Copy Skills with Affinity!

Chapter 190

Poor Harvest (2)It was true that I had summoned the body, but even so, the fact that we were right in the middle of an intense battle did not change.

Normally, I should have quickly exchanged what needed to be said and dealt damage to be of help.

But from what Aiden could see right now, the situation was unfolding in a way that made that completely unnecessary.

And for good reason.

‘…It stopped.’

Time.

It had completely stopped.

The black mist that had been slowly closing in from all directions, Noel and Katya who had been pouring out all their firepower against it—everything had frozen in place without the slightest movement.

It was as if the surrounding scenery had been captured in a photograph, everything frozen, while only Cretin and I were being recorded in motion like a video.

Seeing how it exerted a transcendent influence that stopped time everywhere except the space affected by me, I could only think that this really was a god.

“……”

As I had that thought and faced the enormous Cretin, who was looking down at me with a bright smile, I saw her body floating up and slowly drifting toward me.

“…Hic.”

I heard the sound of Cretin hiccupping from beside me.

I had felt it before when I encountered Karva, but every divine body boasted an overwhelming size. Seeing something like that rushing straight toward you—it was actually a fairly natural reaction.

Based on all the experiences I’d had with gods so far, it was common knowledge that the difference between an incarnation and the true body of a god was so vast that it seemed the similarity only extended to their appearance.

Noel, who always gave off a polite and model-student-like atmosphere, had a body that radiated extreme ferocity.

On the other hand, Katya, who felt unstable and unpredictable, had manifested a body like the embodiment of maternal love.

And Rania, who was always stiff like a stone, had manifested an unstable body with extreme emotional fluctuations.

‘…Hmm.’

At this point, it almost felt like they deliberately assigned bodies with completely opposite traits.

Then, if I applied that logic and made a simple association—

What kind of body would appear if all of Cretin’s traits were reversed?

If I flipped everything about this person—who looked stiff on the outside but was actually clumsy in everything, timid, and had low tolerance toward men—

[Ah-ha-♡]

Along with a voice laced with a nasal tone that sent chills down my spine just by hearing it, the body that Cretin had taken form as suddenly hugged me tightly.

There had been several gods who showed friendliness the moment they revealed themselves, but this was the first time one had so openly pulled me into a suffocating embrace like this.

“…Excuse me, wait. Just a second. I can’t breathe—”

[I don’t like the sound of you pulling away♡]

“……”

Yeah. Right.

I had expected something this extreme to appear.

Just hearing that honey-dripping voice with a heart at the end of every sentence made my head throb, but I still had to say what needed to be said.

“…May I, cough, ask your name?”

I was being squeezed so tightly that coughs slipped out even as I spoke, yet the arms constricting me showed no sign of loosening.

At this rate, I could believe it if someone said this wasn’t a god but an anaconda…

‘Still, I need to hear the name.’

Once a god dies, its name and true name are erased. At least, that was the rule I knew for certain.

Even so, the reason I asked was because if the god standing here now—

[Aria.]

—clearly spoke her own name like this,

then it would prove that what I had done here had been carried out properly.

Seeing her wink as she spoke, I smiled faintly and nodded.

“Nice to meet you, Aria.”

[Nice to meet you too—♡]

“……”

As she said that, she tightened her hold on me so much that it became hard to even breathe—it made me wonder if that was really necessary.

Anyway.

‘…I revived a god that already existed.’

Strictly speaking, it was impossible.

If a god that had died and come back to life still clearly remembered its name, then unless I had the authority to break through even the laws between gods themselves, it shouldn’t be possible.

In other words, it would only make sense if Urgan, who was said to have killed this god in the first place, hadn’t completely erased her.

Which meant that if Aria had appeared this completely, then there had to be at least one more god who would react to it.

“…Huh?”

Cretin flinched and looked around.

Perhaps because she was currently being used as the vessel of a god, she reacted to the changes around us faster than I did.

“W-What?!”

With that, Cretin recoiled in shock.

If a gigantic version of yourself suddenly appeared right in front of you, anyone would react that way.

But after taking a closer look, Cretin’s expression quickly turned strange.

Even at a glance, it was obvious that it was completely different from Aria’s divine body.

Especially as ‘twins,’ capable of reacting extremely sensitively to even the slightest differences between each other—

This… wasn’t Cretin, but rather a gigantic version of Rania’s form.

“…Lord Urgan?”

Then, it wasn’t difficult at all to figure out the identity of the other party.

