The climate around Mars had returned to normal. The temperature was beginning to drop again, and the tremors had ceased.

  Tania stood still, emanating a calm crimson aura that flowed from her body, while Ana watched her with one knee still pressed to the ground, her expression frozen in astonishment.

  “I never thought a little girl like you could hurt me,” Sekhmet said as she walked toward the two goddesses, displaying her blazing claw.

  Her eyes burned like fire, visible only through the ominous lion mask she wore.

  “Wait, Sekhmet! Morrigan is mine!” Ishtar shouted from atop one of the ruined buildings. The goddess stood beside her aide, Ninshubur.

  “I only want to kill this bitch who dared to hurt me,” Sekhmet growled, her voice hoarse with rage.

  Tania stared straight into her eyes, while Ana rose to her feet and summoned her sword, Dyrnwyn.

  “Can you handle her alone?” Ana asked Tania.

  “I hope so… that’s the Egyptian goddess I told you about,” Tania said nervously.

  “That one!? That lunatic is the one who inspired you to become the lioness goddess you are now!?” Ana asked in disbelief.

  Tania kept her gaze fixed on Sekhmet without answering, just as the Egyptian goddess revealed her fiery claw.

  “If you have time to chatter, Morrigan, I suggest you spend it fighting me properly. Or do you want me to come down and face both of you?” Ishtar shouted.

  “Tania, all I can do now is wish you good luck. Forgive me for being unable to stop this confrontation,” Ana said—and then leapt toward Ishtar.

  Midair, she raised her sword and struck the handle of the sickle-sword Ishtar wielded. The earth trembled for an instant.

  “You’ve already done more than enough for me, Ana. Someday, I’ll repay you,” Tania thought with a faint smile.

  Sekhmet made a swift downward slash with her blazing claw. Four lines of fire—like searing laser beams—appeared in front of her and rushed toward Tania. As they closed in, Tania deflected them with her own fiery claw, sending the blasts outward. They exploded violently upon colliding with distant obstacles.

  “I see you don’t remember me, Master Sekhmet… did something happen to you?” Tania asked, confused.

  The Egyptian lion goddess repeated the motion—this time multiple times—creating dozens of fiery beams. Tania evaded some gracefully and deflected others just as she had before.

  “Answer me, Master Sekhmet! What happened to you!?” Tania shouted desperately.

  Sekhmet engulfed her entire body in flames and hurled herself at Tania, both hands shaped into blazing claws. Tania jumped aside, avoiding the attack as Sekhmet smashed the ground where she had been standing, shattering the earth into countless fragments.

  “I have nothing to say to you, child,” Sekhmet replied.

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  She pulled her claw from the crater she had just created as Tania landed several steps away, facing her.

  “Don’t you remember me!? I’m Tannit—the little Punic goddess you met in Carthage, the one who visited you in the Land of Manu!” Tania shouted.

  “Oh… yes, now I remember. You’re the girl who used to visit us. How small the multiverse is,” Sekhmet said, staring at her.

  Though her face was hidden, Tania felt that she was smiling.

  “Yes! That’s me!” Tania cried with a huge smile.

  “Master Sekhmet, I learned to fight with fire because of you. I know you, and I know you would never join Ares’ army. Why don’t we join forces?” she pleaded, her eyes glassy with emotion.

  Sekhmet began to laugh.

  “You know me? I recall telling you to find a more positive role model,” the Egyptian goddess said.

  “What do you mean?” Tania asked.

  “Tannit, I am not a goddess of war. I am a goddess of genocide. I exterminate humans, wipe out entire peoples, and drink their blood. I delight in the stench of sulfur and the rotting corpses of the dead. It’s true—I never joined Ares out of conviction or a desire to return home,” Sekhmet said, her voice trembling with excitement.

  Tania stared at her, uncertain.

  “I joined him because I wanted to enjoy killing again,” Sekhmet said, laughing.

  The Punic goddess bit her lip in rage.

  “When I went to Carthage, I enjoyed watching people die—those being treated but destined to perish. In fact, I couldn’t restrain myself and killed several humans on that trip. I tortured them slowly and then devoured them. It was exhilarating!” Sekhmet continued, sensually caressing her own body, clearly aroused by human suffering.

  “Shut up, demon! You’re not Sekhmet! She would never do something like that!” Tania screamed in fury.

  “I was exiled from the Land of Manu long before the massacre that happened there—that’s why I’m still alive. You were just a child. You understood nothing of the world,” Sekhmet said, laughing.

  Enraged, Tania leapt at Sekhmet with her blazing claw and struck her with all her strength—but Sekhmet stopped the attack.

  “I underestimated you, child. Now you’ll see me fight seriously,” Sekhmet said.

  Sekhmet’s divine power began to surge absurdly—so immense that Tania recoiled at the sheer force pouring from the goddess.

  Sekhmet hurled Tania far away. While Tania was still airborne, the Egyptian goddess appeared above her, drove her claw into Tania’s abdomen, and slammed her into the ground. She proceeded to pummel her repeatedly, then lifted her by the neck as blood poured from the wounds inflicted by her claws.

  Sekhmet opened her mouth—and so did her mask.

  “Senef Taw (Breath of Blood)!” the Egyptian goddess roared, unleashing a massive red beam from her jaws that struck Tania head-on. The blast was so powerful that it momentarily darkened the sky.

  Thrown back by the blast, Tania crashed into the dimensional barrier, coughing blood. She fell face-first into the ground, carving out a massive crater.

  Still unsatisfied, Sekhmet lifted Tania and slashed her repeatedly with her claws, then grabbed her by the face and dragged her across the ground as she ran. When she stopped, she lifted Tania, tore off her face with a savage bite, then decapitated her and hurled the body aside—finally detonating her head with a burst of fire.

  “I love this!” Sekhmet screamed, mutilating herself with her own claws in ecstatic pleasure.

  But her celebration was brief.

  Tania stood back up. Her head reattached to her body, and her wounds healed instantly.

  “I’m sorry, Master… but I’ve surpassed you,” Tania said calmly, her body looking completely unharmed.

  Sekhmet ignited her power even further, causing a massive tremor across all of Mars. The sky turned crimson, and the suffocating heat returned.

  “Senef Taw!” she roared again.

  The Egyptian goddess fired the colossal red beam once more—but before she could realize it, her body had been split clean in half, along with the beam itself.

  “Helep: Telet Mardykhor (Transformation: Manticore Model),” Tania said quietly.

  She stood directly behind the Egyptian goddess, her head lowered in faint melancholy. Her appearance, however, had changed drastically.

  The fire she emanated had formed a kind of armor over her body, complete with pronounced pauldrons. Her claws were far larger now. Her boots resembled lion talons, and a massive, twin-tipped tail of fire extended from her lower back. Her hair rose wildly, blazing like a furnace, and from her back emerged two flaming, bat-like wings.

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  The next part will be released Tomorrow.