My Goddess is Good at Pretending

Chapter 571: Let Her Cook

The Imperial Arena was filled with excitement as tens of thousands of spectators filled the stands. Their cheers and shouts echoed off the stone walls.

In the center of the grand stage, two competitors stood facing each other. Their auras clashed even before the battle had begun.

On one side stood the Storm Archer. She was a tall, lean figure in a sleek, dark green tunic. Her bow shimmered with arcs of crackling lightning and the air around her charged with the electric energy that danced along her drawn bowstring.

Opposite her, the light-attribute Sword Mage stood with calm confidence. His light armor shimmered under the gentle sunlight. He held his long, gleaming blade imbued with the pure essence of light. As he raised his sword, the sunlight intensified, refracting off the blade to cast a brilliant light. The crowd gasped in awe, some shielding their eyes from the dazzling display.

"You are a swordsman with good mastery of light-attribute magic." Harriet observed her opponent. She thought he was a priest with an unusual holy magic, but in this main act, he wielded a sword instead of a magic cane.

"Beware of my blade. Don’t lose sight of my movements or it will be your downfall, Miss Harriet." Alistair did a little stunt to show off his sword mastery before holding the sword hilt with both hands.

"Thanks for the early notice. You better not underestimate me either." Harriet smirked and shrugged.

*Gong!*

With a sharp, resounding gong, the battle commenced. Harriet was the first to move, releasing a flurry of lightning-infused arrows that streaked toward Alistair like a thunderstorm. Each arrow crackled with the combined power of wind and lightning, splitting the air with a high-pitched whistle.

Alistair responded swiftly. His sword glowed brighter as he invoked a barrier of pure light. The arrows met the barrier with explosive impacts, sending ripples of energy through the arena, dispersing the attacks like raindrops on the glass wall. Without pausing for breath, Alistair countered with a sweeping arc of sword slash, sending a wave of searing light toward the archer.

Harriet leaped back as she conjured a vortex of wind to deflect the sword slash. The two warriors continued their clash. Lightning and light collided in a spectacle of power and skill, each move met with gasps and cheers from the enthralled audience.

Sadly, the battle of tenacity and agility soon became a great disadvantage to Alistair. Harriet always kept a safe distance and managed to lay a trap formation on the ground. Once her opponent entered her trap’s attack range, she activated the domain trap, sending Alistair out of the arena with a super electromagnetic blast.

*Bam!*

Alistair crashed into the arena’s barrier, but he landed with both feet on the ground. He only received some minor injuries, but he already lost the battle as he was thrown out of the arena’s field.

Harriet raised her hand to celebrate her victory with the spectators’ cheers and applauses. She then looked at her opponent. "You’re quite formidable. If your speed can rival me, I’ll be at a great disadvantage."

"You’re good, but that’s still relatively raw for someone in the hero class. That’s probably because you’re still inexperienced, but alas, a loss is still a loss. Congratulations on your victory." Alistair turned around and raised his hand in farewell.

"Hm..." Harriet scratched her head. What her opponent said was true, and she still lacked real battle experience, but she would fix it well during the holy war.

As for the next matches, the talented disciples and young geniuses faced each other to show off their might and prowess before the audiences. According to rumors, the Gods would also watch the event, and of course, the participants had to show their best.

Yet, when it came to Uriel versus Remiel’s turn, their clashes were only filled by explosions. It was hard to witness anything, and in the end, Uriel withdrew, allowing Remiel to advance to the next round.

"Did you see it? Miss Uri lost because Miss Remi is stronger, or is it just because they are playing around and want to trick us?" Nyla Sharp whispered and nudged her comrade.

"What did you see? I couldn’t see anything." Mizushima Katsue wasn’t too sure because all she could see were explosions and the winner was decided.

"Their move set is unique, and I reckon, they are members of a special squad. They were unlucky to be faced with each other in the first round. Miss Remi is most likely Priestess Miko’s disciple, and we need to defeat her so she can answer my inquiries, huh..." Yuusha Mashiro rubbed his chin.

"Whatever. I shall beat whoever my opponent is." Ash Simpson put his fists together as he didn’t care about the complicated things. He just wanted to fight the stronger opponents.

"If Priestess Miko is from Earth too, it would be helpful if she could share her knowledge with us. If this sexy wolf therianthrope wins another round, her opponent in the third round will be our Steel Prophet Mage. Nyla, don’t you dare to lose." Richard Rees checked the placement and reminded his comrade about it.

"You don’t have to say it. I already know that. It’s just that, we barely know anything about Elysion Church’s representatives. They keep hiding their abilities and skills." Nyla Sharp sighed. As a fortune teller and mage proficient in steel magic, she always believed that lack of information would lead to a greater disadvantage.

She tried to foresee the future with her victory through tarot cards. Unfortunately, three out of four attempts showed her fair defeat, and the last one would lead to a crushing defeat.

"Please forgive me, everyone. Miss Remi is most likely the sacred lady’s disciple. I divined my chance, and everything will lead to my defeat." Nyla Sharp put her hands together to apologize because she was confident in her divination abilities, and she was bound to lose for sure.

