Staring at the collar in Akuto's hand—gorgeous enough to be called art, yet reeking of conquest—Athena's delicate brows knit tighter and tighter.
"…"
Well, well. So that's what he was after.
Since he knew he couldn't get her true body, he'd shifted his sights to her Heretic God incarnation instead, hadn't he?
"This one personally accepts this," Athena said flatly. "This one believes that if this one simply lends this Heretic God incarnation to you for a period of time, then the this one in the Divine Realm would also choose to accept it. As for the duration… it will be until you meet the true this one."
She agreed to Akuto's condition almost without thinking.
The reason was simple: Akuto had just reminded her of something crucial—
She could cut it off cleanly.
What did her Heretic God incarnation have to do with her true self, anyway?
Besides, he'd already kissed her twice. "Purity" was gone either way. If so, she might as well make the cut completely.
Yes. That's right. The one who'd "lost purity" wasn't her—it was merely a doll she'd shaped with divine power.
In a sense, the relationship between Heretic-God Athena and Athena's true self was similar to the relationship between Natsuki Minamiya's magical clone and her original body: both were dolls molded by the original.
The difference was that Natsuki and her magical clone were always linked—always sharing sensation. Heretic-God Athena and Divine-Realm Athena, however, were not constantly synchronized.
Heretic-God Athena was more like a doll built from the "settings" of Athena in the Divine Realm at the moment of descent. Only when she became fully Heretic-God would the Athena in the Divine Realm be able to manipulate Heretic-God Athena to do certain things.
But that didn't mean Heretic-God Athena and Divine-Realm Athena were two separate Athenas. In some sense, Heretic-God Athena could be seen as a doll guided by Divine-Realm Athena's subconscious; when faced with the same question, the two Athenas would always make the same choice.
(P.S. Athena is Athena. She won't be split into "Heretic-God Athena" and "Divine-Realm Athena" for separate routes. Both versions' self-perception is still one Athena.)
…
"Good. Then… happy cooperation?" Akuto smiled and produced a sheet of contract paper.
After unlocking the Nameless Grimoire, his understanding of this world's rules had deepened significantly—and that learning speed was still accelerating.
Unlike the Apocalypse world and the Akame ga Kill world, the Godslayer world's overall tier was quite close to the DxD world. Studying the Godslayer world's high-grade techniques was immensely beneficial to Akuto's own path of spellcraft.
It hadn't even been a full day since he exchanged for the Nameless Grimoire, yet Akuto could already produce a contract designed to restrain Athena at full power.
"Oh? Such meticulous clauses~" Athena said, glancing over the document.
Athena was a rigorous goddess. In fact, she was pleased by how strict and detailed the terms were.
After confirming there were no issues, Athena engraved her divine power onto the contract.
"Boom—!"
Akuto did the same. After the contract verified both parties' identities, it ignited on its own, burning into invisible constraints—rules that settled over them both.
"Alright," Akuto said. "Then we shouldn't waste time. Once Saint Raphael's battle over there is finished, we'll complete the contract, agreed?"
As he spoke, he directly took the Gorgon Stone out from his System Space.
"Hah?"
The moment Athena saw the Gorgon Stone in his hand, she felt as though she'd just been played.
In truth, back when Akuto summoned the deity, she'd already sensed something off about the Underworld Serpent he called forth.
The Underworld Serpent she summoned did not have the ability to devour the Golden Sword—at the very least, not until she reclaimed the Gorgon Stone.
Yet Akuto had done it anyway.
Athena had been bothered by that point ever since. But during that deep French kiss just now, she had carefully probed the power inside Akuto, and discovered that he truly did not carry Metis's power.
In the end, Athena could only conclude: Akuto does not possess Metis's power. If his Underworld deity devoured the Golden Sword, it must be because he has already refined the Jū Sword.
She hadn't expected the slap in the face to come this fast.
And the worst part wasn't even the slap—
It was that Akuto pulled out the Gorgon Stone immediately after the contract was finalized.
Which meant Akuto had dug the pit in advance and was just waiting for her to jump.
If he dared to reveal the Gorgon Stone right now, that meant he had absolute confidence—one hundred percent—in winning.
…
While Akuto and Athena spoke, the battle on the other side also pushed through its white-hot peak and began approaching its conclusion.
Saint Raphael had fired four holy spear-arrows. Three missed, and one pierced Perseus through the heart.
But the three arrows that missed didn't stop there.
Even without kotodama reinforcement, the holy spear-arrows still relied on their own inherent might, relentlessly hounding the heavily wounded Perseus.
While struggling to resist the three spear-arrows, Perseus also noticed that Saint Raphael was forging the Golden Sword.
If Saint Raphael completed that forging, he would be forced into an even more passive, hopeless position.
"Damn it!"
At this point, even the supremely proud Perseus couldn't hold back a curse—because he felt profound humiliation.
If he had fought Saint Raphael from the start, he wouldn't have felt like this. The problem was that he'd first met Akuto, confirmed Saint Raphael was Akuto's subordinate, and only then fought her.
