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"What?!"
Apollo had only just managed to react after unleashing his full power, but by then Anos was already right in front of him.
He was genuinely stunned.
He had already drawn on everything he had. By all logic, he should have been the one overwhelming his opponent.
So why was it that he could not even track the Holy Child's movements anymore?
Had the Holy Child really surpassed him by that much?
Seventh Secret Sword: Lightning Flash.
Before Apollo could even prepare a counterattack, Anos accelerated again.
A single streak of light cut across the space between them.
One of Apollo's arms fell.
"Gah!"
Pain.
Blinding, violent pain.
He could not remember how long it had been since he last felt anything like this.
And now a human had driven him this far?
"..."
Anos frowned.
He had expected to take Apollo's entire shoulder with that strike.
Instead, he had only severed an arm.
Should I use that?
...No.
Not yet.
There's no need.
The thing Anos had considered using was called the Fallen Sacred Heart.
If it had not been a one-time-use item, he truly would have liked to use it and enjoy what it could do.
It contained a portion of the God of the Bible's power from before that god's fall. Using it against Apollo would not have been a problem.
The only issue was that it had no replacement. Once used, it would be gone forever.
That was reason enough not to waste it lightly.
"Apollo, Goodbye."
Anos narrowed his eyes.
He had no intention of wasting time with Apollo.
Because time was limited.
"You think you can challenge a god? You're still far too naive!"
Flames ignited across Apollo's hand, then spread until his entire body turned to fire. The wounds he had suffered healed as the flames rolled over them.
A divine being was not so fragile that losing an arm meant anything permanent.
But.
Anos had already prepared for this.
Convergent Resonance Method.
Anos activated a technique derived from his own innate talent.
Two golden figures identical to him appeared at his side.
The three of them began resonating with one another.
Resonance.
When wavelengths align, peaks and troughs can amplify each other. The Convergent Resonance Method forced the split bodies into exactly the same state as the original.
Mind.
Body.
Flow of power.
Waveform.
Everything became perfectly identical.
Only under those conditions could the strongest resonance be achieved, producing an explosive rise in combat power for a short period of time.
If Asia had seen Anos in this form, she might have fallen to her knees on the spot.
Because this triune figure resembled the holy image of the Trinity. The Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Father.
...
The three Anoses lightly rested their hands at their waists, feeling the power and warmth of the holy sword enchanted through the silver hand that tore all things apart.
Then.
The blade left its sheath.
Final Secret Sword: Chasing Shadow.
A slash that surpassed time and space itself.
Born from the sword, trusting wholly in the blade, and pushed beyond all limits, this was the ultimate form of the concept of cutting. A strike so fast that not even one's own shadow could keep up.
Originally, this was a technique completed by Ikki Kurogane, a mere human, the ultimate expression of slash.
What Anos used, however, was a specialized version improved through his own refinement.
A conceptual slash.
A strike that was almost the very embodiment of cutting itself.
It severed everything.
Life lines.
Abilities.
Authorities.
Fate.
Time.
Space.
In that single instant, every aspect of Apollo was cut apart.
"Hm?"
Seeing Anos appear in front of him, Apollo glanced at his own body in slight confusion.
Just now...
He really had failed to keep up with that speed, hadn't he?
So why did he feel nothing now?
A moment ago, he had felt overwhelming pain, the tearing agony so sharp it had nearly driven him mad.
And now.
Nothing at all.
Not even the faintest sensation.
"Don't tell me you can't actually control your own power. Hah... I suppose that makes sense. Power close to that of a god was never going to be easy to handle."
Apollo settled on what he considered the most reasonable explanation.
A mere human.
How could someone like that truly master this kind of power?
Maintaining this state must be tormenting him.
Yes.
That was the only thing that made sense.
If mortals could casually control power on this level, where would that leave the dignity of the gods?
"..."
Anos opened his mouth.
Not in speechless disbelief.
He really had spoken.
Apollo was certain he had just seen the Holy Child say something.
