Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage - Chapter 360: The Heavens (5)

Posla—commander of the Powers and the most militant angel in the heavens.

Interestingly enough, Powers were like the soldiers in the human realm who were deployed first in times of war. Thus, in a way, Posla was the commander-in-chief of the heavenly army.

Henry made eye contact with Posla. He was overwhelmingly larger and more muscular than any of the other heavenly beings Henry had seen so far. His armor was also different from that of the angels around him.

But perhaps what made him stand out the most was his imposing aura, his intimidating eyes that seemed like they could make anyone tremble in fear.

However, his fearsome appearance had no effect on Henry.

‘He probably has a general idea of what’s going on. He must’ve heard about it from the Sisibabas.’

Henry was convinced that Posla knew why he was here. After all, unless the Sisibabas vanished, no secrets could be kept in the heavens.

As Henry maintained eye contact with Posla without saying a word, the angel got up from his nimbus cloud and spread out his two pairs of wings, gliding toward Henry.

Posla was considerably taller than Henry, so he looked down at Henry while speaking.

“It’s an honor to meet the god of magic,” said Posla. His tone was clearly polite, but his eyes conveyed anything but genuine respect. That was all the courtesy he could offer an incomplete god.

Henry felt as annoyed and dissatisfied with Posla just like with Virtus previously. But just like before, he didn’t bother to voice his indignation. Instead, he suppressed his emotions and faked a warm smile.

“Are you Posla?”

“Yes.”

“Nice to meet you. You came after Virtus told me about you, right?”

Henry did speak in a rather cocky tone, but he was being polite nonetheless.

At that, Posla smiled ever so slightly, just for a brief second. Henry picked up on that, and he could tell that Posla was convinced he had the upper hand, given that Henry was being respectful to him.

But once again, Henry pretended he hadn’t noticed.

“I already heard the news. So you want to meet the Heavenly God?”

“Yes. I have an urgent request for the Heavenly God.”

“Is that so? Well, I understand. I won’t bother asking what your request is, as I’m sure it’s a personal matter. However…” Posla stressed his last word and cast Henry a fierce look before continuing, “Regardless of your urgency, you cannot meet the Heavenly God without permission, and I have to admit that I’m a bit hesitant to grant you permission.”

“A bit hesitant?”

“My superiors would be angry with me if I gave you permission without knowing your true intentions, Sir Henry.”

Of course, Henry thought that Posla’s excuse was absolutely ridiculous, but he knew he had to play along even with this idiotic excuse in order to meet the Heavenly God. He didn’t want to take Posla so seriously, given his attitude, but he was forcing himself to be as serious as possible in order to get past this angel.

He sighed slightly and asked , “Then how can I get your permission?”

“It’s simple, Sir Henry,” Posla replied immediately, as though he had been waiting for this exact question. But before continuing, Posla quickly pulled out a huge sword from his waist.

Seeing this, Henry couldn’t help but frown, but ironically enough, the angel wasn’t pointing his sword toward Henry, but at himself.

Posla slightly moved the sword toward Henry and continued, “Prove your will to me. Show me that you are sincere so that I can understand your intentions. I need to make sure that your intentions are pure, so that if any problems arise after I grant you permission, my superiors won’t punish me.”

Posla, just like the others, was demanding Henry to prove his will. However, for some reason, he still hadn’t told Henry why he was holding a sword with the handle pointed at him. Regardless, Henry took the sword while thinking about Posla’s words and how to prove his intentions.

The sword was quite big and heavy, and some people would certainly consider it a greatsword. In fact, it was large enough that some would have to use both hands to wield it. But of course, it was merely a longsword to Posla, given his size. Once Henry fixed his grip, he wielded the sword just like Posla would a longsword.

The angel looked at Henry with shimmering eyes. “Sir Henry, if you can prove to me your will, I will unconditionally agree to you meeting the Heavenly God,” said the angel in an enthusiastic tone.

At that, Henry reversed his grip on the sword and let its tip touch the ground. He then looked up at Posla and said, “Alright. I’ll gladly prove my will to you. But I have to ask… What kind of proof do you want me to show you with this hideous sword?”

Henry had already anticipated that Posla wouldn’t just grant him permission to meet the Heavenly God, but he didn’t understand why the angel was making the atmosphere so tense by giving him this sword. He wanted to know what Posla’s intentions were.

In response to Henry’s straightforward question, Posla’s eyes shone even more brightly. He demanded, “Give me your left arm.”

“What…?”

“You heard me, Sir Henry. Give me your left arm! I don’t know what adversities you’re facing, but if you’re so desperate that you’ve come all the way to the heavens to meet the Heavenly God, I’m sure you can at least do this much in order to prove your will, and…” Posla babbled on, his face growing red.

Henry quickly grew sick of his babbling and cut in, “Alright.” He finally realized why Posla had given him the sword, and he lifted it with the tip pointing upwards.

As a matter of fact, the sword was a holy relic that the Heavenly God had given Posla. It was a relic that no ordinary angel could lift up, let alone move, even if they mustered all their strength.

However, Henry handled it as if it were a small feather. He brought the blade under his left armpit, and then…

Slash!

