"By the true name of Athena, I command you: O night, appear here! Dispel the sun's blessings, extinguish Prometheus's fire, silence the thunder of the heavens, and plunge the earth into darkness. Stars filling the sky and pitch-black winds, re-create the ancient night here!"
As Goddess Athena cried out her Word Spirit, the sky, which had been at midday, transformed into night. Endless stars glittered beneath the black curtain. There was no moon among the stars; only their scattered light illuminated everything.
This was the ancient night—the ancient natural disaster, the darkness conquered by modern civilization. Yet now, under Athena's Word Spirit, disaster had descended once more.
The pure white of the Alps was completely shrouded in darkness. A black whirlwind howled to life, whipping Roy's red robe about.
Athena tossed the Gorgon Stone in her hand into the air. The stone insignia symbolizing her ancient identity merged into her body.
"All this one desires is the Gorgon Stone. Athena shall now reclaim the ancient serpent!"
The scent of the "serpent" grew ever stronger around the Goddess. Beneath the night sky above her head, birds began to appear. They were owls, utterly indifferent to the darkness and accustomed to living within it. Countless owls flew through the sky as if celebrating the Goddess's return.
As night and the stars descended, Athena's body began to grow at a speed visible to the naked eye. She passed beyond the age of a little girl and became a youthful maiden, then continued growing until she took on the most captivating appearance of a woman around eighteen.
Her lovely short hair transformed into waterfall-like, silky locks, shining with a faint silver radiance beneath the pitch-black night. Athena's modern clothes also changed into ancient Greek attire. A white silk robe enveloped her infinitely beautiful and alluring body—the Roman-style "toga."
She wore a wreath atop her head, revealing her snow-white, rounded shoulders and delicate collarbones beneath the robe. The Goddess had indeed not been lying: her towering breasts surpassed Erica's in size. Her solemnly sacred and sharp gaze was like the sword of war and wisdom, its edge intimidating.
"How is it? Are you satisfied with this one's appearance?"
The tall Goddess, with skin like ice and bones like jade, was noble and elegant. Her jade feet were bare beneath the toga, resting in exquisitely woven sandals.
A rich floral fragrance wafted over, making the tip of Roy's nose twitch slightly. Athena took graceful steps, her face filled with a proud, victorious smile, and walked right up to Roy.
Then she suddenly rose onto her toes. Her slightly parted lips exhaled a fragrant breath. Like a maiden in love, she wrapped her long jade fingers around Roy's head. Her expression was gentle and languid as she whispered, "...Child of the Fool, Roy Crowley, allow this one to grant you the blessing of desire."
With the Goddess's gentleness, which brooked no refusal, she rose onto her toes.
At that moment, darkness and death descended. A woman's gentleness was the deadliest weapon. How many kings and ministers had died beneath a woman's tenderness? The gentleness of a Goddess was even more suffocating.
A land of tender affection was always a hero's grave.
Roy's breathing and life force also began to wither away...
Chapter Eighty-One: Today, I Shall Slay the Dragon-Serpent!
"I am Athena, daughter of Zeus. Campione who covets a virgin Goddess, taste despair and pain, and repent in the wilderness of the underworld..."
What Roy swallowed, besides the rich, intoxicating fragrance, was an utterly cold scent of death.
Athena gently released her long fingers. Her enchanting lips left the edge of Roy's mouth, and she looked at his eyes, now devoid of light, with faint regret as he fell stiffly toward the ground.
Although a Campione possessed powerful resistance to magic, if a curse was sent directly into the body, even a Campione would lose that formidable resistance. Even ordinary magic could then take effect on one, let alone a Goddess's curse.
The concept of death invaded Roy's body, making him feel as if he had fallen into the deep sea of the Arctic. His body and soul froze, and even his thoughts gradually faded away. It was as if he could see the world of death imagined by humanity beneath the earth.
