Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

The golden chains formed a net less than ten meters ahead of the mechanical path, and a figure with an indistinguishable gender, both graceful and heroic, appeared in the center of the net—it had long emerald green hair and a white robe, and its pale purple eyes were filled with highly concentrated electric light.

“Enkidu.” Tomoe Gozen exhaled a wisp of warm breath, and the corresponding information was quickly uploaded to the cloud network. She could clearly see the vast, ocean-like energy accumulated within the humanoid figure ten meters away, as well as the undisguised hostility emanating from it.

“I should have known I’d meet you here,” she said calmly, her mind rapidly retrieving intelligence and footage from past battles between Imanithics and Enkidu—not long ago, Enkidu had led a new generation of magical beasts in a powerful attack on Imanithics. The result was that the clay figure, which had trespassed into the goddess's temple, was slapped away by the goddess, who, having found a legitimate reason to intervene, sent it flying from Imanithics back to the gates of the Blood Temple.

"Wasn't the lesson you learned from our Lord last time enough? Or are you planning to do it again?"

“She is she, and you are you. I admit that I am powerless against the Old Order, but that does not mean that all the lackeys of the Goddess have the right to swagger before me.” The blue-haired clay figure sneered, and behind it, hundreds and thousands of portals of light opened and then closed again on the spatial layer. “But I do not intend to be your enemy now—step back, servants of Mangotlund, leave this place, and then we can share peace.”

“That won’t do.” Tomoe Gozen raised her hand and stood up from the semi-open cockpit. Her naginata and armor materialized in her hands and on her body as she released magical energy. The spider-shaped machine beneath her feet also quickly transformed and reassembled, changing from a ground unit into a flat-shaped airship that hovered at her feet.

“My master has given me a task, and you are now standing in my way.” She raised her naginata slightly, the flaming blade pointing at her adversary’s chest. “Get out of my way, or fight. What my master does, I may well follow.”

Their wills touched in the air, and they both became aware of each other's intentions.

"So that's how it is. You've also come to welcome those two guests from afar? It seems you're destined to be thwarted here, servant of Mangtlund. Because Mother is worried about these two guests who have traveled so far..." The portals behind it fully opened, and tangible blades gathered from within...

"...But I'm really interested!"

The next moment, the radiant blades fell like a torrential rain!

Flames, explosions, and the resulting shockwaves sliced ​​through the surrounding forests and mountains like sharp blades, creating numerous irregular, continuous sloping surfaces. A streak of fire pierced the sky from the explosion, followed closely by golden rays of light!

—【Divine Phosphorus Fireballs, Quantity 36, Release All!】

Three beams of light split from the flames, and each beam further broke into thirty-six thin, falling streaks of fire. An equal number of radiant blades shot forth from the golden light represented by Enkidu to meet the attack. Then, another explosion blotted out the entire sky!

The downside of projectile weapons like arrow rain is that while their scale and quantity are unparalleled, they often only inflict single-hit damage. Even with techniques like 'Fantasy Collapse' employed, they ultimately cannot compare to divinely crafted weaponry designed purely for explosions from the outset!

'Boom! Boom! Boom!'—Dark red burning clouds obscured the sky.

The flash of the emergency maneuver made a sharp turn in the sky, changing direction, and the dozen or so ray cannons at the front of the airship quickly recharged!

—【Divine Disintegration Ray Cannon, quantity eight, all released!】

—【Divine Sonic Cannons, six in number, unleash them all!】

—【Divine Heavy Particle Beams, Quantity Two, Release All!】

—【One etheric jamming missile for camouflage, ready to fire.】

The dark red burning cloud suddenly split open, and in the next moment, more than a dozen powerful energy jets shot towards the high-energy reaction zone inside the burning cloud! The humanoid silhouette hidden in the burning cloud was shattered in an instant, but in the next moment, a spatial warping reaction suddenly occurred less than 30 meters away from the side of the flying boat!

"Don't underestimate me, Mangotlund's servant!"

The illusion vanished, and a pale green humanoid figure suddenly appeared. Thousands upon thousands of golden chains generated from the spatial rift, locking down every inch of space around the airship. The next moment, Enkidu, wielding a high-energy sword blade, had already pounced on Tomoe Gozen!

Suddenly, it saw an unidentified container disintegrating directly in front of the airship. Meanwhile, the magical flames surrounding Tomoe Gozen's body were completely gathered and concentrated at the tip of her naginata!

