Two deities glared at Aslan: the God of Victory and the God of Defeat.
Between their glares, Angie stood beside Aslan, stepping over the remains of the lesser divinities she had torn apart.
Leisurely shouldering the greatsword, a subtle contempt lingered in his gaze.
At this sight, the God of Defeat gritted their teeth and regenerated the wound on their chest, while Aslan gripped Purity askew and observed the two gods.
A cold stare devoid of any emotion.
Facing this gaze, the God of Victory asked again.
“What are you?”
This question was not about identity.
Knowing this, Aslan remained silent, and Angie saw no reason to answer an unnecessary question and kept quiet.
Thus, the God of Victory and the God of Defeat quietly observed them.
And they noticed.
The power within their bodies, that divine power.
It could be felt but strangely so—merely draped around them like clothing.
Not something they were born with or had acquired.
Realizing this, the two gods exchanged glances. The lesser divinities who hadn’t charged yet and those who had just finished regenerating lined up.
A solid encirclement.
Within this encirclement stood the two humans stoically as the God of Victory slowly distanced themselves, holding a short sword and shield.
On the other hand, the God of Defeat stepped forward.
They laughed, covering their mouth.
“This isn’t something mere mortals should interfere in. It’s better to step back before you regret it.”
A playful tone laced with laughter. Just by looking, it was unclear if they were serious.
In an odd way, provoking anger, the God of Defeat added,
“If you don’t know when to intervene and when to retreat, you’ll die quickly. I’ve seen enough of such cases to say this. This is a time to retreat, mortal.”
Aslan and Angie neither responded nor acted.
Silently observing, the God of Defeat twitched their eyes and continued provoking.
“Ah! How about joining us? If you kill that pitiful loser over there, we might speak well of you to Him. A rare opportunity, wouldn’t you say?”
Contrary to the God of Defeat’s expectation that they would glance even for a moment, Aslan steadily stared at her without wavering.
Then the only reaction the God of Defeat could show was one.
She slowly calmed her expression and spat out,
“Boring.”
And as if on cue, the lesser divinities charged forward alongside her.
Their targets were Aslan and Angie, all the Warrior Gods.
Observing this charge towards Aslan, the God of Victory watched silently.
It was a kind of surefire method.
First, the God of Defeat provoked, mocked, ridiculed, or tempted to draw out a reaction, then fought directly to reveal the opponent’s habits or weaknesses.
Afterward, the God of Victory analyzed and attacked together to bring them down.
A strategy possible because the two deities were always intertwined lovers and twins.
True to their role, the God of Victory attentively observed the battlefield.
“How will you respond?”
The charging God of Defeat held her dual hammers high.
Her hammers’ offensive capabilities were considerable.
Even the Warrior Gods would find it hard to block easily.
Blocking would be difficult, and dodging would cause the ground to shatter, disrupting balance.
Then naturally, following attacks would lead to certain death.
Based on how they responded here, countermeasures could be prepared.
The God of Victory observed.
Aslan neither defended nor evaded.
Instead, he charged first, wielding a mace from his waist.
The startled God of Defeat hesitated briefly but didn’t waver for long.
If they read correctly, they would simply crush that prediction.
Though filled with surprise, the hammer brought down with immense force.
But before that, Aslan’s sword strike already swept across the battlefield.
Without a sound, the sword struck accurately and preemptively.
Swoosh!
The blade cleanly grazed the wrist holding the hammer and retreated. In the blazing white purity, the God of Defeat dropped her hammer.
“Ugh?!”
An ancient deity’s attack itself serves both offense and defense.
The arm swiftly swinging weapons can deflect weak attacks, break them, and injure the attacker.
However, Purity did not break, and despite striking the rapidly moving wrist, the recoil did not transfer to its wielder.
Neither did it falter.
It simply severed the wrist as if it must.
The resonant clang echoed as the wrist rolled across the floor.
“Not yet…!”
The God of Defeat regenerated her arm by extracting a black tentacle and attaching it.
Attempting to swing the hammer with the newly attached arm,
but Aslan’s sword strike reached first. A simple stab. Accurately piercing through the hand, causing it to crumple and lose grip on the hammer.
Next came the mace attack.
The white steel swung horizontally and precisely crushed her enchanting face.
Crack!
With a sound like fruit bursting, the God of Defeat was smashed and sent flying.
Seeing her younger sister thrown off, the God of Victory was shocked, and the Warrior Gods were also taken aback.
“Is this all?”
As if unrelated to the Warrior Gods, the lesser divinities charged. Angie faced them.
—
A powerful sonic boom accompanied the woman hurtling forward, cutting through the wind.
The miraculous agility of 15 allowed her to move at speeds even she wasn’t fully aware of.
A transcendent capability far beyond what a lesser divinity-turned-priest could catch up to.
Even the high-ranking priests burning their lives and the Supreme Divinity’s Sword could barely keep pace.
The kicks launched at these speeds were pure violence themselves.
Kwaang!
With a thunderous roar, chunks of flesh scattered backward.
As the mass of meat that was a lesser divinity collapsed, Angie lunged toward the approaching others.
Whoosh!
The corpse wrapped around her leg shattered and scattered, and the ground split violently beneath her.
Toward the stunned lesser divinities, Angie’s sword strike rushed forth.
Holding the sword with both hands and swinging it with full force—a simple brute force without technique.
But repeatedly swung with skillful use of the hips, it became a bombardment-like flurry of strikes.
Before a single breath passed, the dismembered lesser divinities exploded and scattered.
