Boom!
Absolute Demonic Front—South Gate.
A deafening roar echoed through the area. The city wall, layered with complex compound enchantments, was suddenly torn apart, leaving a gaping, horrifying hole. Smoke and dust surged across dozens of meters of street.
Chunks of stone rained down from above, clanging against the shields raised by the soldiers. The impact was so fierce that they staggered back, arms numb from the shock.
From the swirling smoke stepped a figure, arms open in an exaggerated embrace. Behind her, the massive breach she had created sent chills through the defenders. Some even faltered in fear.
That was the ultimate barrier—capable of withstanding two strikes from the Goddess of Demonic Beasts' map-wide attack!
And it was torn apart with bare hands?! This is insane!
"Stay calm! Have you all forgotten Lord Leonidas' teachings?!"
"The closer you are to reason, the further you are from death!"
"All units! Hedgehog formation! Triple-layer defense!"
Tim, the East Gate barracks general, currently on second-line duty to recover from a severed arm, raised his remaining hand and bellowed.
Under his command, the disciplined Uruk soldiers cast off their fear and roared in unison, surging forward as one.
At the same time, a volley of throwing spears engraved with wedge-shaped runes—"Tenacity," "Sharpness," "Bleed," "Armor Piercing"—were hurled with their full strength, whistling through the air.
Behind the formation, dozens of Astrology Tower Casters and Shaman priestesses chanted in unison, casting a barrage of spells into the haze.
Ether waves gathered and tore through the blurring veil, revealing the invader—an exotic presence with South American flair.
Her loose golden hair was adorned with straw and plant-like ornaments. Emerald eyes sparkled with vitality and warmth. She wore a red-and-yellow Mayan-style battle dress.
Fingers laced before her chest cracked audibly. Her tall, sun-bronzed body radiated raw, explosive power with every flex of muscle.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
In the next instant, the spears and spells launched by the South Gate defense slammed toward her welcoming stance.
Sharp airbursts exploded across the battlefield.
Yet, in a moment, the spells were completely unraveled by the intense warping of space before they could even touch her.
The spears—caught effortlessly by her slender arm—returned to her hand like birds to a nest.
She casually flung dozens of them aside. With a light toss, the spears stabbed over a meter deep into the stone pavement, their shafts quivering violently.
While the soldiers stared in stunned disbelief, a light laugh with a thick foreign accent rang out.
"Well, well! What a passionate welcome! Big sis here just loves that kind of greeting."
"So, in return, I'll pick the best among you… and challenge them!"
Tim's expression darkened. He quickly changed his hand signs. The Uruk soldiers didn't hesitate—they raised their shields and lunged with spears.
But against a chief god who once ruled the Mayan world, what could humans possibly hope to do?
With just a casual sweep of her sun-burnished arm, the Feathered Serpent God, Quetzalcoatl, shattered every incoming spear.
Neither the divine runes carved into the cedar shafts nor the surrounding ether particles made any difference—she ignored them all.
Broken spearheads tore through several houses before finally losing momentum.
The front-line soldiers' grips shattered. They were sent flying, coughing blood, clearly out of the fight.
"Hey, hey—fleshbags! You're beings from the Age of the Gods, remember? Use those flabby bodies of yours!"
"In battle, you should avoid relying on weapons, right~?"
"Come on! Under this perfect sun, on this perfect stage—charge the gods and wrestle me with all you've got!"
"Let your bodies clash and compose a hymn of human courage!"
Quetzalcoatl beamed, playfully goading the humans into defying the divine. She seemed absolutely thrilled by it.
But seasoned commander Tim wasn't about to throw away the human edge of forged, enchanted weapons just to play into a god's game.
With precise signals, the second row of the Spartan formation rotated forward. They drew their short swords and surrounded the charging goddess.
"Well, well… naughty little ones! Ready for your lesson?"
The tall, golden-haired, emerald-eyed goddess laughed gleefully and launched into the air—then crashed down from dozens of meters high.
Upon landing, a shockwave erupted outward. The tightly packed Spartan formation burst apart as if detonated from within.
As the soldiers screamed, flung skyward, the lightning-fast goddess caught them one by one and smashed them to the ground.
"Out! Out! 97… 98… 99! Combo score!"
Her delighted cheers echoed across the battlefield, but the sight was grim—nearly a hundred elite Uruk soldiers hurled out of the "ring," their bodies slamming into bricks and dirt, falling into a state of "death."
"…100…"
Buzz!
One-armed General Tim gritted his teeth as golden light burst from his body like a solid aura. He drew a short blade from his waist and lunged at Quetzalcoatl's wrist from a sharp angle.
