“Wait, I’m Supposed to Become a Goddess?! But I’m a Guy!”

"Please go easy on me, Liam," Mize said, hovering in the air, her figure tracing soft arcs as they arrived at the center of the newly restored battlefield. 

The ground beneath had only just been repaired, faint lines still visible if one looked closely. 

The distance between them wasn’t much different from the earlier duels, but the atmosphere felt lighter, at least for now.

At her words, Liam shifted his hand to the side, his cane evaporating into thin air as if it had never existed. 

He reached up to the brim of his hat, plucked it off, and just as easily, it too vanished without a trace.

"Don't worry," Liam replied casually, his voice light. 

"It's just training. Take what you learned from the last battle and put it to use here."

"Make sure to give everything you have against me"

Without hurry, he reached behind him, unclipping the cloak that hung across his shoulders. 

It disintegrated in an almost eerie manner, dissolving into faint glimmers like a swarm of invisible insects devouring it.

"My findings?" Mize blinked, her body twirling in place midair, the expression in her clear eyes tilting toward innocence. 

"Anything?" she chimed again, her thoughts already wandering in other directions.

"Yeah," Liam nodded, tugging off his gloves and sliding them into his chest pocket. 

He rolled up his sleeves with a few smooth motions, then tucked one hand into his pant pocket while resting the other against his hip.

 His posture relaxed completely, a lazy tilt to his stance, though his deep golden eyes sharpened a little. 

He gave a slight nod of his chin. "You make the first move."

"A-ah?" Mize fidgeted in the air, unprepared for how informal and relaxed this felt. 

Then again, she'd barely fought anyone before in her life. 

She shifted awkwardly. "I wonder what would happen if I use the goddess form to fight... I've never tried."

"I hope this goes well"

"Being in the goddess form felt sooo NOT ME and yet ME"

"Well, let's just do it"

She rose a little higher without thinking, floating several meters up. 

From Liam’s view below, it was like watching a leaf rise on a current of air.

Her hands brushed against the fabric of her robe, loosening its slightly tight fit across her arms and waist. 

She tilted her head, breathing in slowly, chest lifting with the effort, and after a moment of hesitation, she called out again, "I'm going to use my goddess form, is that okay?"

"Mhmm," Liam said, barely lifting an eyebrow. "Anything you can think of. Just go for it."

At his words, Mize gave a small nod. Her breathing shifted, slowed... and in the next instant, the air around her seemed to ripple.

There was no sound, just a sharp stillness.

Then.

Without warning, the light in the space dimmed. 

The once bright, nearly undetectable ceiling above them turned heavy and colorless, draining the warmth from the air.

 A slow pressure settled across the field, as if unseen hands were pushing down on everything and everyone.

All attention honed in on Mize.

Her once gentle eyes lost their luster of innocence, becoming something distant, cold, godless. 

Her hair darkened, bleeding into deep red strands streaked with black and purple.

 Strange wisps of mist poured off her, curling and rising as her robe twisted around her body, reshaping itself into a midnight-hued dress speckled with faint starlight.

More of her form was revealed now, elegantly sculpted curves accentuated by the flowing dress. 

Her body stretched subtly, gaining height until she easily topped two meters. 

The sides of her waist were exposed through slits in the new fabric, and her eyes, now a piercing crimson, gleamed under the dimming light.

Mize tilted her head, her right arm rising.

 Along her slender fingers, an ornate, delicate glove materialized.

"Hmmmmm..." A low hum escaped her lips, resonating through the battlefield.

 The sound was neither language nor melody, yet it brushed against the ears of everyone present, impossible to ignore.

"Why does it feel strange...?" she murmured, her gaze slipping down to examine her own arms and legs.

With a small flick of her wrist, a mirror formed midair, spinning once before stilling. In its surface, her full reflection stared back at her.

She studied the image quietly. 

This new form wasn’t the cold, aloof figure her goddess form once resembled. 

