Chapter 489 (1): Pride, Heaven Needs a Viceroy. What Do You Say? - Wayne

Humility’s prideful denial of the Heavenly Father’s prophecy enraged Pride. Black light radiated from his eyes, and a pair of dark bat wings unfolded from his back, fully displaying his demonic form.

Rumble—

Volatile darkness enveloped the First Abyss, turning the all-white Heaven pitch black. Infinite sins were constantly released from his body, forming a pillar of darkness that reached into the sky, with countless sinful faces bobbing around it.

Crack!

The space of the First Abyss fell apart, the cracks covering everything that met the eye, including Mikhael and Lahr, who were confronting Pride.

Mikhael was still able to resist by tucking his six wings in to shield himself, preventing the cracking space from influencing him. He kept the darkness out with powerful Holy Light.

Lahr, on the other hand, didn’t fare well. After being critically injured by Mikhael, he had taken a crushing hit from the shockwaves generated at the moment Pride released his energy. Flesh and blood peeled away from the sacred dragon, and his thoughts were torn to pieces amid the violent currents. Following a rumble, his world plunged into darkness.

Śār Lahr died.

While his death had come early, he had accumulated quite an impressive record. He first clashed with the Viceroy of Heaven and achieved a draw. Then he fought the Lord of Pride, the head of the Seven Deadly Sins, and met a ‘close’ defeat.

The sacred dragon’s flesh and blood disintegrated, and his thoughts broke apart. The giant dragon bones with six wings were the only proof of his existence—ah, there was also a piece of equipment, the Staff of Gospel.

The staff was all gold, shaped like a coiled sacred dragon. The dragon tooth at the tip of the staff was forged into a blade. At close range, the weapon could be used for hand-to-hand combat. At mid-range, it could be used for crowd control. And at a distance, it could do ranged damage. It was a holistic weapon that was useful in both offense and defense.

The staff, combined with six wings, made the emblem of Lahr’s legion. Holding it would allow one to command one quarter of all angels in Heaven.

The exclusive divine artifacts of the four Śārim had all been revealed: Mikhael’s Oath Sword, Binding Sword, and Spear of Time, Hesione’s Sword of Judgment, Auriel’s Spear of Thorns, and Lahr’s Staff of Gospel.

Darkness retracted, revealing Pride’s true form. The great demon lord had a full mane of black hair and a bushy beard, which danced like black flames when he was enraged, giving his scarred, ashen face an insidious, oppressive presence. On his head were two upturned horns, and a pair of bat wings and a long tail extended from his back. Standing at three meters tall, he was strongly built with lightning-shaped scars crisscrossing his body.

Judging by appearance alone, the Bat Demon did share a resemblance with him.

Mikhael extended his six wings, his two swords and one spear radiating in front of him to form a cross-shaped stigma. He narrowed his golden eyes at Pride. “As Deceit said, you have mastered the Seven Deadly Sins, able to execute and replace any of the seven as I could with the Seven Sacred Virtues.”

“Deceit...”

Pride seethed. He envied Wayne and couldn’t stand the mention of his name. Compared to Wayne, though, Mikhael’s behavior disgusted him more.

Die!

“Before killing you, I must confirm this.” Pride’s eyes turned all black with no visible pupils or scleras. “Are you, Viceroy of Heaven, denying the Heavenly Father’s prophecy, thereby arrogantly putting yourself above the Anointed One? Have you defied the Anointed One and betrayed Heaven...?”

“There is no Anointed One, only a demon of Deceit cultivated by Hesione.” Mikhael scoffed, pointing the Spear of Time at Pride. “I had been meaning to ask: why would you, a demon, care so much about Father’s prophecy? Speak. Are you in on Hesione’s plan?”

While he posed it like a question, he had already come to his own conclusion. Without Pride’s permission, Hesione would’ve never acquired the cantos of the new Seven Deadly Sins. Hesione was the real traitor. She had sinned greatly by colluding with the Lord of Pride against Heaven.

Instead of answering Mikhael, Pride spoke with a strange light in his dark eyes, “May I interpret that as you having betrayed Heaven?”

“Why? Are you recruiting me?” Mikhael thought for a moment. “If you hand me the Seven Deadly Sins and charge into Heaven with me, I may consider—”

Boom!!

