As the silver light that cut through everything flashed, the Sword of Promised Victory in the young man's hand shone with the radiance of steel, instantly transforming into a great sword that blazed with the brilliance of Steel.
Holding the Sword of Promised Victory transformed into a demon sword, Yu swung toward Ebisu without hesitation.
Seeing that Yu did not waste time with words and attacked him with overwhelming killing intent, Ebisu did not dare hesitate. He immediately pulled back the goldfish shield, while his palm gently patted the dolphin beneath him. Receiving the command, the dolphin swung its fins through the air.
The air, like the surface of the sea, created ripples under the dolphin's strike. The ripples trembled, and in the very next moment, the figures of Ebisu and the dolphin began to twist and distort.
And the sword light that cut through everything also arrived before Ebisu and the dolphin at that moment. However, to Yu's surprise, the sword light passed directly through the bodies of Ebisu and the dolphin without causing them any damage.
"Buzz!!!"
After a buzzing sound, the figures of Ebisu and the dolphin instantly disappeared.
Seeing this, Yu raised an eyebrow.
It was not the first time; Ebisu's substitute had also displayed this ability just now. At that time, Yu had simply assumed that the substitute had no physical body, which was why it did not take damage, but now it seemed… rather interesting.
An ability similar to "virtualization" was extremely attractive to Yu because it could be used to evade attacks. Yu knew that his speed was not particularly great. Currently, the only abilities he had for increasing speed were Wind of Raging Storm and Phoenix of the Eastern War God.
The enhancement from Wind had an upper limit and was far weaker than the speed enhancement provided by Phoenix. The problem was that the speed of Wind of Raging Storm was insufficient against some Heretic Gods!
Even with Wind's enhancement, Yu sometimes might not be able to dodge certain sudden attacks. The speed enhancement from Phoenix was unbelievably fast, but if Yu used Phoenix, he would not be able to use the other incarnations of the Eastern War God.
In that regard, the limitations of the Eastern War God were still quite large.
If he could take this power from Ebisu, he would not be completely suppressed when facing some extremely fast Heretic Gods.
Thinking of that, Yu became interested in Ebisu.
It was just a pity that although Ebisu possessed this ability, his mind was not particularly sharp.
His gaze fell upon the groups of fish swimming toward the sea. Yu did not immediately follow them. He swung his sword, and the Sword of Promised Victory transformed into a demon sword glowed faintly. Immediately afterward, a long, narrow crack appeared behind the young man, and then the figure of Gawain stepped out from it.
"Ebisu is cunning, Gawain. Follow the schools of fish and investigate, I will go investigate over there."
Yu raised his chin, signaling for Gawain to follow and observe.
Hearing that, Gawain drew the rapier from his waist and respectfully said to Yu:
"Yes, My King!"
Afterward, Gawain's figure flickered and followed after the schools of fish.
Seeing that, Yu narrowed his eyes and turned to fly in the opposite direction from Gawain.
Not long after Yu left, ripples suddenly appeared in the air. Along with those ripples, the air continuously twisted, and then the figures of Ebisu and the dolphin slowly appeared.
After confirming that Yu had truly left, Ebisu let out a deep sigh of relief. Just now had been far too dangerous; he had almost, almost been heavily injured by a single swing from that young God Slayer.
Yu's sword earlier possessed incomparable sharpness. Although Ebisu felt that the sword would not kill him, he would still be injured, and his goldfish shield would definitely be destroyed.
Fortunately, that Yu was not too clever, so he managed to mislead him.
However, this was definitely not a permanent solution. That Campione absolutely would not let him go. Sooner or later he would have to settle things with him. He had to get rid of that human.
Just as Ebisu was secretly calculating in his mind, sword light instantly slashed behind Ebisu.
"Buzz!!!!"
The sound of the sword echoed out. Ebisu had no time to react, and his strange body along with the dolphin beneath him were instantly pierced by the sword light.
…What…
Lowering his gaze toward his body and the dolphin beneath him, Ebisu's bulging eyes were filled with disbelief.
Ebisu's incomprehensible whisper echoed out, and a thin golden line appeared between his brows, continuously extending until it split Ebisu and the dolphin beneath him in half.
In the very next moment, Ebisu and the dolphin beneath him suddenly shattered apart. Ebisu, carrying his confusion and disbelief, scattered into a sky full of gold coins, while the dolphin beneath him transformed into a pile of rotten flesh that heavily fell toward the city below.
"Ding-dong~"
The gold coins scattered and fell to the ground, creating a clear sound.
Looking at the gold coins on the ground, Yu frowned. There was no system notification in his ears, which meant that Ebisu was still not dead.
"This guy is really hard to kill."
He rubbed his hair and muttered.
Could it be that the guy he had just killed was also a substitute? Or had Ebisu just avoided his sword?
