Chapter 422: The end is near.
Aris walked past the city gate and could see the gazes on her nape. She didn’t bother to look back, there was nobody behind her that she wanted to look at. She slowly looked up at the dawn sky where the sun was about to rise from the east.
"Aris..." Serena called as she walked toward her gracefully in her white robe.
Aris paused and slowly looked over her shoulder at Serena. The gentle smile that Serena put on her face made Aris feel calm. She didn’t know if it was because Serena knew about her problems and shared something similar.
"Do you remember the last thing I said to you?" Serena asked, standing in front of Aris, looking up at Aris’ eyes.
"The lock can be unlocked with all types of keys. Whatever I choose to open the key, that will be my truth," Aris answered, staring into Serena’s eyes as she nodded.
"Yes, but I can see it in your eyes that you’re uncertain about that as well, aren’t you?" Serena chuckled softly with a smirk on her face. "I’m not asking you to believe that, I’m asking you to be true to yourself. It doesn’t matter if you still have an existential crisis or if you have found out who you are. Every choice you make, it defines who you are," she muttered and placed her hand on Aris’ shoulder.
Aris glanced at Serena’s right hand on her left shoulder before she turned her gaze toward Serena. She already knew that, and she had been doing that ever since she came to exist in this world.
"Fate and the future, are they predetermined?" Aris asked, asking the question that had been bothering her more than her own identity.
"Well..." Serena took a deep breath and exhaled deeply as she looked at Aurelia, Novia, and Alexander that were seeing Aris off. "Usually people ask about something to someone who has experience in that matter for an answer. However, I don’t think this matter should use that method," she chuckled as she looked into Aris’ eyes.
"What do you mean?" Aris asked back with a stoic expression.
"Because most of it is usually affected by bias. Right now, the only person that has an extreme bias on such a question is me. You don’t want an answer from me, Aris," Serena tightened her grip on Aris’ shoulder. "You should ask this matter toVidel or Rasmus..." She muttered, her voice barely above a whisper as she stared at Novia who was trying to listen to their conversation and made sure that she didn’t hear her last few words.
Aris tilted her head and furrowed her brows when Serena suggested that Rasmus could answer that question. Out of all people, she knew that Rasmus wasn’t the type of person who would be capable of answering such divine questions.
"What makes you think he knows the answer?" Aris asked.
"You’ll be surprised," Serena muttered as she gently squeezed Aris’ upper arm. "When I told him my story, I felt seen, understood, and a sense of relief. He’s someone who’s so close to deciphering the mind of God because he doesn’t linger and think with emotions. His mind is clear and sharp, and you should know that as well because nobody in this world can stay sane after witnessing Hell. Someone who’s that capable, they’re capable of understanding and see divine beings. Which is why Videl chose him in the first place, no?" she smirked and cupped Aris’ cheek.
Aris hummed and nodded with understanding as she watched Serena’s hand fall to Serena’s side.
"Well, it’s up to you though. Would you like to find the answer from Videl or do you want to ask this question to Rasmus? Either way, they both will have a similar answer to your question," Serena said as she took a few steps back away from Aris. "But, I think we both know who you trust the most, or should I say the only person you trust," she chuckled softly.
Aris put in a bit of a smirk, knowing that Serena was right about it. She didn’t want to admit it, but she trusted Rasmus more than anyone in this world. Rasmus was the only one who never tried to deceive her and always gave her all the truth that she asked for.
When Aris was about to say something, she felt chills all over her body, and it wasn’t just her that felt that. Serena squirmed in fear while Novia, Aurelia, and Alexander fell to their knees with all the Paladins and the townspeople in the city. They all screamed in panic, they didn’t know what was happening, but the fear that they felt, it was like they were about to get killed.
Aris looked at the sky that turned dark red in the far distance with the dark clouds that covered the sky. Serena turned around, and looked at the sky, knowing what it was because she had seen that kind of phenomenon all the time back in Hell.
