"Second, a transformation in how authority is acquired."
He went on. "This temple is itself an enormous Age of Gods magecraft ritual capable of interfering with the rules of the world. Through deep analysis of and high-frequency resonance with the world's laws, it can bypass Gaia's outdated firewall like a hacking program and steal directly from the Root of the world, defining a portion of concepts that are ownerless or whose authority is vaguely assigned. For example, I can forcibly create a brand-new divine seat that governs contracts and transactions."
"Last, the customization of the vessel." His gaze settled at last on Ishtar, the look in his eyes as though appraising a commodity. "I'll select a mortal whose soul is strong enough and loyal enough, use the technology I parsed out of the Grail to reforge his Saint Graph, and make his body able to perfectly carry, without the slightest rejection, this Artificial Divinity I've crafted with my own hands."
"One that doesn't depend on faith, that obeys only me, whose power comes from the God Crystal I bestow, whose authority comes from the world rules I've stolen... a perfect, controllable, efficient artificial new god whose every authority I can recall in a single thought, born just like that."
"Goddess, now do you still think auctioning off godhood is an impossible thing?"
"..."
Ishtar fell completely silent.
In her mind, towering waves rose, enough to overturn the divine realm.
The theory Seiji Fujiwara had laid out, and the technological power it revealed behind it, utterly overturned the entrenched understanding she'd held for thousands of years.
This was an open conspiracy! A vicious one beyond measure, yet one she could find no grounds to refute, a dimension-lowering strike of an open conspiracy!
If he truly succeeded...
Then it would mean that gods would no longer be unique, supreme, mysterious beings nurtured together by world and faith.
Gods would become something that could be "designed," "manufactured," "appointed," "traded"... a position! Even a... commodity!
And he, Seiji Fujiwara, would become the sole, supreme "god-maker" who monopolized the core technology!
By that point, these so-called "360 old gods" of theirs, standing before "new gods" who could be mass-produced, whose power systems were more stable, more efficient, and absolutely loyal, would become worthless, with no competitiveness at all, until the age cast them out entirely!
Looking at this man who always wore a smile, for the first time she felt, from the bottom of her heart, a bone-deep chill called "the generation gap."
This man... he wasn't trying to challenge the gods with force.
He was trying to use more advanced "technology" and "philosophy" to dismantle the very concept of "god" itself!
"You... if you do this, you'll provoke a frenzied backlash from all the gods... no, from the entire world's Counter Force! Gaia and Alaya will never allow you to break the rules like this!" There was a tremor in Ishtar's voice that even she hadn't noticed.
"Backlash?" Seiji Fujiwara laughed, an unbridled laugh, full of the anticipation and excitement of a player tackling a game.
"I'm waiting for it."
"A lifeless, unchanging game world where all the NPCs act by rote... what fun is there in playing that?"
"Enraging every NPC and hidden boss, making them lay down all their trump cards and throw everything they have at me... that's my favorite part, the game's Climax."
Ishtar was struck speechless for a long while by Seiji Fujiwara's mad declaration that treated the whole world as a game.
She felt her thoughts had already been tangled into a knotted mess by his unimaginable theories from another world. She tried to find a logical flaw in them, tried to refute him, only to discover with despair that all her common sense and understanding seemed so pale and powerless before him.
While she was still immersed in the immense shock and chaos brought by "Artificial Divinity," Seiji Fujiwara seemed to see through the last shred of hope and doubt in her heart, and continued with a smile:
"Of course, perfect theory alone isn't enough. To make those greedy, suspicious mortals empty their coffers and bet everything on a divine seat they've never heard of, some vague and intangible thing, you need a more intuitive, more persuasive sample display they can't refuse."
"A sample?" Ishtar repeated instinctively, an ominous premonition rising in her heart.
"That's right."
Seiji Fujiwara offered no further explanation. He slowly raised his hand, fingertips wreathed in a faint, profound spatial magic that did not belong to this world, then snapped his fingers crisply.
"Come out, my proudest collectibles."
His voice wasn't loud, yet it seemed to carry the absolute decree of words made law. As his voice fell, the space behind him began to ripple in visible waves, like a calm black lake surface struck by two stars holding infinite power.
Then, in Ishtar's pupils, which had contracted abruptly to their limit, two figures, one black and one white, slowly stepped out of those spatial ripples as though crossing the barrier between dimensions.
The one on the left wore a suit of Gothic metal armor black as eternal night, every joint of the armor carved with intricate, eerie dark-red patterns like congealed bloodstains. Beneath the heavy skirt armor were pale legs wrapped in black silk, their curves graceful yet bursting with power. She had a face exquisite beyond compare, as if sculpted from ice and snow, but those signature emerald eyes were now replaced by a cold, hollow gold, holding not a trace of emotion, like an exquisite killing doll infused with endless power yet stripped of all soul.
In her hand she gripped a black holy sword wholly covered in ominous dark-red magic patterns, and that terrifying darkness magic, capable of freezing all things, leaked out only a sliver of itself naturally and yet the temperature of the entire temple plunged several degrees at once, a thin layer of black frost even condensing across the floor.
This was none other than the one Seiji Fujiwara had remade with his own hands from the holy King of Knights into a pitch-black tyrant who swung her sword for him alone: Saber Alter.
The one on the right formed a stark yet eerie harmony with her.
