"My Lord has descended."
Gabriel said happily, and the faces of the Seven Virtues all showed joyful expressions. Only the faces of the Seven Deadly Sins turned ugly; that powerful aura was so oppressive it made the Seven Deadly Sins feel a bit breathless. Artoria curiously looked at the 'Giant of Light' that had descended. It wasn't an Ultraman with eyes like two salted duck eggs; this was true light, because Artoria's eyes were stinging a bit from the brightness. Moreover, this being was massive. Because of the light's influence, Artoria couldn't even estimate its height. And although this thing was called 'Lord' by the Angels, Artoria felt no threat from it. Her intuition told her that the thing before her was a fake.
"The Space Stone has been tamed."
Glancing at this so-called 'Lord,' Artoria checked the stone on the Infinity Gauntlet and found that the Space Stone had completely settled and could be used at will. Artoria was even less afraid of this 'Lord' now; even if she couldn't win, she could tear through space and leave this place at any time. Artoria looked at the being without fear. While everyone had stopped, she observed the reactions of the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Virtues. Seeing the reaction of the Sins, she knew this being wasn't just for show; from their expressions, it seemed something was suppressing them.
"Are you God? Or the Lord? Or Yahweh?"
Artoria flew in front of 'it' and curiously questioned the giant figure. Her tone seemed quite impolite, which infuriated the Seven Virtues. They appeared ready to raise their weapons and attack Artoria, but facing such a weak assault, Artoria held her magic Sword, her magic power surging as she released its prowess, instantly defeating the Seven Virtues. This scene left the Seven Virtues staring at Artoria in shock, and even the Seven Deadly Sins watched her with great surprise. They hadn't expected Artoria's strength to be so formidable, realizing she must have held back in their previous battle.
"You can call me whatever you like, it doesn't matter."
Looking at Artoria's 'arrogant' appearance and her disrespectful attitude, 'it' didn't show any anger, indicating that Artoria could call it whatever she pleased. Artoria could feel that 'it' seemed to 'glance' at her, though she couldn't see its eyes because it was simply too radiant. Seeing the other party's peaceful demeanor, Artoria didn't immediately flare up. She felt this fellow seemed a bit different; someone like this didn't seem like the type who would want to destroy other races. Artoria was quite curious about what was going on with this being. Why did it suddenly want to conquer Hell? Was there some hidden reason?
"Why? A powerhouse like you, isn't having Heaven enough? Why do you want Hell's territory as well?"
Since they were already talking, Artoria voiced her inner curiosity to the figure behind the scenes. Why did such a battle suddenly break out? What were its plans? Artoria was curious about all of it now, wanting to know what this being was trying to do. Starting such a battle so suddenly after many years of peace—if it were a powerhouse with compassion, it would absolutely not launch a war of genocide like this.
"For nothing else but souls—human souls."
Having witnessed Artoria's power, this being didn't intend to hide anything. Its purpose for coming was for human souls. Artoria realized that the so-called merciful Heaven was actually just out for profit. A mocking smile curled at the corner of Artoria's mouth, clearly showing her contempt for Heaven's propaganda about mercy and Deliverance. She now felt even more disgusted by these so-called religions; one after another, they spoke of benevolence and morality, but it was all for profit.
"To monopolize human souls and faith, you would destroy Hell? Don't you think you're going a bit too far?"
When Artoria said this, a visible look of shame appeared on the faces of the Seven Virtues. Artoria's gaze made them feel guilty, but this was the Lord's command. Although they were doing these things because they followed the Lord's orders, performing such tasks indeed made them feel distressed. Human souls and faith—to obtain these two things, an entire realm of living beings had to be sacrificed, even if they were the enemy demons. This decision still made their kind hearts feel immensely guilty.
"Aren't you humans the same?"
As expected of the leader of the Seven Virtues, Artoria's identity as a human was seen through at a glance. This surprised Artoria greatly; this fellow indeed had some skill. Artoria raised an eyebrow; this being was actually using human affairs to shut her up, which made her feel both annoyed and amused. You Gods preach in the Human Realm every day to gain human faith, pretending to be transcendent of worldly affairs, yet you're greedier than the next. Your hypocritical appearance is truly detestable. It's one thing to deceive simple people, but to use human flaws as an excuse is really going too far. That's not how it's written in the Bible you promote! Don't you want to persuade people to abandon these flaws? How come you're exposing your own flaws today? This made Artoria feel very unpleasant. If you're going to be a 'God' who is untouched by the mortal world, then pretend to the end! Don't expose yourselves! If you do, you're no longer a holy God, but a hypocritical 'green tea bitch'.
"Was the Demon King killed by you?"
Instead of attacking the being for bringing up humans, she directly questioned it. This was something she had always suspected—that this being had fought the Demon King back then. Based on Artoria's analysis, if the Demon King had been presiding over Hell, Heaven wouldn't have been so quiet, only choosing to attack Hell a thousand years later. This was too much of a coincidence. Unless the Heaven side had known for a long time that the Demon King was gone. Seeing this mastermind now, Artoria felt her deduction was at least seventy percent accurate.
"Not exactly. Back then, she wanted to self-destruct to take me with her, but I only ended up heavily injured."
'It' didn't deny it, seemingly having no intention to hide the truth. When it said this, the eyes of the Seven Deadly Sins turned red, wishing they could step forward and attack this Lord of Heaven immediately. It was clear they still had feelings for the Demon King. If they weren't unable to defeat the Lord of Heaven, they might have already torn this Giant of Light into pieces. Artoria's expression didn't change; her guess was correct. Although the process was slightly different, the result was the same: the Demon King had indeed fallen. Whether it was because this fellow used some scheme was unknown, but dead was dead.
"No wonder."
Artoria murmured somewhat absentmindedly. But while she was distracted, the so-called Lord of Heaven raised a glowing fist and smashed it toward her. That fist, the size of a small mountain, was blocked by Artoria under the astonished gazes of the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Virtues. Specifically, Artoria used only one hand. As Artoria's hand touched the glowing fist, a massive Impact blew everything nearby away, and the Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Virtues had to work together to resist the shockwave.
"Are you injured?"
The moment they made contact, Artoria knew this fellow was strong on the outside but weak on the inside. Its attack only had Impact for a split second, with absolutely no follow-through. Even if the force was dissipated, there should have been at least a third of the initial power left, but now Artoria felt the fist was as light as if it were filled with air. This instantly made Artoria understand its state; it hadn't yet recovered from the Demon King's self-destruction. Artoria revealed a subtle smile and casually slapped the mountain-sized fist aside. No wonder her intuition felt this was a fake from the start; Artoria now understood that this wasn't its full form at all. If it was, then this was either a clone or its body hadn't recovered properly.
"Now, let's have a good chat!"
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