Power Corrupts: Divine Showdown (ch. 86) (Patreon)

"So… the Demon King is dead," I remarked, looking at Kazuma, who looked pale and afraid. His gaze was distant, and it took him a moment to realize that I had asked him a question.

However, he still nodded, "Y-yeah! I took care of him," Kazuma said, confirming it. That was good. Great, really. My gaze turned to Aqua, who had her head clutched in her hands while she muttered under her breath. I had seen this coming. Well, not that some guy was planning to invade the multiverse, but this whole general situation.

I saw it right out the gate. Hundreds of years of OP items being dumped into the world? Thousands of Isekai Protagonists that all went to fight the Demon King, yet none of them had managed to reach him? It had seemed sketchy as fuck to me. So, I'm saying it -- I fucking called it. I called it at the starting line.

There was an army of undead adventurers out there, each equipped with weapons that were equal to or greater than my Soul Edge. Hundreds of them at the very least. All led by a guy, whoever the hell he was, that was a complete unknown. Someone that had been able to kill Kazuma. Something that I honestly hadn't expected.

I hadn't skimped out on his enchantments. Each one nearly gave me a level, they were so powerful. I had buffed Kazuma up to the point that he was nearly my equal. Yet, he had died. His followers had died.

And it was clear what I had to do.

"Well, at least you got the Demon King. Aqua? Beam us out," I said, looking at Aqua expectantly. She looked up at me with wide eyes and a slack jaw. I got similar looks from the others. It was clear what every single one of them expected. What they wanted. They expected me to armor up and go kick that guy's ass.

But this wasn't my problem. Honestly, I couldn't care less about this world. I cared less about the multiverse.

"Jericho…" Hestia started, looking more stricken than the others. Like she couldn't possibly believe that I would just tuck tail and run. But, she of all people should understand exactly why I was doing this. In Skyrim, I had bitten off more than I could chew. I managed to chew it up and spit it out anyway, but it hadn't been without cost. The Companions died. Sheogorath had died. I had died.

I tried being the hero that saves the day and it didn't work out. It wasn't worth it.

I wouldn't risk Hestia's life, or Megumin's, or Darkness's, or mine. Not against an enemy I doubted I could defeat for the sake of people that I didn't care about.

This world was a write-off.

"We upheld our end of the bargain. The Demon King is dead," I told Aqua, who stared up at me with hints of betrayal in her eyes. "Aqua, if he beat Kazuma, then I'm not going to fare any better. I've died twice so far. I'm not looking to make it a third time, especially when I don't have to."

Aqua shot up, "What about my followers! What about them? You can't expect me to just abandon them!" She said, sounding angry that I would even suggest that we just leave them all behind.

Yunyun found her voice, "I can't just abandon the Crimson Demon Clan either!" She proclaimed, looking at me the same way that Aqua was. Like she expected me to do something about the guy with an army of OP weapons and abilities. My gaze slid over to Megumin, who looked downcast. It was clear that she was thinking about her own family.

I took in a deep breath and let it out, "I want to make something very clear," I said, meeting their gaze. "I don't think I can win. But… maybe we don't have to." I said, looking at Aqua, Hestia, and Wiz. "Could you three cast a barrier around Axel? And set up a teleportation circle?" I asked, putting the pieces together as I spoke.

The three of them nodded eagerly, "Of course! What's the plan, Jericho?" Hestia asked, relieved that I was willing to do something. However, that expression of relief took a hit when I continued.

"We run," I answered simply, ignoring the looks that I got. "We bring everyone that we can to the city of Axel by teleportation, then we use that deal that I made with Aqua to leave the dimension. My dimension-hopping ability could help people escape with us." I said, choosing not to say that was a guess. But it was a guess that was backed with evidence.

Otherwise, why give me a map function? Why let me find ways to exploit the land of I would just be leaving it all behind? Why give me kingdom management functions if I was just going to leave that kingdom behind with the next jump? What would be the point? It would just be a waste of time.

