"So..."
Raon clicked his tongue briefly while lying on his side.
"This place isn't heaven, but hell?"
He wiggled his right foot draped over his left knee, signaling for the man to speak again.
"Yes? Yes! That's right!"
Charlie nodded while kneeling on both knees. Unlike the confident appearance he had shown initially, he now sported dark bruises around both eyes.
"It's only called heaven in name, but this place is hell. No, it's a burning hell!"
Charlie tugged at his few remaining strands of hair as if regretting having come up to heaven.
"Why?"
Though Raon somewhat understood what Charlie meant by calling heaven a burning hell, he pretended not to know and tilted his chin.
"Because it's a place where people can't be treated as human beings!"
Charlie bit his lips tightly, saying that was the worst part.
"People aren't treated as human beings?"
"That's right. This is a land where desire becomes power. People with weak desires are treated worse than dogs and pigs..."
He lowered his head with a gloomy expression as if those dogs and pigs referred to himself.
"How do you turn desire into power?"
Raon half-raised his body and narrowed his eyes thin as thread.
"You must bring out your true desires. Not superficial desires like wanting to earn a lot of money, live in a nice house, or meet pretty women, but you must draw out the ugly desires that humans cannot even speak of to become strong in this place."
Charlie trembled at his fingertips, saying that one could only survive in this burning hell by bringing forth filthy desires that no human should even put into words.
-Ugly desires...
Wrath furrowed his brows as if thinking about what ugly desires could be.
-Something like tormenting by starving them? That would certainly be painful.
For a demon king, he had rather innocent thoughts as he tilted his head.
"The people who only received pleasures given by their Master like pet dogs in the land of clouds were divided into two groups when they came here."
Charlie turned his gaze to the left and looked at the mansions and towers that rose so high they seemed to touch the sky.
"A small number of demons realized desires they couldn't even speak aloud, trampled on other humans, and built those Tower of Babel that could reach the sky."
He ground his teeth so hard they made noise, as if he too had suffered at the hands of those demons.
"The rest of the majority were pushed into that corner after having everything taken by those demons."
Charlie pointed to the shantytown built on the right side with reddened eyes. He too seemed to be living miserably in that area.
"Those evil spirits spared neither water, fire, nor blood! They competed to bring forth greater desires, bought Martial Prowess, and then plundered even our desires!"
Charlie seemed to have suffered quite a lot of hardship, gasping for breath as if spitting blood every time he spoke.
"What do you mean by plundering desires?"
Raon asked while tapping the tree stump with his finger. He understood most other things, but he didn't know what it meant to steal desires.
"It's simple. I said you can achieve anything with desire in this place, right? They engage in life-or-death duels with those desires."
Charlie roughly grabbed handfuls of dirt with both hands as if the mere thought was disgusting.
"Life-or-death duels?"
Raon's eyes widened at the completely unexpected term.
-A life-or-death duel means a battle where they kill each other!
Wrath also opened his mouth wide in surprise.
"Since you're a Swordsman, you naturally know about them. Yes, those life-or-death duels. However, in this place, they don't take the enemy's life, but steal all their desires."
Charlie let out a heavy sigh, saying that if you lose in a life-or-death duel, you lose all your desires and become a cripple.
"I see. Now I understand."
Raon chuckled while looking at the towers that seemed to reach the sky and the shacks that looked like they could collapse at any moment.
"But there seem to be people with strong desires over there too?"
He turned his gaze, recalling that there were people with fairly strong desires in the shantytown as well.
"To sense that, you're amazing."
Charlie let out a sigh as if wondering how he had such perception.
"That's right. Those desire-based life-or-death duels can only happen with mutual agreement. But..."
He bit his lips deeply until they bled.
"Those arrogant bastards use whatever means necessary to create situations where you have no choice but to engage in life-or-death duels, right?"
Raon twisted his lips, recalling the wealthy who would steal even a piece of bread from the wretched.
"Th-that's it!"
Charlie's eyes widened as if he hadn't expected Raon to understand that much.
"They steal money, throw away food, and sometimes destroy houses. Swinging clubs until near death is common, and in serious cases, they bring families from outside to threaten them..."
He trembled, saying he had seen many cases worse than that.
"They brought families?"
Raon let out a breath filled with anger at the word family.
"As I said, anything is possible here if you have desire."
Charlie nodded heavily, saying you could even buy humans if you offered desires.
"What can you do with desires accumulated like that? They wouldn't build towers like those just for pleasure."
Raon pointed to the Tower of Babel that rose as if to touch the sky.
"They say if you accumulate desires and build a tower that can reach the sky, a real Archangel will descend and grant your wishes. Reviving the dead, becoming a Transcendent, commanding Angels. They say you can truly do anything."
Charlie swallowed dryly, saying you could even fulfill wishes that would have a huge impact on the outside world.
"I see. That's an interesting method."
Raon lowered his eyes and stroked his chin with its fake beard.
-They've set up the game better than I thought.
Wrath let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.
