"Uncle?"
Seeing the war goddess who returned after leaving, Guinevere was slightly dazed.
After hearing Ryuga and Pandora's words, she immediately thought of something.
"Have you become the Campione's property?"
"Indeed so."
Lancelot opened her eyes, sensing the divine core connection between herself and Ryuga.
"Now I have become Ryuga's—no, I should now call him Lord Master's subordinate god."
Steel Hero Gods possessed the nature of plundering enemy authorities and making enemies their subordinates, and this applied even to Steel Hero Gods themselves.
Under [Sword Origin]'s effect, not only was her divine core plundered, but she herself was also plundered.
Though she was still a war god, still possessing a complete war god's divine core and power, in nature she had become Ryuga's subordinate god, positioned similarly to a wife or daughter.
"Great! Worthy of being my favorite child!"
Understanding the situation, Pandora immediately cheered.
Ryuga's actions could be said to be digging the Last King's corner, which naturally made her happy.
"Though it's detestable steel, if you can obediently listen to my Ryuga in the future, I can reluctantly forgive you!"
Since she'd become Ryuga's property, she naturally no longer held hostility toward Lancelot.
"Rest assured, Goddess. As a knight, I cannot possibly betray my master. Working with King Arthur is also quite a good experience."
Facing Pandora's words, Lancelot wasn't angry, her attitude straightforward as always.
After expressing loyalty, she seemed to sense something unusual, immediately removing her armor and lifting her clothes to completely expose her abdomen.
Then she looked at Ryuga questioningly.
"However, Master, what is this?"
On that soft, pale abdomen below, a sword-like pattern had appeared at some point. This sword was golden, and Lancelot could sense considerable power from it, as well as a strong connection with her master Ryuga.
Obviously, this sword emblem was inscribed by Ryuga.
"Could it be something like Lord Ryuga's exclusive mark?"
Lancelot asked with some confusion.
If it was a slave mark, she could understand. The divine age she was active in still had slavery customs—masters would often mark their property with emblems unique to themselves.
"Ah, this..."
Seeing this scene, Guinevere and Pandora exchanged glances, both looking somewhat embarrassed.
This Rakshasa King (my child) actually liked playing such games?
In modern society where slavery basically didn't exist openly, such markings could easily be misunderstood as some strange fetish.
They hadn't expected this Campione (Ryuga) to play such elaborate games.
Before their gazes became even stranger, Ryuga spoke up in time to clear the misunderstanding.
"This is the protection I granted you with [Sword Origin]. Saber has one too. Based on this protection, it can greatly enhance your steel attributes and supplement your shortcomings."
Lancelot's nature as a Steel Hero God was already excellent enough, but she was like a hexagon warrior—she still had shortcomings in attack and defense.
The mythological technique called [Sword Origin] wasn't only effective for Ryuga himself; it could also exert quite powerful effects on Ryuga's retainers. Ryuga naturally wouldn't be stingy.
"Master, do I have one too?"
Hearing this, Artoria was first quite surprised.
After the surprise, she touched her abdomen but hesitated, too embarrassed to expose it.
Being able to gain strength improvement was naturally good—it meant she could more conveniently help Master.
But exposing herself in public was somewhat testing her shame threshold. Though aside from her lord, everyone present was female, it still felt inappropriate.
Seeing her hesitation, Ryuga spoke at the right time.
"This mark can also appear on the back of your hand. It stores large amounts of curse power and can be used for emergencies in critical moments."
"Besides the usual enhancement, in critical moments you can also use the sword's protection to request power from me. As my retainers, [Sword Origin] will respond to your wishes."
[Sword's Protection]'s development referenced both divine protection and the Command Spell system.
Normally it could be used as protection, gaining comprehensive improvements. In critical moments, explosive power could be obtained through requests—quite convenient.
"Thank you, Master!"
Looking at the sword protection mark on her hand, Artoria's ahoge stood straight up.
"Just one protection has this magnitude of enhancement?!"
After testing the protection's power, Lancelot showed shocked eyes.
"Is this the power of the mythological techniques Master mentioned before..."
She suddenly understood why she'd lost so miserably before.
Just a newly formed mythological technique could give retainers such powerful enhancement—and this wasn't even its true power.
If Ryuga personally used [Sword Origin], how strong would that be?
Seeing Lancelot's strength increase, Guinevere was initially happy for her.
But soon she realized that Lancelot had now become her enemy—she'd been happy too early.
"It really turned out this way..."
Guinevere knew Lancelot's temperament and understood Steel Hero Gods' integrity.
So she only sighed without meaning to dissuade.
