Kail frowned as he looked at the middle-aged man wearing a fedora in front of him.
“…Parents? What kind of nonsense is that?”
The parents of Sera he knew were an ordinary Asian man and woman, not some Westerner or Easterner, nor some old man or middle-aged man whose identity was indistinguishable.
In other words, this man was Sera’s parent from this world. But what kind of man from any world would refer to himself as a ‘parent’ instead of ‘father’ or ‘mother’?
“As I said. I am Sera’s parent.”
However, the middle-aged man repeated what he had just said. Upon hearing it, Kail sighed slightly and glared at the man.
“Are you hermaphroditic? Are you trying to play both mom and dad by yourself?”
“Not entirely wrong. I did create her body all by myself, though I’m not hermaphroditic.”
“…You’re the one who made Sera’s body?”
“Yes.”
“—Then.”
Kail drew his Aura Blade and pointed it at the middle-aged man.
“You’re the bastard who brought Sera to this world, aren’t you?”
“Brilliant. Very smart. To deduce that much from just that bit of information? Quite contrary to what I’ve heard.”
“What do you mean, ‘heard’?”
“Your childhood friend called you a beastly idiot. Seems like you’re at least human-level now.”
“This punk?”
Getting slightly riled up, Kail was about to swing his Aura Blade— but Merlin, who had followed along, stopped him.
“Agh! Why, Uncle Merlin!?”
“Calm down. You’re too worked up right now. You’re falling right into his trap.”
“…Am I?”
“You are.”
Realizing belatedly, Kail let out a few sighs before glaring at the middle-aged man again. Merlin was right. He had gotten too excited, which wasn’t like him. The key to a fight was staying calm and observing your opponent.
For Kail, a specialist with hundreds of real-life battles under his belt, to be so easily swayed meant there was a good chance the man’s ability was something akin to Agni’s power to manipulate emotions.
True enough, the middle-aged man gazed at Kail with admiration.
“Impressive. Truly impressive. To shake it off so easily. Transcendents really are different, aren’t they?”
“Transcendent… what?”
“The level you’ve reached. Surely you don’t not know what level you’re at?”
Seeing Kail’s confused reaction, the middle-aged man realized Kail truly didn’t even realize his own level. Even more surprised, he began clapping.
Clap-clap-clap. Once the rhythmic applause stopped, the middle-aged man resumed his introduction.
“Let me introduce myself again. I’m Mercurius, the one who played the role of Kim Sera’s parent and guided her to this other world.”
“Mercurius?”
“Does the name Hermes sound more familiar to you?”
Recalling a name he’d seen in comic books from his childhood, Kail wondered if the middle-aged man in front of him was joking or being serious.
But Mercurius paid no mind to Kail’s furrowed brows and continued speaking.
“The name isn’t important. Whether my name is Jupiter or Gaia, what matters is what I’ve done, right?”
“I know well enough, old man. What did you do to Sera?”
“I made a deal with her. A deal to let her see you again.”
“A deal?”
“Yes, a deal. Oh, and revealing the contents of the deal is forbidden. I can’t tell you what we traded. Neither can she.”
Hearing Mercurius’s words, Kail could roughly guess why Sera had kept quiet and what secret she was hiding.
This was a common trope in manga and dramas. The guy’s name practically screamed ‘demon.’ He probably held Sera’s soul as collateral and promised to let her meet him again or something.
Sera would lose her life within a few years and have her soul stolen, with penalties for breaking the contract or mentioning it early.
A painfully predictable story.
“What if I tell her to cancel it?”
“Cancel? Such nonsense. What about all the effort I put in?”
“If you don’t want to die, cancel it. How’s that?”
“—Though you’ve reached an impressive level, you’re still no match for us. That’s my answer.”
Pwuk! Kail immediately unsheathed his Aura Blade and pierced through Mercurius’s entire body. Approaching the immobilized man pinned to the ground, Kail used Superior Blade to slice his upper body apart.
Even an Evil God couldn’t withstand the might of a transcendent. As Mercurius bid farewell to his body, he smirked nonchalantly.
“Did you think this body was my true form? Foolish human. I cannot die.”
“Those who said that… all ended up dead.”
“Hahaha! If you’re talking about that foolish girl, I suggest you stop. I won’t foolishly fight you.”
Smirking, Mercurius looked down at his dying body and spoke.
“You’ll never get what you desire, Kail Meyer.”
Boom! Mercurius’s body exploded. Covered in blood splatter, Kail grimaced and glared at the corpse with his soaked face.
He then alternated his gaze between the Superior Blade and Aura Blade in his hands.
‘The feel…’
Using the Aura Blade on a person felt no different than usual. Meaning, what he had just cut wasn’t a special entity or an Evil God’s true form immune to Aura Blades— it was just an avatar created for use in this world.
He thought he might uncover something, but recalling how Mercurius’s body had been completely obliterated to prevent information retrieval, Kail gritted his teeth.
“…Uncle. Gimme a water spell.”
“Now you’re asking for everything, huh?”
With a grumpy attitude, Merlin cast a water spell to wash off the clumps of blood stuck to Kail’s body.
Meanwhile, Merlin had shielded himself so not a single thread of his clothes got wet, which was infuriating. If you had the energy for that, why not block some for me too?
Snorting, Kail wrung out his soaked clothes and grumbled.
“If you could’ve blocked it, you should’ve.”
“It’s automatic. I didn’t even react.”
“You’re quite the sorcerer, huh.”
“This is what I get for helping. More importantly— I scanned him briefly, and nothing came up. Who is that guy?”
Merlin mentioned the Mercurius he’d faced earlier, the man Kail killed. He wasn’t an ordinary man.
Ordinary people don’t casually talk after being sliced by an Aura Blade or cast spells to leave no corpse behind after death.
But Kail looked at Merlin with an expression like he was an idiot for not realizing that.
“Uncle… you’re dumber than I thought.”
“What? Hey— do you even know how to calculate magic trajectories or are you just running your mouth?”
“No— I gave you such a big hint, how do you not get it? That’s more surprising.”
“Hint? What hint…”
“Think back to what that guy said. Don’t you remember? If not, I’ll tell you.”
Watching Merlin purse his lips and struggle to recall the earlier events, Kail smirked and mentioned the hint Mercurius had left behind.
“That guy called someone a foolish girl when I said there’s no one who doesn’t die. Who do you think he was referring to?”
“Hmm. Given how many times you’ve beaten them…”
“It’s the Evil God.”
“…What?”
Merlin tilted his head, confused.
“Was the Evil God a woman?”
“Right? Ordinary people wouldn’t know— no, wait, only I know this. This info?”
Only Kail, who had directly faced the Evil God and sliced her, possessed this knowledge. Even Sera likely didn’t know. In the game, the Evil God never appeared as their true form, and no information about them was revealed.
Thus, the fact that Mercurius knew the Evil God’s gender hinted that he was a divine being aware of gods’ identities, making it a significant clue.
“So basically, whether he’s a god or a demon, he’s not an ordinary guy. Got it?”
“…Alright, fine. Let’s say he’s not ordinary. Then what? Isn’t that worse? Your opponent is a godlike being.”
“In the past, maybe. But not anymore. Not now.”
If this were the past, the situation would be utterly hopeless. Kail hadn’t defeated the Evil God alone; he’d received help from the Sovereign God. And now he couldn’t even rely on the Sovereign God against Mercurius.
He should’ve given up, despaired, and ignored whatever his childhood friend was hiding. But now was different.
“There’s someone in charge of guys like that.”
Kail recalled the existence that had even prevented the Sovereign God from interfering in this world.
