Seeing Shiomi beckon to her, Morgan more or less understood what he intended.
Since one-third was already with her, then after recovering the new one-third of the authority, the most effective course was naturally to hand that over to her as well and keep the authority gathered in one place.
"But if my beloved disciple and Morgan each held one-third, what would happen then?" Scáthach watched from the side, her tone carrying a faint trace of envy.
Shiomi thought for a mont. "It would probably increase each person's combat strength before transforming into the Unity God, but it would also lower the Unity God's expected combat strength."
"Hm..." Scáthach fell into thought.
"So what your master ans is, there wouldn't be any new power or form?" Skadi added at that point. "For example, what if one of us received the authority instead?"
There was no hidden agenda in her words. Skadi simply spoke her mind frankly.
She was discussing it with Shiomi in complete sincerity.
"What? Do you want to know what it feels like to beco one with my husband too?" Morgan stopped halfway over, planting herself between Shiomi and the other three as she looked Skadi over with a smiling expression.
Skadi froze for a mont, and a faint blush appeared on her face. "It has nothing to do with that... I was just thinking of the saying, 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket.'"
"That may be true, but there's also the saying that it's best to put all your eggs in one basket and keep a close eye on that basket." Shiomi held the authority, which had taken on an irregular shape. "Or Master, or whoever wants to, can co try it and find out."
The mont he said that, Scáthach had already stepped over the broken bricks of the Ka'an ruins and co to stand before him.
"Then let's try it," she said, crouching down and kneeling on one knee in front of Shiomi.
"This feels a bit like that graduation ritual back then," he said, holding back a laugh as he brought the authority toward Scáthach's chest.
Following Shiomi's will, the authority moved toward Scáthach's body, slowly sinking into her.
"Mm..." Scáthach's face tightened in discomfort.
"You don't have to force yourself, Master." Shiomi sounded worried.
Scáthach gave him a smile. "My beloved disciple carries quite a lot of weight. I'm not sure I can handle it."
"Aren't you worried that saying sothing like that will profane a sacred authority?" Morgan said, sounding a little speechless.
Artoria gave the sort of awkward smile that said she understood perfectly. "Scáthach probably just wants to lighten the mood, so let's let it slide."
They kept chatting like that, but none of them took their eyes off Scáthach and Shiomi.
At the instant the authority, guided by Shiomi's will, had almost fully rged into Scáthach's body, a trendous repulsive force burst out and sent her flying backward.
Fortunately, Artoria reacted quickly enough to catch her.
"What a violent power." Scáthach pressed a hand to her chest, still shaken. "If I'd tried to force it to stay just now, my whole chest probably would have exploded."
She would not have died, but recovering would have been a real ordeal.
Still, with her beloved disciple here, that was hardly an unsolvable problem.
What truly left her uneasy was the fact that this authority itself was fundantally incompatible with her existence.
She could receive its blessings, but she could not beco its owner.
It was very much like her beloved disciple's own personality.
He rarely got angry, yet he fiercely upheld free will and refused to be controlled by any god or king.
"Then in that case, the fact that I can contain my husband's authority really does make an anomaly." Morgan brushed at the hair by her temple. "For a mont, I truly don't know whether to call it fate or destiny."
"You already know perfectly well," Shiomi said with a helpless smile, signaling for Morgan to lean down.
Once the authority approached Morgan's body, it naturally began to transfer into her.
An enormous surge of magical power swirled around Shiomi and Morgan, whipping up a gale so intense it was hard to keep one's eyes open.
Even Scáthach and the others had to raise their hands to shield themselves from the dazzling light.
By the ti the light and gale subsided, the three of them were so stunned by what they saw that they were speechless for a while.
Even though Shiomi had not taken the authority back into himself, he had finally shed his child form and returned to the ageless body of a young man.
The problem was that his clothes, shoes, and socks had not adapted to the change and had been torn to pieces, scattered all over the ground.
Standing naked in the middle of the ruins, Shiomi stared thoughtfully at Ka'an's remains.
"As expected of my husband. Rather than worrying about the fact that he's completely naked, he seems more concerned with these ruins, where people may once have lived." Morgan calmly straightened her hair. "Still, seeing my husband back to normal does put sowhat at ease."
As she spoke, she lightly patted Shiomi on the shoulder.
"These ruins just feel a little sad to ." Shiomi laughed awkwardly and scratched his head as he turned around. "I'll project so clothes for now and make do."
At that point, Artoria took off her cloak and draped it over Shiomi's well-built shoulders. "Use my cloak for now, Tenkei."
"But if all of my beloved disciple's authority is with Morgan, why did he return to his original state like this?" Scáthach asked.
"It no longer really matters who's holding it. As long as it's with , my husband will be affected in turn." Morgan brushed her fingers over the magic crests on her lower abdon.
Their wavelengths had long since beco so perfectly synchronized that they were practically one person, so Morgan was not surprised by the result.
"Still, that's a little disappointing," Scáthach said.
"Disappointing?" Shiomi frowned.
Skadi nodded. "It's only been a few days, and you've already gone back to your original form. I thought I'd get to dote on your smaller self a little longer."
"To be honest, changing my body shape with Magecraft isn't difficult at all." Shiomi pressed his lips together, doing his best to hold back his urge to complain. "If you like, I can show you in private next ti. But this form is more convenient."
"Convenient for what?" Morgan asked.
Shiomi finally could not hold it in anymore and started grumbling in a rapid stream.
"For everything, obviously! Compared to being held in your arms, I much prefer holding all of you in mine! That's the kind of overbearing, high-and-mighty man I am, all right?!"
His words sounded fierce, but his tone was more like soone venting his grievances.
That only made them laugh.
Morgan could only wrap her arms around Shiomi and lean into his chest. "All right, all right. Stop sulking over there. We should think about how to get back first."
After all, with even his clothes gone now, it really was inconvenient for Shiomi to return like this.
"The only option is to have you help pick up a change of clothes sowhere along the way." Pulling the cloak around himself, Shiomi looked around the Ka'an ruins. "And even though Camazotz escaped, the ruins are still here, along with all these countless remains. We need to investigate what's going on in this place."
"You really are serious to the core. We just finished a battle, the enemy's gone, and now you should be relaxing a little, shouldn't you?" Scáthach said, running a hand over Shiomi's bare thigh.
A shiver ran down Shiomi's spine.
"At least consider the setting, Master..."
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