"Hurry up, Ritsuka! Now's your chance! All that's left is to destroy the altar and it's over!"
Watching Ritsuka reach the top of the altar, Roman clenched his fist in triumph. They'd passed the trial. They were about to gain another powerful and reliable ally.
But Ritsuka didn't make a move.
"Ritsuka? What's wrong? Why did you stop?" Seeing Ritsuka dismiss the spell he'd been about to use to shatter the altar, Roman was confused.
"...This isn't what Quetzalcoatl wants to see."
The black-haired youth looked back at the Servants, who had already stopped their actions, his gaze lingering especially on the smiling Quetzalcoatl.
"Not going to act? Too bad. I'm going to charge up there in one go now." Quetzalcoatl spoke as if she hadn't noticed his hesitation, then slowly began walking towards the altar, looking as if she might leap to its summit at any moment.
Seeing this, Jaguar Man immediately jumped onto the altar. "Well, Master? Have you figured out what Kuku wants to see?"
Ishtar flew up as well. While their actions seemed protective, they both knew the trial had reached its most critical, its only truly important stage. "If you're going to destroy the altar, you need to do it now. What are you planning?"
"This is humanity's fight."
Ritsuka had finally realized what it was Quetzalcoatl truly wanted to witness.
If he chose to destroy the altar under the protection of his Servants, it would be no different from choosing to live through the disaster under the protection of the gods. Such an act would affirm Quetzalcoatl's original stance.
It wasn't about surviving under divine protection, but fighting alongside the gods. If he couldn't prove his own resolve and courage, destroying the altar wouldn't earn Quetzalcoatl's approval.
In other words, if he could win Quetzalcoatl's approval, whether the altar was destroyed or not became irrelevant.
"She's so hung up on pride," Ishtar muttered. Though her methods differed from Quetzalcoatl's, she too believed humans needed protection from a goddess like her. A flicker of displeasure crossed her face, but it was soon replaced by appreciation.
'I can offer help willingly, but you can't demand it from me.' This human mindset existed among the gods as well.
They weren't stingy with their aid to humanity.
But if a human showed the courage to not need help—even if that courage momentarily negated their own intentions, causing some irritation—realizing they had aided a noble human would ultimately bring them greater joy and appreciation.
"Still, that sounds like something you'd say," Ishtar conceded, a smile returning to her lips.
"And as a decision made in the face of this trial, I'll tentatively agree. So, how exactly do you plan to do it? Attack Quetzalcoatl with magecraft?"
"Demonstrate... courage! From this height—"
Remembering the feathered serpent god's great love for Mexican wrestling, and looking at the current height, an idea sparked in Ritsuka's mind.
"Height? Courage?" Roman was baffled for a second before it clicked. "Huh? Ritsuka! You don't mean!? That's suicidal! What if Quetzalcoatl dodges?!"
"Ooh! Not bad! A flying tackle needs this kind of height to be worthy of the name! No, I'd say the higher the better!" Jaguar Man, on the other hand, thought the plan was perfectly feasible.
"In that case, leave it to me!"
With the stage set like this, Ishtar grinned, grabbing Ritsuka's arm firmly.
"...Huh?" Ritsuka looked at Ishtar, bewildered.
"Let's launch the ultimate attack on Quetzalcoatl!" Ishtar tilted her head playfully and, without another word, shot into the sky at incredible speed, pulling Ritsuka along.
"...Huh?!"
Standing at a height of three or four hundred meters, Ritsuka felt his whole face go stiff from the wind.
"I'll leave the rest to luck. I'll try to throw you in her general direction, but if you think you're going to miss, flail your limbs around and use them as stabilizers." Without waiting for Ritsuka to process this, Ishtar hurled him off the celestial boat.
"Yooooouuu'll paaaaay for thiiiiis!!"
