Accepting the souvenir wooden doll from the priestess's hand, Seiya also picked one out for the drooling girl on his shoulder. After saying
Accepting the souvenir wooden doll from the priestess's hand, Seiya also picked one out for the drooling girl on his shoulder. After saying his thanks, he turned to leave but was stopped by the priestess's voice from behind:
"Oh, by the way, if you are visiting Sardinia as a tourist, recently... it would be best not to go to the Nurri region."
"Nurri?" Seiya looked up. He had some impression of that place from memory. "What's wrong there?"
"The news is suppressing it, but for your own safety, it's best to avoid it."
Seiya paused for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, I understand."
There is a certain group of people in this world. Every place they go, local residents or tourists will inevitably go missing. And they are the magicians. A large portion of the Heretic Gods who descend upon this world are summoned through the painstaking efforts of this group.
Magicians are not all evil, but without exception, they are all refined egoists. They summon Heretic Gods just to scrape a bit of leftover grace from the gods' fingernails, to exchange for a great leap in their own power.
But as for the destruction caused to the mortal world after summoning a Heretic God, they couldn't care less. These are the magicians, the refined egoists.
At this moment, the members of the magician group, the Thule Society, filled with awe and reverence, were passing through a deep, subterranean tunnel, kneeling at the feet of a magnificent giant god.
"O little ones who serve me, how long... have I slept?" The God King Melqart's voice was like muffled thunder rolling through rock strata.
"Your Majesty," the leading magician said, his head nearly touching the ground, his voice trembling with sycophancy. "Since your last awakening, twenty-eight suns and moons have passed. May I ask... if you wish to sink this island into the sea immediately?"
"There is no need," Melqart's gaze seemed to pierce through the rock, looking into the distance. "Because I can feel... that my fated enemy has arrived."
The leader of the magicians had not yet understood the meaning of these words when he heard footsteps from behind. Just as he thought it was some unruly underling and was about to get up and scold them, he was frozen in terror to the spot.
Because behind him, the magicians who had been kneeling before the giant god with him had, at some unknown time, all been turned into white pillars of salt. And an emaciated old man was strolling leisurely towards him.
Turning enemies into pillars of salt. The magician leader's eyes widened with unprecedented terror. He remembered whose ability this was.
The Eye of Sodom. Any living being that meets its gaze, no matter the number, will be turned into a pillar of salt. It was named after the divine punishment that destroyed Sodom in the Old Testament. And the wielder of this ability was precisely the most ancient of the old Demon Kings, Sasha Dejanstahl Voban.
This was an Authority that Marquis Voban had usurped from the ancient Roman hero, Horatius Cocles, who was a one-eyed war god. And for the common people of the hidden world, and even for the mortals of Europe, it was the most well-known Authority. It had already become a legendary story used to frighten disobedient children.
But before he could even utter a word of pleading, he followed his companions into the dust.
And this emaciated old man came before Melqart. He was clearly looking up at the giant god before him, yet his eyes held the smug condescension of one sizing up their prey.
"To have these followers of yours destroyed, and yet you remain unmoved, God King?" Marquis Voban said slowly.
"Little ones like these who gather around me for their own selfish desires, no matter how many are killed, will continuously flock to my side," Melqart said, looking at the god-slaying beast before him. "Do you show off because you have stepped on a few ants, Son of a Fool?"
Marquis Voban revealed a smile. "Not bad at all. At least this arrogance befits your status as a God King. I am very curious, will you still maintain such arrogance next?"
There was no need for further words. The moment they encountered their nemesis, the fighting spirit of both sides had already reached its peak. Marquis Voban could also feel his opponent's surging battle intent, but what he saw was the disdain on the other's lips.
"Your head, and the heads of all you god-slaying beasts who treat us as prey, will all be taken by me. But before that, I must first engage in battle with my promised opponent. I can already feel his aura returning to this island."
Without waiting for Marquis Voban's response, He once again wielded the great Authority of the sky, letting this world announce his—
For Seiya, he spent the entire day strolling through the streets and alleys, taking Parthenope down the roads he had once walked with the youth avatar of Verethragna, finally stopping at the Cagliari Bay in the south.
The setting sun dyed the surface of the sea a brilliant gold. Parthenope reluctantly left the Saint's embrace and stood slowly on the shore. The essence of the earth and the ocean, as if summoned, gathered around her, transforming into specks of light as brilliant as emeralds. She had released the source essence that had been dwelling within her body!
Gathering the essence of earth, water, fire, and wind, she reshaped her form. The foundation of that giant body was a great serpent. Its head was shaped like an ancient mosasaur, and in its cavernous, blood-red mouth were rows of sharp, sword-like fangs! The Dragon of Naples—Parthenope's original draconic form—had reappeared in the world. But this terrifying behemoth was affectionately nuzzling Seiya's hand.
"Now that we've come to Italy, you should go back," Seiya said, also a little reluctant.
But for the Dragon of the Ley Lines to be separated from its homeland for a long time would cause major problems.
According to Homer's epic, Parthenope threw herself into the sea after failing to lure Odysseus, and her body drifted to the island of Megaride in the Bay of Naples. Her prototype, the "Siren," was often depicted in ancient Greek art with the head of a human and the body of a serpent. Legend has it that after she took her own life, her body became the coastline of Naples, her tail extending to the hill of Posillipo, becoming a "living map" of the city's geography.
And in later legends, she gradually evolved into a sea demon with a human body and bird's feet.
Parthenope let out a long cry like the tide of the sea. Her giant dragon head took a deep look at Seiya, then turned, her massive body stirring the seawater as she swam towards the distant Naples, gradually melting into the twilight-shrouded sea horizon.
After doing all this, Seiya clearly felt that his new Authority, the Great Sun-Illuminating Avatar, seemed to have undergone some new strengthening. This was not the feedback brought by battle, but rather originated from his own actions—a deeper application and understanding of the Authority.
Or perhaps this was the most normal way to develop an Authority.
But at this very moment, a familiar, barbaric wind came from the distance.
It was the primordial storm, the divinity of the desert and the wilderness, the wind Authority that brought death and withering, and it was now covering this island.
After a brief moment of astonishment, the Saint Seiya finally remembered something.
He seemed to have an unfinished battle pact with a God King.
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