Chapter 7
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Chapter 7 - Gods and Godslayers, the Climactic Final Battle for Victory Part 1 Godou was badly beaten up while the Great Sage Equaling Heaven literally had his belly cut open as suggested. Had either of them succumbed to their heavy injuries, it would not have been surprising, but they dulled the pain through pure willpower alone. Completely ignoring the state of their bodies and maintaining the heightened state of excitement, only gods and Campiones could be this reckless. Watching this scene unfold was Hikari who had just been rescued. She could no longer hear the thoughts of the person who had been speaking to her. Due to taking on a portion of the [Swordj's burden, Yuri also reached her limit and had fallen unconscious somewhere. The second sun in the sky also vanished, having lost the [Sword] it depended on. "Hikari... Is your body okay?" "Yes! Thanks to Onii-sama and everyone else, I am completely fine!" "I see... Then hurry and leave this place and find a place to hide." Godou gently reminded the girl who was embracing him. "Why? I want to help Onii-sama! I also want to assist you like all the other Onee-sama!" "No, there's nothing you can help here. Besides..." Godou coldly released Hikari despite her earnest pleas, for the battle was just about to enter a climax. "I entrust everyone in your care, Hikari. Erica, Liliana, Seishuuin and your sister far away have all used up their strength. Go immediately to help and take care of them." "If I do that... I will be helping Onii-sama?" "Yes, please. You are the only one I can rely on now." It was now like being in the ninth inning with a one point lead. In order to guard this lead, Godou began to rouse the feelings of outfielders — nostalgic memories from his days as a catcher were even recalled. Treating the girl in his arms as a companion and entrusting her with important tasks, Godou stroked Hikari's head softly. As a result, the twelve-year-old apprentice Hime-Miko gazed at Godou with blushing cheeks. "Yes... I will do as Onii-sama says, but you must come back alive. If you don't keep your promise, I won't listen to Onii-sama's orders again. Will you promise me this?" "I know, in order to make you listen to me from now on, I will definitely return." As if praising an obedient child, Godou stroked little Hikari's head. Completely unexpectedly, Hikari drew her young face close and kissed Godou. "I heard from Ena-neesama and the others, that this is the only way to cast a spell on Onii-sama... This is a spell for treating fatigue, at least let me help you a little like this..." Hikari left Godou reluctantly and ran over to the collapsed Erica. There was a certain adult maturity to her... Hikari bore a rather feminine expression. Though Godou had been treating her like a little child, she should be trustworthy from the way she acted just now. Thanks to the spell, the pain had lessened greatly. "Ha! Kusanagi brat! It's unbelievable that you still have the energy to flirt with girls at a time like this." The Great Sage Equaling Heaven laughed with a sneer. "Looks like we can still have another round. Nice nice!" "You and I are both heavily injured, are you sure it's proper for you to be mocking others?" "Because I still hold a trump card, it doesn't matter... Watch, this is the thing I prepared just in case." Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared in the Great Sage's right hand. It was the body of Divine Ancestor Asherah! However, it was very small since her body had shrunk so much it was like a ginseng root. Despite being in such a state, the witch still seemed to be alive, for one could hear her breathing weakly. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven took a bite out of this tiny witch. Aaaaaaaaaah! With the sound of soul-screeching screams, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven nonchalantly moved his lower jaw, chewed with his teeth and swallowed her, re-enacting a scene from the Journey to the West when he ate a ginseng fruit... In the next moment, from within the body of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven — out flowed a terrifying amount of divine power! "Huhahahahahaha! After eating the snake deity, I have recovered my energy! The peerless Old Sun has returned once again!" "T-That was the reason you took away that witch!?" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven restored his Ruyi Staff with divine power again, and swung it as quickly as lightning. Godou hastily rolled along the ground as the divine staff of precious iron attacked with great alacrity. Having lost the [Sword], Godou now needed to battle using other incarnations. However, the [Camel] could not handle attacks from the air while the [White Stallion] had already been used. Was there no other weapon remaining!? As Godou evaded the Great Sage's attacks, he heard a mocking voice. ...Finally asking me for help? What a troublesome man. An ice-cold feeling was dwelling in his right arm as the sword he had lent out just now returned to him. Now was the time to use the new weapon that had been waiting patiently to make an entrance. As the Ruyi Staff came crashing down, Godou jumped sideways with motions like a wild beast to evade. "Hmm, crap, did I hit too hard?" Missing its target, the steel staff was embedded into the ground. As the Great Sage pulled his weapon out, Godou adjusted his breathing. "Damn it... I clearly had no intention of using such a dangerous object as you!" Though he complained out loud, the corners of Godou's lips were upturned as if smiling. Since he needed to continue fighting whether he had a weapon or not, something was better than nothing. Seizing that one-in-a-thousand chance of victory in a hopeless situation, if one couldn't even do that, one was not fit to be a Campione — rather, not fit to be a man! "Hoho, you look like you too have a trump card up your sleeve. Then let us fight to our hearts' content, Rakshasa King!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven jumped onto his golden cloud and flew into the sky. Accelerating again and again, the Great Sage intended to re-enter the realm of god speed. The new weapon in Godou's hand could not defend against that kind of speed but he was resolved to fight to the very end and obtain victory. No matter what kind of crisis he faced, if he himself didn't believe in his own victory, then of course victory would never grace him with its presence! Just as Godou planned to concentrate all his power in this despairing battle — A shooting star streaked across the sky. Resembling a heavenly flying dragon, it was a flash of brilliant blue-white light, one of the magic bullets shot by the warrior with the black cape! The dragon of light chased after the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who had took on the form of a golden meteor. But just as it caught up, the prey vanished. Was it because he had entered the realm of god speed? However, John Pluto Smith's bullet also disappeared. Both sides had reached god speed! 'Damn, if that's the case, hah — !" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven who should have disappeared, suddenly multiplied rapidly in the air, filling the sky with over a hundred divine monkeys. This was a cloning technique! However, these clones began to explode one after another and were soon dispersed into mist, most likely struck down in midair by the divine speeding bullet. Beneath the glow of the morning sky, it was as spectacular as a fireworks celebration. The Five Elements form a cycle of restraint, Metal counters Wood!' As his clones disappeared, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven chanted a mantra. Lightning was released from within the body of the divine monkey and collided with the approaching blue-white magic bullet. The magic bullet was finally destroyed, but the Great Sage's golden cloud also returned to normal speed, most likely because he was unable to use other spells while maintaining that kind of godly speed. "Making me waste unnecessary breath, so another unrelated godslayer is joining in?" "Unrelated? No, not at all. I came here expressly to bury you. Since John Pluto Smith is entering this battle, prepare yourself to be dragged into the depths of the underworld." The latecomer was obviously the masked Campione. The fallen girls could no longer be seen, apparently taken away by Hikari. She must have used healing spells since she should not have the strength to move everyone so quickly by herself. Anyway, the only ones gathered in this place were now gods and Campiones. Only these two existences and no other! "Hmph, what an audacious man... You have met my bros before, right? Let us display the solidarity of us sworn brothers, and defeat all the godslayers! From the ocean of the north, come, my virtuous little brother, Zhu Ganglie! From the territories of the west, come, my virtuous little brother, Vaisravana!" The entrance of John Pluto Smith caused the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's divine power to rise explosively. The two little figurines were thrown into the air. "Vanquishing devils, ripping evil spirits apart, star of the sword god which slaughters Rakshasa! Bestow upon me the sharp sword to vanquish my mortal enemies!" As the two figurines expanded in one motion, their appearance also began to change. The first to appear was the giant with a pig's head. Clad in black clothes with armor of the same color, he made his entrance as a giant god, standing 15m tall with three heads and six arms still! Next to manifest was the demonic deity with black skin and red spiky hair, standing on pillars of water that spewed forth like geysers, forming a dragon of water! "Hohohoho, I hope this time I can play a little while longer, Big Bro." "Appearing here in response to Big Bro's summon, I am ready to fulfill your every command." Manifesting behind the slowly flying Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Zhu Ganglie and Vaisravana shouted. Before the three deities, Godou spoke to his masked ally: "I am grateful for your help, but we are still outnumbered, the disadvantage of two against three remains." "I don't need you to teach me this kind of infantile mental math." Smith fluttered the cape on his shoulders in response to his junior's reminder. "On the other hand, there is also the saying 'two heads are better than one'... I think the current situation is rather fitting. Anyway, the main point is, I want a chance for me to show off. If you insist on keeping such a delicious situation all to yourself, that would make you a very stingy man, so lowly that I don't even need to mock you." Hearing him casually spout such roundabout words, Godou could not help but smile wryly. In such a situation, who could have expected him to make such comments when he was entitled to additional concessions. Watching the performance of the man before him who loved to role-play, Godou somehow felt a strange sense of intimacy with him. "What you seem to be trying to say, is that John Pluto Smith considers Kusanagi Godou a friend, and a man who won't pose a hindrance to you — is that right?" "Oh my oh my, you really think you can trust a mysterious man like me? Don't regret it!" Smith and Godou joked with each other as they stood side by side, looking up at the gods in the sky. This argumentative conversation felt unexpectedly delightful. Never yielding verbally, this quirk of his seems to fit quite well with me. Confirming that they turned out to be surprisingly compatible, Godou smiled. "You are really quite the busybody. My luck has always been great and I have never regretted any of my choices in companions. I don't expect this to ever change. Right, one more thing..." Godou recalled Sayanomiya Kaoru's phone call. Lu Yinghua had apparently heard the sound of some kind of commotion. If that's the case, of course it can only be that. "You know the idea that two are better than one... While three people are better than two... Right?" Change finally came to the petrified grounds of Toushouguu. The first to be sent flying were the worship and main halls at the core of the shrine. As if dynamite had been set off, the worship hall and the main hall collapsed as stone fragments scattered and flew with the sound of explosions. Next were the Gates of Youmeimon, followed by the divine stable, the five-story pagoda and the first torii. Explosions occurred one after another. Originally, restoring the entire area petrified by the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was already a monumental task. Even so, seeing the important cultural heritage site destroyed so utterly, Sayanomiya Kaoru could not help exclaiming "oh my, I give up." On the other hand, Amakasu Touma closed his eyes in deep thought as if saying "that's going a bit overboard." The only one who could watch calmly was Lu Yinghua. Seeing the first torii — namely, the main entrance to Nikkou Toushouguu being demolished, he took into his hands the package he had been keeping on the side all this time. Then he immediately rushed into the smoke and dust cloud created by the shattered and pulverized stone. "Master, please get changed. I have brought you a change of clothes here." "Well done, you have become more attentive. You have earned yourself a little praise." "Master's praise is too kind, your disciple expresses utmost gratitude." Towards the figure of the beautiful maiden who appeared from within the white smoke, Lu Yinghua reverently handed over the package. " — A fish lives in the northern ocean, its name is the Kun! The Kun is so large, no one knows how many thousands of miles long it is. Transforming into a bird, its name is the Peng! The Peng's back is so vast, no one knows how many thousands of miles wide it is. Flying furiously, its wings are like clouds filling up the sky!"^ As soon as the mantra was chanted, the ground suddenly became dark, but not because the sunlight was blotted out by clouds. A giant sacred bird — the golden-winged Peng came flying by. In the instant that this bird flew above their heads, the transcendent beauty's figure vanished. "With this, all the actors have gathered. It won't be very appropriate if we don't go and watch the finale." "But these special front row seats offer no guarantees for personal safety." Sayanomiya Kaoru joked around with her subordinate as she nodded in agreement. Part 2 The giant sacred bird flew over the plains of Senjougahara. Estimated in proportion to its wingspan, the massive body must have been several hundred meters in size. Stunned, Godou looked up to watch the majestic entry of the sacred bird. This fellow must be carrying the final participant. But still, even if she wanted to travel here, was it really necessary to use such a conspicuous mode of transportation? The beautiful heavenly maiden suddenly descended from the back of the giant bird, wearing an outfit in the style of a mandarin gown that hugged and accentuated the wondrous curves of her figure. With mesmerizing lustrous eyes and pristine white teeth, her beauty could only be described as otherworldly. Drifting through the air and landing upon the ground like a feather, this person was no other but Luo Cuilian. "Thank you for your patience, Great Sage! As well as my little brother." Hearing her words, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven questioned: "Oh? Little brother?" "Correct. Kusanagi Godou here is the sworn little brother of me, Luo Cuilian. A relationship akin to you and your fellow brothers." "Haha! But are you able to become as large as us?" "In that case, we will defeat you all at once, burying your oath of sworn fraternity at the same time..." The sworn brothers of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven proceeded to issue arrogant instigating remarks. Zhu Ganglie's eyes, full of lustful desire, stared intently at Luo Hao; standing on the dragon's head, Vaisravana looked gloomy as ever despite his rhetoric; Luo Hao smiled in return with casual composure. "Hohoho, it's not a bad idea to decide right here which side's sworn siblings are stronger. Wouldn't you agree? Little brother." "Umm, actually it's not just us two, there's also another participant..." From Godou's point of view, he was just stating a fact. But his sworn elder sister, as well as senior along the path of domination, severely glared at him in response. "Do you intend to spoil the first chance for us siblings to fight in cooperation by inserting this man of suspicious origins!? Foolish! This is a profane insult to me, your elder sister!" Calling him a man of suspicious origins was quite an unpleasant manner of address. The one wearing a mask and black cape, dressed up like a theatrical actor and the man in question, whispered softly: (Oh... Elder sister eh? Having met for mere days and she's already taken such a liking to you... You are truly outstanding in the ways of stealing maiden hearts.) (Stop saying weird stuff about her taking a liking to me, please shut up for a bit!) Hearing John Pluto Smith's reply, Godou hastily retorted in defense. "Anyway, that's how it is. A rare situation with three gods appearing at the same time. If we are down by one person on our side, wouldn't it be shameful?" "Shameful?" Luo Cuilian reacted. As expected, her extreme pride meant that she was fiercely sensitive to such insinuations. If she were to say something like 'victory against superior numbers is an honor in the martial realm' then there would be no room for objection. However, such an argument would be more of a bluff than the result of some twisted logic. Even exalted as Luo Cuilian, her hubris should not be extreme enough to insist on dignity over practicality... At least, that was what Godou hoped. "If we don't prepare an army with the same formation as our opponents, it seems like there will be a problem with respect." "I see, that makes a bit of sense. Very well, I will accept your advice and we shall face them with equal numbers. As befitting for great generals and marshals, it is only right for us to lead armies into battle in the spirit of proper martial way... Still, little brother, something about your behavior displeases me." Luo Hao grumbled as she stared at Godou. What was she trying to say? "D-Displeased? I don't think I did anything wrong..." "Of course you are wrong. I am the martial pinnacle, the elder sister whom you should be offering the utmost respect. And how do you address someone of exalted stature like myself? I believe I have already taught you the most appropriate form of address." Godou could not help but sigh. Does that word really have to be said right now!? "O, O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o... Nee-san..." "You should be calling me 'Onee-sama.' I never expected a little brother with such poor memory. Fine, since it is the proposal of my sworn little brother, I will accept it." Having spoken, Luo Cuilian turned to the other Campione. "From my deductions, you must be the American [Kind]? My family name is Luo, with given name Cuilian and style name Hao. I give you permission to join the ranks of my army in this battle and fight alongside me, Luo Hao." "What a unique greeting... I, John Pluto Smith, will offer the entirety of my humble services." Faced with the loftily delivered invitation, the king dressed in black responded effortlessly. Compared to the two-hundred-year-old demonic cult leader, the age-unspecified young man seemed far more mature. Breathing a sigh of relief, Godou and his two 'fellow kin' stood shoulder-to-shoulder, facing off against the three divine spirits. The giant three-headed-six-armed Zhu Ganglie. As well as Vaisravana standing on the raised head of his mount, the dragon of water. Finally there was the leader of these two gods, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong. Once again he stood upon the golden cloud and ascended, flying high up into the skies. The three versus three decisive battle was about to begin. "Hohoho, let me pick my opponent first! I choose the transcendent beauty, the godslayer who reminds me of the Moon Goddess! It is most fitting for her to be the opponent of the Marshal Canopy, the great Zhu Ganglie!" "...Come to think of it, you are the stellar deity that guards the northern sky." The Ruler of the Martial Realm frowned at the evil gaze of lust being cast upon her. "When it comes to the companions of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, one of the most notable is the evil-exorcising deity, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Wuneng. From a wild boar to a domestic pig, you are a deity widely known in folklore. In spite of all that, it is most deplorable for you to be reduced to such a shallow and lowly subordinate god." In Japan, boars were called "inoshishi" while domestic pigs used the kanji "buta" for distinction. When Godou received knowledge about the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, information was also gained about his subordinate gods. The Marshal Canopy Zhu Wunenq was once a military god serving the north pole's Great Emperor Ziwei. At the height of his worship, most likely during the time from the Sui to the Song Dynasties, the three-headed-six-armed appearance in full armament was one of the favorite images depicted by artists. Frequently appearing in novels and plays, in the end he was linked to Zhu Bajie in the Journey to the West. For such a popular deity to be reduced to a lustful pervert like this... Flames erupted from Luo Cuilian's shoulders as if her anger had been lit on fire, manifesting a golden Benevolent King.^ A solidly built figure that did not lose in any way to the giant Zhu Ganglie, displaying his impressive musculature half-nude! "A force is exerted! Great force vanquishes small evil!" "Hmm woaaah!? What is this monstrous strength?" Zhu Ganglie was being thrown by the Benevolent King. Exactly in the manner of a shot put, the lustful giant god was propelled through the air into the distance. Crash! As the landing impact resounded, Luo Cuilian ran with her subordinate Benevolent King towards the fallen giant deity. With great speed unexpected from his massive body, Zhu Ganglie got back up and summoned the weapons for his six arms. The first pair of hands held a sword and a halberd; the second pair, an axe and a club; the third, a bow and arrows. With black clothing and black armor, the god with a pig's head clashed with the Benevolent King led by Luo Cuilian and the two giants began to fight. "O Dragon, annihilate these people — Om vaisravanaye svaha!" The water suddenly exploded. As Vaisravana stood on the water dragon, a portion of its dissociated body splashed on the ground. Godou and John Pluto Smith jumped backwards to evade the attack. The water formed powerful currents which were tearing apart the ground of the Senjougahara plains! Like a blade of water, the liquid sliced through rock and flourishing forests as if they were made of paper. Godou and Smith beside him marveled as they muttered to themselves. "A demonic deity with Buddhist roots... From his appearance, I originally expected an attack of pure power but he turned out to have such skillful moves." Vaisravana had an appearance like a demon with a particularly frightful face and ferocious-looking body. Smith's instincts should have been correct, but it was Vaisravana's gloomy and intellectual aspects that avoided giving others an overly violent impression. "Since ancient times. Vaisravana was the one who inducted countless Shramana ascetics.^ * However, his earlier incarnation killed people and was a sinful deity that had broken precepts against murder..." Vaisravana began to laugh to himself as he stood on the dragon's head. "As the Curtain Lifting General at the Palace of the Great Emperor of the Waters in the celestial realm, the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas were once under my command. What I've shown is simply a minor portion of my old powers..." "Ah, I recall the Daoist pantheon having categories of Water and Thunder Departments, right?" The Water Department was in charge of the naval forces in the Daoist celestial realm. Though he did not cheat like Godou through instruction magic, Smith was apparently knowledgeable of myths and legends of foreign countries. "In that case, let me show off some of my skills... The ruler of the underworld commands, offer to me the black wings that penetrate the heavens! O Sky, thou existest only for me to display the breadth of my magnanimity!" Smith softly chanted spell words, causing the ground to rumble and shake. It was quite an intense earthquake. Cracks and crevices appeared on the ground as it trembled violently, while Smith began to transform over the shaking land. The black-clad eccentric turned into a massive black demonic bird. "Now, properly savor my transformation mystic arts! Will you be able to keep up with me!?" "What pretentious words! Looks like I am being underestimated!" Chasing after the rapidly ascending black demonic bird, Vaisravana drove the water dragon flying through the air. Flying towards the heavens, the black-winged devil king and the mysterious sacred dragon formed from water continued to make their ascent. However, the ground continued to shake intensely. Most likely, the culprit was the American Campione. Godou had once heard from Erica that Smith had an authority requiring the offering of [Sacrifices]. This earthquake was most probably one of those sacrifices. The tremors were not too severe, but this continuing series of earthquakes must each have been around 3 or 4 on the Richter scale. It looked like the earthquakes were going to persist for some time. What a troublesome fellow that Smith guy was! His irresponsibility of leaving messes behind made Godou a bit stunned as he faced off against the Great Sage Equaling Heaven on the shaking ground. "Hmm hmm hmph, let us start as well. Are you ready? Kusanagi brat!" "Fine, come at me with everything you've got, I'm not letting you get out of here in one piece!" Facing the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who jumped down from the golden cloud, Godou displayed calm composure. It was a bluff of course, for Godou was completely unprepared. Even though he had that sword, he did not have a usable incarnation able to counter the divine monkey's lightning-fast godly speed. Nevertheless, Godou's fighting spirit was strong as ever, and he intended to snatch victory in his hands even if it meant biting the enemy by the throat. Wait a minute... Was there really no incarnation that could be used? There was a strange sense of certainty that he still had an available weapon. This was a very faint feeling of confidence. Voices telling him to fight could be heard. Voices calling for the defeat of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Right, so that is the case now. Having figured things out, Godou turned his attention to the voices coming from the depths of his body. Only now did he truly master the ninth incarnation of Verethragna, the [Goat]. This priestly ability converted the thoughts and feelings of the surrounding people into magical power and controlled lightning. During the battle against Marquis Voban, he had once turned the will of the Dead Servants into his power source. But simply gathering willpower was insufficient to use the incarnation freely. Thanks to being connected to Yuri's psychic sensing, Godou finally understood the true method of using the [Goat]. A king rules by leading the will of the people, thereby raising his own prestige and authority. Godou extended the tendrils of psychic sensing, traversing the plains of Senjougahara and the area of Okunikkou as well as the Nikkou city streets, mobilizing the hearts and minds of over ten thousand victims. No mistake about it, this was the consciousness of all the ordinary people who had been forcefully transformed by the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and were now in deep sleep. These unconscious people originally led peaceful lives but were suddenly turned into monkeys one day, thus entering a nightmare. The sole culprit responsible for these heinous crimes was the [Heretic God] the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Even though you people were fortunate enough to be rescued, the Great Sage still stands. The god who changed you all into monkeys, do you not hold him in contempt? The god who treated you all as toys, do you not hold anger at him? Do you not want me to defeat the Great Sage Equaling Heaven!? Godou used psychic sensing power, entering people's dreams to rouse them, gathering the willpower of the people together, telling them the identity of the true culprit of the incident, fanning the flames of their anger. Lend me your power and believe in me. As long as you lend your power to me, I will definitely help you vanquish that contemptible foe! He could sense the anger of the unconscious people directed towards the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, forming a swirling vortex of fury in the realm of dreams. This was exactly what [Goat] needed as a foundation. Godou's left hand was finally able to fire off lightning attacks. "By the art of spell words I vanquish adherents of injustice and evil! This is the heavenly mandate of victory!