The inheritor of the Gaia’s title was not having a good time.

Although there were no scrapes upon her body; she was covered in dirt from head to toe from the amount of times she’d hit the dirt. Her hair no better - being mattered & tangled - as she was on all four trying to comprehend what just happened to her. Fortunately only a few attacks contained that strange impure energy that prevented her from regenerating so her beautiful body was unblemished.

Still (if she had clothes) there is no doubt her clothing would be a tattered mess. It was unsettling that, no matter how many times those evil claws raked through her flesh, her divinity refused to let her adapt to the impurity they injected inside her. Instead she would be left weakened.

Given time she was able to purge it from her system… But she never got more efficient at it nor built up any sort of immunity.

Even against that three headed primordial goddess she could tell she was getting stronger - even if she was being thrown around like a sack of krill. For her entire life she was assured of one thing; her ability to constantly grow when under pressure. When she was underwater her ‘energy’ diffused out making her far weaker with no arcane abilities yet as soon as she surfaced that energy came to her. Suddenly she understood what her divinity was all about, growth, thus was unable to hold back her sadness leading to her going on a rampage while assured that her divinity would allow her to remain undeterred.

When against that one god; she at least continued to grow. However, this cat's skill was different, forcing her to take a more cautious approach for the first time in her fairly short life. Short for a god. It was therefore hardly surprising she was completely caught unprepared and got treated like a sandbag by the experienced fighter - especially when this cat mastered some weird techniques she had never even seen recorded in her mom’s library.

At the same time she quickly understood that this represented a chance to grow in a different way. Being able to punch through mountains and all was good, however that random primordial god she met taught her she couldn’t rely on pure power. That head that was controlling some weird sharp energy basically cut through anything she could while another set of arms punched through anything she could manage.

Fortunately the last one was just average else Alice may have lost her life before her unci could come in to split the fight up.

“Are you just going to stay down there~?”

Looking away from the floor - the goddess was met with the smug smile of the black cat who was looking down toward her - standing right in front of her with her cane to support her. The feeling of a mortal standing over her (even with a walking aide) was… Rage inducing to say the very least. Not made any better by the amused look that was placed on the obviously very sickly little black cat who she should have been able to crush with a stomp of her paw.

At the same time it helped her centre her mind; quickly going through everything she learned to try to find something she could use to at least scratch the cat. Her mind settled on the only method she was taught by her father. Although she did not have the required weapon - she now had this powerful and unlimited energy that could seemingly do anything.

Placing her hand down onto the ground where she commanded the very earth to follow her whim which it seemed to do with great relish. Like a knight who had finally found their lord. The ground quaked with magma from the core quickly becoming lava as it exploded out from the ground.

Cheshire raised a brow at the curious scene but did nothing to stop the young goddess who had the very elements of the planet come together before tempering it in the mantle. Seeing that the cat wasn’t interrupting her - she did not rush the process. Slowly building up her blade in the very bowels of the core of the mortal realm that she would inherit whether the powers to be liked it or not.

After what seemed like hours; a path to the very centre of the planet opened up where a single curved sword blade would rise from the earth.

It glowed with the heat of the magma it bathed in, toxic volcanic fumes rising from the sword, as slowly cooled down in the air. She wasn’t willing to wait any longer however. Reaching out to grasp the blade as it hissed in response - as if displeased she was going to use it as it was - not even having a proper handle due to just being the blade itself.

Out from her hand came even more of her bottomless energy. Fueling a bunch of arcane symbols that gradually became engraved upon every inch in such a small manner that the naked eye wouldn’t be able to even realise. Literally writing what she wished it to do upon the very molecules that made up the slowly forming weapon with the goddess being unable to contain her smile.

“Yea, that was cool and all, but you forgot to sharpen it chehehe~.”

That did nothing to change Alice’s expression as she also let her own merry laugh while giving the “sword in the making” a few practice swings.

“Ohohoho~ I do not need a sharp sword becau~se~...”

Tilting her head to look down on the little lioness with a ‘warm kind smile’ - that could challenge Cheshire’s own when it came to self-confidence - as she moved her sword up towards the sky. Unhurriedly turning to look towards the uncaring cat. Sword shimmering with the light from the sky that almost appeared to split in half due to the sword moving to challenge the heaven’s itself.

