Thud.
Astaroth collapsed.
Without even having been able to use that vast army in full, a hollow hole bored through his back in vain.
Tap.
And the thread hanging from the demons’ heads snapped.
Immediately after.
“......!”
Thump!
For an instant, the whole area shook.
The army of Sloth, realizing their king had returned, slammed their bodies against the ground.
“My king!!”
Just his voice alone carried a pressure that made the air tremble. As an expression of loyalty, it was a weight that even Belphegor himself found a bit much.
“I am sorry.”
Belphegor spoke as he looked at the demons kneeling around him.
“I killed a few.”
“Not at all! How could you say such a thing!”
The demons each let out loyal, earnest voices.
Belphegor directly received the pain of his subordinates’ deaths. In other words, it was the same as inflicting a massive wound on his own body with his own hand.
Because they knew that, the demons bowed their heads deeply and did not dare to lift them.
“We are sorry! For us to have dared, to Belphegor-nim......!”
“We showed the disgrace of being used by nothing but a thread! Please kill us!”
Belphegor shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s enough. Killing you guys would only hurt me. And this must have been Astaroth’s best option.”
Before Astaroth sat in the seat of Sloth, his army had been meager.
Even if he did not know about the contract between Belphegor and his subordinates, he still could not have thought he would absorb that army so easily. Because he had sat in the seat of Sloth, they would be forced to obey, but there was no way they would move as much as Astaroth wished. So Astaroth chose to turn them into puppets. That was originally his specialty to begin with.
“Oh, right.”
As if suddenly remembering something, Belphegor lifted his head.
“The one who stabbed Astaroth just now. Come forward.”
At that, one of the demons stepped forward and knelt.
Tear tracks still remained in his eyes. Hiding the eyes reddened by pain and humiliation, he bowed his head.
Belphegor asked,
“What is your name.”
“For me, it is enough to have been of help to you, Belphegor-nim,”
“You’re going to forget it anyway, so just say it.”
“......I am called ‘Lajor.’”
“Lajor, since when were you able to resist the thread?”
“I only became able to move just a moment ago. Before that, I was constantly being controlled by the thread.”
“But for you to have shown that level of movement means you were already resisting to some degree. Even if you couldn’t move, you must have at least been able to hear something, see something, smell something.”
“That is correct.”
“In that case, is there anything you know right now about the current locations of the other Seven Deadly Sins?”
At Belphegor’s words, Lajor thought for a moment.
Soon, he answered.
“According to what Astaroth said, it seems Satan said he would gather the Seven Deadly Sins and leave the castle.”
“Hm, just as I thought.”
Belphegor nodded.
One of the other demons watching asked,
“Belphegor-nim. Are you now returning to the seat of the Seven Deadly Sins?”
There was expectation in the eyes of the demon who asked. The other demons around them were the same.
“Ah, well. If you look at the end result, that’s probably how it will turn out.”
Originally, Sloth had been Belphegor’s seat. He had fallen, but now he had personally killed Astaroth, who had been sitting in that seat.
By demonic logic, the only one who could sit in this now-empty seat again was Belphegor.
But Belphegor shrugged.
“If you look at the result of that result, the whole business of the Seven Deadly Sins will lose its meaning anyway.”
“......What do you mean by that?”
“I mean the Seven Deadly Sins are going to collapse.”
At that, the demons raised their voices in surprise.
“Collapse, what do you mean?”
“You all wouldn’t know because you were being controlled by the threads, but right now there’s someone who’s turning not just this demon realm but all sorts of worlds into a wasteland. The very guy who knocked me down from the seat of Sloth in the past.”
At that, killing intent thickened in the demons’ eyes.
They spoke with eyes filled with anger.
“You mean Frondier.”
“Yeah. As I see it, even the Seven Deadly Sins won’t be able to avoid this situation. Especially that Satan bastard. Since he calls himself the king of demons.”
Seeing Belphegor speaking like that, a few demons tilted their heads.
“......Belphegor-nim, you look like you’re enjoying yourself.”
“Hm? Me?”
“Yes. You are smiling.”
Hooh. Belphegor was a little surprised at the demon’s words.
Smiling, me?
That the one who’d dropped him from the seat of Sloth was making the world a complete mess, and he was smiling at that.
But well.
“Isn’t it fun? The sight of all sorts of beings flailing around because of one single human.”
