Someone in the Multiverse, Transformed into Fu Hua at the Start Chapter 12

The others were fine, but Fujimaru Ritsuka was a mortal of flesh and blood—if he had to honestly walk that road, it would take at least two or three days.

So Amber simply used True Qi to lift everyone, along with the cart loaded with treasure, and flew directly. In just a short hour, they reached the foot of Mount Ebif. After a brief hike, they soon spotted the temple Ishtar had built herself.

Amber had been here once before, so she boldly pushed open the temple's great doors and led everyone inside.

And Ishtar seemed to already know they were coming, seated in the main position in a waiting posture.

"What, after attacking the Beast Goddess, am I next?"

Though her sitting posture was full of majesty, it inexplicably gave off a cute, fidgety vibe. Amber couldn't help but smile.

"What's so funny!? You've completely fallen under that King of Uruk's orders, haven't you—colluding with him!" Seeing her still laughing, Ishtar angrily pounded the armrest of her divine throne. "That King of Uruk must be insufferably smug! Just when his capable Servants were taken out, he immediately gets a trump card—I know that petty face of his all too well!"

"I came just because I wanted to see you."

Not expecting Ishtar to have such an imagination, Amber quickly cut her off.

"Wanting to see me... If you'd just stayed here, that would've been fine..." Ishtar hadn't expected Amber to say that, and choked for a moment before replying.

"Though it's a bit disrespectful to interrupt the goddess's pleasantries, could you hear us out first?" Merlin interrupted with a smile.

"If you know it's disrespectful, don't do it in the first place." Ishtar showed no mercy.

"Well, this is..."

Realizing he'd never made a good impression on her, Merlin looked to Ritsuka.

Ritsuka nodded, then pulled back the cloth that had been covering the cart behind him.

Ishtar, who had been about to spout more sarcasm like 'Switching who talks to me won't help—you're all Gilgamesh's lackeys,' was dazzled by the pile of gems that suddenly lit up the dark hall.

So... so many gems?

"The Great Witch of the Collapsed World"

The author's first py deal is secured! Also writing a citrus story set in the Collapse universe—let's little authors huddle together for warmth!

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Chapter 26: Ishtar's Discontent

"Th-These gems are..." Ishtar looked at Ritsuka expectantly.

"The payment for hiring the goddess Ishtar." Ritsuka smiled.

"Pay... Payment and such..."

Ishtar held back the corners of her mouth from rising. "Talking about hiring and payment to a goddess... that's a bit..."

"This is just the deposit." Ritsuka didn't give Ishtar a chance to refuse, continuing, "After all, fighting alongside the goddess Ishtar is the wish of all Uruk's people, so this treasure alone isn't enough to cover it."

"De... Deposit?"

The goddess, whose eyes were already dizzy from the glittering wealth, was stunned.

"Tell her the total, Ritsuka." Merlin wore an amused expression.

"Two-tenths of the mineral treasures in the Babylonian Treasury." Ritsuka gestured.

"Two... two-tenths..?"

Ishtar's body began to tremble, but thinking of her divine dignity, she forced down her inner desire and steadied herself. "Th-This... the goddess's wrath isn't so easily appeased, you know... Speaking of which, the Babylonian Treasury is that thing, right? The one Gilgamesh created for the future... once successful, it's equivalent to all of humanity's assets, inexhaustible and endless..."

"That's right." Ritsuka showed a pure, kind smile.

"No, no... Would that Golden Sparkle be that generous?" Ishtar couldn't believe Gilgamesh, who she'd always been at odds with, would be so willing.

"After all, you are Uruk's city goddess. It's only natural to show you respect. Besides, both our Master and the Crimson Kite Immortal have a good impression of you." Merlin said this half to remind her not to be too greedy, half to give her an out.

The Beast Goddess's situation was no secret to Servants of the Age of Gods like them—that sword descending from the clouds, as if to destroy heaven and earth, everyone had seen it.

In that case, you wouldn't turn your blade on us when we're actively trying to win you over, would you?

Ishtar didn't catch the subtext, but she did have a good impression of Amber and Ritsuka. And hearing even the annoying Merlin keep flattering her gave her self-esteem a nice boost.

"Fine, since you've invited me so earnestly, I'll let you witness the power of a goddess!" Ishtar finally broke into a smile, declaring the completion of Gilgamesh's plan.

Now that they'd confirmed she was an ally, Ishtar smoothly signed a contract with Ritsuka, linking their magical channels.

Though for Ishtar, the meaning of this channel was minimal.

Servants of later eras—specifically mages after the end of the Age of Gods—basically used the mana within their own bodies, the Minor Source. So they placed great importance on their own mana capacity, viewing more Magic Circuits and higher quality as greater talent.

