Hearing Setsuna's blasphemous words, Kairos, who had maintained a playful smile even after being blasted away, finally changed expression.
"A mere mortal…" His voice lowered, a flicker of indifference flashing in his eyes. "…dares to presumptuously discuss gods?"
"Gods?" The corner of Setsuna's mouth lifted in a mocking arc. "I believe I've heard of you. Weren't you demoted to a mortal by the great god Chronos? You haven't been a god for a long time, right?"
"Silence! Do not speak that god's name before me!" Kairos instantly broke composure.
His brother Chronos had demoted him to a mortal for thirty billion years. He had experienced countless painful cycles, unable to even possess the most basic divine power.
If not for being chosen by a Celestial Star Specter in this life, barely borrowing some divine power, he wouldn't even have the ability to manipulate time without relying on the pocket watch he created.
Kairos's expression turned savage. He suddenly raised his hand. The pocket watch's hands spun rapidly.
"Pointer Shot!"
Before Setsuna could react, the surrounding time was completely frozen.
His body was pierced by invisible pointers. The Phoenix Cloth was also shattered to dust.
"Hmph, overestimating yourself." Kairos sneered, turning away.
Yet the next second, golden-red flames ignited out of thin air.
Setsuna's injuries healed within the Nirvana Fire. The Cloth also returned intact.
"What?" Kairos narrowed his eyes. "The Phoenix Cloth? Interesting."
Setsuna didn't waste words, directly counterattacking.
"Hoyoku Tensho!"
A splendid fire phoenix soared across the sky, yet passed right through Kairos's body.
"That earlier was just an accident. You really think your mortal fists…" Kairos's figure flickered through time and space. "…can touch a god?"
"Gods?" Setsuna mocked. "What god would stoop to being Hades' lackey?"
Kairos's face darkened. His reincarnation in this life was indeed the Heavenly Leader Star, Mephistopheles. Although the Heavenly Leader Star was a commander among the Specters, he felt no pride in it.
"If I possessed my true body's power at this moment… forget Gold Saints, even principal gods like Athena and Hades would be insignificant before me!"
While Kairos was breaking down, Setsuna threw another punch.
"Eternal Knocking!"
With his current strength, he could finally barely use Jiro's ultimate technique.
This punch wasn't aimed at Kairos but slammed heavily onto a temporal node.
The entire space groaned under unbearable strain. The flow of time was forcibly frozen for an instant.
Seizing the opportunity, Setsuna punched again. Kairos's cheek took a solid hit. His divine blood spilled onto the dust for the first time.
Manigoldo was currently entangled with another clone of Kairos. Seeing this, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "This move bears similarities to Degel's [Aurora Execution]."
But he recalled that Degel was the Aquarius Gold Saint, and [Aurora Execution] was a skill passed down and refined through generations of Aquarius Saints. Meanwhile, the Phoenix Cloth had no such inheritance.
"Interesting." Kairos wiped the divine blood from his mouth. The gilded pocket watch began spinning madly backwards. "Clearly, I see no trace of you in the river of the future. You should be just an insignificant nobody…"
He regained his all-is-under-control smile. "Now it seems your fate is to be erased by my own hand. That's why there's no trace of you in the future."
"Eternal Seal!"
Time-force materialized into chains. The space-time around Setsuna was completely frozen.
Within the crystal-like seal, his figure remained in a punching pose, like a sculpture.
"Tch, such perfect art." Kairos turned to look at Manigoldo. "Your companion is already out. Next is your turn."
He lightly stroked the pocket watch. "You Gold Saints comprehend the Seventh Sense. In the Age of Myths, you could be called 'demigods', barely touching the domain of time. Only then are you qualified to stand before me. But your companion is far from that."
"Hahahahaha!" Manigoldo laughed uproariously, showing no worry. "A god without belief like you, even if you lived billions of years, wouldn't grow at all."
His Cloth clanged under divine pressure. "You'll never understand a Saint's potential. Everything you're doing is only helping him break his shackles. I believe Setsuna and Shion will soon shatter your seal."
Hearing Manigoldo's words, Kairos couldn't help but laugh.
"Hahahahaha." His laughter echoed through the frozen space-time. "Even divine creatures with godly blood require long years to comprehend the Seventh Sense, let alone two mortals in dire straits?"
However, before his laughter faded, the entire frozen space-time suddenly began to tremble.
"This is…" Kairos's pupils abruptly contracted.
Logically, within a space-time seal, even souls would freeze.
But Setsuna's body hosted Don Slime and Omega Shenron's power. This level of freeze couldn't confine his thoughts.
It was like a frozen ocean… only the surface layer froze, while the parts beneath remained completely unaffected. So it was with Setsuna's thoughts.
This freezing result, instead, allowed him to observe the essence of motion within absolute stillness.
Like when Atavaka stripped his five senses last time, Kairos had again helped him achieve the conditions for sealing the six senses.
In this extreme environment, Setsuna finally touched the realm of the Seventh Sense.
The space-time barrier sealing Setsuna began to expand.
Like a river freezing over a giant dragon. When the dragon's body started to stretch, even the sturdiest ice layer would be forced to crack.
Not just Setsuna… even the light sphere containing the Aries Cloth fluctuated violently.
Shion's soul was resonating with the Cosmos of the previous Aries Saint, Avenir. The wills of two generations of Saints fused across time and space.
"Impossible…" Kairos's face twisted. "Mere humans… how could they reach this step?"
"That's why I said, you've been human for so many years, yet haven't grown at all! You born gods fundamentally don't understand the power of belief!" Manigoldo laughed loudly, purple light erupting from his fingertips, directly locking down Kairos's escape route.
"Sekishiki Kisoen!"
Simultaneously.
Klesha Fire erupted from within Setsuna. Golden-red flames instantly burned through the frozen time prison.
"Phoenix Illusion Demon Fist!"
Shion's Cosmos resonated perfectly with Avenir's. Starlight like a galaxy suddenly exploded.
"Stardust Revolution!"
Three attacks simultaneously struck Kairos. His projection shattered into pieces amidst the violent energy.
Kairos's remnants gradually dissolved into points of light, but the corner of his mouth curled into a dangerous arc.
"Being targeted by a god is terrifying, you know~ Don't think it ends so easily!"