“......What!”
“What—this is absurd!”
The Paladins were taken aback and showed troubled faces.
Atena said,
“That Carla has received Lady Atena’s choice.”
“Lady Atena......?”
The citizens’ murmuring, the Paladins’ discomfiture.
The square became noisy at once.
“Lady Atena said that Lady Hera and Lady Aphrodite pushed this matter forward too hastily. Originally, Lady Atena also had the qualification to join these candidates. I imagine Lady Hera and Lady Aphrodite knew as much.”
Dangerous words for a human to say, but it could not be helped if she claimed to be borrowing Atena’s words.
In truth, the one speaking was Atena herself.
“However, judging that she was too busy to attend, the two goddesses proceeded with this vote. Yet my god somehow made time and guided me here.”
“How are we to know you have received Lady Atena’s power—”
Thud!
“Will this serve as proof?”
She set down a shield.
Aegis.
Even if one did not know what that shield was, a Paladin would recognize its grade the moment they saw it.
'I see. Because the shield is that small, it isn’t hard to carry.'
Until just now, Atena had mounted it on her back and hidden it with a cloak. The shield was that small.
“I am a qualified person. Add me as a candidate.”
“No matter what you say, the vote has already begun—”
“Oh my. Are you the one who decides that?”
Atena cut off Charon’s objection at once.
She looked to Lupina and Bruna.
“Have Lady Hera and Lady Aphrodite nothing to say?”
“Uh, um, well......”
Bruna unconsciously looked at Lupina, and Lupina, mouth gone dry, waited for Aphrodite to arrive.
In the meantime, Atena thought,
'I don’t know who this girl is, but for me, it’s the best opportunity.'
Cybel’s existence was virtually the same as declaring that Hera’s and Aphrodite’s choice had been wrong. She was plainly more beautiful.
But the appearance of Carla, possessed by Atena, rivaled Cybel.
Therefore, only if Atena joined this vote could it be proven that the gods had not erred.
Of course, that would be achieved through Atena’s victory.
'Frondier ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ must be somewhere here.'
Atena had now shown herself to Frondier.
In other words, it could be taken that she was prepared to die.
'But Frondier does not want war. While the vote proceeds, it should be safe.'
From Frondier’s standpoint, the best would be for the vote itself to fizzle out, but better for it to be in progress than to be over.
However, that could not be waited on without end.
The gods were coming here from the continent of Falind.
'Frondier, I’m sorry for possessing Carla, but I have matters of my own that are important.'
Before Atena arrived, Aphrodite’s victory had been assured, but now that she had appeared, victory belonged to Atena.
No matter what magic was breathed into Lupina, she could not defeat Carla.
'The Golden Apple is mine.'
“......Since the two goddesses seem to permit it, then I too—”
Just as Atena opened her mouth to move things along quickly—
[That will do.]
At that voice, Atena’s face hardened.
No way, to that extent?
Atena knit her brows and turned her gaze, and there—
[If you’re going to do it, do it properly. Atena.]
Aphrodite was standing.
Not possessing anyone else—Aphrodite herself.
Her only advantage, wounded and bound to this land.
Unlike gods who required descent, she was already here.
Since it was impossible for Lupina to defeat Carla, she had appeared in person.
However, at the very moment she showed herself—
'She’s come out.'
There was no need to say Frondier’s eyes had turned cold,
'You’re throwing a high-stakes move, Aphrodite.'
Atena smiled, yet cold sweat beaded.
***
At nearly the same time, Bael.
He stood upon a magic circle, suppressing his anxious heart.
“What on earth are you thinking, Satan......!”
He had finished the preparations for a demon summoning.
There was no medium required for summoning. None needed.
Because this magic circle was not to call Satan.
“Hurry and come out......”
Bael’s anxiety carried all the way to his fingertips and toes.
Tap, tap—tapping the ground. Tapping his folded arms.
A demon summoning without a medium does not occur, but for Bael it was possible under special conditions.
This was not because he was one of the 72 Demons, nor because he was ranked first among them.
