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"Forget that for now, Hestia, First, level me up."
After a long silence, Anos finally spoke.
Of course, he had a solution.
He just could not bring himself to say it.
If he could no longer move freely in this world, then the answer was simple. He could just move freely in another one.
But that would also mean parting from Hestia.
He had always known he did not truly belong to this world, and that the day of separation would come eventually. But now that the moment was drawing close, he realized he was nowhere near as detached about it as he had once imagined.
Hestia could be a little troublesome in plenty of ways, but that was just who Hestia was.
And putting certain things aside, she was wonderful.
Just as Hestia had her own feelings toward Anos, he carried much the same kind of feelings toward her.
"A level up... right, that makes sense."
Hestia suddenly snapped back to herself. If Anos had really succeeded in killing Apollo, then the experience and great feat gained from slaying a god must have gone completely off the charts.
And if Anos already had the power to deal with Apollo now, then after leveling up, he should at least have the means to protect himself in front of the gods.
That was what Hestia believed.
But her thinking was a little too optimistic.
For Anos, killing Apollo had already been the absolute limit. That result had only been reached through countless deductions and judgments.
If he truly went to war with all the gods, there would be far too many variables. By his own standards, he was already drained after bringing down a single god.
There was no way he could really afford to turn the heavens into his enemy head-on.
And so, with both of them carrying slightly complicated feelings, the level up was completed.
Truly, a god was still a god.
The feat had been so great that it piled up enough merit to justify jumping two levels at once.
Hestia let out a long breath.
---
Anos Kanzaki
Level 5
Strength: SS
Endurance: SS
Dexterity: SS
Agility: SS
Magic: SSS
Spells: SSS
Skills:
1. Tenfold Directional Formation: ...
2. Senjutsu: ...
3. One Blade Shura: ...
4. Secret Sword Arts: ... ...
Talents:
1. Absolute Dichotomy: ???
2. Divine Overmode: ??? ...
Special Status: Resting Place of a God's Dying Will. An extremely delicate condition that gathers the attention of the divine authority tied to the corresponding attribute.
---
"Apollo really was stuffed with rewards."
Anos let out a quiet sigh of admiration. At this rate, he felt like he had one more level and he could probably reach Level 6 already. That experience pack had been absurdly large.
Of course, farming a target like that had been outrageously dangerous.
There were not many people in the world who could use a god as a level-up experience.
"Anos... so that thing really is still on you after all..."
Hestia lowered her head, her voice heavy and subdued.
The gods were not only in Orario. At any place in the world, it was possible to run into one of them wandering the mortal realm.
Astraea and Zeus were examples, Their Familias were gone, and now they no longer remained in Orario.
"I can suppress it for now. But only for a while."
Seeing Hestia's downcast expression, Anos also sighed.
"Huh... You can do that?"
Hestia looked up in surprise.
That was right.
When Anos first returned, she had not noticed anything at all. Just now, it was only because he had actively loosened the restraint that she had sensed it.
If that was true for her, then it should be true for other gods as well.
"Yeah, but only temporarily."
Anos shook his head.
Without Ophis holding things together, the amount of time he could sustain it with his own power would have to be measured in seconds.
"At the moment, I only know one way to erase it permanently."
After hesitating for a moment, Anos finally told Hestia the result he had reached through judgment.
"What way?"
Hestia asked at once.
"To become a god."
Anos's voice was calm.
"..."
Hestia wanted to say something, but in the end, all that came out was a sigh.
She knew Anos was incredibly strong, but becoming a god...
That solution was almost painfully impractical.
With the power he already had now, enough to kill a god, by the time he actually ascended, he would probably have surpassed every god currently in existence and become a supreme being who made the rules instead of obeying them.
At that point, would removing Apollo's mark even matter anymore?
Long before then, Anos should already have gained the strength to face the gods on his own.
It was hard not to call that answer useless.
"Looks like I'll have to adjust my plans from here on."
Anos shook his head as he spoke.
...
At that same time.
In the world of Akame ga Kill.
Elsa felt the sacred gear's power return.
The link to the Red Dragon Emperor's power had reconnected to the jewel in her hand.
"That really was quite a show."
Elsa let out a quiet sigh of appreciation.
