24 Hearts

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To live in this world.

Gabriel’s clear eyes were filled with sorrow instead of brightness.

That same emotion was contained in her voice, which was filled with suffering and mourning. No one knew why this was, and could therefore not sympathize with her. Gabriel never shared such grief with anyone; she suffered alone.

“So… what did you come to me for?”

Oddly enough, the man remained silent. He just blankly stared at Gabriel as if thinking of something else.

“Me-“

“Ah! I’m sorry,” the man said before Gabriel spoke his full name, letting her know that he was awake. She tried to say something, then shut her mouth. The man gave a soft chuckle and then nodded in apology.

“How are you? Even now, it is said that there is only you in this temple.”

“Yes, because there’s no place like here to organize my thoughts and meditate. I like this tranquility, you know?”

The man laughed, but Gabriel didn’t. It seemed that she wanted to stop talking about such private things and discuss the reason for the man’s visit. In the past, they have had many intimate conversations, but Gabriel seemed to have changed.

“You asked what was going on? Well, I came here to tell you a somewhat important story. I thought you were the right person among the three of us to know.”

“Is it about the Fourth Lord Pernen’s fragments?”

The man was startled. How did she know? There had been no talk of the fragments for decades now.

There must be a number of issues on her mind, so was it a coincidence that she had brought up the subject of the fragments? No, the man was convinced by her voice that she had said it by coincidence. Still, he quivered, feeling as if she had read his thoughts.

He had planned to surprise Gabriel, but she instead had surprised him.

“That’s right. That’s right. Yes, if you know, it becomes easier to talk.”

Gabriel said nothing.

“Gabriel, as you know, this is the first time in thousands of years that a Lord of the demon world has become weakened.”

Pernen, born as the weakest of the seven lords, was in jeopardy from the get-go, but not as much as now. He did a foolish thing. His heart, which could be said to be the source of his power, being an enormous magical crystal, was fragmented by his own hand, and so the balance of the worlds broke.

Pernen was now, perhaps, the most dangerous of the Lords.

The man judged it to be so. Until only a few hundred years ago, Pernen had been the weakest of the seven, and no one cared about him. Everything changed with the use of weapons made from pieces of his very heart.

Perhaps he was determined to rectify the sorrows of his past, so he opened a portal into heaven and entered it.

He appeared alone, and an innumerable number of angels were torn apart by his hand. Only then did the apostles under the command of King Seong force him to withdraw.

The man knew that the same thing happened in the demonic realm after Pernen was forced from heaven. Still, after such great events, Pernen had been quiet.

It would have been nice if he remained silent and inactive for all eternity, but Pernen suddenly dropped his twenty-four forged items onto the middle-earth, and then something else occurred.

In all the places where the fragments had been cast, a great illusory image of Pernen appeared in the sky. Anyone on the continent who looked up could see him.

His was a god-like authority, greater than that of any king in any castle. Pernen did what he had never done before. He boldly spoke as everyone watched him.

“Behold, you beings of weakness! I have sent from the heavens artifacts carved from my own breast. I am the fourth lord of my realm, and my power, my essence, now resides within the twenty-four treasures that have struck the ground you crawl upon! The being who possesses all of my heart’s creations shall be raised next to me, the Fourth Lord. You shall sit on my left-hand side, and, upon my death, shall become what I am! All realms and realities shall tremble at your feet!”

Pernen said that it didn’t matter if you were a demon or an angel. You could be elven or a tacky-looking dwarf. It mattered not if you are an orc who was true to your nature. Even the weak and short-lived humans could claim his power. Anyone who collected the fragments would become his heir.

“He said that he would hand over his power. That means he’s going to leave a successor.”

“Right,” Gabriel said and nodded.

“Appointing a successor is an act of those who are facing death or preparing for death. A lot of high-ranking demons do it, as well as many other races. We angels are no different.”

The man gulped down the saliva that had dammed up in his mouth and spoke on.

“In other words, this means that nothing less than a Lord is about to die! One of the things that have fought against us for millennia is about to disappear!” Gabriel said as if she knew what the man was thinking. “I don’t know what you want to say. But if we leave things as they are, Pernen will be destroyed on his own. Upon his death, the fragments will be the cause of conflict and great vigilance, and none would be able to gather them all, as things stand now.”

“Sure, that could happen. But that’s the ideal scenario. Gabriel, do you really think it will turn out like that?”

The man laughed. He has seen many things over the years, and while Gabriel had also lived for a long time, he didn’t agree with her. He believed that Pernen would not be so susceptible to death.

“Do you think that if Pernen disappears, his great power will also disappear? Like a snowflake melting in the sun? Unfortunately, we have to be concerned. Even if it was a small handful of snow, we wouldn’t have to worry about it. Yet Pernen’s magical power is like a behemoth snowball. It won’t melt even if the warm sun shines upon it all day long.”

Gabriel remained silent.

“Are the greedy demons just going to sit around and watch? No, no. Someone could still absorb his power. Or perhaps, in the moments before his demise, Pernen could just change his mind and hand it all over to someone. We have to assume the worst.”

Once more, Gabriel said nothing.

“It’s the same with Pernen’s fragments. It would be hard to get another one after someone got their first. Two to three would be easier, and three to four even more so. Those who tip the balance early and come close to collecting all the fragments will exist in the near future. They will appear – I judge it to be so. There will come a time when the locations of all twenty-four fragments become known.”

Gabriel was still staring at the man with her sad eyes.

“Gabriel, even if a thousand years come to pass, we will never have the same opportunity as now.”

