The Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion alone was an annihilating ultimate technique capable of cleaving stars and sundering worlds.
Even without infusing it with any additional Authority, the sword pressure—so terrifying that even the planet itself seemed to tremble in fear—was enough to slay a god.
And yet, within Satsuki's strike was also contained the power of Judgment of the Ten Kings · Veil of Light and Shadow!
In the instant the golden sword light illuminated heaven and earth, within the divine barrier, the vision of the two Heretic Gods present was plunged into absolute darkness, as though they had fallen into a void of pure nothingness.
This was the very move Satsuki had once casually tested against Tōga.
"Seven Buddhas' Sin-Purging · Six Senses Purified Slash!" ×3
Beneath that golden sword pressure, the flow of time seemed to slow tenfold, a hundredfold. Space itself felt completely frozen and immobilized.
The golden land originally occupied by A Thousand Lights, A Thousand Swords also fell into stillness at that very moment.
Where the Six Senses Purified Slash descended was like the boundary dividing light from darkness. It fell from the starry heavens to the earth, reducing the world to nothing but black, white, and gold. The entire space was utterly submerged.
At this moment, between heaven and earth, only that single color remained in motion. Amid chaotic senses, the Heretic Gods' perception of time was stretched infinitely.
The insight granted by Mind's Eye and the accelerated perception bestowed by the Camel incarnation of the war god became rootless driftwood. As the golden sword light pressed downward, all vitality was extinguished. All matter was silently severed, split apart, and reduced to fragments.
If not for Satsuki forcibly freezing the surrounding space with her power over spacetime, this region would likely have been unable to withstand such force and would have collapsed instantly.
Then, that world-upending sword descended upon the earth.
No god could move.
In the direction Satsuki drew and swung her blade, the ground below disintegrated soundlessly along the path of the sword pressure, splitting apart without cease. A massive sword scar, bottomless and unfathomable, spread across the land, continuing to extend outward along the trajectory of the golden light.
Yet none of this produced even the slightest sound.
The King of the Gods, Melqart, still stood upright, his body rigid, frozen in the posture of defending himself with his trident. However, the souls of the dead and the locust swarm that had once coiled around him had long since vanished.
Between heaven and earth, not a single sound remained. All things had fallen into absolute silence.
Whether exalted as gods or lowly as insects, everything within the range of that sword light was utterly immobilized—including the domain that had summoned forth the ocean of golden swords, which had become a suffocating, motionless tableau.
At the instant Verethragna's five senses were stripped away, his Mind's Eye and incarnations transmitted ceaseless warnings of lethal danger.
Yet beneath the Six Senses Purified Slash, he could not move.
He could not even feel the ground beneath his feet cracking, nor the void before him being effortlessly cleaved.
He tried to invoke Gale to teleport himself away from this horrifying position—but the Authority of Gale was imprisoned by an even more powerful spatial force, rendering him utterly incapable of activating it.
He tried to call upon the protection of Youth to purify and dispel all negative effects upon himself—but his will could not drive it.
He could only sense the killing intent of death surging toward him. Even the golden swords suspended between heaven and earth fractured one after another.
"...Why can't I move?! Move! Move!"
At this moment, within the state of sensory deprivation and absolute silence, Verethragna's consciousness roared as never before.
The annihilating sword light swept in, crushing everything in its path—yet it brushed past Verethragna like a gentle ripple of water, lightly passing over his body. Even the golden divine protection surrounding him could not block it in the slightest.
In the next instant, time resumed its flow. The five senses returned to the divine body.
...
Bang—
The first sound was the shattering of space itself.
The dawn light that had been frozen in place vanished completely. Above the firmament, only two figures remained standing in the void.
Then a heaven-shaking cracking sound erupted. On one side of the battlefield, fissures silently spread across the armor and trident of the King of the Gods, Melqart, before splitting apart completely.
Merely the aftershock of the technique had reduced Melqart's armament to scrap. The self-proclaimed strong god-king, upon regaining awareness, finally understood what the word "gap" truly meant.
He also finally comprehended the basis for her earlier disdain toward striking while a god was weakened beside the tower.
Rumble—
Hundreds of tons of divine artifact fragments crashed to the ground, then dissolved into particles and dispersed into heaven and earth.
In the sky.
Verethragna and Satsuki faced one another.
