Campione!

Chapter 7 - Gods and Godslayers, the ClimacticFinal Battle for VictoryPart 1Godou was badly beaten up while the Great Sage Equaling Heavenliterally had his belly cut open as suggested.Had either of them succumbed to their heavy injuries, it would not havebeen surprising, but they dulled the pain through pure willpower alone.Completely ignoring the state of their bodies and maintaining theheightened state of excitement, only gods and Campiones could be thisreckless.Watching this scene unfold was Hikari who had just been rescued. Shecould no longer hear the thoughts of the person who had been speaking toher.Due to taking on a portion of the [Swordj's burden, Yuri also reached herlimit and had fallen unconscious somewhere. The second sun in the skyalso vanished, having lost the [Sword] it depended on."Hikari... Is your body okay?""Yes! Thanks to Onii-sama and everyone else, I am completely fine!""I see... Then hurry and leave this place and find a place to hide."Godou gently reminded the girl who was embracing him."Why? I want to help Onii-sama! I also want to assist you like all the otherOnee-sama!""No, there's nothing you can help here. Besides..."Godou coldly released Hikari despite her earnest pleas, for the battle wasjust about to enter a climax."I entrust everyone in your care, Hikari. Erica, Liliana, Seishuuin and yoursister far away have all used up their strength. Go immediately to help andtake care of them.""If I do that... I will be helping Onii-sama?""Yes, please. You are the only one I can rely on now."It was now like being in the ninth inning with a one point lead. In order toguard this lead, Godou began to rouse the feelings of outfielders —nostalgic memories from his days as a catcher were even recalled.Treating the girl in his arms as a companion and entrusting her withimportant tasks, Godou stroked Hikari's head softly.As a result, the twelve-year-old apprentice Hime-Miko gazed at Godou withblushing cheeks."Yes... I will do as Onii-sama says, but you must come back alive. If youdon't keep your promise, I won't listen to Onii-sama's orders again. Will youpromise me this?""I know, in order to make you listen to me from now on, I will definitelyreturn."As if praising an obedient child, Godou stroked little Hikari's head.Completely unexpectedly, Hikari drew her young face close and kissedGodou."I heard from Ena-neesama and the others, that this is the only way to casta spell on Onii-sama... This is a spell for treating fatigue, at least let mehelp you a little like this..."Hikari left Godou reluctantly and ran over to the collapsed Erica.There was a certain adult maturity to her... Hikari bore a rather feminineexpression. Though Godou had been treating her like a little child, sheshould be trustworthy from the way she acted just now. Thanks to thespell, the pain had lessened greatly."Ha! Kusanagi brat! It's unbelievable that you still have the energy to flirtwith girls at a time like this."The Great Sage Equaling Heaven laughed with a sneer."Looks like we can still have another round. Nice nice!""You and I are both heavily injured, are you sure it's proper for you to bemocking others?""Because I still hold a trump card, it doesn't matter... Watch, this is thething I prepared just in case."Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared in the Great Sage's right hand. It wasthe body of Divine Ancestor Asherah! However, it was very small since herbody had shrunk so much it was like a ginseng root. Despite being in sucha state, the witch still seemed to be alive, for one could hear her breathingweakly.The Great Sage Equaling Heaven took a bite out of this tiny witch.Aaaaaaaaaah! With the sound of soul-screeching screams, the GreatSage Equaling Heaven nonchalantly moved his lower jaw, chewed with histeeth and swallowed her, re-enacting a scene from the Journey to the Westwhen he ate a ginseng fruit...In the next moment, from within the body of the Great Sage EqualingHeaven — out flowed a terrifying amount of divine power!"Huhahahahahaha! After eating the snake deity, I have recovered myenergy! The peerless Old Sun has returned once again!""T-That was the reason you took away that witch!?"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven restored his Ruyi Staff with divine poweragain, and swung it as quickly as lightning. Godou hastily rolled along theground as the divine staff of precious iron attacked with great alacrity.Having lost the [Sword], Godou now needed to battle using otherincarnations. However, the [Camel] could not handle attacks from the airwhile the [White Stallion] had already been used. Was there no otherweapon remaining!?As Godou evaded the Great Sage's attacks, he heard a mocking voice....Finally asking me for help? What a troublesome man.An ice-cold feeling was dwelling in his right arm as the sword he had lentout just now returned to him. Now was the time to use the new weaponthat had been waiting patiently to make an entrance.As the Ruyi Staff came crashing down, Godou jumped sideways withmotions like a wild beast to evade."Hmm, crap, did I hit too hard?"Missing its target, the steel staff was embedded into the ground. As theGreat Sage pulled his weapon out, Godou adjusted his breathing."Damn it... I clearly had no intention of using such a dangerous object asyou!"Though he complained out loud, the corners of Godou's lips were upturnedas if smiling.Since he needed to continue fighting whether he had a weapon or not,something was better than nothing.Seizing that one-in-a-thousand chance of victory in a hopeless situation, ifone couldn't even do that, one was not fit to be a Campione — rather, notfit to be a man!"Hoho, you look like you too have a trump card up your sleeve. Then let usfight to our hearts' content, Rakshasa King!"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven jumped onto his golden cloud and flewinto the sky.Accelerating again and again, the Great Sage intended to re-enter therealm of god speed. The new weapon in Godou's hand could not defendagainst that kind of speed but he was resolved to fight to the very end andobtain victory. No matter what kind of crisis he faced, if he himself didn'tbelieve in his own victory, then of course victory would never grace himwith its presence!Just as Godou planned to concentrate all his power in this despairingbattle —A shooting star streaked across the sky.Resembling a heavenly flying dragon, it was a flash of brilliant blue-whitelight, one of the magic bullets shot by the warrior with the black cape!The dragon of light chased after the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who hadtook on the form of a golden meteor. But just as it caught up, the preyvanished. Was it because he had entered the realm of god speed?However, John Pluto Smith's bullet also disappeared. Both sides hadreached god speed!'Damn, if that's the case, hah — !"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven who should have disappeared, suddenlymultiplied rapidly in the air, filling the sky with over a hundred divinemonkeys. This was a cloning technique! However, these clones began toexplode one after another and were soon dispersed into mist, most likelystruck down in midair by the divine speeding bullet. Beneath the glow ofthe morning sky, it was as spectacular as a fireworks celebration.The Five Elements form a cycle of restraint, Metal counters Wood!'As his clones disappeared, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven chanted amantra.Lightning was released from within the body of the divine monkey andcollided with the approaching blue-white magic bullet.The magic bullet was finally destroyed, but the Great Sage's golden cloudalso returned to normal speed, most likely because he was unable to useother spells while maintaining that kind of godly speed."Making me waste unnecessary breath, so another unrelated godslayer isjoining in?""Unrelated? No, not at all. I came here expressly to bury you. Since JohnPluto Smith is entering this battle, prepare yourself to be dragged into thedepths of the underworld."The latecomer was obviously the masked Campione.The fallen girls could no longer be seen, apparently taken away by Hikari.She must have used healing spells since she should not have the strengthto move everyone so quickly by herself.Anyway, the only ones gathered in this place were now gods andCampiones. Only these two existences and no other!"Hmph, what an audacious man... You have met my bros before, right? Letus display the solidarity of us sworn brothers, and defeat all thegodslayers! From the ocean of the north, come, my virtuous little brother,Zhu Ganglie! From the territories of the west, come, my virtuous littlebrother, Vaisravana!"The entrance of John Pluto Smith caused the Great Sage EqualingHeaven's divine power to rise explosively.The two little figurines were thrown into the air."Vanquishing devils, ripping evil spirits apart, star of the sword god whichslaughters Rakshasa! Bestow upon me the sharp sword to vanquish mymortal enemies!"As the two figurines expanded in one motion, their appearance also beganto change.The first to appear was the giant with a pig's head. Clad in black clotheswith armor of the same color, he made his entrance as a giant god,standing 15m tall with three heads and six arms still!Next to manifest was the demonic deity with black skin and red spiky hair,standing on pillars of water that spewed forth like geysers, forming adragon of water!"Hohohoho, I hope this time I can play a little while longer, Big Bro.""Appearing here in response to Big Bro's summon, I am ready to fulfill yourevery command."Manifesting behind the slowly flying Great Sage Equaling Heaven, ZhuGanglie and Vaisravana shouted.Before the three deities, Godou spoke to his masked ally:"I am grateful for your help, but we are still outnumbered, the disadvantageof two against three remains.""I don't need you to teach me this kind of infantile mental math."Smith fluttered the cape on his shoulders in response to his junior'sreminder."On the other hand, there is also the saying 'two heads are better thanone'... I think the current situation is rather fitting. Anyway, the main pointis, I want a chance for me to show off. If you insist on keeping such adelicious situation all to yourself, that would make you a very stingy man,so lowly that I don't even need to mock you."Hearing him casually spout such roundabout words, Godou could not helpbut smile wryly. In such a situation, who could have expected him to makesuch comments when he was entitled to additional concessions.Watching the performance of the man before him who loved to role-play,Godou somehow felt a strange sense of intimacy with him."What you seem to be trying to say, is that John Pluto Smith considersKusanagi Godou a friend, and a man who won't pose a hindrance to you— is that right?""Oh my oh my, you really think you can trust a mysterious man like me?Don't regret it!"Smith and Godou joked with each other as they stood side by side, lookingup at the gods in the sky.This argumentative conversation felt unexpectedly delightful. Neveryielding verbally, this quirk of his seems to fit quite well with me.Confirming that they turned out to be surprisingly compatible, Godousmiled."You are really quite the busybody. My luck has always been great and Ihave never regretted any of my choices in companions. I don't expect thisto ever change. Right, one more thing..."Godou recalled Sayanomiya Kaoru's phone call.Lu Yinghua had apparently heard the sound of some kind of commotion. Ifthat's the case, of course it can only be that."You know the idea that two are better than one... While three people arebetter than two... Right?"Change finally came to the petrified grounds of Toushouguu.The first to be sent flying were the worship and main halls at the core of theshrine. As if dynamite had been set off, the worship hall and the main hallcollapsed as stone fragments scattered and flew with the sound ofexplosions.Next were the Gates of Youmeimon, followed by the divine stable, thefive-story pagoda and the first torii.Explosions occurred one after another. Originally, restoring the entire areapetrified by the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was already a monumentaltask. Even so, seeing the important cultural heritage site destroyed soutterly, Sayanomiya Kaoru could not help exclaiming "oh my, I give up." Onthe other hand, Amakasu Touma closed his eyes in deep thought as ifsaying "that's going a bit overboard."The only one who could watch calmly was Lu Yinghua. Seeing the first torii— namely, the main entrance to Nikkou Toushouguu being demolished, hetook into his hands the package he had been keeping on the side all thistime.Then he immediately rushed into the smoke and dust cloud created by theshattered and pulverized stone."Master, please get changed. I have brought you a change of clotheshere.""Well done, you have become more attentive. You have earned yourself alittle praise.""Master's praise is too kind, your disciple expresses utmost gratitude."Towards the figure of the beautiful maiden who appeared from within thewhite smoke, Lu Yinghua reverently handed over the package." — A fish lives in the northern ocean, its name is the Kun! The Kun is solarge, no one knows how many thousands of miles long it is. Transforminginto a bird, its name is the Peng! The Peng's back is so vast, no one knowshow many thousands of miles wide it is. Flying furiously, its wings are likeclouds filling up the sky!"^As soon as the mantra was chanted, the ground suddenly became dark,but not because the sunlight was blotted out by clouds.A giant sacred bird — the golden-winged Peng came flying by. In theinstant that this bird flew above their heads, the transcendent beauty'sfigure vanished."With this, all the actors have gathered. It won't be very appropriate if wedon't go and watch the finale.""But these special front row seats offer no guarantees for personal safety."Sayanomiya Kaoru joked around with her subordinate as she nodded inagreement.Part 2The giant sacred bird flew over the plains of Senjougahara.Estimated in proportion to its wingspan, the massive body must have beenseveral hundred meters in size. Stunned, Godou looked up to watch themajestic entry of the sacred bird. This fellow must be carrying the finalparticipant. But still, even if she wanted to travel here, was it reallynecessary to use such a conspicuous mode of transportation?The beautiful heavenly maiden suddenly descended from the back of thegiant bird, wearing an outfit in the style of a mandarin gown that huggedand accentuated the wondrous curves of her figure.With mesmerizing lustrous eyes and pristine white teeth, her beauty couldonly be described as otherworldly.Drifting through the air and landing upon the ground like a feather, thisperson was no other but Luo Cuilian."Thank you for your patience, Great Sage! As well as my little brother."Hearing her words, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven questioned:"Oh? Little brother?""Correct. Kusanagi Godou here is the sworn little brother of me, LuoCuilian. A relationship akin to you and your fellow brothers.""Haha! But are you able to become as large as us?""In that case, we will defeat you all at once, burying your oath of swornfraternity at the same time..."The sworn brothers of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven proceeded toissue arrogant instigating remarks.Zhu Ganglie's eyes, full of lustful desire, stared intently at Luo Hao;standing on the dragon's head, Vaisravana looked gloomy as ever despitehis rhetoric; Luo Hao smiled in return with casual composure."Hohoho, it's not a bad idea to decide right here which side's swornsiblings are stronger. Wouldn't you agree? Little brother.""Umm, actually it's not just us two, there's also another participant..."From Godou's point of view, he was just stating a fact.But his sworn elder sister, as well as senior along the path of domination,severely glared at him in response."Do you intend to spoil the first chance for us siblings to fight incooperation by inserting this man of suspicious origins!? Foolish! This is aprofane insult to me, your elder sister!"Calling him a man of suspicious origins was quite an unpleasant manner ofaddress.The one wearing a mask and black cape, dressed up like a theatrical actorand the man in question, whispered softly:(Oh... Elder sister eh? Having met for mere days and she's already takensuch a liking to you... You are truly outstanding in the ways of stealingmaiden hearts.)(Stop saying weird stuff about her taking a liking to me, please shut up fora bit!)Hearing John Pluto Smith's reply, Godou hastily retorted in defense."Anyway, that's how it is. A rare situation with three gods appearing at thesame time. If we are down by one person on our side, wouldn't it beshameful?""Shameful?"Luo Cuilian reacted. As expected, her extreme pride meant that she wasfiercely sensitive to such insinuations.If she were to say something like 'victory against superior numbers is anhonor in the martial realm' then there would be no room for objection.However, such an argument would be more of a bluff than the result ofsome twisted logic. Even exalted as Luo Cuilian, her hubris should not beextreme enough to insist on dignity over practicality... At least, that waswhat Godou hoped."If we don't prepare an army with the same formation as our opponents, itseems like there will be a problem with respect.""I see, that makes a bit of sense. Very well, I will accept your advice andwe shall face them with equal numbers. As befitting for great generals andmarshals, it is only right for us to lead armies into battle in the spirit ofproper martial way... Still, little brother, something about your behaviordispleases me."Luo Hao grumbled as she stared at Godou. What was she trying to say?"D-Displeased? I don't think I did anything wrong...""Of course you are wrong. I am the martial pinnacle, the elder sister whomyou should be offering the utmost respect. And how do you addresssomeone of exalted stature like myself? I believe I have already taught youthe most appropriate form of address."Godou could not help but sigh. Does that word really have to be said rightnow!?"O, O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o... Nee-san...""You should be calling me 'Onee-sama.' I never expected a little brotherwith such poor memory. Fine, since it is the proposal of my sworn littlebrother, I will accept it."Having spoken, Luo Cuilian turned to the other Campione."From my deductions, you must be the American [Kind]? My family nameis Luo, with given name Cuilian and style name Hao. I give youpermission to join the ranks of my army in this battle and fight alongsideme, Luo Hao.""What a unique greeting... I, John Pluto Smith, will offer the entirety of myhumble services."Faced with the loftily delivered invitation, the king dressed in blackresponded effortlessly.Compared to the two-hundred-year-old demonic cult leader, theage-unspecified young man seemed far more mature. Breathing a sigh ofrelief, Godou and his two 'fellow kin' stood shoulder-to-shoulder, facing offagainst the three divine spirits.The giant three-headed-six-armed Zhu Ganglie.As well as Vaisravana standing on the raised head of his mount, thedragon of water.Finally there was the leader of these two gods, the Great Sage EqualingHeaven, Sun Wukong. Once again he stood upon the golden cloud andascended, flying high up into the skies. The three versus three decisivebattle was about to begin."Hohoho, let me pick my opponent first! I choose the transcendent beauty,the godslayer who reminds me of the Moon Goddess! It is most fitting forher to be the opponent of the Marshal Canopy, the great Zhu Ganglie!""...Come to think of it, you are the stellar deity that guards the northernsky."The Ruler of the Martial Realm frowned at the evil gaze of lust being castupon her."When it comes to the companions of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven,one of the most notable is the evil-exorcising deity, the Marshal CanopyZhu Wuneng. From a wild boar to a domestic pig, you are a deity widelyknown in folklore. In spite of all that, it is most deplorable for you to bereduced to such a shallow and lowly subordinate god."In Japan, boars were called "inoshishi" while domestic pigs used the kanji"buta" for distinction.When Godou received knowledge about the Great Sage Equaling Heaven,information was also gained about his subordinate gods.The Marshal Canopy Zhu Wunenq was once a military god serving thenorth pole's Great Emperor Ziwei. At the height of his worship, mostlikely during the time from the Sui to the Song Dynasties, thethree-headed-six-armed appearance in full armament was one of thefavorite images depicted by artists.Frequently appearing in novels and plays, in the end he was linked to ZhuBajie in the Journey to the West.For such a popular deity to be reduced to a lustful pervert like this...Flames erupted from Luo Cuilian's shoulders as if her anger had been liton fire, manifesting a golden Benevolent King.