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven dodged the flash of lightning with great agility. However, the Great Sage cannot be allowed to do as he pleased any further. Having obtained new power, Godou stared acutely with great intensity at his formidable foe. Part 3 Using the vast wetlands as the stage, the close-quarter battle resembling a special effects movie was reaching a climax. Towering at a height often-odd metres, there was the three-headed and six-armed Zhu Ganglie. Then there was the golden Benevolent King as his opponent, a half naked giant with only crude fabric covering his lower torso. The demonic cult leader summoned a spear using Daoist arts and pointed it at Zhu Ganglie. Known as the "King of Weapons" in China, the Qiang^ or Chinese spear was Luo Cuilian's favorite weapon. As the two clashed in battle, it was so intense that one would not wish to blink lest a moment is missed. Each of Zhu Ganglie's six arms held a different weapon. Sword, halberd, axe, club, bow and arrows. All the weapons were used simultaneously in combination with incredible footwork. He moved everywhere within the vicinity of the Benevolent King as he continued his attacks. Whenever he distanced himself, he attacked with arrows and the halberd, switching to the sword, axe and club at close range. (As a side note, the halberd refers to a weapon with a shaft like a spear and a sickle-like blade combined together, allowing the spear end to be used for thrusts and the blade for slicing attacks.) Zhu Ganglie moved so quickly that afterimages were left behind. With such horrifying speed, the five weapons rained attacks down upon the Benevolent King without pause, making the three heads and six arms look like there were thirty heads and sixty arms, or even sixty heads and a hundred and twenty arms. However, the one who took on this intense barrage of attacks was the demonic cult leader, whose martial arts were simply divine. Unlike Zhu Ganglie who was circling around in arcs as he attacked, the glorious Benevolent King stood its ground without shifting his position while Luo Hao stood in the center of the circle wielding her spear. Although there should only be a single spear, it looked like a thousand spearheads were thrusting continuously all at once. All five of Zhu Ganglie's weapons were intercepted. Arrows were struck down, roaring attacks of the halberd were blocked, the sword was deflected, the axe was sent flying back, and the club was stopped. As Zhu Ganglie maneuvered in an oval arc to the Benevolent King's back, Luo Hao extended the spear backwards without even turning her head — in other words, the blunt end of the spear blocked every single attack from behind. "Hohoho, surely you cannot defeat me with this shabby-looking avatar without committing yourself to mutual destruction. I don't mind if you surrender here for I shall give your pure and pristine complexion a good loving..." The Divine Marshal made a lewd smile as he paused his movements. Up to this point, attack initiative had been firmly in his control. Though Luo Cuilian disrupted every single one of his attacks with her godlike techniques, she was purely defending. She seemed too occupied with fending off the five weapons' continuous attacks to mount a counterattack. However, Luo Cuilian frowned and spoke: "Marshal, your foolishness knows no bounds. True, you have displayed the courageous might of the Divine Marshal serving the North Pole's Great Emperor Ziwei, but at the same time I have completely seen through you. You are no match for me at all. The one who ought to beg for mercy should be... You instead, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Ganglie." "Ha! What nonsense you speak!" "Do you seriously believe that? I have already discerned your true abilities. For one to expect a fellow like you to match me, Luo Hao, in a one-on-one duel, what an embarrassment!" For some reason, her defiant words made all three faces of the three-headed six-armed war god turn pale. And then the demonic cult leader dispelled the Benevolent King. "Using three-headed six-armed martial arts is certainly extraordinary, but as the Ruler of the Martial Realm, Luo Hao will defeat you in a frontal confrontation as befits a king. Now, come at me with everything you have!" Even when her opponent was a god, she maintained her supercilious airs as usual. This was the truth of Luo Cuilian's abilities. Such was the grandiloquence delivered by the unarmed Ruler of the Martial Realm. Meanwhile, John Pluto Smith and Vaisravana were battling in midair. The sun had already come up. This was a refreshing morning sky and even a great sunny day. Flying through the air, Smith penetrated the blue sky and hovering clouds as Vaisravana pursued behind the demonic bird, standing on the head of the water dragon. Vairavana had a material body, but nevertheless, he fearlessly accelerated without any regard for G-forces in flying. As befitted a god with a body incomparably resilient beyond mortals, or perhaps he was using some sort of protective spell? "Eight hundred perish in the quicksands, three thousand drown in deep waters. May swan feathers never float again, and reed flowers sink to the depths!" Vairavana chanted spell words, causing clouds to gather in the sky. The clouds shaped themselves into a long slender form, with a shining radiant surface and transparent interior. Soon after, it took on the likeness of a dragon, gathering clouds and moisture in the air, another water dragon had been formed. This continued beyond a single dragon as more water dragons were born in rapid succession. Including the original that Vaisravana was riding, there was now a total of nine dragons. "Oh? You're not bad at all." In his demonic bird form, Smith offered mild praise. The nine water dragons slithered and exchanged positions continuously, widening their ferocious jaws and performing biting attacks. Smith dodged with skillful flying for the black demonic bird not only possessed speed but also extraordinary agility. However, it was still unable to evade every attack. As the long neck of one of the water dragons brushed past one wing, the masked king finally felt true fear. The wing did not suffer a simple scratch but was cut opened and bleeding. Was this the same effect as the blade of water witnessed earlier on the ground? It was as if the water dragons' bodies were made of blades, and they had the power to rip apart everything they touched. "Oh my... Do I have to gamble my life away for a dance invitation!?" Due to the wing injury, it was impossible to fly properly. Nevertheless, the black demonic bird did not need to flap its wings to fly. Smith ascended rapidly on wind currents and then swiftly descended. Like a swallow gliding on sea breezes, Smith nimbly flew back and forth, evading the wave-like water blade attacks made by the dragon heads. Naturally, Smith did not expect to escape that easily. "Smoking mirror, symbol of Tezcatlipoca!" From Smith's jet black wings, out spewed smoke that wrapped itself around the bodies of the water dragons. Inhaling this smoke would cause poisoning that produces a paralyzing effect on magical power. For ordinary enemies, this was enough to weaken them for easy pickings... "Thousands of evil, tens of thousands of filth! May all be cleansed by water!" Not to be outdone, Vaisravana chanted spell words in turn, causing steam to be emitted from the bodies of the nine water dragons, purifying the gray magical smoke. This was purifying divine power that dispelled magical corruption. However, Smith was not going to be outdone either, and he opened the beak of the demonic bird. A magic bullet was fired from its mouth, aiming straight at Vaisravana's body! It was targeting the blue-black demonic deity riding on the head of one of the flying water dragons. With a god as its target, Artemis' flash of light sped off. At that moment, another water dragon rushed into the trajectory of the magic bullet, getting its head impaled instead of its creator and disappearing without trace. However, the attack of the magic bullet did not end there, and continued to fly towards Vaisravana! Water dragons continually rushed to intercept it, and were dispelled one after another. The water dragon carrying Vaisravana was the only one remaining. In order to protect Vaisravana, the last water dragon transformed into a shield — and deflected the bullet. Somehow, the body of the water dragon had solidified into ice. Deflected by the ice dragon, the magic bullet flew away into the distant sky. "Hohoho... Finally, ice to deflect that bullet has been created." Vaisravana laughed with a gloomy face. His mount, the water dragon had frozen into ice, transforming into an ice dragon. No — that was not all. Using the moisture in the atmosphere, new ice dragons were being created, and the ranks of the army of nine dragons were filled once more! Smith opened the demonic bird's beak and shot another magic bullet. However, the attack he fired was again deflected by an ice dragon, disappearing into the distance opposite to the previous bullet. "Hmph... A mirror of ice with the magic of reflection? What troublesome divine power, but it may very well create a good opportunity." Despite the ineffectiveness of his trump cards, Smith spoke in a relaxed manner. "Oh? What do you mean?" "Because there is something that has intrigued me for quite some time... For gods like you, strength and divine authority is not always proportional to how well-known you are, and there are times when minor gods show greater resilience than half-assed major gods. What is the cause of such disparity... I believe that now is a good opportunity to find out." The ninth incarnation, the [Goat], had the power to control thunder and lightning. However, the target must be a common enemy recognized by the people and there was the major caveat of taking the life force of nearby people indiscriminately. Godou recalled his memories from the last time he used this incarnation and released a thunderstrike. A flash of lightning was fired from his right hand, giving off the stench of ozone from the ionized air as the intense electrical current headed straight for the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. At the same time, Godou did not forget to direct his awareness towards the sky. Thunderclouds were summoned into the sunny sky, and these heavy clouds rumbled with thunder. "Damn it, all this static electricity is annoying!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven grumbled with displeasure as he dodged lightning coming from in front and above at the same time. Normally, being struck by lightning would cause severe burns and a massive Shockwave impact. However, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's iron body was a conductor. Though he was blown back, there was apparently no damage. Whenever the Great Sage Equaling Heaven approached and tried to attack with his Ruyi Staff, Godou released lightning at him. The Great Sage was struck by lightning many times and blown away backwards, but clearly did not suffer any injuries. Bodies of steel were truly destestable. "Damn it! This is neverending — may the heavens shake and the earth tremble in fear, hurry hurry!" The 160cm tall divine monkey roughly doubled in height. Naturally, his other dimensions were increased proportionately. Enduring Godou's lightning, he spread his legs and forcefully stood his ground. The expanded body could now withstand the impact of the lightning without being sent flying. The Great Sage smiled with his monkey face as he charged forward. Who could have expected him to use body expansion to resist the impact of lightning!? "Damn it! In that case—" Godou gathered electrical energy into spheres and created balls of thunder. Roughly the size of basketballs, these small spheres continuously emitted electricity. Then Godou threw them at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Not one, but five at the same time! "Hmm ooooooh, what clever little tricks!" The five thunder balls released electrical current as they violently crashed into the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. This was the strategy of overcoming giant enemies with numbers. Suddenly, the divine monkey returned to his original size and jumped away sideways. At the same time, he repeatedly used the spell of creating clones — Multiplying to over twenty of himself, the Great Sages jumped at Godou all at the same time. "Evil people can never hit me!" Godou summoned lightning which descended from the thundercloud, surrounding himself in 360 degrees with lightning for protection. The stench of ionized air stifled his nostrils, while the attacking Great Sages were all swept away by the lightning — no, just as he was thinking that, the divine monkey with peerless agility descended from above. Using his clones as distractions, the real one had jumped into the air. The Ruyi Staff was swung down hard, and Godou evaded by rolling on the ground. Returning to his original position, Kusanagi Godou faced off against the Great Sage Equaling Heaven once again. His enemy's attacks came with far too much variety. What kind of surprise tactics could be used to defeat him? Just as Godou felt troubled, his right arm began to hurt. It was telling Godou to rely on it. Time to display a man's dignity. Godou snorted in response. "Like the time in the Netherworld, what a meddlesome fellow... But anyway, I will accept this battle plan!" Godou extended his right arm at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. "Tsk... You retard, are you firing noisy lightning again?" "Nope, this time is a little different. Lightning doesn't have much of an effect on your steel body... I'm going to show you something more amazing!" The Great Sage grumbled in disappointment. But if this move worked, victory definitely belonged to Kusanagi Godou! What would be the end result? "As the one who holds all victory in my hands, I am the strongest. All enemies shall meet defeat by my hand!" Composing the spell words, the sacred warlord's authority and the divine sword's power began to amplify each other. No mistake about it, this was the divine blade Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi's power! — The sword that assimilated the qualities of rebellious barbarians to bolster its own power. It was now Kusanagi Godou's personal sword, able to absorb divine power that damaged its master, converting it into its own energy. In the battle against Luo Cuilian, it had absorbed the [Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl] and provided the final decisive strike. Furthermore, there was another interesting use for this sword. "As the embodiment of victory, all enemies shall tremble before me!" Lightning was summoned from the thundercloud, descending onto his right arm which contained the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi. Another use of this sword was to absorb Kusanagi Godou's authority, creating new powers! "I shall smash through all enemies in my way! Man and devil — all enemies, all who harbor enmity will be vanquished!" The dormant divine sword in his arm absorbed the lightning, converting it into another power — releasing magnetism. In ancient Japan, blacksmithing began with the step of melting ironsand followed by forging the resulting steel sword. Anyway, the point was that ancient Japanese swords were made from ironsand — the ore of a ferromagnetic metal. When ferromagnetic ores were struck by lightning in nature, magnetism was occasionally induced. Godou and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were recreating this phenomenon, using massive electric and magnetic fields, together with the already present steel — Thus a miracle could be performed — ! "Go forth, Great Sage Equaling Heaven! Fly away to the ends of the universe!" "Woah... W-What is this power!?" This effect was created using the magnetic fields given off by a massive flow of electrical current, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi's mystic techniques, and ferromagnetic iron. The properties of magnets meant two possible outcomes, will they mutually attract or repel? The resulting magnetic field used the latter to make a bullet — the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was sent flying away. The divine monkey with the indestructible body of steel was trapped by the magnetic field released from Godou's right arm, and kept flying up in the air. Like a rocket taking off to outer space, he flew with horrific speed towards the skies. Railguns used electromagnetism to accelerate an object and fire it at super high speeds. Using this principle to create a mass driver to fire off massive objects into space, Kusanagi Godou's authority from Verethragna combined with Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to create a makeshift mass driver to send the divine monkey of steel into the heavens! The earth's atmosphere is composed of the layers of the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere and the thermosphere. Beyond the thermosphere is the exosphere and then space. If this continued, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven would be exiled from earth. Furthermore, objects flying at high speed will get heated by friction with the atmosphere, resulting in extremely high temperatures. The last region of the atmosphere — the thermosphere was a super high temperature realm that reached two thousand degrees. Now that all the necessary conditions for defeating this formidable enemy had been gathered, what would be the final outcome...!? Part 4 Rising through the air, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had become a burning bullet. Though he was well accustomed to god speed movement, this was the first time he experienced this method of acceleration. In reality, so-called god speed was not really the power of 'rapid movement' but an ability to shorten travel duration. Rather than 'moving from Point A to Point B at the speed of several hundred kilometres per hour,' it was the ability of 'moving from Point A to Point B in zero point something seconds.' Instead of physical acceleration, it was the power of distorting the traveling time required. Which is why the Great Sage had yet another first experience, that of the friction of air resistance at supersonic speeds and the heat from plowing through the atmosphere. "So hot hot hot hot hot hot! This is unbearable! What a godslayer, this is too reckless!" It was imperative to return to the surface before incinerating completely. He activated his divine power and tried to counteract the electromagnetic forces. Also calling for his golden cloud, he had to hurry back to ground level by any means possible. The many phenomena sustaining the planet, such as gravity and the earth's own magnetic field, could also be used to return him to the surface. "Middle Bro and Lil' Bro! Combine your powers, you two! Summon me back to earth!" Even separated by tens of thousands of miles, the sworn brothers could still communicate telepathically. However, beyond the Great Sage's expectations, the sworn younger brothers had both been driven into crises of their own. "When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound prajna paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty. Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form!"^ Luo Cuilian began to recite the Heart Sutra. Combined with the melodious voice of the maiden who attained nirvana, the authority of the [Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl] generated Shockwaves of magical wind. Magical power was originally something with neither shape, color, odor nor form, but Luo Cuilian's authority conferred various properties upon it. "So, too, are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness. Shariputra, all dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced. Not destroyed, not defiled, not pure, and they neither increase nor diminish!" The air currents continued to expand as the power of the wind increased once again. "Tsk! A mere woman doing such infuriating things!" As Luo Cuilian concentrated in some kind of terrifying undertaking, Zhu Ganglie brandished his five weapons. Firing arrows and attacking continuously with the halberd, sword, axe and club, he tried to resist the impacts of the magical wind. The three-headed six-armed giant god was helpless against the magical wind blowing in the cult leader's surroundings. This was the wind that could have swept away all of creation, and the Divine Marshal's weapons were powerless in their efforts to breach the gaseous defensive wall that barred all attacks. There was simply no way to disrupt the transcendent beauty as she composed a song of death and destruction. "Make haste, by the mighty decree of the North Emperor, obey!" Zhu Ganglie chanted spell words to bolster his bodily strength and was finally able to budge his weapons gradually, inching with great sluggishness towards Luo Cuilian's body. However, the demonic cult leader's mystic arts finally completed at this time. Infusing light into the magical wind, Luo Cuilian's body shone with golden light that melded with the wind. This was also an avatar manifested from the [Divine Might of Vajrapani] but not one of the golden Benevolent Kings. The brightness gathered and took form between Luo Cuilian and Zhu Ganglie, finally becoming a massive palm! My heart is as the void, but my palm is like a deadly hurricane — "Mmmmmmmmmaaaaaaah!" "Strength exerted from bones, force applied from tendons! Yes, a palm that precedes all creation!" The golden palm was the same size as Zhu Ganglie's massive body. This giant palm performed the subsequent attack. Like an explosion — the three-headed six-armed giant deity suffered a frontal assault, devastating his face, body and legs, giving his brain a concussion, the impacts penetrating his internal organs and shattering his bones. The giant golden palm even grabbed Zhu Ganglie and held tight with great force. "My sworn little brother seems to have exiled the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. As his elder sister, I think it would be interesting to imitate him and follow suit. Vulgar war god, disappear into the sky! Your presence is an affront to my eyes!" Despite engaging in battle along the front lines, she did not neglect awareness of the entire battlefield. This was the rare talent displayed by the clairvoyant Daoist priestess. As she struck her palm towards the heavens, the mighty golden palm kept Zhu Ganglie in its tight grasp and sent him up towards the sky. "Woaaaaaaah!" As Zhu Ganglie screamed pitifully as he ascended, his hollow cries resounded across the sky. "...Amazing, it's hard to believe that the monstrous strength of Her Eminence was capable of such a thing." The golden palm and Zhu Ganglie were rocketing up into the sky. Witnessing this surreal scene, Godou felt deeply impressed. What had taken a makeshift railgun created by him and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, the same effect was achieved by the demonic cult leader through brute strength and martial arts alone. Godou made his way over to where Luo Hao had been fighting. Making his way torturously over the shaking ground, the destination lying before him had become a wasteland. Standing in the center was the beautiful demonic cult leader, who had apparently used her magical wind authority to render this entire area into ruins. "Little brother, you have arrived. Just as you witnessed, your elder sister has just exiled the vulgar Marshal Canopy. I was watching as you defeated the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Very well done." She was praising me. Looks like she used some sort of vision enhancing magic. Though he was being praised, Godou found Luo Cuilian's gaze to be very severe. "However I seemed to have heard you muttering to yourself... Calling me something like 'Her Eminence,' using such an impersonal form of address like entertaining a guest... I wondered if I heard wrongly..." Stared at like being interrogated, Godou could not help trembling. Could she actually have heard his exclamation from when he saw Zhu Ganglie rise to the heavens? What was with this supernatural hearing?! "Just to make sure, I will remind you once more. Little brother, call me 'Onee-sama'." "O-o-o... o... Nee... sama..." Urged by her, Godou had no choice but to do as told, but still the great elder sister shook her head. "This is no good at all. The elder sister beyond the equal of mere mortals, filled with incomparable mercy and benevolence... Basks you in her light like the sun that warms the world. Your manner of address just now did not carry the slightest hint of respectful admiration. You should be calling me 'Onee-sama' with worship and adoration. You have to work harder on this." The level of those requirements are too high... The subject needs to be changed, quick! "B-By the way, O... Nee-san looked like the battle wasn't too tough." "Of course, although that Zhu Ganglie is the True Lord Marshal Canopy, he is merely manifesting in the manner of a subordinate god." Godou's failure in addressing her in the prescribed manner made the elder sister frown. However, she forgave him for now. Being called 'Nee-san' was enough to provide her with slight satisfaction. "Remember this well. What decides the strength of [Heretic Gods], is neither how great or powerful they were in the original myths, nor how widespread is their fame. The key to their strength lies in their unshakable ego. Unshakable ego. In other words, the characteristic of steadfast narcissism? "Relying on no one's opinions but their own, going forward to do what one wishes no matter what — the willpower to destroy the human race even if it means changing the heavens and the earth. This determines a god's strength. Nevertheless, subordinate gods cannot sustain their existence if the main deity is gone." Godou recalled what happened with Verethragna, Athena and the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Once the amnesiac sacred warlord retrieved his true ego, his power greatly increased; the Greek virgin goddess Athena became the powerful ancient earth mother deity once she retrieved the Gorgoneion; having lost his name and mettle, the divine monkey monarch descended upon the earth as the great hero once the seal was released. This explains everything, I see now... Godou could not help but nod as he accepted the facts. "So by this time, Vaisravana who is fighting Smith should also..." "If I'm not mistaken, he has the current advantage, however..." Luo Cuilian looked up into the sky with a sharp gaze. "Subordinate gods receive protection from the master while the master in turn obtains support from the subordinates. They will become even more powerful and formidable. It would not be wrong to say the battle truly begins now, my little brother, you must not lose your guard by any means." Come to think of it, the reason why I defeated with such ease the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, which now lies dormant in my right hand, was because its master Susanoo lived in the Netherworld and did not show any concern for the battle. Without such auspicious circumstances, what would have been the outcome? "As expected for gods who suffer from a lack of distinct ego, even if they are able to make full use of their powers, they are missing the kind of tenacious power that overcomes stalemates and losing situations. Dare I say, this is exactly as I imagined it?" "Gah... How could this be! Clearly I was able to block these arrows just now — !" Riding upon the wind in the form of the demonic bird was John Pluto Smith. He circled leisurely in the sky as he looked down upon Vaisravana whose chest had been penetrated by a blue-white magic bullet. Had it been a normal human, it would have pierced the heart. "If you were an actual independent deity, surely you would have evaded the returning Artemis' Arrow. Anyway, thank you for proving my suspicions correct." The two bullets deflected by the ice dragons a while ago had been flying towards the depths of the universe high above the world. But along the way, they made a U-turn and returned to earth. The ice dragons gathered together, overlapping to form a shield, intending to deflect the bullets again and managed to block one of them. However, the remaining shot could not be stopped and Vaisravana was pierced directly... These were the magic bullets of the moon deity, limited to only six shots per lunar cycle. This was the reason why every shot had such horrific power. It was rumored that if all the bullets were shot at once, the resulting fire would devour the entirety of California and burn for seven days without extinguishing. After the incineration, it would become such a complete wasteland that even weeds would not grow. Against such a powerful weapon, mere deflection was not going to neutralize its attacks. Vaisravana's defeat had already been sealed by the fact that he was unable to destroy the bullets directly like the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. "Ooh — since it has come to this!" From the top of an ice dragon's head, the punctured Vaisravana released a water current from his hand, naturally his target was the black demonic bird flying in the air. Smith boldly performed a defensive maneuver against this counterattack. "How sad, your death struggle is meaningless, and only serves as a chance for me to show off my powers." The attacked devil king released his transformation in the air. The black demonic bird returned to the black-clad black-masked John Pluto Smith. Due to the instantaneous decrease in body size, Vaisravana's attack passed through directly without hitting anything. The caped devil king fluttered in the wind like a feather, and pulled out his gun, aiming at Vaisravana as he descended. "Wan— !" This time the abdomen was penetrated, causing Vaisravana to collapse. Of the six magic bullets, only one remained, but having defeated one of the three deities, it was enough — As he slowly descended towards the ground, Smith suddenly heard the resounding voice of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. "Middle Bro and Lil' Bro! Combine your powers, you two! Summon me back to earth!" "Big Bro, I got it! I will entrust all my remaining strength to you! It is now time for the three gods to unite and vanquish the Rakshasa!" What!? Before Smith's surprised eyes, the Curtain Lifting General Vaisravana's figure dispersed, becoming tiny sand-like particles of light which flew towards the high atmosphere. Flying high towards the heavens, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Ganglie was accompanied by the golden palm. He too, heard the voice of his sworn older brother, and decided to surrender as well. "Hmm what a pity. Booze, gambling, women, breasts, butts, beautiful legs! There is still so much that I want to do! But in my current unsightly state, there is nothing else I can do! Big Bro, I am coming now!" Clutched tightly by the golden palm, Zhu Ganglie's body also dispersed, forming the same shining particles of light like the youngest sworn brother and escaping from the confines of the hand to fly towards the corner of the sky where the sworn older brother was located! Turned into a railgun projectile and flying towards space, the divine monkey, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, proceeded to chant a mantra with calm composure. "Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, Alkaid! The Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper, I beseech you to manifest!" As the divine essence of the subordinate gods rushed over to him, the Great Sage absorbed it to raise his own divine power. "Snakes and dragons, offer your bloody carcasses to me; flames, heat up iron to forge into steel; clear water, cool the sword's blade! All shall empower my divinity as the sword god!" In order to attain an unshakable ego, the Great Sage was returning to his roots as a sword god. In order to form a sword, he gathered the power he needed. The devil kings attacking me and the Rakshasa tearing me apart! The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, was now about to enter the path of hellish trials to become the divine sword that vanquishes evil and embodies justice! Overwhelming power filled his heart and mind. Once again confirming his mission as a sword god, he expressed approval of the ancient covenant. "Hah—!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven finally released himself from the cursed bonds of electromagnetism. As he overlooked the territory of Japan, he summoned his Ruyi Staff. It was finally time for a counterattack. Smiling, he grew in size, letting his body reach the dimensions of Zhu Ganglie. Though he was able to expand further, making his body too large would be detrimental to speed. Next in action were the two sworn younger brothers who had hurried over. Zhu Ganglie's essence turned into a massive black boar, roughly the same size as the current Great Sage who sat on his back, taking on the role of a wild beast mount. Then Vaisravana's essence formed a dragon, wrapping itself around the back of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, taking on a ready stance that seemed like it was going to attack on command. Thus, the three gods became one, and everything was ready. The three divine spirits' bodies were enveloped by white flames as they fell back onto the surface like a shooting star. Veering off from the direction of Nikkou, they had to correct their trajectory along the way while being surrounded by high heat, passing through the stratosphere and finally returning to the troposphere. The ground beneath could now be seen. Nantaisan, Lake Chuuzenji, Senjougahara, Lake Yunoko, etc — Along the way, the black demonic bird's silhouette could be spotted in the distance. One of the godslayers was trying to pursue me. Excellent, let's strike him down. