Never will!
If Heaven intends to destroy him, then he will defy Heaven! He will smash the will of this damned Heaven!
Blast it open!
"I don't believe in heaven, I don't believe in fate, I don't believe in sin, and I don't believe in punishment! I only believe in myself!"
With a furious roar, Adam unleashed his defiant resolve, then withdrew and clenched his right fist. The very air seemed to thicken under his grip, pressed down with immense weight. In an instant, the entirety of New Jersey… no, the entire Evergreen… no, the entire Americas—no, the entire Earth!
On Earth, all powerless mortals were helplessly plunged into a deathly fear and silence at that moment!
And all those who possess power, both human and divine, are stirring up unrest all over the world!
As soon as this force appeared, it affected the entire skyscraper beneath Adam's feet, causing it to shake violently as if it were about to be uprooted.
As Adam's aura intensified, the area affected by the earthquake expanded rapidly. From a single building to an entire street, a whole neighborhood, a city—and finally, the entire west coast of North America began to tremble under Adam's influence! The earth's uncontrollable trembling was a testament to the sheer power of this force! Things that weren't heavy enough, things that weren't firmly anchored, such as the entire city's inhabitants, were all lifted into the air in terror!
At the same time, Adam had gradually increased the power of his punch, accumulating it to its maximum point, until it was unleashed.
So he stared at the full moon overhead and threw his right fist at it!
That day, it just broke!
Adam's all-out attack instantly traversed a distance of 384400 kilometers and slammed into the moon!
285: It's just some space debris falling from the sky.
The heavens were shattered by Adam's single punch!
His fist tore a huge hole in the night sky, allowing people to see the dazzling and boundless universe through the breach in the atmosphere!
An absolutely earth-shattering punch instantly traversed a distance of 384400 kilometers and slammed into the moon! If that right fist were to strike Earth in reverse, it could probably wipe out 99% of humanity on the surface in a single blow!
Such a powerful attack, launched from Earth towards the Moon, and originating from New Jersey, alarmed the entire world. Powerful beings, both humans and gods, were thrown into turmoil throughout the globe.
The commotion wasn't just because they sensed the immense power of the punch, but also because it came from Neo-Yatu, Mitra's vital territory. This important territory had actually launched an attack back at Mitra—an attack powerful enough to shake a planet—had someone within the Mitra Group rebelled?!
For a moment, the entire world seemed to fall silent. Under such an overwhelming attack, the world was plunged into a deathly silence. This silence wasn't just due to horror, nor merely because they sensed the immense power, but also because everyone wanted to know—what had happened? What would happen next?!
At the same time, Adam withdrew his fist after his first strike. He had stunned the entire perfect being, the ultimate human, with a single blow, yet seemed utterly devoid of joy at his unparalleled achievement.
Because his punch, which gathered the strongest power and was released towards the moon with a right fist pointing skyward, was so powerful that it could split the sea, split the mountains, destroy cities, destroy countries, and shatter the sky, killing 99% of humanity on Earth. After crossing a distance of 384400 kilometers, it slammed into the moon... but it failed to kill Mitra with one punch, nor did it blow the moon apart.
On the moon, there's now just a large crater, two million meters in diameter. It's actually a crater with an area of three million square kilometers and a depth of over ten thousand meters, so people on Earth can even see the changes with the naked eye. The fact that the moon has been punched into a crater visible to the naked eye has only added to the horror of countless people on Earth.
However, the moon wasn't destroyed by Adam's punch. Nor was Mithra, the Bodhisattva who lived on the moon. The fact that the surprise attack failed to kill the target was starting to make things a bit complicated.
Because Adam's punch combined the power of himself and his fallen angel wife, as well as the worship of nearly a million brain gods, it indeed possessed the ultimate destructive power equivalent to a full-force strike from a god.
It's important to understand that most deities and bodhisattvas are busy using their power to amass wealth, managing their assets, and continuously increasing their capital. They simply cannot dedicate most of their power to daily security. If they were to be suddenly struck by a full-force attack from an enemy of equal strength when they are not on guard, even a bodhisattva could be crippled or killed. This is why the eight great bodhisattvas do not want to provoke the Peacock King, because the Peacock King does indeed possess bodhisattva-level attack power (although he is only capable of attack power).
