[Erica: "If you knew what happened these past two days, you definitely wouldn't be surprised by just one Heretic God."]
Saying this, Erica sighed slightly.
Thinking of herself three days ago, still anxious about legendary divine beasts, with reverence for gods carved into her bones from childhood.
That version of herself could never have imagined that so much would change in just three short days.
Her own power increase was already the least noteworthy thing.
God-slaying, which once seemed miraculous, had become numbing after repeated performances.
Tohsaka Rin and the others had only seen two god-slaying battles, both one-on-one, so their threshold hadn't been raised much. God-slaying still held appeal for them.
But anyone who had witnessed Ryuga processing gods in assembly-line fashion, killing seven or eight Heretic Gods at once like harvesting wheat, mowing down these gods in one go, would find it hard to maintain any reverence for Heretic Gods.
Currently, a battle with just one Heretic God held no suspense.
Though with Erica's current strength, if faced with a Heretic God as an opponent, her chances of winning weren't very high.
But this didn't prevent her from thinking the opponent was weak.
After all, she'd seen too much.
[Madoka: "Though I don't know why, I feel like Erica-nee-san has been through a lot."]
[Tohsaka Rin: "Very curious what happened to completely reshape Erica's perception into Ryuga-sama's shape."]
[Erica: "This is difficult to describe in words. You'll understand later."]
Though there was only one Heretic God now, Erica was certain it wouldn't be long before Ryuga's next batch god-slaying session.
After all, there were still four Campione who hadn't submitted, and they could all serve as key materials for divine summoning rituals.
[Tohsaka Rin: "Riddlers get out of Fuyuki City!"]
[Tohsaka Rin: "Eh, an owl?"]
Sharp-eyed Rin keenly noticed something out of place in the livestream.
It was still daytime - why would an owl actively fly into the Copper Black Cross headquarters?
Before seeing Tohsaka Rin's message, Erica had already sensed an unfamiliar presence.
Looking at this giant owl, she gripped her sword hilt while inquiring with basic courtesy.
"May I ask, who might you be?"
"Hmph! Standing before me, yet you don't recognize my name? As a witch of Hermes, your eyes are quite poor?"
Hearing Erica's inquiry, the owl suddenly spoke with a distinctly feminine tone.
[Madoka: "Wow, the bird talked!"]
[Tohsaka Rin: "Using an owl as a familiar, what god is this?"]
The group members were quite interested in the owl and began guessing which Heretic God it might be.
Before they could guess any clues, Ryuga on scene had already provided the answer.
"Bright-eyed Goddess Athena, you've come as expected."
Athena's other name was the Luminous Goddess, actually meaning "goddess whose eyes shine with light," originally meaning "goddess with owl-like pupils."
Therefore, the owl was the most representative symbol of Athena.
"As expected of the Rakshasa King, you have some insight."
Hearing Ryuga recognize her, the owl nodded with satisfaction, then directly transformed into a silver-haired little girl who appeared to be only twelve or thirteen years old.
Though her body looked incredibly small, she displayed an aura stronger than most Heretic Gods.
[Tohsaka Rin: "So this is the famous victory goddess Athena? She looks kind of cute."]
[Madoka: "Indeed, she looks so young!"]
Unaware she was being evaluated by others, after formally manifesting, Athena stared seriously at Ryuga with her dark eyes fixed on the divine tool in his hand - the Gorgoneion.
"Child of folly! Since you deliberately used this divine tool to lure me here, you must have your sights set on my authority and are prepared for battle! I must reclaim what belongs to me, so you—"
"Thud."
Before Athena could finish her threatening words, she watched Ryuga casually toss over the Gorgoneion, which was extremely important to her.
"Ah?"
Athena was stunned, her most powerful wisdom unable to comprehend why.
She had prepared herself for a direct confrontation with Ryuga to seize the Gorgoneion, but unexpectedly, he had casually given her such a precious divine tool.
"Don't you want this? I'm returning it to you."
Ryuga waved dismissively, acting completely unconcerned.
"..."
Athena instinctively thought it was a trap. After carefully examining the Gorgoneion and finding no problems with the divine tool itself, she became confused.
Without immediately using the Gorgoneion to complete her divine authority, she asked puzzledly.
"Campione, what are you trying to do?"
This sudden kindness left her unable to understand the situation.
"Just expressing basic sincerity."
Ryuga spoke with complete honesty.
"There's something I need your cooperation with, so I wanted to ask if you'd be willing."
"Just for an inquiry, you returned this divine tool to me? Aren't you afraid I'll refuse your invitation?"
Athena asked suspiciously.
Regardless, his behavior was too risky.
With the Gorgoneion, she would be more than twice as strong as before!
"Of course I'm not worried. I believe the Goddess of Victory wouldn't do such a thing. Moreover, this divine tool is just a meeting gift to get you to stop and negotiate. It originally belonged to you anyway - whether you agree to my invitation or not, it's yours."
Ryuga naturally didn't mind this small enhancement.
If Athena agreed to the invitation, that would be perfect. Even if she didn't agree, Ryuga could obtain all her enhanced divine authorities through god-slaying.
No matter what Athena chose, he wouldn't lose anything.
Athena might not have failed to consider this, but Ryuga's tone still made her very happy. Few gods wouldn't appreciate having their integrity acknowledged.
