Chapter 379

Chapter 379
## Chapter 379: I Am the Demon God

“You look quite relaxed, Agnis.”

“Iquerel. Are you here to start another argument today?”

“How can you call this a hot spring when the heat has turned all the water into steam?”

“I knew it. You’re just looking for a fight.”

“Not at all. I am simply pointing out a logical fact, Agnis.”

“It is about the atmosphere, Iquerel. You wouldn’t understand.”

“······ Here. Use this. It will dampen the flames.”

“The Water God’s Towel? This is one of your prized possessions, isn’t it?”

“I never said it was a gift. I am merely letting you borrow it.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you seemed devastated after your contractor passed away. You’re acting out of character.”

“Ah······.”

Iquerel, the Spirit King of Water.

Among all the Spirit Kings, she was the only one who truly understood how to show compassion. She was kind enough to offer her own treasure just to comfort Agnis in his mourning. Even though her essence was the polar opposite of his own, Agnis held her in high regard.

In the barren wasteland of the Spirit Tower, she was a solitary oasis. Without Iquerel’s presence, the Spirit Kings would have likely succumbed to the weight of eternity within their prison. They wouldn’t have found the resolve to spend ages incinerating the never-ending corruption that seeped down from above.

However······.

‘Iquerel······.’

······ She was gone.

Agnis had felt the moment of Iquerel’s destruction before anyone else. She had been extinguished forever, completely erased. The companion he had lived with for an eternity, the one he assumed would always be by his side in the ages to come… was no more.

‘I never even got the chance to thank her.’

Agnis was consumed by fury. He was enraged at the Heavenly Demon who had murdered Iquerel, and he was disgusted with his former self. Because their elements clashed, Agnis had always kept his distance from her. Fire and water were never meant to mingle.

Yet, Iquerel had always approached him without hesitation. She acted as if the threat of being evaporated meant nothing to her. And the closer she tried to get, the further Agnis had pushed her away.

‘I still haven’t given it back.’

The Water God’s Towel. He hadn’t even managed to return her treasure. He had spent so much time agonizing over the proper way to give it back that he had run out of time. Now, there was no longer a reason to hesitate.

“Evil God······!”

It was as if her final cry, which had dissolved into the air at the moment of her death, was still echoing in his ears. Agnis could feel Iquerel’s agony. He could visualize the lonely, desperate struggle she had endured.

The Heavenly Demon. That monster was already an ‘Evil God.’ He had fully claimed the power of the Evil God to slaughter the Spirit King of Water. No mere beast from the abyss could ever hope to destroy a Spirit King. After all, the Spirit Kings were the very beings tasked with purifying the filth of the abyss. It was fundamentally impossible for the targets of purification to destroy their purifiers—unless the Heavenly Demon had ascended to the status of an Evil God.

“I ask that you permit me to eradicate that Evil God.”

Agnis made his plea to his contractor. He wanted to be the one to end that monster’s life.

“Please let us settle this once and for all.”

It had all begun with a single moment of negligence. Mamon, the Third Lord of the Demon World. That devil had manipulated them by acting like a harmless lamb, only to shatter the core of the Spirit Tower. It was a catastrophe that would have been avoided if they hadn’t been so careless from the start.

Ultimately, the Spirit Kings held themselves responsible for everything that had followed. Including the death of Iquerel. Um, the Spirit King of Earth, gave a solemn nod of agreement.

“You have my permission.”

······ And so, I gave my consent as well. I understood their burden of responsibility and their thirst for vengeance. Besides, I knew the Spirit Kings wouldn’t back down even if I told them to.

Agnis suddenly turned his gaze.

“He is approaching.”

A memory surfaced of what the ‘Master of the Tomb’ had muttered at the base of the Mountain of Earth. Was the ‘he’ mentioned back then actually the Heavenly Demon?

When I encountered the Heavenly Demon on the Island of God previously, he was formidable. As his title implied, his power was great enough to look down upon the entire world. Yet, he had been cut down by the ‘other Randolph.’ That was only because the Heavenly Demon hadn’t yet achieved the status of an Evil God at that time.

But Agnis was now identifying him as a true ‘Evil God.’ This meant his transformation was complete.

‘This marks the first time I’ve faced a total Evil God, not just one acting as a “Forgotten God.”‘

I had previously dealt with an Evil God in the form of a ‘Forgotten God’ while it was possessing Lilith in the World Tree’s dungeon. I had also cleared out many of their shrines during my life as Wilhelm. But seeing a being that had fully evolved into a complete Evil God was a first.

Rumble-rumble-rumble!

The mountain began to vibrate violently. However, the source of the shaking wasn’t the peak itself. It was coming from the base.

“······ The Master of the Tomb is attempting to bar his path.”

Gracia whispered under his breath. The Heavenly Demon had arrived, and the Master of the Tomb was trying to stop him from ascending the mountain.

—

“You don’t understand.”

Kasim, the Transcendent of Radiance, spoke while observing the ongoing contest.

“You have no idea how catastrophic an Evil God truly is.”

In the distant past, Kasim had managed to slay an Evil God. He had done so alongside his Knights of Radiance and the other transcendents he had forged with his holy blade. Every knight standing here today was a veteran of that conflict. Though they were now holy swords whose individual identities had faded into tools for Kasim, they remembered the horror.

“Just how······ overwhelming he was.”

Kasim was still haunted by that battle. The aftermath had left him so scarred that he had stayed in hiding for centuries. The memory of that terrifying, awe-inspiring power refused to leave him.

An Evil God was a being of such magnitude that it required immense preparation to manifest in this reality. Their very existence threatened to warp the laws of the universe, which is why the gods struggled so hard to block their arrival. But on that fateful day, the conditions were met, and the Evil God stepped through. The continent was swallowed by shadows in an instant.

