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Anos carried out his final round of judgments.
"Is the probability of killing Apollo above ninety percent?"
Yes.
"Could killing Apollo expose my identity?"
Possibly.
...
In a single instant, Anos ran an enormous number of judgments.
He had already made these calculations before, but now he needed to confirm them one last time.
Because killing Apollo really was a major decision.
The reason Anos had been grinding levels in the Dungeon before this was naturally to gain enough strength, as quickly as possible, to earn the right to face Apollo.
Of course, from any rational perspective, there was no way a few days of fighting monsters could grant enough power to kill a god.
The real reason he wanted to level up was much simpler. He just wanted to be able to use his other powers for longer periods of time when the moment came.
...
A few seconds later, Anos finished his final judgment.
"As expected, Apollo really does seem destined to end up as nothing more than a decorative flashlight."
Anos let out a quiet sigh and shook his head helplessly.
Normally, unless it were absolutely necessary, he would never make a move against someone truly powerful.
But now, things had already gone beyond the question of whether he should act or not.
Apollo had not dropped so much as a single treasure chest, nor was there any special high-tier reward waiting behind his death.
But even so, Anos had already made up his mind.
Apollo had to die.
Those first two judgments alone had been enough.
If grinding monsters before had only been a precaution, then now the hidden danger had finally arrived at his doorstep.
Anos would never allow a god to sit in the heavens, fully empowered, keeping watch on him forever while waiting for the right chance to strike.
At that very moment, Apollo was being guided back toward the heavenly realm.
That was exactly why Anos had chosen to leave the Familia when he did.
At that time, Apollo had already been on his way to heaven.
"Once I pass through this gate, I'll never be able to descend again. I have to admit, that is a little regrettable."
Apollo masked the madness in his eyes as best he could, but what did it matter if he could never come back?
He had ways to interfere with the lower world even from the heavens.
The only real disappointment was that doing it from up there would never be as satisfying as handling it personally.
"Well... when the time comes, I'll simply keep the Holy Child by my side. I'll take very, very good care of him."
Thinking that to himself, Apollo stepped through the gate to the divine realm.
He had no intention of breaking the agreement, because a contract made before the gods had to be fulfilled.
But fulfilling the agreement did not mean he was forbidden from acting afterward.
There was always a way to work around the exact wording.
For the sake of Anos Kanzaki, he was more than willing to use any means necessary.
He had absolutely no intention of letting this end here.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, he sensed something was off.
He had clearly stepped through the gate to the heavenly realm.
So why had he not arrived there?
"Wondering why you didn't make it back to heaven?"
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Apollo heard a voice he recognized instantly.
The Holy Child's voice.
He had not even finished processing why the Holy Child was here before he whipped around toward the source of the voice with blazing excitement in his eyes.
Why the Holy Child was here did not matter.
What mattered was that he was here.
"Apollo, you really are a uniquely troublesome god. Are all gods as bad as you?"
Anos narrowed his eyes as he spoke.
He found himself wondering whether, someday in the distant future, he might end up becoming like Apollo too. The kind of being who lived so long that amusement became the only thing left to chase, no matter the cost.
But that was a matter for another day.
Right now, he only wanted one thing.
To kill Apollo.
"Ark Sphere, Execute command zero zero one."
At once, the dormant Ark Sphere inside Anos erupted with red-gold light.
At the same time, his eyes turned completely gold, as if endless starlight had sunk into them.
Divine Overmode loading complete.
Anos's body was engulfed in sacred radiance and pure divinity. The power pouring from him was not merely on par with Apollo's divine authority.
In terms of quality, it surpassed it.
"You are..."
Apollo froze for the briefest instant as he sensed Anos's true nature.
That was divine power.
No.
Not exactly.
There was something subtly different about it.
And yet, it was unquestionably a power on the same level as the gods.
No weaker than divine power.
If anything, it was something even greater.
