5 Chapter 5
"Do you like that dress?"
Alice was enjoying trying out a dress from a branded clothing store we found in one of those luxury shopping malls. I'm guessing that she could only enjoy the second-hand experience through her ectoplasm body as she would get tired out quickly using her real body, as such, this was an experience that she felt she had been missing out on.
"It's quite alright. I can't say it matches the styles I'm used to, but it shall suffice. The real question is whether you find this dress agreeable or not."
Her usual dresses consisted of lacy, knitted dresses. Some of them were very… Victorian, I wouldn't say 'old' since that would be a gross exaggeration, but it was certainly the type of dress you would expect a noble or a princess to wear.
As for whether her current state of dress appealed to me or not, well, it was a no-brainer question in my book.
Alice Louise's platinum-blonde wavy curls, green eyes, gorgeous figure, natural beauty already and genuinely radiant smile would make any kind of clothes look good on her, in my personal unbiased opinion of course.
"You could make anything you wear 'agreeable' to me. More or less."
"Oh my, could you be saying that I would look pretty wearing less?"
She questioned me with a coquettish grin. Though I had already seen quite a bit of her body's curves thanks to the nightgown she had been wearing over our 20 minute carpet ride, I couldn't help myself from envisioning what she would look like without that or her current dress.
A few minutes ago I might have had lingering concerns about lusting over a girl her age, but her obvious intelligence and maturity over assuming the position of Chairman and spokesperson for the Witenagamot quickly silenced the protests in my mind.
"You could be wearing an atrocious jester-like outfit and I would still rip off all your clothes to make you mine-"
"Excuse me sir, madam, the store is about to close-"
It was at this point that the Chinese speaking staff decided to interrupt us. Alice pouted in disappointment. She didn't understand the language but even she understood that we were being pushed to pay for the clothes and leave.
We were still in the store just a few minutes past closing time, after all.
It was just after enjoying several minutes of a very magical Disney experience, we soon remembered the fact that Alice was in her nightgown and due to the time zone differences, all the shops in Macau would be closing in less than half an hour.
I gave her some of the few unisex pieces of equipment I had, helped her put them on, then accelerated with my magic carpet until we found a luxury shopping mall with a late closing time.
Technically I could have bought her new clothes in some other country by teleporting there, or just make her a new dress using my [Authority], but I decided to let her enjoy a thrilling high-speed air ride instead.
In the end we made it just in time to give her a short shopping experience.
"Yes, of course, we'll be taking this dress and these others."
I reached into my jacket and pulled out a huge wad of cash. Thankfully, my Inventory doesn't count money as a separate item, and allows me to keep unlimited types of currencies in them. As I didn't want to go through the hassle of not having enough cash on hand again and getting it exchanged, I had the HCC arrange for some of my payments to be split into many currencies.
The Macanese Pataca was thankfully among one of those payments.
"For shame. You shouldn't sound so eager to tear through a lady's clothes." Alice giggled as she daintily handed me the bag containing the rest of our purchases, after I had held out my hand to help her with that.
"It can't be helped. You were making such a lustful unladylike expression that I couldn't help myself." I placed my free hand on my forehead before turning my face up towards the night sky, looking as though I was regretting my actions.
"True. I suppose it can't be helped. It is common for men to misinterpret a woman's gaze to mean something more than it does."
Looking back at Alice, I responded with a playful grin, "Ah, truly? I really didn't get that impression with how inviting your smile was. Do you show that kind of smile to everyone else?"
She harrumphed as she crossed her arms and said without any heat in her voice, "Certainly not. I made a special exemption for my new boyfriend."
"Then I don't see why I shouldn't take that as a sign of mutual interest. Anyways, in all seriousness, I wouldn't actually have done anything. I mean, we've only known each other for just over an hour. I apologize if you found any of that to be grossly inappropriate."
Without missing a beat, Alice responded with a pleased look, seemingly unoffended by my rather upfront but lowly (non-existent) flirting skills.
"Not at all. I understand that you are not the type to fall prey to mere desires of the flesh that easily. And I do quite enjoy engaging in this manner of conversation. I veil my intentions and speak many courtesies for politics sake, which is a tiresome matter. I reserve my vitriol and increasingly sophisticated insults just for your brutish older brother Alexandre when he causes trouble for me. As for my assistants and servants, they do their best to manage my whims which I am most grateful for, yet my many interests cannot rest with them. But with you? I find my short time with you to be a novel and invigorating experience."
Alice told me what she thought of the people around her in a way that almost sounded as if she was venting out her frustrations, while at the same time reassuring me that she was enjoying our conversation together.
"That is probably the most roundabout yet flattering way to say 'you're nice to be around' that I have ever heard." I said sincerely, then nodded once at her direction, "I will do my best to exceed your expectations then."
"You already have." She said softly to herself, then looked up at the starless night sky, "It's different. Running about in a city with my own two feet without tiring. Walking along with someone without using telekinesis on my spiritual body. It may be but a natural facet of life for other people, yet I have you to thank for this simple yet precious gift."
Once again I found myself uncomfortably scratching the back of my head, at an intellectual level I certainly understood why she would genuinely feel grateful, yet the fact that it cost me little effort (after committing deicide) rankles me somewhat.
"You're welcome again, though I'm pretty sure we had this conversation before…"
Taking her prior advice to simply accept such feelings was harder than I thought it might be. Well I suppose I shouldn't worry about it for now, given that I'm in no particular rush and it's not as if people are expected to change the way they think in the span of an hour, especially when they have their innate Campione stubbornness to contend with.
"It would be the height of insanity to repeat one's message using the same choice of words with hopes that the recipient internalizes them, this applies to when you are expressing disappointment, frustration or even positive feelings like gratitude. If expressed uncreatively the recipient is very likely to automatically place such words within the special folder in their brain titled "nagging"."
In short, she thinks I'm being silly for feeling awkward, and intends to break me out of the habit by using creative ways to get me to reflect on my feelings without annoying me.
