Chapter 655: Confrontation

Just one-thirtieth of a second later, the figures of Odin and Zeus appeared before him one after another.

"Master of Fate, it seems you are quite confident?"

Zeus's lips held a faint, almost imperceptible smile, but his eyes were icy: "Do you think you can stand against us?"

He had just heard Li Mochen's oath—this descendant of Hyperion, the 'Sky-Surpasser,' had sworn by him at Athena's instigation.

Zeus knew this oath had no binding power on him; the other's purpose was merely to inform, threaten, and intimidate.

"Follow me!"

Li Mochen had already sent himself and the Fate's Domain behind him into the Dark World. At the same time, he scattered all four hundred and one 'Zhou Tian Thunder Fire Star Core Swords' to form a sword formation.

"Whether I can or not, it's inevitable, isn't it? Since that's the case, let it be through battle alone!"

This time he did not use the 'Six Yao Immortal Sword'; this was no longer his divine kingdom. Before these two divine kings, the power of this sword formation was utterly insufficient, and in the face of pseudo-truth-level mythical armaments, they were all extremely weak.

"Your courage alone earns my recognition!"

Odin followed Li Mochen's figure into the Dark World, and his single eye began to search for Li Mochen's other avatar. His gaze finally locked onto the spire of the Fate's Domain magic tower, then he withdrew his gaze with a hint of wariness.

After the abrogation of the Treaty of Separation between Gods and Men, Li Mochen's magic tower could actually detach from the divine kingdom and descend into the material plane.

Odin knew this magic tower had become formidable—so formidable that he would never rashly charge in to fight Li Mochen unless absolutely necessary, especially the thirty-sixth floor of the tower.

In their most recent battle, he had nearly been injured there.

So before entering, he would have to chip away at this turtle shell bit by bit.

Moreover, this object was smaller in size, more mobile than Zeus's 'Mount Olympus' and his own battleship 'Klitaskov.' And in terms of overall power, this mage's creation was not much inferior to his warship.

After entering the Dark World, the magic tower began to move at high speed, its position erratic. This meant that his 'Klitaskov' battleship and Zeus's 'Mount Olympus' could not participate in this battle, thus unable to offset the advantage of this magic tower.

Then, when Odin's gaze refocused on Li Mochen's sword formation, he couldn't help but frown.

This Eastern-style mythical armament—he had never seen Li Mochen use it before, not in any of the battles over the past three and a half years. Yet Odin could sense its power. It was approaching pseudo-truth level, and a whole group of pseudo-truths!

If this was Li Mochen's reliance, the thing he had prepared over these three and a half years, then Odin had to admit that this one, who dared to choose neutrality and watch his ally Gaia's defeat, indeed had his reasons.

But after that, neither Odin nor Zeus hesitated. The latter moved even faster than Odin, driving his chariot. As the wheels rolled, the forces of time and space changed, and the primordial force of war gathered toward him.

Zeus's Thunderfire Spear gathered countless bolts of lightning and flames, forming a giant spear spanning thirty thousand meters.

At the same time, the starlight of over a dozen scattered stars in the sky converged toward him.

These were not borrowed star powers, but constellations formed by Zeus himself, as he had extended his faith to over a dozen worlds over ten thousand years of conquest, becoming the mainstream or a relatively important pantheon there.

But across from him, even more star power gathered onto Li Mochen's 'Zhou Tian Thunder Fire Star Core Sword Formation.'

Then countless sword energies, also imbued with 'thunder,' 'fire,' 'fate,' 'time,' and 'star power,' burst forth instantly, slashing toward Zeus's 'Throne Chariot' and striking his 'Aegis Shield.'

Slightly different from Zeus's side, the star power Li Mochen borrowed through the 'Zhou Tian Thunder Fire Star Core Sword Formation' originated from those stars, the primordial forces of those worlds.

But they were equally powerful, and due to their exaggerated quantity, far surpassed Zeus in might.

The relentless slashes soon made Zeus unable to advance. Sparks flashed continuously before the 'Aegis Shield,' and time and space before the chariot were twisted beyond recognition!

