Imprisoned for a Trillion Years, I Was Worshipped by All Gods!

"Saintess?"

A trace of confusion flashed across the crimson eyes of the black warhorse.

The girl in the princess dress, however, calmly lifted her hand and wiped the smudge off her chest.

She spoke in an even tone,

"Even the Secret Astrological Instrument, which boasts extremely high precision, can't predict every little accident in life.

Besides... he didn't do it on purpose."

The warhorse, still filled with indignation, protested,

"Not on purpose?

Does that excuse him for so casually desecrating your dignity, Saintess?

And how convenient that he just happened to touch there of all places!

I say he did it on purpose!"

The girl shook her head helplessly.

"You should know that these eyes of mine can see through everything."

She paused, her black, hollow gaze softening slightly.

"When he touched me just now, there wasn't the slightest ripple in his heart.

It was as if he were merely touching a dead object.

Do you know what that means?"

The black warhorse stiffened in shock.

"How is that possible? Is he even a man?!"

The girl chuckled lightly.

"No, it has nothing to do with whether he's a man or not.

However, his reaction just confirmed one of my suspicions."

"Oh? What suspicion?"

the warhorse asked curiously.

The girl's gaze once again turned in the direction where Alan had left.

She said softly,

"Mastering all elemental attributes is not truly remarkable.

The key lies in his Insightful Heart—a heart unbound by worldly concerns,

untainted by confusion or temptation."

"Indeed, history has recorded a few such individuals who remained pure and true to themselves.

But most of them were eventually corrupted by this world, becoming twisted and inhuman."

"But somehow, my instincts tell me that he will be different."

The girl's voice grew firmer.

"Give him time.

If when we meet again, he still preserves this purity and honesty,

then he will undoubtedly become a great asset to our Astrological Order."

"So for now, do not provoke him unnecessarily."

The warhorse nodded thoughtfully.

"Saintess, your insight is truly profound.

You are the model we should all aspire to emulate."

At these words, the girl's face darkened slightly.

"Everything I said just now," she murmured,

"was from the perspective of a saintess.

But… as a woman..."

She trailed off, her words left unsaid.

Her blushing cheeks, however, spoke volumes.

——

"That's strange.

Why is there such a huge crowd in front of the Academy today?"

After parting ways with the princess-dress girl,

Alan hadn't stayed to wander around the capital.

Instead, he made his way straight back to Sirius Academy.

Yet to his surprise, the usually quiet Academy entrance was now packed with people, bustling with energy.

Just then, someone in the crowd spotted him and shouted,

"It's Alan! Sir Alan has returned!"

The crowd instantly erupted.

Nobly dressed men and women, each exuding distinguished auras, surged toward him.

They scrambled to get close, their voices overlapping:

"Sir Alan! I wonder if you might be free later today?

My father specially sent me to invite you to our manor for a gathering!"

"Move aside, move aside!

Sir Alan is surely very busy!

If you really want to meet him often, the proper way is to join Sirius Academy!"

"Sir Alan, is Sirius still accepting new students?

Where can we apply?"

"Sir Alan, growing up, I only ever heard of magi in my grandfather's bedtime stories.

I've never actually seen a real one with my own eyes!

Could you please show us a few magus-exclusive spells?

Please, we're begging you!"

It was the first time Alan had ever been so fervently sought after.

Flustered and overwhelmed, he gave a few polite and vague replies,

but the crowd's enthusiasm only grew.

Some young girls even tried pulling on his clothes!

Not daring to linger, Alan squeezed his way out of the mob and hurriedly retreated back into the Academy grounds.

Just then, Fort, who had just finished a phase of his training, emerged from the training grounds.

They crossed paths on the walkway.

Alan was startled.

Fort's entire face, including his lips and nose, was riddled with tiny holes, all pierced through by nails.

Yet despite his ghastly appearance, Fort's skin now gleamed with a metallic sheen.

With every step he took, Alan could hear a faint sizzling noise —

the sound of metal scraping against metal.

Clearly, Fort's sharp metal-element body had been refined to an entirely new level.

Alan was genuinely surprised.

He hadn't expected such a brutal training method — literally hammering nails into oneself — to actually work!

Just as Alan marveled at this,

he sensed something — someone — quietly appearing behind him.

Without warning, a shadowy figure lunged at him,

launching a heavy, whip-like kick aimed directly at Alan's head!

Alan reacted instantly, dodging to the side with even greater speed.

But it seemed the attacker had anticipated this.

Following the missed kick, they twisted mid-air and stomped fiercely on the ground.

In an instant, a wave of black-purple gravitational ripples exploded outward.

Everything within the ripples — grass, stones, even people —

suddenly lost their gravitational anchor and floated eerily into the air.

Alan was caught too.

Suspended helplessly midair,

he couldn't use any surface to apply counter-force and reposition himself.

It was like dangling weightless in a vacuum.

Meanwhile, high above,

the shadowy figure — who had been the one to ambush him — had already built up momentum.

They plummeted down toward Alan like a falling meteor,

aiming a devastating kick at him.

"Now this is interesting."

Alan smirked.

He didn't bother casting any spells.

Instead, he focused all his mana Overpressure into his fist.

With a sharp punch, he unleashed a mana Rupture directly upward!

The rupture shot out soundlessly —

and the ambusher, still charging downward, had no time to react.

The gravity magic swirling around the attacker's body instantly collapsed,

severing their connection to mana entirely.

Alan, and everything else that had been floating, immediately dropped back down to the ground.

Everyone — except the attacker.

The figure, mid-dive and now stripped of all magical support,

plummeted like a dead bird and crashed into the ground with a heavy thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.

After a moment, as the dust cleared,

the figure was revealed — it was Francis!

"My god," Francis groaned, patting the dust off himself,

"what the hell was that move just now?

Why couldn't I cast magic all of a sudden?"

He grumbled as he staggered toward Alan.

But Alan hadn't dropped his guard.

The moment Francis closed within a few steps, Alan abruptly crouched low —

and Francis, startled, instinctively leaned backward in alarm...