Chapter 188
To describe Deliaspi Dyne, whom he was facing for the first time, in a single word, this would be it.
A patchwork.
He had forcibly stitched together body parts from various other creatures to extend his life.
Furthermore, most of them belonged to demons and monsters, so he couldn’t even be called human, aside from his mana core.
“Why are you doing this?”
Franz threw the question at Deliaspi Dyne.
He didn’t intend to interrogate him for his sins. He was just curious.
Why had a human, who was once called the Father of Magic and praised by humanity, fallen so far?
“I have heard much about you. Franz Gilbert, or should I call you Franz Gilbert Esteban now? You must be the one who discovered the hidden room underground as well.”
Did that mean he was listening to all the information from the outside world even while hiding in his retreat?
That was probably the power of the shaman called the watcher.
It seemed capable of seeing across considerable distances.
“Yes, I found it. And I read all the records you left behind.”
“Then shouldn’t you know to some extent? Why am I trying to destroy the world?”
“…Is it because of your wife?”
“There is countless scum in the world. There are nobles sitting on their titles exploiting good citizens of their territory, or individuals like bandits and robbers who kill people.”
That was something Franz also agreed with.
Until recently, the Magic Tower had also been full of such individuals.
There were many cases where they passed off their own work to others and somehow claimed the achievements as their own.
“But my wife was a kinder person than anyone else. If she had something, she shared it with others, and if she lacked something, she tried to fill it herself somehow.”
It was a pity.
That was the only thought Franz could have.
“Why is the world people live in the same everywhere…”
There was a reason for the saying that the good die young. Those who shouldn’t die die early, while those who actually should die do not.
“How could God leave so much wickedness in the world and take my wife? If that is truly God’s will, then a world like this deserves to disappear. There is no future for a world where only malice remains instead of goodness.”
“I understand.”
“Then…!”
“But I have no intention of following your will.”
Franz thought.
What it would have been like if he had been put in the same situation.
If Yuna, Yusti-ah, Hera, or Arian lost their lives in an unexpected accident…
He would definitely be sad. It would hurt enough to tear his heart apart.
But he wouldn’t destroy the world because of it.
They wouldn’t want that.
“It’s time to stop, Deliaspi Dyne. If you’re going to resent something, resent your own lack of skill, not the world.”
“Are you saying I was lacking…?”
“Do you remember Seri-ah, the child you kept alive using a holy relic? I took the holy relic out of her body. Yet she’s still perfectly alive.”
The meaning behind Franz’s words was that he had succeeded in creating and transplanting an Artificial Mana Core, and that was what Deliaspi Dyne had so desperately craved.
His eyes widened, clearly revealing his heterochromatic pupils.
“Ha, haha-! Is that so? In the end, what was lacking was my skill. But none of that matters anymore.”
Saying that, he raised the golden chalice.
The overflowing red liquid flowed into his mouth.
“Damn it, so it ends up like this after all.”
He had expected that he wouldn’t be able to persuade him with words, but he didn’t know how stubborn he would be.
Was being stubborn a long-standing tradition among Mages, or was it merely his nature…
Anyway, since it had come to this, there was only one thing left to do.
The subjugation of the Demon God.
More accurately, the subjugation of the incomplete Demon God.
“Everyone, get ready.”
Franz adjusted his grip on Mistilteinn.
Yuna gripped her holy sword, and Hera gripped her bow.
Yusti-ah was about to bring her hands together in a praying posture before hurriedly raising her two fists.
“Leviathan, behemoth, I’ll leave Yusti-ah’s escort to you two.”
[Telling me to fight my parent, you intend to make me an immoral child.]
Bbu-bbu-!
Leviathan grumbled but moved above Yusti-ah’s head, and behemoth likewise stood in front of Yusti-ah.
Clang-.
As the golden chalice fell to the floor, a change began to occur in Deliaspi Dyne.
His body twisted and squirmed this way and that, repeatedly swelling and sinking.
Then, at some point, he turned into a sticky liquid and formed a red puddle.
After a brief moment.
“Does someone desire the ruin of the world?”
Along with the sound of an unpleasant voice, the red puddle transformed into the shape of a person.
However, it couldn’t be considered human. It merely took on a human-like form.
“My power is not whole. But it matters not. It is enough to hear the screams of mortals.”
As soon as those words concluded, an immense power began to be felt.
