Their fierce clash raged like lightning and thunder—so fast, so brutal.
Sword strikes tore through the air like storms. Due to their close-range combat, Su Mo refrained from using sword aura, which spared the area from large-scale destruction.
But the absence of aura didn't weaken the lethality of his blade. After all, sword aura was only an extension of a sword's edge. A fountain's height never exceeds its source. Likewise, aura can't surpass the slash itself.
Under this relentless barrage of blows, Perseus began to falter.
Yet, he was still a Heroic God. Though slightly inferior to Su Mo in technique, the gap wasn't vast.
Realizing he was steadily losing ground and would soon be defeated in close quarters, Perseus made a decisive move.
He lunged forward, choosing to trade injuries—willing to take a hit in order to land one.
It wasn't an ideal tactic, but in this situation, it was the only viable option left.
—Besides, he had a healing Authority.
With his vital points shielded, Perseus moved in, attempting to block Su Mo's blade with his steel-hardened divine body, while slashing his massive blade mercilessly toward Su Mo's abdomen.
—It wasn't that he didn't want to aim for the heart; he just didn't have the time.
"A trade of injuries, is it?"
Trying to exchange blows with me?
Su Mo instantly understood his opponent's plan and couldn't help but smirk at the notion.
Instead of backing off, Su Mo doubled down on his attack, his blade growing even more aggressive.
Perseus had expected such a reaction. Whether the opponent chose to dodge or to trade blows, both were within his calculations.
He had seen many brave warriors in his time who refused to retreat—some even more reckless than Su Mo.
So, he responded by unleashing a burst of divine power, quickening his strike.
But just as his blade was about to connect with Su Mo's abdomen—as it was mere inches away—that was when he finally noticed something off.
Those eyes.
That shimmering, iridescent gleam within Su Mo's pupils contained an immense and terrifying power.
And by the time he realized it, it was already too late to retreat.
He had gambled everything on this exchange.
Meanwhile, Su Mo, having understood his opponent's intent, activated his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
Now, according to the Nasuverse, these eyes theoretically shouldn't be able to kill gods—after all, gods were beyond the concept of death.
But that theory didn't quite hold up.
In practically every mythology, gods had died. Even the Son of the Christian God had been executed.
Claiming gods couldn't be killed was just a farce.
Yes, there were exceptions—primordial gods like Tiamat who lacked a concept of death—but that applied to the Nasuverse alone.
This wasn't that world.
In the world of Campione, the gods who were slain were Rogue Gods—gods cast out of their mythology. Killing them merely required returning them to their legends, not the complete erasure of their divine authority.
And Su Mo had done this before.
So understanding the concept of divine death wasn't difficult for him.
That said—
"There are barely any death lines… and almost no death points!"
As Su Mo's gaze swept over Perseus, he was slightly surprised.
So this was the famed Steel Heroic God?
He wasn't sure if Perseus had the same kind of divine protection as the Sword King Doni—some kind of Steel Blessing that amplified defence.
But even without such a power, his divine body alone was unbelievably tough—far beyond that of previous heretic Gods Su Mo had fought.
Perhaps it was due to the purity of the 'Steel' he embodied.
This god's defence was on a whole different level—superior even to Verethragna, whom Su Mo had previously slain.
Even the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception struggled to find weaknesses.
Because no matter how powerful the ability, it still depended on the user's insight. The Mystic Eyes weren't an all-powerful tool—they were merely an incomplete prototype of the mythical Balor's Eye.
Perhaps in the future, after grasping deeper understandings of death, Su Mo's eyes could evolve—perhaps then they'd be able to slay gods with a single glance.
To reach that mythical level of power—where he could instantaneously kill a god just by seeing them.
But for now, his Mystic Eyes had only just reached the level of the divine.
And that was already enough.
Slash!
The II Mestro, coated in black Armament Haki, struck true.
It sliced across a visible death line on Perseus' chest, one he couldn't dodge in time.
Like a hot knife through butter, the blade carved through the divine line.
A burst of divine blood exploded from the wound, blooming like a crimson flower.
So long as a death line could be seen, armor and defense meant nothing.
The power of the Mystic Eyes allowed Su Mo to completely ignore the legendary durability of the Steel Heroic God.
