Long before the assault on Olympus began, after the Knights of the Round Table who had answered Artoria's summons manifested, Jason and the others supplemented their intelligence with additional information.
Among the Servants in the advance party were several Knights of the Round Table who had not answered the King of Knights' call.
Mordred was one of them.
"So even you're here, Sakura…" Mordred put away her sword, bracing herself against her arm with visible strain, and glanced at the siblings who had followed them in and closed the door behind them.
"Mordred, in your current condition, you shouldn't even be out of bed. One wrong move and your Spirit Origin could collapse completely," Adele said with a frown, watching as Sakura helped support Mordred.
"Tch… I just felt like I could manage getting up for a moment, so I came out to take a look," Mordred apologized awkwardly. "Didn't expect it to—"
"Are you the only one left, Mordred?" Artoria pressed her lips together and reached out to support Mordred's other arm, helping her together with Sakura. "The other Knights of the Round Table, and the Proper Human History Servants who entered Olympus…"
The moment she stepped into this underground factory, Artoria had already sensed how empty it was. Aside from Mordred, there were no traces of any other Servants.
"…Yes." Mordred was clearly surprised by how her father was treating her, but she didn't have the luxury of dwelling on it. "After we got in here, we ran straight into an encirclement and attack arranged by that bastard Zeus. If Adele and Macarios hadn't helped…"
"That's enough," Artoria said, cutting her off.
They helped Mordred back into the innermost room and laid her down on the bed.
"Mordred's condition is extremely poor," Adele said. "Her Spirit Core is already half-destroyed. She's only holding on thanks to her Battle Continuation ability. Under normal circumstances, she should still be unconscious…"
"I don't know," Mordred said, closing her eyes to rest. "…I just suddenly felt a bit lighter earlier."
"Maybe your intuition told you we were coming, so you woke up," Sakura said with a small joke.
"…" Mordred didn't know how to respond. After all, her father was standing right by her bed, watching her.
She had never imagined receiving this kind of attention from her father. It felt as if he had changed a great deal, no longer ignoring her the way he used to.
"But the Spirit Core was damaged by a goddess. Even the Klironomia here can't fully repair it," Macarios said. "All it can do is make sure Mordred doesn't disappear."
Gray thought for a moment. "Then maybe… we have no choice but to find a way to regroup with Teacher and the others."
"Indeed. If it's Tenkei, he should be able to find a solution," Artoria said, placing her hand gently on Mordred's forehead. "Sir Mordred, don't speak anymore. Get some proper rest. We'll find a way to restore you and send you back to the battlefield."
Faced with this sudden care she had long yearned for, Mordred suddenly felt like crying.
She had never feared Olympus's overwhelming power. She had never been afraid of her own death.
And yet now, she desperately wanted to cry.
Damn it…
Mordred instinctively tried to reject this surge of emotion, but she couldn't.
All she could do was close her eyes and quietly sink back into a state of rest.
…
"Has the goddess Demeter fallen?"
In the aerial garden above the interstellar city, Peperoncino looked genuinely surprised when he received the news.
"Those humans are quite capable," Aphrodite said, her expression tinged with displeasure.
"Not humans, Lady Goddess," Peperoncino replied calmly. "You've seen it yourself on the front lines. Those who have faced Kirschtaria know better than any of us what kind of opponent he truly is."
Aphrodite raised an eyebrow, then smiled brilliantly. "Just a fledgling god, newly established as one of the pillars. Her Authority merely happened to resemble Demeter's, creating an unnecessary resonance. That overlap made her careless in battle."
"So that's how you view the death of a fellow goddess?" Peperoncino asked.
"Are you dissatisfied, human who calls himself Peperoncino?" Aphrodite replied unhurriedly.
"Please allow me to say something a little impertinent. This is my most honest impression," Peperoncino said. "You're not a very good woman. The version of you from Proper Human History was far more captivating than the you standing here now. Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, daughter of Zeus who at times bears an aspect of death. They say you are a goddess of duality, yet right now, I can only see one side of you."
"Disappointed?" Aphrodite laughed softly, clearly unconcerned, her gaze still carrying an air of condescension. "That a goddess has failed to meet a human's expectations?"
"Not at all. I'm merely reminding you, Lady Goddess, that regardless of how you interpret Demeter's fall, you shouldn't continue to underestimate that man," Peperoncino said. "No matter the reason, he personally brought down three Olympian gods. That process has real meaning for a newborn god, just as it once did for the great god Zeus."
To defeat the old gods and reign as a new one.
That was how succession among the Olympian gods had always worked in Greek mythology.
Uranus. Kronos. Zeus.
"Are you suggesting that I, too, will become a stepping stone for that man… no, for that newborn god, as he ascends the throne of divinity?" Aphrodite asked.
"That's something I can't answer," Peperoncino said. "My Mystic Eyes haven't reached the point where I can see through the fate of gods. But there is one thing—"
"Go on," Aphrodite said, watching him.
"Whether gods or humans, they fall because they underestimate their enemies. Proper Human History is full of examples like that," Peperoncino said evenly.
Aphrodite laughed. "How amusing. You really are an interesting human. If you'd simply chosen to submit to us, you wouldn't have to keep following Kirschtaria, nervously waiting for your former companions to come looking for you."
"I'm not uneasy," Peperoncino said indifferently. "Aside from Kirschtaria, among the remaining Crypters, only Daybit still has any real room to fight."
He shrugged lightly. "All I can do is stand by Kirschtaria until defeat comes, and refuse to betray the trust he's placed in me."
"That's exactly why it's such a pity, human," Aphrodite said.
She shook her head, her manner as casual as if lamenting the loss of something she'd wanted but failed to obtain.
In that regard, she was rather similar to the Aphrodite of Proper Human History who had once tempted Paris with the golden apple.