Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Sensing a powerful enemy forcing its way in, the Planetary Vanguard's golden-blue star patterns flickered wildly. Purple-black mana beams shot upward like a meteor shower. Samael met them head-on, his cross spear chopping down, flicking up, and sweeping in tight arcs. Behind him, his golden wings snapped left and spun right, part shield, part blade, offense and defense fused into one. Spearwork and wingwork flowed together, shaving apart and bursting every incoming beam.
Hundreds, then thousands of light-arcs splashed across the sea, kicking up columns of water several yards high.
Pff!
In moments, the Ancient Serpent closed to within a meter. He suddenly drew his wings in to accelerate and drove the cross spear hard into the Planetary Vanguard's sweeping forearm, tearing through flesh woven of star patterns and some unknown substance.
Bang!
Wrapped in the Storm Sea, the Planetary Vanguard immediately lifted its arm to swat the intruder like a fly.
But Samael was faster. He dipped under the grab from the other arm, seized the shaft, and flooded it with divine power as he sprinted straight up toward the neck. The dragged blade scored long, narrow cuts along the arm as he ran.
"Laaa!"
He'd only made it to the elbow when Sefar threw back its head and chanted sharply. The golden-blue lines on its arm flared, and shimmering ripples condensed and rebounded Samael away.
Then, in the instant he hung in midair, Sefar moved with agility that didn't match its size at all, swinging the seven-colored light sword in a broad sweep at Samael.
"Light is darkness, and the divine is born from the demonic.
I destroy, and I create.
I harm, and I save.
None escapes my hand, none slips my sight.
Glory, majesty, power, and authority, all belong to me!
My will shall be done in heaven and spread upon the earth. Pray. Let your sins burn, branded into a seal. The land without stain descends here. Divine Grace: Hymn!"
Samael's wings shuddered as he stabilized himself. His hands loosened for a heartbeat, then re-gripped the spear from above and below. His lips moved in rapid divine speech.
The cross spear ignited into a towering golden blaze, and the authorities of space and time layered over one another. Seven gates rose into being, and magnificent, elegant palaces of heaven emerged amid the sea of clouds.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sefar's seven-colored greatsword shattered four gates in a row, halting just outside the fifth.
"Crush its life. Ruin its civilization. I am the sweeper. I am the reaper!"
Its chest rumbled. The empty left hand closed on the hilt. With a cold shout devoid of emotion, both arms swept through, and the seven-colored sword erupted again in dazzling brilliance.
Bang bang bang!
The remaining three spatial gates behind shattered together. Rainbow edge met the cross spear, now blazing with a boundless radiance, shaped like a massive inverted-cross pillar of light.
Boom!
The sky burst like a cross-shaped star. Clouds were blown clean away, seas split, currents severed. Even the Storm Sea that never dispersed was torn to pieces.
Sefar staggered back and toppled aside, and for the first time its lower body came fully into view.
Half of Sefar's golden-blue, star-patterned body was sunk deep into the Eye of the Tidal Sea, as if that was why it had never moved from the beginning.
So it hadn't left because it was guarding something? Did the Ocean of the Giant Gods and the Interstellar Mountainous City still hide a secret?
Samael's expression tightened, his brow drawing together.
The star core in its abdomen was its central node. Even if he couldn't destroy it now, he had to force it to give ground!
Seizing the opening, the Ancient Serpent pivoted and beat his wings, diving straight for the abyssal star core in Sefar's lower abdomen, vast as a universe.
"Aaaaa!"
Before he could reach it, the Planetary Vanguard sensed the intent and called in fire support. Ten light rings interlocked overhead, and pure spirit particles drawn down from the starry sky gathered and detonated outward in violent bursts.
At the same time, the Ten Kingdom Islands rang with harsh metallic grinding. A dense swarm of humanoid combat units—black bodies traced with crimson—along with spherical wide-area annihilation devices poured out. Two silver-black "long dragons" of flying units crossed and surged toward Samael.
The sea itself roared. Golden-blue pillars of light rose around Sefar, and as luminous dust surfaced and star patterns were inscribed, dozens of Bronze Giant God Weapons condensed into solid form, lined up and waiting.
Under an assault as dense as rain, Samael had no choice but to push his divine perception to its limit. His golden wings hammered the air as his posture shifted constantly—twisting sideways, dropping into low bends, snapping into impossible angles.
One high-difficulty move after another came out in a blur: Thomas spins, razor-sharp high-G turns, and more, all chained together without pause.
