Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!

Chapter 964: The Fallen Angel’s Secret

"You two know each other?"After hearing Trusty007’s words and watching the woman’s immediate reaction, Ethan already had his answer. There was history between them, and not the casual kind either. The tension in the air shifted, subtle but unmistakable.

"Uh... well..." Trusty007 hesitated on the other end of the call, clearly unsure how to explain.

"I’m Seven’s woman!" the woman sitting at Ethan’s feet suddenly blurted out, as if afraid the chance to declare it might disappear if she waited even a second longer.

"Really?"

Ethan directed the question calmly toward the phone.

"Yeah... it’s true," Trusty007 admitted after a pause.

"I see. So you actually know her?"

Now Ethan found himself in an awkward position. He had already determined she was not connected to the bird-people he had encountered before, yet something about her existence still bothered him. Curiosity pressed at the back of his mind.

Because she was not human.

Her life force pulse was wrong. It did not resemble that of a human at all. On top of that, she possessed charm magic, and she used it skillfully. Ethan could not help wondering whether Trusty007 had been influenced without realizing it. That was why he asked again, more carefully this time.

"I know her well enough," Trusty007 said at last. "She’s... not human."

Ethan’s eyes sharpened slightly, while the woman abruptly straightened where she sat.

"Seven, how did you know?"

Genuine shock crossed her face. She had been certain she never exposed her true nature to him. The man who always seemed easygoing, who never questioned her strange habits, had apparently seen through everything.

Then how much else did he understand? Featherfall Angel felt a chill crawl up her spine.

Trusty007 let out a long sigh. "Boss, switch to video. I need to talk to her directly."

Ethan did not argue. He simply nodded, changed the call to video mode, and activated full holographic projection.

A chubby white figure materialized in the room. The projection turned toward Featherfall Angel, noticing the blood at the corner of her mouth. Pain flashed across his expression before he could hide it.

"Rae, listen carefully," he said. "Answer whatever he asks. Do whatever he says. Don’t resist. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?" she snapped before he finished. "Who does he think he is? Why should I obey him? If he told me to sleep with him, should I do that too? Damon, you’re not even acting like a man right now!"

Trusty007 froze, caught off guard by the explosion.

"He’s not..." he began hurriedly, trying to explain.

Ethan interrupted with calm indifference. "You don’t need to provoke me like that. If you want to know who I am, just ask. There’s no need for theatrics."

Then he glanced at the hologram. "Damon, is it? I suspect this woman has been leading you around by the nose."

His tone carried quiet amusement, but also meaning.

Damon scratched his head awkwardly. "Boss, please don’t tease me. Rae has never used her abilities on me. I know that. I... genuinely love her."

The affection in his eyes was unmistakable.

"Oh?"

Ethan studied him more closely. Even through a projection, sincerity was hard to fake. Without sensing Damon’s soul energy directly, Ethan relied on instinct, and instinct told him the man meant every word.

"Fine," Ethan said at last. "For your sake, I’ll let her live. But I’m very curious about what she actually is."

Silence settled over the room.

Damon glanced toward Rae uncertainly. She returned the look, hesitated, then slowly stood up and moved to the couch, sitting down with forced composure.

"You seem to know quite a bit already," she said evenly. "Go ahead. Tell me what you think you know."

Damon looked helplessly at Ethan. "Boss..."

"My name is Ethan," he corrected.

"Right. Ethan. Tell me... do you believe angels exist in this world?"

Ethan frowned slightly and looked toward Rae.

"Don’t look at me," she said quickly, raising her hands. "I’m not one of those dumb white moths."

The urgency in her voice made it clear she feared being mistaken for something else and eliminated on the spot. She turned back toward Damon with a small sigh.

"I didn’t expect you to understand this much about me," she admitted. "Since my identity isn’t a secret anymore, I’ll explain it myself. Better than you saying something wrong and getting me killed."

She rolled her eyes, then continued.

"I am an angel, but..."

A strange energy surged outward from her body.

Rrrrip.

The back of her silk nightgown tore open as two wings unfolded behind her.

Ethan’s eyes widened.

"Black? You’re serious. Don’t tell me you’re a fallen angel."

The wings stretching from her back were deep black, absorbing light rather than reflecting it. Her long dark hair lifted slightly in the air, giving her an eerie, almost sacred presence.

