Type-Moon, the Path of a Magician

“Ishtar, do you need me to take you away first? If you continue walking, your condition will definitely get worse.”

Xia Yuan asked seriously.

He originally thought that even if Ereshkigal wanted to test him this time, it would be to embarrass a mortal who came to visit him, but he did not expect that the spearhead would still be directed at Ishtar.

Although he could understand that Ishtar was rude and had a bad mind and had made the other party unhappy, but stripping a girl in front of a man was indeed a bit too much.

Ishtar's divinity had almost faded away just after passing through four doors.

If Ishtar passes through the last three gates of Hades, what will happen to her? It is impossible to imagine, so he wants to escort Ishtar back first.

"Who... who asked you to send me out? I didn't come here just because of you."

Hearing this, Ishtar said stubbornly: "Have you forgotten what Grandpa Enki asked me to do? What's more..."

"I also want to finish saying to that idiot inside what I didn't have time to say last time."

“…Really.”

Hearing this, Xia Yuan sighed, then used projection magic to create a blanket and draped it over Ishtar to cover her exposed body.

"How dare you say that... Ishtar."

"It seems that the lesson you learned last time hasn't taught you a lesson yet... Are you going to say the same irresponsible and ridiculous things to me again?"

Ereshkigal's voice was heard again in the sky of Hades. She said calmly, "If you turn around and leave here, I will return your divinity and divine armor to you. How about that? Anyway, this trial has nothing to do with you. It would be a good choice to pass on the god Enki's instructions directly to me, or to give them to this warrior who specially visited me..."

"Who cares?! I do whatever I want!"

Ishtar tightly grasped the blanket that Xia Yuan had put on her, then stood up and shouted to the voice in the sky: "I am the embodiment of love and beauty. This level of punishment is nothing to me."

"Compared to you who can only try to embarrass me in this way, I am in a better state than ever before."

"Are you trying to provoke me?"

"If you think so, then so be it! Whatever tricks you have up your sleeve, just show them to me, Ereshkigal!"

"you……!!"

There was a sudden rage in the sky of Hades, and the aura coming from the gate of Hades was even more terrifying. It was obvious that Ereshkigal was indeed angered by Ishtar's words.

Then an unknown energy wave spread out under their feet.

Just as a gun cage was about to rise from the ground beneath their feet, ready to teach Ishtar a lesson, a hand wrapped in white magic suddenly waved past.

Om-! !

Accompanied by the sharp sound of magic power and underworld power canceling each other out, the black gun cage that spread from the ground was easily dispersed by Xia Yuan's palm.

"You...why are you protecting him, Trialist? Why are you protecting this unruly, annoying goddess?!"

"Eh?" Seeing Xia Yuan suddenly standing in front of her, Ishtar was stunned for a moment, then she hid behind him very obediently and continued to shout towards the sky of the underworld.

"Look, I have someone protecting me here, so you can't hurt me. You gloomy, torture-crazed goddess, just wait in there. I will definitely walk up to you this time and teach you a lesson!"

"you……"

Upon hearing this, Ereshkigal was about to continue his outburst, but Xia Yuan spoke in time.

"Please stop, Lord Ereshkigal. This behavior is not like you and it is not something you would do."

"Ishtar's mouth is indeed very annoying, and she often does things that make others angry, but please believe her, she did not come with malicious intent this time."

"Are you pleading for her?"

"No, I'm just telling the truth."

"And I don't want to see you do such a thing. After all, you are not an evil god, but a god worthy of my respect and admiration."

"..."

This time Ereshkigal did not answer Xia Yuan's words, but the sky above the underworld immediately became silent.

Accompanied by the sound of the gates to the underworld in front opening together.

Xia Yuan knew that Ereshkigal had agreed to let Ishtar go, so he expressed his gratitude to the sky of Hades: "Thank you for your generosity, Lord Ereshkigal."

"Really... you look like you know me very well..."

