After that, a cross appeared behind him. The next second, Messiah was crucified as if he were Jesus suffering.
As his breaths gradually weakened, Aslan also felt the unimaginable pressure bearing down on the Avalon he wore.
He seemed to be suffering along with Messiah.
Finally, Messiah's breaths stopped, and the Avalon equipped on Aslan completely shattered.
"So that's it—he intended to destroy my defense by exploiting his Authority?"
Aslan guessed Messiah's plan. By using the Authority of the Crown of Thorns, Messiah made Avalon suffer with him, then die.
That way, Avalon would also be completely destroyed, at least unable to provide defense to Aslan for a short time.
Of course, in exchange, he himself would die too.
But who these days doesn't have an Authority to resurrect?
Next, he just needed to resurrect and reuse the Authority of the Five Loaves and Two Fish that he had used before, and he could recover to peak condition very quickly.
After that, it would be his turn to act.
In Little Garden, defensive-type Gifts are extremely rare Gift types. Even Aslan currently could only bring out Avalon as a treasure.
As for other artifacts, in terms of defense and comprehensiveness, they were far inferior to Avalon.
It could only be said that the Holy Son was indeed the Holy Son. His vision was sharp. Just by dying once, the situation completely reversed.
Then, just as Aslan was fully concentrated, raising the Star Holy Sword, preparing to finish him off the moment the Holy Son resurrected.
After so long, until his hands felt sore.
Messiah still hadn't resurrected.
At this moment, the corner of Aslan's mouth twitched, as if thinking of a certain possibility.
"Don't tell me he failed to resurrect?"
Forcibly holding back the urge to curse in his heart, Aslan carried his sword and carefully walked toward the cross where Messiah was hung.
Seeing Messiah covered in wounds and continuously bleeding, Aslan cautiously extended his finger to his nostril.
"Really no breath?"
The corner of his mouth twitched twice.
So... what was this situation just now? Was Messiah crazy, suicidal, or fighting to the death just to destroy Avalon along with him?
This battle path was too smooth, to the point that Aslan didn't even react.
"Central Core, perform identification."
[Identification result: Currently loading resurrection.]
"So, why is the resurrection taking so long?"
Aslan couldn't hold back from cursing. This was a life-and-death battle!
Don't tell him that the Holy Son's resurrection Authority came from the biblical miracle of Jesus resurrecting after three days.
Then he'd have to wait here for Messiah to resurrect for three days?
Only after that could he continue the battle?
No, three days would be enough for Avalon to self-repair.
Little Garden's Central Core didn't speak, only silently transmitting an image into Aslan's memory.
When Aslan was first summoned and started with the beam.
Both Aslan and Messiah had overlooked one person.
Buddha Dīpaṁkara, who came to deliver the message. He didn't die in the shockwave caused by the beam Aslan fired.
As a rabbit, he fully demonstrated his expertise as a cunning rabbit with three burrows. The moment Aslan attacked, he immediately fled underground, carrying the Holy Grail.
Seeing this, Aslan also understood that this Holy Grail was likely the medium Messiah needed to use his resurrection Authority.
After all, Authorities from Heretic Gods have an upper limit; it's impossible to reach the level of true Authorities.
As everyone knows, resurrection Authorities have different restrictions—some on the number of times, some on time, and some on specific conditions.
Aslan estimated that Messiah's resurrection Authority was one with specific conditions, only that these conditions were very loose.
Then the image continued playing, making him truly understand the reason for Messiah's resurrection failure.
"There shouldn't be any more business for the little monk, right?"
Buddha Dīpaṁkara, hiding underground, carefully looked left and right. Sensing the two powerful auras on the surface.
He was still a bit scared. Don't look at him having achieved the Buddha fruit; this man-made Buddha fruit was even lower than the Arhats.
He had no combat power. The Last King Arthur might only need one sword to kill him.
"Can the little monk leave now?"
Buddha Dīpaṁkara asked very softly. After confirming no answer.
He continued.
"Your Holiness Holy Son, since you didn't respond, the little monk will take it as your approval."
"Please forgive the little monk for being unable to continue serving Your Holiness."
"As for this Holy Grail..."
Buddha Dīpaṁkara hesitated for a moment. He was a bit unsure how to handle this item.
But once he thought that this Holy Grail was made by the Holy Son in front of him, it probably wasn't anything important.
Most likely, it was just a one-time item to successfully summon the Last King.
"This Holy Grail, the little monk will leave it here. Please take it yourself later, Your Holiness."
Then, Buddha Dīpaṁkara directly threw the Holy Grail behind him and fled underground at high speed.
And the Holy Grail fell to the ground, with the bright red liquid inside slowly flowing into the earth.
