At that moment, watching Erica ask him for the "status of a knight," Akuto looked at her, then smiled and slowly shook his head.
"You know, Erica, I really like you."
"Hm?"
Erica's violet eyes trembled for a split second. Then, as if she suddenly remembered something, she gave a helpless little smile and lifted a hand to brush back the hair near her ear.
"Akuto-sama… do you mean you like this body of mine?" Against her better judgment, Erica said something she would normally never say.
Normally, she would have responded with something like, "To receive Akuto-sama's favor is Erica's honor," the kind of polished line that hit like a finishing move.
But now, she spoke with a faintly resentful look, in a way that was provocative no matter how you interpreted it.
It was obvious what she was implying. That Akuto was the kind of man who only liked her body.
Akuto smiled and shook his head again.
"Mhm. Your body is part of it, of course."
"But if you weren't charming to begin with, then even with a decent personality and strength, I wouldn't pay you much attention."
"If I have to put it plainly… what I like is all of you."
"All… of me?" Erica echoed, frowning in reflex.
All of her?
With all due respect, that sounded like something she couldn't possibly believe.
Liking all of someone, front to back, past to future… what girl would actually buy that line now?
And besides, how long had Akuto known her? How much could he possibly know about her, to say he liked all of her? Wasn't that irresponsible?
Even so, Erica's doubt only lasted an instant.
For reasons she couldn't explain, she felt an almost instinctive urge to believe him.
…
"All of you means everything. Your past, your present, your future. Every part of you. Your looks, your aura, your courage, your wisdom, your pride, your loyalty… everything that makes you you."
"Hm…"
If an ordinary man said something like that, Erica wouldn't believe a word.
But the one saying it was Akuto, which made it… worth considering.
Akuto carried the identity of a holy prince. If a holy prince differed from ordinary people in some fundamental way, that would be perfectly normal.
At the same time, Erica remembered the report she'd received that morning.
The report stated that the Bronze Black Cross had confirmed "dark goddess divine power" on Akuto. After discussions with the other six major magic societies that ruled Italy, the Seven Great Societies had unanimously decided to hand the "Gorgon Stone" over to Akuto.
A "holy prince," and "dark goddess divine power."
How were those two connected?
The more Erica thought about it, the more mysteries Akuto seemed to be hiding.
If her guess was correct, then the goddess Akuto had kissed last time was Athena.
In any case, Athena being alive was an ironclad fact. Which meant Akuto couldn't have seized Athena's Authority through Godslaying.
So… did Akuto steal Athena's divine power through direct contact with her?
For now, that was the only conclusion Erica could come to.
Back then, she couldn't hear what they were saying, but she had seen them kiss, and then Athena storm off with a visibly embarrassed, angry look.
…
After letting her thoughts branch out and circling through Akuto's strangeness, Erica gave a helpless smile.
In the end, she simply categorized Akuto as the type who "loves all people." If he was a holy prince, loving "everyone" wasn't that strange, right?
The reason Erica drifted to that conclusion was, ultimately, because Akuto hadn't chosen her as his first target.
If he had chosen her first, she would have been willing to believe him.
But he hadn't. His first choices had been Saint Raphael and Arianna, which meant, to Erica, that in Akuto's heart, everyone was equal.
…
Still, since Akuto claimed he understood "all of her," Erica didn't feel any need to hide what she was thinking. She spoke bluntly and boldly.
"Akuto-sama… are you the type who, because you 'love all people,' loves everyone in the world equally?" Erica asked after a moment's thought.
"Mm… in a sense, yes," Akuto said, smiling. "But I only like pretty girls."
Akuto understood why Erica was reacting like this, so he didn't take offense. He found it understandable.
Then, the next second, Akuto slowly raised his hand.
"Erica. Come here."
"Yes," Erica replied, unwavering.
Since she had already expressed her willingness to become Akuto's knight, she should, in turn, show him her loyalty.
The blonde girl approached with utmost respect, sank to one knee before him, and lowered her proud head slightly beneath his hand.
"Maybe after you see this, you'll understand why I say what I say."