Just before Roy's consciousness completely sank into darkness, his rigid thoughts finally activated the fifth authority of his "Divine Right"—"Isaac's Redemption"!
This authority could expel all curses.
"Bang!"
His left elbow sank into the snow, supporting his body. The pupils that had already gone dim regained their brilliance. Almost lying on the ground, Roy gazed at the peerless Goddess looking down at him and sighed, "...The more poisonous the woman, the more beautiful she is. Who would have thought that beneath such a gentle kiss lay a path to death? No wonder you, Athena, are one of Greece's famous virgin goddesses. With such ruthlessness and mercilessness, what man or male god would dare become intimate with you?"
Seeing that Roy had not been killed by her death curse, Athena was delighted rather than shocked. A happy smile appeared on her sacred, elegant face, and her gaze was firm and resolute as she declared, "...This is the destined archenemy this one has recognized. If you were to die so easily, would that not be far too boring?"
She raised her long jade hand high. A pitch-black scythe appeared within it, embodying the true meaning of death among Athena's three-in-one Goddess aspects.
Seeing the scythe slash toward his head, Roy's expression changed. Surging Magic Power erupted. A thunderous boom rang out from the summit of the Alps. Under the terrifying shock wave, the snow exploded into the sky, the rocks atop the mountain cracked inch by inch, and even the clouds beneath the dark sky rolled with it.
Roy clenched his left fist. At the bases of his five fingers, the faint shapes of five rings could be seen. This was the phenomenon that had appeared after Solomon's Spiritual Foundation merged with him and "Jacob's Ladder" advanced. Whenever Roy used this authority, Solomon's rings would emerge on his ten fingers.
However, these rings were not physical objects. They were merely manifestations of an authority. Nor did they represent Solomon's Wisdom, but the martial power of King Solomon!
Roy punched with his left hand, the blow accompanied by the roar of thunder, and smashed it viciously toward Athena's beautiful, enchanting face. If that punch struck home, even a Goddess of incomparable beauty would be beaten into a crooked, mangled mess.
Seeing Roy's treachery, anger appeared on the Goddess's face. The scythe that had been aimed at Roy's neck swung aside and blocked his fist. Their divine power and Magic Power collided with a thunderous crash, blasting the entire mountain peak into dust.
The repulsive force made Roy and Athena both grunt as they were knocked through the air. They landed atop separate snowy peaks. As soon as Athena steadied herself, she swiftly raised her head. Her amber pupils completely transformed into snake pupils—the "Petrification Magic Eye of Medusa"!
Roy refused to be outdone. His Double Pupils contracted, and he also looked up, using "Sodom's Eye" to oppose the "Petrification Magic Eye." When the two supreme Magic Eyes collided, the air twisted where their gazes met, and the snow was torn apart. Anyone who appeared between their lines of sight would be ripped to pieces in an instant, becoming shattered stone and salt deposits.
"This one chants, chants the hymn of the three-in-one Goddess, connecting heaven, earth, and darkness. This is reincarnation and wisdom!"
"This one chants, chants the song of the banished Goddess, who was a Queen yet was regarded as a forbidden serpent. This is the Queen's lament!"
"This one chants, chants the poem of the Goddess whose body and heart were torn apart, imprisoned by a sublime father. This is the humiliation of the loving mother!"
"My name is Athena, daughter of Zeus, guardian Goddess of Athens, and an eternal virgin!"
"In the past, I was the Earth Mother who gave birth to all things. In the past, I was the Lord of the Underworld who ruled over darkness. In the past, I was the Queen of Wisdom who understood the wisdom of the heavens. I am here!"
It was like a Word Spirit, a hymn, a prayer, and a hymn of praise all at once. As Goddess Athena softly chanted, her divine power boiled to its peak.
The true meanings of earth, death, wisdom, and war filled Athena's chest. Terrifying pressure, enough to make heaven and earth tremble, filled everything. Within the domain of her divine power, Roy's body actually began to stiffen.
