"Daddy! Don't you remember me? It's me, your dearest daughter, Ishtar!"
"Wasn't 'Mistress of Heaven' the title you bestowed upon me?"
"Doesn't Daddy love me anymore? You won't even hold me..."
In the blink of an eye, the proud, arrogant, and hot-tempered goddess had transformed into a clingy, spoiled child, making Guinevere doubt her own sanity.
"W-w-what are you doing!"
Seeing her press closer and closer, as if she intended to strip Su Mo's clothes off, Guinevere finally couldn't take it anymore and stepped forward to stop her.
"I was here first... no, wait, putting aside the fact that Lord Su Mo isn't your father, even if he were, a father and daughter can't act like this!"
In truth, Guinevere herself wasn't necessarily that jealous. She was mainly competing for favor on Artoria's behalf.
The king I support has never played like this! On what grounds does a newcomer like you get to be so bold?
Faced with Guinevere's intervention, the twintailed little girl turned her head and looked at her as if she were an idiot.
"What's it to you if this goddess gets cuddly with her Father-God? Besides, I am the Mistress of Heaven. I am both the Father-God's daughter and his wife. No matter how intimate I am with the Father-God, it's perfectly normal!"
At these words, Guinevere was dumbfounded.
The Ishtar of this world was a father-con?
Right, the title "Mistress of Heaven" did seem to be the feminine form of "Master of Heaven." Her divine origin was that of a daughter or consort of the supreme sky god, Anu. She wasn't actually wrong.
As for the moral and ethical issues involved, they were hardly a big deal in the wild, vibrant world of primordial mythology. Greek mythology was far more chaotic than this.
After thinking it over, she could only ask, "Are you mistaking Lord Su Mo for Anu, the first king of the Sumerian pantheon?"
"The Father-God is him!" Ishtar replied with absolute certainty.
Then, she turned back to Su Mo, her eyes filled with adoration.
"The Father-God presides over everything, yet has no form. But as long as I am under the sky, I can feel the Father-God's protection."
Evidently, in the Sumerian pantheon, the supreme god Anu was also the type who had never manifested, possessing no personality or divine will. But for a god, this connection of divinity was far more profound than any bloodline. Even though she had never met her father, Ishtar held the utmost affection for the Father-God who had bestowed upon her all her glory.
And in the Campione! world, Su Mo had similarly unified Sumerian mythology. Never mind the Father-God Anu; if Ishtar wished, she could even see him as the Mother-Goddess Tiamat.
Guinevere understood the reason for Ishtar's mistake but couldn't explain it clearly. After all, for a god, there was nothing more persuasive than divinity. Even if Su Mo held countless other divinities, it would only prove that her father was incredible, the master of many divine realms; it couldn't prove that this person was a usurper of her father's Authority. Not to mention, even if he were a usurper, Su Mo understood the meaning of mythology itself better than almost any god.
So, after a few minutes, Guinevere gave up trying to explain.
"Hmph! For the sake of you being the Father-God's servant, I'll let you off for now. Eh, Father, it's a little small here... if it's alright, please allow me to serve you in my own body."
After finishing her exchange with Guinevere, Ishtar noticed Su Mo's hand resting on her chest. If it were her own divine body, which she considered flawless divine form, she would naturally have offered herself without hesitation. But the body she was currently possessing was that of a seven-year-old girl, a barren landscape not worth looking at. It made her regret descending in this possessed form.
If only she had known the Father-God was here, she would have descended in her true body!
Before she could feel any regret, Ishtar suddenly felt her body go light. With a pull from Su Mo, she was yanked directly out of the twintailed little girl's body.
At that moment, Rin Tohsaka, her free will finally restored, let out a cry of frustration.
"What's wrong with being small! Did I eat your rice?! I can still grow up!"
Fumbling during the summoning ritual was one thing, and getting to be close to Lord Su Mo because of it wasn't a bad trade-off, but why was this woman using her body while simultaneously complaining about it?
How could she tolerate that!
"Even when you grow up, a little pipsqueak like you could never compare to me, the goddess of love, beauty, and harvest!"
After reaching into Rin's chest, Su Mo had yanked Ishtar's Spiritual Core out with his bare hands, allowing the goddess of Venus to manifest in the form of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old.
Finding herself independent, Ishtar puffed out her chest even more smugly, shaming the young Rin before her.
"Such a tiny thing, daring to compete with this goddess for our Father's affection. Truly overestimating yourself... But for a mortal, your courage is commendable. This goddess acknowledges your qualification as a Master!"
"Master?"
Only then did Rin Tohsaka remember that this arrogant goddess was her Servant.
A wave of anger washed over her.
"If you're my Servant, then listen to me!"
"You want this goddess to obey you? You must be dreaming." Ishtar shot the little girl a contemptuous glance.
