Ch. 339 Battle Among Gods

Before becoming a divine being, the Black Panther, also known as the God Bastet, may have experienced some life-and-death battles.

But after becoming a divine being, she never experienced a proper battle again.

However, this was normal for her.

She was the guardian of Wakanda, relying on the faith of the Wakandan people to become a divine being.

As long as Wakanda did not face a nation-level catastrophe, she rarely needed to intervene.

Even if she did, with her divine power, she could easily handle any enemies.

A divine being being who had enjoyed a comfortable life on Earth for thousands of years.

Versus a newly ascended divine being at the Skyfather level, seasoned in combat.

The power gap between Russell and the Black Panther God, Bast was evident and considerable.

Even without the overpowering authority of purification, Russell could easily defeat the Black Panther God, Bast.

Realizing that her divine power couldn't coalesce into an attack against Russell, Black Panther God, Bast swiftly changed tactics.

She abandoned the idea of using divine power to attack Russell and decided to defeat him with her expertise in hand-to-hand combat.

However, she overlooked a crucial issue.

Hand-to-hand combat was something Russell excelled at even more.

Although Russell's consciousness had come to the Bast's divine realm, and his current form was a manifestation created from divine power, it was not his true self.

But that didn't mean his current manifestation lacked the abilities of his true self.

As a Skyfather-level being, even a manifestation created from divine power had the various abilities that Russell's true self possessed.

For example, the Kryptonian physique that had evolved from flesh and blood into a divine body.

Bast raised her enormous right claw and lunged at Russell, who now resembled a humanoid sun.

However, just as she raised her right claw, Russell disappeared from her sight.

Even though this was Bast's divine realm, it didn't give her much advantage. Even a Skyfather-level being like Mephisto couldn't gain a significant home-field advantage in Hell, let alone Bast, whose power was far inferior to Mephisto's.

Although Russell had disappeared from Bast's view, the golden light he emitted still shrouded Bast's  divine realm.

Before Bast could lock onto herself for an attack, Russell, who had completely melded with the golden light, reappeared above Bast's head.

Then, his right foot slammed down on Bast's skull.

Boom!

The terrifying force instantly spread through Bast's head, causing her massive skull to crash heavily into the ground, creating a massive crater.

Though Russell and the Black Panther God, Bast were not flesh and blood beings, their divine bodies were real.

The only difference was that the blood flowing within them had undergone significant changes in composition.

However, they still experienced the impact of physical blows.

After giving Bast a powerful kick, Russell didn't waste any time and launched another attack.

This time, he teleported in front of Bast.

Taking advantage of Bast's dazed state, he once again raised his right foot for an uppercut.

Boom!

Bast, who had just made intimate contact with the ground, was sent flying by Russell's powerful kick, despite her much larger size.

Although Bast's size was much greater than Russell's, Russell was not concerned about fighting opponents with larger body sizes. He had extensive experience in this regard, as Grendel and Godzilla could attest.

When Bast's head flew high into the air after Russell's punches, Russell once again teleported in front of Bast.

Then, he raised both hands, fists aimed at Bast's massive head.

Ora, ora, ora, ora, ora...

Russell's fists, composed of golden light, struck Bast's head like bullets from a Gatling gun.

Russell wasn't using complex and intricate attack techniques at this moment; he was simply relying on brute strength and speed to pummel Bast.

Many people who didn't understand the ways of the gods and other divine beings might think that battles between divine beings would be highly sophisticated.

However, unless divine beings used their respective authorities or divine powers in combat, close combat among divine beings wasn't much different from street brawling.

The only difference might be the greater destructive power of their blows, given that every punch they threw carried their divine power.

Bast never expected that, after becoming a divine being, she would one day be beaten senseless by someone.

What surprised her even more was that not only was Russell's authority of purification overbearing, but his Sun Divine Power was also extremely potent.

With every punch that Russell landed on her, the Sun Divine Power on his fists would directly surge into Bast's body, wreaking havoc within her and destroying her physical form.

No!

This can't go on like this!

After enduring hundreds of punches from Russell, Bast finally realized the vast difference in their strength.

Following several blows to the head, Bast opened her massive blood-filled mouth and lunged at Russell as if she intended to devour him completely.

However, Bast's plan wasn't to eat Russell at this moment.

She had barely opened her blood-filled mouth when she condensed her divine power inside it, transforming it into a black laser beam that shot towards Russell like lightning.

Although Russell's authority of purification had weakened Bast's divine power, this black beam from her mouth was incredibly fast.

Before the authority of purification could completely eliminate it, a portion of the black beam reached Russell.

Just as the black beam was about to strike, Russell had a thought, and a gaping hole appeared in his chest.

Whoosh!

The black beam struck Russell's chest, passing through the gaping hole without causing him any harm.

This was one of the advantages of a manifestation created from divine power. Since it was formed with divine power, Russell could change its physical attributes as needed.

Even if he wanted to grow another heads and arms now, it wouldn't be a problem.

While Bast's attack hadn't harmed Russell, it did achieve what Bast wanted.

Taking advantage of Russell's evasion of the black beam, Bast quickly utilized her authority over darkness. Her massive form blended into the darkness, disappearing completely.

Russell sensed Bast's intentions but didn't stop her. This was Bast's divine realm, and even if she fled, she wouldn't get far. Unless Bast no longer cared about her divine realm, she would stay inside it. As long as she remained in her divine realm, there wouldn't be much difference for Russell.

