"Very good. You took a move from the great Herrscher of Reason, so you're not all talk after all!" After briefly steadying herself, the Herrscher of Reason revealed her true form again, preparing to launch another Sword God attack. But just then, several chains suddenly shot out from Tiamat's body.
"What is that!?"
Sensing danger instinctively, the Herrscher of Reason quickly dodged to the side.
"Such quick reflexes..." Gogh's voice rang out as a bluish-white glow appeared before the Herrscher of Reason.
His expression was extremely ugly. Staring at her, he said resentfully, "You possess strength on the same level as that Immortal? But as a god, your defeat was inevitable."
"Oh? That old relic was kind enough to spare you last time, and you actually came crawling back? What, did you think I'd be as nice as she was?" The Herrscher of Reason burst out laughing when she saw him. "You couldn't even beat her, so where did you get the nerve to come after me?"
That said, she knew perfectly well that the Chains of Heaven restrained Divinity.
Though she herself did not want to acknowledge that Divinity, she had no way of getting rid of it.
Still...
"Restraint depends on scale. Can a bottle of mineral water put out a forest fire?" The Herrscher of Reason flashed a healthy smile and gave Gogh a thumbs-down.
"Heh. You'll soon learn where my confidence comes from." Gogh smiled as well. Though he should have learned from Amber and kept his distance, he instead flew straight toward the Herrscher of Reason.
"Haha, close combat with me? Fine, I'll play along. But how do you compare to Quetzalcoatl?" Knowing that Gogh had barely ever won, the Herrscher of Reason was utterly fearless. Drawing her sword, she met him head-on. After only one brief clash, she sent him flying dozens of meters away.
Gogh frowned. The Holy Grail Chaldea sought was actually on his person. To strengthen his mother's magical energy, he had attached himself to Tiamat as a mana reactor core after she awakened. Fearing that his mother's condition might be poor, he had not brought the Holy Grail with him and had instead left it on Tiamat.
The weakening of his physical abilities after losing the Holy Grail immediately darkened both his expression and mood.
He had originally intended to use his advantage against her to take down one enemy first... but now, it seemed he had to fight with the resolve to perish alongside her...
The choice between life and death did not linger in his mind for even an instant. He had chosen his answer before the question was even posed.
Yes. So long as it was for Mother, this life was utterly insignificant.
Golden lightning erupted across Gogh's body, turning nearly his entire form gold. Countless chains surged from the ground, sealing off every avenue of escape around the Herrscher of Reason.
"People of the world, may the gods be bound in chains—!"
Turning All Things Around
"You think I'd be scared just because you made more chains?"
The Herrscher of Reason's expression did not change. The longsword in her hand instantly transformed into a chained blade, tearing huge gaps through the chains around her. With another sweep, she cleared out a vast open area.
"A strange weapon, but it's already over." Gogh's body became ever more dazzling. Watching the Herrscher of Reason dart and weave through the sea of chains, he had only one thought in his heart: this threat had to be eliminated. As his magical energy compressed violently, his entire body transformed into a massive chain.
As he changed, more and more chains surrounded the Herrscher of Reason. The chains she had once been able to sever casually became incomparably tough, often requiring considerable effort to clear away.
Gogh took a moment to glance at the others in the distance. Seeing that they seemed unaware of what was happening here and were still fighting the Lahmu, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Take your arrogance to the underworld."
Gogh had already drained every last trace of magical energy, so he no longer hesitated. The enormous chain he had become smashed down upon the Herrscher of Reason in an instant.
The Chains of Heaven were chains capable of binding gods. The greater one's Divinity, the more terrifying their binding power became. Though they could not restrain beings on the level of chief gods, binding this Immortal would be effortless.
Furthermore, the Chains of Heaven formed by his Noble Phantasm possessed not only the power to bind gods, but also the piercing force to inflict tremendous damage upon their target. In the final moment before his consciousness faded, Gogh saw disbelief appear on that arrogant face. Satisfied, he awaited death.
He had no regrets. The resentment from being chased down and beaten by the Crimson Kite Immortal, as well as his helplessness at failing to protect Gorgon, all vanished into nothingness. He had offered his life to the mother he loved and killed one of the enemy's strongest fighters.
Why...?
"Why am I not dead? Why does my consciousness still remain? Why has my spine suddenly gone cold? Why am I afraid at this very moment?"
A familiar yet unfamiliar voice came from every direction. Though Gogh was a divine-made doll, he felt drenched in cold sweat. Though he had no eyes, he could not help looking around.
The entire world seemed to have fallen still. Whether it was the Sea of Chaos on the ground or the Lahmu relentlessly attacking, everything seemed to have had its stop button pressed. Forget movement—he could not even hear the slightest sound.
What exactly happened!?
Hadn't I already killed that Crimson Kite Immortal's Divinity!?
She should not have been able to survive an attack from the Chains of Heaven!
