"Don't come here!

Zakuel shouted with tears in his eyes.
I didn't care about that, I moved closer to Zakuel and thrust my Lunar Metal sword at him.

"Tell me where Suzaku is.

I asked him, just to see.

"I don't know!　I left Suzaku-sama without even asking where he was going!

I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not.

I'm not sure if that's a good idea. ......
It's hard to imagine that the fallen angel Zacchaeus, who is Suzaku's assistant, would completely separate himself from his master, Suzaku.

While wondering that, ...... I decided not to torture Zakuel any longer.

Zakuel was now in a frenzy.
The only way to get any information out of him is to calm him down.

But calming Zakuel down now is a bad idea.
Because angels, like God, can be reincarnated many times after death.
In other words, getting him into a state of mind where he can commit ...... suicide is a very dangerous gamble.

In the first place, I was just asking for help.
Let's kill this guy.

I decided to do so and told the Caucasus in telekinesis.

"Caucasus, it's time for you to get defensive.

If Caucasus attacked the moment Zakuel disappeared and Hercules was weakened, Hercules would surely die.
That's what I'm telling you to avoid.

"All right. Hey, Belzebub, it's defensive from here on out.

After hearing the Caucasian's reply, ...... I put the maximum amount of divine power into my Lunametal sword and thrust it into Zakuel.

"Gaaaaaaaah!

Zakuel cried out in despair as he ...... gradually became more and more transparent and finally became completely invisible.

Yeah, this is clearly not the way God or angels die.
Perhaps this is what "complete annihilation" means.


As I was thinking this, I heard a thumping sound from nearby.

I turned my head and saw Hercules upside down on the ground.

"Gu. ......

Hercules lets out a feeble whimper.

It's like he suddenly lost his balance because he was no longer strengthened by Zakuel and lost his power.

The hypothesis that Hercules would be weakened if Zakuel disappeared must have been correct.
Then, perhaps the penalties and restrictions imposed on Zakuel have now completely disappeared.

Now, he might be able to find out what kind of treatment Hercules had received from Zakuel.

"Hercules. Can you move now?

At any rate, I telephoned him and asked him that.

"Are you the master of ...... Caucasus? Oh. I'm a little surprised at the sudden loss of strength, but I can at least fly.

'I see. Well, we're going back to the place where you fought the Caucasus earlier, so follow us.

When I found out Hercules could fly, I got on the Muscular Dipper.

If I had to wait for Hercules to recover, I would ask him in the meantime. ...... This way, I could ask him on the way back.

Soon after, Belzebub came on board the Muscular Dipper.
But the Caucasian did not want to get on.

"What's wrong, Caucasus?

'Hercules can't ride that cloud, can he?　It's been a long time since we've seen each other, and I thought if Hercules would fly with me, I'd fly with him.

"I see.

I'm sure you'll agree that it's a great idea.



.



"So, Hercules. What have you been doing since you left the Millennium Tree?

On the way back.
I was going to ask Hercules a lot of questions, but ...... it seems that Caucasus was thinking the same thing, and Caucasus asked him first.

At this rate, I guess I'll just have to keep my ears open.

For a month or so, I've just been living in the Millennium Tree as usual. I had no idea that Caucasus was out of the woods.

Hercules began to speak in ramblings.

'I did not leave the millennium tree for some time after my turn of a month. Well, I thought I was lucky to be in the millennium tree for so long.

"I see.

But after ......3 a month, I began to wonder. I wondered where the Caucasus was going. After that, I began to wander from place to place, using the millennium tree as my base.

"Huh.

...... Hey.
This is the kind of thing you can't stop talking about when you start talking about your "wandering days", isn't it?

If you listen to it, you'll never get to the heart of the matter.

That's what I thought, so I decided to interrupt for a moment.

'You two got a minute?　If possible, I'd like to hear about what happened after Hercules met the ruler first. ......

Then ......

"Hercules, please do as Valius says. I've been wondering about that myself.

"All right. Let's start there.



They both readily agreed.

Again, Hercules spoke up.

"I met him about six days ago. Six days ago, I was wandering near this forest ...... when he appeared. And he asked me, 'Do you want power? "Do you want power?

"Oh, yes.

It's our instinct to want more power, so I said yes. But in ...... hindsight, that was a mistake.

At this point, the tone of Hercules' telepathic speech dropped a little.

I'm not sure if you've ever heard of this, but I'm sure you have. But ...... when I did, my actions were completely controlled by him.

The tone of Hercules' telekinesis was becoming more and more painful.

In exchange for his immense power, he was forced to spend his days hunting small fry as forced labor. I spent my days as his puppet. In spite of the power I gained, I was never allowed to challenge the strongest of enemies. In the midst of this, I found no joy.

That's ...... terrible.

The Caucasus sympathized with Hercules' story.

But then came the turning point. When the Caucasus released a threatening magic wave, ...... somehow he gave me permission to fight. I'm not sure what to make of that.

"And that's why you flew in at such a high rate of speed?

Yeah. In the end, I lost. ...... Still, that was the most fun I've had in the days since he took control of me. But I never thought that you guys would defeat him at that time. Thank you.

Hercules concluded.
Then the two of them began to talk about the past again.



The ...... forced labor of hunting small fry, huh?
The guild staff said that Hercules was having trouble with his rampage in the villages. ...... I guess that was part of that "forced labor".

Well, it still doesn't change the fact that Hercules has gone on a rampage, so we may have to kill him in terms of execution. ...... Depending on what happens, we may be able to find a route to his survival.

In the meantime, we should talk to Ailia and Macea about this.

After deciding to do so, ...... the two of them began to appear.



I'm not sure what to say.



I told them the whole story that Hercules had told me.

I told them about the whole story that Hercules had told me, and ...... Macea made this suggestion.

I'm not sure what to do, but I'm sure you'll be able to do it.