But for mages of the Age of Gods, how much mana they had didn't matter at all, because they directly drew mana from the environment or even the Root—collectively called the Major Source. Unfortunately, with the end of the Age of Gods and the sudden drop of the Major Source, no mage could gather much mana from the environment anymore.

However, they were currently in the Age of Gods, where the Major Source was inexhaustible. So under normal circumstances, Ishtar had no need to take mana from Ritsuka at all.

Because of this, when signing the contract, Ishtar specifically said, "The contract is done. As for the master-servant relationship, feel free to imagine it however you like"—a declaration befitting a goddess's dignity.

Hearing this, Amber tensed up too. This Major Source and Minor Source business was remarkably similar to the difference between Tai Xu Sword Qi and ordinary martial arts. Luckily, she hadn't transmigrated to the modern era, or she might have ended up a blank-slate immortal.

[Host need not worry. The system won't let Host run out of mana.] The Navigator's mechanical voice rang out.

Somehow, the Navigator's speech felt a lot more human these days.

"Whoa... the second goddess Servant to sign a contract, following Lady Artemis..." As the atmosphere finally settled, Roman's voice chimed in. "But now's not the time to fret. We need to confirm the basic situation."

"Goddess Ishtar, you're a Pseudo-Servant based on a human body, right?"

"Of course, a divine spirit cannot become a human's familiar—the scale is just too large." Ishtar made no attempt to deny it. "So, for a divine spirit to become a Servant, they need a vessel. Simply put, they possess and descend, lowering their rank."

"Possess?" Amber blinked.

The term wasn't unfamiliar, but having only watched two installments of the Fate series, she'd never considered the idea of Heroic Spirits possessing humans.

And looking at that face—identical to Tohsaka Rin's, with no discernible difference in figure either—she naturally thought of Rin again.

"That's right. You didn't know?"

Ishtar shot Amber a curious look. Though Amber lacked divinity and was fundamentally human, in the Age of Gods—especially in Mesopotamia—the line between humans and gods was often blurry. Take Zusurade, for instance: originally a human who survived the Great Flood, he eventually became something like a gatekeeper of the Underworld.

Gilgamesh's so-called 'Divine Authority Seals' symbolized 'deification'—not a god recognized by other gods, but a god recognized by humans. A faith born from humanity, existing for humanity.

As the Crimson Kite Immortal, enfeoffed as an immortal by an emperor, she was exactly that kind of existence in his eyes.

For such an existence to be surprised by possession and descent—now that was the strange part, wasn't it?

"Then, may I ask one question? As a representative of Chaldea... no, as a matter of the doctor's personal ethics." Roman's tone turned serious. "What happened to the girl you possessed? Is she still in a state where her body is forcibly occupied by you?"

Hearing this, Amber frowned, her mood suddenly complicated.

Tohsaka Rin was her beloved waifu from the screen. Ishtar's resemblance to Rin was exactly what had earned her initial goodwill.

But in the end, Ishtar was the one she'd truly interacted with and befriended. Forcing possession of Rin's body...

Amber's brain short-circuited, unsure how to handle it.

"Hm? If I'm not mistaken, Mash is your handiwork, isn't she? Doing something like that, and then preaching about humanity?" Ishtar raised an eyebrow, but seeing that Amber seemed genuinely concerned, she sighed and said, "Fine. For the Crimson Kite's sake, I'll answer you. If you're asking whether I killed this girl, the answer is no."

"But if you're asking whether that girl will ever resurface, the answer is also no."

"We aren't in a relationship of replacement—we're fused. Roughly, I'm seventy percent, she's thirty percent." Ishtar explained. "So don't think of it as one replacing the other. Think of it as this girl suddenly becoming Ishtar one day."

With that, she looked at Amber, whose brow had relaxed, and spoke with a mix of resentment and dissatisfaction: "Satisfied with that answer, you human guardian?"

In Gundam SEED's Fog Fleet Ship Girl Commander

It's a male lead story. Not sure if everyone will like it, but Gundam SEED and the Fog Fleet are childhood favorites of mine. I even considered writing Liuying going to Gundam.

Though if she were going anywhere, it'd be the Mercury Succubus.

Too bad I recently rewatched Code Geass. If I were writing mecha battles, I'd prioritize Code Geass for sure.

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There's still an update today—maybe two chapters, but more likely one.

Chapter 27: Edge of Stopping

Even Amber could see what Ishtar meant at a glance.

She'd said before that Ishtar reminded her of an old acquaintance, and now with this attitude, it was obvious she was thinking of that person again. For a proud, arrogant goddess, being looked at while someone thought of another was a grave insult.

Besides, even if the other party weren't a goddess, treating someone as a shadow of someone else wasn't a good thing.

