Was it correct to say that five great demons had emerged? The reason why various media questioned this was simple: Sitri’s hand. One of the five great demons who came to this world wasn’t a great demon, but merely a ‘part’ of the great demon. The attention of the public was bound to move away from Sitri’s hand.

What was the point of watching the hand of the 12th great demon when they could watch the 13th and 19th great demons fighting? People expected Sitri’s hand to be the first to be defeated. The media of each country didn’t pay much attention to Kalatan Fortress. Yet eventually...

The ratings of the broadcasters showing the situation at Kalatan Fortress started to soar. The broadcasters showing the situations at Kalatan Fortress, Henlutu Fortress, Lilchard Fortress, Peltrino Fortress, and the Haspachi Canal were inundated with requests from viewers to show more about Kalatan Fortress. They had no choice but to do so.

『 Hiiiiiik!! 』

The ferociousness of the scene that was shown through the camera made even the commentators scream. Sitri’s hand, which was as big as the fortress’ walls, crushed the Rebecca Church’s paladins like flies. The cameras shook from the earthquake that occurred every time it moved and the impact was delivered to the viewers.

“Kyaaaack!”

“D-Demon...! Demon!”

Every time the hand that covered the sky hit the ground, they witnessed their colleagues dying. The terrified Rebecca Church’s priests scattered in all directions and fled. The leadership of Damian, who was currently serving his third term as the pope with the enthusiastic support of the church, was useless. Sitri’s hand was red like the skin of a newborn baby. It beat, grabbed, and killed everything that moved. The sight was so terrible that their courage to fight was lost.

“Cruel bastard! What a cruel nature!”

Even the leader of the Templar, who spread out his white wings and made his identity known to the world, was shaken. The ring of light floating above the archangel’s head poured out an enormous divinity but he couldn’t stop the red hand from advancing.

The one-sided killing continued. The momentum of Sitri’s hand as it crushed the people of the fortress was so fierce that it seemed to be able to trample the whole continent without ever stopping.

-Isn’t this much stronger than Saleos? The ground is crushed every time the hand is swung.

-It seems that even Grid would be crushed in one blow.

-There might be an immediate death sentence at that time.

The paladins of the Rebecca Church were famous for their strong armaments. They had defenses and buffs that were slightly below the level of a guardian, and they were tankers who could take the lead on a battlefield. Yet even they were turned to grey ash as soon as they were crushed by Sitri’s hand.

This was a slaughter that went beyond the level of a deadly blow. Sitri’s hand that killed dozens of paladins and priests every time it hit the ground was reminiscent of a ‘final boss.’

“Isabel-chan, what should we do?”

Pope Damian had earned the nickname Zombie Demon King for surviving four hours in the Demon King Subjugation of this year’s National Competition. His confidence had risen sharply since then, but now he lost his spirit, just like when he felt despair against Drevigo. He watched the members of the church scattering and being defeated without following his leadership, and his eyes turned red.

As he was feeling depressed, Isabel held his hand. “It’s okay. The goddess will give us protection.”

Tremble tremble.

Isabel wasn’t aware of it but her hands were shaking like an aspen tree. She was also cowering before the ferocity of Sitri’s hand. Damian was ashamed to see that she was trying to reassure him even in such circumstances. Damian firmed up his heart and declared, “That’s right. It’s okay. There is me. This zombie demon king will protect the members of the church.”

Damian spoke while putting on the most handsome expression possible. He held Isabella’s trembling hand tightly and pulled out the Holy Sword. A golden flash swirled and scattered the demonic power that had fallen over the area.

“The Holy Father is a zombie... demon king?”

“Ah, no, I’m going to kill that zombie-like demon king.” He realized his mistake and lost momentum while trying to correct it.

“In any case, believe in me.”

Damian was determined to fulfill his responsibilities as the pope. Isabel and the other Rebecca’s Daughters struggled to reduce the casualties despite the chaos. Damian reminded himself that he was the one who should protect them and concentrated his divine power onto the Holy Sword.

Sitri’s hand, which had been threatening the archangel like it was chasing a fly, suddenly turned toward Damian. Sitri’s hand was full of dark demonic power. For those who were faithful to their instincts, the divine power of the pope was the most disgusting thing. It was natural for Damian to be the first target of the great demon when he had the ‘divinity of Rebecca.’

“H-Hajimemasite.” (Nice to meet you)

The opponent was just a hand but it felt like Damian met its eyes for some reason. Damian smiled awkwardly and waved while sweating. Then Sitri’s hand started going on a rampage. Its fingers swept the earth and it ignored the archangel and Templar as it rushed toward Damian.

“H-Hiyaaaack!”

It felt like the castle was going to collapse. Damian screamed as the red hand filled his vision and he swung the Holy Sword. Then a pillar of divine gold shot up and struck Sitri’s palm. Sitri’s hand stopped moving for the first time since its arrival. The black demonic energy that it was emitting like smoke scattered like a lie and disappeared. Of course, this was only for a moment. The movement of Sitri’s fingers resumed, and the demonic power rose once more.

