Physically reconnecting severed nerves to restore normal condition required time. Ivan asked with a dry voice.
"Freedom?"
"The freedom to choose for ourselves the next thousand years, and the thousand years after that, unlike the past millennium."
With those words, the Demon King gently pushed Ivan away. As the axe was pulled from his neck, a long stream of blood followed its trajectory.
Soon, the blood flowed back into the Demon King's neck as if time were rewinding. His body was as intact as when he first appeared.
Overwhelming. Ivan narrowed his eyes and scanned his surroundings.
'How long was I "dead"?'
"81 seconds."
Maximillian answered with a smile, as if reading his thoughts. In that brief time, not even two minutes, most of the party had lost their combat ability.
Isabelle lay fallen, bleeding. Judging by the direction and amount of blood, her wounds weren't severe, and her chest was moving, indicating she was breathing, so her life wasn't in danger. She must have fainted.
Oskar was in worse condition. His armor was crushed, with blood flowing freely through the gaps. Reading the damage patterns, it seemed he had continued resisting even after being impaled by a long weapon.
By not falling midway, he appeared to have suffered more damage. However, his injuries weren't yet fatal. They were still within treatable range.
Yuri sat slumped, bleeding from both arms. Though conscious, he seemed unable to join the battle immediately.
Lucia was literally "shredded" and collapsed. She had been thoroughly destroyed, considering her status as an Elder Vampire. It would take time for her to recover.
Elfihera still appeared capable of combat, and Asidis...
"Bullshit!!"
She was charging forward despite injuries covering her entire body.
"Many, really... really many people died...!! Because of you...!!"
Kwang! Asidis's strength had been renowned even before she entered university. Her physical power was impressive, barely inferior to her father's.
The blunt weapon Asidis swung with all her might tore through the air. Literally. Kwarung! A sound like lightning striking rang out as Asidis swung her mace toward Maximillian.
The mace, forged from solid steel, fell toward Maximillian's body. And all those strikes were blocked.
-Kwang!! Kwang—!! Kwang!!
With a face mixed with rage, pain, and sorrow, Asidis continuously slammed down her mace while shouting.
"What freedom are you talking about?! How many people have you killed?! How many more will you kill?! How many people have to die before you're satisfied?!"
"Daughter of Einar. What a pity."
"What—!?"
"As with all other children, but especially with you. Perhaps time was insufficient."
Maximillian released his sword and grabbed her mace. Veins bulged on Asidis's forehead. With a groan and trembling hands, she finally lost her grip on the mace.
After examining the weapon in his hand, Maximillian spoke.
"If you had learned a little more, refined yourself a little more. You could have been qualified. Fate has taken away the right that should have been yours."
"Stop talking nonsense and answer me!!"
"You asked how many deaths were necessary. Yes, everyone wanted to hear that story. I'll gladly answer."
The Demon King waved his hand, sending Asidis flying and rolling across the floor. Though trembling from the impact, she staggered and ultimately managed to stand up.
"Even if most of this world dies, it might not be enough."
"You, you monster—!!"
Asidis gritted her teeth and finally stood up again. She had already clashed several times and fallen repeatedly. Even for someone like her, even having fully inherited Einar's bloodline, the physical impact couldn't be ignored.
Her legs trembled. Her thighs weakened, causing her body to crash to the ground each time. Nevertheless, she stood up and walked.
Revenge. Revenge for those "newly risen" stars she could see in the sky even now. Revenge for all those people—
"Rest now."
Ivan pressed on her shoulder as he moved forward. His nervous system had fully recovered. The magical power and divine power flowing through his veins were giving him endless recovery ability.
His neural pathways felt like they were burning up. The vessel of his soul was transcending the limits of the flesh, treating the human body as a mere shell.
The sensation of ascension. Though he couldn't know exactly what it was, yes. If one had to live with this sensation, it could drive them mad.
The world looked like a toy. So fragile it might crumble if grasped, inspiring fear.
His cognitive abilities, already honed to the extreme, had transcended human limits. He could quantitatively understand this, being someone who knew human neural limitations more clearly than anyone.
The human body is never designed to perceive this amount of information. Without using neural acceleration, Ivan could now feel even the smallest dust particle landing on the tip of his nose.
His brain boiled and burned hot. Damaged nerves from the heat were instantly repaired, and blood flowed faster to dissipate body heat. His body was forcibly conforming to the standard of his soul, transforming its composition.
In that dizzying sensation, Ivan took a step forward amid the rising instinctual madness.
"Uncle...!"
"Enough."
Pushing back Asidis who tried to stand up, he stepped forward. He drew his axe toward the Demon King.
"Until arriving here, there was one thing I couldn't understand."
"What is it?"
