Chapter 9
The holy child versus the wise goddess
"And here comes the human fighter for this fourth round!" Rhymus exclaimed, pointing to the door representing the side of humanity.
All humans, without exception, direct their gaze towards this door, hoping that the fighter who emerges will win. The large door opens slowly in total silence.
"I don't think there's ever been a greater saint in the history of mankind. And I weigh my words, this woman is almost divine." Rhymus continues.
A figure emerges from the doorway, brandishing a spear adorned with a banner, an ancient French flag.
"And yes, you're not dreaming, I did say woman! She is the source of a miracle, and her faith makes her the greatest saint in history!
In the stands of humanity, a man wearing an ample red dress joins his hands palm to palm. He is no less than Charles VII, King of the French Kingdom at the end of the Hundred Years' War. His gaze rests on the fighter with great respect and dignity, just like the people in his court and the soldiers around him. They all know this woman, and the soldiers lowered their heads, saluting the blue flag with the three fleurs-de-lis carried by this woman.
"From farmer to hero of France, from virgin to martyr, she led her men like no other!"
She stands in the middle of the arena, resting her spear on her shoulder and gazing up at the sky, a ray of sunlight falling delicately on her face as if even the sky recognized her divine side.
"The human representative of the fourth battle is the Maid of Orleans herself: JEANNE D'ARC!" shouts Rhymus.
Jeanne's gaze shifted to that of the gods, smiling without fear or dread. She knows what she has to do, and she'll fight to the bitter end.
The French heroine has medium-length black hair around her head, ending in a long ponytail down the middle of her back. Her eyes are blue and show no hatred for the gods, despite the circumstances. A piece of metal armor rests on her head. She also owns a pair of metal gauntlets and a dark blue outfit accompanied by a pair of metal boots, the same as her gloves.
Silence reigned in the deities' tribunes. Many don't know this woman, yet she knows the gods well. She was their messenger. Ares had come to observe this round as Athena was taking part. He is joined by Apollo.
"This woman... she's not as terrifying as Blackbeard, not as strong as Shaka Zulu and nowhere near as muscular as Theodore Roosevelt, and yet... I Ares, the god of war, could almost tremble at the sight of her."
"Oh, you don't know her? It's true that apart from war and violence, your intellect is very limited." Apollo mockingly replies.
Jeanne d'Arc brandishes her spear, flag flying in the wind, with such grace and elegance that even the gods are stunned. Rhymus regained his composure and finally looked away from the Frenchwoman.
"Ehm- Ehm- "He clears his throat. "Here is the divine representative!"
The gigantic door opens and an owl quickly emerges and circles the arena.
"She's the favorite of Zeus' children, and there's a reason a city bears her name! She was the only one who dared to stand up to the fearsome Poseidon and survive to the point of becoming his rival."
The owl finishes its tour of the arena and lands delicately on a bare arm.
"Her precise tactics led the Olympians to countless victories, and she was at the heart of every one, her spear shaking the ground!"
Every god bows their head in deference to the one and only goddess of wisdom and strategy. A golden spear with lightning-like extensions appeared in the goddess's sky-pointing hand.
"She is the goddess above the gods, the one and only Lady of Athens, I named… ATHENA!"
The gods applaud her but Athena's gaze seemed preoccupied with something else. In the stands of humanity, her piercing gaze quickly finds that of Charlie Chaplin, then Steve Jobs and finally Gandhi. Appreciated as these men are, Athena knows their lives and what they've really done. The three men swallowed guiltily. Athena took her eyes off them, knowing they were unworthy of her divine judgment.
The goddess has brown hair and beautiful emerald eyes. Brandishing her spear and shield, she wears a golden helmet and similar armor. A kind of white cloth dress surrounds her waist, and the same kind of cloth hangs from her right arm. Athena also has two bracelets and boots, all in gold.
"She's going to be the toughest opponent of the tournament." Druca murmurs to herself.
"How so?" Selira asks.
Druca takes a breath.
"Athena has been trying to judge mankind for some time now, as she puts it. This tournament is her chance to see mankind perish, and thus accomplish her goal."
In the arena, the goddess faces Jeanne d'Arc, but the latter smiles at her. She draws her sword and salutes her respectfully. Athena didn't even flinch.
"That's not the Athena I thought I knew..." Phearl replies, trembling.
"Hmm indeed…" That's all what Druca said.
Rhymus grips his horn firmly.
"What a dream poster! Wisdom versus faith, divine strategy versus mankind hope! This fourth battle pits the Greek goddess of wisdom Athena against the French holy warrior Jeanne d'Arc! Let's be- "
Before Rhymus could finish his announcement, Athena had just hit the ground with her thunder spear, shaking the whole arena in the process.