"Ah, this..."
After watching the image, Aslan fell silent.
"It can only be said, truly worthy of being Dingguang Xian?"
In the Investiture of the Gods, Dingguang Xian once, at the critical moment of the Fengshen Battle, when the Tongtian Sect Master set up the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation and ordered one of the seven attendants, Dingguang Xian, to carry the Six Soul Banner.
But who would have thought, at this critical moment, Dingguang Xian instead presented the Six Soul Banner to the Chan School, ultimately causing the Tongtian Sect Master's failure.
And the current situation was clearly a repeat of the Investiture of the Gods.
Buddha Dīpaṁkara discarded the key item for the Holy Son's resurrection, causing the Holy Son to be unable to resurrect.
Aslan held back his laughter and slashed with a beam of sword light, piercing through layers of earth, destroying the Holy Grail that had fallen to the ground and was still spilling bright red liquid.
With this, the God Slayer Messiah was out of the game.
Messiah's Spirit Status was also stripped by Little Garden's Central Core and became nutrients to integrate into the Last King's Spirit Status.
As Messiah's Spirit Status fused, Aslan closed his eyes, feeling the rising Last King's Spirit Status, almost becoming tangible.
"As expected, Messiah's Spirit Status is clearly a crucial part of the Last King's Spirit Status."
The Last King's Spirit Status, having absorbed Messiah's Spirit Status, now nearly possessed a Spirit Status as noble and vast as the top mythological leaders and Kings of the Gods.
And this was just the beginning. With the absorption of Messiah's Spirit Status, plus the special position of the Last King as the Savior, the Last King's Spirit Status would likely reach the Three-Digit level.
"It's just that reaching Two-Digit directly isn't that easy."
Aslan shook his head slightly. He had already anticipated this.
Naturally, if Two-Digit were that easy to break into, Little Garden wouldn't have only seventeen Two-Digits.
Just as Aslan was pondering, a roar of anger pierced the sky, echoing throughout Little Garden.
"Buddha Dīpaṁkara!!!"
Countless gods and Buddhas raised their heads, spreading their divine thoughts, communicating in the void to observe what had happened.
"By the way, what did Buddha Dīpaṁkara do? Which big shot did he anger?"
"Isn't Buddha Dīpaṁkara usually very cautious? How did he provoke someone of this caliber?"
"Who knows? Maybe, like in the Investiture of the Gods, he caused a great disaster."
Meanwhile, Buddha Dīpaṁkara, eavesdropping on the side, trembled in fear. He had no idea what had happened?
Wait, what mistake was being pinned on him again?
Hadn't he just delivered information? Even if the information was problematic, shouldn't they go to Thousand Eyes? Why come after him?
However, soon after, the curious gods and Buddhas located Buddha Dīpaṁkara. Countless divine thoughts enveloped him.
"Eh, Dingguang, what did you do again? Making the Holy Son so angry?"
"Th-the little monk doesn't know, the little monk knows nothing..."
Instantly, Buddha Dīpaṁkara fainted from fear. If gods and Buddhas needed to urinate, he would surely have wet himself in terror by now.
"The little monk really knows nothing..."
But his instincts told him that he must have caused a great disaster, one that even the Buddhas couldn't protect him from.
"The little monk doesn't know..."
As if already imagining his tragic future, Buddha Dīpaṁkara unhesitatingly slapped his own head.
Dying on the spot.
Rabbits are inherently timid and prone to dying from fright.
And Buddha Dīpaṁkara's current fate was more or less the same.
"Disperse, disperse. It seems Buddha Dīpaṁkara really knows nothing. Maybe he was unlucky and became a victim of someone else's scheme."
"What a coward. Just being called by a Two-Digit, why is he so terrified?"
"Believe it or not, if it happened to you, you wouldn't fare any better."
The excitement of the gods and Buddhas in the Lower Layers ended here. They didn't dare investigate further.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Outer Gate 500, Heavenly Army Headquarters.
Indra, who was processing government affairs, was startled by the Holy Son's sudden angry roar, and the pen in his hand fell to the floor.
"Why is the Holy Son raging? How did Buddha Dīpaṁkara anger him again?"
Indra scratched his head, picked up the pen that had fallen, and asked in surprise.
"How would I know?"
Prithvi lifted her head from the pile of documents and cursed.
"And instead of caring about these things, you'd better find a way to finish the official business or coax Brahma back."
Gradually, Prithvi's voice faded, and the sound of flipping documents also disappeared.
"Damn it, Prithvi, don't leave so much government work to me alone. I could die."
Indra looked at Prithvi, who had already rushed off to meddle, with tears in his eyes.
The next second, Indra's figure also vanished.