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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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Chapter 250
When beings from other worlds cross the threshold, they manifest in forms appropriate to the laws of this world.
The Demon King and the original seven demons were no exception.
The Queen of Agony, Malekia, is covered in thorns and flames from head to toe, resembling a dragon.
The old man of loss, Theo, appears as an elderly man on the brink of death.
The Knight of Death, Yol, is a large skeletal figure clad in armor.
As for the Demon King… Hero is not sure how to describe that appearance.
Anyway, it was evident that they all took on forms different from their true forms in the demon realm.
Those forms were manifestations of fear interpreted in the ways of humans… of this world.
Therefore, as a Hero, there was naturally only one question to ponder.
‘…Then what form would the Celestials take?’
The first Celestial to set foot in this world.
Although he didn’t know for sure, it wouldn’t be the typical Celestial.
Even when the demon realm and this world were connected, the first demons to come to this world were the Demon King and the original seven demons.
‘They’re likely to be powerful beings, possibly rivaling the original seven demons, if not the Demon King himself.’
As his thoughts reached that point, the Hero stopped in his tracks.
The swirling portal was about to engulf him.
“Why is that?”
“Are you not coming with me?”
I asked, standing beside the portal instead of entering it.
A quick shake of his head.
For some reason, he seemed slightly flustered.
“I think it’s better if just you see it.”
“…What? But you just said to come along.”
“I’ll wait outside.”
It was a firm refusal.
The Hero glanced at the old man and then gave up on persuading him.
“Then at least give me some advice.”
“…Advice? Like what?”
“Something essential to know before meeting the Celestials.”
Izaro pondered carefully for a moment before giving his answer.
“It’s better to let go of preconceptions.”
…He could understand what that meant faster than he thought.
.
.
.
“Hello.”
The Celestial greeted him.
Instead of returning the greeting, he looked around.
‘Where is this…?’
…He imagined a place like a prison because it was sealed.
But where the Celestial resided was warm like a home.
Warm lighting and soft colors of the interior.
It was even quite spacious.
Except for the fact that nothing could be seen outside the windows… it was quite ordinary.
‘What’s going on?’
Wooong-
A pitch-black darkness rippled outside the window.
As he peered into it, he realized belatedly where this was.
‘Oh my god.’
…The abyss.
‘The touch of Zero is definitely here.’
The hidden refuge of the guardians in the sky.
A home in the depths of the abyss.
This kind of unbelievable magic is impossible without Zero.
‘An abyss…’
It could be said to be a suitable place even to confine a shapeshifter like a doppelganger.
No matter how regenerative the doppelganger is, it wouldn’t be able to withstand the immense pressure of the abyss for thousands of years.
It would flatten out like a snack.
Heh-
Suddenly, unease surged within him, and he took a deep breath, turning his head sharply.
Before his gaze even reached the Celestial, a deeply comforting scent permeated my nostrils.
It felt like being wrapped in a cozy blanket on a dry desert.
The discomfort when facing a presence of magic and the complete opposite feeling.
Certainly, the being in front of him seemed to be a Celestial.
As the Hero’s gaze met hers, she waved her hand twice gracefully and greeted him again.
“Hello.”
This time, the Hero responded.
“Hello, Celestial.”
The Hero stared straight at the Celestial.
In a split second.
Countless shadows flitted past his eyes.
There were so many of them, so complex in form, that one might as well call them myriad.
But the amorphous shadows wriggled for only a moment, literally a split second.
The Celestial’s form settled into that of an ordinary girl.
The Hero made a comment.
“You manifested quite normally.”
“Did I?”
“Your idea of good seems to be within the realm of ordinary humans.”
At that, he looked at the Celestial with interest.
Could it be that one’s appearance reflects differently depending on the observer?
In a sense, it was similar to a doppelganger, so curiosity piqued.
But there were already many questions he wanted to ask before fixing the topic.
“Izaro was about to come in with me.”
“Yeah, I asked him not to.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to meet you alone.”
The Hero could only repeat the same words.
“Why?”
“Because I was curious about you. Because I wanted to meet you in person.”
“Why were you curious?”
“I’ve heard a lot about you. A lot. And I’ve seen you too.”
“…What?”
The Celestial knows him.
This was definitely something the Hero hadn’t anticipated.
‘’And I’ve seen you too.’ What does that mean?’
Before the Hero could ask, the Celestial opened her mouth with a somewhat excited expression.
“I really liked hearing about you. Of course, I like it when you’re capable like now, but I also really liked it when you were inexperienced.”
The moment the Hero realized something was wrong was from here.
“When I was inexperienced…?”
She looked at him as if he were someone she had met in person after reading a novel character with affection.
The Hero shuddered involuntarily and took a step back.
“Yeah, around the 2nd century. When you wanted to mingle with humans and got into trouble. When you didn’t kill the originals and got caught soon after being called a monster and driven out of the village. Remember how you cried in the forest stream for a whole afternoon? Do you recall?”
“Wait a moment.”
“Even when you first felt the emotion called love, it was nice. When you hastily sang a ballad you learned from a minstrel on the village festival stage. Of course, the result wasn’t good, but still.”
“……”
The Hero stood there expressionless.
It was desperate.
‘Calm.’
It was a word that had saved his life countless times amidst countless dangers.
But today it wasn’t so easy.
Even after tens of years, the current situation was as bewildering as it could be.
‘Oh, damn it…’
Whether it was a human, a doppelganger, or a demon.
Whenever the clumsy past is brought up, there’s only one thing to do: die.
Thud!
The Hero’s fist struck the wall at an invisible speed.
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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It was an irresistible impulse.
Of course, the protective magic surrounding the house didn’t even get a scratch from his bare fist.
