They're already at your gates, and only now you think about turning him? Isn't that a bit late.
Right now the punitive force led by Meruem holds an overwhelming advantage. Mars's Sanctuary failing is only a matter of time.
"Sorry, but you gods—can you change your routine sometime? Even what you say is basically identical."
Meruem has heard the same lines who knows how many times. Abel said it, the twin gods of Death and Sleep said it too. Satisfy everything I want? Yeah right. Can you actually do that?
"What Athena gives me, you can't." Meruem summed it up in the end.
But Mars still wouldn't give up. "What can Athena give you that I can't?"
"Athena herself. What—can you give her to me?"
Mars went silent. He really couldn't. At the same time, Mars was extremely shocked—Athena was actually that willing.
This was completely different from the Athena in his memories.
"My daughter—the Scorpio Gold Saint—you captured her, didn't you?" Mars abruptly changed the subject and started discussing something else with Meruem.
"Yes." Meruem answered without dodging.
Because Mars wore a mask, his expression couldn't be seen, and naturally no one could guess what he was thinking right now. "What do you think?"
"Hm?" Meruem froze when he heard Mars. What do I think? Then he thought it over and answered seriously. "Other than being a bit dark-skinned, she's a beauty."
Meruem was telling the truth. Sonia—her looks, figure, everything—was top-tier. Guess that's to be expected of a god's daughter.
Heh. Mars seemed to be laughing. "What if I bestow my daughter upon you? What do you think? That is my sincerity."
What the hell? Did Mars's brain short out? This kind of clumsy honey trap?
"Sorry. She's my prisoner now. What I want to do doesn't require your consent." Meruem decisively shattered Mars's delusion. Then, with ill intent, he added to Mars, "Even if I take her, even if I turn her into a sex toy, there's nothing you can do about it."
Not to mention that Sonia wasn't actually captured by Meruem—Meruem was never going to betray Saori over someone like Sonia. His ambition is aimed at those lofty beings in the heavens.
But if he could go back and warm the bed, that'd still be pretty nice.
Yeah. He could try when he gets back.
"Impudent! Your thoughts are dangerous. Have you never considered that you might be defeated by my hand?" At last, Mars was enraged by Meruem.
Looking at the furious Mars, Meruem smiled. "No. The one who'll be defeated is you. Your power, everything you have—including your daughter—will all belong to me."
That was Meruem's confidence—confidence born of inheriting legacies from multiple worlds.
Even if Zeus himself came, don't even think about beating me.
"Arrogant mortal. Let me see what gives you the nerve to be so insolent!" Mars moved. The red cloak on his body flew up without wind.
"Red Star Violent Storm." Countless meteor-like masses appeared beside Mars and shot toward Meruem.
It was a ferocious technique like a meteor shower.
"So weak." Meruem didn't even bother to look at Mars directly. Then, with a gesture, he raised his right index and middle fingers together. With a bang, a burst of white smoke appeared.
A man identical to Meruem appeared before Mars.
Shadow Clone Technique.
"Leave this to you." Meruem said to the clone.
"Got it. Seriously, you really know how to dump trouble on me, original." The clone yawned impatiently and went to meet Mars's attack.
"Just a clone? Courting death!" Mars roared furiously. Even Athena herself wouldn't dare to ignore him like this—sending only a clone to deal with him.
At the same time, Mars increased the Cosmo output of "Red Star Violent Storm," intending to annihilate both Meruem and his clone together.
"Are you looking down on me?" Mars didn't take Meruem's clone seriously, but the reverse was also true. Even Meruem's clone had no low combat power.
It possessed one-tenth of Meruem's strength.
"Let me smash down those meteors you're so proud of. Want to see stars shatter? Galaxy Star Explosion!" The clone crossed his arms low, instantly charged to full power, and the surrounding space manifested the sight of countless stars shattering.
"You've got some skill. Looks like I underestimated you. But you must die! Red Star Meteor Fall!" Their first exchange was evenly matched. Mars was startled at first, then quickly returned to normal. Next, he continued to burn that vast, boundless Cosmo of his and charged at Meruem's clone.
"Exactly what I wanted—Lightning Plasma Light-Speed Punch!" Shadow clones have a fatal weakness: they can inherit everything from the original, but once a clone takes attacks past a certain threshold, it turns into white smoke and disappears.
But Meruem didn't think Mars had the ability to disperse his shadow clone right now. After all, a clone inheriting Meruem's techniques had plenty of defensive moves.
Even if it couldn't win, it could still hold.
Two massive Cosmos slammed into each other, triggering a tremendous upheaval. Mars's temple began to shake, and the surrounding floor and stone pillars were all shattered by the aftershock of their clashing Cosmos.
The ground split open in several places, and the entire Little Sanctuary was affected.
"So… Medea, where exactly are you?" Ignoring the two fighting fiercely over there, Meruem's gaze kept sweeping the surroundings.
That woman Medea should be watching this from somewhere unseen.
"Nen!" If you're looking for someone, En, one of the nen techniques, is the most useful. Meruem's vast nen swept every corner of the Little Sanctuary in an instant. "Found you."
"Hmph. No matter how strong, it's still just a clone. To be able to fight me for this long… just how strong is this mortal's true body?" Mars stood atop a temple that had become a field of ruins, his expression shifting as he stared in the direction Meruem's true body had left.
For a brief moment, Mars—the so-called War God—actually felt a trace of retreat. But it came quickly and went quickly; Mars soon drove the thought out of his mind.
He was a god, after all.
But just as Mars prepared to chase after Meruem's true body, he suddenly ran into an invisible wall.
"This is?" Mars touched the unseen wall ahead, and a sense of dread rose in his heart.
"Crystal Wall!"
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