Chapter 26: Revisit Pandora, Forging EX Noble Phantasms!
Looking at Shirou's face deep in thought, Pandora's eyes flickered slightly as she reached out both hands to wrap around his neck.
Shirou looked at the beautiful and enchanting face of the goddess so close at hand, and curiously leaned his face a bit closer to hers.
"Didn't you say before that the Dark Rite doesn't require such an intimate method to be performed?"
Hearing Shirou's question, a charming and beautiful smile spread across Pandora's face.
Although her appearance was youthful, the smile at the corner of her mouth was gorgeous and mature; it clearly belonged to a budding young girl, yet it instead displayed an alluring seductiveness.
Pandora's thin, cherry-colored lips parted slightly at this moment.
"Because you are the only special 'child' who can come here and still retain your memories. As my most outstanding child, 'Mama' has decided to give you a little more reward."
"Again...?"
Just as he spoke, in the next instant, Shirou felt the press of warmth and softness.
But this time, Shirou's situation wasn't like the last time where he couldn't move. Since that was the case, he intended to learn more about this goddess.
Those thin yet glamorous red lips and the fragrance in her mouth, intoxicating like aged wine, truly made one linger.
Pandora, who had originally only intended to give this seventh child a little reward, felt Shirou's movement. Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and her eyes gradually widened.
"Mmph...?"
.
.
.
"The taste of a goddess... is truly not bad."
After the somewhat unsatisfied Shirou descended from "Mount Olympus," Erica and Liliana had already been waiting there for a long time.
"King! How are you!?"
Erica and Liliana stepped forward with concern, checking Shirou's body for any injuries.
However, after observing closely, Liliana discovered that aside from a peculiar scent on Shirou, not even a single strand of hair was missing.
He looked completely uninjured, not at all like a Devil King who had just fought three hundred rounds with a major god.
"As expected of the King, you easily achieved what we could not!" Liliana's eyes were filled with an expression of worship.
Compared to Erica, who had only thoroughly submitted after the incident with the magic association, Liliana—who had chosen her loyalty from the very beginning simply because of Shirou's heroic act of "saving" the Romans and his powerful strength to contend with the "Black Dragon" Nidhogg—was undoubtedly the knight-princess who most admired and was most loyal to Shirou.
Shirou naturally preferred this simple-minded, well-behaved, and cute girl.
"It seems 'Mount Olympus' won't be able to receive tourists for a while." Shirou looked at the destroyed mountain peak and sighed with emotion.
The mages of the local magic association standing nearby immediately replied:
"The King need not worry about such things; we will handle these matters."
Shirou nodded, then led Liliana and Erica onto the luxury business van for the return journey.
After taking a plane back to the mansion in Naples, Italy, Shirou lay down on the soft sofa, feeling relaxed.
"Phew... first, let's take a look at the Authorities I obtained after defeating Hephaestus."
By defeating Hephaestus, Shirou had obtained the most iconic Authorities of the "God of Fire and Craftsmanship."
The first was the power to manipulate flames.
As one of the twelve major gods of Olympus, Hephaestus also possessed the alias of the Fire God. In mythology, he also corresponded to Vulcan in Roman mythology. Vulcan himself was an ancient god of Rome, but initially, he didn't have many deeds and was simply the incarnation of fire.
The second was the power that allowed Shirou to forge divine artifacts.
After Hephaestus became an Olympian god, he built a magnificent palace for the gods and also built a workshop on the mountain for forging tools.
He made the divine shield 「Aegis」 for Zeus, the 「Thyrsus」 for the god of wine Dionysus, the 「Sun Chariot」 for the sun god Helios, and the 「Gold and Silver Arrows」 for Eros. Even the chains that bound Prometheus were forged by Hephaestus.
"Hmm... this flame power is used for forging divine artifacts. In that case, let's unify the naming as 『Zenith Forging』."
Shirou thought of the Authorities owned by Marquis Voban. Although usurped from various deities and possessing many abilities, they were ultimately unified into one iconic Authority name.