Darkness descended. Overwhelming power crashed down, turning the already ruined space into ashes. From a sphere of turbulent currents, a six-winged figure flew out.

Mikhael steadied himself, staring in shock at the concentrated darkness with his spear in hand. His Oath Sword and Binding Sword had been taken away at one glance. No matter how he called out to them, the two divine artifacts refused to respond to him.

“Impossible!”

The three divine artifacts had been bestowed to him by the Heavenly Father, as a representation of the viceroy, He Who Is Like God, and the commander of his own legion of angels. Aside from the Heavenly Father, no one could take them from Mikhael.

His shock deepened as he remembered Wayne’s comment about him and Pride. Fear and anger colored his surprise.

“Impossible. You have not become the Demon God of Hell!”

“I am the strongest!”

Flapping his six wings, Mikhael charged into the sphere of darkness in a streak of light, zigzagging inside the chaotic space. Finding Pride, he thrust his spear forward.

Then he flew backward at an even faster speed. This time, he lost his Spear of Time, too.

The sphere faded away. Pride hovered in the air with his bat wings expanded. The two divine swords and the one divine spear formed a cross behind him, radiating a holy radiance.

His eyes were cold as he looked down at Mikhael, stabbing him in his prideful heart. He had been kicked out of Heaven by Hesione and then lost all his glory to Pride in Hell. Pushed to the edge of a mental breakdown, he felt his sanity slipping from him.

It wasn’t humiliating to be driven out of Heaven by Hesione since the prophesied successor couldn’t be so easily defeated. He still had a chance. He would not give up.

However, being easily defeated by his mortal enemy was unacceptable. With bloodshot eyes, he growled with feelings he could no longer control.

“You have the Seven Deadly Sins in you, you corrupted soul,” Pride said murderously. “How shameful. Your existence has brought dishonor to Heaven. You don’t deserve to be His child.”

“What gives you the right to judge me, Demon?!” Mikhael barked.

“Look at your disgraceful self and your rude and ignorant behavior. The name Mikhael has been tarnished because of you. I’ve never hated you as much as I do today.” Pride broke into a twisted smile. “You seem on the verge of madness. Good. Rather than killing you, I should just crush you mentally and give you the deepest pain and despair. Only then would my resentment be resolved. And...”

“I’ll make you pay for offending Father with your sacrilegious words!”

“Wh-what?!” Mikhael looked at Pride in shock, wondering if he had misheard or if Pride had misspoken. Why would the leading demon of the Seven Deadly Sins call the Heavenly Father ‘Father’? How preposterous!

Vertical golden lines cracked open on Pride’s back, and three pairs of white wings extended almost infinitely until the magnificent wingspan reached a hundred meters. The stained sinful skin wrinkled and peeled away slowly from Pride’s body like clothes. A massive, bloated, and oppressive figure emerged.

The humanoid creature extended six wings, with a human torso and limbs. Folds of dangling white fat piled up on his bloated body, with eyeballs scattered at random. There were no defined facial features on the head save for a constantly shifting mouth. Around the massive wings were even bigger planetary rings, the biggest of which spanned five meters in diameter.

Pride’s Seraph form was identical to Mikhael’s!!

“How-how...”

Mikhael looked in shock, his thoughts growing stagnant and his pupils dilating and contracting. His mind was completely blank.

“Do you think you’re the first angel Father created?”

“How laughable!”

“You’re merely my replica!”

“I’m the first angel and Father’s first child. The titles you hold dear—Viceroy of Heaven, He Who Is Like God, and The Strongest Angel—are all Father’s compliments for me...”

“I am Mikhael!!!”

Pride’s roars spread across the First Abyss in waves. While mocking Mikhael’s ignorance, he was venting his grievances. He had come first, and he had been obedient. Why wasn’t he the Anointed One? What was so good about the bastard Wayne?!

That made Pride feel a little better. He had been enduring—enduring the six trash who could do nothing but tear at each other’s throats. He had wanted someone he could confide in for far too long. While Mikhael was only a replica, and he was an unfilial child who had betrayed Heaven and defied Father, he was someone Pride could be honest with. He decided to use Mikhael as a trashcan for his negative emotions.

