"Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
Sensing a true threat to her existence, Tiamat's dragon form unleashed a furious roar, summoning a colossal Tide of Chaos beneath her. Torrents of black mud surged, spawning countless Lahmu like a swarm of locusts, breaking through Tezcatlipoca's invisible blades and rushing toward Roy on her back.
But before the black mud could touch Roy, a familiar floral scent wafted through, and the tide dissolved into a cascade of falling petals.
"I won't give you that chance~" Merlin declared, standing high above, wagging a finger with a playful smile.
A Lahmu attempting a sneak attack from the flank was swiftly blocked by King Hassan's great shield. With a swift motion, he seized its head with his left gauntlet, hoisting it high with terrifying strength.
Bang!
The Lahmu was crushed into black powder, disintegrating within his armored grip.
Delusional Heartbeat? A pure physical rendition!
The first Hassan demonstrated, as if teaching Curse-Arm Hassan himself.
"Your fate is sealed!" King Hassan intoned, his blue-flamed eyes blazing fiercely, gripping his sword and shield like an unyielding rock, intimidating every Lahmu.
"Aaaaaaa!!"
"Tear him apart! Offer them to Mother!" The Lahmu shrieked, charging recklessly at King Hassan. Yet each met the same fate, shattered by his Delusional Heartbeat or pierced by his greatsword, their pitiful forms dissolving atop Tiamat's dragon back.
The Old Man of the Mountain stood silent, an unbreakable bulwark as the mightiest Assassin, securing Roy's chance to unleash his decisive strike.
Without the interference of the eleven beastly Baal Lahmu, King Hassan was an unstoppable force, reducing lesser Lahmu to mere fodder for slaughter.
"Thanks, King Hassan." Roy said.
Tiamat's dragon form would find no escape. The magical energy in Roy's palms had reached its zenith.
In a battle of this magnitude, even a brief delay was enough. Victory hung on a single moment.
"It ends now, beast of calamity!" Roy declared.
His ice-blue eyes gleamed as he raised his hands, chanting the incantation for his spell:
"[Mithril] [Agate] [Crystal]"
"[Azure Star] [Obsidian Sun]"
"[Rise in the heavens]"
"[Reverse the void, between surface and depth.]"
No steps were skipped; this was a full incantation, amplified by Merlin's enhancements and the underworld's blessings, its power tripled beyond its original might.
With this ultimate strike, Roy would deliver a fatal blow to Tiamat's dragon form.
"Third Magic · Mana Conversion · Full Power · Annihilation Mode!!!"
A surge of terrifying magical energy erupted within him, a dark purple light coalescing at his fingertips. Uncontainable destructive force swirled, emitting faint white fluorescence, the boundless power fully gathered.
A spiraling vortex of magical energy burst forth, coalescing at his fingertips.
Facing Tiamat, one of the seven human evils, the Beast of [Regression], Roy closed his eyes, guiding the concentrated magical force and whispering, "Farewell, Tiamat."
A light cannon, brimming with infinite destructive power, roared from his fingers.
The radiant beam tore through space, finding its mark like a flood, its white ocean of magical energy engulfing Tiamat's massive form, drowning all in its wake.
A piercing white pillar rose, illuminating the underworld.
Even Ishtar, tending to the absent Ereshkigal, gazed in awe at the radiant rain of light.
"The underworld doesn't just bloom with flowers, it rains light like this? It's truly beautiful…" Ereshkigal murmured, her weakened hand reaching out, entranced by the falling glow.
"Aaaaaaaaaa!!!"
Under the onslaught of light that ravaged both body and soul, Tiamat let out a piercing wail. The Third Magic's assault on her soul eroded her will, threatening to reduce her to nothingness.
This was Roy's ultimate attack, a devastating strike on both physical and spiritual planes.
No being bound by life could withstand it unscathed.
Yet, at that moment,
"Hahahahahahaha!!!"
Golden light erupted with triumphant laughter, golden ripples spreading through the air.
Undoubtedly, it was Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, who rightfully stood here to witness the divide between man and god, fulfilling his duty as humanity's son.
His scarlet eyes swept over Tiamat, writhing in the light, a trace of pity in his gaze.
"Though a fallen beast, you remain Mesopotamia's Mother of Genesis. Rather than fading in the Third Magic's light, this is a more fitting end…" He mused.
And then,
"Sing, Ea!!" Gilgamesh roared, raising the dark red cylindrical sword, its mechanisms whirring.
He began to chant: "Recount the genesis!!"
