"A deal?"
Hearing Seiji Fujiwara's words, which sounded like a peddler hawking his wares, Quetzalcoatl covered her mouth and laughed softly. Those golden eyes, bright as the sun, were full of undisguised curiosity and scrutiny.
She strode forward on long, athletic legs, barefoot, treading on the cold, hard floor built from divine corpses, walking step by step into this temple steeped in ominous air. Every step swayed with grace, brimming with the primal, untamed wild charm unique to a South American deity.
"My my, I never imagined that useless little girl Ishtar would actually be frightened off by someone like you."
Her voice carried the warmth and teasing peculiar to the Latin tongue.
"I'd assumed it would be some reckless magus who'd wandered over from the Human Order. But now it seems..."
Her gaze swept back and forth across Seiji and the four female Servants standing behind him, each with a different aura yet every one of them a top-tier existence.
"...you seem to be far more interesting than I imagined."
As a member of the Three Goddess Alliance, she shared the same goal as Ishtar and Ereshkigal (the destruction of Uruk), but among themselves there was nothing but competition and contempt.
After sensing that Ishtar's divine beast had been slain and her divine authority humbled, she'd felt not a shred of common cause. Instead, the moment she heard, she'd come running herself out of pure love of a good spectacle, wanting to see just what sort of figure could deal such a humiliating setback to that perpetually haughty sky goddess.
"'Interesting' can hardly be called a compliment, beautiful lady goddess."
Seiji smiled and made a "please" gesture, inviting her to look around as she pleased.
He could sense that the goddess before him was utterly different from Ishtar's pure "evil," that hunger for destruction and possession.
What radiated from her was a kind of "good," hot, frank, and full of vitality, like the sun itself.
But that didn't mean she was harmless.
The sun's radiance could nurture all things, and it could also burn everything to ash.
[Analyzing target personality model...]
[Keywords: Good, wrestling (Lucha Libre), passion, frankness, absolute confidence, absolute rejection of "evil."]
[System recommendation: When communicating with this target, avoid overly dark or wicked language, which may trigger her combat mode.]
Heh, what a simple creature, Seiji chuckled inwardly.
To him, this kind of personality was even easier to handle than Ishtar.
Because the more firmly someone believed in "absolute justice," the larger their inner "blind spot."
"Then let me see what it is you want to trade."
The Feathered Serpent seemed quite taken with the temple's construction. She curiously ran her fingers over the walls built from divine corpses, where dark red energy still flowed slowly, clicking her tongue in wonder.
"Building a house out of the bodies of divine beasts. Now that's an unheard-of bit of creativity. Mm-hm, full of contempt and defiance toward the old gods. I like it!"
She turned back to Seiji, her smile growing even brighter.
"My name is Quetzalcoatl. People also call me the Feathered Serpent. As you can see, I too am a deity."
"My purpose is simple."
In an instant her gaze sharpened, like an eagle soaring across the sky.
"To destroy Uruk and bring an end to this Age of Gods."
"You don't seem to have much fondness for the gods here either. So how about it? Any interest in joining us, the Three Goddess Alliance?"
She had, just like that, extended Seiji an invitation to "join up"!
"Join you?" Seiji raised an eyebrow in feigned surprise. "Sounds tempting. But what do I get out of it?"
"Get out of it?" The Feathered Serpent burst into laughter, as if she'd heard the funniest joke in the world. "What you get is that you, and all these children behind you, get to live once this world is destroyed!"
"And personally, I have great respect for the strong! Join us, and I guarantee that gloomy woman Gorgon, and that coward Ereshkigal, won't come making trouble for you!"
"I, the sun goddess Quetzalcoatl, will cover for you!"
She slapped her ample chest and gave her bold guarantee, full of the warmth and reliability of a big sister.
Seiji only shook his head, however.
"Sorry. I decline."
His answer was crisp and clean, without a trace of hesitation.
The smile on the Feathered Serpent's face stiffened slightly.
