Plop. My vision was plunged into total darkness.
Mud clung to my entire body, pinning me in place. I see. So this was the "true power" he had spoken of.
Anyone trapped in this space would lose all sense of direction, their body eroded and consumed. Between the massive area of effect and the sheer Magic Density, it would be an impossible situation for any ordinary opponent.
Of course, I was the exception.
"Spatial System Magic: Void."
I opened countless spatial apertures throughout the area, sucking the mud away in an instant. A deafening roar echoed as the void went to work.
Well, well, that was some impressive suction. The spatial holes continued to swallow the mud until the darkness cleared like a receding tide.
"Hah! Trying to take Master Lloyd down with a little mud? He's a hundred years too early for that!" Grimo crowed.
"However... the surroundings have changed considerably," Jiriel noted.
Looking around, I saw the sky had been dyed a deep crimson. Black mist drifted through the air—likely the remnants of the mud I hadn't managed to suck away. The ground beneath my feet was stained black, clinging to my boots like thick tar.
"It truly looks as if the gates of Hell have opened..."
"Oh, look. The Holy King is down over there."
The mud-covered Holy King was sprawled on the ground some distance away. Right, I’d almost forgotten he was here. I supposed it was a testament to his strength that he’d survived being swallowed by that mud at all.
"Hey, you still alive?"
"Ugh..."
With a groan, the Holy King pushed himself up into a sitting position. He looked utterly drained, but he was still breathing.
"I wonder what happened to God, though?" Grimo asked.
"Perhaps he was swallowed by 'Void' and vanished?" Jiriel suggested. "No matter how powerful a Magic Body may be, being cast into another dimension is usually the end."
That felt wrong. I could still feel the presence from before. At first, I thought it was just the residual mana in the mud on the floor, but that was fading. Meanwhile, a different presence was gathering elsewhere. It was heading right for—
"!?"
A pitch-black spear shot out of the Holy King's mouth.
Clang! A heavy impact rattled my skull as the spear pierced my forehead.
"Master Lloyd!?"
Sent flying, I flipped mid-air and drove my feet into the ground to brace myself. The surface shattered under the force, and while my buried legs acted as brakes, I was still pushed back dozens of meters.
"Are you alright!?"
"...Yeah. It stung a little, though," I replied, rubbing my tingling forehead.
The Holy King—or whatever he was—slowly stood up, his lips twisting into a smirk. His eyes and the inside of his mouth were pitch black, filled with that same mud. His smile and his general aura were identical to the opponent I had been facing until a moment ago: God.
"Hmph. To think you could take that blow and remain so unfazed. I suppose I truly couldn't win using that old man's body."
"...I see. So that's your true form. I finally get it, 'God.' Or should I call you Glatony, the Demon King of Gluttony?"
His ungodly behavior, the demonic aura I'd sensed here and there, and finally, this power to merge with the bodies of others... by this point, even I was sharp enough to put the pieces together.
Glatony, the Demon King of Gluttony. Born a weakling in the Demon World, he had risen to the rank of Demon King through sheer meticulousness and cowardice. Legend said he had caught the eye of God and invaded the Celestial Realm, only to be defeated, after which the heavens rained down the countless Majin and demons he had absorbed.
But that wasn't what had happened. Glatony had killed God, faked his own death, and scattered his absorbed subordinates as camouflage. Then, he had taken God's place and reigned here ever since.
"Hmph, so it was true," Beal’s voice echoed within me. "I sensed a powerful demonic aura from that mud. That attack wasn't meant for Lloyd; it was meant to absorb the Holy King. That is why he summoned the boy here."
In other words, that was the "true power" he’d mentioned. The true essence of the Demon King of Gluttony—absorbing others to claim their strength.
"Heh heh heh... ha ha ha ha! Exactly! I am Glatony, the Demon King of Gluttony. I should praise you for guessing correctly, but seeing my successor in such a state, perhaps I should scold him instead."
God—or rather, Glatony—wore a taunting smirk.
"Impossible... God was... a Demon King...?" Jiriel stammered. "I cannot believe it...!"
"Makes sense to me, though," Grimo muttered. "Explains how everything adds up. He did a hell of a job staying hidden."
"Kuku... I shall tell you as a gift for your trip to the afterlife. When I invaded the Celestial Realm, I cut my way through the Angels to reach God. He was a more difficult opponent than I’d imagined, possessing the power to undo fusions. I struggled for a time... but the man was far softer than I expected. When I used the Angels I’d captured as 'shields,' he stopped resisting immediately. I killed God on the condition that I would spare the Angels' lives."
