Merlin dashed backwards and put his hands up in self-defense. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN? YOU'RE GOING TO USE ME AS A MEDIUM?"

Theodore frowned. "Legitimate possession requires a certain amount of faith in the god, you fit the bill to a tee, Merlin."

"Faith…Faith?"

"I scanned the entire room earlier…" Theodore crossed his arms, straightening himself. "You're the one with the highest faith out of anyone in here."

[Deitify: Eyes of God.]

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"Over a hundred percent faith…You must really like me." Theodore muttered as he checked the faith again with his skill.

[Over 50% Faith symbolizes a good relation between a god and their followers.]

[Over 100% Faith symbolizes an exceptional relation between a god and their followers.

[A 10% extra increase in all stats will be given to those with over 100% Faith when their god blesses them.]

[At least 70% Faith is required to perform the descension method: "Possession".]

[Followers with 100% Faith or higher will increase the duration of the possession.]

Merlin immediately got frustrated, it wasn't difficult for an excellent hunter like him to hear what Theodore just whispered. "You're going to use my friendship for this!? Taking over my body!? Besides, isn't it that you can't use your full power when in possession anyway!?"

"It's better than leaving the majority of my strength out in the open for those hyenas to snatch."

"What about other god's domains? Can't you leave your remaining powers to someone trustworthy?"

"No, you either leave it in the middle of nowhere or your own domain, you can't perform Partial Descension in another god's house."

"F*ck!!!"

"Hey, it's not like I'm going to permanently take over your body."

Merlin went quiet after hearing that, his shoulders relaxed as he eyed his best friend with a confused look. "You…What?"

"What?"

Eugene glanced back and forth between the two of them. "Merlin, did you really think that Theodore would just steal your body? It's pretty clear."

"Huh?" Merlin blinked, still confused. "I…Wait, wouldn't that mean you won't ever be back? If you leave earth…you're gone?"

Theodore rubbed the back of his neck. "I meant to use possession for the time being until I can grab myself a domain, I'm just worried that the human world might be in danger while I'm gone."

"Oh…" Merlin looked down. "You will…You will be back though, right?"

"When I get myself a domain, yes." Theodore of course looked up a way to get himself an accommodation in the divine realm, he couldn't take Apophis' domain despite having her powers and titles, so the only way to get one was to claim an empty spot.

'The house owner has to die for the spot to become empty…and the transfer of domain isn't even a thing for some reason.'

Merlin let out a sigh of relief. "Okay…Fine, you have my permission, will I get some sort of warning before being forcefully kicked out of my own body?"

Theodore took a moment to reply. "...I'm not actually sure…Ah."

[Possessing a follower will require consent. The follower will be notified first.]

[The follower 'Merlin Everhart' has sufficient faith, you can form a temporary telepathic connection with the follower.]

[Deitify: God's Revelation.]

"Never mind, I can tell you beforehand if I want to use possession."

Merlin sighed with relief. "Good…so is that it? Anything else you need to tell us?"

"Hm," Theodore thought about it for a moment, he wasn't sure at first what else he needed to say to his friends, he was practically ready to go fight Zeus in the divine world now. "No, I don't think so, I guess you guys could go officially reevaluate your rankings, since after I gave you guys the new skills, it increased to A."

Eugene suddenly became excited. "Really? I'm an A rank? Yessir!"

Merlin didn't seem as happy as the beastman, although he did smile satisfactorily. "It's to be expected, after all, Theo worked hard to give us those amazing skills."

'Hard?' Theodore couldn't help himself but think back to his fight with Achillas.

"HEY, PRIDE!" Suddenly, Mammon shouted from across the room, he was still seated in the same position as before, although now he was resting his head on top of his crossed arms. "Are you done yet? I'm bored of waiting!"

Theodore frowned as he looked at Mammon with an annoyed expression. "Should I just not duel you? You're getting on my nerves."

