— — — — — —
At the gates of Heaven—
Ryo stopped walking and looked up at the towering entrance before him. Beneath the endless blue sky, layer upon layer of intricate divine spell formations shimmered faintly across the massive structure.
"So this is the Gate of Heaven?"
He stared at the gate surrounded by countless angels, genuine surprise in his eyes.
There was more than one way into Heaven, but if you wanted to get in safely without triggering God's defensive spells, this was the only route.
And Ryo, having witnessed those spells personally, already had a good idea of how terrifying they were.
At minimum, you needed strength on the level of the Five Digits just to make it through alive with injuries. Anyone weaker would probably be crushed on the spot.
With skill like that, God would have been highly sought after anywhere below the four-digit Outer Gates of Little Garden.
After all, technical specialists could make a living anywhere.
"Please follow me through the side passage into Heaven."
Michael, acting as their guide, spoke apologetically.
The path he intended to use was naturally the same hidden route Azazel had once used to infiltrate Heaven.
Its entrance lay behind the Gate of Heaven itself, so as long as someone managed to slip past the gate inspection and had an insider guiding them, invading the core of Heaven, the Zebel, was hardly difficult.
Of course, for such a convenient route to exist, it obviously couldn't have been built by outsiders.
In truth, this passage had originally been a secret route God himself frequently used when entering and leaving Heaven. Only high-ranking angels knew of its existence.
Without it, every covert operation by the higher angels would mean passing through Heaven's countless barriers and flying straight through the sightlines of entire legions of guardian angels.
At that point, even the dumbest enemy would realize something big was going on.
"I see. You don't want me showing my face in front of the angels, huh?"
A teasing smile appeared on Ryo's face.
"You understand the situation. Lower-ranked angels are not permitted to know that God has died. And without God's command, even I cannot openly bring an outsider near the Zebel. Even if I technically could... sigh, now is not the time."
Michael smiled bitterly.
"I get it."
Ryo actually wanted to say, 'By exposing this secret passage to me, you'd better prepare for Gabriel mysteriously disappearing one night.'
But seeing the nervous look on Michael's face, he decided not to tease him with dirty jokes.
...
With Michael leading the way, Ryo effortlessly avoided the patrols guarding the Gate of Heaven before slipping into the hidden fast route. Barely any effort later, they arrived in the Zebel, a world covered almost entirely by vast oceans.
"This ocean...?"
Floating high above the sea, Ryo raised a brow slightly.
From this seemingly lifeless ocean, he could sense overwhelming vitality.
"We internally call it the Sea of Life. The first angels and the progenitor of the devils were born from here."
Michael explained casually as he flew ahead.
In this world, both angels and devils had been personally created by God.
The angels had been mass-produced directly by Him.
The devils, on the other hand... God basically created Lilith and called it a day.
The later devils were actually descendants of Lilith and the original Lucifer, the fallen angel Lucifer himself.
In other words, the pure-blooded Seventy-Two Pillars and the Four Great Satan families all came from the same parents, just not biologically.
Then the pureblood families intermarried, branched out, and gradually formed the noble devil houses, complete with ranks ranging from barons to Satans.
Well, they were devils. Incest was basically a national pastime.
To put it in terms from Ryo's previous life, it was basically: "Give me one waifu, and I'll build an entire species."
Still, compared to the devils' messy family tree, Ryo cared far more about the Sea of Life below.
The moment he saw that ocean, he became certain God wasn't truly dead.
At the very least, the life energy contained in that sea was absolutely enough to create two or three four-digit beings.
It was similar to the Leo energy reserve within Ryo himself, the source that allowed his Cosmo to reach triple amplification.
To truly kill Ryo, one would first need to exhaust the Leo reserve, then grind away his own Cosmo, and finally shatter his will completely.
Only then would he actually die.
God couldn't achieve something that with the Sea of Life, but as long as even a fragment of will remained, returning to the Zebel and making a comeback was entirely possible.
Thinking this, Ryo couldn't help glancing at Michael.
Just how absurdly "kind-hearted" did an angel have to be for Longinus, the holy spear containing God's will, to end up lost outside Heaven?
If you'd just risked it once and brought the spear back to the Zebel, God might have revived ages ago!
Still leading the way, Michael suddenly touched his cheek and asked in confusion, "Is there something on my face?"
"You're handsome, so I looked a little longer."
Ryo answered with complete seriousness.
"Handsome...?"
Michael touched his cheek again, expression turning strange.
'Interesting...'
Muttering quietly to himself, he guided Ryo down onto the only island in the Zebel.
At the foot of the palace stairs on that solitary island, Ryo landed and looked up toward the entrance.
Three figures were already waiting there.
Gabriel. Uriel. Raphael.
Together with Michael, all Four Great Seraphs had gathered in one place.
.
.
.