"This is... the Tablet of Prometheus!"
Erica knew exactly what that stone tablet was.
After all, the whole reason Akuto had gone to Italy in the first place was because of that tablet.
"That's right. The Tablet of Prometheus."
"Earlier, I extracted the four Authorities within the tablet and temporarily bestowed them upon Saint Raphael."
"Now, I've reawakened those four Authorities and returned them to the Tablet of Prometheus."
"Together with the portion of divine power Athena left inside your bodies, the two of you now possess the qualifications to challenge a god."
"Erica, Liliana, do you know why I chose to do this?" Akuto looked at the blonde and silver-haired girls before him.
...
"Isn't it to help us slay a god?" Erica frowned.
"At the most fundamental level, yes, it is to help you slay a god."
"But the most important question is this: why do I have to use this particular method to help you do it?"
"For me, the simplest way to help you slay a god would actually be to temporarily grant you my Holy Spear."
"But I didn't do that. Instead, I took the long way around and had you use the Tablet of Prometheus and Athena's divine power to slay a god."
"If there's a simpler method, then why would I deliberately choose the more complicated route?"
"..."
Both Erica and Liliana fell silent.
More than ten seconds later, Liliana finally said helplessly, "I don't know why Akuto-sama wants us to do it this way. I only know that if this is Akuto-sama's will, then we must accomplish it."
Liliana was an incredibly stubborn girl. In her eyes, she had already sworn to serve Akuto as his knight, and if that was the case, then naturally she ought to obey all of his commands.
As for why Akuto wanted her to do this... that part wasn't important.
"Liliana, you really don't have to take it quite that seriously." Akuto chuckled and shook his head.
To him, the so-called "lady knight" identity Erica and Liliana carried had more meaning as a kind of roleplay that added a different sort of charm. He was hardly going to demand that the women around him strictly follow every rule of knighthood.
For matters like this, it was enough for him to enjoy the distinct allure of beautiful knightly girls in a real, practical sense. There was no need to put certain things openly on display.
After all, if one really wanted to get technical about it, no code of chivalry had ever laid down rules for what posture one ought to use while serving one's liege in bed.
"All right. Asking you two to guess was probably too much. I'll just give you the answer directly."
"My real purpose is this: I want you to complete the feat of slaying a god in as pure a form as possible."
"Hm? In as pure a form as possible?" Erica immediately caught the key phrase.
"That's right. In as pure a form as possible."
"In other words, I want you to accomplish the feat of slaying a god with as little influence from me as possible."
"Because only then can your own status truly evolve and rise."
"You should both know what happened yesterday, right? Saint Raphael slew Perseus, but she still didn't receive Pandora's recognition and didn't become a Campione."
After Saint Raphael's battle ended, Akuto had carefully examined her body and her fate line. He discovered that although she hadn't obtained an Authority, her destiny itself had undergone an enormous change.
And it was precisely because of that discovery that Akuto had decided to bring Erica and Liliana out on this "date" today.
"Yes. Akuto-sama has already proven to us through that example that only those who are born with the destiny of a Campione can become one."
Erica lightly bit her lip, her expression slightly complicated.
Originally, she had wanted to test it herself, but since Saint Raphael had already served as proof once, she no longer felt any need to personally verify it again.
"That's right. Only those born with the destiny of a Campione can become one. Without that heavenly fate, Pandora will never acknowledge them." Akuto nodded.
"But... even if Pandora doesn't acknowledge you, and even if you gain no Authority from it, the act of slaying a god is still engraved firmly into your destiny. It greatly strengthens your fate."
"Even though she still falls short of a true Campione, after completing that divine feat, Saint Raphael now possesses roughly thirty to forty percent of a Campione's status."
"I possess a reincarnation secret art similar to Pandora's. If I use a god as the sacrifice, I can bestow the Authorities of a Campione and the physique of a Campione upon someone else."
"And if slaying one god can grant you a fraction of a Campione's fate, do you know what that means?"
Akuto smiled and looked at Erica.
"It means that even if we weren't born with the fate of a Campione, as long as we have Akuto-sama's help, and as long as we slay enough gods... we can still become Campione!"
Erica sucked in a sharp breath.
She had long since understood that Akuto stood above Campione themselves, but hearing him plainly lay out the fact that he could create Campione still left her shaken.
...
