"Evaporate?"
Quetzalcoatl's suggestion made Shiomi pause.
As the sun goddess of South Arica, she could certainly wield solar authority powerful enough to evaporate the Chaos Tide beneath Tiamat's feet—heat so intense it could even lt the very earth.
"Solar Calendar Stone?" Shiomi asked.
"If I release the True Na of that Noble Phantasm, I can burn away the black mud covering the land and stop Tiamat's advance," said Quetzalcoatl. "At that mont, we can—"
The logic was simple. Tiamat had co ashore from the Persian Gulf onto the sopotamian plains using the Chaos Tide as a dium.
As the Primordial Mother, the Sea of Life incarnate, Tiamat couldn't touch solid ground in her current form. She was a living factory capable of interstellar travel, brimming with magical energy and storing within her a vast genetic archive of lifeforms.
She was, in every sense, a divine ark—one humanity in the 21st century would still need centuries to replicate.
This was the true nature of the goddess Tiamat.
"Can it really be that easy?" Shiomi remained skeptical. "As long as sothing was born within proper human history, then—"
"That's only half the truth. sopotamian divinity and authority can't harm Tiamat, but I'm a Chief God from faraway South Arica. If I go all out, I may not be able to land a fatal blow—but I can at least create an opening for you to strike with Marduk's Axe!" Quetzalcoatl grinned as she crushed several Laḫmu with a casual flick of her hand.
Shiomi stood astride the pterosaur. "Even for a Chief God, how long can your current Spirit Origin sustain that power?"
"..."
Quetzalcoatl was montarily at a loss.
"Then… should we just use Marduk's Axe directly?" Artoria raised her hand and fired a smaller-scale Holy Lance, blasting the Laḫmu circling above.
"I think it's the more reliable plan," Shiomi steadied himself. "But soone needs to draw Tiamat's attention. Otherwise, these Laḫmu will swarm us and interfere with the Noble Phantasm's activation."
At his words, both Artoria and Quetzalcoatl realized what Shiomi intended to do.
"Master, you do understand—facing Tiamat with your power..." Artoria grimaced. She wanted to stop him, but when she turned and saw his resolute expression, she fell silent.
Shiomi gave a small smile. "It's fine. I've been through this once—I'm not so easy to swallow, even for the will and authority of a Mother Goddess."
Quetzalcoatl studied him silently for two seconds, then gave a nod of approval.
"Then go. Just don't forget to summon Marduk's Axe first."
"I will!" Shiomi patted Artoria on the shoulder. "I'm leaving the pterosaur to you."
Artoria crouched down, gripping the reins. "Go, Master."
"...Maybe next ti, call by na? All this 'Master' talk doesn't feel very equal," Shiomi said with a smile, then jumped off the pterosaur's back.
He mirrored Artoria's earlier charge through the Laḫmu swarm, but with magecraft maintaining his low-altitude flight and hover, Shiomi was able to maneuver more precisely—looping around to confront Tiamat from the front.
He wasn't as fast as Kingu using Enkidu's body, who could break the sound barrier—but he was still quicker than Tiamat's steady advance.
"Kill him! Kill him!"
The Laḫmu's screeches had beco coherent—primitive words, their voices gradually mastering human language.
Yet even so, their hive-mind behavior hadn't changed. They weren't so new form of life.
Shiomi hovered directly in front of Tiamat, holding Gungnir horizontally with both hands like a staff, completely ignoring the Laḫmu's movents.
There was no need. Any Laḫmu that drew close was struck down—by the Noble Phantasms or the Holy Lance—before they ever reached him.
"From this point on... it's a dialogue of authority, Mother."
Shiomi addressed the Primordial Mother with deep respect.
"Your rage is justified. Your grief runs deep. But... humanity must grow up. We have to leave our mother's arms behind, and so—"
Tiamat's gaze naturally fell upon Shiomi. Compared to her, he was smaller than a Laḫmu—utterly insignificant.
Yet the Primordial Mother could not overlook him.
Or more precisely, she couldn't ignore the power within him—so similar in nature to her own, yet painfully immature.
"Aaaaa————!"
A sound like a song, like a lant, echoed across the sky.
"Too bad I still can't understand you."
Shiomi let out a low sigh, then opened his eyes wide. A drop of blood slipped from the hand clutching Gungnir.
So tiny that no one noticed, that drop of blood did not evaporate in freefall. It was wrapped in magical energy—and sank into the Chaos Tide below.
"AaaaaAaaaa————!"
In an instant, Tiamat sensed it. Her cry intensified.
"So even the smallest motion draws your attention..."
Shiomi's body began to fall apart.
Blood stread from his eyes, nose, mouth, even his ears.
It felt like a thousand Laḫmu were tearing him in a thousand directions. The pain nearly overwheld him in a single mont.
"Haaaaaahhhhhh—!!"
Shiomi roared, his voice swallowed by the howling wind and distant explosions.
That first drop of blood was like a seed cast into the soil.
It sprouted. Took root. Grew.
The churning Chaos Tide gradually halted, transforming into towering trees that shot up one after another.
The lifeless sopotamian plains—once reduced to a primordial hell—blossod with life once more.
Even if it was only trees and wild grasses, silent and unmoving.
In re monts, a forest ford—one the Chaos Tide could no longer devour—wrapping around Tiamat and impeding her advance.
Of course, it was only a delay.
Tiamat had stopped for now, having lost the Chaos Tide under her feet.
But that was only because Shiomi was using everything he had to resist the backlash of that authority. The mont he faltered—even for less than a second—these trees would crumble into ash, returning to the endless black mud, and he'd relive yesterday's failure all over again.
How long could he hold on?
Five seconds? Ten?
Shiomi didn't know.
But he knew this—Tiamat and every Laḫmu were now focused entirely on him.
The eyes of the Primordial Mother glared down, and an oceanic wave of consciousness surged toward his mind, resonating with divine authority.
Hold it... just hold on!
Don't let her will consu you. Push past the emotions—reach her heart!
And then, his mind was pulled into the depths—into an endless sea.
...
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