Declaration

Frondier and Belphegor's clash.

As Quinie planned, everyone within the barrier witnessed the scene through the Wizard view.

The Roach Knights were no exception.

After eliminating most of the Manggot troops who had lost their shepherd, they raised their eyes to the hologram.

Belphegor's question and Frondier's answer.

All the silver knights clad in armor heard those voices.

Commander Sylvain.

After the Wizard view was turned off, he spoke in a heavy voice.

“Did everyone hear that?”

A short question directed at all the knights.

“Yes.”

They spoke as if they had heavy weights in their bodies.

“Did we see who we must protect?”

“Yes.”

This time, their voices were a little louder.

They understood the meaning behind Sylvain's question. They answered with a firm resolve etched in their hearts.

Sylvain nodded. His shoulders were as heavy as the knights watching him.

“We must never fall behind.”

The Roach Knights.

They exist to protect the Roach family and their territory.

And they saw how fiercely the second son of the Roach family was fighting.

“If we stop for even a moment, we won't even see his back.”

“Yes.”

The Roach Knights.

Known as the best knights in the Empire, they sharpened the swords in their hearts to protect their master who was leading the way.

* * *

Frondier's sword energy struck Belphegor's chest directly.

Belphegor plummeted to the ground.

Belphegor, who had fallen with tremendous momentum, created a massive crater where he collided with the ground, raising thick smoke.

“Huff, huff….”

Frondier released the weaving as he breathed heavily. Rather than releasing it, he no longer had the strength to maintain it.

He soon looked at his left hand.

‘The flame is gone.’

The blue flame that Belphegor created, the flame that tried to devour Frondier's left hand, had disappeared. The horribly damaged left hand barely maintained its shape and trembled.

‘If I had been even a little late.’

A shiver ran down Frondier's spine. After all, if both hands weren't intact, he wouldn't even be able to attempt the sword energy 'Nail'. Moreover, the pain was so excruciating that he almost dropped the hammer.

‘By the way, this Mjölnir.’

Frondier lifted the Mjölnir he was holding.

‘Did it fly all the way here from the Imperial Palace?’

Right before fighting Belphegor, Frondier sensed the presence of this Mjölnir. Rather than sensing it, it felt like Mjölnir was calling him.

However, he wasn't sure. He wanted to solve it within his own means as much as possible. He hoped that wielding the Mjölnir weaving with Excalibur's bluffing would be enough.

But of course, it wasn't enough, and Belphegor read his intentions. If it weren't for this Mjölnir, it would have been Frondier himself who crashed to the ground.

‘I heard that no one but Thor can control Mjölnir.’

Throwing Mjölnir and having it return according to his will. Only Thor could do that. At least, that's what the game's literature and information said.

Frondier controlling the Mjölnir he weaved was only within Menosorpo. In other words, he just controlled Mjölnir like he controlled other weapons.

But this time was different. From the Imperial Palace to here, Mjölnir flew at high speed to reach his hand.

“……Thank you.”

Whether Mjölnir really had a self or not, Frondier couldn't help but say those words.

As Belphegor fell, changes occurred not only for Frondier but also on the ground.

“Uh, uh! They!”

Starting with someone shouting like that, it became visible to everyone.

The army of corpses was disappearing. No, they started to crumble in place as if that was what they were supposed to do.

The blue flame that was burning Frondier's left hand and the army of corpses disappeared.

The meaning was clear.

Swoosh—

Frondier descended to the ground and approached the place where Belphegor had crashed.

Thump, Frondier's steps were quite cautious.

‘Is he really dead?’

Of course, he struck with the intention to kill.

Excalibur, filled with all the mana of Helheim in the mana crystal, the real Mjölnir, if he were alive after being hit by that combination, it wouldn't make sense.

And in the first place, if this plan didn't work, Frondier wouldn't even be able to fight Belphegor.

“…….”

As the smoke cleared, Belphegor's gruesome appearance was revealed.

There was a huge hole in his chest, and blood flowed from countless deep wounds all over his body. If he were human, he would have died from excessive bleeding before the hole in his chest.

...But he was a devil.

A devil of the Seven Sins, so just in case,

“……Ah.”

Belphegor made a sound.

With his chest pierced and his entire body covered in horrific wounds.

“You monstrous bastard.”

Belphegor spat out insults and turned his languid gaze to Frondier.

But it seemed like he couldn't move any further.

Frondier said.

“I thought you were going to get up again.”

“No way. This body is going to die soon.”

This body?

Frondier's brow furrowed at the somehow unpleasant choice of words.

“……As expected, the reason you can exist in this world.”

“That's right. This is a borrowed body. I will return to the Demon Realm. I've grown quite attached to this body, though.”

Frondier clenched his fist.

He had fought a life-or-death battle, but his opponent hadn't even risked his life in the first place.

“Don't make that face. For me now, it's better to die than to return to the Demon Realm.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means stepping down from the seat of Sloth.”

Frondier's eyes widened at those words. Belphegor continued.

“Why are you so surprised? Your Empire does something similar. Isn't that 'Zodiac'? They always maintain the number 12. The Seven Sins are the same. A demon whose authority has fallen steps down from their position, and another demon takes the seat of 'Sloth'. They maintain the Seven Sins.”

“Then what happens to you?”

“I fall to the bottom of the Demon Realm and get imprisoned.”

“……With your level of power, you should be able to resist.”

“It's not something you can resist. It's different from your human prisons. Just like you can't avoid falling into hell because you don't want to.”

Belphegor mixed in another insult in the meantime.

Frondier shook his head.

“……Belphegor, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“If you were a devil itself, not borrowing a human body, would you be stronger than you are now?”