At this moment, Melqart could be said to have played all his cards.
The two divine weapons, unleashed last, were the first to approach Su Mo. In less than the blink of an eye, they would strike the arrogant God-Slayer head-on.
Just as a delighted expression appeared on Melqart's face, as if he could already see the arrogant God-Slayer being utterly shattered...
The expression on Su Mo's face was finally no longer as calm as still water.
However, replacing it was not fear, but a slight dawning realization, as if he had finally found the answer to something.
Noticing this, Melqart suddenly felt a strong sense of unease. But he couldn't understand the source of this unease.
The battle is already at its decisive moment. So what if he figured something out? In this short amount of time, he doesn't even have enough time to set up a technique. Does he still have a chance to turn the tables?
Even if Verethragna himself were standing here, under this attack that had locked down all space in every direction, there would be no room to dodge, right?
Amidst this bewilderment, Melqart suddenly felt a blinding light—the radiance of the sun.
The White Stallion incarnation? Hah! So what if it is? Just one incarnation, and it thinks it can beat my four Authorities?
Having dealt with this power once before, Melqart subconsciously showed a disdainful expression. But in that very instant, something he had never imagined happened.
The scorching sun overhead suddenly exploded.
The golden blade and the blazing sunlight merged, forming a platinum-colored blade. A massive number of platinum longswords fell like meteors at divine speed.
The strongest god-slaying weapon, the Golden Sword, was now stacked with the light-speed of the White Stallion. The divine-speed light swords, despite being launched later, arrived first, instantly piercing through the entire battlefield.
The locusts and underworld warriors, imbued with Melqart's divine power, were instantly melted away like snow under the rain of light swords. Any power containing divine energy stood no chance against the war god's Golden Sword.
The two high-speed divine weapons were also firmly pinned to the ground by the divine-speed rain of platinum swords, their very divinity sealed.
This was the scene Erica saw when she arrived.
Whether it was the massive locust plague, the warriors of the underworld, the roaring heavenly thunder, or the sea that swept across the sky, including the two terrifying divine weapons—every element that constituted the deadly trap was torn apart in the same instant by the golden rain of swords.
Like a sharp cutting knife slicing the world in two, under the light swords, all living things were equal.
Even Melqart himself could not dodge this rain of swords from the domain of divine speed and was instantly pierced through the chest by dozens of light swords.
Only after the dust had settled did he hear Su Mo's belated incantation.
"A thousand lights, a thousand swords!"
"How is this possible?!"
His divinity pierced, his divine power dissipating, his body gradually turning into motes of light, Melqart, even on the verge of death, still wore an expression of dazed shock.
It had taken him hours to set up this killing move, yet Su Mo had destroyed it completely in less than a second.
"How can there be such a huge gap?!"
He could accept defeat, but he found it hard to accept such an inexplicable defeat. Two divine weapons, the explosion of four Authorities... why were they defeated by a mere single Authority?
"Perhaps it's because your understanding of power is too superficial," Su Mo answered casually.
"!"
Melqart didn't reply. He dissipated on the spot. It was unknown if he had died of anger.
Erica, however, was not at all surprised by this result.
"As expected of my liege! An ordinary Heretic God can't even last one move against you."
"It's just because Verethragna's Authority is more convenient." Su Mo shook his head, not thinking much of it.
Using the White Stallion incarnation and the Warrior incarnation in combination was a method that had already appeared in the original story, practically an official cheat.
The effect of the god-slaying Golden Sword was already powerful, a weapon with a special attack against gods. Its biggest drawback was that it had to hit the enemy to seal their divinity.
When combined with the White Stallion incarnation, the Golden Sword would gain near-light-speed divine speed and erupt in a rain of thousands of blades.
Just like with Melqart's defeat, anyone without a divine-speed-type Authority could not possibly dodge this near-light-speed rain of swords.
With Su Mo's insight, he had mastered this combination as soon as he got the Authority. After a slight optimization, it became the technique he had just used. That was why he hadn't paid any mind to Melqart's trap.
In the face of a surefire killing move at divine speed, all preparations were futile.
Compared to this battle, which had no suspense from the very beginning, Su Mo was more interested in what he had just comprehended.
The moment Melqart unleashed his final trump card, Su Mo keenly perceived the truth of the "true power" Verethragna had spoken of.
Rin Tohsaka: "Lord Su Mo is being too modest!"
Rin Tohsaka: "Didn't these two Heretic Gods fight once before? If this war god were really that powerful, he would have one-shotted his opponent just like Lord Su Mo did. How could they have both ended up severely injured?"
Madoka: "That makes sense!"
Madoka: "The big brother is definitely the more amazing one!"
Not knowing what an "official cheat" was, they didn't think the outcome of the battle was due to the Authority. Otherwise, why couldn't Verethragna himself do it?
On this point, Su Mo actually had the same question. For some reason, in the world of Campione!, it was generally the God-Slayers who liked to play around with their Authorities. The Heretic Gods seemed to be more conservative in their use of them. Verethragna, the war god, really didn't know how to stack his incarnations.
Kanae: "Seeing a god get one-shotted... I have complicated feelings."
Madoka: "What's wrong?"
Kanae: "Does anyone else remember that Lord Su Mo also just advanced to Tier 3?"
Kanae, in the Taisho era, although not a Shinto believer, naturally had a certain sense of reverence. But now, after seeing Su Mo kill a god more easily than killing a chicken, she suddenly found it difficult to feel any reverence for those gods.
So gods have their limits too!
Rin Tohsaka: "I know how you feel. But, since Lord Su Mo could kill a Tier 3 god when he was Tier 2, it's not surprising that he can one-shot a god after advancing to Tier 3, right?"
Kanae: "It's not surprising... In fact, no matter what Lord Su Mo does now, I find it hard to be surprised."
Rin Tohsaka: "Seconded."
Madoka: "Seconded."
Watching the group members' worldviews being slowly reshaped into Su Mo's image, Erica nodded with a sense of shared understanding.
Just then, she suddenly felt a strange spatial fluctuation. Erica immediately became alert.
In the next second, a familiar spatial passage opened in front of Su Mo—the path to the Netherworld.
"Erica, I'm going to the Netherworld. It might take some time. You can head back first."
After casually giving the order, Su Mo stepped directly into it.
Generally speaking, except for the first time one slays a god, it wasn't necessary to go to the Netherworld. One would directly obtain the Authority. However, Su Mo happened to be an exception.
To remove the restriction of only being able to acquire one Authority per god-slaying and to seize all of a Heretic God's divinity, he currently still needed to operate it personally.