Rodrigo—still hunched over, hissing, foam dripping from his mouth—stared down Jormungandr with feral, slit-pupiled eyes.

  “Who decided tannin are evil?” Athena asked as she kept her spear pressed against Tania’s throat.

  “Are you really so eager to kill someone just because they were born different from you?” the Greek goddess continued.

  “Fine,” Tania snapped back. “Do you know the tannin rebelled and waged war against Lord El for supremacy over the divine realms? They’re beings who only wish to destroy and slaughter innocents. Their powers of death have brought nothing but sorrow to existence.”

  The fire goddess shouted her words at Athena while Ana bit her lip so hard it nearly bled, unable to say anything. Athena had already released her arm.

  “And did you ever hear their side of the story?” Athena asked calmly.

  “Did you live with them? Did you know how they felt?”

  The goddess tapped her spear lightly against the ground.

  “I killed several of them myself,” Athena continued. “For example, a group of tannin who called themselves Giants once attacked Olympus. One of them—Enceladus—I killed by crushing him under an island.”

  Her voice didn’t waver.

  “Tell me, Tania… did you fight them because you understood who they were? Or because someone told you that you were supposed to hate them?”

  Athena tilted her head.

  “Would you kill a friend… just for being different?”

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  Tania fell silent, unable to answer.

  Meanwhile, Rodrigo leapt at the massive serpent’s face, his fists glowing with dense white energy, hammering Jormungandr repeatedly and forcing the beast to stagger backward.

  The monstrous serpent tried to impale him with a horn, but Rodrigo grabbed it—

  and snapped it off

  before smashing another brutal punch that drove the serpent’s head back into the ground.

  “How can a tannin wield sacred powers?! That’s impossible!” Loki shouted, furious.

  “Even without consciousness… Rui is fighting for us,” Ana whispered, shaken.

  “I believe in Rodrigo as well,” Epona said, struggling to stand on trembling legs.

  Tania averted her eyes, conflicted.

  “A long time ago,” Athena began, “before Lord El sat upon Lel’s throne and declared himself King of the Gods, tannin and other deities lived in harmony within their own pantheons.”

  She lowered her spear from Tania’s neck.

  “The only way to overcome differences is to live with them—understand them. Don’t let the nonsense your superiors fed you dictate your decisions. Start making your own. Do you understand?”

  Tania crossed her arms, pouting, refusing to look any of them in the eye.

  “Do whatever you want,” she muttered. “But the moment he snaps, I’ll be the one to end him.”

  At that instant, a massive icicle shot straight toward Rodrigo.

  Ana reacted instantly, deflecting it with her legendary sword.

  “Don’t be a sore loser, Loki! Show yourself, you damned coward!” she screamed, furious.

  Rodrigo then slammed both fists downward, crushing Jormungandr’s skull again. The serpent vomited blood and venom, trembling as it struggled to lift its head.

  More toxic gas poured out of the monster’s body, forcing the goddesses to back away. Rodrigo walked straight through the lethal fog unharmed and continued beating the serpent mercilessly, white light bursting from his fists.

  Desperate, the serpent aimed its poisonous breath toward Ana—but Rodrigo struck its snout from above with so much force that Jormungandr shut its mouth and swallowed its own poisonous gas.

  The massive serpent convulsed violently and collapsed, shaking the ground.