Recently, despite having returned from a northern expedition, Reinhardt was in an exceptionally good mood.

The reason was none other than the ‘Divine Power of Kalannon’ he had obtained in the north.

Even though he did not have unwavering faith, he had gained the ability to wield the power of Kalannon, the Lightning receiver.

He had acquired the very power he had longed for.

Of course, that power alone was still not enough to defeat Deus Maccalian.

No matter how much divine power he could wield now, Deus was already far ahead.

However, nothing could dampen Reinhardt’s spirits.

Because the moment he gained the ability to use divine power, he realized something.

The deeper his faith grew, the stronger this power would become.

In other words, there was room for even more growth, and that thought put him in the highest spirits.

If only there wasn’t one person who had barged into his room.

“Deus.”

“What is it?”

“What are you doing in my room?”

“I’m getting ready to sleep.”

Deus Maccalian.

The very person responsible for ruining his perfect mood was Deus.

And not just that—he had somehow brought his own bed into Reinhardt’s bedroom and was preparing to sleep.

“…Have you lost your mind?”

“I’m perfectly sane.”

“A perfectly sane person just moves their bed into someone else’s mansion without a word and decides to sleep there?”

“I believe that still falls within the range of normal behavior.”

“It’s abnormal! Completely abnormal!!!”

Deus shrugged as if he didn’t understand what the problem was.

Reinhardt, yelling at him in frustration, shut his eyes tightly as if his head was about to explode.

Ever since returning from the expedition, Deus had been copying his every move, and the stress was unbearable.

If it were just a little mimicry, Reinhardt wouldn’t have said anything.

But Deus—

He was following Reinhardt around and replicating his entire daily routine.

Waking up in the morning, praying, eating breakfast.

Training, eating lunch, praying again, and even taking a relaxed afternoon nap—he copied everything!!

And what was even more disturbing—

Whenever Reinhardt used divine power—

“……”

Deus would stare at him with a cold, expressionless gaze, as if that power should have been his.

It was constant.

Twenty-four hours a day, he stuck around, watching with a persistent look of betrayal, envy, and resentment.

It was enough stress to make his hair fall out.

“Just stop already!”

Reinhardt finally snapped and screamed, but—

“Good night.”

Deus, completely unfazed, naturally lay down on the bed.

“Kraaaahhh!!!”

Reinhardt let out a scream and seriously considered it.

Should he go to Marquis Palatio and beg?

Beg him to bestow some power on Deus as well?

####

The day after Rine arrived at the Palatio Marquisate—

Alon immediately prepared to leave the estate with her.

It just so happened that he was already planning to head to Colony.

The only difference this time—

“Am I really going too…?”

“You don’t want to?”

“N-no, no, no, it’s not that—it’s just, I have a lot of research to do…”

This time, Penia was joining them.

“I mean, the Dance of Connection—I wanted to observe it a bit more, and I also wanted to study the Footsteps of the Past, so, yeah… that’s all…”

Penia rolled her eyes and subtly tried to make excuses.

Originally, Alon had not intended to bring Penia along.

He had already sensed that she was somewhat uncomfortable moving with him.

And yet, he insisted on taking her.

Because he needed her to use the Footsteps of the Past.

Once a day.

With Penia there, he could use it without any problem.

This trip would allow him to focus entirely on his training with Kylrus.

“Penia.”

“Oh, of course, it’s not that I don’t want to go! I’m a very curious person, after all? I’m just worried that I might get too distracted by the trip…”

“Do you see this?”

Alon held out a gauntlet in front of Penia.

“This is—”

“If you come on this trip, I’ll lend it to you for research once it’s over. How about it?”

“…This is—”

As Penia’s face lit up with curiosity, Alon immediately activated the gauntlet.

Crackle—!

Black smoke seeped out of the gauntlet, instantly freezing the surrounding area.

At that—

“…!”

Penia, now practically in love, stared intensely at Alon—or rather, at the gauntlet in his hands.

