Hesione wasn’t as harsh as Gerar. She had considered integrating Mona’s memories and treating her human self well. She saw it as a few pages of fun in the long epic that was her life, providing her with entertainment when she was feeling bored.

Unfortunately, the moment she showed signs of awakening, the Lord of Pride in the human world sealed her.

As Mona, Hesione started looking for other reincarnated angels and ended up offering herself to Wayne; Wayne readily accepted the offering, feeding her more than she could swallow every time.

That part was a pleasant surprise to the Lord of Pride since he hadn’t had a hand in it. When he learned about what happened, he doubled over with laughter, almost laughing himself to death.

After acquiring Saint George’s blood, Wayne helped Mona begin her evolution into an angel, accidentally tearing a hole in the seal and allowing Hesione to break through.

When she did, she almost had a heart attack. Integrating Mona’s memories was no longer an option. She couldn’t wait to awaken immediately and stomp Wayne to death, feeling an intense disgust for him.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t do it.

Pride’s seal remained, and Hesione couldn’t wake up completely. The haughty angel could only influence Mona gradually with her memories, aiming for the full merging of her two selves. It was a slow process, so slow that there was no telling which set of memories would be in control by the end of her awakening.

Hesione wasn’t going to take it lying down, so she kept influencing Mona, but every time she did, she was driven back by scandalous images. That was why she gambled and arranged for today’s event.

She hoped to shatter Hell’s curse through the Lord of Envy’s Divine Comedy of the Seven Deadly Sins, awakening herself fully and erasing both Mona’s memories and the inappropriate master-servant contract. Then she would stomp Wayne to death.

Every day, a new scene of depravity played out, pushing Hesione to the limit of her tolerance. Although she knew how risky it was to release the Lord of Envy, she still couldn’t help but borrow the demon’s power.

Envy didn’t know her complex situation. In his eyes, the Śār was playing with fire, choosing to work with a demon for her own interest.

That was the prelude to falling!

Envy laughed at Hesione’s wishful thinking, but since she had offered her fall on a silver platter, he would guide her through it.

“Hahaha—”

Envy’s fighting spirit peaked at that moment. With a genuine, undisguised grin, he continued to summon his thoughts from Hell, pushing his power in the human world until he could crush his old friend from Heaven.

His territory wasn’t in the mortal realm, and he didn’t have a body to contain his thoughts. This was an insane, unwise course of action. If his thoughts took a blow here, his power in Hell would take a serious blow, too.

However, compared to the possibility of tempting an Śār into falling, even if the chance was one in ten thousand, it was worth the risk. If he succeeded, Heaven would become the laughingstock in Hell, and his reputation would soar until surpassing that of the Lord of Pride.

There was no reason not to make the gamble!

Hesione was significantly weakened and fell far short of her peak. Aside from her, there was only a minor angel, who was a non-issue, and a human who kept staring at the sky, looking distinctly unintelligent.

He would win for sure!

Lord of Envy swung his black greatsword at Mona with renewed vigor. A flash of black light extended indefinitely to the edge of the barrier, easily tearing a black rift into the Gate of Heaven to bring darkness to the human world.

If he wanted, he could seize this chance to invade the human world, but he didn’t. Instead, he continued to bring his greatsword down on Mona, mocking her haughtily.

It wasn’t that he didn’t wish to dominate the world, but that going after the Śār was more cost-effective.

“Where’s your divine power, Hesione?”

“I’m giving you the pressure and stepping stone you want, but where’s your power? Why haven’t you awakened?”

“Why, have you lost your memories? Forgotten your name?”

Lord of Envy unleashed his power with abandon, satisfied when he saw the Śār struggling to defend herself, without her usual grace. It was better than walking all over Pride or dominating the mortal realm. He felt like the demon king of the world.

Clang!

The sacred lance blocked the pitch-black demonic sword. Mona’s arms trembled as Holy Light coursed through her body to barely maintain the luminance. Deep in her heart, Hesione’s memories told her that as long as she accepted the memories with open arms, she would recover her true self and gain greater power.

But Mona didn’t want to accept the memories. She knew that if she did, she would feel an increasingly stronger aversion to Wayne. Then she would be a heartless, indifferent angel rather than Mona. If she weren’t Mona, what would be the point of having a self?

Crack!

The Sacred Lance of Heaven cracked. With the Golden Law of Angels failing to resist the Divine Comedy of the Seven Deadly Sins, Mona’s defense crumbled, and the crack spread further and further until covering the entire lance.

Darkness snaked out of the cracks and dispersed the light, wrapping around Mona’s hands. As soon as the Divine Comedy of the Seven Deadly Sins entered her body, black veins covered her arms, spreading gradually to her shoulders. Her sacred, noble golden eyes also became veiled with black mist.

In that startled moment, Mona had accepted the memories of the cold personality. The name Hesione flashed through her mind, and she paused.

