As for the one who left suddenly, neither Ishtar nor Valkyrie stopped him. In fact, after his departure, they both heaved a slight sigh of relief.
"Ishtar, that sword…"
Staring at the mending spatial rift, Valkyrie narrowed her eyes and spoke in a slightly serious tone.
"Mm… Although it's not the same, it feels very similar to that weapon which was once sealed away."
Responding with a hint of cold sweat on her face, Ishtar looked uneasy.
There once existed divine-slaying weapons capable of tearing apart and destroying the souls of gods. The most dangerous of those swords had been sealed deep within the Deep Divine Realm, guarded by the three great gods.
She hadn't expected to see such a similar weapon again today—it gave her quite a shock.
"Perhaps it's a part that was sealed in the lower world and was found by someone, then modified. That would certainly make things more interesting."
The most dangerous sword among the divine-slaying weapons was managed by the Unified Divine Realm, but the remaining parts were not in the divine realm.
The Unified Divine Realm had never actively searched for or collected them, as bringing the entire set together would be far more dangerous.
Naturally, to prevent malicious individuals in the divine realm from searching for them, the core world under the Unified Divine Realm's direct jurisdiction had been divided into many smaller worlds long ago. Later, many other isekai were introduced and mixed together, making it so that not even the Unified Divine Realm knew where the remaining pieces were.
"…Perhaps it's time we start collecting those things ourselves."
Isisda spoke in a low and somewhat worried voice after a moment of silence.
Looks like that'll be an additional item in the report to the Deep Divine Realm.
"We should've done that ages ago. The ones in the Evil God Realm have been searching for them for so long—who knows, maybe they've already found a few."
Valkyrie's voice carried a slightly gloating tone, but in truth, those divine-slaying weapons were also extremely effective against evil gods.
Back then, she had supported collecting them to counter the evil gods, even suggesting they be modified into weapons specially designed for heroes. But her proposal wasn't approved—the higher-ups in the Deep Divine Realm were too cautious.
Well, now someone has apparently acquired them and is already equipping heroes with them. Time to deal with the consequences.
Meanwhile…
Who was the person that suddenly left the Divine Realm and headed for the Voidstorm?
That was because he had sensed the location of two individuals.
One of his weapons—into which he had once infused part of his soul, allowing him to control it as freely as his own limbs—was currently being activated, and thus had reached out and connected to him.
Another World — Yadetre
Originally just an ordinary high school girl, she was now caught in a completely unreal situation.
She was likely curled up and trembling in fear, muttering something in panic, teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown. And yet, one detail left her confused.
A signature—a carved mark that resembled a signature—looked exactly like ones she had seen on illustrations posted under the Twitter handle and blog of someone using the pseudonym "Demon King".
Why? Was there some kind of connection?
Unconsciously, Yukino approached the semi-transparent black ice crystal.
"Crack."
A strange sound from beneath her feet snapped her back to awareness. She looked down and nearly collapsed from fear—she had stepped on what appeared to be a human thigh bone.
Scattered around were a large number of skeletons. Judging by their positions, they had died in utter despair.
And… how could human bones be that brittle? The one she stepped on had crumbled as if weathered by hundreds or even thousands of years.
She also spotted a nearby corpse stained with blood—it looked to be the most recently deceased.
Bitterly smiling to herself, Yukino figured she'd likely become the next corpse.
Suppressing her fear, she cautiously approached the black ice crystal again, feeling the cold it emitted. Her breath condensed into fine snowflakes as it touched the air.
Then, slowly, she extended her hand—pulling back several times in hesitation—before finally biting her lip and touching it.
In that moment, a chilling sensation flooded her entire body.
In the next second, Yukino's eyes widened, as the world around her completely transformed.
She saw a warrior being thrown into a chamber by a succubus. A massive magic circle formed around the black ice, and the black ice-encased staff began emitting black flames, which spread outward.
The man—clearly a hero—tried to escape, but was trapped by the surrounding barrier. He launched various attacks to stop the spreading flames.
But all of his attacks were futile. It was as though the black flames fed on them, growing even fiercer.
In the end, the hero, with no way out, was engulfed by the flames. His screams echoed until, unable to endure the pain, he finally perished.
Was it over?
No.
He saw his burning corpse on the ground. His soul had left his body, only for the black flames to detect it and surge after it.
His soul glowed—a sign of the hero's unyielding spirit, resisting the flames' corruption. The more it resisted, the more violent the flames became.
Yukino noticed a change in the black ice. The staff inside trembled, and the black-and-red orb in its ring began to glow intensely. The ice looked like it was beginning to melt.
Unfortunately, as the hero's soul burned away, the black flames retreated into the staff. The staff ceased its trembling.
The orb lost its glow. All returned to stillness.
Then came the second hero. The third. The fourth…
Each met the same fate.
It was as if the Demon King was using heroes as sacrifices to awaken the being sealed in the ice.
"AAAAAHHH—!"
A wretched scream brought Yukino back to herself. Her face pale, she looked toward the sound and saw the female Demon King appear again at the altar's edge, holding a human.
No… a hero—whom she was trying to stuff into her mouth.
But not the mouth on her face.
It was a grotesque, vertical mouth that split open from her abdomen, filled with rapidly grinding, terrifyingly sharp teeth—like a meat grinder.
The human was chewed into pulp and consumed.
In the next moment, the Demon King's muscles bulged violently, her body emanating a terrifying aura—as if she were evolving.
"Amazing… amazing! This feeling… this overwhelming surge of power… but I'm still one step away from becoming a true god!!!"