Ch.34Ep.34 Broken Justice

# Radios Magnum

It’s quite an old story.

“Here you are again. Did you rent this place?”

“Ah, Radios.”

“Why are you pathetically staring at the sky? Those damn gods won’t even answer you anyway.”

It was Radios’ daily routine to curse the Olympian gods who never cared for the Guardian Spirits.

Despite this, Veichel responded that it was thanks to the gods that they had managed to survive until now.

“You know… if Lady Athena hadn’t taken me in, I would have died long ago.”

“If the gods don’t help us, we die anyway. They took us in back then, but now they won’t even speak to us.”

“Radios. Human affairs should be resolved by humans.”

“That’s my point! Those Outer Gods are supporting otherworlders, so why are our gods just sitting around doing nothing?!”

Fluttering wings.

At Radios’ outburst, birds gathered nearby took flight in surprise.

Veichel’s face showed slight bewilderment at his passionate cry.

But she quickly composed herself and comforted him.

“This too must be divine guidance. We just have to live with it.”

“Veichel… the battle against the otherworlders in the Demonic Prison will be difficult.”

“…”

Recently, Arsia had been using her foresight to search for the optimal strategy and came up with a peculiar plan.

The plan was to lure the otherworlders into the Demonic Prison and borrow the power of its demonic beasts.

Though some objected that it was a double-edged sword, Arsia silenced their opposition with her incredible persuasiveness.

The Demonic Prison was the most dangerous and unpredictable of Kadinant’s three forbidden areas.

If they could successfully drive the otherworlders there, they could achieve victory.

“But you know too. If we go there… at least half of us will die.”

“Radios. We each have our own beliefs. Just as I don’t criticize you for insulting the gods.”

“But that’s not the point…!”

“I follow Lady Athena’s command to kill the otherworlders who invaded Kadinant. That’s all that matters to me.”

“…Veichel.”

No matter what he said, it was always “for Lady Athena” and “thanks to Lady Athena.”

Radios often felt like punching Veichel when she kept repeating these phrases.

That’s how it had been.

She was always Veichel Breate, who lived only looking up to the gods.

“VEICHEEEEEEEEL!!!!”

“…”

Words like “how are you alive” or “I’m glad you survived” wouldn’t come out.

The woman before him was so devastated that he could no longer see the Veichel of the past.

He thought only Serena had betrayed them, but Veichel was a traitor too?

“How!! How could you do this! You’re not supposed to betray us! You of all people!!!”

“I think you’re mistaken, Radios. You’re wrong. It’s not betrayal—I’ve finally awakened.”

“…”

Veichel spread her arms and declared in a voice full of narcissism:

“This world has been rotten from the beginning. Olympus is full of garbage, and Kadinant born from them is garbage too. The Outer God, the Resident, has personally come to clean up this trash.”

“Veichel! What are you saying!”

“Ignorant and foolish Radios. Shouldn’t you realize it too? The hypocrisy of the gods.”

Although half of Veichel’s facial muscles were covered with bandages.

Radios could read her emotions more clearly than ever before.

Revenge, hatred, destruction, despair, devastation, rage, madness, greed, gluttony, grief, corruption, and ecstasy.

All kinds of malice had gathered to create a monster.

But even as Radios felt betrayed, Veichel continued without interruption.

“What is wrong with judging those abominable Olympians!”

“The gods are corrupt! I am merely passing judgment on them on behalf of the Outer Gods!”

“For the downfall of Olympus, I would even offer my life to them.”

The woman who once shone with devotion to the gods was nowhere to be found.

In her place stood a vengeful ghost risen from hell.

She had crossed a river of no return.

There was a story in the otherworlders’ world.

An angel called Luciel, known as one of the seven archangels, succumbed to his own greed and fell to hell.

The fallen angel called himself a fallen angel and changed his name to Lucifer.

He defiled himself by becoming the demon who presided over pride, one of the seven deadly sins.

Who would have thought this story would apply to Veichel?

“Veichel… how could you…”

“I won’t explain how. Don’t get in my way from now on, Radios.”

“Your way…?”

“Five days. In five days, you will die by my hand.”

“..!”

Rumbling.

Veichel emanated an aura of a completely different order than anything she had shown before.

Radios felt chills run down his spine at the sinister energy radiating from her.

