After Su Mo's identity was confirmed, Riku's expression was impossible to describe. If you had to put it into words, it was probably something along the lines of: "Please, just let me die." Although humiliated beyond belief, Riku still felt a wave of relief wash over him—Su Mo was alive and well. That was all that mattered. Trying to avoid everyone's eyes, Riku turned instead toward Su Mo.
"So… about the flame in your hand. What's going on there exactly?" He voiced the question on everyone's minds.
"Yeah, I've been wondering too!" chirped Couronne as she bounced over to join them.
"Well..." Su Mo paused, as if weighing how to phrase it. "Think of it like... an awakening. Or maybe some kind of enlightenment, or perhaps a fortunate encounter. Long story short—I suddenly gained access to all sorts of power. I can use magic now." Explaining his cheat-like ability wasn't exactly an option, so he kept things vague.
"...That didn't explain anything," Couronne muttered, shaking her head. But she quickly smiled again. "Still, it sounds awesome! Does this mean you've become a real powerhouse, Su Mo?" She had been the one to find Su Mo collapsed on the roadside and bring him back to the human settlement. Their bond was strong, and her cheerful nature meant she usually dropped honorifics—except during formal events.
"A powerhouse, huh... I wouldn't say I'm the strongest in the world, not yet." Su Mo shook his head.
"...That's basically saying nothing," Couronne deadpanned. After all, everyone in this world was far from the strongest—what did that even mean? But Riku picked up on something. Su Mo might love to joke around, but he never wasted words when it came to serious matters. If he was even mentioning the strongest, that meant his current strength had to be pretty close. Realizing this, Riku's eyes widened as a surge of excitement hit him.
"Su Mo—if you were to face off against the werebeast… could you win?"
"Absolutely," Su Mo replied firmly, without the slightest hesitation.
"But… what if it's one of the blood-break types?" Riku pressed the question, unwilling to leave any room for ambiguity. Su Mo had been the one to educate him about werebeast, after all. Surely he'd already considered this scenario. But to suggest that even the blood-break—the rarest and most terrifying among them—were no match, was stretching the limits of belief.
These blood-break werebeast were born with a unique constitution. Once their "Blood Break" skill activated, their strength could break the laws of physics entirely. One enraged werebeast like that could obliterate an entire human settlement with a single blow. To the humans of this era, they represented an insurmountable force. Which was exactly why Riku had to ask again, just to be sure. But Su Mo simply chuckled and shook his head. Too small. That mindset was too narrow. And with that reaction alone, Riku had his answer.
"You're telling me... even the blood-breaked are nothing to you…" The realization struck like a tidal wave. But Riku didn't pursue the line of questioning any further.
"Anything beyond that is already outside the realm of my comprehension." He laughed bitterly and shook his head, a little stunned that even his imagination was being left behind. But the next moment, he perked up with renewed hope.
"If you really have that kind of power, our settlement will be safer than ever. At this rate, we might even grow to over ten thousand people!" For a human in these times, that possibility alone was reason to celebrate. So, this was why Su Mo had said earlier that they didn't need any extra defenses. At his current level, those so-called "monsters" really were nothing to fear.
"Is this why you gathered us, Su Mo? To share the good news?" Riku asked, curious. Finally—after so long, after enduring so much—there was someone strong enough to stand at the top. It was worth celebrating.
But—
"Of course not," Su Mo immediately shot him down. Meeting the surprise in Riku's gaze, Su Mo swept his eyes over everyone present.
"I gathered you all here to make an announcement." His voice grew solemn.
"The time for change has come. The spark of rebellion must be lit."
"Listen well! The era where humanity is hunted, where we are treated like beasts—ends now!"
"From this moment forward, the curtain rises on the counterattack of mankind!"
"If the act of mastering fire marked our evolution into intelligent beings…"
"Then mastering power… will be our declaration of existence!" The moment Su Mo's words rang out, the entire gathering stirred restlessly. After so much running, so much surviving, so much suffering… was it finally their turn to fight back?
At first, joy and hope appeared on their faces. But it was soon replaced by unease, even fear. Could they really do it? The thought echoed in many minds. It wasn't that they lacked courage or will—but rather, because the harsh truth of the world had long since crushed any belief in change. The powerlessness of humanity… had been carved into their memories with every brutal loss to the other races.
"Is it really possible for people like them… to gain the power to fight back?"
