The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns: An OP Xianxia Returnee LitRPG

Chapter 147: Anubis Joins The Fray

Listen While Reading:

-----

Neferteri was completely shaken as she heard her son’s voice coming from behind her. Having assumed he had been either captured and tortured to extract information from him or already dead, she was already trying to avenge him by killing Merneith.

“Ah! Akhenaten?!”

However, his voice quickly made her hesitate, as she was unable to attack Merneith in that very moment she flinched by hearing him, twisting Set’s entire body to look where the voice came from. She was filled with even more hope when she saw Anubis coming from amidst the sandstorm, covered in a thick veil of Dark Matter.

“Anubis?! So it’s you, my son! Have you finally broken free? Come join your mother then, and-”

“{Black Star}”

“Huh?!”

However, the voice of a completely different person, a young girl, echoed from within Anubis. As Neferteri realized she had been tricked, the voice of Akhenaten actually came from Anubis himself, reproducing what it had recorded of Akhenaten’s voice.

An incredible little trick, which was completely unexpected from the one that had the idea, was a young wolf-beast girl from the world of Elios.

And the adoptive daughter of Bing Xue.

Before Neferteri could react, a huge sphere of pure black matter imbued with spiritual energies reached her, engulfing her in a potent explosion that disintegrated all her projectiles!

BOOOM!

“Uuuggh! W-What was that?! Akhenaten, is that really you?!”

Neferteri groaned in annoyance as she used Set to protect herself, yet the damage from the explosion was strong enough that it even destroyed some of Set’s incredibly tough armor plates.

“Yes mother! I’m sorry, I was aiming at Merneith!”

“What?! What sort of aim do you have, boy?! We’ll have a talk-”

“{Death Cannon}!”

Yet once more, Neferteri was deceived, as a huge cannon of concentrated Dark Matter and Electromagnetic Energies was fired from Anubis mechanical jaws as they opened.

“Agh!”

Neferteri quickly attempted to escape, shocked by what was happening, but it was too late. The dark beam hit her from the back, throwing her down into the sands below, accompanied by a tremendous explosion.

BOOOM!

Set was heating up rapidly as its armor was falling apart, making Neferteri gasp for air, feeling the interior of the Mechanical God to be too hot!

But more importantly, what had just happened—she couldn’t believe it.

She was not deceived just once, but twice!

“I can’t believe I was so foolish... You’re definitely not my son!”

Neferteri was furious, rushing back to Anubis as she heard Akhenaten’s voice again.

“Mother, no… I am your son!”

“ENOUGH!”

With a wrathful roar, the Empress channeled her Golden Bloodline into Set, activating her ability as she realized that whoever was piloting Anubis was someone else entirely, an enemy.

“[Renenutet’s Divine Harvest]!”

FLUOSH!

Suddenly, the Aura of Set temporarily transformed, resembling a snake-headed goddess covered in black and red scales—the Goddess of Harvest, Renenutet!

Surrounding Set, an aura of plentifulness was created, resembling an endless field, a farm, where plants kept popping out.

Then, as they appeared, they were quickly harvested by Set, disappearing into particles of light that were devoured by the Mechanical God.

And within a mere split second, his wounds were immediately healed, and he gained an even burlier form.

“Ah, that must be the Golden Bloodline thingy!”

The voice of the girl inside echoed as Anubis rapidly evaded the incoming attacks from Set, powerful punches that released shockwaves of crimson energies, followed by red sand projectiles.

“{Spiritual Dark Matter Spear}!”

As she evaded the attacks with Anubis, the girl rapidly combined her spiritual energies with Anubis Dark Matter, conjuring an enormous and mighty black spear, which she used to intercept Set’s attacks and projectiles.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

“Whoever you are, you certainly do not fight like my son... You happen to be much better, ironically.”

Neferteri smiled as she kept attacking Anubis while the black spear intercepted her blows and projectiles, already showing clear signs of shattering.

“This is it!”

With a mighty roar, Neferteri swung down her arms against Anubis, just in time for Anubis to create a giant black shield out of Dark Matter and Spiritual Energies.

“{Black Matter Spirit Shield}!”

CLAAASH!

The enormous blow pushed Anubis down, but his shield didn’t shatter and instead quickly transformed, piercing through Set’s hands and arms with hundreds of sharp needles.

“GRAAARRRGH!”

Set screamed in agony, yet Neferteri kept pushing the Mechanical God, gathering the sands into hundreds of spheres the size of watermelons.

