The Netherworld's drifting mists ebbed and flowed between the two of them, as though ti itself had frozen.
Inside Pandora a struggle unlike any she had ever faced was reaching its climax.
Rei Ao simply waited.
Smashing the physical seals was only step one; the true "unsealing" still required the goddess's own will.
For a soul that yearned for freedom, this might be the only chance in all her countless ages.
Pandora remained silent.
She gazed at Rei Ao—an existence that did not belong to this world, who had barged in with overwhelming force and overturned everything she thought she knew about Campiones, about Heretic Gods, even about the very laws of the cosmos.
His power was unfathomable.
His confidence bordered on tyrannical, yet carried an irresistible persuasiveness.
At length she drew a deep breath, as though sealing a monuntal decision, and a complicated yet radiant smile finally appeared on her face.
"Very well. I will go with you."
"Excellent," Rei Ao replied, visibly pleased. "But before we leave, you must co with to another part of the Netherworld."
"Hmm?" Pandora frowned in curiosity.
With a casual wave Rei Ao parted the mist ahead, revealing a corridor that led deeper into the gloom. Together they stepped through.
The scenery changed: the uniform gray gave way to broken shrine ruins and warped runic lightning.
"This is Susanoo's 'cage,'" Rei Ao explained. "A Heretic God also bound by the Netherworld. Sealed long ago by human heroes, he retained consciousness and so of his power here."
Before his words faded, a bolt of savage lightning detonated in front of them.
Violet-black arcs coalesced into the form of an old man brandishing a brilliantly gleaming long-sword—the legendary Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.
Its point leveled at Rei Ao and Pandora, the newcor's thunderous voice bood:
"Pandora, you dare bring an outsider into my domain? And you—who are you?"
Susanoo's eyes fixed on Rei Ao, brimming with hostility and caution; even this ancient deity could sense the power that dwarfed any god-slayer's.
Rei Ao, however, looked utterly unruffled, almost languid, eting Susanoo's glare without a shred of awe.
"Susanoo, is it? A Heretic God who's scraped together a shred of freedom dares to bark at ?"
"You know ?" Susanoo faltered.
"I know far more than you imagine," Rei Ao answered, his voice echoing through the Netherworld with a strange, compelling force. "Everything you hold dear is a worthless parlor ga in my eyes."
Arrogant to the extre—yet sothing about it rang terrifyingly true, and Susanoo's expression grew grim.
"Enough nonsense!"
With a roar the storm-god swung his blade.
Kusanagi sliced through the void, leaving a rift of blinding light.
Rei Ao barely reacted. He rely raised his hand and spread his fingers.
Boom—!
A power vastly grander and more domineering than the sword erupted from his palm—a pure, higher-dinsional energy devoid of elent yet able to erase all forms.
The sword's lightning t that energy and vaporized like frost under the sun.
Susanoo watched in horror as his proud divine weapon—himself a steel-edge Heretic God—proved so fragile before the stranger.
"Impossible!"
He tried to withdraw, but it was too late. Rei Ao's push unleashed an invisible tsunami.
Susanoo's form shuddered; the armor of power around him shattered, his body turning translucent.
Kusanagi wailed, spiderwebbed with cracks, then exploded into glittering dust.
"Who…are you…?" Despair choked Susanoo's voice as he felt his divine core crushed.
"I'm rely removing a few uncertainties from this world," Rei Ao said coolly—and Susanoo was erased, leaving not a trace.
Rumble!
Almost simultaneously, the entire Netherworld convulsed.
Ash-gray clouds boiled, rune-chains snapped, and spatial rifts spidered everywhere, flashing with glimpses of the living world beyond.
"This is bad!" Pandora's face paled. "With Susanoo dead and the earlier seals broken, the Netherworld's balance is wrecked—it's collapsing!"
Rei Ao remained unconcerned, casting a glance at the disintegrating realm. "All the better. Ti to leave."
He seized Pandora's wrist—his hand warm and steady, filling her with reassurance.
"Let's go."
Together they stepped into the crumbling space, leaving behind the collapsing Netherworld and the shattered foundations of the Campione order.
…
anwhile, above the islands of Japan
The atmosphere was even more forbidding than the Netherworld's fall.
A bizarre thundercloud hung motionless over the archipelago's center, lightning flickering within.
This was no ordinary storm.
Its source was a woman in a slender cheongsam, posture straight as a spear. Her beauty was regal, wreathed in unassailable dignity.
Falcon-sharp phoenix eyes scanned the city below, now in turmoil from an unseen disturbance.
She was Luo Hao—also called Luo Cuilian: Campione, Grandmaster of the Martial Realm, Hierarch of the Holy Cult of the Five Mountains, Wulin King of Jiangnan, sovereign atop all martial paths.
For more than two centuries this martial prodigy had stood as a living emblem of power and authority—ascending not by the usual Campione rite, but by defeating a Heretic God with re mortal flesh through peerless martial arts.
Each god she slew bestowed a new authority, rendering her strength unfathomable.
Even among Campiones, Luo Hao was a terrifying figure on par with the late Marquis Voban of Eastern Europe—a storm in human form.
~~~
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