Chapter 886: Martial God Striking!

Yet… though astonishment masked her visage, a gleam of cunning slipped through the shadows of her eyes.

For… as the collective gaze remained transfixed by the magical duel, none noticed another figure quietly vanishing from the firmament.

Suddenly, a wave of gasps rippled through the gathered crowd.

A figure descended with abrupt violence, dropping directly behind the contingent of mages.

“You are finished!” declared another divine priestess, wielding a greatsword with a mountain-cleaving force that swept through the cluster of mages!

It bore the raw might of the divine realm, a terrifying blade-aura that seemed intent on devouring everything in its vicinity!

“Are they finally making a move…?” Within the sanctuary, Isabella the Valkyrie seemed to have been waiting for something all along.

As the proverb went, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind; her designs, naturally, had nothing to do with these mere mortals, for… they truly held no significance to her.

“It should be about time to strike, shouldn't it…?” Her expression remained cold and detached. “Can you still sit idle even under these circumstances?”

“Very well, if you can endure it, then keep enduring. I refuse to believe no one will show themselves once I smash this shop to pieces!”

With that thought, she cast the battlefield from her mind and reseated herself upon the magnificent, noble throne within the hall.

After all… if a being transcending the gods truly intervened, it was impossible for her to miss such an aura.

Yet, as she took a brief respite within the hall, the unpredictable occurred!

This band of mages, from god knows where, suddenly produced greatswords, dual blades, and chain blades, igniting whatever sparse comprehension they possessed of the “Wrath of Poseidon” and the “Wrath of Zeus” upon their weapons!

Boom!

The blade-edge tore a crescent-shaped chasm into the earth, yet remarkably… not a single soul was harmed!

Furthermore, these mages… actually charged forward with their blades bared, a few among them whirling their chain blades with absolute mastery and fierce vigor.

If that were not enough, she then witnessed a cohort of warriors closing in, their martial prowess appearing as though it had been forged in countless slaughters against gods and demons; if the mages' combat standard possessed minor flaws, these warriors perfectly epitomized the art of deicide! A textbook exhibition of combat that, upon the first clash, utterly suppressed a true god into defenselessness!

“You… from whom did you learn your combat techniques?!” The two divine priestesses were now fighting in unison, yet whether through magic or melee, and no matter whom they targeted…

They were suffocated beneath the relentless suppression of these mortals.

“Impossible… Our martial arts were personally bestowed by the God of War… We have braved the battlefields for years, accumulating our strength stroke by stroke by slaying demon gods!” They could not bring themselves to believe this reality, finding it nigh impossible to accept. Warding off the blows with failing strength, their previous grandeur vanished as they shrieked hysterically, “You are mere mortals! By what right are you stronger than us?! How could you reach such a state?!”

Saint Leyton and several other Saint-realm experts scoffed. “Our combat techniques were learned from the mighty God of War himself. We have trained for countless days upon Mount Olympus. Every ounce of our skill was carved out by slaughtering gods across the Olympian peaks, slaying them from the summit to the base, one by one!”

“You self-righteous gods, by what right do you think you are stronger than us?! How could you ever reach our state?!”

“You… you people!?” Hearing these words, not only the priestesses Sufanna and Sophia, but everyone present was struck dumb.

“You… slaughtered… gods!?” Everyone pointed at the group in sheer dread, their faces masks of absolute horror.

“Indeed,” at that moment, the black dragon Gutons remarked with pride, “This dragon once tore the head off the Sun God. I didn't expect that his skull would hold so little blood, being filled entirely with light instead.”

The world mage Hermaddon also laughed heartily. “This old man once clashed with Hades, Lord of the Underworld, and ripped his very soul from his body.”

“And I once pierced Zeus, the Father of Olympus, with a single thrust, just… like this!” Saint Wilson thrust his sword with blinding speed, as if carrying a trace of… the divine might of the Olympian Blade. Golden lightning crackled upon it, bypassing the opponent's defenses entirely to plunge deep into her abdomen!

The two plummeted from the sky, their vacant eyes reflecting a blank mind, their countenances filled with utter shock.

So we have been… fighting people like this all along?! While complacently believing ourselves to be formidable…!?

“We… concede!”

…

At this time, sitting within the divine temple, Isabella the Valkyrie slowly opened her eyes. “Strange… why has there been no movement yet?”

A sinister premonition suddenly gripped her heart.

Instinctively, she stepped out of the sanctuary and looked down.

In an instant, she beheld her two divine priestesses lying half-dead in pools of blood, one of them bearing a hollow sword wound that pierced clean through her abdomen!

A terror and panic never seen before flashed in the eyes of Sufanna and Sophia.

The surrounding Temple Army, along with Saint Durand and his peers, were likewise consumed by fear; never had they imagined these people could be so terrifying!

“My Lord, how shall we dispose of these people!?” The knights of the Golden Gryphon Knights hastily bowed and questioned the Guardian Sword Saint, Wilson.

The heavily wounded Saint Durand and Saint Haynes were no longer a match for this host, and were swiftly rounded up together.

“These individuals have inflicted immense destruction upon our nation.” He surveyed the city, now reduced to little more than ruins. “They may be executed.”

“Understood!”

“Hold your hands!” Right then, a stern roar reverberated through the sky, as tens of thousands of golden rays pierced the vision, shaking the eight wildernesses and making the mountains echo in unison!

From the firmament, a dazzling deity emerged from the temple, appearing as though… another sun had risen in the sky!

The vast divine power instantly made everyone feel as insignificant as ants, while her flawless visage left them struck with a sense of deep self-deprecation.

“Execute them!” Yet in this moment, no one heeded her command.

“No! You cannot—!” Saint Durand shrieked.

Several knights under the Guardian Sword Saint Wilson brought down their blades, and several fine heads rolled across the ground.

“Fine… excellent!” Fire almost spewed from Isabella the Valkyrie’s eyes, her fury transcending all bounds. “How dare you ants desecrate lives of such nobility!”

The divine sword in her hand pointed toward the heavens, and a terrifying pillar of golden light instantly shot straight into the clouds.

As her divine sword slashed downward, the golden pillar traversing the sky acted as the blade itself; its world-ending divine power resembled the collapse of a monolithic mountain peak. The golden blade-light seemed to cleave the heavens and earth apart, as if it would slice clean through the world!

Before the blade could even arrive, everyone present was pressed down by an unimaginably terrifying divine pressure, unable to straighten their backs; those with weaker cultivation were flattened directly against the earth, which cracked and sank beneath them!

In the next instant, everyone watched as that cataclysmic beam of light slashed ruthlessly down upon them!

In a flash, the entirety of heaven and earth was left to nothing but desolation and dead silence.

Yet… precisely then, amidst that deathly silence, everyone caught the sound of faint footsteps as a figure walked out from the shop.

Stepping directly into the path of that descending blade-light, the figure walked straight forward.