Godslayers possessed powerful resistance against magic, curses, and similar techniques.
This was easy to understand. Just as Satsuki had previously speculated, a Godslayer was in truth an intermediate stage in humanity's gradual transformation toward divinity.
During that process, methods that could easily deal with ordinary beings naturally lost their effectiveness, while all aspects of physical capability underwent a marked leap.
With the assistance of the war god's Authority, Erica's eyes were now sufficient to perceive Athena's divine speed. Combined with the Authorities of Gale and Boots of Hermes, she possessed enough speed to contend with her opponent.
"Then—Goddess Athena, welcome your destruction!"
With a sharp cry, lightning flashed through the air. The violet-stained sky flickered for an instant with a golden-red radiance.
That was Erica's charge. Within the Authority of Gale, her figure flashed forward in an instant, thrusting the spear toward Athena's face.
The speed of this strike had already surpassed the limits of the naked eye. At the same time, the vast Words of despair coiled around the spear like a spiraling vortex.
Yet Goddess Athena responded with serene composure. She merely swayed her body slightly. With that faint shift alone, she avoided the thrust. The despairing Words swirling around the spear were intercepted midway by a golden barrier.
Without any superfluous movement, this single response was enough to demonstrate that the seemingly girlish Athena truly deserved the title of goddess of war.
With that subtle sway, Athena's figure appeared directly before Erica. However, she had no time to launch a counterattack.
Because Erica's godslaying spear did not stop.
With a horizontal sweep, the Holy Spear in her hand slashed toward Athena's barrier. The speed and reaction were utterly inhuman.
Under Athena's calm gaze, the golden spear tip struck the golden divine protection barrier.
The collision between the two produced a world-shaking sonic boom that exploded midair. Blinding light and violent winds surged outward. For a split second, it was as if the surrounding space plunged into darkness within that extreme brilliance.
Claaang—
The sound of metal clashing against metal echoed across the rooftop. Even from her position far from the center of battle, Satsuki's eardrums trembled from the lingering reverberations.
An ordinary person would not even survive the shockwave. Blood would spray from their mouth, their internal organs crushed into ruin.
This exchange ended with the golden barrier shattering—yet Erica's hands trembled violently from the recoil. Though she now possessed divine speed and a divine spear, her physical strength had not yet reached the level required to wrestle with a god.
Her strike had looked magnificent, but her shaking grip nearly failed to hold the shaft of Longinus.
As Erica attempted to continue her assault, a razor-sharp wind rushed toward her.
It was a scepter-like weapon formed from the darkness of a starless night. Half real, half illusory, it ignored physical laws entirely and cleaved down toward Erica in an instant.
The aura of danger coiled around it made one thing clear—this was not something to block head-on.
—"Soar forth, Boots of Hermes."
At the critical moment, Erica's will stirred. A crimson rose magic crest flared beneath her feet. Combined with the instantaneous movement granted by Gale, her figure vanished just before the scepter struck.
Her speed was so great that an afterimage remained behind.
"Oh? You can already fuse sorcery and Authority into your combat?"
Her attack missing, Athena turned toward the rooftop's opposite side where Erica reappeared. Her tone remained placid.
Upon reappearing, Erica felt searing pain in her hands. She could barely maintain her grip on her weapon.
Each of Athena's attacks carried force enough to send an opponent to the underworld. The scepter forged from darkness was like a weapon of Hades itself. Even as a Godslayer, Erica found the confrontation extremely difficult.
Yet she did not call for Satsuki's help.
Instead, gritting her teeth and ignoring the blood soaking her hands, she blocked Athena's strike and immediately launched a counterattack as swift as thunder.
Satsuki was slightly surprised.
Erica's speed had increased again.
As the Tenseigan rotated, she saw two additional incarnation Authorities coil around Erica's body.
They were Raptor and Camel.
Athena's divine speed and the mortal danger brought by the scepter had fulfilled the activation conditions for those incarnations. As a result, Erica grew stronger the longer the battle continued.
Face, temple, left shoulder, leg, flank, heart, carotid artery, right wrist.
She targeted these points relentlessly.
Without the slightest hesitation, spear light like a storming tempest pressed forward in ceaseless assault.
At first, Athena attempted to evade with bodily movement.
However, before such god-speed attacks that sealed off every avenue of retreat in an instant, even a god eventually revealed a flaw.
When confronted with the thirty-seventh thrust aimed straight at her chest, Athena could no longer evade.
She raised one hand wrapped in black radiance and met the tip of the godslaying spear.
Under normal circumstances, such an action would have resulted in her wrist being severed cleanly.
However—
Clang!
That slender, maiden-like hand was as unyielding as the hardest steel. It forcibly deflected Erica's spear.
After batting aside the attack, Athena glanced at her hand.
On the back of it, where the black light coiled, a crack briefly flashed across the dark radiance before vanishing.
"—As expected of a Godslayer. You are quite capable. It seems your threat cannot be underestimated. If that spear had pierced me, even I would have been in considerable danger."
Not far away, Erica was equally burdened by the torrential exchange.
Like a matador, she adjusted her breathing and posture while cautiously circling, searching for a weakness in the god before her.
Her lips were pressed tightly together, leaving no room for distraction.
That last strike had clearly threatened Athena—yet that "black light" had deflected her attack.
What exactly is that?
Erica rapidly sifted through Athena's myths in her mind, yet found no corresponding ability. Without deciphering all of the opponent's information, her strongest Authority—Warrior Who Holds the Golden Sword—could not be activated. Without it, defeating Athena would be impossible.
Her battle instincts told her something else.
That previous strike had completely shifted Athena's focus away from Satsuki and onto her. Even the earlier air of nonchalance had vanished.
The coming battle would be even more difficult.
At that moment, however, Erica's expression changed.
A flash of astonishment crossed her face—followed by delight, as though she had made an unexpected discovery.
Another Authority rose from her body. Instantly, golden radiance like a blazing sun ignited around her.
It was the brilliance of the incarnation White Stallion.
"Oh? Such a reaction. As expected of the war god's Authority—you've finally grasped a fragment of your opponent's information?"
Satsuki observed alongside the system's light sphere within her consciousness.
"Huh? What information?" The system stared for a long moment, still unable to discern anything.
"The Athena before us is steeped in the aura of death. Her attacks consist of instant death and the black radiance of a starless night. In other words, what she currently manifests is the divinity of death and night. So, if one wishes to dispel darkness and bring forth vitality—what could be more fitting than the sun?"
As if to affirm Satsuki's words, a blazing sun erupted from Erica's body.
She raised the Holy Spear high. Golden sunlight flowed over it like molten metal, dyeing the Lance of Longinus in radiant gold.
"For the sake of victory, come before me! O immortal sun, grant me the shining steed! With it, draw forth the crimson cross—rend the dragon's scales and carve out its entrails!"
This was the fusion of White Stallion and Kotodama.
An indescribable, space-distorting heat radiated from the spear. Scorching winds swept upward, dispersing the dark clouds that had veiled the sky and revealing the true sun above.
Erica's power overflowed. Sunlight descended from the heavens like a colossal white horse incarnate, crashing down toward Athena.
At the same time, the spear in her hand transformed into a golden aurora that shot toward the goddess.
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