At that moment, everyone present followed Viktor's voice and saw the illusory figure high in the sky.
He sat atop the giant earth-and-stone colossus, golden wings hanging behind him.
His body was shrouded in a faint golden glow, and he grinned.
In that instant, countless people present felt an incomparably noble aura wash over them.
Their bodies involuntarily wanted to bow in worship to this mysterious figure.
The merchants in particular found their knees beginning to tremble.
One merchant, his forehead covered in sweat as he endured the pressure, couldn't help muttering, "...A god?"
Hermes, the God of Commerce and Thieves.
The moment they heard Viktor speak that name, many people realized who it was.
The residents of the royal capital's central district were mostly nobles and wealthy merchants. They had grown up in privileged surroundings and were well informed.
Whether from books or rumors, they had accumulated a wealth of knowledge.
So even within the Empire, where the spread of faith in gods was forbidden, people had more or less heard the true names of those deities.
Among them, Hermes was especially well known.
His name was the most familiar among merchants.
His name had long been passed down among merchant families, becoming a sacred symbol that merchants knew by heart.
So when that illusory figure appeared in the sky, combined with the overwhelming pressure and what Viktor had said, that meant...
"A god... has descended?"
The moment they realized this, the square before the royal palace immediately erupted into chaotic discussion and cries of astonishment.
Speculation, joy, lamentation... voices rose and fell without end.
Everyone in the crowd felt as though they were in a dream. The sudden appearance of a god left them utterly shocked.
Under everyone's gaze, the god in the sky slowly opened his eyes.
Those eyes shone like golden quicksand, as though golden light flowed within them.
"Viktor."
Hermes's voice was ethereal, as though it came from the distant heavens.
Yet it also seemed to gather from every corner of the earth, echoing in everyone's heart.
The chaotic tone cast a hazy veil of mystery over everyone present, making him seem incomparably sacred.
Then Hermes suddenly paused before speaking again, more clearly than before.
"No."
"Viktor Clavenna."
As those words fell, the entire central square erupted in shock.
Gods did not speak a mortal's full name, because mortals were insignificant beings unworthy of entering a god's sight.
Once a god spoke a mortal's full name, it meant that the god had truly acknowledged them.
In other words... Viktor had gained a god's recognition?
Everyone looked at Hermes.
Yet those golden, flowing eyes were fixed only on Viktor.
An intense sense of mystery and divinity gradually gathered around Viktor.
Viktor could clearly feel that Hermes had focused all of his attention on him.
It was as though he wanted to see through Viktor's soul and uncover every one of his secrets.
Hermes stared at Viktor as his sacred voice echoed once more.
"I cannot understand."
From beginning to end, he had been watching Viktor.
But no matter how he looked, Viktor was nothing more than an ordinary human.
Yet as an ordinary human, he possessed strength that defied belief.
At that moment, golden light flickered in Hermes's eyes, as though grains of golden sand were weaving mysterious scenes before him.
The collapsing golden sand rose upward, forming a towering mountain.
Scorching lava flowed through the mountain range. Blistering winds swept across the peaks, burning rocks until they cracked apart.
Lava surged within the mountain, and a gigantic beast covered in blazing fire and magma rose to its feet, letting out a chaotic roar toward the crimson sky.
Viktor stood atop the mountain covered in blazing patterns, surrounded by crimson ash and waves of heat.
Blue light shone in his eyes as magic power surged around him.
The scenes within Hermes's eyes continued to change.
He was captivated by what he saw.
With a single blink, the flowing sand shifted into another scene.
Golden sand formed a magnificent gate.
The land around it was filled with erupting flames and turning gears.
Crimson fire surrounded the gate, and a flaming goat skull stood majestically at its center.
It was the Gate of Hell.
A mechanical Cerberus wrapped in flames fought Viktor fiercely within the inferno.
Watching Viktor gradually gain the upper hand, Hermes became both embarrassed and angry.
He bestowed divine power upon the hellhound, only for it to be forcibly removed by the Goddess of Justice.
In the end, even with his interference, he still failed to stop Viktor from defeating the three-headed hound.
It dealt Hermes a tremendous blow.
He couldn't understand.
Why did Viktor, an ordinary human, possess such astonishing power?
Viktor's strength seemed to come from himself, not from any outside force.
Every time he faced a powerful enemy, he appeared so small and fragile.
Every one of those powerful beings could have torn him apart like an insect with a single touch.
Yet as though it were fate itself, every powerful existence waited to be defeated by Viktor.
Viktor always won.
Hermes refused to accept it.
He refused to lose.
At that moment, he made up his mind.
