"Impossible! Merely utilizing that weapon through Athena's divine power, how could he possibly display an output stronger than the Sun God himself?!"
In the center of the cataclysmic explosion, the War God Ares let out a furious shriek of disbelief.
His energy manifestation had suffered significant damage.
Although the two high gods had joined forces to resist the assault, scaling up their output power at the final moment, the fraction of the soul Ares had invested in this manifestation was minimal, making it far inferior to a true descent.
Presently, his energy titan had shrunk by several margins, transforming from a sky-piercing giant into a thoroughly battered dwarf.
As for the Sea God Poseidon, although his raw strength surpassed Ares, he had acted as the primary output from the very beginning, taking the absolute brunt of the damage at the front lines.
Consequently, he had suffered a catastrophic blow, half of his elemental body blasted away into nothingness as it struggled to slowly regenerate.
With half of his head missing, leaving only a single glowing eye exposed, Poseidon stared at Griffith and suddenly perceived the state of the youth's body.
"Madman! Have you truly lost your mind, mortal? To gamble your life and push yourself to this extent just to unleash an attack of that caliber...
How unfortunate. While your explosive output could genuinely threaten a high god, you can only release an attack of that magnitude a single time!"
Night offered absolutely no reply to Poseidon.
The reinforcement Athena could provide certainly possessed a limit.
Yet the absolute ceiling of the power she had invested far exceeded anything Poseidon or Ares could have imagined.
Within the original myths, Diomedes, a mere mortal, could push his limits to the point of chasing down the Goddess of Love and Ares to cut them, only retreating when he faced Apollo and faced his furious rebuke.
Which meant an equation could be formed: the power of Athena's blessing combined with Diomedes's base strength was roughly greater than Ares, yet less than Apollo.
As for the Goddess of Love, who stood as the ultimate disgrace to high god combat effectiveness and possessed essentially zero frontline capabilities, she could be completely ignored.
In reality, Diomedes's grandest achievement was wounding the War God in a direct clash and chasing him across the field, and Ares, who was equally a disgrace among the high gods, could be easily taken down by numerous other gods.
From this perspective, although Diomedes's strength reached the high god tier after receiving the blessing, it shouldn't have been excessively dominant, falling within the range of a standard high god's power.
Furthermore, unlike Night, he didn't handle any top-tier divine artifacts in his hands, otherwise his combat capability would easily rival powerful deities like Apollo.
But evaluating raw combat effectiveness while entirely ignoring the fact that the high gods also had the advantage of handling incredibly powerful divine artifacts would be pure self-deception.
Fortunately, the two entities standing before Night were nothing more than energy manifestations.
Ares was completely penniless, and though the Sea God Poseidon undoubtedly held plenty of excellent gear as the Sovereign of the Oceans, his energy form obviously hadn't brought any of it along.
It was exactly as Poseidon calculated when he wagered that Night couldn't release a second ultimate blow.
Looking at Poseidon's missing flank, which refused to mend no matter how hard his power struggled, it was glaringly obvious that this energy manifestation was pushing its absolute limit and would collapse upon taking another strike.
Since these avatars were split directly from the souls of the gods, their raw strength, life density, and mental fortitude were essentially identical to their true bodies, lacking only the physical presence of their personal divine artifacts, which meant cutting them down right here wouldn't be any different from genuinely slaughtering them once in reality.
God-slaying!
The reward yielded by achieving a monumental feat of that caliber would absolutely sit at the highest possible tier.
When Night realized that he could potentially utilize Athena's power to capitalize on this rare trial card of a high-tier account and secure the glory of a god-slaying, the figures of Poseidon and Ares suddenly looked exactly like absolute treasures in his eyes.
Athena's voice echoed in Night's mind, offering a calm warning. "Their divine power is running thin, Griffith. They are merely energy manifestations after all, so engage them in a battle of attrition and let them dissolve naturally.
Your body cannot sustain another release of an attack at that magnitude, otherwise it will collapse completely."
