The dizziness of spatial transfer, like being stuffed into a high-speed washing machine drum and spun three hundred times, wasn't a pleasant trip even for an existence whose soul strength far surpassed an ordinary person's, like Seiji Fujiwara.
When that tearing spatial pressure and the bizarre, kaleidoscopic blocks of color faded, a wave of scorching, dry air, rich with the fragrance of soil and grass, rushed into his nostrils.
"...Tch, now this is... the smell of history."
Seiji slowly opened his eyes and looked around.
No longer the oppressive forest of steel and concrete that was Fuyuki City, nor the exquisite but cold stone walls of Einzbern Castle.
What met his eyes was a vast, boundless plain, baked by golden sunlight.
At the limit of his sight, the horizon merged with a sky so blue it seemed unreal. In the distance, a wide river wound its way, nourishing the verdant farmland along both banks. A few crude villages, built of mud brick and thatch, dotted this vibrant land here and there.
Everything was full of a primal, rough air, yet carried the breath of a vast, surging vitality.
This was... 2655 BC, the Mesopotamian plain.
One of the oldest cradles of human civilization.
An age... when gods still walked upon the earth.
[World coordinates confirmed: 2655 BC, ancient Mesopotamia, sphere of influence of the city-state of Uruk.]
[World type: mythological world (the Absolute Demonic Front Babylonia setting of Fate/Grand Order).]
[Law analysis commencing... analyzing core concepts such as "divinity," "the power of faith," and "Authority"...]
[Warning! High-concentration divinity particles detected pervading the atmosphere, exerting a strong suppressive effect on the modern magecraft system!]
In his mind, the system's notifications refreshed rapidly.
Seiji could clearly feel a pressure at the level of "rules" hanging in the air. In this world, ordinary magecraft would have its effects greatly diminished, because the world's "operating system" was built upon the foundation of "gods." A mortal's "parlor tricks" here were nothing more than showing off in front of a master.
But for him, none of this was a problem.
Because he himself was a human-shaped "Holy Grail," a man who came with his own "server."
"Master."
A cool, clear voice sounded behind him. Saber Alter, Jeanne Alter, Medea, and Rider Medusa, four female Servants, had already arrayed themselves behind him like the most loyal of guards, warily observing this brand-new world.
Even existences as powerful as Saber Alter and Jeanne Alter felt a trace of heaviness in their Saint Graphs the instant they made contact with the air of this place. It was a rejection and suppression of "outsiders" that came from the world itself.
Only Medea, born of the Age of Gods, was instead like a fish returned to its homeland, her breathing growing a few degrees smoother.
"Looks like this game version isn't too friendly to us." Seiji stretched lazily, yet not a trace of tension showed on his face. Instead, it was full of the excitement and curiosity of a player stepping into a new map for the first time.
"Medea, analyze the magical environment here, see if we can establish a temporary stronghold. Rider, your reconnaissance range is the largest, go check whether there are any wild mobs or NPCs around. Alter sisters, you two, stand by where you are, suppress your presence, and don't accidentally tear down the starter village."
"Yes."
"As you command."
The four Servants immediately set to work.
Seiji, meanwhile, scooped up a handful of the soil beneath his feet with great interest and brought it to his nose for a light sniff.
"Faith..." he murmured. "What a fascinating energy system. Gathering the thoughts of hundreds of millions of people together, using them as a lever to move the laws, so that a creature as unreasonable as a god can stably exist in the present world."
"Put plainly, isn't this just a kind of... primitive cloud computing?"
[World law analysis progress: 15%...]
[A preliminary "divine power model" of this world has been established. Conclusion: the gods of this place have power directly tied to the number of their believers and the devoutness of their faith. Lose faith, and a god falls from the altar.]
"Just as I thought." Seiji smiled.
To a "player" like him, one who came from the information age, this system was riddled with holes, full of exploitable "bugs."
At that moment, Rider Medusa's figure returned silently to his side like a phantom.
"Master, a human party has been spotted three kilometers to the northeast. About thirty people, armed, uniformly dressed, seemingly some kind of military force. They're approaching in our direction."
"Oh? So soon, and the tutorial guide delivers itself to our door?"
Seiji raised an eyebrow, a playful smile curving at the corner of his mouth.
"Come, let's go say hello to the natives of this era."
...
Meanwhile, the captain of the Uruk city garrison's Fifth Patrol Squad, Ur-Nun, was leading his men on a routine inspection of the territory.
