You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

call--!

Finally, emerging from the depths of the earth, breaking through the barrier of soil and water, and gradually protruding its slender body from the water's surface, was a pitch-black giant snake whose head alone was a hundred meters long!

The serpent's body clearly extended far beyond the depth of the Nile. Even after its head emerged, it didn't stop; the giant serpent continued to stretch its body upwards, as if it could swallow the moon whole with just a slight tilt of its head.

Upon closer inspection, it turns out that this is not simply a "snake".

Although the overall shape is that of a snake, details such as the teeth and scales reveal that it is a "dragon-snake" that incorporates elements of a dragon.

"This is incredible... we've won the lottery!"

Judging a god's true name solely by their appearance is hasty, but Athena, as an ancient earth goddess, could instantly distinguish gods of the same attributes and naturally recognized their true form.

After shaking her head slightly and sighing, she looked meaningfully at the crimson-eyed woman beside her, who wore a shocked expression: "I originally thought it was just a more powerful divine beast, but I never expected it to be the forgotten primordial goddess—"

Dark Kakvid!

Chapter 438 Athena's Provocation!

There are many deities associated with snakes around the world, and Egypt is a civilization where animal god worship is prevalent, with snakes occupying a very special position, hence there are even more myths and legends about them.

The most famous of them is Apophis, the god of darkness. He is the Egyptian god of darkness and destruction, and he was born from the primordial abyss. He exists as chaos, which is opposed to order, and his image is generally considered to be a giant serpent.

In Egyptian mythology, the supreme god is the sun god Ra, while Apophis is his twin brother.

If we must draw an analogy, the relationship between "Ra" and "Apophis" is similar to that between "Ahura" and "Angola Manu" in Zoroastrianism.

Ra is the sun god, and in Egypt, the sun held an unparalleled position, which can be described as the supreme and benevolent being.

"Apophis" represents the night, and his struggle with his brother created the cycle of day and night.

Order and chaos, light and darkness, sky and underworld, sun and earth, creation and destruction—they are gods that are completely opposite yet closely connected.

However, Egypt is a unique civilization where monarchical and divine powers are intertwined and in conflict, and historically, dynastic changes have indirectly influenced the updating of mythological versions on several occasions.

The "Ennead" system of Egypt, which is now widely known, comes from the time of Heliopolis, before which there was a time of Hermopolis.

Both share a common belief in "primordial water," and like Sumerian mythology, they believe that the world was born from water.

The difference is that Hermopolis worships the "Eight Pillars," which consist of four male and four female deities, each representing a property of the "Primordial Waters."

The goddess Kakvid, along with the god Cook, symbolizes "darkness." She is also one of the most ancient earth goddesses, with an origin as ancient as Athena.

The infamous "Serpent Apophis, who devoured the world" also bears some resemblance to this goddess.

The sun triumphs over darkness, life triumphs over death, and gods triumph over goddesses—these are mythological metaphors left behind by the social transition from matrilineal to patrilineal systems.

This explains why Athena felt regret:

Kakwede was originally a very noble goddess, but now she has been reduced to a mindless serpent. Although she still retains the power of a god, if her sense of self becomes increasingly blurred, she will one day fall into the subservience of some Egyptian god.

Compared to before, Athena's situation is much better. At least she only lost part of her divine status and is still a powerful and unyielding chief god.

But that's fine too. If it's only this level, then Akame might actually succeed in the challenge.

The moment the thought crossed Athena's mind, her expression changed, and she had a bad feeling.

The cursed power gradually gathered, becoming deeper than the night, and a nauseating darkness slowly emerged from the abyss.

It was an enormous serpent, its head alone a hundred meters long. Its long body raised its head to a height of a thousand meters and still hadn't reached its limit; its even longer body was hidden in the darkness of the night...

Length and volume are meaningless to it; "night" is its embodiment. As long as the darkness of night has no end, its scale of existence will also have no limit.

As it appeared, the light of the stars and the moon dimmed, and the earth, already shrouded in darkness, seemed to have completely fallen into darkness, with not a single ray of light visible. The lights of the distant human cities were also taken away at some unknown time.

【Ancient Night】—Recreating the night from mythology, stealing the flame of human civilization.

Athena also possessed the same abilities, but the power displayed by the Chaos Serpent Apophis at this moment far exceeded the limits of that goddess.

