At first, Gabriel was puzzled by Su Mo's actions.
What could he possibly have that was worth stealing?
Although the item in question was precious, for Su Mo to have mastered the Zoroastrian cosmology to such a degree, he had to be a remnant of that faith, or at the very least, a devout follower.
What use would the cosmology of another pantheon be to him?
It wasn't until Su Mo spoke again that her attention was diverted.
Looking at Michael, the only one still standing under the light of Su Mo's Sword of Victory, Gabriel felt a surge of pride, even though she herself had been defeated.
"How could a remnant of Zoroastrianism possibly comprehend the greatness of the Son of God?"
Now that escape was impossible, her fear had given way to a kind of reckless abandon.
"What do you mean?" Su Mo asked casually. "Did your Son of God give him another Gift?"
Su Mo didn't mind being called a remnant of Zoroastrianism. After all, most of the personas he'd adopted this time were from that faith, and its cosmology was indeed well-suited for the current meta of Little Garden.
Such misunderstandings only ended up hurting his enemies, so there was no need to correct them.
He was more concerned about Michael's condition.
Or rather, he had to at least pretend to be concerned.
Otherwise, it would look too fake.
As the Vice-Commander of Heaven, Michael had almost no weaknesses within his domain of authority. His speed and defense were top-tier among three-digit beings, and he could use the versatile power of prayer to seek God's protection, shoring up any weakness he might have.
Back then, if Su Mo hadn't used the divinity of the [Lord] to seal away the various buffs of Little Garden's Michael, his defeat wouldn't have been so easy.
Of course, even if the current Michael had inherited the full power of his predecessor, and even if Su Mo hadn't used the [Lord] 's divinity to deny him protection this time, Michael's original power still shouldn't have been enough to withstand the Sword of Victory.
The reason was simple. No matter how excellent his attack, defense, or speed, there was one crucial judgment of the Sword of Victory's Thaumaturgic that he could not overcome:
Those whose divinity has been completely analyzed are defeated.
Michael's own divinity was a power that Su Mo had personally bestowed, personally crafted. It was completely within his grasp.
Even his strongest Gift, the Divine Light of the Right Hand, which contained a Cosmic Truth, had its original copyright held by Su Mo.
Therefore, according to the rules, even the Vice-Commander of Heaven should have fallen before the sword.
But that wasn't what had happened. Why?
Before Gabriel could answer Su Mo's question, Michael's slightly urgent voice appeared in Su Mo's mind, carried on a prayer.
"Lord! I have already reported this to you. If you have forgotten, I can report it once more. Before we set out, that heretic who betrayed you, in order to ensure the success of the operation, gave me—"
Though he had already reported it several times, afraid that Su Mo would be careless, Michael couldn't help but cautiously remind him again.
Being a double agent was a tough job. He couldn't let his Lord lose faith in him as he had with the traitorous Son of God. If that happened, the Son of God would truly deserve a thousand deaths.
"Stop, stop. No need to repeat yourself. I have my reasons."
Before he could finish, Su Mo unilaterally cut off the secret communication established through prayer.
He knew Michael's situation better than Michael himself. How could he not know what was going on?
The only reason he had asked was to avoid revealing too much before the most terrifying enemy arrived.
And in this regard, Gabriel, who was not on his side, was ironically a much better partner.
Unaware that her great general was already the enemy's servant, and had just been fawning over him moments ago, she lifted her head proudly and declared, "Before this operation, the Son of God had already foreseen every possibility and bestowed upon Michael the greatest of powers."
She looked at Su Mo with an arrogant expression, a mixture of satisfaction and pity in her eyes.
"Remnant of Zoroastrianism! You have no idea what kind of being you have made an enemy of, nor how brilliant and powerful the might of the Son of God truly is."
Though she was a prisoner herself, she looked at Su Mo as if he were already a dead man.
"Even if you have mastered a Cosmic Truth, even if you are approaching the realm of a Another Cosmology, you can never match the power of the Son of God, the ultimate secret of our Church, a true Another Cosmology!"
A Another Cosmology, also known as "Pseudo Star Map Creation," was the "blueprint of the world created by God," the materialization of a pantheon's cosmology.
As a power that integrated all the elements necessary to construct a universe, the mass and conceptual weight it contained surpassed everything in the world. Even a simple Cosmic Truth, as long as it had not formed a complete cosmology, could not stand against it.
"What? The Son of God even prepared that Gift?"
"Does that mean we can still turn this around?"
"We're going to win!"
Hearing Gabriel's words, the nearby archangels' faces lit up with joy.
A Another Cosmology was a Gift that could only be used by the core members of a pantheon. Even within the Church, those qualified to wield it could be counted on one hand.
At the very least, they were not qualified. Among the angels, perhaps only Michael, the "God-like one," could wield this power with a spiritual essence similar to the Lord's.
And the result of wielding such a power? Was there even a need to ask?
If a Another Cosmology were used outside of Little Garden, its activation alone, even without an attack, would have enough residual power to destroy an entire universe.
In the history of the Church, this Another Cosmology had only been used a handful of times.
To think that now, facing this enemy, after deploying a million-strong host and nearly all their Almighty-Domain beings, the Son of God would still grant the Another Cosmology as a final trump card.
Although it might seem inappropriate for them to say this, having been defeated in a single blow, the Son of God of the Church was truly strong, yet overly cautious!
Even Su Mo, who already knew this, couldn't help but think to himself, "This trump card was most likely meant for the Queen Halloween..."
Before Su Mo had revealed power capable of matching a pantheon, the Son of God could never have imagined such an outcome.
The inescapable net he had laid was meant to catch Su Mo, the Queen Halloween, and all their allies.
He had never expected Su Mo alone to be able to topple the entire Church pantheon.
If he hadn't bestowed his trump card, the Another Cosmology, upon Michael, raising the complexity of Michael's spiritual essence beyond the judgment range of the current Sword of Victory, the Church would have been completely annihilated in the first moment of their encounter.
Whether it was through prophecy or sheer caution, he had made this move.
To bet almost the entire strength of the Church, to stake everything on a single battle.
Such a radical approach naturally had its flaws.
For example, right now—
"Lord! Forgive my impertinence, but I'm not trying to emphasize the Another Cosmology this time. I just want to confirm your intentions. Are we really going to fight?"
High in the clouds, Michael's expression was stern and majestic, as if he were about to judge all of creation with the might of the Son of God.
But secretly, all he wanted to do was defect.
Are you kidding me?! I've got the Another Cosmology, all the other angels are down, and the Church is basically just the Son of God now...
If I don't run now, when will I?
I can't actually fight the Lord and offend His majesty, can I?
He wouldn't dare!
This was the biggest flaw in the Son of God's plan. If one thing went wrong, the whole thing would go wrong.
There would be no chance to recover.
Of course, no one would ever imagine that Michael would defect. Not an ordinary person, and not an extraordinary one either.