Chapter 61: Shin Akira Returns to 'Sleep'!
High in the sky, three figures blurred through the air at high speeds. Eventually, they slowed to a halt before a coastline that stretched into the horizon.
The sea, which should have been a pure, vibrant blue, had been swallowed by a reddish-black Chaos Tide. All life in the water had been extinguished, and a swarm of Lahmu were currently crawling out from the sludge.
"Hey, what the heck are those things?"
Seeing the hellish landscape below, Ishtar immediately felt a wave of revulsion. As a goddess of fertility, she naturally detested a sight that seemed intent on consuming all existence.
"The Chaos Tide. It is Mother's authority—the Sea of Origin that birthed the beginning of all life," Kingu explained, offering a modicum of respect to the goddess.
Akira, meanwhile, waited in silence, anticipating his mother's arrival.
"Aaaaaaaaaaa——"
Suddenly, a voice drifted from the distance. Within that sound, one could clearly hear the emotion of pure 'joy.' Even though she was currently acting on primal instinct, she was still a Mother. Toward her own child, she possessed an instinctive affection and love.
"Boom——"
The Chaos Tide surged, and a colossal figure emerged at the shoreline.
Staring at that gargantuan form, Ishtar found it hard to believe that the Mother of all life was truly this massive. It made sense now—if her body had been split in two to create the heavens and the earth, she had to be this scale. Even though Ishtar was the 'Queen of Heaven,' she felt like a mere child before Tiamat. In a conceptual sense, the 'heavens' were just a part of Tiamat herself.
"That... is the Goddess Tiamat?"
"Yes. That is Mother."
Akira leaped into the air, flying straight toward Tiamat. Ishtar instinctively tried to follow, feeling that as Akira's 'property' she should stay by his side, but Kingu blocked her path. Kingu knew Akira was going to commune with Mother and wouldn't let Ishtar interfere.
Before long, Akira arrived directly in front of Tiamat. Though he looked like little more than a speck of dust before her, Tiamat halted her advance and hovered above the Chaos Tide the moment he arrived.
[My child—— My child——]
The voice vibrated through the air, delivered by Mother the moment he was within reach.
"I'm here, Mother."
[My child—— My child—— My child——]
Her voice held a madness bordering on obsession. Akira could see now that her state of mind was completely fractured. This had to be Goetia's doing—he must have tampered with the Holy Grail. Before merging with the Grail, Mother could still communicate normally, but after her full awakening, she had become... this.
Akira reached out, intending to place his hand on Tiamat's forehead. It was her weak point, but also the best place to establish a mental connection.
However, his plan was cut short. In the next heartbeat, a pair of massive hands scooped Akira up. It was Tiamat herself. Then, with a gentle but firm motion, Mother pulled Akira against her chest, enveloping him in her embrace.
It was a display of affection on a truly primordial scale. With her size, no other woman could ever hope to replicate such a feeling.
"Ugh... Mother... Wait..."
The familiar scent, the familiar warmth, the familiar sensation... it all flooded his senses. Akira's consciousness began to drift once more into a daze. Within Tiamat's embrace, he fell into a deep, peaceful slumber.
Unlike before, Tiamat didn't place Akira back into her womb. After all, the act of giving birth was a joy intended to be experienced only once. However, she still produced a maternal milk rich with immense power and mana to nourish him. Despite the vast difference in their sizes, as a mother, Tiamat had her ways of nursing her child.
"Did Onii-chan succeed? Mother has stopped moving forward."
Seeing Tiamat stand still, Kingu broke into a smile. In her eyes, Akira had successfully reached Mother. She had no idea that he was actually just fast asleep against his mother's chest. The primordial milk, containing the very elements of life and massive amounts of Mana, was slowly being absorbed into Akira's body.
At the same time, in the City of Uruk, the situation was looking grim.
A massive legion of Lahmu had invaded the city. Numbering in the tens of thousands, they were carrying out a wholesale slaughter of the human population. The once-prosperous Uruk had been reduced to a charnel house. The First Dynasty of Uruk in Mesopotamia was crumbling.
"Slash——"
"Clack——"
Two figures dropped from the sky in quick succession, instantly bisecting several Lahmu that were about to pounce on a group of civilians.
Surveying the city that now resembled a living hell, they found it hard to believe that such a grand civilization had fallen so quickly.
"We can't keep this up. There are just too many of these monsters," Benkei said grimly. Faced with these odds, his natural urge to flee was screaming at him. But because his master was still here, he stood his ground.
"Kill as many as you can. There are still survivors in Uruk. Protecting them is my duty," Ushiwakamaru declared.
"Understood."
Benkei nodded. He was the subordinate; his master's will was his command. Cowardly though he might claim to be, one doesn't become a Heroic Spirit by being a true craven.
"Click... Click... Click..."
The sound of skittering claws echoed nearby.
A dozen Lahmu crawled out from the shadows of a nearby alley. Clutched in their talons were the corpses of men and women, their faces frozen in expressions of absolute terror.
"Hm? Humans. There are still humans here."
"Excellent. Humans... interesting... happy."
"Kill them."
Before Ushiwakamaru could even launch her next attack, the Lahmu lunged. To these creatures, existence had only one purpose: to find twisted amusement in destruction.
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