Velosian calculated quickly in his head.

Adin had lost all the fame that once exceeded 1.2 million.

What remained was around 300,000.

‘How much fame does Kaeld have right now?’

Back in that mud fight with Mide, Kaeld had the upper hand for a while.

The fame he gained then hadn’t been diminished.

Humanity still hadn’t managed to link the fall of the Celestial God with Kaeld Wake.

Though it was only a matter of time.

‘If I transferred Adin’s remaining fame to Kaeld…?’

With his decision made, he spoke.

“Mr. Adin. As you know… I can handle fame.”

Adin brightened.

“Oh. Right, you could.”

“Of course, raising or lowering fame itself is only possible through humans. But the fame humanity accumulates, I can shift it from place to place at will.”

“I know. That’s how you transferred Impelium’s fame to me, isn’t it?”

Indeed.

Even if that petty, foolish Adin had collected fame, how much could he have gathered on his own?

The majority, no, nearly all of Adin’s fame had originally belonged to Impelium.

Velosian had simply “moved” it.

He had transferred Impelium’s fame to Adin.

Normally, transferring someone’s fame to another was impossible.

It violated the laws of the world.

But Velosian was the only one who could.

That was his authority.

A power that, though limited, allowed him to interfere with the very laws of the world.

“I intend to do the same thing now.”

“Hm? You’re saying you will transfer Mide’s fame to me? Is that even possible?”

“Impossible. For fame to be transferred, the target has to die first. That’s why Impelium was killed.”

“R-right. That was your authority after all.”

“……”

“So what exactly are you planning?”

“I intend to kill you and pass your remaining fame on to Kaeld.”

The words were flat.

Spoken so smoothly and naturally that Adin thought for a moment he had misheard.

He tried to ask again.

But he couldn’t.

Pook.

His chest had already been pierced through.

“V-Velosian…”

“You have worked hard until now, Mr. Adin. And I’m sorry, for ruining your hobby.”

“Y-you can’t do this to me. We have been partners, working together for so long…”

“Yes. Partners. And now that the business has failed, I’m simply replacing my partner.”

The light faded from Adin’s eyes.

Velosian dusted off his hands and turned to Kaeld.

“I have transferred Adin’s fame to you. Adding it to your current total… it comes out to around 800,000.”

“S-so quickly?”

“What, did you think I would need some grand spell? Transferring fame is one of my authorities. It doesn’t require elaborate preparation.”

A smile spread across Kaeld’s lips.

“Then right now, humanity must be showering me with immense praise. I must confirm it at once.”

“Praise? Don’t flatter yourself.”

“…?”

“I deceived the world, not the humans living in this era. Now that Adin has fallen, the hero he created will soon be the target of humanity’s scorn.”

Kaeld couldn’t understand what he meant.

Velosian muttered as if to himself.

“So I need to hurry. Once humanity denies you, that 800,000 fame will start eroding away.”

“……”

“And if you pull another one of your idiotic stunts, the rate of decline will be even worse.”

“T-that won’t happen.”

Kaeld denied it, but Velosian wasn’t listening.

He continued his own thoughts.

‘Mide can now wield the power of 1.2 million fame. Resisting that with fame alone is impossible. And Kaeld isn’t the type to ever steel his resolve.’

Transferring Adin’s fame had been fine, but it was only stalling for time.

What awaited Kaeld now was simply the erosion of his fame.

His fame could rise no further.

Velosian made up his mind.

“No other choice. I will share my power with you.”

“Your power? Then why bother using me at all? Why not kill Mide yourself?”

“Because I still can’t leave the special room. And even if I could, I wouldn’t be able to defeat Mide outside it anymore.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“Come with me into the room. There, I will grant you a portion of my power.”

He turned his back.

Showing plainly that he didn’t care whether Kaeld followed or not.

Of course Kaeld followed.

Neither Velosian nor Kaeld thought of burying Adin’s corpse.

Their figures vanished completely.

And minutes later.

Crackle.

The air above the starting point split apart.

Through the rift stepped Idria.

