◉◉◉◉◉
He knew only one reason why the Holy Spear would fail to respond.
That was because, compared to him, the Holy Spear had acknowledged the man standing before him.
But he was clearly the Holy Spear's master.
He was clearly the one who had obtained the Sacred Gear known as number one from the moment he was born.
Why...
"Cao Cao, should I give you a hand?"
Seeing Cao Cao's deflated expression, Anos smiled helplessly.
If Cao Cao could not use Truth Idea, Anos would also feel troubled.
If the target had been Koneko, perhaps he might have been able to use it.
But putting aside the fact that Anos would never allow such a thing to happen, Cao Cao's own pride would not permit him to attack a girl who had originally carried no weight in his eyes.
"Give me a hand?"
Cao Cao froze.
Could this kind of thing even be helped?
"That's right. I'll give you a hand."
Anos nodded, then instantly used an acceleration spell.
"Hm?"
Cao Cao only felt his hand grow light. By the time he reacted, he discovered that the Holy Spear was no longer in his hand.
There was an essential difference between Cao Cao and Vali.
Cao Cao was a typical technique-focused fighter, while Vali was a power type with some technique mixed in.
If Cao Cao was stabbed once, he would be finished, whereas Vali still had a chance.
Perhaps this was the weakness of being human.
With the same degree of training, humans gained far less power than other races.
That was also why Anos did not care much about Cao Cao himself.
Directly using physical ability to crush and bully him was ridiculously simple, especially when Cao Cao had not activated his subspecies Balance Breaker.
"So this is the Holy Spear. I have to say, just from its appearance, it is not bad."
Anos examined the Holy Spear in his hand.
He could very clearly feel the warmth and closeness coming from it.
"How did you do that?"
Cao Cao instinctively took a step back.
Sacred Gears all had a mechanism that allowed them to be recalled.
What shocked him was not how Anos had taken the Holy Spear from his hand.
What shocked him was why, when the Holy Spear was in Anos's hand, he could not recall it.
"Perhaps it likes me."
Anos gave that answer.
Although it sounded somewhat absurd, the truth really was exactly that.
Then, under Cao Cao's gaze as though he had seen a ghost, Anos gently raised the True Longinus in his hand.
Hum.
In an instant, the Holy Spear erupted with sacred light even more dazzling than when Cao Cao had used Truth Idea earlier.
[Spear.]
[True Holy Spear that pierces God.]
[Absorb the ideal of kingship sleeping within me.]
[Excavate the gap between the future and infinity.]
[You.]
[Declare the truth and become radiance.]
Very smoothly, Anos directly used Truth Idea.
He might not be able to do this with ordinary Sacred Gears, but if it was a holy relic-type Sacred Gear, then he had no problem at all.
[Ding.]
[Silver Treasure Chest opened.]
[Congratulations, host. Reward obtained: True Holy Spear.]
[True Holy Spear: A spear condensed from all radiance in the world. With all living beings as kindling, it can achieve the principle of piercing all concepts.]
[It is a spear that kills gods, possessing special effectiveness against deities.]
[Note: ...]
With the successful use of Truth Idea, Anos had also directly sensed the will of the Biblical God, thus fulfilling the condition to open the silver treasure chest.
"The Holy Spear, the Sacred Cross... when will I get the Holy Relic three-piece set?"
Anos muttered to himself.
It seemed the holy relics in his system were somewhat different from the Sacred Gears created by the Biblical God of this world.
The previous Sacred Cross was like that, and the current Holy Spear was the same.
"What a pity. If I had not already judged the result of forging that side, I really might have wanted to use the weapon advancement opportunity on this Holy Spear."
Anos sighed.
He had to admit, the Holy Spear's effect was indeed very powerful.
But it was still a little lacking.
Since his Sacred Gears were enough for the current stage, there was no need to rush.
"In that case... let us set aside the matter of the Holy Spear for now. For the moment, this side is more important."
Anos turned slightly and focused his attention on the Holy Spear.
Letting his spirit sink into the spear, Anos saw a mass of sacred light with a humanoid form.
That was...
The lingering will of the Biblical God.
It seemed to open its eyes.
Although it was in the form of light, so there should have been no way to tell whether it had eyes or not, Anos did indeed feel that it had opened its eyes.
