Rin Tohsaka: "That's an absurd number of buffs. I'm suddenly starting to understand why the Conceptual Spirit Armament Construction Guide costs 990,000!"
In the chat group, looking at Su Mo, who was now enveloped in fifteen Sanctuary-level magic spells, Rin Tohsaka once again deeply understood the value of Su Mo's creations.
It was a power capable of transcending the barriers of scale, a power that could let one fight above their weight class.
And in the world of Campione!, Verethragna also subconsciously began to think of countermeasures.
"The power of the White Stallion will be partially nullified by Surya's blessing. If I use the Bull incarnation..."
The war god's instincts told him that if he didn't go all out, the probability of his defeat this time was very high. Even though he had descended to seek defeat, he didn't want to lose too disgracefully.
"It's fine. His mana has reached its limit. Maintaining the consumption of fifteen Sanctuary-level spells is no easy feat!"
With the eye of a Heretic God, Verethragna believed that Su Mo had already reached his limit. If this was the extent of his power, it would be troublesome, but not an insurmountable challenge. Even if Su Mo could construct other techniques, the mana within his body wouldn't allow it.
Just as he was thinking this...
Voom~
An invisible ripple spread throughout the entire port. Golden motes of light manifested from all directions and continuously converged into Su Mo's body.
It was the same power as when the Divine Beast Boar disintegrated—spiritual energy from the ley lines, from nature, from the planet itself.
"True Aether!"
With a god standing right there for comparison, Erica quickly guessed the nature of this power. It was the very power Su Mo had first deduced from the mana refinement method, and this was the first time he was using it.
And for Verethragna, this power had a much more familiar name.
"Divine power! He has truly mastered this power completely?"
Verethragna had indeed overheard Su Mo say that he could also wield divine power, but he had never expected his mastery to reach a level comparable to that of a Heretic God.
Before he could feel surprised, with the enhancement of True Aether, Su Mo, whose mana and spell power had been greatly increased, began to chant once more.
"Burn the world, O Branch of Ruin!"
A flaming sword of destructive properties materialized in mid-air. It was Laevateinn, the divine sword from Norse mythology capable of destroying the World Tree.
"I swear by the falling star to pierce my enemies!"
A crooked golden spear was constructed with True Aether as its base. It was Gungnir, Odin's divine spear.
As Sanctuary-level conceptual Spirit Armaments, these two weapons naturally could not possess the power of their original divine artifact counterparts, not even half of it. However, even as replicas, they were far from something that could be completely ignored.
What was more terrifying was that such conceptual Spirit Armaments were only the beginning.
"Rho Aias!" "O Sun, become my armor!" "O Lord, protect me! Jesus Christ, protect me! Whoever harms me shall be avenged sevenfold!" "O pagan fae, how dare you usurp the seat of a god?!" "O God of Light, Mithra, grant me the strength to defeat the Daeva!"
Watching Su Mo relentlessly stack one buff after another on himself or his enemy, not just the members of the group, but even Verethragna, who was on the scene, was completely stunned.
At first, Verethragna was still calculating and analyzing the powers Su Mo was using. For him, who possessed the "Golden Sword," an armament specifically for fighting gods, Su Mo's mythological techniques were not difficult to deal with. As long as he could discern their origin and formulate a targeted incantation, he could easily seal them.
However, as Su Mo used more and more techniques, covering an increasingly obscure range, even Verethragna was having trouble keeping up. In the end, he simply gave up thinking.
From Norse mythology to Greek mythology, from Persian mythology to Egyptian mythology, from Incan mythology to Aztec mythology.
The techniques Su Mo used spanned Europe, Asia, Africa, and even included South America.
Both the level of mystery and the sheer quantity were no longer within the scope of what the Golden Sword alone could solve.
Not to mention, in addition to attack and defense spells, Su Mo had also set up numerous damage-reflection spells and trap spells.
If he tried to use an offensive Authority to crush his opponent with pure brute force, he would be walking right into the other's trap.
These techniques were not arranged haphazardly; they were interlinked.
Realizing this, Verethragna went completely numb.
Is this guy... really human?
Those few short minutes felt like an eternity to him.
"Neigh..."
Finally, at his call, the last incarnation, the White Stallion, descended from the sky and slammed into his body, merging with him.
With that, all ten incarnations were complete. Verethragna had returned to his full strength.
Hearing the commotion, Su Mo, who was still setting up more techniques, glanced at him, pondered for two seconds, and then spoke.
"That should be about enough. Shall we start the battle now?"
Hearing his "still not quite done" tone and seeing the brilliance of nearly a hundred spells shimmering around him, Verethragna's eye twitched.
"Are you saying you could have kept preparing?"
"Of course." Su Mo nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"However, I've already left enough redundancy. Continuing to prepare would be a waste of time. This should be sufficient."
It was his first time fighting a god, and a powerful war god like Verethragna at that. Su Mo naturally wouldn't take any risks. Making a few extra preparations was a very normal thing to do.
"..."
Verethragna was speechless. It wasn't that he hadn't caught Su Mo's subtext—this level is enough to deal with you—but that he was shocked by Su Mo's sheer absurdity.
This world was not lacking in madmen capable of slaying gods. But throughout history, which God-Slayer had ever been able to fight a god head-on while still in human form?
Even looking through all of history, the human before him was, without a doubt, the greatest monster of all.
As a war god, especially one who sought defeat, facing such a monster, he felt more excitement than shock. No matter what, this was an opponent worthy of a challenge.
Note that here, he had already relegated himself to the position of a subordinate who needed to challenge Su Mo.
However, before he gripped the hilt of his Golden Sword and swung at the monster before him, there were a few things he had to get off his chest.
"It is your advantage to be able to operate so many techniques simultaneously. I have no objection to that."
Looking at the few familiar halos around Su Mo, Verethragna tried his best to suppress the twitching of his lips and spoke with a complicated tone.
"But borrowing the power of other pantheons to deal with me is one thing... why must you also borrow the power of Lord Ahura and Lord Mithra? You even tried to borrow my own power right in front of me... Isn't that a bit of a twisted hobby?"
Verethragna was a warrior who protected the light, a subordinate of the God of Light, Mithra. Ahura was the supreme god of Zoroastrianism.
What Su Mo was doing was equivalent to borrowing the power of Verethragna's boss and his CEO to deal with him, and he even tried to borrow Verethragna's own power.
Is he trying to make me fight myself?
If Su Mo didn't have many techniques and was forced to do so, that would be one thing. But with his arsenal of spells, this was clearly intentional!
"I just wanted to test whether a god can refuse a magic ritual that involves them. It seems they can," Su Mo explained with a shrug.
"Do you think you have victory in the bag?" Verethragna sneered.
"Don't I?" Su Mo met his gaze calmly.
"Hmph! Naive! A war is not over until the very last moment! Let me, the god of war, teach you a lesson!"
Looking at Su Mo, who was wrapped in nearly a hundred spells, the Zoroastrian God of War gripped his Golden Sword and charged.
Seeing the Heretic God's awe-inspiring presence, Erica and the others couldn't help but feel their hearts pound in their chests. Could it be that he also had some unknown trump card?
Under the incredibly tense gaze of the onlookers, Verethragna charged forward, Verethragna went all out, and Verethragna got GG'd.
One minute later.
"Guh! So I lost after all..."
On the completely ruined port, Verethragna, who had been forced into his revival mechanic and then promptly sliced in half again, uttered his defeat line and vanished into motes of light.
"How frustrating... to think I couldn't even force you to use your full strength!"
The Heretic God Verethragna was hereby officially subjugated.