Before Ereshkigal's eyes, a nightmare of obsidian scales and primal dread manifested—a colossal dragon, pitch-black from its jagged horns to its razor-sharp tail.
Originally, after striking down Marquis Voban with her plagues, Ereshkigal had been in high spirits. She was already mentally preparing her "reward request" for Ritsuka. But before she could take a single step toward her Master, the very fabric of reality behind her tore open, releasing a surge of magical pressure so violent it made the air shiver.
To her utter shock, the Marquis who should have been rotting in the land of the dead had bypassed the gates of the Underworld entirely.
[Authority: Otherlands Dragon]
This was Voban's ultimate insurance policy. It forced his physical body into a temporary state of "absolute death," only to immediately reincarnate his spirit into a massive, draconic form born from the essence of the Earth itself. While his true body remained vulnerable and unguarded, the manifested dragon was a force of nature that could bridge the gap between the living and the dead.
Normally, this Authority consumed a staggering amount of energy, requiring months of rest to recover. But Voban didn't care. His pride had been trampled, and he wanted blood.
Ereshkigal frowned, her crimson eyes narrowing. She didn't know the specifics of his resurrection, but she knew one thing: her [Sixty Incantations of Death] were designed to kill the living. Against a creature that was essentially a "living corpse" made of earth and spirit, her plagues were losing their conceptual edge.
"How... annoying," she muttered, gripping her spear-cage tighter.
"Goddess of the Underworld!" The Black Dragon's voice rumbled like a tectonic shift, shaking the very foundations of Tokyo. "Your diseases were formidable, but they cannot kill what is already dead! In this form, I am the sovereign of the boundary! How will you defeat me now?"
With a deafening roar, Voban lunged.
Ereshkigal danced through the air, her movements a blur of red and black as she dodged his massive claws and torrents of dark dragonfire. She was fast, but she was frustrated. Should I release my Noble Phantasm? she wondered. But if I go all out while Ishtar is just watching, it'll look like I'm struggling!
As if on cue, the golden boat Maanna descended from the clouds. Ishtar sat perched on the prow, looking down with a mischievous, cat-like grin. Behind her stood a weary but recovered Kusanagi Godou.
"My, my~ What's the matter, Ereshkigal? Don't tell me you're helpless just because the 'puppy' grew a few sizes?" Ishtar teased.
"If you think you can do better, then be my guest, you flashy brat!" Ereshkigal snapped back.
Ritsuka, who was currently being carried in the arms of the loli-Athena, let out a long, weary sigh. These two... they spend way too much time roasting each other in the Chaldean group chats, she thought.
"He's a Dragon-Serpent type," Ritsuka called out, her voice calm despite the chaos. "I could summon Georgios again the Saint who specialized in slaying these things and he'd end this in a heartbeat."
She then whispered to herself, "...Though as the 'Mother of Dragon-Serpents' myself, asking a Saint to kill one feels... ethically complicated for my soul. Tiamat-mama would be so disappointed."
Godou's face paled instantly. He remembered how Georgios had turned his [Solar Steed] into a dragon just to kill it. If that Saint appeared, Voban was finished, and Godou would be next.
"Old man! Watch out!" Godou shouted toward the Black Dragon. "That Savior can summon the Dragon-Slayer Georgios! He'll rewrite your existence and erase you! We have to take out the Master first!"
Voban's draconic eyes widened. "To force a concept onto a god... and then slay it? Despicable! Very well, brat forget the goddesses! The target is the Heretic Savior!"
The two Campiones surged forward, ignoring the attacks of Ishtar and Ereshkigal. They charged straight for Ritsuka with the speed of a falling star.
"You cowards! Get back here!" Ereshkigal roared, her face flushing with fury as she gave chase.
"Don't you dare touch my Master!" Ishtar screamed, diving Maanna toward the ground.
Ritsuka, however, didn't move. She watched the two God-Slayers bearing down on her with a look of bored indifference. The Campiones smirked, convinced she was defenseless.
Snap.
A flash of brilliant blue light enveloped Ritsuka. In the blink of an eye, she vanished into thin air. Both Godou and Voban clawed at nothing but empty wind.
