"Hey, what's wrong, Ishtar?"
Roy noticed Ishtar had suddenly vanished from his side and turned back, asking with a hint of concern.
Ishtar, who had been trailing close behind, had stopped in her tracks. She was curled up, her expression tinged with embarrassment.
Roy didn't pry into the reason.
He saw that her already revealing Sumerian-style clothing was nearly gone. The celestial boat Maanna and her ornate jewelry had vanished, and even the crucial cloth covering her chest seemed to have disappeared.
"Idiot! Turn your head back!"
When Ishtar caught Roy's icy blue gaze, her face flushed crimson. She let out a squeal like a startled marmot, her body radiating steam as if she were a freshly forged iron block.
"My apologies…"
Roy didn't linger on the sight. He immediately turned away, not forgetting to warn Tezcatlipoca beside him not to look back.
"Well, well, looks like that lady's divinity has been stripped clean, hasn't it?"
Unlike Roy, Tezcatlipoca, a fellow underworld deity, was the first to notice Ishtar's change.
The gates they'd just passed through seemed simple enough, having no effect on Roy, a human. But that was only for Roy.
These underworld gates were barriers set by Ereshkigal specifically to counter Sumerian gods. Each gate a Sumerian deity passed stripped away a portion of their divinity and confiscated a piece of their divine equipment.
That's why the Venus goddess was in such a pitiful state now.
"So that's it. Any solutions, Berserker?" Roy asked Tezcatlipoca.
"Solutions, huh…"
Tezcatlipoca shook his head slightly. "This is a restriction set by the underworld's ruler for the gods. It's not my divine domain, so I don't have any good fixes."
"But one thing's certain: if that Venus goddess keeps following us, she'll likely lose all her divinity and cease to be a goddess entirely."
"I see…"
Nodding at Tezcatlipoca's answer, Roy closed his eyes and turned back toward Ishtar.
"Hey, you… what are you doing? Turn back around…"
"Don't worry, my eyes are closed. I can't see you."
"Oh, well… good, then."
Embarrassed for the first time in front of Roy, Ishtar's expression was tense. She gritted her teeth and said, "This has to be Ereshkigal's doing again. So annoying! She's stripping my divinity, just like last time I came to the underworld."
"Stripping divinity, huh…"
"Ishtar, should I escort you out? If you keep going, your condition will only get worse."
Roy asked earnestly.
He'd assumed Ereshkigal's trials would target him, the mortal visitor, but instead, her focus was still on Ishtar.
He could understand why Ishtar's sharp tongue and lack of tact might have provoked her. But stripping a girl's clothes in front of men was a bit much.
After passing just four gates, Ishtar's divinity was nearly gone.
What would happen if she crossed the final three? It was unimaginable, so he wanted to get her out first.
"Who… who needs you to escort me out? I didn't come here because of you."
Ishtar's expression was defiant. "Have you forgotten Gramps's task? Besides…"
"This time, I want to finish what I couldn't say to that idiot last time."
"Really now…"
Roy sighed and used projection magecraft to conjure a blanket, draping it over Ishtar to cover her exposed body.
"You've got some nerve, Ishtar."
"Seems the lesson from last time didn't stick. Are you going to spout more irresponsible nonsense like before?"
Ereshkigal's voice echoed from the underworld's sky, cool and detached. "If you turn back now, I'll restore your divinity and equipment. How about it? This trial has nothing to do with you. You could pass Enki's message to me directly or let this warrior who came to see me handle it. That's not a bad option, right?"
"Mind your own business! I'll do what I want!"
Clutching the blanket Roy gave her, Ishtar stood and shouted at the voice in the sky. "I'm the embodiment of love and beauty. This level of punishment is nothing to me."
"Compared to you, trying to humiliate me with these tricks, I'm in top form right now."
"Are you… trying to provoke me?"
"Think what you want! Whatever tricks you've got left, bring them on, Ereshkigal!"
"You…!!"
A surge of rage echoed from the underworld's sky, the aura from the gates growing more menacing. Ereshkigal was clearly incensed by Ishtar's words.
An unknown energy rippled beneath their feet.
