At this moment, Athena had not noticed Kaiser's strange behavior at all.
Though she was the goddess of wisdom, once she had become a Heretic God, she was naturally ruled by the madness of being a being contrary to the divine order. As a result, her current manifestation leaned more toward her aspect as the goddess of victory. That is to say, she seemed to be of the intellectual type, but in truth was completely of the martial type.
This could be clearly seen from the fact that, despite witnessing Kaiser's back-to-back battles against two gods and his overwhelming victories, she still chose to appear before him in such an open and upright manner.
Not to mention, Athena was still immersed in the exhilaration of returning to her original form, which dulled her observation skills considerably, causing her to overlook the strangeness of the situation.
By the time Athena had finished reveling in her excitement, Kaiser was still just smiling at her, causing her to withdraw the expression on her face.
"It's quite something that you've waited this long," Athena said meaningfully. "You deliberately waited for me to return to my trinity form, didn't you?"
"Now that you've seen me in this form, is the warrior in you already itching to move?"
Clearly, Athena had misunderstood.
She misunderstood that Kaiser had intentionally yielded the Gorgoneion, wanting her to return to her full power before challenging her.
As the goddess of victory, and also the one in myths who constantly blessed and guided heroes and warriors, she knew very well just how prideful these powerful warriors were, and what beliefs they held while they fought.
"What do you think?" Kaiser asked, still unhurried, and even teasing, as though flirting with Athena.
"There's no need to deny it, God-Slayer. You cannot fool me," Athena said with firm conviction. "Since you are a Campione, it is impossible for you not to desire a battle with us."
"Since you are a Campione, it is impossible for you not to want to slay gods."
"I am the Queen of the Night, a descendant of the Mother Earth. To you, who has obtained the strongest steel, I am without a doubt the best prey."
As she spoke, Athena raised her hand, and in it appeared a pitch-black scythe.
It was a scythe brimming with the aura of death, as black as a bottomless swamp.
The scythe absorbed light, and even the life force in the air—it was a scythe of death.
As long as one was grazed by this death scythe, the aura of death upon it would immediately steal their life.
Holding such a scythe, Athena loudly declared:
"Do you think I would fear?"
"Even if facing the strongest steel, I shall not shrink from battle!"
"You may not be one of those hateful steel-using heroes, but since you wield the strongest steel and are a God-Slayer, then you are naturally my enemy!"
"The first battle after my return to the trinity form as Queen—it is only fitting that you be my opponent!"
Even though she knew that the God-Slayer before her wielded divine blades and divine artifacts that countered her, Athena showed not a trace of fear.
On the contrary, the fighting spirit in her heart flared even brighter. Her gaze toward Kaiser burned hotly, as though truly seeing him as the destined rival she must defeat, fully entering a battle-ready state.
If it were before Kaiser obtained the Gorgoneion, he might have been somewhat interested in this battle.
Unfortunately, the current Athena no longer had the qualifications to fight him.
No...
It should be said, the current Athena no longer had the necessity to fight him.
Under Athena's blazing gaze, Kaiser walked toward her with no defenses at all.
Athena's eyes immediately narrowed dangerously, like a serpent's vertical pupils.
She could see clearly that the God-Slayer in front of her truly had no defenses at all while approaching her, not even pretending.
His body was completely relaxed, not a hint of Magical Power leaking out, and his steps were like a casual stroll—he showed absolutely no sign of caution.
Was this… underestimating her?
The light in Athena's eyes grew even more dangerous, and the aura of death leaked outward like black miasma.
At that moment, the area around Athena had entirely become a domain of darkness, even transforming into a realm of the Underworld.
This was a realm forbidden to the living, a territory ruled by the dead.
Even a Campione would be heavily affected by entering such a domain.
Yet Kaiser stepped right into it, relying on his astonishing resistance to Magical Power to ignore the miasma formed by the aura of death.
"Swish!"
Athena apparently had no intention of relying solely on the Underworld's aura to deal with Kaiser. Seeing him step into her territory, she immediately raised the scythe of death, slicing through the miasma, and swung it fiercely at Kaiser's head.
However, just as the blade of the death scythe was about to touch Kaiser's head, Athena's entire body froze in place, unable to move.
"————!"
Athena's pupils shrank abruptly to pinpoints, and she instinctively began to struggle desperately.
But her struggling was utterly meaningless. Even when she mobilized all of her Magical Power, she still could not move at all.
Under such conditions, Kaiser stepped right up to Athena.
