Baal gritted his teeth at Frondier's insult.
Why is this human unharmed? Why doesn't he succumb to my power? Does he not feel pain? Is he not afraid of hell?
While Baal couldn't believe the reality before his eyes, Frondier continued to think calmly.
'I thought I'd get a chance to see hell since he's the King of Hell, but it was a failure.'
Frondier had heard that Osprey had gone beyond the world to 'Nastrond', and seeing Baal, the King of Hell, he recalled that place. He thought it wouldn't hurt to see it for himself, even if it was just an illusion, as he might go there someday.
This was the first reason he had engaged in a devil's power confrontation with Baal, but it had missed the mark spectacularly.
'...Well, it's greedy to expect my guesses to always be right, and I've just been lucky so far.'
But instead, he learned something.
The grim reapers' scythes dug deeper into Frondier, the lava melting his body. The zombie-like creatures crawling out of the lava and grabbing onto him.
Looking at each and every one of them, Frondier's eyes slowly sank.
Except for the wrist that was initially cut off, Frondier no longer felt any pain.
The legs that seemed to be melting were not melting, and the body that seemed to be pierced by scythes was not bleeding.
Frondier gave Baal a dull look.
"You've never heard the voices of the dead."
The ghosts that had been chattering around him since earlier.
Of course, they were meant to instill fear in the enemy, but from Frondier's perspective, they were just annoying.
He had actually heard the voices of the dead.
Not just one or two, but countless ghosts that he didn't even attempt to count. He had eradicated that entire mass.
To him, the voices of the ghosts chattering around him now were not even remotely similar.
"A guy who's never heard the screams of the dead, calls himself the 'King of Hell'."
Perhaps this devil called Baal is fundamentally different from 'Beelzebub'.
"...Shut up, shut up! Even if that's true, you can't escape this illusion! What did you do! How did a human like you block my power with some kind of trick!" 𝘙
"I'm not blocking it."
Frondier grabbed the grim reaper's scythe that was deeply embedded in his body.
Even though it was an illusion, the grim reaper seemed to be flustered.
He shouldn't be able to grab this?
The next moment, as Frondier lightly clenched his hand, the scythe and the entire grim reaper shattered like glass.
A grim reaper wouldn't disappear like that, even if it were to vanish. The illusion was breaking apart.
"I can see them. The absurd sights you've created. There's no meaning to what a baseless guy who doesn't know hell has made."
Frondier, who possesses Weaving.
His eyes can discern everything created as an illusion.
Just as even the Great Wizard Merlin's dream didn't work on him.
"Baal. Are you trying to defeat me with a 'fake' fight?"
Frondier picked up his severed hand. He reattached it roughly and moved his fingers, and it returned to its original state on its own.
"Y-you...! Even if you endure it, I'm the only one who can win in this space! Don't you know that your devil's power is far inferior to mine!"
Baal shouted, as if possessed by evil.
'Pandemonium' had been created, so Frondier had undoubtedly clashed with Baal using devil's power.
However, Frondier's devil's power had not yet shown even a fragment of itself.
The reason was simple.
Frondier was curious about the hell that Baal showed him. But he was disappointed. It was neither Nastrond nor Tartarus.
Frondier was curious about Pandemonium. And he had mostly figured it out. Although it was called a battle of souls, in Baal's case, he relied too heavily on the illusions he created.
Perhaps if he had truly been the King of Hell, the hells here would have been more realistically complete, and in that case, Frondier might have been in danger.
And the final reason Frondier created Pandemonium.
Frondier was curious about his 'own' devil's power.
"Then let's do it, Baal."
Frondier pointed his finger at Baal, forming a gun shape.
It was a meaningless gesture. He was just trying to aim mentally, as he wasn't used to the devil's power.
"...What are you doing."
"What do you mean? 'Pandemonium'."
Baal had only shown Frondier illusions. A fake, not the real hell.
"Let's have a 'fake' fight."
And when Frondier unleashed his devil's power.
The sound that reached Baal's ears at that moment was like a Wizard view being turned off.
It wasn't just a sound.
The screen of the world clicked off as if the power had gone out.
The noisy dead, the shaking ground, the blazing lava, all gone.
Baal was about to say, 'What is this pathetic thing'.
But the words after that all disappeared.
Baal hadn't closed his mouth. He opened his mouth, vibrated his vocal cords, and exhaled, but it didn't become sound.
Baal looked around. No, he believed he did. The feeling in his feet had disappeared at some point. Even if he turned his body, there was no feeling of wind brushing against him, so he didn't even know if he had turned.
He couldn't see, hear, or feel his own body even when he touched it.
If he had cut off his ankle like the blade he had created, his foot would be gone, but the remaining senses would still react.
Pain is proof of existence.
But now Baal had lost his body without any pain.
No, he didn't know if he had lost his body or if it was still intact.
Pandemonium is a battle of souls. It's not a material thing that exists in reality, but it definitely exists, and they fight over each other's existence.
In fact, a devil with a stronger soul can overcome the opponent's power by believing it to be an illusion. It's one of the strategies.
...But to call it fake just because of that.
'...Ah, ah. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!'
Baal screamed. But only the thought that he had screamed remained.
But if he didn't even do that, Baal would even doubt his own thoughts.
Everything he tried to do didn't happen in reality. That alone was enough to make his soul crumble.
Frondier had said it was a fake fight.
But can you distinguish between what is fake and what is not when there is nothing?
Frondier isn't just accepting himself as fake.
It's not about skills or abilities.
The Pandemonium he created spreads fakeness.
Baal's hands, feet, voice, body, thoughts, existence all become fake.
A faint sound brushed past Baal's ears.
Baal raised his head. He believed his hearing had returned.
But this world still banished Baal.
The body deprived of all senses was instead giving Baal auditory hallucinations.
Frondier doesn't attack his enemies with illusions.
The enemy creates illusions themselves and crumbles on their own.
When Baal raised his head, he saw it.
Those eyes looking down at him apathetically from high above.
The cold something, the voice, that he was looking up at struck him coolly from above.
──Did you think your death would have any meaning?