The tension was palpable.
It was soon broken by the words of the Fourth Campione.
"What are you doing, Adam Victory?"
The Black Prince knew the Sixth Campione was a complex and unpredictable being. Since Adam's arrival, the [Sixth King] had achieved grand feats, many of which no one else had accomplished.
Having already met the Marquis and Her Eminence, the Black Prince didn't know what to expect from the King of Celestial Massacre. The truth was, despite his grandeur, Adam always maintained an air of mystery. He wasn't a simple being, but for him to interrupt another Campione and even protect a Divine Ancestor…
He hadn't expected such direct action.
"This must be our first meeting, Black Prince," Adam said with a calm smile. His deep, intense eyes fell upon Alice, observing her with an appreciative expression. "Ah, so you are the famed Princess Alice? Your beauty is truly impressive, as the rumors say. Gascoigne must feel honored to travel by your side…"
He commented, the smoothness of his voice contrasting with the intensity of his presence, as he made an elegant gesture with his hands.
Alice, surprised and flattered, couldn't help but blush. There was something in his tone, a mixture of calm and authority, that made his words seem not only kind but immensely powerful, as if each phrase was imbued with a hidden power. She felt a warmth invade her, a warmth that didn't come from the environment, but from something much deeper and more imposing.
"To receive such a compliment from a King is truly an honor," Alice said, smiling softly, before casting a critical glance at Alec. "You could learn something from him."
The Black Prince only scoffed, a shadow of irritation crossing his face. "What do you want here, Adam Victory?"
Adam tilted his head slightly, observing the tension in the air, and with a thoughtful look, commented, "I couldn't let something so interesting pass unnoticed." He rested the [Ame no Murakamo Tsurugi] with a smooth gesture on his right shoulder, as if it were an extension of his own body. "A Campione, a False Heretic God, the Queen of the Divine Ancestors, the Holy Grail, and the ever-so-mysterious [Steel]. I couldn't contain my curiosity."
His purpose in this place was much greater; he had awaited this moment since he began planning his path to the pinnacle of this world. Although there had been a few changes due to acquiring the authority of the [Forge of the Dwarves] during the last two years, it simply combined business with pleasure. Instead of two objectives, he now had three to complete at this time.
His journey wasn't a coincidence; it was the beginning of a meticulously thought-out plan.
Upon hearing his words, Guinevere, with a charming smile, looked at Adam and opened her arms in a theatrical gesture. Her smile didn't hide the excitement and desire to join the Campione. "How about it, Your Majesty? Would you be interested in joining me in the search for this mysterious God?" Her voice was imbued with a silent expectation.
Meanwhile, Alec and Alice were in shock, their eyes wide with surprise at Guinevere's audacious proposition. She was being bold, but at the same time, the fact that she had invited Adam, the Sixth Campione, to something so personal and ambitious, indicated that she saw something beyond his calm and trustworthy appearance.
"To receive an invitation from such a lady…" Adam said with a slight smile, before his eyes turned cold and he spoke indifferently, "I'll have to refuse…"
"I understand," Guinevere nodded, maintaining her confident yet subtly light smile.
In comparison, Alec and Alice merely observed in silence. The Black Prince made no move, knowing his action had been preempted.
His opponent, Adam Victory, mastered the martial technique of the [Mind's Eye], allowing its wielder to perceive those moving at divine speed. Only the Ruler of the Martial Realm also mastered this ability. In a past encounter, the Black Prince had been defeated by the Second Campione, an opponent capable of using the technique, and his speed hadn't been enough to escape Adam's interception.
Regardless of how fast he was, Adam could easily stop Alec's divine speed, and his [Celestial Lightning] would be useless against the Sixth Campione, who possessed superior dexterity and sharp perception.
"But now, being against two Campione… I could ask for help, Sir Knight, please?" Guinevere said with a sweetness in her voice, which sounded like a request, but was something much more calculated, an attempt to shift the dynamic of the confrontation.
Upon hearing the request, something unexpected occurred.
A dense fog erupted from the shadows behind Guinevere, obscuring the field of vision. It was the kind of thick fog that shrouds the edges of a lake in the mornings, with visibility limited to less than 10 meters. The atmosphere became even more charged and mysterious.
Then, everyone saw him.
From the thick fog, a knight emerged, mounted on a white steed, his armor gleaming under the dim light filtering through the mist. The visor of his helmet was lowered, concealing the knight's face, making his presence even more enigmatic. He wielded a barbed cavalry lance, his posture impeccable and dominant, like a warrior from another era.
"My knight, would you stand guard beside Guinevere from now on, please?" Guinevere said, her voice now soft and imploring, as if being pampered, but also with a certain authority in her tone.
