Chapter 037: Meeting the Human God (Patreon)

Just a few minutes after Armored Dragon King Perugius vanished...

One of the remaining eleven Spirits sensed something was wrong. He came to the magnificent hall to pay his respects to Armored Dragon King Perugius. But the moment he stepped inside...

Everything before his eyes was awash in crimson. Armored Dragon King Perugius's limbs had been brutally scattered around the throne.

As for the rest of his body... there was no telling where it had gone. Perhaps he was still alive. But perhaps... it was entirely possible that whatever unknown being had done this had destroyed him completely.

"How could this happen?! How could this happen?!"

Utterly shaken, he sent word to the other ten apostles. But when they all arrived, every one of them was badly shaken.

Some wanted revenge... but others were simply afraid! After all, this had happened without so much as a sound — some terrifying being had taken down Armored Dragon King Perugius, just like that!

But no matter how they agonized over it... Perugius, well-versed in summoning magic, had already moved his floating fortress ahead of time to a null-space node that wouldn't be affected.

So when the Teleport Incident struck, they were completely unaffected. Which meant Armored Dragon King Perugius's apostles ended up very, very far away from both the true culprit, Rudy, and from Perugius himself.

Because at that very moment, Rudy and the others had already been teleported to the Demon Continent on the far side of the planet.

...

Inside a blank, empty spiritual realm, Rudy looked around in confusion.

He felt intense revulsion toward Hitogami. So why would Hitogami still be forging a spiritual connection with him?

Just as he was puzzling over it, a white silhouette slowly walked over from the side.

"Nice to meet you, Rudeus."

"Hello. And you are...?"

"I'm Hitogami — the genuine article, a true god."

Rudy looked at the white figure standing before him, hands on hips, looking terribly proud of himself.

"I never expected to actually meet a god," Rudy said, smiling. "So what did you call me here for?"

Hitogami nodded and smiled. "I've been keeping an eye on you. Honestly, your life has been quite entertaining — especially how you used magic to see the Teleport Incident before it happened. You truly are an impressive fellow!"

Rudy nodded and smiled. "Thank you for the compliment. So, is there something you called me here to accomplish?"

"Hmm..." Hitogami rubbed his chin, studying the remarkably obedient Rudy before him. He nodded and smiled. "The wicked Dragon God was revived not long ago. So, could I ask you to kill him for me?"

Rudy nodded and smiled. "No problem... though my current strength is still a bit too low. So, Hitogami — could you give me something to boost my power first?"

Hitogami nodded and smiled. "Actually, I've already arranged for a very powerful person to help you. Once you wake up, you'll meet him! He wields a legendary-grade weapon, and on top of that, his martial arts are nearly God-rank! He's truly an incredibly strong man."

Hitogami was being shameless. This encounter was originally fate's own doing in the source story, yet Hitogami was claiming credit for arranging it himself.

Well, since that was the case, Rudy — never one to commit before seeing the goods — said, "Hitogami, you know I'm a mage. I'm not much good at close combat. Do you happen to have some way to boost a mage's power?"

Hitogami patted his head and sighed. "Now that's a tough one. Tell you what — let me introduce you to Kishirika, the Demon Emperor. She has plenty of demon eyes, including ones that can foresee the future."

Hearing this, Rudy found it both amusing and exasperating. In the source story, even his original encounter with the Demon Emperor was something Hitogami had exploited.

Rudy nodded, smiling without objection. "So how do I go about meeting her?"

Hitogami smiled. "Just keep traveling with Ruijerd Superdia, heading toward your homeland, and you'll naturally run into the Demon Emperor."

Rudy nodded and smiled. "Got it. Thank you very much, Hitogami."

Hitogami waved a hand and smiled. "No need to thank me. If you really can help me kill that wicked Dragon God, that would be a huge favor to me."

Rudy nodded and smiled. "Just don't go arranging an early meeting between me and the Dragon God, all right?"

Hitogami waved his hand again. "Of course not, of course not. Time's about up, and you're about to wake up anyway. Let's leave our chat here for now."

Rudy smiled. "All right. Goodbye, then, Hitogami."

The moment Rudy finished speaking, sensation from his body rushed back to reconnect with his consciousness.

Though Rudy had woken up, he didn't get up right away. Instead, he replayed the conversation with Hitogami in his mind.

Hitogami had probably noticed something off about him and used a forced spiritual link to try to pull some useful information out of him.

But conveniently enough, while Hitogami was gathering information from him, Hitogami had also been exposing information about himself.

Drawing on the anime lore he remembered from his past life, he now understood many details about both their situations far more clearly. The fear that had gripped him earlier settled considerably.

First, it was true that transmigrators were very difficult for Hitogami to observe. But if Hitogami really put in the effort, he could still glimpse Rudy's future.

Second, for Hitogami to read a transmigrator's mind, he had to forcibly establish a spiritual connection. And so long as Rudy kept his own thoughts under control afterward, even if Hitogami tried to read him, he wouldn't get much out of it.

In fact, Hitogami could only reach the surface layer of his thoughts — he couldn't touch anything deeper than that.

So, all in all, the stronger Rudy became, the harder it would be for Hitogami to move against him, since Hitogami could now only act through his Apostles.

From here on, what he needed to do was quickly learn everything he could about summoning magic from Perugius. Then, develop a summoning spell of his own that could reach back through time, and use it to overwrite his past self's soul directly.

That way he'd remain the only version of himself while still keeping track of what was to come. That was the main reason he'd captured Perugius in the first place.

As for why he'd turned him into the image of a beautiful white-haired girl — that part was even simpler. He liked looking at girls, not so much at men.

Of course, since time had been so limited, Rudy hadn't gotten as far as researching the genetic level. He'd only made some simple changes to Perugius's appearance and bone structure.

Once he'd sorted everything out in his mind, Rudy finally, slowly, opened his eyes.