"Stay sharp, all of you!" he barked at the somewhat slack soldiers behind him. "The Demonic Beast Forest may have settled down quite a bit lately, but the great King Gilgamesh has warned us: slackness is Uruk's greatest enemy!"
"Yes, Captain!" The soldiers immediately straightened their backs.
Just then, a sharp-eyed soldier suddenly pointed toward the distant plain and let out a startled cry.
"Captain, look! Over there... there are people over there!"
Ur-Nun immediately looked in the direction he pointed.
On the open plain, at some point unknown, five figures had appeared.
At their head was a man with black hair and black eyes, wearing a set of black cloth they had never seen before, cut to fit his body, making him look exceptionally tall and straight.
And the four women behind him made him suck in a cold breath.
A blonde girl clad in pitch-black, ferocious armor and holding an ominous greatsword. Merely watching her from afar, he felt an icy chill pierce into his bones.
Another, a white-haired girl likewise clad in black armor and holding a strange banner, wore a manic smile on her face that made one shudder.
There was also a woman in a purple cloak, mysterious and elegant, as though shrouded in mist.
The last was a woman with purple hair, astonishingly tall, a blindfold covering her face that lent her an added air of mystery.
These five people had appeared, just like that, out of nowhere, on this land that they patrolled eight times every single day.
"Who are you?!" Ur-Nun immediately grew wary and drew the bronze sword at his waist. "Halt! State your origin and your names! Which city-state are you from? What is your purpose in coming to Uruk's territory?!"
The soldiers raised their spears one after another, assuming defensive postures.
Yet the black-haired man at their head walked on with composed strides, as though he hadn't seen the weapons in their hands at all, slowly coming to a stop before them.
On his face was a gentle smile, the kind that made one feel like basking in a spring breeze.
But behind that smile, Ur-Nun instinctively sensed a trace of... something indescribable that set his very soul trembling.
It wasn't bloodlust, nor was it intimidation.
It was the look of a higher-dimensional creature observing the microbes in a petri dish, a gaze full of curiosity and... amusement.
"Don't be tense, my friends."
Seiji spoke, and what he spoke was pure ancient Sumerian, carrying a faint royal accent.
[System function: automatic language translation and optimization, now active.]
Ur-Nun and his men were stunned.
"You... what are you?" Ur-Nun forced down the unease in his heart and asked again.
"Us?" Seiji smiled. He didn't answer directly, but countered with a question of his own. "I see the design of seven stars engraved on your banner. If I'm not mistaken, you must be soldiers serving that mistress of the heavens, Ishtar of the planet Venus, yes?"
These words made Ur-Nun's expression change in an instant!
The name of the goddess Ishtar, along with the mark of the seven stars, was one of Uruk's core secrets! How could this man of unknown origin know it so clearly?!
Watching the shock on the other's face, the smile on Seiji's face grew all the more unfathomable.
"There's no need for surprise."
His voice carried a kind of magic that seemed able to see through everything.
"For I am a god who roams the world and knows the future."
"I know your past, I see through your present, and I have also... foreseen the tragic future that is about to arrive for you."
"Uruk, and everyone upon this land..."
Slowly, he raised his head and looked toward that azure sky, declaring in a tone full of pity, like some divine charlatan:
"...will all die untimely deaths."
These words struck like thunder from a clear sky, exploding in the ears of Ur-Nun and his soldiers!
Dead silence.
After a brief dead silence came a fury that surged to the heavens!
"Nonsense!"
"You swindler crawling out of who knows where! How dare you curse the great Uruk!"
"Blasphemer! Seize him!"
The soldiers were stirred into a frenzy. They could tolerate the provocation of a foreigner, but they could absolutely not tolerate someone using such venomous words to curse the homeland they took such pride in, to curse their supreme King!
Ur-Nun's face had turned ashen as well, and the bronze sword in his hand was now leveled at Seiji's throat.
"Man, I don't care what you are, nor how you came to know the goddess's name. But for those words you just spoke, I can execute you on the spot this instant!" His voice was cold and full of killing intent. "Take back your words, then kneel and repent to Uruk, to the great King Gilgamesh! Otherwise..."
Yet facing these thirty-odd weapons gleaming with cold light, and a killing intent that had nearly congealed into something physical, the expression on Seiji's face was still that same untroubled one, as though watching a group of children throwing a tantrum.
