Compendium of Anime: Ragnarok Start, Playing as the Hero King

His heart, once closed off, opened because of them.

For a time, he lived in peace, even believing that Satan's supposed curse was nothing more than baseless rumors.

But then, on that fateful day, after a brief nap, he awoke to a scene that plunged him into despair.

His friends, so full of life just before he slept, were now nothing more than cold corpses.

The cause of their death? Their hearts had been devoured.

In other words, Satan's curse had come true, claiming the lives of his friends.

This was too much for him to bear, driving him to the brink of madness.

And so, he vowed to make Satan pay, no matter what it took.

First, however, he needed to find Satan and uncover their true identity.

Thus, on that day, the living man found himself with a singular, clear purpose: to kill Satan.

From that day forward, he dedicated all his efforts to investigating Satan.

Yet, he found no leads.

In his quest to uncover the truth behind his friends' deaths, the investigation also turned towards him.

He had expected to be met with sharp animosity, perhaps even to be killed in revenge for his friends, as he was the one cursed by Satan. After all, it was his association with them that led to their demise.

In a way, he was also a murderer, so it was only natural for them to resent him.

However, the goddess Lilith was not like that. She joined him in his investigation.

Of course, if possible, he didn't want Lilith to get close to him, fearing she too might fall victim.

But she deliberately acted as if he were also a sinner, still harboring suspicions that he was the true culprit. Under the guise of monitoring him, she joined him in his investigation.

As he delved deeper into the investigation, he did find mentions of Satan, but most of the information was meaningless.

During their time investigating together, he couldn't resist the goddess's kindness and opened his heart once more.

But it was in that very moment of opening his heart that he finally understood who Satan was.

Satan's true form was himself. When he experienced love, that impulse would ignite the destructive desires deep within his heart, causing him to lose control and kill them.

And so, in that instant of opening his heart, he personally pierced the chest of the goddess Lilith and devoured her heart.

At that moment, he truly broke down and wanted to commit suicide, but found he couldn't.

It wasn't that he feared death, but that he was genuinely incapable of taking such an action; his body seemed bound to life.

Therefore, he sought out others to kill him.

To achieve this, he fought relentlessly against others, trying to provoke them into killing him.

But he couldn't find anyone capable of ending his life, and he desired the most brutal, painful, and ugly death imaginable.

Thus, he began to set his sights on the high and mighty Sovereign.

He would enrage them, making them desperate to kill him in the most cruel way possible.

He also began to research certain things, items that would provoke the gods.

After an unknown amount of time, there was suddenly talk of a "Ragnarok" battle, which he found quite uninteresting.

Then, someone approached him, asking him to fight on behalf of a god and assist with certain matters.

The one who approached him was also the person who had been secretly supporting his research and experiments for a long time, someone who had never revealed their face.

Therefore, he truly hadn't expected that person to be that god.

And the god's objective left him utterly astonished: to destroy the entire existing Heaven and exterminate humanity.

To ensure his cooperation, they presented him with an offer he couldn't refuse.

"What will the second round of the final battle between gods and humans be like? The divine side, defeated in the first round, will dispatch this individual from Hell to wash away their humiliation in the second round—a God!"

As this unpleasant introduction echoed, the door ahead opened, and light streamed in, illuminating the darkness of the passage.

"This—"

"Could it be—"

"No way!"

The gods in the arena's spectator seats, before even seeing the figure emerging from the passage, seemed to already know who it was, reacting with great shock and tension.

The reason they knew was the symbolic pattern on the passage door, a carving of a fly.

Thus, upon learning the god's true identity, the divine spectators grew very anxious.

After all, this individual was far too dangerous, a figure of notorious infamy.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't be allowed to move freely. Yet, he was chosen to represent the gods in the Ragnarok battle.

"To deal with humanity, they're even bringing him out."

"Is this really okay?"

Some gods were still filled with dread, especially as the announcer, Heimdallr, introduced him with a sinister tone, questioning the consequences of his participation: would he devour humanity, or would he devour the gods?

This panic-stricken proclamation deepened the unease in some of the gods' hearts.

"Lord Zeus, you're letting him debut so unexpectedly?"

"Can't be helped. Since Odin said he wanted him to participate, we'll just give up a spot."

Zeus, seated in a corner of the Sovereign's section, stroked his beard.

This decision, however, drew the wrath of the Lord of Heaven, as Heaven and Hell had always been irreconcilably opposed.

Especially since the Lord of Heaven believed that it was this entity who had tempted several of his capable subordinates to fall, and had ultimately killed it.

However, what was Odin truly planning?

