Chapter 59: An Unholy Alliance and an Unceremonious Exit

The divine pact was sealed. The cosmic energy that had crackled between our hands settled, leaving a heavy silence in my office, thick with the weight of our ridiculous wager. A century of paperwork. The stakes were absurdly, gloriously high. I looked at Isao, my new rival, who was now grinning like a Cheshire cat that had just been given the keys to a celestial canary cage.

"So," he said, stretching his arms over his head with a casualness that set my teeth on edge. "Time to pick our players. I'll need to find a soul with just the right amount of chaotic energy. Someone who sees a carefully constructed plot and instinctively wants to set it on fire. This requires some scouting."

"Fine," I said, turning back to my console. "My queue is full of worthy candidates. I, on the other hand, will choose a soul who understands the importance of heroism, justice, and following the narrative."

"How boring," he yawned. "You're picking a hero to help your hero. I'm going to pick a wildcard. But to do that, I need to get a feel for the stage."

Before I could ask what he meant, he flicked his wrist. The air beside him shimmered and tore open, revealing a swirling vortex of black and purple energy. On the other side, I could see the grimy, moonlit alley where my poor, humiliated protagonist was currently being dusted off by his followers.

My jaw dropped. "What are you doing?! That's a direct portal to Nocturnus! You can't just go there!"

"Why not?" he asked, stepping towards the portal. "Our deal was no direct interference like pigeon-bombs on the main players. It said nothing about a casual stroll through the neighborhood. I'm just window shopping for my champion's entry point."

"That is the dumbest loophole I have ever heard!" I shrieked, my voice echoing in the vastness of my realm. "You're going to contaminate the entire narrative! Get back here!"

He just gave me a lazy, two-fingered salute. "See you on the flip side, Aka-chan. Try not to miss me too much."

And with that, he stepped through the portal.

I saw red. Pure, unadulterated, divine fury. He was cheating before the game had even begun! He was going to walk all over my perfectly crafted world with his stupid, smug face and his metaphorical muddy boots. All my hard work, all my careful planning - ruined by this insufferable, juice-box-sipping menace.

"Oh no you don't!" I snarled to the empty room.

Without a second thought, I gathered my own divine energy and ripped open a portal right next to his, a swirling vortex of brilliant, amethyst light. I didn't even bother to change out of my flowing goddess gown. I was on a mission. I dove through.

The sensation of dimensional travel was instantaneous. One moment I was in my starry office; the next, I was standing on the grimy cobblestones of the alley, the smell of damp brick and refuse filling my senses. Twenty feet away, Jin was trying to yank his stuck sword from its scabbard while Echo and Kael looked on with expressions of weary pity. They all froze, their eyes widening in shock as Isao stepped out of his dark portal, looking around with an appraiser's eye.

"Hmm, needs more gargoyles," Isao mused, tapping his chin. "And the ambient angst is a little thin in this part of town."

Then my portal blazed to life, and I stormed out, my silver hair flying behind me, my eyes glowing with righteous fury.

"ISAO!" I bellowed.

Jin, Echo, and Kael took a simultaneous step back, their faces a perfect blend of terror and confusion. Jin’s jaw was on the floor. It was her. Luna. The beautiful, gentle amnesiac. But she wasn’t gentle now. She was radiating a power that made the air hum and his teeth ache. And she was screaming at the handsome, scythe-wielding man who had just appeared out of nowhere.

"Aka-chan! So glad you could make it," Isao said cheerfully, completely unfazed. "I was just telling the local architecture how uninspired it is."

"You broke the rules!" I accused, stalking towards him and poking a finger into his chest. He was taller than me, but I was too angry to care. "Our wager hasn't even started and you're already cheating! You are the most dishonorable, infuriating, untrustworthy deity in the entire celestial pantheon!"

"Flattery will get you nowhere," he smirked. "And I wasn't cheating. I was conducting… preliminary research."

The three mortals were watching us as if they were watching a tennis match between two thunderstorms. Their brains were clearly struggling to process what was happening. Luna, the lost girl, was not only back, but she knew this strange man, and they were arguing like an old married couple who also happened to be able to tear holes in reality.

"Preliminary research?!" I shrieked. "You were going to go and mess with everything before I even had a chance to pick my champion! You were going to trip the guards, graffiti the royal castle, and probably try to teach the pigeons to unionize!"

"The pigeon idea has merit," Isao conceded. "They deserve better working conditions."

Jin just stared. This was the woman he had been pining for, the ethereal dream he had sworn to protect. And she was currently arguing about unionized pigeons with the God of Death (though he didn't know that part yet). He had never been more confused in his entire life.

"That's it! I've had it with you!" I snapped. I had reached my limit. Logic was gone. Rules were gone. All that was left was a burning desire to remove him from my sandbox. "GET! OUT! OF! MY! WORLD!"

On the last word, I put all of my frustration, all of my divine power, and all of my annoyance into a single, elegant, and brutally effective motion. I pivoted on my heel and delivered a powerful, shimmering, anime-style roundhouse kick directly into Isao’s side.

It wasn't a normal kick. The point of impact exploded with a flash of purple and black light. A shockwave erupted from the blow, sending a cyclone of wind down the alley. Garbage cans went flying, loose shingles were torn from the roofs, and a crack spiderwebbed across the brick wall behind Isao.

Isao’s eyes went wide with genuine surprise. He made a sound like "OOF!" and was launched horizontally off his feet. He flew backwards like a cannonball, straight into the dark portal he had created. The portal wobbled violently, like a soap bubble about to pop, and then snapped shut with a sound like tearing fabric, leaving behind only the faint smell of ozone and bruised pride.

Silence.

The alley was a mess. Debris was everywhere. Jin, Echo, and Kael were flattened against the far wall, their hair blown back, their faces pale with shock. They stared at the spot where Isao had been, then slowly, hesitantly, turned their terrified eyes to me.

I stood there, one leg still slightly raised from the follow-through of the kick, my chest heaving, my gown and hair settling around me in the sudden stillness. I was a vision of terrifying, divine madness.

I looked at their faces - at the pure, unadulterated fear - and the fury that had been fueling me evaporated in an instant, replaced by a cold, dawning horror.

Oh, crap.

I had just revealed my true nature. I had just drop-kicked another god out of their dimension in front of my main character and his entire supporting cast. My cover, my 'Luna' persona, my entire vacation plan - it was all blown.

I did the only thing a panicked, embarrassed goddess could do.

I didn't say a word. I didn't try to explain. I just took a single step back into my still-open amethyst portal and let it snap shut behind me, leaving the three members of the Nocturne Phantoms alone in their wrecked, garbage-strewn alley, to question their reality, their purpose, and the sanity of the beautiful, mysterious girl who had just turned their world upside down.