For a brief moment, both Shiomi and the Demon King Goetia were subject to the intervention of Yahweh's will.
The instant they returned from the Sea of Spirit, neither Shiomi nor Goetia could act right away.
Shiomi gasped heavily, trying to dispel the pressure from being forcibly dragged into the Sea of Spirit.
Goetia was the same. Though he showed no signs of breathlessness, it was clear he couldn't move immediately either.
Yahweh appeared only in a fleeting glimpse. After revealing His will, He vanished completely.
He didn't lend Goetia a hand, nor did He grant the Demon King any new power.
Shiomi quietly speculated that even Yahweh could no longer interfere too deeply in this universe.
Or rather, He could interfere—but if He personally took action, then the entire planet would likely become a new battlefield.
Gods, demons, and all manner of other beings might flood in.
Intervention didn't guarantee victory.
Shiomi had no clear idea what Yahweh's true goal was, but he suspected it might be to guide Goetia to recreate planetary history from scratch—becoming the one and only god to be eternally worshipped and revered on that new world.
A faith far more absolute than the diluted belief of present-day humanity.
At that time, Goetia would be the king of the planet, executing the will of God... Was that really all? Shiomi still had doubts.
"It looks like you've understood everything this means—and yet you still refuse?"
"Why not? If there's one thing I despise, it's submitting to destruction." Shiomi suddenly straightened, his spirit flaring.
Recovering his combat ability first, Shiomi instantly seized the other nine rings both sides had been fighting over.
Goetia, however, stood still, staring intensely at his opponent without moving an inch.
"…Utterly foolish."
Even after losing control of the Ten Rings, Goetia remained calm, offering only a cold rebuke.
"Is that so? But your 'Lord' said I was 'clever,' didn't He?"
Shiomi kept a close eye on Goetia. Though the Demon King hadn't moved, there wasn't the slightest opening to be found, so he carefully shot back.
"You heard the revelation, yet arrogantly cast it aside. In the end, you're even more foolish than Solomon!" Goetia spread his arms. "Now that I know who you are, there's no need for talk."
The third Noble Phantasm, which had ceased earlier, began stirring again.
"All ten rings are in my hands—don't even think about activating that Noble Phantasm!"
Shiomi slipped the ten rings onto his hands and began interfering with Goetia directly.
Beast I Goetia was, at its core, a summoning-type Magecraft created by the progenitor of Magecraft.
Solomon had accomplished this feat and laid the foundation of Magecraft for future generations by listening to divine revelation in his dreams and obtaining the Ten Rings, symbols of wisdom and power.
Now, Shiomi intended to use the power of those same rings to dismantle Beast I's magical structure—weakening it from within.
But suddenly, his body was crushed under an immense burden, showing signs of collapse from overload.
The cost was even steeper than when he wielded Marduk's Axe.
Divine punishment.
Yahweh couldn't stop Shiomi from taking control of the Ten Rings, and He knew that fully reclaiming them would weaken Goetia.
So He made a third choice—anyone who used the Ten Rings would be subjected to absolute divine punishment.
"It's useless! With Solomon's body and having been sublimated into Beast I, I'm no longer someone that man's rings can control! And you—you're just a human who knows how to wield power, but can never become a god!"
Goetia had seen through the truth and fought with all his strength against Shiomi's attempt to dismantle the spell—and he did hold out.
Just then, Goetia saw Shiomi, still dragging his recovering body, suddenly appear right in front of him. He clenched the hand wearing the rings into a fist and drove it hard into Goetia's face.
The nearly three-meter-tall figure was knocked back several steps by the punch.
Taking advantage of the momentum, the Demon King steadied his stance and spread his arms. In that instant, the eyes of the Demon Pillars flashed in a rapid sequence.
Countless magic bullets—sharp as needles, scorching as the sun, and swift as lightning—rained down.
"Burn!"
"You think an attack like that can burn me to ash?"
Shiomi shielded himself, but the barrage of magic bullets tore through him, leaving behind dense wounds from burns and punctures. Blood sprayed uncontrollably—only to stop a heartbeat later.
He couldn't avoid the brunt of the damage like his mother could, but from the moment Goetia's attack struck, Shiomi's recovery had already begun.
By the time he landed, the wounds had already healed.
As the tides of battle shifted, Goetia closed in for the counterattack, pressing forward in the same manner. His fists, like massive boulders, came crashing down.
Each blow was powerful enough to pierce a human body and shatter bones.
Shiomi endured hundreds of strikes. His organs, bones, even his skin regenerated continuously.
He couldn't be destroyed.
Though he had personally arranged for Tiamat's return in the Seventh Singularity, Goetia had never faced the original goddess directly.
The power of life was far more persistent—and entangling—than he had anticipated.
Goetia stopped his assault.
Seeing the pause, Shiomi opened his arms to construct a counter spell—only to find Goetia's hands brimming with mana on the scale of a Noble Phantasm, aimed squarely at him.
"Tch—"
Shiomi clicked his tongue and backed off. Before he could dodge sideways, the blast of mana surged straight into him.
The torrent swept over Shiomi, devouring him mercilessly. He felt the left half of his upper body vanish.
When the impact faded, Shiomi stood there with half his body neatly burned away, blood pouring from his mouth.
"Stubborn enough. For that alone, the title 'Son of Tiamat' isn't just for show," Goetia said coldly.
He had intended to obliterate Shiomi completely, to the point where even the power of life couldn't recover him.
But the man had survived—at the cost of half his body.
Silently, Shiomi crouched down, picked up his severed left hand from the ground, and stood again. The half of his body that had been destroyed had already regenerated—only the left hand remained.
He reattached the hand to his arm, and it too was restored.
Everything returned to normal—except his combat uniform, which bore the only visible trace of the battle.
"If we keep going like this, it'll never end. You can't kill me, and I can't kill you—at least not right now."
Shiomi calmly spread his arms. The Ten Rings slowly slid off his fingers.
"So next, I'm going to do something a little extravagant."
Goetia said nothing, uncertain of what Shiomi was about to do.
Then Shiomi smiled.
"If I have to pay the price for using the Ten Rings... I might as well go all in. Let me show you a use so extravagant, even Solomon wouldn't dare imagine it."
The ten divine rings, glowing with holy light, hovered before Shiomi.
"Tree of Kabbalah."