Why are there so many gods here???

An Annoying Realization

Cale sighed, as he had been doing often lately, and used Sound of the Wind to yank Bait out of the way. The man squealed, flailing in the air. After shooting the demon in the head with a wind needle, he set Bait down next to him and knocked the man unconscious.

"What was that for?" Ha Eun shouted from across the room, caught up in a battle of her own. Cale shot her demon at just the right angle to send blood splattering onto her jeans. Her face twisted as if she was unsure whether to thank him or scold him.

With innocent eyes, Cale called back, "Mildred was forcing him to do something! It's better for all of us, including him, if he isn't awake right now!"

Ha Eun ran up to him to save them the trouble of yelling over the demons' roaring, but Cale had to concentrate on killing these enemies before explaining anything.

- Why?

She should be paying him for this information anyway; Cale put in a lot of effort to obtain it, and she was the only one who still questioned his every move.

He pushed the demon bodies to the walls of the room to free up space, then kept shooting wind needles at the group's attackers. A foul smell filled the space.

Cale commended Ha Eun for not blindly following orders – he'd seen what that results in, the Mogoru Empire's experiments with dead mana coming to mind – but she went about it very poorly. He should teach the group about the proper ways of doing so to save himself from future headaches.

- Why do you need to concentrate?

"What do you mean by that?" Cale whispered.

Super Rock didn't answer.

He didn't have time to worry about it, but now he was annoyed. Was Super Rock suggesting that he was putting in unnecessary effort?

The demons were going down quickly, he just needed to focus. They ran much faster than a normal human could. Wave after wave of them squeezed through the doorway, and Cale blocked out everything else as he carefully aimed for their vital areas and killed them before they could reach anyone.

There wasn't any easier way to do this; if there was, he wouldn't be using so much—

Cale Henituse had taken down armies. He'd fought gods. Why the hell was he struggling with thirty-some demons?

It wasn't as if his powers were simply weaker in this world; during the Third Main Scenario, he'd taken on much more with a fraction of the focus. Something was wrong. Something had been changed in his head—

- Are you trying to sacrifice yourself?

What?

The world around him glitched like a broken TV screen, a high pitch boring into his brain like a tuning fork, and every cell in his body screamed. He doubled over.

Was he on the floor? He couldn't tell, not when he couldn't breathe, not when black was spilling from his lips with no sign of stopping. His throat ached, the blood scratching it as it forced its way up, and he could hear faint screaming beyond the pitch. Was that him?

It wasn't. If he couldn't breathe, he couldn't scream – he learned that a long time ago.

"...Six ancient powers, all sorts of Beast people, and even multiple strong humans. What an exhausting way to live."

The tattoos from Cale's ancient powers burned like they were being branded into his skin, the pain so extreme that the twisting of his organs paled in comparison. If he could think straight, he would wonder if his skin was melting off.