Kat quickly crouched down and surveyed her surroundings. Did the mercenaries get a drop on her? How was that possible? Or was it a wild animal?Kat sniffed the downwind air. They were definitely human beings, and a lot of them. The gurgling of the rivulet water had suppressed the sounds of their approach until the last moment.Kat decided to face them head-on. If the enemy was desperate enough to seek out their own deaths, she was willing to oblige. The girl growled and began her panther transformation. It would take a dozen seconds to turn into the pink panther, but she had enough time before the mercenaries reached her. The footfalls were at least a hundred feet away.Zip! Four balls as large as pumpkins shot out of the surrounding forest. Kat eyed them anxiously. What were they? Cannons? Grenades?Whatever the balls were, they would reach her before the complete transformation. Moreover, they were fired in such a way that Kat would be blinded by the overhead sun. Anyway, the girl c
"What are you doing here, you accidental heir?" Kat groaned from under the animal net. Her voice was pregnant with mortal pain. However, the suffering was not only from the fire's heat but also from the realization that she had failed her people. She was going to die without saving the Mayan communities. Kat was supposed to be a goddess, protecting innocents from evil intruders. However, the latter had easily overcome, defeated, and almost killed her. She brought upon her own divinity and the entire pantheon of Aztec gods. "Have you lost your mind?" Kat raged at Tyler with whatever energy she had left. "Are you suicidal? Why would you follow me and then step into this cursed fire?" "You may be the Seraphim King's heir, but you are definitely not as powerful as he used to be. These infernal flames will burn you alive along with me! Your death will be in vain! Escape and save yourself!" Tyler indeed felt his clothes catching fire. Normal combustion was not supposed to harm him as l
Tyler offered no response to the evil woman's outburst. He barely acknowledged her voice. The lieutenant gritted her teeth at the duo and fished into her inventory again. She emerged with another can of gasoline. "The flames are only seven feet tall right now," Spaniela barked. "Let's see if your acrobatics can help you escape a fiery tornado." The villainess threw the open can into the blazing firewood. Whoosh! With a sinister roar, the flames rose precipitously, growing to over thirty feet within seconds. Clearly, the cursed gasoline betrayed logic and reasoning. It turned a regular pyre into an inferno! There was no way anybody could escape without getting burned to a crisp. Spaniela threw back her head and cackled. "You monster bitch! You can burn alive with your worshiper!" As the Red Marauders hooted praises for their lieutenant, Kat turned to Tyler. "I appreciate you came to rescue me even though I dismissed you rudely. But our fate is sealed. There's no escaping this curs
As Tyler glided high above the lively green sprawl of jungle, strong winds buffeted against his muscular constitution. Human bodies aren't aerodynamic and would typically be heavily injured in a winged flight. However, the young man was not an ordinary human. His body was more robust than an aircraft's fuselage.Kat held onto Tyler tightly, her eyes locked on him with admiration and awe. Her eyesight occasionally took nervous glimpses of the distant forest canopies below. After all, she was hundreds of feet above the ground!Panthers weren't scared of heights but terrified of being away from a firm topsoil! However, Kat felt secure in Tyler's arms. And why wouldn't she? He just rescued her from surefire death with abilities that defied logic. His arms were probably the safest place in the world!Kat reflected on Tyler's display of godly powers. Was the last Seraphim King this powerful? Did he have the authority to commune with Quetzalcoatl in his early days? Definitely not.Then how d
Tyler rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I'm not so sure about that. I simply call out to the gods, and they respond immediately. I never really had a problem in that matter. My assumption was that's how the whole contract thing works?"Kat shook her head. "No! I have memories of my previous vessel. Your predecessor lacked such prowess in his early days. It took thirty years for Butch Salvatore to establish trust with the highest tier, the primordial gods! Don't brush it off as a simple feat!"The young man raised an eyebrow. It was not surprising that the goddess Tezcatlipoca would be familiar with Butch, his teacher and precursor. He was the one who framed the divine contracts anyway. "What is this highest tier you speak of? Aren't all gods the same?"The girl facepalmed herself. She was about to answer the question with annoyance when a low rumble was heard. It was her stomach."Kat is hungry," she said rather adorably. "Please feed me."Twenty minutes later, both of them were go
When Tyler and Kat reached the outskirts of Kona village, the sun was low on the horizon. In the beginning, they carried out some reconnaissance in the periphery. However, the previously well-guarded village had no border patrol anymore. Where did the mercenaries go?Moreover, when Kat last retreated from Kona, she saw vultures hovering over it, waiting to scavenge hundreds of Mayan corpses. There was no sign of vultures anymore. What happened in the village while she was gone?Were the Red Marauders holed up inside Kona, prepared to use the villagers as hostages? Their lieutenant, Spaniela, had suffered a crushing defeat at Tyler's hand. She had seen how powerful the man was. A mercenary hunter did not witness supernatural abilities like weather control and divine wings every day. It would have freaked out the woman.Tyler's pairing with the Pink Panther would make them an unstoppable force of nature. It would be urgent for Spaniela to report this coalition to her leader.Naturally,
"From what I have heard, Dagon and Veronica don't run from a fight," Tyler said without emotion.The young man had been standing quiet since the conversation began. Everyone else was using the Yucatec Mayan language, which he neither understood nor spoke.However, within seconds, Tyler used his mystical powers to learn and master the language. Now that he finally uttered words, he spoke pure, unadulterated Yucatec Mayan. His accent and intonation were perfect as if he were a native speaker.Akna turned her gaze towards Tyler and clenched her jaw. "Foreigner! You speak our language flawlessly. Yet, I can see you are not from our lands. Your kind are our enemies and are unwelcome here!"The other Mayans murmured their approval. They were stumped why their protectress goddess let a foreigner walk beside her. Was he a paramour or concubine?"Tyler Grant is no ordinary man," Kat replied sternly. "I have a divine contract with him, and you will treat him with the same respect and reverence
The Mayan crowd exchanged nervous glances and murmurs among them in response to Tyler's words. It's as if they had heard the death knell."Did he say he came here for the Green Monk?""Is the foreigner suicidal?""Maybe he is ignorant about Yaax Monje's power?"Kat walked up to Tyler and turned him towards herself by the shoulder. "What nonsense are you spouting? Why would you come seeking him in your wildest dreams? Tell me that is a lie!"The young man reined in his excitement for a moment. Clearly, the Mayans knew a great deal about the Green Monk, but they were terrified of the entity. If Tyler appeared too excited, they might clam up and refuse to share information that he desperately needed. The last thing he wanted to do was force or hypnotize a community that had lost loved ones on the same day."I didn't mean to scare your followers," he said to the goddess calmly. "The purpose for making El Abyssium my destination was to find and extract a rare spiritual object—a chakra need