Just now, her consciousness had followed that power back to Anos's side, allowing her to witness the battle firsthand.
"Lady Elsa, it seems the Lord's matter over there has been resolved."
Nearby, a blond man spoke with a gentle smile.
He was the former leader of the Path of Peace, now the head of the Holy Church. A man who existed to spread the Lord's glory and bring salvation to more people.
And the Elsa before him was one of the great forces of change the Lord had bestowed upon this world.
The Dragon Saintess, Elsa.
A bearer of the Crimson Dragon's power, a woman strong enough to face multiple Imperial Arms users at once and defeat them with ease.
At least, that was how he saw her.
In truth, Elsa was nothing more than a soul Anos had revived.
Back when he purified the resentment of the previous Red Dragon Emperors, Anos had given each of those souls a choice.
Those who wished to continue fighting could have bodies made for them and return to battle once more.
And Elsa had been the strongest female Red Dragon Emperor in history.
According to Anos's judgment, she was the one best suited to draw out the Red Dragon Emperor's power, so he chose to revive her.
Originally, there had also been a candidate for the strongest male Red Dragon Emperor in history.
But that one belonged to an era so ancient that he had spent most of his time in a half-dormant sleep, so Anos did not seriously consider him.
After Elsa won out over the other souls, Anos used the Ark Sphere's power to create a new body for her.
He had long known that the Ark Sphere could record his own body, ensuring that even if he were ambushed and killed once, he would not truly die.
But that same function could also be used to create a body for someone else.
The only drawback was that while doing so, the system that automatically updated and protected Anos's own body would temporarily stop functioning.
Using up part of its stored energy, Elsa was granted a new life.
Of course, there had been one condition.
She had to act with Anos at the center of her existence.
But Elsa had agreed to be revived even knowing that condition. She wanted to see for herself just how many interesting things would happen by staying at Anos's side.
And as expected, not long after being revived, she had already been given a fascinating experience.
Traveling to another world.
In the world of Akame ga Kill, she took on the identity of the Dragon Saintess, standing beside Jeanne, the Saintess of Protection, as the two sacred pillars representing sword and shield. Together, they bore the duties of the Holy Church's saintesses.
"Ah, it wasn't anything too serious. The Lord just casually killed a god, that's all."
Elsa waved her hand dismissively.
At least in her eyes, that did not count as a particularly remarkable event for her god.
"I sent the power of Ddraig back first because it was more convenient for him to use it. It's already returned now."
"Another god?" The church leader seemed intensely interested in that part. "May I ask which god it was?"
"The sun."
Elsa did not hide it. She simply pointed up at the sun overhead.
"The sun!"
Even though the church leader had already prepared himself somewhat, that answer still stunned him.
So even the light of the sun itself had to bow before the Lord's power.
"Leader, I'll leave the next village to you. If there's anything you need from me, call for me. I'm going back to training."
Elsa smiled, then turned to leave for her training.
In truth, she had not had this body for very long.
The Ark Sphere had devoted most of its processing power to Anos's reincarnation first, and only after that had it been used for Elsa's rebirth.
Counting even the time spent calculating and constructing the body, Elsa had been revived for less than three months. Many of her bodily functions were still in the process of recovery.
Once she fully recovered, she would at the very least return to being a peak Satan-class fighter.
For someone as extraordinary a human host as Elsa, Boosted Gear in Balance Breaker would likely allow her to reach the peak of high-class devil or straight into Satan-class power.
If she used Juggernaut Drive, she would basically stand at the very summit of Satan-class.
As for the transcendent realm, that really depended on fate.
Most hosts, no matter how gifted, found it difficult to draw out Ddraig's full power through a purely human body.
Even Juggernaut Drive only unleashed the dragon soul itself. It still did not bring out the dragon soul's power to its absolute limit.
In the later era, Issei Hyoudou and Vali had both reached the transcendent class, but only with outside help. Issei reached that realm through the aid of Ophis and the Heavenly Dragon God, while Vali achieved it through Ophis as well, gaining his Devil King state.
That was precisely why they were known as the most exceptional Red Dragon Emperor and White Dragon Emperor in history.
As for Elsa, she was still quite far from that realm.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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