Chapter 268: Ishtar's Dark History
"How strange..."
Ishtar felt the Authority within her body; she could now summon the Bull of Heaven at any time and any place.
But it was truly so strange!
She felt the Authority, and it was correct—this was Gugalanna!
But why... why did she always feel that this one was slightly, subtly different from her own?
How should she put it... it was a feeling that she wasn't its master.
But she had never heard of there being two Bulls of Heaven before.
Harboring such conflicted thoughts, she looked at Xia Yu with a hesitant gaze.
"What is it?" Xia Yu propped her chin on her hand and looked back at her.
"Confess honestly!" Ishtar leaned closer, glanced at the others who were discussing the plan nearby, and whispered into her ear, "When did you steal my bull?!"
"What do you mean your bull?" Xia Yu smiled and said upon hearing this, "That's my bull!"
"Your bull is in the hands of another you. This wasn't stolen by me, you know. At most, it counts as a duplicate."
"How is that possible!" Ishtar subconsciously denied it upon hearing this. "Gugalanna is the most powerful divine beast in Sumer. How could it possibly be duplicated!"
"True, a divine beast of the Bull of Heaven's caliber possesses uniqueness," Xia Yu said seriously. "Therefore, because the you of another time summoned it, the you who was a step too late couldn't summon it, unless that you cancels the summoning."
"But I am different. This is a mission reward given to me by the Counter Force. After all, I am working for Them. With Their authority on the Throne of Heroes, duplicating a Bull of Heaven for me isn't some difficult matter."
"But..." Ishtar instinctively didn't want to believe it, but the Authority currently within her body was reminding her every second that this was not your bull.
How awkward! Having owned Gugalanna for so many years, it suddenly wasn't hers anymore.
"It's fine, me having it is the same as you having it," Xia Yu patted her shoulder. "In this Singularity, you can use it however you want!"
"And after leaving this Singularity?" Ishtar furrowed her brows tightly.
"Once this Singularity concludes, you'll return to the Throne of Heroes too," Xia Yu smiled upon hearing this. "At that time, you won't have any use for it anyway."
"The next time you get summoned, remember to summon the Bull of Heaven immediately. After all, it possesses uniqueness. First come, first served."
"Ah! How annoying!" Ishtar grabbed her own twin tails upon hearing this, burying her head onto the table with a face full of frustration.
"Come on," Xia Yu patted her shoulder. "Look on the bright side. Life is full of disappointments, right?"
"Isn't it just that your bull got cuckolded? Look at it this way—at least the other party is also you, rather than it being snatched away by someone else, right?"
"Um... Miss Ishtar, Big Sister Kiana," right at this moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked over toward them. "What are your opinions?"
"Opinions?" Ishtar looked at her sideways upon hearing this. "You guys really intend to go?"
"Mhm, Uruk cannot do without Gilgamesh," Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded, her expression firm.
This wasn't empty talk. Gilgamesh was essentially the heart of Uruk. He handled all the daily political affairs, and he also shouldered the Magical Energy for the Servants. He even provided the lion's share of the Magical Energy for the wall of the Demonic Beast Front and the Dingirs on top of it... Wow, calculating it like this, he was practically a superman to be able to last this long!
His death wasn't undeserved.
"That's the Underworld, the Underworld!" Ishtar said with some agitation upon hearing this. "In that world, no matter what kind of Heroic Spirit or divinity it is, they will be rendered powerless."
"You want to go defeat a fellow like that, are you serious?"
Hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka quietly peeked at Xia Yu, then said, "Defeat... whether we defeat her or not is something we'll only know after meeting her."
"You..." Ishtar wanted to say something more upon hearing this, but Quetzalcoatl straight up patted her shoulder. "Alright, Ishtar, you definitely know the way to the Underworld, right?"
"Eh?" Ishtar felt a terrible premonition upon hearing this.
Fujimaru Ritsuka also looked over eagerly. "Ishtar, I hope you can lead the way for us!"
"Refusing to give up until you hit a dead end," Ishtar slammed the table in frustration upon hearing this. "I'll just take you there!"
"And you!" She turned her head to look at Xia Yu. "You definitely have to come along too, right!"
"Does that even need to be said," Xia Yu nodded with a smile.
