"Laaa!"
At the same time, Sefar's re-formed body swung an arm down. The three star cores flared together, and countless streams of light sprayed across the sky. The gods were blasted back by the shock, weaving left and right under the relentless wash of Mana beams.
But after battle upon battle, no one had time to recover. Even Samael and Zeus had burned through far too much, their movements turning sluggish. The other Main Gods and Divine Spirits were in even worse shape.
"Pfft! Pfft!"
Ladon, the hundred-headed dragon who specialized in Magecraft, suffered most once his divine power ran dry. He failed to dodge in time, and several flying pillars of light punched straight through his wings. Blood gushed down onto the sea as the elegant creature, its scales once glittering with rippling patterns under the sun, cried out and began to fall.
Euryale and Stheno, standing atop Ladon and fighting in tandem with him, had no choice but to squeeze out what little divine power they had left, forcing the incoming Mana beams apart to protect their sinking ally.
The violent shock left the two lazy, good-for-nothing goddesses unable to hold on for long. Blood spilled from their mouths, and the two of them dropped toward the ocean along with Ladon.
At that moment, golden-blue star patterns pulsed and spread. In the churning waters below, shadows layered upon shadows. A dense swarm of aberrations, drawn by the scent of blood, was already surging in.
"Watch out!"
In the split second before disaster, wildly growing purple-red snake hair shot out and wrapped around Stheno, Euryale, and Ladon, arresting their fall.
Ahead of them, a pair of pale yellow wings folded halfway inward, forming an arched barrier that blocked several Mana beams slicing through the air.
"Hehe, little Medusa. So you do know how to feel sorry for your big sisters…"
"Clack…"
Stheno let out a long breath. Her teasing, half-playful, half-relieved remark cut off mid-sentence as her narrowed eyes caught the sight reflected on that purple-red serpent body and those pale yellow wings: several savage gashes, flesh torn open, blood spraying.
"I have immortality. It's nothing," the Furies said calmly. "You can't hold out anymore. Fall back and recover."
Her snake hair flicked back, and the three wounded were carried toward the mobile fortress above. A group of Magi, shrine maidens, and priests who had been standing by hurriedly guided them onto an open platform and began treatment.
"I feel like little Medusa is… different," Euryale murmured with a slight frown. "But I can't really say what changed."
"Maybe… she feels more like a goddess now," Stheno said, glancing at that figure with its proud, cold aura and stern, commanding presence.
Just then, a sea-like chorus of divine prayers washed over their ears. When the sisters turned their heads, they saw the priests and ritualists on the floating fortress holding pendant statues of the Gorgon goddess in their hands. They had formed up in a pattern, chanting hymns with solemn, almost feverish devotion.
As the sisters swayed upright, their gaze passed over the worshippers and took in the magnificent aerial courtyard. Five splendid temples had been built along its outer edge. At the center stood the Emerald-winged Goddess of Beginning, twin horns rising from her head.
And facing the sisters directly, one of those temples was enshrining Medusa in her current gorgon form.
Hummm!
The hymn surged to its climax. Ether trembled and gathered in the air, and flecks of golden light rained from the floating fortress onto the vengeful goddess below.
In the blink of an eye, the grotesque wounds on Medusa's body began to knit shut, new flesh writhing as they healed at a visible pace.
That kind of pure faith… and a boost this extreme…
Fanatics. A Great Temple.
Since when did little Medusa have so many diehard followers among these outsiders, people willing to devote everything of themselves?
The two sisters stared at each other, wide-eyed, unable to believe what they were seeing.
"Seal of the Other·Blood Fort!"
"Kur Kigal Irkalla: The Bellows of Kur that Tramples upon Ekur!"
"An Gal Ta Ki Gal Šè: Kindling of Venus that Shook the Mountains!"
At the same time, three sharp cries rang out. Authorities intertwined and stacked, and three temples atop the mobile fortress resonated together, humming with power.
Their coordination was seamless. Medusa drew forth blood, opened her Mystic Eyes, and locked Sefar down with petrification. Ere spun her gun wheels and reshaped the terrain, tightening the net and further restricting Sefar's movement. Finally, Ishtar soared higher, astride the Boat of Heaven, Maanna. She raised her arm in the posture of a pistol and fired the long-charged light arrow in a blinding streak.
The violent explosion shattered several star rings in front of Sefar, and the Alien vanguard's offensive faltered for a moment.
"Bang!"