"Shouldn't you know that very well?"
The voice that seemed to whisper in his ear abruptly jolted Gogh awake from his thoughts. When he came back to his senses, he could only see that everything around him had turned black, while he had somehow reverted to his original body.
"This... is?" Gogh stared at everything before him in disbelief.
"Hahahahaha!"
A heaven-shaking laugh rang out behind him, startling him into whirling around. The sight before him made his already horrified eyes widen even further.
A Herrscher of Reason no smaller than Tiamat looked down at him mockingly. Judging from her movements and his current perspective, he... was in her hand.
"Gods? Divinity? Anti-god attacks? Every disadvantage exists only because the person involved is too weak."
The Herrscher of Reason revealed a healthy smile. The hand holding Gogh slowly closed, and the immense pressure brought pain as if his body were being torn apart. Gogh felt every bone in his body shatter at once. His self-repair, which he had once been so proud of, showed no response whatsoever. He was like a lamb awaiting slaughter, completely at her mercy.
"Damn it... You... How can I let someone like you harm Mother!"
Knowing he had no chance of turning things around, Gogh could only shout in fury, "The existence of Old Humanity was a mistake! No matter what, you cannot defeat Mother! Mother, who will reclaim the entire civilization and create it anew! She is the indispensable beginning of this world! The Primordial Mother Goddess who gave birth to all things!"
"What unfortunate timing."
The Herrscher of Reason laughed. Her slowly tightening hand suddenly clenched shut. "What I do best... is turning all things around."
Golden light flickered over Gogh's body. As magical energy continued to gather, his body gradually turned to mud, unable to endure the overloaded power. Yet he kept absorbing magical energy as though there were no end to it.
"What is he trying to do?" The people on the shore watched Gogh's movements, frowning in confusion.
"Perhaps he has some trump card we don't know about?" Ushiwakamaru said cautiously.
"Impossible. If that body is Enkidu, as Gilgamesh said, then he should have no Authority other than the Chains of Heaven." Ishtar denied her guess. "Continuously gathering magical energy like this can only mean he intends to unleash a desperate attack on the level of self-destruction in one burst, but..."
Why would he do that?
As the Chains of Heaven, why would he abandon the Chains of Heaven and use a self-destructive attack? Authority surpassed ability. Lesser mysteries were greatly weakened against greater mysteries. No matter how destructive his self-destruction was, it was not Authority. It simply could not harm the Herrscher of Reason, who possessed Divinity.
None of them could understand it.
"Because his consciousness has already died," Amber said.
"His consciousness died... like Ereshkigal's?" Ishtar froze for a moment before realizing. "That ability to manipulate consciousness... she can use it too."
Thinking it over, it was not really anything worth making a fuss over. Ishtar nodded. "That explains it. Still... even though Gogh has been dealt with, we still have no way to handle Tiamat."
Watching Tiamat regain consciousness and struggle to rise, Ishtar's expression remained grim.
Amber had no solution either. If even the Herrscher of Reason was helpless, then Amber had even less chance. She could only turn to Ritsuka. "How is Chaldea's intelligence gathering going?"
"It's basically finished, but the analysis needs more time..." Ritsuka said with an ugly expression. "King Gilgamesh's magical energy probably can't sustain us staying on the front lines indefinitely..."
In other words, they should retreat for now. Rather than remain here accomplishing nothing, they should return and discuss matters with Gilgamesh, see whether his Clairvoyance could reveal anything, and use the time to let Gilgamesh recover some magical energy while waiting for Chaldea's analysis.
The others truly had no better option, so they nodded. Quetzalcoatl called over several pterosaurs to carry everyone back.
Watching the Herrscher of Reason launch another Sword God attack in the distance, Amber sent a direct transmission. "Shi Bao, hold Tiamat back for now. We're heading back to discuss a strategy."
"Huh?" The Herrscher of Reason could not take it anymore.
She had instantly defeated Gogh, but fighting Tiamat was nowhere near as fun as she had imagined. That thing was an unkillable mountain of flesh. Ordinary attacks did nothing, while Sword God would knock it offline. She was just exhausting herself here over and over again. It was boring as hell, okay?
She was not Tien Shinhan. She did not have that much patience.
Yet Amber did not bother with her response and simply left with the others, leaving her with nowhere to vent her frustration. She was utterly depressed.
Eresh's Help
Inside the Divine Tower, the Servants who had returned atop pterosaurs stood in a circle around Mash's shield. Gilgamesh, facing them from his throne, propped his chin up with his thumb and frowned as he examined Chaldea's analyzed information on Tiamat.
Several seconds later, his expression instantly turned furious. "You bastard! Are you on Tiamat's side!? There isn't a single weakness written here!"
"There simply are no weaknesses!"
Roman looked grim as well. "She is a perfect existence without flaws in either physics or mythology. Even Marduk's Axe did not kill Tiamat—it merely dismembered her. In truth, that was meaningless. It only temporarily rendered Tiamat unable to act, making it easier to exile her into Imaginary Space!"
