Fated to Be Loved by Villains

While numerous angels resided in Elfante, the highest ‘ranking’ among them was the Virtue

This meant that if a Gate to the Astral Realm were to suddenly open, she would be the first person everyone would confront.

“...What the fuck is going on?”

The Dominion asked with a fierce expression, while the Virtue, trying to control her expression somehow, stared at him with the calmest look she could possibly muster.

For her, who had spent most her life dealing with desk works, dealing with these rough men who were accustomed to work in the field was something out of her forte.

In fact, if one were to peek into her mind, they’d see her anxiously biting her fingers.

Don’t ask me! I don’t fucking know either...!!

If Pandemonium was a place where the weak got eaten and only the strong survive, the Astral Realm was an extremely rigid and orderly place with a strict hierarchy.

In other words, when shit hit the fan, the top wouldn’t usually bother to give out any kind of explanation to the bottom as there wasn’t a need for them to do so.

Although...

The Virtue could vaguely guess the top’s intentions.

“...”

“...Lady Virtue.”

The faces of the Dominion and the other angels around him hardened simultaneously.

They probably had grasped the intent behind her silence.

“We’re not idiots. This isn’t on the level of an accident anymore.”

“...”

“The lives in the Material World are fragile. Even the weakest beings from the Astral Realm would cause a great disaster if they got released here. There’s no way those fucking Gate Guardians didn’t know that.”

Although they always used harsh words and acted violently, they were individuals who held deep affection for the Material World they stood on.

They believed that no matter how fragile a creature was, each of them had its own life and emotions, and every life was as precious as a jewel.

Those who spent time here realized this through their own experiences. Such a realization befit their status as angels.

Unfortunately, not all angels were like that.

As the Virtue only kept her silence,the faces of the Dominion and the men around him turned grim.

“Lady Virtue.”

“...”

“Could it be that this is a decision from the bigwigs up top?”

If the current situation wasn’t an accident, but something that was happening under the ‘cooperation’ of a certain force up above...

They had to change the trajectory on how they approached the matter.

“—Those fucking bastards. We should’ve known from the time they started to be so obsessed with their chosen people’s ideology!”

Considering the extremely hierarchical atmosphere of the Astral Realm, those words could cost him his life, but it was clear from his face that he had no intention of taking them back.

After all, those types of assholes really did exist among the Seraphim.

They were the kind of fuckers who openly proclaimed that it was their duty to take care of and enlighten the ‘inferior’ beings in the Material World with their own hands.

What they were trying to do here was probably to send down the beast of the Astral Realm to ‘cleanse’ the Material World and then reshape it to their liking.

The Virtue knew this too, so she couldn’t bring herself to say anything and remained silent.

“...?”

However, what followed was a scene that made it impossible for her to remain silent.

“W-What are you doing...?”

The angels in front of her started to pick up their ‘tools’ while spewing out curses.

As the word ‘tools’ suggests, these things weren’t weapons; definitely not something that they should carry around in this situation.

“We’re going to stop them, of course.”

“...What?”

“We can’t let the people here suffer for the mess those fuckers made. At least, we should show some decency.”

“...”

The Virtue could only stare at the men in front of her, clearly at a loss for words.

‘Beasts’ of the Astral Realm that they were talking about were actually monsters that even the angels living in that realm couldn’t normally handle. With a Gate being opened so blatantly like  this, it was obvious that there wouldn’t be just one or two of them that came out.

In other words, everyone here could just die.

And yet.

They still resolved themselves to go anyway, knowing full well what the outcome would be.

“—You’d better get out of here, Ma’am.”

The Dominion, with something like a shovel slung over his shoulder, said with a grin.

“You’re just a deck jockey, you probably won’t be of much help.”

“We’ll buy you some time to escape, so go!”

“It was nice to have the flowery scent of a woman in this sweaty space though, too bad.”

Despite walking into certain death, they all looked carefree beyond belief.

The Virtue looked at each of them with a choked-up face.

“...You guys...!”

But before she could continue her words.

-!

-!!!!!

From inside the Gate, the full-scale ‘invasion’ began.

The Gate, emitting a bright light, soon began to shake wildly.

What could be heard from inside were enormous roars that were enough to tear one’s ears. Every time they moved, the surroundings trembled, a byproduct of their overwhelming ‘size’.

Even from this distance, anyone with working eyes could tell.

Each one of those monsters was something that would require a nation-level strength to confront.