This also shocked Zeus greatly. He couldn't understand why Li Mochen's swords, clearly lacking the power of fate and time, could still make him feel double portions of time and fate divine authority from the continuous exchanges!

Especially the power of time—both had already advanced to pseudo-truth!

Just as Zeus realized that he and Odin's opponent could now truly be called a 'Divine King,' Odin, riding his eight-legged warhorse, forcefully broke through the obstruction of the 'Zhou Tian Thunder Fire Star Core Sword Formation' and charged before Li Mochen, who was constantly moving and retreating. His 'Gungnir Holy Spear' was even more powerful than the 'Thunderfire Spear,' and his other mythical armament, the 'Draupnir Gold Ring,' possessed truth-level 'Copy.' It could consume Odin's divine power to temporarily duplicate any form of attack or mythical armament into two copies.

When the two 'Gungnir Holy Spears' thrust forward, the many swords of the 'Zhou Tian Thunder Fire Star Core Sword Formation' were sent flying like meteors.

Even the five main swords could not, through layers of sword energy slashes, slightly delay Odin's charge or mitigate his world-destroying destructive power.

Then came a thunderous explosion between them, with energy storms and giant lightning serpents from shattered law networks scattering up to ten thousand kilometers away.

This was even with Diana's magic net suppressing it. Without this net, blessed by at least nine divine kings, the destructive power unleashed in their clash would have been at least ten times greater!

The two holy spears, containing truth-level 'Pierce' and 'Holy,' pseudo-truth-level 'Sure Hit' and 'Slaughter,' and ultimate 'Wish,' began to continuously strike Li Mochen's 'Thebes Shield.' The strike frequency could reach over three thousand times per microsecond, approaching the speed of light. Yet only a few dozen strikes were parried by the 'Mandate of Heaven Sword' in Li Mochen's hand.

At this moment, if it were solely the defensive mythical armament 'Thebes Shield,' it would be utterly unable to withstand Odin's relentless bombardment.

But beyond that, Li Mochen's 'Divine Sky Spirit Fortune Purple Gold Tower' was also playing a role in ways unseen by Odin and Zeus.

And before his pseudo-truth-level fate divine authority, the powerful 'Wish' ability of 'Gungnir Holy Spear' had almost no room to function, while divine authorities like 'Sure Hit' and 'Pierce,' which contained certain causal powers, were also greatly diminished.

As for the 'Zhou Tian Thunder Fire Star Core Sword Formation,' the four hundred and one swords were scattered but not chaotic. Besides continuing to intercept Zeus, they could also send out large amounts of sword energy to interfere with and strike Odin.

Li Mochen was only far inferior to Odin in combat technique.

In their four previous battles, Li Mochen had always been suppressed by the Aesir divine king in this regard, and this time was no exception. Even though within the sword formation he could freely use the Star Leap technique, and his pseudo-truth-level time and fate made the probability of being hit extremely low.

After less than five minutes and forty seconds of combat, Li Mochen's shoulder was grazed by Odin's 'Gungnir Holy Spear.'

But Li Mochen's physical defense was far stronger than Odin remembered.

Even though it was not in Li Mochen's divine kingdom, when the spear tip broke through the 'Scarlet Dragon Armor' and the 'Ice Dragon Armor' talent divine authority and stabbed into Li Mochen's body, it was like piercing rock. Li Mochen sidestepped slightly, causing the holy spear to slide aside.

Truth-level 'Earth,' pseudo-truth-level 'Shelter,' and equally pseudo-truth-level 'Guard' and 'Defense' allowed him to withstand at least forty percent of Odin's power with his physical body!

Additionally, there was the 'Divine Sky Spirit Fortune Purple Gold Tower.'

This was the first time Li Mochen had used the 'Divine Sky Spirit Fortune Purple Gold Tower's' physical enhancement ability in actual combat, and the effect was so strong that even he was surprised. After comprehensive integration, it was almost the defensive capability of an ancient god with a divine rank of twenty.

At the same time, Zeus finally broke through the interception of thousands of sword energies and charged before him.

This was not because he was far weaker than Odin, but because he was the primary target of the 'Zhou Tian Thunder Fire Star Core Sword Formation.'