It was a blind guess, but an explanation would be that I wouldn't be leaving it behind. Aqua took me before I could see any options like I did after Danmachi, but I was betting it all that I could have used the points I earned to take the kingdom with me. It was a decent bet. One that made sense.

But, it also made sense that those functions were with the assumption that I would put down roots in a particular dimension.

It was either or.

"So, we gather everyone up that we can, then we just… leave?" Wiz questioned, sounding uncertain while Megumin mouthed the word dimension-hopping. "What about everyone else on the planet? We can't abandon them," Wiz protested, but it sounded like not even she believed that.

"We save everyone that we can, but the world won't be abandoned. Aqua and the other gods will try to do something about the guy, right?" I asked, looking at Aqua, who nodded distractedly. That was good enough for me. "We're just grabbing who we can to pull them out of the crossfire first. But we have to act fast. Who knows what abilities he has access to? He could be on his way now."

That seemed to snap everyone out of their daze brought upon by the back-to-back revelations. "Wiz, you set up teleportation circles. The priorities are Alcanretia and the Crimson Demons," I said. I really didn't care for the former, but Aqua… for all of her faults, she did care about her followers. This wouldn't work unless she saw that they were being looked after. Yunyun and Megumin's concern would be the Crimson Demons, and Darkness… she would be worried about her family.

"What are you going to do?" Hestia asked, and I looked back at the mansion behind me. At the moment, my level was . At , I would hit level as far as the falna was concerned, which would give me another major boost to my stats in addition to completing my armor.

"I'm going to try to make plan B," I said. If this plan failed, if one of the variables that I was counting on didn't work out, then… then I would have to fight. And if I had to fight, then I needed every edge that I could get.

My gaze dipped down to Kazuma, who still seemed shell-shocked and cradled parts of his armor mournfully. The enchantments should still work, but I wasn't sure how much use Kazuma would actually be as a fighter anymore. Even when he had died the first time and we woke him up from his tomb, he had been fine immediately afterward.

But, he had just learned the same lesson that I did in Skyrim.

It's a lot easier to die alone than it is to die alongside friends.

"Kazuma," I said, dropping down to a knee next to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I need you to go to Axel. Round up everyone and prepare them," I told him, trying to push him away from a mistake I had made immediately following my failure in Skyrim. I gave in to my depression. I gave up, in a way. I withdrew from the world. I made Kazuma take my role as the hero because I hadn't been able to muster up the strength to play the role again.

I understood exactly what was going through Kazuma's head right now. And that's why I was going to push him to do what I should have done following my death in Skyrim. "With Aqua in Alcanretia, you're the only one that the rest of the city will listen to. We need you to do this," I said, giving him something that he could do rather than letting him wallow in his failures.

Kazuma looked up at me, and I could see it. The resistance. The desire to do absolutely nothing but dwell on your mistakes. To be miserable because you had failed, and because of it, people had died. He opened his mouth, likely to give an excuse or protest, but he caught himself and chose to give a small nod instead .

And, in that moment, despite all the mistakes that he had made along the way, Kazuma proved that he was a better man than me.

"Good," I said, standing up. "Let's get moving. We don't have long."

…

Of all the preparations I could be making , it did feel weird to be sitting at my workbench, my armor in a stand in front of me, the Black Star in its stand a bit to my right, and a paintbrush in hand. Before, I had been in the thick of it. Going to cities to recruit them to the cause, settling disputes, and the like. This time, however, things were different.

In Konosuba, I was the outcast. As backward as it was, Aqua and Kazuma were the famous heroes that everyone listened to. And, backward or not, I preferred it this way. Though, the pressure was different.

Right now, there was a clock ticking down. With Alduin, I had an idea of when the timer would hit zero. With this new threat… whoever it was could have arrived already, and I just didn't know it yet. Hestia proved that her Divine Cleric class wasn't for show -- with the help of Wiz, they made a barrier around Axel. People were being teleported in by the cityful. An alarm was set to warn me in case there was an incursion.