To her right stood Pirensha.

And to her left, the third finger of Lies, Batore.

Idria quietly looked down at Adin before speaking first to Pirensha.

“So this was the true identity of the so-called Celestial God.”

“Yes, Mother.”

“His soul?”

“I have secured it.”

Pirensha swallowed nervously.

“Though he was a fake god, centuries of playing that role made his soul enormous. I have handled countless souls of the underworld, but never one with this kind of presence.”

“As expected.”

“…Will you consume it?”

Pirensha could throw a soul as feed to empower another.

If she did the same now, the Celestial God’s soul would raise Idria’s power to a whole new level.

But for a Demon King to swallow a god’s soul…

Knowing how much her mother had cursed the Celestial God, Pirensha hesitated.

Yet Idria nodded surprisingly easily.

“I don’t like it, but I must.”

“A-are you sure? This is the very one who sent down Bion and killed you countless times.”

“I can’t afford to refuse on those grounds. I will set aside personal feelings for now.”

“Yes, Mother.”

Snap.

Pirensha flicked her fingers.

Adin’s soul began flowing into Idria’s.

Even for Idria, absorbing such an immense soul would take time.

She didn’t rush, simply savoring the staggering growth of her power.

Half an hour later.

Ssshh.

Idria opened her eyes.

Pirensha asked.

“How is it?”

“Tasteless.”

“Ah.”

“Pfft. I jest. Hm… I can’t quite feel it yet.”

“Take your time. Kaeld was too small-minded, once he exceeded his vessel’s limit, he immediately weakened. But you, Mother, have absorbed Adin’s soul completely and still have room to spare.”

In other words, this power wasn’t temporary.

Idria had fully and permanently absorbed Adin’s soul.

A faint smile touched her lips.

‘Fine. I will check it later.’

What mattered now was something else.

Idria turned to Batore, who had been silent all along.

“By the way, Batore. What are your thoughts on all this?”

“I am deeply astonished.”

“Such a plain response. Still, it’s been some time since I last heard your voice.”

“……”

“Heh. You fell silent quickly.”

Swoosh.

She pointed at Adin’s corpse.

“Velosian. Adin. And that thing called Impelium.”

“……”

“It seems the world is full of secrets I never knew. And I must uncover every last one of them.”

“Give the order.”

“I’m sorry to ask you this, but could you eat that filthy corpse for me?”

Batore nodded as if it were only natural.

Soon he opened his mouth.

Very wide, so wide it could swallow a whole corpse in a single bite.

Crunch. Crunch.

Adin’s body was dragged into Batore’s gaping maw. His fangs tore him apart, and his molars crushed his bones.

A few minutes later, Batore’s mouth had returned to normal. Smacking his lips, he said,

“It is done.”

“Then transform.”

“Yes.”

Ssshhhk.

Batore’s body began to change.

His hair turned white, wrinkles formed on his face.

Before long, he had become “Adin Press.”

This was Batore’s power.

He could transform into whatever he had devoured.

And it wasn’t only appearance. He could draw out all of the target’s knowledge, information, and memories as if they were his own.

The only thing he could not use was the target’s “power.”

But that didn’t matter, since Idria had already absorbed Adin’s power through Pirensha.

Idria’s eyes gleamed as she asked,

“Have you absorbed all his memories?”

“…Yes. They were so vast it took me some time. My apologies.”

“What are you saying? It didn’t even take a minute.”

“Shall I tell you right away?”

“Hm. No. Let’s go back first.”

Snap.

Idria flicked her fingers.

Once again, space split open.

“Secrets of the world. Such rare tales shouldn’t be kept to ourselves. Let’s share them with the others.”

Pirensha and Batore bowed deeply.

And said together,

“As you will.”

----------------------------------------

After everything was settled, we took some rest.

Physically, this incident hadn’t exhausted us too much.

But mentally, we were completely worn out.

We spent almost a full day glued to our beds, and only gathered again the following afternoon.

In the room of an inn, our companions yawned with just-woken faces.

“Haaaahm.”

