A long cord stretched from the heavens to the very bottom.
A single line connecting the top and the bottom, resembling an umbilical cord.
At its center, somewhere between the sky and the earth, the cord bulged slightly.
—This was the perspective from an incredibly distant place, from the opposite end of the world.
To comprehend that even this bulge was another world in itself was no easy feat.
A small world tethered within a larger one, taking the shape of a fruit.
Crackle, crackle—
And this fruit now made a sound it had never made before.
Inaudible from afar.
A tiny sound, a minuscule crack, insignificant in the grand scheme of the world.
Snap!
Yet, it was a crack that should never have appeared. A breach in the world, an exit opening to the world outside.
Something plummeted through the heart of the fruit, falling towards the world beyond.
It wasn’t alone. From a distance, it appeared to be two entities, one carrying the other.
The one being carried cried out.
“Beelzebub! Are you sure about this?!”
“Hahaha! What in this world is ever certain?!”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Frondier de Roach.
He had torn through the walls of Nastrond and escaped.
“Selena, are you alright?!”
Frondier asked Selena, who he carried on his back.
Niflheim was a frigid realm. Moreover, they were directly exposed to the harsh winds at this altitude.
Selena replied with a determined look.
“I-I-I-I’m f-f-f-fine,”
“Stupid question!”
Frondier loosened his tie, Penelope’s cloth, and handed it to Selena.
“Here, take this!”
“I’m f-fine,”
“Just take it!!”
At Frondier’s insistence, Selena silently accepted the cloth. Warmth immediately spread through her freezing body.
Frondier and Beelzebub were plummeting from the sky.
In truth, both of them could already fly with their wings, so rather than falling, they were diving headfirst towards the ground.
“Hey, Frondier! Is your body alright?!”
“Yeah! Just a bit tingly!”
Beelzebub examined Frondier’s body.
Frondier had absorbed Gleipnir, the thread that had bound Fenrir.
In other words, the Internal Energy of the Nine Worlds now resided within him.
‘He’s really going to do it!’
Absorbing the Internal Energy of the Nine Worlds had caused a slight change in Frondier. A black mark, like a tattoo, had spread across his body.
But this was no ordinary black.
It was as if that part of Frondier’s body was missing, an absolute black so deep that it seemed to flatten his very being. A black that didn’t allow even a sliver of light to penetrate.
“What about Fenrir? Where did he go?”
“He’s got a lot of ground to cover! Many gods to settle scores with! It’s a straight shot for him! We just need to get to Azier while he wreaks havoc on the world!”
As if to prove his point, a deafening roar echoed from afar.
Frondier turned to see Fenrir, freed from his constraints, soaring through the sky.
“…Incredible. He truly looks like he could rip the heavens apart.”
“He has to! We have no business in this world! Let’s fly straight to Azier!”
“If we’re flying, why are we falling?!”
“This is flying!”
…Ah.
Frondier understood.
They were diving towards the ground at full speed.
“This is Niflheim! Beyond Nastrond, the land of the dead! If Azier was killed by these mythical gods, we’d have to search for him here, but our opponent is Thanatos! We need to go to the world on the other side!”
Thanatos was a Greek god, not a deity of this mythology.
“But how do we get there?!”
“Remember Yggdrasil, the tree you saw? It connects to all worlds! Or rather, that bastard Satan connected it through agreements with the gods! That’s where we need to go!”
“What if they burn down Yggdrasil beforehand?”
“Don’t be ridiculous! What would that achieve except showing their fear of you? The gods would never do such a thing!”
That was certainly convenient.
Frondier noticed the ground coming into view.
“I can see the ground! What should I do?”
“Unleash everything you’ve got into the earth!”
“What?!”
“I told you! Yggdrasil is everywhere! But Niflheim is vast, even among the Nine Worlds! We need to find its roots!”
“So, the roots are hidden underground!”
If that was the case, there was no time to waste.
Frondier spread his arms.
Weaving, Obsidian.
Mjölnir,
“Wait! Don’t use the divine weapon!”
“Why?!”
“The world of gods has a resistance to divine power! That includes the land itself!”
“Hurry up and tell me what to do!”
Frondier dispelled Mjölnir.
Instead, he drew Gram.
Beelzebub’s eyes lit up.
“Oh! The Dragonslayer! We could’ve taken down Nidhogg much easier with that!”
“You’re telling me!”
“Why not Excalibur? Its pure destructive power is superior!”
“I have something I want to try!”
Just then,
“Frondier! Look out! I-I mean, straight ahead! Uh, horizontally!”
Selena struggled to find the right words as they plummeted. Frondier understood immediately and turned his gaze towards the horizon.
In the distance, he saw soldiers clad in armor flying towards them.
“What are those, evil spirits? Creatures of Nastrond?”
“Similar, but they’re guardians. They eliminate anything that disrupts the peace of Niflheim. They are indeed the deceased, though.”
Beelzebub explained, turning his gaze from the approaching figures to the ground below.
“Frondier! You focus on what you need to do! I’ll handle these guys!”
“Don’t let a single one through!”
Despite his words, Frondier immediately resumed his task.
‘Gram is a sword imbued with the blood of a dragon. That’s why it’s even more potent against dragons.’
Of course, he wasn’t facing a dragon now, so its specific attribute didn’t matter.
What was important was the dragon blood it possessed.
‘I wouldn’t have even considered this before.’
Frondier held Gram before him and took out a Mana Crystal.
Mana Crystal.
Formula, Stasis.
Will-o’-the-wisp, Lightning Attribute.
Exploding Flames.
Having become a devil, Frondier’s magic activation speed was near instantaneous.
At the same time, Gram shattered.
The Mana Crystal and Gram fused together.
It was the same principle as when he created the Spear Of Black Lightning.
This time, it would be a Black Lightning Sword.
‘And here…’
Frondier took out one more item.
The Dragon Heart.
‘I have a feeling this will work perfectly.’
He imbued Gram, the sword containing dragon blood, with the Dragon Heart.
Obsidian to stabilize the form,
A combination of Mana Crystal, Gram, Dragon Heart,and the nine Internal Energies.
The result.
In Frondier’s hand, a sword blazed with light.
‘I’ll name it… later!’
Meanwhile,
Belphegor narrowed his eyes, taking in the sight of the approaching horde of the dead.
The Devil Belphegor.
Eclexis.
Sloth.
In an instant, the dead plummeted,
And the jet-black sword followed in their wake,
Whoosh—
They all crashed to the ground.
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