Normally, upon hearing Ye Ting's words, the proud King of Heroes and Ramses II among Gaia's Heroic Spirits would have felt deeply humiliated and launched into battle regardless of the cost.
But at this moment, both Gilgamesh and Ozymandias had forgotten to be angry, merely staring blankly ahead.
They had no room in their minds to pay attention to anything else.
There was only one sight they could see.
Upon the earth, an intricate and beautiful magic circle shone brilliantly.
Their former opponents stood within it.
The female pharaoh who wielded magic once more radiated the glory of a pharaoh.
The witch of Colchis was once again brimming with magical energy.
The beast-eared archer was enveloped in the power of the moon goddess.
The white warrior's blade now carried an aura of destruction.
The two queens of the Amazons, too, now emanated the valor of the long-departed god of war.
In short, they could already feel it: their opponents were no longer mortals, but Heroic Spirits like themselves.
Heroic Spirits existed based on information about them stored within the Throne of Heroes, which lay beyond the world.
When each hero died, their soul came to the Throne of Heroes and became a Heroic Spirit residing there.
Yet it was not only the dead who could become Heroic Spirits.
Among Heroic Spirits was a special group known as "Guardians."
Although Heroic Spirits could be summoned by the Counter Force, they did not truly belong to it. Even the Counter Force could not force the Heroic Spirits of the Throne of Heroes to serve it.
But Guardians were an exception.
Guardians were Heroic Spirits who directly accepted the Counter Force's commands.
Once the root cause of the world's destruction emerged, they would be summoned by the world to eliminate it. The root