Indeed.

The current Veichel was an opponent Radios couldn’t defeat even if he gave it his all.

“Think one more time, Veichel! This isn’t like you!”

“True. This isn’t like me. Veichel Breate was always an apostle who worshipped Athena.”

She seemed to reminisce about the past with a distant expression at Radios’ words.

But it was only for a moment, and soon her face contorted like a demon’s as she spoke.

“But…! That bitch Athena merely manipulated the woman called Veichel Breate as she pleased.”

“What?”

“From the beginning, my very identity was a false illusion created by the god’s schemes. I have only now found my true self.”

“Veichel! Please!”

“Shut up, Radios Magnum. Don’t think about running away. Enjoy the five days you have left.”

“VEICHEEEEL!!”

Whoosh.

As if she had no more business with him, she tore through the dimensional space created by the Sword of Judgment and fled.

Radios was shocked twice by seeing the Sword of Judgment shattered like this.

At this level, Radios could have been torn apart by Veichel right then and there.

“What… what made you like this…”

Thud.

A numbing sense of emptiness rather than anger took over his mind.

Serena’s betrayal?

Her betrayal was a search for survival, and she had directly stabbed him in the heart.

Moreover, seeing her show regret only filled him with rage beyond disgust.

But Veichel was different.

She was a woman who had always walked the righteous path and died fighting the apostles.

He never expected her to fall so completely if she were to fall.

Perhaps because her beliefs had completely reversed.

He couldn’t help but feel an enormous sense of loss at her betrayal.

“Athena… I need to know what that bastard did.”

It was obvious that asking Hades would only result in evasive non-answers.

Then the only option left was…

“I’ll head to Athena’s temple.”

They say it hasn’t been destroyed and is being used well as an Outer God’s church.

If the reason for Veichel’s betrayal was revealed there.

He would find it no matter what.

‘Olympus… they really were never to be trusted.’

A woman who had moved forward looking up to the gods was now broken.

Radios had always been skeptical of Olympus, but.

Seeing Veichel like this made him trust Olympus even less.

However, cutting ties with Olympus now would clearly make the path ahead more difficult.

First, he needed to meet with Kraud and have a conversation.

***

On a night with beautiful constellations.

Deep in the mountains, monsters’ screams and blood were flying.

“Gaaaaaack!”

“Grrrrrr.”

“Haaaa…”

A scene of chaos and massacre.

The woman who created this scene was none other than Veichel Breate.

She silently wiped off the blood that had splattered on her and sat down, leaning against a nearby tree.

“Radios… Magnum…”

When she first saw his face, she wasn’t sure if it was really him.

But when he used a strange skill, his face returned to the one she knew.

Facing his familiar face, even she couldn’t proceed with her original purpose of assassination.

As a result, they had the worst possible reunion.

“You haven’t changed at all. You still hate the Olympians but freely use their artifacts.”

Especially the helmet Kynee worn on his head.

Seeing Radios, who had been more displeased with Olympus’ behavior than anyone else, using divine items.

Even Veichel couldn’t help but lose any sense of joy at their reunion.

“You know as well as I do that our relationship ends here.”

In the past, they had fought back-to-back together.

But now they had to separate and point swords at each other.

They would not stop fighting until one of them died first.

They wouldn’t just talk and part ways like today.

The next time they met, they would fight each other with their lives on the line.

“Cough! Cough!”

Blood came up with her cough.

She unwrapped the bandages covering her face.

Where there should have been terrible wounds, her face had returned to normal through the use of her Order.

However, her life force was constantly draining to maintain the Order.

Even with artificially infusing someone else’s life force, there was a limit to how long her body could endure.

Veichel wiped the blood from her mouth with the bandage and muttered.

“I wonder how Arsia is doing.”

Cherished connections that now had to be severed.

Even now, when she closed her eyes, she could see those years spent together in the Guardian Spirit.

“Perhaps I…”

Maybe she wanted someone to end her life.

She knew well that her actions were irrational.

But nothing would change if she didn’t act this way.

If it was for revenge against Athena who had ruined her life.

She would erase all past connections.

“Everything… for the downfall of Olympus…”

Deep in the blood-soaked mountains.

Veichel’s last lingering attachment fell to the ground with her tears.