He had to defeat Viktor.
Because he was a god.
A god's pride would not allow him to lose to a human.
So Hermes set everything into motion.
He activated every arrangement he had left behind in the Empire back when he had still been human.
He manipulated the hidden threat in the south and used the demon he had left inside the Second Prince.
With the help of the elf and Levi's daughter, he summoned the final disaster.
One move affected everything else, plunging the entire royal capital into destruction.
He wanted to see whether Viktor could still win despite such an overwhelming disadvantage.
But in the end...
Hermes's gaze finally settled once more.
It settled on Uranos's defeat.
It settled on Viktor, floating in the air before him, full of spirit.
Viktor had won again.
"But you know."
Hermes smiled calmly.
Golden light flashed in his eyes, as though covering the entire space.
That's right.
Hermes was not only a merchant.
He was also a cunning thief.
A phantom pattern spread across Uranos's body.
Its enormous earth-colored body shone with brilliant golden light, becoming like an illusion.
Watching the scene before him, Hermes burst into laughter.
"You truly defeated me."
"But so what?"
Uranos before them was gradually disappearing into the illusion.
Hermes stood atop its head, his face filled with satisfaction and enjoyment.
It was as though he were savoring his final Viktory.
"You brought so many mages, and even accepted the destruction of the entire royal capital as the price to win this battle."
"But you gained nothing."
Using a god's protection, Hermes preserved the dying Uranos.
He would not allow Viktor to defeat Uranos completely.
"As long as you can't break this illusion, Disaster will recover all of its strength with my help."
"When that happens, with all your stamina already exhausted, how will you win a second time?"
Hearing those words, the residents of the central square all looked up, glaring furiously at the ecstatic Hermes.
So it had all been him.
The disaster.
The destruction of the royal capital.
And now he even wanted to unleash that terrifying disaster upon the capital once again.
Yet faced with Hermes's triumph, they could do nothing.
Their clenched fists slowly loosened in helplessness.
All they could do was silently watch Hermes sit atop the stone giant, displaying the supreme dignity of a god.
Looking down upon the silent Viktor, he calmly pronounced the final judgment of this battle.
"This is not a battlefield for gods, and the Goddess of Justice will no longer protect you."
"So your Viktory..."
"I stole it."
BOOM!!!
Suddenly, Uranos, which had only 5% of its HP remaining, began to shake violently.
The tremor shook the entire royal capital, as though the land itself were quaking.
Even Hermes, seated atop Uranos's head, showed a trace of surprise, his golden eyes fixed on the movement below.
The violent shaking also drew everyone's attention.
They hurriedly looked up at the massive Uranos.
Its body trembled.
The sturdy rock covering it collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Dust surged into the air as its body crumbled.
Even its six orange-glowing eyes gradually lost their light.
"What's... happening?"
Hermes's expression shifted uncertainly.
He could clearly feel that Uranos had lost all power.
It was as though its last trace of life had been taken away.
Suddenly, he felt a scorching gaze piercing toward him from an extremely distant place.
Hermes raised his head, turning his eyes of flowing golden sand toward the south, toward a place far beyond the square.
There, he saw it.
To the south of the royal capital, a gigantic stone giant stood quietly upon the ruins.
It appeared completely lifeless, like nothing more than a silent statue.
It was the last remaining one of the five stone giants summoned by Uranos.
Then, all at once, Hermes's eyes widened.
A cold flash appeared.
A sword light carrying a chill swept downward, cutting the stone giant cleanly in two.
BOOM!
The stone giant shattered, piece after piece crashing onto the ruined ground below, raising clouds of dust that covered the earth.
Hermes looked on blankly before finally turning toward the figure who had launched the attack.
She turned to look back at him as well.
Beneath a silver-white helmet, a pair of golden eyes met his.
It was a female knight clad in silver-white Snow Mastiff armor.
She removed her helmet, letting her snow-white silver hair flow free.
Under the sunlight, it radiated the sharp brilliance of justice.
"The Goddess... of Justice..."
Hermes stood there in a daze, murmuring the words.
Finally realizing everything, Hermes turned his gaze back to Viktor.
Viktor's expression remained remarkably calm.
Yet Hermes saw in him a confidence that seemed to hold everything under control.
"You really wanted to beat me?"
"What a pity."
In Viktor's eyes, Uranos's HP bar slowly dropped from 5% to 0%.
At that moment, a gentle breeze rose, blowing away every cloud of dust stirred up by the battle.
Bright light once again bathed the earth.
Warm sunlight fell over everyone.
It seemed as though warmth and reassurance seeped into every person's heart.
"I seem to have come out ahead."