< Chapter 192: Overwhelming (3) >
How can this spectacle be described?
“…What is that?”
A dense darkness collides with erupting light and all sorts of magic surge around it.
The ground, cold enough to be called the land of extreme cold, has suddenly lost its chill.
Some areas are dominated by lightning, some by fire, and some by wind, turning into a land beyond comprehension.
Wasn’t this how the battles of gods in myths might have looked?
The scene was so unbelievable that such thoughts involuntarily came to mind.
“Seo-yul.”
From inside the ice fortress that Aqua set up, as I was quietly observing the situation, Ai pulled at my sleeve with an anxious look.
“Can we… win?”
Ai was looking in one direction.
The direction where the Demon God, Heavenly God, and Dragon Lord were battling.
‘Among all the heavens, another sky above.’
If other transcendent beings are the sky, those three are another sky above that, the outer space.
“Can we go back to the present and defeat the Demon God?”
“….”
A moment ago, I would have reassured the anxious Ai, saying we could win. But now, I couldn’t bring myself to even casually say that.
“I don’t know.”
And for a good reason.
The Demon God’s strength was far beyond my expectations.
“That’s… a monster.”
No.
Calling it a monster seems too mild. It’s something beyond comprehension.
Is the Demon God really the same kind of life form as me?
Watching it, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it.
The more I watched their battle, the more my confidence seemed to wane.
“I can’t even estimate how strong it is.”
They say when the difference in power is too vast, one can’t properly gauge the other’s abilities.
That’s exactly how I feel looking at the Demon God.
“That’s why… I can’t be sure we can win.”
Could transcending all the relics of Adam and surpassing one’s race make me as strong as that?
I don’t know.
“But we have to try. To save the world, you, everyone else, and me, we need to defeat it.”
I looked at the afterimage of the Demon God with determined eyes.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made you anxious with my words…”
Ai lowered her head with a dejected expression.
“No, it was a situation that warranted such feelings.”
Would there be anyone who wouldn’t feel anxious seeing that spectacle?
I’m also feeling incredibly uneasy.
I turned my gaze back to the battle between the Demon God, Heavenly God, and the Dragon Lord.
To say I was “watching” might be a bit much.
I can’t even see their movements clearly, just the brief pauses and the changes in between.
From that, I’m trying to deduce the overall flow of the battle.
‘The Heavenly God and Ini are putting up a good fight, but…’
They can’t stand against the Demon God. The Demon God is overpowering the two of them.
I haven’t seen the clash of magic or physical bodies directly with my eyes, but I’m certain of this.
‘Every time the three of them take a pause, the number of injuries on Heavenly God and Ini increase.’
On the other hand, there’s not even a minor scratch on the Demon God.
‘While the Demon God’s expression remains calm, the expressions of the two are becoming more and more serious.’
Considering these circumstances, it seems the clash between the Demon God, Heavenly God, and the Dragon Lord is decidedly in the Demon God’s favor.
‘Maybe holding out is the best they can do.’
It’s a battle beyond my comprehension, so I can’t make definitive statements. But they probably won’t last much longer.
“Fortunately, it seems like we’re winning on the other battlefields…”
“Yes. A silver lining amidst the misfortune.”
As Ai said, apart from the Demon God vs. Heavenly God and Dragon Lord, our side is dominating the other battles.
“Lucifer, Balrog, Asmodeus, Behemoth. Although the four executives are a bit stronger than our side,”
“The power of the… regular soldiers is significantly lower.”
A chronic problem of the infernal army.
That is the quality of their forces.
While the power of famous demons, including the Demon God, is unbelievably strong, the power of their regular soldiers is exceedingly weak.
“Thanks to that, Lucifer’s blockade is perfect.”
In this battlefield, Lucifer, who possesses the most annoying ability, is firmly blocked by Aqua, Michael, and the elite forces of the Angel race, including the Valkyries.
The other executives are the same.
Whether they have prepared countermeasures or not, they are all pressing down on their adversaries without much trouble.
‘I can clearly see this side of the battle, at least.’
If we apply a bit more pressure, victory will lean toward us.
