"Mm…" For the first time, Abel felt a mortal this troublesome. He had already unleashed his finishing move and still failed to kill him. Worse yet, if the other had truly aimed at his head, the consequences would have been unimaginable; he had nearly become the first Sun God ever killed by his own technique. Well—former Sun God.
That Corona attack had carried seventy percent of his divine might. Judging by how easily the other man had handled it, even at full power the result might not have been any different.
"Put on your God Cloth and show me your strongest state. Otherwise… there's no telling when I might suddenly kill you." Meruem pointed at Abel and spoke with an arrogant tone—but he had every right to.
In the entire Saint Seiya world, there were only two people—no, gods—Meruem truly worried about: after his seal was undone, Kairos/Yoma, and Kairos's elder brother, the Saint Seiya world's highest and most primordial deity, Chronos—the ultimate trinity of time, destruction, and creation.
Remember: Chronos, not the Titan king Cronus.
As for the rest, even Zeus did not weigh much on Meruem's mind, let alone a mere former Sun God.
What truly terrified Abel was that, although this "mortal" before him lacked a godhead and had not reached the Ninth Sense, everything he said made Abel's heart lurch. At some point, his own aura had been completely overwhelmed.
"Mortal, since you're so eager to die, I'll oblige you." Though a seed of fear had sprouted in his heart, Abel would never show weakness here. Who was he? The man destined to be king of the gods. How could he be cowed by a mere mortal?
Still, when he donned his God Cloth there was a hint of frantic haste. A resplendent blue armor appeared on Abel's body.
Once he wore the God Cloth, the fear in his heart finally subsided. As with Saints, a god with his Cloth and one without it were worlds apart—barring certain "stripper types" whose power skyrocketed when their armor blew off.
"Oh? Your Cosmo has increased a bit, but only to this extent. Disappointing. In that case, I'll just kill you. Saori will be back soon. Killing you will probably sadden her, but it's better than letting you go. Saori is still too kind… too soft‑hearted."
"What? Arrogant mortal, you actually entertain the thought of deicide? Do you not realize that is a grievous sin?" Abel's legs went weak at Meruem's words. No matter how he tried, he still could not see through this man's nature or gauge his power.
How could a human be this strong? Even the Titans of old had never inspired such fear in him.
Abel began edging backward without drawing attention to it. By now, the god who had made such a domineering entrance into the Sanctuary was already thinking of escape. Live to fight another day—that was an honored Olympian tradition. He wasn't some brute like Ares, always getting locked up or pinned down and beaten half to death.
"Thud." As he crept back, Abel bumped into something solid that stopped him cold. His hands groped behind him and felt a chill surface.
This feeling…
"A barrier. Don't worry, with your ability you won't be breaking it. It took quite a bit of effort to set up. No god will be able to sense what's happening inside this Goddess Temple right now." Meruem's eyes gleamed with the lazy cruelty of a cat toying with a mouse as he stared Abel down.
"Don't tell me…" A dreadful realization struck Abel, a chill racing from his tailbone to the crown of his head. "You were setting this up from the very start? That's why you gave me so much time—to stall for your barrier."
"Exactly." Meruem admitted it bluntly. "The gods in heaven love to keep an eye on Saori's every move. It makes it hard to take any of them down. Getting a godhead to experiment on is a real pain. Even if I tried to work on some sealed deity, the gods in heaven would notice immediately. The moment any registered god falls, they know at once—that's extremely inconvenient. But you… you're a traitor whose godhood was revoked. Even if I seize your godhead, those idiots up there won't know a thing."
He calmly laid out his plan.
"I am not trash like Ares. Do you really think victory is already in your grasp?" The more Abel heard, the more his heart pounded. Steal a godhead for research?! "What are you? No—what in the world are you?"
Only now did he realize that this being might not be human at all. He had never seen through the other's true nature.
Why had he come to the Sanctuary? Why had he not investigated more thoroughly? Wait… he had come to the Sanctuary at Cain's urging. With a jolt, Abel felt as if he'd been dragged into some kind of accursed vortex.
He had been used as cannon fodder.
"Heh. For a man about to die, there's no need to hide it. I am Meruem, guardian of Athena… and the king of the Chimera Ants." Meruem's smile turned razor‑sharp, his white teeth glinting with a deadly chill.
He walked toward Abel at an unhurried, even pace. With every step he took, Abel's heart clenched tighter.
"Damn it! I won't let you have your way. I still have my Divine Wall! You can't break it—this barrier reflects any divine attack!" A golden wall sprang up before Meruem. Desperate not to die, Abel clutched at his last straw, pouring everything into the fabled Divine Wall that was said to reflect all things.
Meruem said nothing, only let his contempt show. He laid his hand lightly on the gleaming surface. "Let me shatter your last hope."
From the point where his palm touched, cracks like a spider's web raced out across the wall. In an instant, the barrier that held Abel's final hope exploded into glittering dust.
Meruem came to stand over the collapsed Abel and bent down.
"I'll be taking your godhead."
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