Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage - Chapter 357: The Heavens (2)

The Mimik that had devoured Brillente as a lower-ranked demonic beast appeared in the heavens at Henry’s summon.

Klever sensed that his master was deeply irritated. As his loyal servant, Klever had descended more powerful and majestic than ever, trampling on the snakes that bothered him.

Thump!

He was now a giant, and Henry thought he was comparable to Brillente and Gigatan. Actually, on a closer look, he was actually just as big as Brillente, the former Demon King candidate.

This was thanks to one of Klever’s abilities, which allowed him to perfectly imitate whatever he had devoured. Klever had used that ability to become just like the former Demon King candidate.

“Fucking bastards.”

Henry gestured for Elagon to set him down on Klever’s right shoulder, and after Henry managed to position himself properly, Elagon flew freely around the area.

Henry cursed under his breath again, and with a voice full of irritation, he gave Klever the order.

“Kill them all.”

– Yes, Master.

The response of his trustworthy servant echoed in his head.

After acknowledging Henry’s order, Klever turned each of his feet into a mace of justice and proceeded to crush the snakes without hesitation.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The heavens shook as Klever stomped with his giant feet.

Henry was still on edge, and as he was holding onto Klever’s shoulder, he looked up at the fiery wheels, which were still burning fiercely.

‘What the hell are those?’

Upon closer inspection, those weren’t just normal wheels. There were four sets of tiny wings attached to each wheel, flapping to accelerate their rotation.

The wheels were chasing after Elagon.

“Elagon!”

– KHU KHU!

“Kill them”

Henry jerked his chin sternly at Elagon as it fled.

It didn’t matter whether the wheels were attached to the wings or vice versa. What mattered was that they had attacked Henry first.

Having received Henry’s orders, Elagon inhaled deeply, filling its mouth with cold blue air.

– Koooo!

Elagon was a rare spirit with four different elements, but its most powerful one was water, its main element.

At one point, Elagon had also attained the element of ice, which was compatible and synergized well with water, making its main element even more powerful.

At last, Elagon managed to amass a huge amount of energy in its mouth. The spirit was still soaring into the sky, dodging the fiery wheels, and it eventually turned its head and opened its mouth, preparing to fire.

Splashh—!

Elagon unleashed an ice breath that looked like a waterfall. The dozens of fiery wheels were swallowed by Elagon’s ice breath, and the extreme temperature difference instantly led to a massive explosion, which led to a chain reaction.

Instead of dust, the air was filled with steam, and blood splattered on the ground where the snakes were.

The steam soon cleared, and Klever stopped shattering the ground with his stomps.

Crackle!

The wheels crumbled into a pile of black ash, which quickly scattered in the wind.

Henry wrinkled up his nose at the stench of blood coming from beneath him. He immediately dismissed Elagon and shrunk Klever down to a smaller size.

‘What the hell?’

A preemptive attack all of a sudden?

Henry realized that the heavens weren’t much different from the Demon Realm. He was dumbfounded by all of this. He had set foot in the heavens thinking that it was a peaceful place of virtue, but he had only been met with violence.

He decided that if he was ambushed again, he would completely dispel his preconceptions about the heavens.

Then, as though to offer him confirmation, an arrow flew at his head. Henry instantly sensed the murderous presence and instinctively cast his Magic Shield to defend himself.

Thud!

The arrow hit the Magic Shield and fell to the ground with a dull sound. Then, it vaporized into a white cloud before disappearing completely.

Henry turned to look in the direction the arrow had come from. There, he saw a bunch of children, fluttering their white wings and holding bows as large as them.

‘Children?’

They looked like babies, but they were slightly too large to be considered that. By size alone, they seemed to be two or three years old.

There were a few dozens of those baby-looking creatures, and they pointed their bows at Henry once again.

‘Cupids?’

Henry had read about it somewhere. Cupid, known as the god of love, took the form of a baby and carried a bow as large as him. However, those toddlers in front of him didn’t look like they were trying to spread love.

‘What the hell?’

Henry had been assaulted by a swarm of snakes, then by fiery wheels, and now by winged babies with bows. His image of the heavens was completely ruined.

This time, he wasn’t angry, but in shock, and as he stared at the cupids in disbelief, they drew their bows again.

“Klever.”

– Yes, Master.

Henry could have killed them himself, but he couldn’t bring himself to swing his sword at a bunch of babies, even though he knew they weren’t human babies. He had ordered Klever to do it because he wouldn’t hesitate.

Klever quickly transformed into a Death Knight, a common entity in the Demon Realm. As soon as his transformation was complete, Klever took flight and unsheathed two scimitars.

Clank!

Slash!

With his two scimitars, Klever skillfully slaughtered dozens of cupids, blood gushing everywhere as their heads went flying. He was also skilled in swordsmanship because he had acquired it from Benedict.

Just as he was about to praise Klever’s swordsmanship, Henry suddenly heard a strange sound, causing him to frown in confusion.

Twang-!

He heard the sound of a lyre coming from somewhere, and instantly after he heard the crystal-clear sound, something incredible happened before his eyes.

Swish!

The blood that was gushing from the cupids’ necks surged back into them, just like water magically returning to the cup it had spilled from.

More than that, their heads flew back onto their necks, flowing through the blood like a salmon swimming back up a waterfall.