When Zeus approached, his offensive was equally fierce. Even though the four hundred and one 'Zhou Tian Thunder Fire Star Core Swords' were constantly counterattacking and interfering, Zeus's 'Thunderfire Spear' still poured most of his power onto Li Mochen.

In an instant, countless electric currents and true crimson flames engulfed Li Mochen completely, and the scattered remnants of their power could pulverize all matter within a thousand kilometers and ignite nuclear fusion!

And this range kept expanding—two thousand kilometers, three thousand kilometers, all the way to seven thousand kilometers.

Although the aftermath and momentum of this battle could not compare to the previous siege of Gaia by Odin and others, it still affected the Bright World, causing continuous tsunamis in the corresponding Pacific Ocean.

The soaring temperatures, exceeding one billion degrees, also affected the fabric of space-time, severely distorting the membrane between the two realms, leading to intense seismic waves. Even the mildest of these waves exceeded magnitude nine.

Li Mochen had no time to care about these things; he was already too distracted by the combined assault of Odin and Zeus. In the ensuing fierce battle, he was pierced at least once every ten minutes by the 'Thunderfire Spear' or 'Gungnir Holy Spear.'

Even Zeus's combat technique far surpassed Li Mochen's. The spear gathering thunder and fire was wielded with superb skill.

As time passed, the cooperation between the two divine kings grew more默契, and Li Mochen's situation became increasingly difficult. He could only continuously distort time and space, flickering and leaping within the sword formation.

At this point, even with pseudo-truth-level 'Vitality,' pseudo-truth-level 'Life,' high-level 'Eternity,' high-level 'Infinity,' ultimate 'Fusion,' and ultimate 'Antimatter,' Li Mochen could not sustain such a frequency of injury.

Each recovery now required intense consumption. Especially the power that the two divine kings blasted into his body, even into his soul, was the hardest to completely eliminate.

Although Li Mochen could use wish spells to remove all residual injuries, this required nearly twenty million strands of merit and a large amount of divine power.

Thus, the faith power and primordial force converging from all directions were consumed the moment they entered his body, while the two hundred and fifty-six mana pools and four 'Eternal Divine Furnaces' in the magic tower operated at full capacity.

But Li Mochen's counterattack was equally frenzied, fierce, and domineering to the extreme.

He now only performed necessary defense, pouring most of his remaining power into the 'Zhou Tian Thunder Fire Star Core Sword Formation.' Almost every second, tens of thousands of 'Thunder Fire Star Sword Energies' slashed from various angles.

At this time, even Odin and Zeus could not guarantee they would remain unscathed. On one hand, their divine power was being consumed heavily; on the other, they could not completely block the powerful sword energies mixed with 'fate' and 'time' forces.

Li Mochen was weaving their 'fate,' but in this regard, they could do little. This Master of Fate was very self-aware; he did not excessively seek to kill, defeat, or severely wound them, only weaving fates where they would be 'hit' by the sword energies.

And even these very minor injuries accumulated to no small effect. Especially the divine authorities Li Mochen wielded—'time,' 'destruction,' 'annihilation,' 'lightning,' etc.—even a slight graze could cause significant damage. And powers like 'death' and 'yin-yang' that seeped into their bodies were exceptionally troublesome to expel.

Thus, in the contest of divine power consumption, they did not hold a complete advantage.

After all, Li Mochen had over four billion believers in the Bright World, now likely reaching five billion, and a large portion of them were very devout.

In contrast, although the two of them were genuine divine kings with physical divine ranks of twenty, their income from faith and law primordial forces was not on the same order of magnitude as Li Mochen's.

Even with such unequal consumption, they were also struggling greatly.

Only Odin fared slightly better; the war engulfing the world generated a massive amount of war primordial force. Even after being divided among several powerful war gods, that portion could still provide him with faith power equivalent to three hundred million devout believers.

"It seems I can hold out?"

Li Mochen's body was again pierced by Gungnir Holy Spear, but a smile lingered on his face: "If it's just this, you two won't be able to kill me as you wish."

