An Angel Lives in the Academy
Chapter 208: The Angel Who Spreads its Wings (3)

The angel who spread its wings looked at the world.

The world remained shrouded in darkness, and the light merely shimmered faintly from afar.

The city was, quite literally, plummeting into the abyss, and it seemed no god could save them.

Sinners who had fallen into the abyss swarmed into the city in their desperate craving for life, and the people, fleeing from them, sought higher ground toward the city’s center.

Yet, even in such a situation.

Yet, the people saved a baby.

The people passed the baby from hand to hand, moving it to the higher reaches of the city. As if by doing so, they could save the baby.

As if by doing so, they could at least let the baby escape this abyss.

They must have known.

That, at best, they were merely prolonging the child’s life by a few seconds.

So it was a meaningless act.

An act that defied the truth that those who have fallen into the abyss cannot be saved, an act that defied the reality that they couldn’t save anyone with their meager power.

But the angel with spread wings understood why the people were doing this.

Only now did he come to realize.

The angel now understood why he had met those girls who would become heroes, and why he had stayed with them. Now, the boy understood why he hadn’t sought revenge on the world despite gaining power. Leffrey finally realized why he hadn’t given up and continued to fight against the darkness, even in a world as dark as this.

It was because Leffrey had faith.

Just as there had always been wings on Leffrey’s back, so to speak.

But only with the belief that he *could* fly would he be able to spread those wings.

*Flap*—carefully, yet without hesitation, the pure white wings beat.

And so, Leffrey soared freely into the sky, as if the shackles of the abyss were nothing to him.

Thus, the people could behold the angel.

That angel, whose appearance was so incredibly beautiful that it made him worthy of being called a pretty boy, was smiling. That angel had bright hair reminiscent of the dawn, and tear stains still lingered around his eyes, yet to be erased.

The people looked at the angel and raised their prayers.

“Angel-nim please, at least this child…”

“Please… Show mercy to this child at least…”

And in the sky was an angel who answered the people’s prayers. Hearing those prayers, the angel closed his eyes and offered a single prayer with all his heart.

“Please save those people.”

And Keter was activated.

A prayer that answers prayers.

Long ago, the ultimate skill of prayer used by Archangel Leffriel.

The light aided that prayer, and even the darkness moved to fulfill that prayer. Both karmas converged upon Leffrey’s prayer.

Thus, the city that had been falling into the abyss began to rise back to the surface once more.

The angel descended as the city ascended.

The angel slowly, but naturally, folded his wings as he descended before the girl he wished to protect.

“Leffrey.”

The girl smiled brightly and embraced the boy.

“This is, too much. Your arm…”

Mari could see Leffrey holding back tears. The sight of him, pressing his eyes shut tightly, at a loss as he caressed the place where her lost arm once was.

Just that sight alone kept Mari from feeling any pain at all.

And without a sound, Mari’s arm was completely restored.

“Mari.”

“Leffrey.”

“Why did you save that child?”

“Why did Leffrey save me when I was a baby?”

The boy and the girl faced each other and smiled.

Because it was a question that needed no answer.

Did they really not know? In a world as dark as this, surely that child would see many sad things and experience many hardships.

The child would surely cry while having nightmares.

But.

“Someone will surely…”

Just like how Leffrey had comforted Mari, who was having nightmares, alone in that red room with a painting of the gates of hell.

Just like how Mari had comforted Leffrey, who was having nightmares, alone under that blackened sky.

“Someday, someone will surely be there to wipe away that child’s tears.”

Leffrey’s wings began to spread once more. The angel’s wings, unfurled solely by faith. Even as these wings absorbed the thick darkness blanketing the world, they radiated a brilliant light that people could see and feel.

For people that see and feel it.

This light was not the light of karma.

Certainly, the truth pointed towards darkness. All that sorrow and despair, they couldn’t be undone.

This world is dark, that is the ‘truth’.

But faith, at times, transcended the truth

People called such faith a miracle.

And now, a miracle was unfolding, with the city that had been falling into the abyss rising once more.

* * *

“This is impossible.”

How many times had he said those words. The Demon King was so shocked that he wasn’t even aware of how many times he said it. How could the city that he had clearly plunged into the abyss be standing on the earth again.

Unless it were an angel with spread wings, no one should be able to escape the abyss. That was both the truth and the reality.

“It’s because the people’s prayers were answered.”

A voice similar to his own but slightly brighter answered the question in the Demon King's mind.

“With mere prayers, such a miracle cannot be created.”

It was an obvious fact.

If prayers could make the impossible possible, then who wouldn’t believe in Heaven. But Heaven was silent, and the light was hollow.

Prayers held no power. A truth proven by the countless tears shed throughout the ages. It was a truth that could never be wrong.

“Yes, you’re right. That must be the truth.”

A familiar voice affirmed those words.

But that voice didn’t stop.

“But this world isn’t made of truth alone.”

And now, the Demon King began to realize who the owner of that voice was.

