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

However, his Plan A was so easily destroyed, without even achieving the slightest effect he had anticipated.

Although these guys are indeed righteous partners in restoring the world, Ereshkigal felt that they were just like a bunch of villains, even more so than her, the goddess of the underworld.

"Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. No matter what we do, we must have a flexible moral bottom line."

Luo Wei said, "And as long as this singularity is fixed, then no one will know that we did this. As long as no one knows, we are still partners of justice, aren't we, Goddess Ereshkigal?"

That makes so much sense! I'm speechless!!

This guy... this guy is absolutely outrageous.

Ereshkigal was so choked by Lovi that he didn't know what else to say.

Without a doubt, in terms of eloquence, she could never win an argument against Luo Wei, who was not only eloquent but also had an extremely flexible moral compass.

I couldn't win a fight, and I couldn't win an argument either. I was extremely frustrated.

While Ereshkigal was still feeling down, the group finally arrived at the main road of the Underworld, guided by Nito.

Then standing before them was a huge, dark, and ancient-looking door.

"This is……?"

Upon seeing this extraordinary door, the group stepped forward to examine it closely.

The enormous door was covered with intricate and bizarre patterns, and the images of Sumerian primordial gods were carved around it. The edges were adorned with gemstones, making it look incredibly magnificent, yet it also exuded a chilling and eerie feeling.

"This is..."

Artoria and Merlin stepped forward and gently touched the pitch-black door. Clearly, they both sensed an extremely powerful aura of the underworld emanating from it.

"This must be the legendary gate that stripped Ishtar of her divinity?" Merlin said.

Luo Wei nodded: "That's right, these should be the seven gates to the underworld."

He then looked at Nito, who was acting as the gatekeeper, and asked, "Can you open this door?"

"Leave it to me."

Upon seeing the familiar seven doors, Nitocris nodded slightly, then stepped forward and touched them, channeling her powers to open them as usual.

However, this time, even with her magic continuously flowing in, the pitch-black door remained unmoved in front of her, which surprised her.

"How is this possible?"

A question arose in her mind, and she examined her powers. But no matter how she checked, there was nothing wrong with the gatekeeper's divine authority, which made Nito feel puzzled.

"Pfft, of course it won't open like that, you'd better not waste your energy."

"You'll be fine on your own, but if the Underworld detects an intruder, the defense system here will be activated, and the Underworld's trials will begin."

Ereshkigal suddenly laughed, and she kindly answered Nito's question.

"I see..." Nitocris nodded slightly upon hearing this, then asked Ereshkigal, "Could you please open this door for us, Lord Ereshkigal? If it's Hades, then surely he can open this door?"

"You've come to the right god."

Ereshkigal said confidently, "Of course I can open this door easily."

"Then please..."

“That won’t do, Rowe, and Nito.”

Without a second thought, Ereshkigal directly rejected Lovi and Nito's request, shaking her head and saying, "These are the rules of the Underworld. Anyone who wants to enter the Underworld must pass through its gates. And to pass through the gates, you must answer their questions. Of course, don't blame me for not warning you, if you don't answer correctly, you will be cursed by the Underworld! You all know what happened to Ishtar before the seven gates in the mythological era, don't you?"

What became of Ishtar?

Upon hearing this, everyone present frowned.

They were, of course, very clear about what would become of Ishtar.

Ishtar, from the mythological era, was the most capricious and terrifying god in the entire Sumerian civilization, her capriciousness exceeding human imagination. But if it were merely capriciousness, it would be one thing; rather, this capricious madman possessed terrifying power capable of destroying the world.

Two stories are particularly famous. One is about how, simply out of displeasure, she ravaged Mount Ebif, a sacred mountain revered even by the gods, reducing it to half its original size. She became infamous, and no one in Mesopotamia could subdue her. Then, this fool actually believed herself invincible and ventured alone into the underworld of Ereshkigal, only to be soundly punished. And it was the very gates of the underworld that punished Ishtar—this is the second story.

According to legend, the seven gates of the underworld correspond to seven trials that cannot be skipped and must be answered. If the answers are wrong, the seven gates will continuously weaken the divinity and immortality of the deity. It was for this reason that Ishtar was killed by Ereshkigal once.

While defeating Ishtar might not seem like a big deal, it's important to remember that this was the age of mythology. Ishtar wasn't the useless goddess she is now, who incorporated Rin Tohsaka's tendency to mess things up. She was a supreme goddess with the oldest name, Inanna.

Therefore, the consequences of rashly entering the gates of the underworld are bound to be extremely tragic.

Even the Black Lancer Artoria, who had taught Ishtar a lesson several times since arriving at this singularity, had an unusually serious expression.

At that moment, the gate to the underworld in front of them slowly emitted a sound.

"Answer it, answer it—"

"O living beings fallen into the underworld, answer the question of how your souls exist—"

"coming!"

Seeing their solemn expressions, Ereshkigal smiled and then looked at Rovi.

Although the army of the underworld and the Skeleton Queen can't defeat you, I refuse to believe that the seven gates of the underworld are ineffective. These are divine artifacts jointly crafted by the Sumerian gods to maintain the stability of the underworld. Watch how I weaken your power just like I dealt with Ishtar.