Just as spear cages began to rise from the ground to punish Ishtar, a hand wreathed in white mana swept through.
Buzz!!
A piercing sound rang out as mana clashed with underworld divinity, shattering the black spear cages rising from the ground with a single swipe from Roy.
"You… why protect her, trial-taker? Why shield this arrogant, infuriating goddess?!"
"Huh?" Seeing Roy step in front of her, Ishtar froze, then obediently hid behind him, continuing to taunt the sky. "See? I've got someone protecting me. You can't touch me now. You gloomy, torment-loving goddess, just wait there. This time, I'll face you and give you a proper thrashing!"
"You…"
Ereshkigal was about to erupt again, but Roy spoke up.
"Please stop, Lady Ereshkigal. This isn't like you. It's not something you'd do."
"Ishtar's mouth is infuriating, and she often does things that upset others, but please believe me, she doesn't come with malice this time."
"Are you pleading for her?"
"No, I'm just stating the truth."
"And I don't want to see you do this. You're not an evil god. You're a deity I respect and admire."
"…"
This time, Ereshkigal didn't respond, but the underworld's sky fell silent.
The gates ahead opened with a resounding creak.
Roy knew Ereshkigal had agreed to spare Ishtar. He looked to the sky and said, "Thank you for your generosity, Lady Ereshkigal."
"Really… acting like you know me so well…"
Deep in the underworld, Ereshkigal frowned, gazing at the water mirror showing Roy and the others, and sighed.
"But do you truly know me? Don't make me out to be so perfect… I'm the underworld goddess who takes human lives…"
"How am I supposed to face you, to interact with you, like this?"
…
…
She'd heard countless gentle stories from the souls of the dead.
She was filled with longing and yearning for the outside world.
She wanted to bask in the sun's warmth, watch the sunrise and sunset from beautiful mountains, embrace the blue sky, and smell the fragrance of flowers. Most of all, she wanted someone who understood her.
But where there was light, there were shadows.
Every gentle story was propped up by tragedy.
She was the shadow supporting those gentle tales.
If the outside world was a stage where beauty played out, she was the pillar holding it up.
Every actor could dance freely on that stage, weaving their own beauty, except her.
Actors could change, the stage's decor could be rebuilt, but she, the pillar upholding it, could never change.
Death was inescapable for all life.
If life had a beginning, it would have an end.
Parting through death and returning to the underworld was the duty bestowed upon her by the King of Gods, the law that sustained the world. Ereshkigal had faithfully fulfilled this role from the start.
Yet, despite being a goddess dwelling in darkness, diligently maintaining the world's order, she received not encouragement from the gods or reverence from humans, but blame and fear.
The gods feared her terrifying power. Humans cursed her cruelty for taking the lives of their kin, friends, and lovers.
All tragedies and faults were pinned on her.
She was forever the misunderstood, fearsome deity, a monster, a harbinger of calamity in epic tales.
It led Ereshkigal to question whether her existence was a mistake. She was only doing her duty, so why did it end like this?
Humans died, plants withered, animals perished.
Nothing was truly eternal. Death and return to the underworld were life's inevitability.
So why was she blamed for everything? She'd done nothing wrong, worked so hard, longed for human acceptance, yet why?
Why did it turn out this way?
The underworld hadn't seen visitors besides the dead in countless years. Her voice was the only sound echoing in this realm.
Unlike the grand, splendid temples and palaces of other gods, her palace was mere rubble.
No god would help her build a temple, let alone humans. Even this ruin-like pile of debris was the result of her careful construction and care.
She slept on the underworld's cold floor, gazing into the dark abyss, wandering through endless darkness, or meticulously crafting spear cages to collect human souls.
Day after day, for millennia.
She was tired, weary of it all.
Sometimes, she wondered if dying would be easier than this life. If she were dead, she'd feel nothing, right?
But that thought only flickered briefly. If even she escaped her duties through death, who would care for the living and the dead?
Surely not Ishtar…
…
…
"Ereshkigal! Get out here!!"
After passing the final three underworld gates without further interference from Ereshkigal, they easily reached the temple.
