Because if The God left with him, it meant she could only stay by his side permanently.
Otherwise, she'd experience what was happening now, once separated from him, she would be forcibly ejected from this temporal plane.
Yes, ejected.
Takeyo's injuries had mostly healed, and his power had officially entered Ultimate-Class. In other words, the moment he separated from The God, he would almost immediately be expelled from this point in time and space.
If The God chose to leave with him, she would have to remain at his side until he grew strong enough to anchor himself in altered timelines through sheer power alone.
That was why she'd phrased it as a marriage proposal.
When a man asks a woman to stay beside him for the rest of his life, isn't that exactly what a proposal is?
A hint of playfulness flashed through The God's golden eyes. Her wrist, delicate as white jade, moved with ethereal grace as she extended one finger, gently waving it.
She was waiting for Takeyo's answer.
Takeyo smiled helplessly.
"That's right... It's a proposal. I don't know if I have the honor of walking alongside a goddess for eternity?"
Faced with The God's challenge, Takeyo naturally chose to respond directly.
He was a real man, after all.
"Then my answer is..."
A satisfied smile curved The God's lips.
Several days later.
After bidding farewell to both versions of Grayfia, one towering over him in the present, one barely reaching his waist in this timeline, Takeyo returned to his studies with renewed focus.
From beginning to end, he believed learning was vitally important.
However, while immersed in divine knowledge, the system's voice interrupted his concentration.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for completing a plot check-in! Sign-in level: Diamond!]
[Sign-in plot: Gabriel's Faith!]
[Plot: Obtain the faith of Gabriel, Seraph of Heaven!]
[Congratulations to the host for the reward: Three Thousand Dao, Path of Blood!]
[Three Thousand Dao, Path of Blood: Perfect mastery over blood and life essence. Grants absolute control over bloodlines, genetic manipulation, and the creation of life forms through blood connection. Can establish blood covenants, replicate abilities through blood sampling, and create subordinate existences with transcendent potential...]
"Oh? It seems my theory was correct."
Hearing the system notification, Takeyo emerged from his meditative learning state.
He'd been wondering when this particular check-in would complete. Now that he and The God shared a single divine essence, Gabriel's faith in The God naturally extended to believing in him as well.
If this check-in hadn't completed before leaving this timeline, he would have found an appropriate opportunity to trigger it manually.
"Haa..."
After the power fusion completed, Takeyo took considerable time to fully appreciate his body's transformation.
At the Ultimate-Class realm alone, combined with his physical and magical power boosted by various abilities to approach transcendent-tier strength, any reward that could make him react this strongly definitely interested him.
The last time he'd felt similar excitement was with the Three Thousand Thunder Dao, back when he'd just stepped into High-Class Devil territory.
After reading through the Path of Blood's full introduction, understanding dawned on him.
I see...
"So there are all kinds of fascinating applications."
Takeyo smiled slightly. While Path of Blood didn't match his personal preferences or righteous image as well as Holy Dao or Thunder Dao, its effects were definitely not weak, in some areas, even stronger.
With Path of Blood's perfect control over his own blood, Takeyo could mass-produce existences similar to his brother, or even beings potentially surpassing that level.
That's right... mass-produced transcendents.
The price? One drop of blood.
Of course, this still required time. What he created were life forms with transcendent potential, they needed proper cultivation to truly reach that state.
"Why does this feel like a vampire True Ancestor mass-producing their progeny?"
Takeyo shook his head.
Of course, he knew that while the principle was essentially similar, the actual mechanics were vastly different.
A vampire True Ancestor's Embrace transformed a person's race into vampire. Takeyo's reincarnation method worked differently, those who accepted his blood would have their original race fundamentally strengthened rather than replaced.
"Forget it. I'll explore those possibilities after returning to my own time."
Even if it proved meaningful, the effect would only matter after he went back.
Right now, the most important thing was converting time into knowledge by continuing to digest The God's memories.
Just as he prepared to reenter his learning trance, the system's voice rang out again.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for triggering a plot check-in! Sign-in level: Gold!]
[Sign-in plot: The End of the Four Demon Kings!]
[Plot: The Four Demon Kings? Sounds intimidating, doesn't it? In reality, they're just a group of weaklings who haven't even reached transcendent-class. It's time to demonstrate your strength! Kill the Four Original Satans with your own hands.]
[Sign-in time limit: 1 day.]
[Remaining time for sign-in: 1 day.]
"Oh? The Four Demon Kings?"
Takeyo wasn't particularly concerned.
The current ancestor Lucifer couldn't necessarily defeat Sirzechs in single combat. With his current half-step transcendent strength, achieved without using incarnations or Sacred Gear Balance Breaker, plus his various techniques, challenging actual transcendent-tier opponents posed no problem.
It was worth noting that Ddraig and Albion's Balance Breakers would barely enhance him at this stage, unless he utilized the powers of Ophis, Great Red, or Kurma stored within his Sacred Heart of the True World Dragon.
Of course, forms beyond Balance Breaker would still provide meaningful boosts.
"If I'm receiving this check-in now, that means The God and the Four Original Satans haven't died yet, correct?"
With that thought, Takeyo stretched and prepared to head out.
On the holy-demonic battlefield.
The God suddenly felt something odd within her shared essence.
"What are you doing? They're about to force me into mutual destruction," she said into the divine connection they shared.
"If I'm not mistaken, you want to drag all four of them into a separate dimension, then have your manifestation disappear along with them?" Takeyo's voice carried a hint of exasperation through their link.