"It’s okay, we can do the rest. We only need to defeat one of her disciples. My only concern is the golden blonde-haired elf over there. Miss Gabriel... she is the strongest one and is most likely Priestess Miko’s prime disciple." Yuusha Mashiro crossed his arms as he gazed upon the lucky one who advanced directly to the second round.

He noticed all participants of the Elysion Church respected and listened to all of her advice, and she obviously held a higher status among the others. Her class was shown as the Angel of Revelation, and it truly concerned him because such an occupation was obviously more than extraordinary!

As the match continued, Rhykdohr in Galashiels’ body already watched the event. He also brought along his comrades with him as the watchful spiritual consciousnesses.

Nine spirits floated around his head, expressing their respective opinions on the match, but it was still early in the game and had not yet caught their attention.

"Rhykdohr, where is the mysterious nine-tailed fox you spoke of? Is she really the Heavenly Palace’s affiliate?"

"It’s a bit hard to spot her."

"Just go to the last place you met. She might be there."

"That makes sense. Let’s go there."

Several floating spirits tried to find the mysterious guest among everyone in the Imperial Arena, but they couldn’t find the mentioned nine-tailed shadow fox, Lady Kitsune. Seeing that, Rhykdohr went to the same spot where he encountered Lady Kitsune yesterday.

"Megami, please have some. I specially made this snack early in the morning." Sylvia took out several big buckets of corn snacks and shared them with everyone. But, she especially offered the well-done popcorn buckets to Megami.

"Thanks." Megami received two popcorn buckets and put them on her thighs.

"What’s this? Why is it still raw?" Dory picked up a random popcorn and cornflake from her bucket.

The corn kernels popped prematurely, some still raw and hard. Worse, she even found an intact raw corn still with its husk and a big corn cob buried under the pile.

"Yeah, mine is also still rock-hard. Who let Sylvi cook? She should be banned from the kitchen." Evelyn also complained.

"Ugh, it’s still edible..." Sylvia smiled innocently and ate the popcorn from Megami’s bucket.

"..." The other girls were speechless. Sylvia shared the failed product to everyone so that it would not be wasted. Out of all the popcorn, only two buckets were cooked properly, and they were given to Megami.

"Well, just do it like this." Darkness lit the portable stove and popped the half-cooked corn near the fire before eating it. It was good now, and the other girls joined her campfire.

"Hm?" Megami looked to the side as she felt a particular divine aura emerge out of the void near their location.

"She’s not here. Has she not arrived yet?" Rhykdohr rubbed his head as he looked around the corners at the outermost wall’s shade.

Seeing that, Megami flicked her finger to reveal her current location to the newly arrived guest. Their camp spot shifted twenty meters from yesterday’s location, and it was wrapped by a divine barrier. So, it would be hard to find her group.

"They’re already here!"

"She deliberately revealed her location."

"Twenty meters to the right!"

"Let’s meet them!"

The spirits pointed in the same direction, but Rhykdohr already noticed it as well. He walked toward the seemingly empty spot and bumped into an invisible dimensional wall, but he still managed to pass through the barrier. He looked around, and it was so shocking to see a group of foxkin! It wasn’t one or two foxkin, but a whole family of beautiful, alluring foxes!

Rhykdohr and the nine spirits around his head were flabbergasted because these foxkins possessed the varied allure and beauty that could spell a great war. All of them were female foxes, but after observing them a little more closely, there were some oddities they could notice.

The first one was the small fairy-looking girl with a fox appearance, but she still possessed a pair of translucent wings typical of fairies. Then the demoness-looking fox with a bloody aura that usually came from the pureblood high demon. This one even had a pair of devil horns. There was also the vixen with aura and characteristics of merfolk, bird, and other non-fox races.

’Fool, I said they weren’t really foxes. Apart from the nine-tailed shadow fox over there, and maybe a pair of foxes there, the rest only wore the fancy, high-tier disguise technique. The nine-tailed shadow fox is also disguised herself, but her divine technique is beyond top-notch, resembling a shape shift with no flaw.’ Rhykdohr regained his composure and reprimanded his comrades.

The nine Gods immediately accepted that reason even though they still found it really strange. The foxkin could be considered a weakling in this world. With no prominent talent for generations, the foxkin became the prey near the bottom of the food chain. The only value this race possessed were their attractive appearance, tasty body constitution, and illusion technique.

Yet, Lady Kitsune brought her group in fox in disguise. The only plausible reason for this is definitely not simple.

’Wait, she said before leaving yesterday. She will cause chaos and trouble in this world as an overbearing foxkin. If she is from the Divine World, then no mortals can fight her. What kind of trouble does she want to cause with a whole bunch of foxes?’ Rhykdohr put his hand on his forehead.

He had to send some intel to check the world change that happened in the past day. The nine spirits near his head also agreed to it because everyone knew that the movement of a Deity would never be small.

"It can see many things are troubling your minds, Lord Rhykdohr and esteemed members of the Council of Gods. Regardless, please have a seat." Megami invited the guests to sit down.