Two crows descended from the heavens, cawing and screeching as they pierced through the clouds.

Fluffy lifted his head toward the skies and bawked indignantly. “Damn crows! My father will hear of this!”

“Tin! Send me and the crows somewhere else! Somewhere away from Aarde!” Sweet shouted into her communication crystal.

“I will only be able to do so if the crows cooperate, as I do not have the ability to force them into a space tear.”

“Don’t worry about that. They want me. I can see it in their eyes.”

Indeed, both Karasu puppets were diving straight for Sweet.

“Now, Tin! Before they hit the ground! Beam me up!”

“Thy will be done, Madame.”

Tin closed his eyes and concentrated. Truthfully, what Sweet had asked for was beyond his capabilities, but he’d established a connection with the endless power residing in the crystal tree at the center of his hometown.

A space tear opened up in front of Sweet, and she dashed through it to find herself standing in a desolate, flat landscape covered in snow, with patches of fire-red dirt poking through.

Sweet sighed as she looked around, caught up in the beauty of her surroundings, but two giant space tears opened up overhead, pulling her back to reality.

She had a job to do.

Those of the second generation had special innate talents, such as Boom’s explosive abilities. Similarly, those of the first generation, the bird-gods, had special talents of their own.

For example, Tori could summon shards of light to protect himself and fire at enemies, and Taka the hawk god had absolute control over wind and air.

Karasu had the ability to control gravity, as it was immediately clear that these two replica puppets were capable of the same.

Sweet’s surroundings turned into an area of darkness, and the snow and ground collapsed into itself, forming a giant crater a mile wide with Sweet at its center.

She scoffed as the two giant crows landed beside her. “You may look like him and have his powers… but the real Karasu would have known better than to try such paltry tricks with me. You’re going to have to fight me properly.”

Indeed, despite the destruction of the ground around her, Sweet stood upright, completely unfazed.

With her sword raised, she rushed toward the Karasu to her left. She blocked its wing, then swung her sword at its beak when it tried to peck her. She borrowed the force of the clash to slide towards the other Karasu.

Unprepared for the quick change in Sweet’s movement, the second Karasu suffered a few quick slashes on the right side of its body before it could even try and retaliate with a talon strike of its own.

Sweet was able to twist and block it with her shield, but the force of the crow’s strike knocked her tumbling through the air and dirt.

Both crows opened their beaks and shot out blasts of mana at Sweet. Unable to dodge in time, she hid behind her shield and did her best to absorb the blows.

“Damn birds, I’m going to roast you over the fire when I’m done with you!” Sweet shouted as she dropped her shield and lifted her sword with both hands overhead.

A thick coat of mana enveloped the blade and continued upwards, forming a mana sword that extended high in the sky. At the same time, both crows took flight.

With a shout, Sweet sliced downwards with the blade. One Karasu flew towards her and the blade, while the other looped around in the sky to target her from behind.

“Taking me head on, huh? You’re more like Karasu than I thought!” Sweet shouted as her blade and the first Karasu’s talons collided.

Sweet grunted as she tried to slice through the crow’s talons, but had to release her mana and swing around as the second crow tried to peck her in the back.

She was able to block the peck, but a giant mass of red soil smashed into her from above, burying her.

The two crows summoned gravity fields under the pile of soil so strong that the ground collapsed into the dirt, creating a hole hundreds and hundreds of feet deep and dragging Sweet into the planet’s core.

The next moments passed in absolute silence—snow began to fall from the sky again, coating the red soil with another layer of white.

“Is she dead?” one of the crows spoke for the first time.

“It would be difficult for even the strongest of gods to survive being crushed by that much force. It should be impossible for one of the second generation to—”

“But you know what her innate talent is, right? The original told us.”

“Yes, I’m well aware. Conviction.”

The two looked down the hole. After a while, the first crow spoke again, “Even if she’s still alive, she must be gravely injured. It will take her much time to free herself of this hole.”

“Hmm.” the other crow cocked its head to the side. “Very well. Let us return to Aarde.”

Before they could take flight, though, a burst of light from deep within the hole pulled their attention back to it. Cracks began to form at the edges of the hole, and light grew stronger as it peeked through.

“What?!” The first crow frantically waved its wings as it panickedly took flight.

The second wasn’t so fortunate. Sweet burst through the ground and in an instant had smashed, full force, into its neck area.

Sweet lifted her sword and coated it with mana and sliced through the crow’s neck, cleanly beheading it.

“Sweet, the Defender of Humanity and Godslayer. I quite like the sound of that.” Sweet fell to the ground and calmly tossed aside the second crow’s corpse.

She was the same person as just a few moments ago, that was clear, but her aura had changed. This was most noticeable in the state of her hair, which usually hung calmly around her shoulders.

Instead, it was flowing behind her as if she were in a wind tunnel—but in reality it was simply flowing along with the sheer strength of mana she was exuding.

“You couldn’t defeat me as a duo, so what’s your plan now?”

“I’m disappointed, Sweet. To think you would compare me with him?” This Karasu cast a condescending gaze at the corpse of the second crow.

“He was made countless years after me and was only finished the most recent millennia. His inability to escape such an obvious attack is a clean indication of how unskilled he was.”

Sweet shrugged. “I don’t care what you think of your little brother. Just how you’re going to taste with a nice cold one.”