What would you do if one day someone asks you, "Do you want to be a god?" What will your answer be? What if you said yes but the god you become wasn't what you expected? Will you regret it? Miki fought in the Garnbrad Tournament as the priestess Miki, no thanks to Uncle Albert's intervention. She met someone very familiar. Sky Goddess Chapter 3 A story of adventure in a fantasy world. By Shinieris

Farran was woken up the next morning by an ear piercing scream, followed by the feeling of flying in the air before his head hit something solid. As he sat confused on the floor, Miki stood in front of him. Miki stood menacingly, her toga askew. She didn't notice or care that Farran could see her partially uncovered left breast.

"Umm, are we being attacked?" Farran asked to break the silence.

"I am being attacked!" Miki said as she commanded air to raise Farran to the ceiling, and commanded air to release him, letting him fall to the floor like a rock.

"Wait, calm down. Why are you punishing me?"

"Because you're the one who attacked me!" Miki raised him to the ceiling and let go again.

"Ow, ow, ow! Miki! If the floor is marble, I would've died!"

"It's nothing less than you deserved!"

"Wait, I don't understand. What did I do?"

"You still dare to ask me that! Can you seriously say with absolute honesty that you did not sleep with me last night?"

"Uhh," the words that ran inside Farran's mind was, Is sleeping with her a problem?. Then he suddenly remembered his mother telling him that when a girl accuses him of something that embarrasses her, he should just calm her down by admitting it, even if he didn't feel it was anything wrong. Damned, girls really are fickle.

"Yes, I won't lie. I did sleep with you last night," he said, though he still wasn't sure what the problem was.

Unexpectedly, Miki fell to her knees and broke into tears. "Why'd you have to do that? I don't want to get pregnant in this backward world."

That surprised him. "Goddesses get pregnant with just that?"

"ANY girl gets pregnant with just that! Haven't anyone taught you about sex?"

"Umm, sorry. There wasn't much of an expectation in my family for me to make babies. So I wasn't taught any of that."

Miki dashed forward and pulled Farran up by his collar. "Do you have any idea the chance of a safe delivery of a pregnant mother in this kind of backward medieval society? 3%! I don't want to die when I give birth!"

"But you're a goddess!"

"Screw goddess! If I die I go to that pointless Sky Kingdom! I don't want to go there!"

"But everyone wants to go there," Farran pointed.

Miki kicked him out of the room in response.

"Come on, Miki. I told you I'm sorry. I swear I will be responsible for the child," Farran pleaded as they sat at the breakfast table in the inn's common room.

"Of course you will be responsible for the child," Miki then glared at him, "If you try to run away after you did this to me, I will personally hunt you down to whatever hole you try to hide in."

"The only hole I want to hide in is in yours," Farran said as Miki stood up slapped him loudly from across the table, to which he said, "Can't you take a joke?"

"I'm not talking to you," Miki said as she ordered a light breakfast consisting of cottage cheese, half a loaf of bread, a goblet of wine and a bowl of mushroom soup.

Farran ordered himself a breakfast of a few slices of venison, a bowl of mushroom soup, half a loaf of bread and a tankard of beer. Miki's meal arrive first and she dug in without waiting for Farran. It was when she wanted to tear off a piece of the bread that she paused. She tried again without much luck until she knocked on the table with it.

"What the hell? Was this bread made during the French Revolution or something? It's so hard I can use this as a weapon!" Miki complained as he thumped the edge of the desk with the bread again.

"You can't expect all bread to be served fresh. They probably bought this bread two or three days ago from a bakery somewhere. Besides, you can't use it as a weapon," Farran smiled, happy that she's talking with him eventhough she said she wouldn't.

Farran's order arrived about that time.

"Oh really?" Miki grabbed Farran's bread, and placed it on Farran's hand, much to his confusion. Then she grabbed her bread, juggled it between her hands and threw it at a non-offending man. It hit his bald head right as she grabbed her goblet of wine.

