Tania landed atop the pyramid and saw the blood of the sacrifices staining the floor. The sight filled her with revulsion, yet she kept walking toward the doorway of what appeared to be a temple built upon the summit. There, seated upon a throne of copper and precious metals, was Heshuka, wearing an expression of utter boredom.
At last, the Punic goddess beheld him clearly. The god wore a great bronze hawk mask that covered his entire face except for his mouth. His wings were white, though metallic as well, attached to his body by a pair of bronze pauldrons. His chest was painted red with the image of a sun, and that chest was protected only by a plate tied to a collar. He also wore a red-and-ochre loincloth and copper sandals. Seeing him now in full detail, he definitely looked nothing like Horus.
“I must assume that great power I felt was yours, was it not?” Heshuka said to the Punic goddess.
“Indeed. And I advise you not to face me. You are no match for me,” Tania replied with a confident gaze. “I could erase this city in moments—destroy everything, you, and your disgusting human sacrifices.”
The hawk god began to laugh.
“Do you think I am lying?” Tania asked coldly.
“You are right. In your present state, I would be no match for you,” Heshuka replied, rising from his throne.
“Tannit, I can tell that your relations with Lel are poor, and I must admit I do not care for that bitch coming here to tell me what I ought to do,” said the hawk god. “But if we joined forces, we might be able to defeat her.”
“You have no idea of Lel’s power. She may be one of their mightiest warriors, but I have more than forty siblings whose strength rivals hers,” Tania replied.
“I see. Then I shall have to pursue another course: defeat you and abduct you, so I may renegotiate with them,” said the god.
“That will never happen,” Tania said.
“Do you think yourself of too little worth to be taken hostage?” Heshuka asked with interest.
“No. It will fail because there is no possible way for you to defeat me,” Tania declared, pointing at him with the five fingers of her right hand, all of them wreathed in flame.
“Very well, Tannit, but we shall not fight here, lest we destroy the whole city. I shall take you to my world: Ckáárus,” said the hawk god, raising his hand toward the sky.
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In an instant, Tania found herself standing upon a vast dry and barren plain, with a gigantic blazing star hanging above her. There was no sky at all. It was as though she stood upon an asteroid drifting around an enormous sun.
Heshuka appeared before her in flight.
“Here we may fight with all our power, without the need for restraint. And fear not—this place is but a ring of asteroids, the shattered remains of what that imploding star destroyed. It was once my planet, and it was laid waste some centuries ago,” said the hawk god.
“I am sorry for your misfortune in that regard, but I do not intend to pity you,” Tania replied.
“Nor do I require it. Soon I shall find another paradise in which to dwell. Sadly, I am the last of my clan, and that means I must gather immense power in order to conquer another nearby world. That is why I require hundreds upon hundreds of gallons of human blood,” Heshuka said.
“So selfish. So despicable. Instead of seeking to live in peace with the humans you rule, you use them only for your own ends!” Tania shouted furiously. “You are nothing but scum.”
“Your words mean nothing to me,” the hawk god replied. “When I am finished with you, I shall send your head to your sister, so she may understand that she ought not meddle with me.”
Then the hawk god raised a finger toward the sun, and spheres of golden energy began attaching themselves to his body. Tania immediately understood the truth of it: Heshuka’s power had increased perhaps five hundredfold.
“I shared nearly all my power with my soldiers so they could conquer more and more lands, without having to concern themselves with idle gods they might encounter, thereby securing more sacrifices to sustain me. But now I have withdrawn that power from them, and I can fight with all the blood I have absorbed over these many years,” said the hawk god.
At that moment, the hawk god transformed. His body became covered in flames, much like Tania’s manticore form. His wings grew enormous and were completely engulfed in fire. From his eyes streamed blazing lightning, creating tremendous distortions across the dimensional plane in which they stood. Even the star above them seemed to split into waves beneath the sheer magnitude of the hawk god’s power.
“In the north, the god Wenabozho created birds called Wakiya to battle demons. Like you, I took inspiration from a creature and gave that shape to my body of fire in order to increase my powers.”
So that depraved rabbit really did have martial elements, but he refused to lend them to us, the goddess thought.
Heshuka then landed gracefully upon the asteroid’s surface and fixed Tania with a determined stare. With a single finger, he fired a beam of scorching heat at the Punic goddess, which she narrowly avoided.
“And besides, I seem to recall that the last time we met, I told you that you ought to address me as ‘My Lord,’” Heshuka shouted furiously, and then, swift as lightning, he kicked Tania and sent her flying onto another asteroid.
Even though I can fight with all my power here, I cannot afford to grow careless, or this will become dangerous for me, the goddess thought as she wiped the blood from her mouth and rose again.
Tania then spread her wings of fire and hurled herself at Heshuka like a meteor.
The battle had begun.