"Great! We defeated Gorgon!"
Ritsuka Fujimaru and Mash ran over to Shirou.
As the "Harpe" pierced Gorgon's Spirit Origin, the massive body of the Goddess of Demonic Beasts, who had completely fallen into monstrosity, began crumbling into clumps of earth.
It was proof that the immortality granted by Potnia Theron had been completely erased.
"But I never would've guessed Ana's True Name was Medusa."
The two girls crowded around Ana, excitedly talking to her.
Ana looked a little embarrassed.
Everyone had always taken good care of her, but this was the first time she had ever been the center of attention like this.
Flustered, the girl pressed herself closer against Shirou's chest.
"Ana has gotten especially attached to Shirou-san, hasn't she?" Mash said with a smile.
"Or rather, maybe she always was... It just feels like she's finally opened up about it?"
Ritsuka stroked her chin. "Hmm? Wait... Ana, you..."
Ritsuka suddenly noticed something strange about Ana as well.
Starting from her feet, tiny specks of golden light were beginning to drift away.
Now that Gorgon had been defeated, and Ana herself had exhausted too much of her strength in the battle, the mission and purpose sustaining her existence in this era had vanished completely.
Shirou had saved her from being dragged down with Gorgon, but if nothing was done, then very soon...
"How can this be...? Is Ana still going to disappear after all?"
At Mash's question, Ana shook her head and looked at the boy beside her.
"Shirou, let's form a contract... I want to become Shirou's Servant."
"Yeah, sure. I was just about to suggest that."
The two exchanged knowing smiles, then intertwined their fingers and clasped hands.
Mash's eyes widened. "That was an incredibly fast contract... Just by holding hands with her Master, she formed a simplified contract in an instant."
Ritsuka Fujimaru looked just as surprised. "Shirou-san, are you actually really good at the ritual for forming contracts with Servants?"
"No, I didn't do anything. It looks like Ana connected the path from her side... When did you make that adjustment?"
"...Ugh."
Seeing Ana's cheeks turn red, Shirou hurriedly changed the subject.
"All right, whatever you have to say can wait until we're back at the embassy... Dr. Roman! What's Gorgon's status?"
"Goddess Gorgon's Spirit Origin reaction has completely vanished! Everyone, get ready to retreat!"
Romani Archaman's hologram sent them a map showing the quickest route back to the surface.
At the same time, the throne hall of the Blood Fort began collapsing even faster.
"Wait. Something's wrong."
The Magus of Flowers, who should have been the liveliest one at a time like this but had remained strangely quiet, suddenly spoke.
"Gorgon was definitely defeated, yet there's no Holy Grail reaction."
"Huh? Now that you mention it, the King of Magecraft's Holy Grail should have been in Gorgon's possession..."
Merlin frowned. "Hmm... There's no doubt Gorgon used the Holy Grail's power to regain her 'Divinity of the Past.'"
"She received the Holy Grail's blessing, but she wasn't actually carrying the Holy Grail herself."
"If that's the case, there's only one answer. The King of Magecraft's Holy Grail is..."
Suddenly, Chaldea's alarms blared.
"Hostile reaction approaching at high speed! This Spirit Origin pattern is... Individual Name: Kingu!"
"Mother...!"
The shout echoed through the underground temple.
Everyone immediately shifted into combat stance.
The green-haired young man hovering in the air looked over the empty temple and instantly understood what had happened.
"I see... I didn't make it in time."
"Without me by her side, she couldn't receive the Holy Grail's protection. I suppose this outcome was inevitable... Hmm?"
Kingu stared at Ana beside Shirou, his eyes widening.
"Mother has disappeared, so why... why are you still alive!?"
"I see. So that's how it is... You found a Master of your own... Tch!!"
As he ground his teeth, a violent gale of Mana erupted behind the green-haired puppet.
"You're angry?"
Shirou was genuinely surprised.
He had assumed Kingu and Goddess Gorgon were only pretending to be mother and son for convenience, but...
The fury pouring from Kingu told him otherwise.
"As Kingu, it's only natural that I love Tiamat."
"At the very least, I wanted her to live a little longer before Mother awakened."
A trace of loneliness passed through the puppet's eyes.
He had originally wanted to help Gorgon fulfill her wish.
At that moment, Dr. Roman's frantic voice came through again and again.
"Observation has been cut off! SHEBA has gone completely black! The light isn't returning!"
