The simulated divine core that Ryuga currently possessed was mainly based on Vulcan's authority, so in nature it was mainly suitable for weapons and not very suitable for creating gods.
Guinevere's pseudo-god manifestation technique was different. She could create a god's shadow possessing only power, using it to protect herself.
This was her defensive technique as the creator of the Magic Grail, also the wisdom she retained from when she was an Earth Mother Goddess.
The pseudo-god's combat power wasn't important. What was important was that this technique achieved extending simulated divine cores to the gods themselves.
If he could master this technique, combined with the pseudo-divine equipment Ryuga already mastered, Ryuga would be able to completely master the power of simulated divine cores, completing comprehensive mastery from gods to divine tools.
If he could achieve this, Ryuga's mythological techniques would receive tremendous new amplification.
Previous mythological techniques could only be constructed with divine cores Ryuga had obtained. Future mythological techniques could be constructed based on simulated divine cores he hadn't mastered.
Whether in technique effects or flexible adjustment, there would be tremendous improvement.
"Campione... is Lord Ryuga very interested in pseudo-god manifestation techniques?"
Guinevere also keenly noticed this.
The originally despairing her suddenly had new ideas.
"If I offer this technique to you, could you promise to let us leave?"
She asked tentatively.
At this time, she still hadn't given up on taking Lancelot away.
Hearing this, Lancelot shook her head, thinking Guinevere was still too naive to actually bargain with the Rakshasa King.
When talking with superiors, sometimes being straightforward was more convenient.
She immediately spoke up.
"I don't need that. As the defeated, I have no reason to escape."
After refusing, she looked at Ryuga and asked straightforwardly.
"Rakshasa King, what do you think of this deal?"
"Guinevere isn't a Heretic God, and for you she's too weak. Killing her has no meaning."
Hearing her say this, Guinevere was first somewhat disappointed, but also understood that Campiones couldn't possibly spit out meat they'd already swallowed.
Then she looked at Ryuga with some expectation, hoping he would agree to this request.
Unfortunately—
"Of course not."
Ryuga shook his head, flatly refusing.
"Why should I bargain with my own spoils of war?"
The people were already captured—wasn't it too late to negotiate now?
"If you don't agree, I will never tell you this technique!"
Guinevere immediately declared.
With her magical attainments, as long as she didn't want to speak, no one could pry open her mouth.
"You seem a bit overconfident."
Regarding Guinevere's statement, Ryuga calmly ignored it.
"Just handling spoils of war doesn't require your consent. Not to mention, this isn't some overly difficult technique either."
It was just an additional layer of divine core manifestation mechanism. Ryuga could deduce it on his own.
He was just avoiding the trouble.
"..."
Not some overly difficult technique?
If not for obtaining this technique through inherited memories from Earth Mother Goddess reincarnation, Guinevere would almost believe it.
How could the wisdom essence of Earth Mother Goddesses accumulated over thousands of years be simple!
The negotiation failed. Guinevere suspected the other party was bluffing but had no proof.
Ryuga naturally didn't need to care about their thoughts and directly opened a space passage to the Netherworld.
"Good morning, my dear child!"
As soon as they entered, Pandora hugged him, then looked sleepily at Lancelot following behind Ryuga.
"Only one?"
She was now completely accustomed to Ryuga's frequent visits and batch god-slaying.
Rather, seeing that he'd only killed one Heretic God this time made her somewhat unaccustomed.
"Yes, only one."
Ryuga nodded.
After physical contact, he no longer kept Pandora at arm's length, directly leading this goddess to the center.
"Lend me the Circle of Usurpation."
"Mm, okay!"
Drowsily, Pandora directly handed over her most precious divine tool to Ryuga.
Not until Ryuga drew out the Salvation Knife did Pandora, as an Earth Mother Goddess, instinctively sense tremendous threat and become fully awake.
"Salvation Knife?! Little Ryuga, where did you get this?"
As a member of the gods, she naturally knew more about the Last King's materials.
"Spoils from defeating her."
Ryuga answered all questions.
"Eh? This aura—a detestable Steel Hero God? And it's actually a girl?"
Only then did Pandora realize the special nature of Lancelot's divine core.
Then she also noticed Guinevere following behind.
"Heh~ I wondered what was going on. So it's a rebel from the Earth Mother Goddess clan, that detestable steel's maidservant!"
The moment she recognized Guinevere, Pandora's eyes narrowed slightly, her expression becoming somewhat unfriendly, her tone rarely carrying dissatisfaction.
She always paid attention to maintaining her image in front of Ryuga, but only at this moment could she not hide her hostility.
This was understandable. As the creator and mother of Campiones, her position was naturally aligned with Campiones.
The Last King was a tool used by the gods to clean up Campiones.
That is to say, over thousands of years, all the Campiones Pandora had reincarnated were killed by the Last King.
Even the current surviving Campiones would very likely be slain by the Last King in the future.
Even without considering the grudges between the Steel clan and Earth Mother Goddess clan, Pandora and the Last King were complete mortal enemies.
Guinevere, as a Divine Ancestor belonging to the Last King, naturally couldn't get a good face from Pandora.
Not to mention, Guinevere was originally from the Earth Mother Goddess camp but later betrayed, wanting to follow the Last King.
This kind of Divine Ancestor who disregarded the tragic fate of Earth Mother Goddesses and only wanted to wag her tail at Steel Hero Gods was naturally even more looked down upon by Pandora.
