Flying Rin's Face

Boom!

A dull roar echoed out as, somewhere in the Mount Epiph range, a bulging layer of earth exploded apart.

Phew! After crawling all night from the edge of the Underworld, he had finally reached the surface!

Covered in dirt and looking rather bedraggled, Samael crawled out of the bottomless tunnel and greedily breathed in the surface air. Every cell in his body seemed to be cheering with joy.

As he looked out, the grand, rolling outline of the Mount Epiph range filled his vision and struck deep into his heart, leaving him profoundly shaken.

In the Mesopotamian world, Mount Epiph had once been Sumer's tallest sacred peak, bearing the special significance of linking heaven and earth.

Its existence was even older than some gods.

Thus, even Sky God Anu, one of the Three Pillars, held a certain degree of reverence for it.

Abundance, blessing, beauty, and majesty had once all been its hallmarks.

However, the divine aura shrouding Mount Epiph had long since vanished, and nearly half the mountain range had suffered varying degrees of collapse and ruin.

Unexpected desolation and barrenness had become the defining colors of Mount Epiph.

The reason, naturally, was a certain lawless goddess. Dissatisfied with Sky Father Anu holding a dead object in such high esteem, she had brought all her weapons to pick a fight with Mount Epiph.

In the end, that spoiled goddess who had stormed straight into the sacred peak won the final victory. Standing atop the mountain, she drove her divine spear into its heart and erased that ancient existence.

Without the mountain spirit to sustain it, the ravaged Mount Epiph had fallen into its present miserable state.

Of course, as Samael recalled this history, he felt no grumbling or condemnation—only naked gratitude.

After all, he had only managed to bring Shamhat out of the Underworld and escape to the surface without incident thanks to that goddess's rampage.

Mount Epiph was a pillar of heaven and earth. It possessed not only the power to connect them, but also the authority to suppress and seal.

Beneath its sprawling mountain belly lay another important gateway to the entire Underworld.

If the Mount Epiph Spirit still remained, it would have formed a tight, unbreakable chain separating the Underworld from the human realm.

Under those circumstances, forget a minor Silver-ranked figure like Samael—even Ishtar, who had once broken into the Underworld, had been unable to escape by this route.

Fortunately, a certain pampered goddess had acted on a whim, using the excuse of venting Sky Father Anu's anger to take out the unfortunate Mount Epiph Spirit.

Thus, stripped of its divine aura, Mount Epiph no longer had the strength to serve as a guardian of the Underworld.

And the Ishtar who believed herself invincible had then set out for the Underworld to get herself beaten up.

This rift, containing many hidden secrets, had therefore become Samael's shortcut back to the surface.

But though it was called a shortcut, the journey through it had been fraught with dangers.

Countless violent Garuda Spirits, Death Qi so dense it was nearly tangible, tangled and complicated paths, and the vicious souls of ancient dead...

Any one of those would have meant utter disaster for an escapee.

Yet this snake, Samael, excelled most at hiding and lurking. Even his aura could be synchronized until it was indistinguishable from that of an Underworld undead.

Still, his and Shamhat's escape had involved no small amount of luck.

After calming his excitement somewhat, the ancient snake looked back at the deep, dim tunnel. A hint of reluctance flickered in his eyes as he smacked his lips regretfully.

"Actually, I suddenly feel like being a snake wasn't so bad..."

"Forget it. You should stay human!"

Inside the Soul Cage hanging from his waist, Shamhat rolled her eyes at the rascal's lingering muttering.

After briefly indulging in his sentimentality, Samael moved several nearby rocks over and filled in the outside of the hole.

Although he had bored a hole between the Underworld and Mount Epiph, the undead below generally only inhabited special environments thick with Death Qi.

In theory, there was a good chance they would not crawl out through this tunnel and wreak havoc on the surface.

If an accident really happened, then he, the chief culprit, would have long since run off with Shamhat, his accomplice.

Besides, this place was now Sky Goddess Ishtar's territory. Even if a few ghosts did emerge, wouldn't she wipe them out in minutes?

As for guilt or compensation?

Heh. It was clearly Ishtar who had killed the Mount Epiph Spirit, causing a breach between the Underworld and the surface. She was the one who had created this mess, so he was not taking the blame.

"Before this disturbance attracts anyone else's attention, move!"

The Soul Cage at his waist swayed slightly, carrying Shamhat's urging voice to his ears.

The two accomplices who had left behind a mess silently reached an understanding.

Then Samael decisively slung his bundle over his back and furtively made his way down toward the foot of the mountain.

However, after only a few steps, a sharp sonic boom erupted through the thin air around the peak, and the surrounding aether formed a terrifying Magic Tide.

Samael, already guilty as a thief, felt his hairs stand on end. His snake-like pupils shrank as he looked up into the sky.

Something was approaching at high speed!

Worse still, that thing seemed to be heading straight for him!

"It's over, it's over! We're going to crash! Get out of the way!"

In the blink of an eye, Black Shadow burst through layers of cloud. Seeing someone at its landing point, it flailed wildly in midair and screamed.

Damn, damn! Left!

Samael instinctively shifted to one side, trying to avoid the collision.

However, the instant he turned left, Black Shadow in midair made an almost identical turn at the same time.

Damn it! Then I'll go right!

The man forcefully shattered the rock beneath his feet and used the momentum to leap in the opposite direction.

But just like two drivers both trying to dodge in a collision, the rapidly falling figure also shifted in the same direction without prior agreement.

As a result, neither of the two people with identical reactions could stop the crash.

Boom!

Amid a dull crash, the two overlapping figures kicked up dust across the ground and skidded dozens of meters on the remaining force of the impact.

"Ugh... that hurts... That was awful."

A beautiful woman in a Sumerian robe woven in white and gold, with a black-and-gold crown binding her hair, rubbed her throbbing forehead and raised her upper body.

At the same time, the legs she had spread across the ground for support unconsciously tightened.

"Broken, broken... it's broken! Let go already!"

However, a pained groan came from beneath her backside, and a hand weakly slapped the thigh of the female driver who had caused the accident.

Huh? It seemed like... there was someone underneath her?!

Her muddled thoughts finally caught up with the memories that had briefly gone offline. The reckless beauty screamed and hurriedly leaped away.

A moment later, the unfortunate man who had been used as a cushion supported his neck and twisted his dislocated cervical vertebrae back into place. The crackling of bones made one's teeth ache.

As his unfocused eyes returned to normal, Samael looked at the familiar face before him—one hand on her hip, her expression caught between speaking and silence—and the corner of his mouth twitched.

It really was her: Ereshkigal's twin sister and opposite counterpart, Sky Goddess Ishtar.

And in some distant future, that face would belong to a young lady of the Tohsaka family in Fuyuki City, named Rin Tohsaka. Samael knew that all too well.

So, if he had to give that car-crash incident just now a name...

It should be called—Flying Rin's Face?