'Kill the angels.'
That was the command Alpha's father had drilled into him ever since he first began to grasp the world around him.
'Hate the angels.'
Why?
As a child, Alpha had sotis wondered.
Weren't angels supposed to be benevolent beings?
A faint flicker of doubt had stirred within him.
But his father's voice had been unyielding.
'Angels are wicked creatures that defiled the mortal world.'
'They seek to taint the land by corrupting the Twelve Divine Moons that guard it.'
Eventually, Alpha's doubts faded.
'Yes, Father.'
Ti marched on.
Though born human, Alpha had bargained away his soul to demons, trading it for the power to hunt angels.
As an Angelus, he gained lifespans far longer than ordinary humans.
Ten years, twenty, fifty... then a hundred years passed.
Alpha remained hidden from the world, hating angels that did not even exist.
By then, he no longer questioned it.
Hatred had been ingrained in him.
Killing angels had beco the purpose of his existence.
'Angels are evil.'
It was the belief he had clung to for a century.
And now, with an angel finally appearing before him, it was ti to fulfill his father's will.
Or so he thought.
'... Sothing's wrong.'
Alpha raised both arms skyward. A crimson sphere swelled like a balloon before bursting, sending streaks of fire raining down.
"Ahhh!"
The devastating magic was so overwhelming that it collapsed parts of the terrain.
Fla barely managed to raise her shield in ti.
In that brief opening, Alpha locked onto Fla and fired a crimson laser from his finger—
But a massive snowball suddenly fell from the sky, intercepting the attack.
"Damn it! Interfering again?!"
It felt as though the mountain itself was protecting Fla.
Why?
Wasn't nature supposed to side with humans?
Why is nature protecting an angel?
Shouldn't nature stand with righteousness?
Wasn't Alpha the righteous one?
And weren't angels the evil ones?
Shouldn't nature be helping him destroy the angel?
"Like a worm, you keep running..."
The clash between a Class 5 and a Class 7 mage had begun.
It was like a motorcycle charging headlong into a dump truck.
A Class 5 mage was undeniably powerful, but a Class 7 mage operated on an entirely different level.
They could level a house with a single spell... and fire such spells without pause.
If they wished, they could obliterate an entire area, leaving nothing but scorched earth.
Compared to that, Fla was fragile—pathetically so.
Most of her spells couldn't even touch Alpha.
And yet—
She darted through the chaos like a slippery eel, constantly seizing slivers of opportunity to strike back with lethal magic.
This fight was supposed to be as simple as a cat playing with a mouse.
The difference in their power was that overwhelming.
And yet, the mouse kept baring its teeth, lunging for the cat's throat.
It made it impossible for Alpha to let his guard down.
To make matters worse, the Illa Jeridon Mountain kept interfering, as if it had a will of its own and protected Fla at every turn.
The hunt dragged on.
And as the fight stretched, Alpha's mind began to wander.
'Is this... really the right thing to do?'
Even nature seed to rally behind the angel.
Was his mission truly righteous?
Alpha recalled the mont before the battle began—
When the angel had revealed herself to save humans without a second thought. She didn't care if her identity was exposed.
Crash!!!
The giant spear Alpha threw struck the mountainside, carving out a cliff and sending Fla flying.
She seed to lose consciousness for just a mont, failing to unfold her wings as she fell—
But she quickly snapped awake, spread her wings and soared back into the sky.
It was the perfect chance.
If Alpha had thrown another spear, he might have pierced her heart right then and there.
Of course, given the mountain's interference, there was no guarantee it would have hit—
But why...
Why didn't he attack?
Rumble...!!!
The angel was battered and struggling to stay aloft, trying to land safely sowhere.
But the mountain roared to life, unleashing a massive avalanche that swallowed Alpha's view.
Alpha could have easily dispersed the snow and cleared his vision, but for so reason—he didn't.
'Father, why did angels beco evil?'
Alpha had asked that question once, long ago.
His father's voice had been cold and resolute.
'The mont an angel seizes the Twelve Divine Moons, the world will face ruin. We've always known this.'
So that's it.
For over a century, they had fought angels in secret... protecting the world without anyone's knowledge.
'To protect the world.'
Alpha had lived by that belief for over a hundred years, hating angels that didn't even exist.
But now...
Facing a real angel for the first ti, Alpha found himself questioning everything.
'What about Father? Had he ever actually seen an angel?'
No. It wasn't possible.
His father had died at the age of 130, having spent his entire life preparing for the return of angels—long after they had supposedly been wiped out.
'Do angels really want to destroy the world by collecting the Twelve Divine Moons?'
Why would nature itself - the lifeblood of the world - rise to defend the angel?
Boom!
"Agh...!"
The angel's wing was torn by a bloody projectile that Alpha had casually thrown.
She grasped her wounded wing while falling through the air.
It would be so easy.
All he had to do was close the distance, seize her delicate neck, and end it.
The hunt would be over.
Alpha closed his eyes tightly.
'This is just doing my duty.'
He opened his eyes again, locking onto the falling angel.
His father's teachings...
They weren't wrong.
Alpha wanted to believe that.
He needed to believe it.
***
anwhile...
Eisel found herself unable to fly where she desired.
'I need to help them...'
Her thoughts were filled with Fla's plight, but the ice wings on her back seed to pull her in another direction.
As if entranced by a dreamlike fragrance, Eisel drifted aimlessly with her eyes half-closed, following the pull.
And then—when she finally snapped out of it—
"... Ah!"
She found herself standing before a massive wall, made entirely of blue ice flowers, forming an enormous barrier.