"Well, I can't exactly call them true 'Campione.' At best, they'd be postnatal Campione. They're still different from those who were born with the destiny of a Campione. They can come infinitely close, but they can't fully stand on equal footing."
"Based on the principle that slaying a god can strengthen your own fate, I conducted a thorough examination of Saint Raphael's transformation and made a bold inference."
"My conclusion is this: the less influence from an existence outside this world there is during the act of slaying a god, the greater the change in one's fate."
"If you slay a god while using the Holy Spear, you'll at most gain about thirty to forty percent of a Campione's fate."
"But if you do it without borrowing the power of an existence from outside this world, and use only the powers that belong to the Godslayer world itself, then I estimate a single godslaying could grant you seventy to eighty percent of a Campione's fate."
"And that kind of result can stack."
"In other words, the more gods you slay, the more feats you accumulate."
"And the more feats you accumulate, the closer your fate comes to that of the natural-born Campione."
"Then, if I pair that with the Authorities I steal from gods through the Usurpation Disc, mass-producing postnatal Campione becomes possible."
A blazing ambition burned behind Akuto's calm gaze.
If a divine feat could be accumulated, then killing enemies to level up and mass-producing powerhouses would also become possible.
It could be said that this discovery completely shattered the godslaying system of this world.
What godslaying system?
Akuto intended to create an entirely new system of his own: a system of feats.
...
Before crossing into this world, Akuto had once watched an anime called Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
In the world of DanMachi, great feats are a necessary requirement for adventurers to level up.
A feat, as the name suggests, is a great undertaking. Whether positive or negative, it refers to an achievement so extraordinary that even the gods would consider it truly remarkable.
A feat doesn't necessarily have to come from battle. It could also be something else, such as forging an incredibly powerful weapon or developing some unusual invention. But defeating a powerful enemy is the most direct kind of feat.
...
In the world of DanMachi, as long as you accumulate enough experience and enough great feats, you can level up. The more feats you accumulate, the stronger the new skills you gain after leveling up become. In a sense, it can be seen as a whole different kind of fully immersive RPG.
And in this Godslayer world, Akuto had discovered that although it didn't function quite like DanMachi, where accumulating feats alone directly made you stronger, the act of slaying a god - a supreme feat - was still recognized by the world itself.
Akuto had even made a bold additional guess: if the person who slew the god happened to be one of the heroines from the original storyline, the degree of recognition they received from the world would be even greater.
That was why he had chosen to let Erica and Liliana make the move this time. He wanted to prove that his theory was correct.
After all, Saint Raphael alone was still too thin a sample size.
...
"So that's how it is."
The way Erica and Liliana looked at Akuto became even more radiant.
For Erica, the fact that Akuto had remembered her dream of surpassing her ancestor was enough on its own to move her heart.
Not to mention that after remembering her dream, he had even gone out of his way to create an opportunity for her to realize it.
So Erica's already high affection for Akuto rose sharply yet again.
As for Liliana...
She had no particular goal of surpassing her ancestor who had once been a Campione. She was simply happy for Akuto.
Her affection for him had already been extremely high. After being saved by him once, even though they hadn't met many times since, Liliana had nearly completed her own self-conquest already.
And under Karen's guidance, Liliana had firmly resolved to deepen her relationship with him as soon as possible. She was already just one final step away.
"There are four Authorities within the Tablet of Prometheus. Divide them between yourselves as you see fit, and then defeat the god-king Melqart," Akuto ordered directly.
"Yes!"
Erica and Liliana answered in unison.
...
A little over ten minutes later, the two of them finished dividing the Authorities and discussing their battle plan.
Erica took the Authorities of the White Horse and the Camel, making her responsible for close-range combat and restraint.
Liliana took the Authorities of the Golden Sword and the Goat, making her responsible for long-range support and offensive pressure.
On top of Verethragna's Authorities, the two of them could also use Athena's divine power in its purest form, as well as David's Words of Power, which after its blessing was comparable to an Authority. Against a heavily wounded Melqart who had yet to fully recover, it was already more than enough.
"Ready?"
"Then... let the hunt begin."
Akuto smiled faintly and stepped forward first.
Ong...
An indescribable aura spread naturally from Akuto's body, quickly expanding until it covered the whole of Sicily.
That was... the aura of a Campione.
(End of Chapter)
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