"As expected of the world's most famous Goddess. As expected of a Disobedient God who has lived for a thousand years and once personally slew a Campione!"
This was a true powerful enemy, one that any Campione would need to fight with everything they had in order to defeat.
"Roy Crowley, this one said that she would kill you today, and this one never breaks her word!"
"Rumble, rumble!"
The mountain beneath their feet suddenly began to shake, as if struck by a magnitude-twelve earthquake. The snow became an avalanche and buried this section of the Alps. Animals cried out miserably as they fled. The rocks exposed beneath the snow split apart, and amid a shrill hiss, a giant serpent hundreds of meters long drilled out from within the mountain, shaking the entire peak into fragments.
...Please give me flowers...
Athena stood atop the giant serpent's head, holding the pitch-black scythe in her right hand. It was as if her body had fused with the serpent, transforming her into a monster with a human head and a serpent's body.
"So this is the monster known as Gorgon!"
Seeing the breathtakingly beautiful and enchanting serpent woman, Roy murmured softly.
"Go, my fangs, my sharp teeth! Tear apart this one's archenemy and swallow him into your belly, making him nourishment for the earth!"
At Goddess Athena's cry, the giant serpent released a roar like a dragon's. It opened its enormous jaws and bared its sharp teeth, rushing toward Roy and sending fragments of stone flying.
"Angels, sound the trumpet of the apocalypse here!"
Roy loudly recited his Word Spirit and activated "Sounding the Seventh Trumpet." A sacred light suddenly bloomed beneath the black night. The phantoms of seven angels stood in the seven directions between heaven and earth, sounding the trumpet of the apocalypse for all humanity. The gates of Heaven opened, and over a hundred angels formed from sacred light streamed out in military formation.
"Let me show you my new understanding of the 'Divine Right' after fusing with Solomon's Spiritual Foundation!"
Roy revealed a murderous grin. His "Divine Right" consisted of seven abilities. Because they were too powerful, they were subject to many restrictions. After the fusion with the Spiritual Foundation, however, the seven abilities had begun to show signs of division. In other words, the "Divine Right" would change from seven abilities into seven authorities. Once that succeeded, Roy's "Divine Right" would no longer have any restrictions. As long as he had sufficient Magic Power, he could use it freely.
"The shields forming the fortress shall bear the names of angels. The first is Michael, the second Gabriel, the third Sariel, and the fourth Raphael. The Lord of Hosts is the King of Glory, and our God is the Lord of Hosts!"
The hundred-plus angels did not charge. At Roy's command, they began to merge. Sacred light emerged within the darkness, scattering the deathly aura of the underworld and the black curtain. Then a gigantic angel over a hundred meters tall, with wings of blazing light on its back and a cross-shaped halo above its head, enveloped Roy. It looked like the incarnation of Michael!
Roy extended his right hand, and the blood-red Sword of Judgment appeared within it. The hundred-meter-tall angelic incarnation also produced a giant sword capable of cleaving a mountain. The several-hundred-meter-long Sword of Flames slashed viciously toward the Gorgon monster.
Its posture was exactly like the scene depicted in church murals: Michael battling the Ancient Dragon!
"Today, I shall slay the dragon-serpent here!"
Chapter Eighty-Two: Angel and Dragon-Serpent
"Very good, very good. In that case, you can still play with this one for a while!"
Seeing the angel formed from Roy's authority, Athena let out a clear yet imposing laugh.
The Gorgon monster's enormous serpentine body sped through the Alps. Every twist brought landslides and shattered the earth, sending avalanches roaring down.
"Hiss—AAAAAaaaaaaa—"
The serpent opened its huge mouth, viscous fluid dripping from its sharp teeth. Although the Gorgon monster was enormous, it was incredibly fast, biting toward the angel's neck like lightning.
The giant angel, which resembled the incarnation of Michael, flapped its wings of blazing light. The Sword of Judgment in its hand descended with the force of thunder, cleaving toward the monstrous serpent.
