Koyanskaya, one of the masterminds behind Chaldea's destruction.
Ever since the Antarctic incident, she had rarely shown herself before Chaldea. And yet, every Lostbelt bore traces of her presence.
This woman was deeply tied to the Alien God, and even the Alien Apostles. Yet the way she existed all but confirmed one thing.
She wasn't an Alien Apostle herself.
"Why come out into the open now?" Shiomi slowly pushed himself up from the ground, his voice dripping with mockery. "Why abandon your usual approach of lurking in the shadows, secretly supporting the Crypters and the Alien Apostles?"
His face remained calm, but inwardly, he didn't dare underestimate her for even a second.
"Normally, I should have stayed behind the scenes," Koyanskaya replied coolly, looking down at him. "After all, someone like you appearing in Chaldea threw the entire balance off."
"Because of you, my original plan to gather merchandise from the Lostbelts was completely ruined."
"And?" Shiomi clutched his left shoulder, glaring at her. "So what are you doing here now? Planning to follow in the footsteps of the Olympian gods?"
"Because I don't mind fighting you again. Right here. Right now."
"Oh, no, no." Koyanskaya smiled sweetly. "I chose to appear at this exact moment for my own purposes, of course."
Shiomi stared at her.
"Not an Alien Apostle. Not interested in protecting the Fantasy Tree. Just borrowing an Alterego Spirit Origin and lending the Alien Apostles a little help, enough to obstruct Chaldea."
"To be honest, I've been curious about what you really are... even before my mother granted me these eyes."
The Star Eyes shimmered with an otherworldly light.
Koyanskaya's smile only deepened.
"So these are the Star Eyes that only the primordial goddess Tiamat could possess?" she murmured. "You really are becoming more and more valuable as merchandise."
"If it's you, I'm sure you can make up for NFF Corporation's massive losses. Three Lostbelts disappeared, and we ended up empty-handed."
"If you think you can manage it, then try," Shiomi said coldly. "You unripe Beast."
The Mana around him spiked sharply.
Koyanskaya's expression turned icy.
"Enough with the bluster, Shiomi Tenkei. You chose to endure Zeus's relentless thunderbolts head-on just so you could focus on shooting down Aphrodite."
"Even if you survived, you're at the end of your rope now."
"I've been waiting for this moment. The instant you'd be at your weakest."
"..."
Shiomi didn't answer.
If Koyanskaya had arrived even a little later, he could've recovered enough to stabilize himself.
In the end, it all came down to Zeus constantly getting in his way...
But excuses wouldn't change anything now.
"Did I hit the mark? Is that why you've gone quiet?" Koyanskaya asked.
"No," Shiomi replied evenly. "I was just wondering what your True Name is, Beast."
"Just keep calling me Koyanskaya," she said with a smile. "I don't have something like a True Name."
"Since we're both 'unripe' beings, let's get along... once you've become part of me!"
The moment her words fell, a thick fog erupted around them, so dense visibility dropped to almost nothing. A bone-deep chill followed close behind.
Inside the fog, Koyanskaya's Mana surged rapidly.
Her words had made her intentions unmistakable.
"So gods and beasts alike all want to devour me," Shiomi scoffed loudly. "What am I, some kind of premium delicacy?"
"Hahahaha!" Koyanskaya laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not going to repeat Aphrodite's mistake and swallow you whole like an idiot."
"I'll treat you the way the fairies of Britannia treat their sacrificial Priestesses. I'll bring you back to my nest... and savor you slowly, bit by bit."
"Until you're completely digested."
"So you even know about that," Shiomi muttered. "Looks like you weren't just wasting time when you infiltrated the Fairy Kingdom..."
"If you think you can pull it off, then go ahead and try!"
Leaning on Gungnir, Shiomi began inscribing Runes with himself at the center, constructing one spell after another.
Until he fully recovered, he had no choice but to deal with Koyanskaya using Magecraft.
His opponent was an incomplete Beast larva.
This fight was winnable.
...
Meanwhile, in the eastern forest of the Interstellar Metropolis.
As Aphrodite was shot down, the explosion tore through the thick storm clouds blanketing the sky, ripping open a vast hole that revealed the stars beyond. At the same time, Aphrodite's wide-area psychic assault rapidly faded away.
Morgan rushed back to the cliff where Shiomi had leapt moments earlier, staring up at the gaping breach in the clouds.
"My husband!"
The instant she caught sight of Shiomi's falling figure, her pupils shrank sharply. Even knowing he wouldn't die from something as simple as a fall, the worry in her chest refused to ease.
"Not this way…?"
Scáthach arrived as well, flexing her hands as she checked her condition while tracking the direction of Shiomi's descent.
"Over there," she said. "The forest between the eastern and southern districts of the Interstellar Metropolis."
After determining the approximate landing area, Scáthach tightened her grip on Gáe Bolg and turned to Morgan.
"Can you use your 'Mirror' to catch my beloved disciple?"
"…No," Morgan answered after a brief pause. "Space itself is being interfered with. This must be Skadi's doing."
She extended her hand, trying to confirm the Mirror's deployment coordinates through the Mana pathway connecting her to Shiomi. No matter what she did, the coordinates refused to line up with the point she could see him falling toward, and irritation welled up inside her.
On top of that, the lingering negative effects left behind by Aphrodite hadn't fully dissipated, preventing what should have been a simple spell from being cast properly.
"So that's how it is," Scáthach said sharply. "Then burn it all away!"
She turned at once, using the Runes anchored at each node of the forest barrier as triggers to unleash a massive destructive Magecraft. Flames roared skyward, lighting up the forest.
At the same time that Shiomi had been obstructed in his fight against Aphrodite, a defensive force made up of Olympus soldiers, autonomous defense units, and magical beasts had begun a sweeping search across the entire eastern sector.
This poorly monitored area, left quiet for half a day, finally drew Zeus's attention as he detected something amiss.
"How is it?" Morgan asked.
"They really are Olympus soldiers," Scáthach replied, watching the dense silhouettes swaying amid the firelight. "Every single one of them is as strong as a Servant."
"What matters now is regrouping with my beloved disciple. We don't have time to waste here on these small fry."
"Agreed."
Morgan's thoughts were entirely with Shiomi now. She brought her magic spear crashing down onto the ground, and the earth throughout the forest began to quake violently as endless explosions rang out in succession.
Using this barrage to stall the ground search units, Morgan and Scáthach leapt from the cliff one after the other and sprinted toward the southern region of Olympus.