It rained like a shower of flesh.
At the center, Angie leisurely slung her greatsword over her shoulder.
Exhaling softly, the woman spoke.
“Pathetic.”
The mocking smile was a bonus.
Caught off guard by this sight, the God of Victory hesitated as the God of Defeat, having completed regeneration, shouted.
“What are you doing?! Attack! We can take them with a coordinated assault!”
At this, the lesser divinities hesitantly charged forward.
The God of Victory and the God of Defeat also approached to join the fight.
As the lesser divinities approached, Aslan briefly murmured.
“Angie, handle the rest. I’ll take care of these two.”
Angie smirked, said nothing, and darted forward.
Dozens of lesser divinities surged toward the two rushing figures.
Amidst the horrifying exchange ratio, Angie swung her greatsword like shaking off water.
Kwaang!
With a deafening roar, the lesser divinities were flung away. Even those who barely blocked found parts of their bodies exploding as they tumbled to the ground.
Through the scattering lesser divinities, Aslan approached the God of Victory and the God of Defeat.
The God of Victory analyzed the approaching Aslan.
This human, at a glance, possessed an extraordinary level of skill.
Neither strength nor agility was particularly beyond normal levels.
Rather, the standout was the nameless compatriot specializing in physical combat.
Currently dismantling the lesser divinities in real-time.
Conversely, this human was merely a regular human—not a deity.
In short, summarized:
These two seemed to split the advantages of the Warrior Gods into halves.
“Seems they’ve prepared some trump card, but… it’s useless.”
Smirking inwardly, the God of Victory, along with their lover and younger sister, approached Aslan.
And they clashed.
The first blow came from the God of Defeat’s hammer. Piercing forward, Aslan met the thrust with a direct parry, extending his sword.
Clang! The resonating sound rang out as the hammer was blocked. The sword held tightly stopped the hammer mid-strike.
As the God of Defeat prepared to resist and the God of Victory aimed to assist, Aslan’s mace swung inward from the outside.
Crack!
Once again, the god’s head shattered, but even as it broke, the God of Defeat caught the mace.
The God of Victory and the God of Defeat realized.
This human’s strength lay in the seamless offense-defense integration achieved by freely handling two weapons.
Break this, and victory would be inevitable.
Before they could counterattack, fearing death, and before they could defend, fearing death, the God of Defeat confidently noted Aslan casually dropping the mace.
To him, weapons were merely tools.
Instead, Aslan grasped Purity with both hands. The diagonal upward slash was imminent.
“Futile!”
The God of Victory advanced with the shield raised in opposition.
A textbook shield technique—suppressing movement space with the shield and thrusting with the short sword.
Upon seeing this, Aslan halted the impending strike, momentarily hesitated, then sidestepped.
Chiiik!
Evasive movement faster than the attack. The short sword slashed through empty air as Aslan used the momentum from sidestepping to pivot and swing his sword.
Kaang!
Blocking the sword strike with the shield, the God of Victory pressed forward. With the short sword and shield crossing paths, Aslan drew out a shield from his waist.
Holding the Artist’s white steel shield and Purity in both hands, sword met shield.
Clang, Ka-chak!
Thrusting shield. Parried with a shield.
White steel shields grazing each other, sparks flew as the short sword pierced through.
Parried by Purity in a cross-block.
Clara-rak! Amidst the white sparks flying, the upward shield strike came.
The God of Victory shifted their left foot back, tapping the shield with the hilt to alter its trajectory and blocked the incoming sword with the shield.
Clang! Not retreating, leaning into the lower body’s center of gravity to absorb the impact smoothly, they followed up with consecutive thrusts.
Each thrust caused the shield to buckle and deform.
The God of Victory thought.
“What an idiot! Even the Warrior Gods wouldn’t dare challenge me with shield techniques, and here you come fighting me with them?”
While deflecting the sword swings crossing with the shield using the short sword, the God of Victory was confident of their victory.
“Prepared earnestly by acquiring white steel arms, commendable, but did you truly think you could win with mere white steel arms?”
Die regretting your arrogance!
The shout accompanying the thrusting shield.
Without reacting, Aslan blocked with the shield.
Following this was an upward shield strike. Aslan avoided it by tilting his head.
However, this inevitably disrupted his balance.
Taking advantage of this gap, the thrusting short sword came. Blocked by the Artist’s shield, it split in half.
Aslan discarded the broken shield and retreated.
Rushing toward him was the God of Victory’s decisive blow prepared for the Warrior Gods.
A charge led by the shield. As Aslan attempted to block with Purity held in both hands, the God of Victory abruptly stopped and swung the short sword in their right hand.
The sword swing. As Aslan moved to block, the trajectory of the short sword bizarrely elongated and bent.
Just before reaching, the arm transformed into a black tentacle and swung widely.
Like a long whip.
The sword strike rising from the lower end was now falling from the upper end.
Targeting the head.
A part of the body where a human couldn’t recover.
A fatal wound even for a deity unless they were new transcendentals serving beings like the God of Victory and the God of Defeat.
The calculation was perfect, and the God of Victory was certain of victory.
Had Aslan’s eyes not followed the sword strike targeting his head at the last moment.
In the next instant, the shadow beneath Aslan disappeared.
“Shadow Reversal.”
Along with the voice flowing through Aslan’s mind, the vanished shadow returned with two consecutive strikes.
Crack!
The clearly overlapping noise. The strike sounding like one.
The swung tentacle was severed in the middle, causing the God of Victory to widen their eyes in shock.
“Wha…?”
And their head fell off.
