I Have a Plan!

Ishtar turned her head away, sat back in the gold-paved carriage with a displeased look, and then, in a fit of anger, instinctively kicked the Sand Sphinx was sleeping in front of the carriage.

"Meow?"

The big cat stared blankly at the crazy woman who seemed to be who she was. Then, seeing Ishtar looking at him with a puzzled expression, it suddenly stood up and unleashed a Hakimi Whirlwind, sending the golden figure behind it flying into the air and forcing Ishtar to stand still and shout.

"My treasure!!"

Then, the Sand Sphinx used extremely agile movements to spin, leap, and kick Ishtar in the face, sending her flying several meters away in a daze.

"—Did I give you too much face?!"

Although it cannot speak, anyone can see the meaning expressed on its face at this moment.

"How dare that mere wild beast attack me!"

Then, just as Ishtar began to playfully fight with the Sand Sphinx.

—Boom, boom!!

The booming sound of explosions echoed from the mountaintop not far away.

Ishtar stopped what she was doing and began to listen attentively.

The roar of cannon fire must mean that guy has already started fighting the dark goddess.

As expected, she realized the situation was as she had anticipated, and a smug look appeared on her face.

After all, he had just said that there was no way that the black goddess could be recruited. The evil aura emanating from that person was already overflowing. If he could be persuaded with just words, how could he have ended up in such a sorry state?

Although she hadn't communicated with the opponent at all and had simply launched a powerful attack, she was certain that her judgment was correct.

So, all you have to do next is wait for that guy to slink down, then grab your leg and beg for mercy, saying, "Help me, Lady Ishtar, I'll never question you again."

Merry stood to the side, glanced at the smug Ishtar, then looked up at the top of the room where the voice came from, gently stroked her chin, and couldn't help but sigh, "That's going too far to fool a fool..."

Barbatos, standing to the side, grabbed Lev by the neck and roared furiously, "Flauros, you bastard, you dared to lie to me again! Didn't you say that she and the king had that kind of relationship and that they would never fight?"

"Ah... that's right, it must be that kind of relationship, I saw it with my own eyes."

Lev, who was being choked, also began to doubt himself, and he even began to wonder if he had made a mistake.

"Useless thing! If the king gets hurt, I'll never forgive you today!"

His voice suddenly fell silent as he spoke.

The mountaintop fell silent once more.

Barbatos was still choking Lev.

The two were taken aback for a moment, then said, "That's it?"

"Hmph, is it finally over? He was defeated so quickly. It seems the legendary Magic King is nothing special after all..." Ishtar said gloatingly.

Yes, this guy never doubted that Rovey could defeat Black Lancer Artoria.

Putting aside the matter of those two Demon God Pillars, the so-called Magic King was at best a human king from the late Age of Gods, and Rovey was a living person, not Heroic Spirit, and didn't seem particularly strong in combat. Furthermore, as a goddess Ishtar had her own pride and certainly wouldn't think she was inferior to Solomon.

Furthermore, she had seen that black goddess before; the other party, coupled with that corrupted star weapon, was undoubtedly comparable to Ereshkigal, her strength clearly at the level of a chief god. For the human king to challenge a chief god—such a foolish act, especially when the situation was already so clear-cut, what else could be truly astonishing?

The answer, of course, is no!

—That's what Ishtar thought until Rovey returned with a Black Lancer Artoria.

"You, you're not..."

Ishtar stared in utter astonishment at the black figure beside Rovey, just as she had seen Ereshkigal.

"Hmm, we meet again." Black Lancer Artoria, exuding a fierce storm aura, and said coldly, "I am the Storm Goddess, Artoria Alter."

"No, no, what your name is doesn't matter at all, does it? Why are you here, you who stole other people's temples and believers and beat up the local goddess?" Ishtar questioned.

"Isn't this obvious?" Black Lancer Artoria said with a puzzled look, "I've joined!"

Everyone looked at Ishtar was completely dumbfounded.

As Ishtar had previously stated, the black goddess atop the mountain could not be recruited.

Ishtar: "..."

Believe it or not, Ishtar was quite speechless inside. However, seeing everyone staring at her, Ishtar could only snort softly, putting on the face of a perfect goddess who had seen through everything, and said, "Ahem, I saw long ago that the goddess at the top wasn't a bad person. Since we are both goddesses, it's not unacceptable that she would choose to ally with me, who is full of love, beauty, and justice."

"Ahem, human... what's your name again?"