He severed his left arm. There wasn’t any blood spurting because Henry concentrated his magic on his wound to prevent bleeding.

Thud!

His left arm fell to the ground with a dull thud, the fingers twitching slightly. Henry quickly used more magic to stop any bleeding from his left side. He then threw the greatsword in front of Posla and picked up his severed arm.

He had only done this to comply with Posla’s request, and he had used all the necessary magic to quickly heal himself because he didn’t want to bleed for this angel and give him satisfaction.

Henry pointed at Posla with his severed hand as though he were holding a stick.

“Is this enough?”

Henry didn’t let out a single groan as he kept healing himself. Instead, he gazed stoically at Posla.

The angel was slightly intimidated by Henry’s attitude for a second, but he quickly composed himself and smirked.

“Yes, this is enough,” said Polsa in a satisfied tone. “I admit that you are a very strong-willed individual.”

“Then I take it you’re giving me permission to see the Heavenly God?”

“Of course, Sir Henry. I, Posla, never go back on my word.”

“Alright, I believe you. Then may I ask you to guide me to where the next archangel is?”

“Of course.”

Posla gladly offered to help Henry advance. Just as Virtus had done, he plucked a feather from his wing and threw it at Henry.

This feather looked the same as the one Virtus had given him. The feather slowly drifted toward Henry and landed at his feet.

“Oh, my apologies!” exclaimed Posla. “I forgot that you’re short on one hand. Do you need help picking it up?”

The angel openly mocked Henry, but Henry wasn’t agitated by this. Instead, he concentrated his magic while looking at his left side.

Tszzz!

Dark green magic glowed around Henry’s left side. Moments later, Henry had a new left arm, extending it toward Posla before saying, “No, I’m fine.”

“…!”

Henry then picked up the feather with his new magical arm, and Posla was rather astounded by that, but he quickly hid his surprise with the same sly smile he had worn earlier. He then bowed and politely sent Henry off.

“Then I wish you good luck, God of Magic.”

“I’ll gratefully accept your prayer.”

Henry immediately used divine power on the feather to advance to the next area.

***

The scenery around him was entirely different than before. And now, all the pain he hadn’t felt before came rushing in at once. But holding back his boiling anger was far more difficult than his throbbing pain.

Henry gritted his teeth.

‘These damn bastards!’

He could tell that Polsa could’ve given him permission right away. Angels weren’t impossible to work with. It was just that, for some reason, they were being territorial toward him.

Nonetheless, Henry knew he had to put up with everything, given that he didn’t know what decision had led him to failure five consecutive times.

Still, he was certain of one thing—things were going fairly smoothly on this sixth attempt. Besides, sacrificing his left arm wasn’t a huge deal because, if he managed to get the power of time from the Heavenly God, he could rewind time to get it back.

‘Well… I might not be able to if I’m unlucky.’

Of course, since he didn’t know what kind of being the Heavenly God was, there was a chance that he might not be able to obtain the power of time. However, Henry decided to be optimistic and dispel any negative thoughts for the time being.

He told himself over and over again that success was the only option and that he would certainly obtain that power.

Henry felt like his pain was subsiding as he concentrated on his end goal. He looked down at his severed arm emotionlessly for a moment and then put it into subspace. It felt strange to put part of his own body away, but he had to keep going.

‘Hopefully the next guy is normal.’

He didn’t have high expectations, but he decided to give the next angel the benefit of the doubt.

Now that he was done thinking, Henry took the time to scan his surroundings. To his surprise, there was nothing around. The only difference from the previous area was the sky, which glowed a light green hue instead of blue.

‘A different sky?’

The next angel Henry was going to meet was a Principality, a seventh-rank angel. They were similar to guardian spirits, as their role was to descend in front of those that believed in angels and protect their countries.

As Henry kept on looking around, a voice called out to him.

“Hey, over here.”

Someone addressed him informally. At this, Henry turned his head to where the voice had come from. He then saw a half-naked woman with flowing silver hair, lying on a cloud.

“Principatus…” muttered Henry.

“Oh, you know my name?” said Principatus with a rather surprised face.

Principatus was the chief of the Principalities, but surprisingly enough, none of her subordinates were around. It was just her and Henry.

Henry didn’t bother to answer her question. Instead, he explained what was going on.

“I come before you to meet the Heavenly God. Principatus, can you help me meet him?”

Even though Principatus had spoken to him casually, Henry replied in a formal tone. Despite Henry being superior in terms of rank, he bent a knee and swallowed his pride, knowing this was the only way he would have a chance to meet the Heavenly God.

After his question, Principatus came down to where Henry was, changed her posture, and hung in mid-air. She smiled as she gazed at Henry’s magical left arm before locking eyes with him. She flashed him a seemingly warm, beautiful smile, but for some reason, Henry was creeped out by it.

And then…

“Okay then, I’ll take your right leg,” said Principatus.

“What…?”

“I think I made myself pretty clear. You proved your will to Posla by sacrificing your left arm, right? So, I want you to prove your will to me by cutting off your right leg.”

Henry could tell that Principatus was being serious…