No, this was different. 

The curves of her body seemed almost impossibly sculpted, each line and contour designed to catch the eye. 

An aura clung to her now, deep with something both enticing and dangerously magnetic.

Soft mist, pink and purple, drifted from her skin, lingering around her like perfume. 

It didn’t take much guessing to realize that her sudden transformation was linked to some unseen change in her divinity.

"How annoying," she said at last, placing her right hand on her hip, her posture shifting into something casual. 

Her crimson gaze locked onto the man still standing calmly below.

Liam noticed the look instantly. His body stiffened for half a second, though he masked it well, keeping his posture relaxed, a slow smile curving his lips. 

His eyes narrowed, golden and sharp.

"Now this is a surprise," he said, tone amused. "I never thought my beautiful darling could be this..."

He trailed off, letting the silence stretch between them.

Mize raised a single brow, waiting.

"...this alluring," he finished, his grin widening just a fraction.

Elsewhere, the other two spectators weren’t spared from the unfolding scene.

Aizen stood frozen, mouth half-open in disbelief. 

"Isn't this... the aura of a corrupted being?" he muttered under his breath, his voice barely above a whisper.

Titrus, standing stiffly beside him, was silent for a beat before nodding grimly. "Indeed. My master in this state appears dangerously close to a corrupted form."

Aizen's gaze flicked sideways, suspicion sharpening his features. "I heard from the maids what her highness’s goddess form looked like before. It wasn’t anything like this."

"And?" Titrus prompted coolly.

Aizen crossed his arms, shifting his stance, his expression thoughtful. "When I entered earlier, I could smell it. The traces of lust... of desire, clinging to both the Lord and her highness. They might have done something... intimate."

"And your point is?" Titrus said with a sidelong glance.

"My point," Aizen said smoothly, "is that her highness’s divinity seems extremely sensitive to external influences, especially emotional ones."

"I suppose so," Titrus conceded after a long pause.

The battlefield shifted back to the two standing at the center.

The air heavy, not the kind that crackles or sings, but the silent, slow-building kind that bides its time. 

Liam waited patiently.

Mize hovered in midair, her silhouette drifting like a slow current, every slight movement pulling delicate ripples through the folds of her gown. 

Her hair streamed behind her in loose, twisting strands, and the graceful tilt of her hips and shoulders moved in ways that seemed almost too perfect to be unintentional.

"Apologies, mortal" she called out. 

Her face crammed for a moment, seemingly to be confused, but then... Her godless expression resumed. 

Her voice rang out with the weight of a bell tolling across empty fields.

 She raised her right hand, fingers curling in a languid, almost careless gesture.

"In this state... I feel little compared to before."

Her body turned slowly, an elegant spin that sent her robe spiraling around her calves.

 She glanced down, her voice lowering into a muted murmur. "So... be careful."

Without waiting for a response, she lifted her hand and tilted her palm toward the ground.

"Fall."

The word barely left her lips before a violent force exploded downward.

Liam's instincts flared. 

He twisted his body and kicked backward, launching himself away just as a crushing suction force erupted from Mize’s outstretched palm.

A moment later.

Boom!

A thunderous blast split the air, the ground shuddering beneath the sheer pressure. 

The repaired battlefield gave way instantly, pulverized into jagged debris and churning dust under the assault.

A massive crater opened beneath her, wide enough to swallow a house whole.

 Shockwaves burst outward in chaotic ripples, tearing through the field.

Liam reacted without thought, fingers tracing a sharp motion through the air. 

Diagrams flickered into existence, glowing lines unfurling and forming shimmering barriers just as shattered stone and air slammed into him.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Chunks of debris smashed into the shields, throwing off sparks of light, but Liam barely flinched. 

His posture loose, he shifted his weight lazily, golden eyes sweeping through the destruction with an almost idle curiosity.

As the last shockwave trembled out and the air stilled, he flicked his hand and dispelled the cracked shields. 

