Descent of the Martial God 4

Zeratul himself was surprised he had done it. Grid diametrically opposed to him. Grid believed in items, his colleagues and the vague hope that this will be enough. By contrast, as the Martial God, he believed in his individual power, unfathomable skills and accepted the worldview that right doesn't exist without might. In other words, he looked down on the insignificant humans who tried to use weapons to compensate for their inability. Yet, he himself had equipped a sword made by the traitor Hexetia. How did this happen?

'Unlike humans, I am merely using this weapon for convenience. I had forgotten he's someone the wise Goddess herself appreciated for being able to stand to those stronger than him. It is natural he has a few means to irritate and stall me. I should save my willpower to neutralize those tricks just in case.'

The Martial God's atmosphere suddenly changed. Mana was being discharged with a strong force making it hard to approach him. He started ascending in the sky, looking down on Grid. It was a childish way of protecting his pride after equipping a weapon with the excuse of convenience. In other words, it was to look down on Grid rather than the combat-related advantages. The ability to easily hit both Grid and the others with minimal interference was an added bonus.

The aura that extended from the sword took part in an offensive barrage against Grid. Braham said the main benefit of natural state came from the variability of attributes which humans have a hard time changing. Zeratul was naturally not bounded by this restriction and began using aura with all types of attributes and forms to hit Grid.

'Is it the mastered form of the skill elite martial god followers used in Galgunos' Temple?'

It was a martial arts Grid encountered before. The aura skill extended aura from Zeratul's weapon in whatever form Zeratul wanted. It started as two lightning flails with lightning energy that created an area of effect lightning impact whenever it hit a place. After seeing Grid resist the lightning energy with lightning speed, he started using semi-permanent wooden spears that surrounded and trapped Grid in an area, fire whips that set the javelins on fire and a gigantic fan which used wind aura to enlarge the already huge…

Thanks to Piaro turning the place into a field with abundant nature energy, Grid benefited from the power of Nebiros in his rune. His skill deployment speed had increased significantly with the main benefit being increased concentration. Concentration buffs were hard to quantify but they improved the sensory and predictive abilities letting individuals respond to attacks earlier. In a fight against a stronger opponent, better senses reduced the amount of times he left gaps.

No matter how much Grid resisted, there was a limit. He was trapped in a makeshift aura cage made of wooden aura javelins. Furthermore, the burning dealt constant flame damage and caused burn conditions ignoring legend abnormal status resistance. Preventing healing was the reason why Zeratul used flames against a blacksmith despite the expected resistance. The wind created tornadoes from the fire making it difficult to move and breath. The tornadoes were reminiscent of Pungsa's power. As if this wasn't enough, Zeratul sent burning wooden aura thorns which had the effect of increasing Grid's resource consumption and decreasing his skill casting speed. This was Zeratul's plan.

However, Grid's resistance against fire was greater than expected by virtue of the duke of fire title, fire queen ability and Red Phoenix's breath. Zeratul changed his aura attribute again. Then, he used an actual highly condensed water aura in the form a sword to cut the left arm of Grid through the gap in his armor when he was escaping the burning wooden cage by cutting some of the wood aura javelins.

Grid screamed. Mercedes barely prevented herself from rushing to Grid since he would be willing to accept death if Zeratul takes Biban as a hostage. Piaro's eyes twitched, Asmophel became ready to take a blow in Grid's stead, Sariel prayed Grid will survive this challenging ordeal, Sticks continued chanting and Biban was talking in his sleep about how he'd be happy to take Hayate as his disciple.

'I was too conservative. I can't afford to waste power anymore.'

Grid finally decided to use Storm of the Fire God. There were several reasons for his change in mind. First, the reduced stats from losing an arm could hold Grid's performance back significantly, something he can't afford. The reason he was activated Overgeared God's rage, quick movements, and Belial's power from the moment he used 500,000 Army swordsmanship was because every bit of power could count in this fight. The storm combined with Red Phoenix's breath and Incarnation of Fire would reattach his arm in less than 2 seconds or completely regenerate an arm in 10 seconds. Second, Grid wanted Zeratul to try using stronger skills to consume what little remaining time the Martial God had. In other words, his mental world acted like a bait.

Indeed, the bait did work. A gigantic finger comparable to the size of the original pounding mortar not strengthened with advanced natural state. It had the effect of creating a large vacuum and attracting the target towards the center of the vacuum. It was a legendary targeted skill that was hard to escape and Zeratul's remaining time decreased to 7 minutes as a result.

After commanding Noe to ready to enter lightning god state with its boots, Grid activated a spell.

