Divine Strike?
Starting with his ultimate attack right off the bat, that was exactly the kind of move Victor expected from Artosh, the God of War.
But that was precisely what he'd been waiting for.
"If I don't use some real power here, wouldn't that make this whole thing pointless?"
The moment those words left his lips, Victor transformed into a streak of light that shot skyward.
In the blink of an eye, he'd crossed tens of thousands of kilometers and burst through into space.
Watching Victor's ascent, Artosh assumed he was trying to escape the Divine Strike by fleeing into the void. A contemptuous snort escaped the God of War's lips.
The Divine Strike immediately changed trajectory, continuing its relentless pursuit of Victor through the vacuum.
"Well done!"
Victor stood suspended in the void, his white robes billowing despite the absence of air. His expression remained calm, but lightning flickered in his eyes. The space within a thousand feet of him warped into his own domain, distorting reality itself.
"Today, I'll show you gods what a true Divine Strike looks like!"
"Heaven and Earth Manifestation!"
Victor's voice thundered across the vacuum.
The heavens and earth trembled in response.
A golden manifestation rose from nothingness, a colossal figure one million kilometers tall, clad in golden armor and wielding an enormous sword. Thunder and lightning raged around the divine form, coalescing into nine golden dragons that coiled protectively around it.
The mere presence of the Manifestation caused space to collapse within a radius of tens of millions of kilometers. Countless meteorites disintegrated into powder under the overwhelming pressure.
Before that titanic figure, even entire planets seemed insignificant.
Everyone watching, whether it was Artosh himself, Jibril, or any other creature across the world, could only stare in abject horror.
What in the world was this thing?
"Fall."
Victor's soft command rippled through reality. The Manifestation responded, raising one massive arm and extending its index finger downward. The finger descended toward Artosh and his Divine Strike.
BOOM!
The Divine Strike, powerful enough to annihilate entire continental plates, shattered like glass. The explosion bloomed like a newborn sun, illuminating the dark void. Yet it failed to leave even a scratch on the Manifestation's fingertip.
The Divine Strike vanished, but the golden finger continued its descent, piercing through the planet's atmosphere with terrible inevitability.
As that finger, larger than the entire continental landmass, bore down upon them, every intelligent creature on the planet felt the cold grip of despair.
Even gods hiding in the shadows collapsed to the ground, overcome by terror.
"No! I don't want to die!"
"Damn it, is this really the end?"
"This is what a real god looks like! We gods are nothing compared to this!"
"Curse that God of War! Why did he provoke such a terrifying existence?!"
"Lord Artosh, run!"
Wails of anguish echoed across the planet.
Only Artosh himself, faced with this apocalyptic attack, threw back his head and laughed with wild, ecstatic abandon.
"Too strong! Too strong! Hahahaha! To die by such a move, I'll have no regrets in this life! Hahahaha!"
Before the finger had even fully descended, Artosh's body began crumbling under the invisible pressure. Within moments, the God of War turned to ash and scattered on the cosmic winds.
Seeing this, Victor dispersed his power.
As the massive golden manifestation faded from existence, every intelligent being on the planet collapsed to the ground, their expressions showing the relief of those who'd narrowly escaped death.
Victor flashed back to where the girls waited.
"Damn! You scared the hell out of me just now! I thought you were going to attack us too!" Belle slapped Victor's shoulder, her voice sharp with lingering fear.
Victor laughed. "How could I? We're all friends here. I'd never hurt any of you, no matter what."
"Was it really necessary to make such a big show of killing one local god?" Kiana couldn't help but complain.
Victor's move had clearly been overkill, using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
Victor shrugged. "You don't understand. I wanted to shock the native creatures of this world with a display of cultivation power. And more importantly, I wanted them to know that humans are no weaker than any other race, that we can't be bullied!"
Victor channeled spiritual power into his voice, letting it echo across the entire planet.
After hearing this proclamation, every race reacted with shock.
Human? They're human?
How is that possible?
At the same time, the humans hiding in their underground shelters, barely clinging to survival, looked up with tears streaming down their faces. Some fell to their knees and wept openly.
"This is the spirit of our human race! We're not inferior!" one sobbed.
Victor then turned his attention to Jibril, who stood frozen in shock.
When she noticed his gaze, her face twisted with genuine terror, an emotion she'd never experienced in her entire existence.
"I was wrong! I was truly wrong! I shouldn't have looked down on you! Please forgive me!"
She immediately dropped to her knees, looking up at them with trembling eyes.
Thinking back to her earlier arrogant words, she wanted to slap herself. Why did she have to run her mouth against these terrifying people?
Kiana sneered. "Weren't you pretty arrogant just a minute ago? I actually preferred your unruly attitude. Why don't you try recovering a bit of that?"
Jibril frantically shook her head. "I wouldn't dare! I'm being completely honest now!"
Damn it, if she'd known that humans from other worlds possessed such terrifying power, she wouldn't have dared provoke them even if someone gave her ten thousand times more courage!
Victor's voice turned cold. "Fine. Since we're all in the chat group together, let's be harmonious from now on. If you dare speak such arrogant nonsense again, a spanking will be the least of your worries. Understood?"
"Yes! I understand completely!" Jibril breathed a sigh of relief.
At least she'd live to see another day.
As for the fact that Victor had killed her creator, the God of War Artosh, she didn't dare harbor even a trace of resentment. Besides, this had always been Artosh's greatest wish, hadn't it? As the strongest god in their world, he'd always hoped someone would finally defeat him. Now that his long-cherished dream had been fulfilled, she should be happy for him.
Well, mostly she was just terrified.
At that moment, Victor suddenly swung his sword, carving a massive, bottomless chasm into the earth beneath them.
Then he dove straight into the abyss, vanishing from sight.
"What's he doing?" The girls exchanged confused glances.
Soon Victor emerged from the depths, now holding a gorgeous crystal chalice in his hand.
"What's that?" they asked, eyeing the cup with curiosity.
Only Jibril recognized it instantly, her eyes widening.
"Is that... the legendary Suniaster?"
"Yes, this is the Suniaster." Victor nodded slightly, then tossed the crystal cup toward Jibril.
Jibril caught it reflexively, then stared at him in complete bewilderment.
"What are you doing?"
The Suniaster, the treasure every god coveted above all else. The gods had waged war for thousands of years trying to claim ownership of it.
And now this treasure had just been casually handed to her!
She felt like she'd won a billion-dollar lottery, it all seemed utterly surreal.
Victor explained, "I need you to become the master of this planet and rule it, so this endless war can finally come to an end."
He wasn't acting out of some noble sense of justice. He simply didn't want this world consumed by the Hell Plane.
War bred chaos. If the conflict in this world wasn't ended quickly, and the Hell Plane managed to invade one day, no one would even notice until it was too late. Once a Blood Nest opened, there was no telling whether it connected to a minor Hell dimension or the main Hell Plane itself.
Unfortunately, Victor wasn't a native of this world, which meant he couldn't use the Suniaster to establish rules the way the Old Deus could.
So he needed someone from this world to claim the Suniaster and become the One True God, the sole ruler of this realm.
Without question, Jibril was the perfect choice.
While she wasn't technically an Old Deus herself, as a creation of one, she could still wield the Suniaster's power!
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