Rumble-.
The very ground beneath them shook, and the atmosphere trembled in fear.
At the same time, an unpleasant magic power that felt like bugs crawling around spread out in all directions.
That was no different from poison to Franz, who had high magic sensitivity, so he deployed his magic power around him to block it.
Yusti-ah, who was next to him, was also emitting her divine power around her to block the Demon God’s evil divine power.
Thud-, boom-! Crash-!
The ground supporting the underground city collapsed, and piles of dirt fell downward.
The hole created in that manner gradually widened until it fully revealed the sky.
The world’s sky was dyed dark, and dark clouds were swirling as if welcoming the Demon God.
“This is an incomplete state…?”
A hollow laugh naturally escaped from Franz’s lips.
The Creator Demon God, who had created the world alongside Luan, was delivering an overwhelming sensation even in his incomplete state.
His fingertips trembled, and his feet remained glued to the floor, refusing to lift.
The Five Heroes chosen by Luan must have felt a fear even greater than this.
He naturally came to understand why the very first thing they gave up was the emotion of fear.
It must have been impossible to face him with a sane mind.
“Mortals are blocking my path. I shall ask you. Did you desire the ruin of the world?”
Just hearing his voice made his heart race wildly.
The fear engraved in his instincts made his body stiffen.
But he hadn’t stood in this place to give up.
“No, we came to kill you.”
Franz confidently declared to the Demon God.
He would kill him right here and announce peace to the world.
“How nostalgic. There were certainly those like you back then as well. They sacrificed their lives to seal me. Do you possess such courage?”
“No, we don’t.”
More accurately, he should say they didn’t need it.
They had no intention of sacrificing their lives in the first place.
Tap-.
Franz lightly tapped the floor with Mistilteinn in his hand.
Then, the nine leaves attached to the branch emitted a soft light, and a massive magic circle was drawn in the air.
There was no holding back, because doing so wouldn’t even leave a scratch on the Demon God’s body.
The magic circle began to suck in the magic power residing within Franz’s body, and he downed an elixir to match it.
Even most of the magic power replenished in that manner was given over to the magic circle, completing 10th Circle Magic.
Through Mistilteinn’s ability, that magic harbored a destructive power that couldn’t even be compared to existing magic.
While Franz prepared his magic like that, the others also finished their respective preparations.
Yuna had pushed the Hero’s power to the limit, dyeing her holy sword golden.
Hera borrowed the power of the Spirit King along with the divine power of the World Tree, scattering a radiant green light around her.
The divine power channeled through Yusti-ah’s prayer erased the demonic energy in the area and instilled life, causing sprouts to bloom from the sunless earth.
It was a state that could truly be called the full power of the Hero’s Party.
If they had encountered the Demon Lord at this point, they could have finished him off with just a flick of a finger.
“I too am a Creator, so you could be called my children. Clash with all your might. It is my role as a parent to bestow despair at the end of it.”
The demonic energy in the area gathered above the Demon God’s head to form a sphere.
The power felt from the sphere, which looked like swirling smoke, was so distant that mere mortals couldn’t even fathom it.
Could they win?
Such a question arose naturally, but…
Franz lightly shook his head to erase the thought.
There was no reason to worry.
He had vowed to pull it off somehow.
He would just do everything he could from his given position, as he always had.
Tap-.
Mistilteinn lightly tapped the floor once again.
Ten magic circles began to operate simultaneously, amplifying and re-amplifying the magic power they held.
And finally, they bestowed the miracle of light upon the world.
The sky, which had been filled with dark clouds, opened up, and a single ray of light struck down upon the Demon God.
At the same time, Hera’s arrow was fired. Leaving a trail of light, the arrow took on the form of a blue tiger and headed toward the Demon God.
And there was someone running alongside that arrow, none other than Yuna.
Arriving right in front of the Demon God, Yuna swung her holy sword from top to bottom. Then, a slash was drawn across the very fabric of space, and soon, with that slash as the boundary, half of the surrounding area crumbled down.
──── !
Along with a tremendous roar, the air was pushed away as if by an explosion.
The current full power of the Hero’s Party was inflicted upon the Demon God.
No, perhaps it could be called the full power of all humanity.
However…
“So this is your full power. Now, as promised, it is time to learn despair.”
From within the dust, the Demon God’s voice could be heard clearly.