“Look at the world. In this world, there is nothing absolute, nothing infinite. Karma is merely karma; compared to the real, existing world, it’s but a speck of power.”

“What are you talking about.”

“You know it too, don’t you.”

And then, the Demon King could see the angel with spread wings.

“That truth is just truth.”

‘It’s bright,’ the Demon King thought to himself. Despite the overflowing darkness, the darkness that engulfed the world where no brightness should exist, Leffrey’s wings shone bright.

“This world is not made only of truth, and people do not live solely by truth.”

“Why? How can that be?”

Leffrey smiled.

“Because people, have faith.”

“Then I’ll kill every single person who holds such faith.”

The Demon King gathered his strength once more. He summoned Absolute Solitude that had trapped Lusa and focused his magic, which was being eroded by Ma-sal, causing him deep internal injuries.

Clearly, this decision was one that diminished his chances of victory.

But the Demon King had to deny Leffrey.

“What is mere faith! What meaning is there in denying the truth right before your eyes and believing a good ending will come?”

The demon king saw his kin who had disappeared long ago.

His kin, who had looked at his fallen self with sorrow in their eyes.

The foolish race that, even with the truth before them that humans would darken this world and ultimately destroy it, still believed in humanity.

“Look at the karma! Humans made the world like this, I tell you. It wasn’t me who defiled it! How can you believe in such humans?”

And his precious brothers and sisters who had stood in his way. The Demon King saw the past of heaven’s destruction, a memory he could never forget.

“With the truth of destruction right in front of you, what exactly can you believe in? Do you really believe that humans won’t destroy this world? The very humans who did such things to you?”

And the Demon King shouted.

“Why won’t you side with me, Leffrey.”

And the Demon King reached out his hand to Leffrey.

“Think about what you’ve been through, hmm?”

“Yes, that was truly painful. I'll never forget that night until I die.”

“Then why do you deny this truth, this reality?”

“I’m not denying the truth. This world is dark enough that one might think it deserves to be destroyed.”

“Then why, why, why!”

“Demon King, you still don’t understand”

Looking at the Demon King reaching out to him, Leffrey smiled brightly.

“Faith doesn’t need a reason.”

And as Leffrey’s pure white wings spread once more, the warm light radiating from them was melting the Demon King’s false black wings.

“Just as prayers don’t need possibility.”

“What foolish words……. You’ve become a fool, Leffrey! An idiot……!”

Unable to steady his voice, the Demon King could only pour out his raw emotions. Regret, despair, and hatred.

Dark emotions seeped from every part of his voice and expression. The dark karma, resonating with the Demon King’s feelings, began to surge violently at a level never seen before.

That surge was so intense that it cracked reality itself. And from those cracks flowed an unbelievably dense, dark karma.

Anyone, not just Leffrey, would know.

That this was the demon king's true power, his form as one with the dark karma.

The Demon King, showing no emotion, muttered as if he had become a puppet.

“I’ll fix you.”

“Try it if you can.”

Leffrey said.

“I will never abandon this faith.”

* * *

A girl scratching under her wide-brimmed witch hat muttered, “Finally.”

“You’re finally awake.”

“Ugh, Soya, Leffrey is…”

Wiping tears away with her sleeve, Soya reached out to the girl with pink hair floating in the shallow sea. The girl, feeling her damp body, muttered.

“I hate being wet…”

“I’ll dry you off. Come on, get up quick!”

“Ugh, damn it. Is it okay to nag someone who’s even been stabbed like this?”

“Yes, it is.”

“…As expected of a black mage.”

Hearing the complaint, Soya snorted.

“Hmph, I’m not the least bit ashamed of being a black mage, you know? But I’d appreciate it if you could be a little more careful with those black magic-hating remarks.”

“Look at you spouting nonsense when you say you’re busy.”

As Hongwol sat up, Soya snapped her fingers once, drying all the moisture from Hongwol instantly.

“How did you heal your stomach?”

“I healed it with a potion Rainmaker gave me.”

“Rainmaker? Who’s that guy supposed to be.”

“He’s humanity’s greatest alchemist… No, he exists.”

Crack—Crack—Although it wasn’t visible to the girls, they could hear it. It was the sound of an immensely powerful karma collapsing the dimension, enough to make them doubt their own senses.

“Ha, is that for real.”

“Uh, um. I didn’t expect it to be this much, no, it’s exactly as I expected. Ugh.”

Soya, unconsciously pulling down her brim to hide her terrified face. Hongwol silently wrapped her arm around Soya's shoulder.

“Why do you think the Demon King revealed his full power?”

“That’s obviously because, ah!”

Then, suddenly, Soya’s trembling began to subside.

“Leffrey has finally woken up!”

“Yes, Leffrey has woken up.”

And Hongwol, caressing Soya's shoulder, murmured.

“With Leffrey, we can’t lose.”

“…Yeah.”

Soya gently lifted her brim.

Her expression, to put it simply, was one of absolute confidence.

“I believe that too.”