Because he was Bael.
There was only one person he could contact.
[......What is it.]
At last.
A man with a face filled with nothing but annoyance appeared above the magic circle.
A tall man with black hair—very long hair at that.
He had no substance here, but the two could converse. It was close to a Wizerview used for calls.
The moment Bael saw the man before him, he shouted,
“Beelzebub!”
[We had agreed not to interfere with each other further.]
One of the Seven Deadly Sins, Beelzebub.
Bael had called him.
“If you dislike interference, then bring Satan! What is that bastard thinking? Does he truly mean to start a war with the gods?”
[Weren’t you the one who provided the pretext for war.]
“If only they hadn’t left us in Agoris, none of this would have happened!”
Bael and Beelzebub glared at each other for a brief time.
Soon Bael shook his head.
“No—we have no time for this bickering. The gods are already at our doorstep. Call Satan.”
[......Bael.]
“You can’t be ignorant of the situation. The demons of Agoris may be in danger now, but the Demon Realm is in the same danger regardless. If the gods come to the Demon Realm—”
[They already have. Bael.]
“......W-What did you say?”
[Just as you intended. You wanted to make it a war of all demons. The Olympian gods departed for the continent of Agoris and for the Demon Realm almost simultaneously.]
Bael was so shocked he was struck dumb.
The gods had already arrived in the Demon Realm?
But then how could Beelzebub be so unruffled?
“T-Then what about Bael......”
[Right. That’s why Satan can’t come now. He’s busy with a meeting.]
A meeting?
The Olympian gods and the Seven Deadly Sins were having a meeting?
[Bael. To me, you are someone I cannot forgive, and at the same time, a pitiful creature. For that reason, I will tell you in advance alone.]
A haughty tone looking down from an extremely lofty stance.
Yet Bael could say nothing.
[The Demon Realm has decided to completely abandon the 72 Demons and the demons in Agoris.]
“W-What......!”
[You must feel it too, right? After Satan accepted a contract with a human, all demons under Satan had every contract with Satan severed and lost their memories. Meanwhile, you who flew here without a master merely thought the gate had closed, but how is it actually, living as you are?]
“......!”
Beelzebub pinpointed precisely the anxiety Bael had been feeling.
[You are weakening, aren’t you?]
“T-That......! No, I am—!”
A severed link with the Demon Realm. The loss of power that follows.
Considering the demons’ long spans of time, the time demons had stayed in Agoris was not long.
Therefore, even if they lost power, that power should be slight.
However, if it was true that they were losing it, the story changed completely.
Left alone, time would steal all of their power.
[Pitiable, Bael. You who want to draw Satan into a war of demons, only to later no longer even be a demon.]
“S-Shut up! The Demon Realm abandoning the 72 Demons! Who in the world would make such a decision! In the Demon Realm, a demon who makes decisions—!”
There is no one.
Demons have no king.
Knowing that, Bael had undertaken this dangerous scheme.
[Yes. It has been that way until now.]
But Beelzebub’s words affirmed that, and at the same time denied it.
[Now the demons have a king.]
“......That’s nonsense. Don’t tell me.”
The Demon Realm of the present, without the 72 Demons.
In the midst of that, fixing a king of demons.
Yet the Seven Deadly Sins set aside their pride and yielded the king’s seat to one among them?
How?
[You can guess now, more or less.]
A sigh mixed between Beelzebub’s words.
Hair falling heavily over his tilted head.
Even his own expression was dissatisfied.
[Satan.]
***
Demons have no king.
High-ranking demons call themselves kings of every kind of thing, but no demon becomes the head of demons.
That goes for the 72 Demons and for the Seven Deadly Sins alike.
However, demons felt they needed a king.
If only to resist the gods, their greatest threat.
Just as Zeus moves all of Olympus, just as Odin’s voice resounds throughout Asgard.
A single one who can set the entire Demon Realm in motion.
“And thus.”
Facing the assembled Seven Deadly Sins, Satan spoke to them.
