The fight between Poseidon and Jormungand was far too large in scale because of their sheer size.
The sea had already sunk enough that Poseidon’s feet were visible, so their fight was changing the land and coastline with massive roaring sounds.
“Yor! Are you okay?”
“I’m not at the point where I need to be worried about by you!”
Jormungand snapped at her. Sybel worried about Yor’s condition, but in truth, her own body was in danger.
Even if she was a demigod, Sybel had never fought on this scale. She had never fought a god, and she was only now experiencing for the first time just how long a clash between existences of this magnitude could drag on.
'Ugh. If I listen to what Yor’s saying, this isn’t the time to be fighting here.'
The fight with Poseidon had suddenly happened in the process of helping Aster. For Poseidon, for Jormungand, for Sybel, none of this was a planned fight.
'But if we move locations, Poseidon will follow. And it doesn’t feel like we can win right away either—what do we do?'
Sybel had just realized a moment ago that she was a demigod.
So she didn’t know how much strength she could use, or what kind of power was even possible.
But her vision of reading the world had definitely broadened.
The war between humans and gods. Even if she couldn’t see it, she could feel it on her skin.
She wanted to bring Poseidon down as fast as possible, but the chief god was no easy opponent. Even fighting together with Jormungand, they were still evenly matched.
Kwooooo─!
At that moment, the sea heaved once more.
'Ghk! He still has this much power!'
Sybel heightened her tension. She had thought Poseidon’s power had weakened somewhat as the sea sank, but every time the sea convulsed, they scraped past another dangerous crisis.
But then.
“......?”
Poseidon, instead, was staring at the flow of the sea as if it was strange.
“......?”
And Sybel, too, felt doubt and looked at Heracles—
“......!”
Jormungand read the flow of the sea, suddenly realized something, and faced forward.
That gaze was beyond Poseidon, at the coastline of Agoris.
Seeing that, Poseidon understood too. He turned his back as well. It was an act too # Nоvеlight # dangerous to describe, but he couldn’t not do it.
A man was standing on the coastline of Agoris.
Jormungand and Poseidon saw him and shouted almost at the same time.
“Heracles!”
At that shout, Sybel’s eyes went wide.
'Heracles! That famous demigod!'
Sybel looked at Heracles. Sure enough, she could feel a fierce presence. Close to Poseidon’s—no, if she only looked at the density of his aura, was he even higher?
'But whose side is Heracles on?'
While Sybel was reading the room like that.
Swoosh.
Heracles lifted his arm and pointed behind him with his thumb.
But right behind Heracles, nothing could be seen.
If she looked a little farther back, she could see a forest,
and if she went past that forest even farther back—
'......Flags?'
In Sybel’s eyes, faintly, she could see a number of flags stretching high into the sky.
That flag pattern, she had seen it before.
That was—
“......Palma!”
Sybel shouted.
And then she quickly understood what location that was.
“Palma has taken control of Edrium!”
Edrium. The city of demons.
The place where Palma’s flags were raised was that exact location.
'But how? Even if they succeeded, I didn’t think it’d be this fast. Was Palma’s military strength far greater than I thought?'
Wooong─
At that moment, Sybel’s phone buzzed.
She lifted her phone and answered the call.
In the middle of fighting Poseidon, she was probably the only one who could do something like this.
“Hello?”
-Sybel, this is Arald.
At the voice, Sybel’s face brightened.
“Mr. Arald! Then as expected!”
-Yes. We succeeded in persuading the King of Palma. We had help from Evelina, the leader of 'Nine'.
“Then what about the demons?”
-That was easy. Aren’t the 72 Demons under Lord Frondier?
Ah. Come to think of it, they were.
“But the King of Palma and the demons wouldn’t have trusted you easily, would they?”
-Haha. I played a little trick. I told both sides that I was also one of the 72 Demons. Fortunately, they fell for it.
At those words, Sybel nodded in joy.
There were anxiety factors, but thank goodness it turned out well in the end.
......But then. Something felt.
“But, Mr. Arald.”
-Yes.
