"Nnggaaah…! Impossible! You're supposed to be a Strength-based god, how can you damage my soul?!" cried Alberno, his soul falling apart into pieces as he felt a sharp pain through his entire being, Merveim was mercilessly crushing his soul with his amazing showcase of physical prowess!
"Although I am getting some help from Kireina-sama, I've already reached the level where my physical strength can even damage a soul! Albeit, I cannot break you, I can at least leave enormous wounds into you… and with Kireina-sama's power, I can pulverize you!" laughed Merveim, like a true warrior, he rained Alberno's soul and body with enormous fists and kicks!
Alberno tried to defend himself by burning Merveim's flesh!
Flash!
However, Merveim was simply taking over the damage and gnashing his teeth, he was not going to let the Demon Demigod go at all!
Crack, crack!
"Unnggghaaa…! W-Wait! We can talk things out! …Nngh! Please, let me… join you! Don't… kill me! Please, I know your leader is… a benevolent person!" cried Alberno, trying to struggle to survive!
"Benevolent person? You really do not know Kireina-sama, she does not easily forget her enemies! And you are already on the list that needs to be exterminated! Don't worry, you will become our strength!" roared Merveim, releasing countless claws and fists over Alberno's soul, finally pulverizing it!
"Unngghhhh…! To think that… I would die like thisssssss…!" cried Alberno, breaking into pieces!
CRASH!
Merveim glanced at his fists which were shrouded in curses and burns, and by devouring Alberno's Divinity, he managed to create some resistance to them, as they began to slowly recover through his natural regeneration.
Meanwhile, the last Demon Demigod was already in his last seconds!
"You filthy slaves of mortals, I will not let you get away with this! Go, my beasts!" roared Lavuronious, the Demon Demigod of Forced Enslavement, as he unleashed a large army of hundreds of Divine Beasts enslaved through his Divinity!
"Everyone, charge!" roared Agatheina, as all of the Gods combined their strengths, fighting against the armies of Divine Beasts and tearing them apart with their monstrous attacks and God Devour, they even began to eat the souls and flesh of these Divine Beasts with even more ease, strengthening while rushing towards Lavuronious!
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Flash!
Hodhyl emerged from the crow, managing to reach the Enslavement Demigod, and extending gigantic claws made of metal towards him, grasping his entire soul as the Demigod used everything he had to fight, but it was in vain against Hodhyl whose defenses and regeneration were superb!
"Unghh... So this is my end…! You will never get away with this, you filthy beasts! Thanatos-sama will not forgive you! He will come personally to kill you if necessaryyyyyyy! Unnggaaaaaahhh…!"
Crack, crack!
"Die already!" roared Hodhyl, crushing Lavuronious soul into pieces and devouring part of them, strengthening herself to an even greater level!
The Gods could finally calm down for a moment, as they quickly gathered whatever remained of the Gods and ate it all, Gaia who had been recently reborn with her fragments, felt like she had grown incredibly strong, as she seemed to simply need to eat more Gods to regain some of her original powers.
"All of you did well… I am… really exhausted, the amount of precision and concentration I needed to use is killing my head," sighed Kiroid.
"Kireina-sama, what about Jozrath and Oculus?" asked Agatheina.
"They escaped, and the Divine Formation they originally created was destroyed as well… For now, we are safe," said Kiroid.
"At last, a small break…" sighed Morpheus who had been working very hard, he wasn't used to fighting at all.
"It was rather tiring, but we managed to pull out of this thanks to Kireina-sama…" sighed Hodhyl.
"Not entirely, all of your strength helped a lot, if it wasn't because all of you were working together so wonderfully, it wouldn't have worked…" said Kiroid.
"Now, what should we do?" asked Marnet.
"We have to go to the surface and aid Kireina-sama's family!" said Maeralya.
"My family is working together, and my children are strong enough, I need your force for another thing," said Kiroid.
"Are you sure, Kireina-sama?" asked Agatheina.
"Yes. The main body had already told me, there is a section of the main body's soul that has sealed itself and is now… undergoing the devouring of an Origin Core fragment," said Kiroid.
"A what?!" asked Agatheina.
Many of the Gods were left speechless.
"Long story short, the Dark Steppes Gods were saving that thing in the depths of that area, and this was the primary motive in why they didn't want Jorgrakog to interfere with their territory, more than pride or anything else," said Kiroid.
"That's… something else…" said Merveim.
"Whenever the main body acquires this power, it will grow exponentially stronger, way stronger than she had ever been, she had already eaten Hephaestus, his wives, and the Four Graces, but her power seems to be growing even more as of now… Although for what we are planning to do, we might need everything we have," said Kiroid.
"So Hephaestus and his stupid family are out of the way! I am glad, Kireina-sama!" said Agatheina.
"Although I am not really Kireina anymore, I also feel quite relieved about that. The rest of my family and my subordinate and allies are fighting the three Demigods left, the children of Hephaestus and Kabeiro… With the help of my eldest offspring such as Ryo and Amiphossia, alongside the newly awakened Evan, they seem to be pulling off an easy victory… Although there are many variables, there are also many allies for them to count on," said Kiroid.
"Then… what are you planning to do, Kireina- Kiroid-sama?" asked Agatheina.
"Isn't it obvious? We'll raid Thanatos Divine Realm and eat him!" said Kiroid.
"Are you sure, Kiroid-sama?! Thanatos and his closest allied Gods are completely different than the fodder we defeated!" said Agatheina.
