An Angel Lives in the Academy
Chapter 100: The Angel Who Meets the Headmaster (5)

The Angel of Truth, the Revived Angel.

And the headmaster of the Central Superhuman Academy.

The strongest being in the other world, acknowledged by the professors.

Iriel.

Compared to Iriel, who had accumulated power and knowledge for thousands of years, Leffrey, who hadn't even been awakened for a year, was just...

A baby angel.

‘Wahhh!!!’

Although he confidently started this fight, ready to fulfill his mission, Leffrey was ultimately no match for Iriel.

Iriel was minimizing her karma consumption and using efficient attacks, but to Leffrey, those efficient attacks were...

‘No way! How can she casually spam ultimate moves like that with no cooldown?!’

Each and every one of her attacks was an ultimate move.

A one-hit KO.

She’s holding back her power and controlling her strength to save karma and prevent her silver castle from getting damaged. If she were to go all out...

‘I would have died today.’

Then Leffrey leaped into the air.

Forward roll, backward roll, Serious Sideways Jumps!!! Leffrey had no choice but to dodge Iriel’s attacks like an acrobat. (TL Note: One punch man reference, noice.)

Iriel, looking at Leffrey.

“Heh, Leffriel. Looks like you’ve fallen as well. Saving your karma like that.”

She said those words.

“The reason I'm not attacking you is to express my desire not to fight with you.”

Leffrey, the Acting Angel, with his trademark expressionless face, spoke those words full of bluster, but…

‘Baby angel is gonna die! Wahhh!’

To the point of calling himself a baby angel...

He was mentally on the verge of breaking down.

“As expected of a Tyrant Angel, unbearably arrogant.”

But his bravado only fueled Iriel’s anger.

And yet, Leffrey couldn’t stop bluffing. If he stopped, Iriel would stop her probing and instantly eliminate him.

Such an overwhelming gap in strength and an impossible victory.

“Then try dodging this.”

Iriel slightly increased her karma consumption. She decided to accept that this castle, made of blessed silver, would be damaged.

In other words, Iriel was getting pisse- ahem, no, she was getting angry.

“Light of the...”

And it was the moment Leffrey had been waiting for.

A murky, gray light gathered behind Iriel’s head.

The light gathered behind her head changed into a round shape and soon completed into a donut-like shape. It was a halo.

“Ruling Archangel.”

And then she fired a beam of light, the same color as her halo.

In some ways, it was similar to Leffrey's ability, the fact that light emanated from the hand, the fact that a halo appeared behind the head when using it.

But there were two differences.

The first was the aforementioned color. And the second...

Was its overwhelming size.

If Leffrey's light beam was the size of his palm, then Iriel’s was just... the size of a single-story building. It was a beam of light the size of a building.

“Good.”

Leffrey was thankful

that the beam was so big.

And Leffrey didn’t bother dodging it. Instead, he discreetly gripped the bible in his pocket.

And summoned the black Inquisition Sword.

‘I learned something from battling Bethel.’

During his fight with Bethel, Leffrey learned many things.

And one of them was that... the Inquisition Sword had an overwhelming advantage against a Fallen Angel.

An angel who has fallen to earth, rejecting Heaven’s orders, is a heretic. A heresy so great that it couldn't even be judged at a human level. Naturally, they would be susceptible to the power of the Inquisition Sword.

And even Leffriel suffered.

Then how much of a heretic was an angel who had fallen from grace and was even revived by evil necromancy?

And her Angelic Ability?

Leffrey, holding the Inquisition Sword firmly, hid amidst the light and muttered,

“Cheonggu Nine Tails.”

Cheonggu Nine Tails, a secret technique of True Cheongu Swordsmanship.

The massive Inquisition Sword energy, resembling nine tails, instantly slashed through the karma that had been corrupted by falling from Heaven and necromancy, then even struck the flesh of its owner.

Although it was just a scratch, faint red lines appeared on Iriel's arms and legs.

“Kugh!”

Iriel, the strongest being in the other world, was bleeding, wounded by a mere young angel.

[Severing the Angelic Ability of a fallen angel is an angelic act.]

[You have gained Angelic Power.]

[Severing an Angelic Ability tainted by necromancy is an angelic act.]

[You have gained Angelic Power.]

Leffrey, who had already dismissed the Inquisition Sword, stood there as if nothing had happened. The way he looked at Iriel with a blank face was unsettling.

“…What on earth?”

Iriel took a step back and stared at Leffriel.

Leffrey, seeing this, thought to himself,

‘Just as planned. Iriel, falling for my provocation, used an overly powerful ability, creating a huge opening.’

That’s right.

Iriel's beam was just too big. Even Iriel herself wouldn’t be able to tell what Leffrey did.

‘I’ll use that blind spot to quickly summon the Inquisition Sword, then use Cheongu Nine Tails and dismiss it! Then Iriel won't even know that I used a sword technique. She’ll probably think the attack just now was my hidden power.’

Hehe- Leffrey, suppressing a laugh, thought to himself,

‘A trick only possible with the Inquisition Sword, which can be summoned and dismissed…’

Leffrey, the Con Artist Angel… No, Leffrey, the Trickster Angel!