The Authority 『Doomsday Declaration』, usurped from the "Black Dragon" Nidhogg, was also a unification of two powers.
After deciding this, the name of Hephaestus's Authority immediately appeared on the blue panel in front of him where the Authorities were listed.
At the same time, Shirou also noticed his four-dimensional attributes, which had increased once again.
Status Screen
Name: Orihara Shirou (Godslayer) Gender: Male Height: 187cm Race: Human Lineage: 『Third Star Particle Body』, 『Divine Body』 Authorities: 『Zenith Forging Declaration』, 『Zenith Forging』 Special Ability: 『Unlimited Blade Works』 Attributes: o Physical Strength: 1359 → 1410
o Neural Reflection: 1268 → 1391
o Vitality: 1502 → 2077
o Mental Power: 1107 → 1226
With a body already heavily reinforced by the 『Third Star Particle Body』 plus being a "Godslayer" and having a 『Divine Body』, Shirou's current strength could destroy a city instantly even with just his fists. If he used a Noble Phantasm, destroying the continental framework or even scouring the earth's surface would be easy.
His speed had already reached the speed of light, his vitality was so strong that he could recover even if he was blown into molecules, and his mental power allowed him to ignore all negative effects of his current realm!
"With my current strength, even facing the 'God King,' I should be completely fearless."
Facing any "Heretic God" alone, the current Shirou could deal with them with ease.
In addition, he now had time to experiment with the Authority obtained from the "God of Fire and Forgery," Hephaestus.
"It's a pity that after using 『Doomsday Declaration』 once, I still need some time to adapt to this divine power. If only I could use it continuously..."
But this was already good enough.
Thinking this, Shirou began to look forward to the Authority 『Zenith Forging』 taken from Hephaestus, and he sat up, eager to try.
"Hmm... which Noble Phantasm should I try to create first..."
As his debut work, Shirou still hoped to make an EX-rank Noble Phantasm that was relatively meaningful to him.
Suddenly, the scene of the battle between Karna and Gilgamesh flashed through Shirou's mind.
The thunderous spear that turned the night sky into day for an instant and the Sword of Rupture that sliced through space both left a deep impression on Shirou.
If he had to choose between these two EX Noble Phantasms, it was truly a difficult task.
"Wait, why do I have to choose?"
Shirou suddenly realized.
His Authority didn't limit him to forging only one; why did he have to make a deliberate choice?
"Of course, I want them all!"
Having decided this, Shirou enthusiastically planned to start forging Noble Phantasms.
Forging Noble Phantasms naturally required materials. And for these materials, the Noble Phantasms projected by Shirou were more than sufficient.
Having obtained Hephaestus's divine forging power, Shirou could now forge even a piece of common iron into a divine weapon.
Of course, the quality of the materials would also affect the durability of the divine artifact.
Additionally, forging a divine artifact required a massive amount of magical energy.
After checking the amount of magical energy required to forge Karna's god-slaying spear, Shirou finally understood why his past self had been completely unable to replicate EX-rank Noble Phantasms.
With this magical energy requirement, even if he had the "perpetual motion machine" of the 『Third Star Particle Body』, he couldn't mass-produce them at the same time.
Furthermore, forging a divine artifact took a certain amount of time, even if the magical energy was sufficient.
"Hmm... I'll first create the God-Slaying Spear as an anti-god Noble Phantasm."
After all, this Noble Phantasm was a specialized counter against existences like "gods"!
As Karna's strongest Noble Phantasm, the God-Slaying Spear existed as a result of the combination of the 「Golden Armor」 and the 「Immortal Blade」.
Therefore, Shirou needed to create both Noble Phantasms.
"System, show me the forging progress."
Following Shirou's command, two small rectangular notification windows immediately appeared in his field of vision.
[Forging Progress: 「Golden Armor」 (Kavacha & Kundala): 0.3% (Estimated Time: 199:59:59)]
[Forging Progress: 「Immortal Blade」 (Vasavi Shakti): 0.7% (Estimated Time: 182:52:52)]
"According to this progress, it will take about a week or so."