With all the secrets he couldn’t spill exposed, it was time to sink the trashcan in a river.

Pride looked down at Mikhael and saw a pale face and unfocused eyes. The replica’s thoughts had lost all vitality, and he had closed himself off because of a mental breakdown.

“Trash!”

The two swords and one spear hovered in the air in the form of a glowing cross stigma. The golden light washed over Mikhael’s flesh and thoughts, gradually crushing them to ashes. Mikhael didn’t even resist. Instead, he blankly welcomed death.

“So it’s you, Pride. You are Father’s most favored angel...” he murmured, looking at the cross behind Pride and raising his broken arm in one last attempt to touch it. “ Father, what am I to you? Why...”

“I thought I was the best...”

“Why would you do this to me?”

“Why...”

The flood drowned out the last of his voice. Seraph, Viceroy of Heaven, and He Who Is Like God, Mikhael, died.

Of course, the one who had died was the one assumed to be Mikhael. The true He Who Is Like God was still around.

He was in Hell. After creating Heaven, he had spent his days blabbering to a cross.

“Must be me. I’m the most favored angel!”

Pride’s form contracted as he put the sinful skin back on. When he heard that he was most favored, his face darkened significantly.

So he was favored. So what? He wasn’t the Anointed One.

“Come on out!”

Sensing the sneaking figure who had infiltrated the First Abyss, Pride looked over with black light shooting out of his eyes, shattering space and flushing out a clump of white foam.

The white foam writhed and took the form of Wayne. His look of shock could match the earlier look on the fake Mikhael’s face.

Holy shit, you are Heaven’s spy!

“Did you see everything, Deceit?” Pride narrowed his eyes, pondering whether to kill Wayne.

If he didn’t kill Wayne, he might be exposed and prevented from completing his mission. But killing him would make things worse. Wayne was the successor prophesied by the Heavenly Father, meant to shoulder an even more important mission.

What to do?

All this time, Pride had been conflicted. He admired the Heavenly Father and saw Him as his faith. As Father’s first child, he was obedient but willful.

One thing was for certain: he followed the Heavenly Father’s orders dutifully. Even though he disliked Hell and would like to stop watching the trash tear into each other, he put aside his frustration and stayed in Hell. After a while, he developed feelings... negative feelings.

In his daily life, he killed time by seeking entertainment and receiving massages. If possible, he would like to return to Heaven and recover his real name, leading his life as Mikhael, Viceroy of Heaven.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t. It would be against the Heavenly Father’s order.

Because he couldn’t assume his true identity, because Heaven was out of his reach, but he couldn’t destroy it, he harbored both love and hate for Heaven. His complicated feelings couldn’t be shared with anyone, and in his solitude, he changed. He turned the First Abyss into Heaven and captured a group of angels, making them call him Viceroy Mikhael.

The comedy was at its heart a great tragedy.

Learning that the Heavenly Father had prophesied about an Anointed One, and it wasn’t him, Pride developed strong grievances. Not daring to question the Heavenly Father’s eye for people, he could only acknowledge Wayne.

That didn’t mean he approved.

Pride resented and envied Wayne. He would love to tear him to pieces and replace him through disguise. Many times, he almost did it, but stopped himself at the last moment.

Wayne was the Anointed One and the Heavenly Father’s designated successor. Not only couldn’t Pride kill him, but he couldn’t even imprison him.

Still, Pride was frustrated by his helpless situation. With that weighing on his mind, he couldn’t even find joy in entertainment. After some consideration, he decided that since the Heavenly Father had never told him the prophecy and the existence of the Anointed One, it made sense for him, a great demon lord standing in opposition to Heaven, to make the Anointed One’s life difficult upon discovering him in the wild.

The logic was flawless.

Go, Lust. Subdue that pervert with your people.

That was why Pride’s behavior seemed inconsistent to Wayne. Pride himself didn’t know what he should do with the Anointed One. One moment, he saw Wayne as his sworn enemy because of his loss of Father’s favor, and the next moment, he had no choice but to follow His orders. Even when he plotted against the Anointed One, the attacks were limited to the Anointed One’s private life and reputation.