Back in his luxurious suite on the yacht, Roy began to examine himself. This Pandora Dark Festival had once again bestowed upon him a new power - "Seeing the Face of God"!
In legend, Metatron held the title of "The Face of God". It was said that mortals could not look directly at God, and among all the angels, only Metatron had this honor, able to gaze upon God, to see the Great Face of the Most High.
The power "Seeing the Face of God" was derived from this legend.
"So, that's why I felt a cursed weakness after seeing Metatron's face on the island of Ponza. It was from this power."
Roy sat in his luxurious, antique wooden chair, feeling the yacht accelerating towards the mainland of Italy.
"This world doesn't have the Cthulhu myth... but then again, it takes hundreds of years for a myth to form and it needs to be intertwined with human history. Cthulhu has only been around for a hundred years, and it's just a novel. For this myth to birth an Unborn God, it would take a few hundred more years. Even then, the Cthulhu myth would need to be remembered by humanity for centuries to come."
"...In the Cthulhu myth, those who see the Great Old Ones go mad. Human brains cannot comprehend such beings and are polluted by their presence. Applying this conclusion to Yahweh also holds true. Human understanding cannot grasp the greatness of God, so when they see His 'Face', they receive a curse."
"From this perspective, are Great Old Ones and other gods really any different?"
Roy sighed, recalling how Metatron had used this power. Through Metatron's face, he had glimpsed another great being, receiving a terrible curse as a result. Even his Curse Power had become weak.
When actively used, this power would make those who beheld it feel as if they had seen Yahweh, causing their perception to be clouded, leaving them weakened by a powerful curse.
A God Slayer with high magical resistance might only experience weakness from the curse, but an ordinary person with little magical resistance would go mad or even die. This was a power that truly could "handsomely" kill its opponents.
"Even when slaying the same god, different God Slayers acquire different powers, depending on their individual compatibility. Why did I get this power?"
Roy touched his face, then muttered to himself, "...Could it be that I was average-looking in the past, always complaining about not being handsome enough to find a girlfriend, and in my desperation for that, I got a power that directly 'handsomes' people to death."
Although it was a self-deprecating remark, Roy felt it might be true.
During his fight with Metatron, Metatron had used two powers: one was "Seeing the Face of God", the other was a power he had usurped through writing.
That usurped power seemed mighty, but it had many limitations in its activation. Now, Roy's "Holy Right" already had plenty of restrictions, and the "Holy Right" was incredibly comprehensive in battle. Therefore, Roy had absolutely no interest in Metatron's usurped power.
"Seeing the Face of God", in Roy's opinion, was perfect for him. This auxiliary power without restrictions could significantly enhance his combat ability.
Fortunately, this power could be controlled freely, with "active" and "passive" modes. Otherwise, Roy might have had to find a mask to wear, only removing it when he needed to "handsomely" kill his opponents.
In passive mode, the power would naturally bestow upon Roy "divine majesty", making him appear more sacred, in simple terms, making him more like a holy man. It would make people easily trust him, like a "Son of God", through a near-curse.
When actively used, the curse would become much stronger. In Roy's opinion, if this insidious power were to suddenly activate during intense combat, the enemies would be caught off guard because they would have to be focused on their opponent. The curse would create a huge opening for a killshot.
A very useful auxiliary ability, both in daily life and combat – this was Roy's assessment of "Seeing the Face of God".
"But I'd rather evolve my "Holy Right" than gain a new power, giving me a qualitative change."
Roy frowned and clenched his fist. After killing Metatron, as he expected, his Curse Power hadn't increased at all. It was the same as after his first God Slaying. The power of his "Holy Right" had not changed either.
If this was what it meant to be a God Slayer, then even if Roy killed dozens of Unborn Gods, he would only have more diverse abilities, not any qualitative change. It wouldn't be a true breakthrough.
Having more diverse powers would naturally lead to more options against enemies of equal strength, thus increasing the likelihood of victory. But the inability of a God Slayer to become stronger in "quality" was also their greatest weakness, like a limiter completely restricting them.
In Roy's view, Metatron and Michael had many overlapping legends. However, he had slain both gods and yet there was no change. It seemed likely that there would be no change even if he killed other Unborn Gods.
"Don't worry. Metatron, the Unborn, his 'core', what you call his 'Spiritual Basis', has been preserved by me."
A light appeared behind Roy. It was the "Holy Guardian Angel" Evas, with her long golden hair reaching her waist, dressed in a white linen robe, a halo above her head. She appeared in an ethereal form.
"Metatron's Spiritual Basis is highly similar to Michael's. The chance of fusing them is extremely high. When I completely decipher and modify the Pandora Ritual, I can apply the new ritual to you, break your God Slayer limitations, and bring you to see the Pandora Dark Festival once more. That will deepen my understanding."
"...But even when this new ritual is complete, not all Unborn God Spiritual Bases can be fused with you. Your initial God Slayer target was Michael, so you already possess Michael's nature. Therefore, you can only fuse those that are similar to Michael. The more similar a god is to Michael, the greater the benefit you will receive from killing them."
Hearing Evas' words, Roy's worries were alleviated. A flicker of joy crossed his face. "...As expected of Evas, you were able to retain Metatron's Spiritual Basis."
"As a spirit, I cannot interfere with the material world. It is only because you slew Metatron, that when his Spiritual Basis was about to dissipate, it broke free from the material world, allowing me to do this."
Evas spoke calmly. Her voice had a strong human emotion, but there was no arrogance in her words.
"But Roy, you must understand, I can only modify the ritual, not perform it. Therefore, I can only transmit the knowledge of this new ritual to you. You will need to activate it yourself. You must have sufficient knowledge to understand what I tell you."
"That's right. The meaning that human language can convey is too limited. There are some things that I cannot explain. You need to understand them through magic."
Evas nodded slightly.
"I understand. That means I need to continue studying hard. Ugly people should read more. If I had had this motivation to learn back then, I would have gotten into Tsinghua or Peking University."
Roy gave a wry smile, then he took out the ring he had found in the ruins of Solomon's Temple.