Having witnessed the power of the Holy Lance, Kingu understood that even with its might in the form of a Servant, it could overpower Gorgon's Noble Phantasm but not completely destroy her.
But now, Gorgon wasn't just up against the Holy Lance—she was also facing the goddess's Larva, Scáthach, and the Servant of Uruk.
The moment Kingu sensed the Holy Lance descending, he knew Gorgon was finished. He had wanted to persuade her to retreat, but Shiomi had no intention of giving him any chance to intervene.
The 28 Demon Pillars were indeed a threat, but Shiomi's objective was clear: to kill the wounded Kingu.
As for the Demon Pillars, Morgan and the goddesses could handle them.
"She's quite capable, isn't she? Even managed to take down Gorgon."
Kingu didn't bother looking at the outcome of the clash between the two Noble Phantasms. He already knew how it would end—his focus was solely on the enemy before him.
"No matter how powerful a Servant is, even a god, once their weakness is exposed, they're vulnerable," Shiomi said, thrusting his spear again and again. "Even the King of Magecraft is no exception."
"Unfortunately for you, you'll die in this era. So you won't have to worry about what comes after meeting the King of Magecraft." Sparks burst from where Kingu's hand touched Gungnir. "My mother is about to awaken."
"What?" Shiomi froze.
Romani's long-awaited emergency communication came through. "Shiomi! Bad news! Mari's Spirit Origin is starting to disappear!"
"That succubus thought she could keep my mother asleep with dreams," Kingu said proudly, "but she didn't realize—even in a dream, my mother can easily kill her."
"Wait—" Shiomi suddenly grasped the gravity of the situation.
Their original plan had been to kill Kingu and recover the Holy Grail first, then defeat Gorgon, the Demonic Beast Goddess, and complete the repair of the Singularity.
That way, even if the King of Magecraft had arranged for Tiamat's awakening, the plan would fall apart with the Enforcer gone.
According to the intel Shiomi had, the order in which Gorgon or Kingu obtained the Holy Grail didn't make a big difference.
After all, Tiamat was still asleep within Mari's dreams.
"My mother's waking up anyway, so I'll be generous and let you in on a little secret!" Kingu forcefully pushed Shiomi back. "Gorgon's 'Mother of Genesis' wasn't inherited from my mother. It's a power she gained after synchronizing with her."
He looked toward the walls of the Demonic Beast front.
But his gaze pierced past them—straight toward the Persian Gulf in the south...
"That succubus thought keeping my mother asleep was enough, so I made arrangements to synchronize Gorgon's dreams with hers. When Gorgon died, my mother would be jolted awake by the sensation of death. Well... things didn't go exactly as planned."
"But the Magical Beasts you brought have basically been wiped out." Shiomi looked at the battlefield cleared by the 'Gate' his master had opened. "Only the Demon Pillars of the King of Magecraft are left."
"Magical Beasts? Demon Pillars?" Kingu spread his arms. "Those were just appetizers. They're not the ones truly meant to annihilate humanity."
He looked around smugly. "Time to greet my mother. We'll save the final battle for then. After all, the Demon Pillars provided by the King of Magecraft were only meant to assist until she awakened."
Even so, Shiomi had no intention of letting Kingu escape. Just as Kingu tried to take flight, Shiomi's magecraft blocked his path.
"Then at the very least, you're dying here," Shiomi said. "After using so many humans as breeding grounds for Magical Beasts, don't think you'll get away clean."
"You think you have the time for this?" Kingu replied calmly.
Although Shiomi had him pinned down, the Demon Pillars hadn't fully withdrawn yet. Morgan and the two goddesses couldn't provide support smoothly.
"SHEBA 02, 06, and 09 are damaged!"
As if echoing Kingu's words, Shiomi's Chaldea communicator crackled with more updates from the control room and Da Vinci.
"It's a space-time shock! Romani, this is bad—the whole Mesopotamian world is undergoing spatial rupture!"
"Hear that? That's the tide of my mother awakening!"
Kingu suddenly detonated his internal mana. Though Shiomi dodged in time and wasn't injured, it gave Kingu the opening he needed.
Using the resulting haze, Kingu took to the sky, soaring past the Magical Beast frontlines and heading straight for the Persian Gulf.
Shiomi immediately leapt onto a pterosaur circling above—a mount used by Quetzalcoatl.
Obedient and well-trained, the pterosaur carried Shiomi without resistance, speeding up in pursuit of Kingu.
"Doctor, alert the others! Fall back and fortify inside Uruk now! Leave the wounded and soldiers at the northern wall. Sending civilians back now is a death sentence!"
A terrible premonition pushed Shiomi to act decisively.
If Gorgon could create beasts of this scale using Tiamat's power, "Mother of Genesis," then what kind of horrors would the real Tiamat unleash?
Kingu must not be allowed to return to her.
Shiomi pressed down on the pterosaur and chanted a Rune to accelerate it.
The Ninth Primordial Rune—the Rune of Navigation.
By treating the sky as a 'sea,' the pterosaur's flight surged past Kingu's speed. At the cliffs near the Persian Gulf, Shiomi caught up.
"Kingu!"
Caught off guard by Shiomi's sudden approach, Kingu turned hastily to fight back, but Shiomi launched himself like a cannonball from the pterosaur, crashing into him. Gungnir pierced Kingu's shoulder, and both tumbled toward the rocky coastline.
"Damn you, obsolete human!"
Kingu clutched his wounded shoulder, rage far outweighing the pain.
The same human he had overpowered just days ago was now injuring him one-on-one.
He was Tiamat's child—her strongest weapon, a next-generation human.
"Then die at the hands of the old generation."
Shiomi kicked off the ground and lunged, spear aimed at Kingu's vital point.
So close to his mother, Kingu burned with frustration at being stalled. He knew he couldn't rely on the same fake explosion tactic twice.
"Hand over the Holy Grail, and I'll let you die in one piece," Shiomi said, pressing forward step by step.
"You think one stab is enough to beat me?"
Kingu was resolved. He'd crush Shiomi before his allies could arrive, then toss him into his mother's Sea of Life to be used as raw material.
But just as he expected, Shiomi wasn't that easy to kill.
Kingu sidestepped the spear and grabbed it mid-thrust. He raised his other hand to stab Shiomi's heart—but the moment he extended it, his arm froze.
"Wha—?"
Shiomi also paused in confusion.
A pitch-black, cone-shaped tentacle had pierced through Kingu's chest.