Which left me waiting for that inevitable sound while I breezed through the last dregs of Alduin's soul. The once immense soul that had almost seemed to fill the limitless Star had only a few more brush strokes left. All of it had been painted onto my armor in intricate markings to store kinetic energy.

Then, with a final stroke, it was done. I set my paintbrush down as my armor glowed as the full soul of Alduin was painted on, the enchantment now complete. The moment of satisfaction was ruined by a screen popping up in front of my face.

You have leveled up!

Jericho

Level: 85

Title: High King of Skyrim

Health: 25,000

Magika: 18,000

Progress to next level: 0/500,000

Strength: 300 +1451= 1751

Endurance: 350 +2075= 2425

Dexterity: 225 +972= 1197

Intelligence: 200 +702= 902

Sense: 250 +1265= 1515

"Sheesh," I muttered, looking at my stats. I had finally got to that point where the bonus from my falna became insane. No wonder Ais and the others had been on completely different levels -- it was a domino effect. The higher your numbers were at a low level, the higher your numbers became when you reached a higher level.

I had barely gotten a chance to raise my stats. I only really started when Kazuma had left since I had my rings. A hundred points for Strength, a hundred and fifty for Endurance, while the others saw fifty or fewer points of improvement. Honestly speaking, this was the worst level-up I've had, but even with such small gains, the boost was massive. The only one that wasn't in the thousands was Intelligence.

"My next level up will be the one," I muttered, standing up as I summoned my armor with a thought. The enchanted breastplate was reduced to mist that flowed over me, coating my body before it solidified.

It felt a tad arrogant to think it when I was planning to run away, but the next level up would be where my stats reached a point where I wouldn't find many challenges. There would be a few if I went looking for them, but… why would I? I just gained ten levels from enchanting a piece of equipment -- why bother hunting down challenges?

The only reason would be boss souls, really.

But, reaching level would not happen today. And, regardless, an army of purposely designed overpowered weapons and abilities... I still doubted I could do much about that. If it was a single person or even a dozen -- then I would feel confident. But an army?

No, running was still the best option. I'd be happy to leave now, but the others wouldn't be able to leave the people they cared about behind. And I didn't want to make them leave them behind.

"I'll need to upgrade my rings," I made a note to myself as I summoned Soul Edge to my hand and brought it to my back, where it stayed. I walked through the silent halls, the manor completely empty. It was a nice place. Hopefully, I could take it with us. With a sigh, I headed to the front doors and stepped through them -- the scenery had changed a fair bit since I first moved in.

Megumin had blown away the forest, and everything beyond the point that Hestia had protected was just upturned dirt. All except a road that I had made to connect me to the city that I was building. Because of it, I could see the sky above. To the left, over the city of Axel was nothing but sunny blue skies.

To the right was nothing but storm clouds that approached like a wall. An ominous symbol of who was approaching. Whoever they were.

"At least they're giving us time," I remarked, taking the time to lock the door behind me. Giving it a quick jiggle, I saw that it was secure. It was hard to call their progress slow given those storm clouds had been a spec in the distance less than an hour ago. "Looks like I cut it close," I remarked, feeling a familiar calm wash over me.

There was a battle coming. And unlike every time before, I planned on running before I could see the worst of it. Hopefully, there wouldn't be a battle at all.

I took a step forward, my foot digging into the ground before I rocketed off to Axel in a blur of movement -- my strength, endurance, and dexterity had all nearly tripled. I never really found my limit with my third level, but as a level … there was just no comparing it. If I had been this strong in Skyrim, I could have defeated Alduin with my bare hands. I wouldn't have needed anyone else.

I sailed through the air, skimming across the horizon, traveling what had been a ten-minute run, for me, in a handful of seconds. My trajectory led down, causing me to smash through one of the half-finished houses that were being constructed along the outside of Axel before my feet dug into the soft earth, carving a deep furrow as I slowed to a stop.

"It's that guy! Get 'em!" I heard someone shout at the gate, a flash of light cutting through the dust I kicked up. Magic washed over my armor like water, and it had about as much effect. My chest piece absorbed the kinetic energy behind the spell.

