Chapter 271: I Help You, and You Help Me!
"What do you mean, 'the first decision made of your own will'!"
Ishtar hurled Gems from her hands as if they cost nothing, causing rays of Magical Energy to explode across Ereshkigal's massive skeleton form. "Just because no one came to see you, you hid in the Underworld and wouldn't come out!"
"And when I finally came to see you, you started throwing a tantrum again!"
"Ah, ah, ah! For someone like you to be my other half is truly a disgraceful sight!"
"Shut up!" Hearing this, Ereshkigal struck out with her palm in a fit of humiliation and rage, but Ishtar dodged it with great agility.
"Is it my fault?!" she said in a low voice. "Born and immediately bestowed with the duty to guard the Underworld, trapped in this sunless underground, without any pleasure, joy, sorrow, or friends of my own..."
"Throughout these long years, I have had nothing, managing the souls of the dead here all this time, only able to gaze at my other half soaring freely across the sky... Ishtar, did I do something wrong? Are you planning to condemn someone like me?"
"Even now, do you still think my collection of souls is a wrong decision? Fulfilling this duty entirely alone all this time, is no one even willing to come and praise me?"
She felt very aggrieved too. In a situation where their mother wanted to destroy humanity, what else could she do? She could only do what she was best at. Was it her fault for only being able to protect their souls?
She was imprisoned here since birth, born without freedom and without the right to walk upon the earth. Faced with such a desperate situation, what else could she have done?
"Forced to bear a duty that didn't belong to you, having no choice but to carry the weight of the entire world..." Right at that moment, Xia Yu pressed down on Fujimaru Ritsuka's shoulder. "You should understand that feeling very well, right, Ritsuka?"
"No, rather, all of us understand it very well, don't we."
"Big Sister Kiana..." Hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka pursed her lips. "I understand that feeling... but... I haven't felt unhappy."
"Along this journey, there have been times when I complained and wanted to shrink back, but seeing how everyone rises up to resist for the sake of the world... I am not fighting alone, Big Sister Kiana."
She raised her head to look at Xia Yu, then looked at Ereshkigal's massive skeleton. "I have friends, I have companions. Walking down this path, I have felt incredibly fulfilled."
"But I also know that this cannot represent how you all feel. Just like Miss Ereshkigal said, she has nothing, so I have no right to demand that she understand me."
"In that case, there's nothing left but to fight," she took a deep breath. "Mash, let's go..."
She had finally plucked up the courage to fight, but just as she wanted to step forward, her shoulder was firmly pinned down by Xia Yu.
Her expression instantly froze. "No way? Big Sister Kiana? You're joining too? Can you please go easy on her?!"
"Step aside," Xia Yu lifted her by the scruff of her neck and placed her next to Mash, then marched forward.
"Ereshkigal, this is our second time meeting, right?"
"Wh... what second time!" Ereshkigal's voice sounded panicked upon hearing this. "A fallacy! This goddess has never seen you before!"
"Alright, it really isn't the second time," Xia Yu smiled helplessly. "After Ishtar falls fast asleep, haven't we had a lot of conversations?"
"Huh? You knew all along... wait, no!" Ereshkigal spoke subconsciously, but immediately reacted. "You, you, you..."
"Do you still remember what I promised you?" Xia Yu reached out a hand toward her. "I'm sorry, I haven't been able to find a flower that can bloom in the Underworld for the time being."
"But, Ereshkigal—no, Ereshkigal," she walked up to the massive skeleton. "Give up, your plan won't succeed."
"Give up? With just two simple words, you want me to give up everything I've held onto?" Ereshkigal raised the light spear in her hand upon hearing this. "This is the Underworld!"
"There is no land touched by light here, no soil that can make flowers bloom. There is nothing here!"
Ereshkigal's voice spoke softly with a crying tone, "I don't even know what those souls are saying!"
"Give up? How am I supposed to give up?"
"Even if you stand against me... even so... I will create! I will create a Dominion of death that won't lose to any world!"
The light spear was raised high with crimson Magical Energy, then smashed directly down toward Xia Yu.
"No, you're just throwing a tantrum," Blazing Hope slowly manifested in Xia Yu's hand as flames began to burn around her. The fiery light surged toward the light spear with a limitless Sea of Fire!