^A solidly built figure that did not lose in any way to the giant Zhu Ganglie,displaying his impressive musculature half-nude!"A force is exerted! Great force vanquishes small evil!""Hmm woaaah!? What is this monstrous strength?"Zhu Ganglie was being thrown by the Benevolent King. Exactly in themanner of a shot put, the lustful giant god was propelled through the airinto the distance.Crash! As the landing impact resounded, Luo Cuilian ran with hersubordinate Benevolent King towards the fallen giant deity. With greatspeed unexpected from his massive body, Zhu Ganglie got back up andsummoned the weapons for his six arms.The first pair of hands held a sword and a halberd; the second pair, an axeand a club; the third, a bow and arrows.With black clothing and black armor, the god with a pig's head clashed withthe Benevolent King led by Luo Cuilian and the two giants began to fight."O Dragon, annihilate these people — Om vaisravanaye svaha!"The water suddenly exploded.As Vaisravana stood on the water dragon, a portion of its dissociated bodysplashed on the ground. Godou and John Pluto Smith jumped backwardsto evade the attack. The water formed powerful currents which weretearing apart the ground of the Senjougahara plains!Like a blade of water, the liquid sliced through rock and flourishing forestsas if they were made of paper. Godou and Smith beside him marveled asthey muttered to themselves."A demonic deity with Buddhist roots... From his appearance, I originallyexpected an attack of pure power but he turned out to have such skillfulmoves."Vaisravana had an appearance like a demon with a particularly frightfulface and ferocious-looking body.Smith's instincts should have been correct, but it was Vaisravana's gloomyand intellectual aspects that avoided giving others an overly violentimpression."Since ancient times. Vaisravana was the one who inducted countlessShramana ascetics.^ * However, his earlier incarnation killed people andwas a sinful deity that had broken precepts against murder..."Vaisravana began to laugh to himself as he stood on the dragon's head."As the Curtain Lifting General at the Palace of the Great Emperor of theWaters in the celestial realm, the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas wereonce under my command. What I've shown is simply a minor portion of myold powers...""Ah, I recall the Daoist pantheon having categories of Water and ThunderDepartments, right?"The Water Department was in charge of the naval forces in the Daoistcelestial realm. Though he did not cheat like Godou through instructionmagic, Smith was apparently knowledgeable of myths and legends offoreign countries."In that case, let me show off some of my skills... The ruler of theunderworld commands, offer to me the black wings that penetrate theheavens! O Sky, thou existest only for me to display the breadth of mymagnanimity!"Smith softly chanted spell words, causing the ground to rumble and shake.It was quite an intense earthquake. Cracks and crevices appeared on theground as it trembled violently, while Smith began to transform over theshaking land. The black-clad eccentric turned into a massive blackdemonic bird."Now, properly savor my transformation mystic arts! Will you be able tokeep up with me!?""What pretentious words! Looks like I am being underestimated!"Chasing after the rapidly ascending black demonic bird, Vaisravana drovethe water dragon flying through the air.Flying towards the heavens, the black-winged devil king and themysterious sacred dragon formed from water continued to make theirascent.However, the ground continued to shake intensely. Most likely, the culpritwas the American Campione.Godou had once heard from Erica that Smith had an authority requiring theoffering of [Sacrifices]. This earthquake was most probably one of thosesacrifices. The tremors were not too severe, but this continuing series ofearthquakes must each have been around 3 or 4 on the Richter scale.It looked like the earthquakes were going to persist for some time. What atroublesome fellow that Smith guy was!His irresponsibility of leaving messes behind made Godou a bit stunned ashe faced off against the Great Sage Equaling Heaven on the shakingground."Hmm hmm hmph, let us start as well. Are you ready? Kusanagi brat!""Fine, come at me with everything you've got, I'm not letting you get out ofhere in one piece!"Facing the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who jumped down from thegolden cloud, Godou displayed calm composure.It was a bluff of course, for Godou was completely unprepared. Eventhough he had that sword, he did not have a usable incarnation able tocounter the divine monkey's lightning-fast godly speed. Nevertheless,Godou's fighting spirit was strong as ever, and he intended to snatchvictory in his hands even if it meant biting the enemy by the throat.Wait a minute... Was there really no incarnation that could be used?There was a strange sense of certainty that he still had an availableweapon. This was a very faint feeling of confidence.Voices telling him to fight could be heard. Voices calling for the defeat ofthe Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Right, so that is the case now.Having figured things out, Godou turned his attention to the voices comingfrom the depths of his body.Only now did he truly master the ninth incarnation of Verethragna, the[Goat].This priestly ability converted the thoughts and feelings of the surroundingpeople into magical power and controlled lightning. During the battleagainst Marquis Voban, he had once turned the will of the Dead Servantsinto his power source. But simply gathering willpower was insufficient touse the incarnation freely.Thanks to being connected to Yuri's psychic sensing, Godou finallyunderstood the true method of using the [Goat].A king rules by leading the will of the people, thereby raising his ownprestige and authority.Godou extended the tendrils of psychic sensing, traversing the plains ofSenjougahara and the area of Okunikkou as well as the Nikkou city streets,mobilizing the hearts and minds of over ten thousand victims.No mistake about it, this was the consciousness of all the ordinary peoplewho had been forcefully transformed by the Great Sage Equaling Heavenand were now in deep sleep.These unconscious people originally led peaceful lives but were suddenlyturned into monkeys one day, thus entering a nightmare. The sole culpritresponsible for these heinous crimes was the [Heretic God] the Great SageEqualing Heaven. Even though you people were fortunate enough to berescued, the Great Sage still stands.The god who changed you all into monkeys, do you not hold him incontempt?The god who treated you all as toys, do you not hold anger at him?Do you not want me to defeat the Great Sage Equaling Heaven!?Godou used psychic sensing power, entering people's dreams to rousethem, gathering the willpower of the people together, telling them theidentity of the true culprit of the incident, fanning the flames of their anger.Lend me your power and believe in me. As long as you lend your power tome, I will definitely help you vanquish that contemptible foe!He could sense the anger of the unconscious people directed towards theGreat Sage Equaling Heaven, forming a swirling vortex of fury in the realmof dreams.This was exactly what [Goat] needed as a foundation. Godou's left handwas finally able to fire off lightning attacks."By the art of spell words I vanquish adherents of injustice and evil! This isthe heavenly mandate of victory!"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven dodged the flash of lightning with greatagility.However, the Great Sage cannot be allowed to do as he pleased anyfurther. Having obtained new power, Godou stared acutely with greatintensity at his formidable foe.Part 3Using the vast wetlands as the stage, the close-quarter battle resembling aspecial effects movie was reaching a climax.Towering at a height often-odd metres, there was the three-headed andsix-armed Zhu Ganglie.Then there was the golden Benevolent King as his opponent, a half nakedgiant with only crude fabric covering his lower torso. The demonic cultleader summoned a spear using Daoist arts and pointed it at Zhu Ganglie.Known as the "King of Weapons" in China, the Qiang^ or Chinese spearwas Luo Cuilian's favorite weapon.As the two clashed in battle, it was so intense that one would not wish toblink lest a moment is missed.Each of Zhu Ganglie's six arms held a different weapon.Sword, halberd, axe, club, bow and arrows. All the weapons were usedsimultaneously in combination with incredible footwork. He movedeverywhere within the vicinity of the Benevolent King as he continued hisattacks. Whenever he distanced himself, he attacked with arrows and thehalberd, switching to the sword, axe and club at close range. (As a sidenote, the halberd refers to a weapon with a shaft like a spear and asickle-like blade combined together, allowing the spear end to be used forthrusts and the blade for slicing attacks.)Zhu Ganglie moved so quickly that afterimages were left behind. With suchhorrifying speed, the five weapons rained attacks down upon theBenevolent King without pause, making the three heads and six arms looklike there were thirty heads and sixty arms, or even sixty heads and ahundred and twenty arms.However, the one who took on this intense barrage of attacks was thedemonic cult leader, whose martial arts were simply divine.Unlike Zhu Ganglie who was circling around in arcs as he attacked, theglorious Benevolent King stood its ground without shifting his position whileLuo Hao stood in the center of the circle wielding her spear.Although there should only be a single spear, it looked like a thousandspearheads were thrusting continuously all at once.All five of Zhu Ganglie's weapons were intercepted. Arrows were struckdown, roaring attacks of the halberd were blocked, the sword wasdeflected, the axe was sent flying back, and the club was stopped.As Zhu Ganglie maneuvered in an oval arc to the Benevolent King's back,Luo Hao extended the spear backwards without even turning her head —in other words, the blunt end of the spear blocked every single attack frombehind."Hohoho, surely you cannot defeat me with this shabby-looking avatarwithout committing yourself to mutual destruction. I don't mind if yousurrender here for I shall give your pure and pristine complexion a goodloving..."The Divine Marshal made a lewd smile as he paused his movements.Up to this point, attack initiative had been firmly in his control. Though LuoCuilian disrupted every single one of his attacks with her godliketechniques, she was purely defending. She seemed too occupied withfending off the five weapons' continuous attacks to mount a counterattack.However, Luo Cuilian frowned and spoke:"Marshal, your foolishness knows no bounds. True, you have displayed thecourageous might of the Divine Marshal serving the North Pole's GreatEmperor Ziwei, but at the same time I have completely seen through you.You are no match for me at all. The one who ought to beg for mercy shouldbe... You instead, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Ganglie.""Ha! What nonsense you speak!""Do you seriously believe that? I have already discerned your true abilities.For one to expect a fellow like you to match me, Luo Hao, in a one-on-oneduel, what an embarrassment!"For some reason, her defiant words made all three faces of thethree-headed six-armed war god turn pale.And then the demonic cult leader dispelled the Benevolent King."Using three-headed six-armed martial arts is certainly extraordinary, butas the Ruler of the Martial Realm, Luo Hao will defeat you in a frontalconfrontation as befits a king. Now, come at me with everything you have!"Even when her opponent was a god, she maintained her supercilious airsas usual.This was the truth of Luo Cuilian's abilities. Such was the grandiloquencedelivered by the unarmed Ruler of the Martial Realm.Meanwhile, John Pluto Smith and Vaisravana were battling in midair.The sun had already come up. This was a refreshing morning sky andeven a great sunny day. Flying through the air, Smith penetrated the bluesky and hovering clouds as Vaisravana pursued behind the demonic bird,standing on the head of the water dragon.Vairavana had a material body, but nevertheless, he fearlessly acceleratedwithout any regard for G-forces in flying. As befitted a god with a bodyincomparably resilient beyond mortals, or perhaps he was using some sortof protective spell?"Eight hundred perish in the quicksands, three thousand drown in deepwaters. May swan feathers never float again, and reed flowers sink to thedepths!"Vairavana chanted spell words, causing clouds to gather in the sky.The clouds shaped themselves into a long slender form, with a shiningradiant surface and transparent interior. Soon after, it took on the likenessof a dragon, gathering clouds and moisture in the air, another water dragonhad been formed.This continued beyond a single dragon as more water dragons were bornin rapid succession. Including the original that Vaisravana was riding, therewas now a total of nine dragons."Oh? You're not bad at all."In his demonic bird form, Smith offered mild praise.The nine water dragons slithered and exchanged positions continuously,widening their ferocious jaws and performing biting attacks.Smith dodged with skillful flying for the black demonic bird not onlypossessed speed but also extraordinary agility. However, it was still unableto evade every attack. As the long neck of one of the water dragonsbrushed past one wing, the masked king finally felt true fear.The wing did not suffer a simple scratch but was cut opened and bleeding.Was this the same effect as the blade of water witnessed earlier on theground?It was as if the water dragons' bodies were made of blades, and they hadthe power to rip apart everything they touched."Oh my... Do I have to gamble my life away for a dance invitation!?"Due to the wing injury, it was impossible to fly properly. Nevertheless, theblack demonic bird did not need to flap its wings to fly.Smith ascended rapidly on wind currents and then swiftly descended. Likea swallow gliding on sea breezes, Smith nimbly flew back and forth,evading the wave-like water blade attacks made by the dragon heads.Naturally, Smith did not expect to escape that easily."Smoking mirror, symbol of Tezcatlipoca!"From Smith's jet black wings, out spewed smoke that wrapped itselfaround the bodies of the water dragons.Inhaling this smoke would cause poisoning that produces a paralyzingeffect on magical power. For ordinary enemies, this was enough to weakenthem for easy pickings..."Thousands of evil, tens of thousands of filth! May all be cleansed bywater!"Not to be outdone, Vaisravana chanted spell words in turn, causing steamto be emitted from the bodies of the nine water dragons, purifying the graymagical smoke. This was purifying divine power that dispelled magicalcorruption.However, Smith was not going to be outdone either, and he opened thebeak of the demonic bird.A magic bullet was fired from its mouth, aiming straight at Vaisravana'sbody! It was targeting the blue-black demonic deity riding on the head ofone of the flying water dragons.With a god as its target, Artemis' flash of light sped off. At that moment,another water dragon rushed into the trajectory of the magic bullet, gettingits head impaled instead of its creator and disappearing without trace.However, the attack of the magic bullet did not end there, and continued tofly towards Vaisravana!Water dragons continually rushed to intercept it, and were dispelled oneafter another.The water dragon carrying Vaisravana was the only one remaining. Inorder to protect Vaisravana, the last water dragon transformed into a shield— and deflected the bullet. Somehow, the body of the water dragon hadsolidified into ice.Deflected by the ice dragon, the magic bullet flew away into the distant sky."Hohoho... Finally, ice to deflect that bullet has been created."Vaisravana laughed with a gloomy face.His mount, the water dragon had frozen into ice, transforming into an icedragon.No — that was not all. Using the moisture in the atmosphere, new icedragons were being created, and the ranks of the army of nine dragonswere filled once more!Smith opened the demonic bird's beak and shot another magic bullet.However, the attack he fired was again deflected by an ice dragon,disappearing into the distance opposite to the previous bullet."Hmph... A mirror of ice with the magic of reflection? What troublesomedivine power, but it may very well create a good opportunity."Despite the ineffectiveness of his trump cards, Smith spoke in a relaxedmanner."Oh? What do you mean?""Because there is something that has intrigued me for quite some time...For gods like you, strength and divine authority is not always proportionalto how well-known you are, and there are times when minor gods showgreater resilience than half-assed major gods. What is the cause of suchdisparity... I believe that now is a good opportunity to find out."The ninth incarnation, the [Goat], had the power to control thunder andlightning.However, the target must be a common enemy recognized by the peopleand there was the major caveat of taking the life force of nearby peopleindiscriminately. Godou recalled his memories from the last time he usedthis incarnation and released a thunderstrike.A flash of lightning was fired from his right hand, giving off the stench ofozone from the ionized air as the intense electrical current headed straightfor the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. At the same time, Godou did notforget to direct his awareness towards the sky.Thunderclouds were summoned into the sunny sky, and these heavyclouds rumbled with thunder."Damn it, all this static electricity is annoying!"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven grumbled with displeasure as hedodged lightning coming from in front and above at the same time.Normally, being struck by lightning would cause severe burns and amassive Shockwave impact. However, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven'siron body was a conductor. Though he was blown back, there wasapparently no damage.Whenever the Great Sage Equaling Heaven approached and tried toattack with his Ruyi Staff, Godou released lightning at him.The Great Sage was struck by lightning many times and blown awaybackwards, but clearly did not suffer any injuries. Bodies of steel were trulydestestable."Damn it! This is neverending — may the heavens shake and the earthtremble in fear, hurry hurry!"The 160cm tall divine monkey roughly doubled in height. Naturally, hisother dimensions were increased proportionately.Enduring Godou's lightning, he spread his legs and forcefully stood hisground.The expanded body could now withstand the impact of the lightningwithout being sent flying. The Great Sage smiled with his monkey face ashe charged forward. Who could have expected him to use body expansionto resist the impact of lightning!?"Damn it! In that case—"Godou gathered electrical energy into spheres and created balls ofthunder.Roughly the size of basketballs, these small spheres continuously emittedelectricity. Then Godou threw them at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven.Not one, but five at the same time!"Hmm ooooooh, what clever little tricks!"The five thunder balls released electrical current as they violently crashedinto the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. This was the strategy of overcominggiant enemies with numbers. Suddenly, the divine monkey returned to hisoriginal size and jumped away sideways.At the same time, he repeatedly used the spell of creating clones —Multiplying to over twenty of himself, the Great Sages jumped at Godou allat the same time."Evil people can never hit me!"Godou summoned lightning which descended from the thundercloud,surrounding himself in 360 degrees with lightning for protection.The stench of ionized air stifled his nostrils, while the attacking GreatSages were all swept away by the lightning — no, just as he was thinkingthat, the divine monkey with peerless agility descended from above.Using his clones as distractions, the real one had jumped into the air.The Ruyi Staff was swung down hard, and Godou evaded by rolling on theground.Returning to his original position, Kusanagi Godou faced off against theGreat Sage Equaling Heaven once again.His enemy's attacks came with far too much variety. What kind of surprisetactics could be used to defeat him? Just as Godou felt troubled, his rightarm began to hurt.It was telling Godou to rely on it. Time to display a man's dignity.Godou snorted in response."Like the time in the Netherworld, what a meddlesome fellow... Butanyway, I will accept this battle plan!"Godou extended his right arm at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven."Tsk... You retard, are you firing noisy lightning again?""Nope, this time is a little different. Lightning doesn't have much of aneffect on your steel body... I'm going to show you something moreamazing!"The Great Sage grumbled in disappointment. But if this move worked,victory definitely belonged to Kusanagi Godou! What would be the endresult?"As the one who holds all victory in my hands, I am the strongest. Allenemies shall meet defeat by my hand!"Composing the spell words, the sacred warlord's authority and the divinesword's power began to amplify each other.No mistake about it, this was the divine blade Ama no Murakumo noTsurugi's power!