"O gods, grant your protection here!"
As the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, the calm expression on Romulus's face grew grave. Standing atop the great altar with his arms spread wide, he shouted in solemn command.
At the same time, hundreds of priests and temple officials chanted prayers and poured their magical power into the great hall.
Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz!
In an instant, twelve pillars of light shot up from the Pantheon into the sky, weaving together into a crown-shaped rainbow ring. The giant tree formed from the Spear of Nation-Building resonated and trembled, sparkling with starlight as it cast shimmering layers of color down over Rome, forming a curtain of divine power that pressed down with overwhelming force.
Space shuddered.
The three kings high above immediately found their movements growing sluggish, as though they had sunk into mud, while the Ether currents around them flickered and dimmed.
"The crest of the stars awakens, the power of the God of War is activated. I am the Scourge of God!"
Altera raised her rainbow greatsword high. Amid layers of converging rings of light, a radiant pillar of sword energy that madly devoured the surrounding Ether came crashing down with brutal force.
"Bow to the earth, gaze up at the sky, and submit! This is the serpent god among serpent gods! Descend like the sun itself, Dark Night Sun Ship!"
As Ramesses II chanted, the golden Ether radiating from his body poured into the solar ship beneath his feet. As the colossal divine construct turned, the giant cannon mounted at its side gathered blazing firelight and fired downward.
"Mithras, god of light, father of all flame, grant me your blessing!
"I am the strongest, the one who grasps all victories, the one who crushes the enmity of any foe before me. I will strike down any enemy that dares stand in my way!"
Cyrus raised one hand as if grasping empty air and drew forth from a mass of golden flame a divine weapon of Persia, half sword and half blade, engraved on both sides with Persian script. He slashed downward, sending a tornado roaring toward the ground.
Under the combined assault of the three kings, the Pantheon and the great altar bore the brunt of it. It looked as though they would be destroyed at any moment in the raging flood of Ether.
"Zeus, Aegis!"
Romulus bent his body forward, seized the Horn of Plenty, and raised it high with a booming shout, both hands gripping empty air.
In that instant, golden-blue streams of light descended from the crown formed by the twelve light-patterns above the dome, transforming into a bolt of lightning that struck downward and gathered in the hands of the Divine Ancestor as a shield of light etched with thundercloud patterns.
Rumble...
Thud, thud, thud!
In that lightning-fast clash, violent explosions shook the air. The goatskin shield formed from Ether shattered on the spot, and Romulus staggered back several steps, his expression sinking.
With the gods withdrawing from the world and the laws of reality growing more stable, Mystery had gradually peeled away from the surface of the world. The old kind of power that once toyed with order itself and casually moved mountains or filled seas had naturally been weakened layer by layer.
At present, god-class power was the absolute peak that could still manifest in the mortal world.
In theory, Romulus stood on the same level as the Pharaoh, the King of Persia, and the King of the Huns.
Under equal conditions, either side would probably have no better than even odds.
But this was Rome.
With the advantage of the land itself and the divine power of the Pantheon reinforcing him, the Divine Ancestor could remain undefeated even against two opponents at once.
Against three...
The seconds passed, and the battle grew fiercer.
"For victory, come before me! O immortal sun, grant me your shining steed. O divine and wondrous horse, quickly bring forth your master's wheel of light!"
Cyrus held his sword upright before him. As he chanted, his right hand brushed lightly across the blade's spine. Accompanied by the neighing of warhorses, a crimson solar disk slowly rose, then plummeted toward Rome, which lay beneath the canopy of the towering tree.
"Poseidon, Trident of the Sea King!"
Sensing the intense burning heat in the air, Romulus looked toward the giant tree of light whose branches and leaves were beginning to burn away and break apart. His eyes darkened. Without hesitation, he chanted divine words and drew from the surging spring beneath the earth the trident he had gathered into being.
He hurled it toward the falling sun disk.
The deep blue flood of Ether unleashed along its path engulfed and swallowed the massive sphere of flame, then continued on with undiminished force, blasting toward Cyrus.
But before Romulus could so much as catch his breath, the Pharaoh, having brought the solar ship down to a lower altitude, fired several more salvos from its cannons in quick succession. Seizing the opening, he sneered and raised a hand from afar.