After Bast merged into the darkness and disappeared, Russell first repaired the hole in his chest.

Then, he fully activated his authorities, transforming himself into a golden sphere with a diameter of hundreds of meters.

Let's see where you can hide!

As a radiant golden sphere resembling a sun, Russell didn't hold back and unleashed his Sun Divine Power recklessly.

The already chaotic Bast's divine realm, which had been devastated by his Sun Divine Power, experienced even more domineering attacks.

The night sky rapidly dissipated.

In the blink of an eye, the night was reduced to only about one-third of its former dominance.

At the same time, the earth trembled violently, and massive cracks resembling spiderwebs appeared on the ground.

The grasslands and forests on the surface began to burn.

Seeing that Russell had no intention of stopping, Bast began to panic.

She now realized the vast gap in strength between herself and Russell.

Even though it was her divine realm, Bast had no chance.

If the situation continued to develop this way, her divine realm would be completely destroyed by Russell in no time.

At that point, without her divine realm, she would be severely injured, if not dead.

"Enough!"

"Stop!"

Bast's voice echoed from the distant sky.

However, upon hearing her voice, Russell had no intention of stopping. Instead, he emitted an even more dazzling light.

If she wanted Russell to stop now, it was too late!

Although this might make him appear ruthless and unreasonable, Russell didn't care. He only believed in one thing: Might makes right! Otherwise, he would have been manipulated and killed by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the government long ago.

Seeing that Russell had no intention of stopping and was emitting an even more dazzling light, Bast fell silent.

Clearly, Russell wouldn't stop until he had dealt a heavy blow.

If that was the case, Bast had no choice but to give it her all.

Hidden somewhere, Bast didn't hesitate and activated her authorities and divine power to resist Russell's Sun Divine Power and authority of purification with all her might.

However, the vast difference in their level predetermined the outcome.

The gap between an lower divine being and a Skyfather-level being was like a chasm, and it meant that their strengths were not even in the same dimension.

Even if Bast had been a Skyfather-level being like Russell, she still wouldn't have been a match. Russell's might was something she couldn't overcome, no matter how many punches and kicks used to beat him.

As Bast fully unleashed her authorities and divine power to resist Russell's onslaught, the divine realm, which had been utterly devastated, showed signs of restoration.

Night, which had been cornered, attempted to regain its dominance over the sky.

However, Bast's resistance lasted for only a short time—less than a dozen seconds.

Realizing that Bast had decided to fight back, Russell didn't waste any more time. He fully activated his authorities and Sun Divine Power.

In an instant, a golden light shrouded the entire divine realm.

Anything that was not a creation formed from Sun Divine Power would be purified by the authority and disappear as pure energy.

With the shattering of the Bast's divine realm, the astral realm, which had been invisible within the divine realm, appeared in Russell and Bast's eyes.

It's over!

Bast's mind was now focused on this one thought.

Just as she thought Russell was about to ruthlessly annihilate her and destroy her divine realm, Russell made a move Bast hadn't expected.

Russell stopped using his divine power and authority, causing Bast's divine realm, on the brink of complete destruction, to halt its disintegration.

"I am teaching you a lesson this time because you don't understand the difference in status and casually probe higher-ranking beings."

"Letting you off the hook is because I recognize the difficulty of becoming a divine being, and once you achieve godhood, you haven't done anything wicked."

Just now, Russell, who had been as radiant as the sun, returned to his original human form, floating in the air, and spoke calmly.

Although his voice was not loud, he was certain that the Black Panther God Bast could hear him loud and clear.

"Your Excellency is correct; this time, it was my recklessness!"

Despite the embarrassment, the Black Panther God Bast did not hesitate. She materialized from the shadows and knelt on the devastated ground in front of Russell, bowing her head.

"Your attitude is acceptable!"

"You should be grateful that I had no intention of slaying divine being today, or else I wouldn't mind making you the first divine being to die at my hands."

Russell looked down on the now submissive Black Panther God Bast.

Then, with a thought, he disappeared from Bast's Divine Realm, and his divine consciousness instantly returned to his true self at the Justice League headquarters.

As for the divine power he had used to create his clone just now, it also returned to his true self.

Wasting was not a good habit.

Even though he didn't currently lack divine power, conserving it was still better.

Moreover, he was in the real world now, not in his divine realm, City of Sin. Depleting his divine power would only make him feel "hunger" faster.

After his divine consciousness returned to his true self, he thought for a moment, and his body turned into specks of light and disappeared.

The next moment, the study was empty, bathed in golden light like the sun.

As these rays of light appeared in the study, they quickly converged into a human form.

Russell, who was already at the level of a Skyfather, could easily transform his body into pure energy now.

As long as he wished, he could turn his body into a flash of light, just like a certain Admiral, who ate the Devil Fruit in the world of pirates.

After arriving in the study, he called up No. 3.

"Find out what's been happening with recent invasions in Wakanda, and see who's behind it exactly?"

Russell remembered very clearly that neither he nor Diana had given any orders to invade Wakanda.

While the Black Panther God Bast hadn't previously communicated with the Justice League, she shouldn't have mistaken the identity of the invaders.

If she couldn't even confirm this, then there was no need for her to continue being the guardian of Wakanda.

"Understood, sir!"

No. 3 replied promptly.