Roy shook his head with amusement. He figured that when those Jewish magicians saw that the Disobedient God they had summoned was Michael, their expressions must have looked as if they were constipated.
"That mysterious space really did fulfill my wish, sending me to a world where I could grow stronger quickly... But this is the Campione world. It truly has the fastest method of becoming stronger, but the difficulty of that method..."
Roy could only smile bitterly. Slaying a god and obtaining the god's Authorities was indeed a wonderful way to rise to the heavens in a single step, but the prerequisite was slaying a god!
For a mortal to slay a Disobedient God was an impossible miracle to begin with. Strength and wisdom were not very useful when it came to killing a Disobedient God, because no matter how powerful the strength and wisdom a mortal possessed, they were still tiny and insignificant before a god. That was why Campione was synonymous with miracles.
In Roy's view, the most important thing one needed to kill a god was—luck!!
In this world, if one had that luck, one could naturally become a Campione. Without it, even possessing powerful magic and the strength of a knight would make it impossible to accomplish such a great feat.
Whether it was destiny or luck, such things could neither be measured nor changed. At the very least, Roy could not do so yet.
"It's clear that these Jewish magicians had ambitions. They also wanted to slay a god and become Campione, but judging from the result, these people failed. They were probably killed by those two Angels the moment they met."
Roy then picked up one of the objects. It looked like a metal fragment. The tiny fragment was stained with a color identical to that of the Shroud of Turin, and it emitted an extremely powerful mystical and magical reaction. Roy therefore suspected that this metal fragment was one of the legendary fragments of the Spear of Longinus.
Those Jewish magicians must have wanted to rely on fragments of the Spear of Longinus, combined with rituals such as Great Magic, to slay a god. In the end, however, they still failed.
"Still, I don't know whether I have the luck to become a Campione. But if it's you, Aiwass, you should be capable of changing someone's luck, right?"
Roy put down the fragment of the Spear of Longinus and suddenly turned to look at Aiwass.
Becoming a Campione did not depend on strength or wisdom. Whether one used external objects or accepted another's help, the process itself was unimportant. What mattered was that Roy only needed to achieve the result of personally slaying a god.
Aiwass, the "Holy Guardian Angel," was his "luck"!
Aiwass looked at Roy's questioning gaze. She gave a slight nod and said, "...The objects here can complete an Angelic Art—'Angel Fall.'"
"Chapter Five: The Great Feat of God-Slaying Rests on This!"
"Angelic Art, 'Angel Fall'?"
Roy muttered the words. He had a deep impression of this technique from A Certain Magical Index.
"According to the theory of the Kabbalah Tree of Life, the number of humans and Angels was predetermined. Therefore, under normal circumstances, humans could never ascend into Angels. The purpose of this technique is to make an Angel descend into the status of a 'human' when the ritual begins."
"...However, this world differs from mine in certain information and rules. In addition, there is little time, so I cannot set up a large ritual site, and precise calibration is impossible. I can guarantee that this technique will work, but its duration will probably be only a brief instant."
"Moreover, using Angelic Art proactively in a human body is dangerous. It will bring you too much 'poison' and trigger your original sin. Activating the technique for only an instant is the best duration that will not affect your body and soul."
Aiwass had originally been a capricious Angel who rarely interfered with reality. However, Roy's uniqueness brought her too many unknowns and novel things to explore. It was a miracle powerful enough to make even Demon Gods envy and pursue it, so she worked extremely hard to ensure Roy's survival.
If Aiwass had not merely been a "spirit" and had been unable to interfere much with reality, this "Holy Guardian Angel" might have descended personally.
Beside Roy, she was truly living up to the name of "Holy Guardian Angel."
"In other words, I have to decide the outcome in an instant? Ha, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't do something with such low odds of victory. But this is an abnormal situation. I have a feeling that if I miss this opportunity, I may lose all my courage, and my life will end up as much of a failure as Aleister's."
