Outer Gate 3345, a private residence very close to the Thousand Eyes headquarters—
After unlocking the conceptual security lock at the entrance, Ryo stepped into the living room and pulled down the hood of his trench coat, revealing his face.
"I seem to be a little early."
He glanced around the empty living room and raised an eyebrow.
Calmly, Ryo walked to the single sofa in the center of the room and sat down. He began fiddling with the tea set on the table.
By the time he had finished brewing a fresh pot of tea, the door opened.
Black raven feathers drifted inside, one after another, gathering over the tea table and taking shape as a one-eyed black raven.
"They picked 3345 as the meeting place. Doesn't that idiot Heracles think Shiroyasha might kill him? She's one of Little Garden's Problem Children, for God's sake. Even I didn't qualify for a title like that," Loki muttered under his breath.
The door opened again, and Heracles ducked his head and bent his knees as he squeezed into the room.
"The only thing I dislike about this place is that the door is too small."
After complaining, he went straight to the sofa opposite Ryo and sat down. He placed three high-grade Black Gift Cards on the table. "These are the fake identities I bought. They're one-time disguise items. Take a look and pick whichever one you want."
Loki flapped his wings and flew over to Heracles. He grabbed one of the Gift Cards with his claws, glanced at it, and immediately cackled. "Ohoho! High-grade stuff capable of fooling even three-digit figures. Looks like Ouroboros gave us a pretty generous budget this time!"
Hearing that, Ryo reached out and took the card on the far left, the one he felt the most inexplicably drawn to. He turned it over and read the information.
[Divine Persona: Rudra, Vedic God of Storms (Three-Digit)]
[Authority: Destruction]
[Evaluation: The Divine Persona of a God-King from the era of the Indus Valley Civilization. After his defeat, his spirit rank was devoured by Shiva. The remnants were later sold by Shiva to Ouroboros. After being modified by the World Dragon Kurma, it gained an extremely high degree of anti-divination capabilities, effectively isolating it from the perception of three-digit figures. It has no effect against two-digit figures or beings approaching the two-digit level.]
[Method of Use: Crush.]
"So these are the tools we're using for this mission?" Ryo glanced over the card's description before turning to Heracles. "Taking on the role of Rudra, who was devoured by Shiva, to deal with the Heavenly Army... That's almost hilariously malicious."
"In a sense, it's the best possible method. Otherwise, if we used the identities of people who are still alive, getting punished by their 'True Name Control' would make things rather troublesome." Heracles had already chosen his own identity card. His expression suggested he had learned that lesson the hard way.
Clearly, he had been burned once before, which was why he had chosen the safer approach this time.
Loki suddenly burst out laughing. "Ohoho! Hermes. How interesting! This is way too interesting! I had no idea Ouroboros even had something like this!"
Ryo glanced up at the card between Loki's claws.
The familiar face of a young man stared back at him.
The corner of Ryo's mouth twitched.
When he had come here earlier, he had specifically brought along one of the two Machine Gods he had left in the Arcadia City.
Coincidentally, that one was also Hermes.
And now Heracles had brought a fake identity belonging to Hermes.
Had they somehow come to the same conclusion? Were they also planning to gang up on Hermes while he was still in the process of respawning?
Heracles spoke from across the table. "The identity I chose is Veleslana, who has a mythological connection to me. This name has already been abandoned by Indra, so there's no risk of triggering True Name Control."
Another familiar name.
Did everyone in Little Garden commit crimes while wearing someone else's name and identity?
Noted. Very educational.
Heracles looked at the two of them. "From this point onward, we should all get used to our new identities. Don't make any unnecessary mistakes."
He paused, then turned toward Ryo. "It's best if you avoid using any of your signature abilities. You should also change the way you normally use your Authorities. We don't want to give ourselves away. Of course, if you're not worried about the Heavenly Army coming after us afterward, feel free to do whatever you want."
"I understand." Ryo sighed softly.
I'll need to make some changes to my Cosmo.
I can't make its ability to shatter atoms obvious. And then there are my combat techniques…
Ryo opened the Dimension Forum and searched directly for "Hades' 108 Specters techniques."
When he saw the result staring back at him, [10,000 points], he nearly cursed the forum on the spot.
Sasha's diary contained more than a dozen Gold Saint techniques, and those only cost 520 points.