At that moment, the 'Longinus Holy Spear' atop the Fate's Domain magic tower shot down like a bolt of lightning.

Zeus's pupils instantly contracted. This holy spear was locked onto him!

He did not attempt to dodge, knowing he could not evade. His understanding of fate and time told him that the Master of Fate had already woven a fate where he would be 'hit'!

So Zeus completely abandoned evasion, instead concentrating all his power into his 'Aegis Shield.'

Then, in the next instant, as the spear and shield collided, blood sprayed from Zeus's mouth. He blocked the 'Longinus Holy Spear' but could not fully defend against Li Mochen's power.

The power of eleven powerful forbidden spells and over a dozen of Li Mochen's damage-type divine authorities surged and seeped into his body.

This was due to the nature of Zeus's power; among all the divine kings of the Bright World, his defensive ability was only middling, relying entirely on the 'Aegis Shield.'

In the next instant, the 'Longinus Holy Spear' flashed back to the Fate's Domain magic tower and began to gather power again.

Zeus's face turned extremely gloomy. The injury Li Mochen had inflicted on him was enough to affect his chances in the future competition for the God Above Gods—precisely what he had been trying to avoid.

"If today's battle must end with someone's death or withdrawal from the competition for the God Above Gods, then Zeus, I will make you accompany me!"

Li Mochen's chest was again pierced by Odin's 'Gungnir Holy Spear,' but he smiled calmly, speaking with unparalleled resolve: "Definitely!"

Yet Zeus did not retreat. Instead, the thirty-thousand-meter thunder spear in his hand launched an even fiercer, unreserved offensive. His attack speed even surpassed Odin's, nearly reaching true light speed.

At this moment, the passage of time in the eyes of these three divine kings appeared almost frozen to others.

Every second, they exchanged over 1.3 million strikes and blows.

The vast majority came from Li Mochen, not only due to his ultimate 'Light Speed' divine authority evolved from the 'Light Speed Movement' talent, but also because of the exaggerated quantity of the 'Zhou Tian Thunder Fire Star Core Sword Formation.'

This sword formation, into which Li Mochen had introduced modern programming and artificial intelligence technology, indeed possessed unparalleled autonomous combat capability.

Even when fighting against the two divine kings before him, it could still keep pace with their rhythm.

Li Mochen only needed to infuse divine power and then allocate a tiny fraction of his divine will to control them effortlessly, enabling them to pierce and slash at speeds approaching that of light.

After this, the battle between the two sides continued for another full thirty minutes, yet Li Mochen's body was struck only twice by Zeus and Odin.

The tacit understanding between the two god-kings was indeed steadily rising, but Li Mochen's combat skills were also growing wildly.

His 'Combat' divine authority was originally close to pseudo-truth. And now, in this fierce battle that had already lasted two hours, Li Mochen was making tremendous improvements every moment.

Zeus and Odin were nearing their limits, but Li Mochen was not; he still had vast room for growth.

And this battle, increasingly approaching a stalemate, made the wariness in the eyes of the two god-kings grow more pronounced. At the same time, their minds were filled with intense confusion.

So-called 'Fate' is indeed the highest law, capable of suppressing almost all laws and conceptual laws except 'Causality' and 'Creation'.

But Li Mochen's 'Fate' had ultimately not reached the level of truth.

Thus, Zeus and Odin were both very puzzled: after being injured, what method did Li Mochen use to neutralize their power and keep his body and soul in peak condition?

It must be known that even they, at this moment, were more or less troubled by the power Li Mochen had left in their bodies. Especially Zeus, who had already endured a blow from the 'Holy Lance of Longinus', his overall combat power was inferior to before, less than 95% of his prime. And it could be predicted that within the next ten to twenty years, he would not fully recover.

But every time Li Mochen recovered, he was in a completely intact state, completely unaffected by their power.

Could it be that this was another new type of divine authority beyond their knowledge?

"Boom!"

Another violent roar sounded above the magic tower of the Land of Fate. Zeus's mind tightened slightly. But then he discovered that it was not the 'Holy Lance of Longinus', but a bullet, traveling at a speed equal to light, crossing several layers of void and a distance of up to thirty thousand kilometers, hurtling toward someone in distant Italy.