Riku knew very well what everyone was thinking. Though a bold guess had already formed in his mind, it felt too absurd to say aloud—so he held back and asked directly, "Lord Su Mo, when you say 'mastering power,' what exactly do you mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like," Su Mo replied with a calm smile. "What you're thinking of right now—the thing that seems absolutely impossible? That's exactly it." Couronne looked puzzled, clearly unable to follow the cryptic conversation. But Riku's expression changed drastically, a look of disbelief flashing in his eyes.
"You mean… you can grant us power just like the gods can?" His voice involuntarily rose in volume. Riku had thought of this possibility from the start. After all, the other races gained their powers from their respective deities. The example was right there in front of them. But he dismissed it almost immediately—because granting power to an entire race was something only gods were supposed to be able to do. No matter how powerful Su Mo had become, surely this was beyond him.
Yet Su Mo's calm confirmation shattered that belief once more. "That's right," he said, nodding. "Which is why I said the time for humanity's counterattack has arrived. Otherwise, what—are you going to fight them with your heads?" A stunned silence blanketed the entire plaza. Everyone stared at Su Mo, wide-eyed and unmoving. It took several seconds before someone finally processed what he had just said.
"Did Lord Su Mo just say… he can grant us power?"
"But only the gods are supposed to be able to do that!"
"So that means… Lord Su Mo really is a god?!"
"......"
"Long live Lord Su Mo!"
"Long live Lord Su Mo!"
Once the shock faded, celebration erupted across the crowd. Excitement surged through the humans like wildfire as they began chanting Su Mo's name. In that moment, everyone realized—just as Su Mo had declared—the tide of fate was about to change. Humanity was truly on the brink of transformation.
Watching them erupt into cheers and joy, Su Mo didn't stop them. They had endured far too long, lived in silence and oppression for far too many years. It was time to release that pent-up frustration. And from the perspective of a leader, it was just as important to help the people emotionally heal as it was to ensure their survival. After all, humans weren't mindless beasts content with merely existing—they were beings of thought and will. Once the celebrations had calmed and the crowd began settling down, Su Mo called Riku and Couronne forward. He assigned Riku, whose intelligence was dependable, to organize logistics, and Couronne, who had great social rapport, to help coordinate the people.
Following Su Mo's instructions, the humans quickly arranged themselves into orderly circles, ready to receive the miracle he had promised. From the DanMachi version of himself, Su Mo had inherited all of Hestia's divine knowledge—especially the technique for bestowing blessings. So, he was more than familiar with the structure of Falna—the "Divine Grace" that transformed mortals into adventurers.
In the DanMachi world, this blessing typically required the god themselves to draw blood and personally inscribe it onto the recipient's back. However, that was only because the gods had been restricted from directly using their divine power. If that restriction were removed, the entire process would become much simpler. And now, with no divine limiter holding him back, Su Mo stood in the center of the gathered humans and activated his power. In an instant, waves of magic surged outward from his body, forming radiant circuits that spread like ripples across the ground.
Each person, whether adult or child, was immediately linked to his magic. Then Su Mo began to inscribe the formula—engraving the structure of Divine Grace into every connected soul, like a central system broadcasting code to every terminal. Reproducing the formula across a few thousand individuals was no challenge for him at all. Before long, he had completed the blueprint for Divine Grace—and as a final step, he added a crucial function: the automatic inheritance of the blessing by future generations. This way, he wouldn't have to go through the trouble of bestowing it manually in the future. Instead, he encoded it directly into the human race as an innate trait.
As the final strokes of the inscription neared completion, Su Mo suddenly recalled another power he possessed—one obtained by his counterpart in the Campione! world: Pandora's Blessing.
The nature of this power was clear. Pandora's Box, according to myth, was a container that once held every disaster imaginable—plagues, war, sorrow, death… every misfortune under the sun. And Pandora, driven by curiosity, had released them all upon the world. But there was one thing she failed to release.
Hope.
For that reason, Pandora was also known as the witch who bestowed all disasters—and left behind a sliver of hope. With that thought, Su Mo turned to gaze at the crowd gathered before him—the last vestige of humanity, still struggling to survive in this apocalypse.
"You've endured every possible disaster. You've suffered it all, left with nothing," he whispered. "So now… it's time you received your hope." With a resolute heart, Su Mo embedded a seed of that "hope" into the Divine Grace he was bestowing, inscribing it deep into the soul of every single human being. And thus, the ritual of Divine Grace came to its conclusion.
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