In Type-Moon, it all starts with adopting Sakura.

Actually, it's because you're the easiest goddess to fool.

Lowe and Meryl muttered to themselves.

That's why we chose this place as our first stop, precisely because it's the easiest to deal with.

However, seeing Ishtar's smug expression, neither of them revealed the cruel truth, letting the wise Ishtar, comparable to a water goddess, continue her fantasy.

Then, to avoid conflict, Luo Wei suggested, "I'll go up there and bring that black goddess down by myself."

Luo Wei volunteered to go up there alone and bring Black Gun Dai down.

Hearing this, Anna paused for a moment, then asked Luo Wei with a strange expression, "Why go up alone? If it's going to be a fight, wouldn't the more people the better?"

"Hmph, foolish. How could a monster like you possibly understand the King's great will? The King has only just recovered; he must be testing his power against the Goddess!"

As the number two lackey, Barbatos immediately retorted. Although he didn't understand either, he figured it was always right to flatter first.

"My king, please bring your most loyal Barbatos to accompany you."

Barbatos then offered to accompany Lovi up there.

This time, however, unlike Barbatos, henchman number one Rafe remembered something.

"The Black Holy Lance Goddess..."

In fact, when he ran down from Mount Ebifu, he was in such a hurry that he was focused on taking the Holy Grail and Ibaraki-doji to find the king. So, although he saw some of the battle between the two goddesses on the mountaintop, he didn't get a clear view of the whole thing, nor did he stop to experience it.

Now that it's come to his senses, he realizes that one of the two goddesses was indeed Ishtar, who, enraged, began relentlessly pounding down with the power of Venus. But the other one's aura...

Although slightly different, Rafe still felt a strong sense of familiarity. Now, upon further reflection, and considering the dark, towering structure at the end, he immediately realized—wasn't this the Lion King from the Sixth Singularity? Only reversed. She hadn't perished with the Sixth Singularity; instead, she had arrived in the Seventh Singularity?

Furthermore, in Rafe's memory, he vaguely remembered that when Goetia appeared, the Lion King's color had already turned jet black, and it seemed that he had a good relationship with the King, which meant...

Then Rafe's eyes widened as if he suddenly understood something. He immediately stopped Barbatos, who had volunteered to go ahead, and said something astonishing: "Your Majesty, we are going to go up and subdue that black goddess."

"Huh?"

Upon hearing this, the people present showed different expressions. Luo Wei was somewhat surprised that this idiot's brain had become so sharp. Barbatos, on the other hand, found it hard to understand. After all, when Goetia led his troops to attack Camelot, he was among those outside releasing AoE attacks, so he didn't see the Lion King and didn't know the current situation.

Aside from Meryl, who also knew everything, Ishtar's face showed an expression of disbelief. She hurriedly shouted, "Impossible! Don't waste your energy! She can't possibly be recruited! You'll only get hurt for nothing."

Why would you say that?

Hearing her so resolute words, Luo Wei couldn't help but ask a question in return.

"Of course it's because I've seen her!" Ishtar cried out anxiously. "Besides me, none of you know what that wretched goddess looks like!!"

Loewy: 'I not only know, I know it even better than you do.'

However, upon seeing Ishtar's sudden reaction, Rowe asked with some curiosity, "Since you've met her, what kind of goddess do you think she is?"

What kind of goddess is she?

Faced with this question, Ishtar paused for a moment, then pondered before saying, "She is a terrifying goddess, entirely black, with an ugly face, a violent nature, and a pair of dragon horns on her head. Moreover, she wields a very ominous Star Artifact, which can summon a black storm with a mere wave, cleaving a crater on my mountaintop larger than an altar. That kind of creature is not a goddess at all, but purely a powerful evil god! And I simply cannot understand what kind of evil could corrupt the Star Artifact to such an extent."

Whenever Ishtar mentions the Black Lancer Artoria, she can't help but recall the black spear in her hand. It is clearly a Star Weapon, but the power it contains is incredibly violent and evil.

Moreover, the gun's output was incredibly high, and it didn't even have a recovery animation when released. Once the Dark Tower was activated, it became an anti-aircraft gun. Even Ma'ana, whom she was most proud of, couldn't compete with her in a direct firefight. After struggling for a while, she was shot down to the mountainside when she ran out of strength.

She was pierced five or six times. If it weren't for her divine constitution and strong regenerative ability, she would have died there long ago.

Honestly, when facing that guy, Ishtar always thought of a certain dark goddess below, who also used a gun cage. She had pierced herself like that several times back then, so now she was almost traumatized by these dark goddesses who wielded gun-shaped weapons.

"I see, I understand."

After listening to her embellished description, Rowe nodded. He couldn't see any accuracy in Ishtar's words; instead, he saw only arrogance and prejudice.

Putting everything else aside, her description of Black Gunner as ugly is enough to illustrate the point.

"You finally understand, right? That guy wields a corrupted Star Artifact, his inherent nature is evil—he's a demon god, absolutely impossible to recruit. So you'd better abandon your unrealistic ideas now, and then we'll go and destroy him together..."

"No need, I'm still going to go up myself."

Before Ishtar could finish speaking, Lovi ignored her prejudiced words and strode towards the mountain peak, leaving Ishtar shouting behind him.

"Huh?! Are you deaf? You didn't hear a single word I said?!"

Ishtar was furious and was about to teach Rowe a lesson when two self-proclaimed right-hand men suddenly appeared and spoke righteously.

"Useless, worthless goddess, obediently obey the king's orders."

"You two Demon Pillars are really asking for death..."

Ishtar narrowed her eyes, her whole body exuding killing intent, but the two demon pillars did not retreat in the slightest.