"Father of Terror, symbol of raging wind and blazing flame, embodiment of the sky... Devour! Abu el-Hol Sphinx!"
In an instant, amid a deep, muffled roar, two monstrous sphinxes dozens of meters tall burst out from the Magecraft array emerging above the solar ship. Each had a human face, one male and one female. Spreading their wings, they leaped toward the Pantheon.
"Apollo, Tauropolos!"
As Romulus chanted, another pillar of light descended from the crown-shaped ring. The Divine Ancestor drew an ancient longbow in his hand, the string pulled full like a perfect moon. The arrow of light he fired ignited with blazing flames, split into two in midair, and struck the two charging Heat-Sand Sphinxes, severely wounding them amid a spray of blood and light.
After that single arrow, the longbow that had taken shape shattered and dissipated.
Yet despite repeatedly driving back his enemies, the Divine Ancestor's expression only grew uglier.
The innate barrier protecting Rome from the aftershocks of battle, Kronos, Crown, contained a fragment of the authority of the Twelve Chief Gods.
As a divine child, Romulus could indeed draw upon the Pantheon's stored power and manifest the forms of their former weapons, using them to unleash their might against the Three Kings.
But every time he drew out a trace of that authority, the strength of the great barrier weakened by another tenth.
And in this one-against-three situation, with the Three Kings not yet fighting at full strength, if things continued like this, it would not be long before the barrier shielding Rome from foreign enemies ceased to exist. At that point, Rome itself would likely face utter destruction.
By now, the curtain of light covering Rome had already begun flickering unstably. As it absorbed the aftershocks from the clash of four gods, faint cracking sounds rang out from time to time, and tiny fractures gradually spread.
Here they come again!
Romulus looked up at the King of the Huns spreading her wings in midair. Several prismatic crystals appeared before her, gathering into a seven-colored beam that swept toward him. His brow twitched violently. He had no choice but to grit his teeth and prepare to draw more authority from the Pantheon, drinking poison to quench thirst.
Boom!
At the critical moment, a whistling jet-black cross spear tore through the air, piercing dozens of the crystals floating before Altera in one sweep. The roaring Ether shockwave blasted the King of the Huns back a hundred li.
"I'll leave this to you. I'll take that one!"
At the same time, fierce winds rose atop the great altar. Within the spiraling pillar of wind that enveloped the Divine Ancestor and Nero, a figure cloaked entirely in black haze, with no visible face, muttered in a low voice, snatched up the newly crowned Rose Emperor, and shot into the sky, intercepting the seven-colored meteor that had shed its brilliance and was racing in.
God-class. Another one!
Fortunately, he was standing on Rome's side.
As the wind calmed and the clouds parted, Romulus cast a meaningful glance toward a certain seat in the viewing stands, and the tension in his brow gradually eased.
Immediately afterward, a resonance came from within the Roman Imperial Palace. The emperors of the four great clans who had returned to Rome, the Cornelii, the Aemilii, the Fabii, and the Manlii, stirred their Ether, transformed into streaks of light, and sped toward the Pantheon.
That little girl who had just been intercepted seemed to strongly restrain Rome, and him as well. His combat ability could only be brought out to seventy or eighty percent.
Now that the greatest threat hanging over his head had been drawn away, the remaining enemies, the King of Persia Cyrus and the Pharaoh Ramesses II, were no longer enough to shake Rome!
The Divine Ancestor Romulus gave a proud cold snort, raised his hand to the giant tree formed from the Spear of Nation-Building, and chanted divine words aloud.
"Where I stand is the Seven Hills. Where I am is Rome. Civilization is Rome. The world is Rome! Let the stars in heaven bless this place. Let the eternal nation descend upon this place. Therefore, my spear reaches all things!"
Countless motes of light rose from the bodies of the Romans and poured into the giant tree. The branches and leaves of the divine tree spread and grew wildly, while emerald radiance condensed into sharp thorns, all pointing at Cyrus and Ramesses II in the sky as they gathered the force of thunder.
"Pfft! Pfft!"
But suddenly, disaster struck from within.
Two of the white-robed priests who had been chanting divine words clutched their throats as crimson blood mist sprayed out. In disbelief, they turned to look at the companions beside them, who were holding daggers in reverse grips, their eyes gleaming with eerie light.