"I'm being honest with you when I say that I have a considerable appreciation for your talent in telling me things in an increasingly elaborate manner that illustrates your superior mastery of the English language."
She is, after all, still an anime British noble. In other words, she still has traits of an "Ojou-sama".
Which is totally my thing. No complaints here.
"Thank you. As we are being frank with one another in intent, I will say that I am particularly touched that you are willing to indulge in me like this."
"It would be rude to do anything less to someone I enjoy spending time with… especially if said someone is my girlfriend."
A gleam of delight appeared in her eyes as I said my piece.
"Yes, quite. Now, before I end up going off point any further, I'll cut the chit chat and inform you that we have veered into a slightly more… perilous future."
So she was going straight to the point now. Something must have happened.
"How so?"
She held up her hand for me to take with my own, then slowly walked towards another part of the city as she muttered a spell under her breath.
"No one should be able to hear what is spoken among us now." So it was some kind of sound-isolation bubble spell..., "My visions of the future relating to the Heretic Zeus have been less accurate than my visions of other Heretic Gods. It's an odd phenomenon, especially when looking into the god you slayed, Odin, also yielded similar results. The curious thing is that both gods descended around five weeks ago in about the same time frame, a week after you killed one of them and became a Devil King. While the portents of fate tend to be less clear for Campione's I can safely say that like the god you slayed, you have managed to usurp some parts of what gives them a much less predictable fate."
I'm pretty sure it had more to do with me having an outside-context power, but sure, I'll go with that.
"So basically, divination doesn't work well with us."
"To an extent, yes. Anyways, due to both yourself and Zeus being somewhat resistant to my attempts at foretelling the future, my original plan of finding Zeus within the city is no longer applicable as he had left the city some time ago without me noticing and I cannot get a clear vision of where he will be going."
"You sound like you have a backup plan."
"Indeed. I have a spell that should enable us to track him. But for that to work we need to find something he left behind in this city."
"Did he already leave behind demi-god kids or something? We don't have to burn them as a sacrifice or anything right?"
"Oh no, certainly not. No burnings, just a more advanced search type spell. In addition to that, while I understand Zeus's reputation quite well, I will have to disabuse you of the understandable notion that his divine fertility translates from myth to reality in a seamless manner."
She went on to explain how, like Campiones, even if gods were to descend down to Earth and proceed to have sex for the sole purpose of procreation the woman's chance of actually getting pregnant will be very low. The reason being that Heretic Gods and Campiones are both very different species altogether, at least when compared to humans.
"How low are we talking about here?"
"Good question. Based on the Witenagamot's research I would say that it will take an average of eighteen months, following certain assumptions. For example, if we were to get married tomorrow and you were to fill up my womb every single night leaving me without respite from my marital duties I might just get pregnant by my 18th birthday."
"... You know… you have a really morbid sense of humor at times." The imagery was simultaneously disturbing and arousing to me, better not think too deeply about that, "More importantly, why do you keep such facts on-hand anyways?"
"I'm a fan of trivia."
At my look of utter disbelief, she continued on with her true answer.
"As I had implied with a casual remark when we first met, I was well aware that you might have the capability to heal me of my affliction." Well she did say that she believed it would have been part of our negotiations, "I was already willing to offer myself to you if a suitable agreement was made, ah, but my expectations were pleasantly dashed out of the goodness of your heart!"
She still happily offered herself to me, however, without a particularly firm return policy in place. Not that it was needed. I've only known her for a short time but if anything happens to her I'll kill everyone responsible, then proceed to break all the rules and bring her back to life if need be.
Eventually we arrived at a particular… establishment. There was a lady that Zeus apparently slept with. And well, he left what was needed inside of her.
"Now, go on, get that Heretic God seed within her."
"Wait a second, why am I the one doing this?"
"H-how depraved! To think that you'll ask a lady like myself to retrieve the seed of another man-"
"-Nevermind. I'll do it."
Not wanting to waste my time in a really awkward and uncomfortable conversation, I simply used some runes to hypnotize her into giving me what I needed. On a clean, sterile glass surface, of course. No way I'm touching that stuff.
We retreated to a secluded area later so that Alice could perform her spell.
"He's flying over the seas towards... towards America."
"Thanks Alice! I'll just teleport you back home and track him down from here then."
"Your offer is appreciated but rejected. We agreed for you to bring me with you, remember?"
"... You do realize I'm about to fight a Heretic God?"
"It wouldn't be my first, I could make myself useful by giving you insights throughout the battle and cast some spells to disrupt his efforts, to a point."
If I were some kind of Campione that didn't have powerful physical capabilities even without any active Authorities I might have considered accepting her active participation, but unfortunately for Alice, I was quite the irregular Campione.
"I get the feeling that you just want to be close to the action. You're quite enthusiastic about this, aren't you?"
Alice grinned mischievously, "Hohoho. You would be correct in that regard. I have often escaped, I mean, investigated many dangerous sites first-hand using my spirit body. I am not inexperienced in this matter."
"Even so, you aren't exactly in the safety of your home right now, so you can't just leave your body in a foreign country and hope things will go alright."
"Would his Majesty like to propose a solution then?"
"... Alright. A few things. I will be equipping you with stronger magical equipment, your body will remain on a very tough transportation device of mine at sea level lest you become a target for the Sky Father, also, while you may join me with your spirit body I want you to promise me that you will return to your body if Zeus shows any interest in your presence."
Alice pouted after hearing the last part but consented in the end after seeing how serious I was.
The first thing I did was to place one of the most heavily enchanted equipment piece I had on me on her head, after having upgraded it through my Authority and enchanted it with great effects many times over.
I only had so much inventory space available while still leaving room for the loot from killing Zeus to fit in. Outside of the consumable battle items I reserved just enough space for my best weapons, the most comfortable yet strongest individual pieces of equipment I had on hand, a couple of armor pieces for serious but generic encounters… and my specifically crafted Anti-Zeus armor that I managed to group into an armor set that took up a single inventory space.
