Chapter 376: The Actual Reason

"And my daughter would have been left under Vaneira’s control instead of mine," Adrian continued, his voice dropping into a deep growl. "And Vaneira’s new husband... the piece of shit I just recently killed, would still be alive. They would have kids together, and then they would systematically orchestrate my daughter’s ruin. They would make her suffer endlessly until she’d be hunted down by this entire fucking world."

Adrian glared directly into Gabriel’s eyes.

"Do you really think that I would ever just sit back and let something like that happen?"

Gabriel clenched his fists.

"You do not understand, human," Gabriel snapped. "She is not even your real daughter. That body you are currently walking around in is also not yours. The fate of this world does not rest in your hands. So do not act like it does."

Adrian didn’t say another word.

He dashed forward, completely ignoring his staff, and grabbed Gabriel directly by the throat. He lifted the Apostle completely off the ground with one hand.

"Stop," Adrian hissed violently. "Stop with the fucking fate bullshit. I don’t give a single fuck about what the heavens want. I don’t give a fuck if this isn’t my original body. I love Aria. And I will make sure that nothing bad will ever happen to her. And even if your fucking gods come down here themselves, I will not let it happen."

Gabriel desperately clawed at Adrian’s armored arm. He violently scratched at the metal, trying to loosen the crushing grip on his windpipe.

"The heavens won’t ever forgive you for this," Gabriel croaked out, his voice straining. "The Goddesses... and the Gods... just imagine what will happen to you if they truly descend."

Adrian scoffed. He let go of the Apostle’s neck.

Gabriel fell heavily to the dirt, landing on his knees as he desperately gasped for fresh air.

Adrian immediately kicked him hard in the chest, knocking Gabriel backward into the dirt.

"Listen here, you little shit." Adrian said, standing over the Apostle. "The entire reason why you are here right now, Mr. Apostle, is because those ass-faced gods from your so called heaven cannot descend."

Adrian sneered.

"If they actually do come down here, I’m pretty sure that the repercussions will be extremely bad for them. If they could have just done it themselves, they would have done it already instead of sending a lackey like you. And even you, as an elite Apostle, weren’t even able to cross over with all of your strength intact, could you? I honestly expected you to be a lot stronger than this, but you’re really not. So tell me, do you really think the gods will ever actually descend?"

Gabriel just stayed on the ground, breathing quickly as he stared up at Adrian.

"You will regret this," Gabriel whispered darkly.

Adrian didn’t care. He instantly brought out four steel chakrams from his dungeon and sent them spinning toward Gabriel’s neck.

But right before the blades could connect, the blinding golden mana shield erupted around Gabriel once again, making the chakrams bounce off the mana barrier.

Gabriel slowly pushed himself up off the ground and grinned maliciously.

"Everything has a cost," Gabriel said smoothly. "Do remember that. And I have no interest in living a long mortal life."

Gabriel stared directly at Adrian.

Adrian frowned heavily as he heard this, wondering exactly what the hell the Apostle was trying to get at.

But then, Adrian’s eyes widened.

He watched in sheer horror as Gabriel began to age incredibly rapidly right in front of him. The Apostle’s short blonde hair grew out, with some of it turning grey here and there.

While his bone structure didn’t change too drastically, Adrian could visibly see the man’s fingernails extending and his skin rapidly losing its youthful firmness and elasticity. In just a few seconds, Gabriel’s face went from looking like a handsome young man in his early twenties to a weathered man in his late forties. Light wrinkles rapidly formed around his eyes and mouth.

Adrian just stared at the transformation.

"What the fuck?" Adrian muttered. "You’re sacrificing your own lifespan?"

Gabriel just grinned as he looked at Adrian.

"Well, I am sacrificing the lifespan of this vessel," Gabriel corrected with a dark smirk. "Not mine. I already consumed the infant’s soul to fuel the descent."

As Adrian heard Gabriel’s words, he couldn’t help but recall a specific piece of lore that he had read in the original novel.

He knew the vile methods the Demons used to artificially boost a mortal’s power and capabilities, but there was practically zero information on what the Angels preferred to do. He only knew about the Demon’s methods thanks to Serena Ashford, because her father, Duke Silas, was the one who had implemented it on her.

It was the exact same dark magic ritual where her father had to secretly sacrifice multiple innocent men just to artificially boost her weak mana veins and magic circle to the Sixth Circle. It was an incredibly messed up method, and every single sacrifice actively gathered a massive amount of negative karma for the user.

Meanwhile, the method that Gabriel just used didn’t actually harm anyone else if it was used in the original way it was intended. If someone just willingly burned their own lifespan to boost their power, they weren’t exactly harming anyone but themselves. It wasn’t a method that granted a person positive karma, but it completely prevented them from accumulating any negative karma.

And in the lore of this world, karma was the one invisible stat that mattered above all else. Karma was the single thing that determined a person’s luck. Karma determined exactly how much the world itself naturally favored you.

As Adrian recalled all of this, he couldn’t help but slowly connect the dots.

He looked at Gabriel and narrowed his eyes.

"The reason why you guys want me gone isn’t because of the ’grand fate’ of this world, is it?" Adrian muttered slowly.