In a space somewhere, location unknown.
There was nothing around. Everything the eye could see was gray, a uniform color that stretched all the way to the horizon's end.
There was nothing but gray.
"The so-called Astral Plane is even more boring than I imagined."
The young man with vibrant red eyes sat within this space, offering a casual critique.
"To speak of a lady's residence so dismissively is quite rude, you know."
The voice belonged to a girl who looked, frankly, quite young.
Based on her appearance, she was at most only fourteen or fifteen years old.
The girl possessed an exceptionally well-proportioned and lovely appearance.
She was extremely slender, looking rather delicate, and wore a thin, white one-piece dress. Her features, a youthful face and physique, were framed by long golden hair parted on both sides.
But—
The first impression this girl gave was not one of cuteness.
It was one of "bewitchment."
A bewitching allure that one couldn't help but be drawn into.
Her name was Pandora.
The goddess who manages the ritual of rebirth for『God-Slayers』.
Right now, this goddess was staring intently at the young man she had just pulled to the boundary between life and death, her pretty face a mask of vexation.
Today…
She seemed to have encountered a special case.
"You're not going to call me 'child'?" asked the young man, who had indeed just slain a Heretical God, as he looked at the Mother of God-Slayers and pursed his lips.
Just a moment ago, he had finished off Lugh and his four health bars.
He had blown up one with a hydrogen bomb, another with Big Dog's spear, and the remaining two were taken care of by the Heretical Lugh's own sure-hit spear and sword of vengeance.
Naturally, he had earned the qualification to be reborn as a God-Slayer.
"Can you… just let me think for a moment?"
Like a programmer staring down a system-breaking bug, the goddess presiding over the rebirth ritual looked at the young man who, for all intents and purposes, seemed like her elder brother's descendant, her expression a knot of conflict.
The God-Slayer rebirth ritual was a contraption created by the brothers Prometheus, the Fore-sighted, and Epimetheus, the After-sighted.
The purpose, naturally, was to help humanity defend itself against their own kind, who tended to lose their minds after descending to the mortal realm.
Therefore, the prerequisite for activating this ritual was that the God-Slayer must be human. A god killing another god had bugger all to do with the rebirth ritual.
But—
In this world, there are always exceptions.
For example—
A human with the blood of a god flowing through their veins.
A demigod.
This fellow… should he be counted as a god, or as a human?
Having never in her long life encountered a demigod who had slain a god, Miss Pandora was plunged into a state of confusion.
And what's more—
Mythologically speaking…
This guy was actually her nephew, wasn't he?
Pandora, who could clearly sense that the aura of the person before her shared the same origin as the god named Prometheus, found her expression growing even more conflicted.
The father of the Indian hero known as Karna was named Surya.
Surya was revered as the sacred giver of vitality. He inspired the understanding of mortals, commanded the wind and rain, and ruled over all things in motion and at rest, even the other gods.
He himself operated according to fixed laws, binding heaven and earth to maintain their eternal stability.
He was the first being on earth to preside over sacrificial rites, and he then bestowed the gift of fire upon mankind, enlightening their wisdom.
Doesn't Surya's story sound familiar?
Through the comparison and study of ancient European languages and Indian Sanskrit, one can find a common linguistic ancestor spanning the peoples of Europe and India: Proto-Indo-European.
The Proto-Indo-European peoples shared common customs and spiritual culture, forming the basis for the 'Proto-Indo-European common mythology' theory.
That's right. Karna's father, Surya, was Prometheus.
Suddenly finding herself with a new nephew, Miss Pandora felt a bit of a headache coming on.
"You're even more troublesome than that child Kevin, who came from who-knows-where," Pandora muttered.
Eh—?
That child, Kevin?
Suddenly hearing a rather incredible name, the young man's expression turned a little peculiar.
Pandora was the Mother of God-Slayers.
The only ones she called her 'children' were God-Slayers.
Which meant…
Was Ancestor Kevin's first order of business upon arriving in the God-Slayer world to pick a fight with some god in the Vatican?
What a guy.
The young man, who had also just done away with a god, thought to himself.
"So, can I claim my gift pack and leave now?" the young man asked with great earnestness, feeling he could cash in on a free Authority and physical boost.
"My lover is still waiting for me outside. If I'm late, she'll get angry."
Feeling that adding the buff of a 'God-Slayer' to his repertoire wouldn't be a bad idea, the young man seriously began petitioning Pandora for his Authority.
Slay a god, usurp their Authority, and plunder their magical energy.
That is what a God-Slayer is.
In the lore of God-Slayers, there is a rule that their total magical energy remains constant.
It sounds like a limitation.
But—
What that actually refers to is the upper limit of the God-Slayer rebirth ritual itself.
It does not mean that after undergoing the ritual, the reborn individual's potential for growth is sealed off, preventing them from improving through other means.
Therefore, it was actually a rather excellent power-up.
The young man, who would certainly not turn his nose up at more power, unabashedly extended his hand toward the goddess who was, in a sense, his great-aunt.
Looking at the hand already stretched out before her, the goddess, who felt exactly like a programmer staring at a bug, remained silent for a long time.
Fine, forget it.
I'll just leave this mess for my brother to sort out.
The goddess, who could vaguely sense that her brother also seemed to have plans to leave the Astral Plane, sighed.
He must have sensed this child's aura as well, she thought.
It was just that, compared to Lugh, who was rather impetuous, Prometheus was a bit more composed.
"But, speaking of which, Karna, why didn't you use your spear or your bow when fighting Lugh?"
The great hero Karna possessed many supreme treasures.
The victorious bow used by Parashurama to exterminate the Kshatriya class twenty-one times.
The one-hit-kill, god-slaying spear bestowed by the god-king Indra.
Those two weapons were far more powerful than a spear made from the bones of a sea monster.
"Is that sort of thing important?" the young man replied with a faint smile, clearly having other plans.
"A child who likes to be mysterious isn't cute at all."
Having failed to learn from the child before her why he had held back the weapons that could have slain a god in a single blow, Pandora sighed and brought up another matter.
"The rebirth ritual is a ceremony prepared for humans. I can't guarantee that it will succeed for a demigod like you."
"If it succeeds, great. If not, then so be it."