If one could look down upon the land from a higher perspective, one would find that almost half of Nakhon Siege was shrouded in absolute darkness. The power of the gods was not limited to a single city, but spread endlessly across the land...

The black serpent's vertical pupils were fixed on Athena, but it paid no attention to the red eyes beside her.

So they've set their sights on me? — The goddess of wisdom was both amused and exasperated, and a surge of anger welled up within her.

"Having lost your wisdom, have you lost even the most basic sense of awe? You mere beast... To succumb to instinct is your downfall, Kakvid!"

[Snake...Darkness...Girl in the water...Submit to me...Return...]

"My 'darkness' does not belong to you."

Athena sighed, knowing that she had been regarded as an excellent "nutrient supply" by Kakvid, who was also the Earth Mother Goddess, but she was not particularly nervous.

As she just said, the great serpent now has very little wisdom left, and it can't even be seen that she has become someone else's "power," like a servant. Even if it devours her, it cannot complete the Earth Mother Goddess's divine status.

If it's just dealing with a wild beast, no matter how powerful it is, it will be relatively much easier.

“Red Eyes, be careful. The Nile River is the home of this giant serpent. Depending on the situation, it may even become the embodiment of the primordial water, the legendary ‘Apophis’.”

"..."

Athena glanced at Akame and immediately realized that Akame's knowledge of mythology was not yet extensive enough.

"In short, just think of it as having another, more powerful form. Be extremely careful during the battle."

"it is good!"

Akame drew her sword: "Iori hasn't finished his work yet... Until then, I will never let this giant serpent wreak havoc on humanity!"

The girl's passion remained unchanged, even in a different world.

“You are more suited to be a ‘hero’ than that pretentious man. If I had met you two thousand years ago, I would probably have made you my war priest.”

Athena made no attempt to hide her admiration for Akame, while also taking the opportunity to slander someone.

Upon hearing this, Akame paused, glancing sideways at him: "That's because you don't understand him."

"Ok?"

Athena was taken aback.

Before she could say anything, the pitch-black serpent let out a deafening roar like thunder, and the girl with long, straight black hair leaped up and disappeared into the darkness.

"Sneak in, Murasame!"

With a flash of light, the serpent's scales were cleaved by an unseen attack, and its eyes instantly glowed crimson as it began searching for Akame's figure in the night, no longer caring about Athena.

The silver-haired little girl saw this scene and a subtle smile crept onto her lips:

Even though he doesn't like her, he's still willing to attract the snake's attention for her... What an interesting child.

She lives in Iori's shadow every day and has met almost all of his female confidantes. None of them are as kind as Akame. Although she seems a bit cold, she is actually soft-hearted.

(Upon closer reflection, among the four who have already established a relationship, Akame, the female assassin, is probably the one with the highest moral standards and the strongest sense of justice... which shows what kind of people they are.)

Athena is happy to help such people become heroes, just as she guides mortals and demigods in mythology.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Akame's figure was invisible in the darkness, blending perfectly into the environment like a gust of wind. She would only appear briefly when attacking an enemy, but Orochi's massive body couldn't react quickly enough, leaving her only able to passively take the hits.

Her Zanpakuto, Murasame, has two abilities. One is the passive infusion of cursed poison (not inherent to the blade itself, but evolved after becoming a Zanpakuto by combining with its original abilities), the effect of which is related to the strength of Akame's spiritual pressure.

With her current skill level, she could kill even a vice-captain, and even a captain-level expert could be eroded, causing them to become stiff.

The other true Shikai ability is a special Kido-type ability that perfectly conceals one's spiritual pressure, only revealing it during attacks. Additionally, at night, it gains the effect of "disappearing from sight."

This is not a perception operation, nor is it a spatial or ethereal ability. Akame's body still affects the material world, and its location can be determined by airflow, sound, footprints, and the like.

However, Akame was originally an assassin, and she had also studied ninja techniques at Chaldea, so catching her in the dark was really quite difficult.

Even Esdeath would have to unleash her Frozen Domain and exert strong control over a large area of ​​the surrounding space to deal with Akame's Shikai.

Although the giant snake didn't seem very intelligent, it ultimately possessed the qualities of a god who would defy authority. After being attacked several times and expelling the venom that tried to invade, it suddenly shook its tail.

The night was like a real black cloth, stirred and rolled up by the snake's tail, and Akame suddenly appeared in that instant, or rather, was repelled by the darkness!

"Roar!"

