The Guīmìng Ritual from the Buddhist Esoteric school was a technique Su Mo had used once before, during his first god-slaying.
And now, having integrated the mythological histories of the Campione! and Nasuverse worlds, Su Mo's mastery of this ritual had long surpassed the level of an ordinary divinity. Even in the world of Little Garden, although he couldn't quite match the power of Indra's true self, he could get extremely close.
With the blessing of the Pantheon of Mythological Rituals, the Indra's blessing summoned by Su Mo was as if the deity himself had descended.
"RUMBLE!"
A huge thunderclap resounded, and a golden-armored war god, a thousand meters tall, also appeared behind Su Mo.
Just like the "Divine Lord of the Thunder Court, Commander-in-Chief of Dispelling Thunder, Controlling Lightning, Pursuing Demons, and Sweeping Away Filth" controlled by Jing Yuan in the world of Honkai: Star Rail, the golden-armored war god was clad in lightning, but instead of a long saber, he held a spear condensed from golden lightning.
The golden-armored war god raised his spear and charged directly at the Asura King, a vast sea of lightning shooting out.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared. The attacks, powerful enough to shatter a sea of stars, collided directly, and the aftershock even split the clouds in the sky in two.
In the dazzling explosion, little Garling couldn't see the details of the exchange.
But when the flash of lightning disappeared, she could clearly see the state of the battlefield.
On the completely destroyed spiritual vein, the golden-armored war god stood with his spear, bathed in lightning. His spiritual light was not diminished in the slightest, only the surface of his battle armor was damaged. Su Mo, inside the golden-armored war god, was naturally unharmed.
And opposite him, the Asura King, who had revealed his demon god form, had been pushed back several steps, looking battered. Half of his nine hundred and ninety-nine arms were broken, and the wounds were scorched black, clearly injured by the lightning.
No matter how much Garling overestimated Su Mo's combat power, no matter how much of a filter she had for Su Mo, after seeing this scene, she couldn't help but feel shocked.
"He repelled a Three-Digit level Primordial God and Buddha with just one ritual?"
This was even more shocking than Saber Alter's previous performance. Even if Indra's true self were here, he would probably only be able to achieve this result, right?
How did he do it?
"A simulated divinity of Indra? Impossible, how could a mere simulated divinity have this level of output! What is your relationship with Indra?"
The Asura King stared at Su Mo, his face full of confusion.
Strictly speaking, the power of a simulated divinity was not low, and its upper limit was even enough to kill a true Three-Digit. In the original work, the Devil King of Absolute Evil had died under a weapon with a simulated divinity.
However, at this moment, it was obvious that Su Mo had not unleashed the divinity, but was just normally using Indra's phantom to fight him. In this state, the output of Indra's lightning was a bit too high. It was normal for a skill to have high damage, but for a basic attack to be so strong was strange.
Faced with the enemy's confusion, Su Mo didn't want to explain, but since it involved Indra, he still said a word.
"I just borrowed the power of some other thunder god archetypes. I have no relationship with a disgraceful god like Indra."
The Taurus Solar Sovereignty mentioned earlier, its special ability was the simulated divinity, the "Star Bull Thunder", which gathered the authority of typical sky gods and thunder gods. At this moment, Su Mo naturally did not use this Solar Sovereignty to amplify Indra's power. That would probably be very powerful, but it would screw over Shiroyasha. He had just borrowed the technique with which this Solar Sovereignty was forged, and integrated the thunder god archetype into the ritual of summoning Indra's divine might.
From the looks of it, the effect was quite good. If he were to go all out, even a Three-Digit level existence might be seriously injured.
"...Hmph! Who knows?"
Surprised that the other party had actually told him the answer, the Asura King snorted coldly, but his suspicion did not decrease. Even if what the other party said was true, if he had no relationship with Indra, how could he understand his divinity to this extent?
"Was it you who commanded your subordinate to kill my son?"
Without any intention of continuing the fight, the Asura King glanced at Artoria, then pressed Su Mo for an answer.
"Just cleaning up some trash," Su Mo answered patiently, then looked at his hundreds of arms that were constantly healing and regenerating. "What, do you need me to give you enough time to heal?"
He could see that the other party was stalling for time, but he didn't care.
"No! No need!"
The Asura King shook his head sharply, his eyes as cold as frost.
Even with the Asura clan's healing ability, it would take dozens of seconds to fully recover from such an injury. But at this moment, faced with Su Mo's generosity, the Asura King flatly refused.
This was not only out of the pride of the Asura clan, but also because if he really waited, Artoria would completely exterminate the Asura clan. While the two of them were in a standoff, this woman had not stopped for a moment, constantly unleashing her holy sword. Like a scythe cutting leeks, she was reaping the lives of the Asura clan's warriors one after another.
There was no need for the Great Peng Golden-Winged Bird clan to act. With her alone, she was about to exterminate the entire Asura clan.
In this situation, as the leader, if he didn't do something to turn the tide, even if he could survive, he would be left all alone. The final outcome would most likely be being torn to shreds by the Garuda King upon his return.
No matter how high the price, if he didn't fight now, he wouldn't have a chance to fight later.
So—
"The hatred of killing my son, I'll pay it back with your life!"
Along with the sonorous words, the Asura King's spiritual rank pressure, which had already been expanded to the extreme, was further enhanced. The injuries on his hundreds of arms healed in an instant, and his Full Authority Domain level spiritual rank expanded further. Even the space of the heavenly realm began to tremble faintly.
The Asura King's blood-red eyes were fixed on Su Mo.
"O mortal who knows not fear, I will let you experience for yourself what the ultimate of an evil god is, what the wrath of the Asura clan is!"