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven descended upon the land of Senjougahara once more. However, this time the massive landing impact remodeled the landscape. Riding astride the black boar, leading the dragon, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's mighty entry made the ground crack and overturn, blowing away soil and vegetation, creating a crater. At the bottom of the crater, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven lightly kicked the beast's abdomen, ordering it to make its way to the surface. The black demonic bird also came and landed, transforming into the man dressed in black. On ground level, the team of the young man and woman was also heading over here. "So, godslayers, let us fight to the very end!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven shouted at the mortal enemies before him with great delight. Thus the three Campiones faced off against the three gods who had united as one. Godou was still maintaining the [Goat] incarnation, whose priestly power informed him that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had become three gods in one. Taking on the role of a horse was the giant black boar transformed from Zhu Ganglie. Vaisravana had become a dragon, its long and slender body slithering along the Great Sage's back. And then the steel monkey of Scythian origins wielded the Ruyi Staff, like a knight in a jousting tournament except with unusual body measurements, a bizarre knight standing ten-odd metres tall. The fur on Great Sage Equaling Heaven's two arms stood on end and were fired like rockets. As countless hairs flew through the air, their front ends were sharp as needles. These things could probably pierce right through a steel plate! "...This is bad!" Godou could not help crying out as the kings scattered and the needles struck the ground. Anyone who gets hit would be skewered! And that was just the first wave of attacks. Firing in succession, the needles formed a hail of projectiles that blotted the sky. "Quoted from the chapter of Carefree Roaming, the perfect man has no thought of self; the god-like man, none of merit; the sagely-minded man, none of fame!"^ With the sound of Luo Cuilian's melodious chant, the impact of magical wind blew away thousands of needles, but at the same time, the three gods in one also made their move. Crash! The ground shook as the black boar carrying the Great Sage Equaling Heaven began to gallop, charging and racing. That kind of speed was like the wind. Despite the huge size of its body, its movements were faster than the eye could see. "One who slices everything apart, be summoned for the sake of victory!" Godou tried to counterattack, again using lightning and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to generate massive magnetic forces, intending to send the Great Sage into space once more, but because the Great Sage had vastly increased his mass, an immediate effect could not be produced. No good, it's too late! The Great Sage Equaling Heaven was arriving on the giant boar. As the boar raised its hooves to trample Godou, Luo Cuilian and Smith, there was clearly no time to use the railgun. "Massive timber splitting mountains, producing great force! Stacking multitudes of golden bells, producing impenetrable iron cloth!" The demonic cult leader charged at this time. From her back drifted a flaming aura which took form as the golden Benevolent King, blocking the beast's charge. What amazing peerless arm strength! However at this instant, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven leaped from the boar's back. "Hah—!" Somersaulting to behind the Benevolent King, he used the Ruyi Staff to strike at the golden back. Ooof! The Benevolent King's courageous expression was distorted, but he still kicked backwards at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven behind him. However, this kick was easily avoided, and the Ruyi Staff once again roared as it whistled through the air. Smack smack smack smack smack! The rapid series of impacts sounded like fireworks. With the sound of explosions, the Great Sage had made a continuous series of at least a hundred strikes in an instant. Completely unable to fight back, the Benevolent King was struck by a decisive blow from the Great Sage, and the golden half-nude male was dispelled without trace. At this time, a black shadow flew up from the ground. This was the black demonic bird transformed from John Pluto Smith again. He must be thinking that a ground battle's outcome might be uncertain? However, it looked like there was something chasing after the ferocious flying bird. It was the serpentine creature that had been standing ready on the Great Sage's back — the dragon. Flying with the same speed as the demonic bird, the dragon blocked the bird's path from in front, preventing Smith from flying freely. Somehow, the giant boar had also jumped high into the sky, was it trying to attack the demonic bird together with the dragon? But the height of this jump could not reach the position of the demonic bird, and only arrived a position slightly below where the dragon and the bird battled — The Great Sage Equaling Heaven also jumped at this time. Jumping nimbly as if flying with wings, one could not connect it with the weight of the giant body at all. Wielding the Ruyi Staff, the divine monkey's target was the giant boar in the air. Using the boar's fur as a foothold, he made another giant leap, and so the Great Sage Equaling Heaven reached the altitude where the demonic bird and the dragon were fighting. The Ruyi Staff was swung. Aaaaaaaah! Struck in the neck, the demonic bird screamed in pain and crashed towards the ground. "Uh... As befitting of the Great Sage... I am faced with a difficult battle..." Before Godou, Luo Cuilian had been brought down to one knee. Blood dripped out from her mouth, and it seemed like the damage suffered by the Benevolent King was reflected onto her body. "Wait a moment and I will proceed to use all of my divine powers, defeating the three-in-one Great Sage... Godou, watch and learn carefully from the heroic fighting form of your elder sister, got that?" Even though injured, she still wanted to stand up and fight for victory. Amongst Campiones, Luo Cuilian's fighting spirit and willpower were typical of the illegitimate children of the fool — Epimetheus, whose talent was possessing insanity that transcended strategy and victory probability. Maybe she really could win this fight. Perhaps she could turn this crisis around alone. But this won't do! Godou shook his head, for 'perhaps' was simply not good enough. I want to win, and will do everything to achieve it myself. Within the plans of victory traced out in Godou's mind, the power of this woman and the fallen young man were needed. "— Nee-san." For the very first time, Godou was able to use this manner of address naturally. "How many times have I repeated, you should be calling me 'Onee-sama.' How forgetful of you..." "Nee-san, this sort of thing is irrelevant at this time. In order to defeat that bastard monkey, the three of us must cooperate together. Don't say anything about fighting alone again." Godou gazed directly into the maiden's eyes, speaking his mind in earnest. "Besides, Nee-san is the one who said this is the first time for us to fight in cooperation, perhaps you have forgotten? I will definitely end this battle with victory, so I will use everything at my disposal. So come, fight together with me, this is my request of a lifetime!" "W-When did you start becoming so obsessed with this battle?" If that's the case, you should have spoken earlier. Luo Cuilian nodded as she blushed. "Very well, fulfilling the little brother's willfulness is also part of a sworn elder sister's duty. I will not object. In the name of the bonds between us, this battle must be won no matter what!" Godou gave simple instructions to the assenting elder sister. When forming impromptu teams without sufficient time to get accustomed to one another, it was necessary to keep things simple. During his baseball days, Godou had many opportunities to train and compete with representative teams. Furthermore, as the catcher whose position was central to defense, he was used to making this kind of duty distribution. "The root of my power of Vajra, now is the time for great might that can tear apart heaven and earth!" Hearing the summons of the demonic cult lady, the Om pair of golden Benevolent Kings manifested. As the vanguard she was to use her full strength, hence the simultaneous use of dual avatars. — Prior to the advent of firearms, the combat potential of cavalry was equivalent to tanks in modern warfare. This was due to an absolute advantage in both offensive ability and mobility, because riding horses traveled faster than on foot, and attacking on a galloping horse carried the benefit of much greater momentum. Furthermore, with bows and arrows as well as other factors such as outstanding cavalry tactics, many equestrian tribes conquered vast territories in both the orient and the Occident. And now in the present, the enormous Great Sage Equaling Heaven was riding a giant boar charging on the plains of Senjougahara. Facing them were the two Benevolent Kings approaching on foot. For infantry to be able to counter the historically proven principle of cavalry superiority, the demonic cult leader's martial might was truly astounding. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven charged forward, riding the giant boar. Blocking him was the open-mouthed^ Benevolent King, but the wild boar attempted to thrust its sharp tusks at the flank of his abdomen. The close-mouthed Benevolent King used his open-mouthed partner as a platform to launch an attack at the divine monkey riding the black boar. Jumping lightly into the air he made a series of killing palm strikes. However, all of them were blocked by the Ruyi Staff. The dragon lying in wait on the Great Sage's back, also bared its fangs as it opened its jaws to bite the throat of the open-mouthed Benevolent King. While all this was happening, the giant boar below did not stop charging, and was competing in a battle of strength against the incomparable might of the Benevolent King. The open-mouthed one's muscles bulged as he halted the advance of the giant boar. Like a mounted knight, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven swung down his staff, striking the open-mouthed Benevolent King soundly in the face. The open-mouthed Benevolent King persevered but was clearly at a disadvantage. Using the time bought, Godou concentrated on raising his magical power. Due to the enemy's abnormal size, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi needed to be infused with power to reach a critical point. However, there were still other tasks required during this time, hence Godou approached the fallen young man. The place the demonic bird crashed down just now was close by. Crouched down on the grass, the masked king was struggling to stand up. "Are you unable to fight any longer?" "In terms of boxing, this is as if the knockout count reached eight. Still, I can just barely pull myself together, enough to let me give a miraculous reversal performance." Still eloquent as ever, then he must be fine. Godou had no intention of extending a helping hand for the man trying to stand up because John Pluto Smith did not ask for his help. Several seconds later, the two of them stood shoulder to shoulder and smiled at each other. Although Smith's face was obscured by the mask he wore, surely he must be showing a fearless smile. That's right, that was the kind of man he was. "You are concentrating magical power as if preparing for some interesting operation. By my guess, Her Eminence is buying time for you right now... Hmm, how unexpected for her to have a personality that dutifully supports a man with such profound devotion." "Stop saying these weird things. Ignoring that, I am currently preparing to use this move." Trying to silence Smith's nonsense, Godou told him the essential details. "However, the one to perform the finishing blow has to be you. Previously you mentioned a trump card with heat and fire, can you still use it?" "Don't worry, I am not a man who misses out on rare opportunities for a grand performance. It's ready any time... So... what are you planning?" Hearing the plan Godou was considering, Smith whistled from beneath the mask. Wiggling his index and middle fingers in a pretentious manner to substitute for a response — it seemed to be saying, what a reckless proposal, but count me in. The black-caped young man departed with shaking footsteps, but Godou was not worried in the least. If this man had already said he was ready any time, then he won't be embarrassing himself. Hence Godou raised his right arm towards the sky in preparation. "It was this place, that Susanoo led a thousand unruly deities in rebellion — intending to take over this country!" Was this his second authority or simply just a weapon? In order to summon the sword with the ambiguous identity, Godou recited spell words. If it was just an authority, it should be minding its own business instead of interfering during strange occasions. If it was just a weapon, it was buried too deeply inside Godou. Was this problem the result of the chaotic conditions under which this fellow was defeated? "A thousand swords standing upon the earth, used as city walls to defend against the enemies..." ...Well said, you can just call me 'partner.' Hearing the whispers coming from the depths of his right arm, Godou nodded. This form of address blurred the distinction between the two identities, and was not a bad name. "So, let's go, partner — Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, unsheathe!" Neither an ability nor a possession, it was the summoning of a companion. Responding gallantly was the cooperative companion who might one day decline to help on whim. 'Here! Namely, the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi! The steel that breaks a thousand blades!' The divine sword Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi was finally unsheathed from its scabbard! The silver-white light concentrated on the right arm raised towards the heavens, for the sword that stole and assimilated rebellious barbaric might, imitating what was used against the [Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl] in Luo Cuilian's battle, was going to be used for the decisive strike. In that case, the target this time was of course the power of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong — the authority of steel! The silver-white light materialized above Godou's head, forming a silver-white metallic ring. This iron ring was made of the same steel as the Great Sage... If one were to give it a name, of course it would be most fitting to call it the [Constricting Circlet], right? That was the Buddhist treasure that Avalokitasvara bestowed upon the Monk Sanzang to keep the unruly Sun Wukong in line. 'Now is the time for annihilating barbarians coming from all directions! Outsiders be vanquished!' "I know, go forth, Ama no Murakumo!" Godou swung his right arm, causing the silver-white circlet to fly towards the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Like the Ruyi Staff whose length could extend and retract at will, the dimensions of this ring could also be controlled freely. Like the Great Sage himself, this ring could also create clones of itself, and Godou split it into three giant rings in an instant. The three rings struck the three-in-one Great Sage Equaling Heaven who was battling intensely with the two Benevolent Kings. At the same time as the rings hit, the Benevolent Kings vanished. Mission accomplished, Luo Cuilian dispelled them. 'Ugh!' 'So this was the ominous premonition I felt earlier!?' 'Calm down, Big Bro, Middle Bro!' The three rings respectively struck right on target the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the wild boar and the dragon wrapped around the Great Sage's body, restraining their bodies like handcuffs. Like Sun Wukong's Constricting Circlet, the silver-white rings imprisoned the three-in-one Great Sage Equaling Heaven and his sworn brothers — wait, that's not completely accurate! One person managed to overcome the circlet and escape, it was of course the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Jumping nimbly with movements like lightning, he tried to escape to the skies, but at this time, a silver-white flash of light flew and struck the Great Sage in the forehead. "Ouch!?" It was John Pluto Smith's last magic bullet. Godou was greatly surprised to find the Great Sage resilient enough to withstand the direct hit with only cries of 'ouch' but thanks to the impact, the divine monkey of steel also lost his balance. Using this opening, Godou ordered Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to send a silver-white ring towards the escaped prey, finally capturing the Great Sage Equaling Heaven this time. Thus the three rings dragged the three divine spirits back to the bottom of the crater they had made during their re-entry. However, merely restraining them did not amount to victory. The black demonic bird leaped down into the meteorite crater where they were located and its mighty wings began to give off fire. "For annihilation I count the number of my great works — I am the axe of the night that summons termination, lowering the final curtain for the world's destruction, the messenger from hell!" These were the flames of annihilation, the transformation that executes all enemies by incinerating his own body. The black flames melted the steel rings that imprisoned the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and his subordinate gods. In the end, the steel rings generated by Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were melted down into liquid state. Molten steel filled the crater, engulfing the Great Sage and his brothers. It was like a natural furnace. Invincible steel was being melted down and losing its form. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the giant boar and dragon were all turning into shapeless masses within the furnace. Athena once said — super high temperature that melts iron was the natural predator of the sword gods of steel. Godou's first thought was a furnace, which is why the flames of annihilation and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were used together to create this natural predator! "Waaaaaah!" With final pitiful cries of death, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and his sworn brothers finally melted completely. This was the moment of complete victory for the three Campiones — Kusanagi Godou, Smith and Luo Hao. References 1 . t A quote from the Daoist philosophical classic Zhuangzi.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi_(book) 2. t Style name: a Chinese style name, also known as a courtesy name, was a given name generally used after the age of twenty as a sign of adulthood and respect. The use of style names have fallen out of tradition since the early twentieth century. http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_style_name 3. t Ziwei(^t^): a group of stars lying near the north celestial pole. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Forbidden_enclosure 4. t Benevolent Kings(tl): usually depicted in pairs, muscular and wrathful guardian deities of Buddha and manifestations of Vajrapani. They stand on guard at the entrance of Buddhist temples in the form of frightening statues. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nio 5. t Shramana: a parallel movement to Vedic Hinduism in ancient India which gave rise to Buddhism, Jainism and Yoga. http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Shramana 6. t Qiang(H): Due to its relative ease of manufacture, the spear in many variations was ubiquitous on the pre-modern Chinese battlefield. Common features of the Chinese spear are the leaf shaped blade and red horse-hair tassel lashed just below. The tassel serves a tactical purpose, and is not simply for decoration, http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Qiang_(spear) 7. t Heart Sutrahttp://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Sutra 8. t A quote from the Daoist philosophical classic Zhuangzi.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi_(book) 9. t Open-mouthed(PRl^): each pair of 3*>(0m/A-un) Buddhist statues consists of one each of two types — one open-mouthed and the other with a closed mouth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-un
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Chapter 7 - Gods and Godslayers, the Climactic Final Battle for Victory Part 1 Godou was badly beaten up while the Great Sage Equaling Heaven literally had his belly cut open as suggested. Had either of them succumbed to their heavy injuries, it would not have been surprising, but they dulled the pain through pure willpower alone. Completely ignoring the state of their bodies and maintaining the heightened state of excitement, only gods and Campiones could be this reckless. Watching this scene unfold was Hikari who had just been rescued. She could no longer hear the thoughts of the person who had been speaking to her. Due to taking on a portion of the [Swordj's burden, Yuri also reached her limit and had fallen unconscious somewhere. The second sun in the sky also vanished, having lost the [Sword] it depended on. "Hikari... Is your body okay?" "Yes! Thanks to Onii-sama and everyone else, I am completely fine!" "I see... Then hurry and leave this place and find a place to hide." Godou gently reminded the girl who was embracing him. "Why? I want to help Onii-sama! I also want to assist you like all the other Onee-sama!" "No, there's nothing you can help here. Besides..." Godou coldly released Hikari despite her earnest pleas, for the battle was just about to enter a climax. "I entrust everyone in your care, Hikari. Erica, Liliana, Seishuuin and your sister far away have all used up their strength. Go immediately to help and take care of them." "If I do that... I will be helping Onii-sama?" "Yes, please. You are the only one I can rely on now." It was now like being in the ninth inning with a one point lead. In order to guard this lead, Godou began to rouse the feelings of outfielders — nostalgic memories from his days as a catcher were even recalled. Treating the girl in his arms as a companion and entrusting her with important tasks, Godou stroked Hikari's head softly. As a result, the twelve-year-old apprentice Hime-Miko gazed at Godou with blushing cheeks. "Yes... I will do as Onii-sama says, but you must come back alive. If you don't keep your promise, I won't listen to Onii-sama's orders again. Will you promise me this?" "I know, in order to make you listen to me from now on, I will definitely return." As if praising an obedient child, Godou stroked little Hikari's head. Completely unexpectedly, Hikari drew her young face close and kissed Godou. "I heard from Ena-neesama and the others, that this is the only way to cast a spell on Onii-sama... This is a spell for treating fatigue, at least let me help you a little like this..." Hikari left Godou reluctantly and ran over to the collapsed Erica. There was a certain adult maturity to her... Hikari bore a rather feminine expression. Though Godou had been treating her like a little child, she should be trustworthy from the way she acted just now. Thanks to the spell, the pain had lessened greatly. "Ha! Kusanagi brat! It's unbelievable that you still have the energy to flirt with girls at a time like this." The Great Sage Equaling Heaven laughed with a sneer. "Looks like we can still have another round. Nice nice!" "You and I are both heavily injured, are you sure it's proper for you to be mocking others?" "Because I still hold a trump card, it doesn't matter... Watch, this is the thing I prepared just in case." Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared in the Great Sage's right hand. It was the body of Divine Ancestor Asherah! However, it was very small since her body had shrunk so much it was like a ginseng root. Despite being in such a state, the witch still seemed to be alive, for one could hear her breathing weakly. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven took a bite out of this tiny witch. Aaaaaaaaaah! With the sound of soul-screeching screams, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven nonchalantly moved his lower jaw, chewed with his teeth and swallowed her, re-enacting a scene from the Journey to the West when he ate a ginseng fruit... In the next moment, from within the body of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven — out flowed a terrifying amount of divine power! "Huhahahahahaha! After eating the snake deity, I have recovered my energy! The peerless Old Sun has returned once again!" "T-That was the reason you took away that witch!?" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven restored his Ruyi Staff with divine power again, and swung it as quickly as lightning. Godou hastily rolled along the ground as the divine staff of precious iron attacked with great alacrity. Having lost the [Sword], Godou now needed to battle using other incarnations. However, the [Camel] could not handle attacks from the air while the [White Stallion] had already been used. Was there no other weapon remaining!? As Godou evaded the Great Sage's attacks, he heard a mocking voice. ...Finally asking me for help? What a troublesome man. An ice-cold feeling was dwelling in his right arm as the sword he had lent out just now returned to him. Now was the time to use the new weapon that had been waiting patiently to make an entrance. As the Ruyi Staff came crashing down, Godou jumped sideways with motions like a wild beast to evade. "Hmm, crap, did I hit too hard?" Missing its target, the steel staff was embedded into the ground. As the Great Sage pulled his weapon out, Godou adjusted his breathing. "Damn it... I clearly had no intention of using such a dangerous object as you!" Though he complained out loud, the corners of Godou's lips were upturned as if smiling. Since he needed to continue fighting whether he had a weapon or not, something was better than nothing. Seizing that one-in-a-thousand chance of victory in a hopeless situation, if one couldn't even do that, one was not fit to be a Campione — rather, not fit to be a man! "Hoho, you look like you too have a trump card up your sleeve. Then let us fight to our hearts' content, Rakshasa King!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven jumped onto his golden cloud and flew into the sky. Accelerating again and again, the Great Sage intended to re-enter the realm of god speed. The new weapon in Godou's hand could not defend against that kind of speed but he was resolved to fight to the very end and obtain victory. No matter what kind of crisis he faced, if he himself didn't believe in his own victory, then of course victory would never grace him with its presence! Just as Godou planned to concentrate all his power in this despairing battle — A shooting star streaked across the sky. Resembling a heavenly flying dragon, it was a flash of brilliant blue-white light, one of the magic bullets shot by the warrior with the black cape! The dragon of light chased after the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who had took on the form of a golden meteor. But just as it caught up, the prey vanished. Was it because he had entered the realm of god speed? However, John Pluto Smith's bullet also disappeared. Both sides had reached god speed! 'Damn, if that's the case, hah — !" