"How do you feel? Any better?"
With both arms half around them, Shiomi guided Morgan and Scáthach back to their earlier campsite and helped them sit down.
"I can keep myself safe… but I can't fight at full strength," Morgan said, shaking her head.
The [Pollution] released by the goddess Aphrodite carried an interference capability that was, for humans, practically absolute control.
It was a mental attack that forcibly rewrote the knowledge, cognition, and senses of intelligent life.
Compared to ordinary humans, Heroic Spirits could preserve a portion of themselves for longer, but in the end even they would lose control of their bodies and become puppets, left to dance at Aphrodite's whim.
But Morgan and Scáthach were both beings who had lived for millennia.
One was a fairy from paradise, the other the queen who ruled the Realm of the Dead beyond the world. As Servants, their endurance was already exceptional. Now that they were here in their true forms, their resistance was even less something he needed to panic over.
"Don't waste time," Scáthach urged him, half teasing, half impatient. "Or do you, my beloved disciple, enjoy watching us suffer? If anyone can deal with Aphrodite right now, it's you."
"I know we're on the clock. The longer we drag this out, the worse it gets…" Shiomi said, releasing their hands as they sat on the blanket, their faces immediately looking a touch more drawn. "But leaving you two here while I run off to fight alone isn't exactly wise."
Several duplicates manifested around them, arranged in a specific formation, each dropping to one knee.
A defensive Rune Magecraft array.
Scáthach understood at a glance.
Those duplicates would act as a wall to protect the two of them, and at the same time serve as beacons linked to the original. If something went wrong while Shiomi was fighting Aphrodite, the moment those duplicates vanished would be the signal for them to relocate.
"We'll handle what comes next," Morgan said softly. "Go."
Shiomi nodded deeply, then turned and headed for the cliff, confirming Aphrodite's position once more.
High, but nowhere near Artemis's satellite-orbit altitude of five hundred thousand meters. Much like her early-warning-aircraft-like silhouette, Aphrodite's Machine God true form had chosen an altitude between ten and twenty thousand meters.
Shiomi's guess was—
It was most likely tied to the type of Noble Phantasm she was using. Unlike Artemis's satellite cannon, which emphasized long-range sniping, Aphrodite's [Pollution] would lose output if she climbed higher.
At full deployment, [Pollution] could already cover the entire Olympus region. There was no need to create extra complications.
Even so…
"At least twelve thousand meters…" Shiomi murmured.
Shiomi couldn't truly fly. Or rather, what he did was closer to levitation and short-range burst movement.
Fortunately, he wasn't like the Mother Goddess Tiamat, a special kind of god who absolutely could not approach the sky lightly.
So long as he concentrated all of his Mana into anti-gravity levitation, climbing to Aphrodite's operating altitude in a short time wasn't impossible.
A long wind swept through the forested region east of the Interstellar City. Shiomi's clothes snapped and fluttered in the gusts as his body rose swiftly into the air, angling toward Aphrodite's position.
But the moment he left the barrier, he could no longer avoid Zeus's omniscience and omnipotence.
He was a troublesome enemy, one even Kirschtaria had marked as needing special attention.
After Demeter's fall, Zeus had taken a fresh look at Chaldea's situation.
Three Olympian gods had fallen in succession, all at this man's hands. Zeus therefore accepted his ally's advice.
And especially after Olympus began searching, Shiomi had cut off his trail right under their noses.
That alone was enough to make Zeus realize something was seriously wrong.
That was why Zeus paid special attention to Shiomi's existence. The moment this man reentered his field of vision, Zeus launched a counterattack without hesitation, lending his power to Aphrodite, who was not a god specialized in combat.
After all, Aphrodite could only secure a guaranteed victory when facing opponents of lower rank. Once she was forced to confront an existence of equal standing, her chances were essentially nonexistent.
The cloudless Olympian sky, once filled with glittering stars, was once again swallowed by dark clouds. Thunder roiled within them, baring its fangs toward Shiomi.
Just as expected, the instant the lightning descended, Shiomi raised his defenses and met the thunder head-on.
Strike after strike followed without pause, dense as a torrential downpour.
Zeus's intention was unmistakable. He meant to shoot Shiomi down here, force him back to the ground, and make him continue enduring Aphrodite's [Pollution].
The king of the gods had already seen through it. Shiomi was not completely immune to Aphrodite's [Pollution]. It was only because he had obtained an incomplete divinity that he possessed the means to resist that authority.
Otherwise, Shiomi would have simply shot Aphrodite down directly, just as he had done to Artemis, rather than going through the trouble of taking to the sky.
His inability to reproduce that counter-sniping Noble Phantasm from before only confirmed this fact.
"Not enough. Still far from enough."
Shiomi crossed his arms, enduring the unceasing lightning as he gradually adapted to the assault. He continued to climb, pushing higher and higher until he plunged into the cloud layer.
Zeus's lightning did break through his defenses and dealt real damage.
But Shiomi's regenerative ability, rivaling even Demeter's, meant he would not fall so easily to Zeus's thunder.
Upward. Higher. Still higher.
No matter how the thunderclouds pressed in, no matter how fiercely the lightning hammered down, all it could do was slow his ascent. It never once managed to stop him.
Under normal circumstances, releasing a Noble Phantasm within the clouds to disperse the storm would have been the correct choice.
But under Aphrodite's interference, any unnecessary expenditure became a burden. By comparison, letting lightning punch through his defenses, leaving his body scorched and numb, was damage barely worth worrying about.
As he drew closer to Aphrodite, even without seeing her, Shiomi could feel the goddess's mental interference growing stronger. It was like a restless beast testing an invisible wall, eager to reach through it and toy with the "prey" known as his mind.
Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty.
To her, beauty was the act of 『redefining』 values, spirit, and self.
Since she could not destroy Shiomi's mind outright, then redefining his existence instead, turning him into one who served the great god Zeus, was an entirely reasonable course of action.
Looking down at the thunderclouds Zeus had summoned below, Aphrodite was already convinced of her victory.
Even if that man continued to approach, the moment he reached her would be the moment he was completely reduced to Aphrodite's slave.
She was even beginning to feel impatient. To make the goddess of beauty and love wait for so long was an offense she had no intention of forgiving.
And just as her patience was being tested, that man burst through the thunderclouds and flew straight toward her.