As a farewell gesture, the goddess attempted to perform a body slam, but her right arm instinctively pulled back, and she missed her target.
However, in the instant their bodies slipped past each other, Tim, unable to gain any footing, was the one who crashed to the ground even faster.
Quetzalcoatl's expression shifted slightly. She was just about to rush back to the impact point to catch her prey before he was crushed to death—
But in the next moment, the golden-haired woman abruptly halted her pursuit. Instead, she landed gracefully to the side, turning her gaze with interest toward the swirling smoke at the far end of the street.
"Uncle Tim, grab it!"
A crisp, girlish shout rang out. A black chain snapped from Ana's armguard, winding tightly around the waist of the South Gate officer. With a powerful yank, it pulled him safely back toward the Uruk formation.
"Everyone... this is unforgivable!"
Beneath her hood, the purple-haired girl stared in shock at the fallen Uruk soldiers all around. Her eyes blazed with fury.
"Ana, don't be rash!"
"Be careful—she's strong! We're better off attacking together!"
Tim quickly grabbed Ana's shoulders, stopping the young girl before she could charge forward in anger. His voice was stern.
Moments later, Samael arrived with Ishtar, leaping down from the Boat of Heaven, Maanna.
The ancient serpent glanced over the "corpses" strewn across the battlefield, then looked toward the golden-haired woman standing before a set of steps, casually stretching as if warming up. With a resigned tone, he asked,
"Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent God?"
In classical Nahuatl, "Quetzal" means "bird with beautiful feathers," and "coatl" means "serpent." Combined, the name means "Feathered Serpent." Hence the title. In Mayan mythology, she is known as Kukulkan.
In other words, Quetzalcoatl and Kukulkan are different linguistic names for the same deity.
Similarly, "Ishtar" is the Akkadian name of the goddess beside him. Her older name is "Inanna."
But this smiling, energetic elder sister isn't just any deity. She is the goddess of the sun, learning, agriculture, and science from Aztec mythology within the Mayan world.
She is one of the four children of the creator god Omeotl who presided over the Five Sun Eras. In terms of divine stature, she stands nearly equal to Zeus, king of the Greek gods, or Odin, king of the Norse.
In Mesopotamia, her counterpart would be none other than Marduk, King of Kings.
Even after undergoing Spiritual Descent and divine rank suppression due to being outside her native domain, she was likely still stronger than Ishtar—especially in her role as a war goddess.
If that foolish goddess hadn't lost her divine bull, there might've been a chance at a direct confrontation.
But right now, in a one-on-one fight, no one here stood a chance of winning in a physical clash.
So brute force was out. They would have to rely on cunning.
At that moment, Quetzalcoatl—whom Samael mentally labeled as a major headache—glanced at the Uruk reinforcements, now looking even more energetic and full of life. She flexed her waist, nodded happily, and declared,
"That's right! I came all the way from the distant Mayan world to destroy Uruk—just a little!"
With the destructive power of a demolition crane, the goddess placed one hand on her hip, raised her right arm, and responded with unrestrained delight, as if showing off.
Just a little?
Samael eyed the massive breach at the South Gate and the nearly one hundred fallen Uruk elites. His brow twitched slightly as he finally voiced his question.
"Hey, big sister Quetzalcoatl, according to the King's Clairvoyance, the Mayan world just suffered a massive catastrophe. Everything's in ruins."
"You can't even manage that mess—so how do you have the time to project your will all the way to Mesopotamia just to play some land-conquering game with two other goddesses?"
Historically, the Mayan world was in the era of the Second Sun's destruction, an era ruled by the Feathered Serpent God, Kukulkan.
The first child of the Mayan creator god, the Smoking Mirror Tezcatlipoca, had a longstanding grudge with Kukulkan and seized every chance to stir up trouble.
As human civilization advanced, people gradually forgot their gods. Quetzalcoatl began slipping into hibernation.
Taking advantage of her slumber, the jaguar-shaped Tezcatlipoca raised fierce winds and destroyed the Second Sun Age.
When Quetzalcoatl awoke to find her kingdom and people gone, she flew into a rage. She burned down her palace and launched into a fierce battle with the jaguar.
No one knows how that war ended, but both vanished from myth.
Legend says that in the future Fifth Sun Age, Quetzalcoatl will return to lead her people once more.
Among the three goddess alliance, each one must have her own reason for descending to this world and joining this hunt.
The Greek Goddess of Demonic Beasts, Gorgon, answered the summoning to take root in this land, escape persecution, reclaim her divinity, and enact vengeance on humanity.
Ereshkigal, the Mesopotamian Underworld Goddess, underwent Spiritual Descent to fulfill her "destiny"—to bring this era to an end, protect the souls of old humanity, and restart a new civilization.
