Rowan looked up and saw a blonde girl standing in front of him and Verethragna.
Her long golden hair fluttered in the sea breeze. She was dressed entirely in red, and beneath the orange glow of the setting sun, contrasted against her golden hair, the crimson color appeared even more striking.
Flame-red clothing and golden hair—
she looked like a warrior wearing a crown, magnificently adorned from head to toe.
Her exquisitely beautiful face was more perfect than any doll and more vibrant than any model or actress.
It was a face overflowing with nobility and confidence—
the kind you would never forget after seeing it once.
"Regarding the god who has manifested on this island, please tell me everything you know."
"My name is Erica Blandelli. There is no need for either of you to introduce yourselves. Consider my name sufficient compensation."
That's right.
The girl who had stopped them was none other than the heroine of Campione!
Erica Blandelli.
The genius young woman of the Copper Black Cross who had earned the title of Great Knight at an incredibly young age.
Incidentally, Great Knights were considered among the strongest human combatants in this world.
Aside from Campiones, they were nearly unmatched.
Generally speaking, only another Great Knight could pose a serious threat to a Great Knight.
For an ordinary person to obtain that title and reach such a level of strength, they would normally have to train for at least a dozen years—
sometimes several decades.
Even then, there were pitifully few Great Knights in the world.
Yet Erica, despite being only in her teens, had already reached the peak of human combat ability.
Naturally, she was a genius.
And geniuses—
well, geniuses naturally possessed the pride of geniuses.
In Erica's case, she did not bother hiding it at all.
That much was obvious from what she had just said.
Unfortunately—
she had chosen the wrong people to speak to like that.
Verethragna merely glanced at Erica a few times before withdrawing his gaze.
She was nothing more than a beautiful human girl.
Not something worthy of his attention.
"I will come find you again, my kin."
Verethragna smiled at Rowan.
"I look forward to our battle."
"Like hell I want to fight you."
Rowan rolled his eyes.
"Don't bother looking for me. I'm not interested."
Verethragna paid no attention to Rowan's refusal.
Instead, he burst into hearty laughter.
Once he had made a decision, he would never abandon it halfway simply because someone rejected him.
Whether Rowan agreed or not, Verethragna would eventually seek him out for a decisive battle.
Unless, of course, something happened that even a god could not resist.
After laughing, Verethragna transformed into a gust of wind and disappeared.
Rowan knew exactly what the bastard was thinking.
His expression immediately darkened.
"Hmph!"
At the same time—
someone else let out a cold snort.
It was Erica, who had been completely ignored by both of them.
She crossed her arms over her chest and stared fixedly at Rowan.
"What are you staring at?"
Rowan's tone was a little sharper than usual because he had just been pestered by an annoying god.
"Never seen a handsome guy before?"
Erica asked,
"Who was that boy just now?"
Her instincts told her that the boy had definitely not been an ordinary person.
There was a good chance that he was some kind of magician.
The only question was which magical association he belonged to.
Normally, if someone that young was famous, Erica should have known about him.
Yet she had never heard of the boy before.
That made her extremely curious about his identity.
"Weren't you looking for the god who appeared on this island?"
Rowan said casually.
"The guy who just left was him."
"Hah?"
Erica stared blankly.
The answer was so unexpected that she failed to process it for a moment.
Rowan repeated himself.
"I said, the boy who just left is the god you're looking for."
"Verethragna, the Persian God of War."
"You can chase after him right now if you want."
"He's currently severely injured and probably has less than ten percent of his full strength."
"If you manage to kill him, maybe you'll soar to the heavens in one step and become the newest Campione."
"I believe in you."
"Go forth, brave maiden, and create a miracle!"
Erica glared at Rowan irritably.
"Do you think I'm an idiot?"
"No."
Rowan shook his head.
Although the heroine of Campione! was certainly arrogant, she was definitely no idiot.
On the contrary—
this woman was known as a fox.
She was extremely cunning.
Erica resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"If you don't think I'm an idiot, then why would you expect me to believe something like that?"
"You mean you don't believe you can kill him?"
Rowan looked surprised.
He had not expected her to possess such good self-awareness.
Erica was almost angered into laughter.
"What I mean is that I don't believe that boy was a god in the first place!"
Uh…
Rowan stared at her speechlessly.
He had given her an opportunity and she did not even know how to use it.
But after thinking about it carefully—
Verethragna might have been severely injured, but he was still a genuine god.
If Erica actually listened to Rowan and went looking for trouble with him, the probability of her getting killed was far higher than the probability of becoming a Campione.
Gods were simply not beings that ordinary humans could challenge casually.
Even a severely wounded god could instantly kill an ordinary human.
Erica was no exception.
The main reason for this was simply the ridiculous gap between humans and gods in this world.
Among humans, Great Knights represented approximately the highest level.
There were basically no human fighters significantly stronger than a Great Knight.