Truly, he was quite adept at deceiving people, for an angel.

“Just how? You didn’t even use karma?”

Iriel asked cautiously.

But Leffrey didn’t answer.

Because a magician never reveals their tricks.

Leffrey, casually covering one eye, smiled as if affected by chuunibyou and said,

“I just saw a line.”

It was true that he saw a line. He saw the electrical lines installed throughout the castle and the line drawn on the floor. Well, there are lines everywhere, aren’t there?

But this kind of bravado, which would only work on chuunibyou kids, was actually starting to work on Iriel.

“You saw a path? There’s no such power among our common angelic abilities… Could it be that it’s an ability only bestowed upon Leffriel, the Angel of Judgement… An overpowered ability that doesn’t even consume karma…?”

Leffrey, The Bluffing Angel, seeing Iriel mumbling to herself, confidently said his next line,

“Kukuk, I see another line now.”

Startled, Iriel backed away.

Seeing that, Leffrey was overjoyed.

‘Huh, huh? This really works? Soya taught me to use this when I’m in danger!’

This was Soya-style Black Magic.

Dark language used by a black mage?

Definitely not chuunibyou lines or anything like that.

So Soya had claimed.

Anyway...

Leffrey looked at Iriel once again.

“Are you going to continue this?”

And with that, he gathered his Angelic Power. Angelic Power gained by eliminating Bethel, who had been humanity’s nightmare; Angelic Power gained by rescuing Soya from the nightmare; and…

Even Angelic Power gained by severing Iriel’s attack.

Thus, the Angelic Power he had gathered wasn't exactly something that could be called meager.

But it wasn't something he could call a lot compared to Iriel's.

"You have a little bit of karma, huh? But even with that much karma..."

Leffrey, without answering the headmaster, equipped Sanctus. He then opened his status window.

Leffrey Lv.15

Race: Angel

HP: 400/400 MP: 300/300

His status window, which had looked like this…

Leffrey Lv.13

Race: Angel

HP: 350/350 MP: 250/250

…transformed like this.

Sanctus’ ability was to manipulate Angelic Abilities. It couldn't enhance Angelic Abilities, but it was an artifact that allowed for free control over those powers.

‘Levels gained through Angelic Power are, ultimately, the manifestation of Angelic Abilities. So I consumed Angelic Power to level up.’

That meant if he had Sanctus, he could get back the Angelic Power he used to level up.

And the Angelic Power he gathered using this method...

Thus, the Angelic Power that gathered in Leffrey’s right hand…

“As expected... A tyrant angel……”

…was so immense that it made even Iriel bite her lip and take a step back.

‘My, my body… can’t take this anymore.’

Of course, Leffrey felt like he was about to explode, like a balloon filled with air, but bluffing tastes best when you’re struggling the most.

“I can draw on even more karma than this. It’ll be dangerous, but...”

It was true.

If Iriel didn't back down, Leffrey was willing to grind another level off, even if it meant risking his own life.

Iriel, the Angel of Truth, couldn't help but realize that he was being honest.

So, now she had to believe the words Leffrey had said earlier: “I also want to protect this world.”

If she didn't believe him, she would be destroyed by Leffriel.

‘Angels are always the problem.’

Iriel smiled bitterly.

“I… I can't trust angels.”

Iriel muttered.

“This world is like this because of us. We angels don’t have the right to judge this world. We are the true sinners.”

Iriel shouted,

“That's why I’ll do whatever it takes!”

Transparent tears welled up in Iriel’s eyes.

“To protect this world. This world that’s broken because of us, I can do anything!”

To do anything.

A phrase engraved in Leffrey’s heart as one of the top three cruel phrases.

The first was, “It can’t be helped.”

The second was, “There’s no other way.”

And the third was, “I’ll do anything.”

Cruel words used by adults. Cruel words inherited by children. It was the cycle that created the world, a world that the angels failed to protect.

Leffrey hated it.

Iriel, now making an expression befitting a young girl, wiped away her tears and asked,

“Leffriel-nim, will you judge this world?”

Leffrey asked Leffriel in his heart, ‘Leffriel, do you want to judge this corrupted world?’ Leffriel softly answered,

‘No.’

Leffrey slowly walked toward Iriel and hugged the girl’s small back.

“I’m not qualified.”

Not qualified.

Just who was qualified to judge this world?

The one that’s judging this world, An angel?

Ridiculous.

What qualification does a mere angel have?

“None of us are qualified…”

He then whispered to Iriel,

“None of us are qualified to sacrifice another, or judge what matters in this world… We don’t deserve it.”

“None of us? But I…”

The two angels looked at each other.

And Iriel cautiously nodded.

“Yes, that’s right. I… I’m not qualified either. Why am I just realizing this now…”

[Teaching a fallen angel that she’s not qualified to sacrifice herself is a truly angelic act!]

[You have gained a large amount of Angelic Power.]

“Just now… realizing this…”

Iriel, muttering those words, slowly knelt before Leffrey.

“Welcome to Earth, Leffriel-nim.”

And she declared,

“I will obey your orders, following the celestial hierarchy.”