“Hmph······!”

Clang-!

Suddenly, a blade hit the ground of the training area.

“S-Serengeti······?”

“Didn’t they say she beat King Friedrich on her own?”

“They’re both monsters!”

The knight who had been disarmed was Serengeti. Losing her grip on her weapon meant her loss was absolute. She stared at the Holy Knight with a look of pure confusion.

‘It makes sense that she’s confused.’

Purely in terms of combat skill, Serengeti was a better warrior than Izazel. In the mortal world, she was practically peerless. Yet, the outcome was fixed. Izazel of Radiance had triumphed over Serengeti of the Round Table.

How was that possible?

‘To slay an Evil God, we had to transcend the impossible.’

A finished Evil God was a titan. One such being could fight all of mankind at once. But during that war, Kasim realized something vital: to kill an Evil God, one had to stop being ‘human.’ One had to discard their very essence and origin to stand a chance.

In the end, Kasim turned himself into a holy sword. That was the only reason he had survived for hundreds of years. The Knights of Radiance had followed suit. They might look different and use different names, but they were all extensions of Kasim. Effectively, there were thirteen Kasims standing there.

That was the secret to the victory.

‘Holy Sword Izazel’ might have lost to Serengeti, but the ‘Transcendent of Radiance Kasim’ could not lose.

Therefore.

‘The Round Table can never hope to beat thirteen of me.’

How could they possibly face thirteen versions of a man who had sacrificed his humanity just to kill a god? A man who had only grown more lethal over the centuries?

Yet, despite his confidence.

‘······ That monster is going to return.’

He was still afraid. The memory of the Evil God terrified him. He had killed the physical form, but he hadn’t been able to destroy the fundamental source of that evil. He knew it would return eventually. And if it ever manifested not through a host or a limited summoning, but in its true, unrestricted form······.

‘That sky-dwelling demon must never be allowed to fully enter this world.’

The thought alone was a nightmare.

“Sir Izazel of the Knights of Radiance takes the win!”

The Round Table’s shocking first loss was officially announced.

—

The Heavenly Demon.

The ruler of the Thousand Mountains had successfully integrated the full power of the First Heavenly Demon stored within the ‘Heavenly Demon’s Blade.’ He had consumed the memories, the spirit, and the very core of the weapon.

The Heavenly Demon’s Blade was a holy relic containing the essence of the First Heavenly Demon. This was because the entity revered as the ‘Heavenly God’ or ‘Demon God’ had been him all along. He was a supreme disaster that made the heavens shake, a being even the gods feared to touch.

And now, he had consumed that being and moved beyond him.

“I am the Demon God.”

Was he not the incarnation of the Demon God? No, he was superior even to the founder of the Heavenly Mountain Divine Cult. The First Heavenly Demon was known as a legendary Evil God in the lands beyond. He left only blood and carnage in his wake, yet no one could halt his progress. He was the ultimate warrior, capable of fighting the world’s combined armies alone. Even after being trapped in the ‘Heavenly Demon’s Blade’ for reasons unknown, he had steered history.

That being was undoubtedly an ‘Evil God.’ And now, he had surpassed that very god—

“You are a fool, Master of the Tomb.”

The Heavenly Demon smirked at the guardian. A mere animated rock was trying to challenge a Demon God. He didn’t care why the creature was guarding the mountain; it was just a pebble in his path.

“He’s, coming.”

What did ‘coming’ mean? Was it a prophecy of his own end? It was certainly time for the guardian to die. True to his name, the Master of the Tomb belonged in a grave.

The Heavenly Demon shrugged. The ‘Master of the Tomb’ was already broken. He lay there defeated, unable to move, like an insect that had been stepped on. All the golems that had accompanied him were now just piles of rubble.

“Actually.”

The stone giant had been unable to see the massive difference in their strength. He couldn’t even slow the Heavenly Demon down. But something felt off. It had been too easy to take him down, as if the guardian had already been drained of his energy. There were broken golem parts scattered everywhere that hadn’t been caused by this fight.

Then, the Heavenly Demon understood.

“Ah······, it seems that other monster beat me here.”

The Sunken Emperor! That creature had already attacked the Master of the Tomb. But for some reason, he had moved on. Why?

‘Don’t tell me he struggled against the Master of the Tomb?’

If that were the case, it was a letdown. To be so pathetic that he couldn’t easily handle a pile of rocks like this. He had hoped that at least the Emperor would give him a decent challenge. Had he expected too much?

Or perhaps.

‘Have I simply become too powerful?’

Exactly. The Heavenly Demon grinned. In the core of the abyss, he had reached a state of perfection. Not the Sunken Emperor, not the Whale of India, nor any other lord of this dark place could hope to stay his hand.

He turned his eyes toward the mountain’s entrance.

“Scuttling toward your own funerals.”

The humans who had subdued the Spirit King of Earth were finally showing themselves. They were walking straight into his maw without a clue. However, there was one detail he hadn’t expected.

Agnis, the Spirit King of Fire. Um, the Spirit King of Earth. It seemed these humans had managed to forge contracts with two Spirit Kings. The World Tree blooming on the mountain was likely their doing as well.

But······.

‘Hmm?’

The Heavenly Demon paused, tilting his head in confusion.

‘What is this feeling?’

He couldn’t ignore it.

Zzzzzzzzz-!

··· The ‘Heavenly Demon’s Blade’ in his hand was vibrating violently. It wasn’t just the sword, either. The Heavenly Demon looked down at his own chest. His heart and his hands were shaking right along with the blade.

‘Am I… feeling dread?’