"The Physician, you are the son of Apollo, the God of the Sun, and the princess Coronis, you are the union of god and man, you have tasted all herbs, and you have also been poisoned."
The young man's chant echoed between heaven and earth. As his voice resonated, the hexagram circle and the three divine artifacts emitted a dazzling green-blue light.
Under the influence of that light, day and night alternated. The full moon that had been in the sky was instantly replaced by a blazing sun.
In an instant, Greece, which had just been shrouded in shadows, suddenly lit up as if it were daytime, yet the time showed only nine in the evening.
At this moment, the entire Greece, no, the entire region once covered by ancient Greek mythology, erupted.
In the distance, Marika, carried by the wind and sent to a cliff by Yu, watched Yu's actions on the beach below, her eyes shining.
She had long heard from Kikyo Chika about Yu's achievements in killing gods. Countless times she had wanted to see her beloved, with incomparable power, killing gods with heroic elegance.
However, such a world-shaking and extremely dangerous thing could not be easily witnessed. Therefore, although she wanted it, for Yu's safety, Marika had never mentioned it in front of him.
When she heard Yu say he had a way to cure her body, Marika had wondered how he would do it, but she did not expect that Yu would actually kill a god!
And the cause of all this—when Yu saw the warm sun high in the sky, he was overjoyed. Asclepius was the child of Apollo, the God of the Sun, so the appearance of the sun during the summoning was completely normal.
Thinking of this, Yu's expression became serious, and he once again mobilized the cursed energy throughout his body.
"You, with the body of a demigod, have touched the immortality of a god. You obtained half a bottle of the Gorgon snake demon's blood from the goddess of wisdom. A single drop of blood could reverse life and death, revive life on earth and return the dead to the world."
"You are revered as the God of Medicine, yet you are inseparable from snakes. You brought eternal life and immortality to humanity, yet you were struck by divine lightning and killed by the gods."
"Your name is… Asclepius, the God of Medicine of Greece!!!"
The moment the young man's voice fell, the blazing sun in the sky suddenly shone with blinding white light. The world, at that moment, was left only with sacred white light.
"Ah!!! My face, my face is melting!"
"No, no, what is this?!!!"
Under the influence of the white light, the ten thousand prisoners within the hexagram circle let out painful screams.
Accompanied by the screams, some prisoners struggled, trying to escape the circle, but the moment they stepped half a step outside, a massive python suddenly burst out from the lucky snake emblem, opened its huge mouth, and with a swing, directly swallowed all the prisoners into its stomach.
"Ssssss~"
The enormous snake flicked its tongue, its cold emerald-green eyes sweeping over the remaining prisoners. Seeing that these people had no intention of escaping, an almost human look of disappointment appeared in its snake eyes, and it turned its head, returning back into the lucky snake emblem.
After the enormous snake returned, the remaining prisoners breathed a sigh of relief, but before they could think of an opportunity to escape, the black stone snake coiled around Asclepius's staff emitted a red glow.
Wherever the red light shone, everyone turned into a pool of pus, merging with the sand beneath their feet.
Watching all this with cold eyes, Yu felt only amusement.
In mythology, Asclepius, the God of Medicine, was a symbol of kindness and healing, yet his summoning ritual was so bloody. It should be known that the summoning ritual of Marquis Voban only instantly took the lives of those priestesses.
Compared to the summoning method he possessed, that was clearly not as bloody.
Fortunately, he had sent Marika far away. Otherwise, if Marika had seen this scene, although she would not say anything, the girl would definitely have been frightened, or even disgusted and nauseated by such a bloody scene.
Under the influence of Asclepius's staff, ten thousand people quickly completely turned into pus, and the entire beach was filled with a rotten stench.
Seeing that the sacrifices were completed, Yu felt it was almost time for the final step. He raised his hand and summoned, and Asclepius's vessel, which had been suspended in the air and motionless, flew before the young man.
With a light touch of the vessel, in the next moment, the snake pattern within Asclepius's vessel began to spin wildly, quickly forming a visible air vortex.
The moment the air vortex appeared, within the hexagram circle, the pools of pus suddenly began to boil, and then one by one, ghastly souls were sucked into Asclepius's vessel through the air vortex.
Yu knew that Asclepius's vessel was the most important divine artifact in this ritual. The sacrifice of ten thousand living souls was not merely killing the bodies of those ten thousand people; it was about placing all of them into Asclepius's vessel, ensuring that those ten thousand living souls would never disappear, which truly constituted a sacrifice!
Thinking of this, Yu simply added more cursed energy, and the speed at which Asclepius's vessel absorbed the souls rapidly increased. In the blink of an eye, ten thousand living souls were completely absorbed into Asclepius's vessel.
After doing all this, Yu returned Asclepius's vessel to its original position.
After returning, Asclepius's vessel emitted a brilliant green light. The light flickered, and a rich fragrance of medicinal herbs spread from the vessel.
"Bang"
Suddenly, a dull sound entered the young man's ears. Hearing the sound, Yu looked, only to see that the lucky snake emblem was now covered in cracks. A few seconds later, it directly exploded, revealing a golden wheel hidden beneath the bronze casing.
