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Alex looked at Athena and said, "Could you change your clothes? Like before. What you're wearing now really draws attention."
Athena nodded lightly. "I understand."
A flash of light rippled over her body. The ancient Greek gown vanished, replaced by a black-and-white JK school uniform. Over her smooth, slender thighs were a pair of white thigh-high stockings.
In the sweltering summer heat, the first thing that popped into anyone's mind at that sight was creamy vanilla ice cream.
The olive wreath on her head disappeared as well, her long silver hair tied up neatly into a ponytail.
Now, Athena wasn't just beautiful. She radiated the fresh, vibrant energy of a young girl.
"How about this outfit?" she asked Alex. "Does it look good?"
Alex nodded and gave her a thumbs-up. "Looks great. Super nice."
Just then, Mariya Yuri ran up to Alex, staring at Athena with wide eyes. "Demon King big brother, who is this sister? She's so beautiful it doesn't even feel real."
Alex chuckled. "This big sister here is the goddess Athena from Greek mythology."
"What?! Goddess Athena?!"
The girls were all stunned, their faces filled with shock.
Yuri and Saya Omi both started trembling.
Among them, only Ena Seishuin held herself together fairly well. After all, she was used to seeing Susanoo.
With Athena successfully on his side, Alex's mission on Sardinia was basically complete.
After that, he threw himself into studying how to merge summoning rituals.
Even though they were all called "spirit descent rituals," their underlying nature was very different.
In the Type-Moon world, spirit summoning called forth Heroic Spirits. In this world, it summoned gods.
That said, there were cases in the Type-Moon world where gods responded to summons through avatars, lowering themselves into Servants.
By that logic, the Type-Moon ritual could technically summon gods too.
The difference was that once summoned, Heroic Spirits and gods alike were confined within the framework of a "Servant," like being locked into a game class.
In the Godslayer world, if you tried to summon a god as a Servant, no god would ever agree.
More importantly, the Godslayer version of spirit descent was less like summoning and more like forcibly dragging a god out of myth and history into the mortal world, downgrading them into a disobedient god.
After fully understanding both systems, Alex realized just how difficult it would be to merge them.
Still, he wasn't discouraged. He had nothing else pressing to do anyway.
For the next three days, he barely stepped out of the hotel, devoting himself entirely to the ritual fusion.
On the fourth day, he received a message from Hestia.
The War Game with Apollo's Familia had been scheduled for three days later. She told him to hurry back once he was done.
On the fifth day, Luo Hao contacted him as well.
While capturing Angela in New York, she had run into the Lord of the Underworld, John Pluto Smith, also known as Annie Charlton. He was after Angela too.
Caught between the two of them, Angela was gravely injured and successfully captured.
That meant all the conditions needed to break the Bimawen Curse were finally in place.
Once Alex got the news, he took the girls and left Europe, flying back to the Land of Cherry Blossoms.
When the country heard about it, they practically wanted to curse out loud.
But this was trouble they brought on themselves. Who else could they blame?
Scheming against Sun Wukong and imprisoning a foreign god on their own soil. Anyone would be furious about that.
On the sixth day, Alex and Luo Hao arrived in the Land of Cherry Blossoms one after the other.
At the same time, Alex completed the fusion of the spirit descent rituals.
At a military base, a massive transport plane landed. Luo Hao stepped out of the aircraft.
Alex looked puzzled. "Sis, why did you take a transport plane? That thing's way less comfortable than a civilian flight."
"Just watch," Luo Hao said with a mysterious smile.
Next, Alex saw several American soldiers pushing a gigantic aquarium out of the cargo hold.
Yes, an aquarium.
And it was enormous.
Inside it was a colossal white snake.
Its body, dozens of meters long, was coiled up within the tank. The pure white scales reflected different colors depending on the angle, shimmering like the ink on banknotes.
Its elegant form and perfect curves radiated beauty and nobility.
Alex considered his orientation perfectly normal, yet when he saw this white serpent, he couldn't help but feel a strange envy toward figures like Xu Xian and Xiao Yan.
It was an odd, almost mystical feeling.
The white snake in the tank seemed to sense his gaze and lifted its massive head, locking eyes with him.
At that moment, Athena suddenly appeared beside Alex. "It's Leviathan."
