Chapter 98: The Chaotic Battlefield
During her previous two encounters with Shirou, Luo Hao had gained new insights into the martial path, which allowed her martial prowess to grow once again. Facing Lakshmana, she fully displayed the majestic flair of the "King of Martial Arts."
Luo Hao stood suspended in mid-air, striking several palms toward the earth below. This was the combination of her 『Flying Phoenix Twelve Divine Palms』 and the authority 『Divine Art of the Peerless Vajra』. Every time a palm struck down, the entire island trembled.
Mountain rocks collapsed, and the earth split apart!
Lakshmana was like Sun Wukong being crushed by Gautama Buddha; his body sank deeper and deeper into the craters blasted out by those massive golden palms.
Meanwhile, the battles of the other three "Godslayers" were also underway.
Annie Charlton faced off against Lancelot. Her body transformed back and forth between several forms—a jaguar, a magician, and a demonic bird. This was precisely the authority she had usurped from the Aztec "Demon God" Tezcatlipoca.
In contrast to Cult Leader Luo Hao's battle situation, which far surpassed Lakshmana's, Annie Charlton was locked in a back-and-forth struggle with Lancelot. Both sides were testing each other's authorities, searching for an opportunity to strike a decisive blow.
Annie Charlton was waiting for the most opportune moment to transform into her final form, the "Flames of Annihilation," to incinerate Lancelot with solar fire. Simultaneously, the magic gun in her hand was ready, prepared to fire Artemis's "light bullets" at any second.
That was the authority 『The Marksman of Magic Bullets』, which Annie Charlton had usurped from the "Moon Goddess" Artemis.
This authority allowed Annie Charlton to fire pale light bullets of immense power, capable of easily penetrating the hardest substances in the world. They possessed abilities such as auto-tracking, scattering, exploding, and emitting light. The trajectory could be changed at will according to her intent; no matter where the enemy went, the bullets would pursue them, even looping back from outer space.
Furthermore, Annie Charlton could double the power of the magic bullets by injecting a large amount of curse power. If two were used simultaneously with injected curse power, the power would not just double, but increase four to fivefold. The power of six magic bullets was enough to wipe out a nation, generating flames that could burn for seven days and seven nights. After burning out, the area would become a wasteland where not even weeds could regrow.
Naturally, this authority had its limits: she could only use six magic bullets per month. This was why Annie Charlton specifically sought the right timing to use this power. In a battle against an enemy of equal or slightly superior strength, she had to seize the exact moment for
every shot, or she would only sink deeper into a disadvantage. Annie Charlton's abilities were almost all "one-hit kills," but her combat strength in a conventional state was not particularly strong, and her finishing moves had many flaws. Therefore, she had to succeed in one strike; a failure would easily lead to an unfavorable situation for herself.
On the other side, Alexander Gascoigne sought out Hanuman.
Hanuman is the divine monkey from the Ramayana, possessing four faces and eight hands. In myth, he helped Rama find his wife. Brave and clever, he could ride the clouds and mist; he burned down the Demon King's city of Lanka and flew to the Himalayas to retrieve medicinal herbs to heal Rama's wounded soldiers. To repay him for his dedicated help, Rama granted him immortality. Hanuman had a massive body, an extraordinarily long tail, a roar like thunder, and immense strength; he could move mountains and catch floating clouds.
As a "Heretic God" with the "Attribute of Steel," Alexander Gascoigne naturally had ways to deal with him.
Electricity coiled around Alexander Gascoigne's body as he entered a state of divine speed. His motor nerves climbed to the absolute limit as he created ten lightning clones to tangle with the "Divine Monkey" Hanuman.
『Lightning Speed』, as Alexander Gascoigne's primary authority, was usurped from the "Fallen Angel" Ramiel, who governs lightning and hallucinations. It allowed him to enter the realm of divine speed, turning his body into a state lighter than paper, silent and shadowless.
However, after about five minutes of his physical body being in divine speed, Alexander's brain would begin to scream in pain. After twenty minutes at most, intense discomfort would set in. If used continuously beyond the limit, there was a side effect of being temporarily unable to return to his original speed.
Therefore, Alexander Gascoigne planned for a quick resolution. Although he considered himself to have a cautious personality, when faced with an unavoidable encounter like this, he would not flinch. Striking with the speed of thunder, he had no intention of wasting time.
Watching his clones being crushed by the "Divine Monkey" Hanuman, Alexander Gascoigne curled his lip.
"Tsk! Looks like I need to get serious!"
With those words, curse power erupted from Alexander Gascoigne's body, and 『Black Lightning』 surged over him before exploding outward.
BOOM—!!!
Struck by the 『Black Lightning』, the "Divine Monkey" Hanuman's body turned to charcoal in just a few seconds. The power of that 『Black Lightning』 was no less than that of the 『White Horse』, one of Verethragna's ten incarnations.
However, after unleashing this power, Alexander Gascoigne's 『Lightning Speed』 authority entered a cooling state; he would be unable to use divine speed or lightning transformation for at least half a day.
Yet in the next second, the tall body of the "Divine Monkey" Hanuman moved once more. The previous 『Black Lightning』 attack had indeed been effective; Hanuman was now visibly less dominant than before.
"But I'm about the same..."
He hadn't consumed too much curse power, but divine speed was Alexander Gascoigne's trademark and the core of his combat style. Now, being unable to enter the divine speed state was equivalent to a warrior having his arm severed.
"Next, I'll use this!"
Alexander Gascoigne thought for a brief second and then unhesitatingly unleashed another authority. He raised his right arm high, and a black sphere thirty meters in diameter condensed above his palm. That black sphere possessed a terrifying attraction similar to a black hole; even Hanuman, a "Heretic God," found it difficult to break free. Without using divine speed to flee with all his might, he simply could not escape this binding.
This was the authority of attraction and heavy pressure that Alexander Gascoigne had usurped from the "Great Beast" Behemoth—『The Demonic Ball of Greed』!
This massive black sphere could generate powerful attraction that even a god would find hard to escape. Furthermore, the output could be adjusted to negate gravity in an instant, using the shift to inflict heavy damage on the enemy. However, the movement speed of this black sphere was extremely slow. If he used this authority right at the start, it would be the equivalent of setting a trap right in front of the enemy's face—total suicide.
But having used the 『Black Lightning』 just now to heavily injure Hanuman, Alexander Gascoigne immediately deployed this authority, pulling the significantly slowed "Divine Monkey" toward the black sphere he had created.
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