"Aaaaa!!"
Almost at the same time, an exquisitely beautiful, Siren-like song rang in Merlin's ears.
The song was incredibly gentle, yet Merlin's expression changed slightly as he sighed inwardly. This is going to be troublesome.
The last time, Lan Ze had entered the Dreamscape with ease and had even earned Tiamat's favor, which had led Merlin to make a mistaken judgment.
He had assumed that Tiamat would easily let them in, but it seemed that was not the case... At least judging by the current environment, Tiamat did not seem willing to let them enter her Dreamscape so easily.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, a beam of light suddenly fell into Merlin's field of vision, dazzling his eyes slightly.
As if he had sensed something in an instant, Merlin immediately raised his head and looked ahead.
He discovered that the Dreamscape before him was no longer the pitch-black place from before, but an ocean.
A mature, voluptuous woman was sitting on the beach. At some point, Lan Ze had appeared at her side and was now being affectionately held in her arms, letting out soft "Aaa" cries as he lovingly rubbed his cheek against hers.
Tiamat had taken Lan Ze away just now.
Merlin froze for a moment, briefly wondering whether something was wrong with his eyes.
He rubbed his eyes and looked up again.
...It really did not seem like an illusion.
Tiamat was being affectionate with Lan Ze...?
"--Aaaaa--"
At that moment, perhaps because she was too happy, Tiamat parted her small lips and sang beautifully toward the sea ahead.
Her song traveled with the waves, seeming to reach far into the distance.
The song was enchanting and pleasant, but to Merlin's ears, it was no less threatening than an attack from a Noble Phantasm.
For a near King-Servant like him, this song emitted by a Beast was pure pressure.
That pressure came from all directions. If Tiamat continued singing, Merlin might not even be able to remain in this Dreamscape, because the unceasing song would strip him of even the confidence to resist.
Just then, he heard the song grow much softer. She let out two coquettish little "Aaa" sounds, as though she were speaking to someone.
Merlin barely recovered from the state of being utterly shaken by what he had just heard.
What about Lan Ze... Was he all right?
He immediately thought of Lan Ze. Even he had found that song difficult to resist, let alone Lan Ze, who was so close to Tiamat.
But when Merlin looked up at Lan Ze, he could not help staring blankly.
At some point, Lan Ze had gone from being held in her arms to lying across Tiamat's pale, soft thighs. His eyes were half-closed, as if he were enjoying Tiamat's song.
...He even responded to Tiamat with little "Aaa" sounds of his own.
Merlin stood there in a daze for a long time, speechless.
Everything made sense now. No wonder Lan Ze could earn Tiamat's affection.
Perhaps Tiamat simply found him pleasing to the eye, but more importantly... Lan Ze understood Tiamat's most primitive language.
He could understand those song-like words... He could even speak them himself!
Merlin looked at the scene before him in a daze.
Lan Ze enjoying Tiamat's lap pillow, and Tiamat gently combing through her child's hair.
The sight looked remarkably harmonious.
Yet the more Merlin looked at it, the stranger it felt.
That was Tiamat, the Creation Mother Goddess, the Second Beast! Normal Heroic Spirits would tremble before her, and her descent into the world was enough to drive people into despair.
Her song just now had already proven that.
Simply hearing Tiamat's song, filled with terrifying magical power, was enough to make one feel suffocated. That sense of pressure even gave people the urge to kneel in worship.
Yet Lan Ze rubbed himself against this Beast's thigh as if nothing were wrong, occasionally even brushing his lips against it once or twice by accident.
Merlin was a nightmare. He could not understand emotions at all, and likewise, he could not understand why Lan Ze was completely unafraid of Tiamat.
Though he had been the one to suggest that Lan Ze soothe Tiamat, he had never expected their relationship to be this casual and harmonious.
No wonder Tiamat did not dislike Lan Ze. She could easily sense human emotions, and from Lan Ze, she could feel only affection for herself. Naturally, she would return that affection in equal measure.
And the two of them had been speaking in words no one could understand since earlier... At least, everything Merlin heard was utterly incomprehensible.
Their conversation roughly went like this:
"Aaaaa?" Tiamat asked softly.
"Aaaa," Lan Ze replied.
"AaaaAA?"
Lan Ze nodded.
Then Tiamat asked again, "RaaAAaa?"
Lan Ze shook his head. "Aaa."
This encrypted conversation was no different from gibberish, and it gave Merlin a splitting headache. After standing uselessly nearby for nearly half an hour, he finally could not endure it any longer and spoke with a smile.
"Lady Tiamat—"
Hearing someone call her, Tiamat raised her head to look at Merlin. She blinked, as though only now remembering that there were other outsiders here.
"Aaaa. Is he someone you know?" she asked softly.
Lan Ze glanced at Merlin and nodded lightly. "Aaa. More or less."
Tiamat fell silent for a moment. "Aaaa. I dislike other people."
Lan Ze's heart immediately tightened.
He suddenly realized that he might not have considered things thoroughly enough.
Tiamat tolerated him, but that did not mean she could tolerate others being in the Dreamscape as well.
Although this woman's gentle temperament had kept her from driving Merlin away, she was clearly unhappy.
Tiamat did not want outsiders disturbing them.