"But this is your right, something that everyone in Sumer owes to you, a deity of the Underworld who has been working diligently for tens of thousands of years!"
Think about it: a girl, thrown into the sunless Underworld right after birth, with no companions, no friends, not even a single thing that could be called a living being around her, and not a single person she could converse with.
She had endured tens of thousands of years just like this, fulfilling her duties diligently. Even through all this, she hadn't blackened. When facing the crisis of the world overturning, she only thought that since she couldn't defeat the enemy, she would preserve all of humanity's souls.
Saying she wanted to create a Dominion of death that wouldn't lose to any world... wasn't that just so they could live a good life in the Underworld?
Though the method was a bit extreme, the starting point was good. Had it been anyone else suffering all of this, they would probably have formed an ironclad alliance with Gorgon by now.
If it weren't for the inappropriate setting, Xia Yu would have asked her: Ereshkigal, you fellow, do you actually love humans this much?
So, that time Ishtar barged into the Underworld, she really didn't die in vain. As twin halves, one was free and unfettered in the outside world, living a care-free life where no matter what trouble she caused, she had a doting father to back her up.
The other, however, could only exist forever in this sunless Underworld, working diligently without even being able to take a single breath of the outside air that smelled of sunlight and soil...
To be fair, with this contrast, back then Ereshkigal had only punished Ishtar according to the rules of the Underworld... she was kind-hearted enough. Anyone else would have brought out the ten greatest tortures.
Although Ishtar had come with the thought of taking her pitiful younger sister out that time, it was probably precisely because of that thought that she completely enraged her.
After all, a deity of the Underworld must exist, otherwise the cycle of life and death in the entire Sumer would collapse. Ishtar was used to being willful and didn't consider these things, but Ereshkigal was a responsible person; she would never go out with Ishtar.
In her eyes, Ishtar clearly knew all this but still barged into the Underworld. For what? Wasn't it just because her father, the King of Gods, would back up everything she did?
What about herself? As a sister, leave aside privileges, she didn't even have the most basic rights... Xia Yu reckoned that Ereshkigal must have hated her to the bone at that time.
The flames clashed with the light spear, and the resulting aftershock even sent the spectating group flying backward.
"Though we've already interacted many times," Xia Yu looked at Ereshkigal's true body, smiled sweetly, and reached out her hand toward her. "But this is the first time we're face-to-face."
"You..." Looking at her outstretched hand, Ereshkigal was a bit at a loss. "What exactly do you want to..."
"Come help me, Ereshkigal!" Without giving her a chance to retort, Xia Yu grabbed her hand. "You help me, and I'll help you too, how about it?"
"What do you mean?" Ereshkigal was utterly bewildered upon hearing this.
"Do you really think I'm on the same side as them?" Xia Yu glanced in the direction where Ritsuka and the others had been blown away by the aftershock, then added a heavy strike toward the ground, creating the illusion that the two were still fighting.
"My meaning is very clear. Tiamat is my target. You help me achieve my goal, and I'll help you build the nation of the dead you've dreamed of, how about it?"
"But... but..." Hearing this, Ereshkigal was still hesitating. Sure enough, her nature was still too kind. Although she had her own small selfish motives in executing the nation of the dead plan, it was essentially a choice born of having no alternative.
Now that she saw the combat power on Fujimaru Ritsuka's side might be able to save Uruk, she began to hesitate.
"You don't really think Uruk can continue to exist, do you," Xia Yu smiled and said, "It's impossible. Destruction is the only path awaiting Uruk!"
"Otherwise, why do you think Gilgamesh, who possesses Clairvoyance, has been passively resisting all this time? Because he also knows that this Singularity cannot be saved!"
A Singularity specifically refers to an anomalous historical node separated from the normal timeline. It exists on the historical line and forms when historical events or phases change, causing the historical line to diverge and affect the future.
Singularities do not form naturally; they were artificially created by Goetia to achieve the Incineration of Humanity plan. Seven Singularities were implanted by selecting major historical event nodes in Human History, much like inserting blood clots into blood vessels, aiming to collapse Human History starting from those nodes.
"Don't you understand yet? Whether the King of Mages wins or Chaldea wins, this world will cease to exist," Xia Yu sighed. "If the former wins, Human History is finished, and what good could the humans here possibly get?"
