Demeter. Earth Goddess. Goddess of Fertility.
Or, if you preferred, Demeter, the Interstellar Supply Production Vessel.
As the name implied, this vessel could produce an endless supply of materials for the Olympian interstellar fleet, as well as the resources needed by those living on the surface.
She inherited the nature of one of her prototype deities, the Gaia God, in an extremely concentrated form.
Her Authority was Fertility, meaning production and regeneration. Using that power consumed Mana, but the god-forged leylines of Olympus were linked to the crystalline mountain range above the Interstellar Metropolis, providing an effectively infinite supply.
Now, Demeter abandoned her humanoid shape and returned to the Machine God's original true form.
A jade-green sphere opened along its center, exposing an inner structure the color of flesh. A pair of enormous crimson wings granted the Machine God Demeter overwhelming mobility in the air.
Staring up at Demeter's colossal machine-god form, Shiomi couldn't help quietly marveling again at how sacred and imposing it looked.
He had already seen the Machine God Poseidon before, but the Sea God had been incomplete after losing his divine core. On top of that, Shiomi had gone in holding a sure-kill plan, so Poseidon hadn't truly pressured him.
Demeter was different.
The pressure rolling off her was immense, close to what he'd felt back when he faced the Goddess Tiamat.
This was what a god looked like when it revealed its full power, a being that had been complete since the distant past.
As Demeter rose higher and hovered over the Interstellar Metropolis, Shiomi stared at her without blinking.
"Is it sorrow? Is it sorrow? Sorrow is death, and death is the end. My beloved citizens of Olympus, my beloved children… I'm sorry. I must kill you once."
Demeter's voice echoed above the city, and the meaning of her words made Shiomi's heart lurch.
To defeat him, to kill him, the goddess had made her decision.
Even if she had to drag the entire surviving western sector of the Interstellar Metropolis into it, she would crush the enemy before her.
It wasn't madness. It was absolute rationality.
Or perhaps it was simply Zeus's will. Demeter, unable to resist, could only carry it out, heavy with grief, yet without hesitation.
Either way… it was coming…
Shiomi didn't know how wide the affected area would be.
But he was certain of one thing: whether it was himself or his wife and master still fighting the Bronze Giant, all of them were within the range.
Using the Water Mirror to retreat would be the right call, but it would also mean abandoning the original plan.
Once she lost them as targets, Demeter would keep moving through the Interstellar Metropolis, cruising in other directions. Sooner or later, she would drag the entire city into it.
And to the Olympian gods, a city was nothing. Once their truly important enemies were eliminated, they could simply build another.
But that would put the detached unit operating in the shadows in danger.
More importantly, Shiomi needed to keep Olympus's gaze nailed right here.
"My husband!"
Morgan's voice rang out from behind.
The Bronze Giant had just been brought down by Morgan and Scáthach, crashing heavily into the ruins of the city.
The Mana in the air grew thick and viscous. The rumbling swelled from faint to overwhelming, and the earth, the air, even their bodies began to tremble in unison.
"Bzzz…"
Shiomi raised his hand and felt it immediately. His movements had fallen into a brief stagnation, and he was still too far from Morgan and the others. Even the few seconds it would take to regroup felt unbearably slow.
Run!
Clapping a hand against his thigh, Shiomi shook off Demeter's oppressive pressure and sprinted toward Morgan and Scáthach. They too sensed the looming danger and instantly deployed their barriers.
Two forms of Magecraft overlapped, weaving together into a sturdy bulwark that shut out external harm.
But it still wasn't enough.
This was a merciless blow from the Earth Goddess herself. At the very least, it would take a defense on the level of 『Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia』 to be confident of escaping disaster unscathed.
The Mana in the air compressed to its absolute limit, pushed to a critical threshold by the tremor radiating from Demeter.
"Shatter. Begin."
Like a proclamation of death, the Earth Goddess spoke words that stripped life away.
Everything was being crushed.
Prosperous streets, vibrant lives. Whether inorganic or organic, nothing was spared.
Just as the words implied, all things began to shatter under Demeter's will.
Explosions. Roaring impacts.
The cloud-choked sky was dyed crimson by the burning Interstellar Metropolis.
This was an attack born of Demeter's Authority, the earth-plowing roar of cultivation itself.
It was powerful enough to completely erase entire city sectors. In less than half a day, it could till the whole of Olympus, grinding the Interstellar Metropolis governed by the gods down to nothing.
Even at this cost, the enemy before her had to be destroyed.
There was no weighing of importance. Only the result mattered.
Even as everything was reduced to ruins and death spread everywhere, not a single citizen voiced resentment. Those who survived merely prayed and wailed amid the rubble, begging Demeter for mercy and hoping to be freed from the "suffering" of the present moment.
After all, once everything was over, they would be revived by the goddess's hand. To the people of Olympus, death was nothing more than a temporary sleep.
The citizens fled as they prayed.
No one paid any attention to the vast wasteland at the center of the city, the place first reduced to nothing, where Shiomi and the others were still fighting.
"Bzzz…"
Shiomi clicked his tongue softly and slowly lowered his raised hand. Countless wounds had been carved into his body, blood seeping out and staining him as if he had been rolled through a pool of it.
And all of that blood belonged to him alone.
It was the full-force strike of the Goddess Demeter. When he returned to Morgan and the others, Shiomi had thrown himself forward as a shield, unfolding a third layer of defense with his own body and barely managing to block the vast majority of the damage.
"So this is the Goddess Demeter. Her power really can't be taken lightly," Scáthach said, kneeling on one knee and bracing herself on her spear as she caught her breath.
Morgan supported her left arm, her fingertips trembling slightly. "Even so, even for a goddess with an endless supply of Mana, an attack like that can't be unleashed twice in a short span."
Compared to Shiomi, who looked almost like a man drenched in blood, the two of them had only suffered light injuries, with little more than torn clothing.
That was the result of Shiomi making it back to them and taking the brunt of the damage himself.
"Are you two all right?" he asked calmly as he turned to face them, genuine concern in his voice.
"We're hurt, but it's nothing serious. It's my husband who…" Morgan trailed off.
Another reason Shiomi's injuries were so severe was that he had absorbed a massive amount of damage meant for her. The wounds on Morgan were simply the overflow, the portion that exceeded his limit of compensation.