Chapter 157: Divine Mysteries [3]
Angels.
Roy stood frozen in the center of the subterranean throne room, his dual golden-crimson eyes locked onto the battered, six-winged entity bound to the stone altar.
In the vast cosmological hierarchy of the multiverse, angels were not mere mythological fables or mortal legends.
Back on Earth, during his endless hours playing the game, Roy had studied their lore, mechanics, and strategic attributes in painstaking detail.
They were among the most terrifying divine entities native to the Upper Mythical Realms.
While countless wild divine creatures roamed the infinite dimensions of the Lower Mythical Realms, angels were fundamentally different:
They were a race forged directly by the hands of the True Gods themselves.
During specific divine epochs of their existence, a True God was granted specialized cosmic catalysts—a select number of slot cards that allowed them to design and manifest angels according to their precise imagination, strategic needs, and aesthetic vision.
Though angels could come in wildly different physical forms, every single one was born directly into the Upper Mythical Realms as a high-tier Divine Spirit.
They possessed native mastery over divine essence manipulation, and more dangerously, they operated using secondary Divine Authorities granted directly by their divine creators.
By default, an angel’s soul was bound by absolute, immutable loyalty to the True God who shaped them.
However, creating such a divine masterpiece was not a privilege granted to lower deities.
A True God could only forge an angel once they achieved the glorious, terrifying rank of a King-tier True God.
Roy’s mind worked through the divine equations at blinding speed.
Damascus—the fallen, pitiful God of Misfortune whose legacy and domain Roy had devoured—had only ever reached the status of a Lower-tier True God before his tragic collapse.
Damascus could never have possessed the divine authority or slot cards required to craft a winged celestial of this caliber.
That meant this six-winged angel belonged to a vastly superior, far more dangerous King-tier deity from the highest heavens of the Upper Mythical Realms.
’How did an upper-tier celestial end up chained in a rotting subterranean pit beneath a human continent?’ Roy wondered, his curiosity burning bright against the gloom.
Maintaining absolute, disciplined caution, Roy began his approach toward the blood-stained altar.
Every single movement of his body was precisely controlled, his internal momentum fluid and balanced.
His divine essence coiled within his veins like a compressed spring, ready to unleash a catastrophic, spatial-shattering assault at the slightest inkling of a trap, an ancient array, or a defensive soul-curse.
Yet, no trap sprung.
He navigated the ruined marble steps and reached the base of the altar without incident.
Up close, the angel’s condition was even more horrific than it had appeared from across the hall.
Dozens of deep, jagged sword marks crisscrossed its pale, marble-like skin, slicing through muscle and bone.
Its magnificent feathered wings—four of which were nearly severed at the joint—were matted with dried, golden celestial blood and torn as if shredded by ancient, divine blades.
As Roy drew closer, his eyes narrowed into sharp, lethal slits.
He noticed something far worse than physical wounds.
A dark, writhing miasma was actively eating deep into the angel’s flesh and divine channels.
It was a vile, parasitic force—an unholy blight that was actively corrupting divinity itself, turning the pure celestial essence into a stagnant, decaying sludge.
The heavy iron chains holding the creature down were not merely physical restraints; they were conduits feeding this corrupting force directly into its divine core.
Roy looked down at the unconscious, rasping creature.
A rare, subtle wave of sympathy touched his heart.
An entity of such supreme divine nobility reduced to a broken, decaying prisoner in a dark hole was a grim testament to the brutal realities of the Upper Mythical Realms.
Roy raised his right hand, extending his palm over the angel’s corrupted chest.
He accessed his inner interface, preparing to convert his remaining Faith Points into pure Creation Essence to mend the creature’s shattered core, purge the corrupting blight, and pull its soul back from the absolute brink of non-existence.
Before the divine energy could detonate from his palm, the ambient temperature inside the cavernous throne room plummeted to absolute zero.
"I wouldn’t do that if I were you..." a voice chuckled softly.
BUZZ-THUM!
The air behind Roy didn’t just tremble—it warped violently.
Spatial ripples distorted the atmosphere like liquid glass as a suffocating, terrifying pressure descended upon the hall.
The dust suspended in the air froze in place, and the very shadows clinging to the broken marble pillars recoiled as if burned by an invisible flame.
The spatial distortion split open without a sound.
Out from the void stepped a slender, ethereal figure, stepping onto the cracked stone floor with terrifying grace.
Draped in shifting, starry robes that seemed to swallow the dim light, the entity radiated an aura of absolute omniscience.
Millions of glowing, golden runes scrolled continuously across his translucent eyes, reading the very fabric of space and reality.
Roy didn’t flinch, nor did he panic—because the layered, echoing resonance of that voice was oddly, unnervingly familiar.
He slowly turned his head, his dual golden-crimson eyes locking onto the intruder.
Standing just ten paces away, a subtle, knowing smile resting upon his porcelain face, was the mortal vessel of Telvanus, the God of Information.
The vessel took a single, silent step forward, his scrolling golden eyes sweeping over Roy before coming to rest on the raised, energy-laden hand hovering above the angel’s chest.
"I wouldn’t do that if I were you," the God of Information, Telvanus repeated, his voice carrying a distorted, echoing cadence that vibrated directly against Roy’s divine soul.
"The moment your Creation Essence touches that corrupted divine core... the King-tirr who chained it here will hear the alarm echo across the Ten Heavens."
"Telvanus?" Roy’s eyebrows furrowed, "The fact that you came down here to stop me, I can see how serious this is..."
"What is going on here?" he asked.
"Why is an angel hidden in the mortal plane?"