Foolish Brother Odin

Chapter 329 The Last Reason for Maintaining Pride

"Conqueror of all realms, guardian of order, god-king of the Aesir—Downs Paulson!" Downs, high in the sky, surveyed the petite goddess Amaterasu with an air of supreme arrogance.

"The leader of the five tribes of Fusang, Amaterasu!" It took Amaterasu a great deal of effort to calm her trembling heart before solemnly uttering the above introduction in a voice that would not bring shame upon her family.

If she faced a different enemy, Amaterasu could easily bestow upon herself a whole host of glamorous titles.

Unfortunately, compared to the other party's outrageous resume, all her titles amounted to nothing.

The two sides are simply not on the same level.

Leader?

Indeed, worlds like Malaya were conquered by Fusang. The problem is that this conquest was not thorough; the price to truly demolish temples and destroy gods would be too high. For Fusang, where the divine authority was not unified, the difficulty was also too great.

This is not something that Amaterasu can decide on her own.

When it comes to collective interests, even the various deities within the Fusang pantheon do not want any of Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi to become too powerful and become an absolute god-king by conquering foreign tribes.

The feudal system that began with Izanagi no Mikoto determined that the Fusang pantheon could not achieve centralized power, thus granting them incomplete rule when conquering other worlds.

Ultimately, while Amaterasu could command subordinate god-kings to serve her, her divine power did not exceed the level of a god-king of a realm.

Take a look at the other side?

Sixteen world-class swords, each with an incomparably fierce sword spirit.

Among them, Amaterasu could tell with just a slight inspection that the unfortunate souls within the swords were far more powerful than her in life.

This despair turned her and her brother Tsukuyomi pale on the spot.

They're not even in the same league!
Facing each other across the vast distance, sensing the faint divine power emanating from the Fusang world, the siblings knew that if they couldn't suppress Tangs or gain the upper hand within a few rounds, the fight was over. Their opponent could easily crush them with the backing of that immense world. Tragically, they also lacked the confidence to withstand even a casual strike from Tangs.

This dilemma has them completely stuck.

Towns declared: "This is an ultimatum—surrender and submit to me. I will treat you as the true gods of the Asgard."

A seemingly casual remark is tantamount to wildly provoking the Japanese gods, dancing provocatively on their sensitive and untouchable territory.

what?
The mighty Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi are only fit to be minor deities among the Aesir?
The Three Noble Ones are currently the highest gods in Japan. If they receive such treatment, what are we?
One glory and one glory.

Even their own supreme deity receives this treatment. Whether it's out of pride as a righteous god of Japan, to maintain their dignity, or to gain a better price for possible surrender, it's a matter of personal pride.

Their reaction was even more extreme than that of the Amaterasu siblings; they immediately started shouting.

"presumptuous!"

"You rude fellow."

"Even if you are a god-king of a realm, you cannot be disrespectful to Amaterasu's command!"

"Apologize! You must apologize!"

"Kneel before Amaterasu's decree—"

They were spitting and pointing wildly, seemingly oblivious to the immense and boundless divine power emanating from Downs.

At that moment, Amaterasu burst into tears.

What may seem like an abstract behavior to onlookers actually has its own underlying logic.

As her and Tsukuyomi's subordinate deities, their code of conduct had long since become extremely exclusive—unconditionally upholding the dignity of the Three Noble Children, and immediately jumping out to oppose any questioning from enemies. Otherwise, their loyalty would be either not absolute or absolutely disloyal.

Anyway, even if something goes wrong, it should be San Guizi who steps up to take the blame for them.

As the three leaders of the Fusang pantheon, they are both the flag bearers and the scapegoats. After all, "respect" in the Fusang divine realm is incredibly expensive.

Honestly, when the strength of the three noble sons and the enemy were not much different, this way of doing things was fine.

The problem is, if the disparity in strength between the two sides is too great, then things will go wrong...

"Om-"

To everyone's surprise, the first to erupt in anger from the Aesir was neither Downs nor the slow-moving Arthur or other deities, but rather... [The Sword of Sumer]!
Each World Sword's spirit possesses its own will and way of doing things.

Even though their memories and minds have long been erased, that instinct is still deeply imprinted in the deepest part of their souls.

The sword cry emanating from the former God-King Enlil easily transcended the boundaries of language.

In a daze, everyone in this world heard a gruff wind-elemental man's rebuke: "Shut up—"

Yes, the divine sword looked down on dozens of Fusang deities and took action.

The wind system is known for its fast start-up.

Before Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi could react, the entire sky battlefield was already filled with countless wind blades.

The hurricane array that bloomed around the azure-blue [Sword of Sumer] easily swallowed the entire crimson sky.

From the depths of the eye of the storm, the phantom of the former god-king Enlil emerged. With a flick of his finger, all the gods of Fusang who had just spoken simultaneously developed blue lines between their brows—the wind elemental source drawn from the Sumerian world was tearing apart their supposedly immortal divine bodies.

"No—" they screamed in terror, turning to Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi for help.

Before the two noble sons could react, the magatama amulets they had bestowed upon the gods of Fusang were instantly reduced to dust. Immediately afterward, streams of wind, as thick as fingers, gushed out from the seven orifices of the gods of Fusang, and the shattered fragments of their divine essence were swept up by the hurricane into a dazzling galaxy.

The next second, a storm carrying a large number of divine remains flattened the Thousand Mile Mountain Range.

Tsukuyomi was stunned, while Amaterasu trembled and wanted to kneel.

These victims are not just any Tom, Dick, or Harry.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Japan is said to have eight million gods.

In reality, only the offspring born by Izanagi-no-Mikoto are officially recognized; the other thousands of 'gods' are nothing more than cannon fodder.

Those who were just killed by the illusion of Enlil included the other four gods that Izanagi had washed out when he returned from the underworld to cleanse his body.

They are dead.

The physical body perished here, and even the soul could not return to the Fusang world, being intercepted by the ever-expanding underworld of Jinlunga.

The death seemed utterly meaningless.

No, it can't be said to be completely meaningless.

Through their demise, Amaterasu finally realized that what she had sensed was not an illusion. The sixteen World Swords hovering in the air opposite her truly represented sixteen worlds. Each sword's spirit housed a god-king whose power was no less than Enlil's…

Amaterasu was startled.

She turned to look at her younger brother, Tsukuyomi, and saw the same fear and timidity in each other's eyes.

If anything keeps their knees stiff, it's probably Susanoo's fate.

Soon, the last reason for them to maintain their composure disappeared.

(End of this chapter)