Shirou and the others returned to Uruk sooner than expected.
On their way to the North Wall, they ran into Quetzalcoatl, who had come to meet them.
With Goddess Gorgon dead, the leaderless Magical Beasts lost all morale and fled straight back into the forest.
The people stationed at the North Wall had also sensed the threat coming from the sea, so they split into two groups.
Quetzalcoatl came to pick up Shirou's group, while Leonidas I and the others headed directly back to Uruk.
"So Merlin disappeared... Tch. I still had a score to settle with him."
Quetzalcoatl grumbled resentfully as Shirou lifted Ritsuka, Mash, and Ana onto the pterosaur's back one by one.
Thanks to the Magus of Flowers' scheme, Quetzalcoatl's Divinity had been reduced to half its original level, but now was hardly the time to dwell on it.
"You'll never make it back to Uruk in time on foot, so ride my pterosaur."
"The flight will be a little rough, but it's much faster than traveling by land."
"You're a huge help, Quetzalcoatl!"
"Being praised as a mature, sexy big sister and the most beautiful goddess of them all is making me blush~!"
"I didn't say anything even remotely like that. Still, I see. As expected of one of the 'Three Goddess Alliance'!"
Dr. Roman was focused on investigating the unknown lifeform Laḫmu, so Da Vinci was handling communications with the group instead.
"Can the Axe of Marduk still be brought back? Since the enemy is Goddess Tiamat, it might come in handy."
"That thing's useless now, so forget about it. Forget it!"
Quetzalcoatl jumped onto the pterosaur. "That thing got smashed to pieces along with my Divinity when it destroyed the Blood Fort!"
"Merlin may have been the one acting recklessly, but Shirou is just as guilty for failing to stop him! Hmph. You'd better prepare yourself for punishment!"
"..."
Shirou suddenly felt a dull ache in his lower back.
After that, the group rode the pterosaur back to Uruk, whose city gates had already been breached.
Even from a distance, they could see Ishtar struggling in battle.
"Argh, these things! There's no end to them! And their bodies are so tough! What's with this ridiculous hardness?!"
The goddess who had always trampled over Magical Beasts without discrimination was now visibly struggling against the massive horde of Laḫmu.
Shirou stood up on the pterosaur's back.
"Long-range sniping doesn't seem to be very effective... Mash, Quetzalcoatl, get ready to engage."
"Ah, yes... Shirou-san!"
"Leave it to your big sister~"
...
...
"Eek! Stay away, stay away! Someone... save me! Anyone!"
"yynw thfn tc lw kbs thsu ft ce fcl fhn go?"
Within Uruk, the citizens' agonized screams mixed with the monsters' bizarre cries.
"It hurts, it hurts! Aaaaaaah! No, please don't! No, no, no...!"
A citizen whose abdomen had been pierced by a Laḫmu's tentacle watched helplessly as something began to be born inside his own body.
"Why...? It's splitting from my toes upward, straight up, straight up... Aaaaaah! It hurts! It hurts so much!"
A few seconds later, he lost consciousness.
A new Laḫmu was born.
"wftc ky drgo j p su kb drgo vkhx drgo vkhx!"
"Eeeeeek!!!"
The surrounding civilians recoiled at the horrifying sight and scattered in terror.
But the Laḫmu possessed an overwhelming advantage in both numbers and speed, and the slaughter continued throughout the once-familiar streets.
"Run! Leave this place to us!"
The soldiers of Uruk placed themselves between the Laḫmu and the civilians.
"Don't run! Fight! If we don't stop them here, we'll have nowhere left to retreat!"
"Everyone, attack together! Wipe out every last one of them!"
At this stage of the war, every soldier who had survived was among the best of the best.
However, no matter how battle-hardened they were, all their experience had ultimately been gained fighting Magical Beasts and other living creatures.
Against monsters like the Laḫmu, beings that did not belong to Earth's ecosystem at all, that experience meant very little.
Worse still, human weapons could not even pierce their skin.
"No... We can't beat them. Spears and bows don't work at all!"
"What the hell are these things...? What kind of creatures are they...? Guh, is this really the end?"
Suddenly, a rain of sword blades descended from the sky.
Countless swords embedded themselves in the ground, forming a barrier between the Uruk soldiers and the Laḫmu.
"Leave this to me. Escort the civilians to the basement beneath the Divine Tower."
The soldiers turned around.
There stood a figure that instantly reignited the courage that despair had nearly extinguished.