I strode through the dust to see that the gate was guarded by a lot of adventures that I had been kicking the shit out of for weeks now. They looked absolutely terrified, but they got points for trying. I held up a hand, making them flinch back before the helmet faded from my face. "It's just me," I said, slightly uncertain if that would be enough to make them not take a shot at me.

"Oh, thank Aqua! It's Jericho the Hero!" One of the people that I had converted into Hestiaism proclaimed, so I wasn't sure what annoyed me more -- the heresy or the nickname. All of a sudden I was Jericho the Hero? These guys really had no shame, did they?

"Right. That's me. Heretic," I remarked as I strode by them, intent on finding the others. The heretic in question paled considerably, but I paid him no mind as I stepped into the city. It looked overstuffed. There were crowds of people in the streets, every building packed until there were people standing on the roof. There were at least five cities worth of people here, all of them panicked and fearful.

Despite it, I made room for myself as I headed to a flash of light in the center square. My armor helped in that regard, even if it didn't win me any favors. When I approached, I saw Wiz standing in the central square, her hands outstretched as she delivered yet another load of people, teleporting them across the kingdom.

She seemed weak, but before I had a chance to comment on it, Megumin approached. "You must be that guy! Prepared to be Explod- oh, hey Jericho," Megumin cut herself off when I turned around enough for her to see it was me. It was then that I noticed that she had something in her hands. A backpack that was holding a giant glass jar that had a tube sticking out of it.

"Look at my masterpiece! Now, dump all of that delicious explosion juice in here! I'll drink it while I cast so I won't pass out!" Megumin said, looking so incredibly proud of herself despite the clear tension in the air. She essentially created the beer hat, just without the hat.

It wasn't a bad idea, even. "Let me go see what the others need. Then you can have as much explosion juice as you want," I said -- and that was quite a name for a mana potion. I didn't exactly have a lot, though.

Megumin pointed at the guildhouse, "That's where everyone else is," she informed, walking in my wake as I forced my way to the Guildhall. It was every bit as packed as the outdoors, but I spotted Aqua and Hestia easily enough, who were speaking to… the thief with a scar on her face and white hair. The one that taught Kazuma steal.

Approaching them, I saw Darkness was there too. "E-Eh?! Chris, you're Eris?" Darkness exclaimed, moving to drop to a knee, only to be stopped by her friend and goddess. Honestly, I recalled that had been a plot point, but it had no real relevance to me so I never bothered to do anything with it.

"Darkness, there's no need for that. Especially not now," Eris said, turning her gaze to me. "Jericho. You look as fiercesome as the rumors say," she offered. I noticed that despite the number of people around us, I could hear her pretty easily. A spell?

"And you don't look particularly happy," I noted as I approached, catching a look from Aqua and Hestia, who seemed displeased by something.

To that, Eris offered a small nod while Aqua forcibly explained, "The other gods are going to quarantine the world! They think that it's too dangerous!" She shouted before she looked really frustrated, "And they demoted me!"

"I'm sorry, Senpai," Eris offered, making Aqua round on her as she began to complain. I looked to Hestia for further elaboration.

"It means that we won't be able to leave. Not… easily," Hestia explained, her tone grim. "Between me, Aqua, and Eris, we can force our way through a quarantine, but…"

"But, it'll take time," I finished for her. So, the one time the gods decided to be competent, they still manage to find a way to fuck me over. Impressive. Annoying, but I was impressed by the consistency. "How much time?"

"It depends," Eris answered, soothing a crying Aqua by gently stroking her hair. "If we maintain our defenses, then it would take a day. Should we drop them, however, it'll take far less time to gather the power needed to force the spell to transport us away from this dimension. With everyone's help, it could only take about an hour. Maybe less."

A crack of thunder seemed to shake the entire building. People screamed as they ducked for cover -- civilians and adventurers alike. Looking through the window, I saw a wall of darkness wash over the people outside, the clear and sunny sky above hidden behind an impenetrable wall of black clouds.

