My Alter Ego's Path to Greatness

Translator Note: I am on the Plane right now, will only do a few chapters and I am using Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking (Newly released model) to test the waters out.

Pantheon, a collective body where numerous religious orders are united as one. As such, within it, there were various factions composed of those with similar inclinations and doctrines. If one were merely a regular member, they could simply focus on their own religious life without worrying about such complex circumstances. However, it was always the case that in any organization, as one climbed higher, the importance of politics grew even greater. If that position were a seat on the Operating Committee, which determined the direction of the massive organization Pantheon, and furthermore, a position representing a specific faction, then becoming even busier whenever something happened was inevitable. Just like the person here, currently sitting in the back seat of a car driven by a knight, moving somewhere.

'Annoying, but it can't be helped. All because that Heinrich guy is spouting nonsense…'

Adeline Schneider, a woman with ash-gray hair, gently closed her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose. As one of the twelve members of the Pantheon's leadership, the Committee of Twelve, and also the North America Branch Secretary of the Divine Retribution Society, she was spending her days in a flurry of busyness due to recent events.

'Just how did he summon a Gold Dragon? To think he could bring not only himself but also a completely separate being to Earth. Unless there was divine intervention, summoning a being of that magnitude would be impossible.'

It was a major incident on a completely different scale from when a black magician had summoned a Lesser Dragon not too long ago. Even that time was quite unusual and caused a great stir, but this time, a living being from another world with complete intelligence appearing on Earth was truly a historical event. Given such a situation, naturally, even more weight had to be placed on the claims made by the one who caused such a miracle, Saint Heinrich Saint Landgard of Auterika. The reason she was so busy managing factions was also because of him, the issue had been brought up to the Operating Committee, hadn't it?

'Tch, those fanatics never make things easy. Earthlings, yet they fall for the temptation of Outer Gods and defile this land, those traitorous bastards... And now, they're even pricking up their ears at the nonsense of an outsider from another world.'

Adeline's brow furrowed. Although she had worked in Pantheon for a long time, proving her abilities and faith to reach her current position, she had never once thought of other clergy members as her colleagues. She was merely enduring and waiting for the right time, according to the will of her god.

'In any case, things have become troublesome. The name of the Divine Retribution Society is being openly mentioned here and there. If the fanatics here start running wild on their own, it's going to be a pain…'

To put it nicely, they were clergy members, but among priests who used divine power, there were none who weren't mentally ill. Of course, including herself, who was a special case.

'The world only spreads bad stories about black magic users. But if you really think about it, the degree of mental contamination from divine power is just as significant.'

The side effect of divine power was fanaticism. It was just that it wasn't as outwardly noticeable compared to black magic, but it was an open secret that most clergy members were subtly insane. From the start, since they were receiving power from divine beings with vastly different levels and using it, it was only natural that the users would be influenced by the object of their faith. Furthermore, in a system where the deeper the faith, the stronger the divine power one could use, becoming a high-ranking clergy member was synonymous with being that much more out of one's mind.

"Hoo."

She let out a soft sigh and leaned back against the seat, raising a hand to cover her eyes. Recalling the tasks she had to do in the future made her feel a headache coming on for no reason.

'…It's alright. It's still only in the discussion stage. Besides, with nothing confirmed, they won't be able to easily pinpoint me, a member of the Committee of Twelve.'

By dragging out time like that, she could pin everything on the real 'follower of an evil god' she had already identified. She would have to lay low for a while, but since it wasn't the time to rashly step forward yet, doing so now was the best course of action.

'How annoying. Heinrich… I'll definitely repay you for this… Hmm?'

Then, at some moment. As if cutting off her complicated thoughts midway—.

Screech—!

The car she was in suddenly screeched to a halt. Her upper body lurched violently forward due to inertia. At that, Adeline, already in an unpleasant mood,'s eyes narrowed sharply.

"What's going on suddenly?"

"I, I apologize. Priestess-nim. Someone suddenly cut in front, and I…."

