Seeing Elysium stunned, seemingly unable to comprehend the situation, I raised the golden sword—'Seven-Branched Sword Kushinada' in my hand and said, "My bad, but before restarting our battle, I've got a little something to do."
"…Wha?!"
—Swoosh!
With my eyes still fixed on Elysium, I swung down Kushinada diagonally to my right.
Then.
"—Wha?!"
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE! A rift in space appeared some distance away, and from inside it came out a massive regular octahedron-shaped object, which created a huge booming sound and tremendous quake as it collided with the ground.
Back then, I got teleported inside it, so this was my first time seeing its exterior, but…
""God's Garden"?!"
Yes, what I had cut open the space to bring here was 'God's Garden'—the demons' castle that had fallen to the bottom of the"World of Oblivion".
I had promised I'd definitely help them, after all.
I wanted to pat my chest in relief, glad that I was able to keep my promise, but then Elysium began to rave.
"Impossible?!" He hoarsely screamed, "There is no way this is real?! How could you do something that even I, one with the power of genesis god, couldn't?!"
"It's simple. Because the powers you stole weren't the full powers of the goddesses."
"What… do you mean…?"
As Elysium was dumbfounded and frowned, two lights shot out from my body.
The lights went on to take a human shape, one transformed into Phinis-sama, and the other transformed into a woman who was pure white from head to toe.
She had the exact same features as Phinis-sama, but unlike Phinis-sama, there was a somewhat cheerful air about her.
"No way, you…?!" Elysium was extremely shocked.
The woman said with a smile, "This is your first time seeing me in this form, isn't it, Saint Elysium? My name is Olgou. The one whom you call the Goddess of Creation."
"The Goddess of Creation… Olgou…"
"Still, I never thought the day would come when I would return to this form again… well that's fine. Earlier, you were asking how Exa was capable of a feat you were incapable to achieve, weren't you? You must be wondering why Exa is still superior to you even though you already have our powers in your grasp."
"That's right! I've become far stronger than I used to be! I've obtained all your damned goddesses' powers! Yet why am I still inferior to that lowly human?!" Elysium screamed, seemingly unable to accept reality.
Olgou-sama said in a gentle voice, "That's because we had lost most of our powers when creating the world."
"What… did you say…?" Elysium widened his eyes, trembling.
"The remaining powers we had was only enough to maintain the world. However, at the end of the day, our bodies were made from energy. If we had stayed as we were, we would eventually run out of power and disappear. That's why we created living beings who could give us power. They were humans, demi-humans, and monsters," Olgou-sama explained.
Phinis-sama nodded, "Yes… We were able to maintain our existence by receiving little bits of power from those children, which then we would use to help them in some way… Love, piety… The power of such 'feelings' is food for us…"
"Love?! Piety?! Cut your nonsense?! Monsters have no such feelings!" Elysium screamed.
"Yes… That's why I lost… Because what they felt was only instinctive loyalty toward me…" Phinis-sama put on a somewhat melancholic face.
"Kh…"
"That's how it is. But after the ancient battle, our existence has gradually become something of a legend. Well, it's only natural. Too much power leads to ruin. To prevent that, I divided myself into five and avoided contact with you mortals. That said, it seems that my bad habit had acted up again and I had ended up giving my power to quite an interesting guy."
Glance, Olgou-sama looked at me and her lips curved upward.
Still, thanks to that bad habit of hers, we were able to come this far.
I had nothing but gratitude for her—no, for them.
"Does that mean you…"
"Yeah," I confirmed in Olgou-sama's place, "The goddesses had less than half of their full power when you took their power away. Now they have received the prayers of people around the world, they temporarily regained their original powers. Moreover, through the Phoenix Seal, I managed to fuse their power into one. Meaning that this form of ours, 'Susanoo Kamui: Habakiri', is the true 'power of god' you seek."
"No way… that's just nonsense…!" Elysium's voice trembled with anger, facing down.
Then, he regenerated Genesis Tree's right arm and swung it around wildly as he roared, "I don't accept it! There is no way those trash's 'prayers' could give power to the gods—to you, and allow you to surpass me! That's just childish nonsense—I don't accept iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!"
Swoosh! A huge fist was sent toward us.
Facing that, we nodded to each other, then the goddesses returned back inside me.
I then pointed the tip of Kushinada's at the fist and said, "—'Treasure Shield Shiva'."
—Clang!
"Wha?!"
At that moment, a huge shining shield appeared in front of me,
—BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!
It perfectly blocked Genesis Tree's strong attack.
The blow was so strong that it destroyed the just regenerated right arm, however, it failed to leave even a single scratch on the shield.
As the shield turned into particles of light and disappeared, I told the dumbfounded Elysium.
"This 'Seven-Branched Sword Kushinada' is the ultimate combination of the powers of the seven saintesses. I assure you its power is beyond your imagination. But anyway, let's end this, Elysium. Right here and right now—I will defeat you."