But the desolate, dilapidated scene was less a temple and more a ruin. Roy and Tezcatlipoca had never seen a god's temple so drafty and broken.
Seeing where Ereshkigal lived, Ishtar's emotions surged far beyond Roy and Tezcatlipoca's.
Clutching her blanket, she pushed open the temple's door and rushed into Ereshkigal's crumbling sanctuary.
"Wait a second…"
Seeing Ishtar's recklessness, Roy tried to stop her, but she was beyond reason.
She stormed into the temple, shouting at the dark sky, "Ereshkigal, you're here, right? Come out and face me!!"
"I came to say one thing: if you hate this place, just leave! Let those damned, troublesome duties go to Enlil!!"
"If you don't want to, I'll drag you out myself. Let this broken underworld be Father and Gramps's headache!!"
"…Ishtar."
"You hopeless idiot…"
After a brief silence, a gust of white sand suddenly swirled up. The underworld's sands at the temple's base stirred, moving on their own.
The white sand spun around Ishtar, coalescing into a pale, massive hand that seized her.
"What is this?!"
Ishtar tried to break free with her divine power, but suppressed by the underworld and stripped by four gates, she was little more than a slightly stronger human. She had no strength to escape a god's grasp.
The surrounding winds howled like the underworld's fury. Countless grains of white sand swirled in the air, quickly forming a skeletal giant in a white wedding dress within the temple.
While one hand held Ishtar, the skeletal giant's hollow eye sockets burned with blue flames, staring intently at Roy in the temple.
"You're Roy… right? As you can see, this is the true face of the goddess you called most beautiful. Ugly and terrifying, isn't it…"
Seeing the towering skeletal queen formed from underworld sand, Roy frowned, glancing at Ishtar, gripped tightly in its hand, with a helpless expression.
"Yes, I've finally seen you."
"So… human." The skeletal queen Ereshkigal asked gravely, "answer my question. Even after seeing this horrific, loathsome form, do you still stand by your earlier choice? Answer me again…"
"Who is more beautiful, Ereshkigal or Ishtar?!"
A soul-piercing question roared from Ereshkigal, the underworld's judgment laced with a chilling, terrifying aura. Black energy swirled around Roy, frost forming on the ground from her icy breath.
This was no longer the playful exchange at the gate. Ereshkigal was serious, her true judgment as the underworld's mistress. Any lie would see his soul banished to the most terrifying abyss.
Roy sighed, falling silent.
"Hey, hey!! Is that even a question?"
Ishtar, clutched in the skeletal hand, mocked the ghastly white skeleton. "Look at your ugly form. Even a brainless beast would know the answer!!"
"Silence! It's not your turn to speak."
A flash of anger crossed Ereshkigal's eyes, and she flung Ishtar away with a heavy toss.
"Eek?!!"
Panicking as she was hurled through the air, Ishtar's divine power was fully stripped, leaving her body to fly like a sandbag in free fall.
"Tch… I told you to be careful. Now you've learned your lesson."
With a helpless sigh, the expected pain didn't come. A familiar hand caught her arm, gently lifting her and setting her back on the ground.
Roy raised his head, gazing earnestly at the skeletal goddess, his expression tinged with regret.
"I'd love to stick to my earlier answer, but I can't now…"
"What?! So your words were all lies?!! Liar! Liar!! You damned liar!!!"
Ereshkigal erupted in fury, the underworld's winds raging. Countless golden spear cages materialized around Roy, lunging toward him.
Roy had anticipated her righteous anger.
Raising his fingers, he unleashed his vast mana, forming a vacuum barrier that forcibly suppressed Ereshkigal's spear cages.
"If it was earlier, I'd have said it was you without hesitation, but not now."
"Why?! You said I was…"
A bone-chilling frost accompanied the skeletal goddess's furious roar.
"No reason…" Roy countered her spear cages with his mana, answering calmly, "Because you're not being honest."
"You agreed to meet me, but how can I see your true self through such a sturdy shell? How can I understand your heart? I don't want to see this white skeleton, I want the real Ereshkigal."
"So, if you're willing to open your heart to me, I'll give you an answer you'll be satisfied with."
___
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