Hassan of the Fathomless Rift's most terrifying moment is not when he is alive.
But in the moment he steps into death.
The darkness spreading inside the temple showed no signs of dissipating, and countless slashes were still being emitted.
"This…!?"
The expression on Ishtar's face disappeared.
She confirmed that she had just destroyed Hassan of the Fathomless Rift's spiritual core, but the other party's spiritual foundation showed no signs of collapsing.
Moreover, the expanding darkness was still releasing its aura.
This made Ishtar's expression change.
She looked like she had seen something incomprehensible, and her beautiful face revealed anger.
"You actually… want to break the laws of nature…-!?"
"No."
Responding to Ishtar was Hassan of the Fathomless Rift's whisper.
That's right, this Hassan had died.
The corpse pierced by the blade-shaped lapis lazuli was there, completely dead.
Even so, Ishtar still heard his voice.
"I, the Servant engraved as a reflection (image), the journey of the image ends here."
The voice did not come from the corpse.
It seemed to be integrated into this world.
Ishtar once again felt a familiar aura.
Similar to Ereshkigal, and like the Pale Rider, that disgusting darkness of death was overflowing.
"…Now is the time to return this endless shadow to the boundary between the visible and the invisible."
When Hassan of the Fathomless Rift dropped these words.
The shadows that were originally restless in the temple suddenly erupted, devouring the light with unprecedented ferocity, and the darkness, even deeper than the night, eroded the sky in the temple.
That was a heterogeneous skill that surpassed incantations and could even suppress the laws of nature.
It was originally impossible for a mere assassin to achieve.
Only a true assassin could do it.
That was a suicide Noble Phantasm that Hassan of the Fathomless Rift could activate by using his own "death" as a trigger.
What he caused was not death, but the cause and effect determined by the fact of death.
In the name of Hassan of the Fathomless Rift, the most profound skill of assimilation with "shadow"—assimilating his own spiritual foundation with the concept of "death" that is omnipresent in any era and any place.
No one in this world could imitate such a feat.
Ishtar was fortunate to be the first "person" to witness it.
Its Noble Phantasm is called—
"[Meditative Sensitivity (Zabaniya)]"
The moment this suicidal Noble Phantasm was activated.
Enkidu in the distance was slightly stunned.
Her ability to sense and assimilate with the world couldn't capture even a trace of Ishtar's presence.
It was as if she had disappeared from this world out of thin air.
Not only did her color disappear.
A portion of the divinity filling Ishtar's temple abruptly vanished as if falling into an abyss.
Moreover, the area losing divinity gradually expanded, and the world was disappearing.
Color, sound, smell, magical power—seeing the sacred aura filling the temple being gradually swallowed by shadows.
"What… Goddess Ishtar…!"
Not only Enkidu, but Haruri and Humbaba also noticed this strange phenomenon.
Haruri showed an anxious expression.
She desperately wanted to rush into the temple to help Ishtar, but the latter had issued an order from the beginning.
Without her permission, no one could enter the temple.
Haruri had no idea what that black shadow had done to cause such an abnormality in her goddess.
"Berserker…!"
Haruri finally couldn't restrain herself.
She commanded Humbaba.
Although Ishtar had said not to enter the temple, she could intervene without entering the temple.
Iridescent beams of light gathered on Humbaba's head.
The beam accurately struck the darkness.
However, it disappeared silently the moment it came into contact with the "shadow" inside the temple.
No explosion, no shockwave, not even a breeze.
This scene left Haruri at a loss.
Even Humbaba's power was useless, what exactly was that strange black mist!?
"You child, I told you there's no need to worry so much. Such tricks can't stump me."
In the darkness where no light could escape.
A gap slowly opened.
The other end of the gap couldn't be sensed by sound wave reflection or magical power, and the specific depth couldn't be felt either.
Being able to open a gap in this darkness.
This was the best proof of Ishtar's divine power.
In fact, this completely exceeded Ishtar's expectations.
A mere suicidal Noble Phantasm of a Servant actually required her to output divine power with all her might to resist.
Otherwise, even she, a goddess, would be swallowed.
It was unimaginable that this was an Assassin's Noble Phantasm.
Until now, the wriggling darkness was still eroding the remaining light inside the temple.
Moreover, this darkness had a physical form.
Ishtar had to superimpose the charm authority to distort the air and walls of this temple.
In order to resist the further spread of darkness.
If Ishtar herself touched this black shadow, then even she would undoubtedly die.
Therefore, she kindly reminded Haruri.
To prevent this child from making a big mistake.
"Damn it… how dare a mere ugly darkness defile the sky. How dare it offend the realm of the gods, even if such vermin died ten thousand times, it wouldn't be enough…!"
Ishtar was exasperated.
She originally intended to crush Hassan of the Fathomless Rift with the mentality of squashing a pest, but she didn't expect the other party's Noble Phantasm to be a self-destructing Noble Phantasm that could only be triggered by death.
Now, this constantly wriggling darkness like a swamp.
It was devouring the temple and even the entire forest.
Ishtar felt that the divinity she had finally regained was weakening.
This was the work of that "darkness."
Ishtar, who chose to kill Hassan of the Fathomless Rift inside the temple, made a major mistake.
Now, she tasted the bitter fruit of this mistake.
A bug that was casually squashed suddenly burst out with countless disgusting larvae.
And Ishtar was covered in filth.
That was roughly how she felt.
Annoyed as she was, this incomprehensible darkness still couldn't be dispelled, even with the power of a god.