And they began light chatter.

It seemed they wanted to loosen up a bit before getting into the main subject.

I used the time to speak to Trail.

‘Kept you waiting long.’

[Yeah. It was hard holding back.]

‘Sorry. I was too exhausted.’

[Well, it’s not something I couldn’t understand, so I will forgive you. …But what exactly was I waiting for?]

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

He had answered without even knowing what I meant.

‘My fame has passed 1.2 million now.’

[That’s right.]

“‘That’s right,’ you say so lightly. Don’t you see? It means it’s finally time to raise my Eye of Omniscience’s level!”

Trail fell silent for a while.

Perhaps stunned he had forgotten something so important.

I grinned and continued.

‘Well, since you can understand, I will forgive you.’

[Hmph. Copying me now.]

‘Anyway, let’s do it right away.’

[Alright.]

Soon a window popped up.

Ding! Your level has risen.

Level: Incredibly Famous.

Up until just now, my level had been “Very Famous.”

Now it had risen to “Incredibly Famous.”

I tilted my head.

“‘Incredibly Famous’? That sounds a little off. At 1.2 million, shouldn’t it be something like ‘Unprecedentedly Famous’?”

[I don’t know. Never really thought about it.]

“……”

[Still, since it’s the highest level, don’t sulk over just a name.]

No.

I shook my head.

“Impelium once said there’s a rank above S. Back when the two of us were talking.”

[Huh?]

“You saw it too, the forty Eye of Omniscience windows he projected at once. That was the full Eye of Omniscience Impelium used.”

[Hoooh.]

Trail let out a sound of amazement, or perhaps disbelief.

I turned back to the window.

“So how much fame is needed for the next level?”

[…I don’t know.]

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

[You’re asking someone who thought S-grade was the last one.]

True enough.

Until now, whenever my fame rose and my level was uncertain, a message always appeared:

–Fame points required for next level.

Almost as if to remind me not to forget.

But now, that message was gone.

“Don’t tell me the next level isn’t reached by fame.”

[If we assume there is a next level, that’s the only guess we can make.]

“Hm. What could I be lacking?”

[Think about it later. For now, I’m more curious how far that bastard Kaeld’s fame has fallen.]

Oh.

I unconsciously rubbed my palms together.

Right then, Neril spoke up.

“Enough chit-chat, right? Let’s get to the point.”

“Yep.”

“Mide, you said your fame has passed 1.2 million… Then what about that bastard Kaeld?”

That’s right.

In this incident, we had dragged the Celestial God’s fame down to rock bottom.

We hadn’t explicitly asked humanity to reject Him, but by raising my name above the God’s, they had effectively done the same.

Xenia nodded.

“That should be the first thing we check.”

“Mm.”

“The hero is chosen by the Celestial God. But if that God is trash, then the hero chosen by Him, Kaeld Wake, must also be trash.”

“……”

“Perfectly logical.”

Logical or not, I asked Trail.

“Show me his fame. Compared to mine.”

[Hold on.]

Mide Mohan / Total Fame: 1,220,900

Kaeld Wake / Total Fame: 880,700

……?

At first I tilted my head.

But soon my face hardened.

My companions’ expressions grew serious as well.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?”

“Kaeld’s fame is 880,000.”

“What? No way. Wasn’t that cockroach at around 500,000 before?”

“……”

“And you said Adin had fallen to the 300,000s. Then how the hell did the fame of Kaeld, his chosen hero, jump to 880,000?”

Exactly my question.

For a hero’s fame to surpass the God who gave it, impossible.

Did Adin pull some trick again?

“What’s Adin’s fame right now?”

[One moment.]

Another window appeared.

Adin Press / Total Fame: 0

“……”

The instant I saw it, lightning struck my mind.

“Ah!”

“What, what is it?!”

“Adin’s fame is zero.”

“What? But yesterday you said it was still in the 300,000s!”

Drip.

Cold sweat trickled down my forehead.

I wiped it lightly with my palm.

And muttered low,

“Kaeld absorbed Adin’s fame.”

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