"Boom!!!"
The sky was covered with dark clouds, and golden lightning slithered and pulsed between them, accompanied by thunderous rumbling, threateningly directed toward Tsukuyomi below.
"Clang, clang, clang!"
The moonlight spears of the three Tsukuyomi incarnations crashed down fiercely. The twelve radiant swords crossed and barely blocked those three spears.
"Tsk, the Golden Sword? Ignorant mortal, do you truly think that a weapon of some demigod can stop me?"
Looking at the twelve radiant swords that had blocked his attack, an expression of disdain appeared on Tsukuyomi's face.
He could recognize the origin of that sword; he knew far more than his incompetent sister.
The Golden Sword — Joyeuse, the sword of the French hero. As a Golden Sword, it possessed the attribute of Steel. Its blade contained a fragment of the spear that killed a God, the Spear of Longinus.
But even so, this sword was still only a weapon used by humans; it was far from a divine artifact wielded by true gods!
With a cold snort in his heart, Tsukuyomi once again drew three strands of moonlight and turned them into several long moonlight blades that slashed down at the young man.
But just at the moment when the moonlight blades moved, golden lightning, thick as a python, suddenly burst from the ominous clouds in the sky and in an instant shattered those blades.
And that was not all. The golden lightning seemed to possess its own consciousness. After shattering the moonlight blades, it made a strange arc in the air and instantly struck Tsukuyomi.
"Boom, boom!!!!"
Tsukuyomi, as the main body, directly received the Thunder of the Ram, and his arms immediately lost all strength. The moonlight blade in his hand turned into dust under the impact of that attack.
Sensing that something was wrong, Tsukuyomi quickly drew back the moonlight to shield himself from the golden lightning, and then abruptly retreated, creating distance between himself and Yu. The male and female Tsukuyomi figures also withdrew together with the main body.
"Tsk, the power of the sun… it is truly disgusting to a god!"
Feeling the golden lightning raging within his body, Tsukuyomi's face turned gloomy. He clearly had not expected Yu to possess such a move.
At first he had thought that the wild thunder this one had summoned came from some god of thunder, but he did not expect that lightning to have the attribute of the Sun. This attack had caused him serious trouble.
"Ignorant mortal, you truly know how to surprise me, but I forgot to tell you, moonlight can also obscure the sun!"
Forcibly dispersing the chaotic currents within his body, Tsukuyomi straightened up, wiped the golden blood from the corner of his lips, and coldly looked at Yu.
After saying that, Tsukuyomi's body erupted with moonlight. A terrifying pressure spread in all directions, and the ominous clouds that the Ram had summoned in the sky were directly blown apart by that force.
"Crack, crack!"
The clear sound of stone cracking echoed around. The ground began to split apart, and Tsukuyomi slowly rose into the air. Surrounded by radiant light, he almost resembled a benevolent god.
However, Yu knew that all of this was false. The God of the Night Moon — Tsukuyomi, the most mysterious god in Japanese mythology. Among the Three Noble Children, the records about Tsukuyomi were also the scarcest.
"Ignorant mortal, come with me!"
Looking down at Yu, Tsukuyomi's voice was ethereal, echoing between heaven and earth. There was no room for refusal in his tone, as if he truly were the supreme god ruling the world.
"This is my authority, the Authority of the Moon!"
With a cold shout, the enormous full moon above Tsukuyomi's head exploded. Dazzling silver light instantly illuminated the earth. Under that light, although Yu was prepared, his eyes were still blurred by the brilliance.
"Om—"
With a buzzing in his ears, Yu slowly opened his eyes, only to realize that he was once again on that wasteland on the Moon!
"Welcome to my domain, ignorant mortal. This place, the Night Plain of Feeding!"
Floating high in the sky, the male and female Tsukuyomi figures had already disappeared. Tsukuyomi herself had also changed significantly, she was dressed in dazzling feathered robes, three crescent moons hung behind her, and beneath her was an enormous lunar rock.
Hearing this, Yu said nothing. He felt that there was no air around him, and even if he spoke, Tsukuyomi would not be able to hear him.
Fortunately, as a God Slayer, Yu could survive even without breathing oxygen, but… without gravity, he truly felt somewhat uncomfortable.
He raised his hand and felt everything light and weightless. An unpleasant sensation rose from the depths of his heart, but it quickly vanished.
As a God Slayer, Yu's adaptability was extremely strong; he only needed to move his limbs slightly to get used to the state of zero gravity.
"Foolish mortal, do you know why I brought you here?"
Floating in the air, Tsukuyomi lazily yawned and looked at Yu with a playful expression as she spoke.
Tsukuyomi's voice, as always, echoed directly in his mind, but Yu naturally did not respond.
As for the reason why Tsukuyomi had done this, Yu also understood.
His authority had been suppressed!
As for the authority of the Sun, all of them had been suppressed, except for That warrior who holds the golden sword, who could cut through divinity and authority.
Frowning, Yu looked at Tsukuyomi. He could sense that this ability was very similar to Ama-no-Iwato, but there were subtle differences.
Ama-no-Iwato suppresses all of the intruder's power and returns it to itself, while Tsukuyomi's ability only suppresses authorities with the attribute of "sun."
"Hahaha! Look at that ignorant expression on your face! Now, let my servant play with you a little."
