Judging by the situation, if Shiomi failed to bring down Demeter, the Bronze Giant would simply keep regenerating.
Under those conditions, the only way to destroy that monster would be for Morgan to pour in far more Mana and unleash her Noble Phantasm at full power, leaving the Bronze Giant no room to regenerate.
Unless, of course, it could still recover even after being reduced to dust. That would be another story entirely.
"Don't push yourselves too hard," Shiomi warned them.
"My husband should remember his own words," Morgan replied, shaking her head.
The heavy, stagnant air was torn apart once more.
Two meteors, one silver and one emerald, shot up into the sky, circling, colliding, and intertwining as they clashed…
"…That expression really doesn't suit you, Demeter."
Shiomi frowned as he pressed his spear down against Demeter's scythe.
"A meaningless comment," Demeter replied. Though restrained, she showed no irritation, only gazing at Shiomi with cool detachment. "New God, come to our side."
"Oh?"
"Gods have no need to stand with humans. Humans need only crawl upon the earth, kneel, and look up to us. That is enough," Demeter said calmly. "As long as they live within the palm of our hands, they will enjoy eternal prosperity, peace, and happiness. A god's duty is simply to bring that about."
It was an old argument, yet Demeter's attitude this time was far more explicit, far more blunt, as though she were speaking directly as Zeus's proxy.
Shiomi guessed that after Demeter resonated with his Authority, she had slipped out of her original constraints. Zeus must have judged her an unstable element and decided that his sister needed even stricter control.
Demeter suddenly raised her hand, sending Shiomi flying back, spear and all. He spun several times in midair before managing to regain his balance.
"Is that your own will, or Zeus's?" Shiomi asked, leveling his spear at her.
"The will of Zeus is the will of us Olympian gods."
Demeter launched her assault without the slightest pause. Every swing of her scythe carried the force to reap all things.
Even when her strikes failed to hit Shiomi, they still fell into the Interstellar Metropolis below, cutting through towering buildings as if they were nothing more than wild grass.
"That's a pretty merciless way of fighting," Shiomi said, glancing at the devastation below before looking back at Demeter.
In eyes that should have been gentle and compassionate, there was not the slightest ripple of emotion. Demeter felt no sorrow over destroying the city or killing its people.
To her, this was only natural.
The Olympian gods had granted the Interstellar Metropolis its prosperity. Naturally, they also held the right to reap it.
To the humans of the Interstellar Metropolis, whether thunder or gentle rain from the gods, all of it was a supreme blessing. To have one's life taken by the Goddess Demeter would be nothing but happiness, never something that could give rise to resentment.
How twisted.
The thought left Shiomi quietly seething.
He and Demeter continued to clash high in the sky. The Earth Goddess did not confine her battle to the ground at all, displaying a ferocity more befitting a god of war.
"Looks like—"
Shiomi raised his spear, blocking Demeter's descending scythe.
"You've already decided to use that scythe in your hands to reap the only golden rice stalk left in this world.
But I'm sorry. That golden rice stalk has a will of its own, and it has no intention of letting you harvest it!"
Light flared and detonated between Shiomi and Demeter.
"Golden… rice stalk…"
Shiomi's words clearly triggered a reaction in Demeter. As if she had encountered a concept she couldn't comprehend, she froze for a brief moment.
Shiomi didn't miss that anomaly.
It was obvious that Zeus no longer had enough leeway to completely rewrite Demeter's logic. Instead, he had gone for a crude, forceful overwrite, creating contradictions in systems that should have been capable of autonomous regulation, resulting in flaws.
That said, the words Shiomi spoke only caused a temporary disturbance.
Demeter quickly shook herself free of the malfunction, discarding it as meaningless noise. She abandoned further analysis and instead classified Shiomi as an even greater threat.
"You attempt to disrupt my logic with words, hoping to make me crash to the ground through such shallow tactics, New God?" Demeter demanded, pointing her scythe at Shiomi.
"That's how you see it?" Shiomi raised an eyebrow, then let out a derisive smile. "Fine, let's go with that. Either way, I don't have anything more to say to the current you."
"If that is the case—"
Demeter accepted the conclusion. She raised her scythe, placed her left hand along the back of the blade, and once more transformed into an emerald meteor, charging straight at Shiomi.
Greater Mana than before. An even more merciless assault.
From sky to ground, and from ground back to sky.
Unnoticed by either of them, dark clouds gradually swallowed the once-blue heavens.
There was no doubt about it. Zeus was watching the battle unfold and had decided to intervene, to aid Demeter in defeating Shiomi.
To defeat the man Kirschtaria had called the "New God Deity."
Lightning flashed. Thunder roared.
Shiomi and Demeter, each gripping the blade of the other's weapon, both sensed it.
The wounds their weapons had carved into each other rapidly healed during that fleeting pause.
"Your Authority resembles mine, yet it is not the same," Demeter said. "To destroy an existence like you, instead of allowing you to govern humanity alongside us, is truly a waste."
"Govern humanity?" Shiomi stared at Demeter at point-blank range. "If you truly see humans as your children, then you should understand this. A sapling that never weathers storms will never grow into a towering tree, and it will never leave its childhood behind."
"Humans are far too fragile. Without the protection of the gods, they would crumble at the slightest touch," Demeter shook her head, rejecting Shiomi's words. "Therefore—"
"So in order to prove himself right, Zeus plans to interfere in this battle once again?" Shiomi slowly blinked, star-like pupils surfacing in his eyes. "But Zeus isn't the only one who can command thunder."
The changing weather spared Shiomi an extra step. He didn't need to alter the sky itself. All he had to do was draw upon the Mana in the atmosphere and seize control of the lightning within the clouds.
『RuinousThunder』.
Freed from Zeus's will, lightning under Shiomi's command crashed down from the heavens, striking both him and Demeter.
The blow landed true, but it also rang the final alarm in Demeter's resolve.
"If even maintaining this form is not enough to defeat you and fulfill my mission…"
The Mana around Demeter shifted violently. A sandstorm rose from the ashes of the ruined city.
Within the swirling storm, a massive silhouette slowly rose.
The Goddess Demeter, her true form revealed.