If the Peacock King were to suddenly go mad and become reckless, sneaking up to an unsuspecting Bodhisattva and stabbing them with all his might, he could potentially kill the Bodhisattva, or at least leave them half-dead. Theoretically, if he struck first, the Peacock King could replace a Bodhisattva without any problem. Of course, the remaining seven Bodhisattvas would react immediately, so the Peacock King could only replace one at most. Besides, these Bodhisattvas would never dare let the Peacock King get close to them—they had never let their guard down around him.
Adam's thinking was roughly the same. The bodhisattvas would be wary of each other and of the peacock, but not of him, Adam. So he gathered 100% of his ultimate power to bombard the moon, hoping to preemptively strike and cripple or even kill Mithra. Either way, it would lead to chaos and a struggle for supremacy among the gods. Only in this way could Adam survive, have a chance to live, and climb to the top of the gods.
But now, when he threw a punch, he found that he hadn't managed to blast the moon apart. The punch, which should have at least shattered the moon in two, only created a large crater; it didn't kill Mithra Bodhisattva, or even cripple him. Why was this? Had Adam misjudged his current power? Probably not. Adam's current fighting strength was definitely no less than that of the Supreme God.
So, did Mithra foresee the attack and allocate more resources for defense? If so, Adam is in serious trouble. He certainly doesn't possess the precognitive powers of Mithra and Odin. Not only will he lack the advantage of striking first, but he will also be at a disadvantage.
Besides that, there's an even worse and more troublesome possibility... but worrying about that now is pointless.
Because, regardless of the circumstances, Mithra clearly wouldn't let himself be hit without retaliating. The moon, cratered by Adam's punch, was now beginning to gather an unbearable, dazzling brilliance, like a golden dawn. That light bloomed in the night sky, illuminating the night as brightly as day!
Having taken a punch from Adam, Mitra will likely retaliate soon.
So Adam stopped his random thoughts and worries, and instead withdrew his fist to gather his energy. Even a perfect life form, after unleashing an unparalleled ultimate punch, must retract its fist to regroup for the next all-out attack. This is a principle that even the supreme god cannot transcend. Even Adam Cardomion had to seize the time to ensure that his wife and the entire system connecting him to his brain continued to supply him with his strongest power, cyclically compressing and condensing it.
Because the gods and bodhisattvas will soon engage in a battle between the earth and the moon, clashing from afar!
In such an epic battle, who will be the most unlucky one?
--------------------------------
Tonight, the twenty managers of the Mitra Group's New Yatu branch were having a meeting in the large conference room on the 150th floor.
They were sitting peacefully around a large round table, dressed in expensive suits, busy with their meeting, earnestly discussing something that seemed very important—after all, they were the management of the Mitra Corporation's New Seattle branch, the most important people in the city and even the state. They were all elites of the Protoss, the branch's management, cadres within the Protoss, and high-level employees enjoying capitalist benefits.
In other words, they were also the group of people actually in charge of the operation of the New Yatu branch.
So when Adam suddenly started bombarding the moon from the top of the branch office building, they were naturally the first to notice.
"Manager Adam! Adam! What are you doing?!"
"Manager Adam, what exactly did you do? You need to give us... no, I need to give the head office an explanation right now!!"
"Adam, you fucking get out here right now!"
The twenty managers, who had been in a meeting, channeled their divine power, frantically rushing towards Adam's manager's office while simultaneously resisting the shockwave from Adam's earth-shattering punch. However, when they managed to blast open the door, Adam was not the one standing before them.
In Adam's office, there were now only a hundred or so floating brains. These new human brain race swarmed at the sight of an intruder. Everyone was a new god race, a hundred against twenty, and that wasn't even counting the odds. Within a minute, these "most important people in the state" were meticulously torn to shreds by the mental power of the hundreds of brains.
The same thing happened in many other parts of the branch office building. Hundreds of thousands of new Brain-type beings flew throughout the entire skyscraper, wiping out all the Mithraic beings in the branch office, including the Vajrapani, to prevent them from causing trouble while Adam was busy dealing with Mithra. Although the Battle Gods were much stronger than the ordinary gods, a few dozen Brain-type beings could still easily defeat a Vajrapani.
