Chapter 403 - Angel's Mask

After the alliance between the Association and Kathedal was formed with the purpose of confronting the Sun God.

The world, which had been trembling in fear at the god's declaration of destruction, had become relatively calm.

...Of course, I knew this wasn't the whole story.

"From now on, we must strengthen our defenses thoroughly."

A few days after I gave my speech.

The first joint Association-Kathedal meeting.

On the left side of the table sat the Association members in a row, and on the right sat the Kathedal members. At this meeting held in the United States, I spoke while displaying my presentation.

At this gathering attended by the Association Director and Celeste at the helm, along with key heroes including Stardust and major villains like Atlas.

I pointed to the wall and said:

"According to the records I've interpreted from the Sun God's ruins, when the Sun God becomes enraged, angels will descend from the sky and his power will go berserk. This is likely to happen soon."

My newly adopted concept.

Pretending to be a knowledgeable person who knows the world's secrets.

...Actually, it's not a concept but the truth, but since I couldn't say "This world seems like a comic book and I saw it there~," I had to create this persona.

"...Angels descending from the sky. That's hard to believe."

"Unfortunately, it's true. In fact, didn't I already take one angel away?"

"Wasn't that fabricated?"

"...It was one hundred percent real."

I sighed before responding to the suspicious Director.

I was already struggling to deal with Stardust and Celeste glaring at each other, and now the Director was giving me trouble.

Anyway, I didn't really care about those suspicious glances.

Because as time passed, the truth would naturally be revealed.

And so, a few days later.

[Br-breaking news!!! Currently, monster-like beings resembling angels have begun invading the world from the sky!!! Citizens are advised to evacuate to safe locations immediately...]

Just as I had predicted.

Indeed, one day angels began descending from the sky.

Murder weapons disguised as angels, with silver hair tinged with gold, dressed in white cloth and wings.

...In the original story, these beings caused tremendous damage when they were deployed amid the chaos from Kathedal's attack and the anarchic state.

But now things were different.

"Ha! These things are weaker than I thought!"

Crackle-zap-zap-zap.

In a city in Gyeonggi Province.

Electra, Choi Se-hee, who had instantly annihilated all the angels that suddenly descended from between the clouds with electricity, grinned and muttered.

The city that was about to collapse due to the angels' attack...

But the angels vanished into light in an instant thanks to Electra's counterattack.

"How's it going? Everything working out?"

"Oh, it's... Egostic!"

And seeing her looking triumphant.

I landed beside her with my cape fluttering.

"What brings you here?"

"Had some business to take care of. Thought I'd stop by."

"Mmm. No need to worry about this place. I've got it all covered!"

Choi Se-hee flashed me a thumbs up while her orange hair fluttered.

And she was right.

After the angels' attack began.

According to plan, I sent each of our Ego-stream members to different parts of the country to be responsible for their areas.

Essentially, they were South Korea's defense force.

After all, Eun-wol, Choi Se-hee, Seo Ja-young, Divine Dragon, and Uncle Desik were the strongest in our country apart from Stardust.

Well, of course they were—I personally trained them.

So with each Ego-stream member taking charge of a zone, and several Yu-seong PMC heroes deployed under each of them, South Korea was being protected.

This was possible because I knew in advance that the angels would attack, so I had trained and positioned everyone beforehand.

...It was also possible because Kathedal-affiliated villains could now officially operate.

I heard other countries were also generally being protected by villains and heroes working together.

...Of course, there were occasional civil wars among them, but it was cute compared to the original story.

Anyway. Society was being maintained somehow.

Even though angels attacked during the day, and people lived in fear as the D-Day of the prophesied doom drew closer with each passing night. But what does it matter?

Being alive is what counts.

And now that heroes and villains could cooperate, we could witness various unexpected scenes.

"No way. What's wrong with this system?"

"Well... this surveillance program is fairly new..."

"Ugh! How can you boast about using such an ancient relic?"

The S-class villain Seo-eun, wearing a hood with her legs propped up on the chair, occupying the central seat at the Association's Control Center, continuously typing something while looking at the monitor.

Seo-eun, who previously couldn't breach the Association network, was finally able to enter the Association through cooperation and was now controlling South Korea's computer systems like a fish in water.

