Regardless of whether Iliya’s dignity as a human being was crushed or not, the world continued to move.

Inside the Bright Light, particles gathered, forming a human-like figure.

The being had six pairs of wings, a halo floating over her head, decorating their ankle-length hair. She was clad in tight white clothes.

Her looks were the stereotypical looks of an angel, but…

“...Uh?”

Iliya, who was sniffling, muttered unknowingly as soon as she saw her.

Wait…

This angel…

…Kinda looks like me…?

She wasn’t being too self-conscious at all. If she were to grow up a few years and let her hair grow, she’d probably look like the angel in front of her.

As Iliya looked at her with a strange expression, the Seraphim, whose eyes had been closed ever since she appeared inside the Bright Light, slowly opened her eyes.

Her eyes soon met Iliya’s.

“...”

Unknowingly, Iliya broke out in a cold sweat.

It was only after their gazes met that she became sure…

That this woman in front of her was a completely different being from her.

The woman possessed ‘something’ overwhelmingly huge, making her feel that she was like an ant. That was the kind of pressure the woman exuded.

[So, was it you who woke me up?]

“...U-Um, y-yes…”

Iliya barely managed to answer as such. The woman’s sweet voice, as smooth as a jade rolling on a tray, made her let out noises as if she was being strangled.

How do I even reply to her?! A Seraphim is talking to me…!

[What do I find here? A cutie shivering from her shyness? How nice~]

“...”

[I was getting really annoyed because all of the previous Heroes were no fun at all, but this time…]

The Seraphim scanned Iliya from top to bottom, as if ‘evaluating’ her.

Her gaze moved from Iliya’s chest down to her waist, then lingered a little longer on her hips.

[...It’s a relief in many ways~]

She curved her eyes into crescent moons as she said so in a satisfied voice. Hearing that, Iliya unknowingly took a step back.

Because, even though the Seraphim clearly possessed the characteristics of an angel, with her wings, halo and everything, and her face unnaturally looked like her on top of that…

When she said those words just now, she gave off a creepy vibe of a sexual harasser.

This is…

A Seraphim?

Are you kidding me?

As Iliya unknowingly thought so while looking at the grinning Seraphim, the latter looked around with both hands on her waist.

[Well, we can slowly introduce ourselves later…]

Then…

[...After all, there seems to be something to ‘get rid of’ right now.]

A sharp glint appeared in her eyes.

At any rate, regardless of whatever vibe she was giving off...

She was a Seraphim.

A being who stood at the very top of all the angels in the Astral Realm.

If the Devils were the Kings of the Pandemonium, then the Seraphims were the Ruler of the Astral Realm.

[Time to put in some work.]

The scene that unfolded together with the words that came out of her mouth proved that her title wasn’t just for show.

Actually, unlike what she had said, anyone could tell that she didn’t even try to put in some work.

Because the only thing she did was lightly tighten her clenched fists without moving an inch from where she was.

However…

“...Oh my God.”

Archbishop Luminol let out those words with a groan.

-!

-!!

-!!!!!!!!!

From merely the Bright Light that came out as she clenched her fists, all the Dimension Gates around them burst into fragments all at once.

All of the Pandemonium Life Forms were also ripped into pieces in the blink of an eye.

The ground that was dyed by sulfurous soot was ‘purified in an instant.

Archbishop Luminol knew that a Devil who had unleashed their power could turn the surroundings into something similar to the Pandemonium, but an Angel could do the same to purify that.

But…

He also knew that beings from the Astral Realm’s influence was heavily restricted in the Material Realm.

In spite of such a great deal of constraint, she still has so much power!

…Indeed, they are the only beings in all dimensions whose status could match that of the Devils.

Realizing that the title Seraphim wasn’t for nothing, the Archbishop shuddered.

Anyway, since that was the case…

In this current situation, where there were several ‘Devil’s Vessels’ around, the people who’d be affected the most by such a being’s presence…

“...Ugh, ah.”

Yuria, who had barely said a word ever since she got here, hugged her own body at the sight unfolding in front of her.

Tension, horror, displeasure, malice, hatred.

She felt all those emotions mixed together. It was a torrent of negative emotions that she had never felt before in her life.

Meanwhile, Seras and Riru were all stumbling, confused, as if they were experiencing the same emotions as Yuria.

Their body languages showed that they had no idea why they suddenly felt like that.

And among them…

There was someone who was the most affected by such emotions.

“...It’s unpleasant.”

Eleanor said, narrowing her eyes.

As soon as she saw this sight, she felt as if there was malice coming out from somewhere near her heart, a deep enough malice that made her feel nauseous.

It was to the point that it was difficult for her to control the Aura that came out of her body.

Her whole body was screaming, trying to tell her to go and tear that damn being apart, to kick that being out of this world.

As there weren't any other options.

Her brain was permeated by the feeling that she could not live under the same sky with that repulsive being as soon as she saw her.

[...It seems like a lot of people are angry at me, hm?]

The Seraphim looked around while letting out a sudden maniacal laughter.

[You beings from Pandemonium are always in such a hurry to kill us whenever you guys see us. Scawy~”

“...”

But…

Even while she was saying those words, she was still glaring at the Vessels, as if she was going to kill them.

But, before Iliya could even say anything, inside the column of fire, Faenol suddenly moved her body.

She wrapped her hands around her head before burying her face in between her legs.

As if she was sad about something…

As if she was weeping while burying her head in her knees…

“That’s…!”

