Chapter 34 - Ratatouille's Chef

"Raphael!"

"Yes? What?!"

I grabbed Raphael's shoulders and shook her. She had mentioned it before. That she had her wings sealed when coming here.

"You definitely had your wings sealed, right?"

"Huh? Yes. That's right. When falling to the mortal realm instead of properly descending from the celestial realm, wings normally─"

What is a seal?

It means something is bound and blocked from use. Which means if you have the key, you can unlock that power at any time.

A seal that can block an angel's power. Ordinary power won't do it. That means it must be an ability or magic.

It's a bit perverse, but I made Raphael turn around. Moving aside the golden hair that reached her waist revealed beautiful curves of her nape and waistline. I don't pay attention to that.

That's not what I need to look at right now. What shows in my still-active "Magic Eye" is.

Tens, hundreds of mana, no, magic. Hundreds of mana flows are running across Raphael's back.

All the magic I've seen until now was regular and formed a single pattern. But this on Raphael's back isn't like that.

It feels like looking at tangled strings, with no consistency and so twisted you can't see what connects where.

Yet what's certain is that it's magic. If I pierce it with "Magic Eye" it should definitely disappear.

"Ishia."

"YES?!"

Ishia, who was watching me with her hand over her mouth, answered with a start. Why is she acting like that with her face all red?

"Go help Kim Taehyun. Buy as much time as possible."

"What? If I fight, what are you going to do?!"

What's with calling your master 'you'? I frowned.

"Solving this incident."

"...Alright."

Though still seeming uneasy, she clicked her tongue and ran toward Kim Taehyun. I sent Ishia too, but I'm not feeling very confident.

"Wh-what's wrong? Is there something on my back? D-don't tell me I'm cursed? That's not good!!"

"Stay still. I'm trying to break the seal on your wings."

"!!!"

At my words, Raphael turned around. Her eyes are sparkling like stars and she seems to be expecting a lot.

"Really? Really? If this isn't a lie, I can forgive all your misdeeds today. I absolve you of your sins."

Then please stay still. I calmed down the excited Raphael and made her face forward again. What are you doing, you're not a 3-year-old.

"Will I get all 12 back?!"

"That would be nice. Don't know. We'll find out when we try."

"Eh~ Then when finding them, please find them in pairs just in case. If not, I can't exert my power. Asymmetrical wings don't resonate with each other."

What's resonance? Anyway, I guess it means I should break the seals in matching pairs.

When I opened my [Inventory] and brought the practice scythe to Raphael's back, blue windows blocked my view.

[This magic was written by a higher being. Cannot interfere.]

[This magic has protection placed by a higher being.]

What? I couldn't believe my eyes. Then what happens? Does this mean we can't free the wings? When I actually brought the blade close, it felt like hitting a wall.

Wondering what this was about, I frowned and another blue window appeared.

[This magic can be interfered with once when using skill "Heaven's Blessing(EX)".]

"What?"

"What's wrong? Is something strange?"

So. One "Heaven's Blessing(EX)" per wing?

Will one wing be freed with each interference in the first place? I don't know. But.

"GUOOOOOOOOH!!"

With the monster's roar still echoing, this seems to be our only option left. I closed my eyes tight and thrust the blade forward. Raphael made an "Eek!!" sound as if feeling a chilly sensation.

[Conditions met, skill "Heaven's Blessing(EX)" activates.]

Along with the blue window, the wall-like sensation blocking the blade disappeared.

"Where should I stab..."

"St-stab? Really? Really?"

"It's okay. Probably?"

"Probably? Isn't it a fail the moment you say probably? Let's pretend this never happened?"

"It's dangerous if you move now."

While thinking about Raphael's face, which I can't see but is probably crying, and looking for where to stab, a snow-white hand pointed at Raphael's back. Exactly where the mana is.

Looking up at the face, there's the silver-haired cat-eared girl.

"Okay."

Lowering my head again, I touched the spot Lachesis pointed to with the blade. I can see the mana I touched flowing backward.

At the same time

"Seonghoon!!! Th-that!! It's swinging the scythe around!! My instincts are telling me to run?! Seonghoon!!"

Raphael's commotion could be heard too. Making her fuss seem pointless, an incredible wind pressure covers us.

"Wow. That was really dangerous."

I almost wet my pants. If we'd been a bit later, wouldn't we have ended up like those flying trees? Sends chills down my spine.

The wind is still blowing. But why am I fine? Well, there's one reason.

Our angel is blocking it with two pure white wings spread out.

"Watch carefully!! The great Raphael's activity!!"

It would have been really cool if she hadn't said that.

***

The wind stops, and Ishia and Kim Taehyun who were buying time until just now have disappeared. Seems they got blown away somewhere, but no need to worry right? I'm not worried? I'll erase you from my mind?

"Now then! Let's go! Seonghoon!! To catch that thing!!"

