Frondier’s Heukcheon gathers.
What Aster shattered was a mana crystal with the lightning-attribute “Stop” spellwork.
Frondier reaches into the torrent of mana and forms the blueprint of a spear in his grip.
“Meno, sorpo......!”
Frondier ground his teeth.
A spell that forcibly concentrates mana by overlaying two blueprints—a magic circle and Heukcheon.
He did something like this even at Atlas, but this time the scale of power is different.
On top of Frondier’s full power, Aster’s Ilseom is raging as well.
Originally, when a mana torrent like this occurs, what follows is nothing but a massive explosion.
Frondier tries to seize that in his hand.
‘I really didn’t want to do this!’
If he had to explain this operation, it would be something like Plan C.
All the operations that assumed multiple variables have gone wrong, and this is carried out only when things truly seem impossible. It was a plan he wanted to avoid at all costs.
Because Frondier doesn’t know the extent of Aster’s full power, nor whether he can seize it for himself. Needless to say, though, it must be unbelievably strong.
Right now Frondier felt as if his palm were being torn apart.
The only fortunate thing is that, in the current situation, there is no one who can touch Frondier.
‘If this blows up by mistake, no one’s limbs will stay intact......!’
That includes gods and demons. All the more so, considering the gods are currently in human bodies.
Kwachik, kwajijijik!
The torrent of mana collides and gathers with noise. If it is to be concentrated to the degree Frondier wants, it must be crushed. A brute-force process of grinding and breaking it like grains of sand, leaving not the slightest gap.
And when Frondier fully closed his hand—
Heukcheon, Menosorpo
Double Bond
Mana Crystal Release
Lightning Attribute, Stop Spellwork
Frondier Original, Jeong
Aster Original, Ilseom
Seizure
Spear of Black Lightning
Thump!
When Frondier gripped that spear—
The air of the whole area changed.
‘......What is that.’
A demon is standing there holding a black spear.
He pacified the torrent that had swallowed all of Aster’s and his own power and confined it inside his hand.
Is that a weapon? Magic?
Even its sparks billow up black on the black spear, scraping the ground and kneading the air.
Those impassive eyes simply rest below, looking at his spear,
Ssskk
and then, lightly, that gaze looked at Aster.
“!”
Aster raised Excalibur to guard.
Could he block a spear whose limit of power was unknown?
He doesn’t know. But Aster, to begin with, does not entertain such thoughts.
In Aster’s head, instead of possibilities, there is only what he must do.
Frondier’s eyes reveal no emotion.
Since he looked at Aster with such eyes, everyone predicted what would come next.
That spear will toward Aster—
Fla—sh—!!
First, the spear Frondier threw.
It shoots toward the sky.
At the speed of lightning.
Zeus is there.
“!!”
Even Aster himself had braced for the black spear to fly at him.
So everyone around thought the same.
However.
Kwoaaaang!!
Zeus blocked the black spear with Astrape.
“Of course you would......!”
Zeus had read it. That that attack would be fired at himself.
But his body is a human body. Evading something at the speed of lightning isn’t easy, so he chose to raise Astrape in advance to block it.
Chijik, chijijijik—!!
No matter how much he is Zeus, as long as he is in a human body, blocking this attack is no ordinary task.
However, he is the god of the sky. His understanding of lightning surpasses anyone’s.
‘It’ll take a little time, but at this level—’
While blocking the black spear, Zeus judged coolly. He would read the flow of the lightning, induce fissures in the spear, and split it. Zeus can do it.
Just as he himself had thought—
That process clearly takes time.
Tap!
When everyone’s gaze turned to the sky, Frondier moved.
“Here.”
“?”
First, he tossed Excalibur to Aster as if offhand.
Leaving the bewildered Aster behind,
Chuk.
Frondier stood before Aphrodite.
“!”
“Hello, we left our talk unfinished, didn’t we?”
All eyes were drawn to Zeus. In that instant’s opening there—
Before all the gods could turn back to confirm Frondier,
“Let’s change the place.”
Frondier aimed finger guns at Aphrodite.