The fact that these upper-class people of New Seattle died so tragically and inexplicably is perhaps an irony of fate. However, while Adam now only needs to kill the Mithras, this doesn't mean ordinary people can rest easy and won't be drawn into this great war.
In some ways, their current situation is even more desperate.
When Adam's astonishing right fist shattered the atmosphere, a massive hole hundreds of kilometers in diameter appeared in the night sky above New Jersey. The Milky Way, a network of stars, appeared in this hole to the naked eye of everyone in the city. The resulting void appeared beautiful at first glance, but was actually terrifying.
Adam's punch blasted a hole in New Seattle's city barrier and its atmosphere. Countless deadly cosmic rays, void pollution, and space debris immediately rained down on the metropolis without any obstruction. Terrifying ion storms capable of obliterating the entire city, excessive gamma rays enough to kill dozens of people, and space debris fragments hurtling down like rockets all slammed down with devastating force.
The force of all these objects crashing down would be more devastating than a nuclear explosion. Adam had already shattered the city's protective barrier with a single punch. If they were to reach the ground, they would instantly inflict heavy casualties on ordinary citizens of New Seattle. Apart from a few individuals with enhanced powers or even greater strength, only a very small number of lucky mortals would survive.
Ninety percent of the mortals in New Jersey, nearly ten million people, will perish in this storm of cosmic rays, void pollution, and space debris—and this storm is not even the "aftershocks" of a battle between gods and bodhisattvas! It is merely the aftershock of the aftershocks!
However, just before this cosmic storm, capable of plundering the entire city of New Jersey, was about to strike the ground, a powerful force appeared and forcefully stopped it in the sky!
Did Mithra save the citizens of his city? Not at all. He was busy with his own affairs on the moon.
Was it Adam or his fallen angel wife who, out of pity for these unfortunate people, used such overwhelming power to protect them? Clearly not. In a battle between gods and bodhisattvas, a single mistake could lead to defeat and death for either side. Adam and his fallen angel would never have wasted so much power.
So at this time, the one who saved the citizens of New Jersey was neither Mithra nor Adam, but a girl with eagle wings, golden lion hands and feet, and a lion's tail!
Panya Pazuzu, the Goddess of Magical Girls!
Panya didn't go back to New Sprouts for the meeting today. Instead, she wandered around New Jersey as usual, looking for someone she could help. After all, the situation in New Jersey had been terrible lately, and she never liked arguing about routes and strategies with her Hayden colleagues in meeting rooms. Panya was a simple-minded person, after all. She always felt that saving a few people in need of help was more important than attending meetings.
Whether it was lucky or unlucky, she happened to be flying around in the night sky of New Jersey when the cosmic storm struck.
Without a second thought, Pania looked up and immediately raised her hands, letting the golden divine power, like threads, radiate from her body in all directions, unfolding a huge golden divine power shield that was tens of kilometers wide!
At the critical last moment, the divine power shield that unfolded from Pania's hands stopped these terrifying cosmic storms... However, this was only a temporary respite. The atmospheric hole over Neo-Yatu, with a diameter of a hundred miles, had not been plugged, nor could it be easily plugged!
As long as Adam and Buddha continue their battle across the space between Earth and the Moon, neither can possibly plug this massive hole. If things continue like this, once Panya's strength to stay aloft is exhausted, more cosmic storms and space debris will continue to rain down, ravaging New Jersey even more than a nuclear bomb and killing millions of civilians.
How to do?
Pania was, after all, just a minor deity. To literally try to hold up the sky with her hands, even using both hands together, to withstand a cosmic storm more powerful than a nuclear bomb, she was already struggling in less than a minute. Even though New Sprout City provided her with a lot of energy, her own output and strength were still somewhat lacking. Soon, Pania felt her wrists cracking and aching from the pressure of the cosmic storm.
Ouch!
Even though she has a kind heart and often runs around helping others, Panya is ultimately afraid of death. Now, facing the pressure of suffering and even death for strangers, she immediately begins to have second thoughts.