The bald man turned around and growled, "Who was it? Who did it?"

Miki pointed at Farran. "He did," she said. With the evidence in Farran's hand, there was really no saving him.

"You...!" the bald man made a beastly face as he lifted Farran by his chest plate.

"Wait, you got it all wrong. We can sort this out, really."

"Sure, let me beat you up a little, then we can sort this out," the bald man said as she raised his fist and swung it.

It hit nothing because somehow, Farran managed to wiggle his way from the man's grip and ran off outside as fast as his feet could take him. Miki felt very bored.

------

Miki arrived at the tournament arena quite early in the morning. She had wanted to wait for Farran to return, but after waiting for half an hour without even a shadow of him, she decided to go on her own. She had to ask the locals the way to the arena a few times, but after the tall roof of the colloseum-like arena was visible she arrived with no trouble.

She looked at the names on the tournament contestants list.

Group 1 Obrissit Elimin Rastati Ellika

Group 2 Farran Mirias Orlian Eggisis

Group 3 Dark Hood Arianna Kalasus Meribel

Group 4 Asofran Markal Gallos

Group 5 Garn Stuca Shark Eron

Group 6 Akasi Erina Anarka Ani Asra Orlos

Group 7 Naria Kalariga Miya Omon

Group 8 Fafarin Esuka Miki Kanas

Miki wondered why the contestants were separated into groups. She wondered if it was a group battle instead of individual. She also wondered if the winners will have to share the prize or if they will each be given the full sum.

"Hey hey, this doesn't sound right. Do you think the organizers fixed the tournament?" one of the girls to Miki's left said to her friend.

"What do you mean they fixed the tournament?" the other girl asked.

"Look at these names. Many of them joined last year's tournament. Group 1 to Group 4 are all weapon wielding fighters. Group 5-8 are all people with some magical abilities. See that, Anarka Ani Asra is participating too this year," the first girl said.

"Don't say her name! I don't want my house to be burned down just because she's feeling bored."

"Yea, the Queen of Flames will probably do that. Let's just get out of here before she arrives," the first girl said as the quickly ran away from the notice board into a sidewalk where the disappeared from view.

"Hi there, never seen you around. Is this your first time?"

Miki turned around to look at the woman behind her. She saw a beautiful smiling face just inches from hers. She had reddish hair reaching to her waist. Her eyes were big and the pupils were a shade of scarlet. Her face was narrow with high cheekbones, but when she smiled with her eyes half closed, she looked like she was trying to pick a fight. The woman was wearing a gray robe, unremarkable in design, but appeared to have been made of very fine cloth, like silk, only more beautiful.

A contestant, she noted the bracelet around the woman's right wrist. "Yes, I was kind of forced into it. Didn't really expect to get through the preliminary round."

"Oh yes, the preliminary was bad, huh? I had to stay awake for 10 hours on my own, just so that I don't get beaten in my sleep," the woman said.

"Uhh, yeah. I suppose being alone would be terrible," Miki agreed as Farran's face popped up into her mind.

"My name is Miya. What's yours?" she said as he held out a hand.

"I'm Miki. Say, have we met before? You look somewhat familiar," Miki said as I held out a hand, when suddenly she felt a jolt of electricity when their fingers touched. What was that? Static? Miki wondered.

She smiled, that same smiled as if she was trying to pick a fight. "I don't know what you're talking about. Seems we're be in a different group. Will look forward to a healthy competition with you. See you later!"

Miki wanted to ask her a few more questions, mainly about how she looked very familiar, but Farran's arrival gave her pause.

"Miki..." he said as he tried to catch his breath. "Why'd you do that? I had to run through half the city to escape that bald man. And you know what? He's a contestant too!"

"I was just talking to-" I turned to look at the woman calling herself Miya when Miki realized that she was nowhere in sight. "Hm, nevermind. I'm going in. Don't follow me."