"Idiots! I just went home for a second. Don't bother waiting up!" Ritsuka's mocking voice echoed from nowhere.
Chaldea: The Library
Ritsuka slammed her hand onto the intercom, her voice broadcasting across the entire facility:
"Ahem! Attention all Servants! I need a Dragon-Slaying specialist or anyone with a hobby of hunting oversized lizards. Report to the teleportation chamber immediately. There's a giant black dragon waiting for a haircut. Hurry up, I'm missing my show!"
Back in Tokyo
While the two Campiones were still reeling from Ritsuka's disappearance, the blue light of the spiritron transfer flared again.
Ritsuka reappeared, but she wasn't alone.
Standing beside her was a tall, elegant man with long, dark-blue hair tied back in a high ponytail. He wore a light purple kimono, his arms crossed over his chest with an air of supreme nonchalance. In his hand was a katana of impossible length the Monohoshizao.
"I'm back!" Ritsuka waved cheerfully to her goddesses. "And I brought the ultimate specialist!"
"...Sasaki? You again...?" Ishtar muttered, her eye twitching.
Ereshkigal silently buried her face in her hands. "Calling him a 'Dragon-Slayer' isn't technically wrong... but it feels so, so wrong for the legend."
"A specialist?" Voban rumbled, his dragon eyes narrowing at the newcomer. "Kusanagi, does your land have a hero named Sasaki? Is he a Dragon-Slaying Steel Hero?"
Godou frowned, trying to remember his history. "Sasaki Kojirō... the legendary rival of Miyamoto Musashi. But he didn't kill dragons. He was famous for... cutting down swallows."
"Swallows?" Voban snorted, a puff of black smoke escaping his nostrils. "You bring a bird-catcher to fight a dragon?!"
The three goddesses, however, didn't hesitate. They immediately swarmed around Kojirō.
"My, my. I was expecting Siegfried, but this is much funnier," Ishtar giggled. She grabbed Kojirō's blade. "Let me add a little something [Authority of the Morning Star: Defense Bypass]!"
Ereshkigal stepped up next, her hands glowing with dark energy. "Don't you dare fail, swordsman. [Blessing of the Underworld: Unbreakable Edge]!"
Finally, Athena sighed and placed her hand on the hilt. "To think I would bestow a Dragon-Slaying blessing upon a mortal... how ironic. [Wisdom of the Goddess: Dragon-Slaying Specialization]!"
Kojirō looked at his glowing, multi-colored blade and let out a dry chuckle. "If I swing this any harder, I might accidentally fire a beam. Sorry, Okita-kun, it seems I've joined the 'Beam Sword' club today."
Voban didn't wait. He lunged at Kojirō, his jaws wide enough to swallow a house.
Kojirō merely smiled. With a grace that defied gravity, he slipped past the dragon's teeth, moving like a drifting petal in the wind. Voban roared, unleashing a torrent of black fire, but Kojirō was already gone, appearing behind the dragon's head.
Suddenly, Godou lunged from the side, trying to ambush the swordsman. Kojirō's [Eye of the Mind (False): A] flared. He sidestepped the Devil King's strike without even looking.
"Two against one? How festive," Kojirō remarked, his voice cool and steady.
He saw Ritsuka give him a thumbs-up. His expression sharpened. The playful air vanished, replaced by a killing intent so focused it felt like a physical weight.
"Very well. Let us end this farce."
[Hidden Sword: Tsubame Gaeshi — Swallow Reversal]
The world seemed to stutter. Three slashes occurred at the exact same moment from three different directions, overlapping in a Multi-Dimensional Refraction that ignored the laws of time and space.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
All three strikes landed with surgical precision on the dragon's reverse scale—the single point of absolute vulnerability.
The battlefield went silent. Then, a fountain of black blood erupted as the dragon's massive head was severed cleanly from its neck. Voban's colossal form convulsed once, then collapsed into a heap of dissolving spirit particles.
Kojirō landed lightly on the ground, sheathing his blade with a crisp click. He plucked a blade of grass from the ruins and held it between his lips, looking back at the stunned Godou.
"The so-called 'Dragon'..." he said, his voice echoing in the stillness, "...is nothing more than a slightly larger swallow."