TGS - Chapter 135

Chapter 135: The Power of Humanity

When it came to fighting experience, Lotus certainly had some.

In the modern era, Lotus could be said to have learned a little of everything, including combat techniques.

And after coming to Solancia, because she couldn't use her divine power to harm individual human lives, she would occasionally engage in actual combat with real weapons, though such situations were rare.

Although she had combat experience, her level of mastery… was a matter of opinion.

Faced with Suojia's question, Lotus answered honestly, "I've fought, but I'm not particularly skilled."

Suojia paused, then added, "Ah, I meant combat using divine power."

This time, Lotus shook her head directly.

The gods of Solancia had friendly inter-divine relations and lacked the mortal custom of sparring or competing. Therefore, in all her years as a goddess, Lotus had never once used her divine power for combat.

"I can learn now."

Suojia smiled. "Oh, you don't need to learn from scratch. Gods naturally understand how to use their power. You just need to become a little more proficient."

Lotus looked up to see Suojia smilingly beckon with her hand. "En, Anmila."

To her left, the God of the Sky nodded, letting the air currents carry him closer. His slightly chubby, baby-like face wore a very reliable expression; he clearly knew why Suojia had called him.

To her right, Anmila, who had been standing by the Sun God, walked over with her usual demeanor, her expression as cold as moonlight on a snowy night.

That aloof face was an excellent mask for her inner bewilderment—if Lotus weren't already quite familiar with the Moon Goddess's eyes, she probably would have been fooled as well.

The three gods stood in a row before Lotus.

Lotus: "..."

Lotus understood.

"Although the strength of one's divine power has always been the key factor, proficiency in its application can also influence the outcome of a battle," the God of the Sky explained simply. "We are all deities who command the authority of nature, so we can serve as your sparring partners first."

Suojia continued, "It won't take long. After you've practiced with us, Adia, Nierde, and the others will also come to test their skills against you, so you can familiarize yourself with fighting gods of their type in advance."

Lotus said, "The Goddess of the Mind?"

A flicker of worry crossed Suojia's eyes. "Yes. I think… Perseus will probably come looking for you later."

Mythological settings and the gods themselves did not always correspond perfectly. Lotus didn't know what kind of combat methods Kasnie's Goddess of the Mind would employ.

However, judging from Perseus's divine domain, her method of attack was likely similar in principle to the Goddess of Love's.

As Lotus pondered this, she suddenly detected something unusual in the Earth Goddess's tone.

"Why do you say that?"

Lotus thought back to a long time ago, to Perseus's shadow, the actress named Asilu. She had played Lotus on stage and had cast a smiling, unreadable gaze from the book room that concealed a murderous intent.

Perhaps that unusual behavior wasn't just because they were both goddesses?

Only then did it dawn on Lotus. When she first visited the Kingdom of the Gods, she had wanted to explore the past memories she had lost upon her ascension. She had asked Adia, and she had asked Suriel and Anmila, but none of them knew, so she had temporarily set her questions aside.

She hadn't asked the other major gods she met afterward.

However, Adia and the others didn't know because they were born later. What about the other major gods?

Especially En, the King of the Gods, and Suojia, who should have been born around the same time as the God of the Sky. Would they know something?

Under Lotus's questioning gaze, the Earth Goddess sighed. "It's not really something you need to know. You've already forgotten it all, and what I know may not represent the truth of the past."

Lotus pressed her lips together, her fishtail swaying unconsciously. Her tone was earnest. "Thank you, Suojia, but I still want to know."

"Hmm, let's talk while we fight," Suojia suggested after a moment's thought. "It'll save time. Besides, that Perseus seems to enjoy using words to interfere during a battle. Think of it as practice."

After a two-second silence, "Where do we fight?"

Suojia smiled and raised a hand, pointing to the sky.

The battlefield of the gods was often in the heavens.

Of course, this wasn't a true battle of gods happening right above people's heads. The "heavens" here, like Solancia's Kingdom of the Gods or Kasnie's Divine Island at Sea, was a kind of space that would not affect the mortal world.

The key point was that it would not affect the mortal world.

