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"Shirou Emiya..."
From within the massive skeleton, Ereshkigal's questioning voice echoed.
"Have you finally come?"
She held a gigantic lance of light in her hands.
"Have you come to stop me as well?"
"Huh? Stop what?"
Ereshkigal's words left Shirou Emiya momentarily confused.
Was there something wrong with how he had spoken before?
Hadn't he come here to snatch someone away?
His eyes were filled with genuine doubt.
"Why are you playing dumb?"
"Didn't you come to stop me from killing all the humans of Mesopotamia and bringing their souls into the Underworld?"
From Ereshkigal's perspective, everything Shirou Emiya had said before had been persuasion.
An attempt to pull her into Uruk's camp.
No matter how gentle or teasing his words sounded, his ultimate goal was still to stop her actions and defeat the goddesses of the Three Goddess Alliance.
Because of that, even though his words had brought her waves of joy-
She could not accept them.
"Tsk."
"Can I say you're overthinking it?"
"Stop quibbling!"
Ereshkigal's voice rose sharply.
"This is the first thing I've ever wanted to do as the Mistress of the Underworld. I-"
"Wait."
Shirou Emiya cut her off directly.
His tone was calm.
Serious.
"I don't care about any of that."
"And I don't intend to understand it either."
"That's your duty."
He continued without pause.
"What I want to do is simple."
"I want to defeat you."
"That's all."
"..."
"Or what?"
"Are you already afraid?"
"...Foolish!"
The giant skeleton lifted its head, staring straight at Shirou Emiya.
"Challenge me?"
"Don't make me laugh."
"In the Underworld, I am invincible!"
As she brandished the lance of light, Ereshkigal finally understood.
Everything Shirou Emiya had said before was true.
He hadn't come to persuade her.
He hadn't come to stop her ideals.
He had come only to defeat her.
And then dominate her.
The realization made Ereshkigal's face, hidden within the skeleton, flush red.
Driven by embarrassment, she lashed out violently.
Yet following the brief surge of secret joy came an overwhelming sense of disappointment.
Because-
There was no possibility of her losing.
As the Mistress of the Underworld, she was invincible here.
"If only..."
"If I really could lose to him..."
The thought was crushed the instant it formed.
Shame and anger buried it deep within her heart.
In its place, her resolve hardened.
"I will fulfill my duty."
"I will kill all humans and bring their souls into the Underworld."
"That is my thought."
"My will."
"No matter who stands in my way..."
"I will kill them."
"And that includes you, Shirou Emiya!"
With her determination set, Ereshkigal thrust her lance forward.
Dozens of magic spears formed from pure magical energy shot toward Shirou Emiya.
Empowered by the authority of the Underworld Goddess, they carried the unmistakable aura of death.
Shirou Emiya did not move.
He drove the staff in his left hand into the ground and extended his palm forward.
"The Small World Enveloping the Azure Sky."
The incantation was breathed softly from his lips.
A Noble Phantasm-one long since reinforced to the level of a Divine Tool-unfolded before him.
The goddess's attack was completely blocked outside the barrier.
"It was... blocked?"
Ereshkigal's surprise had barely surfaced when Shirou Emiya spoke again.
"It's only polite to return the favor."
"Your turn is over, right?"
"Then it's my turn."
He tightened his grip on the staff embedded in the ground.
Slowly, he extended his right hand.
A stone tablet appeared in his palm.
Ereshkigal felt no sense of danger.
She was still caught in the turbulence of her own emotions.
In the Age of Gods, staves and stone tablets were nothing unusual.
They were tools used by mages.
Even Gilgamesh, in his Caster form, wielded a stone tablet as a magic implement.
Magic itself did not threaten her.
If Shirou Emiya had drawn a Divine Tool that targeted her authority-
She might have felt nervous.
But magic?
It didn't deserve her attention.
"So this is your weapon?"
"How disappointing."
She raised her lance, unimpressed.
Then-
A beam of fire erupted from the ancient stone tablet.
"What is that?"
A sharp sense of danger screamed within her.
Ereshkigal immediately tried to intercept the flame with her lance.
But the fire twisted.
As if alive.
Just before colliding with her weapon, it veered aside-
And slammed directly into the giant skeleton.
In an instant, searing pain flooded her entire body.
At the same time, something vital was being torn away.
"Wait-!"
Ereshkigal reached out reflexively.
She grasped nothing.
As her power drained, cracks spread across the massive skeleton encasing her.
Then-
It shattered.
Fragments scattered across the ground.
"What...?"
Sitting on the ground, the blonde, frail-looking Ereshkigal stared blankly at her surroundings.
Her expression was filled with confusion.
"My power..."
"It's gone?"
"That's right."
Shirou Emiya walked toward her slowly.
In his right hand, the stone tablet glowed faintly, radiating an aura of death.
"Your Underworld authority has been stolen by me."
"This tablet is called the Prometheus Tablet."
"It has the power to steal a god's authority."
"And make it its own."
He raised it slightly.
"Your authority now rests within this tablet."
Ereshkigal looked up at him.
Aggrieved.
Lost.
From the very start, she had been led by the nose.
Unlike Ishtar, Ereshkigal had never left the Underworld.
She had no martial training.
No combat awareness.
Almost no battle experience.
After all, she had always been invincible.
Anyone foolish enough to challenge her there had zero chance of victory.
Even Ishtar, who had once prepared seven authorities to counter her, had been stripped of them before ever meeting her.
Then killed without resistance.
With the authority of the Underworld, Ereshkigal was absolute.
Provided-
She still possessed it.
To ensure success, Shirou Emiya had disguised himself as a mage.
And without meeting any resistance at all-
He had stolen her authority.
Resulting in the scene before him.
"I win this duel, Eresh."
Shirou Emiya smiled gently.
The battle-
Had ended the moment it truly began.
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