Paaaaat!

A tremendous light erupted from Neville.

"Kuaaak!"

"My eyes!"

It was so bright that the demons couldn't even open their eyes properly. Clay also shielded his eyes with his hand and stepped back.

Tuk!

In that moment, Neville grabbed Clay's neck.

"Keuk?!"

"Clay."

The voice that came from right in front of him was no longer Neville's.

"I did not wish for it to become like this."

Although it was Neville's mouth, the pressure was clearly different. Clay barely opened his eyes and looked forward.

"Elhaen...!"

Clay said, grabbing Neville's, no, Elhaen's hand.

"This all happened because of you."

"No."

Elhaen's eyes, tinged with a strange light, shone.

"It is because you deviated from my plan."

He threw Clay aside. The motion was not large, but Clay flew for a long time even after hitting the walls of Barungenia.

Paang!

Thanks to a force that supported his back in an instant, Clay was able to stop midway.

"Demon King! Are you okay!?"

It was Athanasia. She had created a buffer with her waves to protect Clay.

Clay nodded lightly and landed on the ground again.

'Elhaen.'

Clay glared at Elhaen, who was standing on the ground far away.

'He probably won't be able to exert his power for long.'

Neville was not Elhaen's perfect vessel. If he were, there would have been no need to want him.

'I just need to hold on until the vessel breaks.'

Then there was a chance of victory. Clay took a step towards Elhaen.

"Clay! It's dangerous!"

Lin shouted, extending her hand.

"He's too strong an opponent! We have to retreat!"

"Lin."

Clay requested of her.

"Any magic will do, draw his attention as much as possible."

"What?"

"Athanasia."

Clay gave orders to the other side as well.

"You too."

Everyone held their breath, seeing Clay, who dismissed the warning and instead ordered them to attack the opponent. But this was a battle for life and death. If Clay said to do so, there must be a reason, so everyone soon nodded.

After confirming the atmosphere around him, Clay immediately headed towards Elhaen.

"Elhaen."

Clay opened his mouth.

"Did you say I deviated from your plan?"

"That is correct."

"Ridiculous."

It wasn't a plan he had even told Clay about in the first place. Not that he would have followed it even if he had been told.

"I am not a being who must live as you have decided."

"You have not understood."

Elhaen said.

"I believe you would know by now how humans were born."

"I know."

"And you still think that way even after knowing?"

"Just because you are the creator does not mean everything must go according to your will. That is arrogance."

How a seed thrown on the ground sprouts and grows is, in the end, up to the seed.

"Of course, the me of the past might have been grateful to you to some extent. Even though you changed history at will and made us fight the demons, the achievement of creating humanity was by no means a light one."

Nevertheless, Clay had no choice but to purely hate him.

"But was my soul not useless to you?"

Whether he created humanity or whatever, it was all meaningless if he himself disappeared.

"According to your plan, I should no longer exist. All you wanted was my body."

"On a grander scale, there are bound to be unavoidable parts."

"A grander scale?"

Clay let out a hollow laugh.

"Are you ruling this world on a grander scale?"

Even in the days before humanity, this world existed in its own way. There was no reason for Elhaen to be in this world.

"You are just satisfying your own greed."

"Greed."

Elhaen tilted his head.

"Yes, it might be greed."

But he revealed his own reason for existence even more greatly.

"But what if it is greed?"

"What?"

"Even if it is greed, the god who is suitable for this world is me."

He looked around and said.

"Look. At the hideous and bizarrely twisted natives of this world."

His gaze was directed at the demons.

"This world has great potential. Naturally, it needs residents and a god to match. When I came to this world, this place was full of chaos."

The demons lived in their own nests without any particular rule, violence was rampant without laws and rules, and even the beings who were gods were living a life no different from vagrants.

He spoke so.

"A world where no one bears any duty cannot be called a proper world."

"So, you decided to create that?"

"That is correct."

A world ruled by someone, where rules and norms exist. And a system of faith unified under one god was the ideal he envisioned.

"In the end, it was for the sake of this world. It was a necessary step to take to advance towards an ideal that is developing and constructive, befitting its potential."

Narcissism.

Clay thought he was intoxicated with his own image.

"You think too highly of yourself."

"It is not that I think so, but that I am actually great."

"No."

Clay frowned.

"One who is truly great does not use it as a mere title."

But Elhaen was using the word 'great' for himself so lightly.

"You just happened to obtain an excessively strong power. You could be seen as not possessing the commensurate status at all."

"Your insolence is severe."

"Do you not have the generosity to accept even this much of an expression?"

Clay mocked him.

"So you are not so different from us after all. Well, I suppose that's why the humans you created are so lacking."

