Having traversed countless realms, can you possibly be as clever as me?

"Fine, you weren't going to leave here alive anyway. But since you're looking for death, we'll have plenty of time to play with you..."

"Although you're a barbarian, I'm quite envious of your beautiful face."

"Speak," the old man said, casting a gaze that sent chills down Dongjiang's spine.

Hey, you Romans, why are there so many *Nan Tong* trees everywhere?

Feeling insulted, Tsugumi's face darkened, and she narrowed her eyes.

"Old man, wait a minute, you'll be the first to die!"

"Oh no—you won't die, after all, I'm very patient now... torturing you slowly."

Seemingly having devised a novel method to inflict torture, Tsurugi revealed a smile that sent chills down the spines of the priests.

"His act of deception is nonsensical; take him down!!!"

At the old man's command, the priests, wielding the artifacts of Greek heroes, swarmed forward.

However, none of them can unleash their Noble Phantasms.

Whether it was due to a lack of ability or because the old man ordered them to capture her alive, at the moment these attacks came at her simultaneously, Tsugumi's body suddenly 'dissolved' like collapsing putty.

Blood and flesh, bones and skin, all parts of the body seemed to turn into liquid in an instant.

These attacks did not touch the fluid at all, and the next second, the liquid that suddenly shot out twisted and transformed in the air.

"Perfect timing to test my new ability on you guys!!!"

Joyful laughter emanated from the constantly writhing, dark liquid. There were no nobles in the ocean, yet within it, it seemed as if countless wild beasts roared in an instant!

[Jealousy Power (Lv0)]

'Born of the demonic power of the endless sea of ​​rifts, where there are no nobles, only Leviathans and Behemoths! You, residing in this realm, share the power of Leviathan, a power that only increases when exercised, and therefore can be used without activation!'

Leviathan has only one power: the ability to create, seek out, and integrate with the 'Behemoth', as she instinctively does.

Collect the biological samples, master them, absorb them, and then devour and transform them—in short, just think of it as a humanoid Tyrannosaurus swarm!

At this moment, Tsurugi has not collected many biological samples, only a genetic map of a gastrula and a few monsters encountered in the local area.

But that's enough.

It's more than enough to deal with these fake skeletons in the tomb.

Before the horrified eyes of the Roman priests, corrosive blood quickly seeped from the writhing black slime, and then a grotesquely twisted monster appeared, roaring.

How can one describe this deformed and twisted monster?

It was as if the corpses of hundreds of creatures were sewn together, each part of them was reassembled, and all the good and bad parts were broken up and then pieced together.

Such a thing, just by existing, just by looking at it, makes them feel a strong sense of nausea and horror!

"Oh dear, I'm really not very skilled at piecing things together for the first time."

Tsurugi's indistinct voice emanated from the twisted, nightmare-like stitched monster.

To their horrified gaze, the monster writhed its countless tentacles, emitting a whisper that seemed to pierce the very nerves.

"I can guarantee that I'm scary enough, but I don't know if you 'heroes' who are wielding other people's weapons are strong enough?"

"Put in some effort, or you'll soon experience torment beyond death in the hands of my new body~~~"

......

"How dare they—!"

Nero's furious voice echoed and pounded against the magnificent stone walls of the palace.

"My guests! How dare those people frame my governor?!"

From both a moral and logical standpoint, this was the greatest provocation and attack against Nero, and the young tyrant was not one to tolerate such behavior.

Without even changing out of her light purple casual clothes, she ripped off the decorative veil from her shoulders and rushed barefoot into the palace's weapons display room.

There were ceremonial weapons collected by emperors throughout history. She ignored the ornate daggers inlaid with jewels and weapons like Caesar's Yellow Death, and instead grabbed a heavy, scarlet greatsword that she had personally forged from meteorite.

The cold light from the sword illuminated her beautiful face, which was contorted with rage.

"Assemble all the Royal Guard! Immediately! Target—the Pantheon!" Her command struck her Royal Guard like iron nails.