At the driver's reply to her composed questioning, her eyebrows twitched. Indeed, looking towards the windshield, a suspicious person wearing a motorcycle helmet was blocking the road the car was supposed to pass through. However, even after understanding the cause, her rigid expression did not relax.

'…Just when did they get this close?'

Even though she was active as a clergy member, she was also a powerhouse renowned as a superhuman. And yet, until seeing them directly with her own eyes, she hadn't even sensed the opponent approaching…

Honk honk!

"Hey, what are you doing in the middle of the road? Move aside now!"

While she was lost in thought like that. The driver, cautiously watching her, honked the horn and raised his voice. He was clearly tense at the suspicious appearance of the opponent, but with one of the Pantheon's leaders riding behind him, he couldn't just hesitate. Because if he just dilly-dallied and displeased her, he could lose his job.

"Ahahaha, I'm really sorry… Excuse me, but there's something I'd like to ask."

"Even so, how can you suddenly jump out onto the road like that? What if there was an accident?"

"I apologize, I was in a real hurry, and I just…"

At the opponent's attitude of constantly apologizing, the driver's expression softened slightly. Both the soothing, gentle voice and the somewhat languid tone of speech exuded the opponent's harmlessness.

"So, about that, is the person inside right now perhaps the Secretary-nim?"

However, at the opponent's following question, the driver's tension, which had been slowly easing, tightened again. An unidentified suspicious person asking who is in the car. It was clear at a glance that they weren't someone with good intentions, right?

"Secretary? I can't tell you who's inside, but it seems you've got the wrong address. More than that, I'm warning you, the person riding in here is of higher standing than you think, so it would be best for you to back off now."

However, the man who received the answer to his question didn't pay any attention to the driver's reaction. He simply felt the aura emanating from the back seat of the vehicle surge up as if about to explode, and slowly raised the corner of his lips.

"...It seems I've come to the right place after all."

"Hey! It seems you don't understand something. In the first place, in Pantheon, a religious union, the position of Secretary doesn't exist, nor can it exist…!"

The driver's words, raising his voice at the non sequitur, could not continue to the end. Suddenly swaying his upper body while still in the driver's seat, he soon lost consciousness and collapsed onto the steering wheel, passing out.

Baaang—

The horn sound echoed loudly. Against the backdrop of that sound, Adeline, slowly opening the rear door and stepping out, gazed at the unidentified figure with her eyes narrowed. A man who had come, knowing her identity exactly, wearing baggy clothes that made it impossible to gauge his physique, and a helmet covering his entire head.

'They've already activated a barrier. Did they prepare it in advance and just trigger it? They were waiting, fully prepared from the start.'

Furthermore, from the opponent, there was even a subtly inhuman atmosphere, as if a part of nature had been clumped together as it was. That was something quite unfamiliar even for her, who had experienced all sorts of hardships, both on land and in the air. Therefore, before resorting to force, she first opened her mouth to gather as much information about the opponent as possible.

"You, I don't know who you are, but are you confident you can handle the aftermath? To dare attack me, a member of the Committee of Twelve of Pantheon. You won't have an easy death."

"Ahahaha… I'm not the type to think about the consequences before doing things. To be honest, even now I'm wondering if I came for nothing. Even though I deliberately prepared an air purification magic tool, it's still hard to breathe. Really, how does everyone live in a place like this…."

"Enough with the pointless talk. So, what is your purpose?"

Contrary to the fierce auras rising and the two sides being on edge, a composed conversation began to take place between them. On the surface, it seemed like it could be resolved peacefully…

"Purpose, you say… Having come all the way here, what else would I want?"

Such an atmosphere did not last long. Around the suspicious person wearing a helmet-type magic tool with air purification function, translucent figures revealing their forms one by one. Those were beings that one would never expect to see in this world.

"What I desire, from the beginning, is only one thing."

"...Spirits?"

Adeline's face stiffened. Those weren't just mediocre, low-level ones. Ultra-high-level spirits that even she could not underestimate… were revealing themselves in droves, as if they had been waiting for this moment.

