Thrown into darkness.
He didn't know how much time had passed.
Frondier's pandemonium was simply nothingness. It didn't slow down or speed up time.
However, the mere fact that there was nothing distorted his sense of time.
Baal had been crumbling from the moment he entered this pandemonium.
At a point where he had already reached his limit, anyone would feel like 1 second was like several hours, and 1 minute like an eternity.
"..."
In that darkness, Baal simply remained silent.
At first, he had spewed out words that couldn't become sounds, like a madman.
He needed to have the sensation of shouting something to endure.
But that didn't last long either.
The fact that he made sounds but couldn't hear them only disgusted him, and soon even the fact that he had screamed became uncertain.
This place wasn't just pitch-black darkness.
It was a merciless universe that turned everything into nothingness.
'...Not even pain...'
The devil's power may be the form of the soul, but the soul manifested in pandemonium is, of course, a weapon to defeat the opponent.
Their souls become weapons, turning into spears that pierce the opponent. The entire world they create is a spear, an arrow, and a plague aimed at the enemy.
Therefore, most pandemoniums inflict pain on the enemy. They don't inflict physical pain, but they do inflict real pain on the opponent's soul.
However, Frondier's pandemonium had none of that. After all, pain is proof of existence.
Baal, who was beginning to be treated as nonexistent, couldn't possibly feel pain.
What this world poured out wasn't pain, but fear.
'...Ah.'
The moment one realizes that their actions are meaningless and worthless, how insignificant does their personality become? Baal was experiencing that firsthand right now.
Seeing, hearing, speaking had no meaning, so he soon began to stop doing them,
And thinking had no meaning, so even that gradually...
──Thump.
Just as he was about to let go of all consciousness.
Baal's ears reacted sensitively.
For a moment, he thought it was just an auditory hallucination. But that hallucination was clearer than he imagined.
And it didn't stop at once.
Thump, thump, thump.
Baal raised his head. No, that's what he thought he did.
He believed he had lifted his collapsed body and was looking around.
All of that...
"Hello."
With a languid voice and a faint ray of light,
Baal was informed that he had actually performed those actions.
"...Ah."
"I won, Baal."
Baal couldn't believe the man standing before him speaking so leisurely.
Of course, Baal was keenly aware of his defeat.
That's why it was even more obvious how this ending would unfold.
No one can re-enter pandemonium. It's common knowledge among devils.
Was this all an illusion? Baal, did you want to live so badly that you're having such a pathetic delusion?
"You, how?"
"Now, listen to me since I won. I have a lot of things for you to do."
Frondier spoke as if it were a child's fight.
"How did you get in here? This is pandemonium! Re-entry is impossible!"
"Even if you say that, I'm already in."
Frondier had no intention of explaining the process of how he entered.
It wasn't that important to him, and especially not to Baal right now.
"Well, it's unfair to talk with you stuck in a place like this, but the situation is what it is."
Frondier let out a light sigh and grinned at Baal.
It was a boyish face, strangely out of place here.
Yes, it was the smile of a boy who hadn't even reached adulthood yet, a second-year student.
"Submit to me, Baal. Then I'll get you out of here."
"..."
"I wonder if this kind of threat will work. On the King of Hell."
Frondier scratched his head. As far as he knew, devils valued their own lives cheaply.
Would it be worse for Baal, or not? Anyway, being a devil meant there was something they valued more than their lives, more than humans did. For Baal, known as the King of Hell, it might be his pride.
Then 'submission' might be an offer Baal could never accept. He might choose to die instead.
"..."
Baal looked at Frondier for a moment.
Just looking at him like this, he couldn't believe this was the human who created this 'nothingness', with his nonchalant face.
But every time he looked into those relaxed eyes, into those pupils,
Baal encountered a black gaze whose depth he couldn't fathom, something he couldn't comprehend.
"...Are you saying you'll let me live?"
"If you submit."
"When I return to reality, are you going to use the devil's power on me again?"
The devil's power was the most effective way to subdue a devil.
But Frondier shook his head.
"I won't use that. It wouldn't work anyway. Either pandemonium would be created again, or you would die."
"...You knew that."
Frondier had killed a few devils with the devil's power.
Some of it was due to his inability to control his power, but many devils chose death themselves.
"Just words are enough."
"Just words are enough? You're saying it's enough if I say 'I submit'?"
"Yes."
"...Do you think that kind of promise will work on a devil?"
Baal was dumbfounded.
No matter what kind of promise humans make with devils, they always set up all sorts of restrictions and loopholes. It was natural. Otherwise, it would be the humans who would suffer.
A devil is a 'devil' no matter what. There is an unacceptable realm between humans and devils.
"It doesn't have to work."
"...?"
"You will submit to me. In return, I will let you out of here. That's all that matters for now. As long as that process takes place."
At those words, Baal looked at Frondier for a moment.
'...Is he saying he set up some kind of magical device in that process? No, that can't be right. Entering pandemonium itself doesn't make sense, and setting up magic inside here is impossible.'
"...Fine."
Baal nodded.
"I submit to you. I and my army will follow you from now on."
"Good."
Frondier nodded.
He didn't ask Baal anything else.
Frondier drew upon the mana of Helheim to leave this place again. It seemed like he had no more interest in Baal.
That sight was so strange that Baal asked again.
"...What is your goal?"
"Huh?"
"If you make me submit, what's next? Do you want to have all the devils under you? Do you want to become king?"
──Become the king of devils.
Coincidentally, Baal said something similar to Arald.
It was also something that had been constantly on Frondier's mind lately.
Frondier tilted his head.
"...No."
"What?"
"I'm not interested in being 'king'."
The king of devils. He liked the sound of that. He had thought that if he were to become some kind of king, that might be the most fitting for someone as ill-tempered as himself.
But in the end, Frondier knew who he was.
"I won't become anything like that."
"Like what?"
"A king, or a god."
"...Ha. You talk as if you could become one anytime you wanted."
Baal sneered.
Frondier smiled at those words.
"You're still the king, Baal."
Frondier, who had told Baal to submit.
At the same time, he still called Baal king.
What did that ultimately mean?
It didn't take long for Baal to realize it.
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