SRS 113

Nevertheless, their gaze remained fixed on Yohan, and no one stepped forward claiming to have received a revelation. Unable to endure the stinging sensation on his face any longer, Yohan called out to the angel professor.

“Um… how do you know if someone has received a revelation?”

“The path to heaven will grow hot.”

“Ah.”

So it’s me.

…It really was me?

Yohan had simply thought it was his head overheating from overthinking. But that wasn’t it. Having needlessly pretended otherwise and wasted time, becoming a strange student who drew everyone’s scrutiny, Yohan hesitated before quietly rising from his seat.

“Ooh…!”

“It really was Yohan.”

“See? I told you it was Yohan earlier.”

Whispers of acknowledgment among the students reached Yohan, making him feel embarrassed.

“Yohan Herse. Did you receive a revelation?”

Amidst the already focused attention, the angel professor asked. It was like a confirmation shot. Keeping his gaze lowered, Yohan nodded.

The commotion around him must have woken Mikael. He met the gaze of the student looking up at him, propped up on his arm.

His expressionless face met Yohan’s, perhaps still half-asleep. Yohan felt slightly uncomfortable under the direct gaze of those blinking gray eyes. When the professor gave permission to go to the bell tower and offered to guide him, Yohan declined and hurried out of the lecture hall.

As he walked briskly down the corridor, Yohan felt uneasy.

If a revelation has come to me, what on earth could it be? Is it about Cheplen? Or is it about Mikael?

Fearing it might be a revelation concerning Mikael, he couldn’t even meet his gaze moments ago. Arriving at the bell tower, Yohan was caught in a contradictory state of mind, hoping the revelation was about Cheplen, yet simultaneously not wanting it to be. The bell tower was that sacred building housing the headmaster’s office.

For Yohan, who always descended to the roof and searched for the headmaster’s office from the upper floors, the first floor of the bell tower was an unfamiliar place. Hesitating, he pushed open the massive door and stepped inside. As someone who once lived in a temole, he was greeted by a place that felt familiar.

Inside, leading directly to the central prayer room, Yohan slowly surveyed the space. Numerous statues of gods stood on the altar, making him feel slightly overwhelmed.

Eight rooms connected to the prayer hall, but since he had no specific business there, he didn’t bother to enter them. Yohan knelt awkwardly before the altar. Unsure which deity to pray to, he hesitated a moment before deciding to simply face forward.

He closed his eyes, clasped his hands, and took a deep breath. He offered his prayer much like the morning service, and his vision darkened. Simultaneously, the scene God wished to show him unfolded. 

The scene within the revelation was eerily familiar. Just as Yohan had seen in his dream, it depicted a space where countless corpses were piled like a tower, and a ritual was being performed to resurrect the dead by reviving their souls. And atop that ritual stood a figure. Yohan was startled by the figure, seen only from behind.

…It’s not Cheplen.

He had assumed it was Cheplen because the scene matched his dream, but the back view was far too small and frail. Even if Cheplen might have become under demonic control and reduced to a shadow of his former self, he wouldn’t have been that small and frail. This caused conflict.

If this was the true revelation, then what was the scene he had seen in his dream?

He couldn’t tell if the dream was right, or if the current revelation was correct. Or perhaps someone other than Cheplen was violating the taboo? Did that mean the empire had fallen that far?

Whichever possibility he considered, every one was bleak. Watching the revelation with a heavy heart, Yohan clenched his fists.

The figure, still facing away, surveyed the cellar before walking forward. Soon, the figure dragged a very large, pure white coffin from the innermost part. It must have been incredibly heavy, for the person hauling it, groaned and made all sorts of strange noises, before placing it on the straw bed.

Exhausted, the figure sat down briefly to catch his breath before fiddling with the coffin lid. Yohan examined the engraved pattern on the coffin and gasped.

That was the temple’s emblem.

The temple’s emblem is the emblem of their god. Yet, they dared bring that emblem into a place where taboos are committed?

It was an act of madness. Though he hadn’t done it himself, Yohan felt even greater terror. It was as if the wrath of the god was crushing his shoulders.

The sinner in the vision moved and opened the lid of the enormous coffin. The moment the corpse inside was revealed.

“…Ah!”

Yohan gasped and opened his eyes. Thump, thump, thump, thump! His heart pounded, screaming its existence. Yohan clutched his tightening chest with his hands and grimaced. Sweat trickled down, dripping onto the floor like rain.

After a moment, catching his breath, Yohan lifted his trembling eyes and looked up at the countless statues of gods. His hands pressed against the floor trembled.

“Just now, that was…”

The divine heat felt from the sky had receded, as if the revelation had ended.

Even though there was no one left to give him an answer, Yohan couldn’t stop his voice from cracking with panic.

“Just now, what was that?”

He asked, overwhelmed by confusion, but no answer came. Yohan stared at the stone statues of the gods, silent and unmoving, then bit his lip. 

