"And another thing—if you're dressed like a mage, and you were holding a staff just a second ago, why are you swinging such a dangerous sword now?! That's deception—straight-up fraud, meow!"
The Leopard Person kept ranting nonstop, completely oblivious to what was changing around them—until it realized the Tarnished wasn't even looking at it.
"Hey! Don't ignore me, meow! What are you even staring at—"
Its gaze followed his.
The instant it saw the figure standing atop the temple, it shuddered so hard its voice broke.
"K-Kukulkan…"
But neither the goddess on the long, ladder-like temple nor the Tarnished below spared the Leopard Person a single glance. To them, it may as well have been air.
They locked eyes for a long moment, and then the goddess above spoke first.
"Hi. Welcome to my Sun Temple."
There was no hostility in her voice—if anything, it sounded like she was greeting a guest.
And that pressure, that scale of magic… this was nothing like the ridiculous tiger-costumed "Leopard Person."
This was the real thing.
A genuine goddess—and a strong one.
Only… what was up with that peculiar way of speaking?
"Little outsider," the goddess continued, "are you with them?"
As she spoke, she casually tossed two figures down from above, like they were garbage being thrown away.
They fell fast, but he still caught the details clearly.
One was a teenager in a black trench coat, maybe sixteen or seventeen.
The other was bare-chested, his skin marked with several protrusions that looked like snapped bones.
Aspects of the Crucible?
That was the first thought that crossed his mind when he saw those broken bone-like shapes.
But he didn't recognize either of them.
Reincarnators, then?
They were within the chat group's mission range, after all.
Still… this batch really was getting worse and worse. Losing to a goddess and getting tossed around like trash—how embarrassing.
"That coat looks pretty decent. I'll strip it off later," he decided.
The moment the two bodies flew toward him, he pivoted and kicked—hard.
Boom.
Both figures shot back like cannonballs and slammed into the temple's base, embedded in stone like grotesque murals.
For the record, they'd only seemed unconscious when they were thrown down.
Now?
Whether they were alive or dead was anyone's guess—and he didn't care.
"Mhm. Nice kick," the goddess said, sounding pleased. "So you're not with them after all. Then tell me, little outsider—why have you come to my Sun Temple?"
"I need to confirm something first," he replied. "You're the Forest Goddess, right?"
"Yep. Big sister here is the goddess of this forest—Quetzalcoatl."
No lies. No evasion. She admitted it openly and even gave her name without hesitation.
"Quetzalcoatl…?"
"Mm-hmm. That's right."
The name felt familiar, like something he'd heard long ago, but he couldn't place it.
Still, she had introduced herself, so it was only proper to do the same.
"Hello, Goddess Quetzalcoatl. I'm a Tarnished. A nobody Tarnished."
"Ooh~ so you're a Tarnished little brother. Then why did you come to big sister's Sun Temple?"
Back to the core question.
He didn't bother hiding anything. He actually liked this kind of straightforward personality.
It reminded him of Malenia—if Malenia weren't afflicted by Scarlet Rot.
No… compared to the Valkyrie, Quetzalcoatl felt gentler, warmer, and openly kind.
So he greeted her properly first, out of courtesy.
"Goddess Quetzalcoatl, I came here for two reasons. First—Marduk's hand axe."
"Mhm."
She glanced at the colossal axe embedded beside her and nodded easily.
"Second," he continued, "to defeat you."
"Oh my." Quetzalcoatl's tone shifted slightly—surprised, yes, but even more than that… excited?
Yet she still wore that soft, friendly smile.
She didn't charge him like the demigods in the Lands Between, who would throw themselves at anyone daring to say, I'm here to kill you.
Maybe this was the composure of a true goddess.
"Still, no problem," Quetzalcoatl said. "I accept any challenge. Big sister enjoys this kind of thing."
Then her smile sharpened in a way that was unmistakably mischievous.
"Humans are fascinating, you know. From head to toe, you're full of places worth bullying…"
Alright. He wanted to take back his earlier praise.
This goddess had a bit of a nasty streak.
"Worth bullying," huh…
Even so, it didn't sour his impression of her.
His grip tightened around the greatsword meant to hunt gods, and the smile on his face grew brighter—almost radiant.
Because if she was excited…
Then so was he.
Hunting gods was exhilarating.
And this was the first time he'd faced a rational deity—unlike Radagon, the embodiment of the Golden Order, a walking puppet with no true self left inside.
At the same time, Quetzalcoatl finally began to descend from the platform.
Step by step down the endless stairs, she moved out of the sun's direct blaze and into shadow, and only then did he truly see her.
She looked about how he'd imagined: a warrior.
Golden hair spilled down her back, and on her head sat a strange ornament, shaped almost like a broom.
Her features were beautiful and sharp, and the red cloth wrapped around her body—barbarian-like in style—outlined her proud figure perfectly, paired with warm, light-brown skin.
She smelled of wildness.
Yet she didn't look brutish at all.
She was something else entirely—wild, intelligent, and heroic all at once, like a valkyrie forged from sunlight and battle.
As she came down, the magic in the air responded to her rising fighting spirit, thickening, heating, almost boiling.
"Tarnished little brother," she said warmly, "big sister really likes your courage. And you look strong, too. So let's make a deal."
"A deal?"
"Mhm. I don't know you at all, but you're probably here on Uruk's behalf, right?"
She smiled, and the terms fell from her lips like play.
"So—if you defeat me, I'll leave the Three Goddess Alliance and join you."
"And if you lose…"
She tilted her head slightly, eyes bright.
"Then stay here and keep big sister company."
Before he could even respond, her figure vanished from the long staircase in a blink, leaving only a few pebbles kicked into the air.
Fast.
His eyes narrowed.
But not too fast.
I can follow.
Clang!
Steel screamed against steel, the shockwave ripping outward like a storm. Trees trembled, branches whipping as if the forest itself was about to collapse.
The ground beneath his feet cracked in an instant, spiderweb fractures racing out.
Quetzalcoatl had appeared right in front of him—and somewhere in that blur, she had produced a weapon like a chainsaw-bladed sword.
Her blade slammed into his god-hunting greatsword with brutal force.
He looked slightly pressured—at a disadvantage for the first time in a long while.
And yet his smile only grew wider.
That strength. That speed. That technique.
Malenia couldn't even begin to compare.
A monster with power and speed both at the highest grade…
He hadn't seen one like this in a very, very long time.
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