"Anyone wearing priestly robes shall be killed without exception! I will tear down the temples of those hypocrites!"

Without a doubt, this is an outright act of blasphemy and violence.

More than one guard stepped forward to dissuade the emperor, but was met with Nero's merciless rebuke—that what he wanted must be obtained, and what belonged to him must be protected.

A tyrant's nature is never to yield an inch of land!

In less than fifteen minutes, nearly two large battalions of elite Imperial Guards had assembled at the foot of Paladin Hill. Torches lit up the soldiers' breastplates and grim faces.

Nero did not ride in a palanquin; she even refused to wear a helmet, letting her long golden hair dance wildly in the night wind, her emerald eyes filled with rage and restlessness. She mounted a pure white warhorse, raising her short sword high, its tip pointing directly in the direction of the Pantheon.

The procession surged forward like an iron torrent along the sacred avenue toward the Pantheon. The sound of hooves and boots shattered the silence of the night, startling the houses lining the road; anxious faces flashed past windows. Nero led the way, his purple robes billowing, his eyes fixed solely on the silhouette of the domed temple in the darkness ahead.

The square in front of the Pantheon was now in sight. The temple, initially built by Agrippa, Augustus' son-in-law, and expanded upon by successive dynasties, appeared magnificent and solemn under the starry sky. Its circular main body and massive Corinthian colonnade symbolized the heavens and the earth, forming the core of Roman religious architecture.

At this moment, the main gate of the temple was tightly closed, and the square in front of it was deserted. Only the eternal flame burned quietly in the altar under the portico.

Nero reined in her horse and brought it to a stop at the edge of the plaza. The royal guards quickly deployed into battle formation behind her, shields clashing, daggers drawn, facing the temple, awaiting the emperor's final command to attack.

"Get out here!" Nero's tyrannical voice echoed across the square. "Hand over Lord Tsugumi! Otherwise, I will turn this so-called 'place of all gods' into your graveyard tonight!"

The temple remained silent, only the sobbing of the night wind blowing through the colonnades answered it.

This silence was like the final fuse, burning away the last shred of reason in Nero's eyes, replacing it with the same obsession and madness as her insane uncle Caligula.

"Attack! Smash the gate!" She pointed her sword forward.

However, the Imperial Guards behind him remained completely still.

Nero turned around. In the flickering torchlight, she didn't see the tense faces of the soldiers about to charge, but rather a cold, silent gaze, even tinged with pity. Those guards who had protected her ascension to the throne, who had always treated her with utmost respect, now seemed to have suddenly turned into marble statues.

"Are you deaf?!" Nero's voice trembled, a mixture of disbelief and rage. "I order you to attack!"

Just then, a calm, dignified voice, carrying an undeniable maternal power, came from behind the Imperial Guard ranks:

“They heard it, Nero. But they heard even more the reason of Rome, and the call of the true blood of Augustus.”

The Imperial Guard's ranks parted to both sides like a red sea. Two men slowly emerged from the passage they had cleared.

The person who came was Nero's mother, her half-brother.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: My family wanted to buy 300,000 yuan worth of gold recently, but I only bought 100,000 yuan worth for insurance. Sigh, I regret it now. _(:з」∠)_

Changing the style doesn't stop it from killing! : 166. Slaughtering the Pantheon

"How is this possible?! How could you possibly possess such terrifying divinity?!"

The old man who coveted the Tsurugi ASS lay on the ground screaming in disbelief, while in his hands, shattering inch by inch, was a thing that seemed to be a divinely created weapon.

In any case, it's an item that can detect the power of divinity. Unlike the Chains of Heaven, it deals extremely high damage to units with low divinity, but the higher the divinity, the worse the effect.

He had sacrificed three priests to earn this opportunity to strike, all in order to destroy the 'demigod' before him.

But as a result, the Noble Phantasm shattered on its own before it could be unleashed.

This only proves one thing—the divinity possessed by the other party is on par with that of the great gods Zeus and Jupiter!

