Isendra reacted quickly. Not only had she drawn her staff, but both the staff and her hands were already glowing with magical energy, ready to cast a spell at any moment.
However, Ethan reached out and stopped Isendra, signaling her to stay calm.
Just as Ethan made this gesture, a phantom appeared in the previously empty space. It seemed to be wearing a hood that concealed its face, which appeared as a completely black "face" no matter how you looked at it.
The full-body heavy armor, shimmering with a holy silver-white light, and the peculiar white wings fluttering behind him made it clear who this was, even though Ethan had never seen him before.
Tyrael, the Archangel of Justice.
"Imperius is worthy of the name of Valor! He is mobilizing the angelic host to guard against your sudden attack on Heaven."
Tyrael's words were ethereal, giving a sense of unreality. Even so, the content of his words still shocked the few people present.
Cain knew Tyrael and had met him many times. Isendra had also interacted frequently with this Archangel during the battle against Diablo.
They all knew how astonishing Tyrael's strength was, and for such a being to say that Imperius, the Archangel renowned for his martial prowess, was cautiously guarding against Ethan, this young man, was truly too shocking, almost impossible to believe.
Ethan looked Tyrael up and down, observing his ethereal and illusory body, and knew that the Archangel of Justice was not in good shape.
"I still admire your courage. Since you know Imperius is cautiously guarding against my attack on Heaven, why do you, who don't even have a body, appear before me?"
After the great battle with Baal and the destruction of the corrupted Worldstone, Tyrael was also caught in the terrifying explosion, his body directly shattered into pieces.
According to the original plot, he would spend twenty years in the Realm of Chaos to reconstruct his body, then return to Heaven, officially ushering in the prelude to the third act's plot, Heaven's Justice (Angels).
Yet now he had appeared here ahead of time. This was a change caused by Ethan, and the other party was clearly here for him.
Tyrael currently had no true body at all. Although angels in this world were miraculous life forms akin to energy conglomerates, they would absolutely not appear like Tyrael did now, like an illusory image.
The greatsword in his hand was the only object with a sense of reality. The Archangel of Justice slightly raised the weapon and adopted a defensive stance, looking ready to act at any moment.
However, he took note of Cain and the young Leah and ultimately did not strike. Unless his hood shifted slightly, a normal person wouldn't be able to tell if his gaze had moved. He simply stood where he was and asked Ethan his purpose.
"Outlander, state your purpose."
"Actually, I'm here to save this world. Do you believe that?"
He could clearly sense the greatsword in Tyrael's hand tremble slightly. Regardless, the Archangel of Justice was startled by Ethan's answer.
"Save the world?"
Tyrael slightly lowered the greatsword in his hand. He was very curious how Ethan planned to save the world, and what part of this world needed saving anyway.
Ethan didn't beat around the bush, nor did he play any "guess what" games. He stretched out his hand and pointed at Leah, who was quietly moving away from him because Cain had secretly signaled her, since Cain trusted Archangel Tyrael implicitly, and in this situation, he was quite wary of Ethan. This wouldn't change just because Ethan had come with Isendra.
Although Isendra was a hero who had defeated Diablo and saved the world, it didn't mean heroes couldn't fall, especially since this was a powerful being from another world. Tempting a hero to fall didn't seem difficult to understand.
"Because of this young girl?"
Tyrael felt that the person opposite him was mocking him. He raised the greatsword in his hand again. Although his power was in its weakest state ever, he would absolutely not evade the battle he should face just because he was weak.
Ethan didn't know Tyrael very well. He only remembered that Tyrael often sided with humanity. From a human perspective, Tyrael was the best angel.
In fact, more and more angels in Heaven were dissatisfied with Tyrael. Imperius was definitely not the only angel who disliked him. He was just the one who showed it most intensely.
At the same time, Tyrael was the most stubborn angel among all of them. It was difficult for him to change his mind once he had decided on something, which could be seen from the fact that he would rather abandon his angelic status than not stand by humanity.
Therefore, Ethan's identity as an outsider from another world meant it was difficult for him to gain Tyrael's trust. No matter what he said, even if it was the truth, it would be discounted in Tyrael's mind.
In this situation, this awkward battle was simply unavoidable. However, what surprised Ethan was that another angel was preparing to intervene.
"It seems I really misunderstood him just now."