After estimating the approximate time needed to forge these two Noble Phantasms, Shirou felt his rapidly consuming magical energy and couldn't help but sigh.
"EX Noble Phantasms are like bottomless pits one by one; no wonder their power is so terrifying."
The divine artifact he had obtained from Hephaestus earlier also had strength comparable to an EX Noble Phantasm, but even the strongest weapon depended on the user.
For Hephaestus, as a craftsman, it was naturally impossible to immediately use a newly forged divine artifact skillfully like a God of War.
"When this Noble Phantasm is finished forging, should I forge 「Ea: Sword of Rupture」 next?"
Shirou hesitated for a moment.
"Let me think... how many types of EX Noble Phantasms are there again..."
「Ea: Sword of Rupture」, 「O Sun, Abide to Death」, 「Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia」, 「Hanging Gardens of Babylon」...
This Authority could only forge divine weapons. Looking at it this way, the EX Noble Phantasms that could be forged didn't seem to be many, because most EX Noble Phantasms were quite special.
For example, 「Ionoi Hetairoi」, which was a Reality Marble generated from the memories of the "Conqueror King" Iskandar; or the Anti-Humanity (Anti-Primate) Noble Phantasm 「Ars Almadel Salomonis」; as well as 「The Azure Radiance Galaxy is the Universe」 and so on. Besides these, there were many special EX-rank Noble Phantasms.
And in Shirou's memory, there was one Noble Phantasm that was top-tier even in the EX Noble Phantasm category.
That was the 「Excalibur」 of the "Proto-Arthur," Arthur Pendragon.
This Noble Phantasm was the strongest fantasy, a trace of the light of the stars, the dream itself that could not be realized by all living beings across all time and space.
Legend has it that after the Sword in the Stone was lost, the Lady of the Lake presented this holy sword to Arthur Pendragon.
And to bring out the power of this sword, the conditions were extremely demanding.
In 「Excalibur」, the scabbard known as the 「Thirteen Restraints」, named after the Knights of the Round Table, caused the holy sword to be in a state where its true power was restricted. However, even so, it still possessed Anti-Fortress level power.
There were thirteen seals; the more seals unlocked, the greater the power. When seven seals were released (acknowledged by more than half of the Round Table), it could exert its maximum power.
And after unlocking six restraints, the holy sword would transform into the radiant holy sword form capable of saving the stars.
That was a golden blade forged to defeat the foreign enemies who attempted to destroy the stars, capable of repelling almost all evil.
Even with only six restraints unlocked, this holy sword was still a fierce light that exterminated powerful evil.
And if seven or more restraints were unlocked, this holy sword would exert its true power, crushing a planetary enemy with a single strike.
"A sword forged by the gods of the Type-Moon world using the planet as material... I should also be able to manufacture it."
As for things like the Thirteen Restraints, there was no need to worry at all.
The Knights of the Round Table on the Type-Moon side couldn't possibly manage things in the world of the Godslayers.
Of course, if Shirou were to use this holy sword in the Type-Moon world, the Thirteen Restraints would appear, and the knights of the Round Table would start pointing fingers at Shirou.
"Anyway, first forge the 「Golden Armor」 and the 「Immortal Blade」, and then choose between 「Ea: Sword of Rupture」 and 「Excalibur」 to continue forging."
Since they could all be forged anyway, Shirou wasn't in a hurry at all.
"Now then, let's think if there's any Authority that can eliminate 'All the World's Evil'."
If he used an EX Noble Phantasm, Shirou was a bit worried about destroying the Holy Grail along with it. He still had to find a gentler method to remove 'All the World's Evil'.
"Among the Greek gods, is there a deity of this type...?"
..
.
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Mount Olympus.
The day after Shirou left, the local magic association began looking for people specifically to repair the area.
After all, as a world-famous tourist attraction, they naturally didn't want it to be abandoned just because of the collapse of the mountain peak.
When the mages and workers arrived there, they suddenly discovered an incomparably magnificent golden temple being pressed by the mountain rocks.
