Just a little before Frondier struck Thor with the finishing blow.
“Hngh, ugh....... Khngh.......”
Thanatos dragged his body along pitifully.
“Crazy... bastards.......”
Even if his limbs were cut off, a god was still a god. He could maintain a body state that no human could ever survive.
However, for a god, blood flowing meant mana flowing. Even if his total mana capacity was outstanding, at this amount, dying was only a matter of time.
But until then, if he could escape this battlefield and just have someone find him—
“Fight however you want....... In the end, the one who wins will be me......!”
Thanatos clenched his teeth.
To him, who dealt with death, war was always on his side.
Death that grew explosively became his food, only raising his authority and divine power even further.
This time was the same.
No matter who won, if time passed, in the end the victor would be him.
“Haa, haa....... Hurry... to Hades.......”
He crawled desperately toward Yggdrasil.
KUGUNG!
And a vibration he could feel.
Thor and Frondier’s fight was so violent that the land was already boiling like an earthquake.
“Stupid bastards....... Once I recover, I’ll take your souls however I want,”
THUD! THUD! THUD!
And the vibration grew more violent.
Now it was closer to the ground bucking than merely shaking.
“......No matter what, for the ground to be this—”
Thanatos never could have imagined it.
That it was his last words.
CRUNCH!
A gigantic mouth.
Swallowed the ground and Thanatos whole.
KWAAAAANG!
A snake’s head that burst up, piercing through the bottom.
It was Jormungand.
He had reached Asgard.
“What was that just now?”
Sybel, riding on top, asked.
“What are you talking about.”
“I thought I heard a scream.”
“Wasn’t that your imagination?”
Was it? Sybel tilted her head.
But whether it was imagination or not wasn’t what mattered.
Sybel scanned the area frantically.
“Ah! Over there!”
And she found Frondier.
“Waaah! Fron, dier.......”
She started waving and shouting in delight, but then Sybel’s complexion turned white.
Jormungand’s eyes went wide.
“......My god.”
Thor was in front of Frondier.
Jormungand recognized it as Thor because Frondier was holding his head.
Thor had nothing below the neck. In front of Frondier, only something like debris was scattered about.
......Even if you gathered every last piece of that debris, could you even draw Thor’s shape?
“......Ah!”
Then Frondier noticed Sybel.
No—actually, before that.
“Jormungand......!”
Naturally, he saw the gigantic snake first.
“You bastard, what did you do to Sybel......!”
“Hey, idiot! Can’t you tell just by looking! We’re on your side!”
“......What?”
The moment he saw Sybel and Jormungand together, Frondier just automatically recognized Jormungand as an enemy.
He definitely wasn’t in his right mind.
“Let’s go! Frondier!”
“Where?”
“Where else! We have to go help people!”
Frondier blanked for a moment.
Then, as if he’d realized, his eyes went wide.
“Right! The people down there are in danger! Sybel, and Teben for sure—!”
“You’re saying that pretty late. You already know, so hurry up and get on!”
Frondier looked at Jormungand.
“......Will you help?”
“Hmph.”
Jormungand looked at Thor’s fallen head.
“My business is finished.”
***
Tartarus.
Atjie’s body, standing in front of its entrance, suddenly began to shine.
“......What is it?”
Atjie asked, and Campe’s eyes went wide.
“This is ridiculous. That bastard really succeeded!”
“Succeeded... as in he killed Thanatos?”
“Yeah. Soon your soul will return to your body. The Ecclesia cast on you got canceled.”
Just as she said, Atjie’s body shone brighter, then gradually grew faint.
“N-No!”
At that moment, a man grabbed Atjie’s sleeve.
“Don’t go! Brother!”
It was Frondier.
He was looking at Atjie with a desperate face.
“Frondier.”
“Y-You said Moirai told you my sins! Then how I can get out of here too—”
“It was a lie.”
“W-What?”