Ereshkigal, who was in the depths of the underworld, frowned slightly, looked at the images of Xia Yuan and others in the water mirror, and couldn't help but sigh.

"But do you really understand me? Don't think I am so beautiful... I am the goddess of the underworld who takes human lives..."

"If you are like this, how should I meet you and get along with you?"

……

……

She had heard countless tender stories from the mouths of dead souls.

She is full of fantasies and desires for everything in the outside world.

She wants to bathe in the scorching sun in the sky, watch the sunrise and sunset on the beautiful mountains, embrace the blue sky, smell the fragrance of flowers, and more importantly, she wants to have someone who understands her.

But where there is light, there is shadow.

Behind every gentle story, there is always tragedy to support it.

And she is the shadow behind this gentle story.

If the outside world is likened to a stage, where beauty is always being performed, then she becomes the pillar of this stage, supporting this beautiful world.

Every actor can dance on the stage to their heart's content and perform their own unique beauty, except her...

Actors can be replaced and stage costumes can be rebuilt, but she, the pillar responsible for supporting the stage, can never change.

Death is something that no one can escape from.

Since life has a beginning, it will also have an end.

Separation of life and death, and return to the underworld, this is the duty given to her by the King of the Gods, and it is also the principle of keeping the world running. And Ereshkigal has been fulfilling her duties diligently from beginning to end.

But even a goddess like her who lived in darkness and worked diligently to keep the world running did not receive encouragement from the gods or respect from humans, but blame and fear.

The gods fear her terrifying power, and humans blame her for her ruthlessness. Why did she take the lives of their relatives, friends, and lovers?

All the tragedies and mistakes were blamed on her.

From the beginning to the end, she is a horrible god who is not understood, a monster, and an ominous existence described as a disaster in the epic.

So much so that Ereshkigal herself began to wonder if her existence was really a fault. She was just fulfilling her duties, but why did she end up like this?

Humans die, plants wither, and animals die.

Nothing in the world is truly eternal; death and returning to the underworld are inevitable in life.

But why should all the faults be put on her? She clearly did nothing wrong, she clearly worked so hard, she clearly wanted humans to recognize her, but why?

Why is the ending like this?

The entire underworld, apart from the dead, has had no visitors for who knows how many years. The only voice echoing in the entire underworld is one's own.

Unlike the magnificent towers and palaces of other gods, the palace she lived in was just a pile of ruins.

Because no gods were willing to help her build the temple, let alone humans, even these ruins that looked like relics were the result of her careful construction and care.

Every day she sleeps on the cold floor of the underworld, stares into the dark abyss, wanders in the endless darkness, or carefully crafts these gun cages to collect human souls.

A thousand years passed like a day.

She was already feeling a little tired and beginning to get bored.

Sometimes she would think that if she died, her life would be much easier than it is now. After all, when she is dead, she wouldn't be able to feel anything, right?

But this thought only occurred to her occasionally. After all, if even she tried to evade responsibility by dying, then who would take care of the living and the dead in this world?

It can't be Ishtar...

……

……

"Ereshkigal! Come out here quickly!!"

After passing through the last three gates of the underworld, Ereshkigal did not trip up Ishtar this time, so they easily arrived at the temple of the underworld.

However, the dilapidated and desolate scene of this place would be more appropriately called ruins rather than a temple. At least Xia Yuan and Yanwu Jing had never seen a temple where a god lived that was leaky on all sides.

Having seen with her own eyes the place where Ereshkigal lived, Ishtar was even more excited than Xia Yuan and Smoke Mirror.

She draped herself in the covering blanket, pushed open the temple door, and rushed into Ereshkigal's dilapidated temple.

"Wait a moment..."

Seeing Ishtar being so reckless, Xia Yuan wanted to stop her, but Ishtar didn't care about that at the moment.

In the blink of an eye, he had rushed into Ereshkigal's temple and began to shout towards the dark sky: "Ereshkigal, you are here, right? Come out to see me quickly!!"