"Then you guys," Ishtar pointed at Quetzalcoatl, Merlin, and Ana, "you guys stay here. If anything happens, hurry to Kutha to negotiate with Ereshkigal and let Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash return to the surface."
"Alright!" Quetzalcoatl patted Fujimaru Ritsuka's shoulder. "Big Sister is a total weakling in the Underworld, so I'll just wait here for your return. Rest assured, we will guard Uruk well!"
"Be extremely careful, everyone," Merlin also instructed. "In the Underworld, Ereshkigal undoubtedly possesses the strongest authority. If possible, it's best to focus on negotiation and try not to force your way through."
Siduri also spoke up, "Miss Kiana, Lady Ishtar, and the two from Chaldea, I leave the King in your hands!"
In the sky above Kutha.
"Don't think I'm being bothersome," Ishtar looked toward Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash. "I'm asking one more time, do you really want to go?"
"Mhm," Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded firmly.
"Then remember this well!" Hearing this, Ishtar pulled Xia Yu over. "If an emergency happens, we leave her behind and run for it, got it?"
"Uh, leave Big Sister Kiana behind?" The pure-hearted Mash shook her head. "How can we do that..."
"Just listen to me," Ishtar glared at her fiercely, then looked at Xia Yu sideways. "Maybe someone would actually be more than happy about it! Hmph!"
She had always been highly displeased that the servant she took a fancy to was utterly devoted to that gloomy woman.
Meanwhile, Fujimaru Ritsuka keenly sensed that there was a deeper meaning in her words, and she gave Xia Yu a thoughtful look.
"I believe that Ereshkigal is definitely not an evil goddess," she held her chest high and said. "We can definitely reason with her, right, Big Sister Kiana?"
"Sly girl," Xia Yu reached out and flicked her forehead. "If you want to ask, just say it directly. Why beat around the bush?"
"Can I really ask?" Fujimaru Ritsuka's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "Then what is the relationship between Big Sister Kiana and Ereshkigal?"
"Relationship?" Xia Yu tilted her head upon hearing this. "I still owe her a flower, but it's a pity I haven't found one yet. Sigh, Merlin is way too useless. Living in the sea of flowers in Avalon, yet he can't even find a single flower."
"What flower?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked immediately upon hearing this. "Maybe we can help!"
"A flower that will never wither, even within the Underworld," Xia Yu said with a smile. "If you can really find one, consider it a personal favor I owe you."
"...What a joke," Ishtar rolled her eyes at her upon hearing this. "That's the Underworld. Aside from Ereshkigal herself, absolutely no living thing can survive down there."
"Forget it, since we've decided, I'm going to start knocking on the door," Ishtar piloted Maanna and flew toward the sky.
"Eh," seeing this, Mash was deeply perplexed. "Knocking on the door? Why fly into the sky... Wait? Miss Ishtar, what are you doing!"
What was she doing? It was very simple: knocking on the door.
"Maanna bow cannon loading Tidal Cluster Ammunition!" Ishtar poured Magical Energy into her vehicle. "Output at one-third of Lapis Lazuli, isosceles!"
A blue beam of light gradually took shape.
"Shatter!" Ishtar said through gritted teeth, "Gates of the Underworld!"
"Grant heavenly light to the voidless land!"
Even though it wasn't a Noble Phantasm, the goddess's serious strike still blasted straight through hundreds of meters of ground. Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash watched with their own eyes as the earth beneath their feet began to tear apart and churn, before suddenly stepping into empty air.
The two of them fell downward simultaneously.
Fortunately, Xia Yu was quick-witted and agile, grabbing them by the backs of their collars with one hand each before slowly descending.
"Excellent! The door-opening operation has been successfully completed!"
Ishtar raised her hand into a fist, looking extremely happy.
"I say..." Fujimaru Ritsuka was set down by Xia Yu, and then she looked at her with a face full of resentment. "Ishtar, why are you always like this..."
"What's wrong with that?" Ishtar said with a completely matter-of-fact face upon hearing this. "We've smoothly reached the Underworld, so what's the problem?"
"The problem is that they can't fly," Xia Yu sighed. "How about you consider them for a bit before taking action?"
"Don't we still have you?" Ishtar turned her face away upon hearing this.