Fwiieek!!
And faster than the other gods could move to protect Aphrodite,
“Everyone!”
Black wings {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} settled, encircling Frondier and Aphrodite.
“Protect Frondier!”
Bael and the 72 Demons, arrival.
Then Frondier glanced sidelong at the crow at his side.
He merely shaped the words with his lips to the crow.
—Ten minutes.
Leaving those words, Frondier opened Ecleksis.
Pandemonium opens.
***
The goddess of beauty, Aphrodite.
She received today what few humiliations she had in her life.
She met a multitude of humans who threatened her appearance; her power did not take effect.
She was even kicked by a human.
That detestable human is right before her eyes now.
“So this is your Ecleksis.”
Frondier strolled leisurely through the Pandemonium.
It takes on the form of a heaven easy for humans to imagine, yet it is filled with a noxious fragrance that dishevels emotions regardless of gender.
Around the temple are lavish sculptures and paintings, and all of it carries an erotic savor of some kind.
Just as her original power does, Aphrodite’s Ecleksis is also focused on enthralling the other.
‘Detestable......!’
Yet even in this space Frondier is at ease. As if he is unaffected by her influence.
Aphrodite trembled while looking at Frondier’s calm face.
The strangest point is that, unlike hers, nothing like a domain is visible around Frondier.
‘Even in my long life I haven’t experienced Pandemonium often, but whether the opponent is strong or not, Pandemonium is where each side’s Ecleksis clashes. So each one’s domain is visible, and each one’s soul’s form is laid bare as a world.’
Therefore, whether large or small, the opponent’s world ought to exist as well.
And yet Frondier’s domain is not visible at all.
With not a single component of a world from which one might know his soul, there’s simply him alone, dwelling there.
“It’ll be brief, but there should be no interference. Let’s have a talk.”
“......Do you not know what Pandemonium is? You would talk in here?”
Pandemonium is an arena of souls.
A place where someone must be defeated for either to leave, where the two fight wagering their very existence.
Frondier smiled faintly and said,
“I know. Still, you can exchange a few words before fighting, can’t you?”
If the fight is not decided, you cannot leave Pandemonium anyway.
And if her power doesn’t work, unless Frondier intends to fight, it will not proceed.
So having a conversation is not necessarily a bad thing for her.
“How dare you kick a god......!”
“That was because you tried to control my mind and make use of me. Call it self-defense.”
Self-defense?
A human who kicked a god mentions self-defense.
Trying to apply rules that might pass among humans to a god......!
“So what do you think?”
With a thump, Frondier flatly sat in formal posture on the floor right in front of Aphrodite.
Aphrodite stared in disbelief at the sight, but right now she was more concerned with what he was saying than with appearances.
“What do I think about what.”
“This situation.”
Frondier lifted his head and looked at Aphrodite.
Eyes a little drowsy.
“If it were you, I think you’d be feeling a sense of discord.”
“......!”
Aphrodite’s eyes widened.
As if to spur that on, Frondier said,
“Your power is even weaker than what I heard from Atena, so I was surprised too.”
“So Atena after all......!”
‘After all.’ Aphrodite said so.
She had already been suspecting Atena.
Hearing those words, Frondier spoke with an inward smile.
“Since you’re stuck inside Palma, you didn’t notice your power had weakened.”
“You—what are you, exactly? What is Atena trying to do? What is she scheming!”
“I don’t know what Atena is scheming. I’m a demon, so I move only by contract.”
Frondier shrugged.
With a fully guarded face, Aphrodite asked,
“......Atena made a contract with you......?”
“Yeah. The objective was to weaken your power inside Palma. Or should I say it was Atena’s objective. Well, it doesn’t really matter.”
It does matter.
For Aphrodite, it was unbelievable that Atena would do something of that sort.
Frondier said,
“As you can see, the plan was clear. Bring people whose looks are beautiful and show them to the capital’s citizens for a long time. More importantly, to show them to you. If the goddess of beauty cannot believe in her own beauty, that power disappears. That’s what Atena said.”
Aphrodite wavered at Frondier’s words.
