Right after Aster spoke those words.
Clang!
Two of the gods each drew their weapons.
One a spear, the other a sword.
Their thoughts were the same. No—the thoughts of almost all the gods were similar.
'This one is dangerous.'
With faces like machines, they rushed at Aster.
Aster looked at the two with a vaguely vacant gaze.
Unlike Frondier, Aster does not have resistance to Ecleksis. If anything, he is receiving even more of its influence.
Aster has not avoided madness because he withstood it.
'This is the heart of the gods.......'
Aster’s foot lightly sprang backward.
“Ah, Aster!”
That is, he flew off through the air, away from Ludovic.
In that instant, a spear and a sword flew in from both sides. A trajectory that blocked off his retreat while taking the difference in length into account. A clean joint attack.
Aster raised the sword before his eyes.
And a single step.
Thud!
“!”
The blade was caught on Aster’s sword, and the spear stabbed into the empty space where Aster had been.
'He took one step forward while holding his sword.'
With just that, he blocked the sword-and-spear pincer.
Ludovic watched Aster from a third party’s point of view.
It was surprising enough that Aster was already walking through the air, but what shocked Ludovic was something else.
'Is there such a defensive art?'
No—was that even defense to begin with?
“You wretch!”
The god’s sword swept in horizontally.
Aster brought his own sword along the path of that blade.
Sssuk!
In an instant the god’s sword was guided along Aster’s sword path, and beyond that it only cut empty air again.
Sshk!
This time the spearpoint targeted Aster’s back.
The spearblade that should have pierced dead center—
“?!”
—missed.
'Just now, that was—'
Aster’s posture had hardly changed. It was almost not converted into the posture of evasion or defense.
In that same posture, he moved his position.
Ilseom!
Ilseom without taking the middle guard. And used not for attack but for evasion.
“How dare you make such a paltry attempt!”
Flames lodged in the eyes of the god holding the spear.
But then—
“Wait!”
The god holding the sword stopped him. His face was plainly flustered.
“Let’s fall back!”
“What?”
“When I crossed blades with this one just now.”
Unlike the colleague with the spear, the god with the sword had crossed swords with Aster twice.
At first he had been unsure, but the second time he was convinced.
“My divine power was taken.”
“!”
Another god reacted keenly to that. The two widened their distance from Aster in an instant.
“Taken?”
“Ecleksis?”
The other gods, hearing that, murmured in astonishment.
Aster’s face was still vacant. One could even call it guileless.
'......That the hearts of gods are this diverse, and this agonizing.'
Aster raised his hand. Over that hand flowed the Ecleksis he had received.
Ludovic saw that sight.
'......Taken?'
Ludovic felt a sense of dissonance at the expression the god had shouted.
From what he could see, Aster had not stolen their power.
'It’s as if he simply contained exactly what was poured out.'
Like water flowing from above to below.
The gods poured their Ecleksis into Aster, and Aster merely received it.
Like a bowl.
They felt no resistance at all, and so they mistook it for being taken.
Aster looked around.
'That the hearts of the gods are this similar to humans’.'
Aster too has been disappointed by gods.
When Baldur tried to sow discord between him and Frondier, or when Apollo took Ludovic’s body.
However, Aster cannot doubt the gods themselves.
Hardheaded, steadfast, obstinate, single-minded Aster.
'Ecleksis.'
Aster feels the Ecleksis coursing through his body now.
He clearly knew the unknown power they were speaking of.
And he realized one more thing.
'Perhaps for me,'
——Ecleksis might not exist.
With something inside him, he has no thought to resist the gods’ power now being fired. No desire arises to do so.
The reason Aster could receive the gods’ Ecleksis—
Perhaps because he is empty.
“......Heh.”
That is fine too.
Only now is he beginning, bit by bit, to understand the gods.
“......What was that battle just now?”
Poseidon was seized by a strange feeling.
More than the idea that Aster had stolen Ecleksis, what grated on his nerves was:
'Wasn’t it as if he were handling children?'
The gods cannot bring out their full power right now. Because they are possessing bodies.
But the possessed bodies themselves are undoubtedly strong, and the sword arts and various weapon arts the gods have mastered must each have reached their own summit. And yet he had handled such a joint attack of gods as if soothing toddlers?