Just as they entered the Underworld, in the depths of the Underworld, a blonde figure surrounded by countless cages of souls slowly raised her head.
"To think the Underworld was actually right beneath Kutha," Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the desolate, dark land around them. "It's not a domain in another dimension, but genuinely connected to the earth."
"Of course it is," Ishtar explained. "In the Age of Gods, the heavens, the surface, and the Underworld are all on the same tapestry."
Right at this moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked down at an exquisite metal cage resembling a birdcage nearby, and the spectral blue flame burning quietly inside it. She subconsciously wanted to reach out and touch it.
But Ishtar straight up reached out her hand to block her. "Those are the souls of humans who died on the surface. The souls imprisoned inside aren't even permitted to disappear."
Speaking up to this point, she looked at Xia Yu sideways. "Ereshkigal locks the souls of humans she takes a fancy to into cages, placing them by her side to toy with for tens of thousands of years."
The implied meaning was that the woman really wasn't that good.
But Xia Yu didn't mind.
Just as she probably wouldn't have much common language if Ishtar's original body came, the one she liked was the person right now.
As for the original body from the Age of Gods... emmm, they were all more or less a bit abstract.
But compared to that bunch from Greece, she was already very human-like.
"Are the souls of those who wasted away and died on the surface here too?" Mash followed up with a question.
"Probably?" Ishtar looked around, her brows furrowed tightly. "It feels like the number is even greater than before..."
"They must have been collected after joining the Three Goddess Alliance."
Speaking up to this point, she looked at Xia Yu. "Tsk, does that fellow want to build a kingdom of the dead?"
"Not to that extent," Xia Yu shook her head upon hearing this. "Although it looks terrifying, sometimes a sturdy cage isn't necessarily meant for imprisonment."
"Not for imprisonment," Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the nearby cage of souls. "Then it's for..."
Xia Yu didn't answer her.
"Miss Ishtar," Mash looked at their guide, "how can we find Ereshkigal?"
"Right ahead," Ishtar pointed at the deep path in front of them. "After passing through the seven gates, we will reach Ereshkigal's palace."
"She is right there."
Hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked up and asked, "Ishtar knows a lot about the Underworld."
"Eh?" Ishtar froze entirely upon hearing this.
"Not only do you know the rules of the Underworld, but you can even name the specific terrain..."
Mash also looked over curiously. "Come to think of it, that's true."
"Ahahaha," Ishtar rested her hands on her hips, forcing herself to save face. "This is just a goddess's intuition..."
The curious kitten Mash continued to ask, "Didn't they say Divine Authority cannot be used in the Underworld?"
Meanwhile, Fujimaru Ritsuka had already sensed that something was wrong. She laughed it off and said, "She is a goddess after all, and a local deity at that. It's normal for her to know some secrets."
"Mhm," Mash nodded seriously upon hearing this. "Miss Ishtar is very reliable!"
Hearing her words, Ishtar was completely left at a loss. If Mash were being sarcastic, she would naturally have ways to deal with her.
But Ishtar could tell that it was a heartfelt compliment... which made it even more awkward.
"Alright, stop talking, you guys," Xia Yu felt awkward just watching on Ishtar's behalf...
"Ah! Honestly!" Seeing this, Ishtar threw caution to the wind. "It's because I've been to the Underworld before!"
She walked quickly ahead, speaking as she walked, "I originally didn't want to say it..."
"Ah?" Mash also realized she had touched upon a forbidden topic. "Um... sorry, Miss Ishtar."
"You don't need to apologize," Ishtar was still very reasonable. "I was the one throwing a tantrum in the first place."
"My descent into the Underworld was a failure. After conquering Mount Ebih, I believed there was nothing I couldn't do, so I ignorantly barged into the Underworld."
Speaking up to this point, she wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "The result was a total and utter defeat."
"Seven of my Authorities were stripped away, and finally I was dragged stark naked before that fellow, before being turned into a pincushion..."
"Uh... that really is..." Mash felt very self-reproachful. "No wonder you didn't want to bring it up."
"So since then, I've been very bad at dealing with that fellow," Ishtar brought the group to a stone gate.
"The place we are going to is the domain of a cruel fellow like that. Are you guys ready?"
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