Meanwhile, at the Godbreaker Alliance base.
They had arrived less than half a day earlier. The special operations team, which had just finished organizing the intelligence left behind by the Servants of Proper Human History and was preparing to analyze it and send it back to Storm Border, also sensed an abnormal surge of Mana coming from above ground.
"What's happening?" Artoria asked, turning to the Olympus siblings who understood the situation best.
Adele frowned as she checked the instruments inside the base. "It's hard to get a clear picture from here, so Macarios stepped outside for a closer look…"
"It's the goddess Aphrodite!" Macarios rushed back into the base, breathing heavily. "She's activated [Pollution]. It's already spread across the entire eastern sector of the Interstellar City. From the looks of it, it may end up covering the whole city."
"[Pollution]?" Sakura misunderstood the term. "Is she releasing some kind of toxic substance?"
"Not poison. It's a mental attack," Adele realized, quickly explaining to the others. "The goddess Aphrodite can forcibly manipulate the human mind. Even though we're underground, it's only a matter of time before it reaches us."
"We have to… stop that goddess as soon as possible. But in a situation like this…" Macarios rubbed his temples, clearly at a loss. "Mordred's companions were toyed with by Aphrodite the same way, and they were wiped out completely."
"…What?" Barghest exclaimed in shock.
"Why would she suddenly do this?" Gray asked, thinking aloud. "Is it because of the teachers?"
"That's the only explanation," Artoria said, considering the developments. "Otherwise, there'd be no reason to deploy [Pollution] indiscriminately. Miss Adele, please continue monitoring the status of the [Pollution] above ground."
"Are you planning to go outside, Miss Artoria?" Adele asked anxiously. "Even if you're a goddess, compared to Aphrodite's divine rank—"
Artoria shook her head. "This battle can only be entrusted to him. There may come a moment when we're needed to provide support, so everyone be ready for that. Also, Sakura, how is Sir Mordred's recovery?"
"With Klironomia, she's doing much better," Sakura replied, then shook her head. "But the core Spirit Core issue…"
"I see." Artoria nodded.
There was very little they could do right now. All they could do was wait for the right moment.
...
Western Interstellar City, at an altitude of fourteen thousand meters.
Shiomi continued his ascent and finally arrived before Aphrodite. Yet he appeared to have lost all power of movement. His limbs hung limp, his head lowered, and he made no further motion.
"Beauty is value. Love, at times, is also value. Value is formed from necessity and desire, something that nourishes intellect. Value is what sentient beings rely upon. And so—"
Aphrodite guided Shiomi's body closer to herself.
This man's mind still had not collapsed. He was indeed tenacious. That was precisely why she intended to operate on him personally, at point-blank range.
As she spoke words judging humanity, the hatch beneath her true form opened, preparing to take Shiomi inside.
"I am the goddess of beauty and love, the one who governs everything within the human heart. As long as there is thought, as long as there is intellect, humans can never rival the gods. Heh… heh… hahah… ahahahaha! Mere organic lifeforms that have only just begun walking upright on two legs! Far too small, far too fragile! Compared to us, the children of Chaos, who have crossed the sea of stars and know even the distant Thawne Boundary shining in the outer cosmos! How pitiful and insignificant… utterly powerless!"
Even as a god, one could not escape humanity's inherent weakness.
In Aphrodite's eyes, the man named Tenkei Shiomi was, at best, merely a slightly more outstanding human than the rest of Olympus's people.
"Come. Enter my body. Through my guidance, be reborn as a new god of man, and offer everything you have to the eternal beauty of Olympus!"
Shiomi's body was drawn into the chamber.
The hatch closed smoothly and seamlessly behind him.
"Humanity is indeed weak and incomplete… but you raised humans like pets for tens of thousands of years, and in doing so, you stripped away the most important possibility of all: what is called 'development.'"
"What?"
Aphrodite froze.
Shiomi's voice echoed from within her body, sounding precisely as she began her full-spectrum mental manipulation.
"You Machine Gods from the outer cosmos are, in a sense, also 'alien gods.' Humans were not created by you, and you never truly regarded them as your own children. That you would see humanity this way doesn't surprise me."
"So you deliberately allowed yourself to be taken in, thinking you could overthrow me from the inside? In your current state, you can't wield any power. You intend to recreate the failures of Demeter, Artemis, and Poseidon within me?"
After her initial shock, Aphrodite quickly regained her composure.
The man was still firmly under her control. Those words transmitted directly through the spiritual layer were nothing more than the final resistance of a cornered prey.
Faced with Aphrodite's [Pollution], instead of escaping while he could still act freely, he had chosen to approach her instead, attempting a frontal collapse.
"Too reckless, human."
"It is you who are arrogant, goddess."
When Aphrodite spoke again, the reply that reached her was no longer his alone.
Another voice answered her.
A voice that rose from the sea of consciousness.
"?!"
Young and composed, yet carrying an authority beyond measure. Even Aphrodite could feel it. This denial was not merely resistance, but judgment from a higher rank.
The judgment of another goddess.
At that moment, Aphrodite realized her mistake. No, it was something she could never have judged or even known.
From the very beginning, this man's spirit had been connected to another goddess, one who slept deep within the distant Sea of Imaginary Numbers.
A goddess even the Olympians were aware of. The primordial mother of this planet, the creator goddess who dwelled in the Sea of Nothingness.
Her name was—
"…the Earth Mother Goddess, Tiamat."
The instant the name was spoken, Aphrodite's vast spiritual body, having taken Shiomi inside and come into direct contact with his mind, was pulled in turn into the sea of the heart.
An endless expanse of white.
No sky, no earth. No awareness of Olympus, no perception of anything beyond.
"You're right. With [Pollution] already deployed, forcing myself closer would only create greater trouble. As one who is not yet a complete god, if I wish to oppose your Authority under these conditions, there is only one path left to me."
Beside Shiomi stood a young girl, silent and still.