Henry frowned at the grotesque sight. The heads fully reattached themselves to the cupids, and their eyes, which had rolled into their heads, regained focus.

The cupids had come back to life after being decapitated.

‘What the hell?!’

Something was off. But at that moment, Henry heard the lyre again.

Ring-!

It was a clear, crisp sound.

As the sound of the lyre echoed once more, a blue aura surged through the resurrected cupids, lifting them up.

‘Awakening? No, that looks like…!’

The cupids rose after hearing the melodious sound of the lyre. This looked like the Protection Holy Code that Saint Irenae used on her soldiers.

Henry was frozen for a moment, but he came back to his senses after the cupids fired another wave of arrows at him at Klever.

Clank! Clank! Boom! Boom!

The arrows exploded on impact, Henry being their one and only target.

“…”

The bronze-colored ground was engulfed by black smoke, and only the flapping of the cupids’ wings could be heard.

The cupids had no intention of stopping, so they drew their bows again and unleashed another volley of murderous arrows.

However, a ray of light erupted from within the dark smoke.

“…!”

Sensing that this was no mere light, the cupids flapped their wings in panic, but unfortunately for them, only a handful of beings could escape this kind of light.

The light emerged from the smoke and swept everything in its path like a violent wave. It was so bright and overwhelming that a bird would’ve thought that the sun was descending.

The light soon dimmed, and a silhouette emerged through the dying light.

It was Henry, frowning with an otherwise dull expression, indicating just how angry he was. He had used his divine power to annihilate all the cupids. Once the light died down completely, his surroundings became visible again.

Not only had this place become a wasteland, but everything around where he was standing had caved in. Henry’s destructive light had formed a huge crater around him.

‘From cupids and the music of a lyre to resurrection and a Holy Code… Are they really the heavenly beings that I imagined?’

Those were the current circumstances. Not everything had been according to Henry’s expectations, but some things had actually matched his preconceptions about the heavens.

However, Henry kept getting ambushed without any time for talks, and he had to do something about that.

Twang!

He heard the lyre once again.

“Damn it…!”

Even though the sound of the lyre was supposed to be sweet, given the circumstances, it instantly set Henry on edge.

He looked around himself, but no matter how attentively he scanned for any threats, there wasn’t anyone or anything around him.

“Sword on.”

He had dismissed Klever a while ago. As the fight had become more fierce, Henry had become more comfortable moving on his own instead of relying on his servant.

Having summoned his sword, Henry rose high into the air. But despite reaching a high altitude, he could still hear the sound of the lyre in an intermittent pattern.

Twang-!

A vein popped out in Henry’s forehead. He was incredibly irritated by the fact that the sound kept echoing around him even though he couldn’t see anything.

Unable to hold back his anger, he shouted, “Where are you?! Stop hiding and playing the lyre and show yourself!”

An eerie silence followed after his shout. Given that there were no mountains around, Henry’s voice didn’t echo.

However, the silence didn’t last for long.

“I’m here.”

Hearing a voice instead of the lyre, Henry turned around like a lightning bolt.

There, flapping their wings and holding various weapons, were hundreds of heavenly beings, all different from what he had seen upon his arrival in the heavens.

Twang—!

Henry heard the lyre again, and then he spotted a male-looking entity among the armed heavenly beings holding the musical instrument.

Twang—!

As Henry’s gaze settled on the lyre, the male being plucked the strings on the lyre once more as if performing an encore. Then, he lowered the lyre and slowly bowed to Henry.

“Nice to meet you, incomplete god.”

The heavenly being who greeted him looked exactly like a human, the only difference obviously being his wings. He wore a snow-white robe, similar to those that priests wore, that didn’t fully cover his torso.

From the way he presented himself, he seemed to be a commander. His composed attitude caused Henry to feel humiliated for the first time in a long time.

It naturally felt awful to be toyed with and made a fool out of.

Thus, Henry lifted his sword before offering any other words. However, just as he did so, the winged being with the lyre smiled and said, “Why don’t you stop now, incomplete god?”

“Stop? I haven’t even started. What a strange thing to say,” Henry snapped back.

But despite his blunt, aggressive response, the lyre player merely shook his head, maintaining his smile.

“Your name is Henry Morris, and you’re the first god of magic, correct? You came here because of the problems in your world, right?”

“…!”

The bold attitude of the heavenly being caused Henry to feel goosebumps all over. How did this winged guy know so much about him?

La had told Henry that nobody could read a god’s mind, so it made no sense for this winged man to know so much about him.

Henry’s eyes widened in astonishment, a myriad of thoughts racing through his mind.

Seeing Henry panic, the man with the lyre calmly said, “There’s no need to be surprised. I actually found out about you just a while ago.”

“…What do you mean?”

“I haven’t read your mind or anything like that. In fact, you’ve already revealed your identity to us several times.”

“I… revealed my identity to you guys?”

“That’s right.”

Henry was even more dumbfounded. Seeing him frown even more, the heavenly being pointed up to the sky.

“I didn’t see anything, but… the Heavenly God has been watching everything.”

Henry’s gaze followed the heavenly being’s fingertips, but at the end of it, all he could see was the one and only sun of the heavens, shining brightly at its highest point.

The heavenly being clasped his hands together and said, “Please make a different choice this time.”