“I couldn’t have any conversation with Moirai. But if I didn’t say it like that, you wouldn’t have admitted your sins.”
Frondier froze.
Atjie gave a bitter smile.
“Because I know the face you make when you’re making excuses.”
Right.
Atjie had practically seen through Frondier’s lies since he was young.
Even so, why hadn’t he noticed that Frondier had changed?
Such superb acting, suddenly diligent behavior, grit and courage, the mindset he had when danger came.
......Frondier couldn’t be like that. Why hadn’t he noticed the change?
Maybe I was just—
“......You said you’d protect me!!”
Frondier shouted.
“So don’t worry, relax...! You said that, didn’t you?”
“.......”
Atjie looked at Frondier in silence.
“What is this! How is this protecting me! You’re going to abandon me and go like this? No! Atjie! I can’t send you off!”
“You’re right.”
Atjie replied.
His hand went up onto Frondier’s head.
“......Brother?”
“I couldn’t keep my promise.”
Atjie’s face was lonely. Frondier stared blankly.
Frondier knew that face.
It was probably a warm face he only ever showed to the Frondier from when he was little.
“So let’s meet again.”
“......Huh?”
“No matter what kind of life I live from here on, no matter what kind of death I face.”
Atjie promised Frondier once more.
“I’ll come here. Let’s meet then.”
“......No,”
Frondier’s words—
without being heard to the end—
Shhk─
Atjie vanished.
His soul had departed for his body.
“Huh, what an amazing big brother.”
Campe, who’d been watching, spoke.
“Hey, isn’t this a good thing? The brother you hated so much is going to end up like you. This place doesn’t stop people who want to come. So? Feel relieved?”
“......Ha!”
Frondier raised his head.
“What does that even mean? What matters is what happens to me! Atjie couldn’t save me in the end! If he suffers the same pain as me, does my pain get better? No! It’s completely fucking—”
Frondier spat it out, then—
“......pointless.”
—dropped to his knees.
Both fists pressed into the ground, trembling, and tears dripped down from beneath his deeply lowered eyes.
“Brother.”
In a shaking voice, Frondier said,
“Don’t come, brother.”
“.......”
As if only praying it would reach him.
“That’s not it. I wasn’t saying it because I wanted that. Brother, you can’t come here.”
Campe watched quietly.
Frondier’s fists trembled as if apologizing, tears pouring for a long time.
How much time passed like that?
Campe asked,
“Then you’re fine even if Atjie doesn’t come? Tartarus is the best place for revenge, you know.”
“My brother isn’t the kind of person who belongs in a place like this.”
Frondier lifted his reddened eyes.
“He’s not like a person like me.”
***
Frondier and Sybel, riding Jormungand.
They were heading quickly toward Teben.
But it was still the world of gods.
‘Please, hurry.......’
Frondier bit his lip in impatience.
He’d dragged it out too long. Chasing Thanatos, dealing with Thor.
Even if they were necessary in the end, it was terrifying to think that it had delayed reaching the ground by that much.
And then.
Squeeze.
“Frondier!”
Sybel, sitting in front, suddenly turned around and grabbed both his cheeks.
“Uh, huh?”
When he answered blankly, Sybel went “Heehee,” and laughed.
With a shining smile, she said,
“The sea was pretty!”
“......!”
At those words, Frondier’s eyes slowly opened,
Wham!
and right then, Jormungand reached the human world.
The blue sky opened.
From above even the clouds, they poured down under the sky.
“Waaah!”
Sybel opened her mouth brightly as she looked at the blue sky and sunlight.
Frondier stared blankly at the scenery too. The wind pouring past, the clouds streaming by. The clear sunlight and the sky.
The flapping sound of the wind was loud, and he could smell the sky.
“Frondier!”
Sybel shouted.
“Next time, let’s go to the sea!”
Those words—
Frondier blinked, as if it sounded like a far-off sound.
“......Yeah, okay.”
Frondier answered like that.
Sybel smiled as if satisfied and faced forward again.