'boom--!!!'

Billions of chains tilted simultaneously, firelight and golden light flashed past each other, and a streak of fiery blade energy ripped through the night sky, drawing a line several kilometers long on the distant ground. At the end of the line was another explosion, and as the mushroom cloud from the explosion rose, firelight and golden light once again stood on opposite sides of the sky.

Enkidu has a burning gash running from his left shoulder to his right abdomen, which keeps decaying and then rapidly healing under some unknown force.

Tomoe Gozen's naginata pointed diagonally downwards, and small pieces of the structure at the stern of the flying boat beneath her feet broke off, carrying some insignificant miscellaneous items as it flew into the distance.

— [Storage area damaged, some miscellaneous items lost, machine wear less than 1%, self-repair expected in six seconds.]

—[The target's overall performance has been reduced by 7.3%, increasing the win rate. You can continue fighting.]

Two lines of messages swept across the bottom of Tomoe Gozen's retina, and she exhaled a soft breath.

Next up is the second round.

Section 26 - First Cycle - Dawn

Time flows on...

As dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight shone from the horizon, illuminating the earth, the twin stars at the very top of the sky, which could be seen by the many gods of this era, finally crossed a certain boundary, transforming from a stellar projection into a tangible reality.

Teleportation point height—4,300 meters.

Fujimaru Ritsuka's anticipation and eagerness instantly turned into a scream. As a mortal, it was truly difficult for her to remain calm when the entire earth rushed towards her. She instinctively grabbed wildly in the air, and then, in the next moment, Mash, who had been teleported to the same height as her, grabbed her hand!

"Senpai! We're falling!" Mashu's voice came clearly from beside Ritsuka's ear, carrying a subtle excitement of trying something new. "This is bungee jumping!"

"Mash!"

"Senior, please hold my hand tightly. Then, naturally, wrap your arms around my waist!"

Fujimaru did as she was told. Because the air in the Age of Gods was thicker than expected, the gravitational acceleration was not enough to make free fall reach an unbearable speed in a short time. She tried to get close to Mash and hugged her Servant's waist. The girl's slender waist was delicate and soft, but it didn't matter since they were both girls!

"I'm about to unleash my Noble Phantasm, Senpai!"

The Chaldea Master clearly sensed the magical energy surging within Mash; she felt the young heart pounding violently. A massive cross-shaped shield appeared in Mash's hand, then dissipated the increasingly strong winds.

However, the next moment, the communication from Chaldea was turned on, and Director Olga's slightly flustered voice suddenly rang in their ears!

"Ritsuka! Mash! Chaldea has detected a Spirit Origin reaction directly below you! The scale is among the highest of the Servants, approaching god-level! You must prepare for defense immediately!"

Before the words were even finished, the ground before them instantly turned crimson. A tangible magical energy, resembling a lotus flower, materialized at their predetermined landing point in an instant, and the crimson lotus suddenly opened, its twelve enormous petals filling their vision in a flash!

Flames surged, and the wind rose with them. One thousand meters, two thousand meters, three thousand meters—in the blink of an eye, the blooming lotus of fire was just touching the two who were falling. This was an energy reaction comparable to a top-tier Servant unleashing their Noble Phantasm at full power. Mashu only had time to scream and shield Ritsuka behind her before the blooming lotus on the ground suddenly closed, completely enveloping the two falling figures!

Chaos reigned in Chaldea's control room.

But two seconds later, staff members noticed the anomaly.

"Director, Ritsuka and Mash's vital signs are still intact. They are unharmed!" someone shouted. Soon, at the director's command, the Chaldea-derived dimensional observation mirror resumed operation. And a few seconds later, the details of the Seventh Singularity appeared before the observers.

........................

"Senior, please open your eyes. We're alright; this Servant helped us." Mash's voice rang in Fujimaru Ritsuka's ears, and there was no sign of danger in her voice. Ritsuka finally managed to recover from the sudden physical shock and slowly opened her eyes.

What came into view was solid ground, not yellow earth, not black earth, but scorched earth, as if it had been burned by flames, like it had just been taken out of a kiln. Beside her was a warm sensation—Mashu, Mashu's body temperature. Mashu's arm and half her body were supporting her shoulder. The panic in her heart gradually subsided with the flow of blood, and only then did she have the energy to observe everything around her.