'Aster, what have you become......?'
Ludovic understood how Manggot had been dispersed each in its own way after the Manggot war of the past.
From Manggot’s point of view, there was only one method to defeat Aster.
Aster cannot aim at a weak point. To win, one must be purely stronger.
But now, beyond even that—
'Can Aster not be beaten by swordsmanship?'
Ludovic found himself even thinking that.
Aster after receiving Ecleksis gave even that impression.
“Great Poseidon, my lord.”
Aster spoke to Poseidon.
“Would you let me pass?”
“......”
“My friends are in danger. They are children more valuable to this world than my own life.”
Aster bowed his head deeply.
“I humbly ask for mercy.”
Aster respects the gods. Even as they are hostile to Aster.
If that were an act, a clever ploy to break through this situation, he would have been immediately executed by a god’s hand.
But because Aster’s heart is purely sincere—
Squeeze
The gods could not easily attack Aster.
Right now Aster is like the devotee of every god.
On top of that, Aster himself is the mighty jewel called the Hope of Humanity.
Every god knows his name.
Have we gathered here to kill Aster Evans? By no means.
'He is insane.'
At a glance Aster seems like a fanatic.
But is there a fanatic of this kind?
A human who loves all gods equally.
“......I cannot accept this.”
Among the gods watching Aster, one—Hermes—stepped forward.
“I will dispose of him.”
Aster merely receives the hostility of the gods, and says he is glad to meet them.
A statement as if a human were forgiving the gods.
Is that benevolence? Mercy?
No—arrogance.
“Whether he steals Ecleksis or not, Aster must die here.”
At those words, hostility toward Aster revived among the gods again.
If they kill Aster as he is now, their Ecleksis will probably diminish considerably.
Even so, it must be done. Aster as he is now is that dangerous.
“Everyone, please watch! I—”
Caw—
Just then, a crow’s cry shattered the mood.
The crow stood at a position roughly halfway between Poseidon and Aster.
[Hero, Aster Evans. A message from my master.]
The crow spoke to Aster.
'......This crow, Frondier’s......?'
Aster thought, and Poseidon’s eyes narrowed.
“Master? Whom are you speaking of?”
As if in answer to that—or perhaps because it was predetermined to say this—
[The King of Demons has moved to protect the 72 Demons.]
“......!”
It was not Aster but the other gods who were startled at that.
Hermes thought:
'......The King of Demons is Satan.'
It had been hardly any time since he had just met him together with Zeus.
Then who on earth is the King of Demons that crow speaks of?
[The King of Demons has decided to oppose the gods. If this continues, the dwellings of humans will become a ruin from the gods and demons fighting.]
The crow spoke with truly bird-like indifference.
While everyone stood frozen, it chattered only its own words.
[The human hero should just sit back and watch. Watch all the humans die.]
Caw—
Having said only that, the crow vanished.
Aster quietly watched the departing crow.
“......No, you lunatic.”
The eyes that had been guileless until just a moment ago returned to the way they originally were.
***
When Frondier crafted the message to be sent to Aster for Gregory to deliver, Elodie, who was next to him, gaped.
“Are you really going to have it say that?”
“There are other gods there. If it’s Aster, he’ll roughly catch on.”
Aster knows very well who the crow’s master is.
And he trusts Frondier, so he won’t take it at face value.
Surely that’s how it will be.
“By the way, how long does this building go on?”
Cybel looked around the workshop and spoke.
Ever since they came inside, no sound from outside could be heard at all. Perhaps because of that, the thought that this building might be destroyed did not occur to her in the least.
If they kept staying here, she felt almost the illusion that eternal peace would continue forever.
“I’ll release it soon. This thing uses a lot of mana. But before that, I’ll give some orders.”
Frondier pressed a finger to the bridge of his nose.
'......If what I heard from Gregory is right, Aster’s side seems okay. I never imagined it would turn out like that, though.'
He had thought they would pass Poseidon easily by hiding well, but Aster is coming the hard way around. And yet, as a result, it seems to have turned out even better.
His head throbbed at that course of action so very Aster-like.