The Sword of Rupture spun, its deafening roar signaling the final strike. Sensing Ea's magical energy, Roy glanced up at Gilgamesh, their ice-blue and scarlet eyes meeting across the void, understanding each other's intent.
"So that's how it is…" Roy murmured.
"Then it's yours, King Gil." He said, withdrawing from Tiamat's back alongside King Hassan.
Compared to his own strike, Gilgamesh, the king who sundered man and god, was the fitting one to deliver this final farewell.
"Thank you, Ur's…" Gilgamesh began, a faint smile curling his lips as he raised his arm, preparing his ultimate blow.
"When heaven and earth part, at the dawn of creation, even the void offers its tribute."
The three dark red cylindrical blades roared, a tempest of magical energy capable of rending fault lines sweeping the underworld.
"The blade that sunders the world is my Sword of Rupture!!"
"The mill that grinds the stars, the hell above, marks the eve of creation's end."
This was his final chant, Gilgamesh's mightiest strike, embodying the destructive force of creation's dawn, showing Tiamat the end before the world's birth.
She writhed to escape, but King Hassan's crown of death had rendered her body lifeless, and Roy's prior strike had ravaged her form and soul. Defective in body and spirit, Tiamat could not evade Gilgamesh's world-rending sword.
"Face it, Star of Genesis, Enuma Elish!!"
Fully unleashing the Sword of Rupture, its world-tearing fault wind, manifesting as "creation and hell." Surged as a crimson vortex, targeting Tiamat's head, Chaldea's identified weak point.
"The Mictlan underworld stirs…" Tezcatlipoca murmured, raising his hand to unleash his own Noble Phantasm, a hidden trump card.
"Heart of the Mountain, Smoking Mirror."
"Bearer of sky and earth. First Sun, perish here, First Sun Xibalba!!"
With his ancient chant, a colossal pale skeleton giant rose, distinct from Ereshkigal's faux skeleton queen. This was a cataclysmic force, the true calamity that ended the First Sun Age, now Tezcatlipoca's Noble Phantasm, delivering Tiamat's final blow.
"Hahaha… savor this, Tiamat!!" He laughed, controlling the underworld's power as the giant spewed fearsome blood mist and fickle winds, mercilessly striking the weakened Tiamat.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!
The fickle winds intertwined with the world-rending tempest, their combined force reaching unimaginable heights, shattering the very plane of the "world."
One was the supreme Sumerian god Enki's world-opening sword, [Star of Genesis, Enuma Elish].
The other, the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca's Noble Phantasm, born from the cataclysm that ended a world, [First Sun Xibalba].
One tore the world; the other destroyed it.
Ultimate power.
The mightiest Noble Phantasms.
When these supreme forces collided and fused, their unstoppable might overwhelmed Tiamat's mortal dragon form.
Terrifying magical energy and world-rending gales, cloaked in crimson mist, disintegrated Tiamat's battered form. The resolve to sunder man and god was conveyed to her soul through this ultimate strike.
"Mother! The age of gods has passed. Now begins the era I forge, for humanity!!"
"Mother of Genesis, sleep eternally. This era is too soon for you!!" Gilgamesh declared, his spinning Sword of Rupture at maximum output, its tempest fracturing the world, even shattering Tezcatlipoca's Mictlan underworld illusion.
Crack!!
Like a mirror breaking, Mictlan's underworld collapsed, the surroundings reverting to Mesopotamia's dark underworld.
"Well, that's truly a world-opening sword, breaking my underworld outright." Tezcatlipoca remarked, unperturbed, as Tiamat's form reached its end in Enuma Elish's light.
In her final moments, Tiamat's dragon head rose, gazing at Tiamat Lily in Ritsuka's arms, her eyes tinged with reluctance or something deeper.
They resonated, looking at Gilgamesh and the children who fought to defy the Beast of Regression, a smile forming.
Perhaps Gilgamesh's conviction, that children must leave their mother, and mothers must let go, swayed her, or perhaps it was a fleeting clarity in her final moments.
But all present heard it, the true voice of the Mother of Genesis, a mother's voice.
"…I'm sorry."
And with that, she vanished.
"…"
Hearing the Mother of Genesis's voice, Gilgamesh, delivering the final strike, felt no usual triumph, only a heavy heart.
"Really, Mother, you finally understood… a bit late, but not too late." He murmured.
"As expected of Tiamat, truly humanity's mother…" Tezcatlipoca added, winking at Quetzalcoatl. "Compared to our pantheon's lot, she's leagues better."
