While a certain someone was cuddling up with girls, on the other side of things, the scene was entirely different.
The residence of Mithra, the King of the End—the Infinite Time Temple.
It was a complex of buildings centered around a vast hall, surrounded by seven tall towers, beautiful gardens, canals, and fountains.
The structures were almost entirely built from pure white stone. The style was magnificent and elegant, befitting the status of a dwelling for a king among gods.
There were tasteful artificial pools and fountains, and vibrant flowers and plants of every color.
But beyond the stone floor that marked the temple's grounds—was a barren desert.
The infinitely stretching land was covered in white sand, where not a single blade of grass grew. This white temple was a sanctuary isolated in a desert at night.
In contrast, the light of the stars in the sky was surprisingly brilliant.
And directly overhead hung an exceptionally large blue planet—
The blue of the oceans was interspersed with the green and brown of the continents, dotted with the white of clouds.
That was Earth.
The war god Verethragna walked through this area, which was clearly not on Earth, advancing toward the direction where the King was seated.
As the war god who, in myth, single-handedly fought the gods of Persia for eight hundred days, he was undoubtedly an extremely powerful God of Steel. When the God-King Mithra could no longer swing his sword, he would even succeed him as the next King of the End.
A being such as him was, naturally, held in high regard by the God-King.
Next, he would follow that king into battle to hunt the most dangerous God-Slaying Beast in history.
I really want to fight that guy.
The war god, who clearly longed to face the one his monarch called the most evil of Rakshasa, had a distinct look of yearning in his eyes.
To encounter such a strong opponent and not try to clash with them would be a great disservice to fate.
What a pity.
That was the King's enemy.
The war god, who didn't believe anyone could escape the radiance of the Divine Sword of Salvation, felt a tinge of regret.
If only that guy had appeared a few hundred years later, that would have been perfect.
By then, the King of the End would be him, and he could have executed the man with full justification.
With these thoughts, he stepped into the resplendent grand hall, awaiting his King's command.
And then—
He froze.
He saw his King, a hint of melancholy in his expression.
That monarch, who had always been high and mighty with an air of indifference, was now frowning, deep in thought as if he had encountered a difficult problem.
"Have you encountered some trouble, my lord?"
The war god, not understanding what could be troubling his monarch, asked with surprise.
Then, he heard the King's sigh.
"I have a bit of a... headache over how to dispose of that God-Slaying Beast."
The man, holding not a royal scepter but a brilliant, platinum-gold longsword, spoke.
He had once planned to personally lead the expedition to slay the evil beast that ravaged the mortal world.
But, to know oneself and know one's enemy is to be victorious in a hundred battles.
To avoid defeat as much as possible, the King of the Final Manifestation, who had sensed a mortal danger from that man, decided to travel to another parallel world to investigate his enemy.
After investigating the man's situation in that other world, he discovered that the evil beast, having grown up under the Sage's indulgence, was far more terrifying than he had ever imagined.
A demigod by birth, he had, through his elders' indulgence, broken the limits of humanity by acquiring divinity. He then obtained the Authority of the fire-bringer and wrestled the Ring of Usurpation from the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, gaining a double portion of the power of usurpation.
And then—
He turned his butcher's blade on his own kind.
He killed almost every God-Slayer in that world, seizing their most powerful Authorities.
"Place a hundred insects into a jar. After a year, open it. There will certainly be one insect that has eaten all the others. This one is called a 'Gu'."
This was a passage from the Compendium of Materia Medica.
The Child of the Sage had cut off the heads of Demon Kings, seized their armaments and ultimate techniques, and used the lives of his brothers and sisters to pave a road to even greater strength.
If God-Slayers were poisonous insects, then he was the Gu!
"Is there anything to think about, my great master?"
The war god, though he considered the man a formidable enemy, did not believe he could rival the King of the Final Manifestation. He was utterly baffled.
He glanced at the sword held in the King's embrace and said.
"You should know, my lord. There is no weapon in this world that can withstand the majesty of the Divine Sword."
The Kings of the End did not lack for offensive means. As guardians of the world, they possessed a divine weapon bestowed by the gods, a unified armament—the Divine Sword of Salvation.
As the greatest testament to the power creep in the world of God-Slayers, that sword was practically invincible.
"To kill him, how do you think I should use this sword?"
The King of the End, who could cleave a star in two if he paid the price, looked at his subordinate and began speaking to himself.
"Should I use the World-Saving Divine Thunder, which would destroy a continent after it blooms?"
"Or the World-Saving Light, which draws upon the essence of the earth and can end all life on the surface?"
"Perhaps I should wager the last of my divine lifespan to unleash the planet-splitting glory of the Divine Sword?"
"Or should I offer the planet called Earth as a sacrifice to the sword, to manifest the ultimate terror that can end a star?"
Mithra's voice made the war god Verethragna freeze for a moment. But soon, he understood his master's meaning.
He was caught in a dilemma.
Like Rama, Mithra, as a King of the End, was not affected by madness. He was an orthodox god of the Lawful Good alignment, not some honey badger whose brain had been fried by rage.
He was a hero who saved the mortal realm from calamity, not a world-destroying Demon King. He had to consider the consequences of swinging his sword.
If he unleashed too little of the Divine Sword's power, his already weakened self would surely be slain by the Rakshasa raised by the Sage.
However, if he were to highly unleash the power of the Divine Sword of Salvation, then the earth beneath his feet and the civilization living on its surface would be grievously wounded.
If Mithra were a Heretical God, he could naturally swing his sword to his heart's content, pulverizing anyone who dared to provoke him.
But he was not a Heretical God.
"It seems you are in a difficult position, my lord."
The war god, roughly understanding his master's situation, had a flash of wisdom in his eyes. He then bowed respectfully to his King.
The King had to fight the Demon King in an area where he could unleash his full power.
He needed someone to bring the Demon King before him.
"Then, I assume you have a reason for summoning me."
The war god, feeling that he might now have the honor of fighting the strongest Rakshasa in history, had a smile on his face that was nearly impossible to hide.
The King had given up on a direct confrontation with the enemy. Instead, he had chosen to wait within his divine realm for the man's challenge.
Connecting the divine realm to the outside world was a simple matter.
However, getting the God-Slaying Beast, with his sharp intuition, to fall completely into the divine realm without sensing something was wrong halfway and escaping was an extremely difficult task.
Therefore, someone was needed to give the beast a push from behind.
The war god, clearly not minding the role of the pusher, looked at his monarch with a smile.
And then—
The words he expected came from the King's mouth.
"Child of Victory, I want you to bring him before me."