Even if I couldn't hurt her, dragging her into Feathered Dust and finding a way to kill her—making her think she had died—was still a solution. Though the chances were slim...
The more she thought about it, the more unwilling she felt...
"I was wondering what happened. Isn't this way too outrageous? Are you trying to destroy Uruk?" At that moment, the sound of something tearing through the air came from afar, and Ishtar appeared beside Amber.
Looking at the ground devastated by the two of them, even she couldn't help crying out in shock.
"..." Amber said nothing. Instead, she stepped forward and shielded Ishtar with her body, taking a protective stance.
In her eyes, Ishtar was pretty weak. She shouldn't be standing around so casually. What if the other side hit her?
"While I appreciate the thought, aren't you underestimating me a little too much?" Ishtar's expression stiffened. Then veins bulged on her forehead as she revealed a somewhat twisted smile. "No matter what, I'm still at the pinnacle among goddesses. Even if I can't hurt this woman, I'm not so helpless that I can't fight back at all."
That was true. Ishtar's escape speed was still unrivaled in this Singularity.
Sensing Amber's contempt to some extent, Ishtar decided that she would definitely let Amber see how formidable she was someday. But for now, it was better to explain the situation. "I didn't have time to say this earlier. The reason I told you to figure out how her mind worked instead of trying to convince her through force was because force doesn't work on her."
"Hehe, you're Ishtar, right? As fellow goddesses of Venus, I can at least recognize that much." Quetzalcoatl smiled. She didn't mind the other woman revealing her information. But since they had fought this far already, she had no intention of hiding anything. Since there was no point concealing it, she might as well explain it herself.
"Just as Ishtar said, if you were the Beast Goddess, I might have a headache. But if it's you and Ishtar, then you absolutely cannot defeat me."
A smile gleamed in Quetzalcoatl's eyes. "As long as you are 'good,' you cannot defeat me."
"Good?" Amber froze. What did she mean, if you were good, you couldn't defeat her?
"She's a god of goodness, the pinnacle of good alignment. In other words, 'anything good cannot defeat her.' Only 'evil' can harm her." Ishtar immediately snatched back the explanation she had been robbed of.
Quetzalcoatl didn't mind. She merely spread her hands generously. "That's right."
Amber, Fu Hua: ...
Then you really were damn overpowered...
Even Fu Hua, who had initially been somewhat pleased to see Amber facing a difficult battle, couldn't help frowning.
She had already been very cautious of this world, but this situation had truly refreshed her understanding. It was completely beyond her comprehension. 'Good' simply didn't work—it was even stranger than a Herrscher's Authority. An opponent like this couldn't be confronted by force. They could only use Feathered Dust to restrain her.
That was the only method Amber could think of as well.
But... they had not yet reached the point of fighting to the death. Honestly, she had already regretted using Sword God just now. Facing a Quetzalcoatl with such a kind heart, she didn't actually want her to suffer too much harm.
If they weren't on opposing sides, she wouldn't even want to hurt her. If the other woman got desperate from being beaten and ended up severely injured, or even died, her conscience simply couldn't bear it.
Seeing this, Navigator relaxed her expression management a little.
And Quetzalcoatl naturally caught Navigator's painstaking effort in her eyes.
The South American Chief God couldn't help revealing an even wider smile.
"Sure enough, I truly love humans most of all—especially brave and upright humans."
"Crimson Kite is human, but she also counts as a goddess," Ishtar reminded her.
"That may be true in Mesopotamia, but to me, she is undoubtedly human." Quetzalcoatl, who knew Mesopotamia had the concept of Divine Right of Human Granting, did not argue. Every place had its own beliefs and perspectives. There was nothing strange about that.
Besides, it couldn't stop her affection for Amber.
Amber felt proud at those words, but she wasn't conceited enough to think the other woman liked her personally. She had always been playing the role of the Crimson Kite Immortal. If Quetzalcoatl liked the Crimson Kite Immortal, then she liked Amber's fictional-wife character. That pride merely came from knowing her portrayal hadn't been wasted.
You're right. My wife really is that brave and upright!
Fu Hua felt somewhat powerless to complain.
"Let's end today's battle here." Quetzalcoatl had no intention of continuing. Besides, she wasn't entirely free. She still had to go back and continue training the humans she had taken under her protection.
After saying that, she wasn't worried about the two launching a sneak attack. She threw Amber a flirtatious wink, then leaped out of the crater and landed atop a flying pterosaur.
"Let's go back too."
Ishtar let out a sigh of relief, then looked at Amber. "At present, we have no means of confronting the Feathered Serpent God head-on. It's better to make long-term plans."
Amber, who likewise had no good solution, could only nod.
There should only be two updates today. I can't make up the missed update, but once I finish what I need to do, I'll post three updates tomorrow to make up for it.
