Cliche Chapter 565-566: Duel

Kokabiel looked immensely proud to be the disruptor of a significant event such as the Devil Emperor’s wedding. He felt like his timing would piss the Devil Emperor enough to start a war.

Ruby scrutinized Kokabiel’s aura and sighed. “Just a pathetic angel.”

She had hoped Kokabiel was strong enough to become a target to vent her accumulated anger. He wasn’t even strong enough to take a half-assed punch from her.

“Fallen angel. Don’t lump my children with this unholy existence.” God corrected Ruby and looked at Kokabiel. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Michael spread his twelve wings, and light spilled out from between the feathers, filling the room with a brilliant white-gold aura. His voice was deep and commanding as he addressed the intruding figure. “Cadre Kokabiel, you have no right to be here.”

“My purpose? I came to crash the wedding on behalf of our sinister leader,” Kokabiel uttered with a grin. Looking at Gabriel, he licked his lips. “Devil Emperor, I challenge you to a duel. If I win, I’ll replace you as the groom and taste the most beautiful woman in Heaven.”

Having his way with women was a minor pleasure compared to his urges for fighting. All he ever cared about was war and bloodshed. Challenging the Devil Emperor to a battle would lead to a new war, or so Kokabiel hoped.

Asahi couldn’t help but laugh at Kokabiel’s arrogance. “I don’t want to get my hands dirty. Saeko, you may deal with him.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Saeko approached with a steady, purposeful stride. Her right hand kept a firm grasp on her katana, a sharp aura radiating from her as if she were a samurai preparing to do battle. “Allow me to entertain your bloodlust, Fallen Angel.”

“Wait.” Sandalphon marched across the room, her back straight and eyes fixed on Kokabiel, her hands balled into fists at her sides. She looked into Kokabiel’s eyes and spoke with conviction. “I want to fight him. How dare he disrespect Lady Gabriel in such a way!”

“Sandy, beat his ass!”

Gabriel, whom Sandalphon wanted to defend, was spouting things unfitting her status.

Saeko’s face softened as she stepped back. “A fight to reclaim your lady’s honor. I support your cause.”

Asahi didn’t stop Sandalphon. She was on par with Kokabiel before he met her. After staying with him and receiving his guidance, her light element had gone through a drastic change. She could defeat Kokabiel in a lengthy battle.

Kokabiel chuckled as he narrowed his eyes. “Two beauties asking to take me on. I’m flattered. So flattered.” He looked at the Devil Emperor. Asahi’s aura was beyond the level of Kokabiel’s perception. One could say their strength was in different dimensions. “My challenge for you. Are you the coward who hides behind his women’s wide asses–”

Sandalphon surged forward with a mighty flap of her wings. In a blur of motion, she brought her blade down towards Kokabiel’s chest. He reacted quickly and raised his hand in defense, but it was too late—the glowing blade sliced deep into his wrist, so deep that she nearly severed it from his arm.

“Your worm-like existence,” Sandalphon whispered with an intense frown. “My Lord has defeated a Dragon God before. The likes of you can’t fathom his greatness.”

Red blood spilled from his wound. Kokabiel showed a malicious smile after seeing the blood coming out of his wrist. “I see. I never knew a ten-winged seraph in existence could injure me effortlessly. Interesting. This is very interesting. Kukuku.”

“Sandalphon isn’t your average seraph,” Gabriel shouted. “She is trained by Asahi!”

“Trained by the Devil Emperor?” Kokabiel smirked. “You must mean something to him. If I kill you, he’d get angry and accuse our faction.”

Kokabiel felt like he found the perfect piece to trigger the war. The Devil Emperor, who dearly loved his women, would undoubtedly start a war with the Fallen Angels over his precious woman’s death.

Kokabiel shouted and thrust his arm forward, and a blinding beam of light shot from his fingertips. The hall lit up as a veritable rain of luminescent spears cascaded around him.

“Die,” he snarled, “you will not stand in my way any longer.”

Golden spears filled the sky, glinting as they plummeted towards Sandalphon. She raised her sword, and with a simple slash, she vaporized the spears of light.