But he had heard nothing.
What was happening?
And then, just as that confusion took hold, Apollo discovered something even more horrifying.
He could not see.
Not just that.
He could no longer sense the Holy Child at all.
More than that.
He could no longer even think.
From Anos's perspective, Apollo slowly dissolved into drifting points of light, vanishing from the world.
He was being reduced to the most fundamental form of energy and law, feeding it all back into the space around them.
"Hngh!"
Apollo's fading form released one last flicker of light.
Though consciousness had already left him, he still released a final spark of life.
A fragment of will crossed that impossibly short distance and branded itself onto Anos.
"What?"
Even Anos had not expected Apollo to retain anything after being reduced to that state.
No.
It probably should not have been called power.
It was closer to the law.
Or will.
"What was that..."
Anos's brows drew tight.
He could not sense anything obviously wrong.
And yet he was certain something had been imposed upon him.
"Judgment, did Apollo leave something on me?"
After steadying himself, Anos began another round of judgments.
Yes.
That answer only made his frown deepen.
Then he carried out a whole chain of follow-up judgments.
"..."
Once the results were complete, Anos stayed silent for a long while.
In the end, he used Forbidden Spell Paradise to collect the energy and laws Apollo had left behind.
Better that than letting them go to waste.
Maybe turning it into an Apollo-branded sun lamp would not be such a bad idea.
As Apollo's figure disappeared completely, Anos finally accomplished what, in his eyes, might not have been a great feat even though it was one.
He had slain a god.
But he had also paid a price.
An invisible one.
Only now had Anos fully judged what that thing really was.
The dying will of a god.
That was the name he gave to what had been branded onto him by this world.
It had not been Apollo directly carving something into his soul or existence.
It was the world itself that had done the carving.
Gods were beings acknowledged by this world, powerful lives that left their laws and marks engraved upon it.
With the last of his strength, Apollo had done one final thing solely to disgust Anos.
He had forced a fragment of the world itself to remain branded onto him.
The will of the sun.
As long as Anos appeared anywhere beneath the sun, the gods of this world would be able to see that he bore the sun's notice.
And there were only two possible ways for such a mark to exist.
Either he himself was a god.
Or a god had paid an enormous price to leave such a thing upon him.
Now that Anos bore the sun's gaze, once people connected that fact to Apollo's disappearance, or once they invited another sun god from a different pantheon to inspect it, they would have little trouble discovering the truth.
Anos had killed Apollo.
And once that truth came to light, the sinner guilty of slaying a god would be hunted by the gods.
That was beyond question.
The gods had descended to the lower world to play.
They had not come here to put their own lives at risk.
A being capable of killing gods was, by definition, an affront to all other gods. According to Anos's final calculations, more than fifty percent of them would choose to move against him.
In truth, more than ninety percent would approve of action against him.
Some among that ninety percent would choose to wait and watch.
But those who would unquestionably act numbered well above half.
"So Hestia had already seen it coming."
Anos let out a helpless smile.
Before he left the house, Hestia had been acting just a little differently than usual.
He knew that, while she often looked like a silly goddess, she truly did possess a goddess's dignity, a goddess's wisdom, and a goddess's sense of responsibility.
She had likely sensed something much earlier.
Hestia knew his true strength.
And when he still chose to dive into the Dungeon to grind monsters before the War Game, she had probably realized something even then.
That was likely why she had chosen to give him her divine blessing at that moment.
A goddess's blessing was something engraved directly into his body, which was why it had triggered the system's defensive response.
And Anos knew exactly what that blessing did.
Its effect was simple.
If any god chose to make a move against him, Hestia's blessing would activate.
While protecting Anos, it would also declare the will of the goddess herself.
Anyone who harmed Anos would become Hestia's eternal enemy.
An enemy she would pursue without end, until death.
That was the true effect of the blessing Hestia had given him.
And because Anos understood that effect, he knew Hestia had probably realized the truth long before he ever walked out that door.
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