Let's turn our attention back to the battlefield. Since Hermes had already cast aside his pride and revealed his dilapidated state, he had of course decided to fight with all his might, to end the battle as quickly as possible. Because only in this way would the possibility of others seeing his broken body be lower.
All the emerged cannon muzzles were aimed at the Supreme Masterpiece, Justice. Then, one after another, cannonballs, either magical or physical, were fired towards it!
Aslan, looking at the sky-blotting barrage, was not in a hurry. He just infused magical energy into the Supreme Masterpiece. Combined with the magical energy absorbed from nature and the True Ether erupting from the god's heart, and with the help of Faerie Letters, he quickly compressed it.
Special ejection ports popped out from the shoulders of the Supreme Masterpiece. High-concentration magical energy was rapidly ejected, enveloping the entire mecha. That high-concentration magical energy, like special particles, formed a spherical barrier shield. The method of condensing and arranging the magical energy was something Aslan had actually referenced from the flow of magical energy he had felt when he released Avalon. Although he couldn't perfectly replicate Avalon's defense, at least after adopting such an arrangement, he had indeed succeeded in realizing the concept of a magical particle shield. Wasn't the result right before his eyes?
To be on the safe side, a small box also popped out from the left arm of the Supreme Masterpiece. As the box was infused with magical energy, it rapidly unfolded. With the partial machine fragments of Athena that Aslan had collected as its core, and paired with various other materials and dragon bones, a physical shield appeared in front of the Supreme Masterpiece. If he could get his hands on the shield of the machine god Athena in this world, then the defense of the Supreme Masterpiece would surely be raised to another level.
The cannon fire covered the Supreme Masterpiece, and at the same time, kicked up a cloud of smoke and dust.
For Hermes, there was a regrettable piece of news to tell him. In novels and animations, and even in manga, it's usually "where there's smoke, there's no injury." And so it was now. The Supreme Masterpiece flew directly out of the area covered by cannon fire, looking completely unharmed. Not even a single bit of paint on the mecha had been chipped off.
Under this powerful barrage, although the spherical magical particle shield that enveloped the entire mecha showed signs of flickering and weakening, with a continuous supply of magical energy, it would, of course, not shatter directly. Unless a direct attack was so powerful that it could shatter the magical barrier in one go, preventing it from being replenished with magical energy. Otherwise, with the powerful magical energy recovery of the god's furnace core and Aslan's dragon blood, and the fact that the Supreme Masterpiece itself could absorb magical energy from nature, this magical particle shield was theoretically sustainable forever.
Perhaps other gods possessed such a powerful single-shot attack, but at least the God of Thieves and Commerce before him did not possess such a powerful attack device. Who told him he was just a transport ship for resources between the machine gods? Presumably, based on this point, Hermes had been jealous of the other gods more than once.
Upon seeing this scene, Hermes could only use his robotic arms to push against the ground, retreating rapidly like a duck paddling with its feet. For this very ungraceful method of retreat, Hermes stated that this was all he could do. After all, the thrusters for a forced retreat had been completely destroyed in the battle back then. Even the God of Fire and Forge could not repair them. This led to Hermes's linear charge speed being extremely fast and its power immense. However, once he needed to retreat, he would appear extremely pathetic.
He had to retreat now. His cannon fire coverage had no effect at all on the existence before him. Hermes was now extremely annoyed. Even if his firepower was not strong among all the gods, it was definitely not weak. So why couldn't he even break the defense of the existence before him?
Hermes's eyes suddenly lit up. Could it be that this guy before him specialized in defense? In that case, his offense should be much weaker!
Hermes stopped his retreat. His thrusters activated at high speed, preparing to charge forward for a counterattack at this moment. He firmly believed that this suddenly appearing machine god, this existence that stood with humanity, was definitely not so well-rounded! With such a high defense, at least a defense that he couldn't break, this red machine god should be a defensive type. Under Hermes's full firepower output, the outer shells of those machine gods who were not good at fighting would have some damage and then slowly recover. Not like this guy before him, who couldn't be broken at all.
Looking at Hermes preparing to counterattack, Aslan was stunned for a moment. He couldn't quite understand what this machine god was thinking. Perhaps it was because in the long years, he had always been at the bottom of the twelve machine gods, with no strength, no say, and had always been following the arrangements of others to run east and west. So now he had lost his mind and was preparing to commit suicide?
Aslan did not hesitate. He directly controlled the shield in his hand and raised it forward. At the same time, three boxes popped out from the right arm and waist of the Supreme Masterpiece. As magical energy was infused, the boxes rapidly transformed and reassembled, finally turning into an Anti-Ship Sword.
And Hermes, upon seeing the weapon that had appeared in the hands of the red mecha, immediately understood that his guess might have been somewhat wrong. The guy before him was probably, like Ares, a pure combat type who could both attack and defend!
But now, it was a bit too late to regret. Hermes could only brace himself and continue to charge at Aslan. As long as this charge of his could achieve a good effect, then this war was still winnable for him. He refused to believe that this impact weapon, forged by the God of Fire and Forge, could not break through the defense of the guy before him!
Hermes was actually a bit wronged. He had no attack, no defense. The only thing he had was speed, and most of that had been lost in the battle back then.
Watching Hermes continue to charge at him, Aslan also roughly understood the thoughts of this machine god. After all, for the machine god before him, only a desperate struggle held the possibility of victory.
Aslan, in turn, opened his Mystic Eyes and began to quickly scan and judge. For Hermes, where was its core? At that time, as long as he stabbed the Anti-Ship Sword in his hand into the core, this battle with a god could be declared over.