[Super Snuggly Slime Hat (Demigod / Transcendent Magical Absorption)]
"Haaauuu…"
Alice immediately felt more comfortable than any Hime Miko.
"What is this unnaturally pleasant texture on my head? And why do I feel like I could punch and destroy a building with my bare hands."
That's because that hat gives you +175 in all stats and a hell lot of other boosts.
"Like I said, magical equipment. We aren't done yet."
"W-wait, your Majesty, William, darling-! What is with all those magical items why do they look so-!?"
"Why are you backing away Alice? I just want to protect you better. Now, stay there and let me put these on you!"
"Noooooo! Not my fashion sense!!!"
I equipped her with my comfiest upgraded equipment pieces (yes, even the leather pants) then placed some of my most powerful enchanted rings on each of her fingers.
She was probably more decked out than a Pay-to-Win player now.
"*Sniff* I can't let anyone see me in such a state."
"It's not that bad. Okay, it is, but the fun part is that no one will recognize the normally dressed you after seeing you dressed like that."
"I can see why the History Compilation Committee had a big disclaimer on your choice of clothes."
"Did they now?"
With my instructions and help, Alice enjoyed some brief moments of being a powerful superhuman by leaping and dashing over the city, easily making her way to the coast where I took out my next item.
"A piece of cloth? No, that item… it's a Divine Item."
I unfolded it and revealed one of the items I took from Odin.
"Skíðblaðnir, the finest ship in the Nine Realms. Very durable, it can travel through the air, water and even through space. Also, it tops up at around thrice the speed of sound. Come on in."
A luxurious ship large enough to accommodate all the Aesir with their weapons and armaments.
A recent enchantment of mine made it so that normal humans couldn't see it and modern technology couldn't detect it. Wouldn't want to cause the port authorities to panic or anything, it'll also be more work for the mage association's doing cover-up duties, which is something I prefer to minimize where possible.
Alice definitely had a lot of questions amidst her shock but I told her that I would answer them all after we got married, or on the second date. She smiled wryly and shook her head, accepting my answer and went with the flow.
This would be a safe place for Alice to leave her physical body behind since the ship had been 'programmed' to take the passengers away from danger if targeted thanks to the other enchantments I added.
One of the unfortunate weaknesses of the ship is that it didn't come with a magical AI piloting system. I had to make a human-like magical golem that could store a large amount of magical power to operate the ship for prolonged periods of time.
Unfortunately for me, the current magic golem / homunculus spells I had access to in the past month since becoming Campione were rather… substandard, at least for my needs. Most magical constructs made with mortal magic simply didn't have the reflexes and decision making processes required to pilot a divine ship like this.
And so like so many of my solutions, I decided to save myself some time and sacrifice something else so that I could move on to more productive endeavors.
Excusing myself to the edge of the ship, I discreetly plucked out my left eye (which regenerated immediately) then chanted the spell-words under my breath to sacrifice it, empowering the magical golem I made to temporarily take on a portion of my spatial awareness, reflexes and other relevant abilities.
If I had adopted any of the standard cliches of Gamer stories, it would be the disturbing ease of which I remove my own body parts for the sake of achieving my goal. With my [Pain Resistance] skills and regeneration capabilities as high as they are, along with my passive skills enabling me to continue functioning without an intact heart, spine or brain, I suppose these kinds of actions were inevitable.
"William? Did you just use your Authority for something?"
Figures that Alice, of all people, would be able to sense that.
"Yeah. I just needed to do a minor sacrifice to power up the golem pilot."
"Minor sacrifice hmm?" She looked at me with a quizzical expression when I gave my answer, "Very well. I shall let the issue slide for now. We have more pressing concerns."
Looking at her serious expression, I quickly assumed that the situation had just changed for the worst.
"What happened?"
"If Zeus continues on without interruption then great swathes of America's west coast will suffer his wrath. And if you do battle with him… well, I've seen the end of the world being pushed forward in a small number of possible futures."
I matched her grave expression with a firm look of my own, although I disguised my trepidation by sounding assured of my own capabilities.
"I get the feeling that you're understating some parts of what you've seen. Well, if it's the end of the world you're talking about... I should be able to use my Authority to reverse the damage done if the circumstances are right."
One interpretation of Odin's spell songs for friends to return unharmed is that instead of battlefield invincibility (against mortal means of dealing death) it would actually involve manipulating fate to ensure their survival. Given that in one interpretation the Runes were carved into Yggdrasil's trunk by the Norns, the ancient letters should at least have a touch of fate on them, and if there any concepts that are very close to fate it would be that of 'Time'.
It will probably take a good amount of tweaking to make that a time reversal spell. Which means that I have to reserve up to three 'Chant' counts for after the battle, considering that I spent one of them to heal Alice and another three on my usual Enchantment cycles, that meant I could only use 11 Chant's worth of power in my fight.
I had to take Alice's visions seriously here and make sure that Zeus doesn't just go 'fuck it I'll wipe out humanity along with you'.
Hmm... from one of things mentioned in the Campione story which I couldn't remember exactly which volume it originated from, I certainly recalled that their level of arrogance and ego determines their power level.
And this is Zeus we're talking about. Who am I kidding. With the kind of destruction Alice is warning me about, Zeus definitely has enough of that Heretic God 'pride' and ego to do whatever it takes to kill me even if it kills everyone that knows of him.
It took us just a little less than half an hour for us to catch up to Zeus as he was flying across the sea. When a bolt of lightning fell it crashed upon the first layer of the ship's magical shields, destroying it while knocking us down into the sea.
Thankfully, my boat has an environmental bubble spell, which prevents passengers from drowning or dying in space.
I flew off the boat while mentally sending instructions to the golem pilot to keep Alice and the ship at a safe distance away.