"A god? Or perhaps some kind of child of the gods?"
Apollo suddenly found himself attaching new meaning to the title Holy Child. Freya had been the one to suggest it in the first place. If so, did that mean she knew something? Was that why she had chosen that title?
"Just an ordinary person."
Golden light shimmered in Anos's eyes, as though this form were his natural state all along.
This was the first time since his reincarnation that he had truly used the power of his divinity.
The difference from before was immense.
His body fit this mode with near-perfect harmony, as though every part of him had been built for it.
That was one of the terrifying functions of the Ark Sphere. Even though the gods of this world were not the same as the god tied to Anos's divinity, the Ark Sphere could still reshape divine force from this world into the form most compatible with his own existence.
"Ordinary? Hahaha... Holy Child, you call yourself ordinary? That may be the funniest thing I've ever heard."
Apollo laughed out loud.
Were humans this entertaining now?
A being who could wield divine power was calling himself ordinary.
And yet, Anos really was just an ordinary person.
An ordinary individual of a newly born human race.
A perfectly average member of a species that, for the moment, contained only one person.
Himself.
"Whether I am or not doesn't matter, Apollo, this ends tonight."
Anos narrowed his eyes.
He had prepared for this as thoroughly as humanly possible. Even if Apollo died here, no one would ever know the truth.
"I see... So that's why something felt strange when I stepped through the gate to heaven, You disguised your own transfer formation as the gate itself."
Apollo looked positively delighted.
He admired Anos now more than ever.
A human who dared raise a hand against a god was worthy of admiration.
It was beautiful.
It was thrilling.
How could a being this fascinating even exist?
Apollo felt as though he might lose himself in the sheer ecstasy of it.
He was calm.
Carefree.
Confident.
Because he believed he had already seen through Anos completely.
True, with the power Anos was showing now, he might even be capable of dealing with the Black Dragon of the Dungeon.
But a god?
No.
In Apollo's eyes, the Holy Child had simply become arrogant. He had mistaken extraordinary talent for true transcendence and now dared challenge a god without realizing he was still nothing more than a frog at the bottom of a well.
"I'll admit it. Disguising the gate to heaven as your own transfer spell was clever. But not everyone has the right to provoke a god."
Apollo decided he needed to teach the Holy Child the difference between mankind and divinity.
Only then would the boy truly understand his place.
Only then would he obediently become Apollo's treasured toy and prized possession.
In an instant, terrifying heat erupted from Apollo's body.
It was as though a blazing sun had come to life before him, spitting fire in every direction.
Apollo was finally getting serious.
He had treated everything until now like a game.
And in truth, he still did.
The only difference was that now he was willing to play a little more seriously.
But the moment he unleashed his true power, he realized something was wrong.
He could only use the power within himself.
All spiritual force and every external element beyond his body had been completely cut off from his control.
"So you were the one who tampered with the field."
Apollo's eyes burned even hotter as his interest in Anos deepened further.
What an intelligent human.
What a decisive human.
What a courageous human.
How could he not praise someone like this?
"Yes. If this is going to be a god's graveyard, it should at least be properly prepared."
Anos smiled.
This was Forbidden Spell Paradise.
The true, completed form of Forbidden Spell Paradise.
Long ago, Anos had already analyzed the structure of the gate to the heavenly realm and successfully created an imitation of it, all for the sole purpose of luring Apollo into this place.
Forbidden Spell Paradise was the final product born from one branch of the God of the Bible's divinity, refined again and again through Anos's own improvements.
Of course, calling it the final product was not entirely accurate. It was still unfinished in a sense, because Anos himself never stopped evolving.
As long as he continued to grow, Forbidden Spell Paradise would theoretically need to be upgraded again and again.
Inside this domain, Anos could push his magical talent to its absolute limit while suppressing his opponent to the very edge of helplessness.
Apollo being unable to draw on any outside force and being forced to rely only on himself was simply one expression of that suppression.
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