Far from relaxing, Zeus's spirit instead made his pupils contract sharply. He knew it was a sniper rifle, a powerful thermal weapon that emerged in the new era of the Bright World. And the grade of this sniper rifle had also reached the 'Ultimate' level!

But what truly shocked and angered him was the target of this bullet—none other than the 'Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Desire,' Venus!

Zeus's power even allowed him to foresee Venus's death!

"You wish!"

Zeus's 'Thunderfire Divine Spear' was thrown out instantly. Although it was launched a moment later, its speed surpassed that bullet. If Li Mochen did not possess even stronger temporal power, it would almost have traced back the river of time.

At the same time, the 'Holy Lance of Longinus' at the top of the magic tower of the Land of Fate shot out once again. It had accumulated full power, and the eleven curses attached to it caused the 'Holy Lance of Longinus' to radiate boundless holy radiance.

Zeus's mind trembled with fear, and he once again concentrated all his remaining power on the 'Aegis Sacred Shield'. To his surprise, Odin extended a helping hand, thrusting his equally divine-light-enshrouded 'Gungnir Sacred Spear' forward, grazing the shaft of the 'Holy Lance of Longinus' at the critical moment.

Although this did not change Zeus's fate of being struck by the 'Holy Lance of Longinus', it neutralized nearly half of the curse power concentrated on the lance. This time, the injury Zeus sustained was far less severe than before.

However, over thirty thousand kilometers away, Venus, who had been petrified under the gaze of Typhon's Eye and in extreme terror, finally faced the collision of the 'Thunderfire Divine Spear' and the bullet after a series of desperate defenses.

Although this saved her from death, the immense impact and shockwave from the collision of the two destructive forces nearly shattered her body and soul, plunging the goddess of love and beauty into a near-death state.

Li Mochen's eyes narrowed slightly, feeling a hint of regret. Although he had not used a wish spell or consumed any merit for that shot, he had waited for the opportunity, prepared and planned for a full two hours, before firing that bullet.

But the result was not too bad. Although Venus did not die, she had lost all combat capability, and it was expected that she would find it difficult to recover for decades, possibly even losing her ancient god body entirely.

This could effectively intimidate the gods of the Greek and Aesir pantheons, making their minds tremble with fear, unable to fight with full strength.

And across from him, the eyes of Zeus and Odin held unprecedented wariness.

"This surprises you, doesn't it, you two?"

Li Mochen continued to smile with no warmth: "I said, Lord Zeus, if I must face death today, I will make you accompany me, along with your pantheon! But if this is all you have, you may not be able to kill me."

At this moment, the Tianming Sword in his hand could parry nearly two-tenths of the total ten thousand thrusts and strikes from the two god-kings across from him, between 1,800 and 2,200 times.

And the slashes from the 'Zhou Tian Lei Huo Xing Core Sword Formation' were even more powerful, dangerous, and deadly, forcing the enemy to use more power to resist and evade.

Li Mochen's authorities of 'Combat', 'Sword Strike', and 'Combat Technique' had now all touched the 'Gate of Truth', entering the true pseudo-truth level!

Over the past three and a half years, he had consumed hundreds of millions of merit, originally standing at this threshold, and now he had taken a step further, elevating these three key divine authorities to the height necessary for a god-king.

And thanks to these two before him, he was now even stronger.

Thus, although the merit accumulated in the 'Shenxiao Lingyun Purple Gold Tower' had consumed nearly over three hundred million strands in just these two hours, Li Mochen did not feel panicked at all.

Compared to the beginning of the battle, the pressure he faced had greatly diminished.

While this was far from enough to defeat his opponents, or even to defeat one of them in a life-and-death struggle, it was sufficient to allow him to fight these two god-kings for days and nights, even possessing the ability to mutually destroy one of them—and this was even without consuming the four strands of purple merit energy.

Zeus's eyes were extremely gloomy. He realized that Li Mochen had indeed grown fully fledged. If only the Olympian and Aesir pantheons were involved, they could indeed kill this Lord of Fate, or destroy his pantheon and faith. But he, Zeus, and his many subordinate gods would pay a heavy price.

