OP Sister Chapter 555: The Cat's Toys

-----

“So you fear me? That’s good. You should fear me, as you’re a mortal after all,” Sekhmet said with a laugh. “There’s nothing wrong with that! It’s your natural instinct. Don’t worry, with time, you’ll grow accustomed to it, and we can become even closer friends… yes, friends. How about it? With those fragments of the Egyptian Nebula within you… you’re my perfect vessel.”

“I must humbly decline again… I cannot become your vessel,” Anna replied.

“Hmm… Grr!” Sekhmet hissed at Anna, growling. “I could tear your pretty face off with a single swipe of my claw! Do as I command!”

“I… cannot… do it,” Anna murmured, summoning her resolve.

“You keep rejecting my offers…! How dare you! I should rip you apart limb by limb and drink your warm, fresh blood! They used to offer me your kind by the hundreds every day!” Sekhmet roared angrily. “And yet one of you dares to defy me repeatedly? Who are you to scorn me?!”

“I’m not scorning you…” Anna sighed. “But… I feel the great constellation is… not in the right state of mind right now. Given your nature… I fear for my life. I… prefer to work alongside my Constellation sponsors, not become their slaves or vessels… I hope you understand.”

“Hmph! What’s the point of investing in you if I can’t claim your body?” Sekhmet demanded angrily. “Honestly, those three are utterly incomprehensible…”

Sekhmet knew only selfishness, wrath, and pride. Born powerful, she grew ever stronger and more ambitious with age. Widely revered as the Goddess of War, Vengeance, and Destruction, and as Ra’s daughter, she commanded immense respect.

Yet Anna sensed an inferiority complex within her, now evident in Sekhmet’s desperation to forge a contract. Most likely, the entire Egyptian Nebula had vanished, leaving her Ra Mirror as her sole valuable possession aside from her pyramid. Without her former worshipers, she felt hollow and alone.

If only she had softened like Ares… but Sekhmet only grew more entrenched in her original nature, becoming more possessive and greedier than ever.

Still, Anna detected profound sadness and sorrow within her… and a faint trace of regret for her choices.

Yet these were overshadowed by her wrath, pride, and obsession.

“Um… excuse me,” Jack interjected softly. “May I have a word?”

“…You,” Sekhmet said, glaring at Jack. “Hmm, you’re not as compatible as Anna… but… you’re not bad either. I sense considerable darkness within you. Yes, you could be a fine vessel too. But I still prefer Anna—she’s a woman like me. The thought of using a man’s body is repulsive.”

“…” Jack sighed. “I wasn’t asking to become your vessel.”

“…?”

“Please, my sister… she has rejected you many times. Let her be,” Jack said bravely, facing the Constellation to protect his sister.

“Hah?” Sekhmet snarled at Jack. “And who are you to say that? You… someone without even Gilgamesh’s protection. Shall I make an example of you?”

Sekhmet raised her claw, blazing with red and golden Mythic Flames that displayed visions of her storied past.

“I will tear that handsome face from your skull!”

“No, wait!”

Anna cried out, moving to shield her brother with her body.

The claws descended, but Jack, in a panic, pushed Anna aside.

SLASH!

“Gaaaahh!”

Jack screamed as the claws tore through his chest down to his legs, his blood splattering everywhere.

“Hmm~”

Sekhmet smiled, licking the blood from her claws, then grimaced.

“Ugh! A filthy child of devils! What foul blood!”

Sekhmet glared in disgust as Jack rapidly regenerated his wounds using his Pure-Blooded Vampire Physique.

“Brother!” Anna exclaimed, concerned.

“I’m fine… don’t worry,” Jack sighed. “She held back… I can endure this much pain.”

“You are a peculiar family…” Sekhmet remarked. “But that was amusing… it’s been ages since I tore something to shreds! And if you can regenerate like that, perhaps I’ll make you my plaything! What do you think of my brilliant idea? Would you like to be my cherished toy?”

“P-Plaything? Because you’re a cat?” Jack retorted angrily. “Fuck off.”

“Jack! You can’t!” Anna gasped.

“I see how it is… you’re unaware of our true strength!” Sekhmet said, her claws reaching for Jack.

However, Anna grabbed Jack and leaped away just in time. Sekhmet had merely waved her hand casually, not unleashing her full power.

Even so, evading her was an extraordinary feat!

“Hm? Traces of time! I see…” Sekhmet said, glaring at Anna. “Now I want you even more! Come here!”

“Ugh, run!” Anna cried, fleeing with her brother toward the orphanage.

That area was shielded by Ares’ Cosmic Barrier, where Sekhmet could not follow.

“Tsk! Where do you think you’re going?”

Sekhmet, in her fury, ravaged the village, demolishing houses, manors, and castles, pouncing toward Jack and Anna, nearly catching them.

Her massive jaws opened, snapping at them, her eyes glowing brighter as she reveled in the chase.

“Heheh! Run! Run faster! I’m coming for youuuu!”

As a feline, she delighted in pursuing prey above all.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it! Jack! Why did you have to insult her?!” Anna demanded.

“Anna, she was treating you like an object!” Jack replied. “I couldn’t stand that!”

“Ugh, I mean, thank you!” Anna said. “But this is a world of Constellations—we can’t be reckless! Look at the chaos she’s causing over this!”

“I know! Oof…! I know!” Jack said, running alongside Anna. His shadows flickered, and Fenrir emerged.

His form briefly expanded to match the original Fenrir’s size, carrying both siblings.

“Fenrir?!”