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven who should have disappeared, suddenly multiplied rapidly in the air, filling the sky with over a hundred divine monkeys. This was a cloning technique! However, these clones began to explode one after another and were soon dispersed into mist, most likely struck down in midair by the divine speeding bullet. Beneath the glow of the morning sky, it was as spectacular as a fireworks celebration. The Five Elements form a cycle of restraint, Metal counters Wood!' As his clones disappeared, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven chanted a mantra. Lightning was released from within the body of the divine monkey and collided with the approaching blue-white magic bullet. The magic bullet was finally destroyed, but the Great Sage's golden cloud also returned to normal speed, most likely because he was unable to use other spells while maintaining that kind of godly speed. "Making me waste unnecessary breath, so another unrelated godslayer is joining in?" "Unrelated? No, not at all. I came here expressly to bury you. Since John Pluto Smith is entering this battle, prepare yourself to be dragged into the depths of the underworld." The latecomer was obviously the masked Campione. The fallen girls could no longer be seen, apparently taken away by Hikari. She must have used healing spells since she should not have the strength to move everyone so quickly by herself. Anyway, the only ones gathered in this place were now gods and Campiones. Only these two existences and no other! "Hmph, what an audacious man... You have met my bros before, right? Let us display the solidarity of us sworn brothers, and defeat all the godslayers! From the ocean of the north, come, my virtuous little brother, Zhu Ganglie! From the territories of the west, come, my virtuous little brother, Vaisravana!" The entrance of John Pluto Smith caused the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's divine power to rise explosively. The two little figurines were thrown into the air. "Vanquishing devils, ripping evil spirits apart, star of the sword god which slaughters Rakshasa! Bestow upon me the sharp sword to vanquish my mortal enemies!" As the two figurines expanded in one motion, their appearance also began to change. The first to appear was the giant with a pig's head. Clad in black clothes with armor of the same color, he made his entrance as a giant god, standing 15m tall with three heads and six arms still! Next to manifest was the demonic deity with black skin and red spiky hair, standing on pillars of water that spewed forth like geysers, forming a dragon of water! "Hohohoho, I hope this time I can play a little while longer, Big Bro." "Appearing here in response to Big Bro's summon, I am ready to fulfill your every command." Manifesting behind the slowly flying Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Zhu Ganglie and Vaisravana shouted. Before the three deities, Godou spoke to his masked ally: "I am grateful for your help, but we are still outnumbered, the disadvantage of two against three remains." "I don't need you to teach me this kind of infantile mental math." Smith fluttered the cape on his shoulders in response to his junior's reminder. "On the other hand, there is also the saying 'two heads are better than one'... I think the current situation is rather fitting. Anyway, the main point is, I want a chance for me to show off. If you insist on keeping such a delicious situation all to yourself, that would make you a very stingy man, so lowly that I don't even need to mock you." Hearing him casually spout such roundabout words, Godou could not help but smile wryly. In such a situation, who could have expected him to make such comments when he was entitled to additional concessions. Watching the performance of the man before him who loved to role-play, Godou somehow felt a strange sense of intimacy with him. "What you seem to be trying to say, is that John Pluto Smith considers Kusanagi Godou a friend, and a man who won't pose a hindrance to you — is that right?" "Oh my oh my, you really think you can trust a mysterious man like me? Don't regret it!" Smith and Godou joked with each other as they stood side by side, looking up at the gods in the sky. This argumentative conversation felt unexpectedly delightful. Never yielding verbally, this quirk of his seems to fit quite well with me. Confirming that they turned out to be surprisingly compatible, Godou smiled. "You are really quite the busybody. My luck has always been great and I have never regretted any of my choices in companions. I don't expect this to ever change. Right, one more thing..." Godou recalled Sayanomiya Kaoru's phone call. Lu Yinghua had apparently heard the sound of some kind of commotion. If that's the case, of course it can only be that. "You know the idea that two are better than one... While three people are better than two... Right?" Change finally came to the petrified grounds of Toushouguu. The first to be sent flying were the worship and main halls at the core of the shrine. As if dynamite had been set off, the worship hall and the main hall collapsed as stone fragments scattered and flew with the sound of explosions. Next were the Gates of Youmeimon, followed by the divine stable, the five-story pagoda and the first torii. Explosions occurred one after another. Originally, restoring the entire area petrified by the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was already a monumental task. Even so, seeing the important cultural heritage site destroyed so utterly, Sayanomiya Kaoru could not help exclaiming "oh my, I give up." On the other hand, Amakasu Touma closed his eyes in deep thought as if saying "that's going a bit overboard." The only one who could watch calmly was Lu Yinghua. Seeing the first torii — namely, the main entrance to Nikkou Toushouguu being demolished, he took into his hands the package he had been keeping on the side all this time. Then he immediately rushed into the smoke and dust cloud created by the shattered and pulverized stone. "Master, please get changed. I have brought you a change of clothes here." "Well done, you have become more attentive. You have earned yourself a little praise." "Master's praise is too kind, your disciple expresses utmost gratitude." Towards the figure of the beautiful maiden who appeared from within the white smoke, Lu Yinghua reverently handed over the package. " — A fish lives in the northern ocean, its name is the Kun! The Kun is so large, no one knows how many thousands of miles long it is. Transforming into a bird, its name is the Peng! The Peng's back is so vast, no one knows how many thousands of miles wide it is. Flying furiously, its wings are like clouds filling up the sky!"^ As soon as the mantra was chanted, the ground suddenly became dark, but not because the sunlight was blotted out by clouds. A giant sacred bird — the golden-winged Peng came flying by. In the instant that this bird flew above their heads, the transcendent beauty's figure vanished. "With this, all the actors have gathered. It won't be very appropriate if we don't go and watch the finale." "But these special front row seats offer no guarantees for personal safety." Sayanomiya Kaoru joked around with her subordinate as she nodded in agreement. Part 2 The giant sacred bird flew over the plains of Senjougahara. Estimated in proportion to its wingspan, the massive body must have been several hundred meters in size. Stunned, Godou looked up to watch the majestic entry of the sacred bird. This fellow must be carrying the final participant. But still, even if she wanted to travel here, was it really necessary to use such a conspicuous mode of transportation? The beautiful heavenly maiden suddenly descended from the back of the giant bird, wearing an outfit in the style of a mandarin gown that hugged and accentuated the wondrous curves of her figure. With mesmerizing lustrous eyes and pristine white teeth, her beauty could only be described as otherworldly. Drifting through the air and landing upon the ground like a feather, this person was no other but Luo Cuilian. "Thank you for your patience, Great Sage! As well as my little brother." Hearing her words, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven questioned: "Oh? Little brother?" "Correct. Kusanagi Godou here is the sworn little brother of me, Luo Cuilian. A relationship akin to you and your fellow brothers." "Haha! But are you able to become as large as us?" "In that case, we will defeat you all at once, burying your oath of sworn fraternity at the same time..." The sworn brothers of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven proceeded to issue arrogant instigating remarks. Zhu Ganglie's eyes, full of lustful desire, stared intently at Luo Hao; standing on the dragon's head, Vaisravana looked gloomy as ever despite his rhetoric; Luo Hao smiled in return with casual composure. "Hohoho, it's not a bad idea to decide right here which side's sworn siblings are stronger. Wouldn't you agree? Little brother." "Umm, actually it's not just us two, there's also another participant..." From Godou's point of view, he was just stating a fact. But his sworn elder sister, as well as senior along the path of domination, severely glared at him in response. "Do you intend to spoil the first chance for us siblings to fight in cooperation by inserting this man of suspicious origins!? Foolish! This is a profane insult to me, your elder sister!" Calling him a man of suspicious origins was quite an unpleasant manner of address. The one wearing a mask and black cape, dressed up like a theatrical actor and the man in question, whispered softly: (Oh... Elder sister eh? Having met for mere days and she's already taken such a liking to you... You are truly outstanding in the ways of stealing maiden hearts.) (Stop saying weird stuff about her taking a liking to me, please shut up for a bit!) Hearing John Pluto Smith's reply, Godou hastily retorted in defense. "Anyway, that's how it is. A rare situation with three gods appearing at the same time. If we are down by one person on our side, wouldn't it be shameful?" "Shameful?" Luo Cuilian reacted. As expected, her extreme pride meant that she was fiercely sensitive to such insinuations. If she were to say something like 'victory against superior numbers is an honor in the martial realm' then there would be no room for objection. However, such an argument would be more of a bluff than the result of some twisted logic. Even exalted as Luo Cuilian, her hubris should not be extreme enough to insist on dignity over practicality... At least, that was what Godou hoped. "If we don't prepare an army with the same formation as our opponents, it seems like there will be a problem with respect." "I see, that makes a bit of sense. Very well, I will accept your advice and we shall face them with equal numbers. As befitting for great generals and marshals, it is only right for us to lead armies into battle in the spirit of proper martial way... Still, little brother, something about your behavior displeases me." Luo Hao grumbled as she stared at Godou. What was she trying to say? "D-Displeased? I don't think I did anything wrong..." "Of course you are wrong. I am the martial pinnacle, the elder sister whom you should be offering the utmost respect. And how do you address someone of exalted stature like myself? I believe I have already taught you the most appropriate form of address." Godou could not help but sigh. Does that word really have to be said right now!? "O, O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o... Nee-san..." "You should be calling me 'Onee-sama.' I never expected a little brother with such poor memory. Fine, since it is the proposal of my sworn little brother, I will accept it." Having spoken, Luo Cuilian turned to the other Campione. "From my deductions, you must be the American [Kind]? My family name is Luo, with given name Cuilian and style name Hao. I give you permission to join the ranks of my army in this battle and fight alongside me, Luo Hao." "What a unique greeting... I, John Pluto Smith, will offer the entirety of my humble services." Faced with the loftily delivered invitation, the king dressed in black responded effortlessly. Compared to the two-hundred-year-old demonic cult leader, the age-unspecified young man seemed far more mature. Breathing a sigh of relief, Godou and his two 'fellow kin' stood shoulder-to-shoulder, facing off against the three divine spirits. The giant three-headed-six-armed Zhu Ganglie. As well as Vaisravana standing on the raised head of his mount, the dragon of water. Finally there was the leader of these two gods, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong. Once again he stood upon the golden cloud and ascended, flying high up into the skies. The three versus three decisive battle was about to begin. "Hohoho, let me pick my opponent first! I choose the transcendent beauty, the godslayer who reminds me of the Moon Goddess! It is most fitting for her to be the opponent of the Marshal Canopy, the great Zhu Ganglie!" "...Come to think of it, you are the stellar deity that guards the northern sky." The Ruler of the Martial Realm frowned at the evil gaze of lust being cast upon her. "When it comes to the companions of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, one of the most notable is the evil-exorcising deity, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Wuneng. From a wild boar to a domestic pig, you are a deity widely known in folklore. In spite of all that, it is most deplorable for you to be reduced to such a shallow and lowly subordinate god." In Japan, boars were called "inoshishi" while domestic pigs used the kanji "buta" for distinction. When Godou received knowledge about the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, information was also gained about his subordinate gods. The Marshal Canopy Zhu Wunenq was once a military god serving the north pole's Great Emperor Ziwei. At the height of his worship, most likely during the time from the Sui to the Song Dynasties, the three-headed-six-armed appearance in full armament was one of the favorite images depicted by artists. Frequently appearing in novels and plays, in the end he was linked to Zhu Bajie in the Journey to the West. For such a popular deity to be reduced to a lustful pervert like this... Flames erupted from Luo Cuilian's shoulders as if her anger had been lit on fire, manifesting a golden Benevolent King.^ A solidly built figure that did not lose in any way to the giant Zhu Ganglie, displaying his impressive musculature half-nude! "A force is exerted! Great force vanquishes small evil!" "Hmm woaaah!? What is this monstrous strength?" Zhu Ganglie was being thrown by the Benevolent King. Exactly in the manner of a shot put, the lustful giant god was propelled through the air into the distance. Crash! As the landing impact resounded, Luo Cuilian ran with her subordinate Benevolent King towards the fallen giant deity. With great speed unexpected from his massive body, Zhu Ganglie got back up and summoned the weapons for his six arms. The first pair of hands held a sword and a halberd; the second pair, an axe and a club; the third, a bow and arrows. With black clothing and black armor, the god with a pig's head clashed with the Benevolent King led by Luo Cuilian and the two giants began to fight. "O Dragon, annihilate these people — Om vaisravanaye svaha!" The water suddenly exploded. As Vaisravana stood on the water dragon, a portion of its dissociated body splashed on the ground. Godou and John Pluto Smith jumped backwards to evade the attack. The water formed powerful currents which were tearing apart the ground of the Senjougahara plains! Like a blade of water, the liquid sliced through rock and flourishing forests as if they were made of paper. Godou and Smith beside him marveled as they muttered to themselves. "A demonic deity with Buddhist roots... From his appearance, I originally expected an attack of pure power but he turned out to have such skillful moves." Vaisravana had an appearance like a demon with a particularly frightful face and ferocious-looking body. Smith's instincts should have been correct, but it was Vaisravana's gloomy and intellectual aspects that avoided giving others an overly violent impression. "Since ancient times. Vaisravana was the one who inducted countless Shramana ascetics.^ * However, his earlier incarnation killed people and was a sinful deity that had broken precepts against murder..." Vaisravana began to laugh to himself as he stood on the dragon's head. "As the Curtain Lifting General at the Palace of the Great Emperor of the Waters in the celestial realm, the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas were once under my command. What I've shown is simply a minor portion of my old powers..." "Ah, I recall the Daoist pantheon having categories of Water and Thunder Departments, right?" The Water Department was in charge of the naval forces in the Daoist celestial realm. Though he did not cheat like Godou through instruction magic, Smith was apparently knowledgeable of myths and legends of foreign countries. "In that case, let me show off some of my skills... The ruler of the underworld commands, offer to me the black wings that penetrate the heavens! O Sky, thou existest only for me to display the breadth of my magnanimity!" Smith softly chanted spell words, causing the ground to rumble and shake. It was quite an intense earthquake. Cracks and crevices appeared on the ground as it trembled violently, while Smith began to transform over the shaking land. The black-clad eccentric turned into a massive black demonic bird. "Now, properly savor my transformation mystic arts! Will you be able to keep up with me!?" "What pretentious words! Looks like I am being underestimated!" Chasing after the rapidly ascending black demonic bird, Vaisravana drove the water dragon flying through the air. Flying towards the heavens, the black-winged devil king and the mysterious sacred dragon formed from water continued to make their ascent. However, the ground continued to shake intensely. Most likely, the culprit was the American Campione. Godou had once heard from Erica that Smith had an authority requiring the offering of [Sacrifices]. This earthquake was most probably one of those sacrifices. The tremors were not too severe, but this continuing series of earthquakes must each have been around 3 or 4 on the Richter scale. It looked like the earthquakes were going to persist for some time. What a troublesome fellow that Smith guy was! His irresponsibility of leaving messes behind made Godou a bit stunned as he faced off against the Great Sage Equaling Heaven on the shaking ground. "Hmm hmm hmph, let us start as well. Are you ready? Kusanagi brat!" "Fine, come at me with everything you've got, I'm not letting you get out of here in one piece!" Facing the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who jumped down from the golden cloud, Godou displayed calm composure. It was a bluff of course, for Godou was completely unprepared. Even though he had that sword, he did not have a usable incarnation able to counter the divine monkey's lightning-fast godly speed. Nevertheless, Godou's fighting spirit was strong as ever, and he intended to snatch victory in his hands even if it meant biting the enemy by the throat. Wait a minute... Was there really no incarnation that could be used? There was a strange sense of certainty that he still had an available weapon. This was a very faint feeling of confidence. Voices telling him to fight could be heard. Voices calling for the defeat of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Right, so that is the case now. Having figured things out, Godou turned his attention to the voices coming from the depths of his body. Only now did he truly master the ninth incarnation of Verethragna, the [Goat]. This priestly ability converted the thoughts and feelings of the surrounding people into magical power and controlled lightning. During the battle against Marquis Voban, he had once turned the will of the Dead Servants into his power source. But simply gathering willpower was insufficient to use the incarnation freely. Thanks to being connected to Yuri's psychic sensing, Godou finally understood the true method of using the [Goat]. A king rules by leading the will of the people, thereby raising his own prestige and authority. Godou extended the tendrils of psychic sensing, traversing the plains of Senjougahara and the area of Okunikkou as well as the Nikkou city streets, mobilizing the hearts and minds of over ten thousand victims. No mistake about it, this was the consciousness of all the ordinary people who had been forcefully transformed by the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and were now in deep sleep. These unconscious people originally led peaceful lives but were suddenly turned into monkeys one day, thus entering a nightmare. The sole culprit responsible for these heinous crimes was the [Heretic God] the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Even though you people were fortunate enough to be rescued, the Great Sage still stands. The god who changed you all into monkeys, do you not hold him in contempt? The god who treated you all as toys, do you not hold anger at him? Do you not want me to defeat the Great Sage Equaling Heaven!? Godou used psychic sensing power, entering people's dreams to rouse them, gathering the willpower of the people together, telling them the identity of the true culprit of the incident, fanning the flames of their anger. Lend me your power and believe in me. As long as you lend your power to me, I will definitely help you vanquish that contemptible foe! He could sense the anger of the unconscious people directed towards the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, forming a swirling vortex of fury in the realm of dreams. This was exactly what [Goat] needed as a foundation. Godou's left hand was finally able to fire off lightning attacks. "By the art of spell words I vanquish adherents of injustice and evil! This is the heavenly mandate of victory!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven dodged the flash of lightning with great agility. However, the Great Sage cannot be allowed to do as he pleased any further. Having obtained new power, Godou stared acutely with great intensity at his formidable foe. Part 3 Using the vast wetlands as the stage, the close-quarter battle resembling a special effects movie was reaching a climax. Towering at a height often-odd metres, there was the three-headed and six-armed Zhu Ganglie. Then there was the golden Benevolent King as his opponent, a half naked giant with only crude fabric covering his lower torso. The demonic cult leader summoned a spear using Daoist arts and pointed it at Zhu Ganglie. Known as the "King of Weapons" in China, the Qiang^ or Chinese spear was Luo Cuilian's favorite weapon. As the two clashed in battle, it was so intense that one would not wish to blink lest a moment is missed. Each of Zhu Ganglie's six arms held a different weapon. Sword, halberd, axe, club, bow and arrows. All the weapons were used simultaneously in combination with incredible footwork. He moved everywhere within the vicinity of the Benevolent King as he continued his attacks. Whenever he distanced himself, he attacked with arrows and the halberd, switching to the sword, axe and club at close range. (As a side note, the halberd refers to a weapon with a shaft like a spear and a sickle-like blade combined together, allowing the spear end to be used for thrusts and the blade for slicing attacks.) Zhu Ganglie moved so quickly that afterimages were left behind. With such horrifying speed, the five weapons rained attacks down upon the Benevolent King without pause, making the three heads and six arms look like there were thirty heads and sixty arms, or even sixty heads and a hundred and twenty arms. However, the one who took on this intense barrage of attacks was the demonic cult leader, whose martial arts were simply divine. Unlike Zhu Ganglie who was circling around in arcs as he attacked, the glorious Benevolent King stood its ground without shifting his position while Luo Hao stood in the center of the circle wielding her spear. Although there should only be a single spear, it looked like a thousand spearheads were thrusting continuously all at once. All five of Zhu Ganglie's weapons were intercepted. Arrows were struck down, roaring attacks of the halberd were blocked, the sword was deflected, the axe was sent flying back, and the club was stopped. As Zhu Ganglie maneuvered in an oval arc to the Benevolent King's back, Luo Hao extended the spear backwards without even turning her head — in other words, the blunt end of the spear blocked every single attack from behind. "Hohoho, surely you cannot defeat me with this shabby-looking avatar without committing yourself to mutual destruction. I don't mind if you surrender here for I shall give your pure and pristine complexion a good loving..." The Divine Marshal made a lewd smile as he paused his movements. Up to this point, attack initiative had been firmly in his control. Though Luo Cuilian disrupted every single one of his attacks with her godlike techniques, she was purely defending. She seemed too occupied with fending off the five weapons' continuous attacks to mount a counterattack. However, Luo Cuilian frowned and spoke: "Marshal, your foolishness knows no bounds. True, you have displayed the courageous might of the Divine Marshal serving the North Pole's Great Emperor Ziwei, but at the same time I have completely seen through you. You are no match for me at all. The one who ought to beg for mercy should be... You instead, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Ganglie." "Ha! What nonsense you speak!" "Do you seriously believe that? I have already discerned your true abilities. For one to expect a fellow like you to match me, Luo Hao, in a one-on-one duel, what an embarrassment!" For some reason, her defiant words made all three faces of the three-headed six-armed war god turn pale. And then the demonic cult leader dispelled the Benevolent King. "Using three-headed six-armed martial arts is certainly extraordinary, but as the Ruler of the Martial Realm, Luo Hao will defeat you in a frontal confrontation as befits a king. Now, come at me with everything you have!" Even when her opponent was a god, she maintained her supercilious airs as usual. This was the truth of Luo Cuilian's abilities. Such was the grandiloquence delivered by the unarmed Ruler of the Martial Realm. Meanwhile, John Pluto Smith and Vaisravana were battling in midair. The sun had already come up. This was a refreshing morning sky and even a great sunny day. Flying through the air, Smith penetrated the blue sky and hovering clouds as Vaisravana pursued behind the demonic bird, standing on the head of the water dragon. Vairavana had a material body, but nevertheless, he fearlessly accelerated without any regard for G-forces in flying. As befitted a god with a body incomparably resilient beyond mortals, or perhaps he was using some sort of protective spell? "Eight hundred perish in the quicksands, three thousand drown in deep waters. May swan feathers never float again, and reed flowers sink to the depths!" Vairavana chanted spell words, causing clouds to gather in the sky. The clouds shaped themselves into a long slender form, with a shining radiant surface and transparent interior. Soon after, it took on the likeness of a dragon, gathering clouds and moisture in the air, another water dragon had been formed. This continued beyond a single dragon as more water dragons were born in rapid succession. Including the original that Vaisravana was riding, there was now a total of nine dragons. "Oh? You're not bad at all." In his demonic bird form, Smith offered mild praise. The nine water dragons slithered and exchanged positions continuously, widening their ferocious jaws and performing biting attacks. Smith dodged with skillful flying for the black demonic bird not only possessed speed but also extraordinary agility. However, it was still unable to evade every attack. As the long neck of one of the water dragons brushed past one wing, the masked king finally felt true fear. The wing did not suffer a simple scratch but was cut opened and bleeding. Was this the same effect as the blade of water witnessed earlier on the ground? It was as if the water dragons' bodies were made of blades, and they had the power to rip apart everything they touched. "Oh my... Do I have to gamble my life away for a dance invitation!?" Due to the wing injury, it was impossible to fly properly. Nevertheless, the black demonic bird did not need to flap its wings to fly. Smith ascended rapidly on wind currents and then swiftly descended. Like a swallow gliding on sea breezes, Smith nimbly flew back and forth, evading the wave-like water blade attacks made by the dragon heads. Naturally, Smith did not expect to escape that easily. "Smoking mirror, symbol of Tezcatlipoca!" From Smith's jet black wings, out spewed smoke that wrapped itself around the bodies of the water dragons. Inhaling this smoke would cause poisoning that produces a paralyzing effect on magical power. For ordinary enemies, this was enough to weaken them for easy pickings... "Thousands of evil, tens of thousands of filth! May all be cleansed by water!" Not to be outdone, Vaisravana chanted spell words in turn, causing steam to be emitted from the bodies of the nine water dragons, purifying the gray magical smoke. This was purifying divine power that dispelled magical corruption. However, Smith was not going to be outdone either, and he opened the beak of the demonic bird. A magic bullet was fired from its mouth, aiming straight at Vaisravana's body! It was targeting the blue-black demonic deity riding on the head of one of the flying water dragons. With a god as its target, Artemis' flash of light sped off. At that moment, another water dragon rushed into the trajectory of the magic bullet, getting its head impaled instead of its creator and disappearing without trace. However, the attack of the magic bullet did not end there, and continued to fly towards Vaisravana! Water dragons continually rushed to intercept it, and were dispelled one after another. The water dragon carrying Vaisravana was the only one remaining. In order to protect Vaisravana, the last water dragon transformed into a shield — and deflected the bullet. Somehow, the body of the water dragon had solidified into ice. Deflected by the ice dragon, the magic bullet flew away into the distant sky. "Hohoho... Finally, ice to deflect that bullet has been created." Vaisravana laughed with a gloomy face. His mount, the water dragon had frozen into ice, transforming into an ice dragon. No — that was not all. Using the moisture in the atmosphere, new ice dragons were being created, and the ranks of the army of nine dragons were filled once more! Smith opened the demonic bird's beak and shot another magic bullet. However, the attack he fired was again deflected by an ice dragon, disappearing into the distance opposite to the previous bullet. "Hmph... A mirror of ice with the magic of reflection? What troublesome divine power, but it may very well create a good opportunity." Despite the ineffectiveness of his trump cards, Smith spoke in a relaxed manner. "Oh? What do you mean?" "Because there is something that has intrigued me for quite some time... For gods like you, strength and divine authority is not always proportional to how well-known you are, and there are times when minor gods show greater resilience than half-assed major gods. What is the cause of such disparity... I believe that now is a good opportunity to find out." The ninth incarnation, the [Goat], had the power to control thunder and lightning. However, the target must be a common enemy recognized by the people and there was the major caveat of taking the life force of nearby people indiscriminately. Godou recalled his memories from the last time he used this incarnation and released a thunderstrike. A flash of lightning was fired from his right hand, giving off the stench of ozone from the ionized air as the intense electrical current headed straight for the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. At the same time, Godou did not forget to direct his awareness towards the sky. Thunderclouds were summoned into the sunny sky, and these heavy clouds rumbled with thunder. "Damn it, all this static electricity is annoying!