Chapter 23: About to be Sucked Dry
"..." Mash was momentarily left speechless.
"There, that should be fine, right?" Merlin said with a smile.
With that, the group began to search separately. Shirou wandered through a civilian house for a while, but ultimately found nothing. As the sky gradually grew dark, Shirou checked the time and, deciding it was late enough, began to return to the initial meeting point.
As he approached, he suddenly heard Mash's cry. "Senpai! What's wrong! Senpai, say something!"
Shirou quickened his pace and arrived to find Mash supporting Gudako, who had fallen unconscious.
"What happened?" Shirou walked over, crouched down, and checked the girl's condition. "It's alright, she's only fainted for the time being."
"Thank goodness..." Mash felt relieved upon hearing Shirou's words. "I just arrived back and suddenly found Senpai lying here."
At that moment, as if she had heard Mash's voice, Gudako's tightly furrowed brows flickered slightly, and she slowly opened her eyes.
"Senpai!" Mash said with pleasant surprise. "Are you alright?"
"Yes... it's Mash. I'm fine," Gudako replied with a smile.
Just then, Merlin happened to walk back and suddenly noticed the clay tablet clutched in Gudako's arms as Mash supported her. "That thing you're holding... that's the Tablet of Destiny, isn't it?"
Merlin asked her, brimming with curiosity. "Do you remember what happened before you fainted?"
Hearing this, Gudako immediately began to recall. "I remember... I reached a very dark place and encountered many spirits. I intended to use a Command Spell to summon Mash to help me, but the old man I had met earlier in Uruk suddenly stepped in to save me. He told me that the place I had wandered into was the Underworld, and then he sent me back. After that, I fell unconscious..."
"Hmm... so that's how it is—an era where one can travel directly from the land to the Underworld. How truly interesting." Upon hearing Gudako's account, Merlin immediately understood the cause and effect.
Gudako picked up the "Tablet of Destiny." "This is what that person gave me... Oh right, he told me his name, it seems to be... Ziusudra!"
"Ziusudra, eh... or perhaps someone whose duties are similar to Ziusudra's. After all, that is not a name one could randomly fabricate on a whim." Merlin analyzed, "But if the Underworld is still intact... then what of the gathering of the three goddesses that my Clairvoyance witnessed..."
"Merlin?" Gudako looked at Merlin as he muttered to himself.
Suddenly, the communicator on the girl's wrist emitted Roman's urgent voice. "Watch out! A large magical energy signature is approaching you rapidly!"
In that instant, a golden radiance lit up the sky, and a beam of light flew toward them at high speed!
Before Gudako, seven circular rings that looked like cherry blossom petals abruptly lit up, blocking the incoming beams of light.
"This is...!?" Gudako looked behind her in surprise to see Shirou lowering his hand, and the cherry blossom shield dissipated along with it.
"It's the Goddess Ishtar!" Mash pointed toward the sky.
Ishtar, standing mid-air, looked down haughtily at the four of them and spoke in an overbearing tone. "Finally found you! I heard you were prying and digging into my affairs with the ranch owner? To actually inquire about a goddess's holiday schedule—there's a limit to how thick-skinned you can be!"
"Oh my, it seems you have a guilty conscience and are afraid of people finding out. Are you embarrassed because people know you're a gem thief?" Merlin taunted.
"Wha—" Ishtar's expression froze, and her voice suddenly rose in pitch. "That's not it! For starters, I never attack humans for money!"
"Eh? Didn't you steal the humans' gems?" Gudako asked, confused.
Ishtar immediately retorted. "I was only taking my rightful compensation for defeating the Demonic Beasts! If I helped humans for free, you would all degenerate quickly!"
Hearing this, Gudako tilted her head. "So, you have helped for free before?"
Gudako's question stopped Ishtar in her tracks, and her cheeks flushed red. "An-anyway, I must deliver divine punishment upon you!"
While speaking in a fit of rage, the massive blue longbow floating beside her manifested arrows of light. "To treat me like an idiot twice in a row, pay for your sins properly!"
"Hey, wait! We have no intention of being your enemies!" Gudako said hurriedly.
"It's too late! Consider the treasure in your hands as compensation to me!"
Giving them no chance, Ishtar fired the arrows of light. Hearing her words, Gudako exclaimed, "You really are a thief!"
The light arrows descending from the sky struck the suddenly manifested cherry blossom shield, whittling it down by six layers. Only the final, hardest layer remained unbroken by this barrage.
"Oh? You blocked it?" Ishtar looked at the cherry blossom shield with some surprise. "Though it's nothing impressive. My next attack will destroy your shield!"
"As expected, this shield can only go so far..." It was the lowest-ranked Barrier Noble Phantasm within his Reality Marble, so Shirou hadn't held much hope for it, and he waved his hand to dispel it.
"Hey, Shirou, be careful!" Gudako said, worried, seeing that Shirou had no intention of defending himself.
"It's fine," Shirou smiled.
"Tch! You sure can talk big. To dare look down on me like that—prepare to die!"
Ishtar felt quite displeased by Shirou's disdainful attitude of making no move to defend against her attacks. She immediately accumulated light arrows again and fired them violently.
Boom—!
The rapidly fired arrows of light struck Shirou's body, triggering a violent explosion. Gudako, Mash, and the others, who had already stepped back, let out a cry at the sight.
"Orihara-senpai!" (x2)
The rising smoke and dust obscured everyone's vision. Just as Gudako and Mash were filled with anxiety, Merlin suddenly noticed something amiss, his expression one of astonishment.
"Wait, he seems to be fine...!"
The two girls quickly followed Merlin's gaze toward Shirou's direction. As the drifting smoke dissipated, the red-haired boy's figure remained standing tall amidst it.
"To be completely unscathed after taking my blow... It seems I'll have to go all out and suck you dry!" Ishtar said with a cold sneer.
"Heh, I don't care even if all three of you goddesses come at me together," Shirou replied confidently.
Upon hearing this, Ishtar let out a cold snort. "Hmph! Then let's see you try!"
Immediately following this, she suddenly dove from the sky and kicked down toward Shirou.
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