Keeping myself at just a few meters above sea level, I glared back at the flying lightning god currently looking at me as if I was his most hated breed of dog.
[Zeus Lvl ???]
As expected, the power creep is real.
"So you have usurped that old fool's power, hmm? How foolish of you, Devil King, that you believe you are worthy of even gazing upon my magnificence."
Catching the slightest bit of energy build up I quickly lashed out with my blade, the slight glow of the enchanted blade left a trail of light, to any other being it might have looked like a cage of light because of how many times I had swung my blade in that tenth of a second.
Even that tenth of a second was ever so slightly too slow, as Zeus's 9th lightning bolt wasn't completely cut, a portion of the electrical energy bathed in divine power slid over my black gauntlets.
For another tenth of a second, the nerves of my right forearm were sent into disarray as they were burnt instantly. The paralysis ended after another 0.1 seconds had passed, my maxed out [Paralysis Resistance] and low level [Mystic Paralysis Resistance] having minimized the area of effect and its duration.
Before that single second had passed, my regeneration had already healed up the damage done, a mere 0.1% of my HP, though the fact that kind of damage had gone through my [Lightning God Slayer Armor Set] and the rest of my enchanted rings speaks measures of Zeus's sheer attack potency.
If I had applied my [Reinforcement] spell and carried Whitting on me then perhaps I wouldn't have failed to nullify all the damage from Zeus's initial strike. Following that assumption, had I applied the rest of my buffs and used a Chant to improve my defence further then it was likely that I wouldn't have taken any damage even if I chose not to block with my blade.
I sighed and pointed [Lævateinn], my fourth strongest dungeon acquired blade, at the god while discreetly applying my most used internal buffs on myself.
[Reinforcement] [Heighten Senses] [Heightened Mental Processing]
My blade's special ability gives it the properties of a magical staff without losing its effectiveness as a blade, meaning, so long as I have [Lævateinn] in my hand or near me, I can amplify the power of my spells to a greater level.
"Really? I would have thought you would have wanted the opposite. You know, gaze upon my glory, that sort of thing. Did you tell all those women you fucked to turn around because you couldn't bear to have them look at your face?"
[Accelerated Healing] [Focus Energy] [Spiritual - Physical Body Synchronization] [...
I was honestly weirded out by his disdain, one would think having an enemy look them in the eye as they die would be the preferable option for heretic gods like these. Well, whatever, his earlier statements gave me the opportunity to question him and buy time to get all my buffs up.
Instead of answering, dark clouds swiftly began to gather and form above the sky father, whose bearded face showed his totally irrational growing anger. Better finish up the most important buffs real quick.
An accelerated incantation came forth from my mouth, casting my [Aura] buff spell which coates my skin with a thin yet dense layer of magical power, pushing my stats to greater levels.
Next was my [Lingering Soul] buff, a runic spell that allowed me to remain alive even with my HP in the negative for a short amount of time, so long as the damage doesn't go over -200% of my max HP.
Just after I had finished doing so a hundred lightning bolts immediately manifested to strike me from all directions!
The air burned around me as I severed every single bolt of lightning in just over a second. It was not the power of Zeus's lightning that caused the area around me to heat up, but the sheer speed of my movements resulting in high atmospheric compression.
With the lightning bolts magical power being absorbed and taken into the blade as part of [Lævateinn]'s second key effect, I managed to nullify significant amounts of power from the divine lightning which made destroying the diminished attack with brute force more than possible.
"You… you are no ordinary godslayer."
I hadn't waited for him to finish before I leapt right at him, pushing off against the solidified magical power beneath my feet.
Zeus raised his shield, the Aegis, and blocked my strike using Lævateinn. As I had intended.
My other hand swung at him, intending to draw out Gungnir at the last second-!
The air around Zeus began to burst outwards like a forcefield, forcing me back without doing any real damage to me or my full-body black armor.
I stood at level with him, in the skies. I made sure to keep my eyes sharp and my senses focused on the increasing violent storms and winds that were being gathered.
"So it wasn't your true attack after all. If it were then you would have struck my Aegis harder and be punished more severely in return."
Thanks for letting me know that your shield absorbs kinetic force and releases it back as a counterattack. I would have said that out-loud but I really didn't want him to stop doing that.
Please explain your powers more! I'm pretty sure that's not the only function that Aegis has.
I said nothing even as I felt relief for the fact that I hadn't taken out Gungnir before I was forced out of range.
"I didn't kill Odin by being overly reckless." I shrugged then quickly darted around the skies before dozens of lightning bolts impacted where I stood.
Seriously, Zeus, why gather clouds up there if you can just make lightning bolts beneath my feet? Hmm… perhaps attacks that don't originate from the sky are weaker than those that do. Some of the lightning bolts I had cut down were less 'heavy' than the rest, and most of them were from below me or were coming from my sides.
"As conniving as he was then! Bah! I tire of this. I have a country to burn."
Lightning began to fill his being, I prepared for an attack only for him to transform himself into lightning and leave!
The storm was following him as well.
"Motherfucke-"
Four bolts of lightning fell from the sky and caused part of the sea to steam. From those divine bolts four figures emerged and flared out their divine aura.
[Nike Lvl 400] [Kratos Lvl 450] [Bia Lvl 375] [Zelos Lvl 425]
"You will not pas-"
"Shut it Mini-Boss Squad! I could cut through the four of you like carving a cake!"
For whatever reason Zeus is in a very murderous mood, and for some goddamn reason, it wasn't directed at me! A campione, a heretic god's eternal arch enemy, but at humans instead!
Well, I don't really care for his reasons, I just needed to stop him.
Not even bothering to give them time to respond, I simply took out Whitting before attacking them. Faster than lightning, I became a smear of white-flashing darkness hurtling toward them before they could get their guard up.
Kratos, my uncle Prometheus's binder, quickly found his head falling into the ocean.