"Shirou-san!"
"vb gany! vb ganyka kwg kwg kwg kwg kwg kwg kwg kwg!"
The Laḫmu glanced at the weapons embedded beside their feet and raised their heads, letting out shrill, grating cries.
They were clearly laughing.
It had already been proven that long-range attacks had very little effect on them.
But in the next instant,
"BOOM————————!!"
The blades scattered across the ground exploded all at once, engulfing the laughing Laḫmu.
Before the tremendous power of "Broken Phantasm," even the monsters' obsidian-hard bodies were blasted apart into mangled fragments.
"As expected of Shirou-san. You found a way to deal with them almost immediately."
Mash decapitated a Laḫmu with the edge of her massive shield.
"Enemy numbers are increasing even further! At this rate... Huh?"
The Laḫmu that had already broken into Uruk's main streets suddenly began retreating.
"What's going on?" Ritsuka asked, confused.
Their arrival had temporarily stopped the Laḫmu's advance, but if the battle continued, it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
And yet the Laḫmu had abruptly abandoned the fight.
It was almost like office workers getting up from their desks and leaving the instant the clock struck five.
"I don't know what happened, but this is our chance!"
Ishtar flew over to the group.
"Let's head to the Divine Tower! Gilgamesh should be sorting out the situation by now. Let's hear what he has to say."
...
...
Inside the Divine Tower.
Gilgamesh was issuing orders.
"Have the surviving citizens take refuge on the far side of the North Wall! That is now the safest place in all of Mesopotamia! Reestablish Nippur as our temporary residential district!"
"Also, there is no need to recruit soldiers from among the refugees. Only those born as warriors are to remain in Uruk."
"The day of destruction has finally arrived. I would say we have roughly two days left."
"That brat Merlin may have brought it forward, but this is still the day I foresaw for Uruk's collapse."
"However, you have no need to fall alongside Uruk. If you can make it to Nippur, perhaps a different fate awaits you."
"If you wish to survive, head for the North Wall. If you wish to fight, become a cornerstone of Uruk."
"Do you understand? You have until sunset. Go and say farewell to your families and friends."
The soldiers of Uruk dispersed in silence.
Only after all his subordinates had left did exhaustion finally show on Gilgamesh's face.
At that moment, another group entered the hall.
"So you've returned, Chaldeans... It seems you successfully defeated Gorgon."
"Hmm? You all look rather pale. Are you exhausted, or have you simply seen too many unpleasant things?"
"Would you like to rest for a while? I doubt anyone would object."
"No."
Ritsuka Fujimaru declined the offer and began reporting the situation in the north to King Gilgamesh.
Merlin was dead.
The awakened Tiamat had killed him.
The Goddess of Creation of the Mesopotamian world. She was the King of Magecraft's ultimate trump card for destroying human history.
Mash said, "Merlin told us that Goddess Tiamat is one of the Seven Evils of Humanity, the Beasts, awakened by the King of Magecraft in this land."
"Um... King Gilgamesh, what exactly are these Evils of Humanity?"
Gilgamesh frowned. "What? You mean you still don't know?"
"I assumed you would have discovered the answer somewhere along your journey... Shirou, you explain it."
"What does the 'Seven' refer to?" the red-haired boy asked in return.
"You don't know either!?"
Gilgamesh sank back onto his throne, utterly speechless.
"The Evils of Humanity are exactly what the name implies. They are humanity's blemishes, the various calamities that bring about mankind's destruction."
"The further humanity advances, the stronger they become, like cancers consuming the body from within society itself."
"In other words, they are the sludge that accumulates throughout human history, disasters that threaten human history itself."
"They are humanity's self-destructive mechanisms and safety devices, the very origin from which Heroic Spirit Summoning was born."
"The Evils of Humanity... are Servants too?"
"Yes. The Evils of Humanity do exist and manifest in the form of Spirit Origins."
Gilgamesh nodded and continued.
"The seven calamities born from humanity's bestial nature. That is the Beast Class."
"The one awakened by the King of Magecraft is our mother, Goddess Tiamat, who has descended into this era as a Beast."
"The Beast Class... the Seven Evils of Humanity..."
Ritsuka Fujimaru, Mash, and Da Vinci back at Chaldea mulled over the information.
"The Seven Evils of Humanity is the collective name given to those Beasts of Calamity."
Gilgamesh continued, "The Beast that appeared in this land does not seem to have fully awakened yet."
"There is still no corresponding reaction, after all. Am I correct, Chaldeans?"