Roy licked his dry lips and said fiercely, "...Come on. Tell me how to set up the ritual site, Aiwass!"
"As you wish... Place the scepter symbolizing fire at the lowest point of the Kabbalah. Since we can determine that the external Angels are Michael and Metatron, their symbols should be placed in the Kingdom, the position that transforms Angels into humans... The silver knife belongs at Victory, and the magic numbers are ninety-three and seventy... The Beauty at the center is Michael, while the Crown is Metatron..."
"Heretic! You who stole my Authority, like a cunning demon peering at the face of God—I shall judge you today!"
In the raging desert, an exceptionally handsome archangel with long red hair spread wings that burned like fire and shone like light. Holding a scarlet cross-shaped sword, he battled the heretical Angel Metatron before him.
In truth, "Metatron" was merely an Angelic title symbolizing "God's most beloved Angel." It did not refer to any particular Angel. In Christianity, Michael was undoubtedly Metatron, but in the apocryphal Book of Enoch, Metatron had instead become Enoch.
"Michael, you should bow before me here. Otherwise, you are defying the majesty of the Lord. You have treated a righteous man as the Messiah and placed him on equal footing with the Lord. This is the greatest blasphemy!"
The Angel bearing Thirty-Six Pairs of Wings answered righteously. Unlike Michael's fearless, imposing voice like that of a warrior, Metatron's voice was gentle. According to the Book of Enoch, although Metatron was the most revered Angel, his duty was that of the "heavenly scribe"—a civil official, so to speak.
"No need for more words, you many-faced, deceitful serpent who deceived the Lord! I will cut you apart like the Red Dragon and send you eternally into Hell, making you pay for deceiving the Lord!"
Michael's expression was righteous and impassioned. In the Bible, Michael represented "absolute justice," and everything he did was a righteous act.
"Boom------"
The two Angels clashed again. The earth was cleaved apart and the sky torn open. A scene like the Day of Judgment unfolded before Roy, reflected across the desert.
The raging Sand Sea formed once more. Gales howled, tornadoes reached the heavens, and the blazing flames of the holy sun shone beneath the scorching daylight, turning the desert into a gigantic furnace.
It was a battle that no mortal could ever imagine, an apocalyptic scene that even the most powerful magicians could only flee from in despair. This was what happened when Disobedient Gods broke free from mythology and descended upon the earth. They were walking natural disasters, embodiments of desperate misfortune. No matter how benevolent a god had been in mythology, once transformed into a Disobedient God, every action would bring death and weeping to humanity.
Or rather, to humans, gods were inherently synonymous with disasters. Whether benevolent or evil, mortals could not endure a god's grace or punishment. That was why these gods had been woven into mythology, never again able to harm the world.
"Be slain by me, Enoch! I absolutely refuse to acknowledge you as Metatron! After killing you, I will wander the earth in search of the 'Demon King' below. Either I will slay the Demon King and save the people, or the Demon King will kill me and send me back to Heaven, where I will serve at the Lord's right hand once more! Whether I live or die, either way is victory for me!"
Michael shouted loudly, heroic determination blazing across his impossibly handsome face.
"Impostor, impostor! You are not the Michael I know, the Michael who guided me into Heaven! You are merely an impostor distorted by mythology!"
Metatron angrily answered Michael, and the two Angels once again ravaged the earth and sky.
"This is getting a little bad..."
The violent sandstorm tore Roy's skin open, leaving streaks of blood. The surrounding temperature rose beneath the flames, nearly melting him.
Yet Roy walked through the sandstorm by sheer will, gritting his teeth and enduring the pain as he pressed forward.
He held only a fragment of the Spear of Longinus. To kill Michael or Metatron, he had to get close. But the two Angels' battlefield covered too vast an area, and the force of their stray attacks was enough to ravage everything. The more Roy wanted to accomplish the feat of god-slaying, the more he had to endure this apocalyptic environment and approach them as closely as possible.
