Chapter 890: Luo Hao's Prey, Two Heretic Gods! Erica's Despair! Useless
Campione World.
Sardinia.
Dark, bruised clouds choked the sky above the island city. Gale-force winds howled through the narrow streets, driving sheets of freezing rain that battered against the ancient stone architecture.
"Damn it... what am I supposed to do?"
A blonde girl stood amidst the torrential downpour, her jaw locked tight.
Her name was Erica Blandelli.
Rain plastered her golden hair against her cheeks, but her sharp blue eyes remained fixed on the churning horizon. She carried the title of Diavolo Rosso, the Crimson Devil. As the eldest daughter of the prestigious Blandelli family, she was an undisputed prodigy of the magical world.
She served the Italian magical society known as the Copper Black Cross, holding the esteemed rank of Grand Knight. Her beloved blade, Cuore di Leone, rested at her side. She was a master of Iron Refining magic, capable of freely manipulating steel and iron, and possessed exceptional skill in the magical arts of creation, transformation, destruction, and reinforcement.
Yet, despite her formidable pedigree, the eldest daughter of the Blandelli family looked entirely out of her depth. A deep crease formed between her brows.
The crisis facing the Italian island of Sardinia was beyond human intervention.
The advent of a Heretic God.
According to the latest intelligence, a rogue deity had descended upon Sardinia. The unnatural, apocalyptic storm currently tearing the island apart was merely a byproduct of this divine entity's presence. If the Heretic God fully manifested within the city limits, Sardinia would be wiped from the map, leaving nothing but ash and shattered stone.
The Copper Black Cross was a massive, influential organization, and their founder had once been a Campione, a Godslayer. But that was history. Without a Campione to lead them now, they were utterly powerless against a rogue deity.
The chasm between mortals, Heretic Gods, and Campiones was an impossible abyss. Only a Godslayer, or someone possessing the potential to become one, could stand against a Heretic God.
Facing this divine calamity, Erica felt a suffocating weight press down on her chest.
However, a recent dispatch from the Copper Black Cross had offered a sliver of hope. They informed her of a young man currently on Sardinia who could supposedly assist her. He was a mortal who possessed a divine artifact capable of drawing out the authority of a god.
Her mission: assist him in a Godslaying ritual.
His name was Kusanagi Godou.
'Can a mere human truly slay a god?' Erica thought, her perfectly manicured nails biting into her palms.
Her skepticism reached its absolute limit mere minutes later.
"Uh, hello! I'm Kusanagi Godou!"
Erica stared blankly at the scrawny, thoroughly unremarkable high school student standing before her. He offered a weak, nervous smile, extending a trembling hand in greeting.
This guy? A Godslayer?
Was this some kind of sick joke?
She didn't even bother uncrossing her arms to shake his hand. Her blue eyes narrowed into an icy glare. "I was told you can wield the power of a god. Is that true, or are you just wasting my time?"
Godou visibly flinched under her intense scrutiny. He pulled his hand back, shrinking into his jacket, and scratched the back of his head with an awkward, embarrassed laugh. "Look, I don't really get it either. I just know how to use this weird stone tablet."
He unzipped his damp backpack and pulled out a heavy stone slab etched with ancient, complex patterns.
'A divine artifact?' Erica scrutinized the slab. She couldn't sense any immediate powerful aura from it.
But the moment the tablet was exposed to the open air, the atmosphere violently shifted.
CRACK!
Blinding lightning fractured the blackened sky, followed by a deafening roar of thunder that shook the pavement beneath their feet. The wind escalated from a gale into a shrieking hurricane.
"Waaaaah! Is the world ending?!" Godou shrieked, dropping his backpack and throwing his arms around a nearby telephone pole, clinging to it for dear life.
Erica watched him, her lips parting in sheer disbelief.
There was absolutely no way this pathetic coward could ever become a Campione.
Following the blinding flash of lightning, a colossal, violent tornado touched down from the bruised heavens, tearing through the landscape.
"Hahahahaha! Do not hide! Come out and face this old man in battle!!!"
A rough, booming voice erupted from the very center of the cyclone, carrying enough force to rattle Erica's teeth.
She forced her eyes open against the stinging rain, looking up.
