Athena and Van had been staring at each other for almost a minute now ever since Van said that he would take responsibility for kissing Athena. Both had on an almost stoic expression, neither of the two seemingly wanted to break the silence.
For Athena, there were a lot of male gods that wanted her hand. They didn’t really want her no, she knew they just wanted her as a trophy. A trophy that boasted to the world that they conquered the Goddess of Wisdom and War. The one that came close was the blacksmith of the gods, Hephaestus.
Due to Aphrodite’s influence and planning, Athena almost lost her chastity to Hephaestus. But it was a good thing that she was stronger than him, if not, then she would have probably been forced to lay with him.
The closest thing that Athena ever got to feeling love was with a mortal millenniums ago. But even then, she refused the call of her heart. She truly thought that she had gained immunity from it after that, but it would seem that she was wrong.
Of course, she doesn’t really feel anything for Van, she just met him. And she was sure that Van was the same. He was just saying that because of her sudden fit earlier. Perhaps Van thought that it was his duty to do so, as he was now their King.
“I–“
“Alright, my turn!”
Athena finally decided to open her mouth, but before she could do so, Charlotte suddenly landed in front of them.
“Let me save the two of you from this awkward situation,” Charlotte then slightly chuckled as she approached Athena, “Don’t mind the boy, he always talks like that with everyone. He learned it from a somewhat bad influence, you see.”
“…You heard our conversation from afar?” Athena could not help but blink a couple of times as she looked at the approaching Charlotte. But after a few seconds, she looked in the direction of Artemis, only to see her having a cheeky smile on her face.
Dionysus, on the other hand, seemed to be completely oblivious of what happened. It was a good thing his eyesight and hearing weren’t as good as the other gods.
But to think Charlotte was able to hear them, it would seem she was still not fully aware of what the humans of this world could do, Athena thought as the only thing she could do was sigh.
“Thank you for showing me my weakness, King Evans. Let us discuss this at another time,” Athena picked up her spear and once again tapped it 3 times on the ground. Van, who had been noticing this action since the start, couldn’t help it anymore as he now had the chance to ask.
“Why do you always do that?”
“Do what?”
“That thing that you do with your stick,” Van then lightly stomped his foot on the ground 3 times, imitating the tap’s rhythm.
“Oh, it’s a habit,” Athena said as she once again tapped her spear on the ground, “It helps me… evaluate how soft the ground is whenever I am not fighting in the air.”
“…I see,” Van didn’t really get it, but he just nodded his head before proceeding to run where Artemis and Dionysus were watching.
“Did you just win against Athena, King Vanny?” Dionysus quickly asked. He heard Charlotte saying that Van won before she jumped away, so he had been curious about its legitimacy.
“I suppose,” was Van’s only answer before turning to look towards Artemis, “Did… you see what happened?”
“…Yes,” Artemis awkwardly nodded her head as she let out a chuckle, “It was quite a tactic you did, Van, even I would have been distracted.”
“Well, it was just a funny win,” Van waved his hand awkwardly, “In a real battle, I would have already died if I was fighting with someone as strong as Athena and you.”
“Considering how fast you were earlier, you would have probably already won against me,” Artemis shook her head, “I am not as strong after you have taken my soul. Not even half of my strength as a god remained, and the same goes for Athena. Dionysus would probably die in less than a minute if he was fighting against Charlotte.”
“Who do you think is stronger now, me or her?” Van asked.
“I believe it is still her, Van,” Artemis could only release a small sigh from Van’s question, “She was able to break my hand even before you absorbed my God Soul. So this should be a very interesting match.”
“Hm.”
“But Charlotte seems to be very similar to Hercules in some regard, and Athena has a lot of experience in fighting those who use their brute strength to power their opponents.”
“I see.”
“But since Athena has also grown weaker, we won’t really know who will win. Charlotte wouldn’t have reached that age as a human if she didn’t have anything up her sleeves.”
The two then looked to where Charlotte and Athena were, and the two seemed to not be fighting yet. Dionysus, on the other hand, was starting to get irritated from being out of the loop and always being used as a measure of strength. He swore that as soon as he was able to, he would set up a party big enough to get any information that would be useful for their new king.
“That was a stupid way to lose, wasn’t it?”
Back in the center of the field, Charlotte was cracking her knuckles as she stood a few meters away from Athena, “You seriously got discombobulated by having a young man that looks like he’s just in his 1st year in puberty kiss you, I suppose we all have our own tastes.”