Ethan and Tyrael looked up almost simultaneously. To onlookers, these two were merely looking at the ordinary ceiling, but their gazes had long since penetrated the barriers between these connected worlds, looking toward the Archangel of Valor who had arrayed his forces in Heaven.
As the commander of the angelic host, the Archangel of Valor, who possessed the greatest strategic mind and countless proud achievements, Imperius naturally wouldn't be scared away by a mere glance.
After sensing Ethan's situation, being able to accurately locate himself in Heaven meant the other party could see through Heaven's location, he immediately made the necessary arrangements, arraying his forces and waiting for Ethan to arrive, preparing to give this newcomer who appeared out of nowhere a harsh lesson.
After he had completed all of this, he found that the outsider was confronting Tyrael. Although he was very dissatisfied that Tyrael always sided with humanity, at this time, he would not let Tyrael act as cannon fodder. The proud Archangel of Valor did not need others to help him test the enemy.
Furthermore, Tyrael's current condition was really not good. He probably couldn't even unleash 30 percent of his strength, so going up like this would simply be suicide.
So he decisively issued a challenge signal, a very sincere invitation for Ethan to fight in Heaven, this invitation could roughly be condensed into one word: Face me.
"Want to go see Heaven?"
Before Isendra, and the nearby Deckard Cain and Leah could react, Ethan directly activated group teleportation. Isendra wouldn't resist Ethan's teleportation, and Deckard Cain and Leah had no power to refuse.
Thus, after the magical light of teleportation flashed and disappeared, the few people were already standing before the Diamond Gate.
Imperius, along with his angelic host, was waiting for Ethan in full battle array, but he hadn't expected Ethan to come alone.
Tyrael arrived closely behind him. He didn't return directly to the angelic host's ranks but continued to watch Ethan, guarding against him doing anything to Cain and Leah.
Ethan, however, was looking at the angelic host before him with great interest, especially Imperius, who was leading them.
At the same time, he glanced at Leah, who was curiously looking around beside him.
This scene, which should have happened in the future, had occurred early because of his arrival. However, this time, the enemy Imperius faced was not the resurrected Diablo.
Speaking of Diablo, Imperius hadn't paid much attention to the humans initially, but when he saw Leah, his gaze paused noticeably.
The thick faceplate perfectly concealed everything, making it impossible to determine whether Imperius's current expression was one of confusion or shock. Of course, even without the faceplate, there likely wouldn't have been an expression for anyone to observe.
But one thing was certain. This commander of the angelic host, who had fought Diablo for countless years and considered him his greatest enemy, instantly sensed the bloodline of the Lord of Hell within Leah.
"Diablo?"
"Oh, as expected of Diablo's arch-enemy, you immediately spotted the key point."
Imperius's surprise and doubt also reminded Tyrael. The Archangel of Justice, whose strength was greatly diminished, finally understood the message conveyed by Ethan's earlier words.
So, this outsider really came to help? Then this whole thing was actually a misunderstanding?
Even so, knowing Imperius as Tyrael did, it was likely that this misunderstanding couldn't be resolved easily with just a few words of explanation.
"Hmph, whether it's Diablo's foul bloodline or beings from other worlds, since you have come here, the only outcome awaiting you is death at my hands!"
Imperius lightly raised a hand, and the blazing sun high above suddenly flashed with intense light. Then a beam of light shot straight down in front of Imperius, finally transforming into a long spear that Imperius held in his hand.
At this moment, Cain also understood the details of the situation. Isendra took the opportunity to explain what she knew to Cain, and Tyrael, standing nearby, naturally didn't miss a single piece of information.
When Imperius summoned the Spear of Valor, Solarian, Tyrael stood in front of Ethan and the others.
"It seems this is a misunderstanding. There is no need for this meaningless battle."
However, not only did Imperius ignore Tyrael, but Ethan also paid no mind to Tyrael's attempt to mediate. Imperius was the most difficult angel to deal with in Heaven. He was hostile to all beings other than angels, a true angel supremacist who believed all life outside of angels should be annihilated. This was also his biggest conflict with Tyrael, because Tyrael was too inclined to favor humanity.
How could such a person possibly stop when faced with this situation?
Therefore, at the same time Imperius summoned the Spear of Valor, Ethan already had a black and red greatsword in his hand, and he had also donned the Gold Cloth he hadn't used for a long time.
This time, he chose not the Gemini Gold Cloth, but the Sagittarius Gold Cloth that he had never used before.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)