"...Why?" she asked, somewhat baffled. "Do you really think you can stand against the whole of Uruk, against that King of Heroes, on your own? Don't make me laugh! That man's power is far beyond anything you can imagine!"
"No, no, no, you misunderstand." Seiji smiled and raised a finger. "The reason I decline isn't that I think I can't beat them."
"It's because..."
His gaze met those golden eyes calmly, his voice gentle yet carrying a mad logic powerful enough to overturn common sense.
"...your goal is to destroy Uruk."
"And my goal is to obtain Uruk."
"Whether it's this city, or the people in this city, or the gods who guard it."
"Every last thing will become one of my collectibles."
"So fundamentally speaking, you lot, who are trying to destroy my future collectibles..."
The smile on his face slowly receded, replaced by a cold, utterly emotionless "definition."
"...are my enemies too."
In that instant the air seemed to freeze.
The smile vanished entirely from the Feathered Serpent's face.
In those golden eyes, all the curiosity and warmth drained away clean, leaving only a "light," scorching, blinding, and full of judgment, like the noonday sun.
"...I see."
Her voice dropped low and turned oppressive.
"Now I understand."
"You're not a god, and you're not a magus."
"You're a... even purer, more irredeemable... than Gorgon..."
"...Evil."
A roar tore through the temple. A pure "divine flame," vast enough to warp space itself, erupted from her body. The entire temple shook violently under that scorching divine authority.
"In that case!"
The Feathered Serpent dropped into a powerful wrestler's stance, every muscle in her body taut, charged with explosive beauty.
"Then let me, a goddess of good, purify you, the very root of evil, completely!"
"It's Lucha Libre time!"
-
"Lucha Libre?"
Seiji stared at this goddess who had suddenly erupted with astonishing fighting spirit, whose very speech had turned hot-blooded, and was caught off guard for a moment.
He'd imagined plenty of ways negotiations might break down into combat.
Like the other party summoning a meteor, or simply burning him to ash with a solar wind.
But he'd never imagined that this dignified chief deity of South America would actually... want to play "wrestling" with him?
This whole vibe... isn't it a little off?
[Warning! Target has entered combat mode!]
[Her Authorities, the Wings of the Wind and the Charm of Venus, have activated!]
[Her Noble Phantasm Piedra Del Sol is charging!]
[System recommendation: Avoid close-quarters grappling with the target! Her wrestling skill has reached EX rank and carries a rule-level throw judgment!]
In his mind a string of red system warnings refreshed frantically.
Seiji only chuckled and simply tuned the alerts out.
Far from retreating, he took a step forward, the genial, merchant-like smile returning to his face.
"Wait, wait, beautiful lady goddess."
His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried a strange magic that seemed able to soothe even the most violent rage.
"Before we begin this friendly-first, competitive-second wrestling exchange of ours, don't you think we ought to talk first about... another deal?"
"A deal?"
The Feathered Serpent's battle-ready movements paused slightly, her brow furrowing.
"I've got nothing to trade with an incarnation of evil like you! My only purpose is to beat you down, then strap you to the solar chariot and purify you for ten thousand years!"
"No need to be so absolute about it." Seiji shrugged, unconcerned. "Aren't you the least bit curious how I knew, in a single instant, that you were a goddess of good?"
"...Hm?" The Feathered Serpent froze.
That question had indeed piqued her curiosity.
Her good-versus-evil attribute was the core of her divinity. Apart from beings with extremely high-tier "divinity" or the ability to "see through True Names," it was impossible to see through at a single glance.
"It's simple."
Seiji raised a finger and tapped his own temple.
"Because I can see it."
"I can see that, wrapped around your shining, sun-bright divine core, there's a layer of faint curse that doesn't belong to you."
"That curse comes from another goddess. A goddess... full of vengeance and hatred."
"I'd guess that would be the Gorgon you mentioned, wouldn't it?"
The Feathered Serpent's golden pupils contracted sharply!
For the first time, her expression wavered.
"You... how could you know that?!"
