Chapter 425: God of Death

"Where are you going out there again, King Evans?"

Pauline Serra slightly blocked Van's path as he was about to abruptly leave when they haven't even started the interrogations of the systellion woman.

"Let's conduct an experiment."

"You-- !!!"

Pauline could not help but take in a small and stuttered breath as Van walked… through her. She thought they were going to bump into each other, but Van suddenly disappeared-- in the eyes of those who had seen it, it looked like Van actually phased through Pauline. 

But for those who were aware of what Van could truly do, they would quickly notice that he just swiftly avoided her path; one of those was Diana, who was augmenting her eyes with the pentagram in order to follow Van's movement.

She augments her eyes to see the composition of the pentagram before they are fully chanted-- meaning, her perception could even see light taking form. But when Van moved, it felt as if she was watching a fast-forwarded clip.

Van… was many times faster than the speed of light, Diana finally discovered. Of course, she already had an idea when Van literally flew 10,000km in the air in a matter of minutes. But she knew he was faster than that… but this fast? Just what sort of enemies were they really about to fight if even someone like Van was worried?

Were they… out of their league here? If so, then why would Sage send her here just for her to be useless in the end?

She was sure of it. Her being sent to this exact planet in this exact universe; the Systellions' emerging in their galaxy… none of these are a coincidence. Sage… Sage had something planned for her.

Diana then turned her attention back towards Van, who was now talking with Apollo. Van seems to have known someone with the same face as hers… was that why she was reincarnated in this place?

...So that Van would not easily abandon them when the time comes?

Was that it? Was she just some sort of flower to attract the bee?

"..." Diana then shook her head. She was probably just overthinking things-- she talked with Sage for a very long time during the process of her reincarnation. He… didn't seem that smart.

"Miss Pauline, can you take off Apollo's cage?"

"What!?"

Diana's thoughts were then disrupted by the sound of Pauline's voice, "But I thought he was one of them!?"

"He is."

"Was-- I was with them," Apollo quickly interjected, "I don't plan on coming back to them. But still, as I said earlier, some of them are my friends-- for me, their lives still weigh more than yours."

"I think we should just kill this asshole!" Mcgregory, who has been tapping his foot on the ground for minutes now, finally stomped his way towards Apollo, "I've been meaning to fuck this motherfucker up since I saw his smug face."

"I'm giving you that opportunity," Van then muttered, "Pauline, cancel his confinement."

"What--"

"He's already weakened compared to the other enemies you'll be facing," Van sighed, "...And if you can't even defeat him…

...then we can't use any of you out there."

***

"Hm… that's enough."

"What have you done to me?" Apollo then let out a small sigh as he walked beside Van, his face squirming as if it was being eaten by a million worms but in reverse.

Apollo could only shake his head in disbelief.

It was… his complete defeat.

He was almost unscathed during the 1-on-1 fights, but when the three started working with each other, he didn't even last a minute. It was surprising, as to everyone's knowledge, the three were not really allowed to be within country's reach with each other-- so teamwork was not something they took into account.

But thanks to Pauline giving out orders swiftly, they were all able to use their strengths to their fullest. The three, of course, also finally realized the kind of situation they were in.

Van had said many times that Apollo had already been weakened considerably… and that they should expect enemies that are stronger than him in droves-- just with that one sentence, not only them but the rest of the normal soldiers were doused with a sense of dread as they all rested inside the dome.

Of course, this is one of the goals that Van thought of by doing this skirmish.

"These people wouldn't have even put a scratch on me if I had still had my… God Soul," Apollo then let out a small and very deep sigh as he looked at the three resting Ancient-class magicians, "Is it possible for you to return my God Soul?"

"...I never really tried," Van furrowed his eyebrows as he looked Apollo straight in the eyes, "Hermes delivers Souls to the Afterlife, right?"

"Yes, that is one of his duties."

"...How does he call the soul he collects?"

And his other goal was to observe how Apollo uses his abilities to the fullest. All of these might have been solved if Athena was already here, but she was not. And so, Van had to resort to his own… downgraded brain to think of solutions; downgraded compared to Athena, of course.

Van should instinctively know how to call the souls; after all, he was able to do it with just the flick of a button when he still had his System. But unlike calling his shield or using Apollo's Solar Fist; for some reason, he had no idea how to access the Souls he currently has.

He knew he hadn't absorbed them yet, as he didn't really feel even a grain of change inside of him.

"He has the Bracelet of Souls."

"Bracelet… of Souls?" Van blinked a couple of times as he heard Apollo's words, "...He used a tool?"

Van then immediately tried to summon the so-called Bracelet of Souls, but nothing materialized.

"...Fuck," Van whispered. The least that Evangeline could have done before she died was to explain to him how to fully control his powers.

"..." Was Evangeline truly even dead? It would be great if she was, Van thought. She lived in the shadows… it's only fitting she died in the shadows. The Seraph of Death dying--

Van then once again widened his eyes. His ability to collect souls, was it even from Hermes in the first place? His System told him that his ability to send souls to the Afterlife was from the [Gift of Hermes], but his System… 

...was riddled in lies.

And now that Van discovered that Hermes used a tool to collect Souls… isn't it more likely that the ability he has been using all this time was actually from his mother's side?

Azrael… was literally called the Seraph of Death, after all.

"!!!" Apollo could not help but move to the side as Van's wings suddenly appeared and protruded, slightly pushing him away.

"..." Van closed his eyes, trying to feel for any semblance of a foreign soul resting deep inside his body.

"What are you--"

"Shut the fuck up."

"..." Apollo could only squint his eyes as he slowly took a step away from Van. Of course, the three Ancient-class magicians quickly turned their eyes at him. Apollo, however, only raised both his hands to signal that he wasn't going to do anything, even sitting on the ground to watch whatever it was that Van was trying to do.

"..."

"..."

With everyone keeping silent, Van focused solely on his own breaths.

A second.

A minute.

An hour-- until finally, he heard a passing whisper.

Van then opened his eyes to see if someone in the dome spoke, only to see them still staring at him intensely, their mouths completely shut so as to not disturb him. Even the female systellion was watching-- of course, that was the only thing she could do as a pentagram was preventing her mouth from moving.

"..." Van then once again closed his eyes to try and determine where the whisper was coming from, only for the hushes to feel like they were talking right beside his ears.

"..." Van opened his eyes, blinking a couple of times as he looked left and right-- and the nearest object within his reach… were his translucent wings.

Could… it be?

Van then took in a small breath as he folded his wings in front of him, before gently plucking one of the ethereal-looking feathers from it. It felt like a needle was stabbed through somewhere in his body. This extremely minute pain, however, completely disappeared as the feather was almost instantly replaced by another.

"...Hm," Van then breathed out as he examined the feather in his hand… and after a few seconds, blowing on it as he thought of one of the systellions he killed earlier.

"W… what's happening?" Those who were watching finally broke their silence as multiple threads suddenly appeared in front of Van… and very soon, took the shape of a person.

"!!!" The female systellion's muffled gasps instantly whispered in the air as soon as her eyes landed on this ethereal silhouette-- after all, the shape the feather took was one of her friends.

And even more surprising…

"Where… where am I?" The soul started to speak as if it was alive-- something that previously only happens with God Souls.

So… the ability he was using all this time really did come from Azrael, Van thought as he approached the soul. The thing he needed to figure out now… was how to actually read their memories.

It was disguised as the [Penalty of Hades] when he still had a System, so how…

"Hm," Van then furrowed his eyebrows as he looked the soul straight in the eyes, "What's your name?"

And without even hesitating...

"My name is Diniel."