— The sword that assimilated the qualities of rebellious barbarians tobolster its own power. It was now Kusanagi Godou's personal sword, ableto absorb divine power that damaged its master, converting it into its ownenergy. In the battle against Luo Cuilian, it had absorbed the [Dragon'sRoar and Tiger's Howl] and provided the final decisive strike.Furthermore, there was another interesting use for this sword."As the embodiment of victory, all enemies shall tremble before me!"Lightning was summoned from the thundercloud, descending onto his rightarm which contained the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi. Another use ofthis sword was to absorb Kusanagi Godou's authority, creating newpowers!"I shall smash through all enemies in my way! Man and devil — allenemies, all who harbor enmity will be vanquished!"The dormant divine sword in his arm absorbed the lightning, converting itinto another power — releasing magnetism.In ancient Japan, blacksmithing began with the step of melting ironsandfollowed by forging the resulting steel sword. Anyway, the point was thatancient Japanese swords were made from ironsand — the ore of aferromagnetic metal.When ferromagnetic ores were struck by lightning in nature, magnetismwas occasionally induced.Godou and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were recreating thisphenomenon, using massive electric and magnetic fields, together with thealready present steel —Thus a miracle could be performed — !"Go forth, Great Sage Equaling Heaven! Fly away to the ends of theuniverse!""Woah... W-What is this power!?"This effect was created using the magnetic fields given off by a massiveflow of electrical current, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi's mystictechniques, and ferromagnetic iron.The properties of magnets meant two possible outcomes, will they mutuallyattract or repel? The resulting magnetic field used the latter to make abullet — the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was sent flying away.The divine monkey with the indestructible body of steel was trapped by themagnetic field released from Godou's right arm, and kept flying up in theair.Like a rocket taking off to outer space, he flew with horrific speed towardsthe skies.Railguns used electromagnetism to accelerate an object and fire it at superhigh speeds. Using this principle to create a mass driver to fire off massiveobjects into space, Kusanagi Godou's authority from Verethragnacombined with Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to create a makeshift massdriver to send the divine monkey of steel into the heavens!The earth's atmosphere is composed of the layers of the troposphere, thestratosphere, the mesosphere and the thermosphere.Beyond the thermosphere is the exosphere and then space. If thiscontinued, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven would be exiled from earth.Furthermore, objects flying at high speed will get heated by friction with theatmosphere, resulting in extremely high temperatures. The last region ofthe atmosphere — the thermosphere was a super high temperature realmthat reached two thousand degrees.Now that all the necessary conditions for defeating this formidable enemyhad been gathered, what would be the final outcome...!?Part 4Rising through the air, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had become aburning bullet.Though he was well accustomed to god speed movement, this was the firsttime he experienced this method of acceleration.In reality, so-called god speed was not really the power of 'rapidmovement' but an ability to shorten travel duration. Rather than 'movingfrom Point A to Point B at the speed of several hundred kilometres perhour,' it was the ability of 'moving from Point A to Point B in zero pointsomething seconds.' Instead of physical acceleration, it was the power ofdistorting the traveling time required.Which is why the Great Sage had yet another first experience, that of thefriction of air resistance at supersonic speeds and the heat from plowingthrough the atmosphere."So hot hot hot hot hot hot! This is unbearable! What a godslayer, this istoo reckless!"It was imperative to return to the surface before incinerating completely. Heactivated his divine power and tried to counteract the electromagneticforces.Also calling for his golden cloud, he had to hurry back to ground level byany means possible. The many phenomena sustaining the planet, such asgravity and the earth's own magnetic field, could also be used to return himto the surface."Middle Bro and Lil' Bro! Combine your powers, you two! Summon meback to earth!"Even separated by tens of thousands of miles, the sworn brothers couldstill communicate telepathically.However, beyond the Great Sage's expectations, the sworn youngerbrothers had both been driven into crises of their own."When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound prajnaparamita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty,and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty. Shariputra, form doesnot differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itselfis emptiness; emptiness itself is form!"^Luo Cuilian began to recite the Heart Sutra.Combined with the melodious voice of the maiden who attained nirvana,the authority of the [Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl] generatedShockwaves of magical wind.Magical power was originally something with neither shape, color, odor norform, but Luo Cuilian's authority conferred various properties upon it."So, too, are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness. Shariputra,all dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced. Notdestroyed, not defiled, not pure, and they neither increase nor diminish!"The air currents continued to expand as the power of the wind increasedonce again."Tsk! A mere woman doing such infuriating things!"As Luo Cuilian concentrated in some kind of terrifying undertaking, ZhuGanglie brandished his five weapons.Firing arrows and attacking continuously with the halberd, sword, axe andclub, he tried to resist the impacts of the magical wind.The three-headed six-armed giant god was helpless against the magicalwind blowing in the cult leader's surroundings. This was the wind that couldhave swept away all of creation, and the Divine Marshal's weapons werepowerless in their efforts to breach the gaseous defensive wall that barredall attacks. There was simply no way to disrupt the transcendent beauty asshe composed a song of death and destruction."Make haste, by the mighty decree of the North Emperor, obey!"Zhu Ganglie chanted spell words to bolster his bodily strength and wasfinally able to budge his weapons gradually, inching with greatsluggishness towards Luo Cuilian's body. However, the demonic cultleader's mystic arts finally completed at this time.Infusing light into the magical wind, Luo Cuilian's body shone with goldenlight that melded with the wind.This was also an avatar manifested from the [Divine Might of Vajrapani] butnot one of the golden Benevolent Kings. The brightness gathered and tookform between Luo Cuilian and Zhu Ganglie, finally becoming a massivepalm!My heart is as the void, but my palm is like a deadly hurricane —"Mmmmmmmmmaaaaaaah!""Strength exerted from bones, force applied from tendons! Yes, a palm thatprecedes all creation!"The golden palm was the same size as Zhu Ganglie's massive body. Thisgiant palm performed the subsequent attack.Like an explosion — the three-headed six-armed giant deity suffered afrontal assault, devastating his face, body and legs, giving his brain aconcussion, the impacts penetrating his internal organs and shattering hisbones.The giant golden palm even grabbed Zhu Ganglie and held tight with greatforce."My sworn little brother seems to have exiled the Great Sage EqualingHeaven. As his elder sister, I think it would be interesting to imitate him andfollow suit. Vulgar war god, disappear into the sky! Your presence is anaffront to my eyes!"Despite engaging in battle along the front lines, she did not neglectawareness of the entire battlefield.This was the rare talent displayed by the clairvoyant Daoist priestess.As she struck her palm towards the heavens, the mighty golden palm keptZhu Ganglie in its tight grasp and sent him up towards the sky."Woaaaaaaah!"As Zhu Ganglie screamed pitifully as he ascended, his hollow criesresounded across the sky."...Amazing, it's hard to believe that the monstrous strength of HerEminence was capable of such a thing."The golden palm and Zhu Ganglie were rocketing up into the sky.Witnessing this surreal scene, Godou felt deeply impressed. What hadtaken a makeshift railgun created by him and Ama no Murakumo noTsurugi, the same effect was achieved by the demonic cult leader throughbrute strength and martial arts alone.Godou made his way over to where Luo Hao had been fighting.Making his way torturously over the shaking ground, the destination lyingbefore him had become a wasteland. Standing in the center was thebeautiful demonic cult leader, who had apparently used her magical windauthority to render this entire area into ruins."Little brother, you have arrived. Just as you witnessed, your elder sisterhas just exiled the vulgar Marshal Canopy. I was watching as you defeatedthe Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Very well done."She was praising me. Looks like she used some sort of vision enhancingmagic.Though he was being praised, Godou found Luo Cuilian's gaze to be verysevere."However I seemed to have heard you muttering to yourself... Calling mesomething like 'Her Eminence,' using such an impersonal form of addresslike entertaining a guest... I wondered if I heard wrongly..."Stared at like being interrogated, Godou could not help trembling. Couldshe actually have heard his exclamation from when he saw Zhu Ganglierise to the heavens? What was with this supernatural hearing?!"Just to make sure, I will remind you once more. Little brother, call me'Onee-sama'.""O-o-o... o... Nee... sama..."Urged by her, Godou had no choice but to do as told, but still the greatelder sister shook her head."This is no good at all. The elder sister beyond the equal of mere mortals,filled with incomparable mercy and benevolence... Basks you in her lightlike the sun that warms the world. Your manner of address just now did notcarry the slightest hint of respectful admiration. You should be calling me'Onee-sama' with worship and adoration. You have to work harder on this."The level of those requirements are too high... The subject needs to bechanged, quick!"B-By the way, O... Nee-san looked like the battle wasn't too tough.""Of course, although that Zhu Ganglie is the True Lord Marshal Canopy,he is merely manifesting in the manner of a subordinate god."Godou's failure in addressing her in the prescribed manner made the eldersister frown.However, she forgave him for now. Being called 'Nee-san' was enough toprovide her with slight satisfaction."Remember this well. What decides the strength of [Heretic Gods], isneither how great or powerful they were in the original myths, nor howwidespread is their fame. The key to their strength lies in their unshakableego.Unshakable ego. In other words, the characteristic of steadfast narcissism?"Relying on no one's opinions but their own, going forward to do what onewishes no matter what — the willpower to destroy the human race even if itmeans changing the heavens and the earth. This determines a god'sstrength. Nevertheless, subordinate gods cannot sustain their existence ifthe main deity is gone."Godou recalled what happened with Verethragna, Athena and the GreatSage Equaling Heaven.Once the amnesiac sacred warlord retrieved his true ego, his power greatlyincreased; the Greek virgin goddess Athena became the powerful ancientearth mother deity once she retrieved the Gorgoneion; having lost hisname and mettle, the divine monkey monarch descended upon the earthas the great hero once the seal was released.This explains everything, I see now... Godou could not help but nod as heaccepted the facts."So by this time, Vaisravana who is fighting Smith should also...""If I'm not mistaken, he has the current advantage, however..."Luo Cuilian looked up into the sky with a sharp gaze."Subordinate gods receive protection from the master while the master inturn obtains support from the subordinates. They will become even morepowerful and formidable. It would not be wrong to say the battle trulybegins now, my little brother, you must not lose your guard by any means."Come to think of it, the reason why I defeated with such ease the Ama noMurakumo no Tsurugi, which now lies dormant in my right hand, wasbecause its master Susanoo lived in the Netherworld and did not show anyconcern for the battle. Without such auspicious circumstances, what wouldhave been the outcome?"As expected for gods who suffer from a lack of distinct ego, even if theyare able to make full use of their powers, they are missing the kind oftenacious power that overcomes stalemates and losing situations. Dare Isay, this is exactly as I imagined it?""Gah... How could this be! Clearly I was able to block these arrows justnow — !"Riding upon the wind in the form of the demonic bird was John PlutoSmith.He circled leisurely in the sky as he looked down upon Vaisravana whosechest had been penetrated by a blue-white magic bullet. Had it been anormal human, it would have pierced the heart."If you were an actual independent deity, surely you would have evadedthe returning Artemis' Arrow. Anyway, thank you for proving my suspicionscorrect."The two bullets deflected by the ice dragons a while ago had been flyingtowards the depths of the universe high above the world. But along theway, they made a U-turn and returned to earth. The ice dragons gatheredtogether, overlapping to form a shield, intending to deflect the bullets againand managed to block one of them. However, the remaining shot could notbe stopped and Vaisravana was pierced directly...These were the magic bullets of the moon deity, limited to only six shotsper lunar cycle. This was the reason why every shot had such horrificpower. It was rumored that if all the bullets were shot at once, the resultingfire would devour the entirety of California and burn for seven days withoutextinguishing. After the incineration, it would become such a completewasteland that even weeds would not grow.Against such a powerful weapon, mere deflection was not going toneutralize its attacks. Vaisravana's defeat had already been sealed by thefact that he was unable to destroy the bullets directly like the Great SageEqualing Heaven."Ooh — since it has come to this!"From the top of an ice dragon's head, the punctured Vaisravana released awater current from his hand, naturally his target was the black demonic birdflying in the air. Smith boldly performed a defensive maneuver against thiscounterattack."How sad, your death struggle is meaningless, and only serves as achance for me to show off my powers."The attacked devil king released his transformation in the air.The black demonic bird returned to the black-clad black-masked JohnPluto Smith.Due to the instantaneous decrease in body size, Vaisravana's attackpassed through directly without hitting anything. The caped devil kingfluttered in the wind like a feather, and pulled out his gun, aiming atVaisravana as he descended."Wan— !"This time the abdomen was penetrated, causing Vaisravana to collapse. Ofthe six magic bullets, only one remained, but having defeated one of thethree deities, it was enough —As he slowly descended towards the ground, Smith suddenly heard theresounding voice of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven."Middle Bro and Lil' Bro! Combine your powers, you two! Summon meback to earth!""Big Bro, I got it! I will entrust all my remaining strength to you! It is nowtime for the three gods to unite and vanquish the Rakshasa!"What!? Before Smith's surprised eyes, the Curtain Lifting GeneralVaisravana's figure dispersed, becoming tiny sand-like particles of lightwhich flew towards the high atmosphere.Flying high towards the heavens, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Ganglie wasaccompanied by the golden palm.He too, heard the voice of his sworn older brother, and decided tosurrender as well."Hmm what a pity. Booze, gambling, women, breasts, butts, beautiful legs!There is still so much that I want to do! But in my current unsightly state,there is nothing else I can do! Big Bro, I am coming now!"Clutched tightly by the golden palm, Zhu Ganglie's body also dispersed,forming the same shining particles of light like the youngest sworn brotherand escaping from the confines of the hand to fly towards the corner of thesky where the sworn older brother was located!Turned into a railgun projectile and flying towards space, the divinemonkey, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, proceeded tochant a mantra with calm composure."Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, Alkaid! The Seven Stars ofthe Northern Dipper, I beseech you to manifest!"As the divine essence of the subordinate gods rushed over to him, theGreat Sage absorbed it to raise his own divine power."Snakes and dragons, offer your bloody carcasses to me; flames, heat upiron to forge into steel; clear water, cool the sword's blade! All shallempower my divinity as the sword god!"In order to attain an unshakable ego, the Great Sage was returning to hisroots as a sword god.In order to form a sword, he gathered the power he needed.The devil kings attacking me and the Rakshasa tearing me apart! TheGreat Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, was now about to enter thepath of hellish trials to become the divine sword that vanquishes evil andembodies justice! Overwhelming power filled his heart and mind.Once again confirming his mission as a sword god, he expressed approvalof the ancient covenant."Hah—!"