Michael's strength should have been considered first-rate among the Heretic Gods.
As the strongest battle angel of the Christian pantheon, his role was similar to Verethragna's—a war god who protected his faith.
In fact, their spiritual essences had a considerable connection; part of Michael's origin came from Verethragna.
With his strength, combined with his Authorities of judgment and condemnation, he could easily boost his own special attack power while simultaneously applying debuffs to Jibril.
If he had just managed to prolong the battle slightly and prepare the Right Hand of God, the ultimate Authority bestowed by the Lord, the outcome of the fight would have been uncertain.
After all, although Jibril had compensated for her lack of skill with a Conceptual Armament, she had yet to return to her peak state.
In her childlike form, her Elemental reserves were only a tenth of what they once were, and she couldn't maintain her previous overwhelming advantage.
However, in this one-on-one duel, Jibril still achieved a complete victory.
There was no helping it. The Flügel's fighting style was simply too insane. The tactic of expending half one's energy in a single breath was not something a typical Heretic God could adapt to.
Therefore, in a rapid exchange, Michael was cut down before he could even leverage all his advantages.
"Hmph! And you dared to provoke me in front of my Master?"
Watching Michael's fading body, Jibril proudly lifted her head.
When she turned back to look at Su Mo, her arrogant gaze instantly transformed into one seeking praise, staring at him like a loyal dog awaiting its master's approval.
"Lord Su Mo, I won!"
"Well done." Su Mo nodded in praise.
His own gaze, however, remained fixed on Michael's disappearing body.
When a Heretic God is defeated, their body disappears because their true form returns to the Divine Realm. But they were currently in the Divine Realm; their true forms had nowhere else to go.
The transition of Authorities has begun. The Sword's Origin Spell has activated normally, proving the conditions for slaying a god have been met. I have already obtained Michael's Divinity.
But I don't feel the power of a Primordial Divinity.
Feeling the new power within him, Su Mo confirmed his theory.
It was shown later in the original story that even if one slayed a god within the Divine Realm, one would only obtain their Standard Divinity, not the Primordial Divinity that served as its template.
In this respect, it was no different from slaying a Heretic God.
Su Mo's purpose for this trip was the Primordial Divinity. If he could only obtain a Standard Divinity, then this trip would have been for nothing.
However, he did not feel anxious. This development was something he had anticipated.
The Sword's Origin, like the Ring of Usurpation, cannot directly interfere with a Primordial Divinity. Here, I must use a power that is closer to it.
As he was thinking, the angelic legion went berserk upon seeing Michael's death.
"Damnable heretic! How dare you lay a hand on the Prince of Light!"
"The Lord will surely punish the sinner, with lightning and with fire!"
"Army of Light, all units, engage! The enemy is a heretical angel and a blasphemous villain!"
The Archangel Uriel, wielder of Hellfire, was furious. Completely ignoring his nemeses, the fallen angels and demons, he locked his sights on Su Mo and Jibril.
The fallen angels, who should have seized this opportunity, tacitly chose to watch from the sidelines.
Hellfire rained down from the sky, igniting the wings of ten thousand angels and burning the heavens crimson.
Besides Uriel, the angelic legion was filled with named angels, the strongest of whom were equivalent to lingering Heretic Gods. Even the weakest nameless angel, when amplified by the legion, could exert power on the level of a top-tier Vassal God.
The force arrayed before them could essentially be considered an entire army of gods.
Faced with a lineup that could almost crush her, Jibril held her head high, not a trace of fear on her face, only a smile of contempt.
A legion-level Heretic God was not an easy opponent to deal with, even for her at her peak. No matter how much energy she had, she couldn't take on an entire army.
However, she was not flustered in the slightest, because Su Mo stood behind her. Her master was a being who could use God's Strike directly. Even a legion-level Heretic God would have no chance of survival against such a world-ending blow.
Jibril's confidence remained unshaken, right up until Su Mo spoke his next words.
"Jibril, I'll leave these guys to you."
"Huh?" Hearing this, Jibril froze, then whipped her head around and pointed a finger at herself, her expression completely dumbfounded.
"Me?"
Like a carp demon ordered to kill the Tang Monk and his disciples, Jibril began to suspect her master was displeased with her and was trying to get rid of her.