"Overgeared God's Eyes"

Becoming a god strengthened Eyes of Pagma in multiple ways. Its ability to recreate items were enhanced for up to the 'myth' level without the transcendent modifier. Grid sacrificed a legend rated mace to recreate what Zeratul feared. As the Overgeared God, all items were under his domain, and this naturally included Falling Moon Sword.

The speed of replication was comparable to the speed of item transformation. Zeratul looked upset. He had a hunch that Grid would send his attack with Revolve. He was prepared to use absolute evasion to dodge his own attack and prevent himself from leaving a gap with a well-timed air step. That's right, he assumed Grid was coming purely from a combat-oriented standpoint to inflict damage.

'I will listen to Huroi's advice about psychological warfare.'

Listening to his madman of a friend was tiring but it thought Grid how to conduct psychological warfare against those stronger than him.

"Open Potential"

Zeratul became wary. Grid's body showed signs of overuse. The fact that he'd be using a skill beyond his current potential and his combat history caused Zeratul to expect a 6 Fusion Sword Dance with the replica Falling Moon Sword.

This time, Grid was using a skill he had tested before. It was a unique and uncommon way of using 'Open Potential'.

[100,000 Army Massacre Sword (Genuine )will change to 200,000 Army Crushing Sword (Genuine)]

Grid had seen the overwhelming power of the original 200,000 Army Swordsmanship in Madra's diary. The second reason he was using the Falling Moon Sword was to reduce the injury to himself. The skill's recoil depended on the strength of the skill being cut. While this technique wasn't invincible, Grid was certain it would easily be able to handle a non-mythical attack Zeratul sent.

[200,000 Army Crushing Sword (Genuine)]

[It is a single blow. Deals 800% attack power to crush all enemies in sight and crushes the enemy's attack skills. The crushed skills will lose their effectiveness and disappear. Enemies who have successfully gotten crushed will be grounded and crash on the ground. However, the greater the number of skills, people crushed and the greater the power, the higher the recoil.

Skill Resource Consumption: 20,000 mana, 400 sword energy.

Skill Recoil: Decreased health (a minimum of 10% to a maximum of 75%)

Skill Cooldown Time: 30 minutes.]

Zeratul normally had many means of avoiding 200,000 army swordsmanship. It was a basic skill after all and there were many methods to avoid it through powers/skills such as absolute evasion. But Grid reinforced the skill of the most talented person in history with the most broken mineral in the history. In other words, Grid turned the skill into a complete scam.

Cold moonlight arose from his fingertips. The resultant half-moon shaped silver sword energy ascended towards the vacuum finger and the befuddled the Martial God. Zeratul doubted his own eyes when he experienced the strongest swordsmanship after Dragon Killing Swordsmanship. He realized that the skill was enough to cut through his skill even without the beautiful-looking cheat sword.

Unlike revolve which applies the must hit trait of the sword to the incoming attacks rather than the enemy who sent them, 200,000 Army Crushing Sword was a direct beneficiary of the must hit specialty of the Falling Moon Sword. As the colossal finger was reduced to insignificance, the Martial God's turn came next.

Despite wanting to use shukuchiho which lets him escape even targeted skills, the wave of sword energy followed him relentlessly began crushing him. Due to his momentum, Zeratul fell in an arc and crashed on the ground. He was in a terrible shape. The lower abdomen was separated from his legs. His back was facing the ground while lying on the floor. Blood was pouring from his body into the artificial crater he created. It was really painful. Nevertheless, that wasn't the main reason Zeratul was furious.

'This abominable weakling!!! He dares upset me when I'm about to punish him?! I can destroy the Reinhardt another day. Today, he and his apostles will die. That will pain him more.'

In reality, his pride was hurt. Grid specifically aimed to make his techniques look weak. Moon light iron was not a real excuse since the Martial God claimed the road to true power comes from individual might and skill proficiency. Complaining about Grid's true martial skills without the item wouldn't win him the argument. Instead, it would alienate him from his beliefs.

Moreover, the meaning of a heavenly god getting grounded shouldn't be underestimated. The unfathomable powerhouse from the heavens had dirt all over him. There were even skid marks on the soil due to the momentum he had at the moment of crash. To those who could see him, the Martial God looked closer to humans than mysterious gods. His blood was red, his face clearly showed how furious he was and was fixated on Grid currently as the object of his vengeance. The taunt had worked and Grid was able to change Zeratul's goal from destroying Reinhardt to destroying him.

Zeratul had made his mind. The leader who gave hope to humanity will die today. He has already stopped caring about the implications of his action for the intended resurrection of the three churches. This was the time to bring divine punishment.

The next moment, he hit Grid. His bones were crushed and he couldn't breath. It was the consequence of angering the Martial God.