"Fujimaru, what exactly is happening over there!?"
"Gorgon has been destroyed! The crisis threatening this era should be over! If that's the case..."
"Then why does the Seventh Singularity still exist!?"
Merlin suddenly groaned and dropped into a crouch.
"Merlin...!?"
Ritsuka and Mash shouted.
The Magus of Flowers struggled down onto one knee and muttered, "Damn... So that's what happened..."
"To think that when it came to deceiving each other, I was the one who got outplayed..."
"That's exactly right, you clever little Incubus."
Kingu curled his lips into a smile. "You imprisoned Mother inside The Cage of Dreams, delaying her awakening and preventing Goddess Tiamat from descending into this era."
Ritsuka blinked. "The Cage of Dreams?"
Shirou frowned. "Is this because we killed Gorgon?"
"Exactly. Mother, while trapped in her deep slumber, entrusted the Holy Grail to me."
"And the problem troubling me was how to awaken her from that sleep."
"If she couldn't wake from the dream while alive, then I simply had to kill her."
With an utterly composed expression, Kingu revealed his entire plan.
The Authority of Goddess Tiamat possessed by Gorgon, Potnia Theron.
It was not a power copied through the Greater Grail. It was the result of her synchronizing with the true Goddess Tiamat.
Because they had killed Gorgon, Goddess Tiamat, whose mind was synchronized with hers, had also experienced the shock of death.
As a result, Goddess Tiamat was freed from her deep slumber and killed Merlin, who had been continuously maintaining the spell on her.
"Well then, our use of the Three Goddesses to buy time ends here."
Kingu spread his arms wide as though passing judgment upon all humanity.
"Behold the true form of our divine Mother. Behold the form of humanity's original sin!"
...
...
The Marine Research Institute in the Persian Gulf was the first place to discover the world's "abnormality."
The sky suddenly turned pitch black.
A crimson tide surged up from the deepest reaches of the seabed, staining the once-blue ocean a dark, bloodlike red.
"What is that!? The sea has turned black...!? There's no end to it! Everything to the horizon is pitch black!"
The Marine Research Institute descended into chaos.
"Is this the hour of destruction the King warned us about!? Send a messenger to Uruk immediately!"
"Tell them the harbor and the sea are covered in black mud! There aren't any other changes yet... Wait, what is that?"
The researchers stared in shock.
What covered the sky was not storm clouds, but some kind of creature swarming together like a plague of locusts.
"What... are those things...?"
The creatures advancing on the human world from both the sky and beneath the sea had grotesque black bodies that gleamed like obsidian.
They were neither Magical Beasts nor monsters of Sumer.
Such beings had never belonged in the human world to begin with.
The black creatures surrounded the Marine Research Institute.
Then...
Instead of smashing through the walls like Magical Beasts, some landed directly on the observation deck while others entered through the front doors and climbed the stairs.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Human screams erupted one after another.
The black creatures began slaughtering and feeding.
"Are they... laying eggs? Reconstructing humans...?"
After the humans they killed collapsed, new black creatures quickly burst from their abdomens.
"Haha... What the hell are those things...? How can something like that even happen...?"
"Wouldn't it be better to just be eaten or killed than end up like that!?"
"Haha... hahahahahaha... Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
Laughter born from despair echoed across the shore.
Inside the Blood Fort, that despair manifested in a far more immediate form.
"An unidentified Mana reaction has appeared in the Persian Gulf, and there are enormous numbers of them!"
"Each individual has a Mana reading higher than even Ugallu!"
"Their population has already exceeded one hundred million, and they're still multiplying..."
"This isn't something Chaldea can deal with. It isn't something the human world can deal with...!"
Kingu looked exhilarated. "Exactly. No one can stop Mother anymore."
"Not the gods. Not the King of Magecraft."
"But you can rest easy. You may perish, but humanity itself will not."
"They are the 'next generation' of perfect humans Mother designed to cover this world. Laḫmu."
"Old humanity will be abandoned and eliminated here. This planet will become our home."
"So this time, it truly is farewell."
"You humans can cling miserably to life on a land overrun by them and quietly meet your end."
With those words, Kingu flew out of the Blood Fort without looking back.
"Hey, Merlin."
Shirou silently lowered the black bow in his hands.
At this point, chasing down and killing Kingu would accomplish nothing.