In the past, Zeus would have withdrawn long ago. This was already a war completely unbeneficial to him.

The reason he still stayed here was first because of Odin's earlier assistance, second because he feared this fellow would become even stronger soon, and finally out of unwillingness.

"Boom!"

The 'Thebes Sacred Shield' in Li Mochen's hand roared again, with a large amount of thunderfire that had struck the shield scattering in all directions, accompanied by shockwaves with energy levels equivalent to a magnitude 12 earthquake.

This fellow's understanding of 'Defense' had also advanced further, further stimulating the ability of the 'Thebes Sacred Shield'.

This reduced the loss Li Mochen suffered from resisting their thrusts and strikes by at least ten percent!

This scene also made the Night Goddess Nyx, watching from afar, stare in bewilderment; made the Goddess of Freedom Eris pale; made Ahura, entrenched in the 'Bright Good Realm', look solemn; and made the Lord of Radiance, who had freed his power to reclaim faith, radiate boundless light.

Even Isis furrowed her brow.

In the Pantheon, Gaia raised her eyebrows in slight surprise. Beside her, the Wisdom Goddess Athena said thoughtfully: "It seems you were wrong, Mother Goddess. He can protect his faith and hold the ticket in his hand. This Lord of Fate now indeed has the qualification to enter. Those two cannot kill him. You should have courted him earlier, not your grandson Zeus."

She thought that if Gaia had offered the same terms she gave to Zeus, she might have persuaded this Lord of Fate to stand with them.

But Andre Li Wiltonstein had always been Gaia Mother Goddess's secondary option. She and Prometheus had long advised her, but her great-grandmother had never taken it seriously.

Compared to these god-kings, the main gods fighting in various cities of the Bright World were even more shocked and astonished by the course of this two-on-one god-king battle in the Dark World.

"Even in the main material plane, he can resist two ancient god-kings; even outnumbered two to one, he can hold his ground without defeat."

Above the southwest gate of Los Angeles, the god of Travel, Adventure, Exploration, and Mercenaries, Field, couldn't help but sigh: "Truly worthy of His Majesty Wiltonstein!"

"Don't get distracted, Field!"

The god of Firearms, Shooting, and Quick Shooting, Ansonwood, kept his gaze focused, looking coldly at his opponent—the Greek and Roman War God Ares.

"His Majesty is fighting, facing two enemies at once. You don't think he can hold out forever, do you? The only ones who can help him now are us, his subordinate gods. Only by defeating our enemies as quickly as possible can we ease his pressure."

He believed that he and Field, working together, had a good chance of defeating this Ares, or at least forcing him back.

Ever since Li Mochen nearly killed Venus with one shot, this Greek War God had been holding back in battle, using at most eighty percent of his power for combat. He also had to divert a great deal of his mind to guard against their Majesty.

This greatly reduced the pressure on him and Field, allowing them to exert their power more calmly and completely.

Although neither of them possessed an ancient god body, since they could step into the rank of divinity 18, it meant there was no essential power gap between them and Ares.

The same scene also occurred in Atlanta.

"Wow! You're already holding back!"

The demon wolf Fenrir, stretching his body wantonly in the high sky, as fierce and wild as a dragon, loudly taunted his opponents—the 'God of Temptation and Desire,' Lord, and the 'God of Forging,' Willie.

Neither of them dared to go all out against Fenrir. They hadn't withdrawn nearly twenty percent of their divine power like Ares, but they had also reserved about half a percent of their strength to guard against surprises.

But this made Fenrir's momentum even more fierce and domineering. He spewed ice and fire, turning half of the world before him into a sea of fire and the other half into a frozen kingdom. This allowed his two children, Skoll and Hati, to gain more extra assistance in their battles against the War God Tyr and the Dark God Hodr.

But even more threatening were his claws and fangs, whose venomous front claws made the two pseudo-god-kings opposite him avoid them at all costs!

This made Fenrir exultant, cackling loudly.

