CHAPTER 157: THE CITY BY THE OASIS

"Hmmm..." In a distant place not known to human kind, a familiar figure was sitting with her eyes closed, seeing something faraway from her like a god looking down at the mortals from the high heavens.

"Why did he go there this time?"

Her blue, wavy hair was still as no winds were flowing in this place, and yet the unique fragrance she carried had spread all across the area around her.

Attracted by this fragrance, a few unique looking creatures resembling the residents of the heavens, carrying divine presence, a holy air, and an adorable appearance to them, had become interested in her.

She was a beauty. All these beings who did not even go to the celestial angels were drawn to her, to her aura, to the simple yet subtle presence she carried.

But despite their interest and curiosity, they did not approach her. As interested as they were in this unique beauty, sitting right beside her, there was a presence that scared all of these heavenly beings away from her.

{ "Why is someone like you interested in that mortal? What is so special that you’re considering him the ray of light for your world?" }

This being... the true biblical angel that no mortal mind could comprehend, was asking her a genuine question with a genuine curiosity.

{ "With the powers you’re blessed with, would it not be the best to guide the people of your world on your own? Granted you’re doing it the way you consider it the most optimum, how can a mortal boy be more capable than someone like you/?" }

Seated upon a throne-like seat of unworked stone, THEY seemed less a figure than the shape of power itself, THEIR presence pressing on the soul like the weight of eternity.

Six vast wings that one cannot see at their end, which also did not cast any shadows, framed THEIR stillness: two arched high above in silent splendor, two folded close in a shroud of holy fire, and two draped like a veil, concealing what lay beneath.

Upon every surface of THEIR body– wings, limbs, and the four faces that gazed down unblinking to every quarter– countless eyes glimmered like molten gold, each gaze cutting past flesh into the marrow of thought.

The human face regarded with knowing calm; the lion’s with unshaken majesty; the ox’s with patient, unyielding strength; the eagle’s with piercing clarity... THEY did not stir, yet their presence filled the air as though space itself bent around them, the faint rustle of their wings bearing a sound of far-off oceans breaking upon unseen shores.

Around them, fire moved as if alive, curling and swaying without smoke or ash, casting shadows that hinted at realms beyond sight.

And when THEY spoke, many voices became one, resonant enough to tremble through bone and memory alike, and to look upon it was to find oneself caught between terror and devotion...

"Hmmm... what can I say? As you may know the best, us humans are far weaker than most species within this tower." Miss Lucy, the association president, a mortal the size of a grain of sand before this colossal being, answered with a mysterious smile.

"I’m not like the rest of them. This power I was granted? It’s not something I’ve earned." She spoke in a familiar tone carrying misery. "This power may be great, but it has countless restrictions. I cannot help my own people directly, and I cannot fight alongside them, even if I desperately wish for it."

She had her boundaries. Boundaries that could not be overcome with simple determination.

All that she was doing for them, all the things that her own people might never come to know, were things necessary for the survival and preservation of their kind.

The tower was as cruel as it was fair. She knew it the best among her people, so she knew she was not the right person to be the spearhead of their battle.

"He’s different from me. Well, I don’t think I have to tell that to the one who had been so interested in him all this time, do I?" She smiled once again, her eyes still looking at the boy who had just walked down an aircraft, landing in the outskirts of the northern desert, the last habitable land beside the endless desert of death.

The angel, the being who most certainly had been interested in him for a long time now, had not revealed themselves yet.

Unlike Lust, they did not yet wish to interact with the mortals out of their own selfishness. They were not like those underworld evil. Perhaps, if KiRA knew of their interest in him, he would also understand the reason they had restrained themselves from interacting with such an amusing being.

{ "After he punished the Light and Purity, many of us became interested in him. There is something more to him than a normal anomaly.

He does not have any inherent properties of an anomaly either, making him the strangest anomaly that even the tower does not consider an anomaly." }

One may raise a question after hearing this: If something does not show any signs of anomaly and still does things that are anomalous, could you even call them an anomaly?

KiRA had not done anything abnormal yet. There have been justifications behind each one of his actions until now.

His knowledge that does not fall under the category of normal was not something one could justify as abnormal if there is no criteria for ’normal’ knowledge to compare it with.

The tower was just as mysterious to these higher beings as it was to the mortals. Being from a high floor did not give them any deep insight into the tower’s Truths.

"He is unique. But there’s more to him that makes me want to put more faith into him than any other individual of my world." The association president did not reveal what it was though, and simply opened her eyes after confirming KiRA had entered the city safely.

She gazed beside her, at the endlessly large eye that was staring back at her.

"I drifted away for a moment. I shall apologise." Unfazed by the insurmountable pressure of the Celestial, she showed her respect and apologised sincerely. "Shall we return to what we were discussing?"

The angelic eye gazed at the unique human, cursed by the fate of a divine without divinity, a celestial without a celestial body, and an immortal without any achievements to call her own.

She was the owner of a Pinnacle, but that was not all. She was also an inheritor, a representative chosen by the tower to the world that it was invading, and above all these, she was an anomaly who could see, experience, and live worlds that she had never actually been to, or times that none could interact with.

All these powers granted to her, all the authorities and skills she could use masterfully, all the knowledge she was suddenly blessed with... and against all that, she was simply a human girl who used to be a nobody.

She was not like the rest of them, not like KiRA. Her powers were not earned or stolen but granted to her. She was fate’s chosen one. But her destiny did not have the outcome she desired at the end of her path.

That’s why she wasn’t doing what she should have been as someone possessing such powers. That was the reason she had chosen to be a guide, a helper, a background operator to the stage where the other players played their important roles.

{ "If that is what you wish, we shall do that. I have made my decision as well." }

The angel’s answer was simple despite the long eternity it took them to reach it.

{ "There are things in this world with enormous value. However, if you guarantee a meeting with this special person of yours, the ownership of the Skill shall be yours." }

Just like how she had made a deal with the moon goddess and many other higher beings, she was here to make another deal with this high angel.

Not being a servant of any gods, the angel had transcended the bounds of her own kind to achieve divinity on the same level as the gods, and now they were a neutral figure in the vast expense of the tower.

The powers, skills, authorities, and achievements they possessed gave them a special position even among the other high angels, which was the reason the president chose them over any other higher being for this particular task.

"It may not be possible anytime soon given how weak they still are, but I give my word you will have a personal meeting with them. Though, be warned... they may turn out to be more exceptional than you may think."

The mysterious smile on her face continued once again.

Aside from the obvious record holders, only she was aware of the previous achievements KiRA had.

The angel who was still unaware of his uniqueness did not know what she was asking for. But, the deal was in the president’s favor ultimately.

{ "If the Master of Wisdom gives their word, what more could we ask for?" }

Their deal wasn’t even that big a deal.

A divine being usually possessed hundreds of skills that they never used. The one in question right now was one such skill.

The owner did not need it, and no achievements were tied to it either, making it easy to transfer.

"Then I appreciate the kindness."

President Lucy gave the graceful angel a warm smile, and following that, they immediately proceeded to the transfer procedure.