Chapter 499

"Speaking of which, Manazuru Chitose and her Servant Lucius are truly deceiving. I wasn't even confident enough to sense and fight that guy who could seemingly engulf Planet if he grew freely, but Lucius's Longinus pierced right through me."

What was said in jest was taken seriously by the listener. Novia asked Anubis with a surprised expression.

"Servant size could engulf Planet?"

"Yes, as far as I know, that guy cut himself into seven parts before he descended, and after appearing in the Holy Grail War, he merged back into one, devouring the Dragon Vein, his Master, and even the local people— Ouroboros, the Endless Serpent."

At this moment, Yama noticed that Novia was once again looking down thoughtfully.

He suddenly opened his mouth towards Novia, but no words came out. Novia immediately sensed that Yama had something to say.

"Do you have anything else to say, Yama?"

"That's the one..."

Yama paused, then pointed in a direction. "I have another insignificant piece of information. Actually, nobody knows who the victor of the Holy Grail War at Cape Canaveral is, but I have a feeling it should be Mot."

Why do you say that?

Although Novia had some idea of this, she was still curious about Yama's prediction.

"Because I was the first one to die."

In many mythologies, Yama, as the god of Death God, is clearly recorded as the first human to die. To some extent, it can be said that he brought death to mankind, binding them to a short life and the interior of the Ocean Planet.

"So at that time, I could sense the death emanating from Mot, who invited me—the death of those people filled with courage and fearlessness, single-mindedly focused on conquering new places. So I thought he must be the victor who destroyed Cape Canaveral. Strangely enough, where did the Od gathered from that Holy Grail go? Mot didn't have any of it—"

"Yama, I vaguely remember the direction you're pointing in."

Tiamat was eating grilled squid, raised a hand, subtly interrupting Yama.

After realizing that the grandson Novia was referring to wasn't Enki, but rather Yama, she was a little puzzled but didn't dwell on it. After all, even an India Deity is still a lovable child...

In short, she felt much relieved after confirming that it wasn't Enki or Marduk.

"That's where the spiritual deprivation suffered by the children of this world begins, turning them all into decadent and unambitious children. What a hateful Authority! Even so, useless children are still adorable, aren't they, No--"

As she was talking, Tiamat seemed to realize something and suddenly panicked. Her eyes darted around, and she hurriedly shook her head and waved her hands, even dropping the grilled squid in her mouth onto the table.

"No, I'm not saying it's good for children to be useless; that would be a bit worrying. What I mean is that children need to be taken seriously. No, you can't spoil them, because that can easily lead to bad things happening and make you angry. You have to keep a close eye on them and watch them to make sure they don't do anything wrong. Just keep a close eye on them—a super close eye!"

Given that his own Aspected God had a good relationship with this Mesopotamia Primordial Mother Goddess, and with the Great Goddess Durga also absent, Yama quite naturally began drinking red wine as if no one else was there, while Anubis buried his head in his roast beef, also appearing as if he didn't understand, didn't know, or hadn't heard anything.

Isn't this still spoiling your child?

Without thinking, Novia blurted it out.

"I'm so sorry!"

These words startled Tiamat so much that she began to tremble. Looking at her clattering fingertips, she stammered, "I'm sorry, I... I'm so useless. I won't stay useless forever, I'll grow, sob, forgive me..."

Her reaction was so strong that it seemed as if she were facing a difficult choice.

"..."

Novia was speechless, unsure of what to say to Tiamat had suddenly displayed a look of 'defeat'.

The next second--

With a snap, the juvenile Tiamat forcefully swung the skewer she was holding downwards, plunging it in.

Point it at the back of her hand, which is resting on the table.

The suddenness of the event startled both Yama and Anubis, who opened their eyes wide in shock. Generally, weapons wielded by humans appear motionless to the two Death God, but unfortunately, both of them had lost their power. Furthermore, Tiamat was the Primordial Mother Goddess, and even in her nascent form, she was not to be underestimated.

Yama thought that Kavia, the Aspected God, would help Tiamat avoid the divination sticks as if nothing had happened. But to his surprise, the Aspected God remained unmoved, not even raising an eyebrow. Then, at the critical moment, the divination sticks of the Primordial Mother Goddess pierced the gap between her fingers.