Jack was astonished as Fenrir howled. The shadows before him shimmered, and he leaped into them, vanishing from Sekhmet’s sight.

“What! Where are you?!” Sekhmet demanded angrily. “The shadows? Hah! You think you can hide from me in the shadows?”

Sekhmet slashed her claws into the pavement, upheaving half the village before charging out and spotting their shadows fleeing in the distance.

“You! Come here at once! Stop running from me…! Just…! Just stop! Don’t…! I don’t want to be alone anymore…! Become my Incarnations! My Apostles! Just…! Do it!”

Sekhmet’s angry shouts revealed more emotions than Anna had ever expected.

“I need… I need incarnations and apostles…! My story is fading…! I was once Rank 10, you know?!” Sekhmet cried furiously. “Come back!!!”

Sekhmet’s scream unleashed a powerful shockwave, splitting the red desert before her.

RUMBLE!

“Aaagh!”

“Uagh!”

Anna and Jack emerged from the shadows. Fenrir, dazed, collapsed into the sands, rolling down the dunes with Anna and Jack.

“Damn it, she broke the shadow-traveling spell?!” Anna groaned.

“A-Ah! She’s here!” Jack shouted.

The siblings and Fenrir watched in horror as Sekhmet emerged from behind the dunes, her eyes glowing bright red, pupils dilated with the thrill of the hunt.

Yet she also gazed at them with… pain.

“Why?! Why do you flee from me? It would be an honor for any mortal to become my incarnations, my apostles, my vessels!” she roared, tears of blood streaming from her eyes. “WHY WON’T YOU AGREE?!”

“Because you’re a bad person!” Anna declared. “You’re evil!”

“…?!”

Sekhmet recoiled, her face twisted with anger, frustration, sorrow, wrath, pride, disdain, selfishness, and yet more pride… and then…

“I… am not… evil… I…! I did what I thought was… right…”

Her voice faltered as she looked down at the ground.

Her claws trembled as she clutched her face, weeping alone.

“Now’s our chance, let’s go!” Jack urged. “Fenrir, take us to the orphanage!”

“Woof!” Fenrir rose, seizing Anna’s clothes and dragging her away.

“Wait…!” Anna tried to stop them, watching Sekhmet cry alone. “Sekhmet’s crying…”

“What about it? Leave that crazy woman in her own world. If I had the strength, I’d have killed her for all I care,” Jack said angrily. “Goddamn it, I hate Constellations…”

“Hmm…” Anna gazed at Sekhmet from afar. “This chance… I cannot miss it.”

“Anna?! Wait, what about the Constellation Orphanage?” Jack shouted as Anna leaped from Fenrir and ran toward Sekhmet alone.

“Sekhmet!” Anna called. “Your… Majesty.”

“…Huh?” Sekhmet glared at Anna, her face a mess from crying. “What… have you come to mock me now? If you meant to make me feel wretched, you’ve succeeded! Look at my pathetic state! This is… the ruin I’ve become!”

“I’m sorry…” Anna said.

“What are you even sorry for, you lowly creature?” Sekhmet demanded angrily. “Whether you feel sorry or not is irrelevant!”

“But you were crying and looked sad,” Anna replied. “So I’m sorry for that.”

“Tch!” Sekhmet groaned, crossing her arms and glaring at Anna with disdain. “Just leave… I… don’t need any apostles or incarnations…”

“Sekhmet…” Anna approached, gently touching her massive paws. “Do you ever regret what you’ve done?”

“Regret?! I never regret anything! I am Sekhmet, goddess of destruction, vengeance, and war! What’s there to regret?” she roared angrily. “I am proud of all I’ve accomplished, all I’ve gained, and… all my power…!”

“You say that, but I can tell you’re lying,” Anna said with a gentle smile. “My power lets me read people’s hearts.”

“…?!” Sekhmet bristled, offended, baring her teeth and hissing. “Damn brat! Who do you think I am to be read like an open book? Die!”

She swung her claws but halted mid-strike.

“Y-You…! That’s…”

Sekhmet’s face trembled with emotion at what Anna revealed.

An ethereal red mirror, bearing the same essence and soul as the true artifact, hovered above her head.

The faint, dormant presence of Bastet lingered within it.

“Bastet, your sister, resides within my heart,” Anna explained. “Sepa, her closest friend, saved her during the rebellion of the other Egyptian Gods… They’ve aided me immensely, and I believe it’s time I help them in return.”

“What? So you’re their vessel! Or… not? What is this strange bond? They’re within your heart?” Sekhmet demanded angrily. “What does this mean? What…! What are you?”

“I come from a different past than the one you experienced,” Anna said. “In that time, I found them, and we became friends… they saved me and sacrificed everything to aid me… I owe them everything.”

“…”

“Now they’re dormant since I arrived here…” Anna said with a faint smile. “Sekhmet… I know the other Egyptian Constellations are gone, and you’re the last one left. Even in your cold, calculating heart, there were those you held dear to some extent, weren’t there? That loneliness must be driving you mad. And that regret… it keeps creeping in, doesn’t it?”

“…”

“So I ask again, Sekhmet… do you regret anything you did?” Anna pressed.

“I…”

Sekhmet faltered, struggling to speak, then fell silent.

“If you can tell me honestly what you feel, perhaps I can begin to trust you,” Anna said. “That’s… how you build relationships, how you learn to trust others… and how you earn their trust. Be honest.”

“Why?” Sekhmet asked stubbornly.

“I want to help you,” Anna replied.

-----