Kanako felt that something was starting to go wrong...

Simply put, it was like Seeing Ghosts.

Clearly earlier, she was the one who had the obvious advantage, but just as she was waiting for the final showdown, the situation suddenly underwent a subtle change. She fell into a slightly awkward predicament and had no choice but to retreat, trying to return to regroup and reorganize her forces.

However, the opponent also seized this opportunity and began to chase her relentlessly.

The situation suddenly reversed and took a turn for the worse.

Not being able to easily take down the opponent as expected, but instead being forced to retreat, had already shaken her faith to a certain degree. After all, for the army of believers she brought along, witnessing such developments was undoubtedly a blow.

They wouldn’t immediately abandon their faith, showing no loyalty at all.

They wouldn’t just because their own God lost once immediately become distrustful, unfaithful, and start blaming or doubting their choice of faith... it wouldn’t reach such a level immediately, otherwise they wouldn’t be "believers," but rather "opportunists."

In reality, they were still very devout, instinctively trying to defend their own God, castigating the opponent as the problem, and trying every possible way using their worldview to rationalize the situation, trying to patch things up... But the shaking of faith refers to something on a deeper subconscious level.

They wouldn’t immediately jump ship, discarding their previously clung-to faith at the drop of a hat.

But unless they’re completely brainwashed fans, a seed would be planted in their hearts to some extent. And once this seed is planted, things become very troublesome.

Trying to clear it from the hearts of the believers is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and thankless. After all, it’s a troublesome seed that could accelerate growth and take root and sprout at any time, like a time bomb that could explode unexpectedly and cause substantial harm.

Therefore, upon noticing similar occurrences among her own believers, Kanako decisively chose to retreat.

But the opposing side also knew her predicament, choosing to pursue her fiercely.

In response, Kanako did not give up fighting back, just like how Suwako did not completely yield or surrender her territory upon her invasion, but instead engaged in a prolonged tug-of-war... until recently, when she finally prepared to concede.

The same was true for Kanako, only this time, it was her turn to experience the struggles of the defender.

Especially during the previous tug-of-war, she had already successfully annexed the majority of Suwako’s surrounding areas, establishing a basic faith foundation. This was understandable; normally, it was one of her achievements and a strategic choice to apply pressure on Suwako.

There was nothing to criticize about this, and the original strategy couldn’t be said to be wrong.

However, now these established faith foundations have instead become a shackle holding her in place—

Unless she could decisively abandon these territories and the believers who worship her and gracefully retreat... Suwako, being an indigenous god, fundamentally couldn’t easily abandon her land or stray far from her faith areas, but Kanako wasn’t. If she wanted to, she could leave.

But.

She couldn’t do it; she had her own dignity. It wasn’t about whether she could accept such a retreat, going back with her tail between her legs, but simply about abandoning the numerous believers who faithfully worshipped her, escaping in disgrace, leaving them to fend for themselves...

That, she couldn’t do.

Since Gods rule over people’s faith, they should bear corresponding duties and responsibilities. This was the belief of this graceful and dignified purple-haired goddess, so she could only grit her teeth and bear it.

After another three to five months of tug-of-war, accompanied by the Steel Giant’s repeated displays of Divine Power, with its awe-inspiring divine image, it shook the sky, trembled the earth, and unleashed destructive storms and released deadly rays, Kanako’s faith was gradually and severely shaken.

Finally, the tables turned, and it became clear that defeat was inevitable—

She reluctantly chose to meet with Suwako, revealing a willingness to concede.

......

The meeting place was beside Suwa Lake.

This was also an expression of Kanako’s sincerity.

During the few upgrades of the giant Steel Puppet during this time, its height reached as much as fifty meters, like a giant tower gleaming under the sunlight, reflecting a metallic luster. It quietly stood at the edge of Suwa Lake, with the Power of Earth blessing, preventing its mass from having too much impact on the land.

At this moment, this steel-cast giant’s arms were hanging low, its head slightly bowed.

Its eyes no longer emitted electronic red light, clearly in a standby state.

However, even so, this has become a magnificent and beautiful sight in the eyes of the nearby tribal inhabitants, self-boosting morale, increasing happiness, stability, and productivity, and so on, all sorts of buffs.

