He stands at the top of the steps leading to the church and looks around. His eyes stop on us and then he walks down the steps straight towards us. At first I thought he was coming for me, but as he gets closer I can tell he only has eyes for Lin.

??? says "Rejoice mortal, for this god has chosen you as his concubine!"

Lin yells "I refuse!"

??? says "You have no choice in the matter!"

At that point I am seeing red, so I step up and hit the big guy as hard as I can in the face. With how strong I am, I was expecting to knock him back, or at least down. Instead, his head rocks back a little and a trickle of blood comes from the side of his mouth.

The guy then grins at me before hitting me back and sending me flying. I have never been hit so hard in my life, I literally fly backwards and crash through several stalls. Most of the people in the market start running away while screaming, but some drop to their knees.

From their reactions, it looks like this guy is really a god, or at least an avatar. Either way it doesn't really matter, I wouldn't let even a god touch Lin. As I pick myself up from the rubble of the destroyed stands I grip my communication amulet.

"Lin, can you teleport?"

Lin says "Yes, I can."

"Good. Teleport back to the ship. Once you are there tell Stillwater to set sail to the west at full speed."

Lin says "Okay, but will you be alright?"

"Yeah, I just want you safely out of the area. This fight is going to be big."

By this point the avatar has arrived before me and he punches me again. The punch really hurts and once again I am sent flying, but I also see Lin disappear in a flash. This time one of the market goers is unlucky enough to be in my flight path.

After crashing through numerous stalls and one unfortunate human, I finally stop inside a store. The store is on the other side of the market from the church, but luckily it isn't the merchant group's store. Just as I am picking myself up the store gives out a groan and collapses on top of me.

By the time I pull myself out of the rubble the market is completely deserted. Even those that were kneeling have fled after seeing the unlucky guy turned into mush. The avatar is the only one left in the market and he is slowly walking towards me.

Lin says "I am safely on the ship and we are getting underway. Please, stay safe!"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"I will be fine. Tell Stillwater to swing wide and try to avoid being spotted by the city."

Now that Lin is safely out of the way I drop shapeshift and let out a full powered breath. The flames hit the avatar straight on and once I can see him again he is no longer smiling. Before he can do anything I charge up to him and hit him as hard as I can with my paw.

This time the avatar is launched into the air and flies backwards, but not as far as I did. Before he even lands I am charging towards where I expect him to land. Thanks to my speed I am there seconds after he lands and hit him in the chest with my claws while he is down.

My claws tear through his clothes and his flesh and blood pours from the wounds. I have been scanning the avatar with my mana the entire time and now I finally sense something. There is some kind of energy cord leading from the avatar into the sky and now there is energy moving through it.

The energy allows the avatar to quickly heal his wounds and then he stands up. He draws the sword from his back and takes a swing at me, but I block the blow with my claws. The sword just bounces off of my claws and the avatar looks shocked.

However, my attention is still focused on the cord that is feeding him energy. I have already tried several things, but it seems like mana cannot affect the cord. So, next I try using my divine power and I am finally able to sever the cord.

When the cord is severed the avatar lets out a scream of pain and the aura around him vanishes. I was expecting the avatar to vanish as well, but he sticks around, looking injured. If he didn't disappear, then I should be able to actually kill him and see what will happen.

As the avatar tries to swing his sword at me again I unleash a blast of breath right in his face. I follow up with another claw strike to the chest and this time it doesn't heal. The avatar swings his sword again and again I block it with a claw, but the avatar follows with a punch.

Even though I am in my normal form, the punch still launches me back. I don't fly anywhere near as far as I did before, but I still end up destroying another building. However, I knew that this fight would be destructive so I moved away from the merchant group's store.

Instead, as the fight continues, I move the fight towards the church the avatar came out of. Thanks to me using my breath weapon, most of the market is now covered in flames. I can only hope that the flames don't reach the store or I am going to feel guilty.

However, I don't let my worry distract me, I keep my focus on fighting the avatar. I am absolutely winning the fight, but the amount of damage the avatar can take is surprising. What is confusing is that the avatar has not used any magic or divine abilities.

Despite the massive beating I am giving him, he only uses his physical strength against me. Even with the cord cut, he is actually still stronger physically than I am. I am only winning because I have the advantage in speed, not to mention my size and mass.

The fight finally ends when I grab the avatar's head and give it a sharp twist. By then, over half of the city is either on fire or nothing but a pile of rubble. Surprisingly the avatar's body does not disappear after he dies, it just lays there.

If it is an actual physical body then from what the goddesses told me it should be a primary avatar. That means that its death will have cost the god some permanent power. Out of curiosity, I cut the body open, remove its heart, and toss it into my mouth.

Devour Activated: +50 All Stats! +5 Evolution Points!

'What?! Evolution points?! What are those?!'

"Seronia, Krenocia, is an avatar's body, minus the heart, of any use to you?"

Both say "Yes!"

At their answer I quickly lift the body up and perform the offering rite. Once it disappears I jump into the sky and fly away from the city, heading inland. There are plenty of people still in the city that watch me leave, hence my direction.