An hour later, Miki was sitting at the front seat, reserved especially for contestants. She was right that the tournament was a group battle. She was currently watching Group 1 and Group 2's battle, in which both Farran and Elimin (the bald guy) were commanding their team using all their skills to destroy the other team's bracelets. Basically, the contestants that stepped out of the stage would be disqualified while those whose bracelets were broken were considered 'dead'. The team that still had at least one bracelet on and still on the stage after the opponent were all defeated or all disqualified won the battle and will go to the next round. However, if their bracelets were destroyed, no replacement will be given and they will be disqualified from the next rounds.

Farran's group used a shield wall tactic, with Farran being the center linking shields with the other two swordsman, Orlian and Eggisis on both sides, with the slinger Mirias providing long range cover behind them as they moved quickly to push the staffman Rastati out of the stage with a quick and mighty shield push. Elimin's team on the other hand used a more loose fighting formation, fighting as individuals. As soon as Rastati was pushed off the stage, the slavemistress Ellika used her whip to make Eggisis lose his footing before Elimin moved in from behind and punched Orlian out of the stage. Eggisis quickly got up under cover from Mirias's rocks but it resulted in Mirias being pushed out of the stage. After that, it was a contest of wills between Farran and Eggisis against Elimin and Ellika. In the end, Farran was the only one standing after pushing both Elimin and Ellika off the stage. The crowd cheered.

"Miki, did you see?" Farran came to the spectator's seat later when the second team fight of the day was about to start.

"No, I didn't. I told you not to come near me," Miki huffed as she looked away to her right.

"Oh come on, are you still mad about this morning? I told you, I will take responsibility for it," Farran said as he plopped down on the seat to Miki's right.

Thus making Miki avert her eyes to her left instead. "Don't talk to me."

The crowd cheered again.

"That was fast," Miki remarked, "It hasn't even been 10 minutes."

"Yes, one would expect that a four-man team will beat a three-man team. But it's the opposite. They all lost while the three-man team didn't even get a scratch," Farran commented.

"Must be because the four-man team consists of two staffmen and two bowmen. The staffs are fine, but bows aren't suitable for this kind of competition," Miki said.

"Not to mention that the tip of the arrows they used had to be covered in cork to avoid injuring spectators. So they couldn't even use a quarter of their skills," Farran added.

"Why are you talking to me? Go away!" Miki shooed.

"Aw, come on, how long are you going to sulk? You're my wife, of course I want to make babies with you. Don't you want to make babies with your dear beloved husband?" Farran said as he took Miki's hand and kissed it.

"Stop stop," Miki shivered, "Disgusting, disgusting." Miki shivered again.

"What? Is having a baby with a mortal so bad for my goddess wife?" Farran said, sounding a bit hurt.

"Go get me corn on a cob," Miki said, still shivering.

"What?"

"Corn on a cob, now!"

"Corn on a cob, coming up!" Farran said as he left in a hurry.

Miki covered her face with her palms. Suddenly the realization sunk in, that she was transported to this world of which she knew nothing. Turned into a woman, whose body would probably carry another life inside her soon. Becoming a goddess, which by itself wasn't all that bad, but being worshipped by people, didn't sit well with her. She was raised as a Christian, and in her book there was only one God, unless if you count the Holy Trinity. Now not only was she a goddess, she also controlled the rain and she was responsible for the life and death of everyone who depended on rain.

Suddenly she felt a great heat on the skin on the back of her palms. She opened her eyes, took her face off her palms and was assaulted by waves of heat. It was like she was sitting right next to fire that roared in pulses. She looked at the stage and instead of a stone stage in the middle of a clearing, there was a roaring fire, that burned and burned fiercely with unnatural flame. Around the flame were people on fire, being doused with water by the tournament staff and the mages employed by the tournament committee. Miki was surprised that in the middle of the fire stood a red headed young woman between 20 to 25 years of age, seemingly untouched by the fire. The woman looked smug as the announcer announced that her team won the battle.

