Chapter 275: Armor on, Ascend to Godhood!
"This is Gorgon's Temple?"
Stepping out from Xia Yu's Spatial Portal, Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others looked at the Blood Temple before them with solemn expressions.
"The aura... feels so evil..." Mash subconsciously gripped the shield in her hand tightly.
"Gorgon..." Beside her, Ana gently pulled down her hood. It was time to face her mission.
"Then..." Xia Yu reached out as if to grasp something. A massive axe blade emerged from a portal, and the Axe of Marduk was raised high by her above the Blood Temple.
Under her maximum output, the axe carried matchless power, not only shattering the Temple's Bounded Field but also cleaving the entire mountain peak directly in half.
"Yo, busy?" She smiled at Gorgon, who was still resting and building up her strength inside the Temple. After a deafening roar, the latter felt the entire upper half of the Temple vanish instantly, exposing the interior directly to the sunlight.
"Wait, that's..." Kingu, who was on the main battlefield, abruptly spun around and looked toward the distant area where dust was billowing. "The Blood Temple? Damn it!"
"Oh no, that goddess's juvenile form isn't here either," speaking up to here, he glared back at Quetzalcoatl with deep hatred. "You've picked up a new lease on life, Quetzalcoatl. Wait until I rescue Gorgon, then..."
Before he could finish speaking, the latter's fist smashed straight into his face.
"No, Kingu," Quetzalcoatl frowned. "Do you really think you can beat me? I admit Enkidu: Chains of Heaven has a special modifier against divinity, but if you think you can bind me with just that... Wait, could it be that the Holy Grail is in your hands?"
"Since you know, get out of my way!" Distraught and furious, Kingu shot out dozens of chains to trap Quetzalcoatl, but she nimbly dodged them all.
Furthermore, he had threatened the wrong person. Perhaps some people would let him go out of wariness, but the passionate and battle-loving big sister was definitely not among them. Honestly, dealing with a mere Kingu was just a warm-up match for her.
The presence of Enkidu: Chains of Heaven at most made her feel a slight challenge, but now that a Holy Grail was added to the mix, the big sister was genuinely getting fired up.
"But I am quite surprised," she dodged the chains and looked at Kingu. "Kingu... you are actually worried about her? But as far as I know, in your plan... she is nothing more than a pawn."
"Shut up!" His face completely dark, Kingu launched another attack, but Quetzalcoatl welcomed any challenger. The obsidian sword in her hand stirred up a boundless tempest, directly blowing away the Enkidu: Chains of Heaven that Kingu was so proud of.
On the other side, at the Blood Temple.
"This is..." Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others looked at the purple, mana-filled egg-like sacks inside the Temple. The humans inside, who were being used as nourishment, constantly writhed their deformed bodies in agony.
"Let's go, don't look," Merlin shook his head and walked at the very front.
"But, everyone is still alive..." Mash could not bring herself to abandon these people.
"Even though they've undergone changes, everyone is still..."
"Mash," hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka called out her name and said with a resolute expression, "Let's go. We're going to put an end to all of this completely!"
"That's right, go ahead," Ishtar walked over as well, her expression complex. "These people... can't be saved anymore, but Ereshkigal will give them a final resting place."
"Let's go kill Gorgon! Hmph, to seek revenge on humanity, she actually started pursuing a capacity for reproduction greater than humans? Talk about putting the cart before the horse."
"I'm sorry, Mash," Fujimaru Ritsuka reached out and gripped her shoulder. "Even if that's the case, we must defeat Gorgon. Please lend me your strength!"
Hearing this, Mash nodded silently and followed behind her, tightening her grip on her shield.
Meanwhile, Ana also gripped the Slayer of Immortals tightly, resolved to meet her destiny.
"Humans! Humans!!!" In the center of the Temple, the snake hair on Gorgon's body continuously unleashed magic cannon fire, blasting a barrage toward Xia Yu in the sky, only to see the damage read 0.5...
"Gorgon!" Ishtar was a goddess of action rather than words. She directly summoned Maanna, preparing to deliver a devastating blow.
"You monster!" Even Mash was furious. "Why... why would you do something like this!"
"Because I want to destroy humanity!" Gorgon looked down at her and grinned savagely. "Destroy Uruk, wipe out every last human, and then kill myself too! Only revenge is my driving force!"
