The maid squad is too strong, what use is there for me, the Demon King?

The Goddess of Holy Light couldn't even clearly recall the exact moment when she completely lost even the slightest control over the battle.

As if in the blink of an eye, the composure that had allowed him to remain at ease and even appreciate Philippa's despairing expression vanished without a trace.

Instead, they had to squeeze out every bit of their mental energy and every wisp of divine power to barely cope with Gray's frantic attacks, which were like a storm and a net that could penetrate every nook and cranny!

Let alone attacking Philippa again to distract Gray, even thinking about it has become an unbearable luxury for Him!

Gray's attacks gave him no chance to breathe. The relentless, interlocking blows forced him to concentrate fully, putting all his senses and calculations into defense and evasion. If he was distracted even slightly, a new wound would immediately appear on his body, and divine blood would splatter!

'Call the angels! Let the angels outside come in and help!' This thought flashed through His mind, but was immediately and ruthlessly extinguished by reality.

He couldn't even find a gap to gather a wisp of divine thought and send out a clear instruction!

Gray's attack was like a precise pendulum, perfectly positioned at every point where He might mobilize His power or lose focus, locking Him firmly in the center of this shattered temple battlefield!

What chilled the Goddess of Holy Light even more was that there was no movement outside the temple!

Such an earth-shattering battle, with energy fluctuations powerful enough to shake the entire Celestial Realm, could not possibly have gone unnoticed by the angels stationed outside, who were at least at the tenth level!

But why... why didn't any angel rush in to protect you?

There seemed to be only two answers left, and either one chilled the Goddess of Holy Light to the bone:

Or perhaps these angels were intimidated by the "god of war"-like demon king and the endless aura of destruction within the temple, shrinking back in fear of getting burned.

Or... they have long harbored disloyalty towards Him, their god, and are now happy to watch Him suffer a bitter battle, or even... hope for His defeat!

"A bunch of...ungrateful wretches! I've wasted so many years raising you all!!" Boundless anger and a sense of betrayal surged within the Goddess of Holy Light, yet she could not vent it at all. Instead, the intense emotional fluctuations caused a very slight stagnation in the flow of her divine power!

"laugh--!"

This brief opening was precisely seized by Gray, and a condensed, almost tangible, shadowy blade flashed past like a venomous snake, leaving another deep, bone-revealing wound on His arm, with golden divine blood splattering out!

The excruciating pain jolted the Goddess of Holy Light back to her senses, and the fleeting thoughts arising from anger in her mind were instantly dispelled by the threat of death.

He gritted his teeth, no longer having time to resent the inactive angels, and could only pour all his strength and will into this increasingly desperate defense.

He was like a wrecked ship stranded in a raging storm, with reinforcements watching coldly from the sidelines, while the ship itself was being relentlessly attacked by the enemy, heading step by step toward the abyss of sinking.

Exhausted from dealing with the situation, wounded and battered, with her divine power constantly depleted and the recovery of her rank seemingly a long way off... For the first time, the Goddess of Holy Light felt so clearly what it meant to be "at her wit's end."

And all of this stems from the god of war before us, who grows stronger with each battle and seems to never tire!

The Goddess of Holy Light suffered repeated defeats as Grena's momentum, like a wildfire that continued to rise and seemed endless, washed over her already crumbling defenses like the coldest seawater.

Under extreme pressure on the verge of life and death, a terrible truth that He had long ignored or never truly faced suddenly struck into the depths of His consciousness like a lightning bolt tearing through the darkness!

He stared intently at Gray's increasingly fierce figure, his eyes sharp as ancient, cold stars, and a realization that shook His very soul suddenly exploded within Him—

Wrong! It was all wrong from the very beginning!

His understanding has been fatally flawed!

Those angels are tenth-order beings because their potential, their very nature as creation, is capped at tenth-order! That is the limit of the vessel of their power.

As for Grey Brandt... the reason he is at the tenth rank is not because he can only reach the tenth rank!

Rather, it was because of the fragile world structure of the main plane, and the rules and constraints set by Himself to maintain "balance," which acted like an invisible ceiling, suppressing and imprisoning His power at the tenth level!

Once we break free from the primary plane, once we break free from the shackles He set for us...

Just like now! In this [Celestial Realm]!

The Celestial Realm is far more stable than the Prime Material Plane and can withstand much greater power.

Previously, the suppression of power above the tenth rank was maintained in real time by Him, who sat high on the throne of God, with His higher status and authority!

But now—His position has temporarily fallen! The true shackles that He Himself laid down, the ones that oppressed Gray… have vanished!

The demon king before us is like a star that has been forcibly stuffed into a small container. Once it breaks free from the container's constraints, its true light and heat, which have been suppressed for far too long, will burst forth in an unprecedented manner!

Moreover, under this broader "sky," he continues to absorb, grow, and break through at an unprecedented pace! The potential that had been suppressed for countless years is being transformed into real power at an unprecedented speed!

“So that’s how it is…” The Goddess of Holy Light murmured to herself, her voice filled with bitterness and an indescribable sense of dread. “He’s not ‘restoring,’ he’s… liberating! What he lacked was never power or talent, what he lacked… was simply a stage where he could unleash his full potential!”

And now, the Celestial Realm is this stage!

And He, who had temporarily fallen from his rank, personally removed the final restriction for him!

Talent, willpower, fighting instinct, and potential suppressed for millennia... At this moment, Grey Brandt lacks nothing!

(Gray: I have everything I need now!)

The despair brought about by this realization was far more profound than the physical pain.

He was no longer facing a "more powerful demon king," but a true monster that had broken free of all constraints and was climbing at an unpredictable speed towards an unimaginable height!

As the Goddess of Holy Light gazed at Grena's figure, which seemed to merge with the shadows of the entire Celestial Realm, and felt the terrifying aura that continued to expand, her heart sank into an abyss.

He finally realized that he might have... truly awakened an incredibly terrifying being, a... demon god!

This scenario of a god's demise seems to have transformed from a "possibility" into an "inevitable" one!