"I'll have him leave." Lan Ze climbed out of Tiamat's lap pillow as he spoke. Just as he was about to stand, Tiamat gently caught the corner of his clothes.
"Mother?" Lan Ze called as he turned back in confusion, only to find a faint unease in Tiamat's eyes.
"Are you leaving again?"
Lan Ze froze.
This woman possessed power so terrifying that most creatures in the world feared her, yet he could clearly see fear in Tiamat's eyes now.
No, it would be more accurate to call it helplessness.
What she feared was not death, but being alone.
If Lan Ze wanted Merlin to stay, then even if she disliked it, she would endure it.
"Don't go." She merely pinched a tiny piece of fabric at the corner of Lan Ze's clothes and let out a soft "Aaa."
"Don't leave me."
"I'm not leaving. Don't worry." Lan Ze covered the back of Tiamat's hand with his palm and gently comforted her.
Then he turned to Merlin, whose expression was strange, and said, "Mr. Merlin, leave this to me. You should go out first."
"Ah... all right..." Merlin immediately nodded, looking at Lan Ze as though he were looking at a monster.
Just standing near Tiamat placed immense psychological pressure on him. If he was a monster, then Tiamat was a monster among monsters, possessing power capable of crushing and destroying everything.
Yet Lan Ze treated Tiamat as though she were an ordinary person. If Uruk's king saw this scene, his jaw would probably drop.
"Then I'll leave this to you," Merlin said.
"As for what is happening outside, leave that to us."
As he spoke, he gave Tiamat one last look.
She paid no attention to their conversation at all. One hand held the corner of Lan Ze's clothes while she stared at him blankly, as though lost in thought.
How should he put it? Merlin felt that she was not quite like the "mother" he had imagined. At least from his observations so far, Tiamat seemed more like a child in temperament. She could become deeply dependent on something.
However, that was undoubtedly a good thing for their operation. As long as they could stabilize Tiamat, the other troubles would be manageable.
After all, no matter how troublesome the League of the Three Goddesses outside was, it could not possibly be more troublesome than a complete Beast.
They were not even on the same level.
Thinking that, Merlin relaxed considerably and politely gave Tiamat a slight bow.
"Then I'll be leaving first, Lady Tiamat—"
The moment he finished speaking, he discovered that Tiamat, who had just been staring blankly, suddenly raised her head. Her previously vacant eyes seemed to light up, as though she could not wait for him to leave.
She lifted her hand slightly and curled her fingers toward Merlin.
Then she flicked them forward.
It was as though the entire world had begun to quake. The smile on Merlin's face froze, and the instant Tiamat flicked at the empty air, pain shot through his forehead. His entire body was sent flying backward, until he was directly bounced out of the Dreamscape.
"Mr. Lan Ze, I'll leave Mother to you!"
Merlin shouted miserably as he flew away.
By the end, Merlin's voice had been completely swallowed by the sound of the waves.
Lan Ze watched the scene with his mouth slightly open, his eyes full of shock.
He still knew too little about Tiamat. Although he knew that this Mother of Creation was powerful, that had only been an abstract concept to him. Only after seeing her casually make a move did he finally gain a more concrete understanding.
Tiamat withdrew her gaze, pulled Lan Ze down to sit with her, and asked where he had been and whether he had found anything interesting.
Lan Ze thought for a moment, then told her about things in the "real" world: the big loli at home, school, and the various details of his life.
For this woman who had already been abandoned by the world, everything Lan Ze said was difficult for her to understand. Yet she still listened very seriously. At first, she held Lan Ze in her arms like a pillow, but as she listened, she seemed to fall into deep thought and failed to notice that she was holding him so tightly he was nearly suffocating.
By the time she realized it and hurriedly loosened her hold, Lan Ze was nearly dead.
But Lan Ze did not mind... After all, any resentment would vanish the moment he saw those eyes.
"I'm sorry." Tiamat's little face was filled with apology.
Sometimes, she found it difficult to control her emotions. When she was happy, she would behave more intimately, but Lan Ze seemed to be having a little trouble handling that intimacy.
"It's fine, it's fine. I don't mind. Mother, it's okay if you use more force." Lan Ze merely waved his hand, unconcerned.
Tiamat visibly sighed in relief. She glanced at Lan Ze, but then the woman's expression clearly turned hesitant.
She smelled a scent that did not belong to another god. When Merlin had been present, she had assumed it was Merlin's scent, but it now seemed that was not the case.
Tiamat lowered her head and gently sniffed Lan Ze.
"Have you been intimate with another god?" she suddenly asked softly.
Upon hearing Tiamat's question, Lan Ze fell into a brief daze.
What Mother of All meant made it sound as though she had already concluded that he had done something intimate with a god.
Seeing that Lan Ze remained silent for a long time, Tiamat gently poked his cheek.
Lan Ze saw her lips puff up slightly. She was clearly unhappy.
"I haven't been intimate with any god," he said sincerely.
"Then why is there a scent?" Tiamat asked word by word, sadness showing in her eyes.
Tiamat did not know how to scold people. Though she was unhappy, there was still little blame in her voice. She simply did not understand why her child had gone out and mingled with other goddesses.
"Before I met you, I made a contract with another goddess. That contract disappeared later... Mother, you should know about that, right?" Lan Ze tried to explain.
Before you continue