If someone had said such a thing in an ordinary situation, she would have dismissed it as trifling nonsense, but in reality her power is not taking effect on Frondier.
It works on humans, but has weakened to the point it does not work on a demon. The most reasonable thought for Aphrodite is this.
And yet, even so, Aphrodite cannot easily believe it.
“Atena is the goddess of wisdom. There’s no way she truly joined hands with a demon! Even if she wanted the Golden Apple, if it were Atena, she’d do it by a fair fight......!”
“Think back to when I first appeared.”
Frondier raised a finger.
“What did Atena do?”
“......!”
Of course Aphrodite remembers.
Atena—
—Ah, no!
—Stop. Everyone!
—Just listen to me! Don’t rush this man!
She stopped the gods from attacking Frondier.
And then she kept repeating, endlessly, the appeal that the gods would instead be harmed.
But is that really possible?
“It’s possible Atena was truly worried for the gods......!”
Right now Aphrodite is defending Atena to Frondier.
To Frondier, who says he joined hands with Atena.
So this is not persuading Frondier. It is a sound she is making to herself.
Telling herself that Atena would never do that, soothing herself.
“Aphrodite, be cool-headed.”
Frondier said.
While he himself is throwing Aphrodite into confusion, as if he were someone on the exact opposite side.
“Atena’s logic doesn’t add up.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“What was the reason Atena held the gods back? She said I could defeat the gods with Ecleksis.”
“......Y-yes.”
Aphrodite is, first of all, suspicious of Frondier’s power itself.
Even now, Frondier’s domain is not visible at all. Suspicious as it is, she doesn’t know if it’s powerful.
The problem is that Aphrodite, being focused on how strong Frondier’s Ecleksis might be, has failed to realize one simple fact.
“Aphrodite, you won’t be able to believe this anyway, but let’s say my power surpasses the gods. Suppose Atena is worried about that slim possibility.”
Frondier described the probability that his power surpasses the gods as “slim.”
And then—
“How would Atena know that?”
“......What?”
“I’ll tell you once more what you already know. Listen well.”
Frondier turned solemn eyes to Aphrodite.
No—that is only Aphrodite’s thought.
Frondier’s eyes have been exactly the same from start to finish.
“When Pandemonium opens, one of the two must die.”
“......!”
“And yet both I and Atena are alive. What do you think that means?”
Aphrodite’s mouth fell open.
Tethered within the capital, Aphrodite is close to ignorant regarding recent information.
Knowing that, Frondier went on calmly.
“Atena is lying.”
“H-how......!”
“She doesn’t know what my Ecleksis is, nor how strong it is. She lied only to protect me.”
To wear down Aphrodite’s power.
To accomplish that purpose, the god Atena protected the demon Frondier.
A scenario easy to grasp formed inside Aphrodite’s head.
“......Why are you telling me this?”
“Because the contract is over.”
Contract termination.
The condition of the contract was to weaken Aphrodite’s power, and it has been fulfilled.
“But it seems like Atena plans to kill me, you see. Put another way, they betrayed me first. Well, a god can hardly trust a demon. I am a demon, after all.”
Frondier shrugged.
Then he said,
“I’m the King of Demons, so I have to protect the demons.”
“.......”
At those words, Aphrodite could not say anything and looked into Frondier’s eyes.
They looked somehow lonesome.
Though they have not changed at all, from earlier to now.
“......Then you brought me into Pandemonium to—”
“Did you think I was going to fight you to the death? You’re the one who wins here. Don’t worry, just go out. Well, if I struggle with all my might, if I’m lucky, I might be able to win. But even if I win here, I can’t save the demons.”
Frondier spoke as if it were nothing. About being trapped in this Pandemonium forever.
He spoke like the wind.
“If you also have something you want to protect, you’ll understand how I feel.”
“......Do you want to protect the demons that much? Enough to be trapped in Pandemonium?”
“That’s what a king is.”
Frondier smiled. With that same smile, he said,
“I have a favor to ask, Aphrodite. To protect the demons—and to protect you.”
