Regardless of what Ikelos thought, Bell had already made the decision for him.
He led Ikelos into the small treehouse.
The interior was simple, with only a central experimental table and four cushioned wooden sofas along the edges.
"Oh~ this kid's pretty considerate."
Loki's eyes lit up at the sight of four seats, and she immediately claimed the one closest to the center.
"Tch, as if you need to point that out."
Hestia pouted. Who would ever doubt her child's thoughtfulness?
She pulled Hephaestus to a seat, though they sat closer to the edge rather than next to Loki.
That left Hephaestus sandwiched between Hestia and Loki. Hermes, of course, had no say at all—especially in front of three goddesses.
Once the four gods had taken their seats, their attention shifted to the experimental table at the center.
Bell strapped Ikelos onto it, leaving the collar around his neck in place. Rather than removing it, he bound it directly to the table.
Drawing the "Hestia Knife" from four-dimensional space, Bell steadied himself, then swung the weapon in a reverse grip, cleaving down at Ikelos's right hand.
"Pshhk!"
The adventurer's speed was overwhelming. Before Ikelos could even react, his hand was already flying through the air.
Then the pain struck.
"Aaaaaah!"
His uncontrolled scream made the four seated gods jolt in surprise.
After the wail, a faint white light flickered at the stump, but crimson flames flared across the severed wound, completely suppressing the light's effect.
'I see.'
Bell examined the shoulder where the arm had been severed and found the same crimson flames suppressing the white glow there as well.
'So 'Godslayer' wasn't just a name.'
'Also, when gods descend to Genkai, they don't just project a fragment of themselves into a vessel. Instead, through self-imposed sealing, they bring down both their divine power and their physical body together.'
The realization struck Bell like a thunderclap—it was a groundbreaking discovery.
It meant gods could actually be killed.
But he quickly reined in that thought. Gods in Genkai could die, but only if one found a way to counter their divine power and disrupt the mechanism that triggered their return to Tenkai.
Bell's eyes fixed on Ikelos's severed arm.
'The soul itself has been cut away.'
The soul of a god was fundamentally different from that of monsters, mortals, or Spirits.
Up until now, Bell had only ever seen the souls of humans, monsters, and Spirits. This was his first time witnessing the soul of a deity.
Carefully inspecting the soul at the severed limb, Bell confirmed its strength.
It was unimaginably high.
The conclusion didn't surprise him much—this was only natural.
A mortal's soul could be severed, and this had nothing to do with power. It was determined solely by the soul's inherent strength.
Slightly stronger than mortals are monsters.
Stronger still are Spirits—back when Bell was Lv.4, all he could do was frighten a Spirit into tearing her own soul apart.
But the soul of a god was nothing like that of a Spirit. Normally, Bell could never sever something of such intensity. Yet "Godslayer" gave him that qualification.
For the first time, he had truly cut away a portion of a god's complete soul.
Bell picked up the severed arm and examined it carefully.
'I see. Without Godslayer, there's no way I could have cut through a god's soul.'
'But this only proves further that gods possess an immortality beyond imagination.'
"Hey, kid, don't just sit there brooding. With a bloody scene like this, the least you can do is share your findings."
Holding the severed arm while Loki-sama's complaint rang from behind, Bell felt a little helpless, but he didn't refuse.
"I'm thinking... the immortality of gods is directly tied to their souls..."
"The souls of humans are relatively fragile. With the right preparations, you can destroy a whole soul at the moment of death, preventing rebirth."
"The same goes for monsters. With some preparation, the souls created by the Dungeon can be dispersed back into energy instead of entering reincarnation."
"But the strength of a god's soul far surpasses that of humans or monsters. Even Spirits are several tiers below."
"Normally, even with my current power, I couldn't split a god's soul."
Runes are a complete and perfect system of power. But if the user doesn't have the ability to wield that power fully, then the effect of the runes is naturally suppressed.
By Bell's rough estimate, without the Development Ability 'Godslayer,' he would have needed to reach at least Lv.8 before he could cut through a god's soul.
But 'Godslayer' had advanced that process by a huge step.
"'Godslayer' has allowed me to strike at a god's soul earlier than should be possible."
"But..."
Bell lifted the severed arm again. With his free hand shaped like a claw, he grasped at the stump—and pulled forth a spectral arm, the soul itself dragged free from the flesh.
"Even though I can sever a god's soul and inflict lasting damage on their body, at Lv.5 I still can't deliver a fatal, annihilating blow to the soul itself."
"So I've reached another conclusion."
"Because a god's soul is deeply bound to their Authority, I can't destroy it outright."
"To annihilate a god's soul, you would first have to completely separate it from their Authority. If that can't be done, then even if their body is slain, their Authority will carry their soul back to Tenkai."
"The destroyed body may never recover, but given time it can be remade."
"So, the true key to killing a god lies in how to separate their soul from their Authority."
...
For more chapters, feel free to follow me on P@treon.
(100 Chapters Ahead)
[email protected]/PinkSnake