“You want to recover all the fragments.”

“Yes.”

The man looked at Gabriel, who had fixed him with her steady eyes.

“At least one or more of them could be retrieved and kept on our behalf.”

The man once thought that they could ensure that no successors appeared while Pernen still lived, but it was a dangerous plan, once he had considered it further.

“Other Lords are not unaware of the situation, and they wouldn’t be passively watching things play out. They could aid the successor in starting a new war with the celestial plane. We could, of course, go out and say that Pernen is intentionally interfering in reality, and so hope that the holders of the fragments might abandon them. It might be worth it. After all, that madman possesses terrible potential.”

The man now stopped talking after he had demeaned Pernen. He then went on.

“Anyway, if we are to recover one or more of the fragments, we might just as well claim all of them at once. Being an angle doesn’t mean that you can’t use the powers of a fragment. We might also aid a talented and good-hearted person. It could be one way to bring Pernern’s successor to our side. If Pernen keeps his promise to an heir who is on our side, then that Lord will inherit his power and be our ally. That would be perfect.”

“The ideal situation rarely occurs – unless the Creator intervenes. We, who are called Gods, have no power over our own destiny,” Gabriel said in a sincere voice.

However, the man continued to argue his point of view, regardless of whether he had felt Gabriel’s sentiment.

“Of course, it will be difficult to bring about such an ideal situation. But if the heir turns to us and collects the fragments, I would be willing to give them a seat as a new King.”

It would be an opportunity to damage the power of the demonic realm and so greaten the might of the celestial plane. If such a situation came to be, then the balance that had been broken when Pernen had created his fragments would be reversed. There might be harmony once more, but that was unlikely.

Gabriel slowly nodded.

“I know what you want to say.”

“What am I trying to say, then?”

“Let’s find someone who will gather all the fragments for us, and give them a -qualification-.”

At Gabriel’s reply, the man nodded, smiling, satisfied.

“You thought about it as well. There is a child I have noticed. I now recommend him. He possesses great talent and potential, comparable to our apostles. He will even be adequate for our purposes after we grant him a -qualification-. There is a child named Kain in Serenia. He visits Jopiel’s temple every Sunday.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel replied as she nodded, seemingly indifferent.

“Oh- and be careful when you visit Serenia. Xian was there.”

Gabriel’s eyes have only shown one emotion so far, yet now they widened considerably. She seemed very surprised.

“Xian… He was there?”

“Yeah, it was weird. I mean, I noticed his presence, and I don’t think it was a coincidence. But I’m sure about it. He showed up for a while and then disappeared again. I’ll stick to the role of a bystander for now, as I have done, but attention has to be paid. There can only come bad things from it.”

The man shrugged. Gabriel seemed shaken and was silent for a moment but soon nodded.

“I know,” she said.

“I’ll find out about it as soon as possible. Now, I’ll go.”

“I won’t be seeing you off,” came Gabriel’s cold words as she gave a bloody laugh.

“I thought you’d say that. I didn’t even expect a goodbye in the first place.”

The man turned about and left by the way he came.

… … .

… … .

… … .

Gabriel once more closed her eyes in the silence of her temple.

After some time, light entwined with her naked body, and it clothed her in silky-soft fabrics. A transparent piece of cloth was draped over her neck and shoulders, covering her upper arms.

The tips of her toes now touched the spring’s water, causing small ripples. She muttered a little as she spread her wings and opened her eyes as she enjoyed the touch of water upon her toes.

“Xian.”

The first Lord and ruler of the demonic realm. He possesses powers different than those of the other Lords; he rules space. He is a true supreme being with a body worthy of it. His power is greater than that of all six Lords combined and stronger than the combined power of the three Kings and all the apostles serving under them.

He was truly close to being God.

As if he was acutely aware of how great and dangerous his power was, he always guarded himself, rarely letting his presence known. Thus far, he has maintained a neutral position, never intervening in the war against the celestial plane.

Xian is never found or met unless he first reveals himself.

But that he was discovered by someone else? I couldn’t believe it.

Gabriel smiled, and she smiled for a long time. Her heart had been quiet, but in now started to awaken, beating lively, bit by bit.

This time, something is different than before.

* * *

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Setting 1: Xian

Xian was a great name and is the name of the First Lord, the true ruler of the demonic realm.

He was a supreme being with great power that can control space, and his strong body was worthy of his status. He had three heads and tails, three pairs of wings, and a gigantic yet agile body. He almost resembled a dragon at first glance.

Perhaps because of this, there exists the theory that was the origin of all the Balaur, but most of the Balaurs deny this. Unlike other monarchs, Xian was supported by all beings in the demonic realm in a truly divine sense.

His presence was so powerful that he did not leave his realm when in his true form. He knew how powerful and dangerous he was, so he sealed his body—a portion of his being-into space and lives by borrowing weak human bodies.

Nonetheless, no one dared challenge him.

Some say that Xian’s existence was the decisive reason why beings from other dimensions, including the celestial plane, couldn’t easily join forces to attack the demonic realm.

However, even with such immense powers, he lived a rather ordinary life.

Unlike other Lords and Kings, he loves freedom and often travels to the middle-earth, disguised as an ordinary adventurer.

He goes to restaurants famous for their delicious foods and enjoys fine meals.

When he got bored with eating, he appeared before lovers of chess and often played games against them.

When the game was done, he suddenly disappeared without a trace, as if he had been but a momentary dream. He was sometimes called the -God of Chess-.

Whether true or not, people believed that their chess skills advanced a step after playing a game against Xian.

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