"I told you, I'm a god who knows the future." A profound, unfathomable smile appeared on Seiji's face. "I also know that it's precisely because of this curse that you were forced to join hands with her and form this so-called Three Goddess Alliance."
"And it's precisely because of this curse that you, a good deity who should be protecting humanity, were forced to stand on the opposite side of humanity, forced to carry out this mission of destroying Uruk that goes against your very nature."
"Am I right?"
Every sentence Seiji spoke landed like a hammer blow striking hard against the Feathered Serpent's heart.
The fighting spirit on her face receded like a retreating tide.
In its place came an indescribable shock and pain, the look of someone whose deepest secret had been laid bare by an outsider.
"..."
She fell silent.
It was true.
Everything he'd said was right.
The reason she, Quetzalcoatl, had descended here, the reason she'd joined that damned alliance, the reason she'd become an enemy of the humans she loved most.
It was all because, the moment she was summoned into this era, the Gorgon, summoned likewise and already fully degenerated into a beast of vengeance, had used her hate-soaked divine blood to lay a vicious curse aimed specifically at "good deities."
"The instant you dare lend a hand to humanity, your beloved wrestling, your Lucha Libre, will vanish from this world forever."
To her, this was a curse more cruel, more vicious than simply killing her!
So she could only compromise.
She could only watch helplessly as humanity marched toward destruction, and worse, be forced to become an "accomplice" in that destruction.
This was the greatest pain and contradiction in her heart.
And now this secret had been laid bare with a single sentence by a "false god" she'd met for the first time, whose origins were unknown!
"See, we have a common enemy, don't we?"
Seiji's voice was like a devil's whisper, full of temptation.
"Gorgon, the goddess of evil who tainted you, is also one of the targets on my collection list."
"And as for the curse on you..."
He extended his hand, and his fingertips lit up once more with that soft green glow, brimming with the breath of life.
"...to me, it's nothing more than a slightly complicated energy virus."
"As long as you're willing to pay the price."
"I can purify it for you."
"How about it, beautiful lady goddess? Care to... make this deal with me?"
The Feathered Serpent sank into complete silence.
Within her, a war was raging.
Reason told her that this man before her was steeped in danger and strangeness, that every word and gesture betrayed an "evil" that toyed with people's hearts.
She absolutely could not trust him!
But...
Emotionally, the temptation of "freedom," of being released from the curse and once again being able to engage in hot-blooded wrestling with humans to her heart's content, pulled at her like a magnet, gripping her tight.
"...Why should I trust you?"
After a long while, she finally forced the words out through gritted teeth.
"Because of this."
Seiji smiled.
He snapped his fingers.
The next second, Medusa's figure appeared silently at his side.
"...?!"
The instant she saw Medusa, the Feathered Serpent's golden eyes went perfectly round!
She could clearly feel, radiating from Medusa, that serpentine divinity of the same origin as the Gorgon, belonging to the Perseus mythological system, brimming with "monster" and "hatred."
But unlike the Gorgon's...
This divinity was unusually "calm."
As though it were a pet snake, thoroughly tamed, all its venomous fangs pulled out.
"Let me introduce you. One of my collectibles, Rider." Seiji rested his hand affectionately on Medusa's shoulder. "I think you should be able to sense something... very familiar from her, don't you?"
"She too was once cursed by the gods, hated by the world, turned into a monster, just like you."
"But now, she has received Redemption."
Seiji's voice was full of enchantment.
"And I can grant you that same Redemption."
"On one condition..."
"You have to be willing to become mine."
"Become... yours?"
The Feathered Serpent chewed over the words, complicated lights flickering in those golden eyes.
There was wariness, there was struggle, but more than anything there was a violent wavering, the kind produced when Seiji had plucked at her heartstrings with perfect precision.
She looked at the silent, eye-masked, purple-haired woman beside Seiji.
Just as he'd said, she could sense from her that exact same "monster" divinity as the Gorgon's, full of sorrow and hatred.
But that divinity was crushed down tight by a far stronger, far more unreasonable "rule," unable to run wild, even carrying a kind of almost "serene" calm.
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