Chapter 338: The Resolve to Protect One's Companions
Ishtar's chosen method was to have the white light within the Holy Grail and the leylines of this land consume each other. Even if they were caught in the fallout, as long as the white light of the "limiter" completely vanished, there would eventually be a way to recover. Furthermore, if Ereshkigal could borrow the power of the Grail, perhaps she wouldn't have to stay in the Underworld forever.
The price was merely the disappearance of the magical creatures that shouldn't have existed here in the first place—a truly bargain-priced deal.
Ishtar glanced at Ereshkigal in the distance. Since there was no other way, priority naturally had to be given to herself and her family. If you can't make a decision, then I will!
Ishtar had sensed something from the beginning. Though she wasn't certain, she had restrained herself, never forming any bonds with any existence in the mortal realm, whether they were humans serving as the gods' servants or those external magical animals. The only one she had bullied was Gil, whose mother was also of the Divine Clan, making him a companion on her side; his existence was fundamentally a gatepost meant to maintain the stability of the mortal world.
Precisely because there was no emotional attachment, it didn't matter what happened to the magical creatures. Ishtar would not hesitate for a moment, for she was the daughter of the Heavenly God. As the most excellent goddess, these were the things she was duty-bound to do!
"I give you mana! Destroy the forest here! Gugalanna!" Ishtar held the Holy Grail high. As the master of the strongest divine beast of this land, the girl used the mana of the Grail to continuously feed a massive amount of energy into the Heavenly Bull connected to her. Golden patterns surfaced upon her skin.
In the next moment, the beast-like traits were infinitely magnified by the golden light, while the traits of a god were reduced to a minimum by the white light, leaving behind only something the size of a grain of rice.
"MOOO!!!" The giant bull broke free from the golden chains and let out a long lowing sound, like the trumpeting of an elephant, yet carrying the chilling intent of a tiger's roar. The Heavenly Bull stood once more. Its pair of curved horns, glowing with purple lightning, were like two crescent moons in the sky; its crimson eyes were like two red suns, slowly rising from the center of the towering forest.
The bull's head rose; the bull's body rose, higher than the sturdiest pines, higher than the tallest bamboo. Like a giant whale leaping high out of the sea, it then sprouted wings and soared ninety thousand li upward. From that height, the Great Forest on the ground was nothing more than a tiny circle of green dots.
"ROAR!!!" Seeing the Heavenly Bull rise again, Quetzalcoatl transformed into a fireball like a mini-sun and dove from the heavens.
But this time, electric sparks flickered between the purple horns of the Heavenly Bull. From the center of the electrical collision, a blue-white electromagnetic light arrow was fired.
The fireball was as hot and dazzling as the falling sun, while the light arrow had the momentum of a rainbow piercing the sun. They collided in mid-air from below and above.
The violent collision erupted into a powerful wind pressure that blew down hundreds of trees from the sky and then transmitted to the ground. The earth shook as a hot wind, mixed with traces of lightning, swept across the area.
Every being on the ground felt a jolt of electricity surge through them, followed by a scalding heat. The magical creatures, being smaller and closer to the ground, had their fur stand on end from the electricity, their entire bodies going numb. Parched by the hot wind, they felt an unbearable heat throughout their bodies, sticking out their tongues listlessly.
"ROAR!" The Feathered Serpent in the sky was blown into a somersault by the explosion. She was clearly no longer a match for the Heavenly Bull, which stood as firm as a rock on the ground. However, having seen red, she disregarded everything and spread her wings again, transforming into a solar firebird and flying toward the bull.
"MOOO!" First being unwillingly summoned to this world, then being attacked by a giant bird and annoying chains—it hurt! It was irritating! Now possessing power, the Heavenly Bull had only one thought: to vent its vengeance upon everything.
Destruction! Destroy this annoying forest, destroy everything! A natural disaster of destruction erupted with the Heavenly Bull as the center.
"Ishtar! Stop the Heavenly Bull quickly! There are other ways! If those children can't survive, Eresh will be very sad," Shirou said to the girl.
"Shut up! If we just let things go and do nothing, we are the ones who will truly want to cry!" Ishtar retorted with a wave of her hand.
"I beg of you!" Ereshkigal looked at her sister and shouted.
"Eresh! What are you saying! Do you even count as one of the Divine Clan anymore!" On the other side, the gods who had been fighting the magical creatures shouted in anger. Because of the aftershocks of the Heavenly Bull's battle, the small animals on the ground had been rendered incapable of fighting by the heat and electricity. The gods had stopped, but they didn't expect to see the scene of Ereshkigal standing with an outsider to obstruct Ishtar.
"Fool! To hinder the Divine Clan's great plan of revival for the sake of these things!" Other members of the Divine Clan cursed rudely.
