Sun Wukong's magical energy surged exponentially. As he chanted the incantation to activate his secret technique, his divine power tripled in an instant, even surpassing Roy's current level.
Previously, Roy had been able to fight Sun Wukong and clash with Zhu Bajie with ease, relying on his immense reserves of magical energy.
A Campione's total magical energy generally does not fluctuate greatly. Thus, newly born Campiones often struggled in their battles against Heretic Gods. Only after slaying more deities and accumulating more Authorities did they begin to overpower Heretic Gods with relative ease.
In essence, the reason ancient Campiones surpassed Heretic Gods lay in the diversity of their Authorities—an increase in skill.
But Roy was different. By absorbing Metatron's spiritual foundation, he had broken through the limits of a Campione, doubling his magical energy reserves compared to ordinary ones. This was a true qualitative transformation. If other Campiones relied on skill to win, Roy simply overwhelmed his foes with sheer power. With his vast magical energy, neither Heretic Gods nor fellow Campiones could stand against him—especially now that he had also mastered divine martial arts.
Initially, Roy had not taken the Great Sage Equal to Heaven seriously. No matter how powerful Sun Wukong was in Journey to the West, here he was merely a Heretic God. And Roy was confident in slaying any Heretic God. But he had never expected Sun Wukong to possess such a secret technique!
"The Oath of the Great Covenant?!"
Roy blurted out. He could tell that Sun Wukong was enhancing his own divinity of steel and sword, transforming into the Last of Steel—activating the very secret that made the Last King truly invincible.
"You, the Demon King, actually know of the Oath of the Great Covenant! But Old Sun's technique is merely learned from the Last King—a mere imitation, not the true Covenant."
With his divine power now vastly amplified, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven had become an opponent Roy had to treat with utmost caution.
"Brother Monkey!"
"Eldest Brother!"
Zhu Wuneng and Sha Wujing quickly moved to Sun Wukong's side, but the Great Sage merely waved them off.
"...Rest here, brothers. Watch as Old Sun pounds these two Rakshasa Kings into pulp!"
The Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, was clad in golden chainmail armor, with a phoenix-winged purple-gold crown upon his head, exuding an air of heroic vigor.
"Truly worthy of the title Great Sage, Equal of Heaven! The Covenant Magic of the Last King is the covenant of all gods, a power bestowed upon the Last King by the collective will of the deities. Yet you, Great Sage, have mastered this secret art entirely on your own. Even if this version isn't as formidable as the original, it's still utterly admirable."
Roy couldn't help but voice his admiration. The Last King gained invincible power through the covenant of all gods, yet Sun Wukong comprehended his own version of the Covenant Magic without relying on any external aid. Truly, he lived up to his title as the Monkey King.
"This old Sun thanks you for your praise, but don't expect any mercy from me... Hah! Take another blow from my staff!"
Once again, Sun Wukong brandished his Ruyi Jingu Bang, swinging it toward Roy and Luo Hao.
"Lengthen, lengthen, lengthen——————"
As the Great Sage chanted, the iron staff instantly transformed into an unfathomably long pillar—ten meters wide—known as the Ruyi Jingu Bang, smashing down upon the earth with earth-shaking force.
"Leader, don't engage him head-on."
Roy called out a warning, though it was clearly unnecessary. Luo Hao could easily perceive that the Great Sage's power had surged dramatically. The nearly overflowing divine energy, almost materializing into substance, granted this monkey a near-invincible might.
With a deafening crash, the Ruyi Jingu Bang carved a deep chasm into the ground. The infinitely long iron pillar stretched from the outskirts of Kyoto straight into the heart of the city. From his vantage point in midair, Roy could see the ancient Japanese city nearly split in two by the impact.
"Help!!"
"It's the end of the world!!"
"Call the police!!"
Faintly, Roy could hear the cries of despair rising from Kyoto.
It seemed this wrathful monkey still harbored resentment over Susanoo-no-Mikoto's sealing of him. Even in the midst of battling two Campiones, he couldn't resist wreaking havoc upon the city.
Such was the nature of a Heretic God. Left unchecked, this Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, could single-handedly bring Japan to ruin.
Though Campiones were called Demon Kings of the Earth, as humans, they would never casually bring about the destruction of modern civilization.
Roy and Luo Hao raised their palms once more, channeling their magical energy to strike the iron staff. Their combined power clashed against the Ruyi Jingu Bang, producing an explosive sound like the tolling of a massive bell. The terrifying shockwaves radiated outward, instantly reducing a nearby mountain to dust.
At the same time, both Roy and Luo Hao felt an overwhelming force reverberate through them. Their magical energy couldn't penetrate the Great Sage's amplified divine might, and the backlash caused their wrist bones to crack audibly.
For mere humans to contend with the Ruyi Jingu Bang and this stone-born monkey was simply too much to ask.
"Hahahaha!! Demon Kings, what other tricks do you have?!"
Sun Wukong roared as he swung the Ruyi Jingu Bang across the land. The iron staff, stretching over several kilometers, shattered everything in its path. In an instant, the area within several kilometers of the Great Sage was flattened into barren earth.
Hills, rivers—all were mercilessly swept away.
"Hah———— Take this!"
After a fierce onslaught, the Ruyi Jingu Bang reverted to its short staff form once more. Sun Wukong, enveloped in golden mist and crackling with lightning, transformed into countless clones at godlike speed, swinging his staff toward Roy and Luo Hao again.
"Is that the Somersault Cloud?!"
