"Summoning ritual?"
Hearing this, Erica was immediately stunned.
"Have you already obtained this ritual from Rin's world?"
"Mm, I slightly modified the Heroic Spirit summoning ritual from her side and want to test its effectiveness now."
Ryuga nodded.
"I'm sorry, I was too slow in handling things! Do you still need me to continue with the divine summoning ritual you asked me to collect before?"
Erica immediately apologized.
The Campione world also had divine summoning rituals, and Ryuga had indeed asked her to search for them before, which she had accepted and was working on.
She never expected that while she hadn't finished gathering materials, Ryuga had already obtained a ritual with the same effect from the Type-Moon world.
This made it seem like she was very slow at handling affairs, didn't it?
Ryuga didn't accept Erica's apology.
"It's only been half a day - no need to apologize. I haven't become so harsh as to ignore basic common sense."
Involving data transmission between multiple magical societies couldn't possibly be completed in just one or two days.
Even with a Campione's command as a shield, it would take at least three days to be effective.
The current situation wasn't that Erica was too slow, but that Ryuga was too fast.
"As for the previous command, naturally it must continue to be executed. Even if the effects are the same, the principles and operational methods of the rituals are different. I need to see all the materials."
Even if it had no use, it had meaning as pure knowledge accumulation.
"Yes!"
Only then did Erica feel relieved.
Her lord was still very reasonable.
However, she still resolved in her heart to pressure those magical societies and make them submit materials quickly.
Ryuga-sama's attitude was already lenient enough. If those guys still couldn't see the situation clearly and continued hesitating and wasting time, she would have to threaten them with the Sword King's fate.
My lord dares to bind even Campione as prisoners - you magical societies still dare to wait and see? Think your necks are too hard?
After receiving orders, Erica immediately left with swift efficiency.
After she left, Artoria visibly sighed in relief.
"Master has an excellent knight. She reminds me of Agravain."
Although she felt quite uncomfortable with Erica's enthusiasm, seeing Erica's capable demeanor, she still held her in high regard.
Knight Agravain was Artoria's former aide, and compared to Merlin who always slacked off instead of doing proper work, this aide's importance to the entire Round Table Knights might have been even higher.
Although Erica was completely opposite to the taciturn Agravain in personality, Artoria saw the same reliability in her.
"If you praised her like that to her face, she'd probably be too happy to sleep."
Ryuga said casually.
"...Then let's forget about it."
Thinking of Erica's earlier behavior, the Ahoge King retreated somewhat.
Being unable to sleep wasn't much, but she feared this person would become even more enthusiastic - that would be too uncomfortable.
As a king, she had received similar adoration before, but those were basically from citizens. The Knights of the Round Table were still quite restrained - generally, no matter how much they worshipped, they wouldn't show it so enthusiastically, except for Mordred.
Before long, Erica had prepared all the ritual supplies Ryuga had requested.
The items needed for Heroic Spirit summoning rituals were originally quite simple, and since the mythological foundations of both worlds were basically identical, it was easy to find substitutes even in a different world.
To avoid affecting civilians, Ryuga chose the already-evacuated Sardinia as the experimental site.
In front of the familiar port ruins, under Ryuga's guidance, Erica quickly drew the magic circle.
"Mmm mmph! Mmmph mmmph mmm?"
The experimental site was overall quiet. Little Sakura and Artoria stood beside Ryuga, while Erica was responsible for setting up the ritual.
The only source of noise was probably Salvatore Doni, the Sword King, who was tied up like a pig ready for slaughter in the center of the magic circle.
Unable to break free from the ropes Ryuga had created, and unable to speak with a cloth stuffed in his mouth, he watched Erica slit a chicken's throat, his eyes wider than a bull's.
He didn't understand magic or sorcery.
Just from Erica's actions, it looked like he would be the next one to have his throat slit.
The authorities within his body had long been sealed by Ryuga. Without the passive effect of [Steel Protection], any Grand Knight could perform a throat-slitting on the current him, let alone Erica, whose strength already far exceeded that of a Grand Knight.
Watching Erica approach step by step, stimulated by survival instinct, Doni finally unleashed his potential and accomplished something he had never been able to do before!
He... still couldn't break free from Ryuga's chains.
But!
"Gulp!"
He swallowed the cloth in his mouth in one go and could finally make sounds.
