"This is our chance!" A spark of hope lit up in Ritsuka's eyes.
But that flicker was instantly drowned by a wave of exhaustion that flooded his entire body.
Even reinforced by Command Spells, the back-to-back deployment of the Noble Phantasms belonging to goddesses like Quetzalcoatl, Ishtar, and Ana had taken its toll, leaving him acutely aware of his own weakness.
He was running on fumes..!
Ana sensed it too. The once steady flow of mana was rapidly diminishing. Even drawing on the ambient Mana around her wasn't enough to sustain her Noble Phantasm for much longer.
She was terrified of draining Ritsuka dry, forcing him to pay the cost with his own life force. But she knew, with even greater certainty, that letting Tiamat break through would mean the absolute end of everything. Gritting her teeth, she poured everything she had into her attack.
Yet determination could only go so far. As the last dregs of mana vanished, Ana had no choice but to let her Noble Phantasm fade.
"We're so close...!" Ritsuka ground his teeth, his head swimming with dizziness.
"No, Ana made the right call," Ishtar frowned, her expression sharp.
"It looks close, but without the emergency boost of a Command Spell, maintaining that output would've been useless. Trying to make up for a lack of quality with sheer quantity is just a waste of magic energy."
"..." Ritsuka could only turn his gaze to Amber.
Ishtar was in the same boat as Ana—both were running on empty after their all-out attacks. They needed time to recover for another powerful strike, and time was the one thing they didn't have.
He knew Amber didn't want to fight Tiamat, but they were out of options.
Amber knew it, too.
A crimson flame ignited upon her forehead. A massive golden sword materialized in the air and descended in an instant.
Tiamat's horn, already riddled with cracks, was cleanly sliced in two as if it were soft tofu under a chef's knife, leaving a perfectly smooth cut.
"Aaaa—!"
Tiamat's gaze snapped towards Amber. A violet beam of light instantly bridged the hundreds of meters between them. Reacting with blinding speed, Amber blocked the attack with her left fist. Watching Tiamat lose her buoyancy and begin to fall, she let out a soft sigh.
It seemed she couldn't avoid this fight after all.
With the battle joined, there was no room for hesitation. Amber dove straight down after the falling Tiamat.
This was her first time facing a creature of such immense scale, and she instantly understood why the Herrscher of Sentience had found it so troublesome.
Because... where did you even start?
Against Tiamat's colossal form, their punches and kicks, even when they landed, were little more than scratches compared to her sheer size.
To make matters worse, her wounds were constantly regenerating. Not just the marks left by Amber's fists, but even the massive horns were slowly growing back.
As Tiamat crashed onto the ground, that troublesome Chaos Tide began seeping out from beneath her once more.
"I see the situation! Leave the Chaos Tide to me!" Ereshkigal, who had been waiting below, raised a hand. Blue-white lightning bolts converged on Tiamat from all directions, causing the struggling goddess to cry out in pain.
"Incredible!" Ritsuka, who had reached the ground on the back of a pterosaur, couldn't hold back his awe.
Ereshkigal's attack hadn't used a single drop of his mana, yet it had simultaneously suppressed Tiamat and vaporized the Chaos Tide.
"That's heat on the level of Ishtar's Noble Phantasm!" Roman's voice was filled with relief.
"This is the defense mechanism of the Underworld," Ereshkigal explained, smiling at their stunned reactions.
"It deals with any living being who dares to enter without permission. It's the rule of this world, and even Tiamat must abide by it."
As she spoke, she glanced at Ritsuka and Amber, her expression seeming to say, 'See how much I held back against you two?'
"I see. So it's a privilege of yours, Ereshkigal. That's really reliable," Ritsuka praised with a smile.
"Truly impressive. To accomplish this much... you are indeed the mistress of the Underworld," Amber also nodded, offering her sincere praise.
"Heheh."
Ereshkigal's smile grew even more satisfied.
"Shouldn't we put an end to this boring showboating?" Ishtar cut in, unable to listen any longer. "If this is your territory, then hurry up and make yourself useful!"
"A goddess who only cares for treasure and pleasure would naturally have no patience," Ereshkigal retorted. Ignoring Ishtar's indignant shout of 'What did you say!?' and Ritsuka's attempts to calm her down, she turned back towards Tiamat, her expression turning serious. "Then, let this mistress of the Underworld bring this to an end!"
"Answer my call, Meslamtaea!"
"Know the Blessing of Kur!"
"Appear, O scorching shrine!"
"This is Kur Ki Gal Irkalla!!"
Twelve lances of red lightning materialized above Tiamat, then plunged down, one after another, towards the struggling goddess.
"Aaaaa—!"
Though not a Noble Phantasm, their sheer destructive power and heat already surpassed that of the 'Sun Stone'.
"Even Tiamat is just another god here in the Underworld! Before the combined assault of myself and the Gallu Spirits, she doesn't stand a chance...! Doesn't stand a... chance...?"
Ereshkigal's confident expression, ready to show off her prowess, suddenly froze. Beads of cold sweat formed on her forehead unbidden.
She could feel it—her authority over the Underworld had suddenly been partially stripped away in that instant.
At the same time, the Chaos Tide surged up from around Tiamat's feet. It completely ignored the intense heat, instead enveloping Tiamat and all of the Gallu Spirit lances.
"What's happening!?" Everyone was stunned by the sudden shift in the situation.
Roman, analyzing the data from his instruments, shouted in alarm, "The Chaos Tide is corroding the Underworld itself! At this rate, the entire Underworld will be consumed!"
"Even the Underworld can be corroded?!" Even Ishtar, who had previously noted the Tide's ability to corrode Servants and who often butted heads with Ereshkigal, was shocked. "No, wait, the Underworld isn't even alive!?"
"Our initial assumption was wrong!" Roman could only voice a new, terrifying deduction. "She's altering the very ecosystem! In other words, what she's trying to give birth to anew isn't just life!"
"It's... the world itself?" Ritsuka clenched his fists.
"Th-this... wh-what do we do?" Ereshkigal was also panicking. Her first instinct was to use her Noble Phantasm to contest control of the Underworld, but Ritsuka had no mana left.
Using her Noble Phantasm recklessly now would cripple their fighting power later.
If she succeeded, it would be one thing. But if she failed, she would not only lose her Underworld privileges but also be rendered nearly powerless, likely leading to her immediate defeat.
"Tiamat's Saint Graph is reverting to the Age of Gods! It's reached the Jurassic period! The Saint Graph expansion process has halted, the magical reactor core is repeatedly restarting—" Roman's voice was trembling now. "...The Saint Graph is still expanding... This is no longer just Divinity... What stands before us is a true Deity!"
As the Chaos Tide slid away, Tiamat's form was revealed once more.
Any resemblance to a goddess was gone. Now, she was a monstrous beast, sprouting massive wings.
"So this is... Beast II..." Ritsuka felt a cold sweat drench his back. Once again, he looked towards Amber.
It wasn't just Ritsuka. The eyes of everyone present fell upon Amber.
At this moment, the only one they could think of who might stand against the Beast was the Celestial known as the Phoenix, from the land of Shenzhou.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.