Chapter 18 – You Should Not Exist...
The angels tensed again, glowing white helms tilting like wolves catching the scent of guilt. One of them stepped forward, spear raised again, divine circuits glowing along its haft.
"There should be no alliance," it said flatly. "No compromise between light and dark."
Lux’s jaw twitched. That wasn’t just the usual blind obedience. That was conviction.
Another angel added sharply, "We cannot allow this false peace to take root. If you are destroyed, the agreement is nullified. The contract dies with you."
Lux didn’t answer right away.
Because that wasn’t just bad news.
That was a revelation.
They knew about the deal with the Heaven Neutral Bank—an inter-realm agreement years in the making. He’d spent months drafting clauses with their High Clerks, arguing finer points of divine interest rates, soul-value preservation standards, and celestial inflation control.
It was the biggest bridge ever signed between Hell’s financial system and Heaven’s.
And now?
These weren’t just enforcers.
They were rebels.
Angels, yes. But not sanctioned.
Lux’s gaze turned ice-cold.
So Heaven had its cracks too. Just like Hell.
There were those who hated the idea of peace.
Who thrived in the certainty of enmity.
And right now, they were trying to kill him.
Because if Lux died, the deal unraveled.
The cooperation collapsed.
Hell and Heaven would go back to being enemies.
Just how they wanted it.
He clicked his tongue.
"Well, that’s a shame."
He raised his blades again. His voice dropped lower—colder.
"I really didn’t want to kill any of you today. I just signed an agreement with Heaven’s Neutral Bank last week."
He turned one blade lazily in his hand, the other held reverse grip and dripping faint red sparks.
"But since you’re clearly acting without divine clearance..."
He looked up and smiled—wide, crooked, and wrong.
"...guess you count as rebellion now, huh?"
None of them replied. They lunged.
"Entertain me," Lux grinned like a mad man, like a wolf who’d been pretending to wear sheep’s clothing for fun. No more negotiation, so he could go all out.
Then he moved.
And this time?
He didn’t hold back.
His wings snapped open, launching him forward with enough speed to bend the space around him. Agility still burned in his veins. His teleport hit mid-movement, throwing him from blur to strike.
He slammed into the nearest angel with both blades at once—Devorare sank into the shoulder, Amare slicing cleanly through the leg joint.
Metal screeched. Holy light flared.
The angel screamed.
Lux laughed. Loud. Sharp. Like a symphony of mockery and unfiltered glee echoing through a cathedral mid-mass.
He didn’t flinch.
He yanked the greed blade out and spun, slicing upward with the lust blade and severing one of the angel’s wings.
White feathers exploded into the air like snow mixed with sparks.
The angel went down, crashing hard into the fractured floor of the barrier.
Lux didn’t chase.
He turned—eyes glowing, mouth twisted into a grin that looked far too comfortable in the middle of holy war.
"Next."
One of the others teleported in behind him—classic celestial step. Predictable.
Lux countered with a short jump, flipping upside down mid-air and slamming his foot into the angel’s back. The creature hit the realm wall and rebounded just as Lux teleported again—this time behind the rebound—and drove Devorare straight into its spine.
The scream that echoed through the sky was unlike anything mortal ears could process.
Lux cackled now. Unhinged. Rich with wicked delight.
He held onto the blade as it pulsed inside the angel’s body, burning divine circuits with greed-coded overload.
"Feels like interest compounding, doesn’t it?" he whispered in the angel’s ear.
The body spasmed.
He kicked it free and turned again—only to block a third strike from the last attacker, spear grinding against his crossed blades.
This one was stronger. Still fresh.
The pressure behind the spear pushed him back slightly.
Lux grinned anyway, eyes locked with the glowing slit behind the helmet.
"You’re loyal, huh?" he asked, still grinning, still glowing—
—and laughing under his breath like he already knew how the fight would end.
"Loyal to the true order," the angel hissed.
"Then you’re an idiot," Lux replied, and vanished.
The angel blinked.
Too slow.
Lux appeared beneath him this time, dragging both blades up through the torso. Sparks flew, light spilled like ichor. The angel screamed and fell back, armor splitting along the ribs.
Lux floated in place, blades dripping with radiant residue.
Not blood. Not really. Something cleaner. Holier.
It stained him anyway.
He didn’t care.
[System Notification: Vital Strike – Divine Core Ruptured]
[Morality Class Threat Level: Updated to High. Multiple Angels Critically Wounded.]
[Might want to clean your blades after this. You’re glowing.]
He panted softly, chest rising and falling, blades still humming in his hands.
The first angel rose again—barely. One wing gone. Armor dragging.
"You should not exist..." it rasped.
Lux didn’t respond.
He teleported in front of it, grabbed the broken wing stump with one hand, and ripped the remaining feathers out in a spiral of shadow and flame.
"Neither should war," he said. "But here we are."
The angel fell to its knees.
The second tried to rise.
Lux flicked Amare forward.
The crimson blade curved mid-throw, slicing through the neck of the armored figure like paper.
Headless.
Silence.
Only one remained now—battered, breathing heavy, half his spear cracked.
Lux walked toward him.
No teleport.
No tricks.
Just boots against the fake ground.
One step at a time.
The angel shook. Raised his weapon again.
Lux stopped a few feet away.
Then looked him straight in the eye.
"You had a chance," he said quietly. "To back down. To live. But you wanted purity. You wanted the war to go on. You wanted to be a good soldier in a world that doesn’t need soldiers anymore."
He raised Devorare, the blade humming with greedy hunger.
"And now?"
He plunged it straight through the angel’s chest.
"You’re just collateral."
The angel spasmed—golden blood blooming in the air like shattered halos—and then, with a final twitch, the body collapsed into light.
Gone. Disintegrated.
[System Notification: You have slain (3) Divine Combatants – Mid-Rank Class]
[Rewards Processing...]
Light twisted violently in the air, coalescing in front of Lux.
[You have acquired: Divine Spark Fragment x1]
[Item Class: Mid]
[Effect: Can be consumed to gain +15 to Charisma and +10 to Magic Affinity permanently, or forged into a high-tier charm for dominion over light-based entities.]