While Ana was complaining about her lover not coming to pick her up, Li Zihan had actually already arrived.
However, for various reasons, he had chosen to take care of something in the suburbs before finding Ana.
For instance—
A God Summoning Ritual.
The youth with brilliant red eyes bit his own finger, letting out a small amount of blood. Using it as ink, he began to draw a highly complex formation on the ground.
Not long ago, he had entrusted Sirin with opening three boxes.
As a certified European Emperor, Sirin had easily pulled three golden lights.
They were the Demonic Eyes of Distortion, the Sea Tiger Destructive Fist, and a Summoning Ticket limited to Servants with the Divinity trait.
The Demonic Eyes of Distortion had already been given to Sirin.
He planned to take the Sea Tiger Destructive Fist back to learn alongside Mei.
All that remained was the so-called Divine Spirit Summoning Ticket.
---o---
"So, Ah-Li, what in the world are you drawing here?"
Completely baffled as to why Li Zihan had suddenly turned back after arriving in Los Angeles to come to this desolate wilderness, Sirin stood by his side, her curiosity piqued.
"Summoning a Heretical God, of course."
The youth, clearly intending to use the Summoning Ticket—which was explicitly noted to attract Divine Servants—as a catalyst for his ritual, looked up and explained.
Having implanted multiple Herrscher Cores and become a God-Slayer, Li Zihan had little interest in Servants anymore.
After all, among Divine Servants, besides characters like Arjuna Alter, a fully realized Rama, or the cosmic deity Zeus, there were basically none who could offer him a significant power boost.
Besides, whether those Lostbelt Kings from the alternate timelines could even be summoned was an unknown.
And frankly, those demons and monsters...
They weren't really Servants at all!
They just slapped the 'Servant' label on themselves to crash the party at Chaldea!
Completely convinced he couldn't summon those kinds of abominations, Li Zihan naturally gave up on performing a standard Heroic Spirit Summoning.
He intended to leverage the ticket's concept of "connecting to a god" to conduct a God Summoning Ritual instead.
---o---
"Didn't you just kill a god?"
The image of the nuclear-like explosion was still seared into Sirin's memory, and her delicate brows furrowed slightly.
Why was Li Zihan in such a hurry to summon another god?
"But you haven't achieved the status of a God-Slayer, have you?"
The youth, who was obviously planning to summon a Heretical God for Sirin to kill, spoke with a smile.
"Eh? Eh—?"
The girl froze, never having imagined that Li Zihan was performing this ritual specifically for her.
"In this world, a fool who raises their blade against a god and severs its head will be granted magical energy second only to the divine, god-tier resistance to abnormalities, and the god's Authority."
Having already completed the ritual of god-slaying and obtained the corresponding enhancements, the youth shrugged. Killing another god would now only grant him a single new Authority.
"I think this enhancement would be a great help to you, too. So, next, I will assist you in slaying a god."
---o---
"Ah-Li, if killing a god brings such great benefits, then you should be the one to do it."
After a moment of stunned silence, Sirin thought it over and replied.
God-slaying was undoubtedly a high-reward endeavor; otherwise, Ah-Li wouldn't be encouraging her to do it.
And if the rewards were so great, it was better to leave it to him.
The girl remembered very clearly that Li Zihan seemed to have a powerful obsession with getting stronger, and she didn't want to take an opportunity that should have been his.
"Don't worry, I have countless ways to get stronger."
Sensing the unease in her expression, the youth broke into a sudden smile.
"Compared to getting stronger all by myself, isn't it more fun to slowly advance toward the end of time together with your lover?"
Advancing to the end of time together?
Hearing those words, a faint blush rose on the girl's lovely face.
"Indecent."
Her face flushed an impossible shade of red, the girl raised a hand and gently hammered it against the youth's shoulder.
The motion of her fist looked fierce, but the moment it landed, it became utterly soft.
It was like a kitten rolling the soft pads of its paws over something.
Clearly, this reaction was less a complaint and more a form of coquettish flirting.
---o---
"You call a statement like that indecent?"
The youth, who was now channeling his power into the ritual using himself and the Divine Spirit Summoning Ticket as the medium, raised an eyebrow.
"If I say it's indecent, then it's indecent!"
The white-haired girl's voice took on a tsundere tone.
She stood beside him with her arms crossed, humming softly as her gold and blue eyes slanted a glance at her lover.
Her posture was haughty, but the affection shining in her eyes described her mood far better than her arrogant stance.
"Then tonight, you'll see an even more indecent me."
The usually composed youth poured his absolutely exceptional reserves of magical energy into the formation, then tilted his head to look at Miss Paramecium and stated in a perfectly serious tone.
"Bring it on. You think I'm afraid of you?"
The girl, who had been slept into submission not long ago and forced to reluctantly agree to her lover's harem, seemed to have been infected by her pufferfish-like first personality. She issued a challenge, unwilling to show any weakness.
It seemed she had no intention of getting out of bed tomorrow.
---o---
Faced with Miss Sirin's provocation, the youth, whose physique was now what one might call a "full six-item build" compared to his initial state, said nothing.
What was the use of a verbal challenge?
A strong man leaves a girl holding the wall; a strong girl leaves a man flat on his back.
Even without using his Clairvoyance, Li Zihan was certain that tomorrow would see the girl holding the wall, not him lying in bed.
"Alright, enough of this for now."
Having completed all the steps before the final stage of the God Summoning Ritual and deciding to conceal Karna's Divinity, the youth pointed to the sky, which had already turned a gloomy gray.
"Next, there's a high probability that a deity related to Gilgamesh or Cú Chulainn will descend in this vicinity."
"I'll release my God-Slayer aura and the Divinity within me to attract it here, and then—"
"And then I'll kill it."
Spurred on by her lover's encouragement, the flames of desire to grow stronger ignited in the girl's heart. She clenched her fist, looking ready for a fight.
"Then, prepare for battle!"
The Divinity belonging to Cú Chulainn and Gilgamesh rose from the God-Slayer's body.
And then—
An arctic air current, like a pack of ravenous wolves, spread throughout the entire city.
Is the one descending Skadi, the "Snowshoe Goddess" who shares the same origin as Cú Chulainn's teacher, Scáthach?
Feeling that extreme chill, Li Zihan racked his memory of the connections between Gilgamesh and Cú Chulainn.
But—
The moment the frigid wind touched him, his expression changed completely.
Li Zihan could clearly sense that this wind contained not just magical energy, but also trace amounts of Honkai energy.
The being creating this storm wasn't just the "Snowshoe Goddess" Skadi.
It was also Ana.