"Are you really a goddess?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the goddess Ishtar with open doubt. After all, what kind of goddess suddenly fell out of the sky and used her face as the brakes?
A goddess might not always be overwhelmingly powerful, but at the very least, she should not be this unreliable.
"She feels even more hopeless than Ei and Miko—" Lumine said to Koji.
"Don't compare this embarrassing, constantly-dropping-the-ball goddess to silly Furina," Koji corrected her.
Furina just looked a little airheaded at times, but her personality was genuinely good.
As for this Ishtar, her personality could only be described as awful. She was still somewhat tolerable while using a vessel, but if it were her true self, she would be completely impossible to get along with—far worse.
Comparing Ishtar to silly Furina was practically an insult to Furina.
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
Ishtar had heard every word clearly. There was no outright insult in his tone, but every line carried the meaning that she was terrible through and through. How could she possibly swallow that?
"I mean exactly what I said. The gods in your world are all pretty awful," Koji said bluntly.
"Heh. You've got some nerve."
Ishtar stared at him with a false smile. Divine authority erupted from her, and Mash felt her breathing become a little stifled.
With that kind of power, she was unquestionably a goddess.
"I'm very brave, thank you very much."
Koji remained calm, one hand resting on the hilt of his sheathed sword. It was a direct clash of force against force. Everyone uninvolved immediately backed away. If this kept escalating, it would turn into a real fight.
As ordinary humans, they really had no business getting involved in something like this.
"..."
Ishtar's pupils shrank slightly, and she took a long, hard look at Koji. This man who looked completely ordinary actually carried an aura no weaker than her own.
"Goddess Ishtar, I heard you have a bull named Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven. Why not call it out too?" Koji said, pretending not to know anything.
The Bull of Heaven had probably been summoned away by someone from another parallel world. That would explain why she could not find it even after coming to a parallel world.
"Ah?"
The instant she heard the name Gugalanna, Ishtar completely deflated. Her eyes flickered with embarrassment and evasiveness.
Others might not know, but how could she not know?
The main reason she had come to this godforsaken place in the first place was to search for her missing bull.
"Ahem. I just remembered I have something else to do, so I'll be going now."
Ishtar flew off at once. If she stayed any longer, the fact that she had lost Gugalanna might come to light, and then she would really be humiliated beyond words.
My precious bull... where on earth did you run off to?
At the same time, in the Underworld—
"Hahahaha! That idiot actually lost her bull? She really does love embarrassing herself."
Ereshkigal, goddess of the underworld, laughed heartily. Seeing Ishtar make a fool of herself genuinely made her feel fantastic.
Still...
She was a little puzzled. The Bull of Heaven was enormous. How could something that big possibly wander off without a trace?
And even if it had gone missing, tracking down something that large should not have been especially difficult.
A thought occurred to her: maybe it had not wandered off at all. Maybe it had left this world entirely.
Well, whether the Bull of Heaven was lost or not had nothing to do with her anyway.
"An aura tied to life and death..."
Ereshkigal noticed one of Koji's blessings. It carried a presence connected to life and death, though for now, she had no intention of making contact with him.
...
"So the Bull of Heaven got lost?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash both wore awkward, disbelieving smiles. They had both heard the legends of the Bull of Heaven—it was said to be a monstrous giant of unbelievable size.
Eula and the others were thoroughly enlightened. This really was an unreliable goddess.
It was basically the same as a god losing a divine artifact.
"There's no way it could just go missing. That's one of Ishtar's personal possessions."
Romani was baffled. How could the Bull of Heaven possibly be lost?
"Maybe it was summoned away by an Ishtar from another parallel world," Koji said.
Romani fell silent for a moment. That actually was possible. He knew parallel worlds existed.
After waiting for a while, Koji frowned.
Why had Kingu still not shown up? Logically, he should have come to find the people of Chaldea.
Had he run off?
What a coward. He had probably been scared away by Koji's confrontation with Ishtar.
At that moment, a white-haired man and a girl in a black hood appeared.
The moment Mash saw him, she felt an urge to beat him up. That was an extremely rare reaction for her.
The last time it had happened was when she faced Lancelot.
"It's you, white-haired catfish!" Lumine blurted out his nickname.
"Who else would it be? Maybe you should think about the things you've done," Lumine said.
When it came to hitting Merlin, there was absolutely no need to feel guilty.
That was simply the proper treatment for something utterly irredeemable.
"Mash, attack. Show him your strength," Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly ordered.
"Ah? Right!"
Mash froze for a second, then summoned her shield and launched a fierce assault on Merlin. It just so happened she had already felt the urge to do exactly that.
"Wait—"
Bang!
If you have something to say, say it to my shield.
Mash swung her shield with overwhelming force and smashed Merlin straight to the ground. That was only the beginning. Immediately afterward, she launched an even more brutal barrage of attacks.
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
...
With every scream Merlin let out, Mash became even more exhilarated, smashing away with all her might. It was starting to look like she fully intended to pound Merlin into a meat paste.
As for how Merlin felt during all this, that was beside the point. Mash, however, felt amazing.
She could sense Sir Galahad's Saint Graph acknowledging her more deeply, granting her even greater power.
"Galahad, you...!"
How could Merlin not understand what was going on?
Mash herself would never go this far on her own. She was definitely being influenced by Galahad.
"What exactly is happening here?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka walked over to Koji and could not help asking. Watching this scene made her eyelids twitch.
"In the eyes of the Knights of the Round Table, Merlin deserves to be beaten half to death. If they ever got the chance, they would not mind giving him a proper thrashing," Koji explained.
Fujimaru Ritsuka understood immediately. No wonder this was happening. The Saint Graph inside Mash belonged to Sir Galahad, a member of the Round Table.
"So even without using a Command Spell, as long as you give Mash a normal order, she'll gladly beat Merlin up first."
"Got it."
Fujimaru Ritsuka quietly watched the spectacle. She knew some of Merlin's records. This kind of attack could not kill him anyway, so Mash might as well vent to her heart's content.
Ana watched Merlin getting thoroughly beaten up and had no intention whatsoever of breaking it up. He was not going to die anyway.
Seeing this man end up like this made her feel refreshed too. Good. Hit him harder. She even had the urge to walk over and kick him once herself.
"Fou~"
Perched on Fujimaru Ritsuka's shoulder, Fou happily danced around with delight.
This was its favorite kind of show.
(End of Chapter)
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