A True god versus a True god? Romance and Artemis in a one-on-one duel?
If she could win, it would be a one-on-one duel. If she couldn't, it would still be a "one-on-one duel," only with Castorice, Hyacine, and Mydei potentially joining the fray. After all, they were all part of the same entity, so it still counted as a one-on-one duel, right? No harm in that?
As Aglaea pondered this, the sea of flesh and blood on the street seemed to realize it couldn't break through from either side. It began to surge upward, reaching over ten meters in height within seconds.
Then... with a resounding thud, it crashed against Aglaea's Golden Thread barrier. When she wove this cage, she had sealed it completely—not just the sky, but the ground as well, leaving no blind spots whatsoever.
Inside the golden cage, Vic cursed incessantly while unleashing a barrage of Divine Magic—Seventh-Level, Eighth-Level, Ninth-Level spells—but all to no avail. Neither offensive nor control spells could penetrate the Golden Thread, leaving him unable to affect anyone outside.
The situation had reached a temporary stalemate. Aglaea couldn't destroy the sea of flesh with its overwhelming regenerative capabilities, and the sea of flesh couldn't break free from its tiny cage.
To Aglaea, it might have seemed like a simple arm-wrestling match, requiring no particular skill. But to everyone else watching, it was anything but.
Perseus stared at the constantly writhing mass of flesh, his body trembling uncontrollably. As a Catfolk, his senses were naturally sharper than a human's, and he could now feel an overwhelming sense of danger. His body screamed silent warnings: Run! Run! Run!
It was the primal fear of a herbivore facing an apex predator—a terror etched deep within his genes. Even a rat that had never seen a cat would instinctively flee at their first encounter.
Perseus realized that even the smallest speck of flesh from this sea would instantly kill him upon contact!
Yet, at this very moment, this monstrous entity was completely immobilized, trapped by those thin, unbreakable threads!
Tap, tap, tap... Accompanied by the sound of footsteps, the Wizard and Ranger who had previously gone to explore the basement's other exit returned. As they walked, they reported, "Lord Perseus, we've located the other exit. It leads to... Holy shit, what the hell is that?!"
Unsurprisingly, the two were stunned by the scene unfolding on the street outside. Just then, Vic, still trapped in the Golden Thread cage, unleashed another Divine Magic: "Eighth-Level Divine Magic! Crimson Impact!"
Seeing this, the Ranger instinctively dodged, leaping to land on the crystal chandelier in the middle of the hall, where he hung upside down, warily watching the chaos outside.
Then he saw Vic's attack blocked by the Golden Threads, not even a ripple of its power leaking through. The Ranger froze in disbelief. "What's going on? These Golden Threads blocked an Eighth-Level Divine Magic?!"
Hearing this, Perseus clarified, "No, to be precise, Okhema's God of Romance blocked the attack from Artemis."
The Ranger stared blankly. "?"
Overwhelmed by the sudden influx of information, the Ranger stood rooted to the spot, lost in thought.
On the battlefield, Aglaea remained focused on the immediate threat, oblivious to the events unfolding behind her. While the enemy's attacks couldn't be dismissed entirely—she needed to constantly expend divine power to maintain the Golden Thread cage—it was essentially a test of endurance. She had vastly superior reserves of divine power and felt no threat from this level of attrition.
Moments later, the situation finally began to shift. The sea of flesh swiftly filled every corner of the Golden Thread cage. After a brief pause, the crimson mass abruptly began to contract and converge, with Vic at its center.
The flesh seemed to be burrowing into his body, but Vic's form remained rigidly fixed, neither expanding nor swelling. This unnatural constraint caused him immense agony, and he began to scream in agony.
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"
But the mass of flesh paid no heed to his screams, instead accelerating its compression. Vic cycled repeatedly between fainting, waking in agony, and fainting again. The scene resembled a brutal torture, even causing Grey to grimace and shudder involuntarily, as if experiencing phantom pain from witnessing another's suffering.
Aglaea frowned slightly, likely understanding the situation. The sea of flesh moments ago wasn't something conjured by the Divine Descent, but rather the process of the Descent itself.
It was like squeezing paint onto a palette before painting. The more paint squeezed out, the larger the painting could eventually be. This "Moon Goddess" likely intended to use the entire city as her "palette," but Aglaea had shattered her palette with a snap and then tossed her a bottle cap in return.
Having grasped this, Aglaea calmly observed the flesh coalescing without attempting to intervene. To her, fighting a lump of clay would be far more tedious than waiting for the Divine Descent to complete and then facing a weakened version of the god.
She didn't have to wait long. Within about ten seconds, all the flesh vanished, leaving behind only shattered buildings and Vic standing motionless in the center, his head bowed, looking no different than before.
Aglaea cautiously observed her opponent, adjusting the Golden Thread from defensive to offensive mode.
The instant she completed the switch, a golden figure descended from the sky, landing squarely on Vic's head with a devastating kick.
Boom!!!
With an ear-shattering roar, the street erupted as if struck by a meteorite. The ground cracked open, revealing a massive crater over ten meters in diameter. The golden figure leaped out of the pit and landed a short distance from Aglaea.
It was a golden-haired girl around 1.6 meters tall, clad only in a loose white Priest's robe and barefoot on the ground.
Her golden hair cascaded down her back, reaching her calves, nearly touching the ground.
The golden-haired girl glanced around before her gaze settled on Aglaea. Her pupils shimmered with iridescent light as she exclaimed with delight, "Such a beautiful person~!"