Ashes began to rise from his neck, the Anti-Deity properties of the second blade in my arms having a corroding effect on the Subordinate God. Before his body began to fall Lævateinn found its way through Bia's right eye and out her pretty little head.
In the blank second after Zeus's winged enforcers registered their comrade's demise they could do no more than angle their weapons to guard against me. It didn't help them for long and I blitzed them within seconds after creating an opening using a powerful magical explosion.
Their strongest was 160 levels above me yet thanks to my equipment, many buffs, relative strengths and by pressuring them from the beginning I managed to easily deal with them.
Levelling up by almost a hundred levels in one go.
Thanks to the Level 300 all attribute bonus, the points I gained from making it to Level 385 was sufficient for me to increase my INT to 1000 points and my WIS to 750 points.
Gaining the [Ascendant Demigod Magic Power], [Ascendant Demigod Magic Control] and [Enlightened Sage's Wisdom]. The last of which now granted me a flat 20% damage reduction to non-physical damage sources and increased mental resistances in addition to improved magic regeneration.
With my increased magical power my DMP conversion was now down from an atrocious 500 MP to 1 DMP rate to a slightly less horrible 250 MP to 1 DMP rate.
Still not a good exchange rate mid-combat where I have to use up 100% of all my normal mana just to get 0.4% back in DMP. Losing most of your mana even for a second in a battle like this could be deadly. Thankfully, I can use this lull in battle to charge up my DMP.
After making the relevant stat upgrades and skill checks within a second, I was about to catch up on Zeus, only for Alice to appear.
"William! I made it! Huff, flying through the storm to find you was tougher than I thought."
"Sorry Alice, I really need to chase Zeus down now."
"I have important findings so take me with you. We can talk along the way."
"Okay. Let's go."
I quickly took hold of her spiritual body with my mana, casted the appropriate buffing spells on her then carried her along with me as I sped up, following the storm to my target.
My divine ship was following us albeit at a slower speed than my actual running (on air) speed.
"What's going on?"
"Quick question, did you feel Zeus's strength dipping at all back then?"
"No, not even when he summoned his mini-boss squad."
"Crude but accurate. I'll start with the first point. The amount of divine energy used up for the first round of attacks can be considered high even for the strongest Heretic Gods that have appeared over the past decade. Second point, even if his Authority wasn't invoked yet that level of power was tremendously high which supports the idea he was putting more power than usual into it, and is fully aware that he can recover power faster as well. Third point, summoning so many Subordinate Gods at that level of power without resorting to an Authority-"
"-Wait what the fuck that wasn't an Authority?"
Come to think of it, I really didn't hear any spell-words back then.
"No. They were called down as Subordinate Gods but I didn't sense an Authority being used then… which is unnatural to say the least, and something I wish to investigate- ah, back on topic, other than that it seems as though the heretic Zeus is recovering Divine energies at a very high rate. I just received that revelation, so I apologize for bringing it up so late."
Great, a boss on Infinite MP. Or at least with cheat levels of MP regeneration.
She also brought up some points about how weird that was. You don't just summon Subordinate Gods like that without a dip in power. Unless of course, you stored up enough power in a separate 'battery' connected directly to your summoning Authority.
That kind of strategy would be like my own. Where in order to have DMP ready for use mid-battle I made a ring that 'dropped' tiny jewels of condensed DMP that I could use as consumables for instant DMP restoration.
The design of such an item was based on Draupnir, though unlike Draupnir its effect wasn't passive and I had to focus on converting and condensing DMP for it to work. I usually made a handful a day and had stocked up around 78 jewels that replenished 20% of my DMP each.
With the amount of power Zeus was throwing out I might end up using a lot of it, especially considering the fact that his lightning bolts were nowhere close to his full power yet.
"Thanks Alice. That was very helpful and I'll keep note of that. By the way… if possible, could you stay far away from this battle once I reach Zeus?"
"... Ohoho, what a gentleman. Are you worried for this delicate lady right here?"
There was a slight hesitation from Alice this time around. Well, with how much power was being thrown around, I guess that would scare anyone that wasn't on that level of power.
"Of course! Hey, wait, if you say you're delicate then how about you consider your own words and only watch from a safe distance?"
"Hmph. Very well. As this is quite the irregular case I will do just that then. But if I feel as though I discovered something crucial I will not hesitate to come to your side."
"I can accept that. And if that happens I will do all I can do to protect you."
When I finally spotted Zeus on the horizon summoning up a huge hurricane, I left Alice floating on the air by herself, then rushed forward and moved to cut off his head.
Unfortunately, my sneak attack was blocked by Aegis moving to intercept the attack.
Goddamn Auto-Shielding! On the bright side, I could tell it's movement was actually quite slow and it only managed to block my attack because its sensor range was very large to compensate.
In a pitch battle I could easily overwhelm the shield's defences, which was what I did, my strikes coming into contact with Zeus's static field. If I hadn't been wearing my [Lightning God Slayer Armor Set] then I may have been paralyzed long enough to be struck by his counterattack.
Blocking Zeus's newly made lightning blade with my own, we danced across the skies, each of our blows being strong enough to destroy mountains and split the seas.
If we were fighting on land then a human city would find itself confronted with a bad case of massive destruction. Thankfully, we were still somewhat far from the coast, it seems like Zeus exited his lightning form rather quickly and continued the normal way.
Which suggests that it takes him quite a lot of power (more than his energy regeneration) to pull that off if even he wouldn't travel at max speed for long.
"DIE YOU IRRITANT! Curse those useless weaklings!" Zeus showed little to no respect to his fellow gods, unlike what I expected from his mythology, and began to increase his power.
Lightning filled his being and suddenly, for a brief moment, his speed far surpassed my own and I found myself on the receiving end of several concentration blade and fist strikes imbued with divine lightning.
My blades were knocked out of my hand but their enchantments brought them back to me. My Campione physiology's beast-like instinct and increased adrenaline enabled me to adapt quickly to his newfound speed.
