Even now, Ose felt no pressure whatsoever from the black-haired youth gazing at him with an audacious smirk. There was no doubt he was a mere minnow. That should have been the case, yet Ose's feral instincts were screaming at him to flee the area at top speed.
"Is that an assassin from the Heavenly Army?"
When one of his aides raised a puzzled voice, furrowing his brow, another scoffed:
"Don't be ridiculous! I've never seen anyone look so thoroughly weak!"
"Indeed. I don't feel even an insect's worth of power from him. Most likely, he's just a local who unfortunately strayed onto the battlefield."
That was right. After another look, it was just as his aides said: no matter how one sliced it, he was merely small fry. A completely insignificant existence. Rather than fretting over such trivialities, surviving this blunder was the top priority.
"Hurry up and exterminate that insect. You stand in Lord Ose's presence!"
As Ose's aide shouted in irritation, an evil god from Ose's Royal Guard—who had been standing rigidly at attention behind them, his eyes sewn shut and his gums bared—contorted his face into a hideous sneer. He bowed to Ose and declared:
"Lord Ose, might I have permission to mince this thing into meat and feed it to my pet?"
(—!?)
Suddenly, a chill ran down Ose's spine as if a thin blade had stroked his back. His entire body seized up, and he scanned his surroundings, but he couldn't spot a soul other than the black-haired brat.
(Am I... cowering before such a low-life worm?!)
Humiliation surged within him at the realization.
"I don't care. Do as you please!"
Raising his voice harshly, Ose barked the order to dispose of the black-haired brat.
"Much obliged."
As if savoring the black-haired brat's terror, the gum-baring evil god slowly stalked forward, cracking his knuckles.
"You crawling worm. I shall grant you the honor of becoming food for my pet."
He made the declaration, his face flushed with sadistic pleasure.
"Oh? And then?"
"Ears, nose, fingers... I will dismantle your body piece by piece. Of course, you are more than welcome to scream. Your pathetic, weeping, shrieking form is my greatest delight, after all!"
Pointing his index finger at various parts of the youth's body, he spat out words of pure cruelty.
"Is that so."
As before, the black-haired brat responded with complete indifference. Every single one of his gestures was so majestic and imposing that one could hardly believe he was a lowly creature, showing not a shred of fear toward Ose or his men.
"You... are you not afraid of me?"
The gum-baring evil god glared at the black-haired brat with his sewn-shut eyes as if to pin him down, his voice laced with venom.
"I'm afraid not."
To the black-haired brat who replied instantly with a shrug, the evil god clenched both fists in fury.
"You do not fear a god?! Good grief, this is why I loathe inferior creatures! You are weak, yet so hopelessly dense! Your very existence is incorrigible!"
"I return those exact words right back to you."
The black-haired brat replied, casting a glance at the gum-baring evil god as if looking at a pitiable creature.
At that consistently condescending attitude, thick blue veins bulged across the forehead of the evil god with the sewn-up eyes.
"I intended to make you food for my pet, but I've changed my mind! I won't kill you! For all eternity, I will use every conceivable method to inflict agony upon you while keeping you alive! And not just you! But everything you seek to protect!"
He screamed at the top of his lungs, shaking the very air. In that instant—
"Huh!?"
The space behind him warped. A gigantic black right hand reached out, seized the gum-baring evil god by the head, and hoisted him high into the air.
"You dare call our Supreme Great One livestock, you fooooool?! And furthermore, to subject him to a-a-agony of all things...?! You bastards, can you forgive this high treason?!"
The monster cloaked from head to toe in thick black mist merely swept his gaze around the area and roared into the sky. That alone blew over a dozen battle-hardened members of Ose's Royal Guard off their feet. Leaving behind Ose and a few aides who barely managed to hold their ground—
Unforgivable! We will not forgive this! It shall never be tolerated!!
Roaring in fury, one entity after another materialized, encircling the gum-baring evil god.
Catching sight of those figures glaring down at the captive evil god with expressions of terrifying rage—
"What?"
The only sound that escaped Ose's mouth was a bewildered, comical gasp. And naturally so. Every single one of them was a god of Evil Wickedness belonging to the martial faction, beings who had once made their terrifying names known across the world.
"I-Impossible...?! You lords are—"
Those were, in effect, the gum-baring evil god's final words. What looked like a pure-white mouth erupted from the ground, snatched the evil god straight from the black monster's right hand, swallowed him whole, and ground him to pieces.
"Drekavac! Do not steal a march on me!"
As the black monster shouted in resentment, a pure-white mass welled up from a fissure in the earth and knelt before the black-haired brat.