“.......”
Among those all sorts of beings flailing, demons were included as well, so they had nothing to say.
Only, it seemed Belphegor himself was not included in that count.
Belphegor suddenly looked around as if realizing something.
“Come to think of it, I don’t see those guys.”
“Whom do you mean?”
“Who else, the ones who would take care of my work in times like this.”
“......Ah.”
Lajor bowed his head deeply as if in understanding and spoke.
“You must mean the four riders. They—”
Cutting off Lajor’s words,
Dudududududu—
From far away, came the sound of pounding hooves.
Lajor glanced at them and spoke.
“......They say, they have continued to resist the thread. That up to this very moment, they refused the commands of the thread and did not move a single step.”
Astaroth, who had been sitting in the seat of Sloth. That power must have been further amplified by the seat of Sloth, and yet they had resisted those threads. Belphegor felt pure admiration.
“I see. That’s just like them.”
The four riders drawing near to Belphegor.
Only, what they rode only looked like horses from far away; from up close, they did not.
The white horse was nothing but a pile of white bones stacked and bound together, clattering as it imitated a horse.
The red horse was nothing but a heap of corpses from which blood flowed ceaselessly, imitating a horse.
The black horse was nothing but soot-black ash and smoke clumped together, imitating a horse.
The blue horse was nothing but blue flames resembling Belphegor’s hellish touch, imitating a horse.
Even the sound of hooves, the rough breathing, the cold, gleaming eyes were all mere imitations.
As proof, the moment they arrived, each of the horses they had been riding all collapsed. Bone became bone again, blood became blood again.
And so the four knights set their feet on the ground and knelt before Belphegor.
“You have come, my king.”
“It has been a while. Your return was later than I expected.”
“......Because of that damn human, I assume.”
“That’s true, but right now that damn human is on our side, so watch your mouth.”
At that, they asked no further and bowed their heads again.
These knights were originally taciturn.
Whether that was just their nature, or whether—as befitted Belphegor’s subordinates—they simply found it bothersome to ask questions, was unknown.
“You must have exhausted a fair bit of strength resisting the threads. How are you?”
Belphegor asked.
“There is no problem.”
One of the four knights replied at once.
Hmm, Belphegor looked them over and then spoke.
“Do you remember the reason I kept you all by my side?”
“......Belphegor-nim.”
The four knights lowered their voices.
But there was no hint of joking in Belphegor’s words.
“Or have you forgotten?”
“......We have not forgotten.”
“Then say it.”
At that, the knight who had ridden the red horse paused for a moment and then answered.
“We are by your side for the purpose of killing you at any time, Belphegor-nim.”
“Right, I gathered demons who would easily knock me down.”
Belphegor smiled in satisfaction.
“Now then, dying comes later. For the moment, you have something to do.”
“What is it?”
“It is time for me to keep an old promise.”
At that, each of the knights’ eyes shone.
“......You mean Loki.”
“Yeah. It took a bit of time, but the conditions have been met.”
Belphegor nodded.
“What you have to do is simple. You’re going to bring about disaster. I’ll tell you the time and place.”
“As you command.”
The knights bowed their heads as if it were the most natural thing.
Belphegor closed his eyes.
“Mm. As expected, fighting isn’t my specialty. It doesn’t suit Sloth.”
What suited him.
That was to just sit quietly and flick his fingers a little.
Belphegor kept demons by his side who would take care of his work in his place.
Some were more keenly attuned to the currents of the times than he was.
Some were even better at calculating than he was.
And the four riders here were even more purely strong than he was.
“So I leave it to you.”
As if that were all he had left to say.
Belphegor lay down right there.
In response, bone and blood, flame and ash became a chair to support him, making him comfortable.
“For the first time in a while, I think I’ll have some fun on my home ground.”
***
Frondier moved through Yggdrasil once more, and at last arrived in Olympus.
Only, an unexpected sight was waiting for him.
Fwoooosh—!!
KWA-BOOM! KWA-AANG!
The sky burst like fireworks, and mountains and trees were shattered with thunderous booms.
“What is......?”
At first, Frondier thought these were attacks aimed at him and tensed up, but they were not.
Looking up into the air, he saw human-like figures fighting as they aimed at one another.
'Are those, by any chance.'
Gods?
Were the gods fighting?
