Northern city wall, Magical Beast front line.
"So your presence here means the Three Goddess Alliance has collapsed. What a shame!"
Despite his words, Kingu fought Ereshkigal and Quetzalcoatl without the slightest hesitation, completely contradicting his supposed regret.
"The Three Goddess Alliance was a lie from the start, Kingu." Ereshkigal's golden eyes flared with fury. "The Great Grail of Uruk and the Holy Grail of the King of Magecraft are entirely different things!"
With those words, she slammed her spear into the ground. In an instant, countless blazing spears erupted from beneath, aiming straight at Kingu's feet.
"Oh? So you've figured it out. Seems Chaldea has some capable people after all."
But Kingu showed no trace of panic at having his deception exposed—it was as if he'd anticipated this moment all along.
"Kingu!"
Quetzalcoatl's voice thundered with rage. She swung her macuahuitl, clashing with Kingu in a fierce deadlock.
"Hah, you've grown far weaker, Quetzalcoatl," Kingu mocked while summoning weapons from the earth mid-combat, attacking as he gradually withdrew. "And you, goddess of the underworld—away from your domain, you can't wield your full Authority, can you?"
Looking back, the battle at the Sun Temple had indeed gone too far. Shiomi's forceful release of Marduk's Axe's True Name nearly drove him to the brink of total destruction. And the blow that Quetzalcoatl took head-on, using her Noble Phantasm instead of dodging, left her with injuries far too severe to recover from in just ten days.
As for Ereshkigal, though she could tap into the power of Ishtar within her after stepping into the outside world, it wasn't something she could unleash at full strength. It was power she could control, but not fully manifest.
Which is why, despite both goddesses fighting together, they couldn't quickly overpower Kingu or retrieve the Holy Grail of the King of Magecraft from his body.
Not to mention the battlefield was overrun with Magical Beasts, and nearly half the Demon Pillars were still present.
This was no longer a battle humans could comprehend.
"The sin of deceiving a goddess is grave—pay for it with your life!"
Crushing the head of a Magical Beast that got in her way, Quetzalcoatl flung off the splattered dark purple blood and charged at Kingu once more.
It had been a full hour since Kingu had entered the battlefield and engaged the two goddesses.
"You're so dramatic. I'm simply acting for my mother's sake. If you're foolish enough to mistake others' words for the truth, that's your own fault," Kingu snapped back. "Gorgon should be arriving soon. It's time to clean up this battlefield and prepare for the assault on Uruk."
As he spoke, even more chains emerged, mingling with the horde of Magical Beasts and the goddesses' attacks. The battlefield quickly became a blur of chaos.
Countless chains chased after the two goddesses. Ereshkigal, less adept in direct combat, was the first to slip—just as she leapt into the air to evade, a chain from her blind spot coiled around her ankle.
"Ereshkigal!"
Quetzalcoatl hurled her macuahuitl to cover her, but a chain snared her wrist, yanking her toward Kingu.
Using the pull to her advantage, she twisted mid-air and struck back, but Kingu didn't block with his body. Instead, he conjured a dense wall of chains to absorb the blow.
The Chains of Heaven were capable of sealing divine beings. Though the two goddesses were beyond ordinary divinity and possessed innate Divine Cores, the chains still suppressed their incomplete power, further slowing their movements.
Behind them, a chilling gaze swept over as the eyes of the Demon Pillars locked onto them, their tentacles surging rapidly across the ground.
"Then—"
Quetzalcoatl's Noble Phantasm, Piedra del Sol, unleashed flames rivaling the sun itself. She intended to use it to incinerate the surrounding Chains of Heaven and Demon Pillars—her own method of clearing the battlefield.
"Rhongomyniad: The Lance That Shines to the End of the World."
Morgan's voice rang out as the Holy Lance, learned through Magecraft, was unleashed and shot toward Kingu.
Focused entirely on the two goddesses before him, Kingu had paid little attention to those approaching from the northern front. Caught off guard, he hurriedly deployed his defenses, using the Demon Pillars as makeshift shields to cover the gaps.
The Holy Lance didn't break through Kingu's barrier, but it shattered the chains restraining the goddesses.
"Tch... You meddlesome witch. Of all times to show up…"
Seeing Morgan floating near Ereshkigal, Kingu's irritation flared.
But then, he felt the same chill—this time from behind.
When—?!
The glint of a divine spear caught the edge of his vision. He turned with lightning speed to intercept the ambush.
His hands, reinforced to their limits, crossed in front of him to block the incoming spear, sparking violently on impact.
"You!"
Barely stopping the surprise attack in time, Kingu began to push back the spear, which had failed to pierce him fully.
Having taken on Enkidu's body, Kingu naturally possessed one of its innate abilities—Presence Detection—a sense sharp enough to detect even an Assassin's skills.
That was why Shiomi had chosen not to invoke the True Name of his Noble Phantasm. Doing so would have alerted Kingu in advance, giving him time to retreat beyond even Gungnir's range.
Tenkei Shiomi and Morgan had coordinated their attack perfectly, one after the other, catching Kingu completely off guard.
Finally shaking off the force of the blow, Kingu's arm morphed into a blade, clashing with Shiomi's spear. Another explosion rang out as he forced some distance between them.
"So you've finally returned! If only every human of your era was as strong as you~!"
Quetzalcoatl licked her lips, picked up the macuahuitl that had fallen to the ground, and greeted Shiomi.
"Humanity is still evolving. I just got a little ahead of the rest," he replied, standing tall.
"I didn't expect you back on the battlefield so soon," said Ereshkigal, floating in the air and bracing herself on Maanna. "You stole my brother Marduk's weapon, and the wounds from that divine punishment haven't even healed yet, have they?"
She turned to Morgan beside her. "How about letting your husband fall back?"
"There's no need. He may not be fully recovered, but he's still stronger than any human soldier on the walls. With the Goddess of Demonic Beasts launching a full-scale assault, how could we sit and wait in the rear? That kind of role is better left to the girl on the throne."
"It's perfect—all of you gathered here," Kingu sneered. "Let your lives serve as living offerings before my mother's descent!"
As he spoke, a massive tremor struck just beyond the Magical Beast front.
A towering figure, half the height of the fortress walls, emerged—
The Goddess of Demonic Beasts, Gorgon, had finally entered the battlefield.