[Ding! Host under attack — Divinity Field auto-triggered!]
Under the Chip's prompt, an invisible field of distortion silently materialized around Leilin's body, dissipating most of the two-headed lion's shockwave.
The residual force was completely negligible against Leilin's
"A Divinity Field? So it seems that battles between gods lean more toward contests of divine power, divinity, and divine sparks?"
Leilin's eyes flickered. He ignored the lion's attack entirely — he already had countermeasures in place, and the Divinity Field's appearance only saved him considerable effort.
Amid the beast's furious roars, Akban and the other two demigods witnessed a sight they would never forget for as long as they lived.
"Come out..."
Ignoring the two-headed lion's assault, Leilin went straight to the creature's thick, dense fur. His hands tore through skin and muscle like razor-sharp claws, sending golden divine blood spraying through the air.
Whoosh!
His right hand plunged into the lion's back, and then, amidst the beast's agonized shrieks, he yanked upward — ripping free a spine trailing golden divine blood!
Even for a demigod, whose physical body was composed entirely of divine power, this was a devastating blow. Constructing a body consumed enormous amounts of divine power. Leilin had previously drawn on the favor of the Primordial Sea of Origin, with the cost borne by the World of the
"Your blood shall fuel my power!"
Countless prayer-voices echoed through the domain of slaughter, like the most precise annotations and accompaniment.
"Your bones shall become my scepter! Your eyes shall become the jewels upon it!"
As Leilin's resonant chanting filled the air, the already grievously wounded two-headed lion convulsed violently. Four monstrous claws materialized from the void, each pressing down upon one of the creature's eyes.
These suddenly appearing claws were dark blue-black, their skin withered like ancient tree bark, each bearing strange runic brands of a complexity that surpassed even the micro-carved runes of archmages.
"Roar... roar..."
The four claws pressed down hard, drawing a roar of excruciating agony from the two-headed lion.
Then its four eyes were brutally scooped out and flew into Leilin's hands.
"Your soul shall become the new source of power for my sacred artifact!"
Leilin gazed deeply at the creature and uttered the final line of the rite.
BOOM!
Golden flames blazed across the sky, melting the lion's spine into the shape of a short scepter. Meanwhile, the creature's eyes shrank continuously in midair, embedding themselves atop the staff and transforming into four pearls of different colors.
When Leilin's final curse left his lips, the entire world seemed to freeze for an instant. An invisible force bound the two-headed lion and transferred it directly before Leilin.
"Burn!"
A single point of black flame instantly engulfed the lion's entire body. Within the dark radiance, one could vaguely make out the divine soul of a lion-shaped totem spirit being forcibly extracted and channeled into the scepter itself.
The golden flames continued consuming the corpse, finally reaching the core divine fire within.
CRACK! The tiny golden flame had been dimming steadily since the lion's death, and now it self-annihilated entirely. The supreme energy contained within was so immense that even Leilin didn't dare let his guard down.
SNAP!
A bolt of white lightning split the sky, as if bidding farewell to the fallen demigod. Only then did Akban and the others snap back to their senses.
But at that moment, they would have preferred to believe they were trapped in a nightmare. What had they just witnessed? A demigod — a god of the same rank as Leilin — slaughtered as casually as slaughtering a chicken or sheep. Its divine body had even been forged into a sacred artifact!
Everything had happened too fast. By the time they had even thought to intervene, the two-headed lion was already a corpse.
Leilin, however, paid the remaining demigods no attention. Instead, he examined the scepter in his hand, now set with four luminous pearls. "Mm! Since it was forged using a demigod as material, it doesn't quite qualify as a complete sacred artifact — at best, it's a half-artifact. But as a pontiff's token, it's more than sufficient for use in the mortal world..."
"Next... it's your turn..."
Leilin cast a sidelong glance, the killing intent in his eyes unmistakable.
"Screech!"
The golden giant scorpion let out a piercing cry and immediately transformed into a gust of dark wind, vanishing. Its departure was breathtakingly swift, turning Akban's expression even uglier!
His trusted ally and subordinate had been scared off by a single look from Leilin.
"This isn't the power of a demigod! Who exactly are you?" Seeing the space around him subtly locked down, Akban wisely abandoned any thought of escape. Through gritted teeth, he demanded of Leilin.
"Who am I? I am
Leilin smiled and walked up to Akban. The subtle pressure he radiated was enough to make Akban's half-god steed let out an uneasy whinny.
