Seeing Tiamat—less than six hours away—and the lower half of Uruk swallowed by black sludge, Ophis's expression darkened.
"What happened?"
"No idea! When we came to, Tiamat just… appeared!" A guard at her side reported in panic.
"My King, what is—" Siduri began, rushing forward.
Ophis said nothing.
It wasn't that she didn't know. It was obvious what had happened.
She simply couldn't believe it.
An Ouroboros possessed terrifying spatial abilities. Traversing the void, slipping through dimensions—these were innate instincts. Only beings tied to the very concept of space could rival an Ouroboros in that domain.
But being an Ouroboros's specialty didn't mean others couldn't grasp it.
"So she managed to calculate coordinates from that…"
Bitterness surfaced in Ophis's expression.
Step out of the world, lock onto coordinates, step back in—that was her most familiar way of moving. When she'd expelled Tiamat from this spacetime, she hadn't been able to push her into another world; she'd only cast her into the cracks between spaces. Those cracks couldn't hold Tiamat's power—after about two days, she'd inevitably return to this dimension.
The coordinates used in that process shouldn't have changed. Wherever you exited, you would return at the same point…
But Ophis had never imagined Tiamat's obsession with destroying Uruk would drive her to choose where she reappeared.
Fortunately, Tiamat's coordinate lock still had errors. She'd only covered three-quarters of the distance, leaving about six hours.
"Ophis!"
Chaldea's team rushed to the temple rooftop, joined by the Servants—everyone except Enkidu and Merlin, who'd already received his "boxed lunch"—and the two goddesses.
"The Dingir status?"
"Yes. Three hundred sixty in total, all installed as you instructed," someone reported.
Ophis nodded and looked toward the group.
"There's no time to explain. Ordinary soldiers will handle the Lahmu. Your job is to slow Tiamat for eighteen hours. Any questions?"
"Leave it to us!" Ritsuka immediately replied.
They didn't ask why Ophis herself wouldn't go.
If the battlefield shifted from the bay to here… Uruk would collapse before Tiamat even arrived.
"Honestly, you're impossible…" Of course, that was Ishtar.
"Cough—cough, cough, cough…"
After everyone scattered, Ophis coughed harshly several times. She shook her head, gazing toward Tiamat still looming in the distance.
She wanted to stop her personally, but her body had nearly reached its limit…
Everyone willing to leave had evacuated. All preparations had been completed. All she could do now was watch as Tiamat slowly advanced, step by step.
Meanwhile, solar fire rained from the heavens. Countless giant serpents erupted from underground.
These continuous attacks slowed Tiamat, shredding her wings until flight became impossible.
Yet, the Mother Goddess of Creation never stopped.
At last, Uruk's southern wall was crushed by Tiamat.
Unfortunately, she showed no signs of turning back, marching straight toward the Great Temple.
"Sorry," Ritsuka said wearily behind Ophis. "We've reached our limit."
Now, aside from Chaldea's people and the Servants, only eight temple guards, three unit captains, and a single overall commander remained alive.
These twelve were all powerhouses—capable of contending with, even overwhelming, a second-rate Servant.
"Heracles went too far ahead and was swallowed by the black sludge. Arjuna died covering the retreat. Even Quetzal fell… we don't know if she survived. And Ana, too…"
Ophis glanced back—only now noticing that the little girl in the black robe, who'd quietly stuck close to Ritsuka, was gone.
The young Gorgon and her adult self had perished together, somehow fusing into one before launching a suicidal strike at Tiamat…
And Quetzal as well—she'd fought Tiamat to the bitter end, falling from the sky.
Ophis, who could still glimpse fate, quickly pieced it together.
As for why Arjuna—an Archer—had covered the retreat, she wouldn't even comment.
"Eresh?"
"In transit! I'll be there in three hours—please hold on until then…?"
…If you keep arriving this late, you'll barely last half a day before being sent home again.
Ophis sighed inwardly. Looking at the Lahmu that had broken through alongside Tiamat, and Tiamat herself, advancing with unstoppable momentum, she forced herself forward a few steps—
Only for someone to catch her shoulder.
"Leave the rest to us, Master." Medea spoke with a gentle smile.
"Until now, we haven't done much," she continued softly. "And Heracles and Arjuna are already gone…"
Jeanne looked equally helpless.
She excelled at defense, but faced with overwhelming pressure, she had no effective response.
Altera, meanwhile, nodded and tightened her grip on the Sword of the War God.
"My King—let us fight too."
Four dragon-blooded warriors stepped forward, eyes resolute.
Ophis was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"I leave it to you."
...
"Being summoned this time has been far more exciting than I ever imagined."
Medea flew through the sky, watching the Lahmu overrun the entire front line, and laughed softly.
For Medea, protecting human order and saving humanity still felt distant. Ultimately, she was merely an innocent princess who didn't truly understand the world.
Precisely because of that…
"If I'm truly a pure princess, isn't it only natural I long for a beautiful ending found only in fantasies?"
It had been the same back then—she'd answered the summon on a whim. Even if her Master barely noticed her, she'd always quietly offered whatever strength she had.
Perhaps compared to other Servants, her power truly was insignificant, but—
"Even if I can't see the way forward, I'll still run. Even if there's nothing to rely on, I'll still try…"
The tin staff, a gift from the goddess Hecate, began to glow softly as Medea raised it high.
"To be denied even rest and forced into such a form… it's too tragic. But what can I do? I'm just a naïve princess who only accepts happy endings."
"Even a support-type Servant… shouldn't be underestimated."
"LET EVERY TRAGEDY RETURN TO ITS ORIGIN."
"[PAIN BREAKER]!"
Silver-white stardust erupted from the staff, blanketing all of Uruk.