“Are you both done running away? Then, let’s get to business, shall we?”

Mei was getting annoyed with all the chasing around she had to do. The pair in front of her was slippery.

If not for the dragon in their arms she would have simply ended their lives the first chance she got. (Even if it meant hearing Minerva’s nagging all the time.)

“There are only two ways out of here for you. Either you jump out of the tower window or try to get past me. But both will result in your death.”

Mei watched as emotions flashed on the other two’s faces.

Well, their choice had already been made the second Mei had decided to chase them. They had to jump and take the chance with the fall damage.

If they were lucky and had not consumed the magic-suppressing food, then they could use their magic to cushion their fall.

If not, then they were as good as done.

“Astoria, you can’t take Mei on in raw power, right?”

Mei watched amused as the girl dressed as the guy spoke.

She was a curious one who had dared walk in the tower by hiding her gender.

And she had been good. Well, more than good enough to get away with hiding her secret as well. Even Mei had to take a second look to spot the charms on her body.

“Don’t be ridiculous Aurora. She’s a full-blooded goddess and I’m a half-goddess. My magic may be dragon-bound but using it is as likely to harm us as it is her.”

Astoria was an intelligent girl.

Mei had mostly seen her use her light magic and not her natural affinity. That was because dragon magic harmed the goddess. (Most Abyss magic tended to do that)

“What about your plant tricks?”

“Won’t work on her. She’s too strong for that kind of magic.”

Mei felt elated to see that the other two knew their place in the hierarchy.

“You both can’t defeat me anyway, so why don’t you give up? I swear to make your death as painless and gentle as I can.”

Mei proposed but her proposal was met with hostile glances.

“A pity that you both are not going to cooperate with me. Then, I will take the dragon from you by force.”

Mei was not going to give the other side any time to gather themselves.

Her magic lashed out toward the other in the form of a fire snake. It was too hot to bear and it would melt anyone’s skin on contact.

No person in the overworld could survive this attack without external help.

She aimed the attack more toward the female carrying the dragon than Astoria.

Astoria was a goddess and had the dragon’s blood inside her body. She would not be affected by the magic much.

But the other female felt like a human to Mei. And she knew from experience that humans were naturally frail.

A little push from her would be enough to make the human female cave in and give up.

Mei was not ahead to killing the human but she would do that if that was what it took.

She would have the dragon under her control.

“Aurora. Shit, I’ll come and help you out.”

Astoria turned around to help Aurora out but Mei was not going to let that happen.

She used her superb speed to place herself between the two other females

“Why don’t you pay attention to me? Your companion is as good as dead. But you can still come back to us.”

Mei purposed to the younger goddess.

One casualty should be enough to make the other party realize what kind of situation they had found themselves to be in.

“And what If I refuse? Will you kill me as well?”

Mei frowned at the sharp tone Astoria was using on her.

She had been very lenient with the younger female this far but her patience was reaching its end.

Mei was not someone who was known for her patience in the first place. So the fact that she had not killed the other two yet was a miracle in itself.

“You know what? I am done with you and your bullshit. Forget Minerva and her feelings. That old hag is a block of ice. She won’t even care if you die right here and now.

But I will care if I did not kill you right now.”

Mei’s aura lashed out again.

The aura transformed into another fire creature and lept at Astoria.

The resulting collision was enough to make anyone pale. There was no way any ordinary god or goddess would be alive by the end of that attack.

But Mei had a feeling things were far from over.

She had felt the barest hint of a dragon’s power when her aura had been about to hit Astoria.

It was entirely possible that the younger goddess had used her destructive properties to her advantage and nullified Mei’s power.

“Y-You can’t overpower me with fire. My sire was a fire dragon and his fire lives on through me.”

Astoria was injured after Mei’s attack but she showed no sign of backing down.

Mei felt a thrill go through her as her challenge was properly answered for the first time in a few centuries.

“The fire live’s on you say? Then show me that fire of yours. I will make sure to extinguish it this time.”

Mei held her hand up and gathered her aura in it.

It instantly burst out in an orange flame made up of pure mana. This was the flame of a goddess.

Astoria tried to do something similar with her arm but her flame was much weaker and had a bluish tint to it.

The two flamed collided but neither seemed to want to give way to the other.

The two were in a stalemate now with no winner emerging.

But Mei knew that this was a battle of endurance, not power. The flames were canceling each other out but this status-quo will not last forever.

Astoria’s flame was already weakening by the second and her body would start to break down soon.

After all, a goddess’s body was not meant to house a dragon’s flame. It had a bad reaction when those two things met.

==========================

“You are a few years too young to think of challenging me. What kind of foolishness were you thinking by opposing the cabinet?”

Minerva felt agitated at everything that was happening.

Taking down Karan had been easy enough since he had not been fighting for real.

To Minerva, it felt more like he was trying to buy time for the other two to escape.

“Foolish? Challenge? That was never my intention. I was just doing what I wanted to do. But what about you? What will you do with me now? Will you kill me? Banish me out of the Cabinet?”

Karan’s question was loaded.

Minerva felt a headache overcome her as she thought back to what she could do.

Karan could not be allowed to leave the cabinet. He was one of the 7 major gods and the cabinet could not afford to lose another one of them.

Karan could not be killed either because of his godly status. The backlash would not be worth it.

Besides, the fraction was backing Karan up. They would not be happy with the tower and cause problems for them in the future.

But maybe Minerva still had an ace up her sleeve.

“That female, I recognize her now. Isn’t she the one who wanted to start an academy in the Rocx valley? So you knew her after all.”

Minerva wanted to probe into Karna’s mind. Maybe bait him out a little as well.

She had not expected the god to jerk in her direction with serious eyes.

“Leave her out of this. This has nothing to do with us. This all is your daughter’s fault in the first place.”

Minerva wanted to smile at getting one up over Karan. But she did not because she could not afford to show that weakness.

Instead, she looked the other god straight in the eye.

“I know it is Astoria’s fault and I am not going to let her get away. But she’s not the one who’s got the most to lose by doing this. I can take away that permission I gave for the academy.”

“Since it had not started operating yet and the first inspection is still pending, even a small incident can cause its reputation to fall.”

Karan looked like he was about to growl in warning but held himself back.

“Are you threatening me?”

Karan sounded pissed off and Minerva tried to play his concerns off.

“No, of course not. I am merely suggesting you choose your next actions carefully.”

Minerva had successfully passed the ball over while still remaining in control.

“I…my decision..”

Karan wanted to speak but a burst of powerful aura stopped him.

Minerva felt her eye pop open as soon as she felt that presence. It felt like the tower’s presence.