If she was the last reincarnated angel, who... wasn’t? Kael?

Meanwhile, Hesione had gained the Divine Comedy of the Seven Deadly Sins and found out that the method of countering poison with poison was effective. The seal began to waver. Her awakening became more and more—

Boom!!

A pale fist shot out and collided with Lord of Envy’s laughing face. The demon lord looked down and saw a sickly, faceless figure in pale armor. The next second, his neck elongated as he flew away uncontrollably, the world spinning in his eyes.

“Are you alright, Mona?”

Wayne came up to Mona as the Pale Knight. Sensing that the Goddess of Darkness’s thoughts hadn’t acted up, he let out a faint sigh of relief. Between suppressing the goddess with everything and fighting the demon lord with everything, he had chosen the latter without hesitation when the Divine Comedy of the Seven Deadly Sins corrupted Mona.

The Goddess of Darkness had just run away in fright, containing Her thoughts in a defensive shell, so She hadn’t noticed the departure of the tentacles. That, however, was only temporary. Wayne didn’t have a large window to use his full power.

Hearing his voice, Mona instantly woke up. The coldness in her eyes faded as she began to reject the influence of the disjointed memories. She shook her head, saying that she was fine.

“Fine? Your face has turned black.”

Wayne placed a hand on Mona’s shoulder. His tentacles grabbed onto her and extracted all the text of the Divine Comedy of the Seven Deadly Sins from her body.

∑(Ő‸Ő、)

Hesione started. Who was she, where was she, and what happened? Why did the demonic text vanish all of a sudden?

She returned to the seal without the Divine Comedy of the Seven Deadly Sins, rejected by Mona. Despite her anxiety, she could do nothing.

Good news, she had just broken the seal and made a significant step. Bad news, her foot was stuck, and she couldn’t even look away from Mona’s reality in the future.

It always poured rather than rained. Hesione realized to her fright that there was another layer of hellish curse within the hellish curse. She couldn’t control Mona, and her control was slowly being taken away. Rather than Hesione awakening, Mona was the one regaining memories from her past life.

Though the result would be an integration of the two entities, the power dynamic was reversed, which spelled great trouble.

Hesione desperately called out to Mona to maintain herself. It wasn’t too late to turn around now, so she must not continue to fall.

Halfway through her warning, she was muted and swept away to a corner along with her memories.

Mona realized to her surprise that she had regained control. She didn’t know how, but she speculated that it had something to do with her awakening. She held the damaged Sacred Lance of Heaven up and looked at Wayne with a complicated expression.

“Don’t worry. It’s just an outdated weapon that should’ve long been eliminated.” Misinterpreting Mona’s gesture, Wayne dismissed the matter and told her not to blame herself. He drew the Oath Sword from his personal storage and handed it to her.

“I can tell that you’re not used to using lances. Use this sword.”

“But what about you?”

“I’ll use this.”

Wayne raised an arm and held his fingers together. His fingers, palm, and arm melted and recombined into a blade with a pale glint.

Only then did Mona put away the sacred lance and accept the Oath Sword, which Saint George had used to slay a dragon.

With the divine weapon in hand, the abundant holy intent injected the Golden Law of Angels with renewed golden radiance. Like a small but warm and brilliant sun, the Holy Light pierced through layers of darkness and rejuvenated hope for the world of despair.

The Oath Sword might as well be different weapons when Wayne wielded it and when a true reincarnated angel wielded it.

“Boss, the demon is getting more and more powerful.” Mona’s eyes glowed with outpouring golden light. The sacred luminance washed over her face, making her look holy and untouchable.

“Take the front. I’ll take the back. We flank him and send him back to Hell.”

Wayne’s pale face was featureless. The large eyeball in the center of his chest radiated an infectious murmur that rendered the light and darkness around him pale, as if space itself had become covered in pale flesh.

The corruption spread through the darkness. Lord of Envy looked at Wayne’s transformed state in surprise. The nobody he had ignored turned out to be capable of hurting him.

Envy felt his face, feeling a slight sting. He said derisively, “An evolution of the Void. The mages of the human world are getting increasingly insane.”

White light approached at lightning speed. Mona, now wielding the Oath Sword, possessed a level of power that she had never owned. A golden screen of light unfurled from the distance, like a barrier that froze time and space. The entirety of the dark abyss turned silent.

With the divine weapon, Mona had become a greater threat. Lord of Envy felt a headache brewing, but he didn’t panic. Calmly, he raised his dark, demonic sword to meet the attack.

Just then, a massive white hand descended. Five thick tentacles extended in different directions, landing heavily like pillars. The hand’s fingertips overlapped before melding together, forming a giant white cage.

Mona flew away from the shrinking white cage, flapping her wings.

Curious, Lord of Envy watched the unusual move he had never encountered. The next second, he heard several voices murmuring to him.

“Follow me...”

“Comprehend the true meaning of life and evolve with me.”