"So are you!" Mammon straightened himself before hopping off of his chair and summoned the Covetous Sword into his grip, it was enveloped in the demon king's orange aura which made it look extra threatening. "C'mon, let's get this over with!"

"You're challenging a mage to a sword fight?" Theodore sneered. "Doesn't that seem a little unfair?"

"Shut up! Bring out your sword, b*tch!" Mammon pointed the tip of the blade towards him.

Theodore sighed and did as he was told, green light emerged from his right palm and it extended upwards until the silhouette of a sword was formed, a moment later, the light dispersed, revealing a familiar weapon in his grip.

[Ophiuchus' Sword.]

The sword had disappeared when his father had passed, although it'd just returned to the Ophiuchus' Staff.

Mammon for some reason looked a little hesitant. "...What is that sword? I thought you were going to bring out the old Pride's weapon."

"What? He has one?"

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"Eh?"

"..."

"WHATEVER!" Mammon threw his hands in the air before suddenly disappearing from where he was standing, and in a single second, he was in front of Theodore. "LET'S FIGHT!"

Normally, Theodore would've used his speed or some sort of spell to avoid the attack and create some distance, but since Merlin and Eugene were nearby, he didn't want to risk Mammon's sword accidentally hitting them.

His only choice was to block, he brought his sword up and it collided with Greed's blade, causing a loud noise to erupt from the impact. "Merlin, Eugene, get out."

They didn't need to be told twice, both of them quickly moved out of the way and the battle instantly resumed, Mammon was the first to move, the block from Theodore didn't do much to hinder his movements at all and he simply pushed further. "I heard you got rid of the Midgard Serpent, is this all of your strength?"

"Does your tactic consist of pissing your opponent off?" Theodore spoke with a straight face, he was caught off guard since Mammon suddenly moved after randomly shouting for no reason at all, but since the demon king decided to provoke him, he could only return the favor tenfold.

Mammon's eyes widened when his hands began to shake, Theodore was pushing back against his sword, slowly but surely he was losing the battle of strength. Knowing this, the demon king used this force to repel himself backwards and gained distance between each other. "...Nevermind, I'll take that back."

"Too late." Using the same trick as his opponent, Theodore dashed towards Mammon, his inhumane speed stat allowing him to cross the distance in less than a second, though Greed wasn't someone weak enough to go down that easily, he managed to react and raised his sword in anticipation for a slash.

But instead, Theodore weaved around the demon king and ended up stopping right behind him, his weapon moved equally as quick as his feet and was about to deliver a cut to Mammon's back.

Suddenly, something moved towards the sword and blocked his attack, the sound of metal scraping against each other rang out as Mammon used this opportunity to once again create some distance.

Theodore narrowed his eyes, realizing that Greed had just used his scale-covered tail as a shield, it'd appeared from underneath his fancy suit. "You're very slippery for a dragon."

Mammon grinned. "Same to you, snake bastard. What was that movement earlier?"

"I'm just fast."

"More like slithery."

Meanwhile, the other heroes watching from afar were surprised by the sudden fight, especially Hina, who looked more distraught than the rest. "...They're fighting here?"

Merlin let out a nervous chuckle. "Um, I mean, this entire place is already a mess…so you shouldn't worry about it now."

Frey was watching the fight intensely, his arms were crossed with one hand supporting his chin. "...Demon King of Greed…He must be pretty strong, right?"

Eugene was also interested, though he was observing more leisurely than Frey, as if he was simply watching a sports match. "They're bosses that humanity would never get the chance to fight…Theodore encountered their 'dungeon' by chance."

"Seems like it," Frey's eyebrows lowered into a slight frown, currently Theodore and Mammon were trading blows with their swords, sparks and noise flew as their intense aura radiated from their figures. "I don't think all of us combined can last even a minute—no, thirty seconds against that demon."