Thanks to my more natural, human-like [Battle Instinct] skill, my Campione's instincts to push forward without stopping was also tempered, just in time for me to defend myself against the hundreds of lightning bolts heading towards me after avoiding Zeus's grapple.
Dodging and blocking most of them, I quickly intended to take advantage of the slight dip in Zeus's power, a momentary show of exhaustion only for him to bellow out in fury, the sky itself pushing against me and forcing me down to near sea level.
Banning people from air travel is such an irritating power to have.
If he won't let me come to him so easily then I'll bring him down myself!
I took out the unnamed bow misappropriated to Odin and misnamed 'Ichaival' due to a long series of events beginning from a Fire Emblem game.
"O bow of yew taken from Ýdalir, home of Ollerus who ruled from Odin's throne over the days of exile, grant these arrows your blessing to bring glory to my name!"
I could only use this weapon once a day, but its firepower was well worth it. After all, unlike Odin, I wasn't about to hold back on my target.
Aegis blocked one of the arrows that appeared right next to Zeus but couldn't stop the other nine arrows. A colossal explosion of flames burst forth from Zeus and I spotted grievous wounds on him! Time to get him!
I rushed towards the god falling from the skies only for yet another interruption in the form of a goddamn giant golden retriever!
[Laelaps Lvl 500]
It's that fucking dog that guarded Zeus when he was a baby and gave to Europa the woman who he deeply loved.
Well, it's the dog that never failed to catch its prey, not the dog that never failed to kill its prey.
I easily one-shotted the dog by decapitating it after it almost bit my leg off.
Unfortunately for me, Zeus just regenerated the damage done in an instant.
"Okay, come on, since when did you have a healing Authority?"
"I am the King of All Gods! I can use any Authority I want."
"That's against the rules!"
"I am the rules!"
"Wait, that's illegal."
"Ares, hand me your Authority now!"
The planet Mars suddenly became visible in the sky.
Altera was my Fate waifu for a week. I know where this is going.
A gigantic sword of light fell upon me.
I dodged it rather easily.
"Eh?"
There's no way it can be that easy.
"That was just a declaration of a war god, the real Authority is here!"
And then Zeus came charging at me with his lightning blade, slower than in his lightning mode, but a hell lot stronger in his attacks!
Not to mention, a fuck ton more skilled!
Damn it, having absurd sword skills was a strong point, to have it nullified like this…at this rate he'll start seriously damaging my armor, I won't accept it!
"I hold all the secrets of the Runes, for I have usurped the sacrifice of Odin, a sacrifice of himself given to himself. I declare that I will not fail when in war, never slain in war nor shall I bow before the sword!"
You're not the only one that can have a War God Authority.
With a single chant I began to push back and overwhelm Zeus's physical capabilities. Any attacks made with his lightning blade had its cutting power entirely reduced, only the sheer power of his divine lightning was damaging me while the brute force behind it was nullified.
Ten more chants. Anymore than that and I wouldn't be able to fix the damage from our fight.
"How many Authorities do you have Campione!?"
"Like hell I'm answering that! Especially to someone who steals his fellow gods Authorities."
"It's called borrowing! Artemis, Apollo, air support now!"
"Should the arrows of my foes be in sight, no matter what power behind it, they shall be stilled!"
Arrows of light and sunfire fell from the sky and would not touch me. When Zeus briefly disengaged from me I quickly cut down both gods arrows then chased after Zeus who seemed to be getting winded from using so many Authorities.
Nine more chants.
He began calling upon minor god's Authorities, which I could counter using my DMP spells. I easily refilled my reserves using my DMP crystals and continued to whittle away at Zeus's constant Authority spam.
Hermes's Authority was really annoying since he could just turn invisible to all my senses and attack me with impunity. Unfortunately for Zeus, he couldn't use much lightning without giving himself away, and couldn't do much damage to me that way.
It soon became apparent that he couldn't call upon the same god twice.
"Damn it wife! Hera! Curse him with madness, blindness, turn him into an animal… everything!"
A brief moment was all it took for most of those curses to be resisted and expelled from my body. Although one of them got through the gaps, parts of my arm was being forcefully turned into some kind of animal part. Along with a bit of my neck.
With my skills and resistances isolating the area, I quickly launched an attack on Zeus to keep him away using my DMP, removed my armor and the magic rings on one hand, then cut off the infected arm without hesitation. A quick healing spell fixed that up.
Immediately after that I blasted my neck apart from my head and shoulders. I didn't need my head to cast spells and maintain control over my body when my spirit could puppet my body just fine. It only took half a second to put my head back on my shoulders and for my neck to regrow, reattaching everything correctly in the next second.
I quickly placed my armor back on once I was done.
"What kind of abomination are you!?"
"A great one. Apparently. Not that it's a particularly new description for us Campiones as according to historical records, we are already considered abominations by you lot."
"I will remove you from the face of the world. You will not see fit to live another day! Hades, hold him down in your realm for me!"
Then I found myself forced into the sea, parts of which were suddenly displaced with a dry dark land instead of a sea. In fact, looking up, I could see the stormy sky I was fighting in just fine but the walls around me resembled some kind of deep pit.
I launched myself up and found myself banging against a powerful, but not unbreakable ceiling which seemed to be at sea-level for the outside world.
Zeus seemed to have used those precious few seconds to gather his strength.
"Unlike the titans I won't just cast you down, I will utterly destroy you."
Okay. Are you done with your generic boss battle lines?
Looking at the gathering lightning storm and the really restricted area I was stuck in… it seems as though I won't be able to dodge those lightning bolts anytime soon. At least, not in any sufficient amount to make a difference if those hit me straight on.
Each of those lightning bolts seem to be around ten to twenty times stronger than the ones he used before. Which is very bad news.
I powered up some runic chains in order to break my way out of this killzone to no avail. It looks like there's some sort of really specific condition to get out of Hades's realm easily, but makes it hard to get out by force in return.
