Chapter 105: The Celestial Realm (1)

Ion lowered his voice.

“According to the information I’ve obtained, the Holy Sovereign is deeply connected to the Celestial Realm. If Celestials have long lifespans like demons… and if the Sovereign is a Celestial, then it makes perfect sense that she hasn’t aged past two hundred.”

“Hmm… I don’t know anything about the Celestial Realm, so I can’t say.”

It was still just a hypothesis, but Ion’s heart was pounding. If she really was from the Celestial Realm, she would be the first “kin” he had ever met in his life.

“That damn dog just got a lot more suspicious. There’s no way I’m leaving Baba-nim alone with her. No matter how sticky it feels, I have no choice but to endure.”

“I’m not scared of the Sovereign. I’m a special and amazing bat. Don’t need Bran. You can leave.”

“You don’t know how I feel and just tell me to get out. Baba-nim really knows how to hurt a guy’s feelings.”

“If you’re hurt, then leave.”

“f*ck. Why the hell am I stuck guarding this bat? Why is my life like this? It already stings and sticks, I’m dying here.”

Baba kept telling him to scram, Bran kept lamenting his fate. Ion was thinking about the Sovereign with their bickering as background noise when—

“……!”

The endless squabbling suddenly stopped. Baba’s round eyes stared at the closed door, and both Ion and Bran turned their heads.

A presence was drawing closer. The door opened.

The same stern-faced Holy Knight commander from earlier entered, carrying a tray with two golden goblets.

“His Holiness has summoned you. After hearing of Branch Leader Ion’s exploits, he said he could not keep a hero who saved so many people waiting even a single minute longer…”

“Ah, I’m fine waiting longer, but… if His Holiness insists, then of course I should go now…”

Despite his relaxed tone, Ion walked over with rather hurried steps.

“To stand before His Holiness, one must first purify the dust accumulated on body and soul. Please cleanse your heart and mind by drinking this holy water blessed by His Holiness.”

The commander offered a golden goblet. Ion drank the clear liquid without hesitation. It was holy water; nothing would happen to him, and even if it were poison, he had resistance to most toxins.

The commander offered the second goblet to Bran. Bran had said earlier that a little holy water was fine, so Ion wasn’t worried.

Bran, lips tightly shut while enduring the stinging and stickiness, took the goblet.

“ARRGHH!”

Bran screamed and hurled the goblet across the room.

“…?! Saint?”

The commander’s eyes widened.

“My hand! My hand is on fire! ARRGH! I can’t take it anymore!”

Bran clutched his bright-red hand and roared loud enough to shake the Holy See. Doors on both sides burst open as Holy Knights rushed in, hands already on swords and muskets.

Bran frantically shook the hand that had held the goblet. Sizzle— Smoke rose from his palm. The skin really looked slightly burned.

“This isn’t just ‘stinging’! You bastards, what the hell did you put in that cup?!”

“…That was a sacred chalice. What could we possibly have done— wait. If the chalice felt burning…”

The commander drew his sword with a look of betrayal.

“A hybrid! Everyone, draw your swords!”

“Ha, those bastards were hybrids!”

“Filthy mongrels dare set foot here?!”

The Holy Knights instantly formed divine shields and unsheathed their blades. The situation turned explosive in an instant.

“You should’ve endured the pain no matter what.”

“Try sticking your hand in a fire pit sometime and see if you can endure it.”

“If you couldn’t handle it, you shouldn’t have come in the first place. I gave you plenty of chances to leave, but you’re the one who stayed.”

“It was all to protect Baba-nim! If Baba-nim had touched that chalice, his whole body might have burned to ash—”

“I’m fine. Totally fine. Bran just caused a nuisance.”

Baba landed on the rolling chalice. Bran finally looked a little embarrassed.

“Anyway, things turned out like this—what are you going to do? Shut up and grab your staff already. Are we fighting or not?”

Ion summoned his staff, ready to smack the shameless hybrid’s head first.

That was the moment.

“……!”

An overwhelming presence that could not be ignored appeared at the end of the corridor.

When Ion had first seen Bran on the cruise to Elidivi Island, he had, very rarely, felt intimidated. This presence was different from Bran’s. Strangely… it didn’t feel frightening. Instead, it felt welcoming.

Was this how a sprout shivering under thin ice felt when it saw its first ray of warm sunlight? How an exhausted person felt when a soft feather bed appeared before them? How a starving person felt when a bowl of thin, warm soup was placed in front of them?

The presence drew nearer. It felt like warm sunlight approaching.

“Ugh… f*ck, it stings so bad. Feels like my skin’s being scrubbed with steel wool.”

Bran was clearly feeling the exact opposite…

Finally, behind the Holy Knights appeared the Holy Sovereign—dressed in pure white, wearing a golden crown.

A snow-white velvet dress, slender neck, white hair tied in a neat bun at the nape, apricot-blushed brown skin, gentle smile, and calm blue eyes.

The Holy Sovereign, Casa Sui—who was said to be over two hundred years old—was a young and beautiful woman.

The commander reported in panic.

“Your Holiness, these people are hybrids. You must retreat.”

“Lower your weapons.”

“…Pardon?”

“I said lower them…”

Though puzzled, the commander did not argue further.