"It seems I've overstepped my bounds. I'm sorry, my mount broke down. I initially thought you wouldn't be able to protect yourselves well from a fall from such a height, but do you actually have your own methods?"—The voice was mature yet gentle, belonging to a woman. Ritsuka looked up. The woman a few meters in front of her exuded an immense presence that drew all eyes to her. It was as if she weren't a person, but a mountain, drawing everyone's attention. Ritsuka had only ever experienced this feeling with Servants of the caliber of Pharaoh Ozymandias before.

She appeared to be an Eastern woman, dressed simply in a white blouse and black trousers. A section of samurai armor, more decorative than defensive, adorned the right shoulder of her blouse. A katana hung at her waist, her long white hair was tied up, and her red eyes were striking. Her overall style resembled that of a samurai woman from the Genpei period.

Was the crimson lotus just now meant to catch us? And what does it mean that our mount broke down?

Thoughts flashed through Ritsuka's mind, and she quickly adjusted herself, choosing words and tone that were appropriate for her speech.

“No, that’s not true. An altitude of over 3,000 meters was quite a challenge for both Mash and me. We owe our safe landing to your help.” Ritsuka paused, then extended her hand to the Servant before her. “Hello, I’m Fujimaru Ritsuka. This is Mash. We’re staff from Chaldea, here to restore humanity. May I ask who you are…?”

“My name is Nakahara Tomoe. A Servant of Archer.” The woman seemed very amiable, as if she had noticed the unusual behavior of Fujimaru and his group. The overwhelming presence she exuded subsided slightly under her will. She extended her hand and shook hands with Ritsuka's, a smile playing on her lips. “By order of my lord, I have come to protect the two of you from Chaldea until you reach the first city you desire. I look forward to your guidance in the time we spend together.”

“Ah, yes. Miss Nakahara… eh?” Ritsuka nodded subconsciously, the familiar name seeming to stir something in her mind. However, before she could retrieve the corresponding data from her memory, Dr. Roman’s surprised voice came from the Chaldea communication channel, which had finally been reconnected.

"Chūga Tomoe? Could it be the Tomoe-gozen from the Tale of the Heike who could take on a thousand men single-handedly?"

"I dare not accept the title of 'Imperial Servant,' but I should be the one you know." The white-haired Servant nodded and smiled, not particularly surprised by Chaldea's telepathic communication technology. "Of course, I differ somewhat from the original in history. After all, I am just an Archer, skilled only in archery and simple weapon combat. Although I should be stronger than the original, there is still a slight gap in skill level."

“That’s amazing too…” Ritsuka murmured, then shifted her attention from Tomoe Gozen to the surrounding landscape—what she saw was astonishing. Centered on their location, at least thirty square kilometers of land had been scorched into ash. Shifting her gaze, she saw massive craters and fissures everywhere. The largest rift was as wide and smooth as if carved by a knife and axe, and it stretched a terrifying length of at least four kilometers from its opening to its closing point!

A great battle had just erupted here. Judging from the few remaining burning stumps and broken trees in the distance, the battle had probably been over for no more than twenty minutes. Mashu could even clearly sense the intense heat emanating from five meters underground, its properties identical to the previously unfolded red lotus!

"Senpai..." Mashu called softly, and the little beast Fou, who had somehow gotten her arm around Mashu's shoulder, also called out softly, "FU~".

Ritsuka knew Mashu very well; with just a glance, she knew what Mashu was thinking.

“Miss Ba…” She quickly found the form of address Flora had spent a week establishing. “Who were you fighting before?”

“Yes, that was someone who hindered my mission, someone who prevented me from protecting you. I fought it before; it destroyed my mount, and I nearly killed it. Although it should recover quickly, it's unlikely to reappear for at least a day or two.” Tomoe Gozen didn't hide anything, speaking frankly as Flora had instructed. “Its name is Enkidu, a capable lieutenant under the Goddess of Beasts.”

"Enkidu!?" A startled voice came through the Chaldea communication channel again. "Isn't that Gilgamesh's closest friend? The only deputy of the king who rules this era? It? The Beast Goddess? It's preventing you from protecting Ritsuka and Mash? How could that be? And you say you have a master?"

Dr. Roman bombarded the communication with a series of questions, and Fujimaru, who was present, could only offer an awkward yet polite smile in response. She could see Tomoe Gozen's eye twitch noticeably, and then a bird with a fiery red color hopped out from somewhere and landed on Tomoe Gozen's shoulder, cooing softly.