The white snake also noticed Athena and spoke in a human voice. "Athena. You're actually siding with a Godslayer."
Her tone carried anger and sorrow, her eyes full of disappointment.
"I have my own reasons," Athena replied, frowning slightly.
"Hmph." The white snake snorted and fell silent.
Luo Hao glanced at Athena and said, "So this is your trinity form? You really do have some strength."
Athena still remembered being injured by Luo Hao before and responded coldly, "If I hadn't yet recovered my power back then, do you really think you could have beaten me?"
"Oh? Want to try again?" Luo Hao raised an eyebrow, her aura flaring.
Athena summoned her weapon, a scythe that glimmered with a dark sheen.
Alex immediately stepped between them. "Now is not the time to fight."
The two women snorted and withdrew their weapons.
After that, Alex and Luo Hao sped things up.
They transported the serpent god Leviathan, Angela, to the Western Heaven Palace. Luo Hao then took out a treasured sword imbued with a weakening "form." It was one of China's divine weapons, the Yuchang Sword.
She handed the sword to Mariya Yuri, and everyone entered the Western Heaven Palace.
Inside, an old monkey was napping.
Even though he clearly sensed their arrival, he didn't open his eyes.
Seeing this, Luo Hao's expression turned ugly. "What a disgrace."
That old monkey was none other than Sun Wukong.
In the Land of Cherry Blossoms, he was called the Monkey God Lord.
His frail, aged appearance wasn't his true form. It was the effect of the Bimawen Curse.
Alex and Luo Hao exchanged a glance and nodded.
Without wasting words, they began the ritual.
First, Angela revealed her dragon-serpent divinity. Then Mariya Yuri, holding the Yuchang Sword, severed the Bimawen Curse completely.
To make sure the girl wouldn't get hurt, Alex directly placed protective blessings on her.
The moment the curse was broken, the old monkey's eyes snapped open.
The lazy air vanished, replaced by terrifying battle intent.
"I remember now! I am Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven! The Victorious Fighting Buddha! Damn you, petty gods of Wa Country, daring to scheme against me!"
With a furious roar, an overwhelming aura erupted from him.
That heaven-shaking, earth-battling presence filled Luo Hao with excitement.
The light faded, and Sun Wukong was no longer an old monkey but the Monkey King.
Golden chainmail armor, a phoenix-winged purple-gold crown, cloud-walking boots, and the Ruyi Jingu Bang in hand.
Luo Hao wasted no time. She leapt forward and attacked.
"Ruler of Rakshasas, I thank you for breaking my curse. I can let you off this once. But if you dare raise your hand against me, don't blame me for beating you all to death!"
Sun Wukong casually blocked her strike with a single swing of his staff.
Right now, he had no desire to fight her. All he wanted was to enter the Netherworld, find Susanoo, and crush that insignificant god to death.
"Enough talk," Luo Hao sneered. "A god of China, reduced to being played by barbarians from a small country. You've already lost too much face. I freed you just so I could kill you myself!"
Her attacks only grew sharper.
"Fine, fine! If you want to die, then I'll grant your wish!" Sun Wukong was thoroughly enraged.
Being tricked was humiliating enough. Now she was rubbing salt in the wound.
In an instant, man and monkey clashed in the skies over Tokyo.
Alex grinned. He didn't bother shielding the civilians, simply retreating with the girls far from the battlefield.
Athena glanced at the weakened Angela and sighed, taking her away as well.
As a Mother Earth goddess, she couldn't bear to see another earth mother die.
Even if Angela had already fallen into becoming a progenitor god.
The battle between Sun Wukong and Luo Hao was ferocious.
As the strongest Godslayer, Luo Hao possessed countless Authorities, her martial arts reaching the level of the divine, proficient in innumerable arcane techniques.
Even so, she could only fight Sun Wukong to a standstill.
Sun Wukong himself hadn't expected the Rakshasa Lord to be this strong.
Left with no choice, he used the "Divine Manifestation of Retainers" technique, summoning two subordinate gods: Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing.
The moment Zhu Bajie appeared, he started drooling at Luo Hao, making her utterly disgusted.
The fat pig didn't even wait for orders before lunging at her.
Facing three opponents at once, Luo Hao was immediately pushed onto the defensive.
"..."
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