"You-"
"You're in a mortal body, you fucking dumbass."
The woman's body was quickly enveloped in a golden aura that stopped my blade, but my spear had already torn through her right hand and severed more than half of her right arm in half.
Blood poured from the woman's wound, and as her frown turned upside down, my smile couldn't help but widen.
"That's a good expression… it really made everything worth it in the end."
"D-Don't you care about her?!" The woman shouted, her face practically crumbling with anxiety and panic as I continued to press her.
The tip of my spear, drenched in her blood, sizzled like the surface of a hot pan. It boiled the water until it evaporated into the atmosphere, mixing into the lingering confusion.
"You know… I had a dream where I killed the general. It took a bit for me to finally regather all the pieces of that dream, but now I've realized who my true enemy is… It's you. It's fucking you, you disgusting goddess prick. If it wasn't for you, I would have been able to leave that city, and I would have been able to have the freedom I wanted. I wouldn't have been sent to hell, and I will admit, the comrades I made are quite good to me…." My sadistic expression dropped to a cold glare, sending shivers down the goddess' spine. "... But I couldn't give any less of a shit. Now… will you lose to not only my father but also me?"
The goddess slid her foot back as if wanting to retreat, but upon realizing the shameful thing she was just about to do, she stopped herself and gritted her teeth.
"You son of a bitch…."
Everything was falling together too nicely. It was all going according to plan.
[You have received a new sub-class for such an accomplishment]
[Effects will be granted upon classing up]
[You have been crowned "Prince of Manipulation"]
[Watching gods gawk their mouths in shock]
[Watching gods smile maliciously as they gaze down on a potential new foe]
[Watching gods laugh hysterically at the foolish goddess]
I knew she wouldn't run away due to her pride as a goddess. I also knew she wouldn't let this slide… meaning I needed to kill her immediately.
"Did you never love this woman?"
My cold gaze twitched, the edges of my lips slowly curling upwards while my eyes ever so slightly squinted.
A malicious smile stretched across my face, and as the woman shivered once again, she saw my lips crack open, allowing the few words I had kept in my throat to flow out.
"Love? Why would I ever love that thing?"
The massive injury I had dealt to the vessel of this goddess was already regenerating at a rapid speed, but compared to when she was fighting with Ares, the difference was like night and day.
Soon, the woman stretched and flexed her fingers, allowing her to imitate reaching toward me, and just as her hand began to squeeze my image, I felt an invisible force wrap around me.
"So you said all those loving words to this pitiful girl just to gain her favor in order to draw me out? That's such bullshit that it makes me want to torture your soul. You never knew I was going to appear! YOU NEVER FUCKING KNEW! IF YOU DID, YOU WOULD HAVE PREPARED BETTER! DON'T FUCKING INSULT ME AGAIN, YOU INSIGNIFICANT ANT!"
"You know, it was a bit harder than I thought to gain her favor. But as soon as I saw her true personality and her true status… I knew there was only one way to get to heart… through [Heroic Persuasion], of course," I continued to smile, all while an invisible force continued to try and crush my ribs.
I've gambled my entire existence on this… if everything is as planned and my foresight is good enough, then….
For the first time in both of my lives, I nearly began to pray to some outer. I prayed that this would work because if it didn't, I knew this woman would take my soul and do heinous things with it.
I wasn't going to allow myself to be received, just to be tortured over and over again until my will completely broke… and all of that hung on this one single gamble.
"[FREEZE]!" I shouted with the last remaining bits of air in my lungs, and just as I thought… she froze for just a second, allowing me to coat myself in buffs and powerful auras.
Through [Royal Blood Magic], I controlled and whipped my spear straight at me, cutting right upwards and swinging through the invisible force.
It easily separated it, allowing me to breathe for just a second, but as my spear followed through, the power was enough to send a massive shockwave up into the sky, splitting the clouds above for just a mere moment.
"[FREE-"
I attempted to use my ancient tongue once again, but the repercussions were so strong that a pool of blood poured from my mouth.
I vomited it all up but wasn't given a chance to breathe as the blood just kept pouring out. If I wasn't careful now, my death would be by my own hands.
"You fool. Do you really think you can kill me?" Athena muttered, her face darkened over with rage.
Her foot slammed the back of my head into the ground, forcing me into a humiliating position that caused an endless stream of notifications to follow.
"YOU THINK YOU CAN KILL ME!? YOU MERE MORTAL!? KNOW YOUR FUCKING PLACE!"
The gods were clearly laughing at me as I felt the woman's heel crush harder and harder into the back of my skull.
"I SHOULD LOCK YOUR SOUL UP FOR ALL OF THE ETERNITY! I SHOULD ALLOW THE DEMONS OF HELL TO FEAST ON THIS DREADED SOUL OF YOURS! DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD DEFEAT ME!?"
My eyes felt as if they were about to pop out of my head, and the blood that poured from my mouth nearly drowned me until-
CRACK
"Nah… but he can beat you…." I bubbled through the pool of blood, and as a flicker of lightning lifted me up, allowing me a chance to breathe, I saw the scarred back of a man who looked bigger than ever.