The Celestial’s eyes sparkled, and it was at that moment.
“Punching the wall! Just like you did on that festival day when you messed up the pitch, rhythm, and lyrics.”
The Hero was engulfed in a violent impulse but managed to suppress it with great effort.
It was thanks to remembering the awkward face of Izaro awkwardly standing by the portal.
‘…Right. There’s another culprit.’
How could a Celestial trapped in the abyss know about his past?
Thinking it over carefully, the outline of the incident quickly emerged.
‘It must be because of Izaro.’
Zero had strong anxiety about the incomplete him.
He wouldn’t have just let him roam freely in the human world.
‘How far has Izaro’s influence… reached?’
Since escaping from the laboratory of Deifikio Lugo?
The Hero suddenly remembered the past crises he had faced.
There were quite a few situations where he couldn’t have escaped with his power alone, yet each time luck seemed to work mysteriously in his favor.
…Thinking about it, even meeting Ted was engineered.
“I never expected such a being to actually exist. Well, it turned out well.”
The tone sounded like Ted knew about the existence of the doppelganger and came looking for it.
It seemed reasonable to see this as the intervention of someone who knew his true identity.
‘I’m grateful for the help at the right moment, but…’
The Hero had no choice.
“So why did damn Izaro share all my mundane past with you?”
“Hmm… It wasn’t all mundane at all. I was deeply impressed.”
The Hero tightly closed his eyes.
Surely it would have been impressive.
How enjoyable would it have been for the doppelganger to survive so desperately during hundreds of years of imprisonment in the abyss, enduring the harsh conditions?
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t ‘all.’ And Izaro started to lose track of you at some point.”
“That’s not important. Just answer the question.”
“No, it is important to me.”
The Celestial responded gently, even with his sharp tone.
“Anyway, to answer your question, I should explain why I’m here first.”
That gentleness calmed the Hero’s excitement.
‘This Celestial… is good.’
Incomparable to demons, they were calm, rational, and friendly beings.
That’s why it made him even more uneasy.
Why would harmless-looking beings like this, Izaro and Zero, be trapped in the abyss?
The Celestial spoke softly.
“Well, the reason I crossed the threshold was a bit different from Zero’s expectations.”
“What was the reason?”
“Human extinction.”
The Hero was speechless.
The Celestial kindly reiterated her words once more.
“I came here to punish humanity.”
* * *
Izaro looked at the gradually fading portal with meaningful eyes.
By now, the Hero and the Celestial would be having a conversation.
At this point, as the effectiveness of the seal was running out, it was safe to say that his mission here was over.
‘What will happen next?’
The fact that he shared the Hero’s story with the Celestial was purely Izaro’s idea.
Of course, being the inheritor of Zero’s intellect, he would have done the same even if Zero were alive.
‘It was a good persuasion material.’
Izaro recalled the time when the Celestial appeared centuries ago.
Thanks to inheriting some of Zero’s memories, Izaro could also recall the time when he didn’t exist.
‘It was a shocking and terrifying arrival.’
It was an arrival that completely betrayed Zero’s expectations.
“I will personally punish you tainted by evil!”
Fortunately, Zero, who had witnessed the failure of Platooz, didn’t fully trust the presence beyond the door, even if it were a Celestial.
Clack-
“…Huh?”
It was the moment the Celestial finished speaking.
Shackles made of iron appeared on her wrists and ankles as if they were there all along.
A complex magical array spread over the iron.
It was the seal used by Platooz to trap Zero.
As it was prepared as a countermeasure against ‘him,’ the powerful Celestial’s power was greatly weakened, allowing Zero to easily suppress her.
“…Why?”
“You’ve leaned closer to evil.”
“On what basis do you judge that?”
“Well… uh…”
Although the explanation continued, in summary, it was as follows.
Because of your desire to open the door to the demon world and bring demons into this world, demons had the opportunity to gain greater power and even greater power.
As a result, there was considerable damage to the heavenly realm.
Punishment for wickedness.
That’s why.
Explanation aside, Zero trembled at the ruthlessness of the Celestials.
But no matter what the circumstances were…
“…It’s a failure.”
The door to the heavenly realm was closed as soon as they began to fight the Celestials.
Because if reinforcements came over, the situation would become bleak.
Thanks to that, Zero gained one more pawn.
…A pawn called a Celestial captive.
He couldn’t send her back to the heavenly realm.
There was no energy to open the door again.
But he couldn’t kill her either…
‘Too valuable.’
If she sided with humanity, she would be an incredible force.
In an era where divine power disappeared, the value of the only being capable of emitting divine power was incalculable.
So he conducted the so-called ‘mental restructuring’ over several centuries by keeping her trapped in the abyss.
Sharing the Hero’s life was part of that process.
‘Surprisingly, the reaction was positive.’
The always aloof Celestial showed particular interest in the doppelganger.
Perhaps it was because the process of an extraterrestrial entity experiencing humanity from scratch was so intriguing.
As she replayed the trajectory of the Hero’s life, the Celestial’s aversion to humans gradually diminished, and curiosity began to take its place.
‘Thanks to that, they can no longer be seen as a threat to humanity.’
However, Zero couldn’t be satisfied with that alone.
‘If the Celestial actively helps… the odds for humanity will be slightly higher.’
Whether that possibility would come to fruition depended on the current meeting.
Even if the Hero hadn’t been cursed, Zero would have called him here.
The success of his mission over several centuries depended on how great a harvest he would reap.
‘He’s competent in dealing with humans, but…’
Seven days until the seal expires.
Will that charm also work on the same extraterrestrial being?
Zero earnestly hoped for a Celestial comrade for the Hero.
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Night]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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