Above the abyss carved by the sword scar, the war god's crude cloak fluttered in the wind. Fine cracks appeared across his handsome face. His gaze fixed upon Satsuki, who still wore an expression of effortless indifference, and he suddenly asked loudly,
"You—have not yet used your full strength?"
To this question, Satsuki merely replied calmly, "What do you think?"
"Heh... hehehe... magnificent. Is this the end I have sought?"
A trace of reminiscence and regret appeared upon Verethragna's face. Then, as if drawing upon every last shred of divine power, his throat trembled and he spoke:
"Though I still do not know your name—remarkable... truly remarkable..."
Before his words could finish, accompanied by a thunderous roar of sword energy surging skyward, Verethragna's entire body exploded at once. His once radiant divine form began to decay, crumbling into ash within the golden sword light. From bottom to top, he disintegrated and scattered with the wind.
The ancient Persian God of War, guardian who served the god of light Mithra, the undefeated war god possessing ten incarnations—had fallen.
[System notification: Godslaying objective completed. Progress 1/?]
Ignoring the system prompt in her mind, Satsuki calmly withdrew Prometheus' Grimoire from her sleeve. Upon it now flickered the divine fluctuations of the war god's Ten Incarnations.
From the very beginning, through Status Infusion, Satsuki had queried and recorded all of the war god's abilities, filling them into Prometheus' Grimoire—until he unleashed his ultimate technique.
At last, the record was complete.
And at this moment, just as Satsuki had said—
The game was over.
"Melqart, next—it's your turn." ×3
Satsuki turned her head toward the King of the Gods, who had completely lost his will to fight. After that strike, the god-king had become like a statue, unable to move.
Under Satsuki's downward gaze, he finally snapped back to himself.
Then—he instinctively stepped back.
Only after his body had already retreated did he realize the fear gripping his heart. Yet he did not dare linger for even an instant. Transforming into a streak of divine light, he fled this terrifying battlefield.
"Heh—."
Satsuki had no interest in pursuing an opponent who had already lost the will to fight. Moreover—the collection of divine power was already sufficient.
From the heavens descended white radiance.
It was the light of Judgment of the Ten Kings · Samsara Genesis.
Under that glow, the abyss carved by the Six Senses Purified Slash was rapidly repaired. The surrounding land gradually returned to its original state.
After finishing this, Satsuki descended to the ground and approached Erica and Ariana, who were still isolated within the state created by her spacetime power.
Then, she poured the divine power stored within Prometheus' Grimoire into the body of the witch.
To be directly infused with the divine power of a war god was not something an ordinary human could possibly withstand.
However—Prometheus' Grimoire was clearly no ordinary object. During the transmission of power, Satsuki detected traces of a deliberately embedded spell upon it.
"Host, judging from the fluctuations of divine power, this is a ritual jointly cast by Epimetheus and Pandora. Using a god as sacrifice, it is a ceremony that usurps the target's Authority. It is also one of the methods by which a Godslayer is born."
Watching Erica as subtle changes began to manifest within her, Satsuki continuously gathered data on the transformations occurring inside her body.
"Oh? So Erica has now become a Godslayer?"
"From the result, yes."
For an ordinary person, such a turn of events could only be described as a miracle layered upon miracles.
As divine power poured in, Erica bore no external wounds—but internally, she was undergoing earth-shattering changes.
The explosive increase in magical energy forced her magic circuits to be dismantled and reconstructed. Knowledge pertaining to divine Authorities echoed ceaselessly within her mind, causing the golden-haired witch's body to grow increasingly feverish.
Suddenly, Satsuki's gaze sharpened. Her eyes seemed to pierce through some invisible boundary, looking into a pure white space beyond.
There, Erica's consciousness lay asleep upon the ground. Beside her stood a young-looking girl with purple twin-tails, observing her with interest.
She wore a thin white dress. Though her appearance resembled that of a child, the divine aura coiling around her body unmistakably revealed her identity as a god.
"This truly surprises me. I never imagined someone would willingly relinquish the Authority of a Campione after slaying a god."
Satsuki calmly regarded the suddenly manifested deity.
"Perhaps it is simply that what humans consider a treasure holds little value to me."
Through deciphering Prometheus' Grimoire, Satsuki had already learned much about Godslayers.
