Ereshkigal's tension vanished in an instant. Her eyes widened as she unleashed her mana at full capacity—her crimson irises turning to gold.
Rising higher into the sky atop Maanna, she slowly raised her hand, tearing through the dark clouds. A gate to Venus opened in the heavens.
"Brace yourselves!"
With that warning, Ereshkigal activated Ishtar's Noble Phantasm.
A Noble Phantasm that compresses the very concept of Venus into a projectile, then launches it like a bullet. At a glance, it seemed like nothing more than a simple mana cannonball—but it was, in truth, the concept of Venus itself.
Once, simply because she found it unpleasant to look at, Ishtar ravaged Mount Ebih—a sacred peak even the gods revered—reducing it to ashes and leaving not a single soul alive.
This Noble Phantasm was born from that legend.
Now sharing a body with Ishtar, Ereshkigal had, with Shiomi and the others' help, fully mastered the cycle of day and night, binding and harmonizing the dual goddesses.
As such, invoking the Noble Phantasm wasn't difficult. The only question was—how much power could she unleash?
After a brief moment of doubt, Ereshkigal knew: she could now wield it at full strength.
She aimed at the floating figure of Tiamat above the sea, fully aware that what she was about to do was a reenactment of myth—a strike against the Primordial Mother.
But… it had to be done!
"With this strike, we bid farewell to our mother—the Great Evil of Origin! 'An Gal Ta Ki Gal Šè: Kindling of Venus that Shook the Mountains!'"
Tiamat made no attempt to evade. Ereshkigal herself hadn't expected the attack to land so easily.
A blinding light tore into the sky, a storm ripped through the clouds, and the sea erupted in an explosion. The gaping void closed again.
No trace of Tiamat remained.
Shiomi, now snapping out of his trance, gripped Artoria's wrist tightly. She pulled him back onto the pterosaur's back.
"Ugh—!"
Agonizing pain surged through him, followed by a mouthful of blood that nearly splattered across Artoria.
He couldn't control it. Blood slipped between his fingers, dripping onto the pterosaur's back.
"Master!" Artoria grabbed his shoulders to steady him.
"How reckless," Scáthach said, frowning. "To use your Authority right in front of Tiamat… you're lucky this was all you suffered." Though it sounded like a rebuke, her concern was obvious in her expression. "Don't be so impulsive. Your body still isn't fully healed."
Shiomi stared at his bloodstained palm. "No... it wasn't recklessness..."
"It was resonance," Quetzalcoatl said, seeing the truth.
"Yeah…" Shiomi panted heavily.
His heart had stopped for more than a moment. During that time, he'd entered a near-death state.
"You may possess the same type of Authority," Artoria said, finally understanding. "But you've only brushed the edge of that power. So when you made eye contact with her—Tiamat, the mother of humanity—she could instantly synchronize with your mind through that shared Authority..."
And then, she influenced him.
Even if she couldn't compel him to attack his allies, she could still make him fall from the pterosaur—right into the Chaos Tide.
If that had happened...
"...Let's rest for now. Tiamat's Spirit Origin is gone. All that's left is to recover the Holy Grail."
Artoria removed her armor and embraced Shiomi. His chin rested limply on her shoulder, and the blood he hadn't yet wiped away stained her pure white cloak crimson.
"Sorry..." Shiomi murmured.
"Don't worry about it." Artoria held him tightly—not so much to stop him from falling, but to prevent any further disturbance within him.
"So, where's the Holy Grail—" Quetzalcoatl was just about to start searching when—
Shiomi suddenly jolted, gripping Artoria's shoulders with all his remaining strength.
"Retreat! Something's coming up from the seafloor! Head for land, now!"
His warning was enough. The others immediately detected a mana surge from beneath the sea—one as vast as Tiamat's had been—and without hesitation, steered their pterosaurs away from the spot where Tiamat had vanished.
Shiomi activated communications with Chaldea. "Romani, what's the status—"
"We're seeing Spirit Origin reconstruction..." Romani sounded stunned. "Don't tell me… what we destroyed just now was only the head?"
And that wasn't all—the water level of the Persian Gulf was rapidly rising, and the spread of the Chaos Tide suddenly accelerated.
Their pterosaurs ascended swiftly. A moment slower, and the tide's waves would have reached them.
Far below, at the place where Tiamat had vanished...
A massive form, large enough to blot out the sky, slowly rose from the depths. No longer the gentle, girl-like figure from before, Tiamat now revealed her true form as the overwhelming Primordial Mother Goddess.
With her star-like eyes slowly opening, Tiamat gazed toward Uruk—the last bastion of humanity in Mesopotamia—and let out a deep, distant, wordless song.
"...I knew it. That hit was way too clean," Scáthach muttered, wiping the cold sweat from her cheek.
This was a goddess even she couldn't slay easily.
Even assuming she could deal damage, she would lose her ability to fight long before that damage could accumulate enough to matter.
After all, Tiamat didn't look like the kind of goddess who'd just sit still and take hits. And the swarm of Magical Beasts and Laḫmu could strike at any moment.
"We should head back to Uruk and regroup with the others. Figure out our next move from there," Artoria said. "Fighting her at sea right now is a losing battle."
Everyone agreed without hesitation.
Shiomi, overwhelmed by the physical toll of being forcibly synchronized with Tiamat's Authority, could barely speak. He simply nodded.
And so, the group turned their pterosaurs toward Uruk and began their retreat.
Shiomi leaned limply on Artoria's shoulder, eyes still locked on Tiamat's immense form.
For a moment, he thought he heard that voice from his dream again.
"…Don't go… Don't leave me…"
Those starlit eyes fixed on Uruk seemed to glance briefly in his direction—an illusion, perhaps.
"Since… all humans are your children, then—"
Shiomi, recalling the answer he never finished in his dream, whispered to himself,
"...Mother..."
"Stay with me, Master," Artoria said softly by his ear. "That same Authority gives you a connection to Tiamat that goes far beyond gods or men… the bond between a child and their mother."
She sighed quietly, almost too softly to hear.
"Even if you want to reach her as a human, to speak to her as a child… for now, that's impossible."
"I know..."
"Then rest. We still have some time before we reach Uruk."
Artoria pulled her cloak around Shiomi, shielding his body from the cold wind rushing through the sky.