Also, regarding the transformations in this book, they won't only be from Honkai Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. Those two will be the main focus, but there are also characters from other works that I like.
I really haven't decided on the next world yet, but I can confirm that it'll be a relatively popular one. I won't rush into Genshin or Star Rail for now—their arcs would be too long. I'll probably write them a few volumes later. I want to write something shorter first and get a feel for it. 5
Could everyone recommend something? 22
Ritsuka's Night Talk
"Hmm, this is quite a serious matter. I didn't expect that goddess to come to Uruk and cause such a scene." Merlin rubbed his forehead and shook his head.
After returning to the Divine Tower to regroup, everyone had to discuss a new strategy against Quetzalcoatl.
"This is ridiculous! Letting her wreak havoc in the city like that will affect morale!" Gilgamesh shouted. "Damn it! This is all that inexplicable goddess's fault! Ishtar! Since you're the same kind, think of something for me!"
Ishtar, suddenly called out, looked displeased. "Where did you get the idea that we're the same kind? Even our cultures and styles are completely different."
The moment she said that, everyone looked at Ishtar with complicated expressions.
In a sense, Ishtar was also a goddess whose thoughts were impossible to understand. And she was also a Venus Goddess, so calling them the same kind was perfectly normal, wasn't it?
"I'm saying we're completely different! I have nothing in common with that muscle-brained goddess!" Ishtar smiled darkly. "Personally fighting every single human or something—I can't understand her behavior at all!"
"Even as a fellow goddess, you can't understand her?" Mash frowned. "I remember she said she wanted to protect humanity. If that's the case..."
"'Gods shelter humanity through disaster,' and 'humans and gods overcome disaster together' are worlds apart."
Gilgamesh spoke calmly. "So don't say things like, 'It might not be a bad backup plan.'"
After saying that, he frowned again and looked at Amber. "Even the Crimson Kite Immortal has no way to deal with her..."
"I'm telling you, any attack with a good alignment is useless against her." Ishtar emphasized it again.
"If it's only a matter of restraining her, there may be a way." Amber suddenly spoke.
"You can restrain the South American Chief God?" Merlin looked at Amber in surprise before understanding dawned on him. "You mean that Authority over consciousness? The one you used when you fought Ishtar before?"
"Control consciousness?" Gilgamesh raised a brow.
"How much that method consumes and how effective it would be are still unknown, but it does give me a dangerous feeling." Ishtar admitted. "It would be difficult to harm Quetzalcoatl, but perhaps it could restrain her."
"But wouldn't that require the Immortal to maintain it continuously?"
Ritsuka frowned and pointed out the drawback.
His words cast a shadow over the scene again. Although they had obtained a way to restrain Quetzalcoatl, they couldn't possibly give up their side's greatest fighting strength. It wasn't worth it. This could only be used as a last resort.
"Does Chaldea have no other solutions!? That doctor called Roman!?" Gilgamesh's shout broke the atmosphere.
"You're asking me!?" Roman's eye twitched. "Don't you have Merlin there?"
"I told you before, didn't I? Using Clairvoyance to observe a goddess will only invite her wrath. As a goddess, it's impossible for her to be completely unaware of being watched. It would likely bring disaster in an instant. It's still too early to provoke the goddesses now." Merlin shook his head. "Besides, my magical energy is currently being spent on other matters. I truly can't spare the capacity to cast any major magecraft."
Roman was somewhat choked by Merlin's completely matter-of-fact display of uselessness, but the information Da Vinci brought eased his deeply furrowed brow.
"Under the current circumstances, we have no means of fighting her. But if we can weaken her Divinity, the situation may become entirely different." Roman stated the obvious.
Mystery lost its effect before greater Mystery. If she lost her Divinity, even Quetzalcoatl, a Chief God, would become much more vulnerable.
But the question was, how could they weaken it?
Faced with everyone's gazes, Roman didn't keep them in suspense. "Doesn't everyone find it strange? She's the South American Chief God, yet she possesses such high Divinity despite being in Mesopotamia, where she should not belong."
That was indeed strange.
Roman continued, "It must be because she built a temple in this region, just like the goddess Ishtar. And according to Chaldea's investigation, there is an extraordinary magical energy reaction deep in that forest. There's a very high chance it is her temple."
"In other words, we just need to destroy the temple?" Ritsuka understood.
"Well done, Chaldea lot!" King Gilgamesh finally smiled. "Then your next objective is to reclaim Marduk's Axe in Eridu while destroying Quetzalcoatl's temple, forcing that troublesome goddess to stop her foolishness!"
With new hope, they naturally wouldn't let it go.
They quickly packed their belongings and Chaldea once again set out along the road to Eridu.
Night soon fell.
After finally crossing the road and entering the forest, they encountered a Servant overflowing with energy, dressed like some amusement park mascot: Jaguar Man. Her face made Amber think of a certain teacher nicknamed the Fuyuki Tiger no matter how she looked at it.
