Several minutes later, Uruk, Ziggurat.
With the help of Merlin and Merry, who had fully recovered their strength, the group that had been stationed at the Northern Wall quickly returned here.
In the Throne Room, Gilgamesh looked at the people who had returned.
"You've come back. This King indeed expected it was time for your arrival."
His gaze swept over everyone, but he didn't see the figure he anticipated. Gilgamesh frowned: "The Holy Sword bearer is absent. Has he set off?"
"Yes, because it's something only he can do. If he doesn't go, no one else can." Merry said, "And what we must do, while Naoki buys time for us, is to prepare for the counterattack."
"Wait a moment, King Gilgamesh!"
Suddenly, Ushiwakamaru interrupted their conversation with a face full of confusion: "The counterattack you two are talking about... what exactly is it? The Magical Beast Goddess has been defeated. The remaining Three Goddess Alliance, I remember Natsukawa-dono has already taken care of them. We shouldn't have any enemies left."
"You haven't told them yet, Incubus?"
"No need to explain twice. Especially since we'll definitely return to Uruk anyway, just explain it here."
Merry said this, then turned around and cleared her throat.
"Ehem~~~ First of all, I want to thank everyone for your hard work. Over the past six months, both the Servants summoned by King Gilgamesh to fight the Magical Beast Goddess invasion and the reinforcements that came later, our battles up to now have concluded. The Magical Beast Goddess has been annihilated, and the Three Goddess Alliance disbanded. Now is the time to cheer and celebrate our victory."
"But unfortunately, our battle isn't over, and has only just begun—the true Magical Beast Goddess has awakened."
The true one?
Amid everyone's confused expressions, Merry continued his explanation: "It all started half a year ago. Along with the Human Order Incineration, seven Singularities appeared, and in each Singularity, entities emerged that sought to destroy humanity."
"The same happened in this Mesopotamia, and compared to the previous six Singularities, the entity that appeared here far surpasses the power of all previous enemies."
An enemy far stronger than all the foes they had faced before.
Ritsuka swallowed hard: "Could it be..... stronger than the Demon God Pillars?"
"The Demon God Pillars are not even comparable to it, Fujimaru." Merlin shook his head.
"Originally, only seven Grand Class Servants could face it. The Beast that devours Humanity."
"The Source of Life, the Primordial Mother, one of the Seven Evils of Man, the Creator Mother of the Mesopotamian world, the Mother of all life."
"—Tiamat."
That was the name of the enemy they would face once more.
Mash frowned: "B-but wasn't Goddess Tiamat already defeated by Big Brother? Just now, the Magical Beast Goddess was confirmed to be annihilated."
"That was just a fake." Gilgamesh sneered. "Synchronization, replication, transplantation, imitation... perhaps through one of these methods, that divine snake obtained power similar to Tiamat. If it were the real Tiamat, let alone half a year, Uruk wouldn't have lasted even a day."
This was even in the situation where Gilgamesh had voluntarily sealed Ea and used his full power to protect Uruk.
(A fake...)
Hinako realized some issues: "From the tone of your words, plus the attitude and actions of these two Incubi, don't tell me the current situation was something you all anticipated?"
"After all, there are three Clairvoyance owners here." Merlin smiled. "Me and the other me came here beforehand precisely to confront Tiamat. We trapped her in the Dream Prison, delaying her awakening as long as possible, but now it's reached its limit. We can't trap her anymore."
"The next thing we can do is face her head-on and defeat her—no other way to end this Singularity."
Ritsuka bit her lip: "Even after recovering the Holy Grail that caused the Singularity's birth, it didn't work?"
"Tiamat herself is a more terrifying and Singular existence than the Holy Grail. Moreover, in terms of the sequence of events, it wasn't the Holy Grail that formed the Singularity, but because the Holy Grail allowed Tiamat to return to the material world that this place became a Singularity."
The reason the Singularity wouldn't disappear even after recovering the Holy Grail was this—the true root cause of the Singularity had only now emerged.
[Tut tut tut!]
At that moment, the communication device on Ritsuka's wrist suddenly rang. Roman's anxious voice came from it.
[Fujimaru, Mash, Akuta, emergency situation! We're observing unknown origin Mana reactions in the Persian Gulf! The Mana intensity of each entity surpasses the Demon Beasts you faced before, and the total number exceeds one hundred million! And the number is still increasing!]
"One hundred million?!"
The absurd number made Ritsuka unable to hold back from shouting.
Just one hundred thousand Demon Beasts had already pushed them to their limits. One hundred million... a thousand times more enemies!
"This number..."
It was utterly impossible to hold back. No matter how strong someone was, it was impossible to withstand one hundred million Demon Beasts. Moreover, in the short time they were shocked, these one hundred million Demon Beasts must have already grown to an even more absurd number!
[Around one hundred thousand of them have already landed, and twenty thousand are heading toward Uruk. Though their speeds vary, the fastest will arrive at Uruk in a few hours!]
"Damn... Nobunaga!" Ritsuka turned to Nobunaga. "You can fly, right? Can I ask you to go ahead and annihilate as many Demon Beasts as possible? We'll follow as quickly as we can! Ushiwakamaru's agility level is also very high, please accompany Nobunaga!"
Twenty thousand Demon Beasts, though not as many as the previous one hundred thousand, was still an extraordinary number. Moreover, Ritsuka knew that the reason they could hold off one hundred thousand was purely due to the support of Dingir and Naoki's lightning storm. They themselves might have only taken down around ten thousand.
Additionally, Ritsuka could see that everyone was now extremely fatigued. The prolonged battles had caused varying degrees of mental and physical exhaustion.
However, even so, they couldn't just stand here and wait for death!
"Yes, I understand."
"Then I'll head out first too!"
Nobunaga and Ushiwakamaru immediately prepared to leave the Ziggurat. But right before the two set off, Roman's voice sounded again.
[No, wait..... wait a moment, the twenty thousand Demon Beasts heading to Uruk are confirmed annihilated in an instant?!]
"What?"
[There's a fast-moving Mana reaction heading toward the Persian Gulf! It's Natsukawa!]
The Department Chief?!
Ritsuka unconsciously looked at Merry: "Sensei... did the Department Chief fly off earlier because...."
"Yes, he went to buy time." Merry nodded. "We have a way to defeat Goddess Tiamat, but that method requires time, at least two days starting from now—and that time, Naoki will give it to us."
"This is too reckless!!"
Not holding back her voice at all, Ritsuka couldn't help but exclaim: "No matter how strong the Department Chief is, to buy two days alone, that's—"
"Not alone."
Hinako interrupted Ritsuka's words: "Fujimaru, didn't you notice? Among the people who were at the Northern Wall earlier, one or two are missing."
"Eh?"
After being reminded by Hinako, Ritsuka finally noticed the discrepancy in the number of people in the Ziggurat.
(Kingu and Rei-senpai are gone!)
"That's how it is." Merry patted Ritsuka's head. "Calm down, Ritsuka. Hope is always in our hands. While Naoki and the others struggle with all their might to buy time for us, we must also complete the preparations to fight Goddess Tiamat."
"This is our task."
"I understand."
After taking a deep breath, Ritsuka nodded firmly: "Then, what should we do?"