At the same time, a gunshot rang out. A green bullet penetrated Sitri’s palm through the gap in demonic power that hadn’t been fully restored. This caused Sitri’s palm to shortly pause. Yura’s cry permeated Damian’s ear, “It’s okay! Keep continuing like this!”

“H-Hai!” (Yes)

The pope and the Demon Slayer—the strongest combination that didn’t exist in history started to engrave wounds on the hand of the giant great demon Sitri, who was nicknamed Demon God.

***

Storm of the Fire God was Grid’s mental world. To be exact, it was a side effect of the Red Phoenix’s mental world. However, Grid bore the Red Phoenix’s 9th Heart and he made it his own. It meant that Storm of the Fire God was a world that existed because of Grid. All the concepts that existed in it were expressed in Grid’s mental world so it was naturally Grid’s possession.

However, Beleth intercepted the infinite sword energies and used it as his weapon.

‘How is this possible?’

It didn’t make sense according to common sense. Why did he lose ownership over something in his mental world? As Grid was filled with unanswered questions, he flew and narrowly escaped the flying debris of the wall. Then he swung his sword.

Beleth’s heel aimed at Grid’s chest only to be blocked by a dark blade and bounce off. Grid blocked Beleth’s successive attacks with the God Hands and pulled back while gritting his teeth.

‘Look at this. He can’t touch the God Hands.’

The God Hands belonged to Grid—it was undeniable that they acted on their own after leaving Grid, yet Beleth didn’t use the God Hands as his weapon, so why did the infinite sword energy...

“...Ah!”

Grid’s doubts were becoming deeper, only to suddenly disappear. He recalled the events of the day when he obtained the infinite sword energy.

[The power of the Absolute is flowing into the Red Phoenix’s 9th Heart.]

[A new field effect, ‘Infinite Sword Energy,’ has been added to Storm of the Fire God.]

The system definitely stated it—the infinite sword energy in the Storm of the Fire God was the power of the Absolute. In other words, it was the power of the first seat, Hayate, not the power of Grid. Grid was only borrowing Hayate’s power for a while.

‘I see. This was why Beleth was able to use it as a weapon. Hayate, the real owner of the infinite sword energy, isn’t here...’

Grid was reminded of Beleth’s inability to touch the ‘flames’ of Storm of the Fire God.

‘In the end, I can’t use the infinite sword energy.’

So what could he use to take down such a monster? Grid was deeply troubled only for his body to gradually turn white. Finally, Lightning God triggered.

It was only possible due to the passive skill Automatic Transformation and the help of the God Hands in stopping the projectile attacks. If it wasn’t for Automatic Transformation and the God Hands, he wouldn’t have been able to attack and defend against Beleth dozens of times, and there was no possibility for Lightning God to trigger.

Grid, who had been passive during this battle, flooded toward Beleth with lightning. He had fully glimpsed Beleth’s limitations.

‘All of Beleth’s attacks are classified as physical attacks, not magic.’

Beleth had never used magic before. Unless magic flew from somewhere and was used as his weapon, the only objects that Beleth could use were the fragments of the ground and the walls. This meant he couldn’t hit Grid while Grid was in the Lightning God state.

““....!””

It was as expected—all of Beleth’s attacks that used the fragments of the city walls as weapons simply passed through Grid’s body that had turned into lightning and Grid received no damage. A flustered look appeared on Beleth’s face for the first time and it gave Grid joy.

“Divinity.”

He had to hold on for 13 minutes?

“Open Potential.”

No, he would kill this great demon. Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle, that was canceled in the previous battle, swallowed up Beleth. If the screaming Beleth hadn’t poured out black magic power, Grid would’ve won as he predicted.

“Cough...! Cough!”

The Lightning God state made Grid immune to all physical attacks, but he would take twice the damage from magic attacks without any defense or resistance. Beleth’s black magic that shot through him was truly devastating. Once Grid collapsed, he couldn’t stand up easily. Beleth slowly took a few steps to the ragged Grid who was coughing up blood.

“”You have a lot of talent for a human. Ronove and Dantalion would’ve suffered a crushing defeat if they had met you.””

There was no more anger in Beleth’s expression. A human capable of destroying great demons in the 20s—Beleth was very satisfied that he could put an end to the guy who might be as strong as Muller in the future. It happened the moment he pointed his finger at the heart of Grid, who was released from the Lightning God state...

“”...!!””

The ground that Beleth stepped on suddenly disappeared. Beleth was unprepared and disappeared deep into the ground. Grid, not missing the timing and chance, laboriously stood up, then he spat out toward the very deep pit, “This is why you should be careful with your feet.”

A skill to change the terrain—the deceptive effect of Earth God prolonged the struggle between Grid and Beleth. Now there was only one minute remaining...

The sight of the supreme, Grid, fighting against the 13th ranked great demon, alone, brought a great thrill, and many other emotions, to the world.