The phrase "True god walking the earth" was so rare and unbelievable that when Aglaea unleashed her divine power, Vic's first reaction was to assume she was a demigod, not a true god.
Therefore, Vic immediately activated his Priest Divine Artifact, requesting a Divine Descent. After all, once the moon goddess Artemis descended, wouldn't a true god defeating a demigod be child's play?
But Aglaea truly was a true god walking the earth. Vic gritted his teeth, having clearly overheard Perseus's muttering. "God of Romance? Never heard of that name," he sneered. "Even among gods, there are hierarchies! So what if you're a true god too?"
Perhaps the backing of his powerful patron emboldened him to speak to a god with such audacity. Yet Aglaea didn't even need to lift a finger. Grey, standing beside her, puffed out her cheeks and glared angrily at the blasphemer, swiftly retrieving four crescent-shaped devices from beneath her skirt.
Each arc, roughly a dozen centimeters long and curved, glowed red, brown, blue, and cyan. Grey tossed the four devices into the air, where they seemed drawn to each other by magnetic forces, yet maintained a three- to four-centimeter gap, never fully merging.
Driven by magnetic force, the four arcs began to spin wildly. Grey swiftly loaded a specially crafted bullet, raised her weapon, and aimed at the center of the spinning arcs—and at Vic standing opposite her.
Though the sequence sounded complex, the entire process took less than three seconds. Grey squeezed the trigger!
Bang!
The bullet pierced through the center of the spinning arcs, carrying four weakly balanced elemental Magic Powers. In the blink of an eye, it struck Vic's chest.
The instant the bullet came to rest, the fragile equilibrium between the four elements shattered, triggering a terrifying chain reaction!
Perseus and the Gold-tier Warrior both vaguely witnessed a momentary refraction effect where Vic had stood, like the shimmering visual distortion seen through rising heat on a scorching day.
Then... Vic vanished into thin air before everyone's eyes.
Perseus froze, stunned. "Huh? Where did he go?"
One moment he was swaggering with confidence, and the next he'd teleported away? When did he even use that Magic Scroll?
Given Perseus's experience, this was the most logical explanation he could come up with. However, Aglaea wore an expression of resignation. "Wasn't using such a powerful weapon on someone like him a bit of a waste?"
Grey, hands on her hips, retorted indignantly, "Lady Aglaea, he was insulting you! It's absolutely not a waste!"
The attack Grey had just unleashed was considered one of the pinnacle achievements of Okhema's Magitech Technology: the Vortex Grenade.
Due to Melly and Tribios's exceptionally close relationship, it was no exaggeration to say that, aside from Tribios herself, Melly was the most knowledgeable person about the Century Gate—second to none!
Through her relentless research on the Century Gate, Melly had developed a unique understanding of "space." In her view, the Century Gate was more than just a convenient portal; if properly modified, it could be transformed into an absolutely terrifying weapon. And she had indeed done just that.
This Vortex Grenade was one of her finished products, capable of directly annihilating the space around its target, pulverizing enemies completely without leaving even a speck of dust behind.
The strongest defenses would crumble like paper before this projectile, utterly useless against its destructive force!
Aglaea sighed. Grey was still too reckless. While her attack had been devastating, it hadn't completely eliminated the enemy. The reason lay in the severed arm Aglaea had sliced off at the start, which had flown far away.
The crimson full moon in the sky seemed to grow larger at a visible rate. Suddenly, a deep crimson beam of light descended from the heavens, striking the severed arm—more precisely, the Blue Heart Pendant attached to it.
Immediately, massive amounts of muscle tissue erupted from the arm's smooth, severed wound like water gushing from a faucet. Had Aglaea not swiftly used her Golden Thread to pull all the unconscious people on the ground back to Perseus's Mansion, they might have been drowned in the encroaching flesh.
Then, from this vast "sea" of muscle, a figure slowly crawled out—none other than Vic, whom she had just defeated. He had somehow regenerated his entire body using only one severed arm?!
Vic spread his arms wide, grinning maliciously. "It's futile," he snarled. "No one can withstand THEIR power!"
Aglaea pressed her palms together at her chest, then clenched her fists. Instantly, a dense network of Golden Threads coalesced around her, each strand razor-sharp, slicing through everything in its path.
In the blink of an eye, the newly regenerated Vic was shredded into over a hundred pieces!
Yet, as the Golden Threads receded, the severed edges of the wounds began to attract and fuse together, healing completely in an instant as if he had never been injured. This rate of recovery was simply absurd!
Seeing this, Aglaea's delicate brows furrowed slightly. She ceased her attack and instead wove a dense cage of Golden Threads around the rapidly proliferating, nearly road-filling sea of muscle.
Without containment, this muscular tide could engulf the entire city within an hour!
Boom!
In moments, the outermost muscle mass slammed into Aglaea's Golden Threads with a deafening crash. The creature's raw power was staggering.
Under this immense force, Aglaea's Golden Thread network buckled slightly but snapped back into place almost instantly. The muscles were like a massive fish trapped in a net—though its immense strength could warp the mesh, every struggle only exhausted its own reserves, leaving it no closer to freedom.
Yet Aglaea wore a grave expression. While the containment was holding for now, how could she ultimately deal with this creature?
To be honest, even after living in this body for some time and diligently practicing her Authority, the time had been too short. Aglaea was still unable to wield this body's full potential. The most glaring example was her lack of even a single Garmentmaker.
After racking her brain, Aglaea couldn't devise a reliable method to eliminate the enemy. She even considered summoning external assistance.