“From now on, I am the king.”
And before him stood gods who had come here first because of the events in Agoris.
Among them, Satan bowed his head rather politely to the one foremost.
“Zeus, dealings with the Demon Realm will become easier going forward.”
The two characters majesty stood there.
Foremost of the Olympian gods, father of all things and father of gods.
Zeus gripped his weapon, Astraphe, and looked around as if displeased.
“......A god, have dealings with the likes of demons? Nonsense.”
Zeus deliberately provoked the demons.
Yet none among the Seven Deadly Sins reacted.
Looking over them, Zeus thought,
'Did they truly decide on a king—the Seven Deadly Sins?'
As he had already said, Zeus had nearly no dealings with the Demon Realm. For that reason, the information that came in was poor.
This had to do with the fundamental issue of gods and demons, but put more simply, the worlds’ “distance” was far.
“Are you now attempting to cut off your own tail?”
Zeus spoke.
He had come here because of a demon in Agoris who impersonated a god.
The gods do not distinguish among demons. One demon is all demons. Therefore, he had sought the Seven Deadly Sins.
Bael’s conjecture had plainly hit the mark.
“For the madness of a few demons, must all demons pay in blood—how utterly ridiculous.”
“Up to now, how many times have demons done exactly that. I have seen countless times the whole swarm boil over a single individual’s problem, like ants or bees.”
“Which is why now it must end.”
At Satan’s words, Zeus shook his head.
“The one leading the impersonation of gods is first among the 72 Demons. This is not something that can be ended so neatly.”
“As I said, whether it is Bael or anyone, we will not move to save a few demons who have lost their minds.”
“......You would abandon all 72 Demons?”
“Any demon who goes against the greater cause of all demons.”
At that moment, someone behind Zeus stepped a little closer.
“Father. Remember the name of the man before you.”
“......Mm.”
It was Hermes.
At Hermes’s words, Zeus looked at Satan again.
“Even if every word you say is true, why should I listen?”
Satan claimed that Bael was unrelated to the Demon Realm, but that was only a claim.
Olympus now held the perfect chance to purge all demons.
Even if Satan called himself king of demons, the forces beneath him would not yet be fully united, and in any case, compared as a whole, Olympus was stronger than the Demon Realm.
Yet even to this, Satan’s answer held no hesitation.
“Of course, if the gods attack all of us now, we cannot stop it. The Demon Realm will be destroyed.”
Satan admitted it readily.
But the words and expression that followed were exceedingly courteous.
“What will you do after that?”
“......”
“A world where all demons have disappeared and only gods and humans remain. Will you dwell forever receiving the worship of humans, within an undying, eternal blessing?”
Satan spoke as if of a radiance appointed in that future.
But Zeus and the other gods knew his true meaning all too well.
There is no such future.
The moment all demons vanish is precisely the age when gods fall.
“......Insolent.”
Flame glinted in Hermes’s eyes.
Seeing that, Satan shook his head deeply.
“Zeus, were I in your position, this would be a clear opportunity.”
“An opportunity?”
“As the king of demons, I have now declared a complete severance from the demons in Agoris. Even if you kill them all, neither I nor the Demon Realm will move. If you cannot believe me, it is not too late to confirm that first.”
As Satan said, and as Zeus himself had said.
If Olympus truly possessed power greater than the Demon Realm, it would not be too late to test whether the Demon Realm interfered with the 72 Demons.
And if they killed all of the 72 Demons and the demons under them, this would surely be a chance to lower the Demon Realm’s strength.
For balance, demons must exist, but the power need not be evenly matched.
Right now, they could drastically reduce the Demon Realm’s power.
'Satan...... Is this a stratagem, or a desperate scrabble to prolong your life for the time being.'
Whatever it was, Satan only smiled placidly.
At that, Zeus clicked his tongue.
“......You claim to be king of demons, yet your ambition is remarkably small.”
To that, Satan bowed his head with polite formality.
“I am content to be a small king of this small world. Zeus.”