At the beginning, he'd wanted to swiftly dispose of the knight girl in front of him, then go and slap that arrogant Godslayer in the face.
But now he had to admit it—he'd been forced into an extremely awkward corner, and if he made one mistake, defeat was a real possibility.
For a proud god, losing to a Godslayer wasn't shameful. A Godslayer's fate was terrifying; getting "stolen" once in a while was normal.
But losing to a Godslayer's subordinate?
That would become a stain he could never wash away for the rest of his life!
So yes—Perseus was genuinely getting anxious.
"O my winged Pegasus, divine steed born of Medusa's blood—so that I may regain my freedom, let the thunder of hooves ring out and race to me!"
"My wings—born of Medusa's blood! Let iron hooves resound, and bring me freedom!"
"NEEEEEIGH—!"
Not far away, a gigantic divine pegasus with white wings galloped through the sky!
As it charged to Perseus's side, the pegasus—Pegasus—used its own body to take the three holy spear-arrows head-on.
Unable to shake the spear-arrows, Perseus chose one thing—
To have his summon tank them with flesh and blood.
After taking the remaining three spear-arrows, Pegasus continued its charge toward Perseus.
Without even using stirrups, Perseus leapt up into the air and landed directly on Pegasus's back.
"Now, upon my wings—fly to that new land!"
"Boom!"
As the sun authority activated, Pegasus transformed into a "White Horse" formed from sun-god flames—its silhouette astonishingly similar to Verethragna's White Horse authority.
No—rather than that…
It would be more accurate to say Verethragna's "White Horse" authority was extremely similar to Perseus's "Sun-God Steed."
After all, Verethragna's sun authority originated from Mithras, and the kotodama of the White Horse—"Bring down my lord's radiance"—that "lord" referred to Mithras.
…
With the amplification of sun-god flames, Perseus and Pegasus's wounds were not only greatly healed—they also gained terrifying sun divinity!
"Whoosh—!"
Dragging a white-platinum tail of solar flame, Perseus rode Pegasus straight into a charge toward Saint Raphael!
During the charge, Saint Raphael continuously controlled dragon qi and the Golden Sword to intercept him.
Endless dragon qi erupted from the ground in rising surges, and the Golden Sword became a storm of blades, pouring toward Perseus like rain.
Yet the dragon qi was repeatedly scattered by the solar flames Pegasus released.
And the sword-rain of the Golden Sword was melted by the blazing sun behind Perseus—along with Perseus's longsword now wreathed in solar flame.
Clearly, this Perseus was no longer the same Perseus as before!
He was gradually shifting from "Hero Perseus" into "Solar Chief God Mithras"!
Even faced with that Perseus, Saint Raphael continued forging the Golden Sword.
"Just as you have revealed—bound by the decree of the fourfold god Mithras! This is the second shackle you have crossed!"
"The place where this god was worshiped, where he ruled the center of the world… was the nation called Rome!"
"The people of this nation worshiped gods introduced from abroad, founding new religions with a taste that was both generous—and recklessly chaotic."
"The homeland of the foreign god Mithras was Persia, to the east of Rome. And there was also another god who appeared from the East—Helios, the Greek sun god who owned a palace at the end of the East, known in Rome as Sol!"
"Both 'a man from the East' and 'a sun god.' Those careless Romans unknowingly treated Helios as Mithras—and then they added another 'man from the East' into the mix… Perseus!"
"The man from the East—hidden beneath that name is the fact that the people of ancient Rome fused Greek hero Perseus, Helios, and the Persian sun god into one! Only Romans with a religious outlook so tolerant—and so sloppy—could commit such a crude act!"
"You are not a hero of ancient Greece…!"
"You are a god worshiped by the Roman Empire before it unified into monotheism!"
"You are merely a new, emergent hero god! The Eastern god Mithras—traced back to the root—is Mithra, the master of Verethragna! That ancient Eastern original, Mithra, possesses the power to seal even Uruslagna's divine might!"
"Your peak era was around the early third century—around the time Emperor Elagabalus ascended the throne of the Roman Empire. He was an utterly decadent tyrant, and he even took one of Mithras's alternate names—Elagabalus—abandoning Rome's ancient gods and personally becoming your highest priest!"
"However, he was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard, and his reign ended after only four years."
"You were a god worshiped by an emperor, yet you could not stand at the apex of all gods. Instead, a compassionate Holy Son and the cult that worshiped him ultimately conquered Rome's religious world!"
"Correct!" Perseus roared. "But too slow!"
Just as the Golden Sword was about to be completed, Perseus had already reached Saint Raphael!
"Who says so?"
At that moment, Saint Raphael finally curled her lips into a smile.
She had been waiting for this.
"O spear! Holy spear! Now is the time—bring down my lord's radiance!"
Saint Raphael's crimson lips parted. The Grip of the Holy Spear fixed into Saint Raphael's shoulder immediately answered her call!
"Explosion!"
(End of Chapter)
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