Although it wouldn't be painful to insert, Tiamat was still in a panic because she didn't expect it to fail to go in.

"... Waaaaah, ugh?! Why, it couldn't be inserted...?"

"Now you know your own worth, Daughter of Creation."

Novia covered half her face with one hand, revealing only one eye. "And I am Novia."

For some reason, Novia always found it amusing to tease Tiamat like this, especially Tiamat's expression of being afraid of making her angry. Although the reason was unclear, she still found it quite interesting.

"No, no, it's mother, it's mom, it's Mother Goddess."

"Didn't you say before that in order to speak out, you had to 'self-seal' yourself, transforming from the Mother of Creation into the Daughter of Creation, and that this was considered a regression from infancy?"

Novia suddenly called her name in a very affectionate tone, "Could it not be? The Daughter of Fate."

Actually, he had noticed that when Tiamat spoke to him, she never referred to herself as "Mother" or "Mom," but she would refer to herself as such when speaking to Anubis and Yama. Novia thought to herself, "It must be because of the Holy Spirit that I really don't want to acknowledge."

"Ugh... I didn't expect this... As expected, this really won't work."

However, Tiamat's attitude was completely opposite to what Novia had imagined. She became unusually reserved, took three steps back, and stiffly lowered her head, her ears turning bright red, and even the cheeks exposed under her bangs turned bright red.

"Witness my power... You'll see, won't you?"

To be honest, Novia was very interested, but he was also puzzled by the first, almost cruel feeling that had arisen in his heart.

In short, the young man smiled.

His smile was clear and flawless, like the twinkling stars in the sky, a smile that came from the most unrestrained part of his heart as he smiled at Tiamat.

After a moment of silence, Tiamat also returned Noah's slight smile.

"I don't want to lose... Super Tiamat, deploy! Boom boom boom boom boom!"

Then.

"Like this, bite down."

The juvenile Tiamat's fangs bit Novia's ear, and the heat from the shop mingled with the warmth of the air, radiating onto Novia's face.

"An overwhelming victory! I deserve a pat on the head. Was my performance... well, brilliant?"

Chapter 515 The Disguise User

The middle layer of Akihabara, a tourist City, has a three-dimensional, layered structure.

This area is a bit far from the bustling city center and is quite quiet.

Next to the nature park is a building that houses various public facilities, one of which is the classroom that Erice often went to.

When she arrived, class had already started. She casually walked to her seat, then flopped down and started to sleep, though she only closed her eyes and didn't actually fall asleep.

The students, scattered throughout the spacious, fan-shaped classroom, and the Teacher on the platform, were already used to it and didn't say much.

Well, their initial impression of Erice was, 'That kid probably comes to class once a month, sometimes not at all. Her attendance rate is so low, yet her attitude towards learning is so enthusiastic, and she gets a lot of credits—it's quite a contrast.' Now it's, 'This person comes every day, but her attitude towards learning is very lazy; it's a huge difference compared to before.'

The main reason, of course, is that the Demon King has disappeared.

Suddenly, Erice opened her eyes and swayed her body, as if she were comfortably enjoying the feel of the wooden chair.

Kuonji's friend and his Servant are really strange...

Although she expressed her resistance to getting close to Novia, and every time they met she would shoot a sharp look from her bangs at him, he behaved himself and did not suddenly barge into the room as before. However, his Servant Tiamat was a different story.

He always stares intently at Erice, then interrupts her when she tries to escape the awkward atmosphere by using Erice tablet.

"... Are you a cat?"

"Cat?"

"... If I had to make a comparison, you'd be more like a puppy. And your hair is so soft and fluffy."

"Mom, I'm not a dog."

"Yes, it's a dog."

Erice seemed unfazed by Tiamat's reply, and barked, "Woof woof."

"Mother, I know about dogs, Erice."

"Oh, you actually knew that? That's great—did I just say something weird?"

At that Erice was resting her chin on her hand, sulking to herself. She glanced at Novia, who looked completely unconcerned, and said, "Ah, never mind, your Master is over there. Don't look at me like that."