He tried to recall the revelation, wondering if he had seen it wrong, but the scene that came to mind remained unchanged.

There was no mistake.

The corpse lying in the coffin was definitely…

Definitely Mikael.

“……”

Yohan slowly rose to his feet and wiped the sweat from his brow. His thoughts became overwhelming in an instant, and a sound like something snapping repeatedly echoed from his temples. Yohan ran his hand over his face once, then opened the door to the purification room set to one side of the temple. After washing his face inside and looking at the mirror, he saw his own complexion had turned as pale as a ghost and sighed.

In this state, he couldn’t return to the classroom. Lost in thought, he sat on a temple chair.

What exactly was that revelation just now?

If it was a revelation, why did the god show him that scene?

Thoughts crossed his mind. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes. The only certainty was that someone had violated a taboo using Mikael’s corpse.

Someone is trying to revive Mikael.

Who could it be?

How did that person even come to possess Mikael’s corpse? Even Yohan, the High Priest, had been unaware of Mikael’s existence. The friend he met in the Nameless Realm was an entity far too ancient, one who had vanished. A being so unrecorded that even hearing the name wouldn’t reveal anything.

So how did that person know…?

Mikael, lost in thought, suddenly snapped to attention at a possibility that flashed through his mind.

…What if that person wasn’t from the same generation as him?

What if that’s why they knew of Mikael?

Yohan turned his stiff body and looked toward the temple doors.

If that were the case, there was only one person who could possess Mikael’s corpse.

Mikael’s contractor.

The contractor who urged the angel to break the rules, wielded power through it, and then, still unsatisfied, went so far as to kill his own angel.

Yohan recalled the taboo. The taboo of resurrection, which sought to revive the dead down to their very souls, had become forbidden long ago. It was because the first who attempted resurrection nearly destroyed the world, making its danger public knowledge.

In the aftermath, monsters ravaged the entire continent, and its remnants were still being dealt with to this day.

Could it be that Yohan had witnessed the scene of that first resurrection attempt through the revelation?

Was Mikael’s contractor that first sinner?

“…I need to go see Mikael.”

To find out, he had to meet Mikael. Yet, after returning to the lecture hall, Yohan found himself unable to speak.

Revelations were meant to be kept secret; no one asked Yohan what he had seen. Mikael was no exception. To broach the subject of the revelation with Mikael himself… especially to mention his contractor… made him hesitate.

Tick-tick.

Yohan, who had been tormenting himself by scratching his nails, remained seated for a long while even after the bell rang. Seeing Yohan just sitting there, Mikael, who had been about to leave the classroom glanced at him and quietly sat back down.

He was a kind soul.

“Yohan. Why have you looked so bad since earlier?”

He tucked Yohan’s hair, which had fallen over his face, behind his ear and met his gaze.

“Did you see something bad in the revelation?”

“…Mikael.”

“Hm?”

“…When you were around, was there a taboo against reviving the dead?”

“A taboo?”

“Yes.”

Yohan asked in a lowered voice. Mikael thought for a moment before shaking his head.

“There was only the moral knowledge that it shouldn’t be done, not an actual taboo.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Yohan sighed. Mikael didn’t know about the taboo. This confirmed it.

The first one to break the taboo existed after Mikael died.

That person was Mikael’s contractor.

And that person’s sin remains to this day, tormenting the continent’s innocent.

Yohan turned his head to look at Mikael. The reason God had been punishing him for so long seemed clearer than ever before.

It wasn’t simply because Mikael had broken the rules. The sins his contractor had committed in the world were too numerous and too great.

Not knowing how to convey this, Yohan hesitated, then sighed and embraced Mikael.

“Yohan…?”

Yohan held the startled student tightly, hiding his own expression as he grimaced. Having seen Mikael’s look when the topic of the contractor arose, he couldn’t tell him the truth he had learned.

“I’m sorry.”

After offering that cowardly apology, Mikael looked confused for a moment before patting Yohan’s back.

“It’s fine.”

He forgave Yohan without knowing anything. Yohan chuckled softly, thinking it was very angelic of him, and stroked his back. The trace of wings caught his fingers. Yohan poured divine power over that mark and made up his mind.

If he returned, he would annihilate every demon.

He wanted to ease Mikael’s burden, even just a little.

“…Guess I’ll have to work harder to graduate early.”

As he muttered, finding yet another reason to obsess over grades, Mikael chuckled softly.

“If you push yourself harder here, you’ll collapse. Take it easy.”

“If I take it easy, who’s going to save the world?”

“What does that even mean…?”

“I’m joking.”

Yohan let go of Mikael with a bitter smile. Though he couldn’t reveal it now, someday, when Mikael was more stable… When the day came that he wouldn’t be deeply angered or hurt by hearing this story, even then, he wanted to tell him the truth.