When the Holy Grail Master first saw Igeon, he thought:
*That monster has incurred the wrath of a god.*
It was not for any other reason.
That hideous appearance. Abilities that shaved away his own life the more he used them.
The internal state of his body, so dreadful even a god would frown.
Was it not a sight that seemed no god would have allowed a creature to deteriorate to such a degree?
Truly, a visage inexplicable unless he had been hated by a god.
And so, upon first hearing Igeon’s request, the Holy Grail Master had been utterly dumbfounded.
[What? You said you would cure Igeon?]
[Yes. Our saint accepted the request with confidence, saying there is nothing in the world that cannot be healed.]
At his subordinate god’s words, the Holy Grail Master had burst into cackling laughter.
It was only natural.
[That one is beyond the realm of possible treatment from the start.]
[What?!]
The gods could see it clearly.
His outward appearance aside, how deeply the inside of Igeon’s body was being eaten away.
And wherever he had obtained it, a suddenly arisen demonic energy was devouring Igeon’s body.
‘If not for his masochistic trait, he would have died long ago, this bastard.’
It was practically a curse.
That was why he said it.
[That one cannot ever be cured unless he dies and is reborn.]
Of course, the Holy Grail Master’s own saint seemed completely unaware of that fact.
And sure enough.
“Don’t worry! Our holy god can heal anything! Just wait a moment, I’ll quickly make some medicine with the Holy Grail. Because he’s Hyu, Hugo’s friend.”
Sophie blushed as she looked at Hugo, whom she had fallen for at first sight.
At that sight, the subordinate gods eventually sighed and tried to tell Igeon the truth.
[We should tell him it’s an incurable disease.]
[Right. Before that pitiful human harbors false hope...]
But the Holy Grail Master raised the corners of his mouth.
[Leave him be.]
[Pardon?]
[With a guy like that, wouldn’t he rather be a good source of income?]
[!]
The better the offerings placed within, the more excellent the Holy Grail could create.
And so, for years, the Holy Grail Master had wrung vast amounts of money and offerings from Igeon.
It was a sum exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars in cash alone, and that money was converted entirely into divine currency to grow his god seat.
Of course, if Igeon had possessed the business acumen of other god seats, he could have kept people in suspense and earned even more money.
And he wouldn’t have foolishly accepted requests from impoverished nations without pay.
But whatever the case, even if the total amount was sometimes unsatisfactory, it did not matter.
His hunting skills were so superb that he even procured special Holy Grail ingredients that other holy gods and saints could never obtain.
And whenever it seemed like there was no progress and Igeon grew suspicious, they would make excuses, saying it was because he never rested.
Occasionally, they would ease his pain with an anesthetic made by the Holy Grail.
That is how they had tricked and exploited him.
They had, without a doubt.
[AAAAARRRGH!!!]
The axe wielded by Igeon struck down upon the Holy Grail Master.
Crunch!!
The axe blade mercilessly dug into the Holy Grail Master’s shoulder.
[Aaagh!]
The sharp edge crushed the Holy Grail Master’s collarbone, tore through flesh, and plunged down to his chest.
Squelch!!
Of course, the Holy Grail Master was more a violet jelly humanoid than a human.
Even if his body was cut, no organs would spill out and no blood would gush.
Thanks to that, nothing that would make the holy disciples vomit occurred.
[Holy water gushes from the split skin.]
[It is the spring water of the gods.]
Squelch!!
Like a fountain, violet liquid spurted from the torn flesh.
And the moment he was drenched in that liquid...
[Strength wells up within the body.]
[The subordinate gods hiding in the shadows regain vitality as well.]
[The subordinate gods’ stamina has been instantly restored.]
Igeon was thoroughly pleased.
“Oh, jackpot. This bastard was an energy drink.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the axe rose and fell again!
Crunch!
[AAAAARRRGH!!!]
[Subordinate gods of the Snake Lord Seat are extremely delighted.]
[They say they wish they could be showered by this rain every day.]
“Alright. My babies. I’ll make that happen soon.”
Igeon grinned chillingly and swung his axe.
Crunch!
[AAAAARRRGH! Stop!]
[Data acquired (Stamina Recovery).]
[The foundation of the god seat shakes from the Holy Grail Master’s pain.]
It was tremendous agony.
Because of that, the Holy Grail Master, even as he neared death, looked at the axe in disbelief.
