When the electricity finally dissipated, Menrva’s hand was gripping both of Athena’s arms—arms that now bore two strange bracers: green and red, like they were made of living serpents.

  To Menrva’s—and the malakim’s—shock, Athena was no longer wearing her aegis.

  “Impossible! When did you dodge my attack?” Menrva yelled, stunned.

  “The aegis is living armor, Melisa,” Athena replied. “It’s the forged hide of a tannin, and it can move on its own to wherever it decides the greatest danger lies. It chose to take the shape of bracers to block your strike, but it has many other forms it can adopt.”

  Menrva released Athena and leapt backward. The bracers on Athena’s arms immediately began slithering—like real snakes—up toward her chest.

  “See now? You won’t even be able to hurt me with surprise attacks,” Athena said, returning to her fighting stance.

  “Then tell me—how will the aegis stop this?!” the Etruscan goddess shouted.

  Menrva raised her spear to the sky. Lightning began to fall all around Athena. The bolts started to take on physical shape, as if they were constructing an ancient temple—locking the Greek goddess inside it.

  A white structure rose: an old Greek-style temple, held by Corinthian columns. On its triangular roof stood a kind of obelisk. The entire building crackled with electricity, flashing blue and gold.

  The white temple finished forming, and Menrva declared:

  “Fanum Nensum Munis (Sacred Tomb of Death)!”

  The temple blazed—and exploded with a thunderous detonation, vanishing in a burst of light.

  But when the glare faded, Athena stood completely unharmed, holding a shield up toward the sky.

  That shield—the aegis—uncoiled into serpents again and settled back onto her chest.

  “The aegis is incredible,” Menrva murmured, awestruck.

  “Too bad you’ll never be able to use it,” Athena replied. “To control these snakes, I had to inject gorgon blood into my veins.”

  “I know! That’s what makes it even more amazing!” Menrva screamed, dazzled. “That you can carry that poisonous blood and not die!”

  “Which is why I told you earlier: you have to train constantly—even if you have to carry your weakness inside you. If it doesn’t kill you, you’ll become even stronger,” Athena said.

  “It’s true…” Menrva said, crushed. “I’ve attacked you with everything I have, and you keep avoiding all of it.”

  “So,” Athena asked, “are you going to tell me where Areopagus is?”

  “I can’t,” Menrva answered. “I waited for this moment my whole life, Ma’am Athena. I dreamed of being strong enough to defeat you—but I couldn’t even pull a single hair from your head. I have to sacrifice everything, just to make you take me seriously for the first time.”

  And she began to rise—flying into the heavens.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Menrva started creating enormous thunder-spears, forged from raw lightning. The giant lances slammed down into the ground across the landscape, embedding themselves deep into Mars.

  “Please, Lady Menrva! If you launch that attack, we’ll all die!” the malakim below screamed.

  But Menrva ignored them. Athena only watched, bewildered.

  “These pillars are called Hastati trutnuthua (Thunder Spears), and soon they’ll be the foundations of a colossal temple I’ll raise over Mars,” Menrva said, floating at the highest point of the sky with her arms spread wide. “The planet will blow apart—but I have no other choice.”

  “You do have choices, Mariana!” Athena shouted furiously. “Accept your defeat and I’ll train you myself—but don’t attack your own allies! You’d never be like me if you do that!”

  But the pillars began to erupt with thunder, drawing lightning into one another—forming a massive web of electricity. Millions of volts arced between the dozens of pillars Menrva had planted. The malakim screamed in pure terror.

  Athena braced herself—using the aegis as bracers, preparing to withstand the blast.

  Then she looked up—and saw that Menrva had formed an enormous electric triangle, spanning the entire area defined by the pillars.

  “Ma’am Athena—even with the aegis—you’ll never block this,” Menrva shouted. “You’ll have to fight me seriously… or the malakim near you will die because of you when this hits the ground and triggers a chain reaction!”

  With a violent sweep of her arms, Menrva hurled the massive triangle of light down toward the surface, crying:

  “Cerichunce in Tmia Lauchum Flereum (Construction of the temple of the king of the gods)!”

  “If you want me to fight seriously,” Athena said, “then I’ll grant you that.”

  In a flash, Athena summoned her spear—Erichthonius.

  It was a lance with a golden spearhead tinged with bronze. Its shaft was white, like carved ivory. And coiled around the entire weapon was a golden serpent with red eyes.

  Athena gripped the shaft with her right hand and the spearhead with her left—and with a tremendous effort, she bent the spear as if it had been heated, forcing it into a curved shape.

  She took a throwing stance and locked eyes on Menrva’s descending attack.

  “You fought well, Menrva—and this will be your reward!” Athena shouted.

  She released the pressure she’d been holding on the spearhead, snapping the weapon’s curve into motion as she swung it in a fast half-circle.

  The serpent living within it shot forward, undulating through the air as Athena cried:

  “Agría speíra (Wild Coil)!”

  The serpent pierced Menrva’s attack—and destroyed it effortlessly.

  It kept traveling upward into the heavens, where Menrva stared in shock, unable to react in time.

  The serpent spiraled through Menrva’s space, and the impact of its power hit so hard it shattered her totema and made blood burst from multiple parts of her body.

  The serpent continued its arc until it struck the dimensional wall—then vanished.

  Menrva’s attack collapsed. The pillars disappeared.

  And the Etruscan goddess fell from the sky—slamming into the Martian surface like a meteor.

  Athena walked toward the dying goddess, who had burned through almost all her ichor and manna with that move.

  “Thank you… for at least showing me the power of your spear, Erichthonius, Ma’am,” Menrva said with a smile. “It was risky… but I knew it was the only way you’d finally act.”

  Menrva was in terrible shape. Every bone in her body was broken. Her internal organs were bleeding heavily.

  She lay in a lake of blood—yet she was still smiling.

  Athena knelt, took Menrva’s hand, and spoke softly.

  “The offer still stands, Menrva.”

  “You finally remembered my name,” Menrva said, smiling wider.

  “Someone like you is hard to forget, isn’t she?” Athena replied.

  Menrva closed her eyes—and slipped into unconsciousness.

  Athena released her hand and stood.

  “Alright, you bunch of weaklings—get over here and treat this girl so she doesn’t die, understood?!” Athena barked at the malakim who had survived thanks to her swift intervention.

  “But she tried to kill us!” one of them cried, trembling.

  “She never intended to hurt you. She knew perfectly well I’d defend you,” Athena snapped. “So you owe me. And this is how you’re paying it back—got it?”

  “Yes, ma’am—right away,” the angels answered quickly.

  “And I want the location of Areopagus immediately,” Athena added, still shouting at them.

  “Sorry… we can’t—” one started, but he froze under Athena’s furious glare.

  “I-It’s fine… we’ll tell you,” he corrected himself.

  “Oh, how kind,” Athena said with a wide smile.

  There were a little under three and a half hours left before Anpiel’s execution.

  Since sources disagree on whether Aegis is a shield or a breastplate, I came up with this type of mobility for said device.

  ========================================

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  The next part will be released tomorrow.