But from a god's perspective—
a Great Knight was little more than an ant.
A god could practically glare one to death.
Therefore, even a gravely injured god would never truly become a fallen tiger bullied by dogs.
And yet—
despite such an absurd disparity—
Campiones still existed.
So how did Campiones come into existence?
Simply put…
Miracles.
The birth of every Campione was a miracle among miracles.
There was no need to explain the protagonist, Godou Kusanagi.
Anyone who knew the story already understood how that guy had become a Campione.
As for the other Campiones—
every single one of them had defeated a god through bizarre circumstances, coincidences, and miracles.
Take the King of Swords, Salvatore Doni, for example.
He was an idiot who understood practically nothing except fighting.
When he was twenty years old, he visited a museum in Turkey and was possessed by Saint George, who seized control of his body.
Controlled by Saint George, Doni traveled all the way to Ireland and spent his days hunting gods and searching for divine beings.
Eventually, they discovered a gate leading into the Fairy Realm and entered the Astral Plane.
There, Nuada, king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, manifested and engaged Saint George in a one-on-one battle.
In the end, Saint George's spiritual body was destroyed, allowing Doni to regain control of himself.
Then Doni immediately fought King Nuada himself.
However, by that point, Nuada was already exhausted and nearly spent.
Furthermore, during the period when Saint George had been controlling him, Doni had already learned all kinds of combat techniques and had even discovered Nuada's weaknesses.
Only then was he able to take advantage of the opportunity, slay King Nuada, and become a Campione.
The other Campiones were much the same.
Each had encountered a sequence of circumstances and coincidences so improbable that they practically constituted miracles.
Those miracles allowed them to defeat gods and become Campiones.
As for someone who simply confronted a god head-on, defeated them fairly, and became a Campione that way?
Such people basically did not exist.
Because humanity in this world appeared to have a hard upper limit.
No matter how much humans trained, they simply could not normally reach the domain of gods.
Even Eastern cultivators were no exception.
Of course, that also had something to do with the knowledge and traditions they had inherited.
Therefore, the possibility of Erica taking advantage of Verethragna's weakened state and killing him was virtually nonexistent.
The possibility of her being killed instead was something like—
99.99999 percent.
In a sense, refusing to believe Rowan was actually lucky for her.
If she really had believed him, Rowan probably would have had to waste some time pulling her soul back out of hell afterward.
"Anyway, hurry up and tell me."
Completely unaware that she had unknowingly escaped death, Erica suppressed the urge to punch Rowan and continued interrogating this liar who seemed incapable of telling the truth.
"Who exactly was that person?"
"And who are you?"
Rowan looked at her speechlessly.
"Shouldn't you be more concerned about the god who appeared here?"
"Why are you suddenly asking about our identities instead?"
Erica slapped her forehead and finally realized she had been led off track.
"If you hadn't been spouting nonsense nonstop, how could you possibly have distracted me so easily?"
"Where is the god?"
"And earlier, I saw an enormous boar appear here."
"Where did that thing go?"
Rowan pointed toward the sky.
"The boar?"
"I sent it into outer space."
"As for the god, the boy who just left really was Verethragna, the Persian God of War."
"I wasn't lying about that."
Erica: "???"
She stared at Rowan's completely straightforward expression.
The impatience on her face gradually stiffened.
At that moment—
she suddenly realized something.
"You… really weren't lying?"
"Why would I lie?"
Rowan asked in return.
"That boy really was Verethragna, the Persian God of War?"
"One hundred percent genuine."
Erica's gaze toward Rowan gradually changed.
The previous arrogance in her expression faded, replaced by increasing respect.
"Then… may I ask who you are?"
After all—
not long ago, she had clearly heard the boy refer to Rowan as—
my kin.
If that boy truly was Verethragna—
then the man standing in front of her was obviously also a god.
Good grief.
What the hell had Sardinia done to deserve this?
Two Heretic Gods had suddenly appeared on the island at the same time.
And worse—
those two Heretic Gods had apparently made an agreement to fight each other here.
Was Italy's most famous island about to sink beneath the Mediterranean?
The thought caused Erica's breathing to grow heavier.
Her arms and legs gradually stiffened.
Seeing her rigid posture, Rowan immediately understood what she was imagining and rolled his eyes.
"You're thinking too much."
"I have absolutely no intention of fighting Verethragna."
"And my name is Rowan."
"You can think of me as a traveler."
Rowan?
But that only created an even bigger problem.
As a Great Knight, Erica was reasonably familiar with the mythologies of various countries.
Yet the name Rowan did not correspond to any deity she knew from the Eastern pantheons.
At the very least—
she had never heard of a god named Rowan.
Could he be some obscure minor deity?
But if he was truly obscure enough to be unknown, then he probably would not even appear prominently in mythology.
And without being rooted strongly enough in myth—
how could he become a Heretic God?
For a moment, Erica was completely confused.
What exactly was going on here?
~~~
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