'The 72 Demons will be coming here soon, and right now the gods’ attention will be focused on this workshop. Quite a few will attack too.'
And Zeus will arrive shortly as well. Since he passed Poseidon first.
Depending on who arrives first, the response changes, but the most important in the board Frondier is drawing right now is Aphrodite.
'......I think I planted the seeds well enough.'
The seeds of suspicion he planted in Aphrodite. It would be good if they grew well and bore fruit.
But it’s not as if Frondier can read others’ minds, and on that side all he can do is hope it goes well.
“Soon more gods will storm this place. The 72 Demons will come too. If that happens, it really will be an all-out war between gods and demons.”
“......Why do I feel like you’re the one making that all-out war?”
Elodie brought up something reasonable.
It was so reasonable that Frondier nodded.
“It needs to look that way. I am, nominally, the King of Demons.”
“Why on earth did you say something like that?”
“Because I learned Bael’s been abandoned. Right now the most important thing is confusion.”
There exists on both sides someone claiming to be the King of Demons.
Satan, who rules the Seven Deadly Sins and the Demon Realm, and Frondier, who rules the 72 Demons.
Only, in Frondier’s case, the gods still don’t know his identity clearly. How much is bluff and how much is real. What it means to be the King of Demons.
In truth, he still hasn’t found a way to go to the Demon Realm.
“If the gods arrive first, the only one who can respond is Elodie. Everyone else fall back.”
“......You two intend to face the gods? That’s far too dangerous.”
Selena spoke. Frondier shook his head.
“They’re gods possessing humans anyway. Their power itself won’t surpass a Zodiac. The problem is the weapons, but they probably won’t take them out in front of me.”
Everyone would already know Frondier’s abilities. In front of him, they won’t want to take out Astrafe or whatever. Not unless they’re confident they can kill Frondier in a single blow.
“And here’s the important part—if the 72 Demons arrive first.”
As he said that, Frondier smiled slightly.
When the workshop was released, what entered the eyes of Frondier’s group was all the gods, fully armed, aiming at them.
Whether Athena’s persuasion no longer worked, the gods had drawn their weapons toward Frondier.
That is to say, they had prepared themselves for a certain degree of death.
'Well, I did bluster about being the King of Demons—no way they’d leave that alone, huh.'
Frondier felt the surroundings seething with Ecleksis.
It’s not the kind of idea one should have in this situation, but he was curious.
If Frondier were to bring out his power against Ecleksis pouring down on him all at once, what kind of Pandemonium would occur?
Not dragging in just one, but what if he could drag in all of them?
He entertained that hope, but judging from Athena’s conversation with the gods, he shouldn’t expect that. It would probably end with pulling in just one.
'Whoever I drag in, I have to finish as fast as possible and come out.'
If Frondier enters Pandemonium, Elodie will guard his body.
He had given such orders in advance, but they won’t be able to drag it out for long.
Shiiiii——!!
It was then.
A fierce sound of rending air, heard from far away.
Someone was cutting across the sky and coming this way.
Since everyone had been waiting for that sound, their gazes naturally shifted.
'I didn’t think they’d come this fast. Which side is it?'
Will the 72 Demons arrive first, or will the gods of Olympus arrive first?
Frondier had prepared countermeasures for both sides in advance.
And the result—
“......You’re kidding me.”
Up there, where Frondier looked up—
Aster was flying in.
'You said Zeus passed first. Where did Zeus go?'
Then did that guy overtake Zeus, who passed first, and get here?
Why is he flying?
How can he come at this speed?
The moment he spotted Aster, the plans in Frondier’s head began to get smashed to pieces, one by one.
“......!”
Aster’s eyes met Frondier’s. Aster’s eyes shone with fighting spirit. As if this was a very good meeting.
Up to here, Aster had no doubt used Ilseom consecutively.
Where on earth the recoil from using that much aura had gone, Aster, with a calm face, raised a spear.
And it was a spear Frondier knew.
With a spear, you obviously can’t take something like the middle guard of a sword.
But as if to say, so what.
Aster said:
“Here I come.”
“......That lunatic.”
The two fired at each other at the same time.
Ilseom and Heukcheon.