I didn't have the time to find out.
"-I release the restraints of my might! From Heaven and from Olympos I come, from my strong hand I hurled together thunder and lightning-"
I could feel his divine power being allocated to thousands of tiny storm clouds.
A lightning barrage. It probably isn't just pure firepower either.
The Master Bolt formed in Zeus's hand.
This was one of the finishing blows at the end of the Titanomachy. This was the power meant to feel the Titans. Focusing on it allowed me to feel something similar to Whitting's anti-deity properties, although my gut feeling tells me that it mainly works on a physical level.
Either way, this is bad. Really bad.
"Divine Lightning threatens to sunder my being, its power will destroy all in its way, so away I say! If it will not be stopped, let it be dispersed!"
Six more chants.
Using a custom runic chain I created a Lightning Dispersal field around me that would let the attack go through but disperse as much power as possible.
This was a survival game. I can't beat him in pure defensive power using my Authorities, my Runes were versatile but not all powerful, especially when he could keep regenerating his divine energies like that… but even if his power regenerates at a quick pace, there's no way he can keep that assault up for long.
What I had to do was to last long enough until a chance appeared.
I casted several layers of spells powered by DMP to refresh the dispersal field and take the brunt of Zeus's anti-divinity effects instead of letting them hit the main spell.
"-let everything it crashes around burn into nothingness."
More and more, I casted countless regeneration and auto-heal spells that would keep me alive even if I was killed. More defence spells, more buffs, more precautions-
My enchanted shield was up, my fingers ready to take in more DMP through my consumable crystals, my mind utterly prepared to cast any spell needed to keep myself alive.
"-Let all the earth and heavens shake, let the Titans fall by my power, for I AM ZEUS!"
Hundreds of lightning bolts fell from the sky and into the Underworld trap I fell into.
Everything went white. I could only catch brief flashes of the sky above me.
Pain. Numbness. Soothing healing. More pain. Whole body shaking-
Were it not for my ability to pilot my body with my spirit I may not have been able to adapt to the circumstances fast enough.
When I sensed the first few bolts go right through the field, a great amount of its power sent veering off into the ground around me, which melted immediately through the sheer heat of Zeus's power.
Eight percent of my HP was depleted when the first twelve bolts got through. By the time the first hundred had struck my body I was left with less than half my health even after several healing spells.
I started auto-casting everything to do with healing using my DMP with no intentions to ration them. I couldn't afford to do so now. Mortal magic, pseudo-divine magic, I even used another four chant counts for two Authority level spells that would grant me yet another stack of superior healing and ability to defy death.
Just as well because Zeus began to intensify his attacks.
Two more chants.
Whatever benefits from my increases in [Mystic Paralysis Resistance] and my newly acquired [Mystic Electric Resistance] skills seem to be negated as the dispersal field continues to weaken.
By the thousandth lightning bolt my dispersal field broke and my body began to feel Zeus's full power. I was hanging by the edge of death. I couldn't even move further than a single step as I was barely standing against Zeus's might.
My shield shattered and my HP dipped below zero, quickly brought back up by one of my many reserve spells. Then my gloves shattered, followed by my helmet then-
-I couldn't hear anything any more. The thunder came endlessly but my eardrums remained destroyed. My eyes were burnt out, parts of my brain were already gone.
My skeleton was sturdy, other than that, pieces of flesh were constantly being blasted and burnt off only for new flesh to grow elsewhere.
My body was flickering between death and life, my spiritual body continued to cast spells endlessly, my skeletal hand was still using items to continue supporting my spellcasting and defending from lightning bolts with other items.
The suitcase of magic rings bought me half a second to reform a quarter of my flesh before I felt the full barrage once again.
I wouldn't be able to survive on negative HP for long nor could I spam that spell or refresh the buff for another 10 minutes, I was running out of time, something had to give and I dearly hoped that it would be-
[You have maxed Mystic Paralysis Resistance!]
[You have maxed Mystic Electric Resistance!]
[You have been awarded the skill Divine Status Resistance (Paralysis)!]
[You have been awarded the skill Divine Electric Resistance!]
[Ascendant Demigod Endurance has been gained!]
[Ascendant Demigod Recovery has been gained!]
-Fuck yeah!
Sasuga Maple-san! Your strategy worked!
With my VIT grinded to 1000, my resistance skills maxed and upgraded thanks to the constant damage taken I could now begin my counterattack!
Slowly but surely my HP began to rise, I stopped dipping under 0 HP. I was taking less and less damage, the lightning bolts couldn't restrain my physical movements any longer.
Then my HP regen began to outpace the damage I was taking.
Being capable of seeing and feeling properly again, I discovered that I was currently falling into a deep pit, I was far from the sky.
Hades's Authority had been shattered by Zeus's power, the seas above me had heated up so much by his relentless assault that the water still hasn't filled up the place yet, and I was currently in a hole that was well on its way to Earth's molten core.
"Well shit." I cursed as I batted away hundreds of lightning bolts at high speeds. "So that was what Alice meant when she said the world was going to end."
Zeus was going to kill me along with the rest of humanity, killing two birds with one stone, apparently, after I stopped his hurricane plan he decided to escalate to this point...Fucking crazy Heretic Gods.
I had enough of these motherfucking gods and their motherfucking genocidal tendencies!
I took out the last remaining DMP crystal and absorbed it, that would be enough. There's nothing else that Zeus could do to stop me anymore… but he could still destroy the Earth.
My gut feeling told me that I could fix all this but only if it didn't go too far. If he launched any more bolts down into the Earth…
I used the last of my three chants available to me, leaving me with only another three that I left in reserve to fix the world.
Even with my Authority I wouldn't be able to block all his thousands of bolts per second, but what if I forced it all to a single point? Have my Authority gather all that power so that I can confront it with my own strength? I could certainly block it then.
All that electrical power was being forced into one point, like the tip of a spear and I was holding it back.
"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!!!"