Hearing the Asura King's declaration, which was filled with extreme anger, and realizing the meaning of his actions, the Great Peng Golden-Winged Bird clan on the side all widened their eyes, feeling extremely shocked.
"How is that possible? He wouldn't dare?!"
"That Asura King has actually come to this step?"
Even as his rivals, they had never expected that the Asura King would one day be forced to this extent.
Even Saber Alter, who was currently mowing down the enemy like grass, slowed down her movements slightly. Because after sensing the change in the Asura King's aura, those Asuras stood there dumbfounded, their ugly faces full of despair and fear. Even with swords at their necks, they had no intention of resisting, but instead knelt down one after another, not knowing whether they were praying or cursing something.
Even the powerful elders of the Asura clan had looks of fear on their faces at this moment. They completely ignored Artoria's existence and loudly advised their king.
"O King! If the prince dies, he can be reborn. Even if you are defeated, you can admit defeat and ask for the Buddha's forgiveness! You must not take that step!"
"Do you want our Asura clan to bear an unpardonable sin? O King, this is not a time for conquest. We have too many enemies, and the Lord Buddha may not be able to protect us!"
Normally, this level of admonition would be considered treason and insubordination within the Asura clan, and even beheading would not be an excessive punishment. But at this moment, no one cared about this small matter, and they all wanted to stop the Asura King. It was as if their greatest enemy had become the Asura King himself.
Seeing this strange scene, Guinevere, who was watching from a distance, showed a look of confusion.
"What are they doing? Isn't the Asura King fighting for them? Why are his own people trying to stop him?"
"?"
"To ask such a question, are you really a Devil King?" Her expression clearly said, "You have to ask about such common sense?"
"If Lord Su Mo wants us to be Devil Kings, we are Devil Kings. If he wants us to be heroes, we are heroes. As for the rules of this world, I don't know them very well yet!" Guinevere said frankly.
Hearing her say this, little Garling finally understood. No wonder she had never heard of such a powerful Devil King before. It turned out he was new from the outside world.
She immediately explained patiently, "They are afraid that the Asura King will directly fall into a Devil King in his anger."
"In Little Garden, especially in the current Little Garden, this is an act that will discredit the pantheons. With the Asura clan's usual reputation, if they commit this mistake, they won't even have a chance to atone for their sins. They will be directly expelled from the Buddhist sect and subjugated or imprisoned as a Devil King!"
"With the precedent of the vampire clan, the leader especially cannot make this mistake. As long as this happens, the reputation of the entire Asura clan in the entire Little Garden will plummet, and it will be difficult for them to continue to survive."
In the world of Little Garden, the Gift Game was the only rule. As long as the agreement of the Gift Game was followed, whether it was a god's grace or a Star Sovereignty, even life itself could be sold. Plundering and fighting outside of a Gift Game was an illegal operation that was not allowed. Even a Devil King would not use such a heretical method.
Artoria had not started a Gift Game when she killed the Asura prince. In a sense, she had also violated the rules. If she were reported, she would be severely punished. But as the beneficiary, little Garling naturally pretended not to have seen anything and would not report it.
Returning to the Gift Game, the rules of the Gift Game itself were the result of adjustments made by the Central Hub of Little Garden, which could maintain basic fairness, and participation in the Gift Game required the consent of both parties. Once a deal was made, there was nothing to complain about even if you lost.
However, in the world of Little Garden, in order to deal with the Last Embryo of humanity, the gods had developed a privilege called "Host Authority". Those who held this privilege could ignore the wishes of others and pull them into their own Gift Game.
Because this privilege was too exaggerated, and its abuse would affect the entire environment of Little Garden, it was strictly restricted. If one was not a Floor Master or a Heavenly Army law enforcer, to casually pull others into one's own Gift Game and abuse the Host Authority, one would be considered a fallen Devil King and subjugated.
Among them, one of the duties of the Heavenly Army was to subjugate such Devil Kings.
And now, as a member of the Heavenly Army, if the Asura King really made the choice to fall into a Devil King... then even if Indra were here, he could only treat him as an enemy that must be subjugated.
With his position and the terrible influence he would have, it was basically impossible for him to be let off lightly like little Garling was.
After listening to little Garling's explanation, Guinevere nodded with a half-understanding.
She didn't care about the other parts, only one thing she was very concerned about. "...do you think the Asura King will really fall into a Devil King? And how much stronger will he become after falling into a Devil King?"
On this question, as a former Devil King, little Garling had a lot of say. "Using the Host Authority can increase one's spiritual rank to twice its original level. For a Three-Digit level existence, this is already a terrifying boost!"
The stronger you were, the less of a bonus you got from skills. Doubling your spiritual rank was already a huge bonus. "As for the Asura King, it shouldn't be possible, right! No matter how angry he is, the price of him, as a leader, falling into a Devil King is unimaginable—"
Before the word "imagined" could come out of her mouth, little Garling suddenly froze on the spot. She looked up at the sky, her eyes full of disbelief.
At this very moment, there were many people in the same posture as her. The Asura clan, the Great Peng Golden-Winged Bird clan, and even Saber Alter, all looked up at the sky at this moment.
And at this time, blood-red contract scrolls floated down from the sky and landed in front of everyone.
"This is... a contract document for a Gift Game?"
Reaching out and taking a piece of paper, Guinevere was stunned for a moment after seeing the title of the contract document. Didn't they say that participation in a Gift Game required the consent of both parties?
After a moment's pause, she quickly reacted. "Without our consent, he has pulled all of us into a Gift Game... he has... already fallen into a—"
"Devil King!"
Little Garling said this title, her eyes looking at Su Mo with some worry. "A Three-Digit level Devil King... can we win?"