"They are... descending..." Serena muttered with her eyes wide open.
"Who?" Aris narrowed her eyes as she kept staring at the red sky.
"The fallen.... all of them have descended to this world..." Serena shook her head in disbelief, shocked, and speechless.
"You mean the Fallen Watchers?" Aris furrowed her brows, glancing at Serena before she turned around when she felt Lenin, Marina, and Videl’s presence that reached the city gate. Lenin and Marina collapsed while Videl walked casually toward her and Serena.
"Yes, hundreds of them, even close to a thousand perhaps..." Serena clenched her fist, remembering all the traumas she had when they came to visit her. She had a lot of bitter and disturbing memories with them. "If they have descended, meaning that Satan has regained the power, at least half of it..." she pointed out.
"I should have known..." Videl muttered, his eyes glowed red underneath his helmet as he stared at the red sky. "Satan managed to make a bargain with Him," he crossed his arms, his expression was cold, no smile, no mockery, just a serious expression.
"Isn’t that Satan’s specialty? After all, Satan is God’s accuser... always getting what Satan wanted in exchange giving what God wanted," Serena hummed and nodded. "But that’s not the issue, right? The fact that God accepted the bargain and gave Satan what it needed, meaning that you’re about to get in trouble, Videl," she glanced at Videl with a serious expression.
"Trouble? I have been expecting this to happen," Videl said, feeling the demonic energy in the air. "But I didn’t expect this to happen this early. I wonder if this happens because of Rasmus since he has been sailing smoothly from the very beginning... or is it because they have finally found me after I removed the mark from your body," he glanced at Aris.
Aris thought about it and realized that she might be the main reason as to why Satan had decided to go all out. It was because of removing the mark that revealed Videl’s location and existence in this world. However, she knew that Rasmus knew that this would happen, and she remembered that Rasmus knew the risks and consequences, but chose to let her get what she needed.
"So, God chose to take this matter to another step? That’s the second time God has taken this matter personally, isn’t it? I must say, Rasmus is really capable of making things hard for Him, and I’m loving it..." Serena smirked as she stared at the distance.
Aris turned to look at Serena and then at the red sky that was slowly fading away. The feeling of the sky was falling onto them, and the fact it happened far away in the North, it made her realize how powerful Satan was, and she wasn’t sure if she could defeat her anymore. She wondered how Rasmus reacted to this phenomenon and what kind of thought that he had.
"What was that?!" Aurelia approached Serena as soon as she could stand up and walk. "What’s happening over there?!" She asked, her face pale and her voice shaky.
Serena stared at Aurelia and then Lenin and the others who followed her from behind. She looked them in the eyes for a few seconds until they were unable to hide their nervousness.
"That? That is... the gate that connects both worlds between the world of the living and the world of the damned. What you have just witnessed, that was the presences of hundreds and even a thousand of Fallen Watchers, the whole army of the Fallen Watchers that have descended to this world," Serena answered with a cold smile that didn’t reach her eyes. "The end is near, ladies and gentlemen," she warned.
All of them gulped as they stared at Serena with fear written all over their faces.
At the same time, inside a cave on the mountain, Rasmus stood on the edge of the cliff with his father’s journal in his hand. His eyes stared at the distance where the red sky suddenly made all animals run in fear and birds flew away aimlessly.
"You were right..." Rullein appeared from the puff of black smoke behind Rasmus. "The moment they found out Videl’s location and existence, they immediately reacted to him," she said as she stood beside Rasmus.
"Of course they are, he’s the Devil after all," Rasmus answered as he nodded.
"Do you know Videl’s real name? Satan is a name, Michael is a name, and every Fallen Watcher and Angel has a name. But I’m curious why the Devil doesn’t use his real name," Rullein glanced at Rasmus with her brows raised.
"His name? It’s Iblis..." Rasmus muttered, and immediately he could feel Videl’s presence behind him, wrapping Videl’s hands around his neck.