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven grumbled with displeasure as he dodged lightning coming from in front and above at the same time. Normally, being struck by lightning would cause severe burns and a massive Shockwave impact. However, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's iron body was a conductor. Though he was blown back, there was apparently no damage. Whenever the Great Sage Equaling Heaven approached and tried to attack with his Ruyi Staff, Godou released lightning at him. The Great Sage was struck by lightning many times and blown away backwards, but clearly did not suffer any injuries. Bodies of steel were truly destestable. "Damn it! This is neverending — may the heavens shake and the earth tremble in fear, hurry hurry!" The 160cm tall divine monkey roughly doubled in height. Naturally, his other dimensions were increased proportionately. Enduring Godou's lightning, he spread his legs and forcefully stood his ground. The expanded body could now withstand the impact of the lightning without being sent flying. The Great Sage smiled with his monkey face as he charged forward. Who could have expected him to use body expansion to resist the impact of lightning!? "Damn it! In that case—" Godou gathered electrical energy into spheres and created balls of thunder. Roughly the size of basketballs, these small spheres continuously emitted electricity. Then Godou threw them at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Not one, but five at the same time! "Hmm ooooooh, what clever little tricks!" The five thunder balls released electrical current as they violently crashed into the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. This was the strategy of overcoming giant enemies with numbers. Suddenly, the divine monkey returned to his original size and jumped away sideways. At the same time, he repeatedly used the spell of creating clones — Multiplying to over twenty of himself, the Great Sages jumped at Godou all at the same time. "Evil people can never hit me!" Godou summoned lightning which descended from the thundercloud, surrounding himself in 360 degrees with lightning for protection. The stench of ionized air stifled his nostrils, while the attacking Great Sages were all swept away by the lightning — no, just as he was thinking that, the divine monkey with peerless agility descended from above. Using his clones as distractions, the real one had jumped into the air. The Ruyi Staff was swung down hard, and Godou evaded by rolling on the ground. Returning to his original position, Kusanagi Godou faced off against the Great Sage Equaling Heaven once again. His enemy's attacks came with far too much variety. What kind of surprise tactics could be used to defeat him? Just as Godou felt troubled, his right arm began to hurt. It was telling Godou to rely on it. Time to display a man's dignity. Godou snorted in response. "Like the time in the Netherworld, what a meddlesome fellow... But anyway, I will accept this battle plan!" Godou extended his right arm at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. "Tsk... You retard, are you firing noisy lightning again?" "Nope, this time is a little different. Lightning doesn't have much of an effect on your steel body... I'm going to show you something more amazing!" The Great Sage grumbled in disappointment. But if this move worked, victory definitely belonged to Kusanagi Godou! What would be the end result? "As the one who holds all victory in my hands, I am the strongest. All enemies shall meet defeat by my hand!" Composing the spell words, the sacred warlord's authority and the divine sword's power began to amplify each other. No mistake about it, this was the divine blade Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi's power! — The sword that assimilated the qualities of rebellious barbarians to bolster its own power. It was now Kusanagi Godou's personal sword, able to absorb divine power that damaged its master, converting it into its own energy. In the battle against Luo Cuilian, it had absorbed the [Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl] and provided the final decisive strike. Furthermore, there was another interesting use for this sword. "As the embodiment of victory, all enemies shall tremble before me!" Lightning was summoned from the thundercloud, descending onto his right arm which contained the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi. Another use of this sword was to absorb Kusanagi Godou's authority, creating new powers! "I shall smash through all enemies in my way! Man and devil — all enemies, all who harbor enmity will be vanquished!" The dormant divine sword in his arm absorbed the lightning, converting it into another power — releasing magnetism. In ancient Japan, blacksmithing began with the step of melting ironsand followed by forging the resulting steel sword. Anyway, the point was that ancient Japanese swords were made from ironsand — the ore of a ferromagnetic metal. When ferromagnetic ores were struck by lightning in nature, magnetism was occasionally induced. Godou and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were recreating this phenomenon, using massive electric and magnetic fields, together with the already present steel — Thus a miracle could be performed — ! "Go forth, Great Sage Equaling Heaven! Fly away to the ends of the universe!" "Woah... W-What is this power!?" This effect was created using the magnetic fields given off by a massive flow of electrical current, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi's mystic techniques, and ferromagnetic iron. The properties of magnets meant two possible outcomes, will they mutually attract or repel? The resulting magnetic field used the latter to make a bullet — the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was sent flying away. The divine monkey with the indestructible body of steel was trapped by the magnetic field released from Godou's right arm, and kept flying up in the air. Like a rocket taking off to outer space, he flew with horrific speed towards the skies. Railguns used electromagnetism to accelerate an object and fire it at super high speeds. Using this principle to create a mass driver to fire off massive objects into space, Kusanagi Godou's authority from Verethragna combined with Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to create a makeshift mass driver to send the divine monkey of steel into the heavens! The earth's atmosphere is composed of the layers of the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere and the thermosphere. Beyond the thermosphere is the exosphere and then space. If this continued, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven would be exiled from earth. Furthermore, objects flying at high speed will get heated by friction with the atmosphere, resulting in extremely high temperatures. The last region of the atmosphere — the thermosphere was a super high temperature realm that reached two thousand degrees. Now that all the necessary conditions for defeating this formidable enemy had been gathered, what would be the final outcome...!? Part 4 Rising through the air, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had become a burning bullet. Though he was well accustomed to god speed movement, this was the first time he experienced this method of acceleration. In reality, so-called god speed was not really the power of 'rapid movement' but an ability to shorten travel duration. Rather than 'moving from Point A to Point B at the speed of several hundred kilometres per hour,' it was the ability of 'moving from Point A to Point B in zero point something seconds.' Instead of physical acceleration, it was the power of distorting the traveling time required. Which is why the Great Sage had yet another first experience, that of the friction of air resistance at supersonic speeds and the heat from plowing through the atmosphere. "So hot hot hot hot hot hot! This is unbearable! What a godslayer, this is too reckless!" It was imperative to return to the surface before incinerating completely. He activated his divine power and tried to counteract the electromagnetic forces. Also calling for his golden cloud, he had to hurry back to ground level by any means possible. The many phenomena sustaining the planet, such as gravity and the earth's own magnetic field, could also be used to return him to the surface. "Middle Bro and Lil' Bro! Combine your powers, you two! Summon me back to earth!" Even separated by tens of thousands of miles, the sworn brothers could still communicate telepathically. However, beyond the Great Sage's expectations, the sworn younger brothers had both been driven into crises of their own. "When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound prajna paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty. Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form!"^ Luo Cuilian began to recite the Heart Sutra. Combined with the melodious voice of the maiden who attained nirvana, the authority of the [Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl] generated Shockwaves of magical wind. Magical power was originally something with neither shape, color, odor nor form, but Luo Cuilian's authority conferred various properties upon it. "So, too, are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness. Shariputra, all dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced. Not destroyed, not defiled, not pure, and they neither increase nor diminish!" The air currents continued to expand as the power of the wind increased once again. "Tsk! A mere woman doing such infuriating things!" As Luo Cuilian concentrated in some kind of terrifying undertaking, Zhu Ganglie brandished his five weapons. Firing arrows and attacking continuously with the halberd, sword, axe and club, he tried to resist the impacts of the magical wind. The three-headed six-armed giant god was helpless against the magical wind blowing in the cult leader's surroundings. This was the wind that could have swept away all of creation, and the Divine Marshal's weapons were powerless in their efforts to breach the gaseous defensive wall that barred all attacks. There was simply no way to disrupt the transcendent beauty as she composed a song of death and destruction. "Make haste, by the mighty decree of the North Emperor, obey!" Zhu Ganglie chanted spell words to bolster his bodily strength and was finally able to budge his weapons gradually, inching with great sluggishness towards Luo Cuilian's body. However, the demonic cult leader's mystic arts finally completed at this time. Infusing light into the magical wind, Luo Cuilian's body shone with golden light that melded with the wind. This was also an avatar manifested from the [Divine Might of Vajrapani] but not one of the golden Benevolent Kings. The brightness gathered and took form between Luo Cuilian and Zhu Ganglie, finally becoming a massive palm! My heart is as the void, but my palm is like a deadly hurricane — "Mmmmmmmmmaaaaaaah!" "Strength exerted from bones, force applied from tendons! Yes, a palm that precedes all creation!" The golden palm was the same size as Zhu Ganglie's massive body. This giant palm performed the subsequent attack. Like an explosion — the three-headed six-armed giant deity suffered a frontal assault, devastating his face, body and legs, giving his brain a concussion, the impacts penetrating his internal organs and shattering his bones. The giant golden palm even grabbed Zhu Ganglie and held tight with great force. "My sworn little brother seems to have exiled the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. As his elder sister, I think it would be interesting to imitate him and follow suit. Vulgar war god, disappear into the sky! Your presence is an affront to my eyes!" Despite engaging in battle along the front lines, she did not neglect awareness of the entire battlefield. This was the rare talent displayed by the clairvoyant Daoist priestess. As she struck her palm towards the heavens, the mighty golden palm kept Zhu Ganglie in its tight grasp and sent him up towards the sky. "Woaaaaaaah!" As Zhu Ganglie screamed pitifully as he ascended, his hollow cries resounded across the sky. "...Amazing, it's hard to believe that the monstrous strength of Her Eminence was capable of such a thing." The golden palm and Zhu Ganglie were rocketing up into the sky. Witnessing this surreal scene, Godou felt deeply impressed. What had taken a makeshift railgun created by him and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, the same effect was achieved by the demonic cult leader through brute strength and martial arts alone. Godou made his way over to where Luo Hao had been fighting. Making his way torturously over the shaking ground, the destination lying before him had become a wasteland. Standing in the center was the beautiful demonic cult leader, who had apparently used her magical wind authority to render this entire area into ruins. "Little brother, you have arrived. Just as you witnessed, your elder sister has just exiled the vulgar Marshal Canopy. I was watching as you defeated the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Very well done." She was praising me. Looks like she used some sort of vision enhancing magic. Though he was being praised, Godou found Luo Cuilian's gaze to be very severe. "However I seemed to have heard you muttering to yourself... Calling me something like 'Her Eminence,' using such an impersonal form of address like entertaining a guest... I wondered if I heard wrongly..." Stared at like being interrogated, Godou could not help trembling. Could she actually have heard his exclamation from when he saw Zhu Ganglie rise to the heavens? What was with this supernatural hearing?! "Just to make sure, I will remind you once more. Little brother, call me 'Onee-sama'." "O-o-o... o... Nee... sama..." Urged by her, Godou had no choice but to do as told, but still the great elder sister shook her head. "This is no good at all. The elder sister beyond the equal of mere mortals, filled with incomparable mercy and benevolence... Basks you in her light like the sun that warms the world. Your manner of address just now did not carry the slightest hint of respectful admiration. You should be calling me 'Onee-sama' with worship and adoration. You have to work harder on this." The level of those requirements are too high... The subject needs to be changed, quick! "B-By the way, O... Nee-san looked like the battle wasn't too tough." "Of course, although that Zhu Ganglie is the True Lord Marshal Canopy, he is merely manifesting in the manner of a subordinate god." Godou's failure in addressing her in the prescribed manner made the elder sister frown. However, she forgave him for now. Being called 'Nee-san' was enough to provide her with slight satisfaction. "Remember this well. What decides the strength of [Heretic Gods], is neither how great or powerful they were in the original myths, nor how widespread is their fame. The key to their strength lies in their unshakable ego. Unshakable ego. In other words, the characteristic of steadfast narcissism? "Relying on no one's opinions but their own, going forward to do what one wishes no matter what — the willpower to destroy the human race even if it means changing the heavens and the earth. This determines a god's strength. Nevertheless, subordinate gods cannot sustain their existence if the main deity is gone." Godou recalled what happened with Verethragna, Athena and the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Once the amnesiac sacred warlord retrieved his true ego, his power greatly increased; the Greek virgin goddess Athena became the powerful ancient earth mother deity once she retrieved the Gorgoneion; having lost his name and mettle, the divine monkey monarch descended upon the earth as the great hero once the seal was released. This explains everything, I see now... Godou could not help but nod as he accepted the facts. "So by this time, Vaisravana who is fighting Smith should also..." "If I'm not mistaken, he has the current advantage, however..." Luo Cuilian looked up into the sky with a sharp gaze. "Subordinate gods receive protection from the master while the master in turn obtains support from the subordinates. They will become even more powerful and formidable. It would not be wrong to say the battle truly begins now, my little brother, you must not lose your guard by any means." Come to think of it, the reason why I defeated with such ease the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, which now lies dormant in my right hand, was because its master Susanoo lived in the Netherworld and did not show any concern for the battle. Without such auspicious circumstances, what would have been the outcome? "As expected for gods who suffer from a lack of distinct ego, even if they are able to make full use of their powers, they are missing the kind of tenacious power that overcomes stalemates and losing situations. Dare I say, this is exactly as I imagined it?" "Gah... How could this be! Clearly I was able to block these arrows just now — !" Riding upon the wind in the form of the demonic bird was John Pluto Smith. He circled leisurely in the sky as he looked down upon Vaisravana whose chest had been penetrated by a blue-white magic bullet. Had it been a normal human, it would have pierced the heart. "If you were an actual independent deity, surely you would have evaded the returning Artemis' Arrow. Anyway, thank you for proving my suspicions correct." The two bullets deflected by the ice dragons a while ago had been flying towards the depths of the universe high above the world. But along the way, they made a U-turn and returned to earth. The ice dragons gathered together, overlapping to form a shield, intending to deflect the bullets again and managed to block one of them. However, the remaining shot could not be stopped and Vaisravana was pierced directly... These were the magic bullets of the moon deity, limited to only six shots per lunar cycle. This was the reason why every shot had such horrific power. It was rumored that if all the bullets were shot at once, the resulting fire would devour the entirety of California and burn for seven days without extinguishing. After the incineration, it would become such a complete wasteland that even weeds would not grow. Against such a powerful weapon, mere deflection was not going to neutralize its attacks. Vaisravana's defeat had already been sealed by the fact that he was unable to destroy the bullets directly like the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. "Ooh — since it has come to this!" From the top of an ice dragon's head, the punctured Vaisravana released a water current from his hand, naturally his target was the black demonic bird flying in the air. Smith boldly performed a defensive maneuver against this counterattack. "How sad, your death struggle is meaningless, and only serves as a chance for me to show off my powers." The attacked devil king released his transformation in the air. The black demonic bird returned to the black-clad black-masked John Pluto Smith. Due to the instantaneous decrease in body size, Vaisravana's attack passed through directly without hitting anything. The caped devil king fluttered in the wind like a feather, and pulled out his gun, aiming at Vaisravana as he descended. "Wan— !" This time the abdomen was penetrated, causing Vaisravana to collapse. Of the six magic bullets, only one remained, but having defeated one of the three deities, it was enough — As he slowly descended towards the ground, Smith suddenly heard the resounding voice of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. "Middle Bro and Lil' Bro! Combine your powers, you two! Summon me back to earth!" "Big Bro, I got it! I will entrust all my remaining strength to you! It is now time for the three gods to unite and vanquish the Rakshasa!" What!? Before Smith's surprised eyes, the Curtain Lifting General Vaisravana's figure dispersed, becoming tiny sand-like particles of light which flew towards the high atmosphere. Flying high towards the heavens, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Ganglie was accompanied by the golden palm. He too, heard the voice of his sworn older brother, and decided to surrender as well. "Hmm what a pity. Booze, gambling, women, breasts, butts, beautiful legs! There is still so much that I want to do! But in my current unsightly state, there is nothing else I can do! Big Bro, I am coming now!" Clutched tightly by the golden palm, Zhu Ganglie's body also dispersed, forming the same shining particles of light like the youngest sworn brother and escaping from the confines of the hand to fly towards the corner of the sky where the sworn older brother was located! Turned into a railgun projectile and flying towards space, the divine monkey, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, proceeded to chant a mantra with calm composure. "Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, Alkaid! The Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper, I beseech you to manifest!" As the divine essence of the subordinate gods rushed over to him, the Great Sage absorbed it to raise his own divine power. "Snakes and dragons, offer your bloody carcasses to me; flames, heat up iron to forge into steel; clear water, cool the sword's blade! All shall empower my divinity as the sword god!" In order to attain an unshakable ego, the Great Sage was returning to his roots as a sword god. In order to form a sword, he gathered the power he needed. The devil kings attacking me and the Rakshasa tearing me apart! The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, was now about to enter the path of hellish trials to become the divine sword that vanquishes evil and embodies justice! Overwhelming power filled his heart and mind. Once again confirming his mission as a sword god, he expressed approval of the ancient covenant. "Hah—!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven finally released himself from the cursed bonds of electromagnetism. As he overlooked the territory of Japan, he summoned his Ruyi Staff. It was finally time for a counterattack. Smiling, he grew in size, letting his body reach the dimensions of Zhu Ganglie. Though he was able to expand further, making his body too large would be detrimental to speed. Next in action were the two sworn younger brothers who had hurried over. Zhu Ganglie's essence turned into a massive black boar, roughly the same size as the current Great Sage who sat on his back, taking on the role of a wild beast mount. Then Vaisravana's essence formed a dragon, wrapping itself around the back of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, taking on a ready stance that seemed like it was going to attack on command. Thus, the three gods became one, and everything was ready. The three divine spirits' bodies were enveloped by white flames as they fell back onto the surface like a shooting star. Veering off from the direction of Nikkou, they had to correct their trajectory along the way while being surrounded by high heat, passing through the stratosphere and finally returning to the troposphere. The ground beneath could now be seen. Nantaisan, Lake Chuuzenji, Senjougahara, Lake Yunoko, etc — Along the way, the black demonic bird's silhouette could be spotted in the distance. One of the godslayers was trying to pursue me. Excellent, let's strike him down. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven descended upon the land of Senjougahara once more. However, this time the massive landing impact remodeled the landscape. Riding astride the black boar, leading the dragon, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's mighty entry made the ground crack and overturn, blowing away soil and vegetation, creating a crater. At the bottom of the crater, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven lightly kicked the beast's abdomen, ordering it to make its way to the surface. The black demonic bird also came and landed, transforming into the man dressed in black. On ground level, the team of the young man and woman was also heading over here. "So, godslayers, let us fight to the very end!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven shouted at the mortal enemies before him with great delight. Thus the three Campiones faced off against the three gods who had united as one. Godou was still maintaining the [Goat] incarnation, whose priestly power informed him that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had become three gods in one. Taking on the role of a horse was the giant black boar transformed from Zhu Ganglie. Vaisravana had become a dragon, its long and slender body slithering along the Great Sage's back. And then the steel monkey of Scythian origins wielded the Ruyi Staff, like a knight in a jousting tournament except with unusual body measurements, a bizarre knight standing ten-odd metres tall. The fur on Great Sage Equaling Heaven's two arms stood on end and were fired like rockets. As countless hairs flew through the air, their front ends were sharp as needles. These things could probably pierce right through a steel plate! "...This is bad!" Godou could not help crying out as the kings scattered and the needles struck the ground. Anyone who gets hit would be skewered! And that was just the first wave of attacks. Firing in succession, the needles formed a hail of projectiles that blotted the sky. "Quoted from the chapter of Carefree Roaming, the perfect man has no thought of self; the god-like man, none of merit; the sagely-minded man, none of fame!"^ With the sound of Luo Cuilian's melodious chant, the impact of magical wind blew away thousands of needles, but at the same time, the three gods in one also made their move. Crash! The ground shook as the black boar carrying the Great Sage Equaling Heaven began to gallop, charging and racing. That kind of speed was like the wind. Despite the huge size of its body, its movements were faster than the eye could see. "One who slices everything apart, be summoned for the sake of victory!" Godou tried to counterattack, again using lightning and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to generate massive magnetic forces, intending to send the Great Sage into space once more, but because the Great Sage had vastly increased his mass, an immediate effect could not be produced. No good, it's too late! The Great Sage Equaling Heaven was arriving on the giant boar. As the boar raised its hooves to trample Godou, Luo Cuilian and Smith, there was clearly no time to use the railgun. "Massive timber splitting mountains, producing great force! Stacking multitudes of golden bells, producing impenetrable iron cloth!" The demonic cult leader charged at this time. From her back drifted a flaming aura which took form as the golden Benevolent King, blocking the beast's charge. What amazing peerless arm strength! However at this instant, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven leaped from the boar's back. "Hah—!" Somersaulting to behind the Benevolent King, he used the Ruyi Staff to strike at the golden back. Ooof! The Benevolent King's courageous expression was distorted, but he still kicked backwards at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven behind him. However, this kick was easily avoided, and the Ruyi Staff once again roared as it whistled through the air. Smack smack smack smack smack! The rapid series of impacts sounded like fireworks. With the sound of explosions, the Great Sage had made a continuous series of at least a hundred strikes in an instant. Completely unable to fight back, the Benevolent King was struck by a decisive blow from the Great Sage, and the golden half-nude male was dispelled without trace. At this time, a black shadow flew up from the ground. This was the black demonic bird transformed from John Pluto Smith again. He must be thinking that a ground battle's outcome might be uncertain? However, it looked like there was something chasing after the ferocious flying bird. It was the serpentine creature that had been standing ready on the Great Sage's back — the dragon. Flying with the same speed as the demonic bird, the dragon blocked the bird's path from in front, preventing Smith from flying freely. Somehow, the giant boar had also jumped high into the sky, was it trying to attack the demonic bird together with the dragon? But the height of this jump could not reach the position of the demonic bird, and only arrived a position slightly below where the dragon and the bird battled — The Great Sage Equaling Heaven also jumped at this time. Jumping nimbly as if flying with wings, one could not connect it with the weight of the giant body at all. Wielding the Ruyi Staff, the divine monkey's target was the giant boar in the air. Using the boar's fur as a foothold, he made another giant leap, and so the Great Sage Equaling Heaven reached the altitude where the demonic bird and the dragon were fighting. The Ruyi Staff was swung. Aaaaaaaah! Struck in the neck, the demonic bird screamed in pain and crashed towards the ground. "Uh... As befitting of the Great Sage... I am faced with a difficult battle..." Before Godou, Luo Cuilian had been brought down to one knee. Blood dripped out from her mouth, and it seemed like the damage suffered by the Benevolent King was reflected onto her body. "Wait a moment and I will proceed to use all of my divine powers, defeating the three-in-one Great Sage... Godou, watch and learn carefully from the heroic fighting form of your elder sister, got that?" Even though injured, she still wanted to stand up and fight for victory. Amongst Campiones, Luo Cuilian's fighting spirit and willpower were typical of the illegitimate children of the fool — Epimetheus, whose talent was possessing insanity that transcended strategy and victory probability. Maybe she really could win this fight. Perhaps she could turn this crisis around alone. But this won't do! Godou shook his head, for 'perhaps' was simply not good enough. I want to win, and will do everything to achieve it myself. Within the plans of victory traced out in Godou's mind, the power of this woman and the fallen young man were needed. "— Nee-san." For the very first time, Godou was able to use this manner of address naturally. "How many times have I repeated, you should be calling me 'Onee-sama.' How forgetful of you..." "Nee-san, this sort of thing is irrelevant at this time. In order to defeat that bastard monkey, the three of us must cooperate together. Don't say anything about fighting alone again." Godou gazed directly into the maiden's eyes, speaking his mind in earnest. "Besides, Nee-san is the one who said this is the first time for us to fight in cooperation, perhaps you have forgotten? I will definitely end this battle with victory, so I will use everything at my disposal. So come, fight together with me, this is my request of a lifetime!" "W-When did you start becoming so obsessed with this battle?" If that's the case, you should have spoken earlier. Luo Cuilian nodded as she blushed. "Very well, fulfilling the little brother's willfulness is also part of a sworn elder sister's duty. I will not object. In the name of the bonds between us, this battle must be won no matter what!" Godou gave simple instructions to the assenting elder sister. When forming impromptu teams without sufficient time to get accustomed to one another, it was necessary to keep things simple. During his baseball days, Godou had many opportunities to train and compete with representative teams. Furthermore, as the catcher whose position was central to defense, he was used to making this kind of duty distribution. "The root of my power of Vajra, now is the time for great might that can tear apart heaven and earth!" Hearing the summons of the demonic cult lady, the Om pair of golden Benevolent Kings manifested. As the vanguard she was to use her full strength, hence the simultaneous use of dual avatars. — Prior to the advent of firearms, the combat potential of cavalry was equivalent to tanks in modern warfare. This was due to an absolute advantage in both offensive ability and mobility, because riding horses traveled faster than on foot, and attacking on a galloping horse carried the benefit of much greater momentum. Furthermore, with bows and arrows as well as other factors such as outstanding cavalry tactics, many equestrian tribes conquered vast territories in both the orient and the Occident. And now in the present, the enormous Great Sage Equaling Heaven was riding a giant boar charging on the plains of Senjougahara. Facing them were the two Benevolent Kings approaching on foot. For infantry to be able to counter the historically proven principle of cavalry superiority, the demonic cult leader's martial might was truly astounding. