered as if it was obvious.

“Lily said she’s an alien.”

“You believe that?”

“Why wouldn’t I? Ouch! Meow!”

Yena started to eat a sweet potato pulled from the flames.

For a capable person like Yena, this fire was nothing, but she was currently in a state of maximum physical restraint for training purposes.

Thanks to that, her ‘Nyan Nyan Form’ had also dramatically decreased.

The young Lily also took a sweet potato and peeled it.

The yellow flesh slid into her small mouth.

“You could think it’s a lie, right?”

“Nah, I thought so at first. But why does it taste this good, meow?”

“Anything tastes amazing after training.”

“Ah-ha.”

Yena agreed with the words of the young Lily, pulling out a few more sweet potatoes to eat.

Perhaps she ate around five more, and then Yena spoke again.

“I thought she must have a bad past and just doesn’t want to reveal it. I mean, there are quite a few people like that in broadcasting, so I figured it was that.”

“Nom, nom.”

“But no. That wasn’t it.”

“?”

“From a certain point on, I could see it.”

The moment Yena had stepped out of the ‘frame’ of a user.

As her level rose and she learned the mysterious powers and techniques that Lily taught her, and as she transformed both body and mind as a cat beastman.

Finally, she began to see things that shouldn’t be seen.

“Is it called the ‘rank’ of the soul? Lily was different in that regard. Even more shocking is that in reality, it’s also different.”

“It’s hard to see her as human. She is human, though.”

Lily’s soul couldn’t even be compared to that of an ordinary person.

As such, it was only natural for Yena to notice the differences.

“Anyway, that’s that…”

If you ask when she gained the ‘sense’ to see souls, she couldn’t easily answer, but at one point, she could see the rank of souls.

And two souls appeared in Yena’s sight.

One was a relatively strong but average level soul of young Lily.

And the other one…

“…It gives me chills, meow.”

Light.

It was truly a soul filled with light.

An existence surrounded by infinite light.

If the sun were compressed to a human size, that would be the level; even Lily couldn’t dare challenge that light.

The indistinct figure of ‘that’ was standing at the edge of a distant cliff, gazing up at the night sky.

Yena asked the young Lily about ‘that’ soul, but she just chuckled and shook her head.

“That’s only a part of it.”

“…Meow?”

“Compared to the ‘real’ master, that’s just a fragment of a fragment… it’s merely a tiny part mimicking the top-level archangel.”

“…So that’s not the real deal?”

“Yep.”

Yena was flabbergasted.

If what she saw was indeed, as the young Lily said, a ‘part,’ then what size could the ‘real’ soul possibly have?

 

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