Those who slew the gods of heaven and seized their supreme divine power. Because they wielded Authorities stolen through godslaying and stood above mortal men, none among humanity could oppose them.
Within this description lay a crucial fact—gods themselves could not become Godslayers.
Only mortals—or beings such as witches—could become Godslayers by seizing the supreme divine power possessed by the gods.
Otherwise, Verethragna would long ago have been called a Godslayer.
Those who were already divine possessed their own godhood and Authorities. They could only continue along the path of their existing power.
And he, in the end, had still been nothing more than a Heretic God.
Moreover, according to the system's calculations, becoming a Godslayer generated a peculiar aura. Both magi and gods were extremely sensitive to it. This real-time exposure of one's position felt like a calculated side effect—one that left Satsuki with the distinct impression of being maneuvered.
"A god from another dimension... You are more cautious than I imagined. To think the ritual meant to draw you into the game would end like this."
The purple-haired girl's gaze rested upon Erica's face.
"But the clever are fated to be unsuited for becoming Godslayers. The name Prometheus means 'forethought'—a sage blessed with foresight. Epimetheus, in contrast, means 'afterthought'—a fool who only regrets after acting. Only fools receive Epimetheus' favor. After all, Godslayers are also called 'children of fools.' It is a most fitting title."
"Then Godslayer suits me even less..." Satsuki looked at Erica, whose eyebrows were trembling faintly. "What I cannot tolerate most is foolishness."
"Is that so? How unfortunate. In that case—would you kindly look after this child for me?"
...
Cagliari Elmas Airport.
A joint civilian and military airport near Cagliari on the island of Sardinia, located in Elmas. It served as the primary gateway to Sardinia.
A week had passed since that battle.
Satsuki's mission had concluded. She was now preparing to depart.
"Well, who would have thought it would end like this? A knight becoming a Campione—"
The speaker was Lucretia. Unlike her bold attire at the apartment last time, the witch now wore a purple evening dress with a deep V neckline that exposed her snow-white shoulders. A red corset cinched her waist, flaunting her splendid figure without restraint.
"Compared to me, Miss Knight's courage is more suited to becoming a Campione. Tempering one's character is far more difficult than increasing one's strength," Satsuki replied calmly from her seat.
Yet her thoughts did not rest. Instead, they circled around the witch before her.
This Sardinian witch had willingly handed over Prometheus' Grimoire despite knowing it could usurp divine Authority. Had she truly acted out of self-preservation?
If so, then why claim her own spiritual power had dissipated after observing a battle of gods at close range—only to take such a bold step? Would someone genuinely concerned about petty threats behave so daringly?
Which of these conflicting attitudes was her true face?
"After gaining a new Godslayer, the Copper-Black Cross will likely be drawn into an even more complicated vortex."
Though Lucretia's tone suggested worry, her expression seemed closer to one watching an entertaining spectacle.
"And to this day, whether through spiritual sight or familiars, I have seen nothing of that battle's process. When you delivered the girl to me, she was already a Godslayer. Is there some secret hidden within?"
A sharp probe.
Satsuki had not forgotten the fleeting shock that flashed in Lucretia's eyes when she sensed the aura of a Godslayer emanating from Erica.
"As I said, we reached a temporary cooperation with Melqart. Through Prometheus' Grimoire, we seized the Authority of the war god's Golden Sword. With that power, we eliminated him."
"—Was it Erica who used Prometheus' Grimoire?"
"The divine power chose her."
Such an answer left Lucretia with almost no opening to exploit. The scene of the aftermath bore no irregularities, and the witch could find no trace of the battle.
It was as if all evidence had been erased. Even Erica herself had no clear memory of how she became a Godslayer.
Had Lucretia not been intimately familiar with the aura of a Godslayer—and personally tested Erica's divine Authority—she would never have been certain that this knight had truly become a Campione.
"Very well, Miss Lucretia. The plane has arrived. We must board. Keeping others waiting is not the knightly way."
Erica and Ariana were unloading a large quantity of luggage from a car, moving with brisk efficiency.
"You're going to Japan as well?"
"Of course—we agreed upon it, didn't we?"
"I never agreed."
Erica paused, then turned to look at Satsuki. In a few quick steps she approached her and leaned close, whispering by her ear,
"But you didn't refuse, either—did you?"