Barbatos initially didn't understand either. After all, as a Demon Pillar, it would be extremely derelict of his duty to let the King face the black goddess alone. However, after Lef whispered a few words in his ear, his attitude completely changed. He and Lef became gatekeepers, determined not to let Ishtar interfere. Seeing the atmosphere become so tense again, Merry stepped in to mediate and stopped them both.

Whatever happens, we should wait until the final result is out before making any decisions.

Anna didn't go either. In terms of combat strength alone, if even Rowe couldn't handle that black goddess, then her going would only cause trouble.

The enemy she truly needed to fight and desperately confront was none other than her own completely corrupted self.

"Ugh, whatever! I'm not going to care about you guys anymore!!"

Ishtar turned her head away, sat back in the gold-paved carriage with a displeased look, and then, in a fit of anger, instinctively kicked the hot sand sphinx that was sleeping in front of the carriage.

"Meow?"

The big cat stared blankly at the crazy woman who seemed to be who she was. Then, seeing Ishtar looking at him with a puzzled expression, it suddenly stood up and unleashed a Hakimi Whirlwind, sending the golden figure behind it flying into the air and forcing Ishtar to stand still and shout.

"My treasure!!"

Then, the Sand Sphinx used extremely agile movements to spin, leap, and kick Ishtar in the face, sending her flying several meters away in a daze.

"—Did I give you too much face?!"

Although it cannot speak, anyone can see the meaning expressed on its face at this moment.

"How dare that mere wild beast attack me!"

Then, just as Ishtar began to playfully fight with the Sand Sphinx.

—Boom, boom!!

The booming sound of explosions echoed from the mountaintop not far away.

Ishtar stopped what she was doing and began to listen attentively.

The roar of cannon fire must mean that guy has already started fighting the dark goddess.

As expected, she realized the situation was as she had anticipated, and a smug look appeared on her face.

After all, he had just said that there was no way that the black goddess could be recruited. The evil aura emanating from that person was already overflowing. If he could be persuaded with just words, how could he have ended up in such a sorry state?

Although she hadn't communicated with the opponent at all and had simply launched a powerful attack, she was certain that her judgment was correct.

So, all you have to do next is wait for that guy to slink down, then grab your leg and beg for mercy, saying, "Help me, Lady Ishtar, I'll never question you again."

Meli stood to the side, glanced at the smug Ishtar, then looked up at the top of the room where the voice came from, gently stroked her chin, and couldn't help but sigh, "That's going too far to fool a fool..."

Barbatos, standing to the side, grabbed Raef by the neck and roared furiously, "Flauros, you bastard, you dared to lie to me again! Didn't you say that she and the king had that kind of relationship and that they would never fight?"

"Ah...that's right, it must be that kind of relationship, I saw it with my own eyes."

Rafe, who was being choked, also began to doubt himself, and he even began to wonder if he had made a mistake.

"Useless thing! If the king gets hurt, I'll never forgive you today!"

His voice suddenly fell silent as he spoke.

The mountaintop fell silent once more.

Barbatos was still choking Rafe.

The two were taken aback for a moment, then said, "That's it?"

"Hmph, is it finally over? He was defeated so quickly. It seems the legendary Magic King is nothing special after all..." Ishtar said gloatingly.

Yes, this guy never doubted that Lovi could defeat Black Gun Dazai.

Putting aside the matter of those two Demon Pillars, the so-called Magic King was at best a human king from the late Age of Gods, and Lovi was a living person, not a Heroic Spirit, and didn't seem particularly strong in combat. Furthermore, as a goddess, Ishtar had her own pride and certainly wouldn't think she was inferior to Solomon.

Furthermore, she had seen that black goddess before; the other party, coupled with that corrupted star weapon, was undoubtedly comparable to Ereshkigal, her strength clearly at the level of a chief god. For the human king to challenge a chief god—such a foolish act, especially when the situation was already so clear-cut, what else could be truly astonishing?

The answer, of course, is no!

—That's what Ishtar thought until Rowe returned with a black gun.

"You, you are not..."

Ishtar stared in utter astonishment at the black figure beside Rowe, just as she had seen Ereshkigal.

"Hmm, we meet again." Black Gunner nodded, exuding a fierce storm aura, and said coldly, "I am the Storm Goddess, Artoria Alter."

“No, no, what your name is doesn’t matter at all, does it? Why are you here, you who stole other people’s temples and believers and beat up the local goddess?” Ishtar questioned.

"Isn't this obvious?" Black Gun said with a puzzled look, "I've joined!"

Everyone looked at Ishtar, who was completely dumbfounded.

As Ishtar had previously stated, the black goddess atop the mountain could not be recruited.

Ishtar: "..."

Believe it or not, Ishtar was quite speechless inside. However, seeing everyone staring at her, Ishtar could only snort softly, putting on the face of a perfect goddess who had seen through everything, and said, "Ahem, I saw long ago that the goddess at the top wasn't a bad person. Since we are both goddesses, it's not unacceptable that she would choose to ally with me, who is full of love, beauty, and justice."

"Ahem, human... what's your name again?"

"Love".

"Oh, right, Rowe, you did a great job!"

Ishtar forced a smile, trying to appear calm.

“But that’s not what you said before,” Luo Wei retorted without hesitation.

"Hmph, you must have misremembered. This goddess would never say the wrong thing."

Ishtar turned her head away and sped up into the air.

However, when she saw that her temple had been dismantled and used to build houses for the refugees, her heart was shattered.

"—My temple!!"

A piercing scream echoed across the entire area above Mount Ebif.

Seeing this, Luo Wei asked Black Gunner with some curiosity what had happened.