Damon stared at her with open admiration, completely captivated.

"Yes," Rae said without hesitation. "I’m a fallen angel."

She folded her arms loosely. "Which means I hate those dumb white moths just as much as you probably do. Looks like we share an enemy."

Ethan did not respond immediately. Instead, he observed her carefully, focusing on her soul energy.

At last, he understood what made her different.

The angels he had encountered before felt hollow, like empty shells forced to move by borrowed souls. Their energy lacked individuality, like dolls animated by external commands.

Rae was different. Her soul energy pulsed with activity, awareness, intention. It possessed intelligence.

’Why?’

He asked the question directly.

She looked at him strangely, then smiled, drifting gently down as she retracted her wings and settled back onto the couch. Pulling a blanket around herself, she leaned back comfortably.

"So you noticed the difference already," she said. "Have you ever heard of marionettes? Those white angels you’ve met, they’re basically that. Puppets. We used to be the same."

Her expression grew distant.

"But some of us developed consciousness."

She began explaining their origins.

Ethan listened in stunned silence. He had never imagined angels could be mindless creations. According to Rae, fallen angels were not born evil. Their wings turned black only after self-awareness awakened within them. The color was not corruption but a mark, a curse identifying which angels had gained independent thought.

Once an angel’s wings darkened, they were hunted relentlessly by the others.

That was the true origin of fallen angels.

"So you’re saying all of you bird-people are tools created by someone?" Ethan asked slowly.

Rae’s eye twitched every time he used the term, but she wisely chose not to argue. She had already learned how dangerous this man was.

She was only a two-winged angel, the lowest rank, yet even at that level an angel’s body far surpassed ordinary beings. Combined with her awakened intelligence and years spent strengthening her soul through charm magic, she was stronger than most of her kind.

And still, she knew she stood no chance against Ethan.

"You could say that," she admitted. "Two-winged angels really are combat machines. But some eventually gain consciousness."

"Oh?" Ethan leaned forward slightly, interested.

"Not all angels become fallen just because they awaken," she explained. "Almost everyone who develops self-awareness goes through doubt about their existence. Those who reject that doubt, who accept their role completely, don’t turn black. Instead, they’re granted greater power."

"That’s ascension?"

She nodded.

"Those four-winged freaks?"

"Yes."

Ethan leaned back into his chair, falling into quiet thought. No further questions came.

Meanwhile, Damon made exaggerated faces at Rae through the projection. She shot him a sharp glare. He grinned shamelessly, gestured that everything was fine, and disconnected the call.

After a short pause, Ethan looked at Rae again.

"You came from Vatican City. You must know something about the place." Now he asked the question that truly mattered.

"I... left there a long time ago," she said cautiously.

"How long?"

She hesitated, calculating. "I’m roughly eight hundred years older than Damon. That’s only counting from when I first gained memories. Before that... I don’t know how long I existed."

Ethan blinked. "No way. You’re a cougar."

Her eyes flashed with irritation. "You..." She stopped herself, inhaled deeply, and forced her temper down. Arguing with him clearly felt unwise.

"You’ve asked plenty of questions," she said instead. "Now I get one."

"Go ahead." Ethan crossed his legs casually.

"How did you find my address? What’s your character name in the game? And who exactly are you?"

"That’s three questions," Ethan replied dryly.

She continued staring at him without blinking.

He sighed and shrugged. "Fine. I’ll satisfy your curiosity. The All-You-Need chain belongs to me. I can access employee files. As for my in-game character name... NotADruid."

He stopped there deliberately.

Rae blinked once, then twice.

"Well I’m not a marksman either, wait... you’re... you’re the Druid God?" She jumped off the couch as realization hit.

Ethan answered with nothing more than a faint smile.

"Perfect. This is perfect. It’s like fortune literally dropped into my lap," she muttered excitedly, pacing and rambling to herself like someone who had just discovered buried treasure.

Ethan watched her with growing confusion, briefly wondering if she had lost her sanity.

Then she suddenly rushed forward, grabbed his arm, and pressed herself close as if afraid he might escape.

"Come with me," she said urgently. "I need to take you somewhere."

Ethan stared at her, thoroughly thrown off.

"...I have standards," he said cautiously.