As he spoke, Akuto gently placed his hand on Erica's forehead.
"Wnn—"
Golden light flickered, and a massive stream of information poured into Erica's mind.
What Akuto fed her wasn't anything else. It was portions of the Campione! novel and anime—only portions, of course. There was no way he was going to show her anything like, You'll form a deep bond with a man named Godou Kusanagi, and so on.
"This… this is—"
Erica looked up at Akuto, urgent and shaken.
"This is my observation of this world," Akuto said evenly. "If I weren't here, your world would look like this."
"By the way, Erica… do you know what 'fate' is?"
"Fate?"
Erica's violet eyes froze for a beat as she instantly latched onto the keyword.
Fate.
This was the domain Akuto had thrown himself into after failing to save a shrine maiden. So he really had discovered something in this field.
"Erica, do you know why I said I like you?"
"Besides your top-tier beauty, I also like your pride, your calm intelligence, and the courage you have—even when facing gods."
"But if I weren't here, your fate would most likely unfold exactly like what I just showed you."
"I don't want to see you get toyed with by fate."
"And I'm not going to allow you to have anything to do with some other man."
"So this fate of yours… I'm going to change it."
"…Fate…" Erica murmured, the corner of her lips lifting.
She was happy Akuto was willing to tell her so much.
On one hand, it proved she mattered to him.
On the other, it confirmed her suspicion. Akuto had researched something, found something, and that was why he had become the kind of existence people would call a "saint" or an "awakened one."
"Akuto-sama… about 'fate'—could you explain it to me in more detail?" Erica asked, looking at him with open expectation.
That look went beyond anything a mere subordinate should show.
Akuto smiled, set down his coffee cup, and began calmly.
"Of course."
"If I'm going to break the fate you were supposed to have, then I need to tell you what that original fate was."
"And I also need to tell you what happens if you can't break it, and what you might face after you do."
"Put simply, Erica—your world binds you. You, Arianna, and Saint Raphael… all of you are restrained by the fate of this world."
"This world, I'll call it the 'Campione world' for now."
"In the Campione world… gods, Heretic Gods, the goddess of fate…"
…
Under Akuto's explanation, Erica finally understood what he meant by "fate."
In short, in her world, whether an ordinary person or even a Godslayer, everyone had an established fate.
Fate was linear.
No matter what an individual did, no matter how hard they struggled, no matter how dramatic the changes looked on the surface, the world and fate would "correct" things in countless places, steering everything back toward the original flow.
Even the Godslayers she saw as utterly broken—mortals who killed gods—were only able to accomplish such feats because they were born with the fate of a Godslayer in the first place.
"Hahaha… so that's how it is." Erica lifted her pale, smooth chin, openly mocking the world she lived in. "What a boring, rotten world."
All this time, Erica had worked hard to slay a god, to become a Godslayer King, to surpass her ancestor.
And now Akuto was telling her that becoming a Godslayer wasn't about effort. It was about fate.
Didn't that make all her striving a joke?
Granted, the desire to slay gods had always been a little ridiculous.
But learning that without the "fate of a Godslayer" you couldn't become one at all made her efforts feel even more absurd.
There was no doubt that after hearing Akuto out, Erica felt a powerful urge to follow him.
She wanted to stay at his side and stand with him against this screwed-up world.
And just then—
"Beep beep beep—"
Erica's phone rang.
"Hm?"
Before she even opened it, Akuto raised an eyebrow, because he had already seen the message that had just arrived.
A mass text from the Bronze Black Cross.
It said that, just moments ago, a Japanese man named Godou Kusanagi had killed a Heretic God believed to be a "storm god."
Below the message was a photo of the "new king," Godou Kusanagi, and a warning for all members of the Bronze Black Cross: if they encountered a young man resembling him, they were to be extremely cautious and avoid doing anything that might anger the new king.
…
In and of itself, the message wasn't unusual. Whenever a new king was born, the Bronze Black Cross always sent out a notice like this.
The last time Erica had received a message like that was when Salvatore became a Godslayer.
But the moment Erica saw the new king's name, a storm rose in her chest.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]