“Speaking of which, aren’t the executive demons of the infernal army referred to as the ‘Seven Sins’?”
“That’s right.”
Seven demons.
Abbreviated as the ‘Seven Sins.’
“So there are four here. Then where are the remaining three?”
“…I’m not sure.”
“I’ve been thinking about that too.”
‘If all of the Seven Sins were here, our side would have been at a disadvantage in the executive showdown.’
The absence of the three has led to this situation.
“Come to think of it, one of our four stars is missing.”
“Huh?”
Indeed.
Aqua, Michael, Calius.
“Where’s Metatron?”
The Angel scribe.
Metatron is nowhere to be seen.
It’s not just Metatron; several other key forces are also missing.
“Is something happening outside the land of extreme cold?”
Could the remaining three of the Seven Sins and the rest, including Metatron, be fighting elsewhere?
“Are they clashing separately in different units?”
“Or they might be saving them as a last resort.”
“Right.”
Neither the Demon God nor the Heavenly God are reckless enough to deploy all their forces.
“Anyway, they must have a reason for their decisions, so we shouldn’t worry about it.”
“True.”
Both Ai and I fell silent and scanned our surroundings again.
No matter how many times I look, the surreal landscape doesn’t become familiar.
The original story often mentioned that transcendent beings were on another level.
They truly are in a different league.
“Isn’t there anything we can do?”
Listening to the booming noises from all directions, Ai cautiously spoke.
“Well…”
Realistically assessing the situation.
There’s nothing we can do.
“We might just end up being a hindrance if we act recklessly.”
“But… if we just stand here, either the Heavenly God or Dragon Lord might die.”
Ai bit their lip with a worried expression.
“It’s a strategy they’ve been preparing for seven years. We can’t mess it up by acting without thinking.”
Being pushed back like this might be part of the plan.
“It doesn’t look like it, but…”
Just then.
KWAHHHH!
A condensed darkness exploded with a tremendous roar.
“Kyaaak!”
Simultaneously, the Heavenly God screamed in pain, failing to evade the Demon God’s attack and plummeting to the ground.
THUD!
Beside me, the sound of the Heavenly God crashing and rolling on the ground resonated.
“Space Freeze!”
At that moment, a tremendous power erupted from Ini.
It was double the power I had felt before.
She must have used her dragon language at a level beyond her limits.
Thanks to that, the movement of the Demon God was momentarily halted.
‘I remember the Space Freeze from the original story.’
The spell was completely out of sync with the surroundings, so it’s literally a time-delaying magic that can’t damage the Demon God from here.
Once the spell hit its mark, the Demon God can’t act for at least 30 seconds.
“Cough, cough.”
Nearby, the Heavenly God, who had fallen and kicked up a cloud of dust, spat out blood.
By any standards, she was in a dire state.
“Are… are you alright?”
I asked the Heavenly God out of concern.
At that moment, a bright light flickered around the Heavenly God’s body.
With that, the Heavenly God’s labored breathing quickly stabilized.
“I’m fine.”
However, not all injuries were healed. There’s a curse among the Demon God’s powers that prevents healing. Even with the Heavenly God’s divine power, healing all wounds is impossible.
“…I’d like to say that, but honestly, I’m not.”
The Heavenly God’s expression turned extremely grave.
“You’re… not okay?”
“Yes.”
The Heavenly God replied while adjusting her armor and weapons.
“Didn’t you say you would showcase the strategy you’ve prepared for seven years?”
“…I did.”
“Then why…”
The implied question was: Why are you getting overpowered like this?
“Unfortunately, the Demon God’s power has become incomparably stronger than half a year ago.”
“Stronger?”
The Dragon Lord in the original also said the same thing.
At some point, the Demon God became stronger and overpowered the Heavenly God.
That was said to be the starting point of the Great War.
“Yes. As a result, all our strategies have gone awry.”
The Heavenly God gave a bitter smile.
Of course.
The most important part of the plan to defeat the Demon God is to accurately analyze the Demon God’s capabilities. But if the Demon God’s power is vastly stronger than anticipated, how could things go according to the plan?
“…So, what do you plan to do now?”
After completing all adjustments, the Heavenly God checked the time.