Da Vinci agreed. "Yes, King Gilgamesh is right."
"At present, we can't detect such a vicious Spirit Origin reaction anywhere."
"If it exists at all... then it must be somewhere beneath the blackened Persian Gulf, protected by vast numbers of Laḫmu."
"Laḫmu? Is that what you call those unidentified lifeforms? Hmph! For mere Chaldeans, you have surprisingly good taste in names."
"No, Kingu gave us that name... Laḫmu, the first children of Goddess Tiamat. The word means 'mud.'"
Gilgamesh stroked his chin. "I attempted to capture some myself, but every specimen dissolved and vanished... Romani Archaman of Chaldea, how goes your investigation?"
"Ugh... All right, the analysis is mostly complete. I'll get straight to the conclusion."
Dr. Roman stared at his monitor as he spoke.
"They're composed of material that could be considered the foundation of the Mesopotamian world. Sand and soil from the Age of Gods... the Mud of the Gods."
"They're lifeforms that have never existed anywhere on the Tree of Life until now."
"Since there are no individual differences between males and females, they probably reproduce asexually rather than sexually."
"Judging from their internal structure, their current form appears to still be a 'larval stage.' Those creatures may be capable of transforming even further."
"The reason their Mana readings are so high is because the Magic Circuits inside them belong to lifeforms from the Age of Gods."
"You can think of them as mass-produced versions of Enkidu."
"Understood. Sidu... No, Captain over there. Inform every department that these creatures are to be called Laḫmu."
"Gilgamesh, where is Siduri-san?"
The Golden King gave Shirou a long look before answering, "Forget about Siduri for now. Our priority is devising a countermeasure against the Laḫmu."
"They have spread throughout Mesopotamia and attacked numerous cities."
Shirou interrupted him without hesitation. "Hey, Gil. I asked you where Uruk's Head Priestess is."
"..."
A strange tension filled the Divine Tower.
Shirou and Gilgamesh stared each other down.
A few seconds later, the King of Heroes sighed in resignation.
"Siduri was taken by the Laḫmu while protecting the citizens. That is all."
Mash immediately raised her voice. "Why didn't you tell us something that important sooner!?"
"I understand King Gilgamesh's position, but if Siduri-san has been captured, then we need to hurry and...!"
Ritsuka Fujimaru shouted as well, "Even if you try to stop me, I'm going to rescue Siduri-san!"
"King Gilgamesh, you heartless idiot... tyrant... Huh?"
Footsteps came from behind them.
Everyone turned around.
Tomoe Gozen and Ushiwakamaru had returned from the front lines, and accompanying them was...
"Siduri-san! Thank goodness you're alive!"
Ritsuka rushed forward and threw herself into the Head Priestess's arms.
"W-what's going on?"
Siduri had no idea what was happening.
Mash explained with a smile, "King Gilgamesh told us that Siduri-san had been captured by the Laḫmu."
"Ah, yes. That did happen..."
Still visibly shaken, Siduri continued, "But while they were taking us toward Eridu, we happened to encounter General Tomoe Gozen and General Ushiwakamaru, who were clearing enemies outside the city."
"Thanks to them, the citizens and I were rescued."
"Heh heh~~ I'm the one who drove off the Laḫmu, you know."
Ushiwakamaru proudly puffed out her chest.
"Well done, Ushiwakamaru."
Shirou reached out and patted the girl on the head, making her beam with puppy-like delight.
"My Lord, what about my reward? While it is true that Ushiwakamaru-dono drove off the Laḫmu, I was the one who discovered them in the first place."
Tomoe Gozen watched their interaction with a gaze colder than the waters of the Persian Gulf.
"Uh... You want a head pat too?"
"Yes."
"O-okay."
Shirou cautiously reached out toward Tomoe Gozen.
"As expected of Shirou-san. Flirting with a widow in front of this many people without even changing expression... Ugh."
"Keep your voice down, Mash... If they hear us, we're finished."
"I already heard you," Shirou said, rolling his eyes.
The rescued Siduri brought them new information.
It seemed the enemy had turned Eridu into a stronghold, and the Laḫmu that had come ashore were now gathering there.
"My love nest with Shirou-kun... has been taken over by those things?"
Quetzalcoatl clenched her fists until her knuckles cracked, her expression gradually twisting. "Unforgivable... I'm going to kill every last one of them..."
Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow. "Perfect timing. I have a new mission for you."