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven finally released himself from the cursedbonds of electromagnetism.As he overlooked the territory of Japan, he summoned his Ruyi Staff.It was finally time for a counterattack. Smiling, he grew in size, letting hisbody reach the dimensions of Zhu Ganglie. Though he was able to expandfurther, making his body too large would be detrimental to speed.Next in action were the two sworn younger brothers who had hurried over.Zhu Ganglie's essence turned into a massive black boar, roughly the samesize as the current Great Sage who sat on his back, taking on the role of awild beast mount.Then Vaisravana's essence formed a dragon, wrapping itself around theback of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, taking on a ready stance thatseemed like it was going to attack on command.Thus, the three gods became one, and everything was ready.The three divine spirits' bodies were enveloped by white flames as they fellback onto the surface like a shooting star.Veering off from the direction of Nikkou, they had to correct their trajectoryalong the way while being surrounded by high heat, passing through thestratosphere and finally returning to the troposphere.The ground beneath could now be seen. Nantaisan, Lake Chuuzenji,Senjougahara, Lake Yunoko, etc —Along the way, the black demonic bird's silhouette could be spotted in thedistance.One of the godslayers was trying to pursue me. Excellent, let's strike himdown.The Great Sage Equaling Heaven descended upon the land ofSenjougahara once more.However, this time the massive landing impact remodeled the landscape.Riding astride the black boar, leading the dragon, the Great Sage EqualingHeaven's mighty entry made the ground crack and overturn, blowing awaysoil and vegetation, creating a crater.At the bottom of the crater, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven lightly kickedthe beast's abdomen, ordering it to make its way to the surface.The black demonic bird also came and landed, transforming into the mandressed in black. On ground level, the team of the young man and womanwas also heading over here."So, godslayers, let us fight to the very end!"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven shouted at the mortal enemies beforehim with great delight.Thus the three Campiones faced off against the three gods who had unitedas one.Godou was still maintaining the [Goat] incarnation, whose priestly powerinformed him that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had become threegods in one.Taking on the role of a horse was the giant black boar transformed fromZhu Ganglie.Vaisravana had become a dragon, its long and slender body slitheringalong the Great Sage's back.And then the steel monkey of Scythian origins wielded the Ruyi Staff, like aknight in a jousting tournament except with unusual body measurements, abizarre knight standing ten-odd metres tall.The fur on Great Sage Equaling Heaven's two arms stood on end andwere fired like rockets.As countless hairs flew through the air, their front ends were sharp asneedles. These things could probably pierce right through a steel plate!"...This is bad!"Godou could not help crying out as the kings scattered and the needlesstruck the ground. Anyone who gets hit would be skewered! And that wasjust the first wave of attacks.Firing in succession, the needles formed a hail of projectiles that blottedthe sky."Quoted from the chapter of Carefree Roaming, the perfect man has nothought of self; the god-like man, none of merit; the sagely-minded man,none of fame!"^With the sound of Luo Cuilian's melodious chant, the impact of magicalwind blew away thousands of needles, but at the same time, the threegods in one also made their move.Crash! The ground shook as the black boar carrying the Great SageEqualing Heaven began to gallop, charging and racing. That kind of speedwas like the wind. Despite the huge size of its body, its movements werefaster than the eye could see."One who slices everything apart, be summoned for the sake of victory!"Godou tried to counterattack, again using lightning and Ama no Murakumono Tsurugi to generate massive magnetic forces, intending to send theGreat Sage into space once more, but because the Great Sage had vastlyincreased his mass, an immediate effect could not be produced. No good,it's too late!The Great Sage Equaling Heaven was arriving on the giant boar.As the boar raised its hooves to trample Godou, Luo Cuilian and Smith,there was clearly no time to use the railgun."Massive timber splitting mountains, producing great force! Stackingmultitudes of golden bells, producing impenetrable iron cloth!"The demonic cult leader charged at this time.From her back drifted a flaming aura which took form as the goldenBenevolent King, blocking the beast's charge. What amazing peerless armstrength! However at this instant, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven leapedfrom the boar's back."Hah—!"Somersaulting to behind the Benevolent King, he used the Ruyi Staff tostrike at the golden back.Ooof! The Benevolent King's courageous expression was distorted, but hestill kicked backwards at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven behind him.However, this kick was easily avoided, and the Ruyi Staff once againroared as it whistled through the air.Smack smack smack smack smack! The rapid series of impacts soundedlike fireworks.With the sound of explosions, the Great Sage had made a continuousseries of at least a hundred strikes in an instant. Completely unable to fightback, the Benevolent King was struck by a decisive blow from the GreatSage, and the golden half-nude male was dispelled without trace.At this time, a black shadow flew up from the ground.This was the black demonic bird transformed from John Pluto Smith again.He must be thinking that a ground battle's outcome might be uncertain?However, it looked like there was something chasing after the ferociousflying bird.It was the serpentine creature that had been standing ready on the GreatSage's back — the dragon.Flying with the same speed as the demonic bird, the dragon blocked thebird's path from in front, preventing Smith from flying freely.Somehow, the giant boar had also jumped high into the sky, was it trying toattack the demonic bird together with the dragon? But the height of thisjump could not reach the position of the demonic bird, and only arrived aposition slightly below where the dragon and the bird battled —The Great Sage Equaling Heaven also jumped at this time.Jumping nimbly as if flying with wings, one could not connect it with theweight of the giant body at all.Wielding the Ruyi Staff, the divine monkey's target was the giant boar inthe air. Using the boar's fur as a foothold, he made another giant leap, andso the Great Sage Equaling Heaven reached the altitude where thedemonic bird and the dragon were fighting.The Ruyi Staff was swung.Aaaaaaaah! Struck in the neck, the demonic bird screamed in pain andcrashed towards the ground."Uh... As befitting of the Great Sage... I am faced with a difficult battle..."Before Godou, Luo Cuilian had been brought down to one knee.Blood dripped out from her mouth, and it seemed like the damage sufferedby the Benevolent King was reflected onto her body."Wait a moment and I will proceed to use all of my divine powers, defeatingthe three-in-one Great Sage... Godou, watch and learn carefully from theheroic fighting form of your elder sister, got that?"Even though injured, she still wanted to stand up and fight for victory.Amongst Campiones, Luo Cuilian's fighting spirit and willpower weretypical of the illegitimate children of the fool — Epimetheus, whose talentwas possessing insanity that transcended strategy and victory probability.Maybe she really could win this fight.Perhaps she could turn this crisis around alone.But this won't do! Godou shook his head, for 'perhaps' was simply not goodenough.I want to win, and will do everything to achieve it myself. Within the plansof victory traced out in Godou's mind, the power of this woman and thefallen young man were needed."— Nee-san."For the very first time, Godou was able to use this manner of addressnaturally."How many times have I repeated, you should be calling me 'Onee-sama.'How forgetful of you...""Nee-san, this sort of thing is irrelevant at this time. In order to defeat thatbastard monkey, the three of us must cooperate together. Don't sayanything about fighting alone again."Godou gazed directly into the maiden's eyes, speaking his mind in earnest."Besides, Nee-san is the one who said this is the first time for us to fight incooperation, perhaps you have forgotten? I will definitely end this battlewith victory, so I will use everything at my disposal. So come, fight togetherwith me, this is my request of a lifetime!""W-When did you start becoming so obsessed with this battle?"If that's the case, you should have spoken earlier. Luo Cuilian nodded asshe blushed."Very well, fulfilling the little brother's willfulness is also part of a swornelder sister's duty. I will not object. In the name of the bonds between us,this battle must be won no matter what!"Godou gave simple instructions to the assenting elder sister.When forming impromptu teams without sufficient time to get accustomedto one another, it was necessary to keep things simple.During his baseball days, Godou had many opportunities to train andcompete with representative teams. Furthermore, as the catcher whoseposition was central to defense, he was used to making this kind of dutydistribution."The root of my power of Vajra, now is the time for great might that cantear apart heaven and earth!"Hearing the summons of the demonic cult lady, the Om pair of goldenBenevolent Kings manifested.As the vanguard she was to use her full strength, hence the simultaneoususe of dual avatars.— Prior to the advent of firearms, the combat potential of cavalry wasequivalent to tanks in modern warfare.This was due to an absolute advantage in both offensive ability andmobility, because riding horses traveled faster than on foot, and attackingon a galloping horse carried the benefit of much greater momentum.Furthermore, with bows and arrows as well as other factors such asoutstanding cavalry tactics, many equestrian tribes conquered vastterritories in both the orient and the Occident.And now in the present, the enormous Great Sage Equaling Heaven wasriding a giant boar charging on the plains of Senjougahara.Facing them were the two Benevolent Kings approaching on foot. Forinfantry to be able to counter the historically proven principle of cavalrysuperiority, the demonic cult leader's martial might was truly astounding.The Great Sage Equaling Heaven charged forward, riding the giant boar.Blocking him was the open-mouthed^ Benevolent King, but the wild boarattempted to thrust its sharp tusks at the flank of his abdomen.The close-mouthed Benevolent King used his open-mouthed partner as aplatform to launch an attack at the divine monkey riding the black boar.Jumping lightly into the air he made a series of killing palm strikes.However, all of them were blocked by the Ruyi Staff.The dragon lying in wait on the Great Sage's back, also bared its fangs asit opened its jaws to bite the throat of the open-mouthed Benevolent King.While all this was happening, the giant boar below did not stop charging,and was competing in a battle of strength against the incomparable mightof the Benevolent King. The open-mouthed one's muscles bulged as hehalted the advance of the giant boar.Like a mounted knight, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven swung down hisstaff, striking the open-mouthed Benevolent King soundly in the face.The open-mouthed Benevolent King persevered but was clearly at adisadvantage. Using the time bought, Godou concentrated on raising hismagical power.Due to the enemy's abnormal size, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi neededto be infused with power to reach a critical point.However, there were still other tasks required during this time, henceGodou approached the fallen young man.The place the demonic bird crashed down just now was close by.Crouched down on the grass, the masked king was struggling to stand up."Are you unable to fight any longer?""In terms of boxing, this is as if the knockout count reached eight. Still, Ican just barely pull myself together, enough to let me give a miraculousreversal performance."Still eloquent as ever, then he must be fine. Godou had no intention ofextending a helping hand for the man trying to stand up because JohnPluto Smith did not ask for his help.Several seconds later, the two of them stood shoulder to shoulder andsmiled at each other. Although Smith's face was obscured by the mask hewore, surely he must be showing a fearless smile.That's right, that was the kind of man he was."You are concentrating magical power as if preparing for some interestingoperation. By my guess, Her Eminence is buying time for you right now...Hmm, how unexpected for her to have a personality that dutifully supportsa man with such profound devotion.""Stop saying these weird things. Ignoring that, I am currently preparing touse this move."Trying to silence Smith's nonsense, Godou told him the essential details."However, the one to perform the finishing blow has to be you. Previouslyyou mentioned a trump card with heat and fire, can you still use it?""Don't worry, I am not a man who misses out on rare opportunities for agrand performance. It's ready any time... So... what are you planning?"Hearing the plan Godou was considering, Smith whistled from beneath themask.Wiggling his index and middle fingers in a pretentious manner to substitutefor a response — it seemed to be saying, what a reckless proposal, butcount me in.The black-caped young man departed with shaking footsteps, but Godouwas not worried in the least.If this man had already said he was ready any time, then he won't beembarrassing himself. Hence Godou raised his right arm towards the skyin preparation."It was this place, that Susanoo led a thousand unruly deities in rebellion— intending to take over this country!"Was this his second authority or simply just a weapon? In order to summonthe sword with the ambiguous identity, Godou recited spell words.If it was just an authority, it should be minding its own business instead ofinterfering during strange occasions. If it was just a weapon, it was buriedtoo deeply inside Godou. Was this problem the result of the chaoticconditions under which this fellow was defeated?"A thousand swords standing upon the earth, used as city walls to defendagainst the enemies..."...Well said, you can just call me 'partner.' Hearing the whispers comingfrom the depths of his right arm, Godou nodded. This form of addressblurred the distinction between the two identities, and was not a bad name."So, let's go, partner — Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, unsheathe!"Neither an ability nor a possession, it was the summoning of a companion.Responding gallantly was the cooperative companion who might one daydecline to help on whim.'Here! Namely, the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi! The steel that breaks athousand blades!'The divine sword Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi was finally unsheathedfrom its scabbard!The silver-white light concentrated on the right arm raised towards theheavens, for the sword that stole and assimilated rebellious barbaric might,imitating what was used against the [Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl] inLuo Cuilian's battle, was going to be used for the decisive strike.In that case, the target this time was of course the power of the Great SageEqualing Heaven, Sun Wukong — the authority of steel!The silver-white light materialized above Godou's head, forming asilver-white metallic ring.This iron ring was made of the same steel as the Great Sage... If one wereto give it a name, of course it would be most fitting to call it the[Constricting Circlet], right? That was the Buddhist treasure thatAvalokitasvara bestowed upon the Monk Sanzang to keep the unruly SunWukong in line.'Now is the time for annihilating barbarians coming from all directions!Outsiders be vanquished!'"I know, go forth, Ama no Murakumo!"Godou swung his right arm, causing the silver-white circlet to fly towardsthe Great Sage Equaling Heaven.Like the Ruyi Staff whose length could extend and retract at will, thedimensions of this ring could also be controlled freely. Like the Great Sagehimself, this ring could also create clones of itself, and Godou split it intothree giant rings in an instant.The three rings struck the three-in-one Great Sage Equaling Heaven whowas battling intensely with the two Benevolent Kings.At the same time as the rings hit, the Benevolent Kings vanished. Missionaccomplished, Luo Cuilian dispelled them.'Ugh!' 'So this was the ominous premonition I felt earlier!?' 'Calm down, BigBro, Middle Bro!'The three rings respectively struck right on target the Great Sage EqualingHeaven, the wild boar and the dragon wrapped around the Great Sage'sbody, restraining their bodies like handcuffs.Like Sun Wukong's Constricting Circlet, the silver-white rings imprisonedthe three-in-one Great Sage Equaling Heaven and his sworn brothers —wait, that's not completely accurate!One person managed to overcome the circlet and escape, it was of coursethe Great Sage Equaling Heaven.Jumping nimbly with movements like lightning, he tried to escape to theskies, but at this time, a silver-white flash of light flew and struck the GreatSage in the forehead."Ouch!?"It was John Pluto Smith's last magic bullet.Godou was greatly surprised to find the Great Sage resilient enough towithstand the direct hit with only cries of 'ouch' but thanks to the impact,the divine monkey of steel also lost his balance.Using this opening, Godou ordered Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to senda silver-white ring towards the escaped prey, finally capturing the GreatSage Equaling Heaven this time.Thus the three rings dragged the three divine spirits back to the bottom ofthe crater they had made during their re-entry.However, merely restraining them did not amount to victory.The black demonic bird leaped down into the meteorite crater where theywere located and its mighty wings began to give off fire."For annihilation I count the number of my great works — I am the axe ofthe night that summons termination, lowering the final curtain for theworld's destruction, the messenger from hell!"These were the flames of annihilation, the transformation that executes allenemies by incinerating his own body.The black flames melted the steel rings that imprisoned the Great SageEqualing Heaven and his subordinate gods. In the end, the steel ringsgenerated by Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were melted down into liquidstate.Molten steel filled the crater, engulfing the Great Sage and his brothers.It was like a natural furnace. Invincible steel was being melted down andlosing its form. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the giant boar anddragon were all turning into shapeless masses within the furnace.Athena once said — super high temperature that melts iron was the naturalpredator of the sword gods of steel.Godou's first thought was a furnace, which is why the flames of annihilationand Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were used together to create thisnatural predator!"Waaaaaah!"With final pitiful cries of death, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and hissworn brothers finally melted completely.This was the moment of complete victory for the three Campiones —Kusanagi Godou, Smith and Luo Hao.References1 . t A quote from the Daoist philosophical classicZhuangzi.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi_(book)2. t Style name: a Chinese style name, also known as a courtesyname, was a given name generally used after the age of twenty as asign of adulthood and respect. The use of style names have fallen outof tradition since the early twentiethcentury. http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_style_name3. t Ziwei(^t^): a group of stars lying near the north celestialpole. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Forbidden_enclosure4. t Benevolent Kings(tl): usually depicted in pairs, muscular andwrathful guardian deities of Buddha and manifestations of Vajrapani.They stand on guard at the entrance of Buddhist temples in the form offrightening statues. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nio5. t Shramana: a parallel movement to Vedic Hinduism in ancientIndia which gave rise to Buddhism, Jainism andYoga. http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Shramana6. t Qiang(H): Due to its relative ease of manufacture, the spear inmany variations was ubiquitous on the pre-modern Chinese battlefield.Common features of the Chinese spear are the leaf shaped blade andred horse-hair tassel lashed just below. The tassel serves a tacticalpurpose, and is not simply fordecoration, http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Qiang_(spear)7. t Heart Sutrahttp://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Sutra8. t A quote from the Daoist philosophical classicZhuangzi.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi_(book)9. t Open-mouthed(PRl^): each pair of 3*>(0m/A-un) Buddhist statuesconsists of one each of two types — one open-mouthed and the otherwith a closed mouth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-un

