As Asagi Aiba pressed the activation switch, the incubation chambers throughout the massive facility began operating one after another.
Under Izumi's watchful gaze, clouds of white mist slowly dispersed from the pods below.
Then—
The artificial angels opened their eyes.
One after another, they awakened from dormancy.
At the moment of activation, crimson light flashed within their pupils.
Streams of data rapidly flowed across their eyes like countless lines of code being processed simultaneously.
Not long afterward, the red glow gradually faded.
The newly awakened angels immediately lined up with perfect discipline, moving like a rigorously trained army.
They stepped out from the incubation chambers and stood silently in formation.
Seeing this scene, Izumi nodded with great satisfaction.
"Excellent."
"Then let them begin operations."
He glanced toward Asagi.
"The programs have already been finalized, right?"
Hearing that, Asagi hurriedly nodded.
"Everything's complete."
"They can fully take over the Flügels' previous duties at any time."
Izumi smiled faintly.
"In that case, starting today, they'll replace the Flügel as referees and enforcers."
Then he added with a snort,
"It's finally time for those troublemakers to get laid off."
After enduring endless complaints about the Flügels' questionable officiating methods, Izumi felt this outcome was long overdue.
Hearing that, the others burst into laughter.
Indeed—
The Flügels had finally reached the end of their employment.
With the artificial angels taking over their responsibilities, the Flügels could now be reassigned elsewhere.
After discussing the details briefly, the group finalized the transition plan.
At the same time, Izumi also informed Jibril about the decision.
The moment she received the news, Jibril's eyes lit up.
"We're finally free?"
"That's wonderful!"
"Excellent!!"
Far from being upset about losing her position, Jibril looked absolutely delighted.
In fact, she could barely wait to quit.
When she saw the artificial angels arriving to replace them, however, she became slightly curious.
"Oh?"
"So they're using these kinds of beings instead?"
Interesting.
Apparently, Izumi really did have a soft spot for winged races.
Even their replacements had wings.
Still, after a brief glance, Jibril quickly lost interest.
"Mm. Basically just glorified scrap metal."
After muttering that dismissively, she turned around and left immediately.
Since she no longer had work to do, she naturally headed straight toward the combat zones to find someone worth fighting.
Recently, she had grown bored of reading books.
The other Flügels reacted similarly.
None of them complained after seeing the artificial angels take over.
Instead, they happily handed over their duties before running off to entertain themselves.
Meanwhile, countless spectators throughout the world were caught completely off guard by the sudden referee replacement.
However—
Once people learned that the notoriously chaotic Flügels were finally being replaced, many became visibly excited.
"So we don't have to suffer through those insane referees anymore?!"
"This is incredible!"
Many victims of Flügel officiating nearly cried tears of joy.
Of course, not everyone was happy.
Some individuals secretly felt disappointed.
After all, without the Flügels around, exploiting loopholes would likely become much harder.
At the same time, the artificial angels themselves quickly received widespread praise.
Because their actions followed completely impartial systems and procedures, their judgments were extraordinarily fair.
However—
One detail soon began terrifying everyone.
Sometimes, the artificial angels killed people.
At first, this caused widespread panic.
But after official explanations were released, the truth became clear.
The individuals eliminated by the angels all possessed excessively high "sin values."
In other words—
The world itself had begun identifying and purging dangerous criminals.
This revelation instantly caused a massive uproar.
Many people only now realized that Izumi's world possessed such a terrifying mechanism.
If someone accumulated too much malice or committed enough crimes…
The angels of the world could erase them at any moment.
And according to all observations—
The angels never killed the wrong person.
The moment this information spread, countless people became terrified.
Some individuals did not even dare approach the artificial angels anymore, fearing they might accidentally trigger judgment.
Naturally, Izumi observed all of this calmly.
As for the angels killing certain individuals?
He had absolutely no objections.
In fact, he wished they would eliminate even more.
...
Meanwhile—
Deep within the underworld, a certain Yama had become extremely confused.
Why were so many people dying…
Yet not a single soul was arriving in the underworld?
This completely puzzled her.
Unable to understand what was happening, the serious little Yama eventually decided to personally seek out Izumi.
After all, her current position overseeing the underworld had originally been granted by him.
Now she was responsible for managing the souls within Izumi's world.
Naturally, she needed answers.
Although…
Every single time she visited Izumi, she inevitably ended up getting hugged and teased mercilessly.
Still, duty came first.
And so, the small Yama eventually arrived before him.
Izumi was not surprised in the slightest by her appearance.
The moment he saw the little judge, he immediately pulled her into his arms.
"Oh?"
"Eiki-chan came to see me?"
"That's wonderful."
Then, without hesitation, he began shamelessly squeezing her soft cheeks.
"Come on, let me play with you a little."
For Izumi, teasing this overly serious little Yama had always been exceptionally entertaining.