Illuminated by the stroboscopic flashes of lightning, a massive, rugged silhouette loomed within the heart of the storm.
"A Heretic God!" Erica gasped, the words stolen by the wind.
She recognized the terrifying signature of this specific deity.
The Heretic God, Melqart.
The King of Gods. A peerless warrior. The ultimate dragon-slaying hunter.
Melqart was the supreme ruler who unified the ancient Phoenician pantheon, leading the Ugaritic gods under his original name, Baal. His mythos had eventually bled into Greece, serving as the foundational prototype for the legendary hero Heracles. In Christian demonology, his lore twisted him into the Demon King of Gluttony, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Milton's Paradise Lost painted him as a demon lord rivaling God Himself. He was known as Beelzebub, the Dark Emperor Baal, the sovereign of the seventy-two pillars of demon gods.
His very name meant King of the City, and his dragon-slaying exploits laid the groundwork for the legend of Saint George. The Phoenicians, Canaanites, and Hebrews who worshipped Baal revered him as their absolute chief deity.
As Melqart's true form, Baal was a divine entity fundamentally incompatible with lands experiencing distinct seasons. He was a god forged in the harsh extremes of the desert and wilderness. He was the god of storms, born from the clash of the scorching sun and torrential rain.
The apocalyptic tempest currently threatening to wipe Sardinia off the map was nothing more than a casual declaration of Melqart's presence.
He was the god of storms. The god of the sea. The god of the sun.
He was the god of life, holding absolute dominion over both bountiful harvests and absolute desolation. He wielded winds capable of flattening entire cities, commanded legions of the dead summoned from the underworld, summoned tidal waves that mirrored ancient floods, and hurled thousands of lightning bolts like divine spears from the heavens.
Standing amidst the howling gales and freezing rain, Erica felt the true weight of his authority.
'This is the power of the Storm God...'
She was nothing more than a fragile leaf caught in a hurricane. A deep, paralyzing sense of powerlessness seeped into her bones.
Taking a ragged breath, she snapped her head toward Kusanagi Godou, who was still desperately hugging the utility pole.
"It's time for you to do your job!" she yelled over the roaring wind.
Godou's face was entirely drained of color. "What are you talking about?! How am I supposed to fight something like that?! Stop joking around!"
He squeezed his eyes shut. "Mom! I want to go home!"
Watching this supposed savior cower and cry for his mother, Erica's expression darkened into a mask of utter disgust.
Where in the world did the Copper Black Cross dig up such a useless, unreliable coward?
"Hahaha! As expected of the God King! To pursue me all the way here for a battle... truly admirable!"
Suddenly, a bright, melodic laugh sliced through the heavy rumble of the storm.
Erica whipped her head toward the source of the voice.
High in the sky.
Hovering effortlessly just outside the raging perimeter of the storm.
A figure, drastically smaller than the towering Melqart, stood suspended in the violent winds and rain. He appeared to be nothing more than a delicate, handsome youth.
But Erica was a Grand Knight. She knew perfectly well that no ordinary youth could casually float in the sky amidst a hurricane.
That was no frail boy.
That was a second Heretic God.
Erica froze, her boots feeling as though they had been cemented to the ground.
The intelligence reports had completely failed her. Nothing had mentioned that two Heretic Gods had chosen Sardinia as their battlefield.
The already hopeless situation had just plunged into absolute despair.
'Could it be... is Sardinia truly destined to be wiped from existence?'
Erica clenched her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white. For the first time in her life, standing in the shadow of two warring deities, she truly understood the pathetic frailty of humanity.
"Two prey fighting over scraps. Heh. How boring."
A cold, imperious female voice suddenly echoed across the battlefield, cutting through the thunder and wind with absolute clarity.
The two Heretic Gods, previously overflowing with divine fighting spirit, simultaneously halted. Their immense, terrifying gazes shifted toward the source of the interruption.
They locked onto a stunning woman draped in an elegant, flowing Hanfu.
Luo Hao had arrived.
She stood suspended in the air, her dark eyes sweeping over the two ancient deities with chilling disdain.
"Look at me," she commanded, her voice carrying the absolute authority of an apex predator. "Are you ready to die?"
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