"Even if everyone attacks together, we still can't win?"
"Pretty much."
Damien sighed. "These are the special rules of the world we're in now."
Set up a perfect trap for a Campione and you don't corner them—you just build them a grand stage so they can accomplish some magnificent feat.
That was why the best way to fight in the Campione world was one-on-one.
God versus god, Campione versus Campione, or Campione versus Heretic God—doesn't matter.
Create a true one-versus-one situation and fate's interference dropped to its lowest level.
It wasn't as if no Campione had ever been killed by a Heretic God throughout history.
"In other words, numbers are completely meaningless against Campiones."
Hinata had reached the same conclusion as Damien about how to deal with both Heretic Gods and Godslayers.
"All right, we'll split up here."
Damien said, "Hinata, you head to Japan. I'll go somewhere else, then meet up with you later."
"You're going to…?"
Hinata didn't mind returning to Japan at all.
Even if it wasn't her exact hometown, it was still Japan—how different could it be?
"We're summoning too many Heretic Gods. Japan is tiny; it can't handle that many divine descents at once."
Damien had chosen the Greece region. There he would summon the first of his followers in Heretic God form.
"Understood."
Hinata already had her own plan—she would summon Luminas.
Of all the Demon Lords, Luminas was the one she knew and trusted best.
And just like that, Damien and Hinata went their separate ways.
They each boarded flights—one bound for Japan, the other for Greece.
Their arrival and departure drew no attention whatsoever.
Luo Hao and her Five Prisons Holy Cult, along with the Divine Ancestors and Heretic Gods hiding in the Netherworld, still had no idea that two outsiders from another world had already descended.
"How's it going, Hinata?"
Back in the Demon Lord's castle, Luminas watched the other viewpoint that had stalled inside the Realm of Immortality and finally gave up trying to observe the Campione universe directly.
She turned to Hinata, who had been sitting silently in place for a while now.
"Lord Damien?"
Hinata looked to Damien for permission.
"Go ahead and show everyone."
With a wave of his hand, two live images floated in the air above the Demon Lord conference hall—real-time views of Damien and Hinata's current situations.
Of course, besides this livestream-style projection, anyone could slip their consciousness inside for a far more immersive experience.
"Lord Damien, weren't you and Miss Hinata traveling together?"
"Yeah."
The flight was boring anyway, so Damien took the chance to update the group on their current status.
"The Child of Destiny in the Campione world is named Godou Kusanagi. Right now he's just a third-year junior-high student in Japan."
"In about a month he'll go to Sardinia to return his grandfather's memento and run into a clash between two Heretic Gods."
"According to the original fate, Godou will use a divine artifact called the Prometheus Tablet to slay a god named Verethragna."
"Then he'll obtain the ten Authorities from Verethragna."
It was currently March, and Godou's trip to Sardinia would happen around April—giving them roughly a month.
That was both a good thing and a bad thing.
The good part was that Damien had plenty of time to set up his plans.
The bad part was that he couldn't immediately jump into the fight between the two Heretic Gods and play the fisherman who catches both.
If he wanted to become a Campione, he would have to find another Heretic God on his own.
"But since we've already stepped into this world's story, the original fate doesn't matter anymore."
Damien had no intention of letting Godou Kusanagi become a Campione.
He simply didn't like protagonists like that—people who possessed immense power yet acted like spineless cowards, the kind even a stray dog could step on.
You're a Godslayer, for crying out loud, and you still let other people order you around? It was an insult to the title itself.
"What a long trip…"
After nearly ten hours in the air, Damien finally landed in Athens.
Honestly, ever since he had gained magic he hadn't felt this physically drained in a long time.
Sure, it was only a projection—but the projection felt exactly like a real body.
So yes, it could still get tired.
Fortunately his current Highest Rank strength made his physical stats far surpass even the divine beasts of this world.
Still, sitting on a plane for half a day straight was boring no matter how you sliced it.
"Testarossa, Diablo."
He left the airport, took a taxi to the hotel he had booked in Athens, rested up, then headed out again toward the prepared site—the Parthenon on the Acropolis.
Snap!
Once he reached the ancient temple, Damien cast a simple spell from this world's magic system and cleared out every tourist in the area.
Only then did he begin drawing the ritual array for a Heretic God descent inside the temple.
"Is summoning a Heretic God really this easy?"
Hinata stole a glance between her own tasks and asked the question.
"No."
While his projection continued carving the array, Damien explained, "A proper Heretic God summoning ritual requires three keys."
According to the original setting, calling a god down from the Realm of Immortality needed:
A witch or shrine maiden with exceptionally strong spiritual power.
A priest with an almost fanatical desire to see the god descend.
And a myth—something that would serve as the new vessel for the summoned god's body.
The first two were straightforward enough. The witch or shrine maiden acted as a guide for the deity; the priests served as living sacrifices, offered in blood.
The third was usually an object tied to the god—an artifact or holy relic.
"Shrine maiden, believers, holy relic."
Hinata sounded puzzled. "Have you prepared any of those?"
"Nope."
As he spoke, everyone watching saw the projection slash open its own wrist.
A moment later a large quantity of blood poured out and splashed across the ground.
"My blood is the best medium there is."
The Heretic God Damien intended to summon wasn't some stranger—it was his own Little White and Little Black.
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