Just imagine it. The gods of legend all possessed terrifying power, especially those who controlled the forces of nature. A clap of their hands or a stomp of their feet could summon storms and shake the earth.

After everyone had a satisfying, all-out fight, they would look down and—oops.

The heavens would have fallen and the earth cracked, and humanity would be gone. What would be the point of winning then? They might as well all fade away together.

Of course, that was assuming there were no rules to restrain them. The rules would not sit by and watch the will of a civilization destroy the world. If one were to cross a "line" during a divine battle, they would start getting headaches and dizziness before the fight even really began. How could a victor be decided then?

They might as well have a down-to-earth brawl. At least that would seem more grounded.

As these miscellaneous thoughts churned in her mind, Lotus had already followed the senior major gods, who were said to be experienced in divine combat, into a space that existed outside of reality.

Compared to before they entered the space, the environment the major gods found themselves in seemed unchanged. A clear blue sky was overhead, and light, scattered wisps of cloud floated around them.

But a single glance downward would reveal that the earth seemed to have been pulled extremely close in an instant, like a sky of clouds just within reach.

This was the battlefield of the gods.

The Moon Goddess flipped her wrist, and a scepter materialized in her palm, her eyes eager to begin.

Suojia wagged a finger at her. "You're next. I still need to chat with Lotus."

She then turned to the God of the Sky. "You're last. Any objections?"

En sat cross-legged on a ball of wind. "I'm fine with whatever."

Despite his imposing and domineering persona in the myths, the King of the Gods was clearly very easygoing. He didn't say much, and he always possessed the reliable air of a deity, which was a great comfort to Lotus—as long as she didn't think about his infant-like appearance.

Lotus summoned a long, water-colored whip. She tested it, found it unfamiliar, and switched to the standard divine scepter.

The staff was frost-blue, its texture like jade, with a flowing, water-like shape trailing from its tip. It lacked the typical Solancian aesthetic of inlaid gold and gems, much to Lotus's relief.

The whole process wasn't clumsy, but it certainly wasn't familiar.

With everything ready, Suojia still had the small basket of sweet cakes looped over her arm, showing no intention of putting it down.

"Shall we begin?"

Lotus centered herself and said cautiously, "I'll be in your care."

Suojia: "Of course."

In the next instant, the earth that had been some distance away suddenly rose, making one wonder whether the land was approaching or if they were falling.

It still had the appearance of Solancia's lands, but there were no traces of human activity upon it—only land, rivers, mountains, and forests.

The moment her toes touched solid ground, the Earth Goddess's uniquely gentle voice sounded by her ear. "If you lose, your penalty is to eat a cookie."

Lotus: "..."

The pressure suddenly mounted.

The soil swelled, and the mountains and rocks trembled as the earth launched its attack.

But Lotus's reaction was equally swift. With a wave of her scepter, she stirred the nearby Yilu River. The once-calm water surged violently, rising to counter the earth and stone.

But compared to Suojia's actions, Lotus's response clearly lacked a certain degree of ease.

As water and earth clashed, Suojia spoke. "Regarding your past, I haven't heard much. After all, you were still human back then."

Just as Lotus focused to listen closely, she noticed that although Suojia herself hadn't moved closer, a thicket of vines was rapidly growing toward her from behind.

Lotus's eyes tightened. The wisps of cloud floating around her swirled to her side, trapping the vines.

Although the Solancians didn't know that clouds were also essentially water and had classified them as part of the Sky God's domain, that didn't stop Lotus from using water vapor.

"So?"

In the brief pause between controlling the clouds and the river, Lotus asked curtly.

"At that time, the human city-states were in a chaotic war. There was almost no peaceful land to be found. Divine wars were also far more frequent than they are now, though they usually didn't involve many gods, as nothing had yet formed a system."

The mountain forests on the ground shot up, like sharp, verdant blades aimed at the sky.

Lotus dodged to the side, simultaneously making a subtle flick with the tip of her scepter.

A rope of condensed water appeared behind Suojia. Before it could touch her back, the Earth Goddess, without looking, raised her hand and made a fist. The vines absorbed the water rope, and their leaves seemed to grow even greener.