“Wow, what is this? From the looks of it, isn’t this the same magic the Marquis used before—”

“Wait, just by infusing mana, the artifact automatically arranges the flow, converts the rules, and completes the spell all at once?”

“Oh! And more than that! The quality of the mana seems even higher than usual! The enhancement structure of the mana itself—”

Penia chattered nonstop.

“Are you a little more interested now?”

“Yes!”

In an instant, her expression shifted from “I really don’t want to go” to “I’m totally excited!”

“Alright then. Let’s go, Godfather.”

At Rine’s words, the group set off on their journey to Colony.

Inside the peaceful carriage—

Alon recalled what Rine had mentioned yesterday and asked,

“Come to think of it, didn’t you say you were going to Colony to find something?”

“Yes, that’s right, Godfather.”

“A ruin, perhaps?”

Rine nodded in response.

“Yes, Godfather. I found something interesting in a recently discovered ruin.”

“A recently discovered ruin, huh.”

Alon quickly went through several ruins in his mind.

Back when playing Psychedelia, he had obtained many useful artifacts from Colony’s ruins.

That’s why he had asked Evan to regularly gather information on newly found ruins.

Looking through the information he had gathered so far—

‘It doesn’t seem to be a ruin that appeared in Psychedelia.’

He realized that none of the recently discovered ruins were familiar.

“I see.”

Alon gave a slight nod, bringing the conversation to an end.

Rine looked up at his chest—no, his face—and smiled at him.

####

About three weeks had passed since Alon had officially left the Marquisate and embarked on his journey.

More precisely, it was the fourth day since they had entered the desert alongside the merchant caravans heading to Colony.

“A new divine authority has emerged?”

“Yes.”

For the first time in a long while, Alon encountered Kalannon.

“Hmm~”

Under a starry night where the Milky Way cascaded down, Kalannon furrowed her brows slightly in thought.

“Did you do anything special?”

“Recently, it seems there are people who have begun to revere Kalannon as the god of knights.”

“That alone wouldn’t be enough to create a new divine authority. You’re still bound by the name Kalannon, after all.”

“I can’t think of any other possibilities.”

Kalannon made a humming sound as if deep in thought, tilting her neck to the side.

She only spoke again when her neck was almost completely bent.

“Hmm—honestly, even I’m not sure.”

“Is that so?”

“Right? For a new divine authority to be born, one must be worshipped as an entirely separate god, and faith in them must accumulate. The idea that faith could emerge without any action… it just doesn’t make sense.”

“I see.”

As Alon nodded in agreement, Kalannon added,

“But it is curious. If a divine authority really has formed, then it wouldn’t just be from one or two people—it would require at least dozens, if not hundreds, of believers.”

“…Is that so?”

“Of course. For faith to gather and solidify into an authority, that much is absolutely necessary. Well, if someone with more influence than even the gods of this world devoted their faith, then even just one or two individuals might be enough to create an authority, but—”

That would be an extraordinarily irregular case.

And the likelihood of such a being offering faith to anyone was minuscule.

“I see.”

Kalannon looked at Alon with a peculiar expression and asked,

“Anyway, if you truly did nothing, then someone must have gathered this divine authority and passed it on to ‘Alon Palatio.’ Do you have any idea who that could be?”

Someone who could collect divine power and transfer it…

Alon pondered for a moment.

But no matter how much he thought about it, no one came to mind, so he simply shrugged.

“Ah, time’s up.”

“What do you mean, time’s up?”

“It’s time for me to go.”

Right on cue, Kalannon bid farewell.

“…Considering how much divine power has accumulated, this meeting felt too short.”

“Normally, I could stay longer, but I’ve got something else going on as well…!”

“Something else?”

“Yes, I’ll tell you about it next time.”

“See you later!” Kalannon waved her hand with a bright smile.

With that, Alon found himself once again in the sweltering heat of the carriage.

But then—

“Hmm?”

Despite being in the scorching desert, he felt an unexpected chill on his skin.

Looking around to assess the situation—

“Whoa—”

There, in the middle of the carriage, was Penia, having completely discarded any sense of a magician’s dignity.