After her lips curved slightly upward, the small silver-haired goddess gripped the divine tool and asked with considerable interest.
"What matter is worth you paying such a price just to have me participate?"
"The matter itself is simple, but I must confirm your personal opinion first."
Ryuga carefully observed the goddess before him and asked.
"Before that, I want to ask - as a trinity goddess, what you're currently pursuing is to unite the divine authorities of Medusa, Metis, and Athena to reclaim the glory of the Earth Mother Goddess... is that correct?"
In the Campione world, Athena's divine authority was clearly that of an Earth Mother Goddess defeated and split apart by a Steel Hero God.
As an ancient Earth Mother Goddess, she had originally been a widely worshipped Goddess Queen of the Mediterranean, but during the spread of mythology, matriarchal clans were replaced by patriarchal ones, and the myths were gradually degraded.
Finally, her divine authority was directly split into three parts: one wisdom goddess, one victory goddess, and one that was simply defamed as a monster.
Unlike Guinevere, who chose to submit to the Steel Hero God, Athena belonged to the highly rebellious type of Earth Mother Goddess.
That's why she chose to rebel against myth and descend, attempting to complete her divine authority and return to her original ancient Earth Mother Goddess form.
"You even know this?"
Hearing Ryuga directly touch upon her wound, normally Athena might have become angry.
But now, having just received such a substantial meeting gift from Ryuga, and with his inquiry being quite serious rather than mocking, she naturally couldn't adopt too harsh a tone after accepting his generosity.
"Very good." After confirming his thoughts from Athena's response, Ryuga continued asking.
"To reclaim the glory of the Earth Mother Goddess, how far would you be willing to go?"
"What do you mean?"
Athena was somewhat confused.
As the goddess of wisdom, she couldn't guess Ryuga's intentions at all.
"What I want to ask is... I can give you a chance to rebel against Zeus, to rebel against the Steel Hero Gods. Do you dare to rebel against the gods?"
At these words, Athena was completely stunned.
Rebelling against the gods - this was the first time she'd heard anyone dare to speak such outrageous words.
Even Campione, at most, would joyfully celebrate killing one or two Heretic Gods as their personal glory. This man actually set his sights directly on the gods themselves?
"How do you plan to rebel against the gods?"
Without saying whether she agreed, Athena directly asked with curiosity.
Seeing her reaction, Ryuga felt reassured. His speculation was correct - on the matter of rebelling against the gods, Athena was far more radical than he'd imagined.
Since that was the case, there was no need to use Pandora and Guinevere to help strengthen her resolve.
So—
"My idea is this..."
In quite concise language, Ryuga completely laid out his plan, neither hiding nor disdaining to hide anything.
"Your target is actually the divine realm?"
After hearing Ryuga's idea, Athena was even more shocked by this Campione's level of madness.
As the mortal enemy of gods, actively stepping into the gods' stronghold - what was this if not seeking death?
"How about it? Are you interested?"
Ryuga asked straightforwardly.
"If you truly have the ability to stir up storms in the divine realm, I don't mind helping you find the path to the divine realm."
Athena spoke thus.
"However, how will you prove your strength? Moreover, for me to return to the divine realm, I'd need to return to myth first. Do you think I'd abandon this journey for such a vague notion?"
If these two points couldn't be resolved, everything else would be pointless.
She was willing to be a divine traitor, but not a futile one.
If it were other matters, Athena wouldn't mind helping, but returning to the divine realm meant risking her current life. Without sufficient trust, she obviously couldn't agree.
Ryuga had already considered this point.
"Proof of strength? Returning to myth? Aren't these the simplest things?"
He spread his hands with a matter-of-fact tone.
"It's still the oldest battle etiquette - the victor gains everything, the defeated can only submit. The moment you're defeated, these two problems will no longer be problems."
"An excellent proposal."
Though she still felt Ryuga was overconfident, Athena didn't refuse his proposal.
As a trinity ancient Earth Mother Goddess, she had her own confidence too.
If Ryuga could truly defeat her at full strength, then what was wrong with listening to him? Accepting defeat gracefully was basic quality for a battle goddess.
If he failed, then it would be his turn to follow her commands.
Ordinary Campione and Heretic Gods were mortal enemies, but faced with Ryuga who had been so generous, Athena felt that even if he lost, he wasn't unqualified to become her servant.
"Then let's change venues!"
After deciding to settle things through battle, Ryuga casually opened a spatial portal.
The other side of the portal was his dedicated battlefield - Sardinia.
Seeing that after Ryuga and the Heretic God Athena's conversation, they were still going to battle, the group members immediately perked up.
For them, god-slaying was still relatively fresh.
[Tohsaka Rin: "Here it comes! Place your bets! I bet on Ryuga-sama winning!"]
[Tohsaka Rin: "No betting on the same outcome - hurry up and place your bets!"]
[Madoka: "How do we bet?"]
[Erica: "Is it possible she's just trying to steal money?"]
Watching the group's usual excitement, Ryuga directly blocked these messages and focused almost entirely on Athena.
Since they were just chatting and wouldn't provide any important information anyway, it was better to think about how to get Athena to summon him from within the divine realm.
It was precisely because of this thought that Ryuga missed a quite important notification in the chat group.
[Welcome new group member to the chat group]
To be continued...