She leaned gently against the chest of the white armor, seeking comfort and security, but also conveying a clear message: she was aware that the situation required more protection, and the knight was there to fulfill his duty.
Observing the unfolding scene, Princess Alice was the first to speak, her voice cutting through the silence with alarming words.
"That's… Lancelot of the Lake – Lancelot du Lac!" She whispered the name softly, as if a divine oracle receiving a spiritual vision. The revelation of the name caused everyone around to feel the gravity of the moment.
Both Adam and Alec felt their bodies overflow with a surge of intense energy. It was the natural effect when a Campione encountered a Heretic God. The presence of Lancelot du Lac, a legendary figure of immense power, made the atmosphere even more tense and charged with a mysterious force, something that only those familiar with the supernatural could clearly perceive.
He remained motionless beside Guinevere, ready to fulfill his role as protector, while the fog slowly dissipated around them.
Everyone fell silent.
The tension reached an extreme level.
Adam smiled slightly as he saw everything going according to plan. He took a deep breath and, while holding the [Ame no Murakamo Tsurugi] in his hand, his mind raced. The preparations were complete…
Suddenly, he lowered the [Ame no Murakamo Tsurugi], drawing everyone's attention to him.
"Will you retreat, King Adam?" Guinevere asked with interest, her voice sweet, but with a hint of curiosity.
"No. I'll just finish this so I can go home," Adam commented with a smile, as if talking about a simple prank, but his posture indicated preparation for something much greater.
The Fourth Campione, the Divine Ancestor, the Heretic God, and the White Hime-Miko looked perplexed at the man with vibrant blue eyes who seemingly amused himself with the situation.
"The ice that binds the lands and brings the plague of an endless drought…"
Adam finally said, his voice laden with a silent authority that echoed like impending thunder.
Everyone's eyes widened when they heard these words.
His smile, previously cheerful and relaxed, transformed into something darker, more dangerous. Now, he was no longer the charismatic young man they had seen before. His expression took the form of a Demon King, someone who commanded not only respect, but fear.
Those words weren't mere taunts. It wasn't a simple game. They were Words of Power, capable of summoning an Authority, a force beyond comprehension, beyond the reach of the gods. Adam Victory, the Sixth Campione, was about to unleash something that would transform the scene before them.
The atmosphere around Adam seemed to change instantly. The air became heavier, denser, charged with an energy that no one there could ignore.
When all the combatants were about to move away and flee, they were stopped.
"Freeze!"
A single word changed everything.
Suddenly, Adam pointed to the sky with unwavering precision. His vibrant blue eyes shone with an intensity that made the air around him seem to freeze. Then, something extraordinary happened.
An overwhelming amount of magical power was released from his body, and the energy emanating from him seemed endless, expanding with immeasurable force. The earth beneath his feet trembled slightly, as if the world itself was aware of the magnitude of the force he was about to unleash.
The clouds in the sky began to condense rapidly, changing shape and color. In a few moments, what had been a clear sky was now filled with an immense mass of heavy, dark clouds that accumulated in a way that obscured the entire space above.
The air became icy, and the feeling of extreme cold began to take over the environment.
From Adam's body, a wave of freezing energy spread in a second, covering everything for hundreds of kilometers and transforming everything into a frozen wasteland.
Silence settled completely.
Each snowflake seemed to shimmer with an ethereal, almost magical light, as if it were part of a primordial power.
The temperature dropped drastically. The air became frigid to the point of instantly freezing the water on the riverbanks, causing the liquid to transform into a thin layer of ice. The surrounding trees began to cover themselves with ice crystals, and the sound of freezing could be heard in all directions.
It was a force destined for the total eradication of life, but not with fire. With ice. An ice so deep and penetrating that it seemed immortal, a presence that erased any trace of existence, as if the very concept of heat and movement were annihilated.
As Adam Victory raised his hand, the immense field of ice began to expand, covering the sky and the horizon like a cold and relentless shadow. Alec and Alice, who were closely watching Adam's power unfold, immediately realized the gravity of the situation. The air around them became denser, the temperature dropped every second, and the feeling of cold penetrated their bones, as if they were being swallowed by a primordial force.
"Quick! We have to get out of here!" Alec shouted, his voice tense, but his body already beginning to move more slowly. He tried to use his power of divine speed, the [Black Lightning], to accelerate his escape, but the effect of the ice seemed to block his movements. His body, normally agile and fast as lightning, seemed to weigh as if he were swimming in dense water.
