Chapter 16: Seizing the Holy Grail's Magical Power, Inheritance Level Soars!
As he looked at Kingu standing before him, Akira's gaze remained completely calm.
From the very beginning, Akira had never intended to do anything to him. Even after successfully defeating him, he had never once thought about killing him.
Kingu, as he was now, could already be considered a reborn existence that had deviated from the Chain of Heaven.
Even though he had been created with hidden intentions, even though his mind was now completely filled with the word "Mother," it still couldn't be denied that the body currently moving was the same body that had once belonged to Enkidu.
If one thought about it further, Akira himself did have a few thoughts about that Mother Creator.
Tiamat.
The Goddess of Creation, one of the primordial creator deities in Mesopotamian mythology.
The gods were born from Apsû, who symbolized fresh water, and Tiamat, who symbolized salt water.
Later, those gods—their children—rebelled against their father, Apsû, and seized the right to rule the world.
At that time, Tiamat gently tolerated the actions of her children. This alone proved that her love for her children surpassed her love for her husband.
However, the gods eventually turned against their own mother as well—Tiamat.
Tiamat wept and fell into madness. In her grief, she gave birth to eleven Magical Beasts as her new children and sent them to battle against the gods.
In the end, Tiamat and those eleven Magical Beasts were defeated.
The gods split her body in two and created the heavens and the earth.
Legend says that this was the ritual that gave birth to the human world.
And now, at this Seventh Singularity, Tiamat was the "Beast of Calamity Returned."
The womb of creation left behind after the world was formed—once used as the soil that birthed life—yet after the environment of Earth stabilized and ecological systems took shape, it was deemed no longer necessary and exiled into the Imaginary Number Space.
Through the collapse of the Foundation of Humanity and the power of the Holy Grail, she had returned to this side of the world once more.
The joy of this "homecoming" was the joy of the Mother Creator who had finally returned.
One of the Seven Evils of Humanity, a Beast bearing the Principle of "Regression."
Beast II.
And toward this Mother Creator, Akira indeed had his own thoughts.
From the start, Akira wasn't a person of this world.
On top of that, he possessed a world of his own called the "Shadow Realm."
The combination of these two factors led to a certain idea forming in his mind.
Could he… "kidnap" Tiamat?
After all, in another world, there would be no Counter Force, no collapse of the Human Order.
If that happened, he would gain a truly colossal "pillar of support."
After all, that was the Mother Creator.
As for how to persuade her, that part was actually simple.
No matter how powerful or terrifying she was, first and foremost, she was a mother.
And more than that, she was a great and selfless mother.
What she desired was a child who would never abandon her.
In that case, just give her a child.
After all, acknowledging a Creator Goddess as one's mother was nothing to be ashamed of.
"Kingu, I won't kill you. Mother still needs you to awaken her."
"What? You…"
Kingu's eyes widened instantly as he stared at Akira.
It wasn't shock that Akira didn't intend to kill him. Rather, it was shock that Akira knew about his goal of awakening Mother—and even knew that he had already begun putting it into motion.
"However, to keep everything from slipping out of my control, I need to do something about you. Right now, you're moving by relying on the Holy Grail's power. So for the time being, I'll be taking a little of that magical power from the Holy Grail."
"What are you planning to do?"
"Don't worry. Relax. I'm only going to draw a bit of your magical energy. After all, the Holy Grail is a 'Core Magical Furnace.'"
As he spoke, Akira placed one hand against Kingu's chest.
Right now, the Holy Grail was located precisely within Kingu's heart.
It was precisely because of the Holy Grail that Kingu could be this powerful.
After all, this was the greatest weapon created by the gods.
To move this body, an ordinary magical power source simply wouldn't be enough.
A low, resonant hum spread through the air.
In the very next moment, an enormous stream of magical energy was pulled out from Kingu's body by Akira.
"You bastard, let me go~~~"
"Calm down for a bit, Kingu. I need to focus right now. If I'm not careful and draw too much, what if I end up actually breaking you?"
"You bastard!"
That line was obviously just a joke.
After all, this was the Holy Grail.
And not just any Holy Grail—this one had been created by Goetia, far stronger than whatever Holy Grail existed in Fuyuki City.
The Holy Grail, an artifact capable of granting countless wishes, was the product of the Third Magic—absorbing intangible existence and converting it into material form.
Yet despite being called the "Holy Grail," it actually had nothing to do with the Holy Grail of biblical lore.
At its core, it was simply a crystal of magical energy with extremely high density.
[Ding]
[Obtained 1% template inheritance level!]
[Ding]
[Obtained 1% template inheritance level!]
[Ding]
[Obtained 1% template inheritance level!]
A series of system notifications suddenly echoed in Akira's ears.
He froze for a moment.
What was happening?
Why was his inheritance level suddenly increasing?
Then he looked at his own hand—the hand currently drawing the Holy Grail's magical power from within Kingu.
In the next instant, realization struck him.
So in this world, the method for increasing inheritance level was by absorbing magical power.
In that case, the previous 0.01% increase must have been because he used the Shadow Realm to devour so many Magical Beasts, gaining small amounts of magical power and gradually raising his inheritance level little by little.
The inheritance level was rising at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Even Akira himself began to sink into this feeling of exhilaration.
Without realizing it, he forgot one thing.
He was absorbing someone else's magical power.
"You… bastard…"
With such a massive amount of magical power taken away—more than half of even the Holy Grail's magical energy drained—Kingu's consciousness began to blur.
"This isn't good. I went a little overboard."
Akira snapped back to his senses, looking at Kingu with clear concern on his face.
Kingu couldn't die.
If he died, who would awaken Mother Tiamat?
He quickly checked.
Kingu wasn't dead. Just unconscious.
However, according to Akira's estimation, he hadn't fainted because his magical power had been drained.
He had fainted from sheer anger.
His tolerance was seriously too low.
If Kingu woke up now and heard what Akira had just said, he would definitely jump up and slap him.
It was easy to talk when you weren't the one in that position.
Being mocked, provoked, and humiliated over and over again…
The fact that Kingu hadn't suffered a full mental breakdown yet already proved just how strong his psyche truly was.
[Ding]
[Congratulations to the Host: Obtained Skill · Full Counter!]
[Ding]
[Congratulations to the Host: Obtained Skill – Counter Vanish!]
[Ding]
[Congratulations to the Host: Obtained Skill · Secret Technique – Revenge Counter!]
[Ding]
[Congratulations to the Host: Obtained Skill – Enchantment: Hell Blaze!]
[Ding]
[Congratulations to the Host: Obtained Skill – Divine Thousand Slash!]
A cascade of skills appeared one after another.
Not only that.
His power of darkness began to rise rapidly as well.
Memories belonging to Meliodas started to swirl once more within Akira's mind.
This was the first time in his entire life that Akira had obtained such a massive amount of inheritance level all at once.
It felt like launching into the sky in a single breath.
A beginning truly blessed by the heavens.
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