“Selena, hide in the shadows for a moment—”
Shwick!
KAAAANG!
Before Frondier could even finish speaking, Selena emerged from the shadows and knocked aside a spear.
It had been a spear aimed at Frondier’s brow.
“What did you say?”
“......Nothing. Thank you.”
Selena was here to protect Frondier. Frondier himself had entrusted that job to her. And yet he kept trying to protect her instead, so at this point he could only think he himself had picked up a bad habit.
“It’s Frondier! Kill him!!”
Someone who had thrown the spear shouted. He was floating up in the sky, dressed in white. He had no wings. He did not look like an angel or a demon.
So was he a god?
At the god’s shout, the other gods turned their gazes toward Frondier. Among them, some released killing intent at Frondier, while others instead wore expressions like they had been waiting for him.
“Don’t let Frondier approach!”
And some gods even moved as if [N O V E L I G H T] to protect Frondier.
'What is this situation?'
He had been braced for an all-out assault from the gods. Not in the worst-case sense, but as the normal, expected outcome.
And yet the gods were fighting each other. It was far too unexpected.
However, in terms of numbers, the side protecting Frondier looked overwhelmingly smaller.
'......Well, for now.'
Weaving, Black Heaven.
Imperial Palace Armory.
Black spears, thirty of the same weapon.
'Let’s even the numbers a little.'
Frondier fired spears formed from Black Heaven. They were loosed at the gods who clearly seemed to be aiming for him.
“You impudent brat!”
Kkagakang!
But most of them knocked those spears aside. Or avoided them, or lightly deflected them. They were gods, as expected. It would not do to see them on the same level as low-grade demons.
So Frondier had never intended to see them that way in the first place.
“Menosorpo.”
Frondier deployed a magic circle. The spears he had launched entered the domain of the magic circle.
'Within Menosorpo’s magic circle, I can manifest a spell at any position inside it.'
So Frondier could create weapons made by Weaving up in the air.
But until now, he had only used it for Weaving.
Up to now, Frondier’s achievements in magic had been meager.
'But since I went to the trouble of becoming a demon.'
He might as well test it.
Calling it an experiment would be fine too.
Frondier took out a mana crystal.
Mana crystal of the spell of Stop.
Exploding flame.
Then, after he ignited the spell—
Kwachang!
He shattered it.
The shattered mana spread out, each portion heading toward one of the thirty spears he had fired.
Spell of Stop, Black Heaven Weaving.
Combination.
Spear of black lightning.
The thirty spears scattered like broken window glass, but in an instant, they gathered again in the same place.
The spears, which all looked the same, flicked a small spark once—
FLASH!
Fwoooosh!!
At the speed of lightning, they pierced through the gods’ bodies.
“Guh, guh-hek!”
“You bastard......!”
But it was not all of them.
He had injured a considerable number, but astonishingly, there were those who reacted in time.
'And if they’re gods, they probably won’t die just because they get a hole punched through their body.'
This was only Frondier’s guess, but he was certain.
He had seen gods fighting after possessing humans.
They were undeniably strong, but compared to humans, their defense and guarding were strangely lacking.
Probably, in their true bodies as gods, they had never needed to do such things. Even having a hole pierced through their body would not be all that fatal.
“Everyone, come over here! Frondier is here!”
Another god loudly informed the surroundings. It was a manifestation of aura.
At that, the gods who had been fighting elsewhere began coming this way.
'Damn.'
Frondier stretched out his hand.
Without thinking, he started to Weave Artemis’s bow and arrows, then canceled it.
'I’ve got allies here right now.'
Artemis’s bow attacks every intended target without missing a single one.
It spares allies, but right now Frondier could not clearly distinguish who among them were his allies. As things stood, the arrows would end up flying at everything within his field of vision.
While Frondier was hesitating, gods his allies had not managed to mark in time charged toward him.
At that moment.
Fwiiik!
Someone cut across the high-speed air currents and reached Frondier.
For a brief instant, even Frondier could not react to that speed. Just as his Black Heaven moved belatedly to respond—
“Get on!”
“......!”
Before his eyes was a white horse. A mane as clear as clouds. A spotless hide. And a long horn jutting from its forehead.
'A unicorn......?'
And on top of it sat a woman.
“Hurry!”
The woman shouted to Frondier.
Frondier looked at her and his eyes flew wide.
“Hestia!”
