---o---
At dawn, all was still and silent.
A few slivers of light appeared on the eastern horizon, cautiously seeping into the pale blue canopy of the sky. A new day was gradually approaching from the distance.
The youth, who for various reasons hadn't slept all night, sat in his study, toying with a ring.
If Mash were here, she would surely be astonished.
The owner of that ring was the very one Dr. Romani always wore on his hand.
"The Time of Parting Hath Come, He Is the One Who Lets Go of the World."
With the doctor's permission, the youth, who had temporarily acquired this anti-Goetia Noble Phantasm through his 'Fire-Thief' Authority, murmured with a sigh. Then, he flipped open his own status panel.
Unnoticed until now, the Clairvoyance skill in his skill list had undergone a slight change.
[Clairvoyance (A+++):]
[A composite Clairvoyance born from the fusion of the future-sight type Clairvoyance (degraded) from the Servant Archer Gilgamesh, and the present-sight type Clairvoyance from a Divided Spirit of the Servant Caster Merlin.]
[Sub-Skill: Epitaph (Future Sight)]
[Sub-Skill: God's Perspective (Present Sight)]
As a special note, when Merlin's Divided Spirit was killed, Dr. Romani was heartbroken.
So heartbroken that he asked Li Zihan for a jug of wine and proceeded to have a dance party in the very room where Merlin's spirit had perished.
The scene had even shocked Li Zihan.
It was the first time he had ever seen the doctor go dark.
King David had once described his son, Solomon, as a very docile person.
Unless he was faced with something like being on ten different ships at once and being thrown overboard by the people on all ten ships simultaneously, he would accept even injustice with a wry smile.
To be able to push the doctor to such a dark place, Merlin was truly one of a kind.
Speaking of which, it would be nice if the Spring of Drowned Girl existed here.
If Merlin drank from it, he would probably turn into Meri, right?
Then, I could form a team with Meri, the doctor, the already female Da Vinci, and the doctor's wife, the Queen of Sheba. That would definitely be interesting.
The youth, whose thoughts were completely inhuman, mused as he began to tally his gains.
Solomon's first Noble Phantasm and Merlin Ambrosius's Mystic Eyes. This was what Li Zihan had obtained before rushing back to Ishtar's temple.
It was a bit meager, one could even say pitifully so.
But, considering that since arriving in the Seventh Singularity, he had been almost constantly occupied with girls, doing absolutely no real work and just slacking off, this haul from the first phase was already quite bountiful.
The youth stretched languidly, knowing there was still a series of plans to complete, along with more loot to be had.
This trip required him to deal with Goetia, Tiamat, and the Foreign God.
The order of elimination was: Tiamat → Foreign God → Goetia.
Next, what needed to be done was to subdue Tiamat, use her as a medium to link to the Honkai world's imaginary space, give the Foreign God, who was currently preparing to bleach the Earth, a nice surprise, and then exile Goetia.
"Barring any accidents, I should be able to complete the mission within a week."
The youth, who was missing his other girls and wanted to try bringing them all together, estimated the time it would take to resolve these issues.
"After I gather all my girls, I might need to eat well to... replenish my strength."
The youth, sensing that his future nightlife might be rather strenuous, muttered to himself.
"Hey, hey, hey, are you serious?"
Hearing Li Zihan's muttering, Ling, who had been in the Herrscher core, felt her mouth twitch before she projected herself into reality.
"Relax."
The youth said to Ling, whom he had grafted onto himself with the Ame-no-Murakumo Authority to temporarily serve as his second personality.
"My body is in great shape. I can handle it. You don't need to worry."
Those words reached Ling's ears, causing the corners of her mouth to twitch uncontrollably.
Who the hell would worry that a super-pervert like you couldn't handle it?!
"If you want to... relieve yourself, you can come find me too."
As if telling a tasteless joke, the youth, who would definitely be beaten up and possibly even die a few times for this, spoke.
Relieve myself... with this guy?
Miss Ling froze.
"You and I are already one. We can be considered a single person."
"If something were to happen between us, it could just be called self-pleasure or something. There's no problem with that, is there?"
Li Zihan said as he looked at the girl who was, for a short time, likely one with him.
So in the end, this guy actually wants to sleep with... himself?
Miss Ling, who had always seen this fellow as an eroge protagonist, felt her mouth twitch frantically.
"You... you should just go die on a woman's belly already!"
Miss Fox, who had actually wanted to remind Li Zihan, one of her few acquaintances, to restrain himself a bit lest he get killed by a yandere knife, found her thousands of words boiling down to a curse.
This bastard was actually making a move on her!!
"I'll take that as a blessing."
The youth took the last of the ten rings, obtained from Romani, and placed it on his own hand.
When Goetia learned of this ring, which was extremely dangerous to him, he would surely come to kill him.
Once all ten rings were present, Solomon's first Noble Phantasm—The Time of Parting Hath Come, He Is the One Who Lets Go of the World—could be activated.
Goetia, knowing of this ring, would definitely try to secure one or two of the rings and then come to kill him.
The youth, who would likely soon strip Goetia of everything, calmly adjusted his Herrscher core to its mental mode, stretched, and continued to tease Ling.
"If life must eventually come to an end, dying in the soft embrace of a good girl is a pretty good way to go."
"So, are you interested in holding me when I die, letting me grope you a little, so I can pass away peacefully?"
The youth, knowing full well that Ling didn't actually dislike him, chuckled.
"A scumbag who only knows how to harm good girls should just die for good already!"
Miss Ling's voice, full of disgust, practically exploded next to Li Zihan's ear. She was a key player who would likely be of great help in killing Goetia.
Without a doubt, Miss Ling had completely lost it.
"I have no resistance to good girls."
The youth, who was indeed quite interested in Miss Ling, teased her, then pulled a map out from the shadow at his feet.
He began to examine the location of Gorgon's base, the composite goddess who possessed the divinity of a creator goddess, and marked the areas where the creator goddess might appear after her revival.
Next, he would sever the authority of that "existence-is-calamity" All-Mother Goddess, and then reawaken her nearly-lost consciousness.
He would channel the Honkai energy and expel the Foreign God.
And then—
He would use her power to destroy Goetia's second Noble Phantasm, the source of his immortality—the Grand Temple of Time.
And then expel and kill Goetia.
---o---
Author's Note:
PS: After writing this chapter, I really feel like Goetia is the righteous protagonist, and the protagonist is the villain boss.