The white-haired servant then looked towards the distant sky, following the direction of the shout—

"I can answer all these questions, but before that..." A longbow of flames suddenly appeared in her hand. She drew the bow, nocked an arrow, and pointed the tip of the arrow at a distant point in the sky!

"We must first ask the goddess Ishtar to look away."

—A faint golden light seemed to flash and disappear in the far distance.

The next moment, the energy exploded!

Stirred by the blast wave, Ritsuka lost her footing and only managed to stay upright thanks to Mash's support. She immediately noticed that the scorched ground, spanning hundreds of square meters, had instantly been riddled with spiderweb-like cracks. Threads of fire flashed as elemental arrows, launched from longbows, pierced the sky, and the next instant, an area of ​​airspace approximately seven kilometers away exploded!

It was a crimson flower in full bloom, blossoming and spreading, then, as it expanded to a volume of tens of thousands of cubic meters, it seemed to be drawn together by an unknown gravitational force towards the epicenter. A dazzling golden light replaced the original flames and spread outwards, accompanied by a raging wind, and a tiny black dot rapidly magnified in the Chaldeans' eyes.

"Quite bold, servant of the old order. What gave you the courage to raise an arrow at Venus?"

The sound was initially very distant, but then suddenly appeared to the side. The communication from Chaldea had inexplicably been cut off, and a beautiful figure tore through the distorted air and appeared abruptly before the group!

Mashu instinctively reached for her shield, but Bass was a step ahead of her.

"My lord has given me a mission: if any goddess stands in my way, I shall be her enemy." Ba's voice was calm, and the katana at his waist was silently drawn. Intense magical power clung to it, and the burning blade slammed straight into the goddess's fist, shrouded in divine power, mid-air!

'Om—'

Like an ancient bell being struck with a thunderous roar, an invisible wave of energy emanated from the point of impact, spreading outwards. Mashu's shield, at this moment, finally served its purpose of protecting Ritsuka. And as their swords and fists clashed, both were acutely aware that the other was not using their full strength.

—With the Chaldeans here, even if they wanted to fight with all their might, they couldn't. Baal and Ishtar's gazes met—the former took a half-step back, while the latter floated back into the sky.

“Let me ask you,” Ishtar’s voice was filled with the majesty befitting a goddess. This silenced Ritsuka’s instinctive attempt to intervene. “Where do you intend to take them? To Imanithyc?”

“No, I’m not taking them anywhere.” Bass shook his head slightly. “My lord has instructed me to protect the Chaldean visitors until they safely reach the first city they desire. Nothing more, and I don’t know where they intend to go now. So I cannot answer your question. Where they go is up to them.”

"Oh? In other words, if these two people never enter the city, then you'll stay by their side and protect them?" Ishtar tilted her head slightly and asked.

Ba hesitated slightly, but quickly made a decision.

"Although my Lord's instructions did not explicitly state how to deal with such developments, they could be interpreted in this way. Yes, as long as my Lord does not issue another order and they do not enter any city, I will continue to protect them, whether they need my protection or not."

"Heh heh, that's quite amusing. Servant Archer, it's unwise to completely enrage a goddess." Ishtar covered her mouth and chuckled softly, but there was no hint of amusement in her eyes. "I'm starting to get a little interested in your future. If you do something foolish later, I'll laugh out loud."

“I am merely carrying out my lord’s orders,” Ba said calmly. “God Ishtar, you must either leave or continue the fight.”

"You think I meant 'enrage' by that? Servant Archer, you truly know nothing about your master. But at least for now, I must respect the will of the Old Order." Ishtar chuckled softly, and the next moment, she vanished into the horizon as a golden streak of light, just as she had arrived. Only her final words echoed across the earth.

"I forgive your offense, since you intend to protect them. Then see it through to the end. I look forward to our next meeting, and I hope we'll still be on the same side. If not..."

She didn't finish her last words.

Her whereabouts disappeared on the horizon.

Ba sheathed his sword and remained silent for a few seconds.

—Chaldea's communication network was re-established following the goddess's departure.

“Miss Tomoe. Was that... the goddess Ishtar?” Fujimaru Ritsuka cautiously peeked out from behind Mash’s shield and asked.

“Yes, it’s her.” Ba nodded slightly, a gentle smile returning to her face. “Now I’ll answer your questions from before… I think you’re quite interested in the various intelligence from this era. The Chaldean envoy.”