The convenience of Campione Authorities needed no further explanation. Gods, after all, represented the strongest beings who governed concepts and eras. Even with the immense power of Tiga Ultraman at their disposal, Su Mo and his variants often relied more on their divine Authorities in combat. Strengthening those Authorities was an opportunity too good to pass up.
Moreover, the Third Magic—Heaven's Feel—symbolized far more than just immortality or infinite energy. Those were merely its side effects. Its true potential remained unknown, but one thing was certain: it far surpassed the mere possession of infinite magic power. In Su Mo's eyes, the Third Magic was a power even more valuable than any Authority.
The Holy Grail War itself was already a ritual designed to reach the Root, to obtain the Third Magic. The corruption of the Grail by All the World's Evils only affected the Lesser Grail's wish-granting function—a minor side element. The true ritual leading beyond the world remained intact. As long as magic power continued to stabilize the world's perforation, one could still use it to access the Third Magic.
It would be a crime to pass up such a gift from the heavens.
After thinking it through, the Type-Moon Su Mo made his decision. "Alright, let's do this!" he said with determination. "With my current strength, dealing with the Holy Grail War won't be a problem."
Compared to the potential gains, the risks weren't too high—it was worth trying. Just as the Type-Moon Su Mo was about to decisively leave and set things in motion, the Campione Su Mo stopped him. "Wait! Don't rush." Suddenly, something had occurred to him. The Holy Grail was corrupted by All the World's Evils, which in turn was tied to Angra Mainyu.
Angra Mainyu was the evil god opposing Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrian dualism—the embodiment of evil itself. Of course, the Angra Mainyu within the Grail wasn't the actual evil god. If it were, it wouldn't have stopped at merely corrupting the Grail. Rather, the Grail absorbed a symbolic vessel—an unfortunate sacrifice chosen to bear the name of the evil god. Yet even as a sacrificial vessel, having been named and killed under that identity, it still carried a fragment of its essence. It became a crystallization of collective human malice—accepted by the Greater Grail as a 'wish,' thereby embodying all the evils of mankind and successfully contaminating what was originally a neutral Holy Grail.
Campione Su Mo thought for a moment. "If you want to deal with this thing and actually gain the wish-granting function, I might have a way." Technically, it was possible to ignore the wish function and simply obtain the Third Magic instead. But since there was a chance to claim both, why not aim for everything?
For ordinary humans and Heroic Spirits, All the World's Evils was an unbearable poison. But to divine beings, it was nothing extraordinary. Even Gilgamesh could endure the black mud without batting an eye, and Tiamat's mud in Babylonia was vastly more powerful than the one in Fuyuki. Given Su Mo's current spiritual strength, the black mud couldn't affect him at all. However, purging it would still require certain specialized abilities. Conveniently, Campione Su Mo knew of a god who could help with that.
"The flow of time inside this Mist Space is independent from your respective worlds. In other words, no matter how long I stay here, it will only be an instant back home," Campione Su Mo explained. "You two wait here. I'll be back soon."
"Where are you going?" asked Type-Moon Su Mo and Pirate Su Mo.
"I'm off to kill a god. Be right back!" he said casually, as if he was just stepping out for groceries.
The other two could more or less guess what he was up to. "Fine, go already. Stop showing off," they replied with a sigh. Since time worked differently here, they weren't in any hurry.
After Campione Su Mo departed, the two remained behind, beginning to familiarize themselves with their newly acquired abilities. Time passed as they explored the powers now residing within them. Eventually, they both looked up simultaneously toward the direction where the white mist gathered. Someone new had arrived.
This time, they didn't repeat their previous blunder. They wouldn't automatically assume every newcomer was clueless. Without any unnecessary words, they walked up to the newly arrived Su Mo. "I come from the One Piece world." "I come from the Type-Moon world." They directly revealed their origins before the new arrival—who came from the A Certain Magical Index world—could even react. Each of them patted his shoulder with a slap.
