“Are you Loki?” Tania asked.

  “And you must be the esteemed Tannit, the fearsome Morrigan, Epona, and… who is the boy?” Loki replied.

  “We haven’t come to talk,” Tania growled.

  “Yesterday one of your men massacred dozens of people. We’ve come to exact retribution.”

  “I’ve already disciplined that jotun, but what’s done is done,” Loki answered casually.

  “Now, you say you haven’t come to talk. Then what do you want? To arrest me?”

  “That’s none of your business,” Tania spat.

  Loki burst into laughter.

  “So you’re still working for a government that betrayed you? Or did you switch sides and join Athena after learning the truth? If I deliver your heads to Anat, I’ll surely be rewarded,” he said mockingly.

  Tania dismounted her horse.

  “Where is the giant from yesterday? I have unfinished business with him,” she said, brushing her fiery hair back.

  Loki laughed again.

  “I don’t understand. If you joined Athena, why pick a fight with me? What do you hope to gain?”

  Tania pulled out her totema and showed it to him.

  “Impossible! How did you get that?” Loki asked, genuinely startled.

  “No. This time won’t be like yesterday. Today we’re going to destroy you,” Tania said furiously.

  Rodrigo and the others nodded.

  “Well, I still have matters to attend to. A hand-to-hand fight with you doesn’t interest me,” Loki said, pulling out a pocket dimension.

  “If you’ll excuse me—I’ll be leaving.”

  He released the pocket dimension, and the entire battlefield froze in time within an alternate dimension; all soldiers were frozen mid-movement.

  Ana hurled an attack at him, but Loki teleported out of sight, his laughter echoing around them.

  In that instant, Loki’s hooded men began appearing from all sides, surrounding Rodrigo and the goddesses.

  Hundreds of them.

  The cloaked figures removed their robes, revealing towering humanoids—some over two meters tall.

  Some had blue skin and white hair; others red skin and black hair. Their faces were unnervingly beautiful, but their bodies were massive and imposing.

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  They struck the ground, unleashing waves of ice and fire. The gods dodged, but the enemy forces were overwhelming.

  They were jotun—giants Loki had brought as his personal guard.

  (Image created with Gemini AI for illustrative purposes only)

  “You think you’ll stop us with this trash?” Tania shouted into the empty air, knowing Loki was listening.

  “Let’s see whether you earn the right to fight me,” Loki’s voice answered from nowhere.

  “I’ll give you ten seconds.”

  Tania drew out her fire claws, Ana unsheathed her sword, and Epona shifted into combat mode.

  The three charged at the giants.

  Tania tore several apart in a single swipe of her blazing claws; Ana decapitated and slashed through many more; Epona shattered bodies with her fists and kicks.

  Rodrigo was stunned at the overwhelming power of the goddesses.

  “Five seconds… and without totemas,” Tania said as hundreds of jotun lay dead on the ground.

  “Don’t underestimate us!” Ana and Epona shouted.

  Loki continued laughing.

  “Congratulations, ladies—

  you’ve passed to phase two: individual battles.”

  In that instant, glowing circles with engraved runes appeared beneath Tania and Ana. Before they could react, both were teleported away. Rodrigo was left alone with Epona.

  “You two are the weakest ones, aren’t you?” Loki’s voice echoed.

  “You will be my main sacrifice.”

  A massive circle opened in the sky, and a monstrous serpent began forcing its way out.

  “My son Jormungandr wants to greet you. I hope you two get along,” Loki said, laughing.

  Epona froze in terror.

  “It… it’s… a tannin!” the horse goddess screamed.

  “What do you mean?” Rodrigo asked.

  “Tannins are divine serpents—beings of death. Their venom can kill even gods,” Epona muttered, her voice trembling as she stared at the grotesque creature emerging violently through the portal.

  It was so enormous that, although most of its body was still inside the portal, the portion outside already stretched for several kilometers.

  The serpent was crimson red, with twisted horns and small, deformed claws. Its eyes glowed a monstrous yellow, and purple liquid dripped from its fanged maw—burning the ground like acid.

  Rodrigo suddenly remembered Anpiel mentioning such creatures. He never expected to see one; they sounded like legends.

  But this one was real—so massive that he couldn’t even imagine its full size.

  Epona was terrified. Her legs shook violently, and her eyes had turned almost white.

  “Only a Jupiter-class being can fight these monsters…” she whispered, frozen with fear.

  “How long until your friends come to rescue you?” Loki mocked.

  “And when they do appear, will you already have become food for my precious son?

  Place your bets.”

  “I’m going to protect Ep,” Rodrigo thought, stepping forward.

  “I’ll fight this beast—even if it costs me my life.”