"In fact, there has never been any record of Tiamat dying!"
Gilgamesh naturally knew that, but how could they say they were helpless against a disaster they absolutely had to overcome?
"Xiao Shi is holding back Tiamat's advance in the Persian Gulf. We still have plenty of time." Seeing everyone's grim expressions, Amber offered a word of reassurance.
"Even so, we cannot keep discussing things aimlessly like this."
Gilgamesh's expression did not improve. "Besides, how long can that woman last? Does she have enough magical energy to squander so freely?"
Amber did not answer.
In truth, Xiao Shi could keep going forever if she wanted to, but Amber felt that before her magical energy ran dry, Xiao Shi's patience would run out first.
"Wait..." Ritsuka suddenly spoke. "We said before that so long as they're in the Underworld, Eresh would be invincible. Do you remember that?"
Gilgamesh had thought of it the instant before Ritsuka spoke. Seeing that Ritsuka had realized it too, he smiled. "Indeed. You have thought of the same thing as I have."
Amber and Ishtar also understood their meaning one after another.
"Drive Tiamat into the Underworld!" Ishtar suddenly realized. "If Tiamat's existence is rejected because life exists on the surface, then we just need to bring her to the lifeless Underworld!"
"Not only that, Ereshkigal is the mistress of the Underworld. It would be no exaggeration to say that she is invincible there. She will surely be able to provide us with tremendous help!" Gilgamesh approved of Ishtar finally using her brain for once.
Though he said that, his heart already ached.
Had he known that the Crimson Kite Immortal was so reliable and could hold Tiamat back on her own, there would have been no need to bribe Ishtar at all.
What was more, the one on the front lines now was not even the Crimson Kite Immortal, but the Divine personality she had separated from herself. It should be something like a Noble Phantasm.
Compared to that Divine personality, Gugalanna was practically an obsolete and useless thing.
Wasting treasures on such a useless thing was truly irritating... though not really.
At the end of the day, he had never intended to fulfill the agreement. His treasury would close the moment he died. If Ishtar wanted his treasury, then he could not die.
But his death was inevitable. Therefore, getting the treasures in his treasury was impossible. Even finding the real location would be impossible; he had long since forged the location of the treasury and set up counterattack mechanisms capable of slaying gods within the true treasury.
From beginning to end, all he had given Ishtar was that cart Chaldea had hauled away.
Still, even in terms of quality, that one cart matched a year's worth of offerings to Ishtar, perhaps even exceeded it. He was not that black-hearted.
"Hey! Ereshkigal! Can you hear me? Ereshkigal!?" In his excellent mood, Gilgamesh directly activated the Underworld Mirror and called for Eresh.
"You're so noisy! A goddess's true name isn't something you can just shout!" Eresh's image appeared upon the Underworld Mirror's dark surface. Holding her spear, Eresh wore a thoroughly unpleasant expression. "I've been busy nonstop since yesterday. If it isn't important, don't call me!"
"Come to think of it, I lent you the Underworld Mirror not so you could chat with me, but so you could contact Fu... Hua?" Eresh, who had been wearing an unhappy expression, saw Amber slowly step into view, and her face instantly reddened.
Whether from embarrassment or shyness, she slowly covered her face with her cloak. "Why is Fu Hua there too!?"
"Oh? Compared to the so-called Heavenly Mistress, what an utterly lovable display. It seems that after some reflection, your womanly charm has improved as well." Gilgamesh laughed.
"Can you stop saying useless nonsense?" Ishtar glared at Gilgamesh, then looked at Eresh with exasperation. "And you! You have the same face as me, so this is twice as embarrassing!"
"Eresh, we need to ask something of you." Ignoring the banter between the other two, Amber walked directly to the mirror.
"A-ask something of me!?"
Eresh froze, cautiously peeking out from behind her cloak. "You aren't angry with me anymore?"
"Angry?" Amber paused, not expecting her to say that. She carefully looked through the memories Fu Hua had given her again. It did not seem like she had done anything?
"B-because before, you wouldn't even look at me... I thought you no longer acknowledged me as... a friend." Eresh's eyes darted about as she carefully tested the waters.
"You misunderstood. I was merely thinking about something at the time."
Amber had no idea why Eresh had thought that, so she could only soothe her gently.
"All right, the immortal romance drama ends here. We have serious business to discuss." Gilgamesh interrupted them.
"It's something Fu Hua wants to ask, right? Fine, I'll agree for Fu Hua's sake." Eresh nodded without hesitation.
"Then I'm relieved."
Gilgamesh naturally had no reason to let this opportunity pass. "In that case, you will be responsible for receiving Tiamat! Open the gates of the Underworld in the Persian Gulf and imprison Tiamat in the realm of the dead!"
"Huh!?"
Before you continue