What Goes Around Comes Around

The sun hides its face and sheds tears.

Rain begins to fall.

Water drips from the cloudy sea spread across the sky.

What started as a gentle patter turns into a downpour.

Feeling the sensation of being soaked, Gabriel looks up at the sky.

“Rain….”

When was the last time she was caught in the rain like this?

She forgets to spread her wings and momentarily accepts nature’s whim.

“Lady Gabriel.”

Athena, still fully armed, approaches Gabriel.

“Athena.”

“Everyone will be gathering soon.”

“I see. Please prepare. I need to observe a little longer.”

Gabriel’s eyes turn towards the massive pile of mud.

It constantly flowed from top to bottom, and then back up again.

The wriggling form resembled a tomb or an insect’s cocoon.

“Lady Gabriel, may I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

Athena hesitated, uncharacteristically.

Gabriel stared intently at her junior’s face with her signature indifferent expression.

“What will ultimately happen to him?”

Athena asked about Kang In-ho, looking at the tomb built of black mud.

“Athena, I do not know the future. I merely discern the path of given fate.”

“I was taught that fate cannot be changed. Isn’t that the same as knowing the future?”

“One could see it that way.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Let’s say there’s a story you’re very interested in. It exists in the form of a book or a play, whatever you prefer. But then someone comes along and tells you the ending of that story. What would you do?”

“I would refuse, of course.”

“Fate is also a story, Athena. A story with a beginning and an end.”

Athena’s eyes widened at Gabriel’s analogy.

“Of course, as you say, I can see the end of fate. If fate is a book, I can simply turn the page I’m reading and look at the last page. Then I can know the end of the story very easily. Enough to kill the interest in a story I was following so well.”

Gabriel muttered bitterly.

“Athena, what do you think is the difference between a Dimension Management God who can discern the path of fate and one who cannot?”

“Isn’t it the difference between a 0th Class and a 1st Class?”

“Sadly, no. The answer is, it becomes boring.”

While Athena was choosing her words at the unexpected answer, Gabriel continued.

“Knowing the ending makes the process boring, and the boring process makes me lose interest in the story.”

“That’s why I try not to discern fate as much as possible. However, in order to follow the will of God, I read his fate to a bare minimum.”

“So, even you don’t know what will happen, Lady Gabriel.”

“Yes. But this much is certain. The end of this fate is an ‘ambiguous happy ending.'”

“Does that ambiguous happy ending include the stability of causality?”

Gabriel nodded.

“Yes. It is being partially resolved by the virtue accumulated by Kang In-ho, the owner of a noble soul.”

Gabriel looked at the wriggling mud tomb.

“That is the process….”

“Because there won’t be time to lower his virtue once he wakes up. It has to be done now.”

It’s not a pretty sight, but… Gabriel muttered.

“In the end, he can’t go back.”

“…That’s why it’s an ambiguous happy ending.”

Gabriel’s mouth closed.

“It will be a great misfortune for him.”

Athena tried to read the emotions hidden in Gabriel’s expressionless face.

“And for the women who were not chosen.”

As Athena added more words, Gabriel’s eyes slowly closed.

“…That’s why it’s an ambiguous happy ending.”

She conveyed her emotions by repeating what she had said.

The rain continued to fall. In the midst of the downpour, a faint glow emanated from Gabriel’s wings.

Gabriel, having revealed her divinity, was noble.

She looked down from a high place.

And in a slightly lower position, beings who had also unfurled pure white wings formed a circle.

And in the lowest place, four beings stood without wings.

“1st Class Dimension Management God Loki, 2nd Class Dimension Management God Nibir, 4th Class Dimension Management God Solari.”

Gabriel’s voice echoed through the sky.

“The three Dimension Management Gods named are accused of concealing the existence of a soul who performed Dimension Entry without permission.”

“And… 3rd Class Dimension Management God Ranael.”

Her eyes, devoid of even a shred of emotion, turned to a Dimension Management God who was trembling.

“I will state the charges against the one Dimension Management God named.

Committing disrespect to a noble soul, sacrificing a noble soul due to misjudgment, casting an arbitrary spell on a noble soul, causing the collapse of dimensional causality as a result of that spell, and failing to report and concealing this… These are the five charges.”

With a flutter, Gabriel’s wings grew larger, beginning to cover the sky.

Ranael’s face began to turn blue.

-Kwa-raeng

With a thunderbolt striking the field, Gabriel announced the beginning of the trial.