"Mm!? Ericsson-sensei, what did you just say?!"
"You said you think he looks like who?!"
Alice-hime sprang to her feet, staring at her maid-tutor.
"Even if it's only a silhouette, and even if it's only a figure without a face, I think the presence and build of the person you drew, Alice-hime, resembles 'Saint Prince Akuto-sama' to some extent."
"Saint Prince" was the title the hidden world had given Akuto, much like "Saint Raphael" or "Saint Paul." Only those whose strength had reached the "Holy Knight" level were qualified to bear a title that began with the word "Saint."
"Saint Prince Akuto?! The one whose photo you've been keeping, Ericsson-sensei? That's right! How did I not think of it?!"
The moment Alice recalled Akuto's appearance, she felt even more strongly that the outline and aura matched the existence from her revelation almost perfectly!
"Mm!?"
The instant she heard Alice say that, Ericsson's breathing stopped.
What was Alice-hime saying?
How did Alice-hime know she had Akuto's photo tucked away under her office desk?
Had Alice-hime gone through her desk?
No, impossible. With Alice-hime's lazy personality—she could barely be bothered to get out of bed—how could she possibly go rummaging through Ericsson's desk on her own?
But if she hadn't gone through the desk, then how did Alice-hime know Ericsson had treasured Akuto's photo?
Then… spirit sight.
Ericsson-sensei could only arrive at that conclusion.
"Hss…"
At that thought, a flush spread across Ericsson's usually cool, serious face.
She didn't know how much Alice-hime knew about it.
Alice-hime hadn't seen her use Akuto's photo to "wake herself up" whenever she was tired… right?
If that part got exposed, Ericsson felt she would never again be able to maintain the image of a "strict, serious home tutor" in front of Alice-hime, much less scold her with any authority.
…
While Ericsson-sensei fell silent in embarrassed stiffness, Alice-hime had already pulled up information about Akuto on her phone.
She hadn't truly met Akuto in person, but she had observed his battles while in spirit form, and she had also had the Greenwich Council of Sages gather intelligence related to him.
Very quickly, Alice-hime found Akuto's photo.
Comparing that photo to the person from her dream, the more she looked, the more she felt the two were alike.
"Even if I think it's probably not him, we still can't rule out the possibility that he's been possessed by a god."
"So, Ericsson-sensei, we should start with an elimination check."
As she spoke, Alice-hime closed her eyes and strained with everything she had, trying to spirit-sight any information related to Akuto.
Then—
"…"
Nothing.
Silence, with no response at all.
As if Akuto didn't exist in this world, Alice-hime could not spirit-sight a single thread of information related to him.
"That shouldn't be possible."
When Alice watched him fight before, she could still sense something from him.
But now, she could only perceive a blank void.
By all logic, even if she were trying to spirit-sight a Godslayer or a god, she still wouldn't run into something this absurd.
The reason she avoided spirit-sighting Godslayers or gods was because they might notice they were being watched, and that carried the risk of angering them.
But "not doing it" didn't mean she was incapable of doing it.
Yet when facing Akuto, Alice-hime discovered that her spirit sight had completely failed, as if he were not a being that belonged to this world at all.
She could not draw any information about him from the world itself.
…
That Alice couldn't spirit-sight Akuto was, in fact, perfectly normal.
Just now had been the only chance in her entire life to spirit-sight Akuto's true self.
Before her memories awakened, Alice could spirit-sight Akuto because the system had only just descended, and Akuto had only just awakened his memories, still in the process of synchronizing with the Godslayer world.
Rather than saying Alice-hime spirit-sighted Akuto, it was more accurate to say she spirit-sighted "the Godslayer world reacting to Akuto's descent."
As for now, Akuto had already descended, and the system was functioning normally.
Naturally, Alice-hime could no longer spirit-sight anything.
However—
"Not being able to spirit-sight him is proof in itself. Could it be that he has become a vessel for the God of the Bible, or some god connected to the God of the Bible, descending into the world?"
Alice-hime produced a preliminary conclusion.
If the God of the Bible's true body descended, it would be a world-ending catastrophe, and Alice believed the odds of Akuto being possessed by the God of the Bible were extremely low.
But if it were some other syncretic god—something connected to the God of the Bible—then it was possible.
Heretic gods could take on different images across eras depending on mythic interpretation, and during periods when peoples and mythologies fused, the emergence of a blended deity tied to the God of the Bible was entirely plausible.
Even so, she could not sit idle.
The very fact that she had spirit-sighted the God of the Bible signified enormous risk.
She hadn't acted earlier because she lacked confirmed intelligence.
Now that she had the clue that "Akuto cannot be spirit-sighted, which strongly suggests a major anomaly," she had to act.