“Full of little tricks, huh? {Crimson Sand Orbiting Stars}!”

She summoned dozens of giant spheres of the red sand, hardened until they became diamond-like glass, and used them to orbit around Set, protecting her from the damage that Anubis constantly dealt.

The black spear continued attacking her, but it rapidly shattered into pieces, only for another two more to take their place. Set continued pushing forward, only to find even more tricks below Anubis’ sleeve.

“That’s not all I have!”

The little voice inside roared as her Spiritual Energies fluctuated and transformed, quickly materializing dozens more black spears, and then these black spears combined, creating massive beast-like claws.

“What?!”

Neferteri immediately knew this wasn’t a power Anubis could use or something; this was the power of whoever was piloting him, fusing with his own!

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

Her orbiting glass spheres worked well at repelling the initial barrage of attacks, but Neferteri started being pushed back once more, gritting her teeth in anger.

Yet, things weren’t going to get any better for her, as someone quickly appeared from behind her, accompanied by the furious and ferocious cry of a mighty god.

“CRYAAAH!”

A blazing bird emerged amidst the crimson sandstorm. Like a rising phoenix, the titanic mechanical god swung its giant claws, clashing against Set and tearing through its defensive orbiting crimson glass spheres.

CRASH!

“You?!”

Neferteri was shaken to find Merneith was back in action already, even after the amount of damage she had inflicted on Ra, yet her question was only answered with a powerful blow as a fiery plasma spear pierced through her defenses, slashing right through Set’s arms and tearing them apart.

SLAAASH!

“Did you think I would give up already?! Stepmother… I will not rest until my mother is avenged!”

With a ferocious and fiery aura emerging from her body and then transferring to Ra, Merneith tapped into her Golden Bloodline’s deepest powers, generating large quantities of sunlight and fueling Ra with it.

FLASH!

“Ugh…! W-What is that?!”

Neferteri struggled as she was trying to evade Ra and Anubis attacks, just when Ra suddenly glowed brightly, its entire body being reborn anew.

Golden and red plates covered the mechanical god’s entire body as he gained a second pair of fiery wings made of plasma and fire; its spear grew in size, gaining halos made of fire.

And at the same time, the appearance of Ra became more lifelike, covered in a veil of flames eternally burning.

“No…! Impossible!”

Neferteri couldn’t believe it, but her eyes were not deceiving her; what she was seeing was nothing else than Ra’s Awakening form, a myth among myths that became a reality once Merneith piloted him.

“I’ve figured it out, Ra!” Merneith roared. “Forgive me; I let my emotions get the best of me; I was afraid; I despaired; I couldn’t accept my mother’s death at this woman’s hands.”

Merneith sighed, then her eyes saw through Neferteri through Ra’s mechanical eyes, fierily blazing with divine flames.

“But now I understand! I’ll never falter again; we’ll work together, and I’ll lead you to victory, Ra!”

Neferteri grew more and more nervous and furious at the same time, roaring back at Merneith as her sandstorm gathered around Set’s body, suddenly beginning to crystalize.

“Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!”

“Ah! Merneith, your stepmother is...!"

Hekita’s voice echoed from within Anubis as it flew away. Suddenly,  tremendous pressure started coming from Set as it absorbed the entire crimson sandstorm.

FLUOSH!

“It’s transforming too!” Merneith said. “So that woman had such an ace below her sleeve…”

RUMBLE!

Set attained his “Ultimate Form” as it became a giant three times its original size, already reaching over fifty meters of height, a true behemoth.

Now, completely covered in several layers of red diamond-like glass made from the pressurized crimson sand it controls, Set has reached its strongest form.

With six enormous arms and hundreds of weapons floating around it.

It seemed invincible.

Yet for Anubis and Ra, and Merneith and Hekita, it was a challenge they had to overcome.

“Oh my, things are getting more interesting…”

And Bing Xue watched in silence, sitting over the crystalized sand where Neferteri had thought she had trapped her.

“I’ll watch for now... But if Hekita is in danger, I’ll step in.”

She had promised her mother she would keep the girl safe.

However, she also wanted to see her grow.

And this was Hekita’s opportunity; she couldn’t simply detriment her growth.

“Show me how strong you girls are…”

As this happened, her Doppelgangers fought over a hundred Divine Machines, tearing them to shreds and slicing them into pieces.

“I’ll take care of the small fry for you, so fight… Fight to your heart’s content!”

-----