With the aid of his divine power, Souta peered upward from underground, watching the war god engulfed in a dazzling flood of lightning.
The golden spear unleashed hundreds of thunderbolts.
Then thousands, tens of thousands...
The intense heat instantly vaporized the nearby seawater, turning the beach sand into glass.
Waves of heat and shockwaves battered the coastline, whipping up sandstorms that rolled toward the town.
Nezuko lay flat on the ground, pressing herself down firmly.
Being just twenty-some meters away, she was scalded by the residual heat from the divine lightning.
The deafening roars made the townsfolk panic, rushing out to witness the blinding radiance on the distant shore.
"I am the Invincible Warrior! I am BAHRĀM!" (God of victory)
The war god roared defiantly, trying to resist.
But those words became his last.
A burst of platinum-white lightning, radiating for several kilometers, erupted from the spear's tip.
His body was dissolved in that blazing flash—erased from existence.
When the chaos finally settled, the glassed-over beach was silent, save for the golden spear standing proudly in the sand.
Nezuko remained sprawled twenty meters away, her skin covered in red burns.
Normally, with her demon healing ability, such injuries would have been healed instantly.
However, Souta was deliberately suppressing her regeneration with his divine power.
It was necessary to fool Pandora.
After all, Campiones typically ended up on the brink of death after their first god-slaying feat.
If Nezuko came out completely unscathed, it would raise suspicions.
At that moment, a divine presence descended.
She's here…
Souta withdrew his gaze from Nezuko, erasing every trace of his presence.
The "Circle of Usurpation" activated.
The rebirth ritual, using a god as the sacrificial offering, officially began.
Since true gods couldn't descend into the mortal realm, Souta didn't know exactly how Pandora was observing all this.
All he could do was stay hidden.
If the goddess sensed anything unusual and interrupted the ritual, things would get complicated.
I wonder if my tricks are enough to fool her... and if I can really secure the White Stallion authority…
Souta felt a twinge of nervousness.
He had already used divine power to place a special buff on Nezuko, making her appear indistinguishable from a native of this world.
He also enhanced the probability of her obtaining the "White Stallion" authority.
But because wishing for something abstract consumed far more divine power, boosting the odds to 100% would have been too costly.
The more abstract the wish, the greater the divine power consumed.
Souta didn't have that much to waste, so he only nudged the chances slightly.
Meaning... failure was possible.
If that happened, he would have to snatch the "Circle of Usurpation" by force.
Which would be a massive headache.
Let's hope nothing goes wrong.
He could only pray silently.
Roughly ten minutes later, the sacred presence disappeared.
Souta extended his spiritual senses, found no abnormalities, and teleported back to the surface.
Nezuko was still lying on the ground, seemingly asleep.
Souta crouched down, gently scooping her small body into his arms, and used his matter manipulation ability to restore her torn shrine maiden outfit.
He also healed her burns.
After about a minute, Nezuko slowly opened her eyes.
"God... sama?"
Seeing herself cradled in Souta's arms, she shyly avoided looking at his face.
"Are you alright?" Souta asked quickly.
"How's your body feeling?"
"I feel... like nothing's changed," Nezuko said, a little confused.
"Well, you're a demon. Your base strength is already way higher than normal.
Not feeling different... makes sense," Souta reasoned, then rephrased:
"Do you feel any strange new power inside you?"
"No..." Nezuko balled her tiny fists doubtfully.
Had she really gotten stronger?
"Maybe... it just takes time to adapt," Souta thought aloud, recalling how Doni and Godou reacted when they first became Campiones.
Neither of them grasped their powers immediately.
It was only after being stimulated by combat that their "instincts" awakened.
Nezuko was probably the same.
Souta decided not to worry.
He glanced at the Spear of Indra lying nearby, summoned it back to his hand, and uploaded it again to the system trade.
"Let's get out of here. Sooner or later, someone's going to investigate, and we don't want trouble."
He scooped Nezuko up into a princess carry, causing her to panic.
"I-I can walk on my own, God-sama!"
"It's fine.
Consider this a reward for your hard work."
Souta smiled:
"Let's go, my shrine maiden."
Since Nezuko now had an abundance of mana inside her, teleporting her wasn't easy.
Instead, Souta flew through the air, carrying her away.
...
...
Boom!
A wave of white-hot flames blasted outward, melting hills and blowing open the earth.
A massive crater appeared before Souta and Nezuko's eyes.
The landscape was completely transformed.
Nezuko retracted her right hand, staring blankly at the scene before her.
Had… had she really done that?
Souta admired the destruction, commenting in a leisurely tone:
"Mm, not bad at all.
That blaze reached about six thousand degrees—roughly the surface temperature of the sun.
But the real power came from the explosive force at the moment of impact, not the flames themselves.
The flames are just the aftershock."
He exhaled a breath of relief.
Thankfully, the White Stallion authority was successfully usurped.
Otherwise, it would've been a lot more work.
It had been over three hours since the war god was slain.
During that time, Souta used divine power to modify Nezuko's bone marrow.
His understanding of "matter" had evolved significantly, allowing him to analyze the essence of demon blood on a cellular level.
Thus, altering her bone marrow to produce demon blood didn't cost much divine power.
What drained more power was boosting the speed of her blood production.
Naturally, Souta also added an energy storage function to her marrow, allowing her to stockpile energy from food to rapidly regenerate blood.
She could now sustain her Blood Demon Art for hours on end—
the more she ate, the longer she could fight.
Afterward, Souta took Nezuko to an uninhabited island to test her authority.
"So this is what an authority feels like..."
Nezuko looked at her small hand, then at the crater she had created, still in disbelief.
One casual wave of her hand had melted a hill and blasted a fifty-meter-wide crater.
Could Muzan Kibutsuji even match that?
"You're surprised?" Souta chuckled, ruffling her hair.
"The White Stallion authority has ridiculous firepower.
Forget a little hill—you could destroy this entire island if you really went all out."
"Destroy... an island?"
Nezuko looked around, struggling to comprehend such overwhelming strength.
She had no idea how much destructive force she could unleash if she used her full power.
"You're strong now. Really strong.
You need to recognize that," Souta said, gazing at the massive crater, a bit emotional himself.
Back in the Demon Slayer world, Nezuko would basically be unstoppable now.
Thanks to her Campione-level magic resistance, even blood arts that invaded dreams would bounce right off her.
Her own "Exploding Blood" technique could burn through all blood arts—
making her impervious to both magic and physical attacks.
If a demon dared sneak up on her, her beast-like Campione instincts would instantly counterattack.
Now, she also had the power to bombard enemies with miniature solar flares...
Honestly, Muzan would be toast the moment he faced her.
If she fully unleashed the White Stallion, she should be able to summon an actual manifestation, Souta thought, glancing at the stunned girl and estimating her mana consumption.
Right now, casually melting hills barely used any mana at all.
She'd recover quickly.
"Oh, right. Nezuko," Souta asked suddenly,
"why did you attack the Verethragna immediately earlier?"
"Because... because he was a god... and I got nervous... and my hand slipped..."
Nezuko bowed her head, embarrassed.
She hadn't followed the original plan at all.
Had she made God-sama mad?
Souta noticed her unease and gently said:
"I was just curious.
I'm not angry at all. Actually, you did great—very clean and decisive."
He offered a silent 0.5-second prayer for the war god.
Didn't even finish his sentence before getting vaporized.
Probably the most pathetic Heretic God ever.
"Since you've secured your new strength," Souta said, pulling out his phone to check the time,
"it's about time I send you back."
Nearly four hours had passed.
It was time to wrap things up.