Mjölnir missed, and Frondier lost his grip, his left hand burning with the attached flame. Frondier also endured using the mana of Helheim and his own aura, but the devil’s flame was no joke.

‘Now, next!’

Frondier’s posture crumbled. He still held Excalibur, but it wasn’t in a position to cut Belphegor.

Belphegor’s gaze shifted to Excalibur. His aura exuded a chilling killing intent. Should he behead Frondier now? No, this guy might even be aiming for mutual destruction.

Cut off that arm. Beheading comes after!

Belphegor sharpened his hand like a blade. Its sharpness alone surpassed that of any ordinary sword.

Just as his hand was about to sever Frondier’s arm…

Clang!!

“?!”

Belphegor’s mind went blank. His vision momentarily turned white. The pain assaulting his head came afterward.

He gritted his teeth and assessed the situation through his flickering vision.

What happened? Right, Frondier did something. He must have been weaving something behind his back and struck his head at the very last moment.

How dare he…

Belphegor’s eyes turned bloodshot. The timing was slightly off, but it didn’t matter. With only Excalibur as his remaining option, Frondier had no way to defeat him.

‘All his mana is in Excalibur. I just need to avoid that!’

When Belphegor confirmed Frondier’s form…

Clack-

“…What.”

Frondier’s left hand still…

Held Mjölnir.

‘What, that’s impossible…’

He shouldn’t have the mana to recreate Mjölnir.

Even if he did, weaving would take time.

“…You, that is…”

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

As if swallowing Belphegor’s voice, a sudden surge of lightning paralyzed him.

Rumble!!!

A bolt of lightning suddenly struck from the sky.

Mjölnir absorbed all the lightning, surging through the wings of Obsidian that Frondier had spread, and roared once more.

——To control Mjölnir means to have earned its recognition.

‘That’s, real.’

It wasn’t Obsidian, Menosorpo, or their combination.

‘Mjölnir’ was in Frondier’s hand.

Whir, whir, whir!

The wings of Obsidian scattered and soared. The black waves imbued with the power of lightning gathered in Frondier’s right hand, Excalibur.

“…What are you?”

The paralyzed Belphegor could only utter those words.

Why are you enduring with your left hand that was struck by the blue flame?

Why do you hold Mjölnir in that hand instead of weaving it?

Why does Mjölnir follow the likes of you?

You, who are not a hero.

You should be nothing!

“What the hell are you!!”

Frondier’s cold gaze looked down at Belphegor, with electricity and flames before his eyes.

Even if he knew what Belphegor was asking,

Frondier had no reason to tell the truth.

***

“Hmm, this will do.”

Quinie de Viet ascended a tall spire near the Imperial Palace.

Although the view was vast, she couldn’t see any part of the barrier from here. Quinie hadn’t climbed this high to check on the barrier.

She had a mission that only she could accomplish.

“It cost a lot of money, but…”

Despite being a knight, Quinie was originally a merchant who dealt with money. She had rebuilt her family through insight and connections.

The Viet family had grown not only to its former glory but to a point where it threatened the magic artifact company ‘Hitchcock’.

As seen during the Constel raid, Quinie had numerous reliable connections.

“Now, are they ready?”

Quinie picked up her phone and contacted Malia to receive a signal.

“…Oh my, really? Now?”

After hearing something from Malia, Quinie’s face lit up as she asked back.

Ending the call, Quinie pressed a button on the remote control she took out of her pocket with a look of anticipation.

Then…

Bzzzt!

A giant hologram appeared in the sky above the empire.

This was an application of ‘Wizard view’, connecting Malia’s vision sharing through mana.

It was a magic engineering feat that divided the views of each individual Malia was observing into separate channels.

Currently, it could only display one channel at a time, but with further technological advancements, that would improve.

“We can’t continue this foolish fighting even after the war is over.”

Frondier was currently headed to a place where the empire couldn’t grasp the situation.

If he defeated the Manggot leader, the war had to end. Any further sacrifices would be meaningless.

…However, this wasn’t something she had conveyed to Frondier.

Quinie, unfolding her fan, smiled devilishly.

“But we need to inform everyone of the end of this fight.”

You won’t be angry, will you, Frondier?

Snap!

Soon, Frondier’s figure appeared on the hologram.

Quinie, like a captivated audience member, looked up at the sky with sparkling eyes.

This channel was already installed throughout the barrier, allowing everyone fighting there to see this image.

[What are you?]

The first voice to be heard was that of the gray-haired devil.

Belphegor’s enraged voice echoed throughout the empire.

[What the hell are you!!]

And Frondier, holding an immense concentration of mana that Wizard view couldn’t fully capture, raised Mjölnir high in the sky.

[Still don’t understand!!]

Black waves engulfed his Excalibur.

Lightning coursed through the waves, raining down before his eyes.

Even Frondier’s shouting voice, resonating with his aura, seemed to burn the air.

[I am—]

The hammer of the gods struck the hilt of the hero’s sword, and…

[Frondier de Roach—!!]

Kwaaang!!!

The sword energy fired, dyed black by Obsidian…

Struck the devil’s chest directly, sending him plummeting from the heavens to the earth.

“…Ah!”

Immediately afterward, the Wizard view screen went dark.

Perhaps the magic artifact still needed some work, or maybe the immense mana explosion had caused a malfunction.

“…Well, whatever.”

Quinie, placing her hands on her hips, nodded in satisfaction.

“This is the empire’s declaration.”