"A summoning ritual?"
Hearing this, Erica froze on the spot. "You already obtained such a ritual in Rin's world?"
"Mm, I modified their Heroic Spirit summoning ritual a bit. I'm preparing to test its effects now," Su Mo nodded.
"I apologize, my progress has been too slow! Do you still need me to continue collecting materials for the god summoning ritual you previously ordered?" Erica immediately asked for forgiveness.
The Campione! world also had god summoning rituals. Su Mo had previously instructed her to search for them, and she had indeed accepted the task and carried it out.
She just hadn't expected that before she could even gather all the materials, Su Mo would have already obtained a ritual with the same effect from the Nasuverse.
Wouldn't this make her seem incredibly inefficient?
Su Mo did not accept Erica's apology.
"It's only been half a day. There's no need to apologize. I'm not so unreasonable as to disregard basic common sense."
Transferring information between multiple magic associations could never be done in just a day or two. Even with the authority of a Godslayer's command, it would take at least three days to see results.
In this situation, it wasn't that Erica was too slow, but that Su Mo was too fast.
"As for the previous order, of course you are to continue. Even if the effect is the same, the principles and workings of the rituals are different. I need to see all the materials."
Even if they were useless, they still had value as pure knowledge accumulation.
"Yes!"
Only then did Erica feel at ease. Her Lord was still very reasonable.
However, she still resolved in her heart to put some pressure on those magic associations and make them hand over the materials as soon as possible. Lord Su Mo's attitude was already magnanimous enough.
If those guys still couldn't see the situation clearly and continued to hesitate and waste time, then she would have to scare them with the fate of the King of Swords.
My Lord dares to bind even a Godslayer as a prisoner, and you magic associations still dare to wait and see? You think your necks are too tough?
After receiving her orders, Erica left with brisk efficiency.
After she left, Artoria visibly relaxed. "Master has a fine knight. She reminds me of Agravain."
Although she was still a bit uncomfortable with Erica's enthusiasm, seeing her competent demeanor, she held a high opinion of her. The knight Agravain had been Artoria's adjutant back then. Compared to Merlin, who slacked off all day, that adjutant was perhaps even more important to the entire Knights of the Round Table.
Though in terms of personality, Erica was the complete opposite of the taciturn Agravain, Artoria saw the same reliability in her.
"If you praised her like that to her face, she'd probably be too happy to sleep," Su Mo said casually.
"...Then let's not."
Remembering Erica's previous behavior, the ahoge-king shrank back a little. Not being able to sleep was one thing; she was afraid the girl would become even more enthusiastic. That would be too uncomfortable.
As a king, she had received similar adoration many times, but it was mostly from the common people.
The knights of the Round Table were quite self-restrained. Besides Mordred, no matter how much they admired her, they generally wouldn't show such fervor.
---||---
Before long, Erica had prepared all the ritual items Su Mo had requested.
The materials needed for a Heroic Spirit summoning ritual were already simple, and since the mythological foundations of the two worlds were basically the same, it was easy to find substitutes even in a different world.
To avoid affecting the populace, Su Mo chose the evacuated island of Sardinia as the experimental site.
In front of the familiar port ruins, under Su Mo's guidance, Erica quickly drew the magic circle.
"Mmph mmm! Mmmph mmmph mmph?"
The experimental site was completely quiet. Sakura and Artoria stood by Su Mo's side, while Erica was in charge of setting up the ritual.
The only source of noise was probably the King of Swords, Salvatore Doni, who was bound hand and foot in the center of the magic circle like a pig waiting to be slaughtered.
Unable to break free from the ropes Su Mo had created, and unable to speak with a rag stuffed in his mouth, his eyes, watching Erica hold a chicken with its neck slit, were wider than a bull's.
He didn't understand any magic or spells. But from Erica's actions, it looked for all the world like he was next to have his throat cut.
His Authorities had long been sealed by Su Mo. Without the passive protection of his Steel Authority, any Great Knight could slit his throat, let alone Erica, whose strength far surpassed that of a Great Knight.
Seeing Erica approach step by step, stimulated by his survival instinct, Doni finally unleashed his potential and did something he had never been able to do before!
He... failed to break free from the chains Su Mo had set.
But!
Gulp!
He swallowed the rag in his mouth in one gulp, finally able to speak.
"Dearest friend! Wh-wh-what are you planning to do?! We're comrades! You're not really going to kill me, are you?"