Chapter 7 - Gods and Godslayers, the ClimacticFinal Battle for VictoryPart 1Godou was badly beaten up while the Great Sage Equaling Heavenliterally had his belly cut open as suggested.Had either of them succumbed to their heavy injuries, it would not havebeen surprising, but they dulled the pain through pure willpower alone.Completely ignoring the state of their bodies and maintaining theheightened state of excitement, only gods and Campiones could be thisreckless.Watching this scene unfold was Hikari who had just been rescued. Shecould no longer hear the thoughts of the person who had been speaking toher.Due to taking on a portion of the [Swordj's burden, Yuri also reached herlimit and had fallen unconscious somewhere. The second sun in the skyalso vanished, having lost the [Sword] it depended on."Hikari... Is your body okay?""Yes! Thanks to Onii-sama and everyone else, I am completely fine!""I see... Then hurry and leave this place and find a place to hide."Godou gently reminded the girl who was embracing him."Why? I want to help Onii-sama! I also want to assist you like all the otherOnee-sama!""No, there's nothing you can help here. Besides..."Godou coldly released Hikari despite her earnest pleas, for the battle wasjust about to enter a climax."I entrust everyone in your care, Hikari. Erica, Liliana, Seishuuin and yoursister far away have all used up their strength. Go immediately to help andtake care of them.""If I do that... I will be helping Onii-sama?""Yes, please. You are the only one I can rely on now."It was now like being in the ninth inning with a one point lead. In order toguard this lead, Godou began to rouse the feelings of outfielders —nostalgic memories from his days as a catcher were even recalled.Treating the girl in his arms as a companion and entrusting her withimportant tasks, Godou stroked Hikari's head softly.As a result, the twelve-year-old apprentice Hime-Miko gazed at Godou withblushing cheeks."Yes... I will do as Onii-sama says, but you must come back alive. If youdon't keep your promise, I won't listen to Onii-sama's orders again. Will youpromise me this?""I know, in order to make you listen to me from now on, I will definitelyreturn."As if praising an obedient child, Godou stroked little Hikari's head.Completely unexpectedly, Hikari drew her young face close and kissedGodou."I heard from Ena-neesama and the others, that this is the only way to casta spell on Onii-sama... This is a spell for treating fatigue, at least let mehelp you a little like this..."Hikari left Godou reluctantly and ran over to the collapsed Erica.There was a certain adult maturity to her... Hikari bore a rather feminineexpression. Though Godou had been treating her like a little child, sheshould be trustworthy from the way she acted just now. Thanks to thespell, the pain had lessened greatly."Ha! Kusanagi brat! It's unbelievable that you still have the energy to flirtwith girls at a time like this."The Great Sage Equaling Heaven laughed with a sneer."Looks like we can still have another round. Nice nice!""You and I are both heavily injured, are you sure it's proper for you to bemocking others?""Because I still hold a trump card, it doesn't matter... Watch, this is thething I prepared just in case."Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared in the Great Sage's right hand. It wasthe body of Divine Ancestor Asherah! However, it was very small since herbody had shrunk so much it was like a ginseng root. Despite being in sucha state, the witch still seemed to be alive, for one could hear her breathingweakly.The Great Sage Equaling Heaven took a bite out of this tiny witch.Aaaaaaaaaah! With the sound of soul-screeching screams, the GreatSage Equaling Heaven nonchalantly moved his lower jaw, chewed with histeeth and swallowed her, re-enacting a scene from the Journey to the Westwhen he ate a ginseng fruit...In the next moment, from within the body of the Great Sage EqualingHeaven — out flowed a terrifying amount of divine power!"Huhahahahahaha! After eating the snake deity, I have recovered myenergy! The peerless Old Sun has returned once again!""T-That was the reason you took away that witch!?"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven restored his Ruyi Staff with divine poweragain, and swung it as quickly as lightning. Godou hastily rolled along theground as the divine staff of precious iron attacked with great alacrity.Having lost the [Sword], Godou now needed to battle using otherincarnations. However, the [Camel] could not handle attacks from the airwhile the [White Stallion] had already been used. Was there no otherweapon remaining!?As Godou evaded the Great Sage's attacks, he heard a mocking voice....Finally asking me for help? What a troublesome man.An ice-cold feeling was dwelling in his right arm as the sword he had lentout just now returned to him. Now was the time to use the new weaponthat had been waiting patiently to make an entrance.As the Ruyi Staff came crashing down, Godou jumped sideways withmotions like a wild beast to evade."Hmm, crap, did I hit too hard?"Missing its target, the steel staff was embedded into the ground. As theGreat Sage pulled his weapon out, Godou adjusted his breathing."Damn it... I clearly had no intention of using such a dangerous object asyou!"Though he complained out loud, the corners of Godou's lips were upturnedas if smiling.Since he needed to continue fighting whether he had a weapon or not,something was better than nothing.Seizing that one-in-a-thousand chance of victory in a hopeless situation, ifone couldn't even do that, one was not fit to be a Campione — rather, notfit to be a man!"Hoho, you look like you too have a trump card up your sleeve. Then let usfight to our hearts' content, Rakshasa King!"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven jumped onto his golden cloud and flewinto the sky.Accelerating again and again, the Great Sage intended to re-enter therealm of god speed. The new weapon in Godou's hand could not defendagainst that kind of speed but he was resolved to fight to the very end andobtain victory. No matter what kind of crisis he faced, if he himself didn'tbelieve in his own victory, then of course victory would never grace himwith its presence!Just as Godou planned to concentrate all his power in this despairingbattle —A shooting star streaked across the sky.Resembling a heavenly flying dragon, it was a flash of brilliant blue-whitelight, one of the magic bullets shot by the warrior with the black cape!The dragon of light chased after the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who hadtook on the form of a golden meteor. But just as it caught up, the preyvanished. Was it because he had entered the realm of god speed?However, John Pluto Smith's bullet also disappeared. Both sides hadreached god speed!'Damn, if that's the case, hah — !"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven who should have disappeared, suddenlymultiplied rapidly in the air, filling the sky with over a hundred divinemonkeys. This was a cloning technique! However, these clones began toexplode one after another and were soon dispersed into mist, most likelystruck down in midair by the divine speeding bullet. Beneath the glow ofthe morning sky, it was as spectacular as a fireworks celebration.The Five Elements form a cycle of restraint, Metal counters Wood!'As his clones disappeared, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven chanted amantra.Lightning was released from within the body of the divine monkey andcollided with the approaching blue-white magic bullet.The magic bullet was finally destroyed, but the Great Sage's golden cloudalso returned to normal speed, most likely because he was unable to useother spells while maintaining that kind of godly speed."Making me waste unnecessary breath, so another unrelated godslayer isjoining in?""Unrelated? No, not at all. I came here expressly to bury you. Since JohnPluto Smith is entering this battle, prepare yourself to be dragged into thedepths of the underworld."The latecomer was obviously the masked Campione.The fallen girls could no longer be seen, apparently taken away by Hikari.She must have used healing spells since she should not have the strengthto move everyone so quickly by herself.Anyway, the only ones gathered in this place were now gods andCampiones. Only these two existences and no other!"Hmph, what an audacious man... You have met my bros before, right? Letus display the solidarity of us sworn brothers, and defeat all thegodslayers! From the ocean of the north, come, my virtuous little brother,Zhu Ganglie! From the territories of the west, come, my virtuous littlebrother, Vaisravana!"The entrance of John Pluto Smith caused the Great Sage EqualingHeaven's divine power to rise explosively.The two little figurines were thrown into the air."Vanquishing devils, ripping evil spirits apart, star of the sword god whichslaughters Rakshasa! Bestow upon me the sharp sword to vanquish mymortal enemies!"As the two figurines expanded in one motion, their appearance also beganto change.The first to appear was the giant with a pig's head. Clad in black clotheswith armor of the same color, he made his entrance as a giant god,standing 15m tall with three heads and six arms still!Next to manifest was the demonic deity with black skin and red spiky hair,standing on pillars of water that spewed forth like geysers, forming adragon of water!"Hohohoho, I hope this time I can play a little while longer, Big Bro.""Appearing here in response to Big Bro's summon, I am ready to fulfill yourevery command."Manifesting behind the slowly flying Great Sage Equaling Heaven, ZhuGanglie and Vaisravana shouted.Before the three deities, Godou spoke to his masked ally:"I am grateful for your help, but we are still outnumbered, the disadvantageof two against three remains.""I don't need you to teach me this kind of infantile mental math."Smith fluttered the cape on his shoulders in response to his junior'sreminder."On the other hand, there is also the saying 'two heads are better thanone'... I think the current situation is rather fitting. Anyway, the main pointis, I want a chance for me to show off. If you insist on keeping such adelicious situation all to yourself, that would make you a very stingy man,so lowly that I don't even need to mock you."Hearing him casually spout such roundabout words, Godou could not helpbut smile wryly. In such a situation, who could have expected him to makesuch comments when he was entitled to additional concessions.Watching the performance of the man before him who loved to role-play,Godou somehow felt a strange sense of intimacy with him."What you seem to be trying to say, is that John Pluto Smith considersKusanagi Godou a friend, and a man who won't pose a hindrance to you— is that right?""Oh my oh my, you really think you can trust a mysterious man like me?Don't regret it!"Smith and Godou joked with each other as they stood side by side, lookingup at the gods in the sky.This argumentative conversation felt unexpectedly delightful. Neveryielding verbally, this quirk of his seems to fit quite well with me.Confirming that they turned out to be surprisingly compatible, Godousmiled."You are really quite the busybody. My luck has always been great and Ihave never regretted any of my choices in companions. I don't expect thisto ever change. Right, one more thing..."Godou recalled Sayanomiya Kaoru's phone call.Lu Yinghua had apparently heard the sound of some kind of commotion. Ifthat's the case, of course it can only be that."You know the idea that two are better than one... While three people arebetter than two... Right?"Change finally came to the petrified grounds of Toushouguu.The first to be sent flying were the worship and main halls at the core of theshrine. As if dynamite had been set off, the worship hall and the main hallcollapsed as stone fragments scattered and flew with the sound ofexplosions.Next were the Gates of Youmeimon, followed by the divine stable, thefive-story pagoda and the first torii.Explosions occurred one after another. Originally, restoring the entire areapetrified by the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was already a monumentaltask. Even so, seeing the important cultural heritage site destroyed soutterly, Sayanomiya Kaoru could not help exclaiming "oh my, I give up." Onthe other hand, Amakasu Touma closed his eyes in deep thought as ifsaying "that's going a bit overboard."The only one who could watch calmly was Lu Yinghua. Seeing the first torii— namely, the main entrance to Nikkou Toushouguu being demolished, hetook into his hands the package he had been keeping on the side all thistime.Then he immediately rushed into the smoke and dust cloud created by theshattered and pulverized stone."Master, please get changed. I have brought you a change of clotheshere.""Well done, you have become more attentive. You have earned yourself alittle praise.""Master's praise is too kind, your disciple expresses utmost gratitude."Towards the figure of the beautiful maiden who appeared from within thewhite smoke, Lu Yinghua reverently handed over the package." — A fish lives in the northern ocean, its name is the Kun! The Kun is solarge, no one knows how many thousands of miles long it is. Transforminginto a bird, its name is the Peng! The Peng's back is so vast, no one knowshow many thousands of miles wide it is. Flying furiously, its wings are likeclouds filling up the sky!"^As soon as the mantra was chanted, the ground suddenly became dark,but not because the sunlight was blotted out by clouds.A giant sacred bird — the golden-winged Peng came flying by. In theinstant that this bird flew above their heads, the transcendent beauty'sfigure vanished."With this, all the actors have gathered. It won't be very appropriate if wedon't go and watch the finale.""But these special front row seats offer no guarantees for personal safety."Sayanomiya Kaoru joked around with her subordinate as she nodded inagreement.Part 2The giant sacred bird flew over the plains of Senjougahara.Estimated in proportion to its wingspan, the massive body must have beenseveral hundred meters in size. Stunned, Godou looked up to watch themajestic entry of the sacred bird. This fellow must be carrying the finalparticipant. But still, even if she wanted to travel here, was it reallynecessary to use such a conspicuous mode of transportation?The beautiful heavenly maiden suddenly descended from the back of thegiant bird, wearing an outfit in the style of a mandarin gown that huggedand accentuated the wondrous curves of her figure.With mesmerizing lustrous eyes and pristine white teeth, her beauty couldonly be described as otherworldly.Drifting through the air and landing upon the ground like a feather, thisperson was no other but Luo Cuilian."Thank you for your patience, Great Sage! As well as my little brother."Hearing her words, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven questioned:"Oh? Little brother?""Correct. Kusanagi Godou here is the sworn little brother of me, LuoCuilian. A relationship akin to you and your fellow brothers.""Haha! But are you able to become as large as us?""In that case, we will defeat you all at once, burying your oath of swornfraternity at the same time..."The sworn brothers of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven proceeded toissue arrogant instigating remarks.Zhu Ganglie's eyes, full of lustful desire, stared intently at Luo Hao;standing on the dragon's head, Vaisravana looked gloomy as ever despitehis rhetoric; Luo Hao smiled in return with casual composure."Hohoho, it's not a bad idea to decide right here which side's swornsiblings are stronger. Wouldn't you agree? Little brother.""Umm, actually it's not just us two, there's also another participant..."From Godou's point of view, he was just stating a fact.But his sworn elder sister, as well as senior along the path of domination,severely glared at him in response."Do you intend to spoil the first chance for us siblings to fight incooperation by inserting this man of suspicious origins!? Foolish! This is aprofane insult to me, your elder sister!"Calling him a man of suspicious origins was quite an unpleasant manner ofaddress.The one wearing a mask and black cape, dressed up like a theatrical actorand the man in question, whispered softly:(Oh... Elder sister eh? Having met for mere days and she's already takensuch a liking to you... You are truly outstanding in the ways of stealingmaiden hearts.)(Stop saying weird stuff about her taking a liking to me, please shut up fora bit!)Hearing John Pluto Smith's reply, Godou hastily retorted in defense."Anyway, that's how it is. A rare situation with three gods appearing at thesame time. If we are down by one person on our side, wouldn't it beshameful?""Shameful?"Luo Cuilian reacted. As expected, her extreme pride meant that she wasfiercely sensitive to such insinuations.If she were to say something like 'victory against superior numbers is anhonor in the martial realm' then there would be no room for objection.However, such an argument would be more of a bluff than the result ofsome twisted logic. Even exalted as Luo Cuilian, her hubris should not beextreme enough to insist on dignity over practicality... At least, that waswhat Godou hoped."If we don't prepare an army with the same formation as our opponents, itseems like there will be a problem with respect.""I see, that makes a bit of sense. Very well, I will accept your advice andwe shall face them with equal numbers. As befitting for great generals andmarshals, it is only right for us to lead armies into battle in the spirit ofproper martial way... Still, little brother, something about your behaviordispleases me."Luo Hao grumbled as she stared at Godou. What was she trying to say?"D-Displeased? I don't think I did anything wrong...""Of course you are wrong. I am the martial pinnacle, the elder sister whomyou should be offering the utmost respect. And how do you addresssomeone of exalted stature like myself? I believe I have already taught youthe most appropriate form of address."Godou could not help but sigh. Does that word really have to be said rightnow!?"O, O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o... Nee-san...""You should be calling me 'Onee-sama.' I never expected a little brotherwith such poor memory. Fine, since it is the proposal of my sworn littlebrother, I will accept it."Having spoken, Luo Cuilian turned to the other Campione."From my deductions, you must be the American [Kind]? My family nameis Luo, with given name Cuilian and style name Hao. I give youpermission to join the ranks of my army in this battle and fight alongsideme, Luo Hao.""What a unique greeting... I, John Pluto Smith, will offer the entirety of myhumble services."Faced with the loftily delivered invitation, the king dressed in blackresponded effortlessly.Compared to the two-hundred-year-old demonic cult leader, theage-unspecified young man seemed far more mature. Breathing a sigh ofrelief, Godou and his two 'fellow kin' stood shoulder-to-shoulder, facing offagainst the three divine spirits.The giant three-headed-six-armed Zhu Ganglie.As well as Vaisravana standing on the raised head of his mount, thedragon of water.Finally there was the leader of these two gods, the Great Sage EqualingHeaven, Sun Wukong. Once again he stood upon the golden cloud andascended, flying high up into the skies. The three versus three decisivebattle was about to begin."Hohoho, let me pick my opponent first! I choose the transcendent beauty,the godslayer who reminds me of the Moon Goddess! It is most fitting forher to be the opponent of the Marshal Canopy, the great Zhu Ganglie!""...Come to think of it, you are the stellar deity that guards the northernsky."The Ruler of the Martial Realm frowned at the evil gaze of lust being castupon her."When it comes to the companions of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven,one of the most notable is the evil-exorcising deity, the Marshal CanopyZhu Wuneng. From a wild boar to a domestic pig, you are a deity widelyknown in folklore. In spite of all that, it is most deplorable for you to bereduced to such a shallow and lowly subordinate god."In Japan, boars were called "inoshishi" while domestic pigs used the kanji"buta" for distinction.When Godou received knowledge about the Great Sage Equaling Heaven,information was also gained about his subordinate gods.The Marshal Canopy Zhu Wunenq was once a military god serving thenorth pole's Great Emperor Ziwei. At the height of his worship, mostlikely during the time from the Sui to the Song Dynasties, thethree-headed-six-armed appearance in full armament was one of thefavorite images depicted by artists.Frequently appearing in novels and plays, in the end he was linked to ZhuBajie in the Journey to the West.For such a popular deity to be reduced to a lustful pervert like this...Flames erupted from Luo Cuilian's shoulders as if her anger had been liton fire, manifesting a golden Benevolent King.