Iliya let that out, her eyes widened, meanwhile the Seraphim, who was staring at the sight, replied with a smirk..

[Ah— that’s that thing. Unity.]

“...Pardon?”

[It’s minds uniting. That ‘key’ over there and the vessel seem to be having a very deep communion inside the Image World.]

“...”

Iliya looked up at the Seraphim with a pale face.

She had absolutely no idea why the Seraphim called Dowd a key, but she didn’t care much about that. The part where she said he was having a deep communion was more important to her.

[Hey, hey, it’s not what you think, you pervert~]

“...I don’t know what you’re saying, Lady Seraphim.”

[No need to deny it~ It’s all written on your face~]

“...”

The way the Seraphim flew towards her and teased her while poking her side made Iliya think that she was rather cheeky.

Add to the fact that she had to shame herself in public to awaken the Seraphim in the first place, she grew to hate the Seraphim’s personality if anything.

[Anyway.]

As Iliya entertained her thoughts like that, another sharp glint appeared in the Seraphim’s gaze.

[...This is the first time I’ve seen such a thing.]

“Pardon?”

[That thing, where a Devil is being ‘shaken’ in the middle of a communion. She’s showing him a crack on her emotions for him to get in.]

In other words…

She was ‘persuaded’.

That meant the Devil, who was trying to burn the world to achieve her goal, had half given up on that goal while she was talking with that man.

What the…

What the fuck did he talk about with her?

Does that mean it’s possible for a human to persuade a Devil just by talking? There’s no need for violence?

“...Ah, come to think of it!”

After she saw the Magically Engineered Wristwatch, she said that in a hurry.

Thinking back…

Dowd had told her that he would create a ‘crack’ on Faenol around this time.

She did not know the exact details about it, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable of her to think that the way Faenol suddenly reacted strongly like that was a ‘signal’ that he had succeeded in doing so.

“Lady Seraphim, please help me!”

[...Hm?]

“He said that we have to suppress the Demonic Aura right at this timing! As the master of the Holy Sword, I have to seal that Devil right now!”

[Well, that’s not hard…]

The Seraphim’s gaze was fixed on Dowd, who was on his knees motionlessly in the column of fire.

[...I need to take a closer look at that man later.]

Surely enough.

Even in the Astral Realm, there were people who was interested in him.

●

“...”

I scratched my head, as if I was in a difficult position.

“Caliban, are you crying?”

[...Shut up.]

There were sniffling sounds coming out of the Soul Linker.

He didn’t deny it, so I guess that he really was crying.

Well, Caliban reacting like that was one thing, but the Red Devil didn’t look any better.

“...You.”

She called out to me in a trembling voice.

“After going through something like that… How are you…?”

“...How am I still fine?”

“...”

She affirmed my question with her silence.

I continued with a bitter smile.

“I’m not.”

Honestly, I still found it scary.

I was afraid that I would see people around me get hurt, to see them go through something horrible…

And to see them die…

But still…

“Still, I can make Faenol similar to me. Seemingly normal. So that she can live on without any problems.”

Of course, I hadn’t shown her everything.

But, I had shown enough fragmentary images.

Unauthorized prostitution. Orphan. Vagrant. Survival. Murder. The life of a trash rolling in the mud, who lived the day by selling my future.

And, rescue.

At the end, at the eleventh hour.

A shock that was enough to change my life, that originated from a very small goodwill.

If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have lived this fine life.

Also…

I only showed her part of my ‘past’ so that I could show her that Faenol, just like me, would ‘be able to change’.

“...Now, do you believe me?”

Also, I only gave her what I had received from someone else.

Well, I understood that her past was filled with messed up things, to the point that the Red Punk volunteered to be her ‘guardian’ and erased all of her senses because she thought that it would be better for her to live like that.

“...”

The Red Devil looked at me silently.

There was no way that I’d be able to completely gain her trust with just this much and I knew that.

However…

My ‘past self’ that I had just shown her…

Would at least make enough persuasive power in my promise to ‘make Faenol happy’.

Because I had gone through the exact same thing just as she did.

“...This kid.”

The Red Devil said in a gloomy voice.

“If she were to cry, get hurt, or if you aren’t good enough to support her…”

But, I could sense a firm determination in it.

“I’ll come out again.”

“...”

Seriously.

These Devils really went out of their way for their Vessels.

Though this very nature was very useful when taking them into account.

Anyways.

“...Don’t worry.”

I replied with a wink.

“I’ll make it so that both you and her will never be able to leave my side.”

“...”

“As I said earlier, we just have to slowly get to know each other from now on.”

By showing her my past, I could be sure that we had opened our hearts to each other.

Now, the only thing I needed to do was to gradually get closer to this punk.

Well, of course, Faenol was included.

Damn, I just got a two-in-one deal.

“...”

The Red Devil glared at me silently.

As I said earlier, it was fascinating.

It felt really strange that I could tell that she was blushing even though her whole body was red.

“...Go fuck yourself, you playboy trash.”

I smirked inside at the sight.

Caliban.

[Uh?]

She becomes cuter the more you look at her, don’t you think?

Everything she did felt like a classic tsundere.

Her looks also fit my taste the most. Now, I felt motivated to slowly get her to like me even more—

[Did you get brain damage?]

“...”

[You’re expecting me to call the Devil who killed me cute?]

“...”

Whoops.

I asked the wrong person.