"So I will destroy everything! Hmph, ahahaha, it seems you little girls don't understand the ugliness of the mortal world at all."
"Then why didn't you march up Mount Olympus and pick a fight with the Greek gods?" Hearing this, Xia Yu chuckled and chopped off most of her snake hair with a single axe swing. "To be fair, the Athena who persecuted you is a Greek Chief God, and the Perseus who killed you is Zeus's son. To ascend Mount Olympus, they used the lives of you sisters as stepping stones and eventually even became the Perseus constellation."
"And you? Oh, here you are yapping about destroying humanity. Figures, that's all the spine you have. You don't dare bare your teeth at Mount Olympus, so you come to bully humans who are weaker than you, right?"
"You!" Gorgon spat out in a fit of rage, "If I could enter the Far Side of the Moon, how would you know I wouldn't dare!"
She simply couldn't get in. After all, she wasn't a complete deity, but had manifested as a Servant.
Xia Yu froze slightly upon seeing this. Looking at the situation, if an Avenger like Gorgon saw Zeus or Athena, she would absolutely throw her life away to attack them without a second thought.
Even if it was like a moth to a flame.
"Olympus! Olympus!" Gorgon wailed. "As if I wouldn't want to! But this incinerated world no longer has an Olympus. If it weren't for that... why would I be reduced to coming to a tiny place like Uruk to destroy humanity!"
"Fine, I have felt the weight of your desire for revenge," Xia Yu sighed. "I apologize for misunderstanding your resolve."
"Hmph, what's the point of talking so much to her?" Ishtar spoke up from below. "You're nothing more than a fake who achieved the status of a goddess by relying on a Holy Grail. Besides, Mother doesn't need other creatures to produce Demonic Beasts!"
"Heh, to produce Demonic Beasts she actually needs to utilize the targets of her revenge. Mother is not a god who would do such a half-hearted thing."
She didn't feel much toward Gorgon's hatred, but as an outsider, the other party actually dared to cause chaos under the name of the mother of all gods, which she definitely had to take care of.
"Gorgon," hearing this, Ana stepped out from behind the crowd and gently removed her hood. "You can't even see your own appearance, right?"
"You..." Gorgon looked at the face beneath the hood. No, she couldn't see the face at all. No matter how she looked, it was merely a blurred countenance.
"This chill is... Ah! I'm going crazy!" Gorgon received a massive shock. "Kingu! What on earth is going on!"
"Hurry up and drive that hideous monster out of the Temple!"
"You really can't see me," Ana's face was filled with sorrow. "If you were still willing to look at me, perhaps there would be a slight chance to turn things around."
"From beginning to end, I kept warning myself that I cannot live on, I cannot stay here, and I cannot smile."
Ana gently covered her chest. "But I really want to live on, I really want to stay here, and I really want to smile. The result of that is her, and also me. This is my destiny."
"Is that so," Merlin stepped forward upon hearing this. "Is it enough, Ana? Do you need to release the divine power you've suppressed until now?"
"Yes, I permit it, Merlin," Ana raised her head and looked at the massive snake-bodied goddess.
As Merlin gently tapped his staff, the band on Ana's forehead turned into flower petals and vanished. "I listened to your slanderous words; now let me give myself closure."
A divine power identical to Gorgon's emanated from her body. Her petrifying Mystic Eyes snapped open, directly neutralizing Gorgon's Mystic Eyes.
Ana possessed the same memories as Gorgon and knew her own fate.
Locking eyes with the massive snake god, a touch of sorrow couldn't help but surface in her eyes.
At that moment, the two reached an inexplicable connection, jointly recalling the past.
The past on that desolate, uninhabited island.
And her two sisters who, despite their sharp tongues, loved her the most.
'We just wanted to live on this island where there was nothing, just to live together with absolutely nothing...'
'The things we cherished were very few, so at the very least, we had to protect this one place where we belonged.'
Therefore, to protect that island, the youngest sister, Medusa, who was ultimately driven to madness, devoured her two beloved sisters and became the snake god Gorgon.
Why?
On what grounds?
The large and small figures locked eyes. Gorgon represented the future—that bloody, cruel future—while Ana represented the past—the past where she still lived carefree with her sisters...