Upon seeing that golden temple, the workers brought by the mages immediately showed expressions of extreme shock.
"This... could this be a temple where the gods once lived?!"
"Oh my God, this must be a miracle!"
"Is Greek mythology actually true!?"
The other mages were also shocked by the golden temple. They had originally thought that after the Devil King left, there would only be some piled-up rocks here, but they didn't expect a temple to still remain.
"What should we do?"
"This isn't something we can handle. Why don't we just notify that King?"
Most of the mages were somewhat worried, but a few of them believed this was a rare opportunity.
"Perhaps there are holy relics left behind by the gods inside!"
"This might be our chance to become a 'Godslayer'!"
"We can't just let it go!"
'Godslayer', 'Devil King'... the temptation brought by the titles that only the strongest in this world could possess made these mages forget their reverence for the gods.
As soon as they heard that there might be an opportunity for them to become a 'Godslayer' in the golden temple buried under the mountain rocks, a group of mages immediately threw danger to the back of their minds and directly began to pull the workers to excavate.
After the entrance to the golden temple was completely revealed, the mages immediately rushed in, competing with each other. No one wanted to be left behind; everyone hoped they were the destined person to become a Devil King.
However, after they entered the temple, the mages found that there was nothing inside except for a cracked, dilapidated stone statue.
"What the hell!? There's nothing here at all!"
"I originally thought there might be something good; what a total disappointment!"
An annoyed mage walked up to the stone statue and directly kicked the cracked figure.
At that instant, golden lightning strayed out, filling the stone statue in a flash. The mage's body was hit by the lightning and directly turned into ashes.
"What happened!?"
"Oh, my God, Edward is dead!"
"What on earth is that stone statue!?"
Everyone was shocked by the scene of the mage being blasted to dust by the golden lightning, and expressions of horror appeared on their faces.
And the dilapidated stone statue, being watched with fear and unease by the group of mages, saw its cracks grow larger and larger. With a heart-shaking cracking sound, the stone statue suddenly exploded!
Bang!
Choking grey smoke and stone chips immediately splattered out. After the dust cleared, the person who walked out from that golden temple was a man with waterfall-like white hair. His appearance was as handsome as a Greek statue, his gaze carried a terrifying deterrent force, and at the same time, his entire body flickered with golden thunder.
The man's handsome face, naturally dignified, showed fury. At that moment, the wind and clouds in the sky suddenly changed, thunder and lightning intertwined, rumbling loudly!
"Who exactly was it that killed you, Hephaestus...!"
The other mages saw this man appear and felt the terrifying divine power from him. Each of them had their hearts deterred, and their bodies were as if petrified, unable to even form the thought of escaping.
When the man's haughty gaze swept over, the mages could all feel a terrifying sense of oppression. Their bodies felt like they were under heavy pressure from mountain rocks, and they all uncontrollably prostrated on the ground.
At the same time, in the cloud-covered sky, as the thunderclouds gathered, a bolt of golden lightning suddenly struck down.
BOOM————!
Dazzling golden light shone in the sky. Violent winds and torrential rain, mixed with howling thunder, enveloped everything within a hundred miles in a natural disaster.
And that handsome, white-haired man looked haughtily at the mages who were instantly killed by the thunder. After the brief change in light, only a floor of dust remained in front of the man.
But the man didn't care about this at all. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the direction where the sun was setting, extending all the way to the end of the horizon.
The man, with an appearance as handsome as a Greek sculpture, looked toward the end of the horizon with his deep golden eyes and said in a low, furious voice:
"The one who slew my son, I shall personally crush you!"
With his words, strong winds rose in the sky and thunder rolled. The continuously raging, thick lightning turned the entire city into a realm of thunder.
...
While Shirou was guessing who the next "Heretic God" he encountered would be, the sound of knocking came from outside the door.
Knock, knock, knock...
Liliana, standing outside the door, finally knocked on the door after thinking for several minutes. She then took a deep breath and shouted:
"King, dinner has been prepared for you!"
Hearing the girl's voice, Shirou opened the room door.
