Illya couldn't help but scoff. "That guy's showing off again!"
Even if countless people had been won over by the wise King Gilgamesh in Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia, she was different.
At best, her burning hatred had cooled into mere hostility.
She hadn't forgotten—in the Unlimited Blade Works timeline—
how he had severed the arms of the two maids who had raised and taught her, then ripped out their hearts!
That kind of grudge could last a lifetime.
"No wonder the Hero King is so smug. After so long, he's finally fighting alongside his brother and the Chains of Heaven again," Miyu remarked calmly.
A tsundere through and through.
Though he cherished his two closest friends deeply, his words always pretended otherwise.
Now, reunited in battle, his joy was laid bare for all to see.
Heracles watched the broadcast, his blood boiling with excitement.
But he had no intention of joining the fray.
He wanted to protect his beloved daughter instead.
In Souma's plan, he and Jeanne d'Arc were tasked with guarding Fuyuki City as the final line of defense.
If the Star-Hunting Titan breached their defenses, they would be humanity's last stand.
That Guardian of Humanity had planned everything from start to finish.
Against an enemy like the Star-Hunting Titan, numbers meant nothing.
If a horde of Heroic Spirits charged in, it might even allow her to devour the concept of human civilization, turning them into a mobile fountain of life and mana for her!
After all, every Heroic Spirit was a shining fragment of human history, embodying a nation's legacy.
And the Star-Hunting Titan, born solely to consume civilizations, was naturally the bane of Heroic Spirits and gods alike.
Under the gaze of countless onlookers,
bound by Enkidu's Chains of Heaven, the Star-Hunting Titan could advance no further.
Her colossal form, wrapped in layer upon layer of chains, became the grandest display of a tortoise-shell binding!
Yet.
Enkidu, however, showed no arrogance and instead transmitted a message: "We need to speed up—I can only restrain Him for ten minutes!"
Even with the power granted by the Primordial Mother Goddess that surpassed all limits, truly restraining the opponent remained an immensely difficult task.
"Ten minutes is more than enough!"
Souma smiled.
In the initial plan, they had prepared for the worst-case scenario of only three minutes—or even just one minute of restraint!
His gaze turned to the numerous Chinese heroic spirits gathered below the Epang Palace: "Everyone, it's your turn to act!"
"Understood!"
A chorus of excited voices rose from the Chinese heroic spirits.
These warriors had long been itching for action, unwilling to remain mere spectators.
As renowned generals from China's history, each had earned their fame through bloodshed on the battlefield.
How could they endure the frustration of standing idly by?
On the plaza of the Epang Palace, the twelve golden statues were already arranged in formation.
Twelve elite warriors stood ready.
Lü Bu brandished his weapon and roared, "I'll form the head!"
His massive frame merged with the golden statue, ascending to the very top and transforming into a colossal, radiant golden head—dozens of meters in diameter!
Following him,
Xiang Yu, equally exhilarated, shouted, "I'll form the heart!"
He and his golden statue merged into a massive heart, settling beneath the head.
As the ultimate war machine, Xiang Yu possessed near-limitless magical energy, making him the perfect power source for the heart.
Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun stepped forward next: "We'll form the torso!"
The three heroic spirits combined their strength to create the towering torso, causing the entire golden figure to shine even brighter.
The remaining heroic spirits quickly followed suit—
"I'll take the right arm!"
"I'll take the left arm!"
...
One by one, the elite warriors merged with the golden statues, their powers uniting.
Twelve supreme heroic spirits, paired with twelve golden statues, coalesced into a towering golden giant standing a kilometer tall.
At that moment,
A spectral figure materialized—headless, with eyes on its chest and a mouth on its belly, wielding a massive axe.
This was Xingtian, the mythic warrior who had once challenged the Heavenly Emperor for the throne—a being hailed as the God of War in the celestial realm!
The axe in his hands was summoned forth, rapidly expanding into a monstrous weapon stretching a kilometer in length.
A kilometer-tall giant, wielding a kilometer-long axe.
It was as if they had become the mythic giant Pangu, the one who cleaved apart chaos to create the world!
This was their ultimate combined technique—
[Pangu Form!]
Though the process seemed elaborate, it took a mere five seconds to complete.
A colossal golden giant, standing a kilometer tall, descended upon the Star-Scourge, swinging its axe with devastating force.
