"Perseus."
Perseus, who was struggling to fend off the demonic Medusa's attacks, suddenly heard Athena's voice in his mind.
He dodged a purple laser shooting towards him, and in that moment between life and death, he calmly asked, "Goddess, do you have any commands?"
Athena was very satisfied with Perseus's composure in the face of danger. She nodded subtly and continued, "The Medusa before you is no longer a being that can be killed by a simple 'Slaughter of the Undead Blade'. Have you noticed her abdomen?"
Upon hearing this, Perseus immediately glanced at the abdomen of Medusa, who had transformed into a giant snake, and saw a distinct bulge there.
"You see it? That's where her former divinity is coalescing. If you wait until this divinity is fully formed, then even if you kill this demonic monster, Medusa, as a goddess, will be reborn from the beast's corpse."
Athena continued, "Therefore, for you to completely kill Medusa, you must slay this demonic beast before Medusa's divinity fully coalesces. This way, the Medusa divinity coalescing within her will shatter, and Medusa will truly perish here. The current Medusa is a monster no weaker than the gods. We cannot allow this monster to escape from the Invisible Island and plague the entire world. Therefore, from now on, both I and The Fates will grant you blessings."
The Fates, does she mean The Fates?
Ares, who heard this news through Perseus's ears, pondered inwardly but quickly replied, "I understand, Goddess."
After he agreed, the fiery clouds shrouding the entire sea in the sky were immediately torn apart by an even more powerful divine force. Golden light descended from above the fiery clouds, and the resplendent Athena stood on the cloud, shouting to Perseus below, "Perseus, catch the shield!"
With that, she raised her hand and threw her divine shield, aegis, like a discus. The divine shield transformed into a golden halo, plummeting from the sky, whistling as it pierced through the purple light surrounding Medusa, slicing through her body and splitting her in half at the waist.
Then, the golden halo continued its momentum, directly landing in Perseus's hand, where he firmly caught it and placed it on his arm.
At this moment, Medusa, who had been cut by aegis, had already recovered. After her demonization, she gained terrifying self-healing abilities and immortality. Although the divine shield aegis could ignore her hard scales and petrifying gaze, aegis did not have a special attack against immortality, and thus could not kill Medusa in this manner. Only the Noble Phantasm "Slaughter of the Undead Blade" in Perseus's hand, imbued with special magic by Hephaestus, could effectively kill Medusa at this moment. However, Perseus lacked resistance to Medusa's petrifying gaze and could not approach her, which meant the scythe blade of the Slaughter of the Undead Blade could not touch Medusa's body.
But now, with the aid of Athena's divine shield aegis, Perseus possessed the ability to resist the petrifying gaze. Even if Medusa's demonic eyes had undergone three evolutions, even if they could petrify phantoms in the River Styx, her petrifying gaze still had no effect on Athena's divine shield aegis. As a divine artifact of the strongest fourth-generation main god, the mystery of this divine shield was simply too profound.
The moment Medusa recovered, the hundreds of eyes on her body immediately released countless rays of light. Dense petrifying rays, like scattered flowers from a celestial maiden, traced innumerable paths, assailing Perseus from various angles.
But at this moment, Perseus only needed to raise the golden divine shield aegis to block these terrifying petrifying rays. Countless petrifying rays struck the golden divine shield aegis, immediately bouncing off the shining shield surface and reflecting back towards Medusa.
Moreover, while Perseus was blocking with his shield, in addition to the divine artifact bestowed by Athena, he also vaguely sensed another power.
This power did not directly help him, but it invisibly increased his "luck" significantly. For example, the moment he raised his shield to block, the wind in the air suddenly moved with his action, accelerating his movement to raise the shield. Otherwise, several petrifying rays would surely have slipped past the shield and attacked him, and Perseus would have had to dodge them himself. But with this gust of wind, as he raised his shield, all the countless rays Medusa shot were blocked by the divine shield with this movement, not a single one missed. Perseus only needed to stand still and did not have to dodge at all.
Is this "The Fates"?
Ares, through Perseus's body, carefully felt this power. Although "The Fates" could only bring small bits of luck, countless small bits of luck gathered together formed an immense power. With the blessing of this power and the help of the divine shield aegis, Ares was fully confident that he could sever the head of the demonic Medusa with the "Slaughter of the Undead Blade" within one round.
But this wouldn't do. At this moment, Medusa's divinity had not yet fully formed, and her own consciousness and sanity had not yet revived. If she were killed now, she would truly be dead.
Yet, he couldn't let Perseus hold back. As a diligent actor, Perseus, who had already sworn allegiance to Athena, had to give his all. Besides, Athena herself couldn't possibly be unaware of the extent of this hero Perseus's full power. One could tell from the aid she gave Perseus; it was precisely measured, not a bit more or less, which showed she understood Perseus's strength particularly well.
Therefore, in a situation where he had to exert full effort yet find a way to legitimately slack off, external assistance became especially important. Ares certainly wouldn't step in himself; that would be too demeaning. But there was a high-quality, perfect external helper here.
The Invisible Island was at sea, and the battle between Perseus and Medusa was specifically chosen to be on the beach. And the god who presides over the ocean, Poseidon, just so happened to particularly dislike both Perseus and Athena recently.
So, before preparing to deliver the killing blow, Perseus secretly dropped a drop of his own blood into the seawater. He couldn't make it too obvious, but this much was enough.
Athena's divine might had torn through the sky he had previously arranged. Such a commotion must have attracted the Sea God's attention. Coupled with Perseus's blood, Poseidon would definitely seize this opportunity to come and severely punish Perseus, Athena's lackey, who was in a perilous situation.
Sure enough, just as Perseus took out his great scythe, preparing to instantly kill the demonic Medusa with a single strike, monstrous waves suddenly surged on the sea surface.
A giant whale-like sea monster abruptly appeared in the waves near the Invisible Island. It was entirely black, with a single horn on its head and a trident-shaped tail. This colossal sea monster extended its enormous tail and violently slammed it towards Perseus, who was in the sky.