Then, he reached out his hand and caressed Athena's exquisite and beautiful face.
"…What did you do to me?"
Athena, unable to control her body, had her face gently cupped by Kaiser. She immediately glared at him in anger.
"What do you think?" Kaiser responded in that same flirtatious tone, lightly stroking the immobile Athena's cheek, speaking with a faint smile: "Still calling yourself the goddess of wisdom? Didn't you ever consider why I would so easily hand over the Gorgoneion?"
That one sentence made Athena realize everything.
"You tampered with my 'serpent'?"
Athena's expression became very ugly.
It wasn't that she hadn't thought of it, but her long-cherished wish had been right in front of her. She instinctively wanted to return to her trinity form, and thus subconsciously summoned the "serpent" that had been so close at hand.
Now it seemed, that move had been used by the God-Slayer before her.
"Who told you that the Gorgoneion, while being your lost aspect, was also an ancient divine artifact?" Kaiser said with a smile. "If you had witnessed my conversation with Guinevere, then you would have heard this line too, right?"
"Any weapon that falls into my hands—even divine blades forged from the gods' own armories—will be completely under my control."
"Naturally, that includes the Gorgoneion."
The weapons targeted by Kaiser's Authority did not just refer to arms, but also included armor and items.
As it happened, the Gorgoneion, being a divine artifact, was precisely an object affected by Kaiser's Authority.
Thus, when Erica handed him the Gorgoneion, Kaiser had already used his Authority upon it, claiming ownership.
In other words...
"That is no longer your 'serpent,' but my 'serpent.'"
"But this ancient 'serpent' is indeed one of your aspects, one of your lost divinities, one of your incarnations."
"So, you could still absorb the existence of the 'serpent' and return to your trinity form."
At this point, the smile on Kaiser's face grew somewhat intriguing.
"But once you absorbed the 'serpent' and completely fused with it, you also replaced it—and thus became something under my control."
If someone could see inside Athena at that moment, they would find that as the Gorgoneion fused with her, golden patterns radiated from the point where it had merged, spreading throughout her entire body.
When Athena returned to her trinity form, those golden patterns completely fused with her body.
Through the already-claimed Gorgoneion, Kaiser had indirectly claimed Athena, who had absorbed and become one with it.
This was a special case—an extremely difficult-to-replicate special case.
If the Gorgoneion had not symbolized Medusa, Athena would never have fused with it.
If Athena had not been a trinity, with Medusa as one of her aspects, she would not have been able to fuse with the Gorgoneion so completely.
One could say, the Gorgoneion was a part of Athena, and Athena was the prototype of the Gorgoneion.
Only such a connection, such a relationship, could allow the two to completely merge and result in Athena being indirectly claimed by Kaiser.
"So, the moment you returned to your trinity form, you effectively became my Gorgoneion, my divine artifact, my personal weapon."
And Kaiser's control over his personal weapons was absolute—even the gods could not defy it.
"…Despicable tactics."
Realizing what had happened to her, Athena clenched her teeth and uttered those words.
Kaiser simply replied:
"Isn't it bad to snatch something that belonged to someone else and swallow it without asking?"
As he spoke, Kaiser continued to toy with Athena's flawless face, and added:
"From now on, you are one of my exclusive weapons. You're my possession, goddess."
Looking at Athena gritting her teeth and glaring at him, Kaiser seemed to recall Rias in the past when he had subdued her. The smile on his face grew larger.
The next second, he lowered his head, leaned forward, and stole the lips of the most beautiful goddess in Greek mythology.
"Mm!?"
Athena's body tensed up entirely, and her pupils trembled violently.
Her reaction seemed somewhat different from Rias back then.
By the time Kaiser had fully savored the taste of this goddess, the once-sovereign queen was still glaring at him.
Kaiser smiled, released her lips, and also let go of her cheek.
"Buzz…"
The death aura swirling around Athena quickly retracted, enveloping her completely.
Moments later, Athena transformed into an ancient stone emblem and flew into Kaiser's hand.
Looking closely, the front of the stone emblem had already become the profile of a goddess holding the scythe of death, while the back bore the image of a snake-haired gorgon.
"Should I keep calling you the Gorgoneion? Or Athena's Stone?"
Kaiser thought for a moment, then chuckled.
"Either way, it's still you—doesn't matter."
Kaiser then stored away the Gorgoneion, turned around in high spirits, and left.
No one knew that, in the very end, Kaiser had actually gained a goddess.