Otherwise, in her current state, how could she possibly fight an entire army of gods?
"That's right, you."
Su Mo nodded slightly, repeating himself. He then reached out, handed her a shimmering golden artifact, and patted her head.
"Is this enough?"
"…It is! Master, I'll go cut down this flock of mongrel birds right now!"
Taking the Golden Holy Grail and feeling the protection Su Mo transferred to her, Jibril's attitude did a complete one-eighty. She eagerly began to flap her wings.
After receiving the Holy Grail, Jibril's physique immediately began to change, gradually growing from the state of a seven or eight-year-old girl to that of a twelve or thirteen-year-old. Though she had yet to return to her peak, the aura she exuded was completely different.
And on the back of her hand, a silver longsword sigil could be seen. It was the mark of the Sword's Protection, indicating that Su Mo had granted her access to the Mythological Arts of the Heroic Gods of Steel.
"Don't let them disturb me."
As Su Mo casually gave the order, he reached out toward the dissipating specks of light from Michael's body.
At such close range, even Jibril couldn't understand what Su Mo was doing. Although he had only extended one hand, for some reason, she saw three overlapping shadows.
With her Flügel talents, she could easily identify the first layer as a material shadow and the second as an energy shadow, but the third layer was completely incomprehensible to her. It was a shimmering, celestial blue, star-like filament of light, as ethereal and beautiful as a nebula.
Though she couldn't tell what kind of substance it was, she could see that after Su Mo made his move, similar specks of light began to precipitate from Michael's body, vibrating and forming a golden structure.
Within that structure, she sensed the presence of a god—no, something even purer than a god.
"…Yes, Master!" Jibril immediately accepted her orders.
Although she didn't know what Su Mo was doing, her master's trust in her was obvious.
He had entrusted his back to her, completely unconcerned about any sneak attacks. And this, despite the fact that she was a retainer who had only just pledged her loyalty.
Faced with this level of trust, even Jibril couldn't help but feel determined not to betray his expectations.
Therefore…
"My apologies, but Lord Su Mo requires a quiet space."
She slowly turned, a perfectly elegant smile gracing her lips as she faced the army of light.
"So, would you all be so kind as to die?"
The moment her words fell, a murderous aura filled the heavens and the earth.
Her two white wings spread wide, and all the energy in her body was constrained to its limit—the familiar opening stance for the Flügel's strongest technique, Heaven's Strike.
However, this Heaven's Strike was different from before.
Besides the fact that Jibril had not returned to her peak and her energy scale was less than half of what it once was, the more important difference was that this time, she wasn't condensing the familiar spear of light, but a crescent-shaped blade of silver light.
"I hereby swear, as the strongest sword wielded by Lord Su Mo, I will not allow any existence to hinder my master."
"So, farewell, everyone!"
The moment her words fell, an earth-shaking, torrential energy, driven by the silver sword light, spread out, like a bolt of silk instantly severing everything in its path.
In that instant, aside from a few archangels and a handful of greater angels who managed to dodge in time, the entire army of light was pierced through by the silver light.
Like a beautiful scroll painting cut in half at the waist, the angels didn't even feel pain or killing intent at first.
They only felt a cool breeze as their heads, along with their upper bodies, tumbled to the ground in a dizzying spin.
Like reaping wheat, the angels fell one after another, utterly routed.
The legion of light, numbering in the tens of thousands, was more than halfway annihilated in a single exchange.
A junior version of Heaven's Strike, merged with the Tearing Silver Hand, had erupted with unprecedented destructive power.
Not only did it far surpass the original Heaven's Strike, but it even carried a hint of the flavor of God's Strike.
The torrent of energy, capable of easily destroying a nation, had its power amplified to the extreme by the Authority of the sword.
Even the multiple layers of protection and defense granted to the army of light by their god were meaningless before this invincible torrent of energy and the all-tearing Authority of Steel, completely reduced to nothing.
Seeing this scene, both Uriel of the Hellfire and the fallen angels watching from the sidelines were utterly shocked. They had never seen such an immense sword light, nor had they ever seen such a ferocious enemy.
One person had wiped out an entire army of light?
In a Divine Realm without their Lord, not even the strongest devil of Christianity, Satan, possessed this level of power, right?
This heretical angel… where in the world did she come from?