Seiya looked with great hope at the doll-sized Stella before him. He waited for hope, but what he got was a fist swinging at him.
"Don't go too far, Pegasus! This humble one is your aunt, you know! Show me a little respect!" Stella roared, but her fist couldn't even break through Seiya's index finger.
And after devouring her flesh, blood, and divine soul, apart from the divine artifacts and combat techniques, it seemed his own Cosmo had also changed slightly. But what exactly that change was, Seiya couldn't quite figure it out. It was like a newly built bonfire, still lacking a sufficient amount of gods as fuel to push it towards a qualitative transformation.
The Stella before him was a goddess who was absolutely no fun to tease. Although she had a sharp tongue herself, she was also the type of woman whose defenses were very easily broken. After confirming that his opponent was now a puppet completely subservient to him, Seiya finally learned the whole story from her.
In the world known as the Divine Realm, gods still resided—be they from Greek mythology, Norse mythology, or Eastern mythology. And in these divine realms, the stories from myth still continued. Among them, Stella, because of the special divine artifact she possessed—the Belt of Friendship—had been targeted by the Queen of Heaven, Hera.
"That's right. My, the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite's, belt is a divine artifact that can manipulate the feelings of love and friendship at will. Even a deity cannot resist this divine power... Do you understand, you stupid Pegasus?"
Stella stood with her hands on her hips, once again resuming her previous haughty demeanor.
Although she was only thirty centimeters tall, she still spoke to Seiya with pride:
"The wife of the King of Gods, Zeus—the white-armed goddess Hera—attempted to borrow this belt of mine to trick Zeus. I had originally intended to hide this powerful divine artifact and myself in this island nation, and then use my power to capture you and weather this danger..."
"But you never expected I would become a God-slaying Rakshasa so quickly, nor did you expect that you yourself would fall into this current state." Seiya's words instantly shattered Stella's arrogance. She squatted down again, clutching her head. "Who could have known that group of friends would be so unreliable! They couldn't even take you down! And there was a bunch of 'fun gods' just watching the show! This has nothing to do with me! It's not my fault!"
Seiya patted her head, as if stroking a whimpering puppy.
He knew Stella's grievances, because Athena had already transmitted a message through her Authority of the night. Now, probably all the gods in the Divine Realm knew that Stella, in order to survive, had submitted to her nemesis, the god-slaying beast, Pegasus. She had now completely lost face. If she were to use the Belt of Friendship again... oh, it should be called the Wheel of Friendship now, probably not many gods would be willing to bother with her anymore.
According to the message Athena had passed to him, although it was mixed with a large amount of Athena's subjective opinions, the most concise summary was that this goddess of love and beauty was herself a deity with a relatively weak sense of self.
Although she held the considerably powerful Authority of love, Stella lacked the madness a god should possess. From her actions and the combination of Authorities she held before, one could see that compared to her own strength, she relied more on the power of others.
That immense divine power that could summon the avatars of eleven deities was also an extremely exaggerated reserve. According to Stella's description, this Far Eastern island nation seemed to be very special, possessing a power of reverence different from other places, and even other worlds. It could be very easily converted into divine power, and there seemed to be other, yet-undiscovered secrets waiting for Stella to find.
Seiya's knowledge of Godslayers was not deep. He only vaguely remembered that the spirit world of this island was inhabited by Susanoo, and there was a Divine Ancestor who was related to the Last King. Besides that, there seemed to be some divine artifacts, a God of Steel, and other things he wasn't clear about.
"But that treacherous Old Gentleman is also a despicable character who has lost his madness," Stella said suddenly.
The premonition of a Saint, the spiritual sense of a Godslayer—both were triggered the moment Stella finished speaking. Vaguely, he saw artillery fire falling from the sky, saw the crying and wailing of the people, saw disciplined armies and an old man's maniacal laughter.
Seeing Seiya's astonished expression, Stella once again revealed a sarcastic smile. "You still don't know? Right after I was defeated by you, he was already doing things that would anger both heaven and the people. He is clearly a God of Steel worshipped as a hero of the national culture, yet only when he raises a heavy fist against his own people does he show a sliver of that madness."
Tokyo. The Onmyo Agency. The addresses of the various Shinto head shrines.
In the hour before dawn, while Seiya was still sound asleep.
The night's mist still lingered on the earth, but the Hachiman Divine Vanguard Dharma Protectors, belonging to the Official History Compilation Committee, had already arrived in Chiyoda.
"Renjō, leader of the Hachiman Divine Vanguard Dharma Protectors, reporting. The Dharma Protectors have successfully arrived in Chiyoda. Target's whereabouts have been monitored. Commencing exorcism operation." The man in the tall black hat was expressionless. "In the morning mist of Shimegawara, the bottoms of our tabi are gradually getting wet... a long journey through the Nasu-no-Shino-no-hara plains, then over the Shirakawa Barrier. O divine sword Ame-no-Murakumo, grant us the great honor of martial victory!"
The Hachiman Divine Vanguard Dharma Protectors were a group of warrior-monks active in the Heian period. Susanoo was an important object of faith for the samurai class. For the past six months during the struggle with the southern sea deity, there had been no news from this unit. But now, with the Old Gentleman's command, this special Dharma Protector warrior group that had been silent for half a year raised their long swords.
This was the headquarters of the Onmyo Agency, so it was the strongest Hachiman Divine Vanguard Dharma Protectors who were sent to deal with it.
And in places like Saitama, Sendai, Nagoya, Wadayama, Kōchi, Kobe, Kumamoto, and Miyazaki, the Oni Musha, the Yomi Army, the Onryō Warrior Group, the Yami-harai-tai, the Katatagae-shi, and the Kyoto Chinkon-hoko Queue appeared one after another.
The shame of having their dignity trampled underfoot for half a year—at this moment, the Old Gentleman needed the blood of the lowly to wash it away.
Seiya pressed the bridge of his nose. His spiritual sense allowed him to glimpse the things that were happening, and had happened in the past, in this country, on this land. Susanoo. He repeated the deity's name. Frowning, he pushed open the courtyard gate. But at the entrance, an onmyoji in a kariginu was waiting respectfully at the bottom of the steps.
"I am the head of the Renjō family. It is a great honor to be able to meet the Rakshasa Lord." With that, the head of the Renjō family took an envelope from the attendant beside him and presented it to Seiya. "This is an invitation from the tutelary god we serve, the Old Gentleman. We would like to invite you in three days' time to..."
Renjō couldn't continue his words, because Seiya's gaze had already fallen upon him. "Invite me? Then have the master himself come. What are you?"
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