A Person in the Multiverse, Starting by Transforming into Fu Hua

Night fell quickly. Since Ishtar had torn apart the divine stone statues guarding Mount Ebif, the group had encountered no obstacles along the way and found a suitable campsite.

Facing Ishtar, who had already become their companion, Merlin said with concern, "Looks like we can only camp out here. I wonder if the goddess has any camping experience. If not, please don't hesitate—you can take over night watch for all of us."

He was practically doing the math right in Ishtar's face. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I have plenty of experience sleeping outdoors. I don't mind keeping watch for you tonight, but because of your disrespect, Crimson Kite can keep me company."

That suited her just fine.

Amber nodded. "Leave the night to Ishtar and me."

"Fake Artifact Escaping the Little Garden Joins the Chat Group"

Today's final promo! With this third update, I humbly present it to you!

And please, votes and bookmarks! Everyone's support is what motivates me to keep updating!

This volume's original plot is too complete, which makes it hard for me to do much with it. That was really a miscalculation. I'll pick something easier to work with for the next volume.

But I still don't have any ideas.

Regarding the tags and a few things I want to say

So, over the past two days, some of you have helped add tags. Thank you all for your support and bookmarks, and thank you for adding the tags too. But this story isn't male-to-female—the protagonist has always been a heroine.

I can't delete tags added by readers from my author dashboard. I can only delete the ones I added myself. The tags above were all added by me.

I'll try asking an editor later.

(Five minutes later, I figured out how to solve it. Turns out it wasn't in the work editing section. This author has a pig nose. Sorry.)

And then, regarding a few things about this story: the main storyline is in the synopsis. Since I'm not very experienced, my choice for the first volume had some problems. But the outline has already been set, and there really isn't much I can do while feeling so constrained. I hope everyone can be understanding.

I still haven't decided what the next world will be. I'll discuss it with my friends later.

Ereshkigal

Although she had said she would stand watch, Ishtar was not the patient sort. With Amber already there, she became even less responsible. After staying for only two or three hours, she left behind a remark about checking the area for danger and flew away.

Amber was in no rush either. The night was still long, and Ishtar leaving now gave her the perfect chance to show Fu Hua her Sword God.

As Fu Hua had said before, Sword God was not impractical, but for a sword to commune with divinity, there was indeed a prerequisite.

It was like Black Flash in Jujutsu Kaisen—the difference between landing one and failing to land one was enormous. Even if the amount of Cursed Energy itself did not change, the control and application of it were completely different.

Amber's Sword Heart only had one layer. That was not enough to support her use of Sword God.

From a firefly's glow to the bright moon, logically speaking, even a thread of True Qi should allow one to use Sword God at the level of that thread of True Qi. But that had a prerequisite: understanding the "flavor" of True Qi.

A low level of Sword Heart might still allow someone to understand how to use Sword God, but it was almost impossible for someone with a low level of Sword Heart to actually know how to use it.

In short, Amber's current state was like that of a reincarnated great power. Her hardware was terrible in every way, yet she could somehow run the latest software, creating an intense sense of disconnect.

Still, none of that stopped Amber from feeling delighted that she could finally use Sword God freely. It even made her train with greater enthusiasm.

After all, the version of herself within Feathered Dust was her true strength. She might have instantly beaten the Beast Goddess into a crash a day ago, but that was actually thanks to the number of Sword Heart layers in Fu Hua's body. She had not directly used Fu Hua's Sword Heart, but it was still far stronger than her own.

Though saying she had borrowed Fu Hua's Sword Heart was not quite accurate. It should have been that Amber used Fu Hua's body and simulated Amber's Sword Heart through Feathered Dust.

Without Feathered Dust, forget simulating Amber's Sword Heart—she would not even have been able to use Amber's Sword Intent.

Feathered Dust really was incredibly convenient. No wonder Xiao Shi herself said anything could be blamed on Feathered Dust.

Enough idle chatter.

At that moment, Amber's greatest desire was to immediately raise her Sword Heart and Sword Intent, then unleash an incredibly badass Sword God. It was not that a small Sword God was useless, but she liked big numbers. She liked nuclear explosions.

Yet before she could enter Feathered Dust, she saw Ishtar, who had only just flown away, returning.

"?"

Noticing Amber's puzzled gaze, Ishtar offered no explanation and simply sat down beside her.

"Aren't you going to check the surrounding area?" Amber asked.

"There won't be any Demon Beasts around. After all, we're bound by an alliance. I won't attack them, and they won't attack me." "Ishtar" said, "Besides... this is a rare opportunity. Rather than wandering around, I'd rather chat with you."

"That's true... We only met briefly last time."

Amber nodded.

"Last time?" "Ishtar" froze for a moment, then understood. But that understanding quickly turned into embarrassed irritation. "Y-You recognized me!?"