A column of water powerful enough to shatter a mountain erupted from the Nile River, instantly sweeping across the space where Akame was located.

But the next moment-

Zheng! ! !

Suddenly, the figure with crimson eyes appeared above the serpent's head, and a bolt of lightning struck the crimson eye, causing the serpent immense pain and extreme rage.

[Gods... Ahh!]

It didn't know how a human who wasn't a god-slayer could unleash divine thunder that only a god could control, but it knew that if it wanted to devour Athena, it had to get rid of this obstacle first!

However, lightning flashed continuously in the atmosphere, and the giant serpent repeatedly swung its limbs to attack, but all of them missed.

With the support of the Thunder Emperor's Gauntlets and the Third Law, Akame can maintain this high-speed mobility until she is mentally exhausted!

[Damn it... Athena... Darkness is my domain! May I be plunged into eternal darkness!]

A flash of red light appeared in the huge vertical pupils, and a heavy, abyss-like magical power swirled around the black serpent. The night took on a physical form, and countless winged dragons and serpents flew out from the deep darkness.

But their sheer numbers are enough that just flapping their wings can stir up storms that destroy the ground!

Each one possesses the power of a divine beast, just like Athena's owl, which has the ability to traverse the darkness. Akame will have nowhere to hide!

The girl was surrounded by hordes of alien dragons and snakes from all directions. Their roars formed the most jarring and unpleasant symphony. They were fearless and did not hesitate, rushing forward like moths to a flame.

Just as Akame was about to use the Thunder Emperor's Gauntlets for high-speed maneuvering, Orochi's gaping maw, like the abyss, suddenly appeared behind her!

when? !

Unable to move!

The surrounding atmosphere was frozen in place, like a block of iron!

Akame turned back with difficulty, gripping Murasame tightly in her hand, a resolute determination rising in her heart—

Suddenly, the "darkness" surrounding Akame seemed to come alive and swallowed her whole before the giant serpent could reach her!

However, when Kakwid's jaws collided, he managed to grab nothing.

In a daze, Akame suddenly appeared beside Athena, and looking around, she couldn't help but show a look of surprise.

"This is……"

“Although Kakvid is the goddess of the night, I have the same attribute. She can use that power to trap you, and I can use the opposite magic to free you—it’s that simple.”

"Um... thank you."

Although Akame felt that Athena's evaluation of Iori was not objective enough, she still had to politely thank her since Iori had helped her at a crucial moment.

"No need for formalities. After all, this is my mission. That man specifically sent me to protect you. If anything happens to you, he'll definitely treat me like a toy and vent all his anger on me."

"Ugh! Iori, Iori would never do such a thing!"

Akame instinctively wanted to refute Athena.

The goddess of wisdom smiled knowingly. Putting aside her grudges with Iori, she actually admired Iori's talent as a king and hero. Her words just now were merely a deliberate provocation to Akame, to see her reaction.

After all, she's just a girl who looks like a primary school student. How could anyone be interested in her body type?

"Putting that aside for now, it's impossible for you to kill this giant snake with your strength."

Athena sprouted owl-like wings from her back, flapped them, and flew into the air. Akame arrived almost simultaneously using Shunpo.

The very next second, the spot where they had just been standing was smashed to pieces by the giant snake's tail.

Countless dragons and snakes flew over, and Athena snapped her fingers, summoning countless owls in return. With dozens of owls fighting against one owl, the battlefield descended into chaos.

“That snake can control the darkness. Although your strange ability gave you an initial advantage, once it realized what was happening, your chances of winning were completely gone.”

Akame didn't refute, but nodded in deep agreement.

Even if Akame could continue to blend into the darkness, let alone be at a disadvantage in terms of compatibility, her attack methods would not be enough to cause her any real damage.

Murasame's physical destructive power is only slightly better than Asauchi's, and its poison is ineffective against this mythical creature. The only thing that can pose a threat is actually the Raiden Gauntlets modified by Iori; as a fellow divine power, they can be broken through.

But talking about toxicity without mentioning dosage is just being irresponsible. The output power of the gauntlet is far inferior to that of a true god of the underworld... Besides, Akame isn't a mage type; she's just using this thing to enchant and speed things up from beginning to end.

"What can you do?"

Akame wasn't stupid; she naturally understood that Athena's words must have a follow-up.

"I can help you slay the giant serpent... Feel honored, this is the favor of the Earth Mother Goddess, something even that man has never experienced."