Verethragna could tell both of his fellow Heretic Gods were worthy opponents.
Others might balk at two foes teaming against them.
But Verethragna was different.
He possessed victory; he pursued defeat!
"Then bring me a battle that delights me! Grant me the defeat I crave!" He declared, gritting his teeth, clenching his fists, his blue-purple hair dancing with surging curse power.
"You have broken the covenant, bringing sin to the world. The Lord said—sinners must be punished. Crush their spines, tear out their sinews, hair, and marrow, trample their blood into the mud. If I am one whom sharp fangs cannot approach, I shall, by the Lord's word, deliver the iron hammer of destruction to those who break the covenant!"
"I despise these types, obsessed with battle, blind to all else," Lucius muttered, standing near the saint but keeping a cautious distance.
He hadn't forgotten the saint's frail appearance belied a ferocious onslaught.
To Lucius, the saint, fists raised, was as dangerous as Salvatore Doni with a sword—best avoided.
Moreover, he didn't trust the saint.
A deafening explosion accompanied Verethragna's Words of Power.
A colossal black boar, over twenty meters tall, its robust form bristling with might, burst from the ground.
"Roar!" The boar lifted its head, sharp tusks angled skyward, bellowing fiercely.
It charged toward Lucius and the saint, shattering trees and rocks in its path, unstoppable.
The saint glanced at Lucius, noting his inaction, and understood.
He opened his tattered book, stopping at a specific page.
"Against those who love strife, the earth shall split open, swallowing them. They shall find no peace," He proclaimed, his words both accusation and plea.
With his Words of Power, a crevice appeared in the boar's path.
It widened rapidly, becoming a massive chasm over a hundred meters wide, its depths unseen.
Faint firelight flickered within, accompanied by ceaseless prayers and confessions.
The chasm's ominous aura suggested falling in would be far from pleasant.
"My Boar incarnation isn't some mindless beast!" Verethragna said, his expression proud. "Jump it!"
The Boar, one of his incarnations, roared, leaping over the hundred-meter chasm.
The saint continued his chant.
"Judgment comes to bind them; their pleas shall find no mercy, for their deeds are full of blasphemy, tyranny, and sin!"
From the chasm's depths, silver pythons shot forth, coiling around the Boar.
No—not pythons, but sturdy silver chains!
They bound the Boar's limbs and neck, pulling taut, dragging it toward the abyss.
The Boar roared, hooves digging deep furrows in the ground, but it couldn't resist the chains' pull.
That chasm imprisoned angels who, forsaking their duties, sired giants with humans, bringing calamity.
There, sinners—angel or mortal—awaited Judgment Day.
"Tch." Seeing his Boar about to be dragged in, Verethragna's face showed reluctant frustration.
"Come back, Boar!"
With his shout, the chained Boar dissolved into a storm of curse power, returning to him.
The chains slackened, retreating into the chasm.
"Oh, Hebrew saint, I know who you are now," Verethragna said.
Though the Boar's attack failed, he showed only brief regret before his excitement returned.
The saint didn't respond, but silver chains rose again from the chasm, striking like vipers at Verethragna.
"Fear the winged one, you evil and mighty! My wings bring curses! The wicked cannot strike me!" Verethragna shouted, invoking his Phoenix incarnation.
Its divine speed boosted his agility, letting him evade the chains effortlessly.
Maintaining the Phoenix's speed, he landed lightly.
Then, he spoke slowly.
"You wandered hell, heaven, and earth to plead humanity's salvation."
"The fallen begged you to convey their grievances to God; you delivered His will to them."
"You walked with God for three hundred years."
"That must be the source of your fearsome strength."
The saint remained silent, brushing dust from his clothes.
Lucius, too, had guessed the saint's identity.
"People revere you, admire you, worship you."
"For you are just, striving to save all you can."
"You are Enoch, the saint from the apocryphal Book of Enoch!"
Revered, admired, worshipped.
But that didn't last.
Not long after, humanity rejected his story.
Almost jokingly, someone declared the Book of Enoch apocryphal, unfit for scripture.
Opposition grew.
By modern times, most Christian and Jewish communities deemed it false.
Human will shapes myth. When the Book of Enoch became apocryphal, Enoch became a falsehood.
Unable to accept being reduced to fiction, Enoch manifested as a Heretic, aiming to restore the Book of Enoch as truth in human society!
***
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