I Am The Game's Villain

Chapter 825: Edenis Raphiel

Year 1498 of the Edenic Calendar.

Edenis Raphiel.

The great floating archipelago.

To the countless people living on the world below, it was a place woven from myths and legends, a realm that seemed too magnificent to truly exist. Children grew up hearing stories about it. Elders spoke its name with worship. Even kings and nobles looked toward the skies with a mixture of admiration and awe.

Very few people would ever have the opportunity to step foot there.

Yet everyone knew of Edenis Raphiel.

It was the first place in history that had come close to what would eventually be called a Kingdom.

A sacred land of immeasurable renown, it was said to have been founded by the Supreme Goddess Raphiel herself. Taking the Monolith of Eden as the foundation, she built her own world above Eden’s world, raising it high in the heavens like a celestial guardian watching over the lands below.

According to the ancient legends, Edenis Raphiel was the home of Raphiel’s chosen people.

For nearly five thousand years since the first recorded appearance of the floating archipelago, its sacredness had never diminished. If anything, it had only grown greater with each passing century. Stories became traditions, traditions became beliefs, and beliefs became truths accepted by nearly everyone in the world.

During the time of Creation, Raphiel entrusted the heavenly land to four individuals.

Four Angels.

They became the founders of the Four Royal Houses of Eden.

Their duty was absolute and sacred. They were to protect Edenis Raphiel, guard the Monolith of Eden, and stand watch over every Incarnation of the Priestess who would appear throughout history.

As such, Edenis Raphiel became synonymous with beauty, power, and strength.

It was a land where the strongest and most favored of Raphiel had lived for thousands of years. They married, built families, and gave birth to generations upon generations of descendants. Almost every bloodline in Edenis Raphiel could be traced back to the most prominent races that had ruled the archipelago since its beginning, the Angel race and the Demigods who possessed a thick inheritance of angelic blood.

Because of that, the people of Edenis Raphiel were neither ordinary humans nor true angels.

They existed somewhere in between.

A higher race.

A people entirely different from High Humans and, in many aspects, superior to them. Their affinity for mana, their physical abilities, their talents, and even their lifespans all stood above those of the people below.

This was only one of the countless reasons why Edenis Raphiel had become so revered throughout the world.

And the rulers of Edenis Raphiel knew it.

More importantly, they knew exactly how to take advantage of it.

For most of its history, the floating archipelago had been an extremely conservative place. Its gates were almost entirely closed to outsiders, and only those of royal or noble standing within its own society enjoyed its privileges.

However, during the last thousand year, things had gradually begun to change.

The turning point came with the foundation of the Kingdoms below.

Almost immediately, Edenis Raphiel began to project its superiority more openly. It was subtle at first, but eventually it became obvious. Through carefully crafted narratives and displays of power, the floating archipelago made one thing abundantly clear to the rest of the world.

It stood above them.

Quite literally.

The rise of powerful nations, especially the Kingdom of Celesta, which possessed the Holy Garden of Eden, and Sancta Vedelia, which guarded the Holy Tree of Eden, did not truly threaten Edenis Raphiel.

But they could not simply ignore them either.

The world below was growing stronger.

And so Edenis Raphiel sought to remind everyone of their place.

To remind them who still reigned above.

And what better way to do so than by creating something that no kingdom below could ever hope to rival?

The greatest academy in the entire world.

The Holy Academy of Edenis Raphiel.

A place reserved exclusively for the elite among elites.

Countless candidates from every corner of the world dreamed of entering its gates. Hundreds of thousands would strive for it, dedicating their entire childhoods and sacrificing years of their lives for a mere chance.

Yet only a handful would ever be chosen.

Only those who were exceptional.

It was said to be nearly impossible to enter the Holy Academy if one had not been born in Edenis Raphiel. Nevertheless, exceptions did exist.

But they were exceedingly rare.

The academy evaluated numerous criteria. One’s current Ascension, bloodline, social status, achievements, inherited titles, talents, and countless other factors were all meticulously examined. Nothing was left to chance.

Even then, acceptance was never guaranteed.

As if that were not enough, Edenis Raphiel only opened its academy to outside once every five years, with only the rarest of circumstances allowing exceptions.

An academy hidden within a floating archipelago.

A sacred land that very few could even glimpse properly from below.

A place that was nearly impossible to reach, let alone enter.

The resting place of the Monolith of Eden.

The homeland of the descendants of Angels.

The residence of the Four Royal Houses.

And an academy reserved for nothing less than the finest individuals the world had to offer.

All of it elevated Edenis Raphiel beyond ordinary comprehension.

To the people of Eden’s world, there existed no place more prestigious, more mysterious, or more sacred.

It stood at the very summit of the world.

The Holiest Place under Heaven.

And obviously, a place like Edenis Raphiel could never be accessed with ease.

There were countless protocols, permissions, and security measures governing who was allowed to enter the floating archipelago. These regulations were especially strict for outsiders, those who had not been born in Edenis Raphiel. They faced by far the greatest difficulties.

The high-ranking nobility and members of royal families, naturally, enjoyed a far easier process.