“Ridiculous.” Kokabiel watched in disbelief, unable to believe his attacks getting dismantled in such a one-sided fashion.

Sandalphon sped past him before he could make out her figure and plunged her sword into his back. The brilliant blade drove through his heart and thrust out from his chest. She released the weapon and tore away his black, tainted wings.

Kokabiel died an unceremonious death at the hands of Sandalphon. Her ruthless slaying of a fallen angel cadre created silence in the hall.

Saeko quickly moved the corpse to a spare ring and cleaned the blood with her water element. She even wiped the blood from Sandalphon’s sword.

Once Sandalphon’s flowing adrenaline came to a halt, she realized the severity of her mistake. As an angel, she wasn’t supposed to kill a fallen angel cadre in this sacred place. “My Lord, I—”

“It’s fine,” Asahi interrupted her with a gentle smile. “You sent one scum to eternal peace. You have nothing to be sorry about.”

Kokabiel’s death didn’t matter; saving Sandalphon from guilt mattered.

“Forget about him. Let’s continue the ceremony.”

While the angels didn’t forget Kokabiel, they certainly didn’t voice out their dissent against their current and future lord. The rest of the ceremony went smoothly.

Asahi took out two pairs of rings. The rings made of metal harbored an unfathomable power that God could slightly perceive through his senses.

“You made them yourself, didn’t you?”

Asahi nodded at God’s question. “I got the idea yesterday that I should make something special for the most beautiful angel. I ended up with these ‘Illustrious Bond Rings.’ It can transmit our thoughts and feelings no matter how far we are from each other.”

There was another bonus skill which he didn’t reveal to Gabriel. The ring could teleport him to her location and vice versa, even if he was in another world. Knowing Gabriel, she’d start calling him for headpats once she knew about this skill. His love for Gabriel and Grayfia created something powerful.

God showed a soft smile. “You were struggling with a blade a few months ago. Now you’re making treasures out of my perception. Your talent is out of this world.”

“Literally,” Grayfia added.

Asahi looked at Gabriel, who looked like an emotional wreck.

“Ah…” Gabriel's lips quivered as she looked down at the ring, and tears filled her eyes. His first real gift made her emotional on many levels. She couldn’t hold back her emotions in the heat of the moment.

Slowly, without breaking eye contact, she stepped towards him and reached her hands up to frame his face. She felt the warmth of his skin, and their lips met in a gentle kiss.

“Do it after I tell you.” God watched Gabriel with a wry smile. “Nevermind me. Keep up whatever you feel like.”

Gabriel held the pose for a few seconds longer than necessary and the angels in the hall collectively held their breath in surprise.

Her frankness surprised everyone.

Gabriel stepped back and stretched her hand, wiggling her ring finger. Asahi smiled and put the ring on her finger.

“With this, I’m your bride.”

“I was supposed to say that,” God whispered. “Put the rings on Grayfia and get this over with.”

Asahi nodded and looked at Grayfia, who presented her hand for him to slip the ring. She didn’t show overwhelming emotions like Gabriel, which was normal given their long relationship.

“This makes everything official. You’re legally bound to me as the Empress of my Empire.”

She revealed a soft smile. “And you’re bound to me as my husband, the father of my child, and my lord.”

He cupped her face and kissed her. “I’ll happily have that honor.”

Gabriel jumped in happiness. “The first one is over. Asahi, hurry to the second one.”

One smooth wedding wasn’t the end of Asahi’s day. He now had to attend his second wedding in Orario, where Astraea would be the bride.

“Well, I’ll return soon. We have a big night to celebrate.”

“Big night?” Gabriel giggled creepily as her eyes became dazed while her halo flickered. “Father, can you turn the clock and bring the night faster?”

God stared at Gabriel. “Exercise patience. Don’t turn your virtue into sins.”

Gabriel sighed. “I want to…”

***

Freya ran her fingers through her hair, trying to act nonchalant as she watched Fubuki across the table in the fancy restaurant. The soft clinking of cutlery and the chatter of other diners filled the air as Fubuki smirked, leaning back in her chair as if to mock Freya’s discomfort.

