Chapter 102: God Summoning? A Way for Kaguya to Unleash Her Full Strength
"Why do you look so upset?" Haruto asked, his expression a mask of pure confusion. "Did I say something wrong? Doesn't this represent friendship?"
"Of course it's friendship," Kaguya replied, her smile so strained it looked painful. "As far as I know, it symbolizes an everlasting friendship between two people." Her right hand, still gripping the doorknob, tightened. The metal groaned, deforming slightly under the pressure. Damn it, she fumed internally. I really shot myself in the foot.
"Then why," Kaguya pressed, throwing out her final, desperate question, "did you have to personally help me put it on?" She refused to believe he could talk his way out of this one. Friends, brothers, whatever—his actions just didn't add up.
However, the tables had already turned. The young man simply tilted his head, his eyes wide as if he genuinely couldn't comprehend what she was saying.
Bang.
That was the sound of the last thread of Kaguya's reason snapping.
Faced with Haruto's utterly innocent and harmless expression, Kaguya couldn't stop herself. A mouthful of blood sprayed from her lips.
"Kaguya! Why are you spitting blood?"
"I... I'm fine..." She wiped the crimson from the corner of her mouth with her sleeve, forcing another smile. As if suddenly remembering something, she changed the subject. "Would you like to go for a walk with me?"
"Where to?"
"The Human Village."
"...Alright." Haruto had originally planned to visit the Sunflower Field to see how Marisa was being trained—ahem, how her special training was progressing—and to check on the seeds he'd planted. But a slight delay wouldn't hurt. He could always go later, or even tomorrow.
"Wait a moment," he said, a thought striking him. "I just remembered something. I need to find Eirin first."
Without another word, Haruto quickly walked toward the pharmacy. He pushed open the door and saw Eirin Yagokoro sitting at her desk, just as he'd expected. She was intently flipping through a set of esoteric medical records, the small clay pot of tea beside her already empty.
"What is it?" she asked, looking up from her work.
He rubbed his hands together, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. "I suddenly remembered I have a summoning technique called God Summoning. It can bind a deity and summon them to assist me in a fight."
Eirin's eyebrow arched. "You want to bind me?"
"Mhm, mhm," he nodded eagerly.
"I recall your relationship with the Moriya Shrine isn't bad, is it? You could go find those two deities. They probably wouldn't refuse."
"Because you're strong, Sister Eirin," Haruto said, laying on the flattery. "You're much more powerful than other deities."
Faced with his direct praise, Eirin's expression remained calm, but the slight, almost imperceptible lift at the corner of her eyes was enough to betray her pleasure.
"Come on, then," she said, setting her records aside. "I was just reading about something related. We can treat this as an experiment."
Hearing this, Haruto didn't waste any more words. He gestured for Eirin to extend her hand, then pressed his palm flat against hers.
To put it simply, for any other player in the Death Game, this ability was almost a useless burden. Setting aside the monumental task of even finding a deity, the simple act of pressing palms together was nearly impossible to achieve. All those who could be called gods possessed their own pride. You could only hope to become their friend if your own strength was sufficient, let alone engage in such an intimate action.
Haruto, naturally, did not possess the corresponding strength. Even with his numerous bonuses, he was, at his core, a newborn youkai who had only been cultivating for two and a half years. At the very, very most, he could barely defeat Marisa by relying on his deep understanding of her and the advantage of information.
But Haruto had powerful backing.
Yakumo Yukari had publicly recognized him as her younger brother at that grand banquet. It was safe to say that by now, everyone in Gensokyo knew of his status. Coupled with his own enthusiasm for actively visiting others to "make friends," his popularity had, in some circles, already surpassed that of his guardian.
Even if his attempt with Eirin failed, he could still go to the Moriya Shrine and ask the two goddesses there. Or he could seek out others, like Shinki—the creator of Makai and Alice's mother. She was a genuine creator deity, having single-handedly brought the entire Demon World into existence.
A moment later, Haruto's heart skipped a beat. He switched to his other hand and pressed their palms together again.
Still no reaction.
'Could it be... it can only bind deities from within the instances?'
If that were the case, this ability would plummet from a god-tier support skill to a mid-to-high-tier one. No, not even that. At best, it would be a somewhat special mid-tier ability. You would have to defeat a deity within an instance to successfully bind them.
But, as fate would have it, what you don't want to happen always does.
There was still no reaction. If not for the fact that the God Summoning reward was directly implanted in his mind, requiring no self-study, and his proficiency was already at 99% despite a lack of practice, Haruto would have suspected he was using it wrong.
"It can't bind?" Eirin raised an eyebrow.
Haruto nodded grimly. "Maybe it can only bind deities native to the Death Game."
"That shouldn't be the case," Eirin said, gently shaking her head. She pondered for a moment before offering her analysis. "Perhaps my strength exceeds the carrying limit of this ability, or the gap between our power is simply too large. Or maybe, the so-called Death Game itself imposes an upper limit on the strength of the binding target."
A flash of understanding lit up Haruto's mind.
He recalled trying to bind Yakumo Yukari and Yakumo Ran. In both cases, there had been no reaction at all. It wasn't until he proposed binding Houraisan Kaguya that the skill had immediately succeeded.
"You could try binding the princess," Eirin suggested.
"Kaguya? Oh, right, she's a deity too." Haruto had almost forgotten that Kaguya was the Moon Princess, a goddess of the moon. But as he considered it, his expression turned subtle. "But Kaguya is already my teammate. After binding her, would I just be using the skill like a teleport, pulling her back to my side when needed?"
Eirin shook her head again. "If my guess is correct, non-humans who enter the instances are suppressed by the game's rules. Only those whose strength reaches the absolute limit of that suppression can remain unaffected."
She paused, letting the implication sink in. "However, a summoned deity would not be restricted. So, you just need to bind the princess. When you use God Summoning, you can bypass the Death Game's detection, allowing the princess to use her full, unsuppressed strength. also, the energy cost would likely be far smaller than summoning her from within the game itself."
'Isn't this just exploiting a bug?!'A look of sheer astonishment crossed Haruto's face. If only he'd had this God Summoning skill during the third instance against the False God. If he could have summoned a full-power Kaguya, forget a mere False God—even a True God would have gotten the shit beaten out of them.'I have to bind Kaguya!'
Just as Haruto was about to rush out to find her, the door was thrown open. Kaguya hurried in, forcibly separating his hand from Eirin's and pressing her own palm firmly against his.
"Hurry up and bind me!" she declared, her eyes blazing with excitement. "Then I can finally go all out!"
When Kaguya had first started eavesdropping, she saw Haruto and Eirin pressing their palms together and had assumed they were about to play a nostalgic game of patty-cake. But as she listened more carefully, she realized they were talking about the God Summoning ability.
At first, Kaguya had been quite envious of the skill. She imagined Haruto binding Eirin, allowing her to make a grand, dramatic entrance in the middle of a battle, descending like a heavenly deity to slaughter everything in sight. It would have been a magnificent way to show off.
But now, it seemed this ultimate move was clearly prepared for her.
Even if she went from being the one who summoned to the one being summoned, what did it matter? As long as she could finally show off her true power
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]