Along his path, Samael drew on the extraordinary speed of the Sagittarius Cloth and his spatial authority, which allowed him to clearly sense every fluctuation around him. His body turned into a streak of prismatic light, slipping through the crisscrossing pillars of light and the dense barrage of Ether mana shots, darting left and right through narrow gaps with the agility of an eel.
For a moment, brilliant explosions bloomed across the sky. The intense light pollution cast shattered, flickering reflections over the sea below.
...
At the same time, the coastal wall had fallen into a brutal, all-out battle.
Following Sefar's resonant chant, the offshore fleets and mass-produced weapons went berserk, surging toward the fortress in waves.
Facing enemies that outnumbered them several times over, even with the majority of the Greek city-states' elite human forces gathered along the line, the defenders were still hard-pressed. They could only cling to dangerous positions and fight a grinding war of attrition against the Atlantis army.
Medusa, pouring her strength into sustaining her authority over the land, kept the coastal wall stable while simultaneously reshaping the surrounding terrain to create favorable conditions, assisting the reinforcements as they resisted inch by inch.
Moreover, as a third-generation Mother Goddess of the Earth, and after being taught by a certain troublesome individual, her thinking had become remarkably flexible. Drawing on the many offensive applications derived from her earth authority, her methods were endlessly varied.
Meteorites rained from the sky. Quicksand swamps swallowed the ground. Spikes and thorny vines erupted along enemy paths. Mass-produced earth guardians surged forward. Not only did these measures greatly reduce the defensive pressure, they also left the attacking monsters reeling in confusion.
Unfortunately, these creatures were hunters that pursued civilization-bearing hosts. Even when repelled time and again, they quickly adjusted their direction, precisely locking onto their targets. Like a tireless tide, they surged forward in relentless waves.
Medusa looked out over the coastline, where the battlefield had sunk into a stalemate. Then she raised her gaze to the figure weaving left and right amid the countless streaks of an extreme celestial meteor rain, locked in fierce combat with Sefar. Worry crept into her expression as she asked softly,
"How long did Ares last against Sefar?"
"Less than thirty minutes…"
As Prometheus spoke, he reached out and seized the throat of a silver-furred, red-striped hellhound that had climbed onto the wall. His thick arm twisted, snapping the monster's neck. At the same time, his fist smashed through its outer armor, tore out the core, and crushed it in his grip.
Don't think prophets only use their brains. Back when I was fighting in the wars between the old and new gods, trading blows with the Titans, you bastards weren't even born yet.
Still, after so many years without stretching his limbs, even his pankration felt a bit rusty.
The Fire Thief laughed heartily. Divine runes flared across his arm as he stepped into a side stance and hurled the hellhound's remains forward.
Puff, puff, puff, puff!
Amid the shrill tearing of air, the body disintegrated mid-flight, exploding into a cloud of metal fragments. Seven or eight giant eagles sweeping through the air were riddled through, detonating into dazzling fireballs.
Tearing off his rough robe to reveal a body of coiled muscle, the prophet glanced at Medusa beside him. He clapped his hands together and spoke with a light chuckle.
"Don't worry. Even though they're both counted among the Twelve Olympians, Ares was never well-liked among the Greek city-states and never absorbed much faith to begin with.
"On top of that, Zeus was wary of this legitimate son and never truly favored him. Most of Ares's authority over war was carved away by Athena, leaving him in a pretty miserable state.
"That's why his strength ranks at the bottom on Olympus. If he were forced into a real fight, he might not even be guaranteed a win against comparatively weaker gods like Dionysus, Hermes, or Hestia.
"So him lasting only about thirty minutes against Sefar was perfectly normal. That thing is no weaker than Typhon or Zeus."
Prometheus then turned his gaze toward the Storm Sea, where the battle raged most fiercely. A sharp, lucid light surfaced in his eyes.
"But Samael is different. Under the manipulation of the War God Mountain, he became the supreme god of the Orphic cult.
"Even you and Athena, the two Mother Goddesses who created the human species itself, willingly became his subordinate deities, channeling the purest and most vast faith humanity has possessed since its birth straight into him.
"It can be said that ever since the calamity of Pandora faded, the expansion of humanity and the rapid consumption of Ether have all been inseparable from Samael. At least seventy percent of all spirit particles flow into him, directly or indirectly, through faith.
"That makes him, without question, the greatest beneficiary of the decline of the Age of Gods. Nearly seventy percent of the entire Age's mana. Just thinking about it is terrifying…
"And on top of that, he carries part of the authority of the second-generation God King, Kronos. Even the malice of the gods sealed within Pandora's Box can't erode him.
"Right now, he's stronger than you, stronger than Athena, stronger than any of us. The only ones who might still stand on equal footing with him are monsters like Zeus and Typhon."