“I’m asking just for reference, but whose name among the 72 Demons did you give?”
For a moment, silence flowed on the other end of the call.
And then, soon.
-I said Belial.
“.......”
Hearing that name.
One thought reached Sybel.
Arald introduced himself as Belial. The demons and the King of Palma believed it easily. Both sides.
Belial. The demon who becomes a central figure of a country, rots it from the inside, and incites corruption and disorder.
A king of Hell and Bael’s rival. A genius of schemes.
“......Could it be, Mr. Arald. Actually, you really are—”
-Now, Sybel. That’s not what’s important. I’m finished with what I had to do.
Arald quickly said then.
-Now it’s your turn.
After saying that much, the call ended.
Whether he’d really said all he needed to, or whether he didn’t want to hear Sybel’s next question.
'He’s running off on his own with some plausible-sounding words for no reason.'
Somewhat dissatisfied, Sybel stared at her phone screen for a moment, then put it away again.
She looked at Heracles and shouted.
“Then you’re on our side! Heracles!”
It was a truly simple question.
Heracles smiled readily at that.
“Ah, of course!”
A refreshing answer. At that, Poseidon shouted at Heracles.
“Heracles! Are you raising a hand against a god over the whim of a mere human!”
“That’s a misunderstanding.”
Boom!
A sword rose up behind him, and Heracles grabbed it.
“I’ve been holding rebellion for a long time. I was only waiting for the moment humans would decide to harbor a treasonous heart.”
Palma declaring an empire was an expression of will to reclaim its lost old territory.
As the first proof, Palma took Edrium.
At that moment, Heracles’s heart had been decided.
“And a whim.”
Heracles spoke and shook his head.
“That’s not something you should say, Uncle.”
“......!”
At that, Poseidon turned the direction of his killing intent toward Heracles.
He understood what kind of heart Heracles held. He had no leeway to mind Jormungand.
Then Heracles shouted.
“Go, demigod, child of fate!”
Toward Sybel.
“Your place isn’t here!”
At that, Sybel’s eyes went wide.
“Yes!”
She answered strongly, and,
“Let’s go, Yor!”
She called Jormungand with the same nickname as ever.
Jormungand, as if she was gradually getting used to it, didn’t even pick a fight.
Shiiiiik!!
The gigantic snake shot up into the air. Even though its tail rose all the way above the sea, the long snake still continued to ascend.
“Sybel! Are you prepared!”
“Of course! Princesses are supposed to be saved by princes on white horses!”
At those words, Jormungand fell silent for a moment.
Princess.
Prince.
White horse?
“Then none of that is right!”
As expected, Jormungand was wise.
***
SNATCH!
Thor’s hand grabbed Frondier’s throat. Thor lightly lifted Frondier up.
“What a shame. It was enough power to kill me, you know.”
It wasn’t just “enough.”
Just now, Frondier really killed Thor. An attack that should have killed if it hit did hit. He felt the sensation of bones shattering at his fingertips.
But Thor was fine.
Frondier gritted his teeth and said.
“You must be so proud, living your life like that!”
“How dare you!”
Thor flared up. He swung his sword.
KWAAK!
Frondier caught the sword with Black Sky. Grabbing Thor’s hand with both hands, he lifted his leg high—
SMACK!
“Ugh!”
He kicked Thor in the face and retreated back. All of Frondier’s strength had already reached the realm of gods. Any attack at all dealt meaningful damage to Thor.
“Do you still not know! That you can’t win!”
Thor’s sword rained down as lightning. The moment he saw it, Frondier raised a shield in front of him.
BZZZT!!
Violent lightning striking the shield directly. Even pouring in the mana of the nine worlds, blocking it was no easy feat.
'......That bastard, that isn’t a god’s shield. What’s his scheme?'
Thor, with sharp eyes, checked the shield’s performance. That wasn’t an impressive shield. Meaning Frondier was leaving something in reserve.
Then.
Snap!
Frondier stretched one arm out to the side. But no weave formed there. There was no mana, no aura.
