Ana became a God-Slayer.
By way of a last hit.
A certain mountain goddess, who shared a name with a certain orca miss who shall not be named, was left half-dead after taking a full combo of Heavenly Fire: Judgement, Mana Burst (Flame), and Flames of the Sun.
Then, she was stabbed through the heart by Brionac, the radiant spear that symbolized the power of the Celtic God-King himself.
Unsurprisingly, she died.
And then, the God-Slayer's rebirth ritual began.
---o---
There is a belief among humans that by taking a part of a great hero—be it their possessions or a piece of their flesh—one can pray for the deceased's power to become their own.
The gods who correspond to this belief are the Sword Gods, also known as the Gods of Steel.
A God of Steel will seize the authority and power of a vanquished foe, converting it into their own.
It is akin to looting a weapon from an enemy's corpse, making it your own, and strengthening yourself—
The divine tool that corresponds to this essence of a God of Steel is the Ring of Usurpation.
—It is the cornerstone of the God-Slayer's rebirth ritual, retrieved by the brothers Prometheus from the very ends of the Astral Plane.
By offering the life of a slain god, one activates this divine tool, simulating the essence of a God of Steel to plunder the power and Authority of the slain.
This is the essence of a God-Slayer.
In a way, God-Slayers are distant relatives to the notoriously infamous Gods of Steel.
The so-called "will of the enemy god" was actually... a variant of the God of Steel's "honey badger" will.
Of course, activating the Ring of Usurpation has its conditions.
According to Prometheus, the requirement to activate this divine tool is to kill the target of usurpation "by one's own power."
However, "by one's own power" doesn't mean you have to solo a Heretical God.
If soloing a Heretical God were the standard, then forget about it.
The difficulty for an ordinary human to solo a Heretical God would be roughly equivalent to trying to assassinate the Lostbelt King version of Qin Shi Huang—after he had achieved Human Order Unification—using only the dagger gifted by Prince Dan of Yan from the history books.
No God-Slayers would ever be born.
What Prometheus meant by "one's own power" was killing a Heretical God without the help of another god.
There are actually many gods who dislike the Heretical Gods.
If they could, a good number of them would be more than happy to intervene on behalf of their followers and take out their deranged brethren.
But that is an impossibility.
The moment a god descends to the mortal world, they become a Heretical God. At that point, forget helping humanity slay a god; it would be a blessing if they didn't cause more trouble.
On the battlefield against a Heretical God, praying is useless.
Because the gods who want to help cannot enter the mortal realm.
If they did, they would only add to the chaos.
They can only stand on the sidelines in the Astral Plane and watch helplessly, praying that humanity can pull something off on its own.
---o---
Now, a certain transmigrator who was accustomed to exploiting loopholes had arrived.
So, should I get a group together in a couple of days to come here and farm God-Slayer buffs?
The youth, who had half-crippled the Heretical Skadi with a single combo and allowed Ana to smoothly become a God-Slayer, pondered this as he felt the two different types of skin under the covers.
The God-Slayer status was an excellent buff.
By offering a single Heretical God, one could obtain EX-rank Magic Resistance, a god-tier Authority, and a magical energy capacity at the very peak of human limits.
The price for such a deluxe package was minuscule.
When undergoing the rebirth ritual, one would be influenced by the Ring of Usurpation, which symbolized the attributes of the God of Steel, and develop in the direction of a God of Steel (a honey badger).
Then there was Pandora, who had personally tampered with the ritual.
To enhance her "children's" combat strength, she would awaken the wild nature of the person undergoing the ritual.
And that was it.
Those were the only two drawbacks to becoming a God-Slayer.
The influence of the Ring of Usurpation could be countered with Jizo Mitama.
As for the side effect Pandora added to the ritual...
That didn't seem like a bad thing at all.
The youth, feeling that Ana had become much more frank and open at night after her transformation, savored the memory with great pleasure.
Honestly, he had never expected last night to unfold so wonderfully.
Ana, who had always been rather shy and adorably goofy, was suddenly in the mood for a night raid, likely due to her wild nature being awakened.
Li Zihan naturally did not refuse, and things just as naturally progressed to tumbling in the sheets.
And then—
Sirin, who was in the habit of sneaking out from Mei's side into Li Zihan's room in the middle of the night, pushed the door open and slipped in as usual.
The scene was, for a moment, extremely awkward.
Fortunately, Li Zihan himself wasn't one for shame. He grabbed the hand of Sirin, who was about to retreat to her room, and pulled her into the covers as well.
And then... then came a scene that would require thirty thousand words to be omitted.
---o---
Unfortunately, a God-Slayer's magic resistance was too high. It was difficult to apply magic to them to enhance the mood.
Li Zihan felt a tinge of regret.
He had wanted to try applying a bit of empathy-type magic to add to the fun.
Unfortunately, Ana was a God-Slayer.
Any mystical means below the level of the divine were completely ineffective against her.
If I don't solve this problem, my harem dream will probably come to an end.
The youth, who planned to bring his lovers to the Campione! world to farm buffs in a few days, thought to himself.
A God-Slayer's magic resistance was terrifyingly high; a minor spell like empathy was completely useless.
Without using magic like empathy, the only way to comfort his lovers was to pleasure them one by one.
But at that rate, a single night might not even be enough to fulfill his marital duties to all of them.
If he couldn't even satisfy them all, what was the point of having a harem?!
The youth's expression grew grim as he realized that the God-Slayer constitution might be the greatest enemy on his path to building a harem.
Perhaps it was time to research magic that could be cast through the exchange of bodily fluids.
After all, a God-Slayer's internal magic resistance wasn't as strong.
At this thought, a faint, 'omoshiroi' smile appeared on his lips.
Indeed, his magical research must not be abandoned.
It's decided. I'll start modifying the spell right now.
The youth, highly skilled in many forms of magecraft, gently lifted the covers before carefully tucking Sirin and Ana back in.
"Preparing a loving breakfast for your lovers in the morning is a good way to score points."
Looking at the girls still sleeping soundly in bed, Li Zihan was inexplicably reminded of something Rita had said when they were together.
Perhaps it was time he learned some culinary skills as well.
The youth thought that Rita's words made a lot of sense.
But before that, he had to get this magic modified.
The youth, who clearly thought modifying magic was simpler than learning to cook cuisine from any country that wasn't Great Britain, began to wash up before diving back into the path of magical inquiry for the first time in a long while.
Unfortunately, in this world, a researcher can rarely remain focused on their research for long.
A person completely covered in armor, looking just like a Kamen Rider, knocked on the door of Li Zihan's temporary residence.
"I am John Pluto Smith."
The God-Slayer, who walked the earth under a false name, had come calling. His voice was deep and magnetic.
"My newborn compatriot, could you spare a moment to chat with me?"
Author's Note:
ps: The activation condition for the God-Slayer ritual... Don't offend Pandora.