Alice, on the other hand, struggled to remain calm. Her steps also became heavy, and with each movement, the ice seemed to take over her limbs, making everything around her more difficult to move. She tried to focus, using her own ability to increase her agility, but Adam's effect was too strong, the freezing temperature paralyzing her joints and hindering the fluidity of her movements.
"No… this can't be!" Alice murmured, her eyes wide with dread. She tried to concentrate, but the force of the ice seemed increasingly overwhelming. The water around her was already frozen, and she could see the layer of ice rapidly expanding beneath her feet, increasing the pressure on her movements.
Guinevere, who until then had been watching the scene with a calculating expression, now felt the weight of the power Adam was wielding. Her posture was the first to waver, and she looked at Lancelot, her knight, with a worried look.
"Let's get out of here, Lancelot!"
Lancelot, mounted on his white steed, tried to give a command, but even his faithful horse was slowly getting slower, its hooves crushing the ice with difficulty. He tried to brandish his cavalry lance, attempting to cut the ice around them, but it seemed that each blow only made the ice expand more rapidly.
But their efforts were futile.
The ice continued to expand like a relentless storm, surrounding them from all directions.
The battlefield had become an ice prison, and everyone was becoming prisoners of their own struggle for survival.
This was the second authority he had acquired from Balor. As a Sun God representing drought and pestilence, he shouldn't have had an authority related to winter. But some associations with Ymir, the King of the Frost Giants, and also some tales about him being the embodiment of winter for being seen as the dry season by the Celts, said otherwise—winter was the harshest of droughts.
He obtained this authority which he called [Eternal Ice] which simply creates a bounded field around him, extending to the width he desires, being able to consume an entire city easily.
Any location caught in this Bounded Field immediately becomes frozen. Everything transforms into an immense frozen tundra, the overwhelming cold capable of freezing even bones. Only Campiones and Heretic Gods would be able to partially resist the effects, but they would become slower. Any human, mage, witch, Hime-Miko, and Divine Ancestor, that is, any being lesser than a God, would be completely frozen and at his mercy.
The most terrifying effect of this domain is stagnation, being able to freeze the perception of Campiones and Heretic Gods, making them much slower and unable to circulate magical energy efficiently to use their authorities or any spell—although they could still use them, it would take much longer to activate and would not be as effective.
Adam looked at his enemies, activating the [Evil Eye of Balor] to petrify them, increasing the immobilization effect.
A deadly combo even for a Campione or Heretic God with their high magic resistance!
Alec, who was extremely slow because of the ice, literally froze.
Lancelot, who was slowly carrying Guinevere because of the ice, froze with his horse.
Alice had already become an ice sculpture, a living statue that could be destroyed with a mere thought.
All of this in seconds since activating the authority of [Eternal Ice].
It was enough to end everything.
Before Alec could use any of his authorities, Adam appeared in front of him with his eyes glowing in pink lines and the [Ame no Murakamo Tsurugi] in his hand, drawing an arc towards the Black Prince's neck.
He had used the characteristic of the [Ame no Murakamo Tsurugi] to absorb the second effect of his [Evil Eye of Balor] which sees the "Conceptual Death" of everything that exists, creating a new power. His blade carried the blow that cuts all the "Lines of Death" of someone, killing someone on a conceptual level.
This makes even an authority that grants additional lives to a Campione useless, since he brought death in the truest sense.
A Campione was indeed a terrifying existence. If Alec hadn't spent so much magical energy in his fight against the False Heretic God, if he hadn't been arrogant and fled earlier, if it were another Campione and not Adam who possessed an authority capable of nullifying his speed, perhaps, he would have lasted longer…
However, his head flew off with his eyes wide open, his last thought about how it had ended like this.
Hidden by the collar of his shirt, a necklace with a white disc pendant with a golden dragon being pierced by a sword shone slightly, and three points of white energy shone and entered Adam's body – who paid no attention to this, he quickly executed the rest of his plan.
Looking towards Guinevere and Lancelot, he raised his hand and invoked the authority of the [Forge of the Dwarves], retrieving one of the weapons from his [Inventory], the magic chains, [Gleipnir], which easily wrapped around the Divine Ancestor and the [Heretic God] and completely restrained them.
The magic ribbons tightly coiled around the two, cutting off the remainder of their meager resistance.
Gleipnir, the Magic Chain, is the most powerful of the chains used to bind Fenrir in Norse mythology. Created by skilled dwarves, Gleipnir is a mythical chain that, unlike chains made of iron or steel, is composed of materials so intangible and impossible to touch that they can only be forged by magic. It was obviously forged by the Dwarves, and possessed unparalleled magical strength.
Finishing this, Adam let out a long sigh. He had successfully achieved his objectives. Wasting no time, he began to chant another incantation for another of his authorities: "Directionless chariot, without horses that carry the burden. Come!"