"My purpose is the destruction of the Divine Retribution Society. In other words—."

While clearly expressing hostility towards her. At a timing the Secretary had not anticipated, by an opponent she had not expected at all.

"It is your death."

They launched a preemptive attack in an unexpected way.

Kwaaaang—!

In a form accompanied by a violent explosion and destruction.

'Excellent. The response is much better than I anticipated.'

Harris, a high elf who had crossed over to Earth after a long time, slowly nodded his head, encased in a helmet. Originally, the power of the spirits should have been drastically reduced, but thanks to the two instances of 『Dimensional Barrier Relaxation』, the decrease in their power wasn't as significant as he had thought.

Kwarururung—!

Ultra-high voltage current poured out from the body of Watt, the spirit of lightning, and lava-like flames erupted from Callie, the spirit of fire. Sharp winds came from Pascal, the spirit of wind, and heavy vibrations from Decibel, the spirit of sound. Hectare, the spirit of earth, Lumen, the spirit of light, and Liter, the spirit of water, who had steadily grown since their new contracts, also unleashed their powers as if not to be outdone.

"Kuh! Spirits? This is more unexpected than before. And to handle so many at once…? Just what kind of unique skill do you possess to make this possible?"

However, with just that, it wasn't easy to deal with the Secretary, who was scattering sunset-colored radiance from her whole body. Like an emissary of god, a female warrior clad in armor woven from divine power, holding a large shield and hammer in both hands. She was buying time, enduring the spirits' onslaught that poured down like a shower with her overwhelming defense based on pure divine power. As if time was on her side anyway.

'That is…? …Indeed, as I thought.'

And Harris, who had already used 『Dimensional Barrier Relaxation』 twice, could sense a certain strangeness in her divine power. That thing that anyone who used divine power inevitably had to endure. The decrease in efficiency due to the phase difference between dimensions, was not visible in her at all.

'The Secretary's divine power must be received from the Divine Retribution Society Lord. Since the foundation of that power is on the same Earth, it's inevitable that it wouldn't be affected by dimensions.'

Perhaps that was the decisive driving force that allowed her to climb to the leadership position in Pantheon. From the start, her conditions were different from others, so reaching the top without going all out wouldn't have been difficult.

'Well, if you think about it that way, Heinrich is in a similar position, though.'

Harris took a small breath, composing himself, his star-shaped pupils shining inside the helmet. Certainly, with this air purification magic tool, it was much better than breathing with his bare lungs, but since his breathing, as a being closest to nature, wasn't simply done through lungs, it was still just as arduous.

'It seems using spirits is making it even harder. I should finish this as quickly as possible after all.'

Firmly. Amidst the indiscriminate bombardment of as many as seven high-level spirits, with everything around becoming a mess. He tightly gripped Themis, the bow made from a branch of the World Tree, held in his hand. Since he had set up a formation using 「Modified Nature's Eight Trigram」 around the area, there was no need to worry about unnecessary damage. Using that power, even the driver and the car he was driving, who were just in place moments ago, had already been moved to a safe location. For him, who could freely manipulate the energy of nature with 「Modified Nature's Eight Trigram」, the mystery of a formation that could artificially arrange the energy of nature to create an environment desired by the caster was nothing short of a perfect match. And hadn't the necessary knowledge for that been sufficiently provided by the Jegal Clan and Geumodo?

Squeak—

One arrow made from a World Tree branch was nocked onto the bowstring. Against the tension that seemed like it would be released at any moment, power began to rapidly concentrate within it.

Goooo—

Pure natural power, as well as processed energy and the various elemental energies of the spirits, were all sucked into one point. And the moment that destructive energy, condensed to its limit, was released.

———!

As if cleaving through space, a line of light pierced the air.

Kwaaaang—!

After a burst of explosion passed. Harris's expression stiffened.

"Ah, I didn't expect this…"

Looking at the familiar figure blocking his target, the Secretary.