She had summoned a massive block of ice and was hugging it with all four limbs.

“This is heaven.”

[Pure bliss—]

[Meow-!]

Nearby, Evan, Basiliora, and Blackie had also gathered around the ice, looking utterly content.

‘Having Penia along has really improved the quality of this journey.’

In fact, Blackie, practically Penia’s pet at this point, was perched comfortably atop her head, enjoying the cold.

Watching its face, full of happiness, reminded Alon of all the times he had suffered in the desert, drenched in sweat.

But now—

Thanks to Penia, everyone was having a much more comfortable journey.

Naturally—

‘…Maybe I should bring her along next time, too.’

The thought crossed his mind.

And perhaps sensing danger, Penia, who had been clinging blissfully to the ice, suddenly started glancing around uneasily.

Just then—

“…Every time we cross the desert, I swear it feels like I’m going to die.”

“Couldn’t agree more, Caravan Leader.”

Damuda, the leader of the Janda caravan traveling with Alon to Colony, was already exhausted under the relentless desert sun.

Then—

“…Hmm? Caravan Leader, do you see that?”

“…That?”

At the sudden question from his deputy, Damuda turned his gaze to follow where the man was pointing.

And he saw it.

A mysterious gate, hidden between the cliffs in the middle of the desert.

“…Is that a strange gate?”

“Looks like it.”

“Pass the word back. We’re changing direction.”

“But it doesn’t seem like anything is coming out of it. Shouldn’t we just continue on this path?”

“And what if something does come out?”

Realizing that they had already gotten closer to the gate than expected due to the cliffs obscuring their view, Damuda immediately issued an order.

Just as the caravan was about to veer to the right—

“Hmm—”

A man suddenly appeared at the very front of the caravan.

He wore black trousers and was shirtless, revealing a humanoid scar on his chest.

His dark gray eyes gleamed ominously.

“What the—?”

The deputy muttered in confusion at the sight of the man who had seemingly materialized out of thin air in the middle of the desert.

At the same time, the mercenaries instinctively drew their swords.

The man smirked, the corners of his mouth twisting upward.

“Finally found you—”

He murmured under his breath, raising his hand forward.

Drip.

A single black droplet formed at the tip of his index finger and fell to the ground.

Drip, drip—

More droplets followed, steadily falling.

Ordinarily, they would have been absorbed into the sand, but instead, they coalesced into rippling black waves.

“……!”

Everyone present, including Caravan Leader Damuda, watched in horror as their vision was engulfed in gray.

And they saw—

The man with cold, dark gray eyes.

And behind him—

Hundreds, no, thousands of ghastly creatures.

In that moment—

“Let the feast begin.”

The man’s voice echoed through the air.

Whoosh—!

At that very instant, the deputy’s upper body was simply erased from existence.

Simultaneously—

“A-Aaaaaaahhhh!!!”

Screams erupted in all directions.

####

“Stop! Stop!!”

“W-What the hell is that?”

“This is insane—!”

“Run for your lives!!”

Hearing the sudden commotion outside, Alon immediately stepped out of the carriage.

And he saw it.

A massive, eerie gate near the caravan.

Merchants being slaughtered in a scene more horrific than anything he had ever seen.

“…!”

For a brief moment, his face twisted at the sight of bodies being crushed and shredded by an unseen force in empty air.

Then—

‘No way.’

He quickly tried to deduce who was responsible for this.

No—there was no need to deduce.

Alon knew of only one being capable of recreating such an unnatural phenomenon.

At the same time—

He couldn’t understand.

As far as he knew— that entity was not supposed to be here.

Then why—

As he scanned his surroundings, trying to piece things together—

“Ah.”

He let out a small sigh.

Because his worst fear had been confirmed without a shred of doubt.

A man was approaching from the distance, wearing a deep, sinister smile.

He was one of the Four Great Powers.

The ruler of the ghasts that lurked in the underworld.

He was Agu (餓鬼).