When Cretin called out the name with a flustered expression, the other let out a short snort filled with acknowledgment.

Then she tilted her head sharply and dropped her body down toward Aiden.

Soon, her mouth opened, and like before, a vibration filled with intent spread out in all directions.

[-]

You actually did it, you bastard.

“…As promised.”

At Urgan’s tone, which sounded almost incredulous, Aiden answered calmly.

It was the kind of exchange that made Cretin, who was watching from the side, look back and forth between them with a completely bewildered expression.

“W-What do you mean, ‘as promised’?”

“Didn’t we meet once before, you and I?”

It hadn’t exactly been a pleasant meeting, but still, it was when they talked about which god had granted him power and which god was constantly aiming to devour him.

And Urgan had told him that he just needed to do ‘what he was good at’…

“What is that?”

“Picking up women.”

“……”

“…Well, I don’t think I’m particularly good at it, but everyone who sees me says that’s what I’m best at.”

…Well, looking at this man’s track record, it wasn’t entirely wrong.

Even Cretin, who heard that just now, unconsciously nodded as if it sounded convincing…

“…Anyway.”

Aiden let out a sigh and continued.

“The fact that you appeared by using her as a vessel means that you weren’t completely dead.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you weren’t killed, but deliberately left in a ‘near-death state.’”

Something must have happened, and through some method, you were put into a suspended state instead of being killed outright.

“…So you weren’t killed in battle?”

“It seems the Mountain God thinks that way, but I don’t think that situation is very logical.”

The fact that she came rushing over the moment she revived proved it.

“How did you figure that out?”

“I don’t think the fact that gods resemble humans is just about appearances.”

It felt like their very origin was rooted in human form.

At least, that’s how it felt to Aiden.

It was as if the avatars of gods in human form were the future versions of those humans after going through certain events.

If that was the case, then it also implied that the ‘relationships’ between those divine bodies might be similar to when they were human.

That was why he had planned from the beginning to make contact this way.

Urgan, the God of Ascension, and Aria, the God of Love and Intercourse.

It was such an old and forgotten detail that one would have to dig through ancient texts in a neglected archive covered in dust to find it, but the two were classified as ‘sister gods.’

At least in Aiden’s view, they weren’t the kind of beings who would do something like this for no reason.

In fact, the very Urgan standing here had withdrawn without receiving a separate ‘offering,’ which meant she had expected him to provide something ‘satisfactory’ to her instead.

The insight of gods was something mortals could never fully understand.

And so—

“I’ve made an offering.”

The greatest keyword that symbolized Urgan was ‘fairness.’

“So now it’s time for you to grant a miracle, God of Ascension.”

He had offered one of the greatest ‘wishes’ that Urgan desired—now it was her turn to give him his reward.

As if she had already known what he would ask for, Urgan simply snorted without any sign of displeasure.

Then, her mouth opened.

[-]

Do it.

And as she said that, her gaze fixed directly onto Cretin’s face.

…It was a gaze so meaningful that it made Cretin flinch.

But that wasn’t the end of it, as Aria’s voice followed immediately after.

[You have to♡]

“……”

Hearing two gods speak so firmly at the same time, Cretin’s face instantly went blank.

“…Do what?”

[-]

What do you think?

[You already know about my divine authority, don’t you, child?]

“……”

Cretin’s face gradually turned pale.

She didn’t seem to fully understand what was being said, but she could at least sense that things were heading in a very bad direction.

And the words that came from Aria’s mouth next turned that anxiety into certainty…

[You have to—an engagement♡]

“…………”

After a long silence, Cretin finally forced her mouth open.

“W-Why?”

“…She’s the God of Love and Intercourse. This is originally a ritual.”

That was why I even prepared a ring, ready to get beaten to death by Noel.

As Aiden spoke awkwardly, Urgan added indifferently.

[-]

Aria and I will serve as witnesses. It has to be done here for us to grant the blessing.

“T-That, that means, it’s just r-religious, symbolic, r-right? We don’t actually have to get engaged—”

[Do I look that easy to you?♡]

“……”

So a person could make even a nasal tone sound that threatening.

Hearing Aria’s voice turn cold, Aiden let out a sigh and took out the ring.

“…Let’s do it.”

And so—

Right in front of two gods.

“W-Wait, I need time to mentally prepa—!”

“There’s no time for that.”

With tears forming in her eyes, struggling and trying desperately to escape in every direction, Cretin was grabbed firmly by the shoulders—

And Aiden forcefully pushed the ring he had prepared onto Cretin’s finger.