The Dangers of a Direct Link to the Origin of the Universe / You Could Call It a War Between Hells

"Hm? What's this?"

Something changed on the field. A Magic Array appeared beneath the Seventy-two Pillars of Demons. It looked identical to the array King Solomon had just used, but upon closer inspection, there were differences.

Did this Magic Array seem to be trying to pull the Seventy-two Pillars of Demons away?

Could it be that King Solomon could no longer sustain the summoning?

"This is also a summoning."

Odin, who was fairly proficient in such techniques, immediately analyzed it.

Someone else was summoning the Seventy-two Pillars of Demons, intending to take them away.

Who could it be? Berial, the Demon King of Hell?

No, it was not him. It was that one from Heaven.

"Hehe, this is getting interesting."

Zeus laughed as well.

King Solomon had once been called that one's divine child. He should have held that one in considerable reverence...

Yet now, there was no such attitude in King Solomon's eyes. Only indifference.

Oh?

King Solomon released even more magic power, layering another Magic Array over the first. Was he competing for the Seventy-two Pillars of Demons?

The capacity of a mere human should have been wholly insufficient to support such immense energy. What secret was he hiding?

Crack!

The two overlapping Magic Arrays shattered as though two panes of glass had been pressed against one another. The Seventy-two Pillars of Demons remained on the arena platform.

In other words, the Main God?

"This is—!!!"

Odin, the supreme god of the Norse pantheon, seemed to realize something and abruptly rose to his feet.

"What is it, Master?"

"What happened, Master?"

The crows on his shoulders lost their footing when he stood so suddenly, falling as they hurriedly flapped their wings and asked.

What had happened to make their master reveal such a shaken expression?

"This guy... he's completely insane!!!"

Odin spoke again, disbelief in his voice.

He had seen where this human's seemingly inexhaustible magic power came from. It could indeed be called infinite magic power.

The reason he could see it was because he had once traded one eye for a sip from the Well of Wisdom, allowing him to immediately understand what was happening—and how insane this human was.

Even without drinking from the Well of Wisdom, though, anyone who watched for a while could discover the source of his power.

This human—King Solomon—drew his seemingly endless magic power from the root of all things in the universe, from the Cosmic Origin.

But when the gods used their power, did they not often come into contact with such power as well?

But this was different!

Aside from their own power, the gods could indeed draw upon such energy, but it was energy that had leaked throughout the universe over countless years. They did not recklessly draw directly from the Root, or they could easily be corrupted and devoured.

But this man was directly drawing from the source. He had opened a hole in his own body and connected it there.

He was utterly mad!

It was something even the gods did not dare do!

The dangers of directly connecting to the Cosmic Origin

He had opened a hole in his body and connected it to the source, directly drawing power from there.

This unprecedented madness made even Odin feel a chill toward the man who appeared so refined and gentle.

What consequences would such an act bring?

It was like a water tank with a faucet at the bottom. Open it, and water would flow out.

The pressure of the water flowing from the faucet was related to the tank itself and the amount of water within it.

If the tank's capacity remained unchanged, then the higher the water level and the greater the amount of water, the greater the pressure when the faucet was opened.

And if the tank were enlarged and filled with water while the faucet remained the same size, then the water pressure would become even greater after it was opened.

However, such a situation had its limits.

The faucet might not withstand excessive water pressure and would break.

It was like a dam already filled to capacity, with water leaking through a crack. Eventually, the crack could no longer bear the pressure and would be forced apart, torn wide open.

Directly connecting to the spring of All Creation and opening a hole in one's own body to conveniently use inexhaustible power carried precisely such a danger.

It would erode the opening and enlarge it, increasing the pressure of what leaked out. One slight mistake, and it would be like a dam suddenly bursting—this person would be directly devoured.

That was why Odin had been so shocked by King Solomon's actions.

Of course, even if he did not immediately collapse, and could use the Root's power without limit in the meantime, that did not make him invincible.

The limitations of his human vessel remained unchanged. He could not instantly release enough power to kill a Main God in one blow.

If he tried to unleash that much power at once, the resulting energy pressure would burst his vessel apart first and destroy him.

Still, even if he could not instantly release enough power to kill a Main God, this level of output was enough to rival one.

And not an ordinary Main God at that. Even Odin found King Solomon unfathomable, feeling that he himself might not be confident of defeating him.

"This is—!!!"

"Lord Zeus, have you figured something out?"

Hermes asked with a deep frown.

