Although these souls were numerous, only three were worthy of Hermes' attention.
Among them, Tsugikuni Yoriichi and Kochou Kanae came from the same world, the anime world known as Demon Slayer.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi could be called the chosen one of that world.
His natural breathing, to sum it up, was the source of all Breathing Styles in that world.
Born with Marks and the Transparent World, one could say that even the top geniuses of that world, practicing for a lifetime, would only reach what was Tsugikuni Yoriichi's starting point.
This kind of natural-born saint, even if placed in a high-level fantasy world, would be considered a true genius!
Kochou Kanae, the Flower Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, had strength that was not worth mentioning compared to Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
But she was a spirit of true pure kindness, pursuing genuine goodness; the brilliance of her soul even made Hermes take a few extra looks.
As for Alice Louise Of Nafal... the Speaker of the Greenwich Assembly of Sages, her experience made even Hermes not know whether to laugh or cry.
She actually relied on her extreme miko talent to peer into quantum fluctuations during an out-of-body experience and was swept here... Even in this world, Princess Alice enthusiastically used her revelation-like Spirit Vision to try and peek at the secrets of the Guihu Sea... In the end, she was almost directly obliterated and refined by the impending transformation into Great Power: Alchemy · Cosmic Truth... The whole process highlighted exactly how the words 'courting death' are written.
"Tsugikuni Yoriichi, Kochou Kanae, Alice, wake up at once!"
The three, who were immersed in a daze, were quickly jolted awake by this voice that sounded like a great bronze bell.
The consciousnesses of Tsugikuni Yoriichi and Alice were the first to clear.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi's soul burned like an ignited flame, eventually turning into something like a small sun, becoming a figure surrounded by the Pure Fire of the Great Sun Glaze.
And Alice, upon realizing her existence, reacted immediately, using her superior miko talent to let her self-consciousness surface quickly.
In contrast, Kochou Kanae was much more ordinary; her consciousness was chaotic and blurred, and even with the help of that shout, she only showed vague signs of waking up, which would still take a considerable amount of time.
"Forget it, let me give you a hand."
Looking at the struggling girl, Hermes said with pity.
Then, within the Guihu Sea, strands of peculiar energy appeared out of thin air and began to nourish the girl's soul.
For a girl who fit his aesthetic so well, Hermes was still one to show tenderness to the fair sex.
"Is this... God? Saint? Heaven?!"
Worthy of being the chosen one, Tsugikuni Yoriichi actually keenly sensed a sliver of the truth.
Then, this man who had lived a life of sorrow couldn't help but show a look of guilt, kneeling on one knee and saying: "Tsugikuni Yoriichi has failed Heaven; I have accomplished nothing in my life. Not only did I let the Demon King escape in the end, but I even spared my brother who had turned into a monster before I died. All of this is my fault!"
What kind of person was Tsugikuni Yoriichi?
To call him a natural-born saint would not be an exaggeration at all.
In the dark, he could perceive that he and the Demon King were two poles of the world; their respective choices would directly affect the world's direction... Kibutsuji Muzan had the potential to turn the world into a kingdom of demons on earth. If he could achieve that, all living beings in the world would become fuel for the Demon King, pushing him upward until his demonic influence stained the heavens and earth, and he himself became the source of all extraordinary power in the world.
Perhaps, the world would even be upgraded because of it.
And he, Tsugikuni Yoriichi, was a natural saint, the incarnation of talent!
As long as he took down Kibutsuji Muzan, thoroughly dissected and researched him, and completed the missing pieces of his own puzzle, then... he also had the possibility of leading the world to upgrade!
This was something he perceived in a moment of spiritual insight just before his death.
However, in the end, both he and Kibutsuji Muzan failed!
This meant the massive investment the world had poured into them was completely wasted... "I, Tsugikuni Yoriichi, even with ten thousand deaths, cannot repay such a sin!"
"Sigh..."
Hermes looked at Tsugikuni Yoriichi before him, sighed with regret, and ultimately did not say any words of comfort.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi's realization came too late.
If he could have realized it earlier and not been so dazed, with his talent, there would have been infinite possibilities.
What... is this?!
Princess Alice, surfacing from the lowest depths of her sea of consciousness, looked blankly at the man beside her whose soul was incredibly dazzling, kneeling in repentance with regret, feeling a bit at a loss.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as her powerful, revelation-like Spirit Vision began to quietly decipher information at this moment.
"As expected of a ceiling-level miko from the God Slayer world, this Spirit Vision is powerful to an extreme."
The moment Alice activated her Spirit Vision, Hermes gave the girl a surprised look.
In the God Slayer world, the principle of a miko's Spirit Vision is to read and interpret the records of the Netherworld.
But in this world, there is no such thing as the Netherworld.
Yet after changing worlds, she wasn't affected by the shift in worldviews at all and could directly read world information?
A natural saint, a hero of Deliverance, an incarnation of destiny... The Mistress of Dreams, the King of Wisdom of the Land of Sumeru... A hero worthy of being etched into world history, a deity in charge of wisdom... Could it be... she had stumbled into a historical node where a deity was bestowing blessings upon a mythical hero?
"Ngh!"
With a surge of overwhelming information pouring into her mind, Alice let out a pained sound.
Her Highness, whose curiosity was as startling as a cat with nine lives, began to control and read the world's information within the infinite data, deciphering its mysteries.
Finally, after forcibly deleting over ninety-nine percent of the cluttered information, our Princess could not help but turn her gaze toward that incredibly handsome man, who seemed like the incarnation of all beauty in the world.
Without a doubt, just by his aura, Alice knew this must be a deity.
Because mortals could never have such an aura; even the Children of Fools like God Slayers had a world of difference compared to the aura of a deity.
After all, God Slayers are beasts—beasts that slay gods!
They are fundamentally different from deities.
At first glance, this seemed to be a deity from a Western pantheon with three great aspects.
No! That's not right!
Alice frowned slightly and looked again; he had become a Heavenly Lord or Daoist Ancestor who enlightened all spirits in heaven and earth.
With a slight daze, she seemed to see in him a Great Creator who opened the heavens and earth to achieve the Dao.
This was a deity with complex mythological roots!
As the Speaker of the Greenwich Assembly of Sages, possessing knowledge that made many sages bow in admiration, Alice quickly reacted.
What she was seeing now was likely an ancient deity whose origins spanned both Eastern and Western pantheons!
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