"Look, my master will one day destroy your Aesir tribe! He can do it now. And I, Fenrir, child of the Fire God Loki, will help him with all my might! This is the price you paid for deceiving me, betraying me, and imprisoning me! Hey! Anthony, can you hold on?"

"Are you kidding me, Fenrir? You should ask my opponent how much longer he can hold out."

Anthony Braden's voice came from inside his 'Mechanical War God Type IV', and his opponent was the 'God of Fire and Forging,' Hephaestus.

He was manipulating flames, burning the body of the Mechanical War God, while striking with his heavy hammer. Each exchange between him and Anthony was not a simple collision of strength. He was trying to forge the arms, thighs, chest, etc., of the Mechanical War God into another shape.

And currently, Anthony, who only had a powerful divine rank, was completely at a disadvantage in this regard. Fortunately, the skeleton inside the Mechanical War God was made of Typhon's bones. They were integrated, difficult to disassemble or forge. So Anthony could still barely hold on and could exert most of the power within Typhon's remains.

When the 'Mechanical War God' stepped on the ground, this mechanical creation could recover quickly every time it was damaged. And the thunder, lightning, petrification rays, and various high-tech weapons he manipulated could also pose great danger to the 'God of Fire and Forging,' Hephaestus.

Thus, the battle between the two sides did not become one-sided.

Anthony firmly pinned down his opponent, preventing him from wreaking havoc on Atlanta.

And after Venus was severely wounded and Li Mochen was not overwhelmingly suppressed by Zeus and Odin, Anthony's morale soared, and he even instinctively felt a bit of playfulness.

"Hey! Ancient God of Forging, I sense you're raging impotently? Is it because of Venus? She's your wife, right? But I heard she's very promiscuous, with countless lovers. Speaking of which, Lord Hephaestus, do you remember how many green hats you've worn?"

With this sentence, his opponent became completely enraged. The heavy hammer smashed down, instantly dismantling nearly one-tenth of the external parts of the Mechanical War God Type IV.

※※※※

Meanwhile, in the underworld of America.

Angela sat high on the throne, gazing at a black figure standing before the hall—anyone familiar with the Olympian gods would recognize it as Hades, the King of the Underworld.

And this world of the dead was violently shaking and even twisting under the clash of their powers.

Hades possessed the truth-level authority of 'Death', which gave him a huge advantage in this underworld. Even though this place was nurtured single-handedly by Angela, granting her authority over every corner and inch of this underworld equivalent to her own divine kingdom.

But the situation was not unbalanced. The power called 'Dream' covered most of this region. Although Angela was inferior to her opponent in understanding death, she used the power of her other main divine office to offset the opponent's advantage.

After all, this was a world she had crafted with her own hands, belonging not only to the dead but also connecting to everyone's dreams.

Hades could control death, but dreams were a realm he had not yet touched.

At the same time, beside Angela, a huge ice dragon was circling.

That was 'Gustav'! Its body length was a full 2,000 meters, exactly the physique of a Creation Dragon.

And the so-called 'Creation Dragon' is a powerful dragon race above Eternal Dragons and Chaos Dragons, at the quasi-god-king level.

The entire Bright World had only two: one was the Supreme Dragon God Io, with divinity 19, and the other was the Chaos Dragon Mother Fafnir, also with divinity 19.

The reason Angela could manifest it was entirely due to the Supreme Dragon God Io.

Ever since Io joined the Destiny Pantheon, Angela had gained a deeper and more detailed understanding of high-level dragons.

And the 'Crown of Sorrow', which had gathered a large amount of 'Dream' source matter and part of 'Creation' source matter, elevated and strengthened Angela's ultimate 'Dream' and high-level 'Creation' to their utmost peak.

Thus, this 2,000-meter-long dragon 'Gustav', which she 'imagined' and even 'created', had an almost real structure and physique, with a constitution almost a replica of the Supreme Dragon God Io.

The countless impressions and illusions from game players gave it endless power and indestructibility! Its might was also vast, with extreme ice power bringing everything nearby to nearly absolute zero—this was recognized by at least 1.3 billion players in this world.