Doni was genuinely panicked this time. He had never been this scared, not even when facing Marquis Voban. In a fight with Voban, even if he lost, the Marquis would probably give him a quick death.
But in a fight with Su Mo, he really couldn't imagine what this newborn comrade would do to him. Although the comrade before him showed no killing intent, he didn't doubt for a second that if it were necessary, the other would not hesitate to kill him.
In the other's eyes, he, a Godslayer, seemed to be no different from any other human, or even a Heretic God. He hadn't read many books, so he couldn't quite articulate his feeling.
But he intuitively grasped one point: the other side of all beings being equal was that all things could be killed.
He wasn't afraid of death, but he would rather die in battle than as a sacrifice.
Faced with Doni's incoherent questioning, Su Mo calmly shook his head.
"Of course not. How could I lay a hand on a Godslayer? Do you think I'm that wasteful?"
"You think I'd believe your nonsense?"
Looking at himself tied up, Doni retorted speechlessly. "Besides, what do you mean, wasteful? Shouldn't the word here be 'cruel'?"
How could he get such a basic word wrong?
"No, it's wasteful." Su Mo shook his head.
If the principles of the Heroic Spirit summoning ritual were universal, then a Godslayer would hold a very important position in a god summoning ritual.
Besides himself, there were only six other Godslayers at present. Such a precious resource naturally had to be used sustainably. One couldn't drain the pond to catch the fish.
However, there was no need to explain these principles to Doni; it would be like playing a lute to a cow.
"In any case, I don't plan on killing you this time. I'm just using you as a catalyst. You can rest assured," Su Mo gave a straightforward guarantee. He was not in the habit of lying; it was detrimental to establishing a basic platform of trust.
For some reason, Doni was able to trust Su Mo's guarantee. He instinctively felt that Su Mo was the type who disdained lying.
However...
"What do you mean, 'don't plan on killing you this time'?! You're giving yourself away! You're totally giving yourself away! Aren't you just saying you might kill me at any time?" he retorted emotionally.
To such a meaningless comment, Su Mo gave only the most basic reminder.
"You can also try to refuse or run away. Everyone has the instinct to survive. As long as you can do it."
"..."
I'm retorting because I can't do it! he roared internally, but didn't say it out loud. As a loser, it was one thing to lose a battle, but he couldn't lose his warrior's dignity as well. Not to mention, the other party didn't seem to care about dignity.
Seeing that Doni had completely accepted his fate, and Erica had finished setting up the ritual site, she immediately retreated to Su Mo's side. Next was the time to witness a miracle.
Looking at the fully prepared magic circle, Su Mo was about to begin the ritual when suddenly, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth trembled slightly. The power of the earth's ley lines suddenly converged in a certain direction nearby. Soon, Su Mo felt a familiar fluctuation.
"This nature of True Ether... it should be the fluctuation of a Divinity."
Saying so, Su Mo looked down at the newly arranged magic circle, and the sacrifice—or catalyst—Doni within it.
"Eh? Is Lord Su Mo's summoning ritual that effective? A Heretic God has descended just after it was set up?" Erica couldn't help but find it absurd.
In all his years, Marquis Voban had only succeeded in summoning a Heretic God once, and it had even been intercepted by the King of Swords.
But Lord Su Mo hadn't even been at it for half an hour, and he'd already summoned a Heretic God? Even knowing how absurd Su Mo could be, this speed was a bit too astonishing.
Doni, standing to the side, was also extremely shocked. "Are Heretic Gods this easy to find?"
He ran all over the world, searching for traces of Heretic Gods, and had only found a few scraps. How could Su Mo summon one so quickly?
Counting the two he had slain before, he had encountered three Heretic Gods in a short period of time. Even among all Godslayers, this speed was the most monstrous.
If Marquis Voban or Cult Master Luo Hao knew their newborn comrade had this ability, they would surely spare no expense to snatch him away.
Of course, that was on the premise that those two old-timers could even beat him.
Seeing the shocked looks on their faces, Su Mo slowly shook his head.
"No, I haven't started the summoning yet."
In other words, this Heretic God had nothing to do with the god summoning ritual he had arranged.
After saying that, under their puzzled gazes, Su Mo turned his eyes to the ahoge-king beside him.
"The Heretic God descending this time... probably has something to do with you."
"Me?"
Artoria froze on the spot.