"…My strength… is draining away…" In the Goddess Temple, the usually valiant Saori now lay limp in Meruem's arms like a little girl.
Staying by her side, Meruem pondered to himself, "Strange… who could possibly absorb Athena's divine power? In theory, aside from Pallas, no one else should be able to do that."
"And the Celestial Palace is choosing this exact moment to declare war on the Sanctuary… something's wrong here. If not for my interference, which left all the Gold Saints alive and the Silver Saints basically unscathed, not only would the Sanctuary's authority have taken a massive hit, there's a good chance the Sanctuary itself would have been invaded."
"Could this be the Sea Emperor's scheme? Unlikely. Kanon hasn't sent back any word."
The two God Warriors captured by "Scum‑Saga" had already been handed over to Bud by Meruem, since one of them was his younger brother. As for how to sever that bond, that was Bud's own problem to solve.
For now, the top priority was to find the source of the Cosmo that was siphoning away the divine power from Saori's body.
There wasn't a single lead.
"Heh heh… Athena… very soon, your power will be mine." On a mountain outside the Sanctuary, a heavily made‑up woman in a red robe, holding a trident, her hair floating upward in blatant defiance of gravity, pulled a gleaming golden apple from her bosom and murmured toward the Sanctuary. "Once I obtain your power, the entire earth will also belong to me."
The Goddess of Discord, Eris.
"Rise again, young Saints." The golden apple in Eris's hand burst into brilliant light, and the figures of four unknown Saints in Silver Cloth appeared before her.
"Hm? One short? Forget it, that won't make much difference."
"My most loyal servants, let's go. Together with me, the Sanctuary will soon fall into our hands, and you will take the place of the Gold Saints." She waved the trident in her hand and vanished from where she stood, along with the revived dead Saints.
"What? Eris? So it's that woman from the Golden Apple incident. No wonder—aside from Pallas, only her Golden Apple can absorb Athena's divine power. Still, the timing she chose is impressive… right before the Norse Celestial Palace declares war." Listening to the report from the Saint kneeling before him, Meruem's eyes flashed.
"Come, Saori, let's go pay this Goddess of Discord a visit." He scooped Saori up in a princess carry, ignoring her faint, thread‑like protests, and strode forward.
The Saints who had been following Meruem all looked at his back with shining, worshipful eyes.
At this point, Meruem's word in the Sanctuary was second only to Saori's. Even Pope Shion's authority might not match his.
"So you're the Pope of the Sanctuary? From today on, I am the master of this Sanctuary." Eris had already arrived in the Pope's Palace.
The twelve Gold Saints and the familiar Bronze boys stood around Shion, glaring at Eris, who was being outrageously arrogant in the great hall.
Yet they dared not be careless. Having already absorbed seventy percent of Athena's divine power, Eris's presence alone was enough to suppress all twelve Gold Saints.
"Kneel to me, and perhaps I'll consider sparing your lives. Otherwise, none of you will leave here alive today." After stealing Athena's divine power and adding it to her own, Eris truly had reached the level of the Twelve Olympian gods.
The power wasn't originally hers, but she could use it.
"We must destroy the Golden Apple in her hand, or we won't be able to fight her." Shion, seasoned and learned, quickly saw through the key to the situation.
After several probing attacks, he had already grasped the trick.
Facing the Golden Apple at full power, not even Shaka—the man closest to God—or Saga—the incarnation of a god—could withstand it.
Though the two of them, when serious, were no weaker than an ordinary Third‑tier God, Eris was now a god strengthened by Athena's divine power. Without that Golden Apple, they might still have a chance.
"Hahahaha… the earth, the Sanctuary, and Athena herself will all be mine. Just one final step remains. Once I imprison Athena's body inside this Golden Apple, I will inherit everything she has. Then no one will be able to stop me." After easily suppressing the Gold Saints yet again, Eris laughed triumphantly.
In her mind, victory was already in the bag.
Eris's Golden Apple—no one knew where she had obtained that artifact. But one thing was certain: the Golden Apple had the power to absorb divine energy.
What puzzled Meruem was how Eris could remotely absorb Athena's power, almost exactly like Pallas.
"I'm very curious… what kind of mindset you have to be in to say something that arrogant." Hearing Eris's words, even Meruem couldn't help speaking up.
"Lord Meruem…" the Gold Saints murmured.
When Meruem saw the apple in Eris's hand, he actually felt a bit disappointed. He had originally thought the Golden Apple was a heaven‑defying artifact capable of fully absorbing divine power.
But that didn't seem to be the case. Although Eris, holding the Golden Apple, had indeed gained a great boost from Athena's divine power—
Meruem's keen sense for energy told him this much:
The power Eris had received was incomplete. A portion of the divine power had gone who‑knows‑where. For example, if Athena had lost seventy percent of her divine power, only sixty percent had manifested in Eris. One layer was missing without a trace. And if the Golden Apple were truly that mighty, why wasn't Eris using it to absorb Zeus's divine power?
Something was off.
It was entirely possible Eris herself was just a disposable pawn someone else had thrown onto the board.
"Who are you?" Eris's gaze sharpened. This was the first time she'd met someone who could ignore her oppressive aura even after she'd been strengthened by Athena's divine power.
"Me? I'm nothing more than Athena's humble guardian." Smiling faintly, Meruem gently set Saori down on the Pope's throne and spoke casually.
"Guardian? Do you think you're Zeus or something? No matter. Whoever you are, you're going to die. I'll start with you." Eris raised the Golden Apple high in her left hand and leveled the trident in her right at Meruem.
A massive bolt of lightning roared toward him.
"Those who oppose me must die!" Eris cried.
However—
"Something this dangerous really shouldn't be played with." At some point, the trident and Golden Apple that had been in Eris's hands were already in Meruem's.
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