Instinctively, she took a few steps back, allowing her gaze to take in the entire structure—
It wasn't a wall.
It was a gate.
A colossal gate, towering like a mountain and dwarfing anything built by human hands.
"Haa..."
Her breath left her lips, taking the form of white mist in the cold air.
Eisel slowly stepped forward, placing her palm against the gate.
Rumble!
... Creak...!
Thud!
With a deafening roar, as if thunder had struck, the gate began to open—slowly, splitting apart side to side.
She felt it then—
A familiar mana.
It was a scent she had almost forgotten, buried by ti and distance.
Yet now, it returned, washing over her like a flood of mories.
Without hesitation, Eisel crossed the threshold, her movents drawn as if by instinct.
The mont she crossed the threshold, her ski clothes and gear vanished, stripped away as her body was enveloped by an icy chill.
"Ah...!"
The sudden cold sent shivers down her spine, and she instinctively hugged herself—
Only to feel a soft, smooth texture against her skin.
Her ski outfit now lay discarded outside the gate.
Instead, her body was draped in a flowy, sky-blue dress—the kind one might wear in sumr.
"This is...?"
Despite wearing only a thin dress, she felt as if ice mana was flowing through her veins.
The sheer power flooding her body was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.
With this level of mana, casting Class 6 spells would be effortless.
'No, this is far beyond that...'
The mana boost was only a minor bonus.
The true gift lay elsewhere.
She felt it.
The heartbeat of Illa Jeridon Reverse Mountain.
The very idea of a mountain having a heart was absurd—
Yet she couldn't deny it.
This mountain was alive—its pulse resonating with her very soul.
Closing her eyes, Eisel reached out her hand.
Suddenly, Illa Jeridon Mountain began to tremble, triggering a small avalanche.
"Ah...!"
Startled by the sudden upheaval caused by her actions, Eisel stumbled backward, landing unceremoniously on the icy ground.
As she tried to steady herself, a massive snowstorm began to swirl sowhere in the mountain range.
"What... What is this...?"
How could she possibly describe this feeling—
The overwhelming sensation of commanding the entire mountain with nothing but her will?
Her hands trembled as she pressed them against the ground and stood up.
Cautiously, Eisel turned her gaze to take in the scenery beyond the gate.
It was like stepping into a grand temple.
The walls were adorned with vibrant floral patterns, and the ceiling shimred with floating ice flowers that glowed softly, like ethereal chandeliers.
She slowly walked forward.
Her bare feet touched the icy floor, but it didn't feel cold.
Instead, it felt warm—like being wrapped in her mother's embrace.
Why?
Why had she been drawn here?
Why was Illa Jeridon Mountain connected to her?
At first, she had no idea.
But as she wandered deeper inside, sothing in her mind began to shift—
It was as if the fog was slowly clearing.
'This...'
The patterns on the ice walls and windows—
They were the sa floral designs her father had always loved.
Her father's study had been covered in similar patterns, and her personal room had been filled with flowers, just like these.
And the floating ice-flower lights—
They were unique to the Morph family.
No other mage had ever been able to replicate the technique of capturing light within ice and sustaining it forever.
Mages had often asked how it was done, but no one ever received an answer.
It was a secret—sothing that only she possessed.
It was her father's masterpiece.
A creation made by none other than Isaac Morph himself.
Closing her eyes, Eisel let mories of her father wash over her.
She could almost hear his laughter... the way it echoed through the halls whenever he conjured a floating ice flower.
And how the head maid would scold him endlessly for wasting mana—
Yet he would only respond with a sheepish grin and continue doing it anyway.
Her father's tastes were unwavering.
Tap...!
When Eisel reached out and touched one of the glowing ice flowers, it flared with soft blue light, rippling outward like a gentle wave.
Her breath hitched.
She instinctively stepped back, her hand pressed against her chest to calm her racing heart.
'Eisel, my daughter! Did you know your father is super rich?'
'Yes!'
A mory surfaced.
'We have lots of land and houses, so I'm going to prepare a very special gift for your birthday!'
'Wow, really? Give it to now!'
'N-Not now... It's sothing I'll give you ten years later, when you're an adult.'
'What?! I want it now!'
'Well... it's because I have to carve out one of our family's greatest spells for it...'
'Liar!'
It was a distant mory—from when she had been very young.
Her father had proudly bragged about preparing an extraordinary gift—
Yet, when the day finally ca, his gift hadn't been any different from the ones he had given the year before.
Why was that mory suddenly resurfacing now?
Eisel forced her trembling legs to carry her forward.
At the heart of the temple, a massive ice monunt hovered in silence, suspended as if untouched by ti.
On its surface, a short inscription was engraved:
[To Eisel Morph, my beloved daughter. Congratulations on becoming an adult.]
[From, Your Father.]
The mont her eyes traced the words, Eisel fell to her knees.
She clutched her mouth with both hands, stifling the sobs that threatened to escape.
It was unmistakably her father's handwriting.
And below the inscription—
There was a blank space, as if he had struggled to write sothing more but left it empty instead.
Seeing that unfinished ssage made Eisel's chest ache even more.
"This is... The gift Father prepared for ... So long ago."
Eisel reached out, her fingertips brushing against the monunt.
She had expected the ice to feel cold—
But instead, warmth radiated from it, like an echo of her father's touch.
Tears welled in her eyes as she shut them tightly, bowing her head.
Her blue hair fell forward, brushing against the monunt as she remained frozen in place.
Her shoulders shook, and hot tears began to fall from her eyes.
Her chest felt like it was being pierced by needles.
But upon reflection, she realized it wasn't pain.
It was longing.
And it was love.
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