Hearing her sigh, Lancelot spoke.
"My beloved child, I can only apologize regarding the Last King. After all, serving the victor is the defeated's duty, and I'm quite satisfied with this master's magnanimity."
"If you have a chance to see the Last King, remember to tell that guy to be careful. The current me is terrifyingly strong!"
"I will become the brilliant blade in my lord's hand and take his head!"
When speaking of taking the Last King's head, Lancelot's eyes also became sharp.
Unlike the relatively united Earth Mother Goddesses, a major characteristic of Steel Hero Gods was their love of infighting.
They were willing to follow battle rules and happy to challenge all strong opponents, regardless of whether they were allies.
Share golden cups to drink, but show no mercy with white blades.
Minor matters within past friendships didn't affect their willingness to draw swords against each other.
When serving as the Last King's subordinate, she wouldn't hesitate to swing her blade at Ryuga. Now that she'd become Ryuga's subordinate, she didn't mind raising her sword against the Last King either.
In fact, facing the Last King, not only wouldn't she hold back, she'd strike even more fiercely.
After all, suitable opponents weren't easy to find.
Facing Lancelot's battle-spirited declaration, Guinevere nodded helplessly.
"If there's a chance, I'll pass it on to him."
All Steel Hero Gods had this personality—she was long accustomed to it.
Just then, a petite figure appeared before Guinevere, making a big X with her slender arms.
"Don't worry, you won't have the chance!"
"Lady Pandora?"
Guinevere immediately became tense.
Compared to Ryuga, she seemed more afraid of Pandora, this Earth Mother Goddess.
"Little Ryuga, I remember you said before that you were very interested in this girl's pseudo-god manifestation technique, right?"
Pandora didn't look at Guinevere but turned to Ryuga.
"Yes."
Ryuga nodded slightly.
"Is this girl refusing to speak?"
Pandora asked again.
"Her attitude is indeed resistant."
Ryuga answered thus.
"Hmph~ As expected. To save the grail for the Last King, this girl won't admit defeat."
Pandora put her hands on her hips, looking proud.
"Too bad she encountered me! Wanting to negotiate with my little Ryuga—you're still too green. Don't worry, leave this matter to mommy!"
To deal with Earth Mother Goddesses, Earth Mother Goddesses had to personally act.
Though Ryuga wasn't without methods, he was also quite interested in Pandora's words.
"What do you plan to do?"
"Naturally, completely conquer this girl's body and mind!"
Pandora's face bore a mischievous smile.
"Doesn't this girl sympathize with the Last King and is determined to become steel's maidservant? Then we'll fulfill her wish—only, the steel she serves won't be the Last King, but you, little Ryuga!"
Hearing Pandora's words, Guinevere's face changed dramatically.
She wanted to escape, but Artoria and Lancelot were watching nearby—she couldn't escape at all.
Ryuga also guessed Pandora's plan.
"You mean to make Guinevere my subordinate like just now?"
"Though the Circle of Usurpation's usage scope only includes gods, steel's plunder range indeed isn't limited to divine cores. As an Earth Mother Goddess descendant, Guinevere seems to also possess power to briefly recover divine cores. If so, it seems [Sword Origin] techniques just need slight adjustment to obtain..."
Understanding Pandora's meaning, Ryuga's mind immediately began analyzing the principles and gradually constructing rituals.
Before Pandora could speak, he'd already developed techniques for plundering Divine Ancestors.
Just then, Pandora directly covered Ryuga's mouth.
"Stop, stop, stop! If you keep talking, the technique I carefully prepared will be directly deduced by you. Then wouldn't mommy be useless?"
Sometimes she wished Ryuga's comprehension wasn't so strong—it made her feel unaccomplished.
So before Ryuga could speak, she stood on tiptoe and transmitted the Divine Ancestor plundering technique to Ryuga through oral instruction.
After completing the knowledge transfer, she wiped the corner of her mouth, then pointed at Guinevere triumphantly.
"Go on, teach her a lesson! I love seeing this traitor want to resist but being unable to."
After making such a villainous declaration, Pandora thought of something and suddenly turned to look at Artoria.
"Speaking of which, Artoria, though it's unlikely, I still need to ask beforehand—you don't mind, do you?"
"Ah?"
Artoria was stunned, not immediately understanding what Pandora meant.
After being dazed for several seconds, she finally realized the key point.
Though the myths were false, according to mythological relationships, Guinevere was indeed Artoria's queen.
Ryuga making a move on Guinevere in front of Artoria—didn't this plot sound a bit like NTR?
To be continued...
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