After the golden wheel appeared, it rushed toward Asclepius's vessel as if it had its own will, and Asclepius's vessel accepted everything, growing with the wind, directly enveloping the lucky snake emblem within itself.
After enveloping the lucky snake emblem, the brilliant green light of Asclepius's vessel became even stronger. Just as the light was about to completely take over the world, Asclepius's staff suddenly emitted a bloody glow and violently struck Asclepius's vessel.
"Clang!!!"
Although they were a wooden staff and a stone vessel, at the moment of contact, they erupted with the sound of metal collision, a sound that, even heard once, caused pain in the ears.
The two divine tools collided, remained in a stalemate for a few seconds, then shattered simultaneously, while the emerald-green light from Asclepius's vessel slowly rose into the sky, transforming into a human figure high above.
"Human, did you summon me?"
As the figure appeared, a gentle question entered Yu's ears.
The emerald light surrounding the figure dispersed with the completion of the question, revealing a middle-aged man with a full beard, holding a golden snake staff, dressed in a pure white chiton, with a silver snake coiled around his waist, and an olive wreath on his head, standing before Yu.
Looking at the middle-aged man, Yu could feel the immense divinity and divine power radiating from him. Was this the Heretic God he had summoned?
Truly wonderful! The thought that he would soon personally kill this guy filled Yu with uncontrollable excitement.
"This aura… are you a God Slayer? Have you come to kill me?"
Asclepius looked at Yu, his brows furrowing when he saw the other party staring at him intensely. Feeling the aura on Yu that he hated, Asclepius's gaze changed from benevolent to icy.
He was the God of Medicine, but due to his close connection with snakes, he was also cold-blooded. His reputation for kindness existed only because he saved people.
"Of course, why else would I summon you?"
After Yu finished speaking, his hand suddenly transformed from flesh and blood into steel [Torn Silver Hand]. In the next moment, a shooting star cut across the sky, and a massive demonic sword descended toward Asclepius.
Sensing the terrifying aura behind him, Asclepius immediately tried to move, but when he attempted to move his leg to dodge the attack, he found that he could not move at all.
Lowering his gaze, he saw that his lower body had somehow turned into stone salt.
Seeing this, Asclepius's expression darkened, and he immediately tried to return to normal when Yu's voice suddenly rang out:
"It's better not to struggle."
Hearing this, Asclepius looked up and saw Yu now holding Joyeuse, descending toward him with twelve radiant swords.
The strike suggested an intent to kill Asclepius in one blow.
In response, Asclepius's eyes suddenly glowed with emerald light, then transformed into cold snake eyes. His slit pupils stared at the young man. In the next second, the golden snake on Asclepius's golden snake staff suddenly moved, rapidly growing, instantly reaching a length of a thousand meters.
The enormous golden snake flicked its crimson forked tongue, its golden scales shining under the blazing sun. It opened its huge mouth and rushed toward Yu, while at the same time swinging its tail, striking the demonic sword aimed at Asclepius.
Faced with the sudden appearance of the enormous snake, Yu was already prepared. He only intended to test Asclepius, because there were not many legends about Asclepius in ancient Greek mythology, and even Yu did not know much about him.
But there was one thing Yu was certain of: Asclepius possessed a bottle of Gorgon blood. According to records in ancient Greek mythology, Gorgon blood was a contradictory demonic blood.
The Gorgon blood taken from the left blood vessel was a terrifying poison capable of poisoning gods, but the Gorgon blood taken from the right blood vessel was a divine medicine that could revive humans and resurrect gods!
From this record, Yu roughly concluded that Asclepius possessed a powerful authority that could revive himself and release terrifying poison!
After several flashes, Yu distanced himself from Asclepius and the enormous golden snake. At that moment, the demonic sword in the sky was also struck by the long tail of the enormous snake. In an instant, the sky erupted with a loud crash, and destructive air currents spread in all directions:
"Boom!!!"
"Ssssss~~"
Despite the protection of its scales, the tail of the enormous snake was blasted apart after receiving the full strike of the demonic sword. The tip of the tail, dozens of meters long, was torn off, crashing heavily into the ocean and raising waves.
"Hmph, God Slayer, to think you could kill me so easily, you are a bit too overconfident."
Watching Yu retreat in disarray, Asclepius snorted coldly. As he spoke, a bronze vessel appeared before him, and blades of grass floated out of the vessel, descending into Asclepius's mouth.
After swallowing the grass, Asclepius's lower body, which had turned into stone salt, instantly returned to normal.
Seeing this, Yu could not help but marvel. He recognized the vessel as Asclepius's vessel. He knew that Asclepius's vessel could produce medicinal herbs, but it was useless to him, because he knew nothing about pharmacology and could not take medicine during battle.
However… if he could obtain Asclepius's vessel again in the future, he might be able to give it to Nakano Maruo; it would perfectly suit his profession.
After one round of probing, both Yu and Asclepius were now on high alert. The upcoming battle would be a true Battle of God Slaying!