Chapter 280: One Lotus, One Life—The Buddha Who Devoured Four Major Gods!
The six Guanyin forms represent six distinct manifestations.
Apart from the Holy Guanyin of Hell, who appeared normal, the other five all had somewhat unusual appearances.
The Wish-Fulfilling Wheel Guanyin of the Heavenly Path had six arms, which was still acceptable.
The Unfailing Lasso Guanyin of the Human Path had three faces and four arms, which wasn't particularly strange either.
The Horse-Headed Guanyin of the Animal Path, true to its name, had a horse head atop its head. Moreover, its entire body was crimson, with three faces, eight arms, three glaring eyes, exposed fangs, and red-and-yellow hair and beard standing upright—a truly ferocious, demon-like visage.
The Eleven-Faced Guanyin of the Asura Path, as the name implies, possessed eleven faces arranged in five layers, as if new heads grew atop the original, stacked five high. The faces gradually decreased in size to fit the layers.
Thus, the Eleven-Faced Guanyin of the Asura Path was particularly terrifying in appearance.
Lastly, the Thousand-Armed Guanyin of the Hungry Ghost Path was said to have a thousand arms spread out behind it like a peacock's tail, with an eye in the palm of each hand—a sight that sent chills down one's spine.
Now, with all six Guanyin forms fused into one, the resulting image was truly horrifying.
Yet, in this form, Buddha exhibited traits that should not belong to his divine pantheon—such as the golden jackal mask embedded in the face on the back of its head and the scale it was biting.
These features unmistakably resembled those of Anubis, the lord of the underworld in the Egyptian pantheon.
After all, Anubis was depicted with a jackal's head and a human body, and his divine artifact was a scale.
Legend held that he used this artifact to weigh whether a person was worthy of entering the afterlife.
Anubis would weigh the target's heart against the ostrich feather symbolizing Ma'at (truth) to determine its lightness or heaviness.
If the heart balanced with the feather, the person could ascend to the divine realm, become a heroic spirit, and attain eternal life among the gods.
If the feather outweighed the heart, it meant the person had sinned in life and would be cast into hell, possibly even devoured by Ammit, a demon with the head of a crocodile, the forequarters of a lion, and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus.
Then, observing one of Buddha's arms—specifically, one of the six forward-facing arms—it held what appeared to be a book engulfed in flames. This bore a strong resemblance to the divine artifact of the chief god in Zoroastrianism, though it could only be described as similar. Yet, it was undoubtedly related to that artifact, seemingly adapted to suit the Buddha.
Beyond these two features, two other elements connected to other major gods were also discovered.
And these major gods were precisely the ones most likely to represent the gods in the upcoming battles!
Moreover, it was quite eerie that after this match began, the divine seats prepared for these individuals remained empty—the several chief gods were no longer present.
Thus, some gods seemed to have realized something, trembling and finding it hard to believe as they understood why Buddha was so powerful.
"B-b-b-b-b—"
Göll was so terrified she couldn't speak, her tongue seemingly tangled in her throat as if blocking it, her body going limp as she slumped to the ground.
"Si-si-sister, wh-wh-what is that?!"
She finally managed to blurt out the words.
This Lord Buddha, like Zeus and the others before him, had another form, but it was far, far too terrifying.
She was genuinely going to have psychological trauma.
A multitude of hands, like a peacock spreading its tail, with eyes on the palms?
She was about to develop trypophobia.
No, not about to—she had it now.
"One Lotus, One Life!!!"
Brunhilde murmured in a low voice.
Correction—in reality, she hadn't even noticed her sister's question and responded to it. Instead, she had drawn this conclusion from observing Buddha's condition and was muttering to herself.
Before she initiated Ragnarök, she hadn't known about the special individuals in history. So, merely forging divine weapons wasn't enough to grant humanity power comparable to the gods.
Therefore, Brunhilde had also consulted Buddha, obtaining from him the ability known as One Lotus, One Life.
Only this ability could allow the Valkyrie-transformed divine weapon and its user to become a true community of shared destiny, unleashing power that surpassed the sum of its parts.
The current situation clearly showed that Buddha had also used the One Lotus, One Life ability, merging the four other chief gods into himself—almost as if he had devoured them.
Thus, he could wield their divine weapons, which had transformed to adapt to Buddha's current form.
In this way, this battle was equivalent to facing a special god composed of five entities in one, which was why Buddha allowed all the human representatives to fight together.
But wasn't that a bit unfair?
No, it couldn't be called unfair, as this was Buddha's own ability. Since he could achieve such a feat, it was part of his power.
"Dead?"
Brunhilde was slightly taken aback as she glanced at the information of the chief gods on her terminal—the ones Buddha had merged with through One Lotus, One Life—all showing as deceased.
However, this "death" did not mean they had turned into cosmic dust.
If that were the case, Buddha's One Lotus, One Life would have failed.
Yet their death was clearly the cost of using One Lotus, One Life.
Once, Brunhilde had asked what would happen if the target of One Lotus, One Life and divine weapon forging was a god.
He said he didn't know, as he had never tried it, but he mentioned a possibility: if that were done, the god might face true annihilation.
Annihilation? Truly turning into cosmic dust?
From the aberrant state of Buddha before her, Brunhilde also sensed an unparalleled aura of destruction. It wasn't the kind of destructive intent Buddha seemed to bring to the world, but rather the aura of his own impending demise.
Had Buddha already resolved to draw? Had he made up his mind to die?
No, that wasn't it!
Buddha wasn't aiming for a draw—he was aiming for victory.
Although he would ultimately face destruction and annihilation, it wouldn't be in the battle against the humans.
Buddha intended to swiftly turn to the battlefield after winning, using this form to deliver a fierce blow to the Primordial God!!!
He planned to seize every possible advantage for the gods in his final moments!!!