"Yes, I am sure of it. The main body has already decided, and she had just broken from the Four Graces Domain and went to aid our children to kill those three Gods left. After that, she will save the entire Empire inside of her Inner Realm and fly towards the Thanatos Kingdom, we will open the curtain to our counterattack and blast away that damned Kingdom, so Thanatos and the others are forced to come out," said Kiroid.
"Meanwhile, the other main body is still devouring the fragment… But any time soon, we will get the boost in power and we will finally get rid of the Demon Gods of that Kingdom once and for all," said Kiroid.
"If that's the plan, then there is nothing else to discuss, let's get moving!" said Merveim.
"Not before an upgrade into all of your mechs!" said Kiroid, flying towards each God and beginning to upgrade and repair them one by one!
"Kiroid-sama, are the Demon Generals and the Greedy Queen…?" asked Agatheina.
"The Generals were all killed by my children, and the Greedy Queen by Wall and Guubo… Although something is going on… The fragments of her soul did not appear in the area where she was killed, nor the Sin of Greed! This mostly means one thing… Thanatos who held authority over this Sin had taken it back alongside the Greedy Queen's soul fragments, or that is what I believe… Although there might be other things involved, the Sin of Greed seems to be very strong, and Thanatos clearly didn't want to give it up," said Kiroid.
Just as Kireina had guessed, Thanatos himself used his authority over the Sin of Greed and brought it to him alongside the fragmented pieces of the Greedy Queen into his Divine Realm, without letting Kireina or any of her children grab it for themselves.
And just as he grabbed the Sin back and began to regret his rushed decisions and how he wasn't able to correctly predict Kireina's children's strength, he had decided to stop any offensive against Kireina, as any more forces that he was to lose would be detrimental to his Kingdom.
"However, at least, the Gods I sent to Agatheina's Divine Realm through Kaggoth should be enough for them to be defeated. If I can absorb their Divinities, I might amass enough power to achieve Great God…" thought Thanatos, as suddenly, space itself distorted, as a rift opened were two gigantic gods emerged, an enormous bull and a mass of eyes!
Boom!
Thanatos was taken aback, these were the two Gods he was trusting so much, they had just come back to him completely defeated!
"What is the meaning of this?! Jozrath, Oculus?!" asked Thanatos, as he quickly noticed that all the Demigods that accompanied them didn't come back with them!
"There was yet another miscalculation, Thanatos!" said Jozrath.
"There seemed to be one of Kireina's strongest clones infiltrating Agatheina's Divine Realm through the use of Spatial Magic… She had indeed mastered Kheseerad Divinity, and can even use it in all of her clones just as masterfully!" said Oculus.
"What?! But there were only three Clones… One went to the Dark Steppes and is fighting Hephaestus, the other is fighting the Four Graces, and the other is helping the Empire's population escape somewhere else! Where did this fourth one come from!? But even then, you should have been able to defeat them!" said Thanatos.
"Not… exactly…" sad Jozrath.
"Eh?! What do you mean not exactly, Jozrath?!" asked Thanatos, he was beginning to get so angered that his entire body was leaking malicious darkness from within.
"Well, the Gods… even the Gods possessed a special set of armors that covered their bodies and let them transform into giant metallic creatures. Even Morpheus was strong enough to fight against the Demigods… The worst part does not end at that, as they were incredibly coordinated to be Gods that had only joined forces in less than a year. It was incredibly baffling… This Kireina Clone used its Spatial Magic to manipulate space amazingly well, and slowly let the group of Gods gang over the Demon Demigods one by one…" said Oculus.
Thanatos was already raging!
His black metallic claws began to crack into his gigantic stone throne, breaking it apart as boulder-sized rocks fell into the vast dark landscape.
Boom!
"This… All of them were killed?! But how?" asked Thanatos.
"We presume that Kireina might have the power to share her Divinity Devouring with anyone, even the Gods… who were clearly… eating… the Demigods," said Oculus.
"That's… DO you mean they actually ate them?! Even if their divinities were different?!" asked Thanatos in disbelief, he really thought he was one of the few that had reached such a stage, but it seems that already many Gods were eating other Gods left and right, all thanks to Kireina!
"Indeed. They ate them. The strategy they used was… quite cunning. They slowly caught each Demigod and ate them, strengthening themselves and then going for the other… After they had eaten all six of them, they might even rival our strength now… We had to escape, as the variables of winning with such a proficient Spatial Magician there were dimmer…!" said Oculus.
"It really pains me to admit it, Thanatos-sama! I am deeply sorry for this…! I will make sure to amend for my failure!" said Jozrath.
"Kireina… Did she somehow predicted my plans?! No… She simply was prepared several steps ahead of me, even if she did not know about my plans, she was so prepared that… It felt as if she saw through me! That mortal is not ordinary at all, not at all!" roared Thanatos, crushing his throne and standing up!
He was so enormous that his body size was similar to a Titan God, and as he grew more enraged, he grew even bigger, reaching already over one hundred meters, Oculus and Jozrath looked like tiny dogs in comparison to his immense body and prowess!
Although Thanatos was on a similar Rank as a God, the power difference was clear… Thanatos was already at the pinnacle of a God, almost reaching the last Stage!
He simply needed to amass a large quantity of Divine Power and finally break through… but the opportunities were now quickly disappearing before his eyes.
Kinesis who was glancing at this decision to speak…
"Do not worry, Thanatos, we shall find another way, I am sure of it," he said with reassuring words that somehow made Thanatos a bit more at ease… despite what he was truly planning.
These events all going wrong for Thanatos were perfect for him after all.