"Form a reconnaissance team and head to Eridu. Investigate the Laḫmu's movements and their objective."
After a brief rest, everyone prepared to leave Uruk.
"By the way, Gil... Merlin said something strange before he disappeared."
"What?" Gilgamesh asked.
Shirou repeated Merlin's final words to him.
After listening, the King of Heroes frowned. "He wants you to become a Grand Servant... and that was his true reason for bringing you to this era?"
"Hahahahahaha! Yes, that certainly sounds like him!"
"If we had a Grand Servant fighting on our side, then defeating Mother would no longer be completely beyond hope."
"But Shirou... what do you think?"
"..."
On the journey back to Uruk, Romani Archaman had already explained Grand Servants to Shirou.
Unlike the ranks of the Clock Tower that Shirou knew, "Grand" in this context referred to a higher existence that surpassed ordinary Heroic Spirits.
If a Servant was a Heroic Spirit weapon intended for use against individuals, then a Grand Servant was a Heroic Spirit weapon intended for use against the world.
Only those chosen by The Root, Heroic Spirits who stood at the pinnacle of their respective Classes, could possess the qualifications of a Grand.
Among Casters, the qualification for Grand was possession of the highest-ranked Clairvoyance.
Shirou's teacher Merlin, Lady Avalon, and Wise King Gilgamesh sitting before him all possessed the qualifications for Grand Caster.
Yet the one who ultimately received that Spirit Origin was the King of Magecraft, Solomon. The true culprit behind the Incineration of Humanity.
"Only seven Grand Servants can stand against the Evils of Humanity, right?"
Shirou continued, "If that's the case, then I'll become a Grand. I'll be the one to put an end to Mother's sorrow and anger."
Gilgamesh immediately threw cold water on the idea.
"Easy enough to say. If you were ten years older, perhaps it would be another matter..."
"But with your body as it is now, you should not qualify for any Grand Class at all. Just how do you intend to...?"
He looked at Shirou and stopped.
There was no hesitation whatsoever in the boy's eyes.
"Hmm? Judging by that expression, Shirou... you already have an answer?"
Shirou glanced sideways at him and smiled. "Yeah. Thanks to a certain someone, I finally understand..."
"The strongest Heroic Spirit doesn't necessarily need to be the strongest personally. They just need to possess the strongest Noble Phantasm, right?"
A bead of cold sweat ran down Gilgamesh's cheek.
"You bastard... Don't tell me you're planning to..."
...
...
With the Sun Goddess who protected the land absent, Ur fell to the Laḫmu in the blink of an eye.
The streets were filled with human screams and wails, along with the "laughter" of the New Humans echoing through the night.
Chirp, chirp, chirp...
Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp...
Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp...
The Laḫmu laughed, slaughtered, and reveled in it.
"Another one killed. Are they trying to observe the expressions humans make when they suffer?"
High above the city, the green-haired puppet silently watched the tragedy unfolding below.
"They have no sense of restraint whatsoever. They're trash, inferior even to Magical Beasts."
"Toying with them, breaking them, grinning with delight... That vulgar laughter is disgusting beyond reason."
Kingu suppressed the irritation welling inside him and bit his lip.
"Why would Mother ever give birth to monsters this hideous...?"
"Whatever. It doesn't matter. They're nothing more than a mass-produced army. As long as I exist, that's all this world needs."
"I don't need companions or family... I don't even need friends."
"Because I am the one and only completed New Human. But..."
Kingu stared blankly toward the Persian Gulf.
He could not see Mother anywhere.
If Mother would only come ashore, there would be no need for these inferior monsters at all. She could conquer the world without them.
Mother, why haven't you appeared?
He could no longer hear Mother's voice.
In the past, all he had to do was close his eyes and he could hear her crying.
But ever since the sea turned black, he had heard nothing.
Kingu had once questioned the King of Magecraft about this, and the answer he received was that Goddess Tiamat had been sealed.
No magecraft capable of sealing the Mother of Origins existed.
She had sealed herself.
Goddess Tiamat, even after falling into the form of a human Beast, was still resisting the destruction of the Human Order.
Did she still harbor some lingering attachment to the old humans?
Suddenly, the image of a certain red-haired boy flashed through the puppet's mind.
Shirou Amamiya.
The man who still carried the lingering scent of Goddess Tiamat...
Mother's current state had to have something to do with him.
As Kingu climbed higher into the sky, he murmured to himself.
"In that case, I'll sever Mother's lingering attachment with my own hands."