"I don't really understand anything complicated." Having regained her human form, Tsugumi looked at the priests, then glanced outside the door, and shrugged.

"I'm not a god."

"Time is running out, so I won't torture your bodies any longer. Go to my underworld, and I'll have some fun with you when I have time."

"Nero, you made a foolish and wrong choice."

Julia had changed out of her usual ornate court robes and was now dressed in a simple dark gray stora, over which was a traditional dark pala. Her hair was neatly tied back, and she wore no jewelry. But her back was straight, her steps were steady, and she held the hand of a young boy.

The boy was about thirteen or fourteen years old, with a pale and handsome face. He was shy and frightened, but he tried his best to remain calm under his mother's guidance.

He was Britannicus, the biological son of Emperor Claudius, and Nero's nominal younger brother, a descendant of the late emperor who should have had a higher right of succession. Because of Nero's ascension to the throne, he rarely appeared in public.

Julia led Britannicus to a stop ten paces in front of Nero's horse. She looked up at her daughter on horseback, who was trembling slightly with shock, anger, and betrayal—the child she had placed on the throne, who now seemed poised to destroy everything.

“My daughter.” Julia’s voice was clear and steady, loud enough for every Praetorian Guard soldier present to hear. “Look at yourself. Dressed in inappropriate attire, wielding a dusty weapon, barefoot and disheveled, you roar at Rome’s most sacred temple like a barbarian woman, dragging the empire into the abyss of blasphemy and civil war for some unknown Eastern sorcerer.”

She paused, emphasizing the accusation.

"Your uncle Caligula did the same. He once ordered the army to declare war on the sea god and tried to appoint his beloved horse as consul. His madness ultimately brought shame to Rome and nearly extinguished the bloodline of Augustus. And now, you, Nero, are recklessly promoting a foreigner with no foundation, and now you are even going to launch an attack on the Pantheon by the Praetorian Guard for this man's sake!"

Her voice suddenly rose, taking on a somber tone, as if she were truly concerned for Rome.

"You are no longer fit to be emperor. Rome cannot be ruled by a mad emperor any longer!"

She gently pushed Britannicus forward half a step, grasped his hand tightly, as if showing everyone a real, legitimate treasure.

"I, Julia Vipsania Agrippina, great-granddaughter of Holy Augustus, wife of Emperor Claudius, as the eldest woman of the Augustan family, and in accordance with the consensus of the members of the Senate who uphold tradition and reason, hereby declare—"

She surveyed the Imperial Guards around her, and wherever her gaze fell, the soldiers all lowered their heads slightly or looked away, acknowledging her authority.

"—Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, being mentally unfit to fulfill the duties of 'Father of the Nation' (Pater Patriae), shall now be temporarily ruled by his mother Agrippina, assisted by his brother Britannicus Claudius Caesar, until the Senate and the people of Rome make a final decision on the future of the Empire."

Four centurions of the Royal Guard, clearly men already placed by Julia, stepped forward expressionlessly and walked toward Nero's white horse.

It's clear that Julia has a deal with the priests of the Pantheon, and tonight's attack, even the report to Nero, is part of a pre-arranged conspiracy.

Simple and easy-to-use conspiracy

Nero, at this moment, finally awoke from this dreamlike transformation.

She looked at the soldiers approaching step by step, at her mother's cold face, at her younger brother's timid yet secretly excited eyes, and at the silent and defecting Imperial Guards around her, like an iron wall.

Nero's lips twitched slightly, which eventually turned into a maniacal laugh.

"Hahahaha! He's right, Yu Xingchen, he was absolutely right!"

"Mother, my mother! You only value power and have never shown me the slightest loyalty or affection!"

"You want to seize my throne with that bastard who dared to talk nonsense with you? I will never allow it!"

Nero gripped his meteorite greatsword tightly, pointing it at his mother, brother, and subordinates, roaring with bloodshot eyes.

"Traitors! You're all traitors! You all deserve to die!!!"