"I too have something to say before I begin. Young Jeanne d'Arc…" Athena's voice is threatening and cold. "Surrender before you suffer another useless and painful death. Save humanity from further suffering in this tournament and in life."
The gods couldn't believe they'd heard that. Many were beginning to feel indignant.
"What does she do? Why is she giving her a chance?!"
"Crush her instead of talking!"
Athena's half-brothers are much calmer.
"Looks like our sister is indulging in some old habits." Apollo says.
"She still has a soft spot for humanity, I'll forgive her if she kills this human."
Humanity, for its part, was silently awaiting the answer of their representative for this round. The French warrior spoke a few moments later.
"Ma chère Mademoiselle Athena, you are the goddess of wisdom. So, you might know that as a martyr, surrender is not an option." Jeanne says almost too gently, given the situation. "And even if this incongruous idea crossed my mind, I can't surrender under these circumstances. I will fight for all those humans behind me."
At these words, the entire human race roared in support of the French knight's response. Even after three consecutive defeats, they still had hope, and that's something the gods will never have.
"Well, as I was saying before I was interrupted, let the battle begin!"
Athena took the first step, slowly but serenely. And suddenly, she attacked. As a goddess of military strategy, Athena can find a flaw in anyone's defense and attack with intelligence and precision, unlike the savagery of her brother Ares. But even so, Joan of Arc easily withstood Athena's attack.
But it takes more than that to impress Athena, especially after what she's seen of previous human fighters. She attacks again but the French knight dodges again and again. But everything changes when, after an attack by the goddess, Jeanne counters with a blow. Athena couldn't hit her opponent, but after each dodge, the goddess of wisdom was hit back.
"What's going on? Jeanne d'Arc... manages to dodge everything without the slightest difficulty!" Rhymus says surprised.
Dionysus is watching the fight with gusto.
"Well, it looks like Athena's in more trouble than she thought."
"Quiet! None of this is possible. I've sparred with my sister hundreds, no, thousands of times and I've never come close to surpassing her. How can this child... do it?" Ares says in disbelief.
A child. You couldn't really define her any other way. She barely has the appearance of an 18-year-old, yet she seems to be the equal of a god.
Athena continued to attack, her blows as powerful as ever, which is normal for Poseidon's rival. But none of them hit their target, Jeanne d'Arc dodging them by the millisecond. The holy warrior swung her sword to strike a blow that would make the goddess's blood run cold. Athena senses the attack and dodges, but to no avail. The real attack came from the right with Jeanne's flag spear. The weapon pierced the shoulder of the goddess of wisdom, who leapt back to avoid further damage.
Athena looks up to see her blood running down the cold metal of her opponent's weapon.
"And the first to draw blood in this battle is no more and no less than the Maid of Orleans!" shouts Rhymus.
Humanity had rediscovered its faith and is now cheering loudly for Jeanne d'Arc.
"Your sword..."
"Oh, you mean this?"
Jeanne grabbed her sword with both hands, leaving her spear aside. Her grip seems so delicate despite the fact that she wears gauntlets. And yet, in a fraction of a second, she breaks her sword in two before letting it fall to the ground. She grabs her flag spear back.
"In my time on Earth, I used this sword, but those days are gone. Dame Druca has given me a much more wonderful weapon, perfect for me."
The green-haired goddess smiled at those words.
"She... manages to dodge everything, how?" Phearl asks surprised.
"She must be anticipating her attacks." Selira replies
Druca laughs at the two girls' remarks.
"She doesn't predict anything; she just naturally knows. This is made possible by her supernatural ability."
Anyone who knows the story of Joan of Arc knows that she heard the Divine Voice to fight for her country, but this is only the surface of what really happened.
"If humans pray, it's to get closer to the heavens and make their faith in the gods heard. But only one person prayed so hard that she crossed the boundary between the world of mortals and that of the gods. The first man on Earth, Adam, is known to have been shaped in the image of the gods. If this is the case, we can say that Jeanne has shaped herself and BECAME the image of the deities." Druca continues.
Phearl and Selira couldn't believe their ears.
"Jeanne d'Arc can read and hear Athena's thoughts, as well as those of all the gods around her. I thought the name Mind-to-Mind was a good way to describe this ability."
"So, she can... see all of Athena's attacks in advance?" Phearl asks.
Selira, for her part, starts laughing.
"Take that you wise bitch!"
"Selira! Stop saying such indignities!" Phearl covers her ears.
"If you want, but you can't stop me from wanting to see Jeanne d'Arc stick her flag up Athena's ass and claim her for France." Selira says putting her hands behind her head.