"As expected, the Flame Queen really doesn't have any sense of delicacy," one of the the girls on Miki's left, who introduced herself as Esuka the Witch commented.

"Flame Queen?" Miki asked.

"Anarka Ani Asra, otherwise known as the Flame Queen. Nobody knows where she comes from, but everybody knows how she enjoys burning things. Any village that she come across often had some things burn without any reason," Esuka explained.

"So why didn't they just turn her away?"

"Sure, some villages banned her entry, but of course, she took offence at that and burned the whole village down instead. Rumour has it that whoever even touches her, bursts into flames. Very gruesome," she said.

"I suppose."

"Oh well, it's our fight next. Let's give it our best, shall we?" she said as she got up and walked towards the preparation chamber.

Miki got up and followed her, but she briefly wondered why Farran hadn't arrived with her corn on a cob yet. Little did she know that Farran was outside of the arena compound looking for a place that sold corn on a cob. Farran didn't realize that there was a stall that sold corn on a cob, near the eastern entrance as he left through the southern entrance.

"Alright, so here's the plan," Fafarin, the mage knight outlined their battle plan when they got together, "Esuka will buff Kanas and I with her curses while limiting opponent movements also with her curses. I will be the front line combatant. Kanas will be short range combatant, holding the other ones at bay while I try to bring them down one by one. Miki will bless us with the powers she received from her goddess, but if you can get a direct shot at any of them, take it."

"That may be hard for them. Look, they have a witch, two sorceresses and an anti-mage. The witch can cancel any curses placed on us or on their fighter, which I assume to be Omon himself," Kanas pointed.

"But Omon is an anti-mage, my curses probably won't work on him, and Miki's powers will definitely not work," Esuka remarked.

"They have two sorceresses. As long as someone can delay Omon, I can take any of the two sorceresses or witch. After that, we just need to push them out of the stage one by one," Fafarin said.

Miki interjected, "You need to be careful about Miya the Sorceress. I'm feeling something off about her."

"Miya... I think she was in last year's tournament too. But I can't remember how she fought," Esuka said.

"Doesn't matter. I will be careful, but I am a mage knight. My job is to hunt down wayward sorceresses, I think I can handle two sorceresses and their pet witch," Fafarin said confidently.

"If we talk about it anymore, we'll only be doubting ourselves, let's just go," Kanas said, brooking no argument.

Within minutes, they were standing at the gate that opened into the arena's stage. The other team was on the other side of the arena, entering through another gate similar to the one they were in. When both teams walked in, cheers exploded above them as the crowd expected a real good show between magic users.

"Remember what we discussed," Fafarin reminded.

He took his position on the stage, standing in front of Esuka. Kanas stood in front of Miki, holding eight darts in his fingers that looked very much like the japanese ninja's kunai. Esuka was already chanting some curses. Miki stretched her muscles, calling a little of her power of the wind as she felt a cool breeze flowing around her body.

Miki was taken aback when she noticed Miya's eyes looking straight into hers.

"Start!" the judge announced as Esuka buffed Fafarin and Kanas with good curses.

Miki noticed that both of the sorceresses were chanting something and not wanting to make other suspicious, she chanted something totally unintelligible, "Bulibulibulibulibulibulibulibulibuli. [Wind, lighten their burdens.]" Miki commanded as both Fafarin and Kanas felt themselves becoming much lighter.

Kanas then threw his eight kunai to the air, as he shoved his hands into the pouches that hung on other side of his hip. He took out eight more of the same kunai and threw it to the air in the opponents' general direction. He stood unmoving as his kunai flew around the stage, seemingly autonomously as it attacked Omon.

Wind spirits? He made a contract with sixteen wind spirits? Miki thought once she realized that each of the kunais were guided by a wind spirit each, which explained how it could move on its own.

Fafarin took the opportunity to attack Kalariga, one of the sorceresses. Kalariga defended herself with ice spells in the form of ice shields and ice blasts. Fafarin charged headlong, his sword glowing blue as it cut through the ice blocking his path, until in the end, with fear in her eyes, Kalariga stepped out of the stage of her own free will.