"If the latter wins, the existence of this Singularity will also face the correction of the Humanity Order, and everything that happened on this land will cease to exist, reverting into the correct history."
"It's precisely because Gilgamesh saw through this that he has been passively dealing with it all this time. Even he never thought he could truly save the current Uruk; he could only settle for the next best thing and save Human History."
It was the same in the plot. After Tiamat manifested, the people of Uruk all died in battle under the overwhelming attacks of the Lahmu, with not a single survivor.
The reason Gilgamesh put in so much effort was also purely out of a desire to protect Human History and his sense of responsibility toward Uruk. No one knew what they were about to face better than he and Merlin, the two who possessed Clairvoyance.
That was the Beast of Regression, the origin of all life in Sumer, Tiamat. Wanting to protect Uruk from the hands of such an existence was simply a fantastic story.
Clear about all this, Gilgamesh didn't want to accept his fate, but unfortunately, fate wouldn't listen to him. He worked overtime so crazily, never stopping for a moment until he literally worked himself to sudden death. This wasn't necessarily because his excessive sense of responsibility was condemning this Caster Gilgamesh—who knew he couldn't protect anything—at every moment, so he could only numb himself by letting intense work completely occupy his brain.
Xia Yu said softly, "So, the people of Uruk are destined to die. Since they won't survive either way, why shouldn't I support your plan?"
"At least in the Underworld, you can still shelter their souls, can't you?"
"Is that... how it is?" Hearing this, Ereshkigal lowered her head. "I finally saw hope... I didn't expect it to be a joy in vain."
"I almost agreed to them... If it could let the people of Uruk survive... what would it matter if I gave up my little willful desires?"
"No, you should go agree to Ritsuka," Xia Yu said with a smile upon hearing this. "Go become their companion and friend, go help them, and do your best to defeat Tiamat."
"Then, at the very, very end, help me too," she leaned close to Ereshkigal's ear. "I want Tiamat's Genesis Authority. Help me, Ereshkigal."
"As long as you help me, I will help you too. The nation of the dead you long for... as long as we have the Genesis Authority of the Mother of All Life of Sumer, it might not be impossible to achieve!"
As everyone knew, the Underworld of Sumer was created by the local Divine Spirit Systems to perfect the rules of life and death, so it was naturally a tier lower than Tiamat's Authority.
As long as they obtained the Authority of the Mother Goddess of Creation, wanting to change the rules of the Underworld wouldn't be impossible, provided they were willing to pay the price.
"How do I know if you're lying to me?" Ereshkigal was almost entirely swayed, but she still stubbornly raised her head to ask.
"Then you'll have to see for yourself," Xia Yu spoke upon hearing this. "It doesn't matter, I don't absolutely need you to give me an answer right here. Until that final moment arrives, you can just watch."
"But I still hope you can stand on my side, for my sake, and for yours."
Outside, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the towering Sea of Fire, her lips twitching.
She felt that Big Sister Kiana was definitely digging a hole for her again.
"To disparage a duty that one has never shirked all this time, that is a kind of evil," Gilgamesh's expression was complex. He detested the gods, but a goddess like Ereshkigal... even he would admire her.
"Expressing praise for this kind of pain is an insult in itself."
"That's why Fujimaru responded with a battle," Ishtar sighed, then nudged Ritsuka with her hand. "Your highlight moment has been snatched away."
"Sigh," Fujimaru Ritsuka shook her head, feeling a mountain of pressure.
She now felt like she was going to face a double-team from the Sumerian goddesses when the time came. Ah, ah, ah, big sister from South America, I hope you can put in some extra effort!
"The pain within one's own heart is something that belongs to oneself alone," Gilgamesh gazed at the flames and sighed.
"However, I can understand her desire to be understood," Ishtar lowered her head. "Why is there something she couldn't just say to me, her sister, instead of having to..."
Hearing this, both Fujimaru Ritsuka and Gilgamesh looked directly at her, then their eyes met, and they shook their heads simultaneously.
This goddess... truly had no self-awareness about her own existence whatsoever. As her counterpart, the more freely and uninhibitedly you lived, wouldn't that just make her misery stand out even more?
It would be strange if Ereshkigal were willing to talk to her!
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