"Mom, I think Erice like a puppy at times like this, the rebellious kind."

"Not at all like it."

The thought that such a nonsensical conversation could happen to her Erice speechless, but she also couldn't help but dislike Tiamat's aura.

Time flies, and as Erice reminisces about these things, the class is almost over.

"Finally, I'd like to briefly introduce a United States who left behind only one small step, but that small step has gone further than anyone else's."

The screen changed to match the AI's explanation.

It was a world of stark contrasts: a gray sea of debris, a vacuum of Universe Space, and a person in a spacesuit climbing down a ladder in the shadow of Moon Landing lander to stand on the lunar surface.

"This is the first person in Human History to set foot on the moon."

"What?!"

Erice heard a gasp of surprise, but not one of astonishment.

Don't make a fuss over nothing; I already knew about this.

"Humans on the moon? How is that possible? Are they even living, breathing people?"

That happened 56 years ago. Three astronauts flew to the moon, and two of them set foot on its surface.

"Half a century ago? But back then, there shouldn't have been sophisticated enough control devices to calculate orbits!"

"Have."

Suddenly, Erice everyone's attention. She then remained silent without saying anything further.

"Yes, just like Erice said, there are."

Another documentary image appeared on the screen: a heavy Brass- colored box that looked to weigh several tens of kilograms, and a small keyboard.

"This is the navigation computer of the Apollo spacecraft, a single-core 8-bit computer. At that time, the lunar lander was already equipped with very complete and excellent computers. Compared to the Wisdom in your hands, this computer's computing speed is less than one ten-thousandth. Yet it still guided the Moon Landing lander in an autopilot mode. Moreover, before the Moon Landing, the navigation system malfunctioned due to human error and had to be shut down and restarted."

Then the students around him couldn't believe it.

"This is outrageous! So reckless!"

"Yes, it was a truly reckless attempt. Some people have even paid with their lives for it."

"If that's the case, then it's even more impossible! He's really relaxed. The outside world is a vacuum with no air pressure, Hell with temperatures reaching 110 degrees Celsius. He could die at any moment. It's really impossible!"

For some reason, Erice felt very annoyed listening to these people keep saying they didn't believe anyone had ever Moon Landing.

The chubby astronauts in the scene are clearly enjoying the weightless world, hopping and skipping around on the moon. Their lunar rover driving technique is also very crude, as if they are driving bumper cars in an amusement park, as if mocking the New Humanity half a century later for being too timid.

This chapter concludes in this way.

New World Beyond the Sea, the distant horizon, and the boundless Universe —humanity has explored unknown spaces time and time again in the past. But ever since sending those cheerful rascals to the surface of the moon, humanity has never had the opportunity to go to places more distant than the moon.

Back when the Apollo spacecraft was launched, people envisioned a grand dream: to explore the Universe. But today, that dream remains just that—a dream.

Mars, Venus, or even the Outer Universe far from our Solar System are all places yet to be reached by humankind.

Has humanity lost something precious?

Will there be anyone in the Future qualified to be a hero on the front lines of border exploration, leading people to sail once again into a whole new world?

Immediately afterwards, someone appeared in the classroom at the exact moment the class ended, calling out to Erice in a very affectionate voice:

"Erice, how did you do in class?"

Your young lady is quite attentive in class.

Even though Teacher Ai had originally planned to leave, she greeted the woman with a deliberately affected tone.

Manazuru Chitose.

"Yes, I'm extremely serious."

It was only at times like this that Erice's dislike for her made Chitose feel a little uncomfortable.

Raising a child... is really hard, especially when she and I are in that kind of situation...

"I understand, I understand Erice's situation."

Chitose nodded quietly. "Is there anything you want to tell me? I can wait a moment."

"It's just a small matter, nothing to compare to your official duties."

Even though Chitose, as Ai's teacher, was stiff and looked pitiful, Erice felt very uncomfortable every time she saw people who interacted with Chitose looking like they didn't dare to breathe. Although Chitose's tone sounded friendly when she answered the teachers, it was definitely not because she treated Ai as one of her own. This girl was a pure tyrant and dictator!