Even so, for the overwhelming majority of ordinary people across the world, there was only one realistic path toward Edenis Raphiel.

The Holy Academy.

The children of nobles definitely possessed the greatest advantage. Wealth meant better tutors, stronger resources, renowned instructors, prestigious bloodlines, and opportunities unavailable to the common people. Unsurprisingly, the richer and more influential a family was, the higher their children’s chances of receiving an invitation.

Yet despite all of that, Edenis Raphiel valued one thing above everything else.

Talent.

It was the one standard that could never be ignored.

No matter how humble one’s origins were, exceptional talent alone could open the gates of Edenis Raphiel.

Every generation produced a handful of extraordinary commoners whose abilities were simply too remarkable to overlook. They would be personally selected, educated within the Holy Academy, nurtured by the finest instructors in the world, and, should they prove themselves worthy, even granted citizenship within Edenis Raphiel itself.

For countless people living below, that was the greatest dream imaginable.

Citizenship in the heavenly archipelago.

A privilege so rare that entire noble houses had spent generations trying to obtain it.

This year, however…

The year 1498 would be unlike any other.

A considerably larger number of people than usual would be permitted to enter Edenis Raphiel.

The Holy Academy was opening its gates once more.

And with every new admission came an exceptional number of special authorizations.

This particular intake was even more significant than usual.

The academy’s opening had been delayed by an entire year, while restrictions on entering Edenis Raphiel during the previous years had become increasingly severe. As a consequence, this year’s admissions had been expanded to compensate.

Not freely.

Never freely.

The protocols remained as strict as ever.

But exceptions were far more numerous than they had been in decades.

Even reaching Edenis Raphiel was a challenge in itself.

After all, it was not simply an island.

It was a floating archipelago.

An enormous landmass drifting high above the world.

Its location constantly changed as it slowly moved across the skies. The movement was gradual, almost imperceptible, but it was enough to ensure that no map could permanently mark its position.

That did not mean, however, that anyone capable of flight or anyone possessing an airship could simply travel there.

Far from it.

The aerial perimeter surrounding Edenis Raphiel was among the most heavily protected regions in existence.

Countless magical barriers stretched across the heavens.

Detection arrays continuously scanned the skies.

Anything approaching without prior authorization would immediately be identified.

And should anything somehow manage to slip past the first layers of defense…

It would be destroyed without hesitation.

Over the course of the last thousand years, many ambitious individuals had attempted to reach Edenis Raphiel by force or through secrecy.

Almost none had succeeded.

Most had simply disappeared from the skies.

The only reliable way to reach Edenis Raphiel…

…was through the official route.

Several days before an authorized arrival, Edenis Raphiel transmitted its temporary coordinates through specially encrypted mana-radar signals to approved nations and organizations.

Those coordinates did not lead directly to the floating archipelago itself.

Instead, they pointed toward enormous offshore transfer platforms floating upon the sea.

Massive artificial structures anchored by colossal stabilizers and reinforced with sophisticated wave-dampening systems.

They resembled gigantic floating train stations.

Every arriving vessel was assigned a specific berth before docking.

Passengers would disembark under the supervision of Edenis Raphiel’s personnel while cargo was unloaded separately and subjected to extensive inspections.

No civilian ship was ever allowed to continue beyond that point.

The transfer platforms marked the absolute limit.

Everything beyond belonged solely to Edenis Raphiel.

That morning, hundreds upon hundreds of vessels crossed the surrounding waters.

Never before had the transfer platforms experienced such overwhelming traffic.

Ships filled nearly every available dock, with new arrivals appearing on the horizon almost constantly.

It was hardly surprising.

The Holy Academy would officially begin its new academic year in only one week.

Most of the newly accepted students, whose numbers had reached a historical record, particularly among those born outside Edenis Raphiel, had chosen to arrive early to familiarize themselves with their new home before classes began.

Of course, they were not alone.

Parents, siblings, guardians, and other close family members had also received authorization to accompany them.

Combined with Edenis Raphiel’s recent policy of slowly opening itself to the outside world, the number of visitors had increased dramatically.

Yet even that was not the primary reason behind today’s extraordinary influx.

At noon…

The Holy Saintess of Eden herself would appear before the world.

Only recently chosen by the Holy Church.

Chosen by Eden itself.

The young Saintess would reveal herself publicly for the very first time.

And the ceremony had been entrusted to no place other than Edenis Raphiel.

The opening ceremony of the Academy might still be a week away, but no one wished to miss an event of such historical importance.

Kings.

Queens.

Princes.

High nobles.

Foreign dignitaries.

Every influential figure who had received an invitation had arranged their journey so they could witness the Saintess’s first public appearance with their own eyes.

For that reason, today’s arrivals had been reserved almost exclusively for the Academy’s incoming students and their accompanying families.

It allowed the authorities to better organize the immense flow of visitors by separating arrivals across multiple days.

It was also, perhaps, Edenis Raphiel’s own silent message.

If one had been accepted into the Holy Academy…

Then today was the day one should arrive.

And judging by the endless procession of ships approaching the platforms…

The message had been received loud and clear.