Dust rained softly around him as he stepped carefully over the cracked and jagged floor, boots crunching on broken stone.

"Hmm... starting off with a heavy blast to rattle the opponent’s rhythm?" Liam mused aloud, brushing a few specks of dust from his sleeve. 

He tipped his head back and caught Mize’s gaze, a gaze now cold, detached, and entirely unrecognizable.

"Not bad."

Mize showed no reaction. 

She simply moved her fingers again, a slow, decisive shift like a queen issuing a command.

 Her voice dropped low.

"Grow..."

The air trembled.

Without warning, the ground around the crater convulsed.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Massive wooden vines erupted upward, tearing through the earth like giant beasts freed from their cages. 

Twisting roots and gnarled branches spiraled outward, lush leaves unfurling even as thick roots clawed at the ground.

Liam dodged easily, his figure slipping through the encroaching chaos causally, hands in his pocket. 

His foot skimmed lightly over a thick vine, he pivoted and kicked off it, using the momentum to soar over another that whipped past like a battering ram.

One vine shot at him from the side, jagged and bladed, aimed towards him in a timely manner.

 Liam shifted his weight and simply slapped it aside with his palm, a deafening boom echoing as it crashed into the ground.

"Breaking the floor to give the roots easier access... Smart move," he commented, weaving through the growing forest of death with unhurried steps. 

"Not bad at all."

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Vines slammed into the ground around him, missing by inches, throwing up gouts of earth.

But Liam’s movements stayed calm, almost lazy, never once breaking stride.

Above, Mize watched him, her expression blank as a blade of ice.

She shifted her hand again, palm pushing downward sharply.

"Bow."

Another pulse tore through the air.

Liam tensed. 

Instantly, an invisible pressure smashed onto his body, a sudden, crushing force that buckled the earth beneath him.

Gravity.

His boots skidded slightly across the rocks.

 He flicked a glance around, no sign of the vines being slowed. Only him.

"Selective gravity manipulation?" Liam narrowed his eyes, a grin pulling at his lips.

 "Troublesome."

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The vines continued their relentless assault, their strikes impossibly fast and punishingly heavy. 

Yet even under the amplified gravity, Liam’s movements were perfectly executed. 

Mize watched closely. 

The way his weight shifted just enough to avoid a snapping vine, the way his steps barely stirred the dust, every motion showed layers of control. 

Unimpressed, she pressed her fingers further downward.

"One hundred tons," she declared flatly.

Liam’s breath hitched a fraction. The weight slammed harder.

The vine he had been stepping on splintered beneath him with a sickening crack, and his body plummeted downward, smashing into the ground hard enough to send a quake rippling outward.

He chuckled quietly even as the earth caved under him.

"It really is troublesome," he muttered, brushing dirt off his sleeve as he pushed himself halfway upright.

The vines surged in, looming from every direction, each the size of a small house, their surfaces armored.

Liam dropped lower, his palm pressing firmly against the ground.

"Has she forgotten...?" he said under his breath, lips curling into a grin, "I'm a summoner."

Boom!

In a single breath, hundreds of giant knights erupted from the earth around him, fully armored, swords flashing.

 They surged into formation instantly, cleaving through the vines.

Steel clashed against wood.

As the summoned knights cut and parried, Liam rose to his full height amidst the chaos, arms folding across his chest.

The dust and debris parted around him, forming a clear circle even as the battle raged beyond it.

"Come on, Mimi," Liam said with a slow, challenging smile. "At this level... you won't even graze me."

His voice carried easily, almost teasing.

High above, Mize remained silent, her stare unreadable. 

A quiet calculation passed behind her crimson eyes, her fingers still poised midair.

After a beat, her voice fell again, this time colder, sharper.

"Then so be it."

Her words, soft as they were, cut through the battlefield like the prelude to something far worse.

The knights around Liam braced themselves instinctively, sensing the change.

And her hands danced mysteriously.