"You... are very special."
Through the connection between their spirits, the golden light conveyed its will to Anos.
"Special? Perhaps."
Anos smiled.
The existence before him also gave him a very special feeling.
"After I vanished, did this world give birth to another existence of the same origin as me?"
"Does this prove the necessity of my existence, or is this also a form of reincarnation for gods?"
The ethereal voice echoed in Anos's mind.
This was its thought.
"Perhaps it is fate."
Anos could only answer in riddles.
Calling it fate did not seem wrong.
If, in the future, his ability developed to its complete form, he should be able to know everything he wanted to know about every event.
Fate should be no exception.
"What state are you in now?"
Anos asked.
He could judge that the person before him definitely could not revive, but it was difficult to determine exactly what state they were in.
"What state? A state between existence and nonexistence, perhaps."
After a few seconds, the lingering will of the Biblical God gave that answer.
"The Sacred Gears and the faith system maintain my existence. When the people of the world forget me, perhaps that will be the time when I should disappear."
It spoke faintly, as if discussing something completely unrelated to itself.
"Is that so?"
Anos shook his head.
So this was the Biblical God?
Although he had once inferred the Biblical God's personality out of personal interest, the lingering will of the Biblical God was still subtly different from the personality he had judged.
...
To Anos, the time his spirit spent submerged inside the spear felt very long.
But in the outside world, only a short moment had passed.
In fact, when Anos finished using the Holy Spear and casually tossed it back to Cao Cao, Cao Cao was still immersed in the shock from earlier.
However, Cao Cao, who had just recovered his senses, immediately fell into an even more intense state of shock.
This person...
Had actually returned the Holy Spear to him so easily?
Did he understand the meaning of the Holy Spear?
Did he know that the Holy Spear was the strongest Longinus?
Only after a long while did Cao Cao return to his senses.
No.
The other party should understand that very clearly.
"Was it because he tried the effect of Truth Idea and found it was not as powerful as he imagined, so he simply returned it to me?"
It sounded absurd, but it was the only possibility Cao Cao could think of.
However...
Although regaining the Holy Spear brought him a physical sense of relief, what he felt even more strongly was humiliation.
He, the strongest hero, wielding the strongest Longinus, had actually been handed back his weapon like charity.
"In that case, that is all. If you want to cause trouble for me, I suggest you weigh what happened to Vali first."
Anos smiled as he spoke.
"..."
Cao Cao said nothing.
He was no longer confident in his earlier guess.
Could this person only plunder dragon-type Sacred Gears, or could he actually plunder all Sacred Gears?
If it was all Sacred Gears, then was that not a little too absurd?
"Koneko, let's go. Going to school is more important."
Anos tugged Koneko's hand, signaling her to leave with him.
"Mm, Senior Anos."
Koneko quickly held Anos's hand and followed him.
That was right.
What was there to be surprised about?
After all, Senior was Senior.
He was her favorite and strongest senior.
Was something like this not only natural for him?
"Right, there is one more thing I have not told you."
As Anos led Koneko past Cao Cao, he casually spoke.
"What... what is it?"
Cao Cao instinctively swallowed.
This was one of the signs of excessive nervousness and shock.
"Has the person behind you also come to this country?"
Anos smiled as he spoke.
"How do you know that?"
Cao Cao's pupils suddenly contracted.
This person even knew about that?
He had only learned this news not long ago. Even within the team, he was the only one who knew. No one else knew, so how had the information leaked?
"It is nothing. I am just telling you one thing."
"If you are a hero, then do not think about having a god as your backing. Understand?"
After saying that, Anos took Koneko's hand and left, leaving Cao Cao frozen in place.
Actually, there was another piece of information he had not told Cao Cao.
The missing Ophis was on his side.
Ophis had not returned to the Khaos Brigade for a long time. However, under the blockade of information by Cao Cao and the top levels of the Khaos Brigade, that news had not spread and shaken morale for the time being.
The snakes Ophis had left behind, though not yet exhausted, would one day be used up.
Before that happened, they had to achieve their goal or find Ophis again.
Anos would not foolishly expose the fact that Ophis was actually with him.
Doing so would undoubtedly invite a fair amount of trouble.
So...
Let them slowly search.
◉◉◉◉◉
~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
◉◉◉◉◉
For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!