"That goddess larva..."
Kingu heard Gorgon's anguished cry and immediately realized—her natural enemy was here.
Whether they chose to retreat or make another move, the assault would collapse. Uruk and Chaldea wouldn't let this chance slip by; they'd surely launch a pursuit.
"Where do you think you're going, Kingu?"
Shiomi swept his spear out, a cold gleam slicing off Kingu's path as he attempted to rush to Gorgon's aid.
"No wonder you brought the witch with you. So you already had a trump card ready," Kingu said, conjuring a blade of light in his hand as he clashed with Gungnir.
"No, I had no idea. My wife just told me not to worry about that side, so I followed her lead," Shiomi replied calmly.
Weapons and chains rained down from the sky and erupted from the earth, but Morgan's magecraft intercepted them all.
Ereshkigal shifted Maanna's attack mode, unleashing a barrage of firepower to counter Kingu's wide-range assault. She and Morgan worked in tandem, cutting down both his strikes and the beasts trying to encircle them.
A swath of the battlefield, dozens of meters wide, was cleared by magecraft and Noble Phantasms—an arena carved out by power. Inside it, Kingu now faced off against Shiomi and Quetzalcoatl.
Despite being drawn into close combat, Kingu remained full of confidence.
"Just two cripples, and you think you can defeat me—the strongest weapon my mother created? Even if you don't get close to Gorgon, the Holy Grail's protection reaches far enough to sustain her divinity!"
He wasn't bluffing. Both Shiomi and Quetzalcoatl were still bearing injuries from the battle at the Sun Temple ten days ago—wounds that hadn't fully healed.
So even with Morgan and Ereshkigal's support, they couldn't bring Kingu down quickly.
"The Holy Grail…"
Quetzalcoatl, her attack knocked away, landed on the ground and licked her lips.
"Just as Mari said. Gorgon doesn't truly possess divinity—she's relying on the power of the Holy Grail to simulate it. Even her ability to create Magical Beasts comes from that."
"Fools. Gorgon's power to birth Magical Beasts is real. She holds the genuine Authority of the 'Womb of Beasts'," Kingu sneered. "Even if it's temporary, she still stands nearly equal to a mother goddess."
"But Gorgon's Authority isn't complete," Ereshkigal pointed out. "Otherwise, she wouldn't need to raid the Blood Fort and abduct so many humans."
She and Quetzalcoatl had been to the Blood Fort several times, negotiating Gorgon's alliance to exterminate humanity. They'd seen firsthand the captured humans, used as breeding stock for Magical Beasts.
"Hmph… That's why you goddesses—"
Kingu pressed his palm to the ground, and the range of his weapons expanded again.
Backed by the Holy Grail and the divine land itself, the body that once belonged to Enkidu was now saturated with power. Kingu could unleash his full force without restraint.
After all, his enemies were two goddesses, the Witch of Britannia, and a human who had usurped Marduk's axe.
"No matter what, as long as I stand here, even that goddess larva won't save you—"
Kingu's taunt was cut short when he spotted a sapling suddenly sprouting from the earth.
He froze for a brief second—and in that instant, a crimson spear burst from the sapling, shooting straight for his throat. Kingu dodged with all his strength, but the spear still grazed his face.
"So, a surprise attack like that can't kill you, huh?" Shiomi gave Gungnir a flick. "But once you're dead, Gorgon won't last long without the Holy Grail's protection."
"Maybe so, but how do you plan to kill Kingu? With that axe?" Quetzalcoatl asked, swatting aside a tentacle from a nearby Demon Pillar and dodging the gaze from its eye.
"Of course not," Shiomi answered flatly.
When he'd touched the axe Quetzalcoatl had sent to Uruk again, he felt the change instantly.
The colossal Marduk's Axe vanished the moment he willed it—and it hadn't been destroyed. It had become his.
But only in ownership.
Shiomi understood well that, for now, he was merely a "usurper," someone who had seized the King of Gods' Noble Phantasm.
Owning something and mastering it were two completely different things.
Gungnir had been bestowed directly by Odin—no issue there. But Marduk's Axe… it had to be tamed.
Or rather, he had to grow strong enough to bear the power it carried.
Until then, the axe wouldn't be fully under his control. And every time he forced its power, it would exact a heavy toll.
"What a shame. I was hoping to see Marduk's Axe unleash its True Name again~," Quetzalcoatl teased.
Of course, she knew that wasn't realistic.
"Whatever we lack, we'll make up for with courage and wisdom—just like you gods always expected from us humans!"
Shiomi charged forward, with Quetzalcoatl right behind him.
"It's decided! I'm going to cut you to pieces and string you up!"
Kingu stepped forward slowly on purpose, wrapping a chain around the red spear that floated midair under Shiomi's magecraft and hurling it back at him.
It wasn't his weapon, so it naturally didn't fly true—but Shiomi had to halt its trajectory, forcing him to stop and creating an opening.
That was the plan.
But instead of stopping in defeat, Shiomi bent down, allowing Quetzalcoatl to leap off his back. She soared up, grabbed the hovering red spear, used it like a horizontal bar to spin twice in midair, and then let go—launching into a powerful flying kick aimed straight at Kingu.
"A direct attack like that won't—"
Kingu tried to backstep, but his feet wouldn't move.
Tree roots and dark green chains had wrapped around his legs, holding him fast.
Without a single word exchanged, Shiomi and Morgan had coordinated their spells seamlessly to restrict his movement.
Maanna unleashed a dense barrage of magical blasts, striking Kingu's location just before Quetzalcoatl reached it.
Kingu couldn't escape in time and was forced to take the full brunt of the impact, grunting heavily—
And then the sound abruptly cut off.
Quetzalcoatl's flying kick landed squarely in his chest and gut, crushing the air and voice from his lungs.
A louder crash echoed as Kingu's body was sent tumbling backward like a giant boulder, finally skidding to a stop.
Shiomi's expression shifted the moment he saw what had caught Kingu's fall.
"There's more than eight Demon Pillars in this Singularity...?"
"What, already forgot? In the Fifth Singularity, that queen used her Noble Phantasm as a vessel to summon twenty-eight Demon Pillars," Kingu said, now rising slowly into the air atop a Demon Pillar's body. "But this time's different. These twenty-eight were sent by the King of Magecraft himself. So go ahead—savor the Demon Gods in their truest form!"
"Looks like if we want to eliminate Kingu completely, we'll have to wipe out these Demon Pillars first."
Shiomi gripped his spear, planting it like a staff.
A Noble Phantasm-like spell—fired.