"First in Sequence, Sole of the Supreme Four Pillars—Eastern Lord Baal, present!"
"Ninth in Sequence, Sole of the Supreme Four Pillars—Western Lord Paimon, ready!"
"Twenty-Ninth in Sequence, Sole of the Supreme Four Pillars—Southern Lord Astaroth, returned!"
"Thirty-Second in Sequence, Sole of the Supreme Four Pillars—Northern Lord Asmodeus, at your command!"
"Smelting Furnace—Naberius, Ether collection and transfer underway!"
"Intelligence Room—Flauros, information retrieval and integration underway!"
"Observatory—Forneus, battle observation and feedback underway!"
"Control Tower—Barbatos, authority command integration underway!"
"Armory—Halphas, Temple Legion awakening underway!"
"Gazing Star—Aamon, future calculation and projection underway!"
"Chamber of Life—Sabnock, activity maintenance and blessing upkeep underway!"
"Abandoned Pore—Andromalius, error and risk assessment underway!"
"We, the seventy-two pillars, summoned by the Lord's grace, obey His command! Annihilate the external enemy, purge the celestial realm!"
At the same time, a vast, ominous roar hummed through the mass of flesh tendrils. The grotesque eyes blinking across them fired beams of Mana from every direction, like a meteor storm sweeping the highest heavens.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Focused by the barrage, Samael and Zeus immediately urged their partners to evade, bursting free from the tendrils' entanglement.
Chaos Tide!
Storm Hammer!
In an instant, Tiamat and Typhon unleashed their Authorities together. The countless incoming Mana beams were dissolved to nothing, and the tendrils whipping toward them shattered as the Sea of Imaginary Numbers heaved violently.
Yet even the Mother of Origins' furious strike began to falter once it broke through the forest of flesh. The light bands hanging before Marduk only rippled weakly.
And before Zeus and Samael could press the advantage, the tendrils regenerated at an astonishing speed. The eyes above them spun wildly, spilling cold malice.
Gaze! Contempt!
Open Eye! Blink!
Tearful Eye! Downcast Eye!
Slanted Eye! Bloodshot Eye!
Authorities steeped in every kind of negative emotion, along with curses of weakness, aging, rot, numbness, sluggishness, and more, pulsed into being and layered together into an eerie Mana field.
The hour of Awakening has come! Incineration-Style·Flauros!
The hour of drifting has come! Incineration-Style·Forneus!
The hour of diverging paths has come! Incineration-Style·Barbatos!
The hour of long-cherished aspirations has come! Incineration-Style·Baal!
In the blink of an eye, the tendrils spread across the abandoned divine realm drew in Mana, focused their Authority, and unleashed divine might.
Mandate of Heaven · Dispersal!
Authority · Suppression!
Samael and Zeus immediately felt their bodies grow heavy, Ether flow turning thick and resistant. Their expressions shifted as they struck out, shattering the net tightening around them.
Scrutinize! Heavenly Eye! The hour of rebirth has arrived!
Look Up! Look Down! The hour of pioneering has arrived!
Compassionate Eye! Nourishing Eye! The hour of destiny has arrived!
But right after that, the new commanders coordinating the next wave from within the tendrils—Armory Halphas, Gazing Star Aamon, and Chamber of Life Sabnock—unleashed their Authorities, suppressing and bombarding the four intruders.
Under this relentless rotation, even the four deities who had descended here could only keep destroying the tendrils that closed in on them. And still they kept coming, seemingly endless, rapidly bleeding their enemies' Mana dry.
Inside the Heavenly Gate, upon the jade throne that drew down billions of light bands, God's fingers—each wearing a ring—tapped in a steady rhythm. His gaze was nothing but cold arrogance.
In the radiant courtyard, seventy-two marble pillars carved with twisted divine runes flickered, bright then dim. Beneath the interwoven light and shadow, the phantom of a sanctuary built from fragrant wood and marble grew clearer by the moment.