"Back then, the only gods of Solancia who had taken form were En and I, and we didn't pay special attention to news from the mortal world…"

"The only thing I can be certain of is that you were in Solancia at that time. While you existed as a human, myths about you were already in circulation."

Lotus: "Is that so? That should be quite normal."

As she spoke, all the moisture was drawn out of the vines and the mountain forests, and the plants shriveled and withered. Lotus continued to use water to fight against the rocks and soil, then suddenly frowned.

Suojia: "Indeed. Although not common, it has always been the case that myths are sung while the human is still alive."

"...However, we have never seen a human who could wield divine power while still living."

Lotus's eyes widened slightly. "What?"

With that momentary lapse in concentration, the soil suddenly broke through the water curtain's defenses from all sides, rushing straight for Lotus.

Lotus retreated abruptly, but the edge of her clothes was still grazed.

"What do you mean, wield divine power?"

"To be precise, it wasn't quite that, because I didn't sense your divine power. Perhaps because of that, none of us—neither the gods of Solancia nor those of other city-states—noticed you."

"The first to discover you was Perseus."

A chill ran through Lotus's heart. "The Goddess of the Mind. She existed back then and participated in the divine wars?"

The earth and stone came at Lotus like a heavy curtain.

The water seemed to have difficulty blocking it completely, and the soil itself would absorb water. Separating it again would also consume power.

As a Solancian god capable of controlling both her true form and her avatars, multitasking wasn't difficult, but there would always be some difference in the level of precision.

Lotus had to first focus on dealing with the assault of earth and stone. For some reason, she recalled a proverb she had once read in a book translated from an eastern country: Counter soldiers with generals, and water with earth.

Was the Earth Goddess a natural counter to the Yilu River?!

But if it were in another form, say, ice—

The water current changed direction, rushing straight toward the sharp arrows formed of earth and stone, allowing itself to be absorbed by the soil.

Lotus's eyes flashed. She pointed her scepter forward, and the soil, dust, and the rocks mixed within it froze solid, transparent clusters of ice crystals blooming across the surface.

Only then did she have the leeway to listen to the Earth Goddess speak. "Yes. The city-state that believed in Perseus was located within the territory of present-day Solancia thousands of years ago."

"Her pantheon was our final opponent in that chaotic divine war. In the end, her pantheon withered, and her city-state was absorbed into Solancia."

"I once thought Perseus had faded away along with them, but I later learned she had joined the Kasnie pantheon. I suppose the people of that city-state fled to Kasnie and brought their faith in Perseus with them."

Suojia speculated.

"How did she discover me?"

"Perseus's divine domain at the time was the mind. It's not strange that she had a closer connection to humans. It was we who were negligent of the human situation and thus failed to notice."

"Then… was she the one who killed my human self?"

"Not to my knowledge. Even if you could wield power that a human shouldn't possess, you were still fundamentally human. She would not have acted directly."

Lotus dodged a net of interwoven branches and leaves, unconsciously biting her lip.

"I still don't understand. I remember—I mean, I should have been just an ordinary human back then. How could I have power different from others… Suojia, do you know the specific manifestation of that power?"

Amidst their questions and answers, the clash between water and earth had already gone through several rounds. It was hard to say who had the upper hand, but the Earth Goddess was clearly more at ease.

Lotus's latest question was not answered immediately.

Suojia stood not far away, smiling.

By the time a sense of alarm rose in Lotus's heart and she abruptly looked down, solid rock had already burst forth from within the frozen soil.

The rock changed shape mid-air, its sharp end shooting toward the River Goddess. It was as fast as lightning, piercing through the defensive ice wall and stopping just in front of Lotus's neck.

The tip of the rock was less than an inch from her skin.

Suojia withdrew her hand, letting the soil, trees, and stones return to their original forms.

"It is said that you could manipulate water currents, just as you can in the mortal realm."

Lotus looked up. "It is said?"

Suojia's smile faded slightly. "Yes. I did not witness it myself. At that time, we were in a decisive battle with the enemy gods."

"However, based on the myths added after humanity's great victory, the triumph in that final battle likely had a great deal to do with you."

"And you, as a human, died in that battle."

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