Even if she let go here, no one would blame her. Alastor, Karen, even Hayden wouldn't blame her. They would all tell her to protect herself first in a crisis, because she didn't actually have the responsibility or obligation to risk her life to protect others. Although Pania was already eighteen this year, the rest of the team still treated her like a child. She knew this herself… So, she decided to leave after all.
As she thought this, Pania took a small step back and looked back... and in doing so, she inadvertently took in the entire city.
People. People. People. People.
She saw countless people on the city streets.
After all, New Jersey is the largest metropolis on the west coast of North America. From the city's crisscrossing roads to the seawalls, Pania could see from mid-air that everywhere were people the size of peas. Even though everyone should have seen the devastating cosmic storm descending from the sky and approaching, and even though they knew that New Jersey was in mortal danger, only a small number of people were trying to escape from the city.
After experiencing the anomalies of the past few months and the various disturbances caused by the chip, most citizens have realized that it's no use trying to escape now—but this alone is not enough to justify their special trip to the streets.
Many people came out into the streets specifically to gaze at the little goddess in mid-air, who, in the face of the collapsing sky, raised her hands to hold it up for them. With expectant eyes—eyes filled with prayer and pleading—they looked at the enormous golden shield protecting them, and at the little magical girl who might be able to save them.
It's strange, but there are at least hundreds of thousands, even millions, of New Asia citizens looking up at Pania here. When did so many people develop such deep faith and expectations in Pania? Perhaps, besides the popularity she's built up as a virtual idol, it's also because she's been flying around New Asia for the past few months, delivering "Dream Flowers" to the poor.
The sight of millions of people pleading and praying was now focused on her, making Pania feel an immense pressure, greater than a mountain. This pressure made Pania realize that if she turned and ran now, watching these people be wiped out by a cosmic storm even more devastating than a nuclear explosion, she would likely suffer psychological trauma… no! She would lose a million loyal fans!
Fans are very important! That's why she's not running away! She said she wouldn't run away, and she really meant it!
So what if there's a big hole in the sky? So what if some space debris falls from the sky?
Watch me push them all back!
286: Watch me push them all back!
It's just a big hole in the sky? It's just some space debris falling from the sky!
Watch me push them all back!
That being said, Pania wasn't an idiot. A mere "Minor God" couldn't possibly withstand the pollution storm pouring down from the universe... Actually, if it was just about holding it off for a while, she could manage. After all, Pania was considered quite powerful among "Minor Gods."
However, being able to withstand it for a while doesn't mean it can withstand it indefinitely... But then again, even if Pania were hit by a nuclear-level cosmic storm, she probably wouldn't die. Although her own abilities aren't great, Hayden and the others had previously made Pania's divine body very strong, so she won't die.
probably.
So Pania's problem now is simply that she doesn't have enough power.
What if the power isn't enough? In fact, hundreds of thousands, even millions, of New Seattle citizens are now focusing their pleas and prayers on Panya, hoping she can save everyone. These hopes can all be transformed into Panya's power—yet even so, the power is still not enough.
People's expectations and beliefs can become the power of the gods—something any god could do. To think that the prayers of a million or even several million citizens could withstand the onslaught of a cosmic storm is wishful thinking. Even if a scenario like "Let's all cheer for the magical girl!" were to occur, it probably still wouldn't work.
Everything in the world has its own rules and principles. Chance doesn't exist, and miracles also have their underlying reasons—the entire universe follows the same truth and rhythm, and operates for some reason, even if people may not understand that reason.
Since Pania's power is currently insufficient, then that power cannot arise from nothing—some might argue that the infinite power of love arises from nothing, but in reality, the power of love certainly follows its own principles and has its own laws. Nothing truly arises from nothing.
If Pania wants more power, she must obtain it from a reliable source. But can she do so?
In fact, Pania really could manage it!
Seeing the critical situation, the cosmic storm overhead began to grow more and more violent, and Pania felt the increasing pressure on the shield she was holding up with her hands, which was on the verge of breaking at any moment. Pania finally became nervous and began to think quickly.
(The city barrier of New Seattle... um... I could never fix it myself, it's too complicated.)
(So, repairing the atmosphere... the atmosphere doesn't seem like anything particularly difficult to deal with, right? It's just gas, after all. My divine attribute is wind... uh, I remember the atmosphere is a mixture of gases, isn't it? How are they mixed?)