Outer walls inset with wooden reliefs made from cypress, palm, redwood, and other rare timbers. Railings adorned with lavish carvings and gilded patterns. Forty-eight gilded bronze columns supporting the structure… every brick and tile of that temple screamed extravagance.
Solomon's First Temple! The Seventy-Two Demon Pillars!
It seemed that after Marduk helped the Jews establish their nation and was enshrined as an idol, his power not only grew further through absorbing faith and unifying divinity, but he had also completed the concept of the Only God, erasing the weakness of being restrained by the Goddess of Beginning Tiamat's briny divinity.
No wonder he dared to appear so brazenly in the Sea of Imaginary Numbers. He had nothing to fear.
Samael, already strained to his limit dealing with the Seventy-Two Demon Pillars, cursed under his breath.
And the worst part was, after defeating Sefar, the Greek gods and the Mesopotamian reinforcements were practically spent.
Even if the remaining hundreds of Divine Spirits performed a Grand Sacrifice without holding anything back, it would be like squeezing oil from stone—nowhere near enough to bring them back to their peak.
Now they were trapped in this barren divine realm, bogged down and unable to push forward. Sooner or later, the Seventy-Two Demon Pillars would grind them to death through endless regeneration and an unceasing war of attrition.
And as the four deities were momentarily tied down by the Seventy-Two Demon Pillars, God—looking down with that sidelong, contemptuous stare—seemed to have grown tired of the farce. He spread his hands slightly, bared his teeth in a cruel grin, and sang out loudly.
"Know the greatness of my work, my ideal, the true meaning of my descent! The gods will burn to ashes, and all life will become the past! This planet shall be reforged beneath my feet, becoming the steps by which I ascend beyond the gods! Praise my name, Jehovah!—The hour of judgment has come. With this, all things shall be corrected!"
In the next instant, the ring of countless rays gathered in the void compressed into one, transforming into a torrent that would erase everything as it surged toward the four deities.
I am the Thunder that Rips Stars!
Abyss of Purgatory!
Nega-Genesis!
Ruin of Time and Space!
At the same time, alarms screamed in their instincts. The four deities exploded with their strongest divine might and Authorities.
Authority of Sky and Thunder, Authority of Earth and Abyss, Authority of Creation and Destruction, Authority of Ruin of Time and Space surged outward in violent waves, colliding head-on with the light bands Marduk had unleashed.
Boom!
A thunderclap like it could collapse the entire abandoned divine realm rang out. Boundless destructive force slammed into chaos itself, whipping up a cutting storm that scattered the clogged turbulence of the void.
Across the immeasurable Sea of Imaginary Numbers, long, continuous chasms were torn open. The surging Chaos Tide erupted in violent upheaval, and thunder-like detonations roared again and again, echoing in the gods' ears.
Pfft—pfft—pfft—pfft!
As the smoke cleared, muffled sounds escaped from the four deities' throats. Thin streams of blood seeped from their mouths and noses.
"If you ants can do no more than this, then let's end this boring game early. Burn out like weeds and chaff. Hahahaha!"
On the jade throne, God looked down in contempt, laughing with arrogant ease. His arms paused for a heartbeat, then lowered. Bathed in blazing white light bands, his Mana swelled full again.
"Zeus!"
Samael's eyes flashed with a cold, lethal glint. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and roared in divine words.
Beside him, the God King of Wisdom did not hesitate. He drove Typhon forward and leapt into the vanguard.
Jade Eye! Drunken Eye! The hour of diverging paths has come!
Sleeping Eye! All-Seeing Eye! The hour of revival has come!
At the same time, the Seventy-Two Demon Pillars that had just recovered surged into motion again, crisscrossing beams of Mana slashing through the air in intersecting lines.
"Sky, tear apart! Stars, shatter!"
Zeus raised the Thunderbolt Scepter. As he skimmed across the islands of the divine realm, he called down divine might and struck straight into several distinctive individuals among the Demon Pillars.
And in that very moment, Typhon's hundreds of heads let out savage roars. They opened their gigantic maws and tore apart floating islands whole, devouring them along with the Demon Pillars growing atop them.