This was a crossroads. A sudden one with no time to properly decide the pros and cons of each decision. Slow and safe or fast and risky? Certainty of a full day or a ballpark estimate of around an hour?

"Drop the barrier. I'll see what I can do," I said, turning and walking away. I didn't want to. At all, really. But, with the sheer number of OP weapons and abilities, I couldn't at all count on the idea that they wouldn't be able to get in.

"Jericho!" Hestia said, "Be careful," she requested of me. Her jaw was set, her gaze determined -- I could see how much it bothered her that I was forced to fight. How it frustrated her that she couldn't be there with me this time.

However, it was Megumin that answered by dramatically flaring her cape, "Ha ha ha! There's no need to be careful because together we are unstoppable! With my explosion magic and Jericho's Jerichoness, there's no one we can't defeat!" She exclaimed with complete and utter confidence.

Darkness nodded empathetically, "Of course! So long as there is breath in my body, I won't let them step a foot in Axel!" She proclaimed, and the awe I might have felt at the dependable look on her face sure took a hit considering I had seen Darkness face down and ass up, begging to be fucked.

Hestia's unease lessened somewhat at the reassurance, so I offered a thin smile. "You heard them," I said, which wasn't a lie, but it sure wasn't the truth.

But, Hestia seemed to believe it all the same.

"See you soon," Hestia said in place of a goodbye.

"See you soon," I returned, turning my back to the two goddesses in charge of this world and Hestia as I headed for the door. If felt different this time. It really did. The last time I marched towards this kind of battle…

There were stakes. First, it was Lili's freedom. Then it was an entire world. There were still stakes this time, but…

I wasn't invested in them. I could admit that to myself as I stepped outside, sparing a glance up at the sky above to see shifting black clouds that stretched in every direction. People were ducking for cover wherever they could. Rushing into buildings, standing in alleyways, and failing that some of them hid underneath wagons or whatever else was handy.

The only reason I hadn't left already is because of Megumin, Yunyun, Wiz, and Darkness. They had attachments to this world. And they were my attachments to it. Yunyun, who I only met like an hour ago, was included simply because I didn’t have the heart to not included her. But, for the world itself, I found myself uncaring. That guy, whoever he is, could raze the planet to ash and that was no problem of mine.

I hefted Soul Edge onto my shoulder, striding towards the gate of the city on a now much emptier street. To their credit, the guards remained posted outside of the gate. They were inspired by the bravery of Kazuma, who stood in front of them in ruined armor and clutched half a blade in one hand as he looked off into the distance. With my free hand, I reached into my inventory and pulled out every single mana potion that I had.

It wasn't a lot. I hadn't used mana even once, and the potions I did have were meant for the first Alduin fight in case Serana needed one.

As I strode past the guards I dropped them -- a crate filled with vials for Megumin to start dumping into that backpack of hers. Based on what I was seeing, we would need it.

It wasn't the first time I've faced down an army. Not even an undead army. But, I had to say, between the Forsworn army at Markarth and the one before me… I would take the Forsworn any day of the week.

They stretched across the horizon -- countless bodies of the undead. There were humans, monsters, and even a few undead creatures that I recognized. Like the One Hit bear. They were dotted around, standing a head and shoulders above the rank and file of the regular shambling undead. But, despite the incredible numbers, my gaze was drawn towards those that stood directly in front of the gate.

It was a smaller unit, comparatively. A thousand or so undead. They were mostly skeletons, but rich clothing hung off their bony frames. Some wore fantasy armor that was polished to a shine. However, all of them carried outlandish or distinctive weapons -- katanas, staffs, broad swords… I saw a buster sword from final fantasy, I saw staffs from various magic games… it was clear who these thousand were.

They were arranged like their own miniature army. Archers, warriors, mages. And despite being far smaller, they were the most dangerous threat before me.

