"Over...? What do you mean?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka was completely dumbfounded. She hadn't even figured out what the Three Goddess Alliance was or who was in it, and Su Mo was already declaring it finished just as he opened his mouth.
"Father God?!"
Even Ishtar had a look of shock, clearly finding Su Mo's words hard to believe.
"Lord Su Mo, do you mean..."
Gilgamesh's eyes widened. He considered a certain possibility, but his instincts found it difficult to accept. After all, they were talking about three goddesses, and all of them were chief deity-class!
"Over, as in, literally over," Su Mo explained casually.
To anyone else, this explanation was as good as none, but Rin Tohsaka, who knew a fraction of his true power, understood.
"Could it be... that this is the authority to end all stories?"
Seeing everyone's dumbfounded expressions, Su Mo thought for two seconds.
"Let's just have them come here now."
The instant his words fell, ripples formed in the space before him. This wasn't some kind of magic or authority; it was as if the world itself was responding to his words, like an emperor's decree.
After the ripples subsided, four figures of varying sizes appeared below the throne, all of them looking completely bewildered.
"Where is this? Is this still the underworld?"
A blonde goddess who bore a striking resemblance to Ishtar, but with the more girlish features of Rin, looked around in a daze, gradually recognizing her surroundings.
"This is the royal palace of Uruk? Why was I brought here? Ishtar, is this your doing?"
The moment she saw the body of Rin Tohsaka, the blonde goddess recognized the divinity within and immediately shot her a look of displeasure.
"Of course not! I don't want to see you, you idiot!" Ishtar retorted instinctively, then realized something and a gloating expression spread across her face. "Hah, so you're here too! That means you, Ereshkigal, joined the Three Goddess Alliance? Hahaha! How dare you aid the enemy! Just wait and see how Father God punishes you!"
For her, the greatest pleasure was watching her sister suffer.
"Shut up! What does a useless goddess who throws a fit at the drop of a hat know?! Me joining the Three Goddess Alliance was just a delaying tactic! If I didn't—wait, Ishtar, what did you just say? Father God?"
The goddess of the underworld, Ereshkigal, immediately refuted Ishtar's claim. Halfway through her retort, she suddenly realized something was wrong. She snapped her head up and finally saw Su Mo upon the throne.
"Father God?!"
A brilliant light first bloomed in the slender goddess's eyes, but then, as if remembering something, the light instantly dimmed. She bit her lip aggrievedly and fell to her knees.
"Father God, I know you usually dote on Ishtar, but on the matter of the Three Goddess Alliance, I implore you to believe me. I have absolutely no intention of helping Mother destroy the world, nor was I deliberately bullying Ishtar before..."
"You may punish me, but please do not doubt your daughter's loyalty. I reported Mother's movements to you before, but just like your attitude towards me, the heavens never responded."
By the end, Ereshkigal bit her lip lightly, suppressing the bitterness in her heart. Her attitude was incomparably sincere. It was obvious she was the quiet type who was often wronged.
"She sounds kinda pathetic," Rin whispered a comment.
"The old Father God really didn't seem to care much about this idiot," even Ishtar had to admit.
Kneeling on the ground, Ereshkigal had expected to be treated with the usual indifference, or perhaps even be scolded and punished. To her surprise, after hearing her words, the Father God before her simply gave a slight nod.
"I know. Rise, Eresh. Stand beside your sister."
To Su Mo, it was a perfectly normal address. But to Ereshkigal, who heard it, her eyes widened in disbelief.
"Eresh? Father God actually used a nickname for me?! Isn't that a privilege only Ishtar gets to enjoy? What's going on?!"
Such a simple form of address was an experience Ereshkigal had never had. What's more, Su Mo had told her to stand with Ishtar and even called Ishtar her sister... this was the first time she had ever been treated the same as her sibling.
The sudden change left Ereshkigal feeling dizzy. She obediently walked over to Ishtar's side, completely forgetting her rivalry with her sister and how she had been snatched from the underworld.
However, what she forgot, the second goddess did not.
Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent goddess dressed in indigenous American-style clothing, was on full alert the moment she was summoned to the palace. As a King of Gods and a War God, she was the quickest to grasp her situation. While Ereshkigal was feeling overwhelmed by their father's pleasant demeanor, she too saw Su Mo upon the throne.
And then—
"Father God?!"
She instinctively cried out the same title as Ereshkigal, her face a mask of surprise. "For you, the Primordial Creator God, to descend to this era personally... As I thought, you've come to stop Tiamat, haven't you?"
Quetzalcoatl's cry left everyone else utterly confused.
There's another daughter?
Ishtar, naturally, couldn't hold back and was the first to voice her displeasure.
"Quetzalcoatl, what's the meaning of this, suddenly trying to steal my father? You're a South American god-king, what are you doing calling my daddy 'Father God'?!"
South American mythology was its own distinct system. There was no way Su Mo's divine persona could extend that far.
Faced with Ishtar's complaint, Quetzalcoatl rubbed her head.
"Even if you say that, I would never mistake my own father. Isn't Father God's divinity the same as Ometecuhtli, the creator god of our Aztec pantheon?"
Quetzalcoatl was considered the third child of the creator god, which was why she was qualified to rule the world for an entire Sun Age.
"What?"
At her words, everyone turned to look at Su Mo.
Besides being the sky god Anu, Su Mo was also the creator god Ometecuhtli? Who exactly was he?
Faced with their questioning gazes, Su Mo explained casually, "I am the master of all mythologies and the creator of all pantheons. My very spiritual essence is equivalent to the Father of All Gods. It's only natural for divine spirits to equate me with their creator god."
Hearing this, everyone present, including Ishtar and Quetzalcoatl, fell silent.
The Father of All Gods... was an existence like that really normal?