Chapter 9

The last battle had hurt a lot of gods and goddesses. Laiithu could not be consoled, and no god could go near his domain for many suns. So it was a shame when their relationship was discovered and had been the reason for the fight and their lateness.

The next fight had been decided immediately after the first battle to be Anthuina and Jacilis. However, many gods and goddesses were uninterested in the struggle as both goddesses were not known for their battle strengths.

Even Arthy was a bit sceptical as the human wanted to be present.

''There's nothing you would learn there.'' He said in passing. ''Your time would be better spent here preparing to face against either Bathra or my second half.''

But the human insisted, and Arthy watched her go with displeasure. He had wanted to put his foot down and insist on her training. But he knew that should he do such, she would not learn anything and instead be grouchy.

Then it was decided that the battle would be attended by only a few gods, those who wanted to watch and place bets. The other gods and goddesses could view it from their realms, but we doubted any god would.

Though powerful, there was little many expected. The human hoped that if by luck and the source's will, one of the two, preferably Jacilis, would become the overall victor, thereby making her easy to battle at the end.

The gods were indeed all-powerful, to think that we were so sure that one side would win, prevail from the onset, only for the tides to turn and behold, it was the other.

Also, the human was scared.

Not only scared but petrified. I couldn't imagine going against such a god-like Kiluaroth, and to think that he might not even be the god I would face at the end terrified me even more. They were too powerful. No wonder they were known as powerhouses.

I was ready to throw in the towel and beg for mercy. If my people thought I had a chance because I was chosen by another god, they were sniffing some high-quality smoke. I had no chance at winning; I was going to the lion's den to get skinned alive and hung like a cape. I was doomed even before I began.

It was because of this sour mood, I resisted strongly against Arthy's advice. I didn't want to see another god throw it down and make me feel even worse, but I was dragged to the podium to watch with the strength of a bull. From the onset, I realized that it wasn't going to be like the other one.

For one, it was a plain field, nothing on the site and the women weren't dressed like people going to war or fighting.

In fact, Jacilis looked like she wanted to be somewhere else as she furiously scratched her hair. Anthuina looked like she always did in the stories. Long white flowing gown, with flowers in her hair and twisted as a crown. Everything about her gave off an angelic glow that many envied, and some could look in adoration. I gave Arthy a side-eye, to which he replied with a glare.

******

''How was I roped into this. I know I preach about justice, but I don't want to fight. Then I also don't want to die. This is not an easy situation. I don't want to kill you, but I doubt you'll let me kill you as well. What to do, what to do?''

Jacilis was actually serious. To be honest, she was angry with what happened to Anthuina, but at the same time, she wasn't as invested as the others. Call her selfish, but the truth was, she was tired of all the fighting and everything. Sure she had proposed they fight the human, make it fair, but she didn't want all of this.

She was angry for a few days and was ready to continue being a god to the humans but not everyone. Everyone seemed hellbent on hating and wanting to start over. Now it is because of a human they are fighting and doing all this. She was glad for one thing, her fight was at the beginning and win or lose this round, she was still going to die. It was inevitable.

Fighting against 'her' was a death warrant and anything to not see her on the battlefield was easy for Jac.

''But… but I…don't want to kill you. You're my friend, and I love you. Please, do we have to do this?''

Gosh, her whining was so irritating. Did she think anyone was buying into the façade of her being so kind and not wanting any fight?

''Goddess, please. Shut your mouth and decide which one of us is going to die. Don't even dare interrupt me. Claiming that you're all loving and everything. If you were all loving and didn't want to kill anyone, shouldn't you have stopped what your brothers and friends did all those years?

Torturing innocent humans, people who have nothing to do with what happened to you. But, where were you? Crying, nope. You were right there, in the middle of it all, cheering for their destruction, hiding your smile behind your hand. So, don't you ever claim to not want to fight, just accept it?''

Man, Jacilis speech was the most words any god or goddess had ever heard from her. As Jacilis looked around, she noticed her vision getting dim. She could feel her body fighting against movement. 'So this was what death felt like?' Jacilis wondered.

It was nothing like she thought, so peaceful. It felt like she was getting ready to sleep.

Wait!!! Why are my legs disappearing from my body? What? What is going on now??? As Jacilis could only look in horror and mild interest, her body slowly disintegrated from her very eyes. The last thing she ever saw was Anthuina's smirk before she walked away.

I couldn't believe it, nobody could actually. We were all frozen as we stared at the goddess of fertility, wipe off the blood of her friend and lick the edge of the sword. Her face was screwed shut in what looked like ecstasy, and the gleam in her eyes, she enjoyed it.

I was sure of it. The truth was to me, Jacilis didn't deserve what happened to her. No one deserved to be betrayed like that, and I doubted she cared so much about the consequences of what she did. Even Arthy could not fathom what happened and was quite the whole work back home.

GOD'S REALM:

Everything was in chaos, and everyone was behaving like their heads were cut off and in their hands. No one could get what Jac said out of their minds. She wasn't known to lie. Instead, she wasn't born with the gift and ability to lie. She had always been truthful. She would rather keep quiet than tell a lie. So for her to say Anthuina was lying, deceiving all of us, was unbelievable, and no one could see her doing it. After all, she was the one begging for us to be fair, to partake in this foolish tournament. There's no way she played us for fools, right?

Nobody wanted to accept it, not even her brother, because it meant that we had been played. Our feelings had been warped into a need of vengeance, and it had been her plan from the beginning…