Hearing that, the frightening smile on the Holy Son's face vanished, replaced by a cold expression.
"They really know how to set a price."
Fifty Authorities? Did they know the value of a single Authority?
One Authority could create a Four-Digit Outlier incarnation or train a Four-Digit Outlier.
Most Three-Digits couldn't produce Authorities beyond their primary one.
Currently, such things as Authorities were only surplus—one or two at most—for major Pantheons.
Of course, speaking of slicing off one's own Authority to separate it—normal people wouldn't do that unless insane.
Authorities used in transactions were mostly rewoven by Three-Digits based on their own Authorities—spending thousands of years—but the effort and resources weren't trivial.
Generally, even the Almighty Domain might not sell a single Authority.
These fifty Authorities could bankrupt an ordinary major Pantheon—even selling its Main God.
Though Christianity was wealthy, squandering like this was impossible.
"Are they sure I'll definitely buy it?"
The Holy Son sneered, gazing toward Arcadia.
In that direction, he seemed to see Aslan and Shiroyasha—Main God and subordinate deity—lying in bed, waiting for him to deliver Authorities.
"Just ten Authorities… I can still afford it."
The Holy Son said through gritted teeth. After all, he was a Two-Digit. Impossible he couldn't produce ten Authorities.
If he couldn't even manage this, he couldn't imagine what information Aslan, Shiroyasha, and that unknown poet who started the hellish joke would fabricate.
Then, the Holy Son closed his eyes, face dark, separated a wisp of thought, and angrily hurled the ten Authorities like meteors toward Shiroyasha.
Nearly hitting her.
But realizing they were Authorities, Shiroyasha wasn't angry at all—grinning widely.
"As Aslan said—Authorities really can fall from the sky."
Hearing that, the Holy Son's face darkened further. If he could beat Shiroyasha, he'd truly drag her out for an outer-world fight.
When the Holy Son's thought returned, Buddha Dīpaṁkara beside him hesitated to speak.
"Actually… Your Excellency Holy Son, no need to buy a full week outright. It can be adjusted…"
The Holy Son paid so quickly—even he felt ashamed.
After all, Thousand Eyes was always very humane in selling information. Five Authorities for one-day buyout—then one Authority per day.
Buy five days, get two free.
Only because the Holy Son was too angry and lost reason did he overlook this.
The moment those words left his mouth, the air fell silent.
The Holy Son had never wanted to tear someone's mouth off like now.
This mouth—sanctified by Buddha—wasn't it a bit too poisonous?
He stared at Buddha Dīpaṁkara, gnashing teeth, saying word by word.
"Can't I have money? Can't there be a little more error margin over seven days?"
(Just ten Authorities—I don't feel cheated at all! Really—not the least bit cheated…)
"Yes, yes—of course Your Excellency Holy Son can."
Buddha Dīpaṁkara nodded like a pecking chicken.
Instinct told him the Holy Son was on the brink of collapse. One more mistake—
The Holy Son before him would truly disregard Buddha's reputation—tear him apart and swallow him alive.
Then, Buddha Dīpaṁkara began explaining the information on summoning King of the End early.
"I'm sure Your Excellency Holy Son knows this Campione War's cause was Queen Halloween's Knight, King Arthur, observing a world called Campione while scouting others."
"And in that world, he became King of the End—triggering a Historical Transition Period and returning to Little Garden."
"But that world's coordinates were bought outright by Thousand Eyes—or rather, to avoid chaos, both Excellencies intervened."
"Meaning Campione, Heretic Gods, King of the End, and Dark Christmas Season all originate from that world."
"And the method to awaken King of the End was also found there."
"In that world, King of the End was granted a weapon called the Divine Sword of Salvation by gods and fate. It's a collection of countless weapons the Savior obtained from heavenly gods while saving the world and exterminating Devil Kings."
"Clearly, in Little Garden, this possibility isn't fully realized. King Arthur should only have all Celtic Pantheon weapons in hand."
"So—as long as Your Excellency Holy Son sacrifices Christian artifact weapons to forge the Divine Sword of Salvation—you can awaken King of the End and fill his weapon deficiency."
After hearing Buddha Dīpaṁkara's information, the Holy Son sat, tapping the table in a certain rhythm, lost in thought.
In fact, since that non-rumor rumor—spread by who-knows-who—his position in Christianity wasn't very stable.