She wore a black Gothic gown of the same style, as though fused with the darkness, but her aura was entirely different, full of cruelty and madness. A waterfall of silver-white long hair danced wildly though there was no wind, a wicked, mocking, cruel smile curling at the corner of her mouth, and those golden dragon eyes blazing with raging flames were filled with hatred for all the world and a lust for destruction.
The black banner in her hand, painted with the ferocious image of an evil dragon, moved without wind, radiating malice and curses pure to the extreme, enough to defile all that was holy and twist all that was good.
This was none other than the one born from the malice and hatred of mankind, whom Seiji Fujiwara had wholly controlled from the very instant of summoning: the avenging witch, Jeanne Alter.
The moment these two genuine, top-tier collectibles of Heroic Spirit Servant rank from another world appeared in full in the great hall, an immense pressure beyond words, mingling "divinity," "draconic nature," "demonic nature," "curse," "holiness," and "darkness," crashed down like an invisible mythic mountain range upon Ishtar's divine body with a thunderous roar!
"Pfft...!"
Ishtar's face went pale as paper in an instant!
As a true god who governed the sky, she could perceive more clearly and directly than any mortal just how powerful and terrifying these two women's Saint Graphs were!
That pure power, condensed to the utmost! That unfamiliar aura, transcending the rules of this world, full of a sense of "foreign matter"!
She could even feel that the Saint Graph core of the black-armored woman on the left was faintly connected to the legendary "Red Dragon" said to guard the planet! And the white-haired witch on the right, her very existence was the ultimate mockery and desecration of the concept of "holiness"!
She could be a hundred percent certain that either of these two mysterious beings before her, taken alone, possessed terrifying strength enough to stand against her head-on, or even... to firmly overpower her in a fight to the death!
"This... this is..." She pointed at Saber Alter and Jeanne Alter, her voice trembling beyond recognition, unable even to form a complete sentence. "They... who on earth... are they?! What myth's monsters are they?!"
"Merely my servants."
Seiji Fujiwara said it lightly, his tone as flat as if introducing two utterly unremarkable handmaids tasked with sweeping the courtyard.
He walked slowly up to Saber Alter, whose aura was cold enough to seem to freeze all life, completely ignoring the dark-magic chill on her that could strike an ordinary magus dead on the spot, and naturally raised his hand to gently stroke her ice-smooth, exquisite, yet temperatureless cheek with the back of his fingers.
And this pitch-black King of Knights, who could cleave a mountain range with a single stroke and release torrents of infinite magic with a breath, faced with this intimate gesture only lowered those golden eyelids slightly, like a black kitten soothed by its master, claws all retracted, letting him do as he pleased, without the slightest resistance or displeasure.
Then he walked to the other side, facing this avenging witch whose whole body radiated an aura of "stay away" and "touch me and I'll burn you alive," and his action was even more brazen. He simply reached out and pinched her cheek, slightly puffed in displeasure and carrying a hint of baby fat.
"How many times have I told you, stop scowling all the time like everyone owes you money. Give me a smile."
"Mngh... mind your own business! You shameless bastard Master!" Though Jeanne Alter protested fiercely, even grinding her cute little fangs, her cheeks flushed uncontrollably with a suspicious blush, her gaze darting and evasive. That tsundere act of a mouth that lies while the body is honest formed a contrast with her world-ending witch's terrifying aura so vast it left one stunned.
This scene smashed Ishtar's last psychological line of defense like an invisible, mighty hammer driven home with crushing force.
She stared blankly, dumbly, at the magical-realist sight before her.
Two... two mysterious women whose strength rivaled powerful gods, whose auras were terrifying to the extreme, who plainly were nothing to trifle with, before this man were actually... actually behaving as docile as pets?! You could even say they were... acting coy?!
One stroked at will, one pinched at will...
This... this was already completely beyond her comprehension! It shook her more, struck her as more inconceivable, than "auctioning off godhood"!
"Now do you understand?"
Seiji Fujiwara's voice drifted over like a devil's whisper, rousing her from her completely petrified state.
He stood between his two servants, peerlessly beautiful yet immensely dangerous, one hand resting on Saber Alter's cold, fragrant shoulder, the other naturally encircling Jeanne Alter's slender waist, slim enough to grasp in one hand, like an eternal emperor reigning at the summit of demon kings, loyally flanked by his strongest and most beautiful demon-god generals.
His gaze crossed the distance of space to stare straight into Ishtar's eyes, already unfocused, filled with confusion and chaos.
"Powerful women, whether they were once a saint revered by tens of thousands, a witch who inspired dread, or a King of Knights perched on high who bore the destiny of an entire nation... here, with me, they all have only one shared identity."
"And that is, the possessions belonging to Seiji Fujiwara alone."
"I show them to you because I want to tell you, in the most intuitive way, the simplest truth."
"Submit to me, work for me, and what you can gain will far exceed your imagination. Boundless wealth, eternal power, even a unique godhood surpassing the old gods... so long as it pleases me, I can bestow it on you at any time, like rewarding a toy."
"And if you dare harbor disloyalty, or attempt to betray me..."
His voice turned abruptly cold, carrying an icy cruelty that brooked no doubt.
"I will, with my own hands, shatter your godhood, strip you of everything, and then turn you, too, into something like them, a collectible that can only wag its tail and beg, obeying my every command."
"Did you understand? My dear... business partner?"
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