Even compared to the Star-Scourge's towering height of several kilometers, the golden giant appeared no less imposing.
The sight left countless spectators stunned—
-[Holy shit, they actually transformed into Pangu! Can they really split heaven and earth?]
-[Twelve elite heroic spirits, combined with the twelve golden statues forged from the weapons of the world by Qin Shi Huang—this is insane!]
-[So this was their trump card all along! But how do they defeat the Star-Scourge?]
-[Right, the Star-Scourge is immune to both physical and energy attacks—there's no way to defeat it!]
...
The transformation into Pangu defied all expectations.
Even the countless heroic spirits watching were left in awe.
No one had imagined that China still held such a trump card!
Pangu—that was the being who cleaved the world in Chinese mythology, a creator deity on the same level as the primordial mother goddess Tiamat!
Mordred looked up at the towering figure with shock and uncertainty. "This giant seems to truly possess a fragment of the power of creation!"
This energy was all too familiar.
When Tiamat had appeared earlier, she too carried that primordial aura from the dawn of the world.
"That's correct. The twelve Chinese Heroic Spirits have joined forces to summon a sliver of Pangu's power," Artoria replied.
Faced with China, Britain's two-thousand-year history seemed rather insignificant.
Whether in history or myth, they were utterly outmatched.
Even as the King of Britain, she couldn't help but feel a faint sense of helplessness.
If the Umbral Star's vanguard were to descend upon Britain, how could she possibly resist?
Gawain suddenly pointed into the distance and exclaimed, "Wait, isn't that the Apostle of the Outer God?"
Where his finger landed, a petite figure had appeared without anyone noticing.
She had golden hair that shimmered brightly and wore a black gothic lolita dress.
The keyhole-shaped mark on her forehead was particularly eye-catching.
This was none other than the Apostle of the Cthulhu Outer Gods—
[Abigail Williams]!
She had previously appeared in the [Lostbelt of Qin], shrouded in utter mystery.
Now, no one had expected her to make another appearance.
Mordred muttered blankly, "Don't tell me she's also been charmed by Nameless and wants to help him fight?"
This was the spokesperson of the evil god, the very embodiment of chaos and disorder.
How could they possibly be charmed?
Gawain's lips twitched. "Forget the spokesperson—if even an evil god were charmed by Nameless, I wouldn't be surprised at this point!"
That bastard truly lived up to his title as the Grand Beauty.
Men, women, humans, gods, even the Evils of Humanity—none were spared from his charm!
Under their bewildered gazes,
the quietly manifested spokesperson of the evil god smiled gently at him. "Nameless, I'm here."
"Mm, I'll need your help," Souma requested.
Sending the Umbral Star's vanguard into the underworld was meant to strip it of its ability to devour civilizations entirely.
Within the underworld, it would grow weaker and weaker, utterly incapable of replenishing itself by consuming civilization.
Only then could it truly be defeated.
"As you wish."
Abigail pressed her slender, pale hands together in devout prayer. "Within my hands lies the Silver Key. Manifest from the void, touch it with your fingertips, O Father of Gods."
"Traverse the slumber of roses, and arrive at the gate of extremes!"
[Qliphoth Rhizome—Light-Shell Overflowing Imaginary Tree!]
Huum—
A door materialized beneath the Umbral Star's vanguard.
The murmurs of chaos reverberated madly in the ears of countless onlookers.
The overwhelming power of an eldritch god descended at this moment, tearing open a gateway to darkness.
From within the door, an endless surge of death energy erupted.
On the other side, the gentle underworld goddess Ereshkigal poured her divine power into widening the gate as much as possible.
Everything was ready.
The thousand-meter-tall golden giant in Pangu's form swung the mythic axe it had summoned—
[Heaven and Earth Sundering!]
BOOM—
The axe, infused with the vast power of creation itself, violently expanded the gate to the underworld.
An immeasurable torrent of divine force crashed down upon the Umbral Star's vanguard.
Under such overwhelming might,
even the mighty vanguard was hurled straight into the underworld!
"No! You will not imprison me!"
The colossal Altera gripped the edges of the gate, struggling to tear herself free.
But then—
A pair of slender hands seized her pristine, unblemished bare feet from within the underworld.
The owner of those hands was none other than—
Tiamat!