Which meant the meaning of that action was,
something Thor could never tolerate.
“......Fine, you want to die like that! Something like you dares!”
Thor also stretched out one hand.
Their actions matched completely in purpose and meaning.
Yes, this was.
A fight over who Mjolnir would go to.
***
Atlas, Frondier’s house.
Mjolnir, sleeping quietly inside.
Brrrr─
The god’s hammer quietly trembled,
KWAAANG!
Smashed through the mansion’s ceiling, and shot up into the sky.
“Yeah, I knew it would be that!”
Gregory confirmed the sight.
He shouted to Ria Lis, who was waiting inside the mansion.
“Liri! To Quinie!”
“Okay!”
Liri answered.
And with that.
KRAAAAW─!!
The ravens all flew up into the sky at once, clinging to Mjolnir as it soared into the sky.
Ravens watching from countless angles. Gregory taking all of it into his eyes.
Immediately after, Gregory spoke.
“Ms. Malia, listen carefully!”
While Gregory was shouting like that.
Liri moved with shadow transfer and rose onto the ship where Quinie was.
Liri rising up from the shadows. She shouted to Quinie.
“Just like we expected!”
The moment she heard that, Quinie shouted to the sailors.
“Light it! Hurry!”
“Yes!”
The lead ship Quinie was on. It made a clacking sound, and the center of the deck opened.
PAAAAT!
The first ship, a light shot up into the sky.
At this time, Poseidon was already fighting Heracles.
He grew wary at the light suddenly shooting up into the sky.
'What is that?'
A new human attack? Magic? Where are they aiming it?
But that wariness was futile—what Quinie fired was truly nothing but a simple light.
And the light.
PAAAAT!
To the next ship,
PAAAAAAT!!
A signal informing the next ship.
The beams of light extended out one after another.
The ships lined up in a single line from Agoris to Palind shot pillars of light up into the sky in turn,
and when the ship that reached the Palind continent raised the final light into the sky.
“......!”
Aster saw it.
He stopped his steps toward Teben, and watched that light for a moment.
Just a few seconds.
Aster, who had been watching that scene for a long while, opened his mouth.
“I see.”
He turned his body, which had been heading for Teben, in the opposite direction and faced the surging light head-on.
“Now I know, Frondier.”
Bwoong─
And a call came in.
Aster looked at the screen.
'Roach’s Big Boss'.
Facing the light, Aster brought the phone to his ear and said.
“Tell me.”
***
Lightning bursting out, and a shield blocking it.
In the midst of the fierce fight, the hands both sides had stretched out.
Toward that call, the immense power they sought was approaching.
Mjolnir.
Among all divine items, a weapon counted among the pinnacle.
Along with holding the power of lightning, Mjolnir also possessed the function of returning to the thrower’s hand.
And the only one it was possible for was Thor.
Frondier was the only exception.
'Mjolnir is my weapon!'
Thor had absolute certainty.
No matter what anyone said, Mjolnir’s owner was Thor himself. No matter if Mjolnir once followed Frondier, that was only because Thor hadn’t been using Mjolnir.
In choosing its true owner, Mjolnir would never choose Frondier.
Whoooosh!!
And after a few seconds passed, a massive wind sound brushed past their ears—
Thud!
The one who held Mjolnir in his hand was.
“......Do you understand now, Frondier.”
It was Thor.
Thor held the true Mjolnir in his hand, drew the torrent of lightning blooming from it into his body, and thrust the hammer toward Frondier.
“Mjolnir’s owner is me.”
Frondier watched that scene. He slowly lowered his hand.
“Yeah.”
Frondier’s eyes sank deep,
and when he said,
“I was worried you’d lost your qualification.”
SHNK!
“......?”
Thor.
Looked down.
“......Uh.......”
Sway.
He took one step forward.
It didn’t go well.
When he tilted his upper body.
Thud.
Something caught on his body.
“What...... is this......?”
Thor only looked at his own body.
At his abdomen.
At something stuck into his abdomen.
A long, neat blade giving off a blue-white gleam.
A single spear.