“Your vacation is a waste of time, Freya. That jerk never comes when you need him.”

Freya had taken a vacation to join Astraea’s wedding, only to realize she couldn’t return without Asahi’s help. She wasn’t in a deep friendship with Astraea, or any other goddess for that matter, but she had to be there as one of the three pillar goddesses of Orario.

‘This blows… Master, come and take me home.’

Fubuki’s jabs made her more bitter about being absent from Astraea’s wedding.

“I should leave if you don’t even want to talk to me. I could save some lives out there and earn Hero Points.”

Freya revealed a soft smile. “Can’t you stay and console a miserable friend for a day?”

“Friend…?”

The word struck a chord in her heart. She looked out of the table. Her last true friend was a highschool mate and the Vice President of the Society for Supernatural Research. Psykos was a brilliant Esper, but she discovered something through her psychic ability that made her propose a plan – a society for the research of special powers to exterminate humanity.

Fubuki betrayed Psykos and sealed her psychic ability. It wasn’t because she found Psykos’s plan extreme. Even back in highschool, Fubuki was obsessed with the thought of surpassing her sister and standing at the top of the world.

Psykos, who was trying to sabotage Fubuki’s plan of reaching the top, became her enemy.

‘I was so stupid back then…’

Freya didn’t know what to say about the distant look on Fubuki’s face. She honestly didn’t think of Fubuki as her friend, but as a colleague. The closest people to being her friends were the employees at the Hostess of Fertility, especially Ryuu.

Freya was at a loss for words when she saw the hazy expression on Fubuki's face. She honestly couldn’t think of Fubuki as her friend, but as a colleague working for the same leader. The people she felt closest to were the other Hostesses of Fertility, particularly Ryuu.

The elf was still in the dark about Freya and Syr being the same individual. Ryuu’s recent training had also kept her from going to relax at the Hostess of Fertility; she rarely got the chance to think about her friend Syr amidst all the events happening around her.

Freya couldn’t possibly know that Asahi didn’t reveal her secret to Ryuu or anyone within his family. In her mind, she had burned all bridges once she promised Asahi that she would stop acting as Syr. All for the opportunity to visit another world.

‘I can’t go back to that life.’

After seeing the other world through her own eyes, she felt like it wasn’t all that special compared to Orario. Heck, her world was far more peaceful compared to the daily occurrence of powerful monsters wreaking havoc in this city.

She was reminded of a quote from the past.

“Obsession leads to destruction.”

Fubuki and Freya sat in silence, lost in thought and regretting their past decisions. Suddenly, a cheery voice echoed through the room, snapping them out of the trance they had been in.

“Why the long faces?” Asahi pinched Freya’s cheeks as he sat by her side. “What happened to my multipurpose maid?”

He came to pick Freya up after Klyscha reminded him of her. He didn’t expect to see Fubuki and Freya depressed like they had just been divorced.

Freya’s lips twitched before a wide grin spread across her face. “You came for me.”

The despair that had weighed her down evaporated instantly when she saw Asahi come to fetch her. His usual smile chased away her darkest thoughts.

Meanwhile, Fubuki's jaw dropped open as she saw Asahi sitting before her. He looked like a different person in formalwear compared to his regular casual clothes. His black tuxedo was tailored perfectly to his frame, highlighting the features of his handsome face. He looked so stunning, Fubuki was almost unable to believe it was really the demon.

“What’s the occasion?”

“My wedding.”

“What…?” Fubuki’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding?”

“I don’t speak of marriage lightly, Fubuki-chan.” Asahi shook his head and pulled Freya to her feet. “Let’s go. We’re short on time.”

“Take me anywhere…”

The goddess of love looked smitten.

“Wait, am I not invited?”

“Nope. Not today. I’d call you when I marry someone in this world.” He grinned. “There is a chance you’ll be the bride in that wedding.”

Fubuki rolled her eyes. “In your dreams.”