As a bonus, the Association Control Center could now monitor the entire country in real-time.

Thanks to the special system Seo-eun created, reports were now instantly sent to the Association whenever something happened.

Of course, Su-bin was helping her.

...Anyway, while our country was much better defended than others thanks to Stardust and Ego-stream... other countries were also holding up quite well.

Originally in the story, these angels seemed terrifying because they were deployed as an additional threat to a world already collapsing from various attacks, but now that the whole world was armed specifically to stop them, they weren't that scary.

"Good..."

A week passed like that.

Currently.

Night.

"Yes, yes. Please prepare it that way..."

After finishing the call with those words, I sighed and got up from my seat.

Night. Night was a wonderful time.

...Perhaps because the Sun God lived up to his name, he didn't operate at night. The angels didn't descend during this time either.

'Come to think of it, does the Sun God even have anything to do with the sun?'

That's just a name people arbitrarily gave him because he resembled the sun, and he liked it so he used it.

...Well, whatever. Maybe the Sun God is just obsessed with his concept.

I don't understand why he uses a name given by humans when he claims to hate humans.

Anyway, thanks to the god being quiet at night, everyone could rest during this time.

Especially in our country, with Shadow Walker, a night-exclusive hero, taking care of nighttime security. He's too weak during the day to catch angels, so this is what he should be doing.

Anyway, thanks to this, our scattered Ego-stream members could all gather at home at night.

"Ughh... I feel like I'm dying."

"Sigh. I'm an indoor person, but that mean Da-in keeps making me run around..."

So I could see everyone resting in the living room, completely exhausted.

Seo Ja-young was even sprawled on the floor, grumbling.

...I feel a bit sorry.

"Here. Want some ice cream?"

"Yeah. Put it in my mouth."

"Geez..."

So like feeding a carrot to a rabbit, I put a hard candy in Seo Ja-young's mouth and turned on the TV.

Given the current situation, news came on immediately.

And coincidentally, news about Stardust was being broadcast.

[And for international news. Currently, our country's S-class hero Stardust's actions in defeating angels are creating a buzz?]

[Yes, that's right. As you can see in this footage, angels are evaporating due to the light around Stardust even before she extends her fist. With her completely being the natural enemy of angels, there are even comments overseas suggesting that Stardust might be humanity's hope...]

"Hmm..."

I smiled contentedly while watching the broadcast.

Yes. Things are going well.

Recently, Stardust had been traveling around the world occasionally to confront angels in other countries. I sent her because Korea was sufficiently covered by us. She could also raise her profile while she was at it.

Anyway, everything is going according to plan. That's good.

We just need to continue like this and let Stardust naturally give hope to everyone.

Because what I've been feeling lately is... even though society is functioning somehow, we can't erase the gloomy atmosphere that pervades everything.

In the face of the prophesied divine invasion, everyone feels anxious even if they pretend otherwise.

We just need to comfort them well during the remaining time, so they can hold out until the day of destruction.

[As such, Stardust's current popularity...]

"Hmph. I'm good at catching angels too, you know?"

As I was watching TV, Choi Se-hee raised her head from the sofa and said in a slightly sulky voice after seeing the broadcast.

...I should change the channel before she gets angry.

"Right. You were catching them well with lightning."

As I was naturally changing channels, Choi Se-hee muttered as if suddenly curious.

"But, when I first saw the angels, I was intimidated because they looked brutal... why are they actually weaker than expected?"

She asked curiously.

At her words, I subtly turned my head to look toward the kitchen.

Swoosh.

A woman with blonde hair and white wings, smiling while doing dishes next to Su-bin. Halo.

Looking at her, I smiled inwardly and thought quietly.

Why? That's obvious.

Because we kidnapped the boss of the angels.

'...In the original story, surely.'

The command system would be with the first angel to descend, but I had taken control of her.

Although I couldn't control other angels through Halo because other authorities were also confiscated when I took control.

"...Well, anyway."

The angels are taken care of.

There's no time to waste, so I need to move on to the next phase.

With that thought, I got up from my seat.

I need to see Eun-wol and process the moonlight stone...

And so.

Already, two months had passed since the Sun God's declaration of destruction.