“... I am god!”

A massive pillar of green light shot up towards the heavens as if to bridge the gap between them and bring down the glory of the gods to the mortals below. Something she intended to do immediately as she swung her ‘blade’ down onto the cat. All in hopes of reducing her to much.

Meanwhile Cheshire just chuckled hitherto drawing a strange multi-segmented sword from what appeared to be just a simple cane. With a simple sword strike the pillar ended up landing right beside the cat - not even so much as scratching her. The goddess could only look in shock as the black cat just stood there laughing; sheathing her segmented sword after turning away from Alice with no care in the world.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“I think we are done here; let’s go get something to eat muhuhuhahaha~!”

“But… How?”

Cheshire didn’t even bother to turn to Alice let alone actually answer her - walking away into the distance where she would be met by a bunch of children running over. They were even smaller than the black cat however they looked far more healthy. Bright faces with chubby cheeks that wobbled about as they carried various things up to her.

One a set of small towels, a bowl of “medical” soup with undissolved sugar obviously floating inside, a glass of water with crudely cut ice and two struggling to carry a tub filled with warm water.

The goddess was understandably confused at the scene happening in front of her yet Cheshire could not be any more comfortable. Welcoming the children with open arms as she laughed upon seeing them struggle to carry all the stuff towards her. Walking up towards them where they eagerly presented what they held towards her.

“Oh my, oh me, what do we have here~?”

“W-we thought you may feel sick big sis so we brought you all this…”

“I even sweetened the medicine so it wouldn’t taste so icky!”

“Here is a glass of water so you can cool down from working so hard.”

She promptly accepted the gifts; even guzzling down the medicine without a second thought while rubbing her tummy with a pleased groan as she did so. None of the kids shared the same race, some having scales while others feathers, not even all of them being humanoid. Regardless she showed no bias towards any of them in making such she used everything they brought which resulted in their faces gaining that bit more light.

“Mmm~ you will become a much better doctor than me since I feel that gave me a hundred extra years of lifespan just from that!”

“R-really?”

“Worried about me?” >Cheshire>

Following up her question by flicking the child's forehead.

“I am the mighty little black cat who will overturn the heaven’s themselves - how arrogant for a bunch of brats to think they will outlive the mighty me. You best get running! If I catch you I’ll be forced to torture you with tickles for one hundred years at least rawr~!”

Shaking her cane at the ‘brats’ which caused them to scatter towards the bank in the distance. Giving a mixture between a scream & giggles as they hurried away from her. In response she just slowly followed behind while using her cane to support her body - a sight that made Alice’s brow furrow for reasons unknown to even her.

Despite being so strong the cat seemed… Truly small right now.

She even felt her rage settling down; before she only cared to use the cats to gather more information especially with how it retained the strength they had. Now there was more drawing her in. Wanting to know what exactly made this strange maimed mutated radiant lioness tick. What were her goals, her beliefs, her desires, her wants and what caught her hatred.

As such she decided to follow behind her (who was following the children) only to come up to what seemed like an orphanage with many children running around happily.

“How is it even still standing…”

Feeling a little guilty that she unleashed such a spectacle right next to a bunch of seemingly parentless children who would die. However, she didn’t see just a bunch of children, the supposed ‘little’ brother stood there in full golden armour. A gigantic shield even taller than him stood proudly towards them.

“Heh my little brother may not be the type to kill a man nevertheless I did not raise a bitch but a cat would both live as well as die by his principles nyahaha~!”

“But… Why are they here in the first place?”

Finally Cheshire stopped speaking; silently watching over the children innocently playing below which caused a softer smile to appear on her face.

“Do you remember what I said about strength?”

“The only real strength is gained through suffering?”

“Indeed… But not everyone should need to be strong.”

Pausing for a moment to take in the brief peace in this world - reaching out as if to grasp that innocence.

“My dream is to make a world where children do not need to worry about tomorrow but can just innocently play for as long as the sun of day will let them. Maybe even let them stay out all night long to enjoy the beauty of the stars with their little friends by their side. The choice to grow stronger will always present itself to them however it will not allow for adults to interfere for their own benefit…”

And so their time together officially started.