Every day, seeing the towering Giant Divine Weapon standing there from afar, everyone’s faces are glowing, spirits uplifted, starting the day’s work with full energy. The sense of reassurance this brings is undeniably effective. The self-motivation from faith is even more effective than any stimulant...

Finding that even the efficiency of gaining Power of Faith has greatly increased, Suwako naturally placed this mobile wonder here, hoping its attribute benefits would continue to take effect. This was the setup for this period; it wasn’t even intentionally flaunting to impress Kanako on the negotiation table.

Even though the latter seemed a bit unnatural seeing this thing placed next to her.

She glanced at the young man in the moon-white Daoist Robe behind the blonde loli, vaguely sensing the Power of Faith gathering and dispersing on him, guessing his identity.

At the same time, Gu Mo also calmly smiled at this purple-haired shrine maiden-like God, his gaze slightly pausing on the straw rope circle behind her, carefully examining this item.

Kanako took a deep breath and faced the blonde loli standing proudly in front of her. This Goddess, who months ago felt she was about to unify these lands and spread Yamato Mythology, was now somewhat displeased, yet a bit helpless and frustrated.

However, she did not pretend to be mysterious but straightforwardly expressed her demand: "I lost, let’s end this here... with just one condition: I hope you will spare those believers and not make them pay."

"Hmph, naturally, I promised..."

The blonde loli was in a very good mood; she wrinkled her dainty little nose, softly humming twice but agreed immediately.

She didn’t have the temperament of ruling people in a too harsh manner. Even when opposing Kanako, she remained restrained. Now, naturally, after the opponent expressed her intention to surrender, she wouldn’t insist on wiping them out so domineeringly. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

However, such a swift agreement made Kanako somewhat skeptical. She hesitated, scrutinizing the 1.2-meter figure in front of her, appearing really suspicious of the latter’s words, considering whether such a straightforward agreement was credible or not, and if it might be deceiving her?

"Hey! What kind of look is that!!"

Suwako was immediately displeased; the skeptical look was too apparent.

"You... agreed too quickly, I’m not quite convinced..." Kanako pulled at the corner of her mouth, her gaze somewhat evasive, speaking in a subtle tone.

"What kind of reason is that?" The blonde loli’s eyes filled with doubt, "Do you want to see me disagreeing, refusing every condition before you feel at ease?"

Isn’t this surrender with negotiating conditions? Naturally, the smoother, the better, right?

Could it be that this woman didn’t really intend to surrender, just wanted the negotiations to fail, and then by my hand, help her obtain a respectable result?

Thinking this way, the blonde loli stared at Kanako with an even stranger gaze.

"That’s not it, mainly because I heard your reputation isn’t too good, being the type who quickly imposes divine punishment at any slight disrespect."

Kanako hesitated, scrutinizing the 1.2-meter figure before her: "So I worry you won’t spare those... outer residents who converted to believe in me."

After all, any slight disrespect, or even the tiniest negligence, prompts immediate divine punishment.

Facing those who, around the outskirts of this primal kingdom, were somewhat influenced by her and leaned towards faith, but in this period due to her efforts converted... what would happen to them?

Precisely because of the fear that her believers would suffer harsh and relentless punishment, Kanako couldn’t just leave, leading her to come over, admit defeat, and negotiate terms, trying to strive for lenient treatment for those poor people, to avoid directly bringing down divine punishment to kill them.

"..."

"..."

Squinting, staring at the purple-haired shrine maiden for a while, as if confirming her words, the blonde loli reluctantly sighed: "That wasn’t me, it’s a curse god I oversee, with just such a violent temper, I’ve been trying hard to suppress it..."

She governs various curse gods on this land, among which is the Shrine Priest God, possessing an astonishing devotion, handling birthing, agriculture, military, and other matters, yet indeed, it is very violent.

As Kanako mentioned, it’s a terrifying God who quickly punishes with just a slight disrespect, killing the other party.

Because she can control this terrifying Shrine Priest God, Suwako became the leader of this land, the pinnacle of native gods, gaining even stronger belief and support from the people. Yet seemingly because of this, sometimes even the deeds of this curse god are attributed to her.

Such is mythology.

Truth and falsehood mingle, and in the spreading process, confusion and metamorphosis occur.

Behind the blonde loli, the young man in a moon-white Daoist robe rested his chin in contemplation.