^A solidly built figure that did not lose in any way to the giant Zhu Ganglie,displaying his impressive musculature half-nude!"A force is exerted! Great force vanquishes small evil!""Hmm woaaah!? What is this monstrous strength?"Zhu Ganglie was being thrown by the Benevolent King. Exactly in themanner of a shot put, the lustful giant god was propelled through the airinto the distance.Crash! As the landing impact resounded, Luo Cuilian ran with hersubordinate Benevolent King towards the fallen giant deity. With greatspeed unexpected from his massive body, Zhu Ganglie got back up andsummoned the weapons for his six arms.The first pair of hands held a sword and a halberd; the second pair, an axeand a club; the third, a bow and arrows.With black clothing and black armor, the god with a pig's head clashed withthe Benevolent King led by Luo Cuilian and the two giants began to fight."O Dragon, annihilate these people — Om vaisravanaye svaha!"The water suddenly exploded.As Vaisravana stood on the water dragon, a portion of its dissociated bodysplashed on the ground. Godou and John Pluto Smith jumped backwardsto evade the attack. The water formed powerful currents which weretearing apart the ground of the Senjougahara plains!Like a blade of water, the liquid sliced through rock and flourishing forestsas if they were made of paper. Godou and Smith beside him marveled asthey muttered to themselves."A demonic deity with Buddhist roots... From his appearance, I originallyexpected an attack of pure power but he turned out to have such skillfulmoves."Vaisravana had an appearance like a demon with a particularly frightfulface and ferocious-looking body.Smith's instincts should have been correct, but it was Vaisravana's gloomyand intellectual aspects that avoided giving others an overly violentimpression."Since ancient times. Vaisravana was the one who inducted countlessShramana ascetics.^ * However, his earlier incarnation killed people andwas a sinful deity that had broken precepts against murder..."Vaisravana began to laugh to himself as he stood on the dragon's head."As the Curtain Lifting General at the Palace of the Great Emperor of theWaters in the celestial realm, the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas wereonce under my command. What I've shown is simply a minor portion of myold powers...""Ah, I recall the Daoist pantheon having categories of Water and ThunderDepartments, right?"The Water Department was in charge of the naval forces in the Daoistcelestial realm. Though he did not cheat like Godou through instructionmagic, Smith was apparently knowledgeable of myths and legends offoreign countries."In that case, let me show off some of my skills... The ruler of theunderworld commands, offer to me the black wings that penetrate theheavens! O Sky, thou existest only for me to display the breadth of mymagnanimity!"Smith softly chanted spell words, causing the ground to rumble and shake.It was quite an intense earthquake. Cracks and crevices appeared on theground as it trembled violently, while Smith began to transform over theshaking land. The black-clad eccentric turned into a massive blackdemonic bird."Now, properly savor my transformation mystic arts! Will you be able tokeep up with me!?""What pretentious words! Looks like I am being underestimated!"Chasing after the rapidly ascending black demonic bird, Vaisravana drovethe water dragon flying through the air.Flying towards the heavens, the black-winged devil king and themysterious sacred dragon formed from water continued to make theirascent.However, the ground continued to shake intensely. Most likely, the culpritwas the American Campione.Godou had once heard from Erica that Smith had an authority requiring theoffering of [Sacrifices]. This earthquake was most probably one of thosesacrifices. The tremors were not too severe, but this continuing series ofearthquakes must each have been around 3 or 4 on the Richter scale.It looked like the earthquakes were going to persist for some time. What atroublesome fellow that Smith guy was!His irresponsibility of leaving messes behind made Godou a bit stunned ashe faced off against the Great Sage Equaling Heaven on the shakingground."Hmm hmm hmph, let us start as well. Are you ready? Kusanagi brat!""Fine, come at me with everything you've got, I'm not letting you get out ofhere in one piece!"Facing the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who jumped down from thegolden cloud, Godou displayed calm composure.It was a bluff of course, for Godou was completely unprepared. Eventhough he had that sword, he did not have a usable incarnation able tocounter the divine monkey's lightning-fast godly speed. Nevertheless,Godou's fighting spirit was strong as ever, and he intended to snatchvictory in his hands even if it meant biting the enemy by the throat.Wait a minute... Was there really no incarnation that could be used?There was a strange sense of certainty that he still had an availableweapon. This was a very faint feeling of confidence.Voices telling him to fight could be heard. Voices calling for the defeat ofthe Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Right, so that is the case now.Having figured things out, Godou turned his attention to the voices comingfrom the depths of his body.Only now did he truly master the ninth incarnation of Verethragna, the[Goat].This priestly ability converted the thoughts and feelings of the surroundingpeople into magical power and controlled lightning. During the battleagainst Marquis Voban, he had once turned the will of the Dead Servantsinto his power source. But simply gathering willpower was insufficient touse the incarnation freely.Thanks to being connected to Yuri's psychic sensing, Godou finallyunderstood the true method of using the [Goat].A king rules by leading the will of the people, thereby raising his ownprestige and authority.Godou extended the tendrils of psychic sensing, traversing the plains ofSenjougahara and the area of Okunikkou as well as the Nikkou city streets,mobilizing the hearts and minds of over ten thousand victims.No mistake about it, this was the consciousness of all the ordinary peoplewho had been forcefully transformed by the Great Sage Equaling Heavenand were now in deep sleep.These unconscious people originally led peaceful lives but were suddenlyturned into monkeys one day, thus entering a nightmare. The sole culpritresponsible for these heinous crimes was the [Heretic God] the Great SageEqualing Heaven. Even though you people were fortunate enough to berescued, the Great Sage still stands.The god who changed you all into monkeys, do you not hold him incontempt?The god who treated you all as toys, do you not hold anger at him?Do you not want me to defeat the Great Sage Equaling Heaven!?Godou used psychic sensing power, entering people's dreams to rousethem, gathering the willpower of the people together, telling them theidentity of the true culprit of the incident, fanning the flames of their anger.Lend me your power and believe in me. As long as you lend your power tome, I will definitely help you vanquish that contemptible foe!He could sense the anger of the unconscious people directed towards theGreat Sage Equaling Heaven, forming a swirling vortex of fury in the realmof dreams.This was exactly what [Goat] needed as a foundation. Godou's left handwas finally able to fire off lightning attacks."By the art of spell words I vanquish adherents of injustice and evil! This isthe heavenly mandate of victory!"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven dodged the flash of lightning with greatagility.However, the Great Sage cannot be allowed to do as he pleased anyfurther. Having obtained new power, Godou stared acutely with greatintensity at his formidable foe.Part 3Using the vast wetlands as the stage, the close-quarter battle resembling aspecial effects movie was reaching a climax.Towering at a height often-odd metres, there was the three-headed andsix-armed Zhu Ganglie.Then there was the golden Benevolent King as his opponent, a half nakedgiant with only crude fabric covering his lower torso. The demonic cultleader summoned a spear using Daoist arts and pointed it at Zhu Ganglie.Known as the "King of Weapons" in China, the Qiang^ or Chinese spearwas Luo Cuilian's favorite weapon.As the two clashed in battle, it was so intense that one would not wish toblink lest a moment is missed.Each of Zhu Ganglie's six arms held a different weapon.Sword, halberd, axe, club, bow and arrows. All the weapons were usedsimultaneously in combination with incredible footwork. He movedeverywhere within the vicinity of the Benevolent King as he continued hisattacks. Whenever he distanced himself, he attacked with arrows and thehalberd, switching to the sword, axe and club at close range. (As a sidenote, the halberd refers to a weapon with a shaft like a spear and asickle-like blade combined together, allowing the spear end to be used forthrusts and the blade for slicing attacks.)Zhu Ganglie moved so quickly that afterimages were left behind. With suchhorrifying speed, the five weapons rained attacks down upon theBenevolent King without pause, making the three heads and six arms looklike there were thirty heads and sixty arms, or even sixty heads and ahundred and twenty arms.However, the one who took on this intense barrage of attacks was thedemonic cult leader, whose martial arts were simply divine.Unlike Zhu Ganglie who was circling around in arcs as he attacked, theglorious Benevolent King stood its ground without shifting his position whileLuo Hao stood in the center of the circle wielding her spear.Although there should only be a single spear, it looked like a thousandspearheads were thrusting continuously all at once.All five of Zhu Ganglie's weapons were intercepted. Arrows were struckdown, roaring attacks of the halberd were blocked, the sword wasdeflected, the axe was sent flying back, and the club was stopped.As Zhu Ganglie maneuvered in an oval arc to the Benevolent King's back,Luo Hao extended the spear backwards without even turning her head —in other words, the blunt end of the spear blocked every single attack frombehind."Hohoho, surely you cannot defeat me with this shabby-looking avatarwithout committing yourself to mutual destruction. I don't mind if yousurrender here for I shall give your pure and pristine complexion a goodloving..."The Divine Marshal made a lewd smile as he paused his movements.Up to this point, attack initiative had been firmly in his control. Though LuoCuilian disrupted every single one of his attacks with her godliketechniques, she was purely defending. She seemed too occupied withfending off the five weapons' continuous attacks to mount a counterattack.However, Luo Cuilian frowned and spoke:"Marshal, your foolishness knows no bounds. True, you have displayed thecourageous might of the Divine Marshal serving the North Pole's GreatEmperor Ziwei, but at the same time I have completely seen through you.You are no match for me at all. The one who ought to beg for mercy shouldbe... You instead, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Ganglie.""Ha! What nonsense you speak!""Do you seriously believe that? I have already discerned your true abilities.For one to expect a fellow like you to match me, Luo Hao, in a one-on-oneduel, what an embarrassment!"For some reason, her defiant words made all three faces of thethree-headed six-armed war god turn pale.And then the demonic cult leader dispelled the Benevolent King."Using three-headed six-armed martial arts is certainly extraordinary, butas the Ruler of the Martial Realm, Luo Hao will defeat you in a frontalconfrontation as befits a king. Now, come at me with everything you have!"Even when her opponent was a god, she maintained her supercilious airsas usual.This was the truth of Luo Cuilian's abilities. Such was the grandiloquencedelivered by the unarmed Ruler of the Martial Realm.Meanwhile, John Pluto Smith and Vaisravana were battling in midair.The sun had already come up. This was a refreshing morning sky andeven a great sunny day. Flying through the air, Smith penetrated the bluesky and hovering clouds as Vaisravana pursued behind the demonic bird,standing on the head of the water dragon.Vairavana had a material body, but nevertheless, he fearlessly acceleratedwithout any regard for G-forces in flying. As befitted a god with a bodyincomparably resilient beyond mortals, or perhaps he was using some sortof protective spell?"Eight hundred perish in the quicksands, three thousand drown in deepwaters. May swan feathers never float again, and reed flowers sink to thedepths!"Vairavana chanted spell words, causing clouds to gather in the sky.The clouds shaped themselves into a long slender form, with a shiningradiant surface and transparent interior. Soon after, it took on the likenessof a dragon, gathering clouds and moisture in the air, another water dragonhad been formed.This continued beyond a single dragon as more water dragons were bornin rapid succession. Including the original that Vaisravana was riding, therewas now a total of nine dragons."Oh? You're not bad at all."In his demonic bird form, Smith offered mild praise.The nine water dragons slithered and exchanged positions continuously,widening their ferocious jaws and performing biting attacks.Smith dodged with skillful flying for the black demonic bird not onlypossessed speed but also extraordinary agility. However, it was still unableto evade every attack. As the long neck of one of the water dragonsbrushed past one wing, the masked king finally felt true fear.The wing did not suffer a simple scratch but was cut opened and bleeding.Was this the same effect as the blade of water witnessed earlier on theground?It was as if the water dragons' bodies were made of blades, and they hadthe power to rip apart everything they touched."Oh my... Do I have to gamble my life away for a dance invitation!?"Due to the wing injury, it was impossible to fly properly. Nevertheless, theblack demonic bird did not need to flap its wings to fly.Smith ascended rapidly on wind currents and then swiftly descended. Likea swallow gliding on sea breezes, Smith nimbly flew back and forth,evading the wave-like water blade attacks made by the dragon heads.Naturally, Smith did not expect to escape that easily."Smoking mirror, symbol of Tezcatlipoca!"From Smith's jet black wings, out spewed smoke that wrapped itselfaround the bodies of the water dragons.Inhaling this smoke would cause poisoning that produces a paralyzingeffect on magical power. For ordinary enemies, this was enough to weakenthem for easy pickings..."Thousands of evil, tens of thousands of filth! May all be cleansed bywater!"Not to be outdone, Vaisravana chanted spell words in turn, causing steamto be emitted from the bodies of the nine water dragons, purifying the graymagical smoke. This was purifying divine power that dispelled magicalcorruption.However, Smith was not going to be outdone either, and he opened thebeak of the demonic bird.A magic bullet was fired from its mouth, aiming straight at Vaisravana'sbody! It was targeting the blue-black demonic deity riding on the head ofone of the flying water dragons.With a god as its target, Artemis' flash of light sped off. At that moment,another water dragon rushed into the trajectory of the magic bullet, gettingits head impaled instead of its creator and disappearing without trace.However, the attack of the magic bullet did not end there, and continued tofly towards Vaisravana!Water dragons continually rushed to intercept it, and were dispelled oneafter another.The water dragon carrying Vaisravana was the only one remaining. Inorder to protect Vaisravana, the last water dragon transformed into a shield— and deflected the bullet. Somehow, the body of the water dragon hadsolidified into ice.Deflected by the ice dragon, the magic bullet flew away into the distant sky."Hohoho... Finally, ice to deflect that bullet has been created."Vaisravana laughed with a gloomy face.His mount, the water dragon had frozen into ice, transforming into an icedragon.No — that was not all. Using the moisture in the atmosphere, new icedragons were being created, and the ranks of the army of nine dragonswere filled once more!Smith opened the demonic bird's beak and shot another magic bullet.However, the attack he fired was again deflected by an ice dragon,disappearing into the distance opposite to the previous bullet."Hmph... A mirror of ice with the magic of reflection? What troublesomedivine power, but it may very well create a good opportunity."Despite the ineffectiveness of his trump cards, Smith spoke in a relaxedmanner."Oh? What do you mean?""Because there is something that has intrigued me for quite some time...For gods like you, strength and divine authority is not always proportionalto how well-known you are, and there are times when minor gods showgreater resilience than half-assed major gods. What is the cause of suchdisparity... I believe that now is a good opportunity to find out."The ninth incarnation, the [Goat], had the power to control thunder andlightning.However, the target must be a common enemy recognized by the peopleand there was the major caveat of taking the life force of nearby peopleindiscriminately. Godou recalled his memories from the last time he usedthis incarnation and released a thunderstrike.A flash of lightning was fired from his right hand, giving off the stench ofozone from the ionized air as the intense electrical current headed straightfor the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. At the same time, Godou did notforget to direct his awareness towards the sky.Thunderclouds were summoned into the sunny sky, and these heavyclouds rumbled with thunder."Damn it, all this static electricity is annoying!"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven grumbled with displeasure as hedodged lightning coming from in front and above at the same time.Normally, being struck by lightning would cause severe burns and amassive Shockwave impact. However, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven'siron body was a conductor. Though he was blown back, there wasapparently no damage.Whenever the Great Sage Equaling Heaven approached and tried toattack with his Ruyi Staff, Godou released lightning at him.The Great Sage was struck by lightning many times and blown awaybackwards, but clearly did not suffer any injuries. Bodies of steel were trulydestestable."Damn it! This is neverending — may the heavens shake and the earthtremble in fear, hurry hurry!"The 160cm tall divine monkey roughly doubled in height. Naturally, hisother dimensions were increased proportionately.Enduring Godou's lightning, he spread his legs and forcefully stood hisground.The expanded body could now withstand the impact of the lightningwithout being sent flying. The Great Sage smiled with his monkey face ashe charged forward. Who could have expected him to use body expansionto resist the impact of lightning!?"Damn it! In that case—"Godou gathered electrical energy into spheres and created balls ofthunder.Roughly the size of basketballs, these small spheres continuously emittedelectricity. Then Godou threw them at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven.Not one, but five at the same time!"Hmm ooooooh, what clever little tricks!"The five thunder balls released electrical current as they violently crashedinto the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. This was the strategy of overcominggiant enemies with numbers. Suddenly, the divine monkey returned to hisoriginal size and jumped away sideways.At the same time, he repeatedly used the spell of creating clones —Multiplying to over twenty of himself, the Great Sages jumped at Godou allat the same time."Evil people can never hit me!"Godou summoned lightning which descended from the thundercloud,surrounding himself in 360 degrees with lightning for protection.The stench of ionized air stifled his nostrils, while the attacking GreatSages were all swept away by the lightning — no, just as he was thinkingthat, the divine monkey with peerless agility descended from above.Using his clones as distractions, the real one had jumped into the air.The Ruyi Staff was swung down hard, and Godou evaded by rolling on theground.Returning to his original position, Kusanagi Godou faced off against theGreat Sage Equaling Heaven once again.His enemy's attacks came with far too much variety. What kind of surprisetactics could be used to defeat him? Just as Godou felt troubled, his rightarm began to hurt.It was telling Godou to rely on it. Time to display a man's dignity.Godou snorted in response."Like the time in the Netherworld, what a meddlesome fellow... Butanyway, I will accept this battle plan!"Godou extended his right arm at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven."Tsk... You retard, are you firing noisy lightning again?""Nope, this time is a little different. Lightning doesn't have much of aneffect on your steel body... I'm going to show you something moreamazing!"The Great Sage grumbled in disappointment. But if this move worked,victory definitely belonged to Kusanagi Godou! What would be the endresult?"As the one who holds all victory in my hands, I am the strongest. Allenemies shall meet defeat by my hand!"Composing the spell words, the sacred warlord's authority and the divinesword's power began to amplify each other.No mistake about it, this was the divine blade Ama no Murakumo noTsurugi's power!