"Clang!"
The collision between the sword and the serpent's body rang like metal striking metal. Sparks flew, and the sound was painfully harsh. In ancient times, dragons and serpents symbolized the same thing. Although this Gorgon monster looked like a snake, it possessed a dragon's defenses.
However, using a serpent's body to withstand the steel of a hero was ultimately difficult. The enormous serpentine body was cut open by the Sword of Judgment, leaving a bloody gash. Yet as crimson blood sprayed out, the wound healed in an instant.
As the most ancient Earth Mother Goddess and a monster symbolizing the serpent of reincarnation, Athena possessed an extremely powerful immortality. The Gorgon monster formed from her body also possessed the ability to shed its skin and be reborn.
Michael's attribute of steel is still too weak.
Seeing the result, Roy sighed faintly. Although Michael's achievements were formidable—he had even accomplished the feat of imprisoning Ancient Dragon Satan—compared with the famous heroes who had slain dragons and serpents throughout history, Michael was somewhat lacking in this aspect.
If Roy possessed a powerful authority of steel, with the power to cleave through immortality, that previous strike would not merely have left a bloody gash on the Gorgon. It might have split it in half.
Even if the dragon-serpent could recover after being cleaved in two, doing so would still consume much more of its divine power.
At this moment, Roy was eager to kill a Steel Hero and seize their Spiritual Foundation to strengthen his own authority.
"Are you at your wit's end? Your sword cannot cleave this one's Gorgon. Since that is so, melt beneath these sharp venomous fangs!"
The lightning-fast serpent opened its mouth and spat out venom. The venom could even corrode matter. When it landed on the ground, the earth of the Alps transformed into sulfuric acid.
The dragon-serpent quickly coiled across the earth. With a roll of its tail, it wrapped around Michael's incarnation like a python, and its head once again lunged toward the incarnation's neck.
Seeing this, Roy immediately abandoned the sword. He controlled the angelic incarnation to seize both of the serpent's jaws with its hands. Michael possessed the power to imprison an ancient dragon and was tremendously strong, like Heracles from Greek Mythology. With both hands alone, he could restrain the Gorgon's serpentine body.
This close-range entanglement was what "Jacob's Ladder" excelled at. It had originally been called a wrestling combat technique. The gigantic angelic incarnation grappled with Gorgon, the two rolling and struggling without pause. Their hundred-meter-tall bodies were like giants, smashing apart peak after peak of the Alps. It was a natural disaster that could only be imagined in myth, with heaven and earth both splitting apart.
"Rumble!"
Michael's incarnation seized the dragon-serpent by the tail and spun three hundred and sixty degrees in place, flinging it away like a discus. Amid a thunderous boom, the serpentine body smashed into the side of a mountain, nearly shattering half of it.
At some point, Athena had already fused with the giant serpent beneath her, completely transforming into a sacred figure with a human head and a serpent's body, much like Nuwa, the Earth Mother Goddess of the ancient East. In the myths of both East and West, many Earth Mother Goddesses possessed this form, for the serpent was inherently their symbol.
Roy had also fused with Michael's incarnation. The giant angel's face had transformed into Roy's. Against a monster as enormous as Gorgon, only by transforming himself into a gigantic monster could he fight it.
"Roy Crowley, although you are young, this one must admit that you are a qualified Campione and a formidable enemy—the strongest this one has ever encountered!"
Athena's voice carried overlapping tones. It remained beautiful and pleasant, but now possessed an even grander, more majestic authority.
Although she had become the dragon-serpent Gorgon, the human upper half of her body remained extraordinarily beautiful. Dozens of meters of silver hair draped over her full, perfect chest. Her slender waist was truly serpentine, and her exposed skin was crystalline and snow-white. Though her body was enormous, its proportions were nearly perfect.
"Ah—!"