The silver-haired girl standing at the door saw Shirou, and the courage she had managed to muster suddenly shrank back.
"Um... King, may I ask if you would like to dine now...?"
Seeing this, Shirou chuckled.
"Don't be so nervous, Liliana. It's not like I'm going to eat you."
However, Shirou's comforting words didn't make the girl's mood relax.
In fact, in the past few days, Liliana had often been secretly writing romance novels about Devil Kings and female knights. The content inside was incomparably shameful even in the eyes of the maid Karen and Erica.
Now, Shirou's approachable temperament and teasing words immediately reminded Liliana of the content she secretly fantasized about every night. Her pretty face suddenly turned as red as a ripe apple, and her eyes were filled with bashful watery mist.
Seeing the knight-princess in front of him turn into a "steam engine princess" from a single sentence, Shirou's brow quirked slightly, feeling somewhat confused.
At this time, he really wanted to find a Heretic God with the Authority for mind-reading.
Although Shirou was a bit curious in his heart, he didn't dwell on it.
"Let's go, let's dine."
"Ah... yes, okay!"
Liliana was startled as if waking from a dream, and then hurriedly followed Shirou's footsteps, standing by his side as a knight.
Shortly after dinner ended, Shirou was in his bedroom enjoying massages from two maids.
Not only was there the light green-haired maid Karen, but since Erica had also sworn loyalty to Shirou, the black-haired maid Arianna Hayama Arialdi, who had always followed her, was also brought here by her.
According to Erica, Arianna Hayama Arialdi's grandfather had Japanese blood. Because she had absolutely no talent in swordsmanship or magic, she only took care of Erica's daily life. Erica called her 'having a big failure once every three days'.
Additionally, Arianna's driving skills were quite terrifying, and she couldn't distinguish the difference between automatic and manual transmission cars. Although her cooking skills were truly first-class, for some reason, she always cooked terrifying things (this phenomenon only appeared in some types of dishes like soups).
But since he already knew this, Shirou naturally didn't intend to let this Arianna drive cars or anything.
While enjoying the shoulder and back massage from the two maids, Shirou flipped through the book on mythology in his hand.
"Greek gods... I wonder if any gods from the first two generations will descend..."
Although he had such a guess, Shirou felt the possibility wasn't very high.
After all, the first generation of gods were all creator deities, far stronger than the third generation of gods, and existed like the background of the world.
"But I should still be prepared," Shirou murmured. "If I fight a 'Heretic God' of that level, I don't know if the Earth can withstand it. I hope it doesn't explode halfway through the fight..."
If he fought too recklessly and caused the planet to be destroyed, that would be bad.
"If I encounter a god of that level, it's better to move the battlefield outside the planet."
Shirou murmured to himself.
The two maids standing behind Shirou, responsible for massaging him, trembled slightly. After hearing those words from the King, especially the part about the planet possibly being destroyed, they couldn't help but become nervous.
Knock, knock, knock!
At this moment, the sudden sound of knocking on the door made the two maids jump in fright.
"Kyaa!" ×2
Shirou's train of thought was also disrupted at this moment. He turned his face toward the door and said:
"Come in."
The next moment, with the sound of the doorknob turning, a girl with long blonde hair and a characteristically beautiful European face walked in.
Erica's expression looked somewhat anxious.
"King! The 'King of Swords,' Salvatore Doni, has arrived in Italy!"
To visit at such a time, anyone could see Salvatore Doni's intention.
Erica naturally understood this point as well, which was why she was so anxious at this moment. Her heart was filled with worry.
Erica wasn't worried about whether the King could match him, but rather that the people of this city would be subject to unpredictable collateral damage due to the battle between Devil Kings.
However, given that she had only recently sworn her loyalty, coupled with everything that had happened at the 'Maremma Headquarters' that day, which still left Erica somewhat fearful even now, she didn't dare to bring it up directly even though she was so worried.
"The King of Swords, huh? It seems he has already heard my recent news."
Shirou waved his hand to tell the two maids massaging him to stop, then stood up and patted the shoulder of the knight-princess who was saluting him.
