"Oh my, you actually took big sister's full-power strike head-on—" Quetzalcoatl's smile turned dangerously sweet. "—I'm really starting to like you more and more."
A line that sounded almost like a confession didn't sway him in the slightest.
If anything, he felt the same.
With every fist that landed cleanly and every blade that carried lethal intent, his fondness for this goddess only deepened. It was like a single spark had finally detonated the warrior's soul that had been dormant inside him for far too long.
Their exchange grew faster and faster, until weapons became secondary—most of the time it was bare hands and legs, impact after impact, a violent, passionate collision.
The earth began to tear.
Deep, bottomless cracks crawled outward in all directions, splitting the ground like shattered glass. The temple—built from stacked boulders—was now riddled with fractures, swaying on the edge of collapse as if it might crumble any second.
Only the Sun Calendar Stone placed atop it remained untouched, unmoved, as though the chaos around it simply didn't exist.
Honestly, if he hadn't spent so much time trading blows with Hoarah Loux, he would've suffered for it here.
Still, one thing kept nagging at him.
Quetzalcoatl's strength and pressure were clearly below Radagon's—at least, Radagon in that puppet-like state—but it didn't feel like this goddess was fighting at her limit.
It felt like something was restraining her, preventing her from using her full power.
—Whoosh!
He swept his greatsword horizontally, and the black flame clinging to its edge burst outward in a wide arc.
The strike didn't land.
Quetzalcoatl avoided it with a string of clean backflips, her movements light and precise.
"Mmm. A technique-type little brother," she said, still wearing that gentle, teasing expression. "You're really quite good. Big sister likes you more and more."
Her tone stayed playful, but her eyes had turned serious.
If she wasn't mistaken, that weapon was meant for one purpose: to kill gods.
And that black flame—something about it felt incomplete, as though an essential "piece" was missing, yet it could still hurt her.
"So if that's the case," he said, matching her light tone, "why aren't you going all-out? And you look like you've been wary of this sword the whole time…"
He glanced down at the blade and immediately clicked his tongue.
"Oh. I get it. Then I'll switch."
He nodded as if he fully understood, then swapped weapons, casually shouldering a massive black greatsword. He looked back at Quetzalcoatl—
—and she looked even more guarded.
"Still don't like it? Then I'll switch again."
This time he drew the Serpent-Hunter.
Quetzalcoatl's expression grew even more… pleasantly murderous.
"…I truly didn't expect you to have so many dangerous weapons, little brother."
Even as a chief goddess, she had trouble keeping her composure.
The danger radiating from the latter two weapons was far beyond the first. If the first sword merely threatened to wound her, these… could kill her outright.
Which made sense.
The second black greatsword was Maliketh's Black Blade. Even with Destined Death largely released into the world, faint remnants still clung to it like ash that refused to fade.
And the third—Serpent-Hunter—was a weapon forged to hunt the Blasphemous Lord Rykard, who had merged with the God-Devouring Serpent. Against a goddess with serpent and dragon aspects, it carried an overwhelming advantage.
Of course, the Tarnished had no idea.
It was pure coincidence.
Those were simply his favorite heavy weapons.
"Alright, alright. If you don't like those either, I'll switch again."
He tilted his head, genuinely confused, and finally replaced his weapon with a blade as thin as a cicada's wing—Malenia's Hand.
But to Quetzalcoatl, this looked like something else entirely.
"Little brother," she said softly, "teasing big sister isn't allowed, you know."
"Teasing?"
He blinked, completely baffled.
Teasing? Where was that coming from?
He was choosing carefully out of respect, because he wanted a true, full-power fight.
A rare opponent worthy of him had finally appeared—how could he not test his real strength?
Besides, if the temple broke, it wasn't his problem.
Unfortunately, the more he tried to "respect" her, the deeper their misunderstanding grew.
"Looks like this little brother needs a bit of punishment," Quetzalcoatl purred.
Her presence changed instantly—like a blade leaving its sheath.
Dense killing intent sharpened the air, prickling against skin like invisible thorns.
"So you're finally getting serious?" he murmured.
He lowered his stance, ready to burst forward at any moment.
"Mhm." Quetzalcoatl smiled. "Then big sister's coming."
She twisted her body. The chainsaw-like greatsword scraped past a strand of hair by her shoulder—
—and she flung it.
Boom!
The weapon tore through the air like a cannon shell, producing a sonic boom.
He merely tapped it with the side of his long blade.
The trajectory shifted, and the greatsword screamed sideways into the forest.
No one could count how many trees it pierced—only the chain of explosions and splintering detonations that followed, one after another. The magically sustained jungle barrier tore like paper, shredded in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, nearly half the forest was annihilated by that single throw.
A heavy cloud of dust surged up.
The roar echoed across the entire woodland.
And in that moment—
Quetzalcoatl was already in front of him.
Her fist rose from below like an anti-tank shot aimed straight at his abdomen.
Thud!
But it hit nothing.
The pressure blast alone blew apart several drifting clouds overhead.
At the same time, he reversed his grip on the prosthetic blade behind his back and vanished—
only to appear behind her a heartbeat later.
Scarlet lightning condensed in his left hand, forming Lansseax's Glaive, and he brought it down in a violent arc.
"Kukulkan! I'm here to help you!"
That voice rang out from afar at the worst possible moment, and the Leopard Person's figure popped right into the center of their clash.
—BOOM!
Thunder exploded across the sky.
The lightning blade carved a bottomless trench into the earth, a gash so deep it looked like it led straight to the underworld. Even the distant temple shattered—only barely missing the Sun Calendar Stone.
And as if they shared a single mind, both fighters snapped into motion at the same time, whipping out a kick—
Two whiplike roundhouse strikes, landing together.
"Guh—!"
The Leopard Person let out a tragic wail, then vanished from sight, launched into the forest like a thrown ragdoll, crashing into the trees and disappearing completely.
Quetzalcoatl, meanwhile, lowered her leg as if nothing had happened, then faced him again with a bright, delighted smile.
"So scary," she said, voice sweet as honey. "That pressure and that killing intent you showed just now—big sister was truly frightened."
She said that, but her expression was the picture of satisfaction.
"Compared to before—when you were a little lazy—just now, big sister truly felt it. That was real killing intent."
She leaned forward slightly, eyes shining.
"That look… the look of a warrior who has crawled out of a sea of corpses and blood. Big sister loves it. Truly."
"And you still dodged," he replied, the chill fading from his eyes, replaced by a flat, deadpan stare.
"No, no." Quetzalcoatl turned her waist a little. "Your attack did hit big sister. Look."
A large chunk of her skirt at the hip was missing, and on her wheat-brown skin there was a scorched mark, blackened and raw.
"So," she said calmly, "you win, little brother."
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