Lovushka grinned wider. “I’m not the God Musae. Just like how the puddle of wax was no longer a candle.”

Ronin gripped him tighter. “Don’t give me lies. It’s your nature as the god of art to embellish stories.”

“Embellish, yes. Beautify them. But I never lie.” He smiled. “That’s something you do, Lord of Darkness and Deception. Even to yourself.”

And then…..

He took off his necklace, aiming to bash it to the ground!

Ronin reached out and yelled with his One Word Command. “Stop!”

But it did not work on him, and he simply gave a ballerina spin to kick Ronin in the face as he reached for the falling pendant!

“Oh, pardon me.” He placed a hand on his lips, giggling like a schoolgirl. “Force of habit.”

Ronin did not care that his tooth got chipped by the kick and he earned a bruise on his skin. He spat out the broken tooth and blood, holding the pendant.

“What is your purpose here? To thwart me?” Ronin said in a challenging tone, standing up with his fist clenching closely on the amber pendant.

He chuckled gleefully. “Why should I? I’m not a god. Like I said, I’m not the God Musae. Because Musae had died a long time ago.”

Ronin did not believe any of his words. He could not read his mind, and that should have been enough to clue him in that he was something else…

But not always. Sometimes he can read something from his mind, like when he pretended t be Cermin when giving him the news about Rabuka.

Yet when he was acting as Father Spider, he could not hear his thoughts at all.

He then remembered that Lovushka always kept his troupe member Doppler nearby, the one who can duplicate things.

Was it possible that….

“You have duplicates.” Ronin concluded. “Duplicates who act as humans so you would confuse me. Did you know since the start?”

Lovushka grinned slowly. “There are things that someone who work with the art of nature itself are privy to but others aren’t. That’s why the God Musae flung himself in the beacon in the first place.”

Ronin’s eyes widened. “You….. You flung yourself so you would be reincarnated like this?”

He touched his feminine face and smooth cheeks. “I got lucky, didn’t I? While you never changed since the last time I saw you. Still roguish as always.”

So even gods can’t survive the beacon physically. But their souls can, and will reincarnate after thousands of years.

“You’re making the same mistake and never learn, Dark One.” He tilted his head to the side. “It goes on over and over again. I’m also stuck with it.”

“What do you mean?” Ronin clenched his jaw.

There was something about Lovushka that he had come to inherently be wary of, and now that he was acting so smugly mysterious like this, he come to hate him more.

The God Musae was the former 5th highest god but he went missing a few centuries ago. And so, he was replaced by his sister, CaLliope, as the goddess of the arts and music.

But they have different domains. While Calliope was the goddess of what we consider ‘aesthetically pleasing’ in terms of art…

Musae focuses on the art of the human soul itself, in the form of plays and theater, as well as fiction. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

It would be most accurate to call him the god of stories too. He takes everything that was true to humans and embellishes them to make art.

“Hmm….. If you manage to do something for me, I will tell you. If not, I would not. It’s a quest for you, just like how heroes must always encounter quests and trials to prove their worth.”

Ronin frowned. “What if I just threaten your life until you confess? Your soul may never perish as a god, but it will take a long time before you return.”

He looked him up and down. “And I’m sure you would be displeased to lose the beautiful form you have now.”

“Ah, you flirt!” He said, flashing a smile. “But that is true. I am too beautiful to die!”

His white dress slowly turned like the black feathered one he always wore as Queen Lovushka. His fingers also became elongated, and from them dripped thick orange goo.

Ronin now realized that he was not human, nor a god now. He bathed in the beacon, so he was partially demonized too, as well as human, and god.

All three things at once, something in between.

He slashed forward at Ronin. Since he could not use One Word Command, he tried Blinding Darkness.

It did not work as well. It seemed that using all his skill that was for direct use over someone would not work.

Ronin had separated from Zeuxis to go searching for Cermin and contacted him in his head. ‘Where are you? I already found Cermin.’

(Got in a little trouble myself. But I’ll take care of it and clean it up since I’m such a great brother.)

‘What trouble?’

(Difficult to explain. Better if you see it yourself.’

And so, while dodging Lovushka graceful attacks, where he danced like a ballerina everytime he tried to tear Ronin apart and kick him…….

Ronin decided to summon a Communication Crystal to see what was happening with Zeuxis.

There was shouting and lightning everywhere. He was in a much farther part of Sodomia from Ronin, and…..

He was surrounded by 20 or so men. Lovuska’s troupe.

He dealt them all by himself, summoning lightning and striking them. They were all powerful mages in their own right, and together they make an equal match with someone like Zeuxis.

“Oh, you’re little daemon friend is quite distracting.” Lovushka’s eyes beamed “His eyes are so pretty, I wish I was born with those eyes.”

Zeuxis was too busy fighting his own one-man battle to notice the crystal. He shouted as he summon a never-ending chain of lightning.

“ZAP, ZAP HEATHENS! HAHAHAHA!”

He was doing well because he was releasing the maximum of his strength and powers. So….

Perhaps it was time for Ronin to use his for the first time.

He looked at the pendant on his hand, and thought about it for a while……

Before putting it on his mouth.

He was careful not to chomp it off and accidentally kill Cermin. He kept it there, resting by his tongue, and then…..

He drew a triangle on his palm, with three lines above it.

The symbol for ‘eruption’.

Soon, his Magmatic Rage skill was activated.

The pain of his skin eventually burning up to the point of boiling water was almost unendurable, but he kept his focus on that amber pendant resting on his tongue.

No matter what, he must not accidentally crush it.

“Oh? What’s this? You look like you’re about to explode again as you usually do, old friend.” Lovushka grinned. “It’s been a while since I saw you in a fit of rage.”

He then flicked the goo made of amber everywhere……

And they soon start to grow around him, planning to entrap Ronin.

But he did not pay attention to it. His head was beating and pounding on itself like a drum. His heart rate quickened exponentially…

And the lines on his skin, the Lichtenburg figures, glowed bright red.

As Ronin kept on transforming, it put a strain on his sanity. He felt like his brain was being eaten away by some animal…..

And that animal was also himself.

His feral instincts. This must be what would happen if he released it and lost his intellect.

“GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!”

He growled loudly. He would have shouted, if he could.

But he did not open his mouth still. It seemed like it was also part of his instinct to not let Cermin die inside a pendant.

Lovushka’s eyes gleamed, and he made a…. Suspicious sound.

“Ahhhh! I love it when men absolutely turn into wild beasts. Just like how a villain would just ravage the heroine for himself, and terrorize without mercy.”

Ronin raised his hand, and as he did…….

An explosion of magma came, erupting from the surface of the ground. It burned the goo getting closer to him.

He went on all fours, and punched the ground again and again!

Every time he did, new geysers came, slowly reaching Lovushka.

But Lovushka just danced his way around them, and smiled when his long hair had been partially burnt by one of these geysers.

“Is this all you have, darling? How can you expect to devour the world and defeat gods if you could barely harm me?”

He went over to flick some goo over Ronin’s face…

But the now wild Ronin that was under Magmatic Rage just waved them away with his arms, and his bulging muscles with those etched lines managed to burn the goo!

“Oh, how interesting.” Lovushka smiled. “Well then, I suppose I should take this a little bit seriously. Since you are showing me such a beautiful symbol of a facet of humanity.”

He went near Ronin and aimed a punch at him!

“Let’s fight like how savage humans do, shall we? No weapons.”

His punch almost reached his face, but Ronin blocked it with his arms again, growling once more as he felt some of his bones break.

“No mind, no words! Only our beautiful brutality!!!!”