In any case, the answer is determined by oneself. This question and answer at the Gate of the Underworld is just a formality. No matter what they answer, one will ultimately give the wrong answer and then make a judgment.

Good and evil are equally valuable; only the value of the human being who makes the choice changes. Therefore, no option is necessarily correct. This is the truth behind the Gates of the Underworld.

Along with the voice coming from the gates of the underworld, a terrifying power emanated.

Merlin was shocked just by sensing the substance of that power.

Without a doubt, it was a binding force emanating from the entire underworld.

He couldn't help but scratch his head, thinking to himself, "This is getting complicated..."

Seeing Merlin's worried expression, Ereshkigal laughed even more heartily.

She just wanted to get back at these humans who bullied her.

However, when the question was uttered, her expression suddenly froze.

"While the standards of beauty may seem diverse, there are still absolute ones. Black can triumph over white, and earth can triumph over heaven. Therefore—"

'What's wrong with this problem?!'

When she heard half of this, she suddenly realized that because no living person had entered the underworld for thousands of years, the gates of the underworld had not been activated since Ishtar's time. Therefore, she forgot to change the test questions; it was still the same questions from Ishtar's time.

"—Ereshkigal or Ishtar, who is more beautiful?"

Merlin: "..."

Nitocris: "..."

Artoria: "..."

The three of them turned to look at Ereshkigal, whose smile had frozen and whose cheeks were flushed. Their three pairs of eyes seemed to say—

"So this is the kind of narcissistic goddess you are?"

As he smiled, Luo Wei asked her.

The moment this utterly irrational question appeared, it completely shut up Ereshkigal, who had been smiling.

"Well, that's not it! Anyway, don't ask such irrelevant questions, just give me an answer."

She could only keep her head down and urge them to answer quickly.

Then, to her astonishment, Ereshkigal discovered that all the people in front of her answered without hesitation – “Ereshkigal.”

This left her completely stunned.

"why?"

She couldn't help but ask, after all, this was the first time she had ever heard someone praise her.

Even if they were likely trying to please him, this experience was indeed unexpected and felt...unfamiliar to Ereshkigal, who had never been recognized before.

So she genuinely wanted to hear why these people made that choice.

Even if they truthfully answer that it's to please her, it doesn't matter. After all, she already knew in her heart that a corrupt goddess like her was inferior to Ishtar, but she just didn't want to admit it, didn't she?

However, this time, the people weren't trying to curry favor with Ereshkigal; they genuinely felt that she was far superior to Ishtar.

After all, Ishtar has already pushed the boundaries of what a goddess can do, so Ereshkigal is the winner no matter how you compare them.

At least--

"Don't worry, Goddess Ereshkigal, this is not deception or a lie. You are indeed more beautiful than Ishtar. My standard of beauty is not just appearance, but more importantly, inner beauty."

Seeing her incredulous expression, Lowe shook his head and said, "In terms of appearance, you and Ishtar use the same medium, so there's no comparison. The only thing we can compare is your mind."

"In terms of responsibility, along this journey we have seen the well-organized city above the Underworld, and the Underworld below, which still functions freely despite the large number of dead souls. So I can see the efforts you have made for the Underworld and humanity, which Ishtar can never match. That's why you are more beautiful. Can you accept this answer?"

"Huh?"

In that instant, Ereshkigal's expression froze, and then she looked at Lovi, who had given her this answer, with disbelief. Suddenly, she felt a lump in her throat and her eyes warmed up. After all, this was the first time she had heard such words, and it was also the first time she had heard that she had defeated Ishtar. This touched her heart deeply.

She wiped her eyes, then suppressed her emotions and replied with feigned arrogance, "Okay, fine, you've passed. Let's go then..."

After being described this way, Ereshkigal suddenly felt that Lovi wasn't as annoying as he had been just now.

'Since that's the case, once we weaken their forces and capture them, I'll stop bullying him.'

Yes, I was moved.

But Ereshkigal never forgot his goal.

In order to achieve her goal, she had to find a way to trap Luo Wei and the others.

The destruction of the world is inevitable, and no amount of resistance can stop it. The only way out is for everyone to die and gather in the underworld.

She is determined to fulfill her mission in her own way and protect the soul of the entire world; for this, she will not easily waver in her resolve.

However, just as she was thinking this, a red light flashed by, followed by an extremely piercing "crack!" Ereshkigal's eyes, which had been filled with emotion, froze instantly, and the others were also shocked by this scene.

Because they saw—

A crimson hand channeled a seven-colored magical power that transformed into a drill, which struck the gates of the underworld. The light then clashed with the pitch-black gate, creating a terrifying impact.

Ereshkigal, in particular, clearly sensed that the divinity of the Gates of the Underworld was being weakened!

"—Snap!!"

After a long clash between color and black, they heard a strange sound, as if something had suddenly snapped. Then, the gates to the underworld in front of them were forcibly opened from the outside in, and not just in an ordinary way, but in a deeper way. Even the curses and light on them were noticeably weakened at this moment.

Luo Wei withdrew his crimson hand and stepped inside. Although he still felt the curse and the weakening, the intensity was more than ten times weaker than the gate to the underworld he had just encountered. He then raised his hand to beckon everyone to come over.