No, that was not right. Yu was absolutely certain that his sword had struck Ebisu. It must be that the guy still had some power he did not know about.
Thinking of that, Yu could not help but admire Ebisu's survival ability.
"This guy's escape methods are really strong."
First the avatar he used to show himself, then the ability to distort aura, afterward the virtualization-like ability to evade attacks, and now this… fake death to escape?
Looking at the gold coins on the ground, Yu raised his hand and used Wind to gather them.
Ebisu had dropped quite a lot of gold coins, and when Wind gathered them together, they were almost as tall as a human.
"Hmm, it really is gold. Could it be that he truly is the God of Wealth?"
Rubbing his chin, Yu collected all the gold coins.
Yu was not lacking money, but he was worried that these gold coins might be a method Ebisu used to obscure his perception, so it was better to collect them.
Thinking of that, Yu was already preparing to leave and search for Ebisu's hiding place when he suddenly paused, and the corner of his lips lifted as if he had realized something, before muttering:
"So that's how things are?"
He had just received a message from Gawain. More precisely, it was not a message that Gawain had sent back, but rather… a message that Gawain, as a subordinate god, had been killed.
Fortunately, subordinate gods could be summoned multiple times, so Yu was not in a hurry. Instead, he deeply looked toward the direction Gawain had gone earlier.
Moonlight spilled over the young man's body. In the very next moment, Yu's figure suddenly appeared above the vast sea, and behind him was Tokyo Port Ward.
However, the port at that moment was no longer the port from Yu's memory, but instead an enormous sea!
The port had disappeared at that moment, and aside from a few fishing boats still floating on the sea, all that remained was seawater flooding the harbor.
After the last battle with The Great God of Calamity, Tokyo Port Ward had been under reconstruction, and it was very likely that there were no people there.
This matter was obviously caused by Ebisu, but… why had Ebisu done this?
Just as Yu was confused, a figure suddenly appeared upon the calm sea below.
The figure was entirely composed of seawater, and small fish could vaguely be seen swimming inside its transparent body.
That figure was none other than Ebisu, who had escaped from Yu's single slash.
However, Ebisu's figure at this moment was somewhat strange. His U-shaped head had become almost like the head of a normal person, and another arm had grown on his body, making four arms in total now.
And in the hands of those four arms, each held a trident made from seawater.
"As expected, he followed."
Looking at Yu, Ebisu revealed a sinister smile. The moment the smile appeared, a sharp aura locked onto Ebisu.
Sensing the anomaly, Ebisu's figure exploded with a bang, transforming into tiny droplets of water mist that scattered apart.
In the very next moment, a violent storm wind suddenly howled above the sea. The storm wind continuously stirred the sea, and in only a single breath the sea became filled with fury. Waves rose upon the surface, then suddenly exploded, and a gigantic hundred-meter wave crashed toward the young man in the sky.
Seeing that, Yu coldly snorted, raised his hand, and swung his sword. The Sword of Promised Victory, which had long since transformed into a magic sword, released the sharp sword light of Steel, instantly splitting apart the hundred-meter giant wave.
"Where is he?"
After the giant wave was split apart, it immediately lost its previous wild force and instantly collapsed back into the sea below.
However, after splitting the giant wave, Yu suddenly lost Ebisu's aura from his senses.
It should be known that Yu's mind had always remained vigilant. From the very first moment he discovered Ebisu, Yu had continuously locked onto his aura.
Even when casually splitting the giant wave just now, his attention had never left Ebisu.
But just now, Ebisu's aura disappeared into thin air. That was right, into thin air!
Not a single trace remained, as if Ebisu had never been here at all.
He knew that this was Ebisu's ability to hide, or even distort, aura, but that ability was somewhat disgusting because it could completely conceal his aura.
Yu knew that Ebisu was definitely still nearby; he simply could not sense him.
Thinking of that, Yu revealed a disdainful smile and said:
"No wonder Izanagi and Izanami chose to abandon you. You are clearly an existence comparable to the chief god of Japanese mythology, yet you are so cowardly and timid. Heh…"
Yu's final words were merely a quiet sneer, but that sneer sounded like ridicule, and also like contempt toward Ebisu.
Ebisu, hidden within the sea, naturally heard Yu's words and knew that Yu was provoking him. Ebisu secretly sneered in his heart, how could he possibly be provoked by Yu?
Looking at the sea fish continuously gathering toward him, darkness spread through Ebisu's heart. In the very next moment, those sea fish instantly shattered apart, transforming into masses of bloody mist that merged with Ebisu's body.
As the bloody mist merged with him, Ebisu's power began continuously increasing, and dark crimson blood also began spreading around his body. The moment the blood appeared, it dyed the entire sea crimson.
The powerful smell of the sea spread out from the ocean.