At least within the underworld and dreams controlled by Angela, Gustav possessed pseudo-truth-level 'Ice', pseudo-truth-level 'Vibration', and ultimate-level 'Time Sequence'.

In the game, what it liked most was to freeze people solid and then shatter them with a shock. It also mastered some temporal power, derived from truth-level 'Ice', and its physical strength was also exceptionally formidable.

This was because Angela's ability in 'Dream' was still insufficient; otherwise, she could even create a 'Truth Dragon' with a divine rank of twenty through fantasy.

Hades clearly felt the threat of this dragon and had been standing outside the hall, not daring to enter.

Moreover, the several Dream Armaments Angela wielded also made him extremely wary. They were the 'Sin-Cutting Blade' and 'Divine Phantom Shield' in Angela's hands, as well as the 'Dream Holy Spear' floating behind her.

And the hall before him was where Angela's dream power was most concentrated. Once he entered, it would be equivalent to stepping into Angela's dream world. But if he didn't, then Hades would be unable to seize control of the underworld of America from the queen of the Divine Mandate Pantheon.

So Hades focused his attention on the Twin Sleep Gods standing before Angela's throne—namely, Hypnos, the God of Sleep, and Thanatos, the God of Death.

'Are you betraying me now? Hypnos, and Thanatos?'

He could see that these two gods, who had become high gods in just a few years, were Angela's outstanding assistants in managing the underworld. They had a certain karmic and even soul connection with the true Twin Sleep Gods who had served under him millennia ago; one could even say they were their reincarnations.

Hypnos and Thanatos also showed conflicted expressions on their faces.

But Hypnos's expression was the first to firm up: 'It is the guidance of fate, Lord Hades! If I have any connection with the Sleep God Hypnos from millennia ago, then after I died fighting for you, our master-servant relationship was already declared over. Now, I cannot betray Lord Angela, nor can I betray our male master.'

'Are you afraid, Hades?'

Angela, seated on the throne, sneered with irony in her eyes: 'Is this all the courage of the ruler of the underworld from millennia ago? Then I must say, you have greatly disappointed me. If you truly intend to seize the underworld from me, then show some courage, don't—'

Just then, both of them sensed something and simultaneously turned their eyes to a certain direction.

Angela's pupils dilated slightly, and then a hint of joy appeared. She had always had great confidence in her husband, but this result surprised her beyond measure.

'Wow, it seems my husband indeed has the capital to contend with your brother.'

Hades was also very surprised, and then frowned deeply.

He noticed the condition of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty; she was on the verge of death. And her current situation was not much better than death.

Then there was the Lord of Fate; his battle with Odin and Zeus was still undecided.

Although he had been at a disadvantage all along, he was like a hard rock, withstanding the almost frenzied assault of the two god-kings. He even had the spare strength to snipe at Venus right under the noses of the two god-kings, and was only a hair's breadth away from killing a powerful main god with a divine rank of 18.

This meant that his plan to wait for the outcome over there and reap the benefits had completely failed.

He sighed, and without any further hesitation, stepped into the core of this American underworld.

At that moment, the giant blue dragon named 'Gustav' stretched its head over and breathed a blast of icy dragon breath at him.

It was clearly a creature manifested by Angela's fantasy, yet Hades felt an extremely real and terrifyingly lethal cold power.

—Only a truth-level 'Ice' divine authority could make this dragon's breath reach such intensity!

Hades's approach was to counter cold with cold. A cold light shot from his eyes at that moment, clashing head-on with the dragon's icy breath.

But Angela did not hide behind the dragon as he expected; instead, she advanced rather than retreated. As the 'Dream Holy Spear' smashed down, her body flickered and appeared before him. Her long blade swung down, carrying infinite death and cold power.

Hades's expression turned gloomy, for he found that his extra pseudo-truth-level 'Plague' had no room to exert itself in front of Angela.

When her blade light descended, all the 'viruses' and 'bacteria' Hades had created through the 'Plague' divine authority died and were frozen.

'You are outdated, Lord Hades!'

A smile curled at the corners of Angela's lips: 'In this era, people have long figured out what so-called plague really is. In this regard, our God of Viruses and Bacteria is far stronger than you.'