"???" The Index World Su Mo froze. "Are you guys really new? You seem way more experienced than me! How many people have you done this shoulder-patting thing to already?!"
—Death to the love comedy protagonist!
Of course, the two veterans didn't tell him that this procedure was born from their previous embarrassing encounter. After some deliberation, they had developed this protocol to avoid future awkwardness—and it worked flawlessly.
"We just met the Campione Su Mo earlier," they vaguely glossed over the matter and smoothly transitioned into exchanging information about each other's worlds.
...
...
Meanwhile, back in the Campione world—
Returning from the Mist Space, Campione Su Mo finally had something to do. "Erica, put the Sword King business aside for now," he suddenly instructed while his knight was still dealing with paperwork. "I need to make a trip. Prepare the itinerary at once."
The abrupt command surprised Erica. She had been prepared for the Sword King's arrival, but now her Lord had completely changed plans. Could it be that his patience with the Sword King had run out? Though she was curious, as a knight, questioning her Lord was not her place. "My Lord, where are you headed? The nearby ports have planes and ships on standby."
Though Su Mo hadn't initially planned to travel, as a capable knight, Erica had made arrangements for emergencies. After all, anything that could slightly improve a Campione's mood was a goal long pursued by the magic associations. Ever since confirming that Su Mo had become a Campione, planes, cars, and ships had been permanently stationed around Sardinia, ready to move at a moment's notice. Now, Erica's meticulous preparations were finally paying off.
Su Mo looked at her with a hint of approval and said, "Our destination is Naples."
"Understood!" Erica beamed with satisfaction. Even such a minor task earning her Lord's praise was enough to make her happy. She immediately contacted the airport to issue orders, coordinating the logistics smoothly.
After finishing the arrangements, Erica thought of something and asked, "My Lord, what should we do if the Sword King arrives while you're away?" She wasn't sure how long Su Mo planned to be gone or when the Sword King would arrive. If the Sword King reached Sardinia while Su Mo was absent, it could get complicated.
Ordinarily, a simple message would suffice to reschedule. But Erica worried that the Sword King wasn't exactly… reasonable. If that muscle-brained idiot found Su Mo missing, he might jump straight into the Mediterranean and start walking along the seabed toward Naples. That would waste an absurd amount of time.
Erica vividly remembered Su Mo's earlier statement: if the Sword King failed to arrive within two days, he would toss him into the Earth's core. If that happened, they might even lose a Campione entirely. While she wasn't concerned for Su Mo's safety—since no Campione could easily beat a Heretic God senseless—she still didn't want him to acquire a reputation for slaughtering his own kind.
"The Sword King Doni…" Su Mo shook his head as he thought of that simple-minded husky. "If he comes, just have him wait here."
"It won't take me long anyway!"
It was just a single god he needed to deal with. Nothing that would take too much time.
"But… the Sword King may not be the type to obediently wait around," Erica said diplomatically, choosing her words carefully.
"Fair point..." Su Mo rubbed his chin. He didn't want to see that overexcited mutt running around unsupervised either. After thinking it over, he stepped outside.
The estate they stayed in was a seaside villa, and just a short distance from the front door lay the endless, azure sea.
"If the Sword King shows up, have someone here pass along the message," Su Mo said. "If he behaves and waits patiently, I might consider crossing swords with him."
Erica was visibly stunned. "You're going to spar with a sword with the Sword King?"
As much of a disaster as the Sword King Doni was in most areas—frivolous, impulsive, a headache to deal with—Erica had to admit one thing: when it came to swordsmanship, he was an unrivalled genius. Even prodigies like herself and Liliana could only look up to him in that regard. Even Luo Hao, the martial king from the East, had once praised Doni's swordsmanship.
Among all Campiones, Doni's sword skill was among the best. Erica knew Su Mo was strong, but she had never seen him truly use a sword. She didn't expect her Lord to show such confidence in this particular field.
If her Lord turned out to be an all-rounder… then what role would a knight like her even play?