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven charged forward, riding the giant boar. Blocking him was the open-mouthed^ Benevolent King, but the wild boar attempted to thrust its sharp tusks at the flank of his abdomen. The close-mouthed Benevolent King used his open-mouthed partner as a platform to launch an attack at the divine monkey riding the black boar. Jumping lightly into the air he made a series of killing palm strikes. However, all of them were blocked by the Ruyi Staff. The dragon lying in wait on the Great Sage's back, also bared its fangs as it opened its jaws to bite the throat of the open-mouthed Benevolent King. While all this was happening, the giant boar below did not stop charging, and was competing in a battle of strength against the incomparable might of the Benevolent King. The open-mouthed one's muscles bulged as he halted the advance of the giant boar. Like a mounted knight, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven swung down his staff, striking the open-mouthed Benevolent King soundly in the face. The open-mouthed Benevolent King persevered but was clearly at a disadvantage. Using the time bought, Godou concentrated on raising his magical power. Due to the enemy's abnormal size, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi needed to be infused with power to reach a critical point. However, there were still other tasks required during this time, hence Godou approached the fallen young man. The place the demonic bird crashed down just now was close by. Crouched down on the grass, the masked king was struggling to stand up. "Are you unable to fight any longer?" "In terms of boxing, this is as if the knockout count reached eight. Still, I can just barely pull myself together, enough to let me give a miraculous reversal performance." Still eloquent as ever, then he must be fine. Godou had no intention of extending a helping hand for the man trying to stand up because John Pluto Smith did not ask for his help. Several seconds later, the two of them stood shoulder to shoulder and smiled at each other. Although Smith's face was obscured by the mask he wore, surely he must be showing a fearless smile. That's right, that was the kind of man he was. "You are concentrating magical power as if preparing for some interesting operation. By my guess, Her Eminence is buying time for you right now... Hmm, how unexpected for her to have a personality that dutifully supports a man with such profound devotion." "Stop saying these weird things. Ignoring that, I am currently preparing to use this move." Trying to silence Smith's nonsense, Godou told him the essential details. "However, the one to perform the finishing blow has to be you. Previously you mentioned a trump card with heat and fire, can you still use it?" "Don't worry, I am not a man who misses out on rare opportunities for a grand performance. It's ready any time... So... what are you planning?" Hearing the plan Godou was considering, Smith whistled from beneath the mask. Wiggling his index and middle fingers in a pretentious manner to substitute for a response — it seemed to be saying, what a reckless proposal, but count me in. The black-caped young man departed with shaking footsteps, but Godou was not worried in the least. If this man had already said he was ready any time, then he won't be embarrassing himself. Hence Godou raised his right arm towards the sky in preparation. "It was this place, that Susanoo led a thousand unruly deities in rebellion — intending to take over this country!" Was this his second authority or simply just a weapon? In order to summon the sword with the ambiguous identity, Godou recited spell words. If it was just an authority, it should be minding its own business instead of interfering during strange occasions. If it was just a weapon, it was buried too deeply inside Godou. Was this problem the result of the chaotic conditions under which this fellow was defeated? "A thousand swords standing upon the earth, used as city walls to defend against the enemies..." ...Well said, you can just call me 'partner.' Hearing the whispers coming from the depths of his right arm, Godou nodded. This form of address blurred the distinction between the two identities, and was not a bad name. "So, let's go, partner — Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, unsheathe!" Neither an ability nor a possession, it was the summoning of a companion. Responding gallantly was the cooperative companion who might one day decline to help on whim. 'Here! Namely, the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi! The steel that breaks a thousand blades!' The divine sword Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi was finally unsheathed from its scabbard! The silver-white light concentrated on the right arm raised towards the heavens, for the sword that stole and assimilated rebellious barbaric might, imitating what was used against the [Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl] in Luo Cuilian's battle, was going to be used for the decisive strike. In that case, the target this time was of course the power of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong — the authority of steel! The silver-white light materialized above Godou's head, forming a silver-white metallic ring. This iron ring was made of the same steel as the Great Sage... If one were to give it a name, of course it would be most fitting to call it the [Constricting Circlet], right? That was the Buddhist treasure that Avalokitasvara bestowed upon the Monk Sanzang to keep the unruly Sun Wukong in line. 'Now is the time for annihilating barbarians coming from all directions! Outsiders be vanquished!' "I know, go forth, Ama no Murakumo!" Godou swung his right arm, causing the silver-white circlet to fly towards the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Like the Ruyi Staff whose length could extend and retract at will, the dimensions of this ring could also be controlled freely. Like the Great Sage himself, this ring could also create clones of itself, and Godou split it into three giant rings in an instant. The three rings struck the three-in-one Great Sage Equaling Heaven who was battling intensely with the two Benevolent Kings. At the same time as the rings hit, the Benevolent Kings vanished. Mission accomplished, Luo Cuilian dispelled them. 'Ugh!' 'So this was the ominous premonition I felt earlier!?' 'Calm down, Big Bro, Middle Bro!' The three rings respectively struck right on target the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the wild boar and the dragon wrapped around the Great Sage's body, restraining their bodies like handcuffs. Like Sun Wukong's Constricting Circlet, the silver-white rings imprisoned the three-in-one Great Sage Equaling Heaven and his sworn brothers — wait, that's not completely accurate! One person managed to overcome the circlet and escape, it was of course the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Jumping nimbly with movements like lightning, he tried to escape to the skies, but at this time, a silver-white flash of light flew and struck the Great Sage in the forehead. "Ouch!?" It was John Pluto Smith's last magic bullet. Godou was greatly surprised to find the Great Sage resilient enough to withstand the direct hit with only cries of 'ouch' but thanks to the impact, the divine monkey of steel also lost his balance. Using this opening, Godou ordered Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to send a silver-white ring towards the escaped prey, finally capturing the Great Sage Equaling Heaven this time. Thus the three rings dragged the three divine spirits back to the bottom of the crater they had made during their re-entry. However, merely restraining them did not amount to victory. The black demonic bird leaped down into the meteorite crater where they were located and its mighty wings began to give off fire. "For annihilation I count the number of my great works — I am the axe of the night that summons termination, lowering the final curtain for the world's destruction, the messenger from hell!" These were the flames of annihilation, the transformation that executes all enemies by incinerating his own body. The black flames melted the steel rings that imprisoned the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and his subordinate gods. In the end, the steel rings generated by Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were melted down into liquid state. Molten steel filled the crater, engulfing the Great Sage and his brothers. It was like a natural furnace. Invincible steel was being melted down and losing its form. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the giant boar and dragon were all turning into shapeless masses within the furnace. Athena once said — super high temperature that melts iron was the natural predator of the sword gods of steel. Godou's first thought was a furnace, which is why the flames of annihilation and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were used together to create this natural predator! "Waaaaaah!" With final pitiful cries of death, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and his sworn brothers finally melted completely. This was the moment of complete victory for the three Campiones — Kusanagi Godou, Smith and Luo Hao. References 1 . t A quote from the Daoist philosophical classic Zhuangzi.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi_(book) 2. t Style name: a Chinese style name, also known as a courtesy name, was a given name generally used after the age of twenty as a sign of adulthood and respect. The use of style names have fallen out of tradition since the early twentieth century. http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_style_name 3. t Ziwei(^t^): a group of stars lying near the north celestial pole. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Forbidden_enclosure 4. t Benevolent Kings(tl): usually depicted in pairs, muscular and wrathful guardian deities of Buddha and manifestations of Vajrapani. They stand on guard at the entrance of Buddhist temples in the form of frightening statues. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nio 5. t Shramana: a parallel movement to Vedic Hinduism in ancient India which gave rise to Buddhism, Jainism and Yoga. http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Shramana 6. t Qiang(H): Due to its relative ease of manufacture, the spear in many variations was ubiquitous on the pre-modern Chinese battlefield. Common features of the Chinese spear are the leaf shaped blade and red horse-hair tassel lashed just below. The tassel serves a tactical purpose, and is not simply for decoration, http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Qiang_(spear) 7. t Heart Sutrahttp://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Sutra 8. t A quote from the Daoist philosophical classic Zhuangzi.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi_(book) 9. t Open-mouthed(PRl^): each pair of 3*>(0m/A-un) Buddhist statues consists of one each of two types — one open-mouthed and the other with a closed mouth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-un
Chapter 7 - Gods and Godslayers, the Climactic Final Battle for Victory Part 1 Godou was badly beaten up while the Great Sage Equaling Heaven literally had his belly cut open as suggested. Had either of them succumbed to their heavy injuries, it would not have been surprising, but they dulled the pain through pure willpower alone. Completely ignoring the state of their bodies and maintaining the heightened state of excitement, only gods and Campiones could be this reckless. Watching this scene unfold was Hikari who had just been rescued. She could no longer hear the thoughts of the person who had been speaking to her. Due to taking on a portion of the Swordj's burden, Yuri also reached her limit and had fallen unconscious somewhere. The second sun in the sky also vanished, having lost the Sword it depended on. "Hikari... Is your body okay?" "Yes! Thanks to Onii-sama and everyone else, I am completely fine!" "I see... Then hurry and leave this place and find a place to hide." Godou gently reminded the girl who was embracing him. "Why? I want to help Onii-sama! I also want to assist you like all the other Onee-sama!" "No, there's nothing you can help here. Besides..." Godou coldly released Hikari despite her earnest pleas, for the battle was just about to enter a climax. "I entrust everyone in your care, Hikari. Erica, Liliana, Seishuuin and your sister far away have all used up their strength. Go immediately to help and take care of them." "If I do that... I will be helping Onii-sama?" "Yes, please. You are the only one I can rely on now." It was now like being in the ninth inning with a one point lead. In order to guard this lead, Godou began to rouse the feelings of outfielders nostalgic memories from his days as a catcher were even recalled. Treating the girl in his arms as a companion and entrusting her with important tasks, Godou stroked Hikari's head softly. As a result, the twelve-year-old apprentice Hime-Miko gazed at Godou with blushing cheeks. "Yes... I will do as Onii-sama says, but you must come back alive. If you don't keep your promise, I won't listen to Onii-sama's orders again. Will you promise me this?" "I know, in order to make you listen to me from now on, I will definitely return." As if praising an obedient child, Godou stroked little Hikari's head. Completely unexpectedly, Hikari drew her young face close and kissed Godou. "I heard from Ena-neesama and the others, that this is the only way to cast a spell on Onii-sama... This is a spell for treating fatigue, at least let me help you a little like this..." Hikari left Godou reluctantly and ran over to the collapsed Erica. There was a certain adult maturity to her... Hikari bore a rather feminine expression. Though Godou had been treating her like a little child, she should be trustworthy from the way she acted just now. Thanks to the spell, the pain had lessened greatly. "Ha! Kusanagi brat! It's unbelievable that you still have the energy to flirt with girls at a time like this." The Great Sage Equaling Heaven laughed with a sneer. "Looks like we can still have another round. Nice nice!" "You and I are both heavily injured, are you sure it's proper for you to be mocking others?" "Because I still hold a trump card, it doesn't matter... Watch, this is the thing I prepared just in case." Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared in the Great Sage's right hand. It was the body of Divine Ancestor Asherah! However, it was very small since her body had shrunk so much it was like a ginseng root. Despite being in such a state, the witch still seemed to be alive, for one could hear her breathing weakly. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven took a bite out of this tiny witch. Aaaaaaaaaah! With the sound of soul-screeching screams, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven nonchalantly moved his lower jaw, chewed with his teeth and swallowed her, re-enacting a scene from the Journey to the West when he ate a ginseng fruit... In the next moment, from within the body of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven out flowed a terrifying amount of divine power! "Huhahahahahaha! After eating the snake deity, I have recovered my energy! The peerless Old Sun has returned once again!" "T-That was the reason you took away that witch!?" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven restored his Ruyi Staff with divine power again, and swung it as quickly as lightning. Godou hastily rolled along the ground as the divine staff of precious iron attacked with great alacrity. Having lost the Sword, Godou now needed to battle using other incarnations. However, the Camel could not handle attacks from the air while the White Stallion had already been used. Was there no other weapon remaining!? As Godou evaded the Great Sage's attacks, he heard a mocking voice. ...Finally asking me for help? What a troublesome man. An ice-cold feeling was dwelling in his right arm as the sword he had lent out just now returned to him. Now was the time to use the new weapon that had been waiting patiently to make an entrance. As the Ruyi Staff came crashing down, Godou jumped sideways with motions like a wild beast to evade. "Hmm, crap, did I hit too hard?" Missing its target, the steel staff was embedded into the ground. As the Great Sage pulled his weapon out, Godou adjusted his breathing. "Damn it... I clearly had no intention of using such a dangerous object as you!" Though he complained out loud, the corners of Godou's lips were upturned as if smiling. Since he needed to continue fighting whether he had a weapon or not, something was better than nothing. Seizing that one-in-a-thousand chance of victory in a hopeless situation, if one couldn't even do that, one was not fit to be a Campione rather, not fit to be a man! "Hoho, you look like you too have a trump card up your sleeve. Then let us fight to our hearts' content, Rakshasa King!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven jumped onto his golden cloud and flew into the sky. Accelerating again and again, the Great Sage intended to re-enter the realm of god speed. The new weapon in Godou's hand could not defend against that kind of speed but he was resolved to fight to the very end and obtain victory. No matter what kind of crisis he faced, if he himself didn't believe in his own victory, then of course victory would never grace him with its presence! Just as Godou planned to concentrate all his power in this despairing battle A shooting star streaked across the sky. Resembling a heavenly flying dragon, it was a flash of brilliant blue-white light, one of the magic bullets shot by the warrior with the black cape! The dragon of light chased after the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who had took on the form of a golden meteor. But just as it caught up, the prey vanished. Was it because he had entered the realm of god speed? However, John Pluto Smith's bullet also disappeared. Both sides had reached god speed! 'Damn, if that's the case, hah !" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven who should have disappeared, suddenly multiplied rapidly in the air, filling the sky with over a hundred divine monkeys. This was a cloning technique! However, these clones began to explode one after another and were soon dispersed into mist, most likely struck down in midair by the divine speeding bullet. Beneath the glow of the morning sky, it was as spectacular as a fireworks celebration. The Five Elements form a cycle of restraint, Metal counters Wood!' As his clones disappeared, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven chanted a mantra. Lightning was released from within the body of the divine monkey and collided with the approaching blue-white magic bullet. The magic bullet was finally destroyed, but the Great Sage's golden cloud also returned to normal speed, most likely because he was unable to use other spells while maintaining that kind of godly speed. "Making me waste unnecessary breath, so another unrelated godslayer is joining in?" "Unrelated? No, not at all. I came here expressly to bury you. Since John Pluto Smith is entering this battle, prepare yourself to be dragged into the depths of the underworld." The latecomer was obviously the masked Campione. The fallen girls could no longer be seen, apparently taken away by Hikari. She must have used healing spells since she should not have the strength to move everyone so quickly by herself. Anyway, the only ones gathered in this place were now gods and Campiones. Only these two existences and no other! "Hmph, what an audacious man... You have met my bros before, right? Let us display the solidarity of us sworn brothers, and defeat all the godslayers! From the ocean of the north, come, my virtuous little brother, Zhu Ganglie! From the territories of the west, come, my virtuous little brother, Vaisravana!" The entrance of John Pluto Smith caused the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's divine power to rise explosively. The two little figurines were thrown into the air. "Vanquishing devils, ripping evil spirits apart, star of the sword god which slaughters Rakshasa! Bestow upon me the sharp sword to vanquish my mortal enemies!" As the two figurines expanded in one motion, their appearance also began to change. The first to appear was the giant with a pig's head. Clad in black clothes with armor of the same color, he made his entrance as a giant god, standing 15m tall with three heads and six arms still! Next to manifest was the demonic deity with black skin and red spiky hair, standing on pillars of water that spewed forth like geysers, forming a dragon of water! "Hohohoho, I hope this time I can play a little while longer, Big Bro." "Appearing here in response to Big Bro's summon, I am ready to fulfill your every command." Manifesting behind the slowly flying Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Zhu Ganglie and Vaisravana shouted. Before the three deities, Godou spoke to his masked ally: "I am grateful for your help, but we are still outnumbered, the disadvantage of two against three remains." "I don't need you to teach me this kind of infantile mental math." Smith fluttered the cape on his shoulders in response to his junior's reminder. "On the other hand, there is also the saying 'two heads are better than one'... I think the current situation is rather fitting. Anyway, the main point is, I want a chance for me to show off. If you insist on keeping such a delicious situation all to yourself, that would make you a very stingy man, so lowly that I don't even need to mock you." Hearing him casually spout such roundabout words, Godou could not help but smile wryly. In such a situation, who could have expected him to make such comments when he was entitled to additional concessions. Watching the performance of the man before him who loved to role-play, Godou somehow felt a strange sense of intimacy with him. "What you seem to be trying to say, is that John Pluto Smith considers Kusanagi Godou a friend, and a man who won't pose a hindrance to you is that right?" "Oh my oh my, you really think you can trust a mysterious man like me? Don't regret it!" Smith and Godou joked with each other as they stood side by side, looking up at the gods in the sky. This argumentative conversation felt unexpectedly delightful. Never yielding verbally, this quirk of his seems to fit quite well with me. Confirming that they turned out to be surprisingly compatible, Godou smiled. "You are really quite the busybody. My luck has always been great and I have never regretted any of my choices in companions. I don't expect this to ever change. Right, one more thing..." Godou recalled Sayanomiya Kaoru's phone call. Lu Yinghua had apparently heard the sound of some kind of commotion. If that's the case, of course it can only be that. "You know the idea that two are better than one... While three people are better than two... Right?" Change finally came to the petrified grounds of Toushouguu. The first to be sent flying were the worship and main halls at the core of the shrine. As if dynamite had been set off, the worship hall and the main hall collapsed as stone fragments scattered and flew with the sound of explosions. Next were the Gates of Youmeimon, followed by the divine stable, the five-story pagoda and the first torii. Explosions occurred one after another. Originally, restoring the entire area petrified by the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was already a monumental task. Even so, seeing the important cultural heritage site destroyed so utterly, Sayanomiya Kaoru could not help exclaiming "oh my, I give up." On the other hand, Amakasu Touma closed his eyes in deep thought as if saying "that's going a bit overboard." The only one who could watch calmly was Lu Yinghua. Seeing the first torii namely, the main entrance to Nikkou Toushouguu being demolished, he took into his hands the package he had been keeping on the side all this time. Then he immediately rushed into the smoke and dust cloud created by the shattered and pulverized stone. "Master, please get changed. I have brought you a change of clothes here." "Well done, you have become more attentive. You have earned yourself a little praise." "Master's praise is too kind, your disciple expresses utmost gratitude." Towards the figure of the beautiful maiden who appeared from within the white smoke, Lu Yinghua reverently handed over the package. " A fish lives in the northern ocean, its name is the Kun! The Kun is so large, no one knows how many thousands of miles long it is. Transforming into a bird, its name is the Peng! The Peng's back is so vast, no one knows how many thousands of miles wide it is. Flying furiously, its wings are like clouds filling up the sky!"^ As soon as the mantra was chanted, the ground suddenly became dark, but not because the sunlight was blotted out by clouds. A giant sacred bird the golden-winged Peng came flying by. In the instant that this bird flew above their heads, the transcendent beauty's figure vanished. "With this, all the actors have gathered. It won't be very appropriate if we don't go and watch the finale." "But these special front row seats offer no guarantees for personal safety." Sayanomiya Kaoru joked around with her subordinate as she nodded in agreement. Part 2 The giant sacred bird flew over the plains of Senjougahara. Estimated in proportion to its wingspan, the massive body must have been several hundred meters in size. Stunned, Godou looked up to watch the majestic entry of the sacred bird. This fellow must be carrying the final participant. But still, even if she wanted to travel here, was it really necessary to use such a conspicuous mode of transportation? The beautiful heavenly maiden suddenly descended from the back of the giant bird, wearing an outfit in the style of a mandarin gown that hugged and accentuated the wondrous curves of her figure. With mesmerizing lustrous eyes and pristine white teeth, her beauty could only be described as otherworldly. Drifting through the air and landing upon the ground like a feather, this person was no other but Luo Cuilian. "Thank you for your patience, Great Sage! As well as my little brother." Hearing her words, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven questioned: "Oh? Little brother?" "Correct. Kusanagi Godou here is the sworn little brother of me, Luo Cuilian. A relationship akin to you and your fellow brothers." "Haha! But are you able to become as large as us?" "In that case, we will defeat you all at once, burying your oath of sworn fraternity at the same time..." The sworn brothers of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven proceeded to issue arrogant instigating remarks. Zhu Ganglie's eyes, full of lustful desire, stared intently at Luo Hao; standing on the dragon's head, Vaisravana looked gloomy as ever despite his rhetoric; Luo Hao smiled in return with casual composure. "Hohoho, it's not a bad idea to decide right here which side's sworn siblings are stronger. Wouldn't you agree? Little brother." "Umm, actually it's not just us two, there's also another participant..." From Godou's point of view, he was just stating a fact. But his sworn elder sister, as well as senior along the path of domination, severely glared at him in response. "Do you intend to spoil the first chance for us siblings to fight in cooperation by inserting this man of suspicious origins!? Foolish! This is a profane insult to me, your elder sister!" Calling him a man of suspicious origins was quite an unpleasant manner of address. The one wearing a mask and black cape, dressed up like a theatrical actor and the man in question, whispered softly: Oh... Elder sister eh? Having met for mere days and she's already taken such a liking to you... You are truly outstanding in the ways of stealing maiden hearts. Stop saying weird stuff about her taking a liking to me, please shut up for a bit! Hearing John Pluto Smith's reply, Godou hastily retorted in defense. "Anyway, that's how it is. A rare situation with three gods appearing at the same time. If we are down by one person on our side, wouldn't it be shameful?" "Shameful?" Luo Cuilian reacted. As expected, her extreme pride meant that she was fiercely sensitive to such insinuations. If she were to say something like 'victory against superior numbers is an honor in the martial realm' then there would be no room for objection. However, such an argument would be more of a bluff than the result of some twisted logic. Even exalted as Luo Cuilian, her hubris should not be extreme enough to insist on dignity over practicality... At least, that was what Godou hoped. "If we don't prepare an army with the same formation as our opponents, it seems like there will be a problem with respect." "I see, that makes a bit of sense. Very well, I will accept your advice and we shall face them with equal numbers. As befitting for great generals and marshals, it is only right for us to lead armies into battle in the spirit of proper martial way... Still, little brother, something about your behavior displeases me." Luo Hao grumbled as she stared at Godou. What was she trying to say? "D-Displeased? I don't think I did anything wrong..." "Of course you are wrong. I am the martial pinnacle, the elder sister whom you should be offering the utmost respect. And how do you address someone of exalted stature like myself? I believe I have already taught you the most appropriate form of address." Godou could not help but sigh. Does that word really have to be said right now!? "O, O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o... Nee-san..." "You should be calling me 'Onee-sama.' I never expected a little brother with such poor memory. Fine, since it is the proposal of my sworn little brother, I will accept it." Having spoken, Luo Cuilian turned to the other Campione. "From my deductions, you must be the American Kind? My family name is Luo, with given name Cuilian and style name Hao. I give you permission to join the ranks of my army in this battle and fight alongside me, Luo Hao." "What a unique greeting... I, John Pluto Smith, will offer the entirety of my humble services." Faced with the loftily delivered invitation, the king dressed in black responded effortlessly. Compared to the two-hundred-year-old demonic cult leader, the age-unspecified young man seemed far more mature. Breathing a sigh of relief, Godou and his two 'fellow kin' stood shoulder-to-shoulder, facing off against the three divine spirits. The giant three-headed-six-armed Zhu Ganglie. As well as Vaisravana standing on the raised head of his mount, the dragon of water. Finally there was the leader of these two gods, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong. Once again he stood upon the golden cloud and ascended, flying high up into the skies. The three versus three decisive battle was about to begin. "Hohoho, let me pick my opponent first! I choose the transcendent beauty, the godslayer who reminds me of the Moon Goddess! It is most fitting for her to be the opponent of the Marshal Canopy, the great Zhu Ganglie!" "...Come to think of it, you are the stellar deity that guards the northern sky." The Ruler of the Martial Realm frowned at the evil gaze of lust being cast upon her. "When it comes to the companions of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, one of the most notable is the evil-exorcising deity, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Wuneng. From a wild boar to a domestic pig, you are a deity widely known in folklore. In spite of all that, it is most deplorable for you to be reduced to such a shallow and lowly subordinate god." In Japan, boars were called "inoshishi" while domestic pigs used the kanji "buta" for distinction. When Godou received knowledge about the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, information was also gained about his subordinate gods. The Marshal Canopy Zhu Wunenq was once a military god serving the north pole's Great Emperor Ziwei. At the height of his worship, most likely during the time from the Sui to the Song Dynasties, the three-headed-six-armed appearance in full armament was one of the favorite images depicted by artists. Frequently appearing in novels and plays, in the end he was linked to Zhu Bajie in the Journey to the West. For such a popular deity to be reduced to a lustful pervert like this... Flames erupted from Luo Cuilian's shoulders as if her anger had been lit on fire, manifesting a golden Benevolent King.