Lakshmana charged toward Luo Hao. As a named character from the epic Ramayana, Lakshmana also possessed legends that elevated him to the status of a Heretic God.
His fury surged from the depths of his being, his dark cheeks flushed crimson with rage. For anyone who dared insult his elder brother, Lakshmana swore to strike them down with his own hands—even if it were his own wife or children.
To Lakshmana, his brother Veeraj was a true hero, one he was willing to sacrifice everything for, even his own life. He would never allow anyone to insult him.
Clearly, Roy's words had provoked Veeraj's loyal brother, sending him into a violent rage.
But in the next moment, Lakshmana, who had just soared into the air, let out a pained scream as a massive golden Buddha's palm pressed him into the ground. The impact left a five-fingered imprint dozens of meters deep on Devon Island, which spanned fifty thousand kilometers in diameter. Like the Monkey King pinned beneath the Five-Fingered Mountain, Lakshmana was crushed deep underground by Luo Hao's single palm strike.
Luo Hao, having already undergone two stages of spiritual ascension, was not someone an ordinary Heretic God could hope to oppose.
"Hahaha!! Exhilarating, truly exhilarating!!"
Luo Hao laughed heartily, her silky black hair tied into a braid that swayed wildly in the air. After over two hundred years without any improvement in strength, she finally experienced the joy of a twenty-fourfold leap in power—a sensation she had often felt before becoming a Campione, the fruits of her relentless efforts. But ever since her deicide, she had never felt such delight again.
At times, she even lamented why she had chosen to slay a god, losing so much of life's pleasures in the process.
Now, those pleasures had returned.
Soaring through the air, Luo Hao struck the earth with a series of palm strikes—a fusion of her Twelve Divine Phoenix Palms and the authority Vajra Divine Strength' Each strike sent tremors rippling across Devon Island, shattering cliffs and collapsing the earth beneath.
Meanwhile, Annie Charlton engaged Hanuman, her form shifting between that of a jaguar, a sorceress, and a magical bird—a power she had usurped from an Aztec demon god. Unlike Luo Hao's one-sided domination, Annie's battle resembled a more typical clash between a Campione and a Heretic God, with both sides exchanging blows, probing for weaknesses, and seeking the perfect moment for a decisive strike.
Annie was waiting for the perfect moment to transform into her ultimate form, the Annihilating Flame, intending to incinerate Hanuman, the hero of steel, with solar fire. Simultaneously, the magic spear in her hand was poised to unleash Artemis' Arrow at any moment.
Annie's abilities were almost all lethal strikes. In her normal state, her combat power wasn't particularly strong, and her killing moves had numerous flaws. Thus, she had to succeed in one strike—failure would leave her at a severe disadvantage in subsequent battles.
On another front, Athena confronted Lancelot. Since all the Heretic Gods present possessed the 'attribute of steel', Athena was at a disadvantage against any of them. However, Lancelot's legend had been artificially distorted, and her true origin was the Amazon Queen from Greek mythology, making her steel attribute the weakest. Additionally, both belonged to the Greek pantheon, making Lancelot Athena's ideal opponent.
Athena, transformed into Gorgon, wreaked havoc with her half-human, half-serpent form. Her mystic eyes turned all living beings into stone, and a mere flick of her massive serpent tail could split mountains asunder, reminiscent of Gonggong's rage crashing into Mount Buzhou.
At the same time, countless snakes and owls appeared across the uninhabited island. Day turned into night, and under this darkness, the Queen of the Underworld and Night was at the peak of her power.
The opposing forces engaged in fierce duels, with only the Divine Ancestor Guinevere remaining uninvolved in the battle. She could only watch from afar, gritting her teeth as she gazed upon the chaotic battlefield she no longer understood, praying for the Last King Veeraj, for Lancelot, and inexplicably, also for Roy—hoping this miraculous Campione could truly slay Veeraj and send him back to myth, freeing him from suffering on this earth.
No one could comprehend Guinevere's tangled emotions.
The most perilous and intense battlefield belonged to Veeraj and Roy. With the Oath of the Great Covenant activated, Veeraj's divine power surpassed that of a Campione by more than tenfold. Merely standing still, the surging divine energy was enough to churn the earth's magma and raise the world's temperature. Devon Island, usually frozen year-round, skyrocketed to scorching highs of 40 to 50 degrees Celsius within moments of the battle's commencement.
