Anubis, consisting only of its upper body, looked down upon the tiny humans below like an ancient giant.
Its palm overshadowed the sky and the sun. When it flicked its finger, sharp claws released a blast of air!
"That's right! That's right! Hahahahahaha!" Muska leaned against the vines, laughing maniacally: "Kill them! Kill them all! I am the King of Laputa!"
The Shadow tilted downward truthfully, pressing down extremely fast!
Bang!
The massive wave of dust blown up instantly swept away Baru, who was holding Sheeta. The two rolled and crashed into the corner, stumbling along until they clung to each other, leaning against a cluster of plants, unconscious.
Anubis's palm slowly lifted—revealing only Muska's remaining lower body.
His upper body had been flattened into bloody sludge, sparsely hanging from the fingernails.
"A Mortal... has no right... to command a deity."
The jackal head looked indifferently toward Bastet.
Mori Tsukisa felt a silver air current begin to surge out from the black cat's body. She patted Nagini, telling her to put Bastet down.
Like spreading ripples, every time the elegant black figure stepped on the stone slab, circular silver light continuously emanated from beneath its feet, nesting layer upon layer. Within the expanding aura, the black cat's legs grew longer, it stood upright, and its torso transformed into that of an adult female.
Her ears became sharper and more pointed, and scars from swords appeared on the back of her hands. Outside the weathered silver robe, two gleaming scimitars hung at her waist, but her head remained that of a black cat.
She moved her wrists, stopped walking, and looked up with green eyes at Anubis, who was hundreds of times larger than herself in mid-air.
"You betrayed me." Bastet's voice was hoarse, with a cold metallic texture; when the words were uttered, stuck together, Her indistinct way of speaking somehow felt alluring.
The Mighty Valkyrie Bastet.
Clang!
Bastet suddenly drew the scimitars from her waist.
"I need to pass through... Twilight..." Anubis replied expressionlessly to Bastet. The Origin Point of Its upper body had been expanding unnoticed.
"That is my divine power, Anubis. Do you intend to oppose me?"
Mori Tsukisa felt that something was wrong.
She had been staring at the black hole from which the dog-headed being's upper body emerged, and now, it had expanded again... This cunning deity... was breaking through a certain boundary!
"Bastet!" Mori Tsukisa realized instantly: "It is stalling for time!"
The girl's words seemed to infuriate the deity above. The immensely heavy scepter was raised high, the weapon, wreathed in roars, thunder, and wind, suddenly smashed down toward Mori Tsukisa!
"Mortal dares to look directly at a deity!!"
The magnificent divine power, wrapping the scepter, plummeted like a black cloud pressing down!
"Mori Tsukisa!" Bastet 'bang' exploded into a cloud of silver mist, then rapidly coalesced in front of Mori Tsukisa. Her twin blades were pressed together, barely managing to catch Anubis's thunderous strike amidst the huge explosion.
Boom—
Electrical currents swept down Bastet's neck. Countless blades made of wind cut open Her silver robe. The scimitars and the scepter pressed against each other, the grating, harsh sound growing louder and louder.
"Anubis!"
"You should continue to sleep... Bastet. Mortals cannot lose the Gatekeeper of the Underworld—"
But they can lose you.
"That is my divine power!"
"Anubis, you have betrayed my trust, and you have betrayed the Sun God's trust!"
As the two deities who once sat enthroned in the firmament wrestled with each other, the hole formed by the black mist grew larger and larger. The giant-like deity was almost able to step out with Its legs and feet.
It was indeed trying to break the barrier between the Netherworld and the Mortal realm.
Having steeped in the Underworld for many years and repeatedly stolen power while the gods slept—this caused the Gatekeeper, who should have simply performed its duty, to develop inappropriate ambitions. And It was well aware of the destination such ambitions would lead It to.
"You cannot resist my divine might. Bastet, you have slept too long; this is no longer the era of three thousand years ago." Anubis said, while the yellow scepter continued to press down on the struggling Bastet: "I shall gain your followers, I shall bear the divine power of all gods, I shall drink the water from the heart of the Underworld River, and achieve the Multiverse—"
Multiverse!
"Mori Tsukisa..." Having endured many verbal attacks from the little lunatic and her Attendant, Bastet was already immune to Anubis's childish provocation. Gritting Her teeth, She turned Her head and angrily whispered, word by word:
"Quickly, think of a way! You promised to help me!"
"The situation is not right!"
"It possesses many powers that do not belong to It... I cannot hold on for much longer."
The reply to It was two dazzling lights!
Ding!
A pair of sharp blades parried the massive scepter. The girl lightly jumped onto the wall surface, her dinner knives flipping and dancing in her palms, her ink-black hair trailing behind her in an afterimage.
Mori Tsukisa swiftly charged toward Anubis in mid-air!
"Mortal..."
The scepter swung down again!
"cyttorak's Crimson Bands!" From a palm-sized card, streaks of crimson steel clattered,'swoosh' bursting into a blooming blood vine. Strand after strand wrapped around Anubis's arms and waist, coiling up the torso, constricting the neck and wrists—
Dozens of tough strands glowed red and hot. Bastet heard the sizzling, scorching sound.
Looking coldly at the struggling deity in mid-air, the girl stepped forward, her resolute Shadow growing larger... Behind her, a group of Little Sprites clad in heavy armor were already fully prepared and waiting.
Besides the leader Arrietty, who held a rapier, Kina behind her wielded a massive spiked club; the skilled archer sprites, who were drawing their bows and arrows, also had jingling daggers and darts hanging from their waists; long spears stood numerous, and grappling hooks lay across the ground.
"Prepare to charge!"
Arrietty 'clanked' her plain, heavy face mask shut!
At a single command, the sprite formation uniformly lowered their shoulders, bent their backs, and spread their legs, adopting a charging posture!
On the other side, soft yet tough patterns flowed around Mori Tsukisa's calf—slippery skin passed over the stone slab, stopping beside the sprite formation: a thick, vicious python.
Nagini opened her cavernous mouth, 'huffing' in intimidation at the unreachable, massive deity above. The divine might soaked in the River of the Dead for a thousand years could not make her retreat even an inch—under the serpent's fangs, Mortals and deities were equal.
Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun had found weapons at some point.
The High Priest, whose magic had been sealed, had a calm expression. He held a sharp-tipped spear, and Anck-Su-Namun brandished two gleaming scimitars.
"My love, this might be the end." Imhotep tapped the stone slab with the handle of his spear, looking at his lover's face.
"Then let's see who can kill It. I really want to test if a deity can die." Anck-Su-Namun put a knife into her right hand, quickly grabbed Imhotep's neck with her left, and passionately kissed her man.
"Come on." The woman with a Mortal body looked up with contempt.
The group of beings behind Mori Tsukisa thus glared fearlessly at the lofty deity—
You are my faith, transcendent above all Gods.
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