Under Amber's indescribable expression, this Servant, who seemed to have come straight from a loot grind, was easily won over by Fujimaru Ritsuka's charm and joined Chaldea's party.
With her exceptionally strong spirit, Amber naturally took watch again. Ishtar had mercifully taken watch last time, but she had no intention of extending that mercy today. Ritsuka, meanwhile, was unusually unable to sleep, so he decided to stay awake with Amber through the night.
"As an ordinary person, this will only leave you without energy tomorrow." Amber advised him.
"...I know, but I just can't sleep." Ritsuka scratched his head awkwardly. The two sat together on makeshift seats fashioned from felled trees.
"Immortal... what do you think of Quetzalcoatl?"
After a long time passed, Ritsuka suddenly spoke.
His eyes watched the campfire before him, revealing thoughts that were difficult to understand.
"She is a kind god," Amber answered.
"Yes..." Ritsuka nodded. "She provides shelter to humanity and wants to train humans to survive disaster. Without question, she is a kind god. But perhaps the path King Gilgamesh speaks of is more suitable for humanity... Humans can only be saved by humans themselves."
"Living under the protection of gods, and living while fighting alongside gods... The former means becoming an appendage of the gods, while the latter means holding the reins of one's own fate."
"What kind of god is Quetzalcoatl in your eyes?" Amber asked.
"I don't know."
Ritsuka shook his head. "But she isn't a god we can't communicate with. I believe she loves humanity."
For some reason, Amber understood Ritsuka's train of thought.
"You don't want to destroy the temple?"
"If there's no other choice, then we can only do that." Ritsuka exhaled. "But perhaps that isn't our only option."
Amber hadn't expected Ritsuka to say such things. He was just a human without any Golden Finger, yet living among a group of Servants, he bore responsibilities and a mission heavier than anyone else's...
She couldn't help feeling admiration in her heart.
"Are you two having a night talk? May I join?" At that moment, Ishtar's voice came from beside them.
"I? I'm just a supporting character behind them."
Let me recommend a book by a whale author. Boss, you're so rich—why are you even writing? Why not come be my big brother instead!
Speaking of which, in order to write Chapter Seven, I've spent the last two days reading game scripts and the anime adaptation's plot. Since I wrote up to this point, I naturally reread the 'Resolve of Humanity' that Teacher Sakuraba gifted us.
I'm seriously going to throw up. Reading it only a few times was still funny, but after too many times, it genuinely became nauseating.
I can't take it, everyone! He completely ruined Quetzalcoatl's character! All the depth vanished, and she turned into a damn wrestling queen! How many mothers does Sakuraba even have!
I got a little carried away. It was just too disgusting.
Please favorite it! Please vote! I'm begging for everything!
Ritsuka's Decision
"Of course. Please, make yourself comfortable." Ritsuka naturally had no objection and invited Ishtar to sit beside them.
Ishtar smiled and nodded at him, then glared at the expressionless Amber. Amber immediately realized that she had switched to Ereshkigal.
"You were startled when you suddenly saw Ur's current state today, weren't you?" Ereshkigal deliberately sat as far away from Amber as possible and spoke as though she were sulking.
"Yeah..."
Recalling the forest city they had entered while following Jaguar Man, Ritsuka fell silent for a while before nodding. "Although Quetzalcoatl captured them and brought them back, everyone looked listless... And... it didn't seem to be exhaustion from training. It was completely different from Uruk."
"That's right. But in this era, Uruk is the strange one..."
Ereshkigal sighed, her expression looking somewhat sad. "After all, not every human is that strong... There are people who cannot succeed no matter how hard they try. It has nothing to do with courage or cowardice. It is simply that, as living beings, everyone has things they are good at and things they are not."
"And... even Gilgamesh and Quetzalcoatl don't understand this... No, it's that they have not considered it a priority. If the world only acknowledges strong, dazzling existences, then the weak and the dark have no place to stand. It isn't that we should protect someone because they are weak. Rather, there are things that can only be seen through the eyes of the weak."
"I don't want to scorn this. I hope all things can be equal."
Those weren't words Ishtar could say. Ritsuka easily judged that much.
He couldn't refute her, because there was nothing wrong with what the goddess said.
Nor did he need to refute her, because the goddess's wish was undoubtedly beautiful.
Amber couldn't find any fault with it either.
Seeing the silent expressions of the two, Ereshkigal was somewhat glad that she hadn't spent all that time organizing her words for nothing.
"Thank you for opening your heart. And... I'm sorry about what happened before." Amber spoke.
"What happened before?" Ritsuka thought she was speaking to him, but quickly realized she was not. Thinking of the night when Amber and Ishtar had taken watch together before, he understood that the two must have had an unpleasant conversation that ended badly.
Before you continue