"Enough."

Anger filled Elhaen's eyes.

"You are struggling, asking me to crush your soul quickly."

He pointed at Clay with his finger.

"Come."

Kuung!

Clay's body was instantly pulled towards Elhaen.

'This is...!'

It was an inescapable gravitational force. Clay planted Excalbren into the ground to stop his body.

"That will only buy you time."

Elhaen said softly.

"Come here and finish what you were supposed to do. That will be the act that can earn you a little forgiveness for your mistake."

Kwaaaaaa!

"!"

The gravitational force grew stronger. Clay looked down at his sword.

'Is there no way to balance the power?'

Divine power.

After Elhaen appeared, he too was feeling a strong divine power circulating in his body that he had never felt before.

'To become one, it's clear that he has to inject that much divine power into me as well.'

It must be a state where homogenization can be achieved.

'The key is whether Elhaen is controlling this.'

If Clay himself was confirmed as Elhaen's vessel, there was a high possibility that he was not completely controlling the divine power flowing into this body.

Because, except for the soul, this body had already achieved a status equal to Elhaen.

'If so, I must test it.'

Because a stronger divine power than when he was a Hero was flowing in all at once, he was, on the contrary, unable to use the power properly.

But if he could just figure out how to use it himself—.

Kuung!

It would be quite possible to resist Elhaen.

"!"

The gravitational force weakened. No, to be precise, a repulsive force strong enough to push away the gravitational force began to act on Clay.

"What is this?"

Elhaen muttered with a displeased expression.

"Don't tell me."

"It really works."

Clay let out a sigh.

'If I follow the way Elhaen uses it, I can also control this much divine power.'

Even if he couldn't invent a way to use a large amount of divine power, it was possible to interpret and follow the way Elhaen used it.

Just now, he had simply tried using it in reverse.

"This is blasphemy."

Elhaen withdrew the gravitational force, jumped high, and landed right in front of Clay.

"Do not blaspheme the divine."

Clay pushed away Elhaen, who was trying to grab his neck again, with repulsive force. Elhaen was pushed back, then planted his feet on the ground and came to a stop.

"This time too, it's not a proper attack."

Clay said.

"I see now."

Elhaen was not properly attacking Clay. To be precise, he was trying not to damage Clay's body.

"You can't break the body you're going to inhabit, can you?"

"......"

"And it would be difficult to just break the soul without making contact first."

If so, this battle, the story had to change a little.

"I will have the advantage."

All this side had to do was hold on until Neville's body couldn't withstand Elhaen. On top of that, if Elhaen could only settle the score through contact, it might be a better situation than expected.

"How absurd."

Elhaen said, as if muttering.

"Did you find a way to handle that much power in that short time?"

"With a good teacher in front of me, it's not difficult."

"Truly amazing."

Elhaen let out a pure admiration.

"It is unpleasant, but at the same time, it is also interesting. To think that the soul of the vessel I chose also had this much potential."

"If you know that, I'd appreciate it if you just left it alone and went."

"I cannot do that."

He shook his head with a cold expression.

"On the contrary, if I left it alone, it would have become an even more dangerous being."

The air changed. Clay held his breath, wary of Elhaen's next attack.

In an instant, Elhaen flew at Clay. Clay tried to push his body away using repulsive force.

But when Elhaen thrust forward a sword made of light, the repulsive force itself was torn like a cloak.

"?!"

Elhaen brushed past Clay, who had reflexively turned his body.

'He tried to stab me.'

Clay immediately turned his gaze to Elhaen.

'Is it okay for this body to be damaged?'

Elhaen met such a Clay's gaze.

"Were you thinking if it's okay for your body to be injured?"

He let out a laugh as if it was pathetic.

"There is a separate way to damage only your soul. Of course, if I do this, I won't be able to completely shake your soul out of that body at once."

Swinging the sword of light, he shrugged his shoulders.

"Anyway, if I inflict a fatal wound a few times, your soul will be destroyed on its own."

"Are you saying it's okay if it takes more time?"

"It seems you're trying to do something until Neville's body can't hold on."

He let out a relaxed breath.

"Because if I don't seek the survival of this body, I can stay for longer than you think."

"You sure have a way of spouting disgusting methods."

"The disgusting one is you, Clay."

He glared at Clay.

"The authority and skills you use were bestowed upon you by me. The same goes for your life and self. You were able to live because of my plan, yet you try to deny it only in the face of death."

"Everyone becomes equal in the face of death. That goes for you too, Elhaen."

Clay raised his sword.

"You, who have obtained a grand power that does not suit you, I will pass judgment on you here."

(End of Chapter)