— — — — — —
Mata couldn't laugh anymore after hearing that.
Forget the part about Ryo actually being the Queen of Halloween's subordinate god.
Just the idea of the Queen running a twenty-thousand-iteration summoning ritual purely for fun… Mata had no words. Reduce expenditure by multiplying attempts? Didn't that just increase the total cost?
No—knowing the Queen's personality…
She was probably just trying to see if she could "hit the jackpot." As long as the end result satisfied her, total cost was something she happily ignored.
Spend ten coins to get a treasure worth a million. Even if she spends those ten coins a million times and the total hits ten or a hundred million, there was still that one time she got a million-worth. That alone would meet her standards.
Sure, that looked stupid from the outside—but who was going to stop Queen Halloween from being capricious?
But that was just an analogy.
In reality, summoning Ryo Yagami—Another Cosmology holder—within twenty thousand attempts was absurdly cost-effective.
---
"Sigh~"
Uesugi Kenshin rubbed her temple and asked Indra. "So in short, Ryo Yagami was Canaria's contingency plan. She asked the Queen to summon him?"
"A four-digit Another Cosmology holder, heavily injured on arrival? No wonder Ryo's growth speed was insane. Starting at four digits with the right conditions for healing means recovery would snowball."
Indra nodded.
"Based on Brahma's findings and the Queen's letter, that's how it looks."
"That means Zeus calling him the Trickster is basically off the table."
Kenshin looked both exasperated and amused.
"That horny old man… if he found out he stuck his nose into the feud between Queen Halloween and ShiroYoruMaou, he'd probably die from panic."
Even though Zeus was a four-digit freak—spirit rank on par with three-digit Indra himself—he still wasn't qualified to meddle in a fight between the Queen and Shiroyasha.
The Queen was the only three-digit entity capable of rivaling the two-digit beings. She was, quite literally, the master of her tier.
Shiroyasha, although self-sealed down to a lower rank, had once been two-digit. She possessed numerous high authorities, was an incarnation of Little Garden itself, the Lord of the White Night, and one of the most powerful beings alive.
If those two really fought, that would be gods clashing. Zeus would better play dead now.
After all, the gap between three-digit and two-digit was beyond imagination. On top of that, the Queen was the only three-digit capable of exerting two-digit power within Little Garden.
And worth noting: the entire Greek pantheon got inspired by her rampage on the upper layers. That was how they came up with the "four-digit freak hiding in lower layers to power up" strategy.
Basically… a player exploiting a glitch ran into the glitch itself.
Unless the twin goddesses who never interfere stepped in, the Greek gods didn't have anyone who could tank the Queen. And those two were two-digit tier to begin with, meaning they were banned from appearing in Little Garden's Lower Layers.
In other words, there was no solution.
Which was why people in Little Garden joked: "Queen Halloween equals invincible."
Hearing Kenshin say Zeus would scare himself to death, Indra couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from twitching, but he steadied his expression and smiled lightly.
"Unfortunately, the Queen made it clear in her letter that she will not intervene to protect Ryo."
'This woman's words are full of lies…' Mata grumbled internally. Like hell the Queen would let her toy die. Of course she wouldn't say that out loud, and she understood perfectly well what the Queen meant.
Beside her, Kenshin frowned. "So the conflict between Zeus and Ryo still stands?"
"Exactly." Indra nodded. He then shrugged. "But at least the kid won't be treated as the Trickster anymore. Worst case is just dealing with the Greek pantheon."
Then he couldn't help asking Kenshin. "You think he can handle Zeus' pressure?"
"Handle it? That's underselling it." Kenshin's expression turned oddly complicated. "He actually wants to send Zeus away with dignity."
Indra's eyebrow twitched. Send Zeus away with dignity?
That old fox Zeus, even limited by the lower layers, was still close to his usual real strength.
Did that brat really think he could beat Zeus, someone whose strength was formidable even among the three-digits? Had his Another Cosmology already developed to that level?
Indra's face twisted strangely.
"Well… ambition is good for young people."
He paused and added. "By protocol the Heavenly Army can't interfere, but once he's at his limit, I'll show up and chat with Zeus. I'm sure he'll give me some face."
'If not, I'll force Zeus to act and push him into three-digit output. Let's see if he dares refuse me then…' Indra chuckled inwardly. Zeus had far more enemies up there in the Heavenly Realm than Indra ever did.
Those enemies usually bullied Hermes since they couldn't go for Zeus directly. But if Zeus himself showed up, they'd happily repay every grudge.
Honestly, Indra almost hoped Zeus wouldn't play along.
"If that's your decision, we'll go with it."
Kenshin sighed and glanced toward the city behind them.
"Hopefully he and Arcadia can withstand this."
"You've got a lot of faith in that kid." Indra snorted softly and followed her gaze toward the building, then looked away.
"Let's move. Time to grab Ouroboros's tail. After running me in circles like this, my gut says there might even be an old acquaintance from Buddhism hiding in there."
"Former Hindu? Or one of those sect types? Whatever, we'll see once we catch them."
Kenshin sighed again. The three of them—Mata, Indra, and herself—left Arcadia city.
---
Underground beneath the city
In the corridor leading to the dungeon, Ryo opened a letter that had been delivered straight into his hands.
{Your origins have been reasonably altered by us together with Queen Halloween.}
Below the sentence was an image of two indistinct goddesses facing each other, divine light hiding their faces.
The moment he finished reading, the letter burned up without flame or wind, turning into nothing.
Ryo narrowed his eyes and his lips curled.
"Looks like next is a proper, fair dispute with the Greeks."
He said it with a smile, but his expression quickly turned cold.
Footsteps echoed steadily.
Ryo descended deeper. Passing through a heavy door, he entered a garden blooming with countless flowers.
This was the show Baron La Croix had designed.
"Croix's Little Theater."
Ares and Hermes were imprisoned there.
.
.
.