"I am Tiamat! The Goddess of Genesis!" Gorgon straightened her torso. Facing the gaze of her younger self, for some reason, she didn't dare speak her own name, and could only pick up that punctured lie once again.
She was afraid her younger self would ask her where their sisters had gone.
Even though they both knew the answer full well.
"No," Ana shook her head and said softly, "The Banshee of the Shapeless Isle, the Hero killer—that is who you are, Gorgon."
She had resolved to face the past.
"Your revenge can absolutely never leave that island... Now, vanish together with me," she raised the weapon that had once killed her. "Let us go see our sisters together..."
"Don't speak such cruel words," just then, a purple portal manifested behind her. Xia Yu hugged Ana from behind, reaching out to press down the massive scythe.
"As expected..." Merlin sighed upon seeing this. He knew this person was bound to make a move.
After all, Gorgon was connected to Tiamat.
Looking at this, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash subconsciously recalled their past experience of being severely beaten in the Great Hollow beneath Ryuudou Temple in Fuyuki City, and a shiver ran down their spines.
Ishtar merely crossed her arms, pursing her lips without saying a word.
"The Humanity Order really is merciless," Xia Yu snatched the scythe from her hand. "The Slayer of Immortals, heh. Making you, a future victim, hold this weapon to kill your future self who is destined to die by it."
"This miserable thing, I absolutely have to disgust It today."
"What are you doing?" Ana tried to struggle subconsciously, but her C-rank strength was still far too weak and powerless against a Herrscher.
"Be good, Ana," Xia Yu felt completely content holding her firmly in her arms, resting her chin on her forehead. "It'll be over very soon. Don't worry, I won't hurt you."
Finally, she had managed to hug a loli. Her life was complete, totally complete.
Usurper of the Celestial Wind, activate!
"You!" Ana looked in shock as the divine power on her body continuously drained away. "You're taking my divine power... you..."
Gorgon made her move, unleashing a barrage of magic cannons toward the two.
"What's your hurry," Xia Yu activated her Herrscher of the Void power, and dozens of spatial gates blocked the space in front of her, absorbing the incoming magic cannons.
"But... thank you for the mana!"
At the same time, the Rune Pillars that had been buried long ago activated simultaneously. The divine power plundered from Ana and the mana transformed from Gorgon's magic cannons gathered onto her!
Armor on, Ascend to Godhood! One of her first batch of rewards!
Walk It's path, bear It's name, and one could become It through this ritual, replacing It!
At this moment, Xia Yu was no longer an outsider Herrscher, but an assembled, custom-made Gorgon!
Then... she looked at the terrified Gorgon ahead and grinned.
"Hand it over!"
Dozens of Rune Pillars exerted their force simultaneously. At this moment, as the one donning the armor, Xia Yu was intangibly linked with Gorgon.
"This is... impossible!" As a goddess, Gorgon instantly saw through the essence of the ritual taking place on her body. "How could you possibly achieve such a thing!"
"Whether it can be achieved isn't for you to decide," Xia Yu directly initiated the ritual, and Gorgon's massive body was instantly restrained.
[Divinity—Approved]
[Divine Name—Approved]
[Divine Power—Approved!]
The massive snake god began to shrink at a pace visible to the naked eye. In its place, a pair of illusory golden wings slowly manifested behind Xia Yu.
"Now, I am Gorgon!"
"Trouble, real trouble!" Merlin instantly figured out Xia Yu's plan upon seeing this, and his entire well-being took a turn for the worse.
He looked to the left at Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash. Setting aside their nuanced relationship with Kiana, with Mash's strength alone, she couldn't interrupt the ritual in this kind of scenario anyway.
He looked to the right—oh boy, Ishtar. Heh, she was even worse than Mash, considering she didn't hide her thoughts in the slightest.
She was driven half-mad with the desire to take Kiana under her wing; how could she possibly stop her.
Then he looked at himself.
No shot, he couldn't beat her at all!
Ana was already restrained by her.
Oh boy, it was over.
He had never heard of a ritual that could usurp a divine name, but looking at the target Kiana had chosen, he had already seen through her true objective.
Tiamat!
Only the mother of all gods was worthy of being targeted by a powerhouse like her.
Gorgon possessed Tiamat's Divine Authority, so she had deliberately schemed to usurp Gorgon first, and then use her as a springboard to plot against Tiamat!
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