His blade nearly cleaved Perseus in half.
Despite being gravely wounded, Perseus had thought he could at least wound Su Mo in return—maybe trade heavy injury for light.
But his own blade, rather than biting into Su Mo's flesh, halted just half an inch from the skin—as if something was in the way.
He couldn't even make contact.
Let alone cause damage.
"…Spatial restriction?!"
Finally realizing the strange force that had repelled his attack, Perseus understood—without Authorities, he had no chance of harming this god-slayer.
Without hesitation, he retreated several kilometers, landing atop the smoking crater of Mount Vesuvius.
For beings like Campiones and heretic Gods, that distance was nothing—just a breath away.
Even so, Perseus remained alert. But as he assessed his injuries, a bitter smile crept onto his face.
"My plan failed completely..."
"How the hell do you have so many powers? Just how many gods have you slain?!"
At last, the heretic God realized how badly he had underestimated his opponent.
Su Mo before him was no mere novice god-slayer—he was practically a demon king of god-slaying.
Forget his ability to manipulate space with repulsion fields—just that single sword strike aimed at his chest and abdomen had caused unimaginable damage. His kidneys, liver, lungs, and spleen… all of them had been utterly destroyed. Only his heart had been spared.
But this wasn't the simple destruction of organs—it felt more like a direct erasure from existence.
Originally, Perseus had intended to trade blows, relying on his powerful regenerative abilities. Even if he suffered injuries, he could heal swiftly. But no matter how much divine power he channeled now, the internal organs Su Mo had destroyed refused to regenerate.
It was as though, in the conceptual sense, those organs had been obliterated—killed beyond revival.
What terrifying power! It was like facing the scythe of the Grim Reaper himself.
"That's a trade secret," Su Mo said with a shrug, offering no explanation.
In truth, he had already activated the Authority of [Lord of the Skies], silently gathering cursed energy for a finishing blow against his wounded opponent.
"Looks like this is how I'll meet my defeat today… how utterly unsightly," Perseus sighed with a shake of his head, all while secretly invoking his own Authority.
A breath passed.
Both men's expressions changed simultaneously.
Perseus' massive blade instantly transformed into a longbow, a quiver appearing behind him. In one smooth motion, he drew and notched an arrow—not aimed at Su Mo, but at the sun hanging in the sky.
"Oh sun rising in the east, grant me your strength! Gift the demon king who slays gods with a hammer of defeat!"
The incantation drew upon the power of the sun. The single arrow, once loosed into the sky, split into thousands of blazing shafts. Each arrow was imbued with solar fire and descended to blanket the entire space around Su Mo.
There was no escape.
"Guess psychic powers won't help much this time," Su Mo muttered, sensing the immense power behind the incoming volley.
Even as a Level 5 esper with reinforced repulsion abilities, capable of deflecting even divine attacks from heretic gods, this wasn't something he could block. Authorities had to be met with Authorities.
So—
BOOM—! BOOM—! BOOM—!
Blinding lightning, long prepared, suddenly descended from the heavens.
Thousands of thunderbolts smashed into the burning arrows, scattering them one by one. Then, several massive lightning pillars—each over ten meters thick—crashed down directly on Perseus' head.
Despite his injuries, Perseus barely managed to summon solar flames to clash with the divine lightning. Fire and thunder raged against one another in a deadly struggle.
—Thankfully, this was the world of Campione. Otherwise, the sheer overload might have caused Mount Vesuvius to erupt.
As Perseus battled the lightning with Sunfire, he remained alert to Su Mo's presence. Surviving the first round of divine judgment, he tried to locate his enemy—
But Su Mo was gone.
"Damn it!"
His heart sank.
He immediately raised his guard to the highest level—but it was already too late.
The secret assassination technique of the Seven Nights.
A sure-kill move.
Flash Sheath: Lost Prison Shramana.
Schlick!
A phantom-like strike pierced in from his blind spot.
A pair of rainbow-glimmering mystic eyes radiated fatal intent. Perseus had no time to react—and even if he had, it wouldn't have helped. Su Mo's sword ran him straight through the heart.
In one stroke, the heretic god Perseus was slain.