Current Christianity was no longer his absolute domain.
Even requesting Christianity offer all artifact weapons—though just summonable concepts—was somewhat difficult.
While thinking, he suddenly tilted his head, looking at Buddha Dīpaṁkara.
Instinct told him Buddha Dīpaṁkara was hiding something again. Buddha elders were surely involved.
"Actually… Your Excellency—one artifact weapon works too—just the success rate might be lower, and the ritual a bit troublesome."
Buddha Dīpaṁkara said trembling. His current actions—besides remote control by Aslan—were mostly his own initiative.
Only before coming, Aslan told him—if he could make the Holy Son turn all Christian artifact weapons into the Divine Sword of Salvation—he'd get one Authority as reward.
But it seemed he wouldn't get this reward.
Of course, this action's basic purpose was to reduce the Holy Son's suspicion of Buddha Dīpaṁkara and deepen his stereotype of Buddha people—especially man-made Buddha lineage.
Need to know—man-made Buddha lineage was known for soliciting donations from followers to gild bodies—showing how poor and shameless they were.
Buddha Dīpaṁkara himself betrayed Tongtian Sect Master in Investiture of the Gods.
So—even meeting a Two-Digit—taking bribes wasn't strange.
If he made the Holy Son spend big—Aslan naturally wouldn't skimp on rewards.
Hearing that, the Holy Son stared at Buddha Dīpaṁkara for a long time before saying.
"Hope there's no next time. You surely understand my meaning."
Buddha Dīpaṁkara nodded vigorously. No—definitely no next time.
Just a small Authority—how could it compare to his life?
The world's saddest thing was dying with money unspent—only benefiting others.
But the Holy Son also felt relieved. In a sense, this news' signal could be seen as a goodwill gesture and peace offer from Thousand Eyes to him.
Giving the Holy Son a chance to become King of the End early—avoiding direct confrontation with Aslan in the Campione War—helping him secure final victory sooner.
Sending him straight to the finals.
In his view—this was compensation from the two goddesses. He didn't think Shiroyasha and Aslan would allow this information sold to him.
Not interfering was already good.
A smile appeared on the Holy Son's face—but it was extraordinarily cold.
This compensation—he accepted. Past matters could be forgotten—but if it happened again.
Don't blame him for being impolite.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Meanwhile, in Arcadia—Aslan, counting harvest with Shiroyasha and Algol—suddenly sneezed.
"Who's thinking of me again?"
Aslan rubbed his nose—completely unaware the trap he set for the Holy Son was seen as a goodwill gesture?
After thinking long and failing to understand—Aslan chose to continue sharing spoils with them.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
On the other side, the Holy Son also brought Buddha Dīpaṁkara to prepare King of the End summoning ritual.
Though he greatly disliked Buddha Dīpaṁkara—a man-made Buddha with poor reputation in Buddha—the Thousand Eyes information was in his head.
Though he could read it—Thousand Eyes set restrictions: no memory extraction, no writing—only verbal.
This prevented resale.
Of course, some cunning people had ways around it—but unfortunately Buddha Dīpaṁkara didn't.
The Holy Son was reluctant and didn't want to extract Buddha Dīpaṁkara's memories. Accidentally triggering something making his ten-Authority information inaccurate wouldn't be good.
So the Holy Son—though unwilling—had to bring Buddha Dīpaṁkara and leave ritual setup to him.
"Your Excellency Holy Son—please insert a powerful, famous artifact weapon into the ritual."
After setup, the Holy Son produced a bright red spear—thrusting it into the ritual's center.
Seeing the spear, Buddha Dīpaṁkara froze. He looked at the Holy Son confused.
(Wait—what do you mean giving the Longinus Spear—that once wounded you—to King of the End?)
Not understanding this big shot's thoughts—Buddha Dīpaṁkara shook his head helplessly and continued leading King of the End awakening ritual.
"Your Excellency Holy Son—one more item is missing from the ritual preparations—and it's the most important for awakening King of the End: the Holy Grail."
The so-called Holy Grail was just a cup containing the Holy Son's blood. For the Holy Son—this shouldn't be hard to obtain.
Hearing that, the Holy Son froze—then smiled.
He'd been puzzled how to place the Holy Grail on the battlefield. Wasn't this reason coming itself?
With the ritual's help—he could reasonably place a Holy Grail that could revive him—without arousing others' suspicion.