"Recognized?" Amber was also stunned. "Recognized what?"

"Huh...?"

The two stared at each other for a while before Ishtar hurriedly waved her hands. "It's nothing!"

But Amber, who had been thinking about Sword God, had already pulled her attention back and once again sensed Ishtar's change.

"You... are you that other Ishtar from before?" Amber guessed.

"So you did recognize me after all!" Ishtar shouted in embarrassment and anger.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to tease you." Realizing there was a misunderstanding between them, Amber explained, "Your aura and body are exactly the same as Ishtar's. Other than a vague instinct, I can't sense any difference between you two, so I really didn't realize it just now."

"So my own panic gave me away..."

"Ishtar" sighed, then looked toward the moonlight in the distance. "Still, I haven't changed my mind about wanting to talk to you..."

As she spoke, she turned and fixed her gaze on Amber. "You should have things you want to ask me too, right?"

"Things I want to ask..." Amber thought about it, but there did not seem to be much. Ultimately, everything before her seemed separated by something, giving her a sense of distance, as if she did not belong to the same world. That made it impossible for her to fully connect herself with the others in this world.

Perhaps it was because she was communicating with others through Fu Hua's body, in a form that was not truly her own.

But more likely, she was probably missing something.

"Are you Ereshkigal?" Amber asked after some thought.

She still had some impression of Ishtar and Ereshkigal. However, because she was not very interested in Fate, she had never bothered remembering much. Even the name Ishtar was unfamiliar to her. Compared to Ishtar, she was more familiar with Archer Rin, though she remembered her friends obsessing over them.

They had even called Ereshkigal a little angel or something.

"Er... Ereshkigal!?" Ereshkigal had not expected such an intimate form of address. It was not that she did not want the other girl to call her that, but calling her that directly without even exchanging names—wasn't that a little too fast?

After composing herself again, Ereshkigal spoke awkwardly. "Calling a goddess by her name like that, and even using a nickname... As a human, that's a bit too..."

"Is that not allowed?" Amber's expression remained calm, but she felt a little awkward inside.

So her full name was not Ereshkigal?

"S-Since we're friends... I suppose it's not unacceptable for you to call me that!" Ereshkigal said quietly, then immediately changed the subject. "A-Any other questions!?"

"No." Amber shook her head.

"That's your only question?" Ereshkigal tilted her head in surprise, then looked toward the distant moon again. "I thought... you would ask what I think of humans, why I attacked Uruk, things like that..."

"..." She really was not that curious.

Just as she had not asked what Chaldea planned to investigate before, she believed she could stop the crisis, so she did not feel much sense of danger.

Remembering Fu Hua's lesson, Amber naturally could not state that reason, so she could only stubbornly say, "You must have your own reasons, and those reasons definitely aren't evil."

"...Is that what you think?" Ereshkigal pursed her lips. "I don't completely understand human good and evil either... But I cannot approve of Mesopotamia as it is now... You are human, yet also a guardian worshipped by humans, so you should be able to understand."

"As humans, they cannot escape suffering and death. Human intellect has grown too far—so far that they can no longer accept reality in their original state."

"But as long as there are beings humans cannot understand, it will be fine. Humans can blame much of the irrationality and cold cruelty on those incomprehensible beings, and then live their lives with open hearts." Ereshkigal said, "So... the human world will only make humans suffer more. That is why I want to turn the human world into a world of humans and gods."

"Starting from Being Hated by Band Girls"

A quick recommendation. It's also a male-protagonist story, a GO fanfic. I wonder if everyone will like it.

Please give votes and bookmarks! Everyone's support is what motivates me to keep updating!

I forgot to mention it: Fu Hua is inside Feathered Dust. Since the protagonist has already drawn her, she definitely won't be discarded, so she will definitely travel with the protagonist.

Ereshkigal's Anger

"...I see."

Amber fell silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.

"Does that mean... you approve of me?" Unable to read Amber's attitude, Ereshkigal could only ask directly.

"I don't know."

That was the excellent answer Amber could provide.

"You are a guardian of humanity. Perhaps you understand human thoughts better than I do." Ereshkigal had no intention of giving up her questioning. "What do you think of my actions?"

"Though I have spent my entire life alongside others, I do not understand other people's thoughts as well as you imagine." Amber said. Whether it was her former self, her current self, or the Crimson Kite Immortal she played, none of them were beings particularly skilled at understanding people's hearts.

"I... see..."

Ereshkigal sighed.

Over the long years when no one understood her and no one spoke with her, she had finally gained the chance to communicate with someone and even found a friend. It gave her the hope of being acknowledged—the hope that her experiences would no longer be buried underground, feared and avoided, but praised by others.

"However, at least I know that you are a kind and gentle goddess."

