Vol. 15 - Ch. 22 - Ultimate Clan Battle – Qualification Rounds (21/22)

“H-Hiii!! W-Who… what in the world are you!?”

The Evil God recoiled, overwhelmed by the sheer force of Halt’s menacing magic.

“I am her – Sitri’s husband.”

Step by step, Halt advanced forward.

“And also, I was killed by you and ended up coming into this world…”

The Evil God was terrified of Halt.

He was merely a frail vessel, even by human standards. And yet, the magic surging within him was vast, immeasurable, far beyond what any mortal should be capable of wielding.

“I-I k-killed you?”

“Well, that doesn’t really matter now.”

The Evil God had no recollection of killing Halt. The blow Halt had landed on him earlier had erased those memories. However, Halt himself wasn’t particularly concerned about that at the moment.

What had truly angered him was the fact that the Evil God had made Sitri cry.

As one of the strongest in the Ernol family, second only to Halt and Akari, Sitri had always been someone who protected others.

Halt had never seen her shed tears before.

“Never again will you go near Sitri.”

He considered wiping the Evil God from existence.

With firm resolve, the strongest sage—the one capable of erasing even gods—closed the distance between them.

“D-Don’t spout nonsense! Demons are my creations! I can do whatever I want with them!”

Sitri had once been the vessel of the Demon King, and within her, the Evil God’s blessing had remained. Halt had erased that blessing, stripping away her power as the Demon King. However, the bond between her and the god had not been completely severed.

Anna had severed that connection, so there was no longer any issue, but for Halt, a new issue had just arisen.

“E-Eh? If that’s the case, does that mean you’re… Sitri’s father? Which would make you… my father-in-law?”

The realization hit Halt, and the hostility in his gaze faded.

As expected, he couldn’t just obliterate his own father-in-law.

“Well, the bond’s been severed, so technically, Sitri and the Evil God aren’t related anymore…”

Anna reassured him, but Halt couldn’t shake the thought.

“Completely obliterating would be a bit much. But just beating him half to death… hmm, no, that’s too lenient. Since he made Sitri cry, I should go a little harder. How about three-quarters of your supposed punishment?”

“Mmph!? Mmphhh!!”

The Evil God couldn’t respond to Halt’s proposal.

A radiantly glowing rope had been forced into his mouth, preventing him from speaking. Another set of glowing restraints bound his limbs in midair, all conjured by Halt’s magic.

Halt knew that talking to the Evil God might weaken his resolve, so, just as before, he had restrained him using divine magic.

“Thank you. That should do. I’ll make preparations now, so please wait a moment.”

Halt extended his hand behind the Evil God, and a teleportation magic circle appeared. Beyond the portal, a grand chair could be seen—the throne of the Evil God’s temple.

“If I hit you with enough force to do a three-quarters job, your body might go flying and accidentally obliterate some random country.”

To prevent that from happening, he had adjusted the teleportation circle so that the Evil God’s body would be sent flying into the divine realm instead.

“Oh, right! I should give them a heads-up. Creator God-sama!”

Halt shouted toward the sky.

“I’m about to punch the Evil God and send him your way!”

Of course, simply shouting wouldn’t reach the Creator God in the divine realm. So along with his voice, Halt also sent a telepathic message.

—＊＊＊—

Meanwhile, in the Divine Realm —

“This is bad! That idiot messed up again big time!!!”

“Anyone stationed behind Evil God’s temple, evacuate immediately! Even high-ranking gods won’t survive the attack that’s incoming!!”

The Sea God and the Earth God, who happened to be in the Creator God’s temple, urgently sent out a telepathic alert across the entire divine realm. As they panicked, the Creator God just glanced at the two gods and calmly directed his shikigami to pack up his belongings.

“What are you all standing around for? We need to get out of here, too!”

“Eh?”

“W-Why, Creator God-sama?”

“My temple is located right behind Evil God’s.”

Indeed, the Creator God’s temple was positioned directly behind the Evil God’s temple.

While the four other great gods had their temple entrances facing the Creator God’s, the Evil 

God—who harbored a deep grudge—had deliberately built his facing the opposite direction.

“H-However, the walls of this temple are the sturdiest in all of the divine realm!”

“Hey, this place is nearly as tough as our – the Four Great Gods’ divine bodies, right? Ain’t no way even Halt could break through here.”

“You fools!! Never underestimate Halt!! Years ago, he already had enough power to slam the Evil God into these walls! You have no idea how much that Bakemono has grown since then!!”

After confirming that the shikigamis had retrieved all essential tools for maintaining the world and they had been secured, the Creator God made a swift exit from the temple.

“…Seriously?”

“W-What do we do?”

“What else? We follow the Old Man!”

“Yeah, guess you’re right.”

Although the Creator God’s reaction seemed excessive, the Sea God and Sky God decided to go with him.

Even so, they still didn’t fully believe that Halt’s attack could actually send the Evil God flying and wreak havoc on the Creator God’s temple. Surely, the Creator God was just overreacting.

—＊＊＊—

“…Alright. Looks like the Divine Realm’s evacuation is complete. Time to go all in!”

The moment Halt received the Creator God’s telepathic approval, he gathered an immense amount of magic into his right fist.

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