“If you are trying to rile me up, then it is not working, human,” Athena once again tapped her spear on the ground 3 times, before it suddenly disappeared. She then stretched her arms, revealing the finely toned muscles hidden beneath her smooth skin.
“Not using your weapon?”
“I don’t need it against you,” Athena said as she tied her hair even smaller, turning her ponytail into a bun.
“So you also know how to taunt?” Charlotte smirked. At first, she was afraid of facing her, but when she saw that she had already been weakened from having her soul absorbed, all the fears inside her were replaced by excitement.
“It wasn’t a taunt,” Athena let out a tiny scoff before raising both her hands into a stance.
“Oh, boxing?” Charlotte then also raised her hands, almost copying Athena’s stance completely, “I thought you’d be more of a grappler type since you seem to like little boys.”
Although Athena wasn’t letting herself be intimidated by Charlotte’s words, she could not help but feel a little irritated from her last words. But still, she calmed herself down as she looked Charlotte straight in the eyes.
Charlotte, however, closed her eyes instead.
“You are fighting me with your eyes closed? This is a foolish taunt, human.”
“It’s not,” Charlotte smirked, “It’s me giving it my all, my eyes are a distraction, you see.”
“!!!”
As soon as Charlotte finished her words, Athena quickly moved her body to the side as Charlotte’s fist threatened to cave her chest in. Unlike Van’s straightforward and swift attacks, Charlotte’s explosive movements made it hard for Athena to follow her.
There were so many distractions and other elements in play, such as the air cracking with her every movement and the ground that was turning to dust. She needs to take this fight in the air.
As soon as Athena was sure she was able to dodge Charlotte’s attack, she quickly flew into the air, causing all the dust that Charlotte created to be blown away into a ripple. Her stance then quickly changed, her palms open as her eyes scanned as to where Charlotte might be.
“…There,” Athena squinted her eyes as she saw Charlotte hiding in the part where the dust still has not cleared. Athena’s eyes did not leave Charlotte as she thought of all the scenarios as to why Charlotte still has not initiated any attack.
Of course, she knew that Charlotte was not able to fly, but she said that she was still able to fight in the air. So why–
Midway through Athena’s thoughts, a thunder erupted in the air as all the dust in the ground cleared from Charlotte leaping into the sky.
“You gave up your advantage?”
“Not really.”
Another explosion erupted in the air as Charlotte changed the direction of her jump mid-air. The noise truly was a huge distraction, as it caused Athena to slightly lose track of Charlotte, even for a slight millisecond.
And that was probably all the time needed for Charlotte to rush towards her. Athena wanted to catch Charlotte’s fist, but she decided not as soon as she felt the strength behind her fist. Instead, she decided to deflect it at that moment, sacrificing her left hand to gain the chance to get behind Charlotte.
And as soon as she got behind her, she quickly wrapped her feet around her waist, locking her legs. She then used both her arms to tie Charlotte’s neck, choking her.
“Tch,” Charlotte could not help but grit her teeth as Athena’s grip grew tighter as her broken arm was starting to heal.
“Submit,” Athena said as they both struggled to keep their grips tight.
“Heh.”
Even with Athena threatening to put her to sleep, Charlotte just smirked as she stopped resisting.
“What are you–“
Before Athena could finish her words, a loud crack whispered into her ear as Charlotte’s arm suddenly bent in a way that it wasn’t supposed to. Her arms then slightly stretched, before proceeding to rotate and slither towards Athena’s neck.
“!!!”
Due to this unexpected move, Charlotte was quickly able to pull Athena away, even slamming her straight towards the ground as she rotated her body. The impact of Athena hitting the ground was strong enough that those in the city could feel the ground trembling. The empty field that the two were fighting on now seemed like a huge meteor landed to it, with Athena as the center.
Charlotte, instead of following up and finishing Athena, just slowly descended to the ground, her arms returning to their normal state.
“Interesting.”
The dust that littered the ground once more was once again blown away as Athena waved her hand, “So why didn’t you follow up on your attack?”
“I learned not to rush in too much when fighting people of higher intelligence,” Charlotte let out an arrogant smile.
“It was the right choice,” Athena also let out a smile as she crouched, picking up her spear that was hiding in the ground. She then once again tapped her spear 3 times,
“Time for round 2, then?”