"Huh?"

Ereshkigal had not expected the conversation to suddenly turn in that direction, and she froze.

"Because you became an enemy of the human world only because you do not want humanity to suffer too much." Amber did not look at Ereshkigal, continuing in the same calm tone. "You want to create a world of humans and gods, so you are an enemy of the human world, not an enemy of humanity."

"..." Amber's words made Ereshkigal feel a little happy. Casual conversation between friends was a fresh experience she had never known before, and the fact that the other girl could sense her feelings made it even warmer.

"But if that is the case, then I am not a guardian of humanity either. I am a guardian of the human world."

Amber finally turned her eyes toward Ereshkigal beside her. "Neither of us cares about the survival of a particular person or group of humans. We focus on humanity as a whole, yet the paths we uphold are completely different."

"But... aren't you also a god who exists in the human world!?"

The friend she had just met had spoken words that placed them on opposite sides, and Ereshkigal grew anxious.

"My actions as Crimson Kite have already proven that I was wrong." Amber sighed. "Humanity, in its childhood, needs embraces and care. But if you continue to care for them in every possible way after they have grown to a certain point, you will only smother their potential. After all, you cannot protect them forever. Humanity, unable to live independently in the world, will only be eliminated by the ever-changing world."

"...I cannot accept that!"

Ereshkigal pressed her lips together and retorted, "Perhaps what you say is true, but what I want to create is precisely a world where humanity does not need to grow to that extent! In the world I create, humanity will not face elimination either!"

"Such humans would be nothing more than domesticated animals."

"...!"

The atmosphere became visibly awkward. Ereshkigal was not skilled with words. Or rather, even though she practiced what she believed to be good, she had never been acknowledged or understood. She possessed an inferiority she had never even noticed herself.

That inferiority did not make her feel incapable of doing what she wanted. It only made her think, As expected, there is still no one who can understand me.

"I'm not denying your ideals or your thoughts." At that moment, Amber continued, "To you, perhaps this is an act of kindness."

Hearing that, light flashed in Ereshkigal's eyes, but grievance quickly rose again. "If you understand, then—!"

"But just as you cannot accept my thoughts, I cannot accept yours either." The gray-haired Immortal's eyes were full of sincerity.

Yet after having her emotions repeatedly tossed up and down, golden light stained Ereshkigal's crimson eyes. Her purpose in filling her body with divine power was obvious. She had never been a goddess skilled at explaining herself. Compared to explanations, speaking through action suited her style far better.

But when she thought of how the woman before her was the first friend of her life, she forcibly suppressed the anger in her heart.

Unable to gain approval and with the conversation ending on bad terms, she was ultimately somewhat disappointed. She could only leave behind a harsh remark. "This disrespect of teasing a goddess will have to be repaid sooner or later. When that time comes, repent properly in my Underworld!"

With that, she flew into the sky with Ma'anna.

Amber: ...Did I fail the conversation mission? As expected, persuading people with words isn't something a non-protagonist like me can do?

Fu Hua: At least your position was clear.

She was not stingy with praise for her disciple at that moment. No matter what you wish to do, a firm position and the refusal to tolerate flaws are also necessary conditions for standing on your own.

Amber: Huh...? I only said it because I thought it sounded cool...

Although Amber had not spoken it aloud either time, to Fu Hua, who could hear her thoughts, it made little difference whether she said it or not.

Fu Hua, whose temple twitched once more because of Amber, took a breath and directly decided to begin that night's training, pulling Amber inside for a brutal beating.

Time passed slowly within Feathered Dust, yet training also seemed to pass quickly. Amber, living through a different span of time from the others, finally ended a night of training and welcomed the dawn sunlight.

When Ishtar returned to the group, she had no memory whatsoever of Amber's conversation with Ereshkigal the previous night. After training hard all night, Amber could not help entertaining the dirty thought that Ishtar might be too weak and kept having her account stolen, but she did not know whether she should bring it up, so she simply set it aside.

The group followed the road back to Kusa City, then returned to Uruk from Kusa City. After a full three days, they finally entered the Divine Tower once again.

When the King of Heroes, still holding a clay tablet, saw the group—especially Ishtar trailing at the very back with a miserable expression—he immediately let out an exuberant laugh. Unable to resist seeking amusement after being bored for so long, he chose to mock her directly. "Welcome back, outstanding warriors! And that shameless goddess who ran away from home, only to come crawling back—go on, describe how it feels to serve under me!"

Ishtar, who had been trying to reduce her presence, naturally refused to lose momentum before Gilgamesh and immediately struck back. "What do you mean, serve under you!? I only agreed to a strategic partnership for Ritsuka and Crimson Kite's sake, and to bring the sweet taste of victory to an incompetent king who hasn't won a battle in ages!"