[wind, push him out.] Miya the sorceress commanded as Kanas flew out of the stage without anyone touching him. When she saw Kalariga left the stage, she moved her arm to push Fafarin out too.

I knew it! Miki thought as commanded, [Wind, be my hand.] Miki no longer even bothered to fool the others into think that she was just a mere sorceress as she dropped the casting time that real sorceresses were burdened with in favour of using goddess-style magics. Miki then reached out her hand and grabbed Miya's arm with her wind.

Miya looked amused as she looked at Miki, then shook her arm, destroying Miki's spell easily. Omon dashed forward to cut Miki down but Fafarin stepped in his way, blocking Omon's progress with his own enchanted sword. Esuka empowered Fafarin with her curses, though it didn't seem to have much effect, probably because of his proximity to the anti-mage.

[Wind, enchant his armour.] Miki commanded as the wind covered Fafarin's armour with a thin layer of wind which repelled every strike.

[Fire, boil his blood.] Miya commanded as Omon went berserk with bloodlust.

[Wind, attack with sickle winds] Miki commanded as the wind turned into razor sharp and launched itself at Omon.

[Earth, protect his body] Miya commanded as Omon's body turned glittering black. Miki's sickle winds smashed upon Omon's blackened body with no effect. For that brief moment of distraction, even Fafarin was able to deliver a blow to Omon's body, but even his strike had no effect.

Industrial diamond! Miki finally understood as she commanded her winds to push everyone other than Miya out of the stage.

"Ha! Tired of this game, then?" Miya taunted as she took off the robe she was wearing to reveal the white toga underneath. The white toga was similar to Miki's in cut and form but with red lining instead of her gold. Around her neck, left wrist and around her ankles, she wore golden bracelets of different shape and quality from the tournament bracelet that she wore around her right wrist.

"I feel bad using them for your little game, sister!" Miki stated.

"Oh my, whatever do you mean? Why are you calling me your sister?" Miya grinned, showing that she was joking.

"Cut the crap! I knew I've seen you before. If you really won't confess, I will be very pissed."

"Oh? What do you think you can do, little sister?" Miya laughed at the same time she fired a bolt of fireball at Miki.

Miki easily slapped the fireball away with the back of her hand. "I will blow you so high you won't know which way is up and which way is down. Then I can confirm whether sky goddesses can fly or not."

"Oh, we can fly. Can't you?" Miya taunted again.

[Wind, throw her to the sky] Miki commanded.

[Earth, ground my feet] Miya commanded.

[Wind, launch gale winds] Miki commanded.

[Earth, raise a barrier around me] Miya commanded.

[Wind, bring down the hammer of wind] Miki commanded as blocks of heavy air dropped from the sky.

[Wind, blow strong upwards][Fire, twelve flame missiles][Wind, large gale winds] Miya commanded as the twelve flame missiles merged with the gale winds to create a tornado of fier.

[Wind, be my shield] Miki commanded as Miya's fiery tornado washed over her body. She could only use her wind to shield herself from the swirling inferno around her until the pressure became too great that she ended up kneeling on the stone stage.

From outside the swirling inferno, people could only see a tornado of fire that enveloped the stage. Miya, using her command of wind, floated in the air away from the fiery stage.

Above the crowd seating, in one of the premium seats, a priestess, wearing a white toga with red laces and ribbons sighed, "Oh my goddess, she's done it again."

"I've told you before and I'm telling you again. You really should tell your goddess to keep a low profile," her companion, a man wearing a long white ankle-length toga with silver strings around his waist said.

"You know how these goddesses are. They never listen! Besides, it's not like I can tell her not to join these games or to tone it down," the priestess moaned.

"What with her being 'she who competes' after all," the man nodded.