“They’re coming!”

“Fuck!”

And standing in front of that horde were angels numbering maybe a few dozen at most; without weapons in their hands no less.

It was like hitting a rock with an egg. Everyone knew which one of them would break.

But...

Even so...

“Boys!”

“Yes!”

“The name ‘angel’ isn’t for running away at times like this, is it?”

At the words of the Dominion that he spouted with a grin, the angels around twisted their faces to make a similar expression as his

Messengers of heaven.

Symbols of warmth and virtue watching over humans.

No matter how much they rolled in the dirt, even if no one would know of their sacrifice...

That was where their essence lies.

“...I really need a drink.”

Saying that, the Dominion slung the pitchfork over his shoulder.

And with that, he rushed towards his own death.

●

—Or so he thought.

“Sorry to interrupt the cool scene!”

They were probably in the middle of making a heroic scene or something.

Well, not on my watch.

Enter the blender, right now.

“Grind!”

“I’M NOT A PET—!”

Yuria screamed as she flew in a parabolic arc—courtesy of moi, shooting her like I was throwing a shot put.

Yep, calling her pet would be a little off.

‘Portable slaughter tank’ would be a more apt description.

Just listen to those pitiful screams of the beasts pouring out of the open Gate. That title fit her perfectly, no?

“Whaaaack—!”

“Squeeeeeal—!”

“...”

The terrifying screams coming from inside the Gate turned into something that sounded like pigs being slaughtered.

In the Forge of Struggle, this girl managed to grind down even the outer gods from other dimensions ‘the moment they entered her range’. Of course, she could do something similar to these Astral Realm’s beasts, albeit barely.

As the screams started to die down, I pulled back the endlessly stretched leash to retrieve her.

After using this leash so many times, I’ve applied all kinds of magic on it. Now, I could freely adjust its length, just like this. It felt I was back to my younger self; this felt like playing with a tape measure.

“So, have you grind them all?”

“...There’s still some left.”

“Alright, I’m gonna throw you again.”

“...”

Yuria, who had been dragged out of the Gate, covered from head to toe in the sticky fluids of the beasts, and the Saintess, who had been assisting from the side, both turned their cold gazes at me.

“...Right. I forgot about this. You are originally this kind of person...”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re trash.”

“...”

“We’re going to be stuck together for a long time anyway. I decided to just be frank with you.”

“...”

Well...

If she put it that way, I’ve got nothing to say.

Anyway, since there were still some beasts left inside, I threw Yuria again.

Along with the sound of something being shredded and cut, the sound of pigs being slaughtered echoed all around again.

“...”

“...”

“...”

Seeing what I’ve done, the angels around us stared at me with blank expressions.

Actually, no, rather than blank expressions, their faces were close to ‘enlightened’.

As if they were asking the question, ‘What the hell were we about to do just now?’ to themselves.

“What about now? All done?”

“...Yes.”

Yuria answered as she stared dagger at me.

For this timid girl to react in this way, she definitely had quite a hard time, but...

No time to comfort her. There were more urgent matters to take care of.

[That line won’t make you look cool, you fuck.]

...Shut up.

“So, it’s been a while isn’t it, Virtue?”

I said with a grin. She was the reason why I came all the way here.

At my words, the Virtue’s face immediately turned pale.

Well, I made her go through a lot, so this reaction was kinda understandable.

“...W-Why...? W-What now...?”

“Even if other angels can’t, someone of your level can contact the Seraphim in the Astral Realm, no?”

“...”

Hearing that her face turned from pale to dark.

“I-I can’t talk with them even if—!”

“Oh, no, no, I’m not asking you to talk with them. I just need you to relay my words.”

Well, either way would be burdensome for her, but there was no other choice.

In the first place, that Gate was probably something the particularly twisted motherfuckers in the Astral Realm cooked up together with the pope in their efforts to ‘clean up’ the Material World. So, before dealing with that side first, we couldn’t solve anything.

“Tell those bigwigs up there that I’m calling them here.”

“T-There’s no way they’d listen to what a human says...!”

“But, I’m not a human.”

Mhm.

You see, I have a ‘status’ that will make even those Seraphim fuckers’ ears perk up.

While pointing at the Fallen’s Seal with my finger, I...

“—I’m the ‘newly born’ ruler of Pandemonium.”

There was one thing the pope was mistaken about.

I also had a card that would make those Seraphim listen.