Fortunately, the two Angels had no interest in an ordinary human like Roy. They only fought each other, allowing him the chance to approach their battlefield in a mortal body.
"I remember that the strength of a Disobedient God mainly comes from the god's affirmation of itself. Whether Michael or Metatron, both have extremely firm perceptions of their own identities. Although they are Disobedient Gods, they are infinitely close to their forms in mythology."
"...When the two Angels' perceptions are equally strong, the descriptions in mythology become crucial."
The scene before him was somewhat beyond Roy's expectations. He had thought that Metatron and Michael's Authorities would overlap in many areas and that their statuses were nearly equal, so their battle should have ended with both sides suffering severe injuries.
But reality was that Michael was suppressing Metatron.
It was not an unstoppable slaughter. Metatron's counterattacks also wounded Michael, but even Roy could see that there was a huge gap between their combat strength. This was definitely not a mutually destructive battle. In the end, Michael would certainly win.
"This is bad. The only record of Metatron in the classics is the Book of Enoch. Aside from walking with God for three hundred years, there is almost nothing describing his achievements... But Michael is different. In the Bible, nearly every 'war' and 'battle' was handled by Michael. He was even the one who cast Satan into Hell. He is practically the Angel of 'war' and 'victory.'"
If the two Angels could not both be severely wounded, then whether Roy ambushed the injured Metatron in front of Michael or directly killed the victor, Michael, it was nearly impossible for a mortal like him.
"Not good! Metatron is actually choosing to flee!"
After finally drawing close to the two Angels, Roy was horrified by what he saw. He had never expected Metatron to choose to flee after being injured.
The Earth was vast, and the two Angels were unimaginably fast. If Metatron fled and Michael pursued him, Roy would definitely lose sight of them. Finding the two Angels again somewhere on Earth afterward would be no different from wishful thinking.
Moreover, witnessing two Disobedient Gods battle was extraordinarily rare. Although Roy's memories of the events in the Campione world were somewhat blurred, he remembered that many Campiones had successfully completed their first god-slaying by picking up the spoils after two Disobedient Gods fought each other.
In other words—
"I can't hesitate any longer. Everything depends on this!"
At that moment, Roy abandoned all the thoughts of a wise man and completely became a fool. He pulled the original Book of Law from his robes—the only thing he had brought out of the A Certain Magical Index World.
"Michael!!!!"
Braving the blade-like sandstorm, he charged forward and screamed at Michael, who was preparing to pursue Metatron.
The great feat of god-slaying rested on this!
Chapter Six: The Birth of the Demon King
(I'm going out to celebrate my birthday today...)
To act as a fool was something no wise man would do.
Prometheus represented "human wisdom"—foresight.
Epimetheus represented "human foolishness"—hindsight.
Fear was humanity's greatest wisdom. Because of fear, people recognized their opponent's strength. Because of fear, they understood the true meaning of escape. It was precisely because fear existed that humans could find a path to survival in dangerous environments, reproduce and thrive, and become the final victors.
When Roy saw Michael, boundless fear arose in the depths of his heart and in the Sea of Consciousness of his soul. Those fears warned him to run, warning him of the danger posed by the existence before him.
If he were a wise man, he would certainly turn around and flee at this moment, because throwing an egg at a rock was not something a wise man would choose to do.
Only a fool would charge forward foolishly, shine brilliantly for an instant like a summer flower, and ultimately be destroyed by the object of his fear.
It was absolutely impossible to defeat him. A mortal could never defeat a god. This was truth.
Yet only a fool could find the sole miracle hidden within that truth!
"Chapter One, Section Eleven of the Book of Law: The people praise the Fool, and they and their gods are all fools!"
"...The word that ends all things is—Abrahadabra!"
"..."
Roy recited the contents of the original Book of Law and activated the technique within it.
"Ugh—"
As the technique activated, Roy's throat turned sweet with blood, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
The Demonic Path Canon inherently contained deadly poison. This poison was not a material substance, but a will that contaminated the mind. If one could not understand the knowledge and contents of the Demonic Path Canon, merely looking through the original text was enough to cause death.