On the ground, Quetzalcoatl, who had been watching the spectacle with glee, felt her smile widen impossibly, stretching nearly to her ears. Her mood had clearly reached peak delight, though she still found time to tease, "Falling from this height, even I can't guarantee you'll survive!"
"Juuuuust caaaaatch meeee!!"
In truth, Ritsuka had just wanted to face Quetzalcoatl with his own power. Even a simple flying tackle would have been enough, as long as it showed her his determination.
He never expected Ishtar and Jaguar Man to play off each other and, without consulting him, haul him up hundreds of meters into the sky, turning a demonstration of resolve into a life-or-death gamble.
Seeming to decide the freefall had lasted long enough, Quetzalcoatl finally leaped up, caught Ritsuka in her arms, and landed safely on the ground.
"Hah—! Hah—!"
Ritsuka couldn't help but gasp for air. "I'm... alive?"
"You should thank me for being a legendary wrestler. With a flying tackle, if one party isn't a first-rate technician, it's easy to get someone killed. So I was super nervous," Quetzalcoatl said with a laugh.
"As if! Even if the Master died, Kuku would just revive him right away," Jaguar Man chimed in, coming over now that the drama was over to cheerfully debunk the tension.
"Speaking of which, I haven't properly punished you for betraying me yet."
However, Quetzalcoatl's temper wasn't nearly as sunny when directed at Jaguar Man. Seeing her approach, Quetzalcoatl's face instantly darkened.
Jaguar Man finally remembered Quetzalcoatl's terrifying side and promptly hid behind Amber, using her as a human shield.
"Ph-Phoenix! The Celestial Phoenix wouldn't just stand by and let you bully a comrade!" As if finding her backbone again, Jaguar Man started shouting threats.
But this time, Amber stepped aside. Under Jaguar Man's pitiful and disbelieving gaze, she explained, "Quetzalcoatl is our comrade now too..."
"Wha...! How can this be?!" Jaguar Man instantly broke out in a cold sweat.
"It seems we can settle our accounts properly later. Don't think dying will get you off easy," Quetzalcoatl said, deciding to let it go for now. She looked down at Ritsuka in her arms. "But I am surprised. Didn't you think I might dodge?"
"I believed you would catch me. Because you love humanity."
Besides, even if she hadn't caught him, there was still the peerless Celestial, Phoenix. She wouldn't just watch me smash my head on the ground, right?
That's what Ritsuka thought to himself.
With things going smoothly here, Amber felt quite pleased. She couldn't help but poke at Fu Hua's consciousness.
'Hey, Phoenix, our Approval Rating is over 7700 now. Do you think we should do some gacha pulls?'
'That's for you to decide.' Fu Hua wasn't particularly concerned about it.
But after a moment's thought, she added, 'However, you should ask the Navigation System carefully about the mechanics of your travel between worlds, and whether everything you obtain from the gacha is only useful in this specific world, or if it remains effective in others.'
Previously, Fu Hua had carefully studied how to break through Quetzalcoatl's resistance, and could only reach one conclusion: Honkai energy.
After arriving in this world, the power they used had been converted by the system into Mana. If they wanted to harm Quetzalcoatl, they likely needed a power from outside this world. And the only such power she knew of was Honkai energy.
Unfortunately, they lacked a Herrscher core or any other means to access the Imaginary Space, so obtaining Honkai energy was pretty much a hopeless prospect.
This line of thinking inevitably led Fu Hua to a question.
That Amber could use Mana in this world was the system's doing. That she might be able to use Honkai energy was because she originally knew how.
But what about in other worlds?
Would her character cards become blank slates when they moved to another world?
Hearing Fu Hua's point, Amber started considering the issue too. If they became blank slates in other worlds, then they really should save this Approval Rating. Unless absolutely necessary, it'd be better to pull from the next world's gacha pool.
But... This world's Fu Hua pool significantly increased the drop rate for items related to Fu Hua. And there was one thing she wanted very, very much.
—The core of the Herrscher of Sentience.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.