He taunted, "See, bird? Who's the true crown-worthy one? My contribution, though not touching Tiamat directly, outshines yours by far!"
"You dare, you dead jaguar?!" Quetzalcoatl snapped, already fuming from the Lahmu's interference, rolling up her sleeves for a wrestling match.
Meanwhile, Roy, landing beside Merlin after the battle, smiled and clapped his shoulder. "It's over, Merlin."
"Indeed. To think we defeated the Beast of Regression, the Calamity Dragon of legend. But Tiamat's final…" Merlin nodded, heavy with emotion.
Not just Gilgamesh, everyone heard Tiamat's last words.
Amid the joy of victory, a pang of loss lingered.
"I hope next time, humanity can embrace this mother and communicate properly… if there's a next time." Merlin mused, smiling as Tiamat's form dissolved into a rain of light.
"We did it!! We actually won!!" Dr. Romani shouted from Chaldea's command room, dancing in celebration as Tiamat's Spiritual Foundation vanished.
Da Vinci, watching the long crusade end, sighed in relief.
"What an incredible feat, defeating the Beast. Unbelievable." She said.
"Yes, Mash, we did it!!" Ritsuka exclaimed, hugging Mash in shared joy.
Seeing their happiness, Roy smiled faintly.
"Alright, Ritsuka, on Romani's behalf, I declare the Seventh Singularity of Human Order Restoration complete…" Merlin began, only to gasp in pain, his senses failing, body stiffening. He stared at Roy in shock. "…Why?"
"Sorry, Merlin. As the one who knows you best, I know how tricky your abilities are. Stay put for now." Roy said softly. "Trust me, I'll explain later."
Lifting his hand from Merlin's shoulder, dozens of white chains, forged from the Third Magic and special magecraft, bound Merlin's body and limbs, sealing his magic.
"Ugh, I let my guard down…" Merlin chuckled wryly. Normally, such chains couldn't hold him, but Roy's sudden strike, exploiting his trust, had caught him off guard.
"Keep it quiet. I've got unfinished business." Roy whispered.
"Something bad?" Merlin asked.
"Nothing major, just testing a few things. Cooperate." Roy replied.
"Got it." Merlin said, falling silent.
"Hey, Lily." Roy called, leaping down to Tiamat Lily, who seemed forlorn.
"Aa… aaa." (It's Roy.)
"Feeling down about the dragon's passing?" Roy asked.
Tiamat Lily nodded silently.
"I understand, but don't be sad. In her final moment, her heart found peace. You'll meet again someday." Roy reassured.
"Aa." (Okay.)
"Roy-senpai!" Ritsuka called, running toward him with a smile, eager to bid farewell to the senior who'd helped her so much.
"Ritsuka…" Roy smiled back.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!
Golden weapons rained from the sky, targeting Roy with piercing shrieks.
"What?!" Ishtar, just arriving, gaped in shock.
"Goldie! Have you lost it?! Why attack Roy?!" She demanded.
"Hmph! Fool, why? You tell me why! Look and see!" Gilgamesh retorted.
"Well, caught me, King Gil." Roy said, his smile fading. Raising a hand, he conjured a massive white light sword, hundreds of meters long, sweeping away Gilgamesh's golden weapons.
Bang, bang, bang!!
The weapons crashed around Roy, their shockwave knocking Ritsuka off her feet.
Against a creator goddess like Tiamat, magecraft was limited, but against Servants, it was another story. Roy's spell, amplified by the Third Magic and nine thousand circuits, was formidable.
"Why?" Ritsuka stammered, joined by Ishtar, Quetzalcoatl, and the others, all bewildered.
"What are you doing, Roy?!" They demanded.
As if stepping from behind the curtain to center stage, Roy stood between Gilgamesh and Ritsuka, on shattered stone.
With soft footsteps, the one who'd struck a deal with Tezcatlipoca, biding his time, finally took the stage at his chosen moment.
Ritsuka stared, incredulous, at the figure.
Gilgamesh frowned, eyeing the youth holding Tiamat Lily, facing him.
Before either could speak, the fickle evening breeze rose again in the underworld, gently pushing them apart.
"What's the meaning of this? It's tedious to explain, but in games, isn't it common for a companion to betray and become the final boss?" Roy said with a faint smile, rising on the breeze, waving to the stunned Ritsuka below.
"That's the twist. In other words…"
"The stage is ours now."
"Let's start the hidden dungeon, Master of Chaldea~"
Tezcatlipoca, removing his fearsome leopard mask, echoed Roy's words.
The sudden reversal silenced the once-joyous atmosphere.
___
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