Athena is far from stupid, yet she couldn't understand how she, the goddess of wisdom and strategy, couldn't reach this human. But the goddess remained unmoved and tore off a piece of her white dress to bandage her shoulder.
"You're pathetic."
Athena's voice echoed through the arena, casting a chill and silencing everyone.
"Pathetic like all those humans who do good deeds. A grain of sand in the vast, immoral desert of humanity."
Athena began walking towards her opponent.
"But it's still no worse than those humans who brag about their good deeds when they've sinned in life. What's one good deed worth if a dozen horrible ones result? Your good intentions led you to end up burned alive, I wouldn't call that a miracle."
For a goddess of wisdom, Athena's tone and demeanor are so threatening that even the gods tremble, so let's not talk about humans. She had just decided to end it all, and Jeanne d'Arc saw it.
Athena has fought on tens of thousands of battlefields and killed opponents far more formidable and tougher than this poor human. What's most impressive is that all these opponents are often killed in one fell swoop, and there's a reason for that. Athena's thunder spear, a weapon she forged herself in honor of her beloved father, is so fearsome that it almost broke Poseidon's trident and could rival Zeus' own thunderbolt.
Jeanne felt something happening, something beyond her mental power. Reflexively, she adopted a defensive posture. Even if she could read Athena's mind, nothing could make Jeanne d'Arc understand what was about to happen.
"I apologize for having to kill a child." Athena says even though her voice didn't match those words, it was so cold.
Athena moved ahead, defying all logic, and thrust out her spear. Her weapon easily tore Jeanne d'Arc's right cheek, damaging her face as pure as a newborn baby. The spear continued its path until it cut cleanly through the Frenchwoman's long ponytail, leaving her with only a boyish haircut.
The gods began to shout in Athena's favor with renewed vigor.
"Now that's our Athena!"
"You're just a child pretending to be a warrior, give up on your dream and die!"
And yet, despite all the encouragement, Athena didn't seem thrilled. From the start, from the very moment Jeanne agreed to fight, Athena decided to give her a quick, painless death. Her spear was supposed to pierce the girl's skull, killing her instantly. But Jeanne d'Arc had managed to see the attack in Athena's mind less than a millisecond before it hit. That's why she was able to dodge and only sustain a wound to the cheek.
Athena had to submit to amazement. A mere human had survived the same kind of attack that had killed thousands of creatures and some deities in the past. This surpassed any strategy the goddess might have planned.
Jeanne d'Arc smiled despite the pain, and Athena couldn't understand it.
"You didn't expect that, I can tell." Jeanne says.
Athena gives her a piercing look.
"She should be down; she should be scared!" The goddess thought.
"I can feel it, you think I should be afraid. Everyone's afraid of something, and I'm no exception, chère déesse, but my faith makes me strong and I won't let you bring me down."
Athena bit her lip, unsure of how to respond. That's when she gets her weapons into action. Her spear still in hand, she unleashes a violent volley of blows at her opponent. Athena's mind was darkening, having only Jeanne d'Arc's death on her mind, and the latter could read it clearly.
"Looks like Jeanne d'Arc can avoid Athena's attacks again!" Rhymus noticed.
Druca watched the fight with a special feeling. She knew Athena well before she was banished, and the two goddesses shared much in common, especially when it came to Humanity. And yet, she who had once guided and saved humans on many noble occasions, she who bestowed her blessings on this species deemed weak by the other deities, she who showed fighters the way to victory in battle, is now bent on killing a representative of humanity.
"What happened to you to bring you to this point, my poor Athena." Druca says low to herself, almost sobbing.
Athena has always seen herself as the protector of humanity. When her rival Poseidon decided to submerge the whole Earth, Athena provided a refuge for humans from the horrible death of drowning. She has always had a pure and just heart for this species, which is why the Greek people erected a city as the capital of their land in honor of this goddess.
From that day on, she would often descend to Earth and wander incognito through the streets of Athens to see how her people were faring, ready to defend them if need be. Athena helped the noblest warriors by granting them the blessing of her knowledge in battle, and these men became messengers of the goddess, chanting her name in victory.
But with age, what have men done with this knowledge? Using fire not for heating, but to burn villages and those they deemed witches. Transforming the art of war into massacres and ways of reducing the enemy to nothing. The wheel, knowledge shared by the gods to enable humans to move and trade more easily, was used to make weapons of war and mass destruction, and to transport millions of innocent people to their death in camps. All in the name of the gods, as if they agreed with these decisions.
That's how Athena came to despair of mankind. So, she set about finding a solution that would give them a swift and gentle end, leaving Earth to another species. And yet, a woman stood in front of her, ready to defend her own convictions.