“Everyone, obey His Holiness’s command!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The knights sheathed their weapons and formed a protective ring around the Sovereign with bare hands, ready to shield her even without arms.

The Sovereign spoke from where she stood, without stepping closer.

“It has been a long time, hybrid…”

“Hmph, still the same, kennel keeper.”

As expected… Bran and the Sovereign knew each other. They were roughly the same age—around two hundred—and as leaders of opposing factions, they had crossed paths before.

“You—don’t come any closer or it’ll really f*cking sting, so stay back.”

“That was exactly what I was going to say… Knowing we only make each other uncomfortable, why have you come here?”

“Did you think I came to see you? I had no choice because of this kid.”

Only then did the Sovereign look at Ion.

She calmly scanned Ion’s face with serene blue eyes, then the potted plant he was holding and the bat perched on it.

“The companion of the hybrid… are you perhaps the Revelation-attribute Aura Lord, Branch Leader Ion?”

“…Yes, you recognize me. That’s correct.”

He hadn’t planned to hide it anyway, since she would know his description.

“First… I offer my blessings to a Revelation-attribute awakener who has received Elida’s grace.”

“Thank you.”

“Yet why have you hidden your identity and entered this place with a hybrid? Unless you speak the truth, I will have no choice but to treat you as an enemy.”

“If possible, could we speak privately?”

“Insolence! You dare request a private audience with His Holiness?!”

The moment Ion finished speaking, Commander Setra exploded in rage.

“Setra, be quiet.”

The Sovereign silenced the commander and calmly asked,

“You hid your identity, came with a distasteful hybrid, and infiltrated the Holy See… just to speak with me?”

“Yes. More precisely… I came to reach ‘that place’ through Your Holiness.”

“…”

Unsure whether the Holy Knights knew about the Celestial Realm, Ion used a pronoun. A faint crease appeared between the Sovereign’s beautiful brows.

“‘That place’… what do you—”

At that moment, the Sovereign’s eyes widened and she shut her mouth. Her eyes were fixed directly on Ion. White ripples shimmered in her clear blue eyes—she was using divine power. And then…

“You… are from that place…!”

She had realized that Celestial blood flowed in Ion’s veins.

Ion, Bran, the Holy Sovereign, and Holy Knight Commander Setra—four people, one bat, and one potted plant—gathered in the Sovereign’s private prayer room.

Though she had a separate office and audience chamber, the prayer room where she prayed alone to God was the most secure and heavily guarded place, so they met here.

When Ion revealed that he wished to enter the Celestial Realm for a certain reason, the Sovereign interpreted that reason in her own way.

“I see… you are seeking your homeland.”

Going to the land where he was born was an extremely reasonable and persuasive motive, so Ion did not deny it.

“Yes, that’s right. I have no parents; I was raised by my teacher. Just before he passed away recently, he told me that Celestial blood runs in my veins. So I thought I would at least visit my homeland now.”

“You only learned of it recently. If we had met even once before, I could have told you that you are of mixed Celestial blood…”

The moment she learned Ion carried Celestial blood, the Sovereign’s tone and expression became extremely polite and respectful. Even Commander Setra now looked at Ion with eyes full of reverence.

“Of course I must guide someone seeking their roots to the gates of the Celestial Realm… but first, I have a few things I need to confirm.”

“Please go ahead.”

“Why does Your Lordship keep that mong—”

“f*ck! Hey! You kennel-keeping b*tch, don’t call me a mongrel! I’m a hybrid, got it? And we’re about to pick a cool new name for our kind soon, okay?!”

Bran, standing sulking in the corner like he was being punished, suddenly roared. He was staying as far from the Sovereign as possible because being near her made his whole body prickle and sting.

“Why do you keep that mongrel by your side?”

“There’s a reason. I can’t go into details…”

“Are you guys ignoring me?”

“I recommend Your Lordship keep your distance from mongrels. The people of the Celestial Realm utterly detest anything mixed with demonic blood.”

“Just because the inhabitants of that world hate the Demon Realm doesn’t mean I have to hate it. I merely carry blood from that world; I am not a person of that world.”

“…”

A strange light flashed in the Sovereign’s eyes.

“I have a question too. Has a system appeared in the Celestial Realm as well?”

“…I do not know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yes… The last time I was in contact, nothing like the ‘Great Cataclysm’ had occurred, but a considerable amount of time has passed since then, so I no longer know the current situation.”

Hearing this, Ion naturally asked,

“When was your last contact?”

“Exactly 18 years, 4 months, and 5 days ago as of today.”

That was longer ago than he had expected.

“Are Celestials… do angels live longer than humans?”

“The Celestial Realm has many races, just like Idea has humans, elves, and dragons. Among them, the majority race known as ‘angels,’ who hold a similar proportion to humans in Idea, live longer than humans. The Celestial I was in contact with is also an angel.”

So the race was literally called “angels.”

I hope they don’t actually have names like Gabriel, Raphael… Lucifer.

“Does Your Holiness also have angel blood?”

“Yes, you saw correctly. My father was an angel.”

“Then I…”

He wanted to ask whether one of his parents had been an angel too, but the word “parents” felt so foreign and unfamiliar that his lips refused to move.

Baba asked in his stead.

“So Dam Ion’s mom and dad were angels too?”