“I have come to sincerely apologize for the harm I’ve caused. However, I have concluded that I can no longer stay in Donovan. But due to the blizzard, I cannot leave for the capital. Please, grant me a teleportation magic stone.”

“There’s no need for a teleportation magic stone.”

Hades answered slowly.

In fact, with his power, he could send this man not to the capital, but even to hell if he wanted.
However, the problem lies in the result.

“What do you plan to do in the capital?”

“That’s…”

The sound of Altaire swallowing dry saliva echoed loudly in the quiet meeting room.

“While repenting for my sins as much as possible, I want to help others.”

“…I heard everything from William.”

Altaire lifted his head with a surprised expression.

“But why am I letting you go? Just your sins are enough to arrest and execute you.”

“I don’t know.”

Altaire quickly replied. He seemed eager to leave this place.

“I know you came from a place like Angelica.”

“…!”

Altaire’s eyes widened. He turned around like a defeated person looking for an escape route, but that place had already been sealed by Hades’s authority.

“Now you know how to leave. So, I want to ask you.”

Hades stared at him with a cold gaze, as if penetrating him.

“What’s the reason you haven’t left?”

A shiver ran down his spine. Altaire had never thought he could be scared by a mere character in a game.

But the pressure Hades was giving him now surpassed the limit Altaire could endure.

“T-That, um…”

Altaire stammered.

Internally, he was amazed.

‘What’s going on? What happened?’

The Hades in front of him was different from any Leodel character he had seen before.

Even Angelica, who realized she was a bit late when she discovered him, was only angry because she lost to a more insignificant existence.

But this man.

Hades Krohiten was…

‘I shouldn’t be pushed aside. But why do I feel this overwhelming pressure?’

Hades urged him for an answer.

“Speak. Otherwise, you might never leave this place for the rest of your life.”

“It won’t be like that.”

Altaire mustered the courage to speak.

“I understand. If I go back, that’ll be the end.”

Hades responded calmly.

“But you don’t want to go back, do you? You want to seize something here. As the children of God… They all seem to be like that.”

What?

Children of God?

Altaire frowned.

It seemed like Hades was having a big misconception.

So, if he could use this…

“I-If I knew I was a child of God, I would do as I please.”

Altaire tried to speak confidently, spreading his arms wide.

“Do you dare to dig for information, trying to find out secrets?”

“…It’s not that.”

Hades descended from his chair and approached Altaire with one step.

“I hope Angel doesn’t have to be sad.”

To be honest, he still didn’t feel like he was a complete ‘Hades Krohiten.’

Humans and those seemingly enlightened beings still felt like distinct entities to him.

Even Angelica, as a descendant of God, felt different from humans.
To protect and rebuild Donoban is a kind of…

‘It must be inertia.’

The inertia held by Hades Krohiten as a part of his identity.

But what about the presence in front of him?

Being a descendant of God doesn’t necessarily mean anything. If he sent Altaire to a place that Angel cared about, causing her sorrow later, that would be even worse.

“Speak. What’s your plan? What are you pursuing… exactly?”

Altaire glared at him without yielding.

“I have no obligation to tell you.”

“There may be no obligation, but you’ll speak.”

As Hades raised his hand, Altaire immediately fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

All the weapons and equipment he had acquired through various efforts melted away, becoming useless.

“No, stop!”

Altaire shouted, but Hades didn’t bat an eye.

“Speak. Otherwise, I’ll personally send you back to your homeland.”

“Haha, haha!”

Altaire burst into laughter.

“Wish granted! Kill me! Kill me!”

Now that things had turned out like this, it would have been better to go back!

Altaire thought.

If he could go back… he’d ask them to permanently delete Hades Krohiten from the data.

He didn’t care if the cost was his social obliteration.

‘Delete him from the data, make him a person who never existed in the first place.’

Then Angelica would fall into despair.

The only person she attached herself to would be gone!

But even if he returned, there would be nothing she could do.

She wasn’t a developer like him, just a regular user.

Hades lowered his hand and tilted his head.

“No, that’s not possible.”

His lips curled upwards.

“By homeland, I mean… a place fitting well with your malicious heart.”

Altaire tried to raise his head to argue, but everything turned crimson and dark before his eyes.

And when he opened his eyes again, a desolate wasteland filled his sight, except for one worn-out, deserted castle that resembled Donoban Grand Castle. There was no trace of human presence in the wasteland.