"So rest assured. Even against Sefar, even if Samael can't achieve a complete victory, he'll definitely be able to retreat safely."
Prometheus's patient reassurance gradually eased Medusa's lingering unease.
After all, the seer's vision had always been far-reaching and clear. Since he dared to make such a judgment, the outcome was unlikely to be wrong.
At that moment, several Chimera hybrids that had broken through the defenses came howling as they climbed up the coastal wall.
Prometheus spread his palms slightly in front of his chest, settling into a Pankration stance. With small, precise steps, he shifted his position, evading the monsters' lunging claws and snapping jaws with uncanny foresight, missing them by mere inches. His fists slammed into their backs, heads, and bellies in rapid succession, explosive booms erupting midair as the Atlantean constructs were smashed into mangled flesh and scrap metal.
Stheno, Euryale, and the others watched in stunned silence, clicking their tongues in disbelief. Even their usually flippant gazes now carried a hint of awe.
Sure enough, those who had stirred up the war between the old and new gods and survived it were never ordinary figures.
The offspring of Typhon swallowed, casting uneasy glances toward the other side of the coastal wall. There, "Teacher Horse" was leading a group of battle nymphs, using arrows to precisely snipe high-tier units such as the Olympian Guard and creations from the Echidna Armory. For some reason, the Typhon spawn sensed a strange similarity between the two sages and couldn't help recalling a certain Black Devil's mocking words.
"Studying lets you calmly reason with idiots. Training your muscles lets idiots calmly listen to your reasoning!"
Now that they looked at the two sages' outrageous combat power, paired with their usual gentle tone of voice…
It seemed… yes, that logic really did hold up. No wonder even gods and monsters felt compelled to pursue knowledge.
Still, despite Prometheus's repeated reassurances, Medusa's naturally pessimistic temperament left her uneasy. Gazing at the Storm Sea, now awash in firelight, she couldn't help but ask again,
"What should I do next?"
"Wait."
Prometheus slammed a silver-scaled primordial serpent woman into the ground, then turned to look over the territory behind them. His voice was steady, his gaze deep.
"According to our earlier plan, we'll use this as a bulwark to consolidate the forces along the Sparta, Corinth, Thessaly, and Mycenae lines. We'll weed out the elderly and infirm, gather the elite, and exploit Sefar's tendency to hunt civilization-bearing entities to keep their attention fixed here. If the battle escalates beyond control, we can abandon the forward portion of the Peloponnese and fall back to Athens…
"But for now, reinforcements from Athens, Delphi, Thebes, and elsewhere are still arriving. The outcome isn't decided yet. We still have the strength to fight."
So, until the situation becomes clear, it's best to conserve our strength and hold the coastal wall.
After all, the threat may not only come from the front… but also from behind.
Medusa frowned as she looked toward the cloud-shrouded sacred Mount Olympus. She pressed her lips together and nodded, steadying her mind as she continued to layer obstacles against the monsters trying to land along the coastline.
"Hum!"
At that moment, Sefar—her lower body hidden within the Storm Sea—saw the golden-blue stellar patterns on her abdomen blaze brightly. Rings of light rapidly condensed in front of the Alien vanguard, forming overlapping, luminous barriers.
Perfect! He's pushed into the restricted zone!
Standing atop the coastal wall, Medusa, Prometheus, and Chiron all spotted the spear-wielding figure charging straight toward the light rings before Sefar's abdomen. Their eyes lit up, and their fists clenched in excitement.
After taking so much bombardment, I finally got my chance.
Samael swept the edge of his spear, and golden-red blood smeared across its tip. He tightened both hands around the serpentine-scaled shaft and began to chant in a cold, resonant voice.
"I repay forgiveness with vengeance, trust with betrayal; I answer hope with despair, light with darkness, and grant all living things a death of utter obscurity.
"The Seventh Hour resounds. By the blood of the Ancient Serpent Satan's fall, I temper the edge that shatters time and space, recreating the revelation that disassembles all things—Mandate of Heaven: Collapse!"
The Ancient Serpent's vertical pupils split apart, forming a scarlet cross of light. The surging currents of the surrounding sea, the rhythmic tides of Ether, and the shifting density of spirit particles along the path all came into perfect focus.
At the same time, Samael arched backward, his bones cracking as his spine bent into an exaggerated curve, like a fully drawn giant bow. Crimson-black flames tens of thousands of meters high erupted along the spear's spiritual runes, roaring into life.
Now!
In the next instant, the blazing cross spear hurled forward with thunderous force, like a dark serpent baring its fangs as it streaked across the Aegean Sea.