After all, the axe Igeon had brought was not the fang of Leo that had killed the Cancer god seat.
That was why the Holy Grail Master was bewildered.
[How can this be? An ordinary axe cannot pierce the flesh of a god...!]
Of course, it was no ordinary axe.
[Axe made by grinding the head of a Holy Grail Master’s subordinate]
-Creator: Igeon
-It is sturdy because it is a dragon’s head.
-However, since it was made on the fly, its quality is low.
At the same time, the Holy Grail Master, spotting a familiar face on the axe, let out a scream.
[AAAAARRRGH! Guardian!!!]
That was it.
The crude axe Igeon had appeared with was made from the head of his very own subordinate god.
One who must have been alive just moments before.
He must have fabricated it on the spot after invading this sub-god realm.
There were several guardians defending his temple, after all.
And so, the Holy Grail Master, howling uncharacteristically for a god, looked at Igeon.
“What? You want me to make you into an axe too?”
[#$*#$*!]
The Holy Grail Master cried out, asking if that was not the point.
[What have you done?! How could you think of making a weapon from a subordinate g... ugh!]
The Holy Grail Master vomited blood as the axe bit into his body again.
But regardless, Igeon smiled as if apologetic.
“Oh? This was a subordinate god? He tried to kill me without even checking if I was a guest, so I thought he was a monster.”
[?!!]
A guest, my ass!
Igeon grinned ferociously and raised his weapon.
At that smile, the Holy Grail Master’s body trembled.
This bastard had definitely intended this when he made a weapon from his subordinate.
Subordinate gods were beings that received the holy god’s power.
Since they contained the same energy, they could easily pierce a holy god’s defenses.
After all, the defensive magic of a god seat fundamentally focused on blocking attacks from other god seats, never considering blocking attacks from allies.
But.
“Ah. I forgot to bring a weapon and left it outside, so I made one in a hurry. But the effect is killer.”
This son of a bitch!
He said he hastily made a weapon to face a holy god, of all beings?
‘And yet this destructive power?’
Of course, it was possible because the power of the Disaster God was added to it.
But even so...!
Whether his opponent was flustered or not, Igeon smiled contentedly.
The fang of Leo had already been used as the framework for the Heavenly Judgment.
And the final step for its upgrade was this Aquarius holy god.
And sure enough.
Flash!
Igeon’s eyes changed to snake eyes.
[The 13th Sense]
Just as with the Cancer god seat, Igeon located the Holy Grail Master’s core.
Because possessing it would allow him to obtain the god’s authority.
And that was the moment.
The terrified Holy Grail Master’s eyes flashed.
No matter what, this place was his own space.
‘It seems you managed to enter this far with the help of other holy gods, but...’
The Holy Grail Master transformed his body into liquid.
Even if it meant a loss of god seat energy, survival came first.
‘I must escape this place quickly.’
The sub-god realm was a small secret space existing in the gap between dimensions.
For some, it served as a kind of bomb shelter.
It was a space of absolute defense, but in exchange, if one used great power, cracks would appear in the dimension; thus, power was strictly limited here.
As things had come to this, the Holy Grail Master had tripped himself up with his own petty tricks.
In other words.
‘I must go to a place where I can use all my power.’
And sure enough.
[The Holy Grail Master attempts to escape from [the sub-god realm] and flee to [another god].]
[The Holy Grail Master seeks the aid of another god.]
Thus, the liquefied Holy Grail Master began to seep toward the floor.
And just as he was about to vanish!
‘Huh?’
The Holy Grail Master was bewildered. He had to be.
‘I can’t get out!’
Indeed.
The Holy Grail Master could not escape his own space.
Puzzled as to how this could be, he soon realized the reason.
[The power of the Space-Time Sovereign manifests.]
[Manifesting the authority of space.]
[[Spatial Dominion]]
Seeing Igeon, the Holy Grail Master’s heart sank.
‘This feeling is definitely from that one over there...!’
And it was no ordinary power.
‘A sovereign!’
He did not know the details, but that sovereign’s power was dominating this sub-god realm.
The inability to escape and the shift in control from that side to this side were surely due to that.
‘But how...!’
Just then, as he wondered how this had come to be.
[AAAAARRRGH!!!]
The Holy Grail Master screamed.
In an instant, the floor split, and the sky and earth began to spin around and around.
As if turning a cube, the sky, the earth, and the buildings rotated in different directions.
[Wait, what is this...!]
