RISE OF EROS

Despite the fallen god's malevolent and powerful aura, Andrew and the others stood firm and defiant. The fallen god wasn't too pleased, as he was used to having their presence inspire fear.

Even so, he didn't flinch and simply said in a low, yet grave and threatening voice, "Ignorants, even if the three you left outside joined forces, they wouldn't be able to defeat me". He was obviously referring to Terra and Aqua's sisters, who remained behind to protect the seal and prepare for a backup plan in case Andrew and the others failed in battle.

The fallen god's words weren't false in a way. It's true that he is much stronger than all of them combined, but that would be if he were in full form, or even if he were in the outside world.

In the separate space, within the seal, things were different. First of all, there was only the soul of the fallen god here, which, while corporeal, is still only an artificial body, not his true body, so its strength is only half of his true self.

Second, since this is a space separated from the outside world, divine rules don't apply, so Crhono, Terra, and Aqua can unleash their full power without worrying about ascending.

Andrew and Fluffy don't have that worry, as they are the ruling god of this world and his divine beast, so they aren't bound by the divine laws of the world, at least not for the time being.

Furthermore, they don't have to worry about their excessive powers harming the world, so they can fight freely. The fallen god wasn't stupid; he obviously knew all this. In fact, the reason he mentioned that even with the help of Terra and Aqua's sisters, they couldn't defeat him was a blatant provocation to get the three of them to enter the battle.

While this would have put him at a greater disadvantage than he already was, his plan was to have no one reinforcing the seal. The fallen god believed that if no one was guarding the seal, his battle could break the seal and free himself.

Inside the seal, he was at a disadvantage, and although he was still very confident of prevailing, he preferred to leave the seal, as this would practically guarantee his victory, but Andrew and the others were no fools either.

They could see through the fallen god's intentions, so they didn't take the bait. In fact, they chose not to engage in conversation with him and simply unleashed their full power.

The five powerful auras combined were in no way inferior to the fallen god's, and this made him adopt a serious expression. Andrew and Crhono were especially formidable, particularly Andrew, who unleashed several divinities at once.

The fallen god furrowed his brows at this, not understanding how he could have multiple divinities without having become like him. It's common knowledge that a god who assimilates another's divinity loses their grace and is immediately corrupted.

This had astonished him. He didn't understand how he had achieved it, but he knew little about divinity. While for this world, the fallen god was a calamity and a powerful being, for the gods of old, he truly wasn't.

Divinity is more complicated than it seems. While it's true that absorbing another god's divinity corrupts you, that's not always the case. First of all, corruption occurs for two reasons.

The first and simplest is what happened to the angels who tried to assimilate the divinity of the deceased god they were guarding. Being unable to withstand the power and allowing themselves to be controlled by it would lead to a god's corruption.

The second reason is the curse of the gods. This occurs when divinity is stolen from a living god, as the enemy did in front of Andrew and the others. Before being stripped of his divinity, the god would place a curse, and that generates corruption.

In the second case, it is impossible to avoid corruption, but in the first, things are different. If they have a strong will and a steely conviction, assimilating other divinities is not impossible.

Andrew's feat isn't really special, as many gods can accomplish it. For them, only two conditions are required. The first is, as mentioned, a strong will, and the second is that the absorbed divinity be that of a deceased god.

The body of a dead god has divinity; although weaker than when alive, it would still strengthen whoever took it, and since a soul no longer exists in that body, there would be no curse.

Unfortunately, the fallen god doesn't know this because, before committing his crime, he was a minor god, without much knowledge of such things. He had captured and stolen the divinity of another god, so he was cursed.

Now, with the threat before him, he couldn't flee, so he could only prevail. Without warning, he launched himself into combat. His movements were swift, so swift that he seemed able to teleport.

In less than a second, he appeared in front of Andrew and launched a powerful blow, intending to take his life. Andrew was, in his eyes, the greatest threat, and if he could destroy him in one attack, he would gain the advantage.

Unfortunately for him, Andrew wasn't the same as he had been a few years ago. He was now an expert fighter and possessed the necessary combat power, so he crossed his arms in front of the attack, concentrating his divinity in front of him, and blocked without difficulty.

Crhono didn't stay still. Seeing Andrew blocking the fallen god's attack, he launched an attack from behind. His body had transformed into a hybrid form of human and dragon.

Although his greatest power is unleashed when he's in his dragon form, now that he's using his full strength, that's no longer necessary. This hybrid form is his battle mode, so his power isn't weak.

The fallen god dodged Crhono's attack, but was instantly surrounded by Terra, Aqua, and Fluffy. Feeling the pressure, the fallen god tried to flee, but the three girls didn't give him that chance.

Soon, Andrew and Crhono joined them and surrounded the fallen god and attacked him from all angles with all their might. The previously confident fallen god now felt worried.

At first, he thought that, despite his disadvantages, he would have the upper hand against his enemies, but now that the battle had begun, he realized that this was not the case; his opponents were more formidable than he had thought.

Despite this, he was not intimidated. Although he was receiving considerable wounds and damage, Andrew and the others did not escape unscathed. The fallen god was ferocious, and his attacks were deadly and malicious.

Crhono, who had taken the lead, being the most experienced and defensively minded of the group, was the one who had received the most injuries, but he didn't seem to care, as his enmity with the fallen god was greater than that of the others.

It must be understood that, while Terra and Aqua wanted to eliminate the fallen god, they didn't actually hold a grudge against him. It's true that due to their existence, they were forced to remain in this place, reinforcing the seal, but time isn't that important for spirits like them.

Andrew and Fluffy, for their part, didn't hold a grudge either. The fallen god was only a threat to the world they must now rule, but there's no grudge; it's just a job that must be done.

However, for Crhono, things are different. The god he swore to serve and for whom he became a divine beast had died at his hands, so for him, the fallen god is an enemy, an object of revenge.

Regardless of their motivations, the five coordinated wonderfully and attacked as one. The fallen god found no way to break through their defenses and found it difficult to defend against their attacks.

The sealed space where they were fighting was now a storm of energies, as their divinities collided with each other powerfully. It was as if each blow were the blast of a nuclear bomb.

Fortunately, there was nothing to protect in this space, as it would have already been wiped out by the powerful attacks launched without shame. If this were the outside world, the continent would have already been destroyed like the lost continent a thousand years ago.

The two sides traded wounds, but the fallen god suffered the most, and it was understandable, as he was outnumbered and his combined opponents were slightly more powerful.

Searching for ways to break the siege Andrew and the others had placed on him led him to become careless. It is said that overthinking a battle can be fatal, and that is what happened to the fallen god.

Deep in his thoughts, he didn't notice Andrew sneaking up behind him and delivering a powerful attack that pierced his lower back. The fallen god, although careless, avoided the killing blow.

Even so, that wound was colossal, as it reduced his fighting ability, and Crhono, Fluffy, Terra, and Aqua took advantage of it to strike. The combined force of the four was considerable, sending the fallen god crashing to the ground.

From the charred crater created by the impact, the fallen god emerged battered and spilling black blood that resembled oil. While he didn't have his real body, he did have flesh and organs.

Although only his soul was sealed here, it wouldn't have survived this long without a body. Without its vessel, a soul disperses, no matter how powerful it is. That's why the fallen god had created a body.

This is why his power had been reduced, but now that body was battered and damaged. Its condition was pitiful, but that didn't move Andrew and the others. They didn't give him a chance and launched another attack.