Staring at August, Giada Kukulcan's expression shifted subtly.
She'd once commanded twenty-seven familiars. Now, with one lost, only twenty-six remained.
"What did you do?"
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"My connection to my familiar—it's severed. How did you do it?"
"Oh, that? It's part of my authority."
"Authority?"
Giada Kukulcan frowned. The term was new to her.
Yet it stirred an uneasy feeling. Long ago, that man had worn a similar expression when he spoke of the "Holy Annihilation."
"It's my privilege—Demon King Authority. Anything I slay becomes my flesh and blood, my nourishment."
"Demon King Authority…"
"I'm the Demon King of the Seven Sins—embodiment of Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, Lust, and Sloth."
"One person wielding five original sins?"
"Yes. And in the future, I'll claim all seven, becoming the ultimate Demon King of Evil."
"A Demon King, huh…"
Giada Kukulcan smiled faintly, her thoughts unreadable.
In the next moment, familiars of varied forms—each radiating immense magic—emerged across the sea around them.
August counted. Twenty-five familiars, all demon king-tier outliers.
Even the one beneath Giada's feet joined the fray.
Though they hadn't crossed into the ninth tier's transcendent realm, together, these outliers could challenge a transcendent being.
It dawned on August why progenitors were this world's ceiling. Commanding so many powerful familiars, they were walking disasters.
Any progenitor could effortlessly destroy a nation—or an entire continent.
Roar!
Howl!
Chirp!
Hiss!
…
Every familiar locked onto August the moment they appeared.
The pressure was immense. Spreading his dark wings, August shot into the sky.
"Darkness: Grand Cross!"
"Darkness: Spiral Dominion!"
"Darkness: Crescent Slash!"
"Darkness: Black Cero!"
"Darkness: Kurohitsugi!"
August unleashed a barrage of skills.
A combination of nine dark planets and a star, a spiraling vortex of shadow, a pitch-black crescent, a flood of darkness, and a massive slicing coffin—all powered by his dark energy.
As August struck, the familiars didn't sit idle.
They retaliated in unison—flames, lightning, gales, lasers, magical blasts, even direct charges at August.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sea erupted in a storm of violent magic. Collisions of power sparked terrifying explosions.
From a distance, Giada Kukulcan observed, sensing her familiars' connections snapping one by one.
It was just the beginning, yet five had already been severed.
Five familiars lost in the first clash.
Boom!
Suddenly, the pitch-black night sky turned golden.
Countless golden circles materialized above, rippling with spatial energy. Weapons gleaming with golden light extended from them.
"What's this ability?"
Whoosh!
August appeared outside the battlefield, his clothes tattered but his body unharmed.
Surviving an onslaught from twenty-five familiars was no small feat.
"Third Progenitor, face the onslaught of noble phantasms—crystallized from the annals of human wisdom across history!"
Swish! Swish! Swish!
A golden "rain" poured down—noble phantasms firing like they cost nothing.
August epitomized a "noble phantasm machine gun"—a cheat in every sense.
"The annals of human wisdom?"
Giada Kukulcan frowned. She'd watched humanity evolve step by step.
She knew their history better than anyone. Such weapons had never existed.
Buzz!
Beside August, from a golden gate, the Gungnir emerged.
He seized it, activating the Omniscient Star.
His gaze fell condescendingly on Giada Kukulcan. This was a fight—its goal, to take her head.
"Pierce her heart, Gungnir!"
Whoosh!
August hurled the Gungnir at Giada Kukulcan.
She sensed the danger immediately, spotting the weapon hurtling toward her.
"An ambush? Too bad—you can't touch me."
A wave of spatial energy enveloped her, folding space to shield her.
Of her twenty-seven familiars—now twenty-six after one fell—she'd sent out twenty-five, keeping one back: a spatial familiar to protect her.
Space was her final trump card. With it, she was invincible.
Thwick!
The Gungnir pierced straight through Giada Kukulcan's body.
She smirked, glancing at August.
He returned a faint smile, unperturbed. This was the Declaration of the
Great God—Odin's Gungnir from Norse myth, a weapon of devastating power. Once thrown, it struck like a meteor, unerringly lethal.
In Fate, it was the prototype for Cú Chulainn's Gáe Bolg.
The Gungnir shared a trait with that magic spear: it reversed causality. The moment it was unleashed, the "result" of "the enemy's heart being pierced" was created first.
Spurt!
In Giada Kukulcan's disbelieving gaze, she looked down. Her chest was pierced.
The Gungnir had struck her heart, blood gushing forth. The blow was severe.
Yet, while it seemed grave, it wasn't fatal. As a vampire progenitor, Giada Kukulcan bore the trait of "immortality." Even torn apart, she'd eventually regenerate to her original state.
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