Then my gaze shifted to those that led them. There were three people on horseback at the helm of the armies. One looked recently deceased -- a man that seemed to be in his late seventies or eighties, though still prim and proper. Another was a woman that wore a red dress with a wild mane of black hair.

At the center of them was that guy. He rode a skeletal undead horse made of bleached bones , his body covered in rough-looking robes. They might have once been fine clothing, but time had ravaged the fabric, robbing it of its color. He gripped the reins of his horse with fleshless hands, each one of his fingerbones was adorned with a half dozen rings of various shapes and sizes. The hood of his robes was pushed back, revealing a stark white skull with a golden crown that seemed to have been half-melted, the precious metal dripping down ever so slightly, the precious jewels skewed and uneven.

"The demon King that I killed is on that guy's left," Kazuma offered. So, in theory, we were facing off against two demon kings.

"Hm," I uttered as I strode forward. My gaze slid over the thousands of undead heroes welding their OP weapons, bouncing between them all as I tried to identify the threats.

Maybe… we did have a chance. The undead, no matter how powerful they were, had a single point of failure. If I take out the necromancer, then they should crumble. In theory. I was leaning on Hollywood logic, but it made sense to me.

"You are Axel's champion? You look more foreboding than me," I heard a whisper in my ears as I came to a stop. My fingers drummed on my sword as I considered my response.

"I don't suppose you'll just leave us alone?" I questioned and I heard a chuckle in response.

"I'm afraid not. Long have I slumbered, building my forces. The gods brought me low by arming their chosen… now, their champions obey me," That Guy responded, sounding amused, but not actually answering my question. Wasn't looking for an exposition dump before we fought. "Now, I shall conquer not only this world but all of creation! For I am Shartan! The first Demon King!"

Oh… so, there had been more than one? Huh. You learn something every day, I guess.

"So, I'm not hearing a reason why you need to conquer Axel. The entire city is about to get flung across the multiverse. You don't have to worry about it- actually, you know what? We're taking the Axis cult with us, so we're technically doing you a solid." I pointed out without so much as a scrap of shame in my voice.

"...Eh?" Shartan uttered, sounding a bit put out. "You don't want to fight?"

"I'm done cleaning up after the gods. You want to invade the multiverse or whatever, then you do you. If they can't stop you then that's on them," I dismissed the idea with brutal honesty.

I ran out of fucks to give a long time ago.

Seriously. Fuck this entire planet. If I had my way, we'd only be taking friends and family at most.

"Oh. That's… uhh… hm… well, it's an intriguing offer, but… well, I sorta had this entire thing planned out? You know -- crush them at their strongest as a show of force type deal? But… hrm, well, if you guys want to surrender, then that's cool too. I can get my PR guy to spin it. Did you know one of the god’s champions picked that as a power?" Shartan questioned, earning a slow blink from me.

"No, I didn't. Wait, was it-" I began, but Shartan spoke over me.

"Yeah, yeah -- it was that guy. Don't even have to finish the sentence. He just became incredibly famous for doing stuff like tying his shoes. Absolutely wild," Shartan answered. "Not that death cares about fame. But, point being, I'm sure he could spin it."

Huh. "So, what are the conditions of the surrender?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation back to topic.

"Oh, that -- Uhhh… I guess… the strongest warriors and mages join my army. And I'll need magic items from a shop in town. You guys can keep the food, though -- undead don't need to eat! It's pretty convenient. And…" Shartan trailed off as if he were trying to think of something else, but was drawing a blank. Then he snapped, "Right! We need the gods in the city -- there should be four of them. Aqua, Eris, Dust, and a new goddess called Hestia. Hostages." He offered as an explanation.

And there went any chance for peace. We were so close, too.

"Sorry, but looks like I'm going to have to fight after all. Hestia is my goddess, after all." I said, and I heard a sigh of disappointment ring in my ears.

"Well, we tried," Shartan offered a shrug in the distance. "Any final words?"

"Just a few," I confirmed before I took in a deep breath and prepared for what was to come. Then I spoke.

"FUS RO DAH!"