They called Loki the God of Trickery, but this old fellow seemed more like the God of Trickery.

"Uh, Sister, it's actually Beelzebub!"

Beelzebub, also known as the King of Flies, was the high priest of Gluttony, a mastermind of Hell, a Great Demon, a Great Demon King, and a Demon God.

So, Goll swallowed hard.

She hadn't expected the gods to let this Dark God debut. This meant that the gods, having lost the first round, wanted to retaliate fiercely and make humanity experience hellish suffering in the second round.

They had truly sent a figure symbolizing Hell to the stage.

And the human representative, having foreseen this situation, had come forward on their own to represent them in the second round.

In a sense, both sides had a connection.

Therefore, when the human representative was announced, the gods would also be exceptionally astonished.

"And the human representative is—"

Heimdallr's voice, sharp as ever, paused here. Everyone was about to be stunned by this human representative.

And when he first found out who it was, he was naturally very surprised.

It felt like a coincidence to select this person, and it might have been a divine oracle from the Lord of Heaven.

After all, the Lord of Heaven detested Hell immensely and knew Beelzebub would appear, so he leaked information to the Valkyrie, asking her to summon this person.

Chapter 068: Solomon, Unsealing Hell

Who was the human representative?

Could they withstand this cursed Dark God? Would they not be swallowed by its darkness?

"They actually let Beelzebub, the god representing sin, participate!"

"What are they thinking?"

"Does he even have the right to be here?"

Although the Lord of Heaven had not personally attended the event, people from Heaven were present.

"Silence!"

As the Vice-Lord's calm voice fell, the complaining angels fell silent.

Their gazes turned towards the exit for the human representative, wondering what kind of human would appear this time.

However, the Lord had revealed that it was highly likely to be that man who ate the forbidden fruit.

Thinking of that man, his expressionless face showed a hint of disgust.

Hmm? It didn't seem to be that man.

Because the person walking out, due to the angle from above looking down into the passage, their line of sight wasn't level with the entrance, so they'd see the person's lower body first.

The lower body of the person walking out was clothed, whereas that man was always naked.

When the upper half of his body was also revealed, his expression changed drastically.

"How could it be him?"

Could this also be the Lord's arrangement? It wasn't impossible.

"Who is this?"

Ares, the God of War among the Twelve Olympian Gods, asked with great confusion.

"I'm not sure..."

"But, I'm afraid it's someone related to that pantheon."

Loki showed a look of interest, seeing the surprised expressions on the faces of those from Heaven.

Also, Heimdallr was about to announce the person's identity.

"The human representative is—this one!"

With that, Heimdallr pointed forcefully towards the human representative. It was a handsome young man, who looked refined and gentle.

As he walked out, he also smiled and waved gently towards the audience.

"He is the one who determined and built the sacred temple for the current sacred sites related to Heaven in the human world."

This subsequent announcement caused some people on the human side and some gods, who were initially unaware, to immediately realize the identity of this representative.

"I'm sure everyone has realized his identity by now. That's right, he is King Solomon!"

This announcement caused the clamor in the venue to surge.

The deeds of this individual were widely known among humans.

There were also many fantasy stories, such as novels and movies, written about his exploits.

The most impressive of these was the story of King Solomon and the Seventy-two Pillars of Demons.

The fact that he was now summoned as a representative made the story of "King Solomon and the Seventy-two Pillars of Demons" seem even more real.

With someone of his caliber appearing as their representative, humanity could feel even more at ease.

It must be said, the representatives for both sides this time were truly interesting.

His opponent, "King of Flies" Beelzebub, was also rumored to have originally been a powerful angel of the Lord of Heaven, who later fell and became a Demon, successively killing several Archangels and the goddess Lilith.

Afterward, he became the Great Demon King of Hell, commanding demons and opposing Heaven.

Then, on humanity's side, King Solomon was also rumored to be called the Son of God, possibly possessing special powers like Adam.

It was truly exciting to see these two about to clash on this arena.

"According to the book 'The Key of Solomon,' King Solomon was a magician who mastered magic. Is that the truth?"

Heimdallr had also seen this book; it was a Western esoteric work from the Renaissance period of the 14th to 15th centuries.

Of course, King Solomon had long since disappeared from history by this period.

Therefore, this book of summoning rules and incantations was certainly not written by King Solomon, but rather by sorcerers of the Middle Ages.

As for the incantations within, they were all jumbled and fake.

Those so-called sorcerers were actually nothing more than charlatans.

It was just that during that era, these individuals possessed more knowledge than ordinary people and could deceive them through scientific means or illusions that tricked the eye, making people believe they were true sorcerers.