Faced with the goddess's sarcasm, Amber naturally had to apologize: "Sorry, that was rude of me."

"Hmph. This is the second time, but there won't be a third." Ishtar crossed her arms, chin raised, expressing her displeasure.

Their interaction made Ritsuka couldn't help but smile.

"What is it, Master?" Ishtar looked at Ritsuka, who had suddenly laughed.

"Nothing. It's just that seeing the Immortal make that expression—maybe only Ishtar can do that." Ritsuka said. "At times like this, I feel like the Immortal isn't so distant from us after all."

That was pleasant to hear.

Very pleasant.

Ishtar immediately broke into a smile, stepping down from the temple's throne as she said, "Of course. I am Ishtar, after all. Besides, the Crimson Kite's distance from you might be closer than you think. She's a guardian of humanity, one who walks alongside humans—she wouldn't be that estranged from them."

"Is that so?"

Ritsuka didn't know much about the Crimson Kite Immortal. From what Merlin had said in his stories, she didn't seem like a particularly warm existence.

But having been through so many Singularities, he understood that Servants were reflections of a Heroic Spirit at a certain period. Which period this Crimson Kite Immortal came from was uncertain. If she didn't intend to reveal it, no one could know.

That was one of the tricky things about fictional Servants.

Amber's eyes lit up at this.

Was she going to ask? Now? Here!?

She'd long wanted to tell everyone about Fu Hua's awesomeness, but never had the chance. If she brought it up herself, it'd feel like bragging, so she'd held back. But now, with this timing, wouldn't it be natural for them to ask her?

Come on! Ask!

But Ritsuka just nodded, thinking that she'd speak when she wanted to, and dropped the topic, moving on to the next: "Since we've accomplished our goal here, let's head straight back to Uruk."

The feeling of being edged left Amber stuck in an awkward limbo.

Fortunately, the Navigator never forgot to help her manage her expression.

"Back to Uruk? What's the rush?" Hearing this, Ishtar grew a bit awkward. She'd accepted Gilgamesh's gifts, but that didn't mean she'd thank him for it.

On the contrary, she hated him even more. His whole recruitment move was clearly him thinking she was a poor goddess, flaunting his wealth in her face.

Though it was true, she still had her pride!

Amber thought Ishtar was just reluctant to leave the temple she'd painstakingly built, and was about to comfort her before offering to fly everyone back again, when the Navigator, who'd been silent for ages, popped a screen in front of her.

[Optional: Speak with 'Ishtar' at nightfall]

The Navigator was usually quiet—if you didn't talk to it, it barely made a peep, like an emotionless AI.

Now that a quest had suddenly appeared, Amber naturally intended to complete it.

But... night? She was supposed to be training at night...

"Missing one night won't make much difference," Fu Hua said, seeing her hesitation.

She'd already figured out the logic behind this system's quests—basically, it wanted the 'story' characters to notice and approve of Amber. The more approval she got, and the more important the characters giving it, the more benefits Amber would reap.

Since the Navigator had suddenly spoken up, it meant there was some plot tonight.

Amber appreciated Fu Hua's thoughtfulness, but couldn't resist teasing: "Senior said before that training is like rowing upstream—no progress means falling back, and you have to do it every day. Hmph, woman."

Fu Hua felt this little brat was sent to torment her; all her past disciples combined weren't as unruly as this one, nor as skilled at getting under her skin.

Luckily, Amber knew she was dancing on a minefield and quickly added: "I approve of this adaptability, truly worthy of a Senior. With your teaching skills, I could skip ten days and still be fine!"

But that only added more entries to Fu Hua's notebook.

Oblivious to this, Amber went along with Ishtar's words: "It takes three days to get back to Uruk. If you can't bear to leave the treasures in this temple, you can settle them first and catch up with us along the way."

"That won't be necessary." Ishtar waved a hand, then sighed. "Forget it, let's set out now. Seeing that King of Uruk's face in three days should be enough to calm me down and stop me from punching him."

Since the goddess herself said so, no one had any objections.

After all, the Demon Beast front wasn't urgent; three Servants were holding the line, and as long as no goddess personally attacked the city, it was hard for anything to go wrong. By the time that other goddess woke up in three days, they'd already be back in Uruk.

No choice—while it was true that a goddess personally attacking would spell disaster, if a goddess did attack, those three Servants couldn't hold out at all.

Divinity was a weakness, sure, but it came with far more advantages than disadvantages. For example, if there were ten thousand weapons in the world, and a thousand of them were anti-divine, then divinity only feared that thousand. Conversely, without divinity, you'd fear all ten thousand.

And those three Servants happened to lack any moves effective against divine opponents.

Ishtar packed up the treasures she'd collected in the temple, then followed the group out without another word.