When everyone was muttering to themselves as they watched dazedly, Mammon gradually found himself at a disadvantage as the fight dragged on, he grinded his teeth and once again retreating after trying to cut his opponent's dominant arm, which was promptly blocked. 'F*ck! How the hell did he get way stronger than the last time we fought!?'

While it hurt his pride as a demon king, Mammon was grateful that Theodore couldn't use that monstrous spell 'Doom Desire' like he did before.

'Some of his other spells are probably off limits because his human friends are here…He's practically handicapped!'

"Why are you distracted in the middle of a fight?" Theodore suddenly appeared in front of Mammon and his sword moved swiftly towards the hand, but since he had the skin of a dragon, the attack was somewhat blocked just enough for him to push himself out of the way.

The demon king had lost his confidence, he was breathing heavily from moving around in weird angles trying to dodge Theodore's irregular attacks. 'Snake bastard, his movements reflect what he is.'

"How are you this proficient with the sword if you're a mage?" Mammon had guessed his opponent's fighting style based off of the many powerful spells that he'd seen.

Theodore was about to attack Mammon again, but it seemed that he thought he could win at any time and answered the question. "It's not proficiency, I'm just stronger than you."

His reply surely pissed the demon king off, though he somehow held himself back from charging recklessly and waited for any sort of opportunity.

"You really made a mistake challenging Theo," Merlin nodded proudly with his arms crossed, he was grinning from ear to ear as if he was a proud parent approving of his son's work. "He's a true monster when it comes to learning, if you're not careful…He might steal your sword technique in an instant~"

Mammon flinched. 'Are you telling me that he can learn the sword just by watching someone else do it?'

Theodore didn't seem impressed. "Don't listen to that idiot, I need time to actually learn something I've seen."

'That's still overpowered!'

“Hey, don’t get distracted again.” Only an afterimage remained as Theodore suddenly closed in the distance between the two of them, his sword made an arc in the air and struck against Mammon’s weapon, which was instinctively put up in an attempt to block, the amount of force behind the attack far exceeded what the demon king had anticipated and he was easily pushed back, causing him to stumble and lose balance for a split second.

‘Shit…!’ Mammon knew that it was over the moment he lost his footing, despite being able to prevent himself from falling with his tail, Theodore didn’t give him any space to recover and soon he would find a blade aimed at his throat.

Theodore let out an amused huff. “I won, again.”

Mammon was obviously angry, his obsession with beating everyone else ran deep in his blood, it was the reason why he was able to push himself from a low position in the past and became top five among the other kings.

But during that moment of defeat, Greed realized that he was feeling something else other than frustration, his mind ran a playback of the short duel and he noticed how much of an overwhelming defeat he’d experienced, maybe even far more than his last encounter with Lust.

‘Where did such a monster come from?’ Mammon’s shoulders relaxed as his sword glowed and disappeared from his hand. He sighed tiredly before putting his hands up to chest-level, muttering under his breath as he averted his gaze, too embarrassed about what he was about to say.

“…Yeah, I admit defeat.”

It was humility that Mammon was feeling.

Theodore retracted his sword and willed it to disappear, he then extended one hand forward, asking for a hand shake. “Are we good now? No fighting? No calling me a b*tch?”

Mammon’s lips unknowingly curled up into a smile, he took Theodore’s hand and looked up at him. “Okay fine…b*tch.”

“I’m going to punch you.”

Both of them erupted into a fit of laughter, it seemed that a new, unexpected friendship had been formed.

.

.

.

The sky had long turned dark when Theodore and his friends came out of the half-ruined temple, though Hina stayed behind inside her building since she had to start doing repairs and renovation.

There were still areas where the news about the gods’ deception still hadn’t spread due to lack of informants, especially since the CEO of New Internet, Gabriel Griffins, was nowhere to be found. Frey and his companions volunteered to go deliver those news by themselves and left soon after saying goodbye.

“Are you leaving now?” Mammon looked disappointed.

