Entering Apocalypse in Easy-Mode
Chapter 300: Talk In This Dark Place

Chapter 300: Talk In This Dark Place

The oppressive silence of the blackened wasteland pressed down on Elsa, Kassiel, and Aelarin as they stood frozen in place. The swirling gray fog clung to their body making them feel smaller as if reality itself had shrunk around them. It was a feeling they can not explain.

Michael’s sudden appearance sent a wave of worry through them. It wasn’t just his presence, how effortlessly he had emerged from nowhere as if the barriers to this strange place meant nothing to him.

Even Kassiel, who had been sent by Michael himself, looked utterly bewildered, his face filled with confusion.

Elsa the human soldier from Uriel’s troop was the first to break the silence. Her grip on her shortswod tightened instinctively, though she didn’t dared to raise it yet.

"Lord Michael... how are you here?" she asked cautiously. Her voice sounded calm, but there was an edge to it.

Kassiel’s golden brows furrowed, his gaze flickering between Michael and the place behind him where he appeared earlier.

"You sent us to scout, but now you’re here yourself? That shouldn’t be possible, My Lord."

Aelari the dark elf did not speak, but his sharp violet eyes narrowed as he shifted slightly, already positioning himself in a defensive stance. His white cloak billowed slightly as he subtly moved a hand toward the hilt of his blade.

Michael’s smile did not gone, but it was a hollow thing. It was a smile that never reached his eyes. The three could feel the wrongness in the air around Michael and the weight of something unseen from the Archangel pressing down on them like an invisible force.

"I’m sorry," Michael said, his voice smooth, almost gentle. "Truly, I am. I wish you three did not have to be involved in this. At least not this fast."

His words sent a fresh chill down Elsa’s spine. The way he spoke — it was not regret or hesitation, but something far worse: inevitability.

"But," Michael continued, tilting his head slightly, "your presence here only adds to our plan. So I can’t be mad."

A single word rang between them like a hammer striking an anvil.

Plan?

Kassiel stepped forward, his luminous wings flexing slightly in agitation. "What do you mean... ’your plan’, My Lord?" His voice was strained, as if he were fighting to keep his composure.

Michael let out a sigh that sounded long and tired, as though the question wasn’t even worth answering. "Must I explain everything?" he murmured, almost to himself.

Elsa and Aelarin exchanged a glance. There was no mistaking it — something was deeply and terribly wrong.

This place and this mission is already wrong... and now Michael’s words.

Aelarin’s hand wrapped around the hilt of his daggers, his fingers curling with careful deliberation. Elsa mirrored the movement and shifting her grip on her shortsword.

Michael had passed through the Black Wall effortlessly. That should have been impossible. They had struggled nearly lost themselves within it, yet he walked through it as if it were no more than passing a doorway to another room.

And now he spoke of plans they were never meant to know about.

The realization settled between them like a blade at their throats.

This wasn’t a rescue. Michael was not here to help.

This was something else entirely.

Slowly, their bodies tensed, even Kassiel. Weapons inching from their resting places. The air crackled with silent anticipation and the moment stretched impossibly thin.

Michael simply smiled, watching them and waiting.

As if daring them to act.

Kassiel’s golden eyes lingered on Michael, the Archangel he had served without question for countless years. Michael had always been mysterious, his actions often beyond mortal and even angelic understanding, but now... now he felt like something else entirely. Something feels distant an detached about him.

The Michael he knew had always carried an air of authority, but there had been a purpose behind his orders, a sense of duty to his position as an Archangel. Now, that purpose was obscured, twisted into something he could not comprehend.

Kassiel clenched his fists and letting go of his sword’s hilt. Even without looking, he could sense the tension radiating from Elsa and Aelarin. They were ready to fight. But against Michael?

No.

He shook his head. "Wait," he said firmly with voice heavy with meaning.

Aelarin’s grip on his daggers tightened for a fraction of a second before he relaxed and slipping into a more neutral stance again. Elsa exhaled slowly and lowering her blade ever so slightly, though she kept her body tensed.

They understood.

This was not a battle they could win.

Michael could erase them in an instant if he wished. There was no point in striking against something so vastly beyond them.

The only path forward was to listen first and to find a way out of this situation without forcing his hand.

Michael observed their silent exchange, amusement flickering in his eyes.

"Good," he mused, clasping his hands behind his back. "You’re smart enough to recognize when you’re outmatched. That will serve you well in the days to come."

Kassiel felt his stomach twist at those words. "The days to come?So he indeed have a plan for us."

Elsa finally spoke. "Then tell us, Lord Michael... what is this plan you speak of? Why are we a part of it?"

Michael chuckled softly, shaking his head as if he found the question mildly entertaining. "Curiosity... a double-edged sword." He turned away from them, gazing toward the black place around them, the swirling darkness undisturbed by his presence. "Tell me... what do you three know of the true nature of this place?"

Aelarin’s violet eyes narrowed. "We don’t know anything. The information that you and the other Archangels told us that this was a forbidden zone and anomaly created by something beyond the Wall. This is the place that even the Celestials and the Demons fear."

Michael let out a breath that could almost be mistaken for a laugh.

"A half-truth, at best. But it can’t be helped," He glanced over his shoulder, his piercing gaze locking onto Kassiel. "Tell me, my loyal warrior... do you know why I sent you here?"

Kassiel hesitated. He had accepted the mission without question, believing it to be another trial or another duty in service of the Eden. But now, doubt crept in.

"I was told it was to scout for threats from the Black Wall," Kassiel said.

"And what if I told you... that you were meant to fail?"

Silence.

Elsa stiffened. Aelarin’s fingers twitched near his daggers.

Kassiel’s wings trembled slightly. "What?"

Michael turned fully toward them, his presence flaring ever so slightly, making the air feel heavy with his power.

"I needed you to enter this place. To experience its pull. So you will be able feel the change. You see, the Black Wall is something more. It is not just a boundary but a doorway to something far older than any of us. Something that has been waiting."

Aelarin inhaled sharply, the realization hitting him first. "You... you wanted us to cross it."

Michael inclined his head slightly. "Yes. This was not part of the initial plan but I figure that this will also help. Then you will go back to Eden and to your ranks to spread it."

Elsa took a half-step forward, her voice growing cold. "Spreading what?"

"The inflence of the Ancient Ones."

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