Seeing Yu frown, Tsukuyomi laughed in satisfaction. After saying that, she waved her hand, and the Lunar Rock in front of Yu suddenly began to move. Then stone monsters dressed like warriors began to emerge from the ground.
"These are my servants, also my Messengers of the Moon God. Go and slaughter that foolish mortal."
Tsukuyomi gently waved her hand, and dozens of Messengers of the Moon God, who possessed the strength of Great Knights, drew their long swords and charged toward Yu like a tide.
Yu did not retreat. If Tsukuyomi thought she could rely only on these Great Knight–level Messengers to deal with him, that was mere fantasy. He suspected that her real goal was to exhaust him.
Yu thought, and the twelve radiant swords behind him shone, attacking the Messengers of the Moon God.
Those Messengers were only at the level of Great Knights and were completely powerless before Yu. In the blink of an eye, all of them were cut into stone and dust.
"Hm, not bad, not bad, but this does not end here."
Seeing Yu eliminate her Messengers so easily, Tsukuyomi lightly clapped her hands. As soon as her words fell, stone and earth began to condense again, eventually forming hundreds of Messengers of the Moon God, more than double the original number!
Noticing the peculiarity of these Messengers, a bold speculation arose in Yu's mind:
"These Messengers of the Moon God can probably materialize infinitely, can't they?"
Thinking this, Yu raised his head and looked at Tsukuyomi.
And Tsukuyomi was merely lazily lying on the Lunar Rock, with a seductive smile, her expression seeming to confirm Yu's speculation.
If that were truly the case, then his continued killing would be meaningless, but… Yu did not believe in infinite materialization. Even for a god, there had to be a limit!
Controlling the radiant swords, the young man watched as the Messengers of the Moon God were constantly shattered into lunar stone, and then reformed. Suddenly, lightning flashed through his mind.
"Could it be that the source of these Messengers is precisely the moon I am standing on?!"
At that thought, a bold idea was born in Yu's mind.
If he were to blow up this full moon, would that not cause these so-called Messengers of the Moon God to lose their ability of infinite resurrection and materialization?
But given that his "Ten Incarnations of the War God" were suppressed, although he could still activate them, the stamina consumption had doubled, and the power was probably less than one-tenth. Using the White Horse to bombard the moon now would at best destroy only one-third of it.
He had to find a way to free himself from this suppression.
His brain was working at full speed. Yu searched through his memories of myths about Tsukuyomi. If he could find the source of Tsukuyomi's power that suppressed his authority of the "sun," then he could use That warrior who holds the golden sword to cut through that authority!
However, the myths about Tsukuyomi were extremely rare, and with the constant harassment from the Messengers of the Moon God, Yu could not calm down to think about the source of her power.
"Heh, foolish mortal, still trying to use the power of the sun against me? In this world, the sun and the moon cannot coexist! As long as I am here, your 'sun' of unknown origin will forever be suppressed before me!"
0....
Seeing that Yu was obviously distracted, Tsukuyomi mockingly spoke. She was extremely confident in her power. She was the queen of the Night Plain of Feeding, the commander of this wasteland!
"Oh? The sun and the moon cannot coexist?"
Hearing Tsukuyomi's words, Yu suddenly raised his head and looked at her with a smile on his face.
Earlier he had no clue, but after Tsukuyomi said that, he suddenly recalled one of the few myths about her.
It was the legend of the separation of the sun and the moon recorded in the Nihon Shoki. In ancient times, the sun and the moon were not separated, but coexisted. The sky was divided into two parts, half night and half day.
The reason for the separation of the sun and the moon was that Tsukuyomi killed the Food Goddess!
When the Food Goddess saw Tsukuyomi, she prepared a feast for him with various dishes that she expelled from her body.
But Tsukuyomi, proud of his status as one of the Three Noble Children, felt insulted and in anger drew his sword and killed the Food Goddess.
Amaterasu, as the elder sister, was furious when she heard of it. She reproached Tsukuyomi and from then on refused to see him, which led to the separation of the sun and the moon: the day had the sun without the moon, and the night the moon without the sun.
And it was precisely this, Yu believed, that was likely the source of Tsukuyomi's authority to suppress him!
Thinking this, Yu dispersed Joyeuse from his hand.
Seeing this, Tsukuyomi raised an eyebrow and with a trace of contempt said:
"Are you already giving up? Foolish mortals are truly foolish, cowardly and timid! Even a Campione is nothing more than this. I cannot understand why my foolish elder sister would lose to you."
Saying that, Tsukuyomi waved her hand, and an enormous meteorite that was orbiting the moon crashed down toward Yu.
Tsukuyomi had already grown tired of the game; she wanted to end this boring farce.
After all, she could sense that on that godless planet there were now billions of believers waiting to offer her their faith!
Waiting to welcome their Moon God!
Just at the moment when Tsukuyomi thought the battle would end in her victory, a fiery, sacred power suddenly erupted.
"I am the dragon of injustice, the strongest slayer of evil! O sword of justice, protector of the righteous, submit to me!"
Rings of golden light spread from the young man, with him as the center, covering the wasteland beneath his feet.
Wherever the golden light passed, Golden Swords symbolizing the glory of the War God rose high, representing the power of "Invincible Victory" — That warrior who holds the golden sword!