"Yes. That's the safest approach..." The God responded.
"In that case, how about letting me handle these people instead? My hands are itching for a fight. Let me test my full strength against them."
When beings reached their level of power, the Four Great Satans posed approximately zero threat unless they coordinated perfectly, and even then, they'd barely qualify as challenging toys.
The threat level was roughly equivalent to bullying children.
"Very well. If you want to play, then I'll let you play."
The God didn't particularly care either way. She had no interest in toying with weaker opponents, she was only going through these motions to maintain the history Takeyo knew from his original timeline.
After saying this, The God relinquished control of their shared body and once again immersed her consciousness within Takeyo's essence.
Takeyo opened his eyes.
The moment his vision cleared, he saw endless holy radiance surrounding him.
With this layer of divine light present, not only could other combatants not see his face, even Ultimate-Class devils and fallen angels couldn't approach!
This was probably why Azazel and various high-ranking fallen angels hadn't recognized him earlier.
They had seen The God before their Fall, so they knew her appearance.
Therefore, The God had wrapped a layer of holy light around the body to prevent them from recognizing that the person before them was actually someone else carrying the Biblical God's origin.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Takeyo had barely taken control when a barrage of attacks hammered into him.
The Original Leviathan's demonic magic! Barely breaking through the holy light to strike Takeyo's physical form!
"Tch..."
Takeyo raised an eyebrow. It seemed... this attack had no effect whatsoever. He felt like a gentle breeze had brushed against him.
However, in just a moment, he made the appropriate response.
"Hngh!"
He fell from the sky, and simultaneously... the holy radiance surrounding his body dimmed significantly.
He hadn't forgotten The God's original plan. The strategy called for showing weakness to the enemy before finding an opportunity to drag them all into a separate dimension for mutual annihilation.
He couldn't sabotage The God's established plan. Besides, this was originally his idea anyway.
Meanwhile...
"This..."
Leviathan scratched his head in confusion. Since when could his full-power strike cause this level of damage?
Could it be... had he somehow become stronger?
Or perhaps... was the Biblical God holding back?
No, the Biblical God theoretically had absolutely no reason to hold back against them! They'd already confirmed that the God was genuinely fighting desperately!
The previous intelligence wasn't wrong, the Biblical God definitely paid an enormous price to seal the Beast of the Apocalypse!
This current weakened state must be because she'd been forcing herself to appear strong before!
Leviathan felt he'd found the correct explanation.
"It's about time."
Watching these weaklings frantically attack after seeing him enter a vulnerable state, Takeyo allowed a slight smirk to curve his lips.
"Whoosh!"
From his hands, an ancient scroll materialized!
It was a large scroll roughly one meter in length, embellished with simple yet captivating designs.
Its name...
[Map of Mountains and Rivers]
"This is, !"
As the Map of Mountains and Rivers unfurled, both the Biblical God and the Four Demon Kings vanished from the battlefield entirely!
"Are they dying together?"
Watching the Biblical God and Four Great Satans disappear, Azazel raised his eyebrows thoughtfully.
"Lord..."
Michael, who had been fighting Azazel, cast a worried glance toward the now-empty space.
He wasn't worrying about his Lord's safety, he was lamenting that he and the other angels would soon be separated from their Creator.
The God had informed him of her decision beforehand.
The coming days would be without the Lord and the Son... thinking about it was truly suffering.
However, Lord... please grant me strength and protection, so I may persevere until the day you and the Son return.
Michael prayed silently in his heart.
Inside the artifact.
After pulling the Four Great Satans into the Map of Mountains and Rivers, Takeyo allowed the holy light to fade from his body.
Anyway, except for him and The God, nobody in this space could leave alive. Exposing a few details didn't matter.
"You are not the Biblical God! Who are you?!"
The Original Lucifer was the first to sense the man before him had changed.
There had been an unmistakable aura of the Biblical God emanating from his body before, but now... there wasn't a trace of it!
"Me? I said I was The God's lover, do you believe that?"
Takeyo spoke with an amused smile.
After he said this sentence, he could feel slight fluctuations through his divine connection.
"The Biblical God's lover?... a human?"
All Four Demon Kings displayed expressions of existential confusion.
Would the Biblical God fall in love with a human being?
That should be theoretically impossible.
Of course, falling in love wasn't quite accurate, there was perhaps a trace of fondness, nothing more.
But the Satans found themselves profoundly confused.
Why... why had the powerful Biblical aura that had been radiating from him completely vanished?
"You... does this mean the so-called injury was real?"
Takeyo smiled slightly. A white holy sword appeared in one hand, and a golden holy sword in the other.
One was white mixed with gold, the other gold mixed with white.
The Holy Sword of the Stars still needed to be led by the Demon King Slaying Holy Sword before its true power could be liberated.
Just to be safe, he wasn't using The God's power, only his own abilities.
Since the check-in specifically mentioned killing the Four Demon Kings "with his own hands," Takeyo wanted to use strictly his personal power, avoiding any ambiguity about whether utilizing The God's shared essence counted.
With that thought, Takeyo focused all his energy on the holy sword in his hand!
"Thirteen restraints released, Round Table Decision begins!"
With Takeyo's invocation, brilliant light shot straight into the heavens! One phantom after another materialized beside him!
Their collective name: The Knights of the Round Table!
The violet-silver knight stepped forward, striking his left hand against his heart and shouting,
"Acknowledged, this is a battle against opponents stronger than oneself!"