"Defeat and seal him"
Really. What is this idiocy. Forget fighting him and just leave him there to suffer. Not every battle needs to be fought, and the stakes are too high - if he loses the 1v1, he loses everything. All "Because he's my childhood friend".
He's recklessly endangering the lives of his loved ones and the mission all because of stupid pride and naivety about how somehow this monster is "his childhood friend". The girls advise him against it, but of course he'll never listen. Like he never learned a lesson making the wrong call with Persephone.
And didn't the MC long realize he was jealous of him? He already knew that long ago. Why be surprised now? I mean, he already said it in one of his speeches calling out Simon for trying to recruit him.
Oh, maybe I know why this POS is being recycled to force some more drawn-out action. Because the moment Clover returns to town they now have to resolve the romance between him and all the girls, and we somehow can't have that until the ending... right?