"My friend! What exactly are you planning to do? We're compatriots! You're not really planning to kill me, are you?"
Doni was genuinely panicking now.
Even when facing Marquis Voban, he had never been this afraid.
Fighting Marquis Voban, even if he lost, the other party would probably give him a quick death.
But fighting Ryuga, he really couldn't imagine what this new compatriot would do to him.
Clearly, the compatriot before him had no killing intent toward him, yet he had no doubt that if necessary, the other party wouldn't mind killing him.
In the other party's eyes, he, a Campione, seemed no different from any other human or Heretic God.
He didn't read much, so he couldn't summarize exactly what his feeling was.
But he instinctively grasped one point: the other side of equality for all beings was that all things could be killed.
He wasn't afraid of death, but he preferred to die in battle rather than as a sacrifice.
Faced with Doni's incoherent questions, Ryuga calmly shook his head.
"Of course not. How could I harm a Campione? Do you think I'm the wasteful type in your eyes?"
"You think I'd believe your nonsense?"
Looking at his bound state, Doni retorted speechlessly.
"Besides, what do you mean by 'wasteful'? Shouldn't you say 'cruel' here?"
How could he get such basic vocabulary wrong?
"No, it's wasteful."
Ryuga shook his head.
If the Heroic Spirit summoning ritual's principles were universal, then Campione would occupy quite an important position in divine summoning rituals.
Apart from himself, there were only six Campione currently. Such precious materials naturally required sustainable utilization - one couldn't easily fish a pond dry.
However, explaining these principles to Doni would be like casting pearls before swine.
"In any case, I indeed don't plan to kill you this time. I'm just using you as a catalyst. You can rest assured."
Ryuga gave a straightforward guarantee.
He never had the habit of lying, as it wasn't conducive to establishing a basic platform of trust.
Doni inexplicably felt he could trust Ryuga's guarantee. He instinctively sensed that Ryuga was the type who disdained lying.
However—
"What do you mean 'this time I don't plan to kill'! You exposed yourself! You're saying you might kill me anytime!"
He emotionally retorted.
For such meaningless words, Ryuga only gave the most basic reminder.
"You can also try to refuse or escape. Everyone has survival instincts - as long as you can do it."
"..."
If he could do it, he wouldn't be complaining!
Roaring this in his heart, he didn't actually say it out loud.
As the defeated party, losing the battle was one thing, but he couldn't lose a warrior's dignity too.
Moreover, the other party wasn't the type to care about dignity.
Seeing Doni completely give up, and with Erica having completely set up the ritual site, she immediately returned to Ryuga's side.
Next would be the time to witness miracles.
Looking at the magic circle with everything ready before him, Ryuga was about to begin the ritual when suddenly, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth trembled slightly.
The power of the earth's ley lines suddenly converged toward a certain direction nearby. Soon, Ryuga sensed a familiar fluctuation.
"This nature of ether - it should definitely be divine power fluctuations."
Saying this, Ryuga looked down at the newly arranged magic circle and the sacrifice/catalyst Doni within it.
"Eh? Is Ryuga-sama's summoning ritual this effective? A Heretic God descended just after setting it up?"
Erica found it absurd.
Marquis Voban had only successfully summoned a Heretic God once in all these years, and it was intercepted by the Sword King.
Ryuga-sama summoned a Heretic God in less than half an hour?
Even knowing Ryuga's absurd level, this speed was too amazing.
Doni beside them was also very shocked.
"Are Heretic Gods this easy to find?"
He ran around the globe every day searching for traces of Heretic Gods but couldn't find many. How did Ryuga immediately get a Heretic God as soon as he made a move?
Including the two he had slain before, he alone had encountered three Heretic Gods in a short time.
Even among all Campione, this speed could be considered the most abnormal.
If Marquis Voban or Luo Hao knew that the new compatriot had this ability, they would definitely try to snatch him at any cost.
Of course, the premise was that these two seniors could actually defeat him.
Seeing their shocked expressions, Ryuga slowly shook his head.
"No, I haven't started summoning yet."
In other words, this Heretic God had no relation to the divine summoning ritual he had set up.
After saying this, under their confused gazes, Ryuga turned his attention to the Ahoge King beside him.
"This descended Heretic God probably relates to you."
"Me?"
Artoria was immediately stunned.
To be continued...
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