Suddenly, Athena let out a cry of pain. Her gaze had fallen upon Roy's face. "Face of God" activated, and through Roy's features, Athena seemed to glimpse an existence that could not be looked upon directly. Even though she was a Goddess, the difference in status nearly burned her eyes blind. Her enormous serpentine body writhed in place.
"Who can compare with this 'beast'? Who can battle it!"
"You are guilty!"
Seizing the opportunity, Roy summoned the Sword of Judgment once more and activated its authority. In his form as Michael, he raised the blood-red sword high with both hands and recited the Word Spirit, judging Athena guilty. The order of the sword and the dragon-serpent was instantly reversed. As the nearly thousand-meter-long giant sword descended, it carved a colossal rift into the earth and cleaved a mountain peak in two. Athena, in her Gorgon form, was also split in half down the middle of her serpentine body.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
The giant serpent's blood splashed across the snowfield, nearly dyeing the Alps red. Athena raised her head and cried out in pain. Her incomparably beautiful face was no longer calm and composed as before, and her Petrification Magic Eyes were filled with agonized fury.
"Coo—"
A cry like that of a night owl suddenly came from behind Roy. A huge owl dove from the sky, its beak piercing through the body of Roy's Michael incarnation. Unlike Gorgon, which possessed a physical body, an angel was a creature of energy. Even when pierced through, it shed no blood—only beautiful blazing light.
"Roy! Taste this forbidden power of darkness and death!"
The human half of Gorgon produced the scythe Athena had used earlier. Like Roy's sword, the scythe became enormous. Athena's martial arts were genuine divine techniques, and she was proficient with every one of the eighteen weapons. The scythe swept over like lightning, leaving Roy no time to react. The angelic incarnation was severed at the waist.
The power of death began to corrode Roy's body. The mountain peak beneath his feet had already begun to decay. Even the concept of "mountain" lost its vitality and turned into withered dust.
Athena had possessed countless identities throughout ancient history, and her authorities and abilities were so numerous they made one's scalp numb. Gorgon represented her serpent aspect, the owl represented the darkness of night, and this scythe represented her aspect of death. Within her peerless scythe-wielding martial arts lay the symbol of her identity as a War Goddess as well.
The angelic incarnation also began to wither under the corrosion of death. Fortunately, Michael likewise possessed an aspect of death; otherwise, the decay would have proceeded even faster. As a Goddess of the underworld, Athena should also have had some connection to Ereshkigal of Mesopotamian Mythology.
Roy swiftly detached himself from the incarnation. The enormous angelic body, resembling an EVA, transformed into a cloud of light and sand before dispersing.
Roy himself shot toward Athena's upper body like an arrow loosed from a bow, raising his right fist.
"Saint Martha Subdues the Dragon!"
Five rings encircled the bases of the fingers on Roy's right hand. He slammed his fist into Athena's astonishingly beautiful face, crushing it inward.
This "Saint Martha Subdues the Dragon" possessed not only the power to subdue dragons but also Solomon's anti-dragon special attack. Its tremendous damage against dragons and serpents inflicted agony that nearly tore Athena's soul and nerves apart. Her body was blasted directly out of the serpent's body by Roy's punch, once again becoming the tall, silver-haired Goddess.
Although Gorgon had been severed by Roy's sword, the monster's immortality was too powerful. It had already begun slowly regenerating. Roy's authorities were limited by the number of uses and their duration. If Gorgon revived, leaving him to face an unkillable giant serpent covered in dragon scales, he would have no way to fight.
Athena, sent flying by the punch, twisted in midair. The scythe in her hand transformed into a bow, and arrows resembling moonlight shot toward him.
"!!!"
Roy's powerful sixth sense let him twist his body aside at the critical moment, avoiding a vital point. Even so, the arrow pierced through his shoulder. He grunted in pain as its tremendous force sent him flying. With a thunderous explosion, he was pinned to the distant mountainside behind him.
The enormous owl in the sky continued to dive toward Roy, its appearance exactly like the punishment in which Prometheus's organs were pecked out.
Before you continue