Chapter 75: Omen (12)

Click-

Bang!

Hitler fired lead shot at the angel approaching him.

Vweeeeen-

Each time, however, it was blocked by an invisible barrier.

“…B-Break the window and run, Adolf!”

“I can’t do that!”

“Just listen… to me, or we’ll both die…!”

“I’d rather die with you than leave you behind.”

“Adolf!”

Right now, if he ran away, Father Johann, left alone, would surely die.

Hitler didn’t want those around him to die.

Protecting Father Johann was well worth risking his life for.

‘…The children need Father Johann.’

Hitler had always watched over Father Johann and the children from afar.

A strong bond existed between them, one he could never enter.

Parent and child.

Though not connected by blood, they truly thought of Father Johann as their parent and followed him.

Most of them had such lively personalities that one wouldn’t think they were orphans.

They treated Father Johann without reservation, acting as if he were their biological father.

He himself didn’t need to exist in this world, but Father Johann did.

What the era needed was not a painter.

From his childhood, Hitler had seen orphans and the poor.

“Adolf, if you don’t succeed, you’ll end up like that. If you don’t have a stable job, if you can’t earn money, you’ll fall to the bottom. You mustn’t become like those b*stards.”

His father always said that whenever they passed under a bridge, trying to cover his eyes and ears.

Was it really their fault that they were in such a situation?

Hitler asked himself.

A former soldier who lost limbs and eyes in the war, an orphan abandoned under a bridge, surviving only on garbage, a disabled person abused and treated like a s*ave.

Did they have even a single choice they could make?

Wasn’t it a problem of the society that neglected them?

They are people, just like us.

There is no reason to be discriminated against simply because they have no parents or because they are poor.

An era of equality for all.

Even nobles born with blue blood were gradually mixing with commoners.

Hitler resolved.

To make everyone equal.

To create a world where no one is discriminated against.

To become a painter, a beacon illuminating the world.

Well-being, peace, solace.

He would give choices to their lives, where they had been able to choose nothing.

He would try to change this world by drawing out people’s goodness.

That was his challenge to his father.

People like Father Johann are needed.

In the world he envisioned.

“…Father, I have a concern.”

“What is it…”

“What does Ms. Eva think of me?”

“…That is.”

“Actually, I fell in love with Ms. Eva at first sight. I couldn’t confess because I was afraid she would reject me…”

Father Johann realized what Hitler was trying to do.

“No, Adolf. No…”

“If, I survive this safely.”

Hitler, holding the rifle, now empty of bullets, like a club.

Stood proudly with his back to Father Johann.

“I will confess.”

“Please, Adolf… Run! Please! Run!!! Leave this old man behind!!!”

The window.

As the fog lifted and the twilight began to set in at the window.

Hitler clenched his teeth.

‘…Buy time.’

‘Until Ms. Eva returns, until Father Johann understands my intention and can escape safely.’

‘Buy time from the angel.’

Hitler squeezed his eyes shut.

To avoid making eye contact with the angel.

The twilight was whispering.

To Hitler, who was moving straight ahead,

Without flinching from anything.

Everything around him was sending its own praises.

He thought he could hear those faint voices.

The beating of his heart wouldn’t subside.

Finally, he felt what it meant to risk his life.

Vwoooong-

The further he advanced, the more he began to feel death.

‘I will surely die.’

‘I cannot face this.’

‘But.’

He didn’t give up.

He was not afraid of death.

Because there were things to protect, things to achieve.

Paradoxically, fear was becoming the driving force moving Hitler’s feet.

‘……What if something like this is unleashed upon the world?’

If a monster that could invade a target’s body just by looking into its eyes began to appear all over the world.

Ruin.

He couldn’t stand by.

He couldn’t stay still.

He couldn’t run away.

Hitler recalled people’s smiles.

From children to adults.

He envisioned a world where everyone, regardless of age or gender, smiled broadly upon seeing his paintings.

‘……Something like this shouldn’t exist in the world.’

To the angel that had begun to slowly approach.

Hitler swung the rifle with all his might.

Zzzzing-

The moment Hitler’s rifle touched the thick wing, light began to gather in the angel’s two eyes.

Pshoooong!

Just as the superheated light was about to pour down on Hitler.

“…You idiot!!!”

Kwa-gwagwang!

Lightning, striking against the backdrop of twilight, smashed through the ceiling and directly hit the angel’s body.

The superheated laser light the angel was emitting narrowly missed Hitler, melting a pillar supporting the roof.

“Father…!”

The moment a part of the ceiling collapsed and its debris was about to fall on Father Johann, Hitler threw himself.

“Adolf!!!”

Hitler lost consciousness as he heard Eva’s scream.

***

“…Brother is in danger?”

“Yes, Sister…! Brother Adolf went into the warehouse! Father said never to let anyone else in! There’s an angel living in there!”

‘…An angel?’

Eva thought it was somewhat strange, but at the same time, she worried about the two of them.

‘Ever since Father suddenly told me to take all the children and leave… something was strange.’

An angel.

An unidentified monster she had captured countless times until now.

‘Something like that… was residing in the church warehouse?’

It made sense.

An angel in a dormant state couldn’t be detected by her abilities.

At that moment.

Flinch.

The hairs on her entire body stood on end, and simultaneously, a tingling sensation shot through her head.

“Ah, I understand! Kids, wait here for a moment! Don’t go anywhere, and don’t follow me!”

“Sister, what do you mean by that?”

“I mean wait for a moment! Georg, you’re the oldest, so you have to take good care of your younger siblings!”

“Yes, I understand, Sister.”

‘…Please let me not be too late.’

Moving slowly with the children had been the right decision.

They were still not far from the church.

Realizing there was no time, Eva began to move at an incredible speed using her abilities.

She might be detected by the Witch Coven, but right now, the two lives were more important than anything else.

Father Johann seemed to intend to finish off the angel alone, and Hitler was undoubtedly stepping up to help Father Johann, even though it wasn’t his business.

‘The solver is right next to them, so why on earth are they doing such a foolish thing…!’

Eva, drenched in sweat, arrived at the eerie church without even a moment to breathe.

And she could confirm the angel in the warehouse.

“Please, please… let me not be too late…!!!”

Angels consume humans.

The reason was unknown, but angels commonly shove human corpses haphazardly into those massive eyes they possess.

They are monsters impervious to swords and spears, let alone bullets or cannons.

There was no possibility of the two of them hunting the angel.

They would be brutally torn apart and killed.

Without resistance to ether, one loses control of one’s body just by looking into its eyes.

Their minds would penetrate the throat and tear it apart.

Eva didn’t have the courage to face the two of them in a ‘minced meat’ state.

Therefore, she hurried even more.

Without even noticing that the Witch Coven’s pursuit was closing in.

***

“…Parus-class.”

It was the weakest rank among angels.

“I won’t forgive you!!!”

Lightning began to strike all around.

Eva, her hair disheveled, extended her arm and pointed her finger at the angel.

The angel tried to gather light in its eyes again and shoot it at Eva.

But the lightning struck first.

Silence.

Light preceded sound.

The angel, directly exposed to an enormous amount of lightning, turned to ash and disappeared.

Father Johann looked at Eva with an expression of utter disbelief.

Kwa-gwagwang!

A deafening roar, as if eardrums would burst, followed immediately after.

“The Witch of Lightning.”

Agents of the Witch Coven, who had been closely monitoring the situation, revealed themselves.