^ A solidly built figure that did not lose in any way to the giant Zhu Ganglie, displaying his impressive musculature half-nude! "A force is exerted! Great force vanquishes small evil!" "Hmm woaaah!? What is this monstrous strength?" Zhu Ganglie was being thrown by the Benevolent King. Exactly in the manner of a shot put, the lustful giant god was propelled through the air into the distance. Crash! As the landing impact resounded, Luo Cuilian ran with her subordinate Benevolent King towards the fallen giant deity. With great speed unexpected from his massive body, Zhu Ganglie got back up and summoned the weapons for his six arms. The first pair of hands held a sword and a halberd; the second pair, an axe and a club; the third, a bow and arrows. With black clothing and black armor, the god with a pig's head clashed with the Benevolent King led by Luo Cuilian and the two giants began to fight. "O Dragon, annihilate these people Om vaisravanaye svaha!" The water suddenly exploded. As Vaisravana stood on the water dragon, a portion of its dissociated body splashed on the ground. Godou and John Pluto Smith jumped backwards to evade the attack. The water formed powerful currents which were tearing apart the ground of the Senjougahara plains! Like a blade of water, the liquid sliced through rock and flourishing forests as if they were made of paper. Godou and Smith beside him marveled as they muttered to themselves. "A demonic deity with Buddhist roots... From his appearance, I originally expected an attack of pure power but he turned out to have such skillful moves." Vaisravana had an appearance like a demon with a particularly frightful face and ferocious-looking body. Smith's instincts should have been correct, but it was Vaisravana's gloomy and intellectual aspects that avoided giving others an overly violent impression. "Since ancient times. Vaisravana was the one who inducted countless Shramana ascetics.^ * However, his earlier incarnation killed people and was a sinful deity that had broken precepts against murder..." Vaisravana began to laugh to himself as he stood on the dragon's head. "As the Curtain Lifting General at the Palace of the Great Emperor of the Waters in the celestial realm, the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas were once under my command. What I've shown is simply a minor portion of my old powers..." "Ah, I recall the Daoist pantheon having categories of Water and Thunder Departments, right?" The Water Department was in charge of the naval forces in the Daoist celestial realm. Though he did not cheat like Godou through instruction magic, Smith was apparently knowledgeable of myths and legends of foreign countries. "In that case, let me show off some of my skills... The ruler of the underworld commands, offer to me the black wings that penetrate the heavens! O Sky, thou existest only for me to display the breadth of my magnanimity!" Smith softly chanted spell words, causing the ground to rumble and shake. It was quite an intense earthquake. Cracks and crevices appeared on the ground as it trembled violently, while Smith began to transform over the shaking land. The black-clad eccentric turned into a massive black demonic bird. "Now, properly savor my transformation mystic arts! Will you be able to keep up with me!?" "What pretentious words! Looks like I am being underestimated!" Chasing after the rapidly ascending black demonic bird, Vaisravana drove the water dragon flying through the air. Flying towards the heavens, the black-winged devil king and the mysterious sacred dragon formed from water continued to make their ascent. However, the ground continued to shake intensely. Most likely, the culprit was the American Campione. Godou had once heard from Erica that Smith had an authority requiring the offering of Sacrifices. This earthquake was most probably one of those sacrifices. The tremors were not too severe, but this continuing series of earthquakes must each have been around 3 or 4 on the Richter scale. It looked like the earthquakes were going to persist for some time. What a troublesome fellow that Smith guy was! His irresponsibility of leaving messes behind made Godou a bit stunned as he faced off against the Great Sage Equaling Heaven on the shaking ground. "Hmm hmm hmph, let us start as well. Are you ready? Kusanagi brat!" "Fine, come at me with everything you've got, I'm not letting you get out of here in one piece!" Facing the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who jumped down from the golden cloud, Godou displayed calm composure. It was a bluff of course, for Godou was completely unprepared. Even though he had that sword, he did not have a usable incarnation able to counter the divine monkey's lightning-fast godly speed. Nevertheless, Godou's fighting spirit was strong as ever, and he intended to snatch victory in his hands even if it meant biting the enemy by the throat. Wait a minute... Was there really no incarnation that could be used? There was a strange sense of certainty that he still had an available weapon. This was a very faint feeling of confidence. Voices telling him to fight could be heard. Voices calling for the defeat of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Right, so that is the case now. Having figured things out, Godou turned his attention to the voices coming from the depths of his body. Only now did he truly master the ninth incarnation of Verethragna, the Goat. This priestly ability converted the thoughts and feelings of the surrounding people into magical power and controlled lightning. During the battle against Marquis Voban, he had once turned the will of the Dead Servants into his power source. But simply gathering willpower was insufficient to use the incarnation freely. Thanks to being connected to Yuri's psychic sensing, Godou finally understood the true method of using the Goat. A king rules by leading the will of the people, thereby raising his own prestige and authority. Godou extended the tendrils of psychic sensing, traversing the plains of Senjougahara and the area of Okunikkou as well as the Nikkou city streets, mobilizing the hearts and minds of over ten thousand victims. No mistake about it, this was the consciousness of all the ordinary people who had been forcefully transformed by the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and were now in deep sleep. These unconscious people originally led peaceful lives but were suddenly turned into monkeys one day, thus entering a nightmare. The sole culprit responsible for these heinous crimes was the Heretic God the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Even though you people were fortunate enough to be rescued, the Great Sage still stands. The god who changed you all into monkeys, do you not hold him in contempt? The god who treated you all as toys, do you not hold anger at him? Do you not want me to defeat the Great Sage Equaling Heaven!? Godou used psychic sensing power, entering people's dreams to rouse them, gathering the willpower of the people together, telling them the identity of the true culprit of the incident, fanning the flames of their anger. Lend me your power and believe in me. As long as you lend your power to me, I will definitely help you vanquish that contemptible foe! He could sense the anger of the unconscious people directed towards the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, forming a swirling vortex of fury in the realm of dreams. This was exactly what Goat needed as a foundation. Godou's left hand was finally able to fire off lightning attacks. "By the art of spell words I vanquish adherents of injustice and evil! This is the heavenly mandate of victory!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven dodged the flash of lightning with great agility. However, the Great Sage cannot be allowed to do as he pleased any further. Having obtained new power, Godou stared acutely with great intensity at his formidable foe. Part 3 Using the vast wetlands as the stage, the close-quarter battle resembling a special effects movie was reaching a climax. Towering at a height often-odd metres, there was the three-headed and six-armed Zhu Ganglie. Then there was the golden Benevolent King as his opponent, a half naked giant with only crude fabric covering his lower torso. The demonic cult leader summoned a spear using Daoist arts and pointed it at Zhu Ganglie. Known as the "King of Weapons" in China, the Qiang^ or Chinese spear was Luo Cuilian's favorite weapon. As the two clashed in battle, it was so intense that one would not wish to blink lest a moment is missed. Each of Zhu Ganglie's six arms held a different weapon. Sword, halberd, axe, club, bow and arrows. All the weapons were used simultaneously in combination with incredible footwork. He moved everywhere within the vicinity of the Benevolent King as he continued his attacks. Whenever he distanced himself, he attacked with arrows and the halberd, switching to the sword, axe and club at close range. As a side note, the halberd refers to a weapon with a shaft like a spear and a sickle-like blade combined together, allowing the spear end to be used for thrusts and the blade for slicing attacks. Zhu Ganglie moved so quickly that afterimages were left behind. With such horrifying speed, the five weapons rained attacks down upon the Benevolent King without pause, making the three heads and six arms look like there were thirty heads and sixty arms, or even sixty heads and a hundred and twenty arms. However, the one who took on this intense barrage of attacks was the demonic cult leader, whose martial arts were simply divine. Unlike Zhu Ganglie who was circling around in arcs as he attacked, the glorious Benevolent King stood its ground without shifting his position while Luo Hao stood in the center of the circle wielding her spear. Although there should only be a single spear, it looked like a thousand spearheads were thrusting continuously all at once. All five of Zhu Ganglie's weapons were intercepted. Arrows were struck down, roaring attacks of the halberd were blocked, the sword was deflected, the axe was sent flying back, and the club was stopped. As Zhu Ganglie maneuvered in an oval arc to the Benevolent King's back, Luo Hao extended the spear backwards without even turning her head in other words, the blunt end of the spear blocked every single attack from behind. "Hohoho, surely you cannot defeat me with this shabby-looking avatar without committing yourself to mutual destruction. I don't mind if you surrender here for I shall give your pure and pristine complexion a good loving..." The Divine Marshal made a lewd smile as he paused his movements. Up to this point, attack initiative had been firmly in his control. Though Luo Cuilian disrupted every single one of his attacks with her godlike techniques, she was purely defending. She seemed too occupied with fending off the five weapons' continuous attacks to mount a counterattack. However, Luo Cuilian frowned and spoke: "Marshal, your foolishness knows no bounds. True, you have displayed the courageous might of the Divine Marshal serving the North Pole's Great Emperor Ziwei, but at the same time I have completely seen through you. You are no match for me at all. The one who ought to beg for mercy should be... You instead, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Ganglie." "Ha! What nonsense you speak!" "Do you seriously believe that? I have already discerned your true abilities. For one to expect a fellow like you to match me, Luo Hao, in a one-on-one duel, what an embarrassment!" For some reason, her defiant words made all three faces of the three-headed six-armed war god turn pale. And then the demonic cult leader dispelled the Benevolent King. "Using three-headed six-armed martial arts is certainly extraordinary, but as the Ruler of the Martial Realm, Luo Hao will defeat you in a frontal confrontation as befits a king. Now, come at me with everything you have!" Even when her opponent was a god, she maintained her supercilious airs as usual. This was the truth of Luo Cuilian's abilities. Such was the grandiloquence delivered by the unarmed Ruler of the Martial Realm. Meanwhile, John Pluto Smith and Vaisravana were battling in midair. The sun had already come up. This was a refreshing morning sky and even a great sunny day. Flying through the air, Smith penetrated the blue sky and hovering clouds as Vaisravana pursued behind the demonic bird, standing on the head of the water dragon. Vairavana had a material body, but nevertheless, he fearlessly accelerated without any regard for G-forces in flying. As befitted a god with a body incomparably resilient beyond mortals, or perhaps he was using some sort of protective spell? "Eight hundred perish in the quicksands, three thousand drown in deep waters. May swan feathers never float again, and reed flowers sink to the depths!" Vairavana chanted spell words, causing clouds to gather in the sky. The clouds shaped themselves into a long slender form, with a shining radiant surface and transparent interior. Soon after, it took on the likeness of a dragon, gathering clouds and moisture in the air, another water dragon had been formed. This continued beyond a single dragon as more water dragons were born in rapid succession. Including the original that Vaisravana was riding, there was now a total of nine dragons. "Oh? You're not bad at all." In his demonic bird form, Smith offered mild praise. The nine water dragons slithered and exchanged positions continuously, widening their ferocious jaws and performing biting attacks. Smith dodged with skillful flying for the black demonic bird not only possessed speed but also extraordinary agility. However, it was still unable to evade every attack. As the long neck of one of the water dragons brushed past one wing, the masked king finally felt true fear. The wing did not suffer a simple scratch but was cut opened and bleeding. Was this the same effect as the blade of water witnessed earlier on the ground? It was as if the water dragons' bodies were made of blades, and they had the power to rip apart everything they touched. "Oh my... Do I have to gamble my life away for a dance invitation!?" Due to the wing injury, it was impossible to fly properly. Nevertheless, the black demonic bird did not need to flap its wings to fly. Smith ascended rapidly on wind currents and then swiftly descended. Like a swallow gliding on sea breezes, Smith nimbly flew back and forth, evading the wave-like water blade attacks made by the dragon heads. Naturally, Smith did not expect to escape that easily. "Smoking mirror, symbol of Tezcatlipoca!" From Smith's jet black wings, out spewed smoke that wrapped itself around the bodies of the water dragons. Inhaling this smoke would cause poisoning that produces a paralyzing effect on magical power. For ordinary enemies, this was enough to weaken them for easy pickings... "Thousands of evil, tens of thousands of filth! May all be cleansed by water!" Not to be outdone, Vaisravana chanted spell words in turn, causing steam to be emitted from the bodies of the nine water dragons, purifying the gray magical smoke. This was purifying divine power that dispelled magical corruption. However, Smith was not going to be outdone either, and he opened the beak of the demonic bird. A magic bullet was fired from its mouth, aiming straight at Vaisravana's body! It was targeting the blue-black demonic deity riding on the head of one of the flying water dragons. With a god as its target, Artemis' flash of light sped off. At that moment, another water dragon rushed into the trajectory of the magic bullet, getting its head impaled instead of its creator and disappearing without trace. However, the attack of the magic bullet did not end there, and continued to fly towards Vaisravana! Water dragons continually rushed to intercept it, and were dispelled one after another. The water dragon carrying Vaisravana was the only one remaining. In order to protect Vaisravana, the last water dragon transformed into a shield and deflected the bullet. Somehow, the body of the water dragon had solidified into ice. Deflected by the ice dragon, the magic bullet flew away into the distant sky. "Hohoho... Finally, ice to deflect that bullet has been created." Vaisravana laughed with a gloomy face. His mount, the water dragon had frozen into ice, transforming into an ice dragon. No that was not all. Using the moisture in the atmosphere, new ice dragons were being created, and the ranks of the army of nine dragons were filled once more! Smith opened the demonic bird's beak and shot another magic bullet. However, the attack he fired was again deflected by an ice dragon, disappearing into the distance opposite to the previous bullet. "Hmph... A mirror of ice with the magic of reflection? What troublesome divine power, but it may very well create a good opportunity." Despite the ineffectiveness of his trump cards, Smith spoke in a relaxed manner. "Oh? What do you mean?" "Because there is something that has intrigued me for quite some time... For gods like you, strength and divine authority is not always proportional to how well-known you are, and there are times when minor gods show greater resilience than half-assed major gods. What is the cause of such disparity... I believe that now is a good opportunity to find out." The ninth incarnation, the Goat, had the power to control thunder and lightning. However, the target must be a common enemy recognized by the people and there was the major caveat of taking the life force of nearby people indiscriminately. Godou recalled his memories from the last time he used this incarnation and released a thunderstrike. A flash of lightning was fired from his right hand, giving off the stench of ozone from the ionized air as the intense electrical current headed straight for the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. At the same time, Godou did not forget to direct his awareness towards the sky. Thunderclouds were summoned into the sunny sky, and these heavy clouds rumbled with thunder. "Damn it, all this static electricity is annoying!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven grumbled with displeasure as he dodged lightning coming from in front and above at the same time. Normally, being struck by lightning would cause severe burns and a massive Shockwave impact. However, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's iron body was a conductor. Though he was blown back, there was apparently no damage. Whenever the Great Sage Equaling Heaven approached and tried to attack with his Ruyi Staff, Godou released lightning at him. The Great Sage was struck by lightning many times and blown away backwards, but clearly did not suffer any injuries. Bodies of steel were truly destestable. "Damn it! This is neverending may the heavens shake and the earth tremble in fear, hurry hurry!" The 160cm tall divine monkey roughly doubled in height. Naturally, his other dimensions were increased proportionately. Enduring Godou's lightning, he spread his legs and forcefully stood his ground. The expanded body could now withstand the impact of the lightning without being sent flying. The Great Sage smiled with his monkey face as he charged forward. Who could have expected him to use body expansion to resist the impact of lightning!? "Damn it! In that case" Godou gathered electrical energy into spheres and created balls of thunder. Roughly the size of basketballs, these small spheres continuously emitted electricity. Then Godou threw them at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Not one, but five at the same time! "Hmm ooooooh, what clever little tricks!" The five thunder balls released electrical current as they violently crashed into the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. This was the strategy of overcoming giant enemies with numbers. Suddenly, the divine monkey returned to his original size and jumped away sideways. At the same time, he repeatedly used the spell of creating clones Multiplying to over twenty of himself, the Great Sages jumped at Godou all at the same time. "Evil people can never hit me!" Godou summoned lightning which descended from the thundercloud, surrounding himself in 360 degrees with lightning for protection. The stench of ionized air stifled his nostrils, while the attacking Great Sages were all swept away by the lightning no, just as he was thinking that, the divine monkey with peerless agility descended from above. Using his clones as distractions, the real one had jumped into the air. The Ruyi Staff was swung down hard, and Godou evaded by rolling on the ground. Returning to his original position, Kusanagi Godou faced off against the Great Sage Equaling Heaven once again. His enemy's attacks came with far too much variety. What kind of surprise tactics could be used to defeat him? Just as Godou felt troubled, his right arm began to hurt. It was telling Godou to rely on it. Time to display a man's dignity. Godou snorted in response. "Like the time in the Netherworld, what a meddlesome fellow... But anyway, I will accept this battle plan!" Godou extended his right arm at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. "Tsk... You retard, are you firing noisy lightning again?" "Nope, this time is a little different. Lightning doesn't have much of an effect on your steel body... I'm going to show you something more amazing!" The Great Sage grumbled in disappointment. But if this move worked, victory definitely belonged to Kusanagi Godou! What would be the end result? "As the one who holds all victory in my hands, I am the strongest. All enemies shall meet defeat by my hand!" Composing the spell words, the sacred warlord's authority and the divine sword's power began to amplify each other. No mistake about it, this was the divine blade Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi's power! The sword that assimilated the qualities of rebellious barbarians to bolster its own power. It was now Kusanagi Godou's personal sword, able to absorb divine power that damaged its master, converting it into its own energy. In the battle against Luo Cuilian, it had absorbed the Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl and provided the final decisive strike. Furthermore, there was another interesting use for this sword. "As the embodiment of victory, all enemies shall tremble before me!" Lightning was summoned from the thundercloud, descending onto his right arm which contained the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi. Another use of this sword was to absorb Kusanagi Godou's authority, creating new powers! "I shall smash through all enemies in my way! Man and devil all enemies, all who harbor enmity will be vanquished!" The dormant divine sword in his arm absorbed the lightning, converting it into another power releasing magnetism. In ancient Japan, blacksmithing began with the step of melting ironsand followed by forging the resulting steel sword. Anyway, the point was that ancient Japanese swords were made from ironsand the ore of a ferromagnetic metal. When ferromagnetic ores were struck by lightning in nature, magnetism was occasionally induced. Godou and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were recreating this phenomenon, using massive electric and magnetic fields, together with the already present steel Thus a miracle could be performed ! "Go forth, Great Sage Equaling Heaven! Fly away to the ends of the universe!" "Woah... W-What is this power!?" This effect was created using the magnetic fields given off by a massive flow of electrical current, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi's mystic techniques, and ferromagnetic iron. The properties of magnets meant two possible outcomes, will they mutually attract or repel? The resulting magnetic field used the latter to make a bullet the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was sent flying away. The divine monkey with the indestructible body of steel was trapped by the magnetic field released from Godou's right arm, and kept flying up in the air. Like a rocket taking off to outer space, he flew with horrific speed towards the skies. Railguns used electromagnetism to accelerate an object and fire it at super high speeds. Using this principle to create a mass driver to fire off massive objects into space, Kusanagi Godou's authority from Verethragna combined with Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to create a makeshift mass driver to send the divine monkey of steel into the heavens! The earth's atmosphere is composed of the layers of the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere and the thermosphere. Beyond the thermosphere is the exosphere and then space. If this continued, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven would be exiled from earth. Furthermore, objects flying at high speed will get heated by friction with the atmosphere, resulting in extremely high temperatures. The last region of the atmosphere the thermosphere was a super high temperature realm that reached two thousand degrees. Now that all the necessary conditions for defeating this formidable enemy had been gathered, what would be the final outcome...!? Part 4 Rising through the air, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had become a burning bullet. Though he was well accustomed to god speed movement, this was the first time he experienced this method of acceleration. In reality, so-called god speed was not really the power of 'rapid movement' but an ability to shorten travel duration. Rather than 'moving from Point A to Point B at the speed of several hundred kilometres per hour,' it was the ability of 'moving from Point A to Point B in zero point something seconds.' Instead of physical acceleration, it was the power of distorting the traveling time required. Which is why the Great Sage had yet another first experience, that of the friction of air resistance at supersonic speeds and the heat from plowing through the atmosphere. "So hot hot hot hot hot hot! This is unbearable! What a godslayer, this is too reckless!" It was imperative to return to the surface before incinerating completely. He activated his divine power and tried to counteract the electromagnetic forces. Also calling for his golden cloud, he had to hurry back to ground level by any means possible. The many phenomena sustaining the planet, such as gravity and the earth's own magnetic field, could also be used to return him to the surface. "Middle Bro and Lil' Bro! Combine your powers, you two! Summon me back to earth!" Even separated by tens of thousands of miles, the sworn brothers could still communicate telepathically. However, beyond the Great Sage's expectations, the sworn younger brothers had both been driven into crises of their own. "When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound prajna paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty. Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form!"