Chapter 377: Battle Against Jaguar Man!

Chapter 29: Battle Against Jaguar Man!

To the south of Uruk lay a region of dense, primeval jungle.

This territory was ruled by one of the pillars of the Three Goddess Alliance, the Goddess of the Forest, the Plumed Serpent—Quetzalcoatl. Like Ishtar, she was also a Goddess of Venus.

In this place, Quetzalcoatl held a city. The humans living there were those she had once defeated and killed, only to bring them back to life using her Authority. As long as they were willing to stay, Quetzalcoatl would not harm them.

The humans now living here were essentially those who could not resist Quetzalcoatl—no, it would be more accurate to say they were humans who had already been killed by her and thus had lost the will to struggle.

Akira’s impression of this goddess was actually quite good. Her combat power was extraordinary, she was a benevolent goddess, and she was beautiful to boot. Her only flaw, perhaps, was her somewhat problematic personality. Although her class was Rider, in Akira’s eyes, she was more like a Berserker—a complete battle maniac.

The soft thuds of his footsteps echoed as he walked through the tropical forest, and Akira felt a strange sensation.

The Three Goddess Alliance—the Three Pillars—were all traitors in the end. When the Master possessing the "Goddess Charm EX" skill arrived, they would all eventually defect to his side.

To be honest, in the original story, the Three Goddess Alliance—Gorgon, Quetzalcoatl, and Ereshkigal, plus Ishtar—all ended up becoming enemies of Tiamat. To minimize the chance of things going south, Akira intended to "secure" all the goddesses beforehand.

If he had to choose between the Human Order of this world and Mother Tiamat, Akira would choose Tiamat without a second thought. Whether this world was destroyed or the Human Order burned to ash had absolutely nothing to do with him.

However, Tiamat—the mother who treated him as her own child and loved him without limit—was the most important existence to him. Between the world and Mother, Akira chose Mother.

There is a saying about "angels" and "demons":

An angel will sacrifice you for the sake of the world they call noble, whereas a demon will make an enemy of the entire world just to protect you.

Heroes were selfless figures, burning themselves out to light up everything else. Akira was not that noble. Nor was he capable of being so.

"Hey! This is the territory of Kukulkan. If you don’t want to die, you’d better get out of here fast."

Suddenly, a voice echoed from within the forest.

"Hm? Who’s there?"

"Hehehe, who am I? Jaguar Warrior, reporting for duty! And please take note—I’m not a tiger, you know!"

A figure wearing what looked like a stuffed animal costume—Jaguar Man—leapt down from a tree. She landed right in front of Akira, striking what she clearly thought was a cool pose with a confident grin on her face.

Seeing the figure of Jaguar Man, Shin Akira almost burst out laughing.

In this Seventh Singularity of Mesopotamia, beings born from fusions with deities were truly fascinating. First, there were Ishtar and Ereshkigal, the twin goddesses residing in Tohsaka Rin’s body. Second was the figure before him—Jaguar Man, one of the ancient pillars of Central American myth, a symbol of battle and death.

Though she looked ridiculous and had a cheerful personality, it was all due to the influence of her human vessel. She, too, originated from a human during the time of the "Fifth Holy Grail War"—a woman named Fujimura Taiga.

Just as Ishtar had become a jewel-loving klutz under "Rin’s" influence, Jaguar Man had turned into a silly jaguar because of "Fujimura Taiga."

"Yo. Hello, Jaguar Man."

"Ah, hello to you too, unknown Demon God."

"Hm? You know I’m not human?"

"Of course! Your divine aura is almost stronger than Kukulkan’s. How could you be human? It’s obvious at a glance that you’re a Demon God on the level of a Chief God."

"Why a Demon God? Couldn’t I just be a Chief God?"

"You’re weird. In Mesopotamia right now, do you really think there are any Chief Gods just walking around on the ground?"

"Eh—"

Akira went silent. That was true. In this era, there was no way a Chief God would be wandering freely in the world. For a moment, Akira felt the illusion that his intelligence had just been outmatched by an idiot.

"Wait a second. Who said Mesopotamia doesn’t have Chief Gods? Your own goddess is a Chief God."

"That’s true. And then there’s Kukulkan. But whatever. It’s not important."

"I—"

Akira almost cursed out loud. He truly could barely restrain himself. This Jaguar Man, whether she was genuinely simple-minded or just playing dumb, was incredibly annoying.

"Hm? Fighting spirit? Okay! You want to fight me? With pleasure! I—!"

Jaguar Man whipped her hand, and out of nowhere, a massive weapon appeared. At a glance, it looked like a giant cat-paw mace—mostly because there was a massive cat paw at the end of it.

"Going straight to a fight? Hey, are you a battle maniac or something?"

"Doesn’t matter. Demon God, your aura is brimming with intent. Let’s dance!"

With a sharp swish, Jaguar Man, clutching her "Cat-Paw Staff," blurred toward Akira at high speed. Despite her cheerful grin, this figure was a ferocious combatant. If it weren’t for her poor compatibility with Fujimura Taiga, her combat power would easily be in the upper-mid tier among the gods. Now, she was merely considered a "gatekeeper" among deities.

Still, her strength was not to be underestimated.

Akira swung his hand, and his own sacred weapon manifested—the treasure inherited from the Meliodas template: Sacred Treasure: Lostvayne. The weapon most perfectly suited for Meliodas.

The Cat-Paw Staff and Lostvayne collided with a heavy clang, sending sparks flying in every direction. Jaguar Man immediately laughed. As a battle maniac, there was nothing she loved more than a good scrap. Especially against the strong—it made her blood boil.

"Whoa, your strength is amazing! Again!"

Jaguar Man launched a relentless barrage of attacks. The Cat-Paw Staff in her hands spun ferociously. Despite appearing like a comedy character, the power she unleashed was terrifying.

Akira began to get serious.

Clang!

Bang!

Click!

The two continued their exchange, the massive force they unleashed shattering everything in the immediate vicinity.

"You’re good. In that case, I’ll show you a bit of my true power."

As Akira spoke, a black, sun-like pattern appeared on his forehead. In the next second, a terrifying surge of magical energy erupted from his body.

Demon Mark: Assault Mode.

And this was the perfected form, achieved after Meliodas had reclaimed his original strength. In an instant, Akira’s power spiked drastically.

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