"Exactly! Nobody can tell her not to do it, it's her aspect. At least she limits her powers. If she uses her full powers, this whole city will be turned to ash in a blink of an eye."

"Thank Aya-na-ulas for small blessings," the man prayed silently.

"Wait, why Aya-na-ulas? It is my goddess who ensures good weather and guarantees no permanent injury or death," the priestess objected.

"I'm the head priest of Aya-na-ulas's Garnbrad temple. Why would I pray to your goddess? Anyway, isn't it already too long? Is there any chance the girl has died inside that flaming tornado?"

"Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure the girl's a sky goddess too. Besides, if there's any danger of this Miki girl dying, Miya-na-ima will stop it. She's not like that upstart God of Order that kills anyone who doesn't do as he wish."

"Kulkuri is indeed rather extreme. You think this Miki is Miki-na-maresh? I heard she appeared at Whitree and Rownfeld. They've already hired an architect from Garnbrad's Solarium for Architectural Designs to design her sanctuary."

"Goddesses can use any name they want. If it's true this girl is Miki-na-maresh, then those four villages will become rich before long," the priestess said as she started to worry about the length of time Miki was inside the flaming tornado.

"Yes, what with Miki-na-maresh favouring offerings of gold. Pretty soon, the four villages will be know as wealthy rain villages."

"Hey, something's happening," the priestess said as she urged the priest to look at the stage.

[Wind, wash over me and break through this fiery cage!] Miki commanded as she used her wind to push away every bit of flame from her surrounding. When the flames threatened to enveloped her body again, she breathed in, gathering all the wind around her body and released it all in one violent blast.

If not for the barrier that the priest of Aya-na-ulas and priestess of Miya-na-ima cast to provide safety for the spectators, the audience would have probably suffered third degree burns from the way the flame was expelled from the stage.

"Was wondering how long it would take you. Wouldn't it be faster to summon rain, seeing as you're the goddess of rain?" Miya said as she floated back onto the platform.

"I'm gonna beat you up, sister!" Miki said in rage.

"Oh, will you, now? With what?" Miya taunted.

[Wind, attack her with sickle winds][Wind, lighten my burden] Miki commanded as she sprinted right after the sickle winds that she launched against Miya.

[Wind, show her your forceful wind][Earth, turn my muscles to iron] Miya commanded as she used the force of her strong winds to redirect the sickle winds. She was surprised to see Miki coming at her right behind the sickle winds, but she didn't think it mattered. To demonstrate her superiority, she allowed Miki to punch her in the face as she grabbed Miki's throat with her iron fingers.

"What was that, little sister? Was that the best you can do? Your punch felt like a mosquito bite. I should know, I was bitten by a mosquito when I went to your world. Your world is so full of disrespecting animals," Miya said as she raised Miki higher until Miki's feet no longer touched the ground, giving much pressure on Miki's throat.

[Wind, gather gale force behind me] Miki commanded as the pressure on her throat increased.

[Wind, gather another gale force behind me] Miki commanded as she tried to free herself by kicking Miya in the stomache.

[Wind, increase gale force behind me] Miki commanded as she punched Miya right in the face.

[Wind, gather sickle winds in my right hand] Miki commanded as she felt a swirling force of sharp winds twisting around in her right hand.

[Wind, increase the power of all my wind spells] Miki commanded again as her vision blurred.

"What, are you no longer going to fight back? I never knew you could be so boring. I mean, I'm here to show you how weak you are, like a good sister, but you aren't even going to give me a challenge?" Miya taunted as her fingers tightened around Miki's throat.

"I know a goddess with only 500 worshippers won't be able to do much against a goddess with almost a million worshippers, But still, how many limiters do I have to put on to be able to feel some kind of challenge from my youngest sister?"

[Wind, concentrate sickle winds in my palm. Attack!] Miki commanded as she smashed the concentrated sickle winds against the arm that held Miki in the air.

"Oww!" Miya cried as she dropped Miki and looked at her bleeding arm.