"As expected, this child has stayed underground for too long; her mind is no longer like ours."
"Hmph! These are just human-like monsters. Even if it were all of humanity, as long as we can recover our divine power, it would be worth killing them all. Humans were created solely to serve us, to hunt wild game and farm fruits and vegetables for us! What does it matter if some underground creatures die now!"
As he spoke, one god reached out his hands, choking the necks of the small animals lying on the ground with both hands and lifting them up.
"Ga..." "Bastard..."
Druid Cu Chulainn and Dog Cu Chulainn were in pain but unable to muster the strength to resist.
"Roar..." Dragon Cu Chulainn, wanting to resist from the ground, found it difficult to exert his combat strength at this moment.
"Stop! Uncle! I will find another solution! So don't hurt them!" Ereshkigal shouted in anguish.
"Fool! Now, let me execute these pets of yours to disabuse you of your stupid ideas. After returning to the heavens, we will select a male god to go to the Underworld and take over your authority, Ereshkigal! You are already unqualified to be the Master of the Underworld. After this, you shall obediently accept discipline as the wife of the new God of the Dead."
Little Gil stood with his arms crossed, looking coldly at the gods as he spoke: "These mongrels... since you are already stray dogs, if you stayed quietly on the mountain, I might have turned a blind eye and let you go. But to jump out now and make such a racket... honestly, you don't even qualify as clowns in a farce."
"!" The little person with long green hair, Enkidu, took action with perfect timing! Because he had been staying in the treetop, his damage was light and did not affect his combat ability.
Sharp golden chain points emerged from the ripples behind him. The ultimate technique known as the Chains of Heaven was ready at any moment; once the momentum was built, they could be fired. Now, there were no gods here capable of making him die.
"Hmph, hahahaha! Traitors coming out one by one. Once we recover our victory, the first thing we'll do is punish you!" One god raised his leg, about to stomp on Lion Saber on the ground.
"Awoo, gu..." The little lion let out a snarl, but she was helpless.
"Gaaaa!" At that moment, Panda Jeanne and the little tiger used bamboo to prop themselves up and stood. They walked to the little lion's side and hugged her tightly, intending to use their own bodies to protect their companion.
"Hmph! Quite the bond you have, but a beast is a beast in the end. Since you cannot comprehend the greatness of a god, then die!" The god raised his leg to stomp the ground with maximum force.
"Settle them!" Little Gil waved his hand and gave the order!
"Stop right there!" But before Enkidu could act, Shirou had already rushed out! His hands projected flying swords as he charged toward the god's head.
"What can a lowly human like you hope to achieve?" The god easily dodged the flying swords sent by Shirou and spoke contemptuously, raising his leg again to kick the little lion and the others.
"!" Shirou's eyes flashed with white light. In the next instant, a hammer the size of a human body appeared in front of that god—as if the great Senji Muramasa had raised his hammer to forge dark iron, crafting the embryo of a divine weapon through a thousand refinements. It manifested an invincible momentum, smashing him away instantly.
"What! He dares to attack a god! Stop this boy who commits insubordination! He must be executed! He must be taught the power of the Divine Clan!"
"Shut up!" Shirou waved his hand, and the white light transformed into earth that buried the charging Divine Clan members, pushing them to the ground.
"Waaa! What is this! It's sticky, I can't shake it off!"
Before the attacks of the Divine Clan adults could even reach Shirou, they were pushed back by the sonic waves of white light he released. The white light turned into grey soil, pinning the Divine Clan members to the ground and fixing them in place.
"Kid! You dare to humiliate the gods like this! We will definitely cut you into a thousand pieces and make sure you can never be reincarnated!" The gods cursed one after another, spitting out the most vicious maledictions.
"No, you already said before that you wouldn't let me go." Shirou glanced indifferently at the gods on the ground. They would never understand the bond between humans and small animals.
These high-and-mighty Divine Clan members never imagined that the boy they intended to kill—the one they thought was merely lucky enough to have an affinity with magical creatures—would actually possess divine power stronger than their own.
Shirou approached the girl and spoke to her face-to-face: "Please give me the Holy Grail. I will make everything whole."
"Eresh, trust me," Shirou said, looking at the girl.
"Give it to him." Ereshkigal locked eyes with Shirou for several seconds, then turned and shouted to her sister Ishtar.
"Wait! This is the Holy Grail I worked so hard to snatch!" Ishtar said.
"Stupid daughter! What are you saying! He is our enemy; you must never let him have the Grail!" shouted the gods trapped on the ground.
"Give it to him! If Shirou says he has a way, he is definitely not lying!" Ereshkigal said.