He couldn't even be bothered to lift his eyelids, simply continuing on his own in that pitying, world-weary tone:
"Anger is the expression of the weak's incompetence. The reason you're angry is that, deep down, your hearts have long been filled with fear of the future, isn't that right?"
"You fear that forest of demonic beasts to the north that never knows rest."
"You fear the unfathomable malice of the Three Goddess Alliance."
"And you fear even more... whether your King, who sits high above and yet has not listened to your prayers for seven months now, has already abandoned you."
Every one of his words was like a precise scalpel, viciously and mercilessly cutting open the bloody reality these Uruk soldiers least wished to touch in their hearts!
Ur-Nun's pupils shrank sharply!
The hand gripping his sword began to tremble uncontrollably.
Fear!
An indescribable fear seized his heart in an instant!
This man... who in the world was this man?!
Everything he said was the heaviest stone now pressing down on the hearts of every person in Uruk!
Yes, the great King Gilgamesh, ever since he returned from the Underworld seven months ago, had become unusually cold, no longer responding to anyone's pleas, only frantically reinforcing the city's defenses, as if preparing for a war... doomed to be lost.
And those gods who had once sheltered them were leaving them, one after another.
Unease and despair had long spread like a plague, quietly, into every corner of Uruk.
"You... who in the world... are you..." Ur-Nun's voice now carried an uncontrollable tremor.
"I told you." Seiji finally lifted his gaze, those pitch-black eyes that seemed able to devour everything regarding him calmly. "I am a god."
"A god... who has come to this place to conduct a transaction."
It was at that moment.
A supremely lofty aura of divinity, vast to the point of suffocation, full of scorching heat and majesty, descended from the sky without the slightest warning!
A roar split the air!
The sky seemed to be torn open!
Golden light poured down like a waterfall, dyeing the plain for several kilometers around in a layer of magnificent, inviolable gold!
"This... this is... the divine might of the goddess Ishtar!"
"The goddess has descended!"
The fear on the faces of Ur-Nun and his soldiers was instantly replaced by fanatical worship! They cast aside the weapons in their hands one after another and, with a heavy thud, prostrated themselves devoutly upon the ground, pressing their foreheads tightly against the scorching earth!
"Praise be to You! Mistress of the heavens!"
"Praise be to You! Goddess of Venus! Guardian of Uruk!"
Within the golden light, a petite figure of a girl, yet radiating supreme majesty, descended from the air.
She had long twin-tailed hair as beautiful as the night, and wore revealing, ornate garments full of exotic flair, while those ruby-like eyes were filled with the arrogance and majesty of a god looking down upon ants.
At her side floated a massive, ornate golden vessel.
She was none other than one of Uruk's guardian deities, the goddess of Venus, Ishtar!
"A pack of intruders who don't know the value of their own lives."
Ishtar looked down upon Seiji and his group from on high, her voice clear and pleasant to the ear, yet carrying the emotionless coldness peculiar to gods.
"How dare you spread such heart-shaking lies within my territory."
"Speak. Were you sent by Enkidu, or by those two cheap women?"
"Or perhaps..." A trace of cruel amusement flashed in her eyes. "Are you simply tired of living?"
Faced with the vast pressure brought by the descent of this true god, enough to instantly shatter the mind of an ordinary person, the four Servants behind Seiji all felt immense strain.
Saber Alter and Jeanne Alter both erupted with pitch-black magical energy in unison, resisting that erosion of divinity.
Medea immediately raised an Age of Gods-level defensive barrier.
And Rider Medusa, because of her own "monster" divinity that stemmed from Athena, was stimulated by the goddess's divine might to the point that she nearly went berserk!
Only Seiji himself.
He remained that same untroubled figure.
He even had the leisure to size up this legendary goddess from head to toe, and spoke in a thoroughly offensive tone:
"Oh? I see. So this is what's called a goddess?"
His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried clearly into the ears of everyone present.
"Saint Graph reading... mm, quite strong indeed. The purity of the divine core is high too, roughly equivalent to... a large-sized, autonomous Holy Grail."
"However..."
His tone shifted, and a trace of undisguised "disappointment" flashed in his eyes.
"...the human body it's possessing has terribly poor specs, severely limiting the divine core's output. And the divine core itself seems to have some kind of defect, causing extremely unstable energy output. The moment its emotions fluctuate too much, it causes a massive waste of magical energy."