"...That’s unexpected," I said. "I would have thought someone like you would have just slaughtered the Angels too."
"Heh, you understand nothing. I can kill them whenever I wish. Isn't it far more useful to replace God and bring them under my command instead?" Glatony let out a muffled laugh. "By the way, the current Sixty-four Gods of the Celestial Realm are all high-ranking demons under my command. Half of the original gods remained at first, but they were all surprisingly competent. They noticed the truth, so I had to erase them immediately. I would have kept them as pets if they’d stayed ignorant, but they went out of their way to seek their own deaths. How foolish. Kukuku."
"How could this be... We have been serving Glatony all this time...!" Jiriel gnashed his teeth. It was no wonder he was so shocked; his entire world had been ruled by Demon Kings.
"Once I secured the throne, I established the Holy King System to exploit humanity," Glatony continued. "By pre-selecting those with high compatibility for my Magic Body and making them Apostles, I ensured I would always have a spare vessel ready for fusion."
As a Magic Body, a demon can enter a human body and claim it. The Holy King was just a vessel.
"The stronger the human, the more power you get after taking them over, but synchronization takes years. So he uses the Holy King for that. He’s really thought this through," Grimo noted.
"By having the Holy King accept his mana through divine orders, he makes the synchronization even easier...!" Jiriel gasped.
Indeed, his mana was surging to a degree that couldn't even be compared to before. The torrent of power was so overwhelming that I felt like I might be blown away just by standing there.
"Kukuku... power is overflowing within me! This man possessed the greatest strength of all the historical Holy Kings, but he was a spineless pacifist who couldn't use his innate power properly. But that ends now. I shall wield this power to its absolute limit!"
Glatony snapped his eyes open. In an instant, my vision turned black.
Boom! The sound of the explosion reached my ears a second later.
"Hey, you alright, Lloyd!?" Beal called out.
"Ow, ow... yeah, my arms just sting a bit."
Still, to think he could pierce my Magic Barrier and inflict actual damage... That was a terrifying amount of power for a simple Magic Strike without a Spell Formula.
With incredible speed and power, Glatony unleashed black flashes of light over a massive area. He manifested a black cross in his hand and lunged at me.
"Hahaha! My output is still rising!"
I caught the descending cross with both palms. Thud! The ground shattered beneath me as I braced for the impact.
"Let's see how long you can endure!"
A barrage of follow-up attacks rained down on me while I was pinned. Rat-tat-tat-tat! The strikes fell like a torrential downpour.
"Every single blow is so heavy! This is Glatony at his true power!?" Grimo shouted.
"He's on a different level than before... much stronger than Beal!" Jiriel added. "He truly deserves his reputation as the strongest Demon King!"
In that case, I could finally cut loose too. I nimbly slipped out of the barrage and launched a counter-attack.
"Holy Magic: Ultimate Holy Light."
The flash emitted from my fingertips detonated—but Glatony charged straight through the explosion, appearing completely unbothered.
I see. So my Holy Magic was ineffective. Glatony's own mana was powerful, but since he was using the Holy King's body, the natural weakness of demons to Holy Magic was being mitigated. By reigning as God, he avoided natural enemies, and by fusing with humans, he eliminated his weaknesses. This meticulousness was likely his greatest strength.
"...I see. You have no obvious weaknesses."
"Exactly! A Demon King with the power of God—I am the invincible existence of this world!"
The cross in his hand grew to a massive size. Cloaked in pitch-black mana, he swung it down toward me.
"Now, perish!"
Boom! The earth split into a cross-shaped crater, and a cloud of explosive smoke billowed up. Glatony stared into the deep fissure, the bottom of which was no longer visible.
"...I only told you my secrets so that I could back myself into a corner and ensure your death. Through resolve and covenants, my mana is amplified. It is the ultimate brute force. I am meticulous, after all. I went all out from the start to ensure you were destroyed. No matter who you are, you could not have survived that."
As Glatony turned to walk away, I called out to him from above.
"I see. Boosting your mana by cornering yourself with strong will—resolve and covenants. That does have great compatibility with a Magic Body."
Methods of increasing magic's effectiveness using strong emotions like love, courage, jealousy, or hatred existed. However, emotions were difficult to control, and since magic required a calm mind to manipulate Spell Formulas, they weren't always practical. It was fine for a final desperate strike, but difficult to use consistently.