The Book of Law contained the essence of Aiwass's knowledge, filled with knowledge that did not belong to the mortal world. Its countless incorrect solutions were not so much concealments of the true knowledge within as they were a defensive mechanism, preventing fools from interpreting it recklessly and losing their lives.
And Roy was now acting as a fool and correctly interpreting part of the knowledge within the Book of Law. This small portion alone inflicted nearly fatal pain upon him like deadly poison.
"Fool, this is not a mode of thought that humans should revere. Let me show you just how foolish your actions are!"
If all human thought became that of fools, humanity as a species would have gone extinct long ago, because only wise men could guide humanity forward.
Michael, who had been preparing to pursue Metatron, was drawn over by Roy's foolishness. When he saw Roy discard his fear and summon the courage to run toward him, Michael immediately understood his purpose.
Michael was the victor of his battle with Metatron. He was not a defeated Disobedient God on the verge of death, so there was no possibility of a mortal killing him.
No—one should say that even a Disobedient God on the verge of death could not be killed by a mortal, because god-slaying itself was an impossible miracle.
"Since you refuse to heed my warning, then, like all fools, welcome your end!"
Michael casually waved his hand. The archangel symbolizing "fire" unleashed heavenly flames capable of burning everything.
It was merely a casual strike from a Disobedient God, but to an ordinary person like Roy, it already represented an apocalyptic despair.
"Ahhhhhhh------"
It hurt, it hurt, it hurt! His skin seemed to burn away, turning to charcoal like a shedding snake and exposing the flesh beneath. Pain transmitted from his peripheral nerves shot straight into his brain, forcing Roy to cry out in agony and vent the unbearable torment in his body.
His brain tried to activate its defensive mechanisms and make him pass out, but Roy stubbornly fought against it with his will. Amid that dreadful, tragic agony that nearly rendered him unconscious, he maintained the last trace of awareness and reason.
The flames were powerful enough to turn Roy to ashes, yet under the protection of the Book of Law, they only inflicted unimaginable burning pain. With his skin almost completely charred, Roy broke through the sea of fire.
He knew that this was the closest he had ever come to "victory."
That distance was less than ten meters.
"Hm?"
The Angel of stern justice had not expected Roy to survive. A trace of surprise appeared on his impossibly handsome face.
"Fool, I must admire your courage and fearlessness, but this is where it ends!"
The archangel Michael raised the red sword in his hand, shaped like a cross.
He had once slain one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers of the Assyrian Army with this sword.
He had once opposed the Beast at the End of Days with this sword.
He had once imprisoned the Ancient Dragon Satan for a thousand years with this sword.
He was the most dazzling and famous archangel in Christianity—Michael!
The seemingly ordinary thrust of his sword surged with Authority and Magic Power powerful enough to tear any human apart.
Michael did not care at all about the fragment of the Spear of Longinus clenched in Roy's right hand. It could indeed slay a Disobedient God, but only if the Disobedient God abandoned resistance.
Even if a baby picked up a knife, it would still be a baby, incapable of defeating an adult. No matter if a mortal obtained a Divine Artifact capable of slaying gods, it could not pierce through a god's self-protection.
Even if Michael, in perfect fighting condition, stood still, as long as he did not abandon his desire to live, a mortal could not kill him with a Divine Artifact.
This would be yet another victory for Michael, the "Certain Victory"—a trivial victory in the life of an archangel who possessed endless victories.
It should have been so, but miracles triggered possibility within impossibility.
"Activate, Great Magic—'Angel Fall'!"
At the instant before Roy was killed by Michael's sword, he activated the Angelic Art that he had already set up within the ritual site.
The moment the ritual activated, Michael's status fell from the Kabbalah Tree of Life and landed upon the status of the "Kingdom," the status belonging to humans.
This technique could affect Michael for only a brief second, but that single second was enough to decide the victor!
Before you continue