[Wind, launch both gale force towards her from right and left] Miki commanded as she felt the gale winds whooshed past her to hit the still confused Miya. The gale winds assault her from both right and left, causing the horizontal mini tornadoes to twist her arms the wrong way.

"Ahhhh!!!' Miya screamed as her body twisted in the air until she fell to the stage in a heap, her arms in very awkward positions.

"Surrender Miya, if that's your real name. Your arms' sockets are probably pulled off and your bones are probably in the wrong position. You can't fight anymore," Miki said as she stepped closer.

"I can't fight anymore?" Miya got up slowly, as she cackled in glee. "Who do you think you are talking to, you little brat?"

Miki jumped back, as she felt like if she had stood where she was, she would likely be struck down.

"I, who is she who plays games. Do you really think a little girl like you can get me to fight seriously? Think about it, do adults fight children with all their strength?" Miya said as she showed Miki a mad grin.

What is this pressure? Shouldn't she be on the floor? Why am I afraid? Miki questioned herself as she stood rooted to the spot, unable to move even a muscle. She was sweating profusely, as she felt fear from the disabled Miya.

"Oh crap!" the priestess of Miya-na-ima cursed.

"You're a head priestess, please watch your tongue," the head priest of Aya-na-ulas said as he rubbed his bald head.

The priestess ignored the priest as she said, "This is bad, Miya-na-ima hasn't found any good challenge for the past fifty years. Now that she found something that provides some kind of challenge all those feeling of resentment is resurfacing."

"What will happen?" the priest asked, concerned.

"That girl, if she's a human, she will most likely die. If she's a goddess, she will most likely be beaten so badly, that not even the power of a goddess can heal her," the priestess answered grimly.

"We must strengthen the protection field. It will not do to have a contestant killed or maimed during the tournament," the priest said as he started looking through his memory for a spell that could strengthen the protection field for the contestants.

"It won't work, the power for the protection field comes from Miya-na-ima herself. It won't protect the girl from Goddess Miya's power. Huh?" the priestess said before she squinted her eyes at the stage.

"What?"

"That's it!" the priestess exclaimed as she closed her eyes pressed her palms together in front of her lips.

"What's it?" the priest asked, confused.

"Quiet! I'm praying," the priestess said as she prayed to Miya-na-ima, who was at that very moment, walking slowly towards Miki, while fixing her own limbs with unseen hands.

Goddess Miya, please look at your wrists. the priestess prayed.

Down on the tournament stage, Miya who heard the priestess's prayer looked at her wrists. She didn't see anything wrong with it, as the bones and joints had already healed. Suddenly it hit her, "Oh bloody hell!"

"Huh?" Miki breathed a sigh of relief that the feeling of danger passed, but was confused at Miya's demeanor.

Miya raised her right hand and called, "Judge! I've lost."

Miki looked at Miya's right hand and it suddenly occurred to her. "Oh right, she loses if the bracelet breaks."

Miya suddenly looked at Miki. "I didn't lose because the bracelet breaks. I can use my power to repair the bracelet even after it breaks. The reason why I lost was because of this," Miya said as she showed Miki her left arm.

Miki looked at it in confusion.

"Geez, how can you not understand? I'll explain later," Miya said as she walked off the platform.

"And the winner of this battle is Team 8!" the judge announced accompanied by a huge cheer from the spectators, which by then had filled all the seats of the arena.

Miki walked back to the preparation room with pats on the back by Fafarin, Kanas and Esuka.

"Miki!" Miya called from around the corner that lead to Miki's team's preparation room.

"Go on without me," Miki told her teammates as she walked towards Miya.

"Sure, we'll be sitting at our previous place on the bandstand," Esuka said as she whispered in Miki's ear, "Go have a talk with your big sister."

Miki looked at her in shock, but she just winked and left with the others.

"Alright, explain," Miki said as they got up to the highest level of the arena, looking down at the stage where Farran's team was already waiting. Apparently the second round involved the winning teams to eliminated their own team members. That answered one of Miki's question, so the prize money will not be shared among the team members.