It was only because Pandora had a good temper—if it were the radical Athena here, she'd probably have already attacked Guinevere to slay this traitor.
Facing Pandora's sarcasm, Guinevere bowed respectfully, her expression maintaining respect.
"Lady Pandora, as Earth Mother Goddesses, resisting Steel Hero Gods is naturally our clan's long-cherished wish. But if defeated by Steel Hero Gods, submitting to the victor and acknowledging them as master—isn't this also natural?"
"Do you think I should abandon battle etiquette and be a sore loser who won't accept defeat?"
Regardless of the struggles between Steel Hero Gods and Earth Mother Goddesses, their consensus on battle etiquette was the same.
"Hmph! Sharp-tongued!"
Pandora pouted unhappily, turning her head away, not wanting to speak with this traitor.
Seeing Ryuga holding the Salvation Knife, Circle of Usurpation, and Sword of Promised Victory, seemingly trying something, she tugged at Ryuga's sleeve curiously.
"My most adorable child, what are you doing?"
"Forging the [Sword Origin]."
Ryuga explained his previous concept again and supplemented some details.
"The Salvation Knife symbolizes the most aggressive aspect of Steel Hero Gods, representing incomparably sharp blades, lightning-like high temperature, and can extract earth's essence—truly the earth's enemy."
"The Circle of Usurpation symbolizes Steel Hero Gods' plundering aspect, representing how Steel Hero Gods can seize enemy power through conflict and make enemies their subordinates."
"The Sword of Promised Victory and Steel's Protection correspond to the other two parts of steel's origin, plus King Arthur's divine core..."
The [Sword Origin]'s construction concept wasn't difficult.
It just required completely extracting the representative concepts of Steel Hero Gods and constructing them into complete techniques.
Steel was born from earth, forged with fire, fire enhanced by wind, and finally quenched with water to form sharp swords.
The typical image of Steel Hero Gods was heroes holding fire, wielding swords, treading on earth, and slaying dragon-serpents.
The several divine tools and divine cores Ryuga currently possessed were themselves the powers closest to steel's origin. He just needed to integrate these divine tools' powers together through mythological techniques to obtain a mythological technique similar to [Victory Sword]—[Sword Origin].
Ryuga explained the principles in great detail. As the Earth Mother Goddess who most hated steel, though Pandora couldn't completely understand the implementation details, she roughly grasped the principles.
"So you want to obtain all Steel Hero Gods' characteristics by forging [Sword Origin]?"
Pandora asked.
"Correct."
Ryuga nodded.
"Then couldn't you obtain divine authorities without the Circle of Usurpation in the future?"
Pandora stared wide-eyed.
"This way, wouldn't mommy's greatest use disappear? Waaah, I don't want to be abandoned! After finally having a caring child, I don't want to be lonely for life!"
Her peculiar thought process immediately imagined her future empty nest situation, and she began crying while hugging Ryuga's leg.
"..."
Seeing this scene, Artoria was already used to it.
But Guinevere found it amazing.
She inwardly complained: You don't even put your dignity as an Earth Mother Goddess in your eyes—what right do you have to criticize me?
At least she'd never acted spoiled like this.
After all, she hadn't met the Last King yet.
Pandora's worry came and went quickly. When Ryuga reminded her that even for Sakura's magical studies, they would inevitably meet often, she immediately returned to normal.
"Ahem! In that case, let's start with this Steel Hero God! I'll activate the Circle of Usurpation to demonstrate for you. You just need to adjust the technique effects."
"Good!"
Ryuga didn't refuse Pandora's goodwill.
He was already extremely familiar with the Circle of Usurpation. Using simulated divine cores, he could easily create replicas.
However, the Sword Origin technique involved combining multiple divine cores, plus the amplification of Salvation Knife fragments—precise control was still needed to get the desired results.
With Pandora's example, the adjustment speed would certainly be much faster.
After preparation, Ryuga gripped the platinum-colored blade and recited the spirit words to awaken [Sword Origin].
"Steel breaks evil and manifests righteousness."
Under the spirit words' enhancement, the platinum blade bloomed with white light.
Then [Sword Origin]'s power automatically adjusted, using "Simulated Divine Core: Circle of Usurpation" as the core, adjusting steel origin's nature to sacred plunder.
Sensing the plunder attribute adjusted to optimal, Ryuga struck down with his blade, directly using the [Sword Origin]-forged blade to pierce Lancelot's heart.
The Heretic God's divine core was instantly pierced, then bit by bit plundered and absorbed along the Salvation Knife's blade, all added to Ryuga's body.
Without using the Circle of Usurpation or activating Pandora's Dark Ritual, Ryuga obtained the Heretic God's complete divine core using only [Sword Origin].
"Uncle!"
Seeing Lancelot's completely disappearing figure, Guinevere showed sad eyes.
The last person who could support her had left like this.
Just as she lamented that she would soon follow, an unexpected change occurred.
After completely absorbing the authority, [Sword Origin]'s technique effect still didn't stop—the platinum blade continued glowing.
A few seconds later, Ryuga felt his curse power flowing back out. He didn't stop it.
The gushing curse power turned into light points, beginning to condense bit by bit, finally condensing into a female war god's body.
As if time had reversed, before Ryuga, the originally disappeared Lancelot suddenly reappeared before everyone.
"Did it fail?"
Pandora was stunned.
"No, it succeeded."
Ryuga shook his head, showing a satisfied expression.
To be continued...
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