Even though they were now two demigods, before Leilin they could only feel fear!
"Are you mocking me? How could an ordinary demigod possibly possess such might?!"
Akban roared, his eyes beginning to redden.
"When I ascended just now, you watched the entire process..."
Leilin answered honestly, which nearly drove Akban into a swoon. Had he known the other would become this terrifying after ascending to demigod status, he would have rushed over the moment the other set foot on this plane and wiped him out! But now, no amount of regret or frustration would help.
Watching the visibly shaken Akban, Leilin chuckled inwardly.
Although his reserves were immensely deep, he was still fundamentally a demigod. Truly crushing others of the same rank was essentially impossible.
But he didn't have just one body. Back in the
After Leilin's ascension here, thanks to sharing the same soul, the injuries on his true body had fully recovered, allowing him to channel even greater support to this side.
So right now, Leilin was essentially a demigod and a half-seventh-level warlock fighting as one!
And his previous long research, along with the rule manifestation achieved under the Primordial Sea of Origin's protection, had granted him tremendous insight, allowing him to adapt a wizard spell for this purpose.
The power that had just dispatched the two-headed golden lion demigod like cutting through melons and vegetables was the manifestation of that very spell!
Of course, because the world's rules hadn't fully accommodated it yet, and he could only use it once in a short period, everything just now had been purely experimental — even Leilin himself hadn't expected the results to be so spectacular.
Leveraging the terrifying display, he'd directly killed one demigod and scared off another. The outcome couldn't have been better.
As for the secret behind all of this, Leilin naturally had no intention of explaining it to Akban, which was precisely how he'd successfully carved an image of absolute terror into the other's mind.
"Even if you're an evil god from the outer planes, you won't control my empire..."
Among gods, wars of faith were the most absolute and ruthless conflicts, leaving absolutely no room for compromise.
A look of resolute determination flashed through Akban's eyes, and the golden light radiating from his body surged explosively!
"Neigh..."
As if sensing his resolve, the fire stallion harnessed to the war chariot reared its head and let out a shrill cry, projecting a pale golden domain.
"A Conquest domain? And this kind of domain synergy..."
Leilin's eyes shimmered with the Chip's light, yet he felt not the slightest fear.
"Perfect...
[Ding! Task established. Host data collection underway. Divine power monitoring complete!] the Chip reported faithfully.
"Hah!"
By now, Akban had already charged forward on his flame chariot, wielding his golden spear. The solar runes on his body appeared more real than ever, and the blazing sun projection behind him had grown even more magnificent.
"These native gods really are native gods — not an ounce of technical sophistication!"
Leilin scoffed dismissively, channeling a vast surge of divine power into his hand.
"Divine Power Conversion — Greater Disjunction!!!"
Fueled by divine power as its energy source, this supreme archmage spell seemed to gain even more devastating capabilities. A sliver of dark radiance instantly struck the burning tip of Akban's spear.
CRACK! CRACK!
A web of cracks instantly spread across Akban's golden spear and expanded rapidly. Within what seemed like a single heartbeat, the half-artifact in his hand had been reduced entirely to powder.
The spear wasn't the only casualty — the war chariot itself and the armor on the fire stallion met the same fate.
Akban was instantly thrown from the fire steed, staring in disbelief at the powder in his palm.
This single Greater Disjunction had achieved results that even Leilin hadn't imagined.
"But then again, native gods really are poverty-stricken. Aside from his weapon and chariot, he doesn't even have a single other magical item on him..."
With a casual wave of Leilin's hand, bathed in golden divine power, a palm the size of a giant's fist forged of pure gold flew forth.
[Shattering Palm]!
The golden palm was thick and broad, its surface texture rendered with perfect clarity — resembling a real flesh-and-blood giant's hand, yet carrying an unstoppable force. It slammed into Akban in an instant, sending him flying backward with blood spraying from his mouth.
"So this is the strength of the most powerful demigod on Bankze Island? What a disappointment..."
Leilin beckoned again, and a colossal [Mage's Sword] materialized before him, its blade rippling with the radiance of divine power.
But this time, he didn't manipulate it with spiritual power. Instead, he gripped the hilt of the Mage's Sword directly.
"Fall!"
The Mage's Sword swept horizontally, and a torrent of golden light surged toward Akban's position. The sheer force was so immense that it cleanly sliced half of the mountain peak behind Akban clean off.