Why is she so excited? I nodded and stood up. I was about to start walking to approach the Reaper, but Raphael isn't moving.

Wondering what's wrong, I looked and saw her standing still, twitching her wings and tilting her head.

"Seonghoon."

"Don't say anything weird."

"I can't fly. Since I'm trying to fly with 1 pair after always flying with 6 pairs, it's not working. I need to use skills from up high."

She says that while staring at me. She's smiling brightly, but I have a bad feeling. I got a bad premonition.

"Give me a piggyback ride!!"

Why have my bad premonitions never once been wrong?

"Ask Lachesis for a ride."

"Eh~ Lachesis is short. I told you I need to use skills from up high? The angel's stage is the sky! The higher up, the more powerful it is? Seonghoon, don't tell me you don't want to catch that thing?"

We need to catch it. We need to but I don't want to give a piggyback ride. After hesitating for a while, I reluctantly lowered my head.

Only then did Raphael say "Ahem! That's more like it!" and climb onto my neck. She's disgustingly light so I could stand up without much difficulty.

Where does all the food you eat usually go anyway?

"Let's go!!"

With those words, Lachesis returned to cat form and climbed onto Raphael's shoulder.

Feeling like I've become Ratatouille's chef, I started walking, and soon saw the Reaper. Perhaps that continuous swinging earlier was quite tiring, as it stands still as we approach.

Only then does it show movement. I swallowed nervously, but the one above me doesn't seem worried.

"Now that I have wings, I can see them. The six souls that thing is holding. They look quite painful."

She was overflowing with confidence. Like prophesying victory, she crossed her arms and snorted while looking down─ no, up at the Reaper.

"REPENTAAAAAAANCE"

Still not giving up, it charges with its scythe gripped tight. Raphael, as if curious, casually asked me.

"How did you know I was an angel? Even without wings? Perhaps there's something that my existence unconsciously emits?"

"How would I know? Here it comes!! Hurry up and kill it!! I don't care how!"

So impatient. Raphael muttered and stretched out her hand.

Being underneath, I couldn't see well, but I knew without seeing.

The pure white wings shine. Brilliantly. Each and every wing emits light so bright it hurts my eyes even from below.

How much must the Reaper, who hates light, hate this? It's completely covering its face with its hands.

The Reaper's movement is sealed, and geometric circles like magic circles appear at its feet.

Not just one but many. A circle within a circle within another circle appears. The continuously appearing circles start rotating.

Click. Click.

Each time one aligns, it stops rotating and the stopped circle emits light.

"Seonghoon! Engrave this well in your mind!! Not just anyone gets to see the great Raphael's attack!!"

She's really excited. I hope she knows well thanks to whom she can make that attack.

Finally all circles align and a blue window appears before my eyes.

["Angel Fall(EX)": A skill that recreates the impact of an angel falling to earth. Its destructive power even surpasses a dragon's breath.]

Thanks for the explanation.

A pillar of light that seems like it could blind you appears before our eyes.

***

"Hmm."

Sophia sits at the top of the clock tower watching the pillar of light. With red eyes she stares at the pillar brighter than the sun that would have instantly turned ordinary vampires to ash.

She watched from start to finish with her vampire night vision.

"As expected, an amazing person."

Lee Seonghoon.

While she came up empty and just caught a bunch of minnows, he found and eliminated the 'real one' in one go.

That real wraith had the ability to spread decoys. It was a cunning monster that cleverly kept spreading wraiths to paralyze Justitia while going around devouring souls alone.

"It met the wrong opponent."

To think it would run into Lee Seonghoon. Sophia felt a bit of pity. That wraith was a monster of similar rank to Sophia.

The end of wraith-type evolution that lived and evolved for a long time. A strong monster that even she wasn't sure she could beat.

Even within Justitia, very few could handle it.

To be hunted down with such bad luck in the optimal situation. She couldn't help but feel pity.

"Seems like it couldn't even eat one soul."

It's a chronic problem of wraith-type monsters. The very foolish habit of not eating souls during battle unless in critical situations.

Well, from Sophia's position it's fortunate that no one died.

Now the wraith incident is over. The wraiths that appeared all over Justitia confusing and paralyzing the faculty will all disappear.

When people gather to see the pillar of light and wrap up the incident, there probably won't be any rumors about vampires either.

This is all thanks to Lee Seonghoon. Just what kind of person is he?

Being with dragons, keeping around a woman who can kill powerful monsters in one shot. A man who keeps her identity secret.

She can't understand his identity or principles of action.

When Lee Seonghoon first discovered her identity, she had resolved to break ties with human society, but now she feels fortunate to have been discovered.

She even thinks that someone of his caliber might resolve her situation too─

"But still, I'm a maid."

If such a situation comes up, he probably won't pretend not to know.

"Right? Carol?"

Awoooooo─!!! Sophia's wolf, who was eating the wraith's corpse nearby, answered. In the dark night, only the wolf's howl filled the downtown area.