But the Specters want ten thousand?
Has the forum lost its minds over money?
With that thought, Ryo casually posted on the forum: "What's with this price?"
[Original price: 1,000 points.]
[Added function: "Can be used directly, forcibly establish compatibility with the combat techniques, and greatly increase proficiency through use." Value: 9,000 points.]
[There is nothing abnormal about the current price.]
Ryo thought about it for a moment.
Learning all 108 Specter techniques instantly was, in a sense, worth ten thousand points.
Besides, many of the Specters' techniques were bizarre and incredibly useful. Learning all of them in one go would normally require an unimaginable amount of time and effort.
Being able to master them instantly wasn't an unreasonable price.
'Fine. It's a Sun Authority, after all. I need to make some investment.'
As for whether Ouroboros would actually hand over the Sun Authority in the end…
There were two-digit figures watching the entire process.
If they refused to pay, Ryo could deal with them openly and legitimately.
Let's see who came out ahead then.
Thinking about that, Ryo watched in agony as his hard-earned 880,170 points plummeted.
870,170.
He almost shut down from the sheer pain of it.
This was money he had painstakingly saved up over such a long period, specifically to deal with emergencies. Losing ten thousand points in one shot practically broke his heart.
Converted according to purchasing power, that was equivalent to one-fiftieth of an Authority.
One-fiftieth! And he had just thrown it away.
Naturally, Ryo was absolutely devastated.
But more importantly…
Ryo closed the purchase window and opened another search page.
A single line of text appeared on the screen.
One that made Ryo's heart race.
[The Mysteries of Life and Death]
[Price: 100,000,000 points.]
[Function: Assists a Saint at the absolute peak of the Seventh Sense in comprehending the cycle of life and death, allowing them to safely enter the Eighth Sense.]
[Note 1: Can be used together with any auxiliary treasure designed to assist breakthroughs, enhancing the breakthrough effect.]
[Note 2: This function can only be used by the owner of the Forum. This is the result of negotiations between the Forum and the Little Garden Central Center, so the price is not universally applicable.]
[Note 3: If a "pure-blooded human" uses this function to break through, when they subsequently surpass the limits of Cosmo and elevate it to Big Will Cosmos (Divine Cosmos), they will receive a minimum breakthrough bonus of 20%, up to a maximum of 35%.]
Ryo stared at Note 3 with burning eyes.
Big Will!
This was the true essence of the Cosmos, a source of power and existence without boundaries.
The true extent of its power had never been fully explained in Saint Seiya. It existed so far beyond the limits of human comprehension that perhaps it was impossible to completely understand.
As the embodiment of absolute power, feats such as Thanatos shattering five Gold Cloths with a single blow, or Hyoga surpassing the power of Absolute Zero, could still be considered insignificant by comparison.
Even Seiya, the series' main protagonist, had yet to reach that stage.
And now, for a mere hundred million points, equivalent to the purchasing power of two hundred Authorities, he could obtain a thirty-percent breakthrough bonus.
Ryo seriously suspected that all the other functions were just window dressing.
The real selling point was Note 3.
Of course, that didn't mean the Eighth Sense was unimportant.
Awakening the Eighth Sense was still an arduous feat. One had to attain enlightenment at the moment of death and possess the courage to burn their Cosmos to its absolute limit in an instant. Only then could they transcend the Seventh Sense and break through into the realm of the Eighth Sense.
It was just that, compared with the Big Will, the Eighth Sense naturally received a little less attention.
Still, staring at that 100,000,000-point price tag, Ryo could only sigh in helpless admiration.
"As expected, I'm still a long, long way from having enough saved up."
Ryo sighed and turned his attention back to business.
He sifted through the Specters' techniques, picking and choosing until he finally found one that matched his fake identity.
One of the Three Judges of the Underworld.
Celestial Specter. Wyvern Rhadamanthys
That's it. He would use Rhadamanthys' fighting style.
Once he had settled on his combat style, Ryo looked up.
Heracles had clearly finished preparing as well. His eyes gleamed with anticipation. "Looks like everyone's ready?"
Seeing Ryo's expression, Heracles smiled. "Then let's discuss how we're going to protect that precious little prince."
Ryo's expression froze.
He glanced at Heracles, then at Loki.
Then he said, "Gentlemen, I have a suggestion…"
.
.
.