The Beast Goddess had yet to be dealt with, the Singularity's troubles remained unresolved, and even that band of light in the sky had not been handled.
And in such a tense atmosphere, her Divine Messenger was on a date with her mother?!
That realization left Ishtar with an incredibly complicated feeling.
She thought highly of Lan Ze—or rather, she quite liked this human. Most importantly, he looked exactly her type, and he had the Blessing of the Creation Mother Goddess...
That was why, when she had just seen Lan Ze, she had originally been delighted and intended to give him a surprise.
Instead, Lan Ze had given her a surprise.
And besides...
What was with Mother acting so intimately with him?
Tiamat loved her "children," that was true, but Lan Ze was not the only one. Wasn't she Mother's child too?
Why was Mother being so affectionate with Lan Ze in particular?
For Ishtar, who had once been showered with the love of all the gods, this was a tremendous blow.
The Divine Messenger who should have become her lover had been snatched away by her mother, while she, who should have been doted on, had received none of "Mother's" affection.
To roughly explain the current situation, it was like running into your girlfriend while you were on a date with her mother... If someone were to calculate Ishtar's psychological trauma right now, it would definitely be infinite.
She had stumbled upon such a scene, yet she could not blow up over it and even had to call the other party Mom...
Ishtar's feelings were incredibly complicated. She looked up at Tiamat, and a gentle smile soon appeared on her face. "Oh, so it's Mother. Did you come out to have some fun?"
Clearly, she did not often show others such a gentle smile. Though it looked beautiful, it was also slightly stiff.
As she spoke, Ishtar glanced at Lan Ze again. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? If I'd known it was Mother, I wouldn't have been so rude just now."
"No, aren't you usually like this—"
Before Lan Ze could finish, Ishtar covered his mouth with one hand. She glared at him, warning him not to spout nonsense.
Then, noticing Tiamat's puzzled gaze, Ishtar immediately said with a smile, "Mother, this human is my Divine Messenger. He may not understand me all that well yet, but I'm actually a very kind and approachable goddess."
Tiamat seemed unconcerned with such matters. Looking at Ishtar's hand covering Lan Ze's mouth, her eyes flickered slightly as she softly said, "This is... my child."
Ishtar froze, then let go. "Ah... right, sorry. Then I'll leave him to you. Go ahead, go ahead."
Why did it feel like his right of use had been transferred to Tiamat...? Lan Ze grumbled helplessly to himself.
Watching Tiamat pull Lan Ze to her side as if refusing to let anyone touch him, Ishtar fell silent for a moment. "Where are you planning to go next?"
Lan Ze was slightly taken aback.
He looked up at the evening dusk. They had walked a long way after leaving the Dreamscape, and it was nearly dark now.
"It's almost night. If you don't mind, come rest at my temple first," Ishtar continued.
Lan Ze instinctively looked at Tiamat, wanting to ask for her opinion.
However, Tiamat did not care about such things. As long as she could stay by Lan Ze's side, that was enough.
"Then we'll be troubling you tonight," Lan Ze could only say.
"It's no trouble," Ishtar said with a smile. "Then let's go now. You still have that Heavenly Ark you rode earlier, right?"
Lan Ze shook his head.
Everything in his Gate of Babylon was single-use, including Golden Flash's Heavenly Ark.
But he could now use Illusion Manifestation to create another Heavenly Ark.
"The Heavenly Ark is gone, but give me some time and I can make another," Lan Ze said.
Ishtar glanced at Tiamat. Only after seeing that she had no objections did she nod. "Then we'll wait for you a moment."
Not long after, Lan Ze successfully manifested a Heavenly Ark from mythology. Under Ishtar's guidance, they quickly arrived at the temple.
"You can sleep in the side hall tonight," Ishtar said, hands on her hips as she looked at Lan Ze.
"Aaaa." Tiamat said something softly.
"Mother... what did you say?" Ishtar's earlier pride instantly vanished as she cautiously asked.
Lan Ze gave Ishtar a rather subtle look and helplessly said, "She wants to sleep with me..."
Ishtar: "..."
Why, though?!
Why was Mother so attached to her Divine Messenger? And was Lan Ze planning to become her father?!
"It's fine... I'll take good care of her. We're just ordinary companions, so don't worry, Goddess," Lan Ze explained.
Only then did Ishtar's expression improve somewhat. She looked at Tiamat standing nearby, then finally sighed, her shoulders drooping weakly. "Then I'll leave Mother to you tonight. My room is fairly large, so you can stay there."
"Mm... Thank you, Goddess," Lan Ze said.
"Just call me Ishtar." Ishtar rolled her eyes at him.
"You two go rest first. I have something to do, so I need to head out."
After saying that, Ishtar waited until Lan Ze had taken Tiamat into her room before finally withdrawing her gaze.
She summoned Ma'anna, then with a whoosh... very quickly, with another whoosh, vanished from the temple.
Uruk, King's Hall.
Gilgamesh reclined on his throne, as usual pulling an all-nighter.
Then, with a boom, the ceiling exploded open with a huge hole, and Ishtar appeared in view aboard her Heavenly Ark.
Gilgamesh did not even look at her as his proud, calm voice rang out. "Incompetent goddess, why have you come to my place in the middle of the night instead of resting? Or has your shabby little temple finally become too cramped even for you?"
Contrary to usual, Ishtar was not angered. She folded her arms and looked arrogantly down at Gilgamesh below. "Golden Flash, don't say I've never done anything useful. I came to tell you that Lan Ze has brought Mother out."
"Hahahahahaha! Do you really think I would be unaware of something like that?"
Gilgamesh let out the laughter of a king from his throne, calmness evident in his scarlet eyes. "I learned of this before you did. Why would I need you to inform me?"
