"In that case, can the other stages of the Path to the Underworld still be used?"
"They can."
Testarossa smiled. "The Path to the Underworld may look like one Authority, but once split apart it could easily be called five separate ones."
The Gate of Hell's powerful defense and the three-headed hound.
The sealing power of the River Styx.
Next came the third effect—the River of Oaths.
[River of Oaths]
This Authority also had two effects.
The first referenced the myth of Achilles' heel—bathing in the waters of the Styx to become invulnerable except at the heel.
Once activated, the first effect continuously consumed Testarossa's magical energy in exchange for near-impenetrable defense everywhere except her heel.
"The second effect is to swear an oath upon the Styx and form a contract."
This contract was very similar to Marquis Voban's servants of the dead.
It allowed her to keep slain individuals as ghosts within the River of Oaths, waiting for her summons.
"The next stage, the Boundless Underworld, is the ultimate technique of the Path."
It gathered the power of the underworld into her body, turning her into the king of the underworld.
In that state Testarossa's main body would disappear (become invisible) and she would gain a divine sword that judged life, death, good, and evil.
Boundless darkness enveloped the enemy while the massive divine sword descended from the void to deliver death.
"Finally, the Fields of Truth."
This stage served as the trump card—or final measure—of the Path to the Underworld.
It had no offensive ability.
In return, once activated Testarossa could rapidly heal her injuries and slowly recover her magical energy.
"Not only that—if I die in battle my soul will enter the Fields of Truth."
Testarossa revealed the most broken effect of the Path to the Underworld. "Then I get one chance to come back from the dead."
"Come back from the dead?"
"A second life?"
Damien hadn't expected Testarossa's luck to be this good.
Just the Fields of Truth alone was already worth a proper full Authority.
It healed injuries, restored magical energy, and granted a second life.
"What are the restrictions?"
Damien asked. "What are the conditions for resurrection?"
"I must abandon all the souls stored in the River of Oaths."
"After using it, the Fields of Truth within the Path to the Underworld will collapse and disappear. It will take one year before it can be restored."
In other words, each use came with a one-year cooldown.
One life per year.
In Damien's eyes that wasn't a restriction at all—it was a completely acceptable price.
"So…"
Testarossa smiled. "It looks like I win, right?"
"Heh…"
Diablo sighed helplessly. "Yeah, you win."
Compared to Lost Atlantis, the Path to the Underworld was far superior in versatility.
One Authority that functioned as five.
Aside from something as broken as Verethragna's Ten Incarnations, the Path to the Underworld was easily one of the top-tier Authorities.
"Then, Lord Damien?"
Diablo and Testarossa exchanged a glance and urged him together. "Please don't hesitate."
"Our task is complete."
Testarossa said, "From now on let our power continue to fight at your side!"
What did the two of them want?
It was obvious—they hoped Damien would slay them here and reclaim the ultimate power of Lucifer and Lilith.
Not only that, Damien would also obtain four Authorities from killing them.
Two of those would be Lost Atlantis and the Path to the Underworld.
As for the remaining two…
That was uncertain; it would depend on what kind of Authorities Damien could extract from Lucifer and Lilith.
Of course Damien could choose not to take the two Authorities.
Instead he could use Lucifer and Lilith to plunder every last bit of ultimate power from the Hebrew mythological system.
Besides, the two of them truly didn't mind dying at Damien's hand.
In the original stories Diablo had once ordered his subordinate demons to sacrifice themselves willingly.
To a devil, sacrifice meant nothing.
Lower devils obeying higher devils was simply their nature.
If anything, being allowed to offer themselves to Damien was an honor for Diablo and Testarossa!
"You two…"
Damien looked quite troubled by the situation.
It wasn't that he couldn't bring himself to do it—he simply didn't like the twisted values of devils.
"It's about time we fixed that warped mindset."
Damien didn't accept their offer of sacrifice, but he also didn't reject their goodwill.
"Violet!"
"Present."
"How feasible is that plan?"
"Over ninety percent."
"Perfect."
Rather than slaying the two of them and sending them back to the Central Continent, Damien preferred to keep them here and continue fighting alongside him in the Campione world.
As for the method…
He remembered that in the original story Lancelot had become Godou Kusanagi's subordinate god.
Yes—subordinate god!
Damien planned to turn Diablo and Testarossa into his subordinate gods and preserve them that way.
Moreover, thanks to Violet's adjustments, the two of them would become Authorities themselves.
He would be able to summon two Heretic God-level fighters to fight at his side without spending extra magical energy.
"It can do that?!"
Diablo sounded amazed. "As expected of Lord Damien!"
Not only Little Black—Testarossa also gazed at Damien with open adoration, thinking how gentle her man truly was.
He had even come up with this solution just so he wouldn't have to hurt them.
"However, subordinate gods have their own drawbacks."
Damien explained, "Summoning them has a time limit."
The ability to summon two Heretic Gods at once was certainly powerful, but they could only remain for a mere ten minutes.
After each use there was a seven-day cooldown.
Even so.
When those two Authorities were activated they would triple a Campione's combat strength—equivalent to three Campiones attacking at the same time.
Most importantly, that pincer attack would still technically count as a one-on-one fight between Campiones.
Therefore it would not trigger the power of fate.
As long as the timing was right, Damien could inflict heavy injuries on any Campione within those ten minutes.
After ten minutes, even if the opponent could still fight, their remaining strength would be almost exhausted.
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