Great Secret Ritual, activate!
Hearing Verethragna's words, Pandora immediately began the ritual with excitement.
Verethragna wasn't a Steel God, so Pandora didn't have any particular hatred toward him, but she also had no special connection.
Her cooperation with Verethragna this time was naturally for only one reason—for her disobedient new child.
"The War God's true power sounds amazing! Quick, quick, quick, the ritual is about to begin!"
Pandora immediately urged as she pulled Ryuga's hand, making him sit close beside her, saying it was necessary for the ritual.
Though he could see this was a lie, this time Ryuga didn't refuse.
First, because he had already confirmed that Pandora had absolutely no hostility.
Second, because he still had questions to ask.
For example—
"Do you know what power Verethragna was talking about?"
Ryuga asked puzzledly.
"I don't know!"
Pandora shook her head righteously.
"..."
Ryuga was immediately speechless.
You don't know but you're this excited?
"Ehe! I don't know, but the War God wouldn't lie. If he says so, it must be something good!"
Pandora stuck out her tongue, looking very happy for Ryuga.
"Fine."
Ryuga shook his head, temporarily setting aside this doubt.
Authorities and such—he'd naturally understand after the ritual ended. No need to rush.
Compared to this, what he was more interested in was actually something else.
"This is the core divine artifact of the Campione reincarnation ritual?"
Ryuga's gaze quickly fell on the steel disc in Pandora's hands.
The center of the steel disc was carved with an ancient dragon head, surrounded by eight longswords.
"That's right!"
Hearing Ryuga ask about this, Pandora immediately puffed out her slender chest proudly.
"This divine artifact is called the Ring of Usurpation! It took me over a thousand years just to find this thing, then another thousand years to design the Campione reincarnation ritual!"
"It's precisely thanks to this divine artifact that my children can become Campiones capable of matching gods!"
Saying this, remembering the battle scene of Ryuga she had seen earlier, Pandora added another sentence.
"Uh! Your special case of being able to defeat gods head-on before becoming a Campione doesn't count!"
At this moment, the Ring of Usurpation was radiating divine light in all directions. After completely absorbing all of Verethragna's power, this divine artifact officially began the transfer of Authority.
Feeling the magical fluctuations during the ritual's progress, dozens of thousands of models simultaneously operated in Ryuga's mind.
With Ryuga's comprehension, just by observing the entire process, this great secret ritual would hold no secrets for him.
However, if he only wanted to understand this secret ritual, there was actually a simpler method at the moment.
For example—
"Pandora, can you explain the construction principles of the reincarnation technique?"
"Remember to call me mama!"
After pouting slightly to correct him, Pandora looked up at Ryuga.
"Explaining is fine! But even after I explain, you'll probably forget when you go out, unless your spirit has reached the realm of enlightenment—otherwise you won't remember anything."
Obviously, Pandora had no intention of hiding anything.
Having seen Ryuga's battle footage, she knew Ryuga was very interested in mythological techniques.
It was just that if he would forget after being told, then explaining would be meaningless.
For others, the explanation would end here, but since the subject was Ryuga, Pandora studied him carefully and still confirmed:
"Though generally, enlightened people can't become Campiones, your situation is beyond even my understanding. Do you think you can remember?"
"If the enlightenment you're referring to means seeing one's true nature clearly, I have no problem."
Ryuga nodded calmly.
In his original comprehensive daily world, almost all other mystical cultivation methods were ineffective, with only mind-nature cultivation being the exception.
So in this area, Ryuga did have some small achievements.
It was just that, considering that enlightenment in medical diagnosis seemed to share symptoms with schizophrenia, Ryuga hadn't delved too deeply.
But regardless, handling the current small situation was definitely sufficient.
"Worthy of being my child!"
Pandora naturally had no doubt about Ryuga's words.
"Doesn't this mean that even after going out, you won't forget mama?"
Thinking of this point, Pandora became completely excited.
After all these years, this was the only child who could still remember her after leaving.
"Mm."
"Wonderful! Long live little Ryuga!"
Seeing Ryuga nod, Pandora couldn't help but hug him directly.
It was clear that staying in this blank room every day really made her very lonely, and she desperately hoped someone could remember her.
Ryuga didn't reject Pandora's closeness too much, but he still punished her for not getting to the point.
"Thwack!"
"Uu~ You can't just bully mama randomly!"
Rubbing the slightly painful spot on her head with one hand, Pandora complained once, then obediently began explaining the construction details of the Campione reincarnation ritual.
Ryuga already had some understanding of the Campione reincarnation ritual, and after hearing her explanation, he quickly grasped the principles.
This ritual's origin was related to the large-scale replacement of matriarchal Earth Mother Goddesses by patriarchal Steel Hero Gods during the mythological age.
Ever since humans mastered fire and smelted iron from the earth, patriarchal clans' combat power increased dramatically while matriarchal clans' survival probability gradually decreased. This natural succession was reflected in mythology as legends of Steel Hero Gods defeating Earth Mother Goddesses, stripping them of their power and Authority, and making them subordinate.
Among these, as the defeated party, Earth Mother Goddesses were naturally described as evil dragons and serpents, while Steel Gods appeared as heroes.
As victors, Steel Hero Gods not only boasted of their power but also appropriated the defeated's Authority through various means.
Under these circumstances, Authority originally belonging to Earth Mother Goddesses was extensively usurped by Steel Hero Gods as victors.
Steel born from the earth, conversely, possessed the power to drain the earth's essence and seize Earth Mother Goddesses' Authority.
For Earth Mother Goddesses, this was naturally tremendous humiliation.
At that time, Steel Hero Gods who were too warlike were also tremendous disasters for humanity.
Witnessing this situation, Pandora painstakingly found the divine artifact Steel Gods used to usurp Earth Mother Goddesses' Authority, and after modification, formed the current Campione great secret ritual.
Just as Steel Hero Gods could seize Earth Mother Goddesses' Authority, Campiones could also use this to usurp gods' Authority.
This could probably be considered a kind of karmic cycle!
To be continued…
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