— The sword that assimilated the qualities of rebellious barbarians tobolster its own power. It was now Kusanagi Godou's personal sword, ableto absorb divine power that damaged its master, converting it into its ownenergy. In the battle against Luo Cuilian, it had absorbed the [Dragon'sRoar and Tiger's Howl] and provided the final decisive strike.Furthermore, there was another interesting use for this sword."As the embodiment of victory, all enemies shall tremble before me!"Lightning was summoned from the thundercloud, descending onto his rightarm which contained the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi. Another use ofthis sword was to absorb Kusanagi Godou's authority, creating newpowers!"I shall smash through all enemies in my way! Man and devil — allenemies, all who harbor enmity will be vanquished!"The dormant divine sword in his arm absorbed the lightning, converting itinto another power — releasing magnetism.In ancient Japan, blacksmithing began with the step of melting ironsandfollowed by forging the resulting steel sword. Anyway, the point was thatancient Japanese swords were made from ironsand — the ore of aferromagnetic metal.When ferromagnetic ores were struck by lightning in nature, magnetismwas occasionally induced.Godou and Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were recreating thisphenomenon, using massive electric and magnetic fields, together with thealready present steel —Thus a miracle could be performed — !"Go forth, Great Sage Equaling Heaven! Fly away to the ends of theuniverse!""Woah... W-What is this power!?"This effect was created using the magnetic fields given off by a massiveflow of electrical current, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi's mystictechniques, and ferromagnetic iron.The properties of magnets meant two possible outcomes, will they mutuallyattract or repel? The resulting magnetic field used the latter to make abullet — the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was sent flying away.The divine monkey with the indestructible body of steel was trapped by themagnetic field released from Godou's right arm, and kept flying up in theair.Like a rocket taking off to outer space, he flew with horrific speed towardsthe skies.Railguns used electromagnetism to accelerate an object and fire it at superhigh speeds. Using this principle to create a mass driver to fire off massiveobjects into space, Kusanagi Godou's authority from Verethragnacombined with Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to create a makeshift massdriver to send the divine monkey of steel into the heavens!The earth's atmosphere is composed of the layers of the troposphere, thestratosphere, the mesosphere and the thermosphere.Beyond the thermosphere is the exosphere and then space. If thiscontinued, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven would be exiled from earth.Furthermore, objects flying at high speed will get heated by friction with theatmosphere, resulting in extremely high temperatures. The last region ofthe atmosphere — the thermosphere was a super high temperature realmthat reached two thousand degrees.Now that all the necessary conditions for defeating this formidable enemyhad been gathered, what would be the final outcome...!?Part 4Rising through the air, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had become aburning bullet.Though he was well accustomed to god speed movement, this was the firsttime he experienced this method of acceleration.In reality, so-called god speed was not really the power of 'rapidmovement' but an ability to shorten travel duration. Rather than 'movingfrom Point A to Point B at the speed of several hundred kilometres perhour,' it was the ability of 'moving from Point A to Point B in zero pointsomething seconds.' Instead of physical acceleration, it was the power ofdistorting the traveling time required.Which is why the Great Sage had yet another first experience, that of thefriction of air resistance at supersonic speeds and the heat from plowingthrough the atmosphere."So hot hot hot hot hot hot! This is unbearable! What a godslayer, this istoo reckless!"It was imperative to return to the surface before incinerating completely. Heactivated his divine power and tried to counteract the electromagneticforces.Also calling for his golden cloud, he had to hurry back to ground level byany means possible. The many phenomena sustaining the planet, such asgravity and the earth's own magnetic field, could also be used to return himto the surface."Middle Bro and Lil' Bro! Combine your powers, you two! Summon meback to earth!"Even separated by tens of thousands of miles, the sworn brothers couldstill communicate telepathically.However, beyond the Great Sage's expectations, the sworn youngerbrothers had both been driven into crises of their own."When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound prajnaparamita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty,and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty. Shariputra, form doesnot differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itselfis emptiness; emptiness itself is form!"^Luo Cuilian began to recite the Heart Sutra.Combined with the melodious voice of the maiden who attained nirvana,the authority of the [Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl] generatedShockwaves of magical wind.Magical power was originally something with neither shape, color, odor norform, but Luo Cuilian's authority conferred various properties upon it."So, too, are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness. Shariputra,all dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced. Notdestroyed, not defiled, not pure, and they neither increase nor diminish!"The air currents continued to expand as the power of the wind increasedonce again."Tsk! A mere woman doing such infuriating things!"As Luo Cuilian concentrated in some kind of terrifying undertaking, ZhuGanglie brandished his five weapons.Firing arrows and attacking continuously with the halberd, sword, axe andclub, he tried to resist the impacts of the magical wind.The three-headed six-armed giant god was helpless against the magicalwind blowing in the cult leader's surroundings. This was the wind that couldhave swept away all of creation, and the Divine Marshal's weapons werepowerless in their efforts to breach the gaseous defensive wall that barredall attacks. There was simply no way to disrupt the transcendent beauty asshe composed a song of death and destruction."Make haste, by the mighty decree of the North Emperor, obey!"Zhu Ganglie chanted spell words to bolster his bodily strength and wasfinally able to budge his weapons gradually, inching with greatsluggishness towards Luo Cuilian's body. However, the demonic cultleader's mystic arts finally completed at this time.Infusing light into the magical wind, Luo Cuilian's body shone with goldenlight that melded with the wind.This was also an avatar manifested from the [Divine Might of Vajrapani] butnot one of the golden Benevolent Kings. The brightness gathered and tookform between Luo Cuilian and Zhu Ganglie, finally becoming a massivepalm!My heart is as the void, but my palm is like a deadly hurricane —"Mmmmmmmmmaaaaaaah!""Strength exerted from bones, force applied from tendons! Yes, a palm thatprecedes all creation!"The golden palm was the same size as Zhu Ganglie's massive body. Thisgiant palm performed the subsequent attack.Like an explosion — the three-headed six-armed giant deity suffered afrontal assault, devastating his face, body and legs, giving his brain aconcussion, the impacts penetrating his internal organs and shattering hisbones.The giant golden palm even grabbed Zhu Ganglie and held tight with greatforce."My sworn little brother seems to have exiled the Great Sage EqualingHeaven. As his elder sister, I think it would be interesting to imitate him andfollow suit. Vulgar war god, disappear into the sky! Your presence is anaffront to my eyes!"Despite engaging in battle along the front lines, she did not neglectawareness of the entire battlefield.This was the rare talent displayed by the clairvoyant Daoist priestess.As she struck her palm towards the heavens, the mighty golden palm keptZhu Ganglie in its tight grasp and sent him up towards the sky."Woaaaaaaah!"As Zhu Ganglie screamed pitifully as he ascended, his hollow criesresounded across the sky."...Amazing, it's hard to believe that the monstrous strength of HerEminence was capable of such a thing."The golden palm and Zhu Ganglie were rocketing up into the sky.Witnessing this surreal scene, Godou felt deeply impressed. What hadtaken a makeshift railgun created by him and Ama no Murakumo noTsurugi, the same effect was achieved by the demonic cult leader throughbrute strength and martial arts alone.Godou made his way over to where Luo Hao had been fighting.Making his way torturously over the shaking ground, the destination lyingbefore him had become a wasteland. Standing in the center was thebeautiful demonic cult leader, who had apparently used her magical windauthority to render this entire area into ruins."Little brother, you have arrived. Just as you witnessed, your elder sisterhas just exiled the vulgar Marshal Canopy. I was watching as you defeatedthe Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Very well done."She was praising me. Looks like she used some sort of vision enhancingmagic.Though he was being praised, Godou found Luo Cuilian's gaze to be verysevere."However I seemed to have heard you muttering to yourself... Calling mesomething like 'Her Eminence,' using such an impersonal form of addresslike entertaining a guest... I wondered if I heard wrongly..."Stared at like being interrogated, Godou could not help trembling. Couldshe actually have heard his exclamation from when he saw Zhu Ganglierise to the heavens? What was with this supernatural hearing?!"Just to make sure, I will remind you once more. Little brother, call me'Onee-sama'.""O-o-o... o... Nee... sama..."Urged by her, Godou had no choice but to do as told, but still the greatelder sister shook her head."This is no good at all. The elder sister beyond the equal of mere mortals,filled with incomparable mercy and benevolence... Basks you in her lightlike the sun that warms the world. Your manner of address just now did notcarry the slightest hint of respectful admiration. You should be calling me'Onee-sama' with worship and adoration. You have to work harder on this."The level of those requirements are too high... The subject needs to bechanged, quick!"B-By the way, O... Nee-san looked like the battle wasn't too tough.""Of course, although that Zhu Ganglie is the True Lord Marshal Canopy,he is merely manifesting in the manner of a subordinate god."Godou's failure in addressing her in the prescribed manner made the eldersister frown.However, she forgave him for now. Being called 'Nee-san' was enough toprovide her with slight satisfaction."Remember this well. What decides the strength of [Heretic Gods], isneither how great or powerful they were in the original myths, nor howwidespread is their fame. The key to their strength lies in their unshakableego.Unshakable ego. In other words, the characteristic of steadfast narcissism?"Relying on no one's opinions but their own, going forward to do what onewishes no matter what — the willpower to destroy the human race even if itmeans changing the heavens and the earth. This determines a god'sstrength. Nevertheless, subordinate gods cannot sustain their existence ifthe main deity is gone."Godou recalled what happened with Verethragna, Athena and the GreatSage Equaling Heaven.Once the amnesiac sacred warlord retrieved his true ego, his power greatlyincreased; the Greek virgin goddess Athena became the powerful ancientearth mother deity once she retrieved the Gorgoneion; having lost hisname and mettle, the divine monkey monarch descended upon the earthas the great hero once the seal was released.This explains everything, I see now... Godou could not help but nod as heaccepted the facts."So by this time, Vaisravana who is fighting Smith should also...""If I'm not mistaken, he has the current advantage, however..."Luo Cuilian looked up into the sky with a sharp gaze."Subordinate gods receive protection from the master while the master inturn obtains support from the subordinates. They will become even morepowerful and formidable. It would not be wrong to say the battle trulybegins now, my little brother, you must not lose your guard by any means."Come to think of it, the reason why I defeated with such ease the Ama noMurakumo no Tsurugi, which now lies dormant in my right hand, wasbecause its master Susanoo lived in the Netherworld and did not show anyconcern for the battle. Without such auspicious circumstances, what wouldhave been the outcome?"As expected for gods who suffer from a lack of distinct ego, even if theyare able to make full use of their powers, they are missing the kind oftenacious power that overcomes stalemates and losing situations. Dare Isay, this is exactly as I imagined it?""Gah... How could this be! Clearly I was able to block these arrows justnow — !"Riding upon the wind in the form of the demonic bird was John PlutoSmith.He circled leisurely in the sky as he looked down upon Vaisravana whosechest had been penetrated by a blue-white magic bullet. Had it been anormal human, it would have pierced the heart."If you were an actual independent deity, surely you would have evadedthe returning Artemis' Arrow. Anyway, thank you for proving my suspicionscorrect."The two bullets deflected by the ice dragons a while ago had been flyingtowards the depths of the universe high above the world. But along theway, they made a U-turn and returned to earth. The ice dragons gatheredtogether, overlapping to form a shield, intending to deflect the bullets againand managed to block one of them. However, the remaining shot could notbe stopped and Vaisravana was pierced directly...These were the magic bullets of the moon deity, limited to only six shotsper lunar cycle. This was the reason why every shot had such horrificpower. It was rumored that if all the bullets were shot at once, the resultingfire would devour the entirety of California and burn for seven days withoutextinguishing. After the incineration, it would become such a completewasteland that even weeds would not grow.Against such a powerful weapon, mere deflection was not going toneutralize its attacks. Vaisravana's defeat had already been sealed by thefact that he was unable to destroy the bullets directly like the Great SageEqualing Heaven."Ooh — since it has come to this!"From the top of an ice dragon's head, the punctured Vaisravana released awater current from his hand, naturally his target was the black demonic birdflying in the air. Smith boldly performed a defensive maneuver against thiscounterattack."How sad, your death struggle is meaningless, and only serves as achance for me to show off my powers."The attacked devil king released his transformation in the air.The black demonic bird returned to the black-clad black-masked JohnPluto Smith.Due to the instantaneous decrease in body size, Vaisravana's attackpassed through directly without hitting anything. The caped devil kingfluttered in the wind like a feather, and pulled out his gun, aiming atVaisravana as he descended."Wan— !"This time the abdomen was penetrated, causing Vaisravana to collapse. Ofthe six magic bullets, only one remained, but having defeated one of thethree deities, it was enough —As he slowly descended towards the ground, Smith suddenly heard theresounding voice of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven."Middle Bro and Lil' Bro! Combine your powers, you two! Summon meback to earth!""Big Bro, I got it! I will entrust all my remaining strength to you! It is nowtime for the three gods to unite and vanquish the Rakshasa!"What!? Before Smith's surprised eyes, the Curtain Lifting GeneralVaisravana's figure dispersed, becoming tiny sand-like particles of lightwhich flew towards the high atmosphere.Flying high towards the heavens, the Marshal Canopy Zhu Ganglie wasaccompanied by the golden palm.He too, heard the voice of his sworn older brother, and decided tosurrender as well."Hmm what a pity. Booze, gambling, women, breasts, butts, beautiful legs!There is still so much that I want to do! But in my current unsightly state,there is nothing else I can do! Big Bro, I am coming now!"Clutched tightly by the golden palm, Zhu Ganglie's body also dispersed,forming the same shining particles of light like the youngest sworn brotherand escaping from the confines of the hand to fly towards the corner of thesky where the sworn older brother was located!Turned into a railgun projectile and flying towards space, the divinemonkey, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, proceeded tochant a mantra with calm composure."Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, Alkaid! The Seven Stars ofthe Northern Dipper, I beseech you to manifest!"As the divine essence of the subordinate gods rushed over to him, theGreat Sage absorbed it to raise his own divine power."Snakes and dragons, offer your bloody carcasses to me; flames, heat upiron to forge into steel; clear water, cool the sword's blade! All shallempower my divinity as the sword god!"In order to attain an unshakable ego, the Great Sage was returning to hisroots as a sword god.In order to form a sword, he gathered the power he needed.The devil kings attacking me and the Rakshasa tearing me apart! TheGreat Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, was now about to enter thepath of hellish trials to become the divine sword that vanquishes evil andembodies justice! Overwhelming power filled his heart and mind.Once again confirming his mission as a sword god, he expressed approvalof the ancient covenant."Hah—!"