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*****
"What's happening? Why has the sky suddenly gone dark?"
At the exact moment Saori Kido obtained the six gifts through George, the Saints stationed outside noticed a terrifying change. The scorching sun had vanished in an instant, replaced by a bright, cold moon hanging high in the heavens.
"The rotation of the sun and moon... it is Artemis, the Goddess of the Moon!"
Clutching her scepter, Saori Kido walked out of the temple and turned toward George. "They have arrived," she said softly.
A beam of frigid moonlight shot down from the lunar disk, violently tearing through the Sanctuary's barrier. Figures began to descend through the rift, landing one after another upon the temple's stone platform. While the barrier of the original Athena was powerful, it was no match for the arrival of a true god like Artemis.
"Athena, my sister... you have fallen!"
Standing at the forefront was a beautiful woman with flowing green hair, radiating an aura of supreme nobility. She looked at Saori Kido with eyes full of disappointment. Flanking her were Hephaestus, the God of Fire, and Ares, the God of War, both clad in their brilliant God Cloths.
"Athena, our mission is to execute all the Saints," Ares declared. "If you dare to resist, we shall strip you of your right to rule the human world and escort you back to the Heavenly Realm for judgment!"
If their goal was merely to execute the Saints, the Celestial, Flame, and Berserker warriors behind them would have sufficed. The three primary gods had descended personally specifically to prevent Athena from shielding the humans. After all, Athena had already proven she was willing to kill her own uncle, Hades, for the sake of humanity.
"Sister Artemis, I'm afraid I cannot accept such a verdict," Saori replied. "I will not allow you to execute the Saints, nor will I hand over control of the human world. This authority was granted to me by the Father God; only he has the right to take it back!"
At that moment, the will of the goddess Athena and Saori Kido seemed to fuse perfectly. The overwhelming pressure of a primary god and the ruler of the human world was fully unleashed for the first time.
"Hahaha! Athena, I was hoping you'd say that!"
While Artemis and Hephaestus frowned, surprised by Saori's resolve, Ares burst into laughter. This was the chance he had been waiting for—to avenge the humiliation of his past defeat at Athena's hands.
"Galaxian Rift Fist!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Ares struck. A barrage of violent, crushing blows enveloped Saori. His speed and power were tens of thousands of times greater than that of any Gold Saint.
However, Saori simply raised her scepter and spoke:
"Striking is forbidden here."
An invisible force instantly shrouded Ares. His fist ground to a halt a mere centimeter from Saori's face. No matter how much he erupted his Cosmo, he could not advance even another millimeter.
"How is this possible?"
Artemis and Hephaestus were stunned. In their memory, Athena had never possessed such absolute power.
"Bind!"
Artemis pointed her scepter at Saori. A beam of moonlight shot down, transforming into chains that sought to entwine the goddess. Saori looked up, invoking her lunar authority; the chains shattered instantly. Furthermore, she forcibly suppressed the moon in the sky, causing the sun to reappear over the world.
"Fires of Divine Retribution!"
Hephaestus attacked next, unleashing fierce divine flames from his palms. Saori countered effortlessly by utilizing her solar authority, summoning a halo of light that absorbed the fire entirely.
"Return to the Heavenly Realm now, and I can act as though today never happened," Saori said, offering one final chance for peace.
Predictably, the three gods refused to retreat. "Athena, if you dare to openly defy the gods, then we have no need for mercy!" They burned their Cosmos to the limit, launching a full-scale assault.
Meanwhile, the enemy warriors charged toward George, the Pope of Sanctuary. George didn't even stand up. "Your opponents are not me, but them," he said calmly.
He reached out and tore open a spatial portal to the Underworld. Suddenly, a tide of legendary Saints from previous generations surged out to meet the invaders. The current Gold Saints, sensing the battle, also rushed to the scene.
"Don't kill them. Keep them alive," George instructed before leaning back in his chair to watch Saori. He realized she was winning easily, even without her God Cloth; she was simply using the three gods to practice her six new authorities.
"It seems things are progressing well," George thought, a smirk playing on his lips. "It won't be long before I can devour this world."
As his avatars in the Dragon Ball and Saint Seiya worlds began their quiet takeovers, his focus shifted to the Great Desolate (Honghuang) world. Since the Three Pure Ones were busy refining the Investiture List, George decided to accelerate his own plans.
He was now at the peak of the Multiverse level. If he fought seriously, he was nearly at the level of a Saint. He wanted to see if he could draw out Hongjun, the mysterious figure who had sent him to the Marvel universe in the first place.
"While the Three Pure Ones are occupied, I should take some disciples," he mused. He traveled to Mount Huaguo in the Eastern Continent. Looking at a divine stone absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, he smiled. "I need someone with talent."
This was the future Great Sage Equaling Heaven. George pressed his hand against the stone, injecting a massive amount of energy into it. At the natural rate, it would take a thousand years for the monkey to be born. He didn't have that kind of time.
CRACK.
A day later, the stone shattered. A stone egg flew out, transforming in mid-air into a monkey with fully formed features. As it landed, two beams of golden light shot from its eyes toward the Thirty-Third Heaven.
"Keep it down," George whispered, waving a hand to mask the disturbance from the Heavenly Court.
The stone monkey looked around in confusion until its gaze settled on George. Sensing a terrifying, Saint-like majesty, the monkey instinctively knelt and bowed three times.
George laughed heartily. "Excellent. From this day forward, you are the personal disciple of the Black Dragon Saint. Your name shall be Sun Wukong!"
"Thank you, Master!" the monkey chirped, already possessed of high intelligence.
George beckoned him forward. "Come, I shall grant you the path to immortality." He placed a finger on the monkey's forehead, transmitting the most authentic Daoist cultivation methods, the Thirty-Six Heavenly Transformations, and the Seventy-Two Earthly Transformations.
Having learned from both the Sect of Interception (Jie) and the Sect of Elucidation (Chan), George provided a curriculum superior even to what the monkey would have received from Subhuti in the original legends.
"As expected of the Spirit Stone Monkey," George remarked, watching as Wukong immediately entered a meditative state, his cultivation level skyrocketing by the second.
(End of Chapter)