After killing the leader of the rogue priests known as Mizuki, the crew gathered around a blue-haired young woman laying on one of the pews while Ethan knelt down infront of her.
"…"
Silence filled the abandoned church like that of an elevator's. Rather than a silence where one was capable of making noise, the odd silence there was filled with only the faint sound of breathing, the people there merely remaining silent.
Ethan's fingers slid across the beautiful woman's cheek and yet her eyes were sealed shut as if rejecting his touch.
His shoulders were trembling. He was a perfect representation of human angers felt when a person's precious was hurt before them despite having known this girl for a short period of time.
However, that anger was not directed to the priests responsible for her current condition. Instead, that anger was directed at himself.
Without realizing it, he had began clenching his fist hard enough to crack his nails.
Ethan had no idea why he was like this. He had only met Wendy a few days ago. He had lived for 16 years before then without knowing her, and there was no reason why he would be unable to live a normal life without her from then on.
There was no reason why, yet he knew he could not.
He did not know why. He was not even sure if he needed a reason why.
He just knew it hurt.
It hurt to think that her words and her smile would never be directed towards him again.
Just considering that caused him great pain in the most precious and kindest part of his devil heart.
"Is there any way we can save her?"
His question received no response as if the answer was obvious from the start.
"I see," replied Ethan blankly.
Deep down, he knew that saving her was impossible as the power to resurrect the dead did not exist or at least to his knowledge. Yet he held onto the faint sense of hope that he could save her.
Yet this was his harsh reality
(Just accept it.)
—My name is Wendy.
(Just accept it already.)
—this rabbit represents the wonderful day I had with you.
(Just accept that you, Ethan Myles, do not possess the power to save her)
Ethan could not shout and could not cry out.
He could only stare up at the ceiling, grit his back teeth, and let tears he could not hold back fall from his eyes.
"Even with all of my power, I can't save one suffering girl." Ethan muttered blankly as he continued to stare up at the ceiling.
He made a wryly smile. He could not blame this on fate and simply reflected on his own powerlessness.
The others witnessed this with a pained expression and just remained silent. The man known as John as witnessed the death of many in the past. This girl was not the only innocent that lost her live for the greed of others and yet he couldn't help be pained.
"What kind of horrible ending is this?" Ethan softly bit his lip as he looked at Wendy's peaceful face. He tasted blood where he was biting his lip.
He knew that what was happening was wrong and hated how powerless he was. Yes, Ethan could do nothing.
"I'm sorry." Said Ethan. "I will get stronger. I will get strong enough to kick the asses of every last person who made you to suffer like this…" He declared with great resolve.
Suddenly, a bright light appeared in front of Ethan, making him extremely shocked. It wasn't a light that bought him harm, but a light that felt harmless as if welcoming him.
Slowly, the light shaped in form of Wendy and several white wings appeared behind her.
"Huh? W-Wendy? B-But how? Those were the words that managed to come out from his lips. Ethan was completely lost for words.
"Ethan, thank you so much for everything." Wendy spoke to Ethan despite his confusion.
"Thank you for being my friend even if it was for a short while." She said with a smile
"Remember when you gave me that stuffed rabbit. I felt sad since I couldn't give you anything. So please accept this gift as a token of my appreciation." Wendy's light form said, before planting a kiss on Ethan's forehead.
In the next moment, Ethan's body glowed with a white glow. Despite being a devil, the light didn't feel harm him instead it felt warm and comforting.
"Don't worry about me, Ethan. I will always be watching from above!"
"I hope we will meet again!" Wendy's light form said before going up into the air and fading away.
Ethan was in awe at what he just saw. It was like nothing he had ever seen before.
"....??"
"....??"
"....??
There was Silence. A long awkward silence that rivaled that of a graveyard and then,
"WAIT... WHAT THE FUCK!!?" The usually quiet Kaguya suddenly screamed.
Apparently, Ethan wasn't the one that was shocked by this sudden development and Kaguya was the first one to recover. Just like that, Rose and John also recovered from their shock.
'WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED!' Rose asked John, who was more shocked than them.
"'I DON'T KNOW!! THIS IS UNPRECEDENTED! A DEMON RECEIVING AN ACTUAL ANGEL'S BLESSING! NO WAY!!' John screamed like a maniac.
'WHAT THE FUCK! I'M SO CONFUSED!! WHAT JUST HAPPENED NOW! EVERYTHING HAPPENED TOO QUICK! JOHN! PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME!' Ethan asked, his mind still in turmoil trying to process what just happened.
"Every century or so. A human of a completely pure heart will be turned into an angel and ascend into the celestial realm upon their deaths.'
"That is what happened to your friend"
"However, that's still not the craziest part. Not just any angel is able to bestow a blessing onto someone else,"
'This means your friend there had such a pure heart that she was deemed worthy enough of the status of Archruler or Archangel!'
'It's completely baffling to me!'
'An angel's blessing can only be bestowed to a person when a human dies then turns into an archangel. They will bestow the blessing upon someone they know they could trust. They decide this by reading the minds of everyone in the area to see who they will bestow it to. If no one matches their criteria, they will just decide to not bestow a blessing at all.'
"In this case! You were the one chosen by who is now Archangel Wendy to receive her blessing."
"You are the first-ever demon in history that has been blessed by an angel. This has never been done before! You actually don't understand how broken this is to a demon."
"As a demon, it will help shield against your weakness, the light, while at the same time increasing your energy regeneration and vitality greatly."
"To us humans, this would be no big deal, we would just feel a little stronger. The resistance to holy energy won't matter that much.'
"But, to a demon like you! It's a completely different story! This blessing you just got is without a doubt broken beyond belief!" John explained
Ethan's brain was spinning in high gear, trying to take in everything that John just explained. His brain was not braining but he soon recovered.
"Soo... Wendy is not dead... She was chosen by the celestial realm to become an archangel,' correct? Ethan asked.
'Correct,' John replied.
Ethan breathed a long sigh of relief and then moved on to his next question.
"Wait, if Wendy turned into a angel and even read my mind! Wouldn't she inform god or an angel about my existence!' Ethan asked in a really worried tone.
"No! Not at all! She is the one that blessed you. Why would she just turn around and backstab you by telling god or the angels? And I believe she actually liked you as a person even after finding out your true identity. I can promise you that you will be fine!' John replied with a smile.
"Hmmm… good to know… I will need you to tell me more about the celestial and nether realms in the future. There is so much you haven't told me about the realms." Ethan said
"Yeah I can arrange that, but first let's leave this place. I'm hungry." John said with a smile before heading out and the others followed him as well.
Ethan took a deep breath as he followed, trying his best to calm down. All the new information he received was really overwhelming.
"'I am really glad Neia is still alive. I hope we can meet again someday." Ethan thought inwardly, thinking about the possible future.