(Did he just say Drekavac?!)
Lieutenant General Drekavac—the evil god renowned as the most terrifying in the Evil Army, widely considered a certainty for promotion directly to General. Why was an evil god who had vanished from the public stage years ago standing here right now? No, more importantly—
"Great One, I humbly request permission to dispose of this scoundrel who dared act disrespectfully toward your person."
At Lieutenant General Drekavac's pleading words—
"Drekavac, you bastard!!"
"Don't you fucking mess around! That trash is my prey, I say!"
"Stop talking in your sleep! The one who's gonna tear that scum to shreds is me!"
The gods of Evil Wickedness raised furious roars. The dense auras oozing from them swirled and spiraled violently into the sky. That immense aura blew outward in concentric shockwaves. Under the pressure of that overwhelmingly malicious power—
Fissures tore through the earth, reducing everything in their path to ash.
"Guh!"
"Eeeek!?"
Several members of Ose's Royal Guard who had been blown backward attempted to turn tail and flee from the oncoming aura, but their resistance was futile; they were incinerated without a trace of bone remaining, melting away into nothingness.
(This is impossible...)
No matter how powerful they might be, turning Ose's Royal Guard—a unit composed of warriors each worth a thousand men—to ash with mere battle aura? Even Ose couldn't pull off such a feat. That meant... that meant every single one of those gods surpassed Ose—
"Drekavac, did you have some sort of history with that one?"
"Yes! Though it is part of my shameful past."
The black-haired brat looked on with mild curiosity at Lieutenant General Drekavac's reply.
"Very well. Do as you like."
"I am deeply grateful."
The black-haired brat then swept his gaze across the other evil beings.
"The rest of you, thank you for handling the cleanup. I appreciate it."
The black-haired brat offered words of praise. Instantly, all trace of rage vanished from the faces of the gods of Evil Wickedness, replaced by sheer, unadulterated joy as they dropped to their knees in unison. The black mist enveloping the monster at their forefront cleared away—
"Girimehkala!"
Ose cried out involuntarily. That was Evil God Girimehkala, retainer to Great God Mara. An evil god said to possess some of the finest latent potential in the entire Evil Army. Until he had been sealed away in that wicked dungeon, Ose had constantly plotted how to eliminate him to secure his own standing.
"Girimehkala, do you know that one?"
"My Great Lord. It is a matter of no consequence."
His former comrade didn't even spare Ose a glance, answering with cold indifference.
(No... it can't be...)
Girimehkala's pride was astronomically high. Under no circumstances would he ever refer to anyone other than Great God Mara as his lord. No, it wasn't just Girimehkala. The ones kneeling before the brat right now were the evilest of evils, the most wicked of the wicked. Beings who bowed to nothing, flattered no one, and believed solely in their own absolute supremacy. By nature, it was unthinkable for them to band together, let alone submit to another. That was precisely why rumors had circulated that they were wiped out on orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the Evil Army. Yet here they were, kneeling subserviently before a mere brat who didn't look remotely strong. This impossible reality was utterly beyond belief.
(At any rate, escaping this place is my top priority!)
In any case, with Lieutenant General Drekavac and Girimehkala turning traitor, this had become a matter requiring the direct intervention of the Generals. It had long surpassed what Ose could handle alone. Even if it meant risking execution for his failure, he had to report to the two Lord Generals and devise a countermeasure. With the two Lord Generals and the troops under their direct command, they would be able to fight on equal or superior footing.
(The question is how to escape from here...)
The enemy possessed both Girimehkala and Lieutenant General Drekavac. Mere Major Generals could never hope to stand against them. The total annihilation of the entire army had to be taken into account. It would be foolish to expect any support from the forces entrusted to him by Lord Asura.
(Should I use these men to buy time?)
Ose glanced sideways at his aides and Royal Guard, but they were all trembling uncontrollably, their fighting spirit shattered to pieces. They wouldn't even serve as a speed bump. In that case, only one option remained.
Ose snapped the fingers of his right hand.
"Gwah!?"
"Gehih!?"
Instantly, the bodies of his remaining aides and Royal Guard swelled violently and burst in all directions. Crimson threads erupting from inside their exploded corpses began to weave together, blanketing the sky in a massive dome.
It was Ose's ultimate binding barrier spell. With a curse of that caliber, even monsters like them would require a considerable amount of time to dispel it.
Catching sight of the red rain falling from the crimson dome out of the corner of his eye, Ose leaped backward several times to put distance between them, then bolted toward the palace where the two Lord Generals resided.
—Thus, Ose lit the fuse to the wrath of the worst possible Grim Reaper.