Theodore was staring at the debris and broken buildings around him, the construction workers had already begun reconstructing whatever they could, but the place was still a wreck because of the big fight that afternoon. “…I should, the longer this drags on…the worse the situation gets.”

“Then are you coming back to the Devildom?”

“If it can handle a god’s descent.” Theodore turned around just to see Mammon’s shocked expression.

“…Don’t tell me you didn’t realize that I’m a deity?”

“What…? But…But I—“ Mammon shook his head and sighed. “I’m not even going to bother asking…and yes, the Devildom can easily take a deity’s pressure, if it can’t then all seven demon kings will just tear the place apart by doing nothing.”

Theodore let out a huff and smiled. “Well, now I know that at least I have a place to go back to.”

“Hey! You…You still have us!” Merlin spoke up with tears in his eyes, he was genuinely about to cry as he kept sniffling between his words. “You said you’ll come back!”

Theodore giggled. “C’mon Merlin, it’s not like I’m going to die, stop crying.”

Merlin sobbed. “I’m not crying…”

Eugene stepped forward and placed a hand on the ginger’s shoulders, he gave Theodore a smile as he patted his friend. “Go on, I’ll take care of this little crybaby while you’re gone.”

“I said I’m not crying…!”

Theodore ignored Merlin’s denial and laughed. “Thanks Eugene, you take care too.”

“Wait, Pride.” Mammon suddenly spoke up as he took out something from his coat’s pocket, it was the necklace that the S rank bandit had on him before. “I was going to keep it for myself…But it’s only right that I give it to its rightful owner.”

Theodore took the necklace from Mammon before speaking jokingly. “As you should, you thief.”

<

Rarity: B+

Durability: Stronger than steel.

Type: Accessory

Source: Branches of Hell (Dungeon) [Loot Drop]

Stats:

[+20% Mana Recovery]

[+100% Mental Resistance]

Passive Skills:

[Demon King's Aura]

Skills:

[None]

Description: It's a necklace forged in Hell by the Great Demon King of Pride, among many of his items, Pride's Necklace is considered to be mediocre.>>

Theodore was surprised at first to know that there were some dungeons connected to the Devildom, but since Hell was a whole other world in itself, he came to the conclusion that the Hell dungeons were either replicas or a small section of the entire realm.

Anyhow, looking at the necklace, Theodore focused solely on its given stats, more specifically, he was pleased about the 100% Mental Resistance that he’ll gain from wearing it. ‘I don’t care about its passive skill…I’m already a demon king, but with this stat…I won’t have to worry about Insanity or Bottomless Hubris taking control of me.’

He put on the necklace and looked at Mammon. “If you don’t mind, can you take care of this place while I’m gone?”

“Me?” Mammon pointed at himself, he wasn’t expecting to be asked of something like that, after all, he was a demon, and protecting the human world didn’t seem like a fitting job.

“If you can…Go ask Asmodeus too.”

“Ah…” Mammon thought about it for a moment. “You know what, okay, I’ll do it. I’ve always wanted to try out those special human foods you called…desserts?”

“You don’t know what desserts are?”

“Of course I know what they are, I’ve just never tried them, this is actually my first time in the human world.”

“Oh then, isn’t that great? You can have fun while house guarding for me,” Theodore turned towards his friends, wanting to look at them one more time before heading off. He didn’t know how long it would take for him to return, so he didn’t want to leave any lingering regrets that he didn’t say goodbye properly. “Okay then, I’m off.”

“Bye bye Theodore,” Eugene waved with a bright smile, it seemed that he was trying to lift Merlin’s mood by being cheerful.

But it looked like that didn’t work, instead the redhead began to wail and tried to grab a hold of his best friend, to which Eugene promptly stopped him by locking both of his arms with his superior strength.

Theodore chuckled and gave Merlin a wave. “See you later, Merlin.”

Without saying anything else, a blinding light engulfed his entire figure before he eventually disappeared from where he stood, leaving nothing behind but a few specks of green particles.