-To go this far for a war with less than a year left, what a truly sinister bastard!
His disgust for Derus seemed to deepen as he furrowed his brow.
'No.'
Raon chuckled and waved his hand.
'The war may have less than a year left, but this game would have been set up long ago.'
Even Derus couldn't have created such a massive game in just a few months. Looking at the number of people and the desires spread throughout this place, it was clear he had been operating this since before declaring war.
"But, you're amazing."
Charlie glanced at Raon.
"How do you know all about heaven's mechanics when this is your first day here?"
He clicked his tongue, saying that though he came to heaven early on, he had never seen anyone like Raon.
"Because it's not that different from reality."
Raon shook his head, saying it wasn't that difficult.
"What's your desire?"
He asked about Charlie's desire while brushing the dirt off his knees.
"I, I have no desires left from constantly being challenged to life-or-death duels! The moment any appear, other bastards steal them!"
He shook his head vigorously, saying his desires would have no flavor at all.
"I'm not thinking of challenging you to a life-or-death duel. Just tell me."
Raon waved his hand dismissively, telling him not to be bothersome.
"Th-those towers..."
Charlie's lips trembled as if he was afraid to speak.
"I want to tear them down!"
He clenched his fists while looking at the towers the wealthy had built to reach the sky.
"That won't work."
Raon shook his head while grabbing the shoulder of the angry Charlie.
"I need to build a tower like that too."
"Ah..."
Charlie sighed as if imagining himself standing at the top of the Tower of Babel.
"I need to meet the Archangel."
Unlike Charlie's imagination, Raon sneered while imagining cutting off the Archangel's neck.
"This place should be fun too."
***
The next day, as soon as the sun rose, Raon came out to the busy district with Charlie.
"Wh-why did you come here?"
Charlie's gaze darted left and right anxiously.
"This street is the most dangerous place in heaven! Yesterday they couldn't touch you because Lord Vayph was there!"
He grabbed and shook Raon's sleeve, saying they should go back where they were.
"Dangerous? Then we came to the right place."
Raon chuckled and nodded.
"If you don't take risks, naturally you can't gain anything. Ah, except for one thing."
He said except for one thing and looked intently at Wrath.
-Huh...?
Wrath blinked blankly under his gaze.
-What is it! Why are you suddenly looking at me!
He furrowed his brow deeply, asking why he was looking at him.
'Because you give things away even without any risk.'
Raon grinned, not missing the opportunity to tease Wrath.
-This damn bastard! You're being ridiculous even in the enemy's den!
Wrath ground his teeth, saying he was going crazy.
-I really can't stand...
Just as he was grinding his teeth and about to get angry.
[You have made
[All stats increase by 1 point.]
A reward message appeared as if mocking the angry Wrath.
'See. You give it even when I do nothing.'
Raon shrugged his shoulders after seeing the message.
-This isn't something I'm giving you!
Wrath screamed that it wasn't his will.
-Damn it! Forget about You! System, you damn thing! Come out right now!
He threw a tantrum at the system instead of himself, swinging his fists at the air.
"Gasp! L-look over there!"
While Raon was watching the struggling Wrath, Charlie clung to his side in shock.
"You remember that person, right?"
Charlie raised his trembling hand and pointed to the person collapsed on the right.
"Hmm? That woman is..."
Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked at the woman Charlie was pointing to.
"The pot-bellied woman who entered heaven with me yesterday."
The woman with a mountain-like belly who had asked Vayph various questions was crawling on the ground like a beggar from the shantytown.
"Though her face has changed beyond recognition."
In just one day, she had become so thin that her bones were visible and was gasping for breath. Her complexion was also pale, suggesting she had been severely beaten by someone.
"P-please save me."
The woman said she wasn't someone who should die in a place like this and shed tears.
"She fell victim to newcomer hunting."
"She should have hidden or gone to an inn. How stupid!"
"There are always people who get caught after being arrogant like that."
The people around only mocked her, and no one helped.
"You saw it! She was caught in newcomer hunting! Not only money, but all her desires were stolen too!"
Charlie trembled his lips, saying that woman had no desires left.
"You were targeting me too."
Raon chuckled while looking at Charlie.
"Th-that was because I needed to survive too... Anyway, don't do it! Right now, hiding and strongly cultivating desires is the way to survive in this place!"
Charlie grabbed and pulled Raon's sleeve, saying they should return to the forest.
"No."
Raon gently released Charlie's hand and shook his head.
"There isn't much time to ascend to the sky."
He said there was no time to be leisurely and took out the gold coin pouch he had received from Vayph. With a thud, Raon threw the gold coin pouch in front of his feet and spread both hands.
"As you can see, I'm a newcomer who entered yesterday. Is there anyone who wants to have a life-or-death duel with me?"
He kicked the gold coins that had fallen to the ground with his toes.
"If you win, not only these gold coins..."
Raon curled up the corners of his mouth as he summoned the desires of the demon kings sleeping deep within his soul.
"I'll even hand over my desires."