"Let's go, let's meet this 'King of Swords'."
"Yes!"
When Shirou led Erica out of the room, Liliana was also waiting outside. At the moment her eyes met with Erica's behind Shirou, she understood something and immediately stood behind Shirou to follow.
As for Shirou, he didn't care about these things at all. As the strongest Devil King who could easily scour the earth's surface even without using Authorities, Shirou already didn't take these trivial matters to heart.
Leading the two knight-princesses, Shirou walked toward the outside of the villa.
.
.
.
At the airport in Naples, a private plane slowly landed.
As the hatch opened, while the passenger stairs truck was still slowly approaching, the blonde young man standing at the door had no intention of waiting at all and jumped down directly from a height of more than four meters.
That scene made the surrounding staff cry out in surprise.
"Oh! My God!"
But just as they thought the blonde young man might break a bone from the fall, they saw the young man land steadily on the ground. From beginning to end, his face wore a supremely confident smile, as if the behavior just now had no difficulty for him at all.
While the people who saw this scene were all surprised by that young man, another middle-aged man walked out of the hatch helplessly and then jumped down as well, landing on the ground.
This left the passenger stairs truck, which had intended to come over, unsure whether to continue forward. After all, the people they were supposed to pick up seemed to have jumped down by themselves and even looked quite relaxed.
The middle-aged man following behind the blonde young man raised his hand and performed a spell, causing the surrounding staff who saw this scene to have their memories of just now erased.
Then, the black-haired middle-aged man wearing silver-green framed glasses hurried to the side of the blonde young man, a bitter expression on his face.
"King, it's better to be low-key when you act, otherwise, if ordinary people see you, it's easy to cause social panic."
This time it was only a minor incident, but the middle-aged man still felt it was better to remind him. After all, if this self-willed Devil King used an Authority in a city, the damage caused would be truly unimaginable.
Hearing the middle-aged man's reminder, the blonde young man still had a smile on his face and perfunctorily replied with a look of indifference:
"Alright, alright, I get it, Andre."
This blonde young man was none other than the "King of Swords," Salvatore Doni. He became the sixth "Godslayer" Devil King after slaying the Celtic god "Nuada" several years ago.
He had slain five "Heretic Gods" to date. Having obtained five Authorities, the destructive power he possessed could wipe out a city in an instant. If performed to the extreme, he could even change the continental framework and scour the earth's surface!
To go a step further, Salvatore Doni could be unscrupulous in battle.
It didn't mean he was stupid; rather, this guy didn't care about anything other than combat. He only used his brain fully when fighting.
Therefore, in battles with "Heretic Gods," he would often unintentionally destroy some facilities and cause many people's dissatisfaction. It was always Andre who was responsible for cleaning up after him.
"Sigh..." Thinking about the temperament of this "King of Swords" he served, Andre Rivera could only shake his head slightly.
This "King of Swords" had a very self-willed personality. He found social interactions, housework, and other trivial matters very troublesome. Therefore, his requirement for his subordinates was that they could handle all sorts of trivial matters for him, while he only needed to swing his sword and enjoy combat. Everything else was left entirely to Andre to handle.
The "King of Swords," Salvatore Doni, as the sixth "Godslayer" in Southern Europe, undoubtedly made all the magic associations in Southern Europe fear him.
Originally, Salvatore Doni had no interest in these Southern European magic associations and had no intention of leading them.
However, recently, the seventh "Godslayer" appeared here. The other party directly subdued all the magic associations in Italy and designated Southern Europe as his territory.
This matter made Salvatore Doni somewhat interested. His personality was self-willed, and naturally, it was the same now. What he cared about wasn't territory, but simply wanting to spar with that newly risen Devil King. Fortunately, that newly emerged Devil King happened to be not far from him.
So, despite the continuous persuasion from his knight Andre, Salvatore Doni ignored it and ultimately came to Naples resolutely.
"Haha! As fellow 'Godslayers,' we are like brothers connected by blood, and we can easily sense each other!"
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