A warm breath caressed her face.
A remarkably nimble tongue pried open her teeth, stirring restlessly within her mouth.
The innocent girl's eyes flew wide open.
Wh-what is this guy trying to do? Hey, kissing is something you can only do after you've officially confirmed your relationship! I haven't even agreed to marry him yet!
The goddess's lovely little face flushed crimson. She raised her slender arms, intending to push the bastard away and then, give him a face full of her Noble Phantasm.
But halfway through the motion, she froze. She was so stunned that she momentarily forgot he was even kissing her.
A searing heat rose within her body.
It felt as though her blood, her marrow, and even her very soul were being set ablaze. A power that did not belong to her was rampaging through her system.
A strange sensation, a jolt that shot up her spine like lightning, washed over her body, making her want to moan.
Simultaneously, her divinity was rising.
No, it wasn't just rising—she was acquiring a new divinity.
The divinity of the sun.
In turn, the brilliance of the sun surrounding the god who was kissing her was fading.
No, "fading" was no longer sufficient to describe it! At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he lost his status as a "Master of the Sun"!
Instinctively, Ereshkigal pushed with all her might against the youth who had, at some point, wrapped his arms around her, trying to shove him away. She couldn't just stand by and watch him diminish like this.
But the youth holding her was as immovable as a mountain. He even held her tighter, and the tongue that had already invaded her mouth became even more unruly, as if trying to drink in every part of her.
The goddess, whose Strength was completely outmatched, stared with wide eyes. This feeling of being completely possessed was clearly beyond what her innocent heart could bear.
She wanted to raise a fist and smash it into his back.
But just as she was about to strike, the words he had sworn to her flashed through her mind.
"I will take your place and become the king of corruption."
He was fulfilling his promise.
Her small, clenched fist loosened, then fell against his back with a pathetically weak thud.
It had, of course, no effect.
A long time later, their lips finally parted.
The goddess's gaze was hazy, and the blush on her exquisite face was like a sunset painting the sky.
Like a hunter who had successfully captured his prey, the youth, now devoid of all his solar divinity, looked at the crimson-faced goddess with a triumphant smile.
"It seems I wasn't rejected."
"Now, may I call you my dear, Ereshkigal?"
"Wh-what in the world are you trying to do?!" the goddess, completely bewildered as to why he had suddenly handed over his divinity, stomped her foot. She glared at the bastard's face, her delicate eyebrows raised in anger.
"Just delivering the bride price a little early."
The youth, now far removed from the title of "Master of the Sun," smiled cheerfully.
D-delivering the bride price?!
Those words fell upon the innocent goddess's ears, and her expression immediately became exaggerated.
"Wh-who wants your bride price!"
The girl, who had now received the solar divinity of another, was at a complete loss. In the end, she just stomped her foot repeatedly, shouting as if in a fit of pique.
"Hurry up and take your divinity back!"
"It would be far too strange to suddenly take back something like a bride price," the youth, who planned on acquiring the divinity of "Creation" by connecting with Tiamat later, said cheerfully to the cute, stomping goddess.
Then, as if he had just remembered something, a smile spread across his face. It was the kind of smile you'd see on a husky—handsome, yet inexplicably smug and infuriating, the kind that makes you want to grab a slipper and smack it.
"Of course, if you're willing to return the divinity the same way I just gave it to you, I would be more than happy to accept it and then prepare a new bride price."
Return it the same way he gave it?
Recalling how he had bestowed his divinity, the goddess's cheeks burned hotter.
This guy is being a pervert, isn't he? He's definitely being a pervert!
She couldn't help but glare at him fiercely, her eyes sharp like a little milk cat baring its claws.
"My apologies, I am guilty, I was wrong, I will reflect on my actions."
Sensing her expression had turned adorably fierce, the youth didn't hesitate. He raised both hands in a French surrender salute.
Seeing the man who had just given his divinity to her acting like such a clown, the goddess named Ereshkigal was momentarily at a loss for words. Finally, she walked over to him, grabbed his ear, and gave it a sharp twist. After watching his face contort in pain, she let the matter of his previous statement drop.
"Zihan, why did you suddenly give your divinity to me?"
The goddess, who had struggled for a while with what to call him before settling on "Zihan," questioned the youth who was no longer the Master of the Sun.
"It's nothing. I just felt that a beautiful person would be even cuter bathed in sunlight."
The youth, who had never treated his own divinity as a big deal, said with a light chuckle.
"Is that all?" the girl asked, her eyes wide as if she had just encountered something unbelievable.
"Is there a problem with doting on my wife?"
The youth, now without his solar divinity, spoke words that made Miss Ereshkigal's face turn red once more.
This guy… this guy… He's such a bastard, just randomly assigning me statuses like that.
But…
"Close your eyes."
The blushing girl looked at the bastard who had arbitrarily assigned her a status and had lost most of his divinity, and spoke.
"Understood!"
Without a moment's hesitation, the youth closed his eyes.
Then, a cool sensation flickered across his lips, gone in an instant.
Unlike Li Zihan's kiss, the girl's was cool to the touch and incredibly light, like a dragonfly skimming the water's surface.
But it was enough.
An unknown power surged into the youth's body.
"That's my power, though it's not on the same level as yours was…" the girl, who was invincible in the underworld but merely a second-rate deity outside of it, said, her gaze drifting away.
Her divinity, compared to the source of Li Zihan's—Surya, a god from the Vedic period on par with the Heavenly Emperor Indra, though not a king of gods—was truly of a lower grade.
"If we're only looking at the divinity, then I definitely lost out," the youth said with a light laugh, naturally pulling the lovely goddess into his embrace.
"But all in all, I came out on top, didn't I?"