But if he did that, he wouldn't be able to achieve the absolute glory of god-slaying.
A natural dissolution and a direct kill were two entirely separate matters when it came to the completion level of a legendary achievement.
Night remained silent and it was this silence that made Athena let out a sudden internal gasp of pure shock. "You cannot possibly be thinking of slaughtering Poseidon and Ares right here, can you?"
She accurately perceived Griffith's hidden designs at this exact moment, yet she surprisingly made no move to dissuade him.
Instead, after a brief pause, her voice echoed in his mind once more.
"If you are truly determined to gamble, there is still one method that can allow you to release that god-obliterating strike a second time!"
Night blurted out automatically,
"What is it?"
However, as he spoke, he failed to notice that when she spoke these words, Athena's tone shook with a fraction of a tremor, seemingly suppressing a wave of intense anticipation while feigning an absolute calm.
Her voice remained incredibly gentle, showing absolutely none of the fierce presence belonging to a goddess of war, sounding instead like a warm, reliable older sister from next door.
Athena continued, "Are you prepared? In fact, I can help awaken the hidden potential within your body, but you will have to pay a tiny price."
"A price?" Night asked.
"Yes. It isn't anything exceptionally severe, but once the process is complete, a subtle mark representing myself, the Goddess of Wisdom, will remain upon your body."
"Something along the lines of a divine blessing or a covenant...?"
The two conducted their exchange entirely through mental transmission, meaning only a fraction of a second had ticked past in the outside world.
Athena answered vaguely, stating it was highly similar, assuring him it certainly wasn't a slave mark like the one used by the War God Ares, adding that if he didn't trust her...
However, Night immediately cut her sentence short. "Do it."
His gaze had already provided Athena with an absolute answer, remaining remarkably serene.
When it came to the matter of trust, he had never harbored a single doubt that Athena would harbor any malicious designs toward him; of course, this lack of suspicion should be applied to a perfectly proper context.
As for the improper one...he would've believed it a while ago, but now, he couldn't be sure.
However, aside from such matters, he had full faith in Athena.
After all, if wanted to make a move against him, she had already possessed countless opportunities to secretly claim him before any other deity could intervene.
To experience a crisis of trust at a critical moment like this was completely unnecessary.
That absolute, unreserved faith dealt another massive emotional blow to Athena's heart,
As let out a sudden smile, a powerful, irrepressible emotion flaring wildly within her mind as she thought,
'As expected, I find you incredibly fascinating, Griffith! I can no longer restrain myself! My deepest apologies, Artemis!'
The loyal, reliable warrior she had been searching for throughout her immortal life, a man who could provide her with unparalleled peace of mind and with whom she could share absolute mutual trust, stood right before her eyes.
The storm she had been pursuing was right here!
In the space unseen by Night, the spiritual form of Athena extended her tongue, gently brushing it against the corner of her lips.
Immediately after, it was as if her true nature had been completely unleashed, finally exposing the underlying personality she had consistently hidden beneath her dignified, gentle, and holy facade.
She raised a hand to lightly brush a lock of hair behind her ear, a deep, dark brilliance flashing across the depths of her eyes.
The ultimate essence of war was plunder after all.
Since she had firmly identified a prize she desired above all else and wanted to possess it no matter what, she would simply have to utilize some extraordinary methods to snatch it away.
In the next instant, Athena lowered her head.
Her physical form abruptly materialized in the waking world, and right before countless pairs of incredulous eyes, the exact instant Athena appeared, she pressed her lips firmly against Night's mouth.
...!!!
Fuck!
"Athena! You... how dare you?!" Poseidon's elemental frame seemed to instantly turn a vibrant shade of green, the light emanating from the single eye on his remaining half-head flickering wildly as he suffered a massive psychological shock.
And at this exact moment, the individual undergoing a catastrophic mental upheaval certainly wasn't limited to Poseidon.
.
.
.
(End of the Chapter)