For a Magic Body, however, emotions could be channeled directly into the form, and the heat of battle made it easier to maintain that tension. It was a perfect match.
"Wh—!?"
But there was a drawback: getting too heated meant losing sight of your surroundings.
Lying at the stunned Glatony's feet was my empty shell. I had used Spatial Transfer to move, leaving only the outer layer of my Magic Body behind. If he’d been calm, he would have noticed.
"Normally, you'd notice the lack of resistance when you hit a decoy..." Jiriel remarked.
"To think that shell alone endured such a fierce assault... just how tough is Master Lloyd!?" Grimo added.
What were they talking about? That was barely the beginning. I flicked my index finger upward, and Glatony was lifted into the air.
"Whoa!?"
"Punching things while fueled by emotion isn't bad, but you should be able to produce that level of output while staying calm. Like this."
I snapped my fingers—Smack!—and Glatony was sent flying. He slammed into the ground, the impact creating a massive fissure.
"An attack equal to Glatony's best... and you didn't even use magic!?" Beal exclaimed. "What on earth did you do, Lloyd!?"
"It's just a physical phenomenon."
Wrapped around my fingertips were transparent threads—my Magic Body stretched thin and bundled together. I had plucked and released them like a bowstring, striking Glatony. It was all about tension. There were plenty of ways to generate massive force with less effort without having to rely on emotions.
For example... I tugged the threads to pull Glatony out of the pit and began spinning him around. Utilizing centrifugal force, I rotated him at high speed before striking him with a Radiant Armament: Great Hammer manifested in my other hand. No matter his resistance to Holy Magic, a physical collision of that magnitude would still hurt.
Crunch. A sickening sound echoed as Glatony's movements stopped.
"I’m not done. Ki Fang: Whirl."
The unleashed fangs of Ki pierced through Glatony in a spiral. Utilizing my Magic Body to condense the Ki to over ten times its usual density, the attack didn't lose momentum. It carried Glatony away before exploding in the distance.
"Gwaaaaaaaah!?"
"And there you have it. Fighting with your emotions is fine for a short burst, but it narrows your perspective. You get tripped up in unexpected ways and handled far too easily."
Besides, if you lose your composure, you can't analyze anything. Even while speaking, I kept my right hand raised to generate more of my Magic Body. I fashioned five staves—Magic Amplification Devices—and bundled them together. The one I used earlier had broken after just one shot, but with five, I should be able to fire off something like High Magic.
Fire System High Magic: Scorching Flame Fang.
The moment it activated, my vision was dyed red. All five staves shattered instantly as the flames consumed everything.
"Hot! Hot, hot! Turn down the heat, Master Lloyd! We're gonna get toasted too!"
"The range is too wide! Everything is a sea of fire!"
"Whoops. I might have overdone it."
Hmm. Even without any special tricks, the power was absurd. As I thought, staves were problematic. The output was too high, making them hard to use. I summoned a heavy downpour with Water System Magic to douse the flames.
As the black smoke cleared, a shadow began to stir.
"Pant... pant... pant..."
Glatony stood up, gasping for breath. Parts of his body were charred, but his Magic Body was mostly intact. Mentally, however, he looked completely shaken.
"You've... certainly enjoyed yourself... but I still have plenty of strength left! The battle is just beginning! That was a massive attack, but even you must be exhausted after using so much mana—"
Glatony trailed off, his eyes widening in horror. He looked up at the massive amount of magic I had generated using Standby Spell Formulas, all reinforced by staves and floating around me. He went silent.
"Don't worry. That was just a warm-up. I still have plenty of energy left. ...Oh, right, it’s your turn next. Go ahead. Come at me for real this time."
"Im... impossible...! That wasn't your full power...?"
I didn't know why he was so surprised. Of course it wasn't. I'd only used basic magic so far.
"Unbelievable... this can't be happening...!"
"What's the matter? Hurry up and show me your true power. Not something pathetic fueled by emotion, but something more creative!"
Beal answered my question in a somber voice. "...Lloyd, that was undoubtedly his full power. Do not forget that you have become far too strong through your fusion with me."
"Wait, really?"
I looked at Glatony. He was grimacing. It appeared that truly had been his best.
In that case... I looked down at him with a cold gaze and let out a sigh.
"Sigh... good grief. It seems I'd get more out of talking to the Holy King than fighting you. Hey, can't you switch back now?"
"...! Y-You bastard...!"
Glatony's face twisted with rage as he gnashed his teeth.