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven finally released himself from the cursedbonds of electromagnetism.As he overlooked the territory of Japan, he summoned his Ruyi Staff.It was finally time for a counterattack. Smiling, he grew in size, letting hisbody reach the dimensions of Zhu Ganglie. Though he was able to expandfurther, making his body too large would be detrimental to speed.Next in action were the two sworn younger brothers who had hurried over.Zhu Ganglie's essence turned into a massive black boar, roughly the samesize as the current Great Sage who sat on his back, taking on the role of awild beast mount.Then Vaisravana's essence formed a dragon, wrapping itself around theback of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, taking on a ready stance thatseemed like it was going to attack on command.Thus, the three gods became one, and everything was ready.The three divine spirits' bodies were enveloped by white flames as they fellback onto the surface like a shooting star.Veering off from the direction of Nikkou, they had to correct their trajectoryalong the way while being surrounded by high heat, passing through thestratosphere and finally returning to the troposphere.The ground beneath could now be seen. Nantaisan, Lake Chuuzenji,Senjougahara, Lake Yunoko, etc —Along the way, the black demonic bird's silhouette could be spotted in thedistance.One of the godslayers was trying to pursue me. Excellent, let's strike himdown.The Great Sage Equaling Heaven descended upon the land ofSenjougahara once more.However, this time the massive landing impact remodeled the landscape.Riding astride the black boar, leading the dragon, the Great Sage EqualingHeaven's mighty entry made the ground crack and overturn, blowing awaysoil and vegetation, creating a crater.At the bottom of the crater, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven lightly kickedthe beast's abdomen, ordering it to make its way to the surface.The black demonic bird also came and landed, transforming into the mandressed in black. On ground level, the team of the young man and womanwas also heading over here."So, godslayers, let us fight to the very end!"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven shouted at the mortal enemies beforehim with great delight.Thus the three Campiones faced off against the three gods who had unitedas one.Godou was still maintaining the [Goat] incarnation, whose priestly powerinformed him that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had become threegods in one.Taking on the role of a horse was the giant black boar transformed fromZhu Ganglie.Vaisravana had become a dragon, its long and slender body slitheringalong the Great Sage's back.And then the steel monkey of Scythian origins wielded the Ruyi Staff, like aknight in a jousting tournament except with unusual body measurements, abizarre knight standing ten-odd metres tall.The fur on Great Sage Equaling Heaven's two arms stood on end andwere fired like rockets.As countless hairs flew through the air, their front ends were sharp asneedles. These things could probably pierce right through a steel plate!"...This is bad!"Godou could not help crying out as the kings scattered and the needlesstruck the ground. Anyone who gets hit would be skewered! And that wasjust the first wave of attacks.Firing in succession, the needles formed a hail of projectiles that blottedthe sky."Quoted from the chapter of Carefree Roaming, the perfect man has nothought of self; the god-like man, none of merit; the sagely-minded man,none of fame!"^With the sound of Luo Cuilian's melodious chant, the impact of magicalwind blew away thousands of needles, but at the same time, the threegods in one also made their move.Crash! The ground shook as the black boar carrying the Great SageEqualing Heaven began to gallop, charging and racing. That kind of speedwas like the wind. Despite the huge size of its body, its movements werefaster than the eye could see."One who slices everything apart, be summoned for the sake of victory!"Godou tried to counterattack, again using lightning and Ama no Murakumono Tsurugi to generate massive magnetic forces, intending to send theGreat Sage into space once more, but because the Great Sage had vastlyincreased his mass, an immediate effect could not be produced. No good,it's too late!The Great Sage Equaling Heaven was arriving on the giant boar.As the boar raised its hooves to trample Godou, Luo Cuilian and Smith,there was clearly no time to use the railgun."Massive timber splitting mountains, producing great force! Stackingmultitudes of golden bells, producing impenetrable iron cloth!"The demonic cult leader charged at this time.From her back drifted a flaming aura which took form as the goldenBenevolent King, blocking the beast's charge. What amazing peerless armstrength! However at this instant, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven leapedfrom the boar's back."Hah—!"Somersaulting to behind the Benevolent King, he used the Ruyi Staff tostrike at the golden back.Ooof! The Benevolent King's courageous expression was distorted, but hestill kicked backwards at the Great Sage Equaling Heaven behind him.However, this kick was easily avoided, and the Ruyi Staff once againroared as it whistled through the air.Smack smack smack smack smack! The rapid series of impacts soundedlike fireworks.With the sound of explosions, the Great Sage had made a continuousseries of at least a hundred strikes in an instant. Completely unable to fightback, the Benevolent King was struck by a decisive blow from the GreatSage, and the golden half-nude male was dispelled without trace.At this time, a black shadow flew up from the ground.This was the black demonic bird transformed from John Pluto Smith again.He must be thinking that a ground battle's outcome might be uncertain?However, it looked like there was something chasing after the ferociousflying bird.It was the serpentine creature that had been standing ready on the GreatSage's back — the dragon.Flying with the same speed as the demonic bird, the dragon blocked thebird's path from in front, preventing Smith from flying freely.Somehow, the giant boar had also jumped high into the sky, was it trying toattack the demonic bird together with the dragon? But the height of thisjump could not reach the position of the demonic bird, and only arrived aposition slightly below where the dragon and the bird battled —The Great Sage Equaling Heaven also jumped at this time.Jumping nimbly as if flying with wings, one could not connect it with theweight of the giant body at all.Wielding the Ruyi Staff, the divine monkey's target was the giant boar inthe air. Using the boar's fur as a foothold, he made another giant leap, andso the Great Sage Equaling Heaven reached the altitude where thedemonic bird and the dragon were fighting.The Ruyi Staff was swung.Aaaaaaaah! Struck in the neck, the demonic bird screamed in pain andcrashed towards the ground."Uh... As befitting of the Great Sage... I am faced with a difficult battle..."Before Godou, Luo Cuilian had been brought down to one knee.Blood dripped out from her mouth, and it seemed like the damage sufferedby the Benevolent King was reflected onto her body."Wait a moment and I will proceed to use all of my divine powers, defeatingthe three-in-one Great Sage... Godou, watch and learn carefully from theheroic fighting form of your elder sister, got that?"Even though injured, she still wanted to stand up and fight for victory.Amongst Campiones, Luo Cuilian's fighting spirit and willpower weretypical of the illegitimate children of the fool — Epimetheus, whose talentwas possessing insanity that transcended strategy and victory probability.Maybe she really could win this fight.Perhaps she could turn this crisis around alone.But this won't do! Godou shook his head, for 'perhaps' was simply not goodenough.I want to win, and will do everything to achieve it myself. Within the plansof victory traced out in Godou's mind, the power of this woman and thefallen young man were needed."— Nee-san."For the very first time, Godou was able to use this manner of addressnaturally."How many times have I repeated, you should be calling me 'Onee-sama.'How forgetful of you...""Nee-san, this sort of thing is irrelevant at this time. In order to defeat thatbastard monkey, the three of us must cooperate together. Don't sayanything about fighting alone again."Godou gazed directly into the maiden's eyes, speaking his mind in earnest."Besides, Nee-san is the one who said this is the first time for us to fight incooperation, perhaps you have forgotten? I will definitely end this battlewith victory, so I will use everything at my disposal. So come, fight togetherwith me, this is my request of a lifetime!""W-When did you start becoming so obsessed with this battle?"If that's the case, you should have spoken earlier. Luo Cuilian nodded asshe blushed."Very well, fulfilling the little brother's willfulness is also part of a swornelder sister's duty. I will not object. In the name of the bonds between us,this battle must be won no matter what!"Godou gave simple instructions to the assenting elder sister.When forming impromptu teams without sufficient time to get accustomedto one another, it was necessary to keep things simple.During his baseball days, Godou had many opportunities to train andcompete with representative teams. Furthermore, as the catcher whoseposition was central to defense, he was used to making this kind of dutydistribution."The root of my power of Vajra, now is the time for great might that cantear apart heaven and earth!"Hearing the summons of the demonic cult lady, the Om pair of goldenBenevolent Kings manifested.As the vanguard she was to use her full strength, hence the simultaneoususe of dual avatars.— Prior to the advent of firearms, the combat potential of cavalry wasequivalent to tanks in modern warfare.This was due to an absolute advantage in both offensive ability andmobility, because riding horses traveled faster than on foot, and attackingon a galloping horse carried the benefit of much greater momentum.Furthermore, with bows and arrows as well as other factors such asoutstanding cavalry tactics, many equestrian tribes conquered vastterritories in both the orient and the Occident.And now in the present, the enormous Great Sage Equaling Heaven wasriding a giant boar charging on the plains of Senjougahara.Facing them were the two Benevolent Kings approaching on foot. Forinfantry to be able to counter the historically proven principle of cavalrysuperiority, the demonic cult leader's martial might was truly astounding.The Great Sage Equaling Heaven charged forward, riding the giant boar.Blocking him was the open-mouthed^ Benevolent King, but the wild boarattempted to thrust its sharp tusks at the flank of his abdomen.The close-mouthed Benevolent King used his open-mouthed partner as aplatform to launch an attack at the divine monkey riding the black boar.Jumping lightly into the air he made a series of killing palm strikes.However, all of them were blocked by the Ruyi Staff.The dragon lying in wait on the Great Sage's back, also bared its fangs asit opened its jaws to bite the throat of the open-mouthed Benevolent King.While all this was happening, the giant boar below did not stop charging,and was competing in a battle of strength against the incomparable mightof the Benevolent King. The open-mouthed one's muscles bulged as hehalted the advance of the giant boar.Like a mounted knight, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven swung down hisstaff, striking the open-mouthed Benevolent King soundly in the face.The open-mouthed Benevolent King persevered but was clearly at adisadvantage. Using the time bought, Godou concentrated on raising hismagical power.Due to the enemy's abnormal size, Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi neededto be infused with power to reach a critical point.However, there were still other tasks required during this time, henceGodou approached the fallen young man.The place the demonic bird crashed down just now was close by.Crouched down on the grass, the masked king was struggling to stand up."Are you unable to fight any longer?""In terms of boxing, this is as if the knockout count reached eight. Still, Ican just barely pull myself together, enough to let me give a miraculousreversal performance."Still eloquent as ever, then he must be fine. Godou had no intention ofextending a helping hand for the man trying to stand up because JohnPluto Smith did not ask for his help.Several seconds later, the two of them stood shoulder to shoulder andsmiled at each other. Although Smith's face was obscured by the mask hewore, surely he must be showing a fearless smile.That's right, that was the kind of man he was."You are concentrating magical power as if preparing for some interestingoperation. By my guess, Her Eminence is buying time for you right now...Hmm, how unexpected for her to have a personality that dutifully supportsa man with such profound devotion.""Stop saying these weird things. Ignoring that, I am currently preparing touse this move."Trying to silence Smith's nonsense, Godou told him the essential details."However, the one to perform the finishing blow has to be you. Previouslyyou mentioned a trump card with heat and fire, can you still use it?""Don't worry, I am not a man who misses out on rare opportunities for agrand performance. It's ready any time... So... what are you planning?"Hearing the plan Godou was considering, Smith whistled from beneath themask.Wiggling his index and middle fingers in a pretentious manner to substitutefor a response — it seemed to be saying, what a reckless proposal, butcount me in.The black-caped young man departed with shaking footsteps, but Godouwas not worried in the least.If this man had already said he was ready any time, then he won't beembarrassing himself. Hence Godou raised his right arm towards the skyin preparation."It was this place, that Susanoo led a thousand unruly deities in rebellion— intending to take over this country!"Was this his second authority or simply just a weapon? In order to summonthe sword with the ambiguous identity, Godou recited spell words.If it was just an authority, it should be minding its own business instead ofinterfering during strange occasions. If it was just a weapon, it was buriedtoo deeply inside Godou. Was this problem the result of the chaoticconditions under which this fellow was defeated?"A thousand swords standing upon the earth, used as city walls to defendagainst the enemies..."...Well said, you can just call me 'partner.' Hearing the whispers comingfrom the depths of his right arm, Godou nodded. This form of addressblurred the distinction between the two identities, and was not a bad name."So, let's go, partner — Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, unsheathe!"Neither an ability nor a possession, it was the summoning of a companion.Responding gallantly was the cooperative companion who might one daydecline to help on whim.'Here! Namely, the Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi! The steel that breaks athousand blades!'The divine sword Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi was finally unsheathedfrom its scabbard!The silver-white light concentrated on the right arm raised towards theheavens, for the sword that stole and assimilated rebellious barbaric might,imitating what was used against the [Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl] inLuo Cuilian's battle, was going to be used for the decisive strike.In that case, the target this time was of course the power of the Great SageEqualing Heaven, Sun Wukong — the authority of steel!The silver-white light materialized above Godou's head, forming asilver-white metallic ring.This iron ring was made of the same steel as the Great Sage... If one wereto give it a name, of course it would be most fitting to call it the[Constricting Circlet], right? That was the Buddhist treasure thatAvalokitasvara bestowed upon the Monk Sanzang to keep the unruly SunWukong in line.'Now is the time for annihilating barbarians coming from all directions!Outsiders be vanquished!'"I know, go forth, Ama no Murakumo!"Godou swung his right arm, causing the silver-white circlet to fly towardsthe Great Sage Equaling Heaven.Like the Ruyi Staff whose length could extend and retract at will, thedimensions of this ring could also be controlled freely. Like the Great Sagehimself, this ring could also create clones of itself, and Godou split it intothree giant rings in an instant.The three rings struck the three-in-one Great Sage Equaling Heaven whowas battling intensely with the two Benevolent Kings.At the same time as the rings hit, the Benevolent Kings vanished. Missionaccomplished, Luo Cuilian dispelled them.'Ugh!' 'So this was the ominous premonition I felt earlier!?' 'Calm down, BigBro, Middle Bro!'The three rings respectively struck right on target the Great Sage EqualingHeaven, the wild boar and the dragon wrapped around the Great Sage'sbody, restraining their bodies like handcuffs.Like Sun Wukong's Constricting Circlet, the silver-white rings imprisonedthe three-in-one Great Sage Equaling Heaven and his sworn brothers —wait, that's not completely accurate!One person managed to overcome the circlet and escape, it was of coursethe Great Sage Equaling Heaven.Jumping nimbly with movements like lightning, he tried to escape to theskies, but at this time, a silver-white flash of light flew and struck the GreatSage in the forehead."Ouch!?"It was John Pluto Smith's last magic bullet.Godou was greatly surprised to find the Great Sage resilient enough towithstand the direct hit with only cries of 'ouch' but thanks to the impact,the divine monkey of steel also lost his balance.Using this opening, Godou ordered Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi to senda silver-white ring towards the escaped prey, finally capturing the GreatSage Equaling Heaven this time.Thus the three rings dragged the three divine spirits back to the bottom ofthe crater they had made during their re-entry.However, merely restraining them did not amount to victory.The black demonic bird leaped down into the meteorite crater where theywere located and its mighty wings began to give off fire."For annihilation I count the number of my great works — I am the axe ofthe night that summons termination, lowering the final curtain for theworld's destruction, the messenger from hell!"These were the flames of annihilation, the transformation that executes allenemies by incinerating his own body.The black flames melted the steel rings that imprisoned the Great SageEqualing Heaven and his subordinate gods. In the end, the steel ringsgenerated by Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were melted down into liquidstate.Molten steel filled the crater, engulfing the Great Sage and his brothers.It was like a natural furnace. Invincible steel was being melted down andlosing its form. The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the giant boar anddragon were all turning into shapeless masses within the furnace.Athena once said — super high temperature that melts iron was the naturalpredator of the sword gods of steel.Godou's first thought was a furnace, which is why the flames of annihilationand Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi were used together to create thisnatural predator!"Waaaaaah!"With final pitiful cries of death, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and hissworn brothers finally melted completely.This was the moment of complete victory for the three Campiones —Kusanagi Godou, Smith and Luo Hao.References1 . t A quote from the Daoist philosophical classicZhuangzi.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi_(book)2. t Style name: a Chinese style name, also known as a courtesyname, was a given name generally used after the age of twenty as asign of adulthood and respect. The use of style names have fallen outof tradition since the early twentiethcentury. http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_style_name3. t Ziwei(^t^): a group of stars lying near the north celestialpole. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Forbidden_enclosure4. t Benevolent Kings(tl): usually depicted in pairs, muscular andwrathful guardian deities of Buddha and manifestations of Vajrapani.They stand on guard at the entrance of Buddhist temples in the form offrightening statues. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nio5. t Shramana: a parallel movement to Vedic Hinduism in ancientIndia which gave rise to Buddhism, Jainism andYoga. http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Shramana6. t Qiang(H): Due to its relative ease of manufacture, the spear inmany variations was ubiquitous on the pre-modern Chinese battlefield.Common features of the Chinese spear are the leaf shaped blade andred horse-hair tassel lashed just below. The tassel serves a tacticalpurpose, and is not simply fordecoration, http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Qiang_(spear)7. t Heart Sutrahttp://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Sutra8. t A quote from the Daoist philosophical classicZhuangzi.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi_(book)9. t Open-mouthed(PRl^): each pair of 3*>(0m/A-un) Buddhist statuesconsists of one each of two types — one open-mouthed and the otherwith a closed mouth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-un