"Oh, is that so?" Ishtar's lips curled slightly. "Then you must also know that Lan Ze is holding Mother while they sleep right now?"
"?"
Almost at the same time, Gilgamesh slowly produced a question mark.
He slowly raised his head. For the first time, confusion and surprise showed in those proud eyes. "Lan Ze is holding Mother... while sleeping?"
"Incompetent goddess, explain yourself." Gilgamesh spoke.
"What do you mean, Lan Ze is holding Mother while sleeping?"
Ishtar's lips curved upward, but she ignored him. After seeing the usually arrogant Golden Flash, whose eyes never deigned to look at the ground, wearing such a shocked expression, she nodded in satisfaction, delight flashing through her eyes.
She made a face at Gilgamesh. "If you want to know, use your own eyes to confirm it—if you have the courage."
Having said that, she happily rode Ma'anna and prepared to leave.
At that moment, Gilgamesh's hearty laughter suddenly came from below.
Ishtar stopped dead in midair, turned around, and narrowed her eyes at Gilgamesh. "What are you laughing about?"
"You keep saying that Lan Ze is holding Mother while sleeping, so let me ask you," Gilgamesh paused, "isn't Lan Ze your Divine Messenger?"
"Isn't he the prospective lover you favor?"
Ishtar suddenly had nothing to say.
"Now that your lover has been taken by the Creation Mother Goddess, you do nothing and instead come here, attempting to pique my curiosity... Should I say that your feelings for Lan Ze are not deep enough, or that before the Creation Mother Goddess, you lack even the courage to resist?"
Ishtar sneered. "You think I wouldn't dare resist Mother? If it weren't for those gems from before..."
She gave a light cough. "If it weren't for the promise I made to Ritsuka and Mashu, I would have already taken my Divine Messenger back."
Ishtar snorted again. "But if I did that and Mother became angry, no one would want to see what happened, would they?"
In truth, after saying so much, Ishtar genuinely had no intention of resisting.
Even before her father, the sky god Anu, Ishtar remained rebellious. Yet from the first moment she saw Tiamat, it had been difficult for her to entertain any desire to resist.
It was reverence born from deep within her heart. She knew that even if she attacked Tiamat, she would not be able to harm her at all.
After speaking, Ishtar did not even look at Gilgamesh as she rode her Heavenly Ark away from the King's Hall.
Within the temple, the luxurious room that should have belonged to Ishtar was now occupied by Tiamat.
The Creation Mother Goddess sat at the head of the bed. The belt around her slender waist, so slim it could be held in one hand, had long since been undone. As she stroked Lan Ze in her arms while he replenished his magical energy, she softly asked:
"Aaaaa (Won't this cause her trouble?)"
Lan Ze wiped the corner of his mouth, burped, and said, "No. In fact, if you went to rest in the small room in the side hall now, Ishtar might think you dislike her and become uneasy because of it."
"After all, you're the mother of all gods... No matter how proud Ishtar is, she can't possibly let you sleep in the side hall."
"Aaaaa (She's a good child.)" Tiamat nodded gently.
Most importantly, she would not compete with her for her child.
That was a bonus.
Lan Ze gave Tiamat a subtle smile, thinking that was because she had never seen what Ishtar was like around other people.
In Lan Ze's impression, whether it was from the anime he had watched in his memories or everything he had seen of Ishtar during this period, she was basically an extreme tsundere—and the tsun made up most of it.
If it were not Tiamat, there really would be no one capable of keeping Ishtar in check.
"Do you want more?" Tiamat suddenly asked softly.
Lying on Tiamat's lap, Lan Ze glanced upward. His gaze lingered for a moment before he smiled and said, "No, I'm already full."
"Let's sleep."
Tiamat nodded, then pulled up the blanket, and the two of them lay down together in the soft, large bed.
This behavior had always made Lan Ze suspect that Tiamat treated him as a body pillow. Whenever they slept, she basically held him in her arms the way one would hold a body pillow. Though being immersed in the greatness of a mother's heart felt wonderful, it really was a little too suffocating.
As she held her "body pillow," Tiamat thought about something. She suddenly asked softly, "Is this... Uruk?"
"No, this is Ishtar's temple, though it isn't too far from Uruk," Lan Ze explained.
Looking at Tiamat's thoughtful expression, he suddenly remembered something.
"Do you want to go on a date?"
What Tiamat cared about was not where she currently was. She had probably simply recalled the anime she had watched some time ago and thought of those dating scenes.
Tiamat had even specifically asked Lan Ze about dating back then. Clearly, she was very interested in it.
Tiamat hesitated for a moment. She nodded lightly, but soon shook her head again.
"It will cause trouble for others."
"It won't. No one will be afraid of you as you are now," Lan Ze said.
If Tiamat had descended into the world in her beast form, probably every human would have feared her.
But she was only the Creation Mother Goddess now, not the Beast of Regression.
There was no reason for anyone to fear the mother goddess who had birthed this land. At most, they would regard her with reverence.
"If you want to date, I'll take you to Uruk tomorrow," Lan Ze continued.
Tiamat hesitated for a while before softly asking, "Can I be your first date?"
"Of course. I'd be happy to," Lan Ze said.
Mother of All was number one in the world!
Tiamat stared into Lan Ze's eyes for a long time. Sensing that this lecher's eyes were especially sincere, her brows relaxed. She hugged Lan Ze more intimately, making a pleasant "Aaa" sound as she rubbed her face against his like a kitten.
"M-Mother... could you loosen your hold a little?" Lan Ze was nearly unable to breathe from the suffocation.
"Aaa?" Tiamat looked utterly confused.
"You're pretending not to understand me now?!" Lan Ze grumbled speechlessly before letting out a blissful sigh in his heart.
Before you continue