But the Holy Grail Master soon realized with a start.
It was not the buildings that were turning.
‘...The one turning is me!’
The Holy Grail Master’s neck twisted, his arms and torso bent with sickening cracks, mercilessly compressed.
Because of that, amidst the spinning scenes, the Holy Grail Master clearly saw.
[Using the authority of space.]
[Dominating a specific area of space.]
Igeon, extending his hand and wielding an uncanny power.
And as Igeon clenched his fist, the Holy Grail Master’s joints twisted along with it.
It had to be.
Igeon had set the very spot where the Holy Grail Master stood as his dominated space.
He then shrank that space down to the size of a cube.
Thus, the Holy Grail Master trapped within that space was compressed to the size of the shrunken space.
And that was precisely the authority of [Spatial Dominion] left behind by the Space-Time Sovereign.
That spatial authority upgraded existing skills and also created new ones.
[Igeon-only skill has been added.]
[[Spatial Oppression] (SSS)]
-Able to influence space touched by the body.
-Able to dominate everything within a specified range.
[This is a divine authority.]
[Using the authority brings one closer to the godhood of [the Space-Time Sovereign].]
[Can only be used in the [Space-Time Sovereign] god state.]
And when Igeon, emitting a black light, fully clenched his fist.
[Huck, h-huack!]
The Holy Grail Master was completely compacted into a sphere.
Then, Igeon picked up the Holy Grail Master, now reduced to the size of a baseball, and headed somewhere.
There was nothing other than countless Holy Grails. Even at a rough estimate, there were thousands of those golden goblets!
Seeing them, Igeon raised the corners of his mouth.
“Which among these is the God’s Tears?”
[!]
As for skills, they would be resolved once he took the Holy Grail Master’s core.
And as for the [God’s Tears], they were absolutely necessary as a kind of flesh-tenderizing agent when handling divine-grade materials.
The purpose of coming here was partly for that reason as well, but the Holy Grail Master remained silent.
Was it defiance?
Igeon smiled.
“Well, I can just ask your saint, so it doesn’t matter. But then you die, and your saint won’t see a pleasant end either, you know?”
But unexpectedly, the Holy Grail Master let out a mirthless laugh.
[Hah. That human wench. I care not whether she is tortured.]
At that, Igeon blinked.
Of course, even though this one had abandoned Sophie earlier, Igeon had thought it was a ploy to avoid being caught by him.
So it was a bit strange.
Holy gods usually cared quite a bit for their saints.
“Your underlings seemed to treasure their saints.”
He was referring to the Sagittarius and Virgo god seats.
But the Holy Grail Master sneered.
[Do not lump me in with those reeking of humanity.]
Reeking of humanity?
But as if that were not what mattered, the Holy Grail Master changed the subject.
[Th, that aside, you want to use those Holy Grails, right? Especially the [God’s Tears], you want to use it, right?]
Just how flustered was he by Igeon?
Or perhaps he realized how disadvantageous this place was for him.
Uncharacteristically for a god, he was even stammering.
But the Holy Grail Master, having caught on to what Igeon wanted, grinned cunningly.
[Then it would be best for you to leave me be. Because if you kill me like you did Cancer, you will immediately be unable to use those Holy Grails.]
“Is that so?”
[It is. Even if you can use my authority by killing me, you cannot use those Holy Grails. Do you think our god seat bears the title of the Grail Seat for nothing? If the holy god is absent from the god seat, the Holy Grails, the very essence of the god seat, will cease to function at once. So even now, let us negotiate... Huh? Wh, what is that hand doing?]
Igeon smirked.
His fingers, cloaked in black energy, reached toward the sphere imprisoning the Aquarius god.
The Holy Grail Master was thrown into panic.
After all, that black light was [the power of a sovereign].
A sense of déjà vu from the time of the Cancer god seat had struck him.
That was why the Holy Grail Master urgently cried out.
[H, hey! The God’s Tears can only be made with the Holy Grail! Are you fine with not being able to make a divine-grade weapon? I told you, if you kill me, those Holy Grails become useless! Without the holy god...!]
At this, Igeon grinned viciously.
“Right. The holy god of the Aquarius seat doesn’t necessarily have to be you, does it?”
[What? W, what do you mean...!!]
At the same time, Igeon crushed the spherical space containing the Aquarius god.
Bang!!!
The sound of the second star disappearing was heard.
(To be continued in the next chapter)