…
Of course, asking Alice herself to rush to the scene was far too demanding.
So, Alice dialed Black Prince Alec again.
"Beep, beep, beep~~~"
After quite a while, Black Prince Alec finally picked up.
Alice could tell that during the time she spent drawing, the Black Prince had already fallen back asleep.
At the thought of waking him up again—only for him to be forced to answer—Alice-hime felt a surge of delight.
"Hello?"
Black Prince Alec's resentful voice came through the receiver.
"Black Prince-denka, regarding the spirit sight from earlier, I have a new lead. Would you be interested in personally going to verify it?"
Alice glanced at the portrait in her hand—only a silhouette, nothing more.
And if it involved something as dangerous as approaching a possible divine vessel, how could she possibly dare to do it personally?
This kind of thankless, high-risk work was exactly what should be handed to a Godslayer—someone "powerful," "always looking for trouble," "willing to run errands," and "hardworking."
…
Meanwhile, on Akuto's side.
Italy, Rome.
This ancient city sat by the Mediterranean Sea. With a mild climate, it was a world-famous destination for sightseeing.
But Akuto had not come for tourism.
His goal was to replace Kusanagi Godou and fulfill the fate that should have been completed here, thereby gradually corroding this world.
The moment he stepped out of the airport and set foot on Roman soil, the system notification rang in his mind.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host, you have triggered the main storyline mission — Prometheus's Tablet.]
[Mission Rank: Gold.]
[Mission Description: Prometheus's Tablet is a powerful divine artifact containing Prometheus's "theft" Authority…]
[In myth, Prometheus stole heavenly fire and gifted it to humanity. Therefore, Prometheus's Tablet possesses the formidable power to steal a god's Authority.]
[Naturally, the prerequisite is that the target god is unguarded, and comparatively "weaker."]
[In the original storyline, Kusanagi Godou once won a wager against the War God Verethragna, and during the long journey of collecting the ten incarnations, he brought the "White Horse" incarnation under his control. (This is the novel version of the plot, not the anime version. In the novel, the journey to obtain incarnations is very long.)]
[Only by relying on a divine artifact with such special power could Kusanagi Godou successfully slay a god without undergoing special training.]
[Of course, even with Prometheus's Tablet, it would still be extremely difficult for others to achieve the feat of godslaying.]
[Only Kusanagi Godou—blessed with Godslayer luck, winning every gamble since childhood—could accomplish a godslaying miracle through the chain of coincidences forged by fate.]
[Mission Requirement: Use Prometheus's Tablet to "steal" at least one god's Authority.]
…
"To steal at least one god's Authority, huh."
Akuto looked toward several locations where the divine power felt particularly dense.
Before he arrived, a divine war had already erupted here in Italy.
The two sides of that war were the Persian War God Verethragna and the Phoenician God-King Melqart.
In terms of combat power, both were absolute top-tier forces within their respective mythologies.
The outcome was that Verethragna's ten incarnations had been scattered, while Melqart was gravely wounded and was currently recuperating at his own altar.
"Besides those two, I remember there's at least one more goddess in Italy."
"The Greek goddess of wisdom… Athena."
Akuto knew the hero Perseus might have arrived in Italy later, but the goddess Athena had truly been in Italy all along.
"Athena is in Italy to search for the 'Gorgon Stone.' Even if she can't sense its exact location, she should already know the Gorgon Stone is in Italy."
"No wonder the Italian magic associations were so anxious in the original storyline. The moment Erica got Kusanagi Godou to show even a bit of strength, they handed over the Gorgon Stone with both hands."
"With a goddess of that magnitude wandering around your doorstep, the moment the sealing arts lose effect, all of Italy will face catastrophic ruin."
"Lucrezia Zola, the witch of Sardinia. I could go see you right now, but before I do, it's better to handle what needs doing first."
Even without this mission trigger, Akuto had no intention of going straight to Lucrezia.
There were simply too many side objectives in Italy still undone.
Akuto was not the sort of "holy vampire" who only chased main missions.
…
Refusing the taxi driver's enthusiastic offers, Akuto walked through Rome's streets under the afternoon sun.
He appeared to be strolling casually, yet as he walked, he carved his own power deeply into Italy's ley lines.
Even though he had only just descended, with the God of the Bible's knowledge archive at his disposal, and with his own main-god-level six-dimensional foundation, Akuto could already employ super–Demon King class arts that still complied with the Godslayer world's rules.
Back in the Akame ga Kill world, such an art would have been nearly impossible for him.
But as time had passed and his strength had grown, Akuto had become capable of far more than he once was.
(End of Chapter)
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