"Rovey".

"Oh, right, Rovey, you did a great job!"

Ishtar forced a smile, trying to appear calm.

"But that's not what you said before," Rovey retorted without hesitation.

"Hmph, you must have misremembered. This goddess would never say the wrong thing."

Ishtar turned her head away and sped up into the air.

However, when she saw that her temple had been dismantled and used to build houses for the refugees, her heart was shattered.

"—My temple!!"

A piercing scream echoed across the entire area above Mount Ebih.

Seeing this, Rovey asked Black Lancer Artoria with some curiosity what had happened.

Black Lancer Artoria n't hide it either.

He recounted how Ishtar had caused trouble for him and prevented her from bringing so many refugees down the mountain.

Because their battle was of godlike proportions, and fearing it might harm mortals, Black Lancer Artoria took them to the mountaintop and dismantled all usable materials from the Ishtar Palace to build temporary shelters for the refugees. Although the temple was full of useless gems and gold, it was still enough to build houses with a little work.

One can imagine what Ishtar must have felt when she flew up and saw her jewels and temple being dismantled into building materials.

She is no longer the goddess of wealth; she has become, in Barbatos's words, the goddess of poverty.

While observing a moment of silence, Rovey couldn't help but give Black Lancer Artoria a thumbs up.

"Well done! Lily, you not only protected so many humans, but also taught that guy an unforgettable lesson. I'm sure she'll work hard from now on to earn back the lost wealth."

Black Lancer Artoria responded with a smile.

"She brought this on herself."

——

A deathly silence enveloped this inaccessible world.

On the Sea of Life, the deep outline of the dark world is reflected.

Suddenly, the void flashed with dazzling light, and a golden streak of light pierced the sky and landed on a piece of ground in the Imaginary Numbers World.

The golden light then vanished, revealing the scene within.

It was a golden-bodied, burly humanoid monster.

It was no stranger.

He is the distortion and manifestation of the Human Order Correction Formula, the Goetia who has just left the Temple of Time in anger.

"The sealed land, I've finally found it..."

Having just arrived at the Uruk Singularity, he didn't rush to find those two traitors, Lev Barbatos. Instead, he set his sights on the Sea of Gods in the Imaginary Numbers World. After expending considerable effort, he finally succeeded in reaching it.

"The Primal Mother".

Upon arriving at the Sea of Life, Goetia raised her head slightly and looked at the enormous figure in the center of the Sea of Life, bound by chains. After thinking for a moment, she slowly walked towards Tiamat.

"Now is not the time to sleep. It's time for you to get up properly, Tiamat..."

Goetia stretched out his hand and muttered to himself, "If it were you facing me, that incompetent king would realize his insignificance at this moment, and in the end he would definitely come to me begging for mercy!"

Chapter 242 I Have a Plan!

In a pitch-black space, separate from the rest of the world.

The vast ocean of imaginary numbers is constantly eroding the barriers outside this space, burying them in the deepest part of the endless turbulence until they are completely silent.

Call out--!!

However, as a blinding golden light ripped through the sky, the silence that should have belonged to this world was completely shattered at this moment.

"Almost there, almost there! Once this is done, everything will be a success...!!"

A whisper echoed in the darkness, carrying a hint of excitement.

"I can't wait to see that incompetent king kneel before me, begging to be one with me again! When that time comes, I will make those blind Seventy-Two Demon God Pillars know who the true savior is! Who the true leader is! After that, I will make Solomon throw you away like rags!!"

"A bunch of good-for-nothings who are good for nothing but causing trouble, I, Goetia, will make you understand who the real leader is."

Indeed, the enormous demonic figure walking on the black reef was Goetia.

Realizing things were going awry, and after being betrayed by the Demon God Pillars, Goetia understood that if he didn't act soon and continued to wait for his doom, he would be forced to abdicate by the Demon God Pillars and the King.

When that time comes, having lost Ten Rings and the 72 Demons, he won't even be able to resist. He might as well find a crooked tree in the Temple of Time, hang himself with a three-foot-long white silk ribbon, and at least that way he can leave with some dignity, instead of being whipped to death by the Demon God Pillars.

Of course, that's the worst-case scenario. An ordinary king, betrayed by all his subordinates and even with his palace locked from the inside, would certainly choose this path. But who is Goetia? He is an omnipotent king, surpassing Solomon, born under the guidance of destiny, combining the wisdom and power of Solomon and the seventy- Solomon Seventy-Two Demon God Pillars. How could he so rashly choose to sit and wait for his demise?