And Frondier—
Drip.
‘Ah, damn it.’
—wiped at the corner of his eye once.
“By the way, Frondier, where’s Selena?”
As they descended toward the ground, Sybel asked.
“Ah, Selena, when the world of salvation opened—”
Just as Frondier tried to answer—
[Frondier.]
A voice transmission came.
“......This voice, May?”
Frondier recognized it immediately.
But May’s tone was strange.
[Sorry, Frondier. Right now, I’m a little mixed.]
“What?”
[I’m the May you know, and]
May was currently near the battlefield at Teben, looking up at the sky.
Selena was beside her. They’d used each other’s shadow transfer to bring May here.
But even that Selena was staring at May with shocked eyes.
[I’m also Loki, Frondier.]
“......!”
[Sorry, but there’s no time to talk long. You’re coming this way right now.]
May’s voice, as if she knew everything.
Frondier looked outside. Soon, the skies over Teben.
“......Okay. I’m going ahead! Sybel!”
“Ah, huh? W-Wait!”
After saying that, Frondier fell off Jormungand.
Frondier plunged downward, battered by the rushing wind.
May looked at Selena. The two nodded at the same time.
Right after that.
“......?!”
In the middle of the battlefield—
Selena and May arrived.
May spread both hands, and Selena shouted.
“Just hold out for one minute!”
All of the human side understood immediately. They gathered around May and Selena.
But the gods realized it too.
A magic circle slowly being born, centered on May.
“......! No way, that’s—!”
Zeus’s eyes went wide. He flared his aura and shouted.
“Kill that woman! You can’t leave her alone!!!”
At that, the gods each raised their weapons and charged toward May.
But faster than that—
“Stop them!!”
Elodie’s shout and a rain of magic bullets. Pielot’s black rain pouring down, Osprey’s chained explosions.
Bombardments of aura and mana that blocked the gods’ approach spread out around May.
Amid the dizzy battlefield, May slowly unfurled her mana.
‘This won’t work. I—’
The moment Zeus sensed something ominous and raised Astrafe—one human reached him.
“This time, it’s real.”
“Aster......!”
Aster Evans had arrived. His Excalibur immediately fell upon Zeus, and Zeus raised Astrafe to block the sword.
KRAANG!
BZZT, BZZZT!
Since Astrafe itself was lightning, if it touched you, that alone inflicted damage.
But Aster didn’t budge.
“......Aster, you prepared countermeasures against lightning in advance—!”
Zeus shouted in shock, but—
Aster frowned deeply and glared at Zeus.
“......What countermeasures.”
There weren’t any countermeasures.
“You endure stuff like this with grit!!”
“You lunatic!”
And at the same time, Frondier fell.
He used aura to adjust where he would land. It was directly above May.
He stretched both hands toward the ground.
“Menosorpo.”
He said it, but no matter what, the ground was too far away.
No matter how omnipotent Weaving was, he still couldn’t draw a magic circle in midair.
Then May said,
[Keep going.]
“May?”
[I’ll make the surface you need to draw the circle.]
At that, Frondier spread both hands again.
“Hoo.......”
Frondier exhaled with a tension uncharacteristic of him. Confirming May below, he slowly poured in mana.
At the same time.
May’s mouth opened, both hands spread.
An incantation for the completion of the ritual.
But rather than an incantation, it was like a poem.
Listen, gods, and you too, goddesses, listen to everything I am about to say.
Why do you not give me a seat, at the banquet, where wine goes around.
It was like verse.
You pride yourself on knowing everything, yet your wisdom is full of lies.
Your promises are always fickle, and your words cannot be trusted.
And as May continued the incantation, just as she had said, an area °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° was created in midair where Frondier could draw the magic circle. Between the two of them, May made the area, and Frondier drew the magic circle.
You shall fall to fate.
You shall set together with twilight.
May completed the incantation, and the two of them spoke the activation word at the same time.
“Menosorpo.”