"I came here just to tell you one thing. If you hate this place, just leave. Let those damn and troublesome responsibilities go to Enlil!!"

"If you don't want to, I will take you out. Let Father God and Grandpa Enji worry about this broken Hades!"

“…Ishtar.”

"You are still as stupid as ever..."

After a brief silence, suddenly, a gust of white sand blew up under the feet, and the sand of the underworld at the foot of the temple began to move involuntarily the next moment.

A cloud of white sand began to swirl around Ishtar, and then a pale white hand formed and held her in its palm.

"What's this?!"

Ishtar wanted to use her divine power to break free, but under the suppression of the underworld and the fourfold deprivation of the gates of the underworld, she was just an ordinary person who was a little stronger at the moment. How could she have the strength to break free from the hand extended by the gods?

Then, the sound of wind echoing around was like the roar of the underworld. Countless grains of white sand continued to swirl and condense in the air at the call of the strong wind, and soon turned into a giant skeleton in a white wedding dress, appearing in the temple of the underworld.

While one hand was holding Ishtar, the blue flames burning in the skeleton giant's empty eye sockets were staring at Xia Yuan in the Temple of the Underworld.

"Your name is Xia Yuan... Is that right? As you can see, this is the true face of the goddess you thought was the most beautiful. It's ugly and scary, right?"

Seeing the huge skeleton queen made of the sand of the underworld, Xia Yuan couldn't help but frowned, then looked at Ishtar who was tightly grasped by the skeleton's palm, with a helpless expression.

"Yes, I finally see you."

"So... human." Ereshkigal, who had transformed into the Skeleton Queen, asked seriously, "Answer my question. Even after seeing my terrifying and abominable appearance, can you still believe in your previous choice? Answer me once more..."

"Who is more beautiful, Ereshkigal or Ishtar?!"

The soul's questioning roared out from Ereshkigal's mouth again, the torture of the god of the underworld, and another extremely terrifying breath came towards Xia Yuan. The black air tightly wrapped around his body, and the ground also condensed into frost due to the cold air exhaled by Ereshkigal.

This is not just a small fight in front of the gate of Hades. Ereshkigal is serious. This is a real accountability from the Lord of Hades. If anyone attempts to lie, his soul will be exiled to the most terrifying abyss.

Xia Yuan sighed and fell silent.

"Hey, hey! Do you even need to ask this?"

Ishtar, who was held by the skeleton's hand, looked at the abominable skeleton in front of her and taunted: "Look at your ugly appearance, even a brainless monster knows the answer, right?!!"

"Shut up! It's not your turn to speak here."

Anger flashed in Ereshkigal's eyes, and he threw Ishtar, who was in his hand, heavily away.

“Ehhhh?!!!”

Ishtar was panicked when she realized she was thrown away, but her divine power had been completely taken away by Hades, so she could only let her body fly backwards like a sandbag, doing free fall in mid-air.

"Really... I told you to be careful, now you've learned your lesson."

With a helpless sigh, Ishtar did not feel the pain she had expected. Her arm was once again grasped by that familiar hand, and her body was gently lifted up and finally put back on the ground.

Then Xia Yuan raised his head and looked seriously at the skeleton goddess in front of him with a somewhat regretful expression.

"Although I really want to stick to my previous answer, I can't do it now..."

"What did you say?! So what you said before was all lies to me?! Liar! Liar! You damn liar!!!"

Ereshkigal fell into rage after receiving this answer, and the violent wind in the underworld suddenly became more violent. Countless sharp golden gun cages began to appear out of thin air around Xia Yuan and pierced his body together.

Xia Yuan had of course anticipated Ereshkigal's justifiable rage.

Then he raised his finger and released his immense magical power to create a vacuum barrier around him, forcibly suppressing the gun cage released by Ereshkigal.

"If it was just now, I would have answered without hesitation that it was you, but not now."

"Why?! You clearly said that I was..."

The bone-chilling frost came along with the Skeleton Goddess's angry roar.