Before the white giant could even steady itself, another surging Chaos Tide came crashing down, blotting out the sky as it rolled in.
That creepy, chittering laughter echoed from every direction. By the thousands, dense as an ant swarm, Laḫmu sprang out of the crimson-black mudflow, scrambling up Sefar's body. They gnawed and tore at her with crazed abandon, leaving mottled scars across that golden-blue frame.
"Boom!"
The star patterns on Sefar's body flared. In an instant, they became countless blades, skewering and shredding the Laḫmu feasting on her, sweeping them away in a brutal purge.
But the moment the swarm was cleared, the Primordial Dragon Mother arrived. With Earth Touch above her head and emerald wings spread behind, she skimmed in over the black tide, then snapped her wings shut and dove.
"Aaaaaa!"
The Goddess of Beginning slammed Sefar down, pinning her hard beneath her as the waves surged. A piercing holy utterance rolled outward across the battlefield.
Hummm!
In a heartbeat, gray-white patterns of light, stripped of all the world's color, pulsed outward with Mother Goddess Tiamat as their node.
The overflowing sea seemed frozen in place, sinking into an unnatural, deathly silence. Even the droplets thrown into the air looked like ink splashed onto a canvas.
Beneath the Goddess of Beginning, the Alien vanguard was like a fly that had blundered onto that canvas. Cracks spread inch by inch as she was slowly decomposed, erased, and wiped away.
World Reborn! Nega-Genesis!
Tiamat's world-refreshing authority of annihilation unfurled, trying to redefine the rules of this Reality Marble and purge Sefar, the virus from beyond the domain, once and for all.
But what had landed on the canvas wasn't a fly. It was a mantis, something that could tear the cloth itself and pierce straight through the Reality Marble's membrane.
"Laaa!"
Sefar's ethereal hymn rang out. The stellar rings in the sky locked in, drawing down the prismatic pillar projected by Velber and smashing it into the back of the Goddess of Beginning Tiamat, blasting her away by a hundred miles.
"Tina!"
The Ancient Serpent's heart clenched. Wings beating, he flashed forward and caught the figure in midair as she shed her beast form and returned to human shape. Only after confirming the Mother Goddess was unharmed did he finally exhale, relief loosening his chest.
Crack!
With Tiamat no longer anchoring it, the Nega-Genesis Reality Marble meant to decompose life from beyond the domain shattered on the spot. Sefar, her body riddled with fissures, was bathed once more in the Tear Star's light and began to heal again.
"I'm sorry… Samael… I…" Tina pressed a hand to her chest, eyes lowered. She looked down at the sea, where countless corpses drifted, and her gaze filled with guilt.
"This isn't a monster you can deal with alone," Samael said, helping Tina up as he spoke in a low, steady voice. "If we work together, we'll find a way."
He looked calm, but the truth was the opposite. The more times they clashed with Sefar, the longer the fight dragged on, the deeper his heart sank.
By now, they had shattered Sefar more than a dozen times, and still they couldn't finish her off.
And they'd only managed even that much by combining the strength of two pantheons, Greece and Mesopotamia.
If a single Age of Gods had tried to shoulder this alone, the World Egg would have fallen long ago.
Just as Samael found himself with no answers, that scalp-crawling mechanical voice sounded again as Sefar raised her sword upright and drew in starlight.
"World Egg corrosion rate: 92.75%. Enemy combat unit data anomaly detected. Mission progress obstructed. Continuing guidance for Velber star core main body descent. [Alien Key] authorization granted. Preparing to execute the Great Judgment!"
At the same time, the white giant with rippling star patterns lifted the God of War sword high. Five stellar rings slid and bit into one another, rotating slowly at first, then faster and faster. Spiderweb cracks spread across the sky in every direction.
Sixth Stage…
Velber's descent…
[Alien Key]…
Great Judgment…
No one even knew which one would destroy Greece first. Realizing Sefar was escalating her measures, Samael let out a long, heavy sigh, his face dark with gloom.
Now all they could do was hold out as long as possible, and pray for a miracle to arrive…
The Ancient Serpent looked toward the Eye of the Tidal Sea. Two hours had passed, and there still hadn't been the slightest response. Lips pressed tight, he lowered his eyes to the Oceanus, stained red with blood and carpeted with bones, and gave a helpless, bitter smile.
Looks like the biggest gambler here is me, the one who came up with this plan.
Putting my hopes on something as vague and intangible as a miracle.
If that's how it is… then please, let it still be in time.
...
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