"Waaah! I'm going to use a Command Spell and make you get on your knees and apologize!" Rin was starting to lose her cool. The outcome of this war was already decided anyway, so there was no point in saving her Command Spells. She might as well teach this arrogant woman a lesson.
Just as she was about to act, a familiar presence emanated from the basement below—the fluctuation of magical energy, the sign of a Servant materializing.
The two of them immediately stopped their squabble and looked down at the floor.
"So close? Father-God, is it an ally of ours?" Ishtar asked curiously. She had the basic knowledge of the Holy Grail War in her mind; Servants summoned in the same location one after another were almost always allies, right?
However—
"No, it's an enemy!"
"It must be my father summoning a Servant... Ishtar, let's go! We're going to take him down!"
"..."
The complex information contained in those few short words left Ishtar stunned for several seconds.
"Father-God, is that really true?" she asked, turning to Su Mo.
"More or less. Just take care of the other Servant," Su Mo instructed after glancing at the determined look in Rin's eyes.
Although Rin looked like a very filial daughter at the moment, she really just wanted to teach her father a lesson, not kill him. So he needed to give a specific instruction, just in case Ishtar got carried away in the heat of battle.
"Understood! I will offer victory to the Father-God shortly. Please wait a moment, Father-God!" Ishtar nodded, full of motivation, and grabbed her Master, ready to set off.
"Wait! At least let me get dressed first!"
Being pulled by Ishtar, the twintailed little girl finally noticed her own predicament. She clutched the phantasmal beast pelt Su Mo had given her to her chest, her small face flushing red as she tried her best to hide her barren figure, which in truth had little to hide.
Since they were going out, she naturally had to be properly dressed.
A minute or two later, Rin had thrown on her shoes, socks, and warm clothes with incredible speed, wearing the clothes Su Mo had given her underneath.
Just as she was fully dressed, a commotion seemed to erupt from downstairs.
Rin had just opened the door when she came face-to-face with a golden Heroic Spirit who was about to knock.
Both of them froze.
Tohsaka Tokiomi, who was following close behind, broke out in a cold sweat at the sight.
"O noble King of Heroes, this is my young daughter. She has nothing to do with the Holy Grail War and was merely left here by mistake. I beseech you, stay your hand. I will send her away at once!"
Tohsaka Tokiomi had no idea how he could have made such a grave error, failing to send his own daughter away after the Holy Grail War had begun. But he knew that if he didn't intervene, given the King of Heroes' temperament, there was no telling what he might do!
Hearing Tokiomi's words, a flash of impatience crossed Gilgamesh's eyes.
"Silence, Tokiomi! I told you, I am not here for some trivial matter. There is an existence here worthy of my audience—"
He was only halfway through his sentence when he saw the incredibly familiar goddess standing behind Rin Tohsaka.
At the same time, Ishtar also saw the Gilgamesh before her. As the guardian deity of Uruk, her relationship with this particular king was as bad as it could possibly be.
"Daddy, help me beat up this idiot!" the goddess of Venus's eyes lit up, and she immediately called for her parent. In her book, bullying the weak with the help of the strong was a virtue. She couldn't usually beat this guy, but with her Father-God here, wouldn't it be a piece of cake?
"Ishtar, what is a—"
Before the word "fool" could leave his lips, Gilgamesh, who had been about to mock her, saw the figure of Su Mo behind her.
Connecting that to Ishtar's words, the King of Heroes was suddenly drenched in sweat.
His intentionally sealed clairvoyance, Sha Naqba Imuru, activated in an instant. In the next moment, Gilgamesh did something he had never done before. He, who feared not even the gods, bowed deeply, paying his respects to the being before him.
"Master of Heaven, I did not expect you to descend to this world. Please allow me to pay my respects."
Gilgamesh's attitude had always been supremely arrogant. He was dismissive even of the gods, and it was difficult to wound his pride even when facing beings far stronger than himself.
But there was an exception to this pride.
And that was the creator god of his own pantheon.
In the simple values of the Age of Gods, as a created being, he could be arrogant and rude to nobles and even to the gods, but he could never be disrespectful to the source of his own existence.
This source, besides his own parents, was the supreme god who had created all things in the world.
In the Sumerian pantheon, there were only two gods to whom he would willingly bow his head.
One was the Primordial Mother Goddess, Tiamat. The other was the Primordial Sky God, Anu.
In the presence of these two, even if he were forced to raise his sword against them, he would never utter a single derogatory word.
And from his perspective, Su Mo was neither of them, but far, far surpassed them both. Even with his keen eyes, he could not perceive Su Mo's true nature, but he knew with profound certainty that the person before him was an existence more venerable than a creator god.
Therefore, this being was more than worthy of his respect.