After noticing Odin's reaction, Lord Zeus had also fixed his gaze on King Solomon in the arena. Then, as though he too had understood something, he rose in shock just like Odin.

"Keep watching. You'll figure it out. This human is truly extraordinary, daring to commit an act of madness that even the gods would not attempt."

Zeus spoke in profound amazement before slowly sitting back down.

This match looked as though it would be even more interesting than the first.

And Beelzebub on the other side was clearly hiding some kind of trump card. Otherwise, he would not have remained so calm while surrounded by the Seventy-two Pillars of Demons.

"Then, what do you all think now? Does King Solomon have the right to command the Seventy-two Pillars of Demons?"

Zeus's voice was not loud, yet it reached every person's ears clearly.

Thus, the gods who had been full of objections just moments ago now stammered awkwardly, while others simply fell silent.

"Then let The Final Battle Between Humans and Gods continue."

After saying that, Zeus let out a laugh that sent chills down everyone's spine.

It did not sound like the laugh of a god at all. It sounded more like the eerie cackle of something from Hell.

As that laughter rang out, the magic power that had covered the entire arena drew back and vanished.

On the arena platform, after Zeus declared the duel legitimate, the Seventy-two Pillars of Demons surrounding Beelzebub, the King of Flies, all radiated murderous intent. They could no longer restrain their urge to tear Beelzebub apart in an instant.

No, killing him instantly would be letting him off too easily. They would make him properly experience cruelty and pain.

They would gouge out his eyes first. Baal extended his sharp claws, intending to tear out his eyeballs.

Beelzebub remained perfectly calm. He merely lightly tapped the staff in his hand, which was embedded with what looked like a crystal ball.

In an instant, Baal's hand, which was about to plunge into Beelzebub's eyes, twisted unnaturally.

It was as though he had struck an indestructible wall. The rebounding force snapped his hand, while the impact sent him flying backward dozens of meters.

The pupils of the others contracted. Those who had not attacked were also flung away in an instant.

"W-What happened?"

"The Seventy-two Pillars of Demons were all blown away?"

"Seventy-two people can't defeat one person?"

The gods began making sarcastic remarks again.

But even more of them were puzzled. How had Beelzebub managed to send all Seventy-two Pillars of Demons flying?

Looking more closely, countless cracks radiated across the ground with Beelzebub at the center.

Each crack corresponded to one demon god?

"Sister Brunhilde, what was that? I couldn't sense Beelzebub releasing any magic attack at all."

Goll asked blankly.

"It wasn't magic. It was purely physical vibration!"

Brunhilde answered in a low voice.

She had not expected Beelzebub to be capable of this, much less to control it with such precision.

Suddenly, Beelzebub on the field finally launched a true attack.

After knocking away the Seventy-two Pillars of Demons, he leaped toward King Solomon.

He was so fast that it seemed like spatial movement. In an instant, he arrived before King Solomon and struck with a hand blade.

King Solomon seemed unable to react, foolishly allowing the hand blade to chop down upon his head—until it struck the ground.

Only after the hand blade hit the ground did everyone realize how terrifying that strike was.

The solid ground was cut into as easily as tofu by that hand blade.

If it had struck a person, it would likely have torn them in two.

"Huh?"

"What's going on?"

"His hand should have been able to reach King Solomon."

"Why couldn't he hit him? It's like he misjudged the distance."

Everyone was shocked and confused.

They had clearly seen that Beelzebub's descending hand could reach him, yet just as it was about to strike, it somehow could not.

It seemed as though Beelzebub's arm had shortened, but visually, nothing had changed.

Having missed his attack, Beelzebub hurriedly leaped backward. Yet something strange happened again.

Everyone had clearly seen Beelzebub jump back some distance, but when he landed, he was still in his original position, as though he had been moved through space.

But if it had been spatial movement, there should have been the kind of frame-skipping effect seen in a recorded image. Instead, the scene looked completely natural.

Thus, Beelzebub landed in his original position in a half-kneeling stance. When he saw King Solomon extend a hand toward him, he fiercely swung his staff at him.

Bang—!

Beelzebub was instantly blasted away like a cannonball, crashing into the wall at the edge of the arena platform.

Most people could not understand what they had just witnessed.

Beelzebub had clearly swung his staff with all his might. He should have sent King Solomon flying, yet he himself had been rebounded away instead.

It was just like what had happened to the demon god Baal earlier.

"I see. You altered the extensibility of space."

Beelzebub said this as he staggered to his feet.

He had immediately seen through King Solomon's magic.

The so-called extensibility of space was the change in space caused by Solomon's magic.