—Heavenly Realm, Ares Palace, Goting Room
Inside the Goting Room, the administrative office within Ares Palace, angels were scurrying about frantically, overwhelmed by the rush to gather information. In fact, it was not merely the Goting Room. The entirety of Ares Palace had been plunged into utter chaos.
The palace had momentarily panicked upon receiving word that the Rot King—the most wicked of evil gods, who had been sealed away in an ancient ruin of Ares's managed world, Lemuria—had revived.
Though warped and perverse, the Rot King was a being who possessed true divinity. On top of that, he commanded formidable power. Slaying him was an impossible task even for Hero Mashiro, on whom Ares pinned great hopes, or Cardinal Pandora of the Central Church. After all, the Rot King was an entity virtually bordering on immortality. Subjugating him demanded sheer force potent enough to exterminate him down to the last trace. Indeed, even Ares himself in the distant past had been unable to annihilate the creature entirely, having had no choice but to settle for sealing him away.
Now that the seal was broken, an all-out war against the Rot King was practically inevitable. His Undying Army was fearsomely strong. Ares's own forces would inevitably suffer catastrophic casualties.
"What has become of the Rot King's Undying Army?"
Knowing that devious wretch, he had likely already engulfed the surrounding Babel and brought it under his iron grip. He possessed an especially foul ability: afflicting victims with a curse that warped them into immortal abominations bound to his will. If left unchecked, the devastation wrought upon the Human Realm would defy imagination.
"W-Well, the thing is..."
The subordinate angel hesitated, wearing a look of sheer bewilderment, as if the words themselves made no sense.
"What is it?" Ares pressed, his brow furrowing.
"It appears the Rot King's Undying Army has been completely wiped out. Furthermore, not a single trace of the Rot King remains."
The angel spoke absolute nonsense that defied belief.
"What? What did you just say?" Ares asked, demanding clarification in spite of himself.
"A dome of black mist enveloped the area, and shortly after it cleared, not only the Rot King and his Undying Army, but the entire temple containing the seal was completely erased, leaving behind nothing but a barren wasteland."
Though clearly shaken, the angel affirmed it with absolute conviction.
"Nonsense! That temple was crafted by Lord Hermes himself!"
Indeed. That temple was an extraordinary sanctuary forged by the god Hermes—a figure of the highest echelon among the deities with whom Ares had long-standing ties. Brute force from a beast of the Rot King's caliber should not have budged it an inch. The seal could only have been broken if someone had performed a specific ritual and met the necessary conditions.
"It is the truth, my lord. The site of the temple is completely cleared. Not even a single blade of grass remains."
"That is impossible!"
"Please, see for yourself."
Speaking with grim certainty, the angel projected an image within the office, displaying the ruins of the seal in Area 5 of the "Dead City of Flowers" in Lemuria's Babel.
"No... How can this be...?"
The area had literally been carved out into a massive, spherical expanse of barren dirt. Far from a ruin, not a single structure remained. In the exact center, a solitary large wooden table stood completely deserted, looking utterly forsaken.
"What in the world is happening?"
He questioned himself, but found no plausible explanation. The only certainty was that the sealing structure was Lord Hermes's personal creation. Even among the denizens of the Heavenly Realm, those capable of scratching it were few and far between. For mere mortals of the lower realm, it should have been completely out of the question. Did that mean someone down in the lower realm had eradicated the ruins alongside the Rot King? But for a lower-realm being to pull off something so preposterous was—
Just as his thoughts threatened to lose themselves in a labyrinth—
"Lord Corinth requests an immediate audience!"
A gatekeeper angel rushed into the Goting Room, dropping to one knee before Ares to deliver the report.
"We are in the middle of a crisis! Can it not wait until later?"
Irritation bled into Ares's voice despite his best efforts.
Did this guard fail to grasp the gravity of the emergency? Lemuria, the world under his divine management, was facing an unprecedented catastrophe!
"I told him as much, but—"
Just as the guard stammered his reply—
"S-Stop, Lord Corinth! We are under emergency orders—!"
From beyond the corridor, the frantic shouts of several guards attempting to restrain someone drew near.
