Chapter 24: Capturing the Goddess of Venus Alive
Ishtar's attack as a goddess was lightning-fast; even Mash, with her demi-servant abilities, barely caught a glimpse of an afterimage. However, this strike, which Ishtar had launched with such confidence, was caught in an instant by Shirou, who grabbed her ankle. Before Ishtar's gradually widening eyes, he swung her with a sudden, violent force toward the ground.
Even for Ishtar, she felt a terrifying, irresistible power, and her body was uncontrollably slammed into the earth!
Boom—!
Ishtar crashed face-first into the ground, sliding a considerable distance until she finally came to a stop after colliding with a wall.
"Thank goodness she's a goddess; she's fine even after that." Shirou watched Ishtar stagger to her feet, feeling a sense of relief that he hadn't harmed Rin's body.
"You... to be so disrespectful to a goddess, I will never forgive you!"
Having been treated this way, Ishtar was instantly furious. Yet, at that very moment, the sky was gradually shrouded in night, and the entire world plunged into darkness. Noticing the sudden dimming of the sky, Ishtar clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Tch!"
"To think it would be at a time like this..."
By now, Shirou had already approached her. Realizing this, Ishtar immediately leaped toward the sky. "Humph~ If I can't fly, don't think you'll be able to catch me!"
With a triumphant tone, Ishtar raised her right hand, and the massive blue longbow beside her manifested arrows of light. "Stay on the ground and die obediently!"
Shirou merely chuckled. "You're quite confident, aren't you?"
As he spoke, he raised his right hand, and a white-gold greatsword manifested—the weapon Shirou had seized from the "King of Heroes" (the "Last King")—the Sword of the Savior God! Although called the Sword of the Savior God, its appearance was that of an exquisite greatsword that could be called a work of art.
"What... is that!?" Noticing the immense divine power contained within the white-gold sword in Shirou's hand, Ishtar's eyes widened in disbelief.
In Shirou's hand, the power of this Sword of the Savior God was now being pushed to its absolute limit.
"Whatever! Take this!" Ishtar decided not to waste any more time and fired her light arrows directly at Shirou below.
Whoosh—!
The rapidly descending arrows of light tore through the air, hurtling toward Shirou with an irresistible momentum! Faced with this strike, Shirou simply raised the Sword of the Savior God and held it high above his head. Without a word, he swung the blade toward Ishtar's blue longbow.
That single sword strike transformed into a massive, wanton arc of white-gold light that tore the sky asunder and shattered the earth! The sweeping slash bypassed the bow, streaked across the firmament, and pierced straight into the outer reaches of the heavens!
Ishtar's pride and joy, her blue longbow, was sliced in two and reduced to fragments under the weight of a strike that seemed capable of tearing everything apart.
"This... no way...!?" Gudako exclaimed, witnessing the scene.
"Orihara-senpai is so amazing!" Mash's eyes were already sparkling with admiration.
Ishtar, watching helplessly as her longbow was split in two by that single strike, stared with wide eyes, her expression utterly stunned. Then, within her dazed field of vision, blue ripples undulated around Shirou. From those ripples, several chains shot out and, before Ishtar could even react, tightly bound her hands and feet.
Goddess Ishtar finally snapped out of her shock and began to struggle, only to find that the more she fought, the tighter the chains became.
"What are these things?!"
It wasn't that she didn't know of the Chains of Heaven, but because these specific chains were forged by Shirou himself, Ishtar—aside from a sense of déjà vu—did not recognize them. However, as the bindings tightened with every struggle, Ishtar finally realized these chains possessed the same functionality as the original Chains of Heaven.
"Damn it... to be bound by such low-class methods... Ugh!" Ishtar, her face flushed red, struggled with all her might.
But every struggle was futile. If it had been the original Chains of Heaven, it might not have been difficult for Ishtar to break free. However, what Shirou was using now were the Chains of Heaven he had forged himself; their quality was equivalent to an EX-rank Noble Phantasm, and with the "Anti-Divine" trait, their restraining effect was a hundred times stronger than the original.
Shirou then manipulated the chains to pull the goddess—now flushed red from the exertion of struggling and the tightness of the restraints—toward him.
"What's wrong? You said you were going to suck me dry, so why are you giving up so soon?" Shirou looked at her face and taunted, "You're making such a cute expression, Goddess-sama~"
"You—!!!" Naturally, Ishtar, having never suffered such indignity, was furious. She struggled even more violently, but the chains only tightened, reaching the point where even a goddess would feel pain.
"Ugh! Wait, wait, wait! It hurts!!!"
Noticing this, Ishtar hurriedly stopped struggling. She didn't dare use force anymore and could only remain bound, continuing to glare at Shirou with a look of indignation.
"Well then, if there is anything you want to ask, ask it quickly."
Shirou looked at Gudako, who was standing to the side and looking a bit intimidated, and pulled the nervous red-haired girl toward him.
"Th-that... I am the last Master of humanity, Gudako. Pl-pleased to meet you!"
"What are you saying? I don't understand you at all!" Ishtar glared fiercely at Gudako, scaring her back, then looked at Shirou again. "Aren't you afraid of retribution for doing something like this?!"
"I've done this several times before, and I haven't faced any retribution yet," Shirou said with a shrug.
"Damn it... no wonder you're so practiced at this!" Ishtar, feeling completely helpless against Shirou at this moment, gnashed her teeth in frustration, internally swearing that if this man ever dared to get close, she would bite him hard!
"Um, I hope you can tell us about the 'Three Goddess Alliance'!" Gudako continued.
"Huh? Don't even dream of—Ugh!" Ishtar, who had intended to refuse, suddenly realized the chains had tightened sharply. "Why did they... even though I didn't move...!?"
"Because this is my Noble Phantasm. Isn't it easy enough to make it tighten whenever I want?" Shirou found Ishtar's confusion somewhat amusing.
"What... you can even do that!? How despicable...!" Ishtar bit her lip, her face full of resentment.
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