Matching Ivan's steps, Maximillian gripped his sword. The chains climbing up the blade burned red and broke off, falling away.
Beneath them, the blade Ivan had seen countless times revealed itself. The Hero's Sword. A sword said to have been forged when gods still walked the earth a thousand years ago.
The symbol of the Hero was burning red in the Demon King's grasp.
"Why, with such power, did you take such a troublesome approach?"
"A troublesome approach?"
"If you had wanted, the Alliance would have fallen four years ago."
The ability to unite demon clans and make even the Seven Dragon Generals kneel, an immortal body recreated with divine power. Add to that the overwhelming ability of the man who had killed the Demon King.
Assassination attempts would be impossible, as they were with the Demon King. He was already the strongest as a single entity, impossible to kill, and yet able to command all demon clans like his limbs.
Even in the past, Maximillian's individual strength had already surpassed the abilities of the entire Hero Party. He was strong enough to face them all simultaneously. If such a person obtained an immortal body and reigned over all demon clans, could there truly be any match for him?
Unstoppable, both as an army and as an individual. A calamity in the literal sense.
If such a person had wanted it, the current chaos wouldn't have been necessary. There wouldn't have been any "crisis that could be overcome."
The Alliance survived for four years only under that man's "mercy." That's all.
Why, for what purpose?
"Ivan, how many people do you think exist in this world?"
"...?"
"Certainly more than ten million, and slightly less than or a little more than a billion. Originally, it's overwhelmingly fewer than the world we came from. Did you know?"
"I suppose so."
Earth's population explosion was only possible after modernization. Even beyond civilization level, simply in terms of world size, this place isn't larger than Earth.
Just about ten countries. Before the Great War, there were only twenty countries. At most, perhaps the size of Europe.
Beyond that, this world is filled with various races like demons, elves, and dwarves. While humans can be called the mainstream race of this world, they cannot be called the dominant race.
It's too harsh an environment for population growth. Even calculating the population size across all of Europe, the size of an unmodernized civilization couldn't exceed Earth's level of billions.
An obvious statement. Noticing Ivan's gaze, the Demon King continued.
"What about future populations?"
"..."
"Naturally, they will gradually increase. As peace continues and technology develops, they will progressively grow. After all, isn't this a world with magic and divine power? Haven't you found it strange? Due to the overwhelming efficiency of divine power, medical science hasn't developed, and despite the efficiency of magic preventing the development of internal combustion engines, a near-modern civilization level has been achieved?"
"What's strange about that?"
"There are too few people."
Maximillian spoke to Ivan as he approached.
"There are too few people."
Divine power is literally a nearly infinite means of healing. From minor bruises to serious diseases, it heals humans with near-omnipotent power. With enough priests, humans don't easily die except from aging.
What about magic? Magical engineering powers trains, and electric lights illuminate city centers. Even though fuel is needed, its efficiency far surpasses that of internal combustion engines.
The population is small compared to the conditions. And significantly so, beyond what common sense can explain.
What could be the reason? There's only one. This world—.
"Was periodically cleaned."
"Cleaned."
"An unpleasant expression? Let me rephrase... it was periodically 'organized.' The elven continent sank a thousand years ago. Why a thousand years? The current religion was born a thousand years ago. Why a thousand years?"
A thousand years ago, it's said that more gods roamed the world than now. This isn't even a great secret.
Right beneath Pritzenkaya, a temple of gods from a thousand years ago lies dormant.
In Kalion, Ivan had confirmed the existence of an elven "continent" from a thousand years ago. The islands of Kalion today were once not islands, but "peaks" of a single continent.
A thousand years is certainly a long time in human terms. However, it's not long enough to change the shape of continents and restructure civilizations.
From a historical perspective, a thousand years is not such a long time.
"For a thousand years, gods appear in the world. Those strong enough to consider themselves gods climb the path of ascension, challenging divinity. Just like those monsters who now call themselves the Seven Dragon Generals."
A kind of pressure develops. Wars break out between civilizations and the "living gods" who lead them. The strong gain divinity and rule civilizations, and the one who breaks and rises above those civilizations claims the throne of this world.
The single remaining entity at the end earns the right to advance toward the heavens. That is ascension.
A thousand years ago, the "religion" that forms the current Alliance was born.
"Humans won. The dwarves who once encompassed the entire earth were pushed to a corner of the mountains, and the elves who ruled an entire continent were all drowned, left to live on a handful of islands, feeding off the civilization of a collapsed empire. The races collectively known as demons were driven to the edges of the world, and human nations gathered under the worship of a single religion."
The war ends. Under the teachings of a powerful single religion, even though divided into numerous countries, extreme conquest wars are forbidden.
No one may cut off royal bloodlines.