The heavy doors swung violently open, and a muscular man with golden hair—closely shaved everywhere except the very crown of his head—strode brazenly into the Goting Room.
It was the middle-ranking angel Corinth. His primary duty had been acting as a mediator for the Central Church. Specifically, he had been tasked with delivering divine oracles regarding the awakening of Gifts among the human race and monitoring Gift Holders deemed excessively dangerous to the lower realm. Recently, however, his conduct had crossed the line—such as instructing the Central Church to mistreat certain Gift Holders—prompting Ares to issue him a severe reprimand only recently.
Corinth had likely come to lodge a bitter protest over that very matter.
Even so, while Corinth had certainly displayed excessive zeal in the past, he had never been one to discard basic reverence toward a god.
"Corinth, I am indisposed at the moment. If you wish to protest, I will hear you out later, so for now—"
"A proootessst...?!"
Corinth suddenly burst into a high, eerie cackle.
"What is so amusing?" Ares asked, scowling deeply. Yet Corinth offered no answer, merely laughing like a madman. His bizarre behavior sent an uneasy murmur rippling through the gathered angels.
Then, abruptly cutting off his laughter, Corinth unwrapped the bundle of cloth tucked beneath his right arm.
"—?!"
Inside was the severed head of a human monk with a shaved scalp.
"Beelzebub-de-boo♪ Beelzebub-de-boo♪
Boo-boo, boo-boo, babu-babu♬"
The severed monk's head snapped its eyes wide open, humming a bizarre tune, while Corinth broke into an unsettling, jerky dance.
—Squelch! Crack! Crunch!
The sickening sounds of Corinth's bones splintering and flesh tearing echoed through the Goting Room.
Stunned by the grotesque spectacle, Ares froze for a moment before snapping back to his senses.
"Stop this, Corinth! Men, restrain him at once!!"
Breaking into action, Ares screamed to halt the mad display. Angels rushed to tackle Corinth, only to be blasted backward with monstrous force. And through it all, the dance of death went on.
"Beelzebub-de-boo♪ Beelzebub-de-boo♪ Boo-boo-de-babu-de-boo♩
Maggoty and reeking foul, the fly of all flies, the King of Flies♬ That's Babu♫"
Corinth's body had been mangled beyond recognition, warping into the grotesque silhouette of an enormous fly.
"This is an attack from a rival deity! It's already too late for him! Get away from Corinth!"
The instant Ares barked the order, the thing that had once been Corinth froze stiff.
"Our Great One is suuuper, uuuuber-displeased, yes he is. Therefore, punishment has been dealt to those deeply involved in this matter, yes it has."
It spoke with chilling, mocking solemnity before suddenly going slack. Then—
"This is the final ultimatum from the Supreme Great One, yes it is."
Spitting out those lifeless words, the creature that had once been Corinth unleashed a deafening roar that shook the very air. Lunging toward a nearby guard, it pinned the angel down with four thrashing arms. Then, hideous tentacles lashed out from its maw.
"Eeeek—gck...!"
With his head impaled by the tentacles, the guard convulsed violently before suddenly snapping bolt upright and joining in the grotesque dance.
"Kill them both immediately!"
At Ares's frantic, high-pitched command, the full military might of Ares Palace mobilized to purge the invading monstrosity.
"It's no use! We can't hold them back!"
The Goting Room was rapidly being overrun by the steadily multiplying fly abominations.
"Hold the line!" Ares roared, brooking no argument from his panicked subordinates.
If this contagion spread throughout the palace, catastrophic devastation would befall Ares's divine people. If the worst came to pass, the entire palace would be reduced to an abhorrent breeding ground for flies.
(I will never allow that to happen!)
A god who could not shield his own divine people from evil was no god at all. It would mean Ares's total, unmitigated defeat. He had to extinguish the threat right here and now.
Undoubtedly, the monstrous fly at the center—the creature that had once been Corinth—was the core. Slaying it would bring an end to this waking nightmare. It had to.
Lunging forward at full speed, Ares brought the Divine Sword Arata crashing down with all the strength in his body, only for the blow to be effortlessly swatted aside by the creature's scythe-like right arm.