But after closely analyzing the current mythological trajectory of the Mayan world, Samael still couldn't figure out Quetzalcoatl's motivation.
As the one-time ruler of an entire age, someone nearly on par with Marduk, King of Kings, who other than the Mother of Genesis, Tiamat, could possibly summon such a great god into this realm?
Besides, as a benevolent god, there was no need for her to abandon her homeland just to get involved in this mess.
Under the ancient serpent's serious gaze, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed older sister blushed faintly. She cupped her cheeks with both hands but peeked slyly through her fingers, her tone laced with unexpected shyness.
"Um, cute little brother… when you look at me like that, it totally hits my moe point. That's cheating!"
Just moments ago, she had been battling ferociously, tearing through an entire squad with her bare hands like a demolition crane. Now she was acting all bashful and reserved? That shift was way too fast!
Also—why the hell are you blushing like a bubble tea kettle?
Ana, Ishtar, Merlin, Leonidas, and the others who had just arrived all glanced at each other, faces twisted in awkward confusion, silently judging the display.
Then, as if suddenly recalling something more amusing, the ruler of the Mayan world narrowed her green eyes, still peeking out from between her fingers.
"Also, you have this really pleasant scent... I feel like we're fated to be together."
"Well, if you're willing to marry me, big sister might just consider switching sides!"
"I agree!"
A bright, enthusiastic voice rang out from the group as a pale hand shot into the air.
The ancient serpent turned his head with a stiff creak, teeth clenched as he stared daggers toward the source.
"Merlin, you bastard, you set me up!"
The white-haired Incubus, now proudly holding up Samael's right hand toward Quetzalcoatl, gave a sheepish grin. Turning back to his victim, he wore the smug look of someone trying to talk a good girl into mischief.
"Samael, come on. She said it herself. Can't you make a little sacrifice for Uruk?"
"Relax. With me backing you up, the King will totally approve!"
"Besides, with such a beautiful big sister, you're hardly getting the short end of the stick, right?"
"Oh, thank you so much!"
The ancient serpent growled a chilling laugh, visibly restraining himself from strangling the bastard on the spot.
Off to the side, Ana gritted her teeth and drew her divine weapon, Harpe, looking about one second away from cracking the white-haired Incubus over the head.
"Forget it. I don't like forcing people. That would be way too childish."
Quetzalcoatl smiled, raising a hand to dismiss the Incubus's matchmaking antics.
Meanwhile, the ancient serpent, observing everything with growing concern, slowly grew solemn. A suspicion he had harbored was beginning to take form.
Did anyone even remember the original question?
Why had Quetzalcoatl descended upon Mesopotamia and joined this frenzy of hunting humans?
Did you really think someone like her would just throw herself into the fire for free?
Listen carefully—Quetzalcoatl's main divine domains in the Mayan world were the sun, learning, agriculture, and science! War wasn't even her forte.
This goddess was no muscle-headed brawler obsessed with suplexes and brute force.
Her earlier talk of "marriage"? Just a smokescreen to dodge the real question.
It was obvious—whatever the answer was, it was something she was deliberately avoiding, something too sensitive to state outright.
Even if she had to reveal it, she would twist the truth or hide part of it.
So then, what secret was so deep that even the chief god of a bygone Mayan era dared not speak it aloud?
"Alright… seeing how enthusiastic you all are, big sister will now answer the question from earlier…"
Quetzalcoatl smiled as she gathered her thoughts, her voice slow and clear. Samael instinctively leaned in to listen.
"It was this world that called me here..."
"We were given a mission—to slaughter humanity and destroy Uruk."
"But how we go about it? That's up to me."
"My idea? Challenge a hundred people a day. Take them down and call it a day."
"The expressions people make when they're living in fear... are really quite fascinating."
The will of Mesopotamia itself… called her to destroy humanity?
What kind of sick joke was that?
The ancient serpent stared at her, unable to believe what he was hearing.
Before he could question her further, Quetzalcoatl, now finished with her warm-up, leapt down from the stairs. Her eyes gleamed, lips curling into a chilling, sinister smile.
"Looks like you interrupted my score just now. Now I'm still short by one."
"Well then, let's pick someone from your side to fill the last slot."
Everyone's expressions changed drastically as their gazes shifted and converged on a single person.
"Don't you agree, my adorable little brother destined to be my soulmate?"
In that instant, a crushing pressure filled the air. The figure leapt forward, shockwaves exploding in its wake.
And in Samael's widening eyes, that golden, sunfire-wreathed fist loomed ever larger—hurtling straight toward him.