^ Luo Cuilian began to recite the Heart Sutra. Combined with the melodious voice of the maiden who attained nirvana, the authority of the Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl generated Shockwaves of magical wind. Magical power was originally something with neither shape, color, odor nor form, but Luo Cuilian's authority conferred various properties upon it. "So, too, are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness. Shariputra, all dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced. Not destroyed, not defiled, not pure, and they neither increase nor diminish!" The air currents continued to expand as the power of the wind increased once again. "Tsk! A mere woman doing such infuriating things!" As Luo Cuilian concentrated in some kind of terrifying undertaking, Zhu Ganglie brandished his five weapons. Firing arrows and attacking continuously with the halberd, sword, axe and club, he tried to resist the impacts of the magical wind. The three-headed six-armed giant god was helpless against the magical wind blowing in the cult leader's surroundings. This was the wind that could have swept away all of creation, and the Divine Marshal's weapons were powerless in their efforts to breach the gaseous defensive wall that barred all attacks. There was simply no way to disrupt the transcendent beauty as she composed a song of death and destruction. "Make haste, by the mighty decree of the North Emperor, obey!" Zhu Ganglie chanted spell words to bolster his bodily strength and was finally able to budge his weapons gradually, inching with great sluggishness towards Luo Cuilian's body. However, the demonic cult leader's mystic arts finally completed at this time. Infusing light into the magical wind, Luo Cuilian's body shone with golden light that melded with the wind. This was also an avatar manifested from the Divine Might of Vajrapani but not one of the golden Benevolent Kings. The brightness gathered and took form between Luo Cuilian and Zhu Ganglie, finally becoming a massive palm! My heart is as the void, but my palm is like a deadly hurricane "Mmmmmmmmmaaaaaaah!" "Strength exerted from bones, force applied from tendons! Yes, a palm that precedes all creation!" The golden palm was the same size as Zhu Ganglie's massive body. This giant palm performed the subsequent attack. Like an explosion the three-headed six-armed giant deity suffered a frontal assault, devastating his face, body and legs, giving his brain a concussion, the impacts penetrating his internal organs and shattering his bones. The giant golden palm even grabbed Zhu Ganglie and held tight with great force. "My sworn little brother seems to have exiled the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. As his elder sister, I think it would be interesting to imitate him and follow suit. Vulgar war god, disappear into the sky! Your presence is an affront to my eyes!" Despite engaging in battle along the front lines, she did not neglect awareness of the entire battlefield. This was the rare talent displayed by the clairvoyant Daoist priestess. As she struck her palm towards the heavens, the mighty golden palm kept Zhu Ganglie in its tight grasp and sent him up towards the sky. "Woaaaaaaah!" As Zhu Ganglie screamed pitifully as he ascended, his hollow cries resounded across the sky. "...Amazing, it's hard to believe that the monstrous strength of Her Eminence was capable of such a thing." The golden palm and Zhu Ganglie were rocketing up into the sky. Witnessing this surreal scene, Godou felt deeply impressed. What had taken a makeshift railgun created by him and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, the same effect was achieved by the demonic cult leader through brute strength and martial arts alone. Godou made his way over to where Luo Hao had been fighting. Making his way torturously over the shaking ground, the destination lying before him had become a wasteland. Standing in the center was the beautiful demonic cult leader, who had apparently used her magical wind authority to render this entire area into ruins. "Little brother, you have arrived. Just as you witnessed, your elder sister has just exiled the vulgar Marshal Canopy. I was watching as you defeated the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Very well done." She was praising me. Looks like she used some sort of vision enhancing magic. Though he was being praised, Godou found Luo Cuilian's gaze to be very severe. "However I seemed to have heard you muttering to yourself... Calling me something like 'Her Eminence,' using such an impersonal form of address like entertaining a guest... I wondered if I heard wrongly..." Stared at like being interrogated, Godou could not help trembling. Could she actually have heard his exclamation from when he saw Zhu Ganglie rise to the heavens? What was with this supernatural hearing?! "Just to make sure, I will remind you once more. Little brother, call me 'Onee-sama'." "O-o-o... o... Nee... sama..." Urged by her, Godou had no choice but to do as told, but still the great elder sister shook her head. "This is no good at all. The elder sister beyond the equal of mere mortals, filled with incomparable mercy and benevolence... Basks you in her light like the sun that warms the world. Your manner of address just now did not carry the slightest hint of respectful admiration. You should be calling me 'Onee-sama' with worship and adoration. You have to work harder on this." The level of those requirements are too high... The subject needs to be changed, quick! "B-By the way, O... Nee-san looked like the battle wasn't too tough." "Of course, although that Zhu Ganglie is the True Lord Marshal Canopy, he is merely manifesting in the manner of a subordinate god." Godou's failure in addressing her in the prescribed manner made the elder sister frown. However, she forgave him for now. Being called 'Nee-san' was enough to provide her with slight satisfaction. "Remember this well. What decides the strength of Heretic Gods, is neither how great or powerful they were in the original myths, nor how widespread is their fame. The key to their strength lies in their unshakable ego. Unshakable ego. In other words, the characteristic of steadfast narcissism? "Relying on no one's opinions but their own, going forward to do what one wishes no matter what the willpower to destroy the human race even if it means changing the heavens and the earth. This determines a god's strength. Nevertheless, subordinate gods cannot sustain their existence if the main deity is gone." Godou recalled what happened with Verethragna, Athena and the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Once the amnesiac sacred warlord retrieved his true ego, his power greatly increased; the Greek virgin goddess Athena became the powerful ancient earth mother deity once she retrieved the Gorgoneion; having lost his name and mettle, the divine monkey monarch descended upon the earth as the great hero once the seal was released. This explains everything, I see now... Godou could not help but nod as he accepted the facts. "So by this time, Vaisravana who is fighting Smith should also..." "If I'm not mistaken, he has the current advantage, however..." Luo Cuilian looked up into the sky with a sharp gaze. "Subordinate gods receive protection from the master while the master in turn obtains support from the subordinates. They will become even more powerful and formidable. It would not be wrong to say the battle truly begins now, my little brother, you must not lose your guard by any means." Come to think of it, the reason why I defeated with such ease the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, which now lies dormant in my right hand, was because its master Susanoo lived in the Netherworld and did not show any concern for the battle. Without such auspicious circumstances, what would have been the outcome? "As expected for gods who suffer from a lack of distinct ego, even if they are able to make full use of their powers, they are missing the kind of tenacious power that overcomes stalemates and losing situations. Dare I say, this is exactly as I imagined it?" "Gah... How could this be! Clearly I was able to block these arrows just now !" Riding upon the wind in the form of the demonic bird was John Pluto Smith. He circled leisurely in the sky as he looked down upon Vaisravana whose chest had been penetrated by a blue-white magic bullet. Had it been a normal human, it would have pierced the heart. "If you were an actual independent deity, surely you would have evaded the returning Artemis' Arrow. Anyway, thank you for proving my suspicions correct." The two bullets deflected by the ice dragons a while ago had been flying towards the depths of the universe high above the world. But along the way, they made a U-turn and returned to earth. The ice dragons gathered together, overlapping to form a shield, intending to deflect the bullets again and managed to block one of them. However, the remaining shot could not be stopped and Vaisravana was pierced directly... These were the magic bullets of the moon deity, limited to only six shots per lunar cycle. This was the reason why every shot had such horrific power. It was rumored that if all the bullets were shot at once, the resulting fire would devour the entirety of California and burn for seven days without extinguishing. After the incineration, it would become such a complete wasteland that even weeds would not grow. Against such a powerful weapon, mere deflection was not going to neutralize its attacks. Vaisravana's defeat had already been sealed by the fact that he was unable to destroy the bullets directly like the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. "Ooh since it has come to this!" From the top of an ice dragon's head, the punctured Vaisravana released a water current from his hand, naturally his target was the black demonic bird flying in the air. Smith boldly performed a defensive maneuver against this counterattack. "How sad, your death struggle is meaningless, and only serves as a chance for me to show off my powers." The attacked devil king released his transformation in the air. The black demonic bird returned to the black-clad black-masked John Pluto Smith. Due to the instantaneous decrease in body size, Vaisravana's attack passed through directly without hitting anything. The caped devil king fluttered in the wind like a feather, and pulled out his gun, aiming at Vaisravana as he descended. "Wan !" This time the abdomen was penetrated, causing Vaisravana to collapse. Of the six magic bullets, only one remained, but having defeated one of the three deities, it was enough As he slowly descended towards the ground, Smith suddenly heard the resounding voice of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. "Middle Bro and Lil' Bro! Combine your powers, you two! Summon me back to earth!" "Big Bro, I got it! I will entrust all my remaining strength to you! It is now time for the three gods to unite and vanquish the Rakshasa!" What!? Before Smith's surprised eyes, the Curtain Lifting General Vaisravana's figure dispersed, becoming tiny sand-like particles of light which flew towards the high atmosphere. Flying high towards the heavens, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Ganglie was accompanied by the golden palm. He too, heard the voice of his sworn older brother, and decided to surrender as well. "Hmm what a pity. Booze, gambling, women, breasts, butts, beautiful legs! There is still so much that I want to do! But in my current unsightly state, there is nothing else I can do! Big Bro, I am coming now!" Clutched tightly by the golden palm, Zhu Ganglie's body also dispersed, forming the same shining particles of light like the youngest sworn brother and escaping from the confines of the hand to fly towards the corner of the sky where the sworn older brother was located! Turned into a railgun projectile and flying towards space, the divine monkey, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, proceeded to chant a mantra with calm composure. "Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, Alkaid! The Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper, I beseech you to manifest!" As the divine essence of the subordinate gods rushed over to him, the Great Sage absorbed it to raise his own divine power. "Snakes and dragons, offer your bloody carcasses to me; flames, heat up iron to forge into steel; clear water, cool the sword's blade! All shall empower my divinity as the sword god!" In order to attain an unshakable ego, the Great Sage was returning to his roots as a sword god. In order to form a sword, he gathered the power he needed. The devil kings attacking me and the Rakshasa tearing me apart! The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, was now about to enter the path of hellish trials to become the divine sword that vanquishes evil and embodies justice! Overwhelming power filled his heart and mind. Once again confirming his mission as a sword god, he expressed approval of the ancient covenant. "Hah!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven finally released himself from the cursed bonds of electromagnetism. As he overlooked the territory of Japan, he summoned his Ruyi Staff. It was finally time for a counterattack. Smiling, he grew in size, letting his body reach the dimensions of Zhu Ganglie. Though he was able to expand further, making his body too large would be detrimental to speed. Next in action were the two sworn younger brothers who had hurried over. Zhu Ganglie's essence turned into a massive black boar, roughly the same size as the current Great Sage who sat on his back, taking on the role of a wild beast mount. Then Vaisravana's essence formed a dragon, wrapping itself around the back of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, taking on a ready stance that seemed like it was going to attack on command. Thus, the three gods became one, and everything was ready. The three divine spirits' bodies were enveloped by white flames as they fell back onto the surface like a shooting star. Veering off from the direction of Nikkou, they had to correct their trajectory along the way while being surrounded by high heat, passing through the stratosphere and finally returning to the troposphere. The ground beneath could now be seen. Nantaisan, Lake Chuuzenji, Senjougahara, Lake Yunoko, etc Along the way, the black demonic bird's silhouette could be spotted in the distance. One of the godslayers was trying to pursue me. Excellent, let's strike him down. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven descended upon the land of Senjougahara once more. However, this time the massive landing impact remodeled the landscape. Riding astride the black boar, leading the dragon, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's mighty entry made the ground crack and overturn, blowing away soil and vegetation, creating a crater. At the bottom of the crater, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven lightly kicked the beast's abdomen, ordering it to make its way to the surface. The black demonic bird also came and landed, transforming into the man dressed in black. On ground level, the team of the young man and woman was also heading over here. "So, godslayers, let us fight to the very end!" The Great Sage Equaling Heaven shouted at the mortal enemies before him with great delight. Thus the three Campiones faced off against the three gods who had united as one. Godou was still maintaining the Goat incarnation, whose priestly power informed him that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had become three gods in one. Taking on the role of a horse was the giant black boar transformed from Zhu Ganglie. Vaisravana had become a dragon, its long and slender body slithering along the Great Sage's back. And then the steel monkey of Scythian origins wielded the Ruyi Staff, like a knight in a jousting tournament except with unusual body measurements, a bizarre knight standing ten-odd metres tall. The fur on Great Sage Equaling Heaven's two arms stood on end and were fired like rockets. As countless hairs flew through the air, their front ends were sharp as needles. These things could probably pierce right through a steel plate! "...This is bad!" Godou could not help crying out as the kings scattered and the needles struck the ground. Anyone who gets hit would be skewered! And that was just the first wave of attacks. Firing in succession, the needles formed a hail of projectiles that blotted the sky. "Quoted from the chapter of Carefree Roaming, the perfect man has no thought of self; the god-like man, none of merit; the sagely-minded man, none of fame!"^ With the sound of Luo Cuilian's melodious chant, the impact of magical wind blew away thousands of needles, but at the same time, the three gods in one also made their move. Crash! The ground shook as the black boar carrying the Great Sage Equaling Heaven began to gallop, charging and racing. That kind of speed was like the wind. Despite the huge size of its body, its movements were faster than the eye could see. "One who slices everything apart, be summoned for the sake of victory!" Godou tried to counterattack, again using lightning and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to generate massive magnetic forces, intending to send the Great Sage into space once more, but because the Great Sage had vastly increased his mass, an immediate effect could not be produced. No good, it's too late! The Great Sage Equaling Heaven was arriving on the giant boar. As the boar raised its hooves to trample Godou, Luo Cuilian and Smith, there was clearly no time to use the railgun. "Massive timber splitting mountains, producing great force! Stacking multitudes of golden bells, producing impenetrable iron cloth!" The demonic cult leader charged at this time. From her back drifted a flaming aura which took form as the golden Benevolent King, blocking the beast's charge. What amazing peerless arm strength! However at this instant, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven leaped from the boar's back. "Hah!" Somersaulting to behind the Benevolent King, he used the Ruyi Staff to strike at the golden back. Ooof! The Benevolent King's courageous expression was distorted, but he still kicked backwards at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven behind him. However, this kick was easily avoided, and the Ruyi Staff once again roared as it whistled through the air. Smack smack smack smack smack! The rapid series of impacts sounded like fireworks. With the sound of explosions, the Great Sage had made a continuous series of at least a hundred strikes in an instant. Completely unable to fight back, the Benevolent King was struck by a decisive blow from the Great Sage, and the golden half-nude male was dispelled without trace. At this time, a black shadow flew up from the ground. This was the black demonic bird transformed from John Pluto Smith again. He must be thinking that a ground battle's outcome might be uncertain? However, it looked like there was something chasing after the ferocious flying bird. It was the serpentine creature that had been standing ready on the Great Sage's back the dragon. Flying with the same speed as the demonic bird, the dragon blocked the bird's path from in front, preventing Smith from flying freely. Somehow, the giant boar had also jumped high into the sky, was it trying to attack the demonic bird together with the dragon? But the height of this jump could not reach the position of the demonic bird, and only arrived a position slightly below where the dragon and the bird battled The Great Sage Equaling Heaven also jumped at this time. Jumping nimbly as if flying with wings, one could not connect it with the weight of the giant body at all. Wielding the Ruyi Staff, the divine monkey's target was the giant boar in the air. Using the boar's fur as a foothold, he made another giant leap, and so the Great Sage Equaling Heaven reached the altitude where the demonic bird and the dragon were fighting. The Ruyi Staff was swung. Aaaaaaaah! Struck in the neck, the demonic bird screamed in pain and crashed towards the ground. "Uh... As befitting of the Great Sage... I am faced with a difficult battle..." Before Godou, Luo Cuilian had been brought down to one knee. Blood dripped out from her mouth, and it seemed like the damage suffered by the Benevolent King was reflected onto her body. "Wait a moment and I will proceed to use all of my divine powers, defeating the three-in-one Great Sage... Godou, watch and learn carefully from the heroic fighting form of your elder sister, got that?" Even though injured, she still wanted to stand up and fight for victory. Amongst Campiones, Luo Cuilian's fighting spirit and willpower were typical of the illegitimate children of the fool Epimetheus, whose talent was possessing insanity that transcended strategy and victory probability. Maybe she really could win this fight. Perhaps she could turn this crisis around alone. But this won't do! Godou shook his head, for 'perhaps' was simply not good enough. I want to win, and will do everything to achieve it myself. Within the plans of victory traced out in Godou's mind, the power of this woman and the fallen young man were needed. " Nee-san." For the very first time, Godou was able to use this manner of address naturally. "How many times have I repeated, you should be calling me 'Onee-sama.' How forgetful of you..." "Nee-san, this sort of thing is irrelevant at this time. In order to defeat that bastard monkey, the three of us must cooperate together. Don't say anything about fighting alone again." Godou gazed directly into the maiden's eyes, speaking his mind in earnest. "Besides, Nee-san is the one who said this is the first time for us to fight in cooperation, perhaps you have forgotten? I will definitely end this battle with victory, so I will use everything at my disposal. So come, fight together with me, this is my request of a lifetime!" "W-When did you start becoming so obsessed with this battle?" If that's the case, you should have spoken earlier. Luo Cuilian nodded as she blushed. "Very well, fulfilling the little brother's willfulness is also part of a sworn elder sister's duty. I will not object. In the name of the bonds between us, this battle must be won no matter what!" Godou gave simple instructions to the assenting elder sister. When forming impromptu teams without sufficient time to get accustomed to one another, it was necessary to keep things simple. During his baseball days, Godou had many opportunities to train and compete with representative teams. Furthermore, as the catcher whose position was central to defense, he was used to making this kind of duty distribution. "The root of my power of Vajra, now is the time for great might that can tear apart heaven and earth!" Hearing the summons of the demonic cult lady, the Om pair of golden Benevolent Kings manifested. As the vanguard she was to use her full strength, hence the simultaneous use of dual avatars. Prior to the advent of firearms, the combat potential of cavalry was equivalent to tanks in modern warfare. This was due to an absolute advantage in both offensive ability and mobility, because riding horses traveled faster than on foot, and attacking on a galloping horse carried the benefit of much greater momentum. Furthermore, with bows and arrows as well as other factors such as outstanding cavalry tactics, many equestrian tribes conquered vast territories in both the orient and the Occident. And now in the present, the enormous Great Sage Equaling Heaven was riding a giant boar charging on the plains of Senjougahara. Facing them were the two Benevolent Kings approaching on foot. For infantry to be able to counter the historically proven principle of cavalry superiority, the demonic cult leader's martial might was truly astounding. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven charged forward, riding the giant boar. Blocking him was the open-mouthed^ Benevolent King, but the wild boar attempted to thrust its sharp tusks at the flank of his abdomen. The close-mouthed Benevolent King used his open-mouthed partner as a platform to launch an attack at the divine monkey riding the black boar. Jumping lightly into the air he made a series of killing palm strikes. However, all of them were blocked by the Ruyi Staff. The dragon lying in wait on the Great Sage's back, also bared its fangs as it opened its jaws to bite the throat of the open-mouthed Benevolent King. While all this was happening, the giant boar below did not stop charging, and was competing in a battle of strength against the incomparable might of the Benevolent King. The open-mouthed one's muscles bulged as he halted the advance of the giant boar. Like a mounted knight, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven swung down his staff, striking the open-mouthed Benevolent King soundly in the face. The open-mouthed Benevolent King persevered but was clearly at a disadvantage. Using the time bought, Godou concentrated on raising his magical power. Due to the enemy's abnormal size, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi needed to be infused with power to reach a critical point. However, there were still other tasks required during this time, hence Godou approached the fallen young man. The place the demonic bird crashed down just now was close by. Crouched down on the grass, the masked king was struggling to stand up. "Are you unable to fight any longer?" "In terms of boxing, this is as if the knockout count reached eight. Still, I can just barely pull myself together, enough to let me give a miraculous reversal performance." Still eloquent as ever, then he must be fine. Godou had no intention of extending a helping hand for the man trying to stand up because John Pluto Smith did not ask for his help. Several seconds later, the two of them stood shoulder to shoulder and smiled at each other. Although Smith's face was obscured by the mask he wore, surely he must be showing a fearless smile. That's right, that was the kind of man he was. "You are concentrating magical power as if preparing for some interesting operation. By my guess, Her Eminence is buying time for you right now... Hmm, how unexpected for her to have a personality that dutifully supports a man with such profound devotion." "Stop saying these weird things. Ignoring that, I am currently preparing to use this move." Trying to silence Smith's nonsense, Godou told him the essential details. "However, the one to perform the finishing blow has to be you. Previously you mentioned a trump card with heat and fire, can you still use it?" "Don't worry, I am not a man who misses out on rare opportunities for a grand performance. It's ready any time... So... what are you planning?" Hearing the plan Godou was considering, Smith whistled from beneath the mask. Wiggling his index and middle fingers in a pretentious manner to substitute for a response it seemed to be saying, what a reckless proposal, but count me in. The black-caped young man departed with shaking footsteps, but Godou was not worried in the least. If this man had already said he was ready any time, then he won't be embarrassing himself. Hence Godou raised his right arm towards the sky in preparation. "It was this place, that Susanoo led a thousand unruly deities in rebellion intending to take over this country!" Was this his second authority or simply just a weapon? In order to summon the sword with the ambiguous identity, Godou recited spell words. If it was just an authority, it should be minding its own business instead of interfering during strange occasions. If it was just a weapon, it was buried too deeply inside Godou. Was this problem the result of the chaotic conditions under which this fellow was defeated? "A thousand swords standing upon the earth, used as city walls to defend against the enemies..." ...Well said, you can just call me 'partner.' Hearing the whispers coming from the depths of his right arm, Godou nodded. This form of address blurred the distinction between the two identities, and was not a bad name. "So, let's go, partner Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, unsheathe!" Neither an ability nor a possession, it was the summoning of a companion. Responding gallantly was the cooperative companion who might one day decline to help on whim. 'Here! Namely, the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi! The steel that breaks a thousand blades!' The divine sword Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi was finally unsheathed from its scabbard! The silver-white light concentrated on the right arm raised towards the heavens, for the sword that stole and assimilated rebellious barbaric might, imitating what was used against the Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl in Luo Cuilian's battle, was going to be used for the decisive strike. In that case, the target this time was of course the power of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong the authority of steel! The silver-white light materialized above Godou's head, forming a silver-white metallic ring. This iron ring was made of the same steel as the Great Sage... If one were to give it a name, of course it would be most fitting to call it the Constricting Circlet, right? That was the Buddhist treasure that Avalokitasvara bestowed upon the Monk Sanzang to keep the unruly Sun Wukong in line. 'Now is the time for annihilating barbarians coming from all directions! Outsiders be vanquished!' "I know, go forth, Ama no Murakumo!" Godou swung his right arm, causing the silver-white circlet to fly towards the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Like the Ruyi Staff whose length could extend and retract at will, the dimensions of this ring could also be controlled freely. Like the Great Sage himself, this ring could also create clones of itself, and Godou split it into three giant rings in an instant. The three rings struck the three-in-one Great Sage Equaling Heaven who was battling intensely with the two Benevolent Kings. At the same time as the rings hit, the Benevolent Kings vanished. Mission accomplished, Luo Cuilian dispelled them. 'Ugh!' 'So this was the ominous premonition I felt earlier!?' 'Calm down, Big Bro, Middle Bro!' The three rings respectively struck right on target the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the wild boar and the dragon wrapped around the Great Sage's body, restraining their bodies like handcuffs. Like Sun Wukong's Constricting Circlet, the silver-white rings imprisoned the three-in-one Great Sage Equaling Heaven and his sworn brothers wait, that's not completely accurate! One person managed to overcome the circlet and escape, it was of course the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Jumping nimbly with movements like lightning, he tried to escape to the skies, but at this time, a silver-white flash of light flew and struck the Great Sage in the forehead. "Ouch!?" It was John Pluto Smith's last magic bullet. Godou was greatly surprised to find the Great Sage resilient enough to withstand the direct hit with only cries of 'ouch' but thanks to the impact, the divine monkey of steel also lost his balance. Using this opening, Godou ordered Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to send a silver-white ring towards the escaped prey, finally capturing the Great Sage Equaling Heaven this time. Thus the three rings dragged the three divine spirits back to the bottom of the crater they had made during their re-entry. However, merely restraining them did not amount to victory. The black demonic bird leaped down into the meteorite crater where they were located and its mighty wings began to give off fire. "For annihilation I count the number of my great works I am the axe of the night that summons termination, lowering the final curtain for the world's destruction, the messenger from hell!" These were the flames of annihilation, the transformation that executes all enemies by incinerating his own body. The black flames melted the steel rings that imprisoned the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and his subordinate gods. In the end, the steel rings generated by Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were melted down into liquid state. Molten steel filled the crater, engulfing the Great Sage and his brothers. It was like a natural furnace. Invincible steel was being melted down and losing its form. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the giant boar and dragon were all turning into shapeless masses within the furnace. Athena once said super high temperature that melts iron was the natural predator of the sword gods of steel. Godou's first thought was a furnace, which is why the flames of annihilation and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were used together to create this natural predator! "Waaaaaah!" With final pitiful cries of death, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and his sworn brothers finally melted completely. This was the moment of complete victory for the three Campiones Kusanagi Godou, Smith and Luo Hao. References 1 . t A quote from the Daoist philosophical classic Zhuangzi.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi_book 2. t Style name: a Chinese style name, also known as a courtesy name, was a given name generally used after the age of twenty as a sign of adulthood and respect. The use of style names have fallen out of tradition since the early twentieth century. http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_style_name 3. t Ziwei^t^: a group of stars lying near the north celestial pole. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Forbidden_enclosure 4. t Benevolent Kingstl: usually depicted in pairs, muscular and wrathful guardian deities of Buddha and manifestations of Vajrapani. They stand on guard at the entrance of Buddhist temples in the form of frightening statues. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nio 5. t Shramana: a parallel movement to Vedic Hinduism in ancient India which gave rise to Buddhism, Jainism and Yoga. http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Shramana 6. t QiangH: Due to its relative ease of manufacture, the spear in many variations was ubiquitous on the pre-modern Chinese battlefield. Common features of the Chinese spear are the leaf shaped blade and red horse-hair tassel lashed just below. The tassel serves a tactical purpose, and is not simply for decoration, http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Qiang_spear 7. t Heart Sutrahttp://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Sutra 8. t A quote from the Daoist philosophical classic Zhuangzi.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi_book 9. t Open-mouthedPRl^: each pair of 3*0m/A-un Buddhist statues consists of one each of two types one open-mouthed and the other with a closed mouth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-un
