Collapse and Retreat

On the battlefield by Lake Suwa, the situation changed abruptly. Suwako, who had been using the Ancient God's Mouth to suppress Ame-no-Hinatidori-no-Kami and Futsunushi-no-Kami, found the mouth becoming inactive. Consequently, Ame-no-Hinatidori-no-Kami and Futsunushi-no-Kami were liberated from the mental pollution.

Ame-no-Hinatidori-no-Kami prepared to deal with Suwako personally, only to be met by a worm's mouth suddenly bursting from the rocks.

"What... is that..."

Futsunushi-no-Kami on the canyon and Takemikazuchi-no-Kami in the sky watched in shock. Still recovering from the mental pollution, they wondered if they were hallucinating. The brilliantly colored worm appeared so suddenly that before anyone could react, it swallowed Ame-no-Hinatidori-no-Kami in one bite.

"Aaah... kgh..."

Even the scream lasted only a moment. With the wriggling of the Eternal Worm's mouthparts, Ame-no-Hinatidori-no-Kami fell silent. No blood seeped out; only a few pale feathers drifted down.

"This... guy..." Suwako, pinned to the ground by feathers, watched in astonishment. The appearance of the Eternal Worm was completely beyond her expectations.

Why... why was this worm appearing here now!? It had attacked the bird god with such precision—had it been lurking here all along?

Suddenly, Suwako smelled a conspiracy...

After devouring Ame-no-Hinatidori-no-Kami, the intricate, colorful patterns on the Eternal Worm's body lit up. Its bloated, hideous form swelled significantly in the strange light, and the pressure radiating from it intensified. It had completely absorbed the bird god's divine power!

"The taste of a mortal god... not bad..."

With its mouthparts tightly shut, the Eternal Worm's slow voice echoed in the hearts of all living beings nearby. Then, it slowly turned its head toward Suwako at the bottom of the canyon.

"Look who it is, the Sovereign of Fear... to be pushed to such a state by mortal false gods... even needing to borrow the mouth of that yapping thing... This is quite the dead end. I hope your divine soul still has some value..." As Tokoyo-no-Kami spoke, it slowly lowered its head toward Suwako.

"Was all of this... planned by you?" Suwako stared at Tokoyo-no-Kami and spoke solemnly. Tokoyo-no-Kami replied slowly.

"What else?"

Wriggling its bloated, ugly body, Tokoyo-no-Kami drew closer to Suwako. Just as she clenched her fists and grit her teeth, a roar came from behind it.

"Die! Monster!"

Futsunushi-no-Kami swung the giant sword that his arm had transformed into, striking Tokoyo-no-Kami with a blast of sword qi infused with divine power. The worm's massive, bloated body shook under the powerful blow, but not a single wound appeared.

"What..."

"I almost forgot... I haven't finished the appetizer yet..."

After being attacked, Tokoyo-no-Kami turned around and spat out a large number of light threads at Futsunushi-no-Kami. Seeing the threads coming, Futsunushi swung his blade to cut them, but the sword-arm could not sever the threads at all. Instead, he was stuck and his movements were severely restricted.

Seeing Futsunushi-no-Kami pinned by the light threads, the Eternal Worm raised its nearly hundred-meter-long body and lunged at him. In his moment of crisis, Futsunushi looked toward the sky, toward Takemikazuchi-no-Kami, who had been watching from the sidelines. His heavy gaze conveyed only one question: Are you still not going to act?

Glared at by Futsunushi-no-Kami, Takemikazuchi-no-Kami, still in shock, was taken aback. Realizing he had no reason to stay isolated any longer, he waved his arm and summoned a massive bolt of lightning from the sky.

Amidst the violent thunder, the lightning struck the Eternal Worm's head, causing it to tilt slightly and miss its bite on Futsunushi-no-Kami. Seizing the moment, Futsunushi-no-Kami broke his own sword-arm, freed himself from the light threads, and landed on the ground, panting heavily as he looked at his severed limb.

Suddenly, Futsunushi-no-Kami held his breath. The soil on the ground began to churn, bringing up a large amount of dust. This dust converged into black particles that filled the gap of his severed arm. Under high heat, these particles melted, rapidly forging and shaping a new arm.

Using the iron from the earth, Futsunushi-no-Kami forged a new arm for himself.

On the other side, after a brief contact with the Eternal Worm, Takemikazuchi-no-Kami immediately pulled away and landed beside the newly repaired Futsunushi-no-Kami. The Eternal Worm turned its gaze toward them.

"Oh... lightning? It has some power. I think you should taste even better..."

The Eternal Worm spoke slowly as it looked at Takemikazuchi-no-Kami, whose heart trembled at its words.

"Hmph, it seems we've encountered quite the monster. I don't know where it came from, but now is not the time to back down... Come, Takemikazuchi, let us fight side by side once more. For the mission of Takamagahara, the glory of the God of War cannot be tarnished..." Beside Takemikazuchi-no-Kami, the partially recovered Futsunushi-no-Kami spoke, his eyes filled with battle intent as he stared at the Eternal Worm. Takemikazuchi responded woodenly.

"Yeah..."

At this moment, out of Futsunushi-no-Kami's sight, Takemikazuchi-no-Kami's hands were shaking violently. Facing the Eternal Worm, he felt only fear.

As a top-tier God of War, ever since Takemikazuchi developed a heart of fear, he had learned to assess combat power. From his brief contact and observation just now, he had already made an estimate.

We can't win... even two-on-one, we can't win... The power contained within this worm is incredible, and its defense is so strong I can't even break it... Those light threads are extremely hard to escape once they stick... If we lose, it will eat the loser directly... unlike Uka-no-Mitama-no-Mikoto, who would let us go...

More importantly... there's an aura on this worm... an irresistible, terrifying aura. This aura... I've only felt it on Uka-no-Mitama-no-Mikoto before...

Takemikazuchi-no-Kami sensed the ancient god aura on the Eternal Worm, similar to Miketsu's. This aura greatly triggered his fear, and under this terror, the moment Ame-no-Hinatidori-no-Kami was swallowed replayed constantly in his mind.

Facing such an enemy that seemed invincible no matter how he thought about it... he had only one choice...

"Let's open our divine domains together, drag that fellow in, and use our strongest power against it. We won't win otherwise!" Futsunushi-no-Kami said sternly. Also a God of War, he remained fearless before the Eternal Worm under the influence of his divine virtue.

"I understand. When it lunges, we'll use the divine domain..." Takemikazuchi-no-Kami replied with feigned calmness. Hearing this, Futsunushi-no-Kami immediately gathered his divine power, ready to open his divine domain at any moment. Both of them stared fixedly at the Eternal Worm.

Finally, the Eternal Worm moved. It drove its massive body forward, lunging at Takemikazuchi-no-Kami and Futsunushi-no-Kami. Futsunushi was ready.

"Now!"

Futsunushi-no-Kami expanded his divine domain, a blurred halo of light swelling from his body. Seeing this, Takemikazuchi-no-Kami, who was beside him, transformed his entire body into a bolt of lightning. He rapidly pulled away from Futsunushi, retreating at high speed to avoid being caught in the divine domain.

Soon, the Eternal Worm and Futsunushi-no-Kami were both dragged into the divine domain. Takemikazuchi-no-Kami took the opportunity to fly into the canyon. Under Suwako's astonished gaze, he shattered the feathers binding her with electricity, grabbed her with one hand, and flew away from the scene at high speed, leaving only Futsunushi-no-Kami and the Eternal Worm together in the divine domain.

Fight that monster? To hell with that. I'm out of here...