Five Stars.
He Ao let out a slight sigh of relief.
This mission had been to "resolve the temptation from the abyss."
The temptation itself had originated from the Abyss Prisoner.
But resolving the temptation did not necessarily mean dealing with the Abyss Prisoner.
For example, Levi's initial suggestion had been to find a way to seal the Abyss Prisoner back up before it fully emerged. That would also resolve the temptation for a while.
Or, after severely injuring the Abyss Prisoner, he could have allowed Mysterious Shadow to control him and Levi while He Ao fled on his own.
Mysterious Shadow would be busy further controlling the abyss in the short term and would most likely have no time to attend to the Copy World. That could also complete the mission to some extent.
Making either of those choices would probably have earned a three-star or four-star rating, and both would have been much easier to accomplish.
But neither choice would have fundamentally changed anything. They would merely have postponed the coming disaster.
So He Ao had chosen the most difficult option: killing the Abyss Prisoner.
By making that choice, He Ao had to face a difficulty far greater than in his previous Copy World missions.
Because he not only had to face a true Angel-level being, but also kill the prey a god was determined to protect before that god, who was trying to capture the angel alive.
And the resources He Ao himself could use were not many.
Lynn's starting point had only been a severely injured C-rank old man, and a non-combat type at that.
Of course, Lynn had also possessed an advantage: he had the title of mayor.
Though at the start, nearly everyone in the cabinet had been a mole, his deputy had been