Both Roy and Luo Hao exclaimed in astonishment. They quickly moved back-to-back—though they hadn't known each other long, they instinctively guarded each other's blind spots, blocking every strike from Sun Wukong's staff as it came at them from all directions.
A relentless barrage of dull thuds echoed through the air—the sound of Roy and Luo Hao's palms clashing against the Ruyi Jingu Bang. Each collision sent shockwaves rippling outward, accompanied by thunderous explosions and howling winds.
The two Campiones and the Heretic God fought fiercely, darkening the sky and scattering dust and stones!
By now, Roy had already withdrawn his divine-speed authority—it had a time limit and couldn't be sustained indefinitely. But upon witnessing Sun Wukong's Somersault Cloud, his eyes gleamed with excitement. If he could seize this divine-speed authority from Sun Wukong, his own Godspeed would surely evolve!
For the moment, under the pressure of Sun Wukong's secret techniques, Roy and Luo Hao were completely on the defensive, enduring an endless barrage of attacks. Though their wrists were slightly swollen and the divine power within the Ruyi Jingu Bang sent waves of pain through their muscles, they suffered no major injuries.
However, passive defense had never been Luo Hao's style. Enraged, the sect leader let out a furious roar, gathering all her magical energy as she recited a new incantation.
"Fight south of the city, die north of the walls, unburied in the wild for crows to feast! Speak to the crows for me: 'Honor the guest!'"
Behind Luo Hao, a golden Buddha statue, towering a thousand meters high, materialized. This was her stolen authority—the Great Strength Vajra Divine Technique—plundered from the Buddhist guardian deity, Nio.
"Sect Leader, what are you doing?!"
Roy was startled rather than pleased when he saw Luo Hao unleash this authority. This attack consumed all her magical energy—while it left Sun Wukong with no room to dodge, it would also leave Luo Hao completely drained and powerless afterwards.
Roy's mind raced. He couldn't understand why Luo Hao would do this. If she exhausted her magical energy, he would be the only one left to fight Sun Wukong—was she deliberately yielding the glory of slaying a god to him? But that was completely unlike Luo Hao's character.
Before Roy could ponder further, the thousand-meter golden Buddha extended its colossal palm toward Sun Wukong. No matter how far the Somersault Cloud could leap—even a hundred and eight thousand miles—it couldn't escape the reach of this single hand.
This was the Great Strength Vajra Palm, but when fueled by Luo Hao's full magical energy, it was no less than the Buddha's Palm!
As the golden palm descended from the heavens, Sun Wukong seemed to recall the moment he had been sealed beneath the Five Finger Mountain by the Buddha. Enraged, he let out a furious roar, raising the Heaven-Supporting Pillar to thrust against the descending palm.
"You damned Buddha brat!!"
Perhaps the golden palm had triggered some illusion in Sun Wukong—he no longer called Luo Hao the 'Demon King' but instead shouted 'Buddha' in fury.
The golden Buddha's palm collided with Sun Wukong's Ruyi Jingu Bang in a deafening clash. The Great Sage Equal of Heaven roared in fury, his muscles bulging as boundless divine power surged into his staff, holding the golden Buddha's hand suspended in midair.
...
Luo Hao was, after all, not the Tathagata Buddha, incapable of the feat of pinning Sun Wukong under Five Finger Mountain with a single palm. However, the sect leader took a deep breath at this moment, and to Roy's astonishment, all her magical power was instantly restored.
This was nothing short of a divine technique that instantly replenished her reserves. Roy could tell that this secret art wasn't one of Luo Hao's authorities but a spell she had created herself. Even if this technique couldn't be used repeatedly, the mere fact that she could fully restore her depleted magical power in an instant was enough to demonstrate the might of the Martial Arts Supreme. With this technique alone, she stood unrivaled among the Campiones.
'Just how durable is Marquis Voban...?'
Upon witnessing the sect leader's secret art, Roy's first thought was of Marquis Voban. Under Luo Hao's double-reserve technique, the Marquis had still managed to fight her to a standstill. It could only be said that the oldest Campione was truly thick-skinned and tough. If not for Roy's Holy Right being too overpowered, he suspected he might not have been able to kill Marquis Voban at all.
Screech————————
A bird's cry resounded across the sky as the clouds turned crimson. A massive phoenix soared through the heavens—not a physical entity but one formed from Luo Hao's magical power. Then, like an immortal descending from the heavens, the sect leader soared into the sky, merging with the phoenix before waving her hand once more at the golden Buddha's palm.
"Phoenix Cries at Mount Qi!"
This was Luo Hao's ultimate martial technique before her deicide, the strongest move of the Twelve Flying Phoenix Palms, derived from the legend of the Zhou Dynasty overthrowing the Shang.
The flying phoenix merged with the Buddha's palm, finally overpowering Sun Wukong's pillar that propped up the heavens. With a pained scream from the Great Sage, he was pressed into the earth by the Buddha's hand.
A magnitude-twelve earthquake erupted once more, and the ground in the outskirts of Kyoto bore the deep imprint of a colossal palm.
Seeing Luo Hao's awe-inspiring display, Roy refused to be outdone. With a hearty laugh, he declared, "...Since the sect leader is holding nothing back, I can hardly remain a mere spectator!"
With that, Roy stepped forward, channeling most of his magical power into his fists. Without adjusting his stance, he simply swung his fist forward—this was the sixth form of the Hand of Jacob, a technique Roy had never used before—
"Noah's Ark!"
There was no need to aim, for this was an attack directed at the entire "world"!
BOOOOOOM——————
The great flood that once annihilated the world roared forth! Death.
***
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