Chapter 181: Lucille (26)

"... Tch."

Herbert looked at the fallen angel who had shown him goodwill, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

Damn it.

Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't be afraid... can you please stop saying it like that!!?

I wasn't scared to begin with, but you keep emphasizing it over and over, and it makes me feel uneasy!

And also, what kind of thing is that to say?

What do you mean by "you've always wanted to see me"?

Are we that close?

Could you not be so heavy-handed with your words?

Herbert frowned slightly, looked at the fallen angel, and asked in return: "You say you've always wanted to see me?"

The fallen angel nodded, not taking the initiative to approach, and even lowered her height a little.

"I have always looked forward to being able to communicate with you again."

"The last time you and I met, you were still unable to perceive my existence, and could only listen to that gentleman relay my words under his protection."

Saying this, she shook her head with a hint of regret, and said softly:

"But looking at you now, I'm afraid you've even forgotten those words."

"Then, let me introduce myself again."

"My old name has already been abandoned; now you may call me..."

Before the angel could utter that name, Herbert, who had been silent for quite a while, spoke up first.

"Lucille?"

Herbert squinted his eyes and said uncertainly: "Your name is... Lucille, right, yes, that's right."

Oh?

This time the fallen angel was truly surprised.

"You actually still remember my name."

"Mm... I had originally forgotten, but after returning here, I vaguely recalled it again."

Herbert raised his right hand and lightly thumped his head, shook it hard, feeling a sealed memory suddenly awaken.

This was indeed not the first time the two had met; when the Archbishop had brought him to walk through the alien prison, they had already met once.

It's just that at the time, exactly as Lucille had said, he was completely unable to perceive the other's existence, and afterward he had protectively forgotten this memory.

"When I came to see you again, you weren't in your current form either, but rather..."

He turned his head to look at the giant eyeball remains on one side of the sanctuary, and raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly realized something was off.

Wait.

Was that eyeball that small before?

The eyeball, which in his memory had been incomparably massive, now seemed not so exaggeratedly large compared to the fallen angel before his eyes.

Did the eyeball shrink?

Or...

At this moment, Herbert realized what mistake he had made.

In the Aurora Sanctuary, only light existed, and the sense of distance between the two was not so easy to discern.

He had thought he was already standing before the fallen angel, but in fact there was still a long distance between them.

Lucille was indeed a beautiful angel.

But...

She seemed to be a bit too big.

The other's body alone was about five meters tall, and with three pairs of wings added on, she looked incomparably massive.

Herbert kept blinking, unable to help sucking his teeth.

So huge!

Are you a serious angel?

Where did you come from?

Holy Terra?

So big, and four hands...

Young Lady Ranni, is that you?

Wait, four hands?

Wtf.

I'm fighting Sukuna!!?

Not good.

I still have white hair!

Oh no.

I've become Gojo Satoru!

Throughout heaven and earth...

Don't ask me why I only say half of that line?

The secret within cannot be spoken of at length.

"Um, could you shrink a little?"

You're so tall—it's making me feel pressured.

"Of course."

Lucifer did not refuse, and her form immediately began to shrink.

But even after shrinking several times, her height still remained around one point nine meters.

She was already taller than Herbert, and floating in midair, she towered a full head above him.

"... Could you shrink a little more?"

Lucifer shook her head regretfully, floated before Herbert, and looked down at him. "I'm afraid not—this is already the limit this body can achieve."

Herbert stepped back a pace, slightly raised his eyes, and asked Nie Nasha in his mind:

"Is she lying to me?"

【"Hmm… well, not exactly. She can change further, but going any smaller would indeed cause some problems."】

"Fine."

Though he reluctantly accepted Lucifer's excuse, he still felt she was deliberately trying to tower over him.

You're deliberately trying to be a full head taller, are you?

Alright. Wait and see.

As he thought of this, Herbert recalled his earlier conversation with the High Priest here.

【Betrayal of the Winged Blade】、【Fallen Holy Seal】、【Blasphemous Eye】—Lucifer

She was a fallen archangel.

In his previous life's world, fallen angels arose for many reasons.

Some became fallen due to overconfidence in their own power, leading legions of angels against the gods, only to be defeated and cast down.

Others rebelled out of disobedience, refusing to follow the gods' commands, and were cast down after their failure.

In some tales, angels fell because they developed lust, falling in love with beings they should never have united with, ultimately angering the gods and being forced to fall.

And in every story, no matter the cause, one role was unmistakable.

The god.

Angels were the gods' creations; everything they possessed came from the gods.

It wasn't only the gods of the righteous faction who created angels—some evil-aligned deities also created messengers in the form of angels.

Angels were the gods' messengers.

They were the gods' blades, the gods' eyes and mouths.

They watched over mortals, delivered divine will, and purged dissenters.

Lucifer was no different—created by a god, and fighting for Him.

But in this story, the god who created her was somewhat special.

The Sun God!

As the embodiment of the sun, one of the world's oldest primordial deities, a high-tier deity of solar power, the Sun God's strength was immense.

Without exaggeration, among all gods, the Sun God's raw power ranked among the top three—at least!

This was not mere fan praise, but hard-won reputation forged through countless divine wars from ancient times to the Age of Faith.

Just in recorded texts, more than a handful of fallen gods had perished in His hands!

And how many other deities had secretly died because of Him… no one knew.

The Sun God had once been a chief deity of the Natural Pantheon, but broke away before the Age of Faith began.

Though no other worshipped gods dared challenge Him, He himself actively sought change during that upheaval and formed His own divine system.

It was then that the Sun God shifted from neutrality to the righteous side, becoming the faith anchor for many paladins.

As the current pillar of the righteous faction, He was also the primary deity worshipped by most monks of the Mist Monastery.

No, it wasn't just the Mist Monastery.

Too many paladins across this world regarded the Sun God as their foremost deity.

They took pride in becoming Sun Paladins, and received from the Sun God the sacred vow that granted their weapons the blessing of Solar Flame.

(End of Chapter)