Faced with such a disastrous situation, his only thought was self-preservation, he had to save himself! If he didn't save himself, given the actions of these Demon God Pillars, they could really pin all the blame on him.

While it is indeed true that he proposed completing the unfinished task of the Magic King, using the "Humanity Incineration" to create a new world and move towards a new future, who could have imagined that Solomon's past silence was not due to indifference or aloofness, but simply because he was a man who didn't like to talk?

Because we were on different wavelengths, I completely misunderstood that guy's true intentions, leading to all this mess. So shouldn't you, Solomon, take some responsibility for this? And those damned Demon God Pillars are even more shameless. When they were burning Human History, they shouted slogans, saying they had found what they were meant to do. But when Solomon returned, the traitors all jumped the loyalist card, abandoning him. So he was just a necessary evil, a villain used to whitewash their image?

There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world!

Damn it, don't they all like to play the role of a loyal subject?

Aren't they all eyeing Solomon's position as the first demon god?

Alright, alright, if that's the case, then none of you should be the number one demon god!

Humanity Incineration was no longer an option, he had no desire to argue with Solomon about it anymore.

Since that's the case, then let's go all out to get revenge on those damned Demon God Pillars and become the first Demon God before them. Then we can use our position to deal with them!

Since the plan has completely fallen apart, they can only settle for second best now. After all, Solomon is already strong, and now that he has retrieved the Ten Commandments, plus Barbatos and Flauros as his lackeys, Gorgon is nothing but a roadside nuisance. The returning king can easily kill her with a single kick, and the other Three Goddess Alliance are not much of a sight to behold; at most, they'll get kicked a couple more times.

If you want to create a crisis, you have to choose your opponent yourself.

Therefore, Goetia used his EX-level Clairvoyance, along with the Greater Light Wheel as his energy source, and after overcoming numerous hardships, finally succeeded in arriving at the sealed land in the Imaginary Numbers World, preparing to release the Mother of Creation of this world. Only Evils of Humanity could bring Solomon an insurmountable sense of disparity.

Without Grand Rank Spirit Origin, even Solomon would not be able to defeat the absolutely immortal Tiamat.

Then, when he is completely out of options and in despair, he will realize just how incompetent those seventy-two useless people really are. At that point, he can suddenly appear and become his last lifeline. Then everything will be accomplished, and he can take the opportunity to make his demands.

Since he can't accept the Humanity Incineration, it's not too much to ask him to become the first demon god, the second-in-command of the Temple of Time, and rise to power by stepping on the faces of the 72 Demons, right?

After all, in terms of both strength and connections, he was far superior to those seventy-two useless individuals. Furthermore, while the Humanity Incineration seemed devastating, once the attack was quelled, it would at most cause humanity to lose two years of memories, resulting in zero casualties—there was absolutely no reason to hold a grudge. Besides, his contribution in defeating Tiamat was so significant that he could easily move on from the past.

When that time comes, the layout of their Temple of Time will be such that at the top is the Magic King, then there will be an additional Demon God King, and below that are still the 72 Demons.

If this plan succeeds, not only will I be exonerated and everyone will live in peace, but I will also naturally join the big family, making those Demon God Pillars envious and jealous. This is truly wonderful.

Just thinking about their envious glances made Goetia feel a little excited, not because she was happy to be back by Solomon's side.

In short—

' Demon God King second only to Solomon... I can't wait any longer.'

"—Hahahahahahahaha! We won! We finally won! As expected, the great victory still belongs to Goetia in the end!!"

Imagining that wonderful future, even the aloof Goetia couldn't help but smile. He quickened his pace, eager to get closer to Tiamat in the center, to personally remove all the chains binding her and let her out to play the villain.

However, just as he stepped closer to the Sea of Life ahead, intending to approach Tiamat, a thin mist suddenly rose from the dark sea surface.

"Aaaaaaaaa——"

A beautiful sound, like a fairy's melody, suddenly came from the boundless, dark ocean.

Then, amidst the lingering mist, the graceful silhouette of a goddess swayed gently.

"How is this possible?"

Sensing something amiss, Goetia stopped in his tracks, staring in astonishment at the shadow in the mist that was about the size of a normal human. He couldn't fathom how Tiamat had managed to create a human avatar and store rationality within it, successfully suppressing her beastly side.

As Evils of Humanity, shouldn't her return be paramount? How could such a bizarre thing happen?