What does this condition mean? It means suppressing the "emergence of a single strong power." Large-scale wars between nations become meaningless, and the soil for the birth of a strong power disappears.
The "human god" who ascended a thousand years ago cut off the path for the next god's birth.
"Many died. For another thousand years, the populations of all races grew sufficiently, and now the 'Great War' breaks out again. Gods walk the earth, waging war to completely exterminate each other. Until a single god is born again, countless populations will decrease, followed by another thousand-year hiatus."
By now, Ivan stood directly in front of the Demon King.
The Demon King continued.
"This world is a furnace. A world created solely for the birth of gods. It gains a thousand-year reprieve for a single moment, then fills most of the world with life again. For what? For the moment of extinction that will return again!!"
The Demon King raised his sword toward the sky. The man who had lost anger and jealousy, pride and sloth, looked up at the sky with hatred.
The man who had lost hope cried out in despair.
"We call this a farm. We call it a worthless life that only increases in number for slaughter!! Ivan, the world was made to be a farm, and we are merely bulls on it, meant to produce better breeds."
"And so?"
Ivan also raised his axe. He did not look up at the sky like the Demon King. He was simply looking at the Demon King himself, the strongest man he had known.
"Wasn't Beolgrin's death meant to break that 'cycle'? Now divine power has disappeared from the world, and gods can no longer interfere with the earth. Then, what is your purpose?"
"To destroy the very design of this world."
The Demon King lowered his sword and looked at Ivan.
"A world where, for the eternal thousand years to come, no one will challenge ascension. Even the 'many' lives that have died by my hand so far are not even a handful compared to the 'Great Wars' of the eternal thousands of years ahead. I will remain a slaughterer, but the world will be free."
Such wars are too frequent even once every thousand years. Such deaths are too excessive even once every thousand years.
The war called the Great War ends forever today.
This world will no longer produce gods, and gods will no longer call this world a furnace.
If this land's name is farm, fine. Without an owner, isn't a farm itself sufficient "nature"?
-If you wish.
The sword in Maximillian's hand whispered to him. The face reflected in the blade nodded at him.
The god of a thousand years ago, the human god, draws the boundary between heaven and earth for humans.
And in this world that remains, only one god will remain to rule.
"No more, even after eons of time. No more gods will be born."
He himself will make it so.
"By obtaining all divinity and crossing the gateway of ascension."
By becoming the last god of this millennium.
By closing the door to this world, forever. By ruling this world and blocking the next path of ascension. So that no being who has obtained divinity on their own can be born.
The shackles of countless souls, raised and harvested according to the will of heaven, end here today.
Therefore—.
"All the 'troublesome things' I mentioned were for you, Ivan."
"For me."
"A 'crisis' that requires fighting with slim odds that can be overcome. A long gateway prepared to forge a single strong one. Yes, it was for you."
Maximillian's sword extended toward Ivan.
"The 'Hero' who has mastered all skills humans can possess and was born with the recognition of all kings. Not as a creation of god, but one who climbed to that position solely with his own power... who stood on the path of 'ascension' with only his own abilities. Yes, the god who will continue the next thousand years."
Maximillian looked at Ivan and concluded.
"Obtaining divinity and shedding limitations. Recreation beyond the limits of the flesh. Transcending the standard of the soul to ascension... Ivan, you have already climbed onto the gateway of godhood, and now there are no beings with 'divinity' in this world except you and me. So—."
Black flames rose from the blade in his grip.
"After today, you or I. One of us will cross that door and become a god. In the true sense, the god of the millennium."
The explanation so far wasn't meant to persuade. What meaning would there be in making an enemy understand such information?
But if not an enemy, the story is different.
For ascension, one needs to be the overwhelming, single strongest who has defeated all the strong in this world.
If that's the condition, leaving just two is enough. Leaving just one person who can understand him is enough.
Ivan Petrovich. A transmigrator who came from the same world as him.
Someone who would make the same choice after learning the truth of this world.
There's no need for grand ambitions. It's enough to be someone who knows the absurdity of this world and is willing to dedicate themselves to it.
Whether he wins or Ivan wins. If the remaining person "certainly" becomes a god.
If the one who becomes "god" just has the same purpose, that's enough. So, this is settled.
Today, whoever remains of the two will surely move toward the same conclusion.
There's no need to win. As long as the process is sufficiently grand, that's all. No matter who the victor is, the result will ultimately converge to one.
This is the Hero's 30 years.
Maximillian smiled at Ivan, who held the axe. Finally, with all sincerity.
Thirty years have passed until the epilogue.
At last, they have reached this place.
"Come, brother."
The morning star has fallen, and the sky has lost hope.
The hope the sky has lost will forever illuminate the earth.