Ishtar looked at her kin on the ground, then glared fiercely at Shirou and said:
"Hmph, fine, I get it! You did save my life before. But if you lie to me, then even if we go to another world, I will find you, kill you, strip you naked, and hang you up!"
"How terrifying. You should try to change that personality and cancel those brutal punishment methods; you'd definitely be cuter. I understand. I will absolutely not deceive you," Shirou promised, raising his hands.
"Shut up! Hmph, take it!" Ishtar glared at Shirou huffily and threw the Holy Grail over.
"Got it! Leave it to me!" Shirou answered.
Shirou turned around again and knelt down, looking at the magical animals who had accompanied him these past few days—the three companions with different personalities but compatible temperaments.
Shirou patted the heads of the three small animals in turn and said with a light smile: "It's so good that you aren't hurt. Thank you for your company these past few days. From now on, you must live happily here."
"Awoo?" The little lion and the others looked at Shirou in confusion, their eyes shimmering with tears. Though they didn't quite understand the boy's words, they felt a sense of sadness.
'No one needs to become unhappy. There is no need to sacrifice either side. If the gods want it, then I will restore their divine power, as long as they stop making trouble. The magical creatures will also continue to live happily in this world.
Yes, I can simply create all of this!'
Shirou stood up and spoke to Little Gil, who had just climbed down from the treetop:
"The spirit of resisting the gods... perhaps I should learn well from the people of this era." Shirou looked at the oldest king in mythological epic history. In a way, the Epic of Gilgamesh fired the first shot for humanity to stop blindly following the gods and focus on humans.
He influenced the critical thinking toward gods in the many pantheons that developed later. For instance, the Greek myths about Athena causing trouble everywhere, the God of War Ares who never tired of battle but often lost, Zeus the great stallion, the goddesses' wantonness and infidelity, and so on.
Yes, heaven's changes are not to be feared; ancestors are not to be followed blindly; and the words of others are not to be worried about! Everything depends on how people today choose, only on how one does well in the present! The gods here were not enough to make him fear, and that white god was the same.
"Hmph! What humans need is a king, not a god. As long as they are people of value, I will lead them. Everything in this world belongs to the King! If it's you, with that skill for currying favor
with magical animals, I wouldn't mind letting you stay to entertain me," Gil said, pointing at Shirou.
"Ah... not cute at all. You really have grown up," Shirou looked at Little Gil with disgust. If he didn't have power, he would simply be an annoying chunibyo patient.
"Why is 'not cute' the standard for me having grown up?! Also, are your eyes completely blind?!" Gil pointed at his own face and spoke to Shirou.
"..." The little person with long green hair beside them merely folded their arms, looking on as if watching a good show.
"It seems it's too late. Oh well, although I can't appreciate it, you are, in a way, a very remarkable king. Good luck." Shirou waved his hand to say goodbye to Gil.
"Hey! Kid, where are you going? Will we meet again?" Little Gil asked.
"Yeah. In the future, even if we hate each other, we'll keep running into each other. Though by then, you and I might be completely different from how we are now." Shirou waved his hand.
"Eresh, Ishtar, this is the best way. Originally, the white light in here came because of me. Now, I will take it away." Shirou's eyes flashed with white light as he absorbed the white energy contained within the Holy Grail.
Relying on the white light, Shirou moved rapidly to the side of the rampaging Quetzalcoatl. He locked eyes with her; the blood-red pupils on the dragon head gradually faded, returning to sanity and reverting to her usual eyes, until she finally transformed back into human form.
The fallen Heavenly Bull, under his soothing, reverted to the form of a mini bull. Shirou helped heal all the wounds on its body, making it as clean as when it first arrived.
"Moo moo!" The Heavenly Bull nuzzled Shirou, expressing its gratitude.
As the white light drifted past like a fresh breeze, the small animals on the ground were all healed one by one. The previously destroyed ground and trees were also restored to their original state under the repair of the white light.
"Is this for real? Everything is solved just like that? And the Holy Grail was absorbed so easily... this aura, were you the god who emitted the white light in the first place!" Ishtar shouted in surprise.
"To be precise, I am only one of them. Though I consider myself unique. I will take the Holy Grail away. I have transformed the leylines here into a gathering of the largest dragon pulses on this continent; all the small animals can continue to live healthily and energetically."
"The influence of the white light on this world will also gradually fade. You of the Divine Clan, I believe you will be able to gather divine power again in a few years. So, until we meet again!" Shirou looked at the girls and said with a smile.
"Wait! Where are you going?!" Ishtar asked.
At that moment, a gate of light appeared in the sky, and a white figure stepped out from it. Shirou leaped, flying rapidly toward that direction.
With a bang! a loud noise echoed in the sky, like a collision between cars or steel.
The white god's avatar was knocked back into the light gate by Shirou.