She lacked neither technology nor knowledge, and even her strength was insufficient. Clearly, she couldn't do anything on her own. So what should Pania do?
The answer is actually quite simple.
She unleashed her multi-threaded divine will, sending it simultaneously to several gods, and first cried out to Alastor from afar: "[Mars! Save me! You should be able to repair and restart the city barrier of New Yatu, right?]"
Miss Panya never hesitates to ask others for help!
Alastor quickly replied to her on the communication channel: "Newbeam City is also affected by the aftershocks of the God-level power, and is somewhat unstable. I don't have many computing resources to support you. I will now split up my resources to control and repair the city barrier of New Yatu, but it will take at least a few minutes."
The city's protective barriers and various defense systems in Neo-Yatu were originally mostly controlled by the Mithra Group. Even if Alastor were a true god-level hacker skilled in information magic, he wouldn't have been able to remotely control Neo-Yatu's security systems—but the Mithra Group's Neo-Yatu branch's divine employees had just been wiped out by Adam's Brain-like beings. Since there were no official employees controlling the system, no matter how well-designed it was, with Alastor's divine power and technology, hacking into an unclaimed entity and taking control wouldn't have been that difficult.
...That being said, if we wait a few more minutes, the residents of New Jersey on the street will be roasted into meat by the cosmic storm!
So what should Miss Panya do? The answer is simple—go ask more people for help!
You see, Pania may not have many other skills, but she's exceptionally versatile when it comes to being a jack-of-all-trades. In the past six months in New Sprout City, she's learned a little bit of everything, and she learns everything very quickly. Now, Pania turns her head and looks around, taking in the entire city. In her eyes, everything in the world has something that can be borrowed and utilized.
While using this term might sound harsh, Pania's talent for "delegating tasks" is truly unparalleled!
For example, right now, she looked thoughtfully at the resentment, fear, and lamentations that permeated New Jersey. Panya wasn't good at using these negative emotions; after all, she was an idol, powered by the love and expectations of her fans and followers, and most gods didn't need this recyclable garbage—but Panya knew who could use these negative emotions!
So this time, Pania sent a message to her nominal boss, the Death Goddess Miktikashiva of the Smoke Mirror: [Boss~ Could you use me as a terminal to utilize these negative emotions of Neo-Yatu to protect the citizens?]
It doesn't matter what form it takes, even if it means asking the most terrifying vampire boss for help. This is the struggle Pania makes to save people!
Oh, so you guys are in New Seattle too?
Through the connection of divine power, the voice of the goddess Mikt immediately resounded in Panya's mind. For some reason, there was a hint of amusement in her tone.
[I knew that with such a big incident in New Jersey, it couldn't be completely unrelated to you. Now the whole world is watching, waiting to see how this will turn out.]
However, I regret to inform you, my dear Pania, that it would be far too dangerous for a newly emerged deity to rashly intervene in the conflict between Mithra and the Bodhisattva. Therefore, I do not intend to get involved in the current situation in Neo-Yatu, and I dare say that the other major gods and deities around the world are in a similar situation. Everyone is driven by self-interest. Unless you offer some compelling terms in exchange, no god will readily step in to help you at this juncture.
Unlike a good partner like Alastor, the goddess Mikt wouldn't readily lend Pania her power just because she asked for help. Whether new or old gods, none of them act without self-interest. Most of them are currently holed up in their fortresses, watching Neo-Yatu from afar, waiting for a suitable opportunity to participate and profit, but they won't easily reach into the fire, lest they get burned themselves.
...But then again, didn't Pania know this before she called on the goddess Mikt for help?
So, of course, she had already prepared the "offerings" to present to the vampire goddess: [Boss, you know I've been living in Newbud City with Uncle Hayden for the past few months, right?]
These words immediately startled the goddess Mikite: "[...What do you mean by that?]"
When I lived with Hayden in New Sprouts, I would occasionally take some photos of him in private, documenting his daily habits. Of course, I recorded this data for personality profiling, absolutely not for any lewd purposes... but boss, you definitely want this information, right?
Pania asked with a smile.