"Mmph, mmph, my ears twitched. So you two were hiding here on a secret date! Even if the gods allow it, I won't! Repent! You must repent!"
"Umu, you snuck off to eat without inviting me. Samael, you're far too biased!"
Just then, rustling came from the dense forest. Tamamo-no-Mae and Nero, who usually bickered with each other, were unusually united this time, loudly condemning Samael and Altera.
"Why are you two here?"
Samael turned to look at the two living disasters who had appeared out of nowhere, looking rather helpless.
"Hmph. No one trying to cheat can hide from my nose!"
"Altera is so easy to fool, and yet you still tried to sneak a bite and lure her away! Teacher, this is blatant seduction!"
Tamamo-no-Mae proudly sniffed at the faint sour smell of romance lingering in the air, her eyes flickering with certainty. Nero immediately chimed in from the side.
"Is that so…"
Beneath the hazy moonlight, Samael murmured and glanced over, his gaze dark and deep.
A cold wind blew through. Tamamo-no-Mae's heart began pounding, and she shivered, as if sensing the chill in the air.
"Forget it. I'll leave her to you. I still have things to do, so I'm going."
Samael then smiled, released Altera's hand, walked past Tamamo-no-Mae and Nero, and headed down the mountain.
"Remember everything you said…"
Just as the Ancient Serpent was about to vanish at the end of the mountain path, he stopped, turned back with his serpentine eyes, and murmured softly.
"Don't lose to the version of yourself who has nothing but power!"
Altera nodded instinctively, standing there in a daze as she watched that figure grow farther and farther away, until he finally disappeared completely into the darkness.
Thud!
However, before Altera could recover from her daze, her head was pressed into something soft.
"Well, a bigger body really is more comfortable to hug. You'll sleep with me tonight."
Tamamo-no-Mae hugged Altera's upper body and giggled.
"Why should she! Damn fox, are you even trying to steal my personal accompanist? If she's going to sleep with someone, she should sleep with me!"
Nero immediately grabbed Altera's arm, glaring as she protested.
"Hah, little brat, you howl like a ghost every day. Who could possibly sleep peacefully with you?"
"Peh! Stinking fox, you simply don't know how to appreciate art. Besides, you have so much fur. It's hot and stuffy, and maybe you even have fleas!"
"You're the one with fleas! Your whole family has fleas! What an insult to foxes. Are you picking a fight?"
"You insult my art too! Want to fight? Come on!"
Watching the two living disasters start their usual bickering and fighting around her, Altera felt, for some reason, that the voices arguing beside her were strangely familiar. A faint curve rose unconsciously at the corner of her mouth.
It was almost like a dream.
A beautiful dream she did not know when she would wake from.
Among the shadowy, jagged ridges, Samael looked back toward the mountaintop where the cheerful noise came from. He glanced at the nearby bushes, then lowered his vertical pupils to the cut across his right palm. After a moment of silence, he sighed softly and continued forward.
Before long, branches and leaves rustled. Two tall figures crossed the bushes and walked onto the ridge.
"Looks like I won this round."
Kukulkan stretched lazily and hummed in satisfaction, then turned with a smile toward Scáthach, who was beside her and somewhat lost in thought.
"What's wrong? Can't figure it out?"
"The eyes of someone who wants to kill can't be hidden…"
Scáthach raised a hand and lightly wiped the tip of her spear, recalling the look in that man's eyes when he mentioned a certain name during the secret talk in the Great Temple. Her gaze drifted toward the mountaintop.
"But he wavered…"
Kukulkan did not seem surprised and answered with a bright smile.
"As a Divine Spirit, he isn't aloof enough. As a human, he isn't humble enough. As a king, he isn't rational enough. As a warrior, he's far too lazy. And as a companion, there's a detachment to him that no one can quite touch… That man is still as hard to understand as ever."
Scáthach shook her head and spoke with a quiet cadence, objectively commenting on a certain man's contradictory nature, though there was no displeasure on her face.
"Sometimes, the most correct choice doesn't necessarily lead to the perfect answer. That child is actually very gentle toward those beside him. He says he'll use everyone as pieces, but he is never willing to give up on anyone easily. Big sister here is growing fonder of him by the day."
Kukulkan lightly cupped her slightly flushed cheek, smiling warmly. Then she glanced at Scáthach beside her and sighed with a hint of helplessness.
His only flaw is that he's too popular. That's a little troublesome.
"So, I lost. What condition do you want?"
The Queen of the Land of Shadows turned to Kukulkan and asked, the corner of her mouth lifting unconsciously.
Losing the wager seemed to make her even more satisfied and pleased.
"A fight would take too much energy. We still have important matters tomorrow. How about drinking with me instead, warrior of a foreign land?"
"Of course. Just don't fall first, Maya god."
The two warriors standing at the peak of technique smiled at each other, then leaped lightly through the rugged valley. After several agile rises and falls, they vanished into the thick night.
At the foot of the mountain, Samael stopped and watched as a graceful purple-haired figure walked toward him from the Great Temple.
When they were only a step apart, two pale arms circled around the Ancient Serpent from behind, pulling the figure that seemed to have blended into the mountain darkness into the cold moonlight and gently into her embrace.
"I'm sorry…"
Samael buried himself in Ana's arms, now in her mature goddess form. His low voice carried a trace of dejection.
"Mm. You don't have to force yourself. No one has ever demanded that you must do anything. This time is the same. You've already done more than enough, Samael…"
Ana imitated the way the man in her arms usually comforted her, gently patting his back and whispering softly by his ear.
After a while, the wounds in Samael's heart gradually healed. But the wounds of his body required another form of comfort, so he raised his head and looked at the goddess in her mature form, his eyes flickering.
"I want to…"
"I still have a lot of documents to handle."
"That's fine. We can go through them together…"
"I'm sleeping with my sisters tonight."
"I don't mind."
"…"
In the next instant, Ana's cheeks flushed red. Overwhelmed by the authority of her two sisters, she fled in panic.
Tch. Sooner or later, I'll find a chance to teach those two troublemakers, Euryale and Stheno, another lesson!
A cold smile appeared at the corner of the Ancient Serpent's mouth, and malice surged in his heart.
However, as Ana's fleeing figure disappeared from sight, the wicked smile on Samael's face faded. His dark gaze turned toward the churning waves of the Sea of Oceanus, and melancholy rose in him.
White Giant, nightmare of Greece.
There was clearly a way to erase this potential danger once and for all, yet I gave it up for a tiny bit of sentiment. How foolish.
The Ancient Serpent shook his head and once again looked at the bloodstain in his palm, his gaze distant.
Forget it. The seed of emotion has already been planted. May this blood of desire give that weapon a complete self.