"I didn't lose because of the bracelet. I lose because of this," Miya said as she held up a golden bracelet that looked just like the ones she had around her neck and ankles.

"Your other bracelet broke apart? That is a problem?" Miki asked.

"These aren't normal bracelets. It's made of oricalchum and they're my limiter. Much like your limiter over there," Miya said as she pointed at Miki's wedding ring.

"This? What does it limit?" Miki asked as she examined her wedding ring.

"For me, if I had used all my powers, this whole region would have become a wasteland. These bracelets, my limiters each limit my power by half. It's cumulative," Miya said placed a fragment of her broken bracelet onto Miki's palm.

Miki felt the remnant of a spell work inside the bracelet, but she couldn't tell for sure what it was. She could tell however that it was different from her wedding ring. Then she started to calculate in her mind, "So if each bracelets limits your power by half, then four bracelets limits your power by..."

"About 6%, geez, learn to count without a calculator."

"6%?" Miki considered before she suddenly understood, "Eh?!!! You fought me using only 6% of your power? And I still barely beat you?"

"Actually, you just caught me by surprise. That last technique was quite painful, but if I was serious, even 6% would be enough to kill you twice over," Miya said, making that same smile that suggested she was trying to pick a fight again.

"You seem very confident of yourself," Miki remarked.

"Oh of course. Nobody can beat me, so I of course am very confident. Not even our big sister Aya can beat me. But then again, she's a bookworm and a librarian. Fighting has never been her style. But I don't have time, so let's just answer your one last question and then I have to go. I am quite busy actually."

"I have many questions that tops all other questions. Why wasn't I given panties?" Miki asked the very same question that had plague her since the first time she came to this world.

Silence. "Uhh, we don't use panties in this world," Miya said as she averted her eyes.

"That's a lie! I just bought some!" Miki accused

"Okaay, you can find some here. We just don't use that in the Sky Kingdom," Miya answered with a red face.

"And why not?"

"Because Alodil is a horny old pervert and he vetoed panties up there."

Miki's lips formed a 'O' as she asked, "There is a god who vetoed panties?"

"And bras. Like I said, he's a pervert. And he got his eyes on you. So... tough luck," Miya grinned.

"What is he? Twelve? How can anyone be so juvenile?"

"Hey, you got a problem, take it to the old pervert upstairs. I don't make the rules."

"How can you wear this," Miki made a downward sweeping motion at her toga with her hand, "This short thing, without panties? Everyone can see my you-know-what!"

"So now you understand why many of our sisters prefer to wander around down here? Let's not talk about some of the sluts like Ira, Yana and Maka. They love the attention."

"There are many of us down here?" Miki asked.

"Yes, as far as I know at least sixty of us are down here doing whatever we feel like doing. Of course, it's better to stay up there if you want to fulfill thousands of wishes at the same time. They have pools that work like multi-channel televisions up there," Miya explained.

"Another thing, you said this ring," Miki showed her the wedding ring around her finger, "Is a limiter. What does it limit? My power?"

"I don't think it limits your power, it's a different kind of limiter. I think this one limits certain actions, though I have no idea what. Aya will probably be able to answer that, though," Miya said as she turned around and walked into the air.

"Huh? Where are you going?" Miki said as she looked around when Miya simply disappeared into thin air like smoke.

"As I said, I'm busy. Good luck on the rest of the tournament. Be careful of Anarka Ani Asra. She's not normal," Miya's voice echoed in the wind.

Miki felt the air where Miya's body used to be with her hands before she gave up and floated down to the seats below to watch Farran winning his battle through backstabs and treachery.

*Another chapter of the Sky Goddess. The conclusion to the tournaments will shortly follow in Chapter 4.
**As always, please leave your feedbacks and comments. Praises helps me to write faster, constructive criticisms helps me to write better. Thank you for reading.