(T-This is the Divine Sword Arata! Why won't it cut?!)
He questioned his senses, but found no rational answer. Naturally so. The Divine Sword Arata was a blade forged by Lord Hermes himself—a holy relic embodying divine miracles, revered as an absolute masterpiece even within the Heavenly Realm. For it to be deflected so easily was sheer impossibility. Yet here it was, happening right before his eyes—
Amid the dizzying storm of his thoughts—
"Guh!"
A savage kick caught Ares square in the gut, hurling him across the hall to slam into the wall, gouging out a massive crater upon impact.
Grimacing at an agonizing pain that felt as if his entire body were being torn apart—a sensation he had never experienced in all his existence—Ares dragged himself back to his feet. If he fell here, everything would be lost. He had to prevail, no matter what.
Leveling the trembling tip of Arata toward the creature that had once been Corinth, Ares kicked hard off the stone floor, throwing himself headlong into a battle where defeat seemed all but certain.
He was battered from head to toe. There was not a single inch of Ares's body left unmarred by wounds. Yet, carried solely by his pride and sacred duty, he braced himself upon Arata and rose once more.
Curiously, the horde of fly abominations had ceased attacking the surviving angels moments ago. Instead, they stood in a wide circle, quietly observing Ares and the creature that had been Corinth.
"I will not fall! For upon these shoulders rests the eternal peace of my divine people!"
Bellowing with the last shreds of his remaining strength, Ares leveled the tip of Arata at Corinth. In that instant, the surrounding flies gathered beside Corinth, falling into neat rows, and broke into a flawlessly synchronized dance.
"Babu-babu~♪ Boo-boo♪ Beelzebub-de-boo♬"
They hummed the bizarre tune in unison as they danced. Striking an absurd pose,
"Sanction COMPLEEEEETEEEE!"
As the creature that was once Corinth shrieked those words, its body twisted and contorted far past the breaking point—
—Pfoosh.
It burst apart, scattering into fine dust.
"Is it... over?"
As if the taut thread holding him together had snapped, the strength bled from his legs, and Ares collapsed hard onto his rear, whispering the words. Looking around and confirming that not a single one of those vile creatures remained, his consciousness was steadily swallowed by a dense, suffocating fog.
When his eyes fluttered open, he found himself in the infirmary of Ares Palace.
A familiar elderly deity stood beside him, looking down with a solemn, heavy expression.
"Lord Deus...?"
This elder god was Chief God Deus—the King of Gods, universally acknowledged as the absolute strongest in the Heavenly Realm. Normally, he was an exalted being far beyond reach, someone with whom an ordinary audience was entirely out of the question. The sole reason Lord Deus had personally visited Ares Palace—the domain of someone who had only recently ascended to higher god status—was that Ares was his grandson.
"Ares. What happened here?"
At Lord Deus's question,
"What... happened...?!"
The nightmarish horror instantly flooded back into his mind with terrifying clarity. Ares tumbled out of the bed, dropping to his hands and knees on the floor as he violently retched again and again.
Grief over failing to save his loyal angels, bitter despair at his own pathetic powerlessness, and the raw, humiliating terror he had felt before the enemy overwhelmed him. Clawing frantically at his own throat with both hands, Ares wept bitter tears.
Only when the tempest of wild emotions finally subsided did clarity return to Ares's mind. Slowly, he began recounting the entire chain of events to Lord Deus.
"A fly monster, you say...? Surely not. No... that is impossible. That fiend should still be sealed away in that lunatic dungeon. Above all, a lump of pure arrogance like him would never deign to utter the words 'Supreme Great One.'"
Lord Deus shook his head repeatedly, muttering under his breath.
"Lord Deus?"
"Aye, fret not. That adversary is far too heavy a burden for you to bear. We shall take over from here. Remove yourself from this affair."
Lord Deus patted Ares on the back and strode out of the room.
"Remove myself...?"
Ares repeated the words, but all that escaped his lips was a dry, hollow laugh.
"As if I could! No, of course I cannot! I will—without fail—avenge my subordinates who were slaughtered like vermin!"
Clenching both fists until his knuckles turned white, Ares screamed into the empty room with all the breath left in his lungs.