But I Refuse!

Rovi turned the street corner and passed one alley after another. Sunlight fell in neat strips through the gaps between the buildings, yet he found the source he had sensed within a patch of shadow.

"Hmph, I thought you wouldn't dare come!"

Between two towering halls lay a flat, deep alley stretching ahead, where a crisp voice echoed.

The figure standing with her back to him spoke. Her black hair swayed as she turned, her fair, toned body gleaming with an ivory sheen in the shadows.

Just as Rovi had guessed.

"So it really was you... Ishtar."

"That's right, it's this goddess!" Ishtar brushed back her hair, her expression perfectly normal, as though the humiliation from last time had never happened.

A seemingly elegant smile rested upon her exquisite goddess-like face.

It was completely different from her previous overbearing arrogance, carrying instead a kind of intellectual beauty.

The goddess waited expectantly for Rovi's reaction.

Since her previous defeat, she had fused with the humanity contained within this vessel and gradually come to understand humanity's so-called "beauty of the heart."

To put it plainly—

She needed to be gentle!

Gentle women were the most popular. Surely Rovi would be no exception... Ishtar cast him a flirtatious glance.

What entered her sight was naturally that handsome young face that had left such a deep impression on her.

And that expression seemed to say...

Child, you've disappointed me!

"..."

What the hell was that expression!?

The dignified expression Ishtar had put on instantly began to crumble.

But what she did not know was that Rovi truly was disappointed.

He had thought this "invitation" was for revenge, that she had come to take his life... Otherwise, why would he have rushed over so eagerly?

He had even deliberately sent Enkidu away.

Wasn't that exactly what he had been hoping for?

And this was the result?

"If there's nothing else, I'm going back!" Rovi shrugged and let out a lazy yawn, seeming unwilling to even spare Ishtar another glance.

Playing hard to get.

That was more humiliating to a god than a direct insult.

Sure enough, Ishtar quickly calmed down. The scantily clad, toned goddess took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling.

No, she could not let him get away like this.

Otherwise, all her efforts over the past seven days would go to waste!

Rovi clapped his hands.

He made as though to turn and leave.

Then he heard Ishtar approach with light steps, her hips and thighs swaying gently.

Only about five meters remained between them.

Was she going to make a move?

Rovi felt an inexplicable anticipation.

But Ishtar merely opened her mouth, a rather adorable smile appearing on her lovely face.

She said, "Become my lover, Mr. Rovi!"

"?" Rovi's face was full of question marks.

Are you kidding me? Do we even know each other that well?

No—

Was she trying to use the same trick she had used on Gilgamesh against him?

Recalling what the goddess had said when she left the royal palace last time, Rovi understood in an instant.

However, the fact that Ishtar could say such things also meant that she had not communicated with the heavens over the past few days. Otherwise, she would have known about the sacrilegious act Rovi had just committed, one that had shaken the majesty of the gods.

Otherwise, she would not have come to see him alone.

Or she would have tried to kill him the moment they met.

What a pity.

"You don't need to answer me right away." Seeing Rovi fall silent in thought, Ishtar did not intend to demand an answer from him immediately.

The goddess crossed her arms over her chest and squeezed hard, as though trying to force something out. In the end, finding it impossible, she gave up dejectedly. Yet she raised her other hand and held up one slender, jade-white finger, making it especially conspicuous in the shadowed alley.

She drawled, "I know what you're thinking."

As the words fell, the goddess took another two steps forward, drawing even closer to Rovi.

A fragrance brushed across his face. Her soft, alluring body was only inches away. Rovi paused, staring fixedly at Ishtar as she brought her face close to his.

Although he had been insulting her all along, Rovi had never underestimated Ishtar's current appearance.

After all, this body had appeared as one of the heroines in the Nasuverse series. Its looks might not have been at the absolute peak, but it was undoubtedly beautiful.

Not to mention that, with the two of them so close, their posture was rather ambiguous.

This was something Ishtar would never have done before. The proud goddess had regarded everything in the mortal world as toys, and she could never have stood so close to a human.

—Not even Gilgamesh.

Yet after seven days of humanity and divinity blending together, along with the pride and unwillingness inherited from the goddess of beauty, she had done this.

Rovi seemed slightly distracted.

The goddess tilted her head back, her crimson lips parting as a blush spread across her face.

"...Well? My heart is beating very fast, you know?"

Ishtar gently brought her crimson lips to Rovi's ear and spoke as though caressing it... Yet the corners of her lips curved up slightly.

Based on her research into the "humanity" she had fused with over the past few days, as well as the countless times she had rehearsed it in her mind, as long as she made such a move, no human could resist the temptation.

So she was very confident—and silently praised both her own wisdom and her current performance.

Even though her heart was pounding fiercely within her subtly rising chest.

But this was only an act...

"An abnormal heartbeat and pulse are symptoms of illness. You need treatment." Rovi pressed a hand against Ishtar's bare, slender shoulder and pushed her away from his ear. Facing her directly, he spoke with a serious expression.

Ishtar froze.

Why was this guy... not reacting?

Naturally, it was hard for Rovi to react. It was not that he lacked normal human desires, but because...

"Lady Ishtar, didn't you set up any magic around here to drive away ordinary people?" Rovi raised his other hand and pointed behind Ishtar.

Ishtar's body stiffened slightly. She realized something, but did not dare turn around.

Because—

"What are they doing in public?"

"I don't know..."

"Are they young lovers? Ah, youth is wonderful..."

Voices discussing them came from behind.

With so many people watching, how could anyone have any reaction left?

The blush on Ishtar's face instantly deepened as though it might burst through her skin...

Aaaaah—

Humiliating, humiliating, humiliating... So humiliating!

A dignified goddess was being watched by a crowd!

A gust of wind swept through.

The figures instantly vanished.

Rovi paused and glanced at Ishtar's raised hand. A tiny glimmer flickered in her palm.

In that instant, Rovi had instinctively wanted to stop her.

Although he wanted to die, he could not simply stand by and watch his own kind be slaughtered. Yet, to his surprise... Ishtar had not killed them. She had merely used divine power to erase the onlookers' memories and send them all away.

That was not a normal reaction for the Venus Goddess.

"I thought something was strange before..." Rovi finally realized. "You fused with the 'humanity' of your vessel, didn't you?"

That inexplicable shyness.

That tendency to fall apart at critical moments... Without a doubt, it was Rin Tohsaka herself!

He had felt that sense of déjà vu before.

That was why he had allowed those "onlookers" to approach... "Rin Tohsaka" might fall apart, but he would not. Those ordinary people could not possibly hide from him now that he had become the Key of Heaven itself.

And the outcome was obvious.

Ishtar had not killed those mortals whom the goddess had once regarded as toys... That was a "kindness" the original her would never have possessed.

"Hmph!"

With her face still slightly red, Ishtar turned her head aside, looking extremely unnatural out of guilt. "I... I made myself very clear!"

"Be... become my lover—you bastard!"

Though she could not help feeling embarrassed, Ishtar still spoke because of the goddess's competitive nature.

It had to be said that this Ishtar was actually much cuter than before.

Rovi looked thoroughly moved, and hope reappeared on Ishtar's face, even though she had believed her plan had failed.

Then—

"But I refuse!"

Are you fucking messing with me?