Antihero In the Hero Academy: I Can Connect the Past Heroes
Chapter 184: Getting Ready For It

Chapter 184: Getting Ready For It

It was a sorrowful sight. It symbolised death. It symbolised the end and the fading of life, but...

Despite all this, it was a beautiful sight. A mesmerising and captivating sight. The bright flames falling from the sky like stars...

"Atlas... What is this?" Cassandra had asked. The Ancient Woman might have seen Atlas’s memories. Still, like Juliet and Irene beside her, or Cordelia, Talon, Constantine, Cain, and Bellatrix standing in Herria City, Cassandra herself couldn’t help but wonder.

"Yes, Cassandra... It’s happening, my dear," Atlas said suddenly, his eyes wide as he stared at the scene before him.

His heart was pounding, he was happy, incredibly happy, but there was not a trace of joy on Atlas’s face... Only the thoughts in his mind.

And the way he expressed those thoughts.

"The angels... they are falling out of heaven..."

Each one was like a falling meteor. As they fell from the sky, it was even possible to see the angels’ wings burning. When Hermes said, [Michael is committing a massacre,] he was not lying. Each angel, each one of them, had their life force completely drained. Even Atlas, who was perhaps dozens of kilometres away from them, could sense this.

"How beautiful..." Irene said suddenly. It truly was.

"We must be careful," Atlas said. The possibility that any angel might still be alive and this going unnoticed would be the beginning of a massacre, because Atlas could sense how powerful the angels were when they were alive, even if they were dead.

"I’ll go explain the situation to the other Sages. Is there anything you want to say?" Juliet asked suddenly.

Atlas shook his head, then put on as serious an expression as he could manage. "Please tell each of them to search the world for days on end if necessary. If even one angel is still alive, there is a possibility of a massacre. Especially in the lower-level kingdoms."

Juliet shook her head immediately, and plants began to form on her body out of nowhere. Within seconds, Juliet had vanished among the plants covering her, and her teleportation was complete.

Atlas turned to Cassandra and said, "I’ll leave the rest to you." This was not a simple request; Atlas was seriously concerned. Even if nothing had happened in the Epsilon Empire, the danger had not subsided.

On top of that, there was the matter of the devil worshippers. Even though they had become very weak, it was not over yet. After all, only one of the four leaders of the devil worshippers had been captured so far. Even Atlas did not know that the woman had been captured until a month ago.

When Cordelia told Atlas that the woman had been captured, Atlas went straight to what could be called a torture chamber.

The entire room was covered in blood. Cordelia could have broken the woman’s mind with a spell and obtained the information she wanted, but even Cordelia, the Ancient Woman, the first Sage, was incredibly angry.

After all, those who worshipped the devil had caused hundreds of times more harm to the world than those who worshipped angels.

What they had done was unforgivable.

By the time Atlas arrived at the torture chamber, everything was already over. The woman’s entire body was covered in blood, and the room was coated in dried blood. It wasn’t hard to tell how much Cordelia had gone after this woman.

Since Atlas himself was not someone who considered the possibility of torture, everything seemed truly strange to him, yet deep down, he was glad, even if it might seem a little sadistic.

Of course, it was understandable that he was pleased to see one of the leaders of the devil worshippers, who had caused the entire world to fall into chaos and ultimately led to his own death, being tortured.

Was it humane? Absolutely not. Was it understandable? Absolutely yes.

That was precisely why they had to be careful now that the group of four leaders had been reduced to three and, most likely, no new leader had been added to their ranks. Especially with the angelic bodies falling from the sky to the ground.

On top of that, the possibility that the other Life Stone might still be in the hands of the devil worshippers was terrifying everyone. The war had only ended on one side, and Atlas didn’t even know if Hermes had the heart to save Lucifer.

Should he have asked?

"Hermes..." Atlas said suddenly. Even so, the moment he said that name, a message window popped up:

[I can’t. It was very difficult for me to go back and forth, who knows when I’ll be able to repeat the same thing.]

When Atlas saw this message, he scratched his head and, upon realising that this possibility no longer existed, fell into a clearly depressed state. He had no idea what to do. The Life Stone was lost. The captured leader had not revealed where the others were, and rumours that the destroyed devil worshippers had recruited new members had spread across all continents, shaking the world to its core.

Atlas, however, had begun to recall the words Chaos had spoken to him. His heart was pounding. Every time the words Chaos had implied—"You’ll die if you continue this way"—came to Atlas’s mind, Cassandra would suddenly appear in his thoughts, which naturally comforted him, but... this time was different.

He was helpless. To put it bluntly, Atlas was seriously, completely, utterly helpless.

He took a deep breath. Not knowing what to do at that moment, he continued to stare at the scene before his eyes and tried to clear his mind as if nothing had happened.

Irene, however, had grabbed Atlas by the arm and wrapped her arm around his. She was trembling.

"Are you okay?" Atlas asked suddenly. Irene shook her head in response and stood there silently, without even opening her mouth to say no.

"I’m sorry... Even if I tried to fix everything, even if I used the power of the Sages, there’s still so much missing," Atlas said. He stroked Irene’s head and continued to watch the scenery as if nothing had happened.

"I wonder... Leon and the others... Did you try to find them? Are they okay? What are they thinking as they look at this view..." Irene said suddenly.

Atlas knew he would answer no to the first question. He especially didn’t want to bring Leon into his group. He didn’t want to go find Leon, the warrior he respected most in this world, because he was the reason for his death.

When Irene noticed that Atlas hadn’t answered, she clung to his arm even tighter and then said, "At least we have each other... Even if our old friends aren’t with us, at least... The valuable Sages and, as you said, the gods and goddesses are with us. Better than nothing... isn’t it?" she asked, constantly sniffling and holding back tears despite her eyes welling up.

"Yes, that’s right. To be honest, I didn’t want to bring the others back into our lives. Many of them are pure souls, souls who don’t even know how to fight and should stay away from danger, but from the day I took them in, it was as if their destinies had turned into something resembling a life spent on the brink of death," Atlas said suddenly.

"But it’s different for Leon... I don’t want to see Leon and cry so much that it would flood the desert just by looking at him once," he added to his own words.

Irene couldn’t help but giggle despite the tears streaming down her face after hearing these words.

"You’re still the same. Nothing has changed. You still worry more about others than you do about yourself... Leon would be proud of you," Irene said, closing her eyes and resting her head on Atlas’s shoulder.

Time passed in this way. For hours, the angels falling from the sky to the earth had managed to create small craters even in the depths of the cold terrain outside the city and the long sea surrounding it.

When Cassandra returned to Shadowfall Palace, Atlas clearly explained to her where the remaining angel bodies were, and all the bodies were gathered and burned in Atlas’ Sacred Flames until not even their ashes remained.

Nearly three hundred thousand angel corpses had been burned and destroyed.

This had given Atlas the time he needed. Within just one week, after every check had been made and no angel corpses remained on the Epsilon Continent, Atlas had begun making the necessary preparations.

The first thing he did was to summon Iso, who was under Cassandra’s command, and also Emma Crocs, who had already sworn allegiance to Atlas, and the rest of the wizard union from the capital of the Epsilon Empire.

His first major task would be to organise a ’ball.’ His duty was to summon not only the nobles of the Epsilon Empire, but also the royal families of the Akairon Kingdom, the Bijoux High Elf Kingdom, the Nirdorth Dwarf Kingdom, and many other important regions and their rulers.

In short, Atlas would declare himself the First Duke of the Fourth Duchy of the Epsilon Empire and someone whom all Sages held in the highest regard, and he would briefly reveal the truth about angels and demons.

The preparations must be complete.