After undergoing Spirit Origin Ascension, Roy's magical energy was also several times greater than that of an ordinary Campione. As his cursed power roared forth, its aberrant nature distorted the surrounding air into hallucinatory waves, rendering it indescribable and indistinct.
Veeraj raised the Divine Sword of Salvation. To swiftly annihilate the Demon King and restore peace to the world, he held nothing back this time. A colossal sword beam capable of rending heaven and earth soared into the sky, slicing off a mountain peak as it hurtled toward Roy.
Roy swiftly retreated, raising his left hand in a knife-hand strike and slashing through the air. A blade of energy powerful enough to split the sea surged forth—this was the Moses Parts the Sea!
Yet this time, the usually unstoppable Hand of Jacob, which could divide oceans, finally met its match. The sword beam and blade energy collided midair, erupting in a distorted explosion of sound. In the end, Roy was overpowered. The residual force of the Divine Sword of Salvation's beam continued its relentless advance toward him.
However, with the interception of 'Moses' Parting', the remaining sword energy had significantly diminished in both power and speed, allowing Roy to dodge it effortlessly. Even so, the residual force of the slash still grazed Devon Island, cleaving a deep chasm into its surface.
At that moment, Veeraj silently raised his divine blade, the Sword of Salvation, once more. A radiant white-gold light shimmered upon it, countless white-gold orbs swirling around the blade like stars, exuding immense heat that scorched the heavens and earth, incinerating all organic matter in its wake. This was the 'White Sword' of the Divine Sword of Salvation—the very technique Veeraj had used to grievously wound Salvatore in a single strike!
When the white-gold light reached its zenith, Veeraj unleashed the countless stellar orbs.
It was a devastating blow akin to an endless meteor shower, capable of obliterating the very ground beneath their feet!
Seeing Veeraj open with such a decisive attack, the blinding white-gold light illuminating the cosmos, even the eyes of a Campione dared not gaze directly at it. Battles across other fronts came to a temporary halt as all turned their eyes skyward, witnessing the King of the End's strike meant to annihilate the Demon Kings.
Roy's dual-pupiled eyes were completely overtaken by the white-gold radiance, the entire sky now resembling the dazzling brilliance of stars—as if they had returned to the Age of Gods, witnessing the mythical spectacle of ten suns hanging in the sky.
His expression turned grave as he summoned the Sword of Judgment with his right hand, chanting an incantation:
"Secret Records of the Dawn! This is the wisdom of the goddess!"
"O existence that calls forth the storm, a thousand dragons, a thousand serpents—I command thee to manifest as blades once more!!"
The blood-red Sword of Judgment transformed into the deep hues of night. Roy raised the sword high and swung it with all his might—a dark star clashing against the white-gold orbs. The blackened steel burned, absorbed, destroyed, shattered, and compressed!
The stars whirled, morphing into 277 coils of dragons, hurricanes, and tempests!
The dark storm beneath the night sky coalesced into a black stellar body akin to a black hole, devouring everything in its path as it collided with the radiance of the Sword of Salvation.
This was Athena's Sword of Wisdom—also known as the 'Black Sword'. Its principle lay in compressing space with wind pressure, forming a super-gravitational body capable of absorbing all things.
In essence, this technique was strikingly similar to 'Enuma Elish'!
However, when wielded by a Campione with vast magical power, its might far surpassed that of a Noble Phantasm in the hands of a Servant. Unless a Servant were granted a Holy Grail to mutate their mana, they could never match a Campione in both quality and quantity.
The dark stellar body and the white-gold orbs collided—countless stellar flames raged while the super-gravitational force absorbed everything. Simultaneously, the very gravity of the land warped. Had any ordinary human been present, they wouldn't have been able to take a single step before being crushed into dust by the overwhelming pressure.
BOOM————————
In the end, the Last King, bolstered by the Oath of the Great Covenant, proved stronger. His white-gold orbs completely incinerated the dark stellar body, the overwhelming stellar flames ravaging the world. Roy's body was sent flying amidst the inferno and deafening explosion, shattering a mountain cliff before carving a deep trench into the earth, barely managing to halt his momentum.
Roy slowly rose from the rubble, using his hands to push himself up. His body bore scorch marks, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. However, with his Body of the Holy Son, such injuries were insignificant—though his lips bled, his internal organs remained unharmed.
Taking a deep breath, he lowered his gaze slightly and murmured:
"Human Order Incineration Protocol—Goetia."
"The time of birth has come..."
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