With his words, an ethereal-looking magic chariot emerged from the icy shadows, its structure glowing with a gold and silver sheen that contrasted with the freezing environment.
The chariot was magnificent, sculpted in intricate details that seemed to shimmer with arcane power. The wheels, forged with enchanted gold, left no marks on the frozen snow. The body of the chariot was adorned with ancient runes, each radiating a soft, pulsating light. The chariot doors slowly opened, revealing an interior enveloped in a warm, golden light, which seemed to offer an escape from the relentless cold around it. But at the same time, it gave an abysmal feeling that seemed to have no end.
Guinevere and Lancelot, both surrounded by magic ribbons that kept them in a state of stagnation, frozen and unable to move, were immediately pulled into the chariot. The ribbons, which glowed with arcane energy, enveloped their bodies, restricting any movement and absorbing any attempt at resistance. Even Lancelot's horse, a beautiful white steed that had been swallowed by the blizzard, was not spared.
The chariot, without any warning, began to rise into the air, carried by invisible, magical forces.
It floated gently, its wheels spinning without touching the ground. The lights around the chariot shone more intensely, creating an aura of mystical power that illuminated the tundra around it.
As the chariot ascended, the cold around it began to recede slightly, as if respecting the majesty of the apparition. It climbed higher and higher, rising above the frozen clouds, until it became just a point of light in the sky. Then, with a final, radiant glow, the chariot magically disappeared, vanishing in a burst of golden light that seemed to pierce the whitish world.
The ice field, now without the presence of Guinevere and Lancelot, remained silent. Only the frozen tundra and the subtle sound of the icy wind remained to witness the disappearance of the magic chariot, leaving behind a cold and desolate void.
Adam looked at this with a slight smile. This authority was one of the applications of the authority he had usurped from Odin, the only one he had usurped, but it was the most complex of his authorities. He ended up calling it [Heitis]. Normally, gods are named in one way and over time, they change form and powers, but Odin, along with many Aesir, had the Heitis, synonyms, sacred names that give them a title or meaning.
This Authority allows him to manifest powers related to Odin's names. In a way, this Authority can assume the capacity of other Authorities linked to Odin's names.
Despite this, he is only able to manifest a few of these Heitis, since Odin has over two hundred of them.
The one he had just used was called [Reiðartýr], God of Chariots or God of Riders. Through this Heiti, he could summon a chariot with an internal space the size of a palace that swallowed the baggage he wanted - including living beings - and hid them near him and accompanied him wherever he went. Basically, it hid in the void or became the air around him.
It was a useful authority for kidnapping situations.
Adam smiled slightly and undid the authority of [Eternal Ice], keeping Alice still frozen. He stretched and stored the [Ame no Murakamo Tsurugi] on his arm as he watched all the white land he created disappear, but unlike before, everything had become barren—this was the effect of the winter drought, it killed everything and made the land completely uninhabitable.
He glanced briefly at the necklace with the pendant and picked it up gently with his right hand as he became lost in thought. The white disc on the necklace was a copy of the [Circle of Usurpation] that he had managed to make after two years of trying.
It was his greatest achievement!
A mere imitation, a mere copied item, but one that had the power to usurp the authorities of the Campiones, his brothers and sisters. Killing Alec was to test its effects. And it worked; he could feel three new authorities in his possession, [Black Lightning], [Judgment of the Furies], and [The Labyrinth]! It was a pleasant surprise to have obtained all the authorities of the deceased Black Prince, Alec, since he didn't know if it was limited to usurping only a single authority or all of them.
Although this was good, his greatest achievement was having obtained the [Magic Holy Grail], Guinevere, and Lancelot, who in the original story of the manga became a Subordinate God of Godou. He could do the same with her later. The important thing was that he was stagnating around the King of the End in this way; it was his greatest concern since becoming a Campione…
But for now, his eyes landed on Alice - he knew it was a spiritual body and the real Alice was in England. A pity; if she were here, he would have considered killing her.
He had trained his disposition to kill since coming to this world - one of his first orders for his organization was that they bring the most perverse criminals from Germany. He took countless lives and easily got used to it. It might seem somewhat sociopathic, but he knew that to survive in a world where magic, Gods, and monsters like the Campiones existed, if he had any kind of hesitation or remorse about it, it would be the stupidest thing in the world - it could be due to the [Master of a Thousand and One Skills] or his violent nature as a Campione, but he had adapted to it very quickly.
That's why he didn't hesitate to decapitate Alec earlier.
Adam shook his head negatively and continued to float before flying towards the horizon, disappearing from the location.