I punched the lightning back, bit by bit I forced it back, but it was taking too long.
Hmm… what is as pointy as a spear but a hell lot better?
"A drill...!"
I released all my remaining DMP and formed it into a basic mana structure, then synchronized it with my own body so that my resistances would transfer over to it.
Then I started spinning it, really, really fast!
"Just who the hell do you think I am!?"
I pitted my drill against the spear tip and broke it!
Leaping upwards my drill started to erase the lightning forced into a shape of the spear by the ongoing effects of my Authority.
After several really long leaps I felt my approach being resisted, I could see the sky again, at the top of it was a clearly struggling Zeus using both hands and a single storm cloud to focus as much power as he could into one continuous lightning bolt.
I don't know who started screaming but by the end of it we were caught up in a beam drill war.
Blood fell from the sky into the ruined sea.
A large hole formed in Zeus's side.
A war which I won.
The improved Whitting flew into my hand, shining brighter than the sun after all my near brushes with death.
I swung my blade at Zeus. He raised the Aegis to meet my blow with vicious glee.
I stopped Whitting just before I touched the shield and pulled out Gungnir.
"G-gah… what… this spear, not again! Curse you Odin!"
The mortal wound was set.
Zeus tried to transform himself into lightning again, likely a trick he used to avoid dying from the spear thanks to some loophole, but Whitting shattered itself and a miracle happened.
A single shard flew right through Zeus's body and suddenly his form was locked into flesh and blood. The king of gods looked upon me with utmost hate and ferocity.
Whiting reformed itself automatically as part of its effect and was immediately used to block Zeus's increasingly rabid and desperate assault.
"I. WILL. NOT. DIE! Not without killing you!!!"
I was just sick and tired of fighting him at this point.
"Can you just fucking die!!!?"
I cut off the hand carrying the Aegis then kicked the shield across the horizon. It'll take way too long for it to fly back now.
Zeus's hand then came up from behind me powered by lightning!
It was trying to strangle me!
What the fuck can he just give up already!?
I lopped off his head but he copied my trick somewhat by controlling his body with divine electricity, he started shooting lightning bolts from the mouth of his removed flying head while his body still tried to kill me.
"FOR FUCKS SAKE!"
Remembering something from Greek Mythology, I decided to take a gamble on ending it quickly by re-enacting something.
I used one of Whitting's Eight Authority powered enchantments and transformed it from a sword into a scythe then chopped Zeus into pieces.
Just as Zeus did to his father Kronus, just as Kronus castrated his father Ouranos.
Whether he finally ran out of stamina or will… or whether my attempt was the final nail in the coffin, I couldn't really tell but it didn't really matter.
His disembodied floating pieces lingered on a bit, with a weak yet still resolute voice, Zeus spoke once more.
"You… abomination… I will not… stand to have… My slayer relying on his power… Take it all… I would rather have… other gods slayed by my power! Not his!"
Divine essence left his remains and entered into me in a way that felt different from how the Circle of Usurpation worked, yet similar enough that I felt it was working in the background.
Out of spite and humiliation, Zeus seemed to have handed me as much power as he could, so that anyone killed by his killer would be (hopefully) killed by his power not Odin's.
Wow… I have never met such a sore loser in my life. No complaints here though.
Free loot is free loot!
"I hold all the secrets of the Runes, for I have usurped the sacrifice of Odin, a sacrifice of himself given to himself-
Using the last of my Authority by Odin, I rewound time and the aftereffects of the battle. It took a lot more power than I thought, thankfully, the spell could just keep on drawing from my mana in order for it to maintain itself.
After several minutes of having my mana drained everything seemed to be fixed up.
The sea was back at normal levels, the ocean floor isn't a scorching hole leading to the Earth's core, the hurricanes literally seemed to reverse itself into its initial position before dispersing itself… if I judged it by the end results, I'm probably the most conscientious and least destructive Campione in the world!
That reminds me, I really should make a trip back to where I first fought Odin to fix the place up.
Well, tomorrow maybe. I'm too tired to deal with this.
Alice flew over a few minutes later on the ship, she was standing there with her real body and seemed to be feeling somewhat shocked over the whole affair.
Seeing as it was a long day, we decided to head right home. I dropped her back in her manor discreetly so her servants don't come panicking at me, Alice told me to wait a bit so that she could make a few calls.
She was smiling brightly and told me the good news that my spell worked as intended even at the affected areas, apparently there were a lot of Earthquakes as well.
Thankfully, my spell seemed to have also wound back the memories of the civilians, although magical folk could still remember the destruction caused by the earthquakes… and there were a dozen or so civilians that were either injured or killed.
Apparently, that sets the record for the least amount of deaths resulting from Heretic God battles, at least where no clear evacuation procedures could be taken.
I can't say I was happy with that, while I knew that it was almost entirely Zeus's fault, I still intended to review my own battle and see how I could have fought it better.
I decided to take a few days off after that and chilled out at a hot springs resort back in Japan.
The HCC was still bothering me with their women. I cleaned up the battlefield in Sweden, watched some anime, visited the Otohime family and started doing random projects.
It was when I was making my 10th Pandora live-sized sculpture (Beach Edition) that Daigo informed me that I had a guest.
"Hello William! Fine afternoon isn't it?"
"Alice, you're here! Please, make yourself comfortable. What brings you here?"
"Hmm? Could it be that you forgot our agreements so soon?"
"N-not at all. I just thought you would have been busy sorting out what had happened. There tends to be a lot of paperwork when Campiones do something big right?"
"You're correct, I did in fact work until I nearly exhausted myself. Those rings you left with me were a great help and thanks to them, I was able to quickly finish things up and come here."
Alice would then drag me on several adventures across Japan, help me work on my Netherworld Phone and, to my surprise, stay on for a bit longer in Japan as my political advisor.
Well, I certainly needed help in that department.
I'm sure that she'll find a solution to my honeytrap problems.
