'Susanoo-no-Mikoto. I was right!' Atlas called out inwardly and watched the interaction between Susanoo and the manager of the restaurant.
"I thought I told you never to attend to me unless asked?" Susanoo, surprisingly, frowned and emitted a heavy pressure that was bringing the manager closer to the ground.
Stifled, the lean, weasely-looking man could only mutter out a few words.
"I...I'm s-sorry."
As soon as he said that, the pressure instantly disappeared, as though it wasn't there in the first place. Susanoo's face had also returned to normal, and he no longer looked so angry at the manager.
"Do not come back again. This is the second chance I will give you. This is only because I'm in a good mood, so don't test my patience. I will call for you once I have decided on my choice of meal."
The weasely-looking manager nodded, sweating, and returned to the back room where they made the food.
"Right, where were we?" He adjusted his white Durag slightly and turned back to Atlas, smiling slightly.
His bearded face and thick eyebrows frightened Atlas each time they twitched, reminding him that he was in the presence of a top-tier god comparable to Apollo.
"Uh, the technique and your nephew," the teen answered and rapidly tapped his feet against the ground, sweating.
It seemed like the god didn't notice, however. Susanoo continued talking with a smile as if nothing ever happened and no eyes were on him at that moment.
"Right, my nephew is a good kid. He's just a little misguided; somewhat like I used to be. As for that technique, what level have you reached with it?"
Atlas took a moment to process the words, as he had a ton of questions that no one would answer.
'What does he mean that Rin is misguided? I'll have to do more in-depth research on the Japanese Pantheon some other time.'
And on the other hand, he hadn't yet reached the second level of the Empty Void Breathing Technique, which had nine levels in total, in addition to the missing tenth one that the creator had never completed.
The first level emphasized breathing through activation and would require one to turn the technique on before it could be operated. Contrary to that, the second level was the operation of the technique in the background.
He had barely passed the first tier of the first one. There was no way he would get to the second level any time soon. He told Susanoo that and the god shook his head disappointedly for a brief second.
"I guess that doesn't matter, though. You've been training with it for the past week and still haven't given up, which means you're already better than most who have decided to train with the technique. Once you reach the eighth level of the Awakening Stage and the Second Level of Empty Void Breathing, I'll get you something."
Atlas could see the god's eyes basically reeking of worry.
'He's obviously using me, but not the same way Zeus did. That guy was only trying to rope me in without offering any sufficient payment. He believes that the 25 million he gifted me is able to cover the cost. He's wrong, sadly. But still, that's another thing to figure out,' the teen thought slowly, trying to wrap his head around Susanoo's behaviour.
Luckily for Atlas, just before Susanoo continued the conversation, his orders arrived. Several steaming dished rolled to him on a seemingly automatic kart and stopped next to his seat.
"Finally." He muttered under his breath and picked up a few dishes from the cart to place them on his limited-sized table.
'I think I'll do fried rice first,' he thought to himself as he opened the first dish. A mountain of golden rice came into view, decorated with soft clouds of eggs, and had a brownish, saucy river flowing all around it.
Atlas instantly understood what was so special about their food.
He picked up a fork and dug into the rice, then held it up in front of his face, wondering whether it tasted as good as it looked.
After a while, he grew tired of the overflowing aroma and put the fork into his mouth. An explosion of tastes erupted in his mouth and a strong, overflowing energy followed with it. Even if just by a bit, Atlas could feel the energy within him increase.
However, the moment that happened, a loud explosion occurred at the restaurant's door and several figures walked into the place, their bodies mostly hidden by the smoke and dust that rose up.
"I heard Susanoo was here!" A loud, mean-spirited voice called out from the smoke.
On the other hand, Susanoo didn't even look at the person calling out to him, and merely continued his conversation with Atlas, who was just about to remove the fork from his mouth.
"So, I heard you were going to claim the divinity of Organized Crime, Money and Hard Work."
The teen nodded with wide eyes as he looked back and forth from Susanoo to the weird person.
"Good. That is a very strong one, even comparable to the fool yelling behind me." As he said that, Susanoo finally turned back to meet the eyes of the assailant.
Atlas looked at the scene, shocked. The smoke had cleared and the figures' appearances were very visible.
"What do you want, Billy the Kid?"
The man called Billy the Kid was a light-skinned fellow with long brown hair that reached his shoulders and a small moustache over his lips. He wore a classic cowboy hat and cowboy clothing that looked slightly modernized.
To top it off, he had several pistols attached to his waist.
"We're sick and tired of being the pawns of gods who merely want to restore power back to their pantheons. They take advantage of aspiring gods like us annoyingly! I'm gonna change that, and I'll start with you!"
Susanoo shrugged with a confused expression. "What do I have to do with this? If you want to stop the situation, then you're better off going to find the leaders of the pantheons. Like my sister or Zeus or even Odin!"
Billy the Kid didn't care for Susanoo's words and whipped out two pistols angrily. The god sighed and got up from his chair.
"Whatever. If it'll make you happy, then so be it."
Atlas similarly sighed, seeing the fight about to break out. He turned to a nearby waiter.
"I'll have my food to go please."
****
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