"Sorry, Shirou... This one was my mistake."
"I thought I could buy us a little more time, but instead I accelerated everything."
Merlin spoke as he struggled to support his rapidly fading body.
"Hurry back to Uruk. She may have awakened, but she hasn't begun moving yet."
"...Total annihilation may be unavoidable, but there are still measures we can take."
"Our true enemy this time is a Beast of Suppression that devours Human Order."
"The Sea of Life. The Mother of Origins. One of the 'Seven Evils of Humanity,' the Beast of Original Sin."
"Originally, she was the ultimate enemy, one that could only be confronted by seven Grand Heroic Spirits. So..."
Merlin grabbed the red-haired boy by the shoulder and looked straight into his disciple's eyes.
"...This is the real reason I brought you to this era."
"If it's you, then I know you can do it..."
"Shirou, you must become the Grand who defeats Goddess Tiamat."
…
…
"Gorgon has already been defeated? If that's the case... then what were those disgusting things I saw on the way here?"
When the group emerged from the Blood Fort, they found the Venus Goddess waiting for them after tracking Kingu all the way there.
Ishtar, having lost a high-speed race for the first time, was in a terrible mood.
"What the hell happened, Ritsuka!? Explain everything to me right now, in thirty words or less!"
"That's asking way too much!"
Ritsuka Fujimaru gave Ishtar a brief explanation of the situation in about one hundred and fifty words.
"Those things are Laḫmu!?"
Cold sweat ran down Ishtar's face.
It was difficult to believe, but there was no longer any room for doubt.
"I see... Mother really has awakened..."
Meanwhile, Dr. Roman continued reporting on the state of the Singularity. "Massive Mana readings originating from the Persian Gulf are spreading throughout all of Mesopotamia!"
"Their speed varies from individual to individual. Some are moving at around thirty kilometers per hour, while others exceed one hundred!"
"What about Uruk!? How long until those things reach Uruk!?"
"Estimated time of arrival is less than three hours."
"The only good news is that although the total number of lifeforms we've detected exceeds one hundred million, only a small fraction of them have actually climbed onto land."
"Based on a rough scan, there are probably around one hundred thousand?"
"Of those, roughly twenty thousand are heading toward Uruk, and some of them will break off at the cities along the way."
"So I'd estimate that around ten thousand will ultimately reach Uruk."
"Ten thousand!? How is that supposed to be good news!?"
Ishtar clutched her head. "Ten thousand of them! Monsters on Ugallu's level! There's no way Uruk can withstand that many in its current state!"
"Calm down, Ishtar."
Shirou continued, "Go back to Uruk immediately and tell Gilgamesh what happened here."
"We'll head for the North Wall right away and explain the situation to Quetzalcoatl, King Leonidas, and the others."
"Mm, got it. You be careful too, Shirou. Don't push yourself too hard."
With that, Ishtar jumped onto Maanna and vanished beyond the horizon like a raging storm.
"Don't suddenly start acting like some model student... Seriously."
Watching her disappear into the distance, Shirou sighed helplessly.
Mother...
The true Goddess Tiamat had awakened.
The woman he had met countless times before within those dreams of Imaginary Numbers was the final trial Shirou would have to face.
Most likely... words would no longer reach her.
Unlike the Mother he had encountered within the Imaginary Numbers, the one who had awakened now was a human Beast acting entirely on instinct.
Even if Shirou stood directly in front of her, she probably wouldn't recognize him...
No. She probably didn't even remember that he existed anymore.
The boy couldn't help recalling what Merlin had said before disappearing.
To stop Mother, I have to become a Grand Heroic Spirit... Is that it?
...
...
The Indian Ocean was burning.
The vast sea had been dyed in the primordial colors of Earth before life had ever come into being.
An exquisitely beautiful woman stood within that primordial tide, her hands and wrists bound in shackles, yet her bearing remained dignified and serene.
She possessed a mature, bewitching beauty, yet radiated the purity of a virgin.
Her cross-shaped Star Eyes, reflecting the Inner Sea of the Planet, sang of the planet's Mystery.
Her curved dragon horns, symbols of the ancient earth, spoke of nature's blessings.
This was Tiamat's Mind Body, the Lady of Fate [Femme Fatale].
With sorrow written across her face, the Goddess of Creation slowly parted her lips.
"AAaaame... miya... Shirou..."
***
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