He’s probably gauging how much time is left for the space freeze.
“The best course of action would be to abandon the plan and switch to plan B, targeting one of the Seven Sins.”
“One of the Seven Sins?”
“Yes. That seems to be the best we can do right now.”
The Heavenly God’s expression was decidedly cold.
“While you two hold off the Demon God, the other stars will defeat the executives.”
“Yes.”
“Then, we’ll quickly flee.”
“Exactly.”
It was an excellent judgment.
“So, Mr. Seo-yul, please prepare to retreat first.”
The Heavenly God spread her six pairs of wings.
It seemed the time for the space freeze to end was approaching.
“But, do we have a way to escape? The Demon God won’t just let us go.”
“We do.”
The Heavenly God pointed to her index finger, or more precisely, to the ring she wore.
“This is a one-time-use artifact that allows us to utilize an escape technique unaffected by any interference. I’ve already set the magic seal, so we just have to activate it and we’ll all be able to return to the base.”
“I see.”
So, she has prepared a safety net as well.
Understood.
“Heavenly God! What are you doing?”
At that moment, Ini shouted loudly.
Perhaps because of her accumulated power, her voice boomed. It was a shout that signaled that the Demon God’s space freeze would soon end.
“We’ll discuss the details later. I’m going back.”
“Take care.”
With a brief nod, the Heavenly God soared back into the sky.
At that moment, the Demon God resumed his actions.
The space freeze had ended.
Immediately after, another intense exchange ensued.
Whether the Demon God was angered from being previously frozen in place, the battle became even more intense.
I blankly stared at the battle, which was both invisible and incomprehensible to me, lost in thought.
‘…The Demon God is growing stronger?’
Not just the rapid growth after the war started, but he’s still growing now?
‘Is that even possible?’
Usually, growth tends to plateau at a certain level.
But the Demon God had experienced growth at least twice in these past 7 years.
And it was so drastic that it even took the Heavenly God by surprise.
“Considering the Demon God, who has lived for an unimaginably long time, has shown such rapid growth within just 7 years, does that even make sense?”
It’s illogical when thought about rationally.
This suggests that the inexplicable growth of the Demon God was the starting point of all these events…
‘…What on earth happened to the Demon God?’
While pondering this, a loud sound resounded.
Whoom-!
A massive sword appeared in the sky.
So huge that clouds encircled its hilt, this sacred blade bared its sharp edges, targeting someone.
“These bastards!!”
Asmodeus.
One of the Seven Sins was bound in multiple restraining spells, writhing in place.
“The Mark of Execution…”
That sacred sword is an artifact that appeared in the original story.
Its unique ability is [Demon Slayer],
And its effect is, as we’re seeing now, enlarging the sword to pierce evil.
They had prepared this.
“Ai. Prepare to retreat. We’ve achieved our goal.”
“Huh?”
Given the strict conditions for the sword’s activation have been met, Asmodeus’s death is all but confirmed.
The other three executives also seemed incapacitated, without any means to assist Asmodeus.
“Asmodeus won’t survive.”
Asmodeus doesn’t appear in the original story.
Meaning, that he perished due to some event in the past.
His death is inevitable.
‘So, what’s next…’
I shifted my gaze from the condemned Asmodeus to the Heavenly God.
It seemed the Heavenly God was preparing to activate the ring she showed me, having confirmed the successful use of the Mark of Judgment.
‘…Is he smiling?’
For a moment, the corners of the Demon God’s lips seemed to curl up into a subtle smile — an unsettling one.
I scrutinized every part of the Demon God.
He surely has something up his sleeve.
I need to find out what.
‘Wait… that ring… Don’t tell me!’
Then, I noticed a green skull ring on the Demon God’s left middle finger.
‘Is that… the Rewrite Ring?’
Its distinctive shape and incongruous green color.
It’s certain.
That’s the Rewrite Ring.
Which means…
“It’s a trap!”
I immediately hurled myself outside the ice fortress.
‘If the Rewrite Ring is the Demon God’s ace up the sleeve…’
He’s going to turn the tables on us with this!
< Chapter 192: Overwhelming (3) > End.
