"Bakame, what on earth are you doing, you stupid goddess?!"
With Gugalanna's appearance, a surprised, bewildered, and speechless mature female voice also rang out from the magic mirror, causing the '[Illya] team,' who were thinking about whether they should also take the initiative, to pause.
"She looks like a very mature older sister!" Little Illya, sitting like a duck beside '[Illya],' craned her little head to look at the owner of the voice appearing on the screen—a pretty woman with chestnut hair, dressed very plainly, and seemingly carrying something. She blurted it out subconsciously.
"Is this big sister also a Master?"
"Ah... That's right."
[Illya] nodded, looking at the woman in the magic mirror with a subtle gaze.
"I didn't expect even she would get involved."
Looking at that somewhat unfamiliar face, Jiang Qiao had already recognized her identity.
"—Aoko Aozaki."
A character from Tsukihime, a sister work to the Fate series in the Type-Moon universe, and also the prototype for several characters including Rin Tohsaka. Although she was the younger sister, she ultimately became the successor to Aozaki and the Fifth True Magic. However, because of this, she had some grudges with the "Scarlet Scourge," the Grand Puppeteer, who was also Aoko's older sister—Touko Aozaki.
"Eh... You know her?"
"Uh, I've heard of her, I guess. At least she's quite famous in the world of magecraft."
"After all, she has mastered the Fifth True Magic, something most magi can only dream of." The silver-haired girl said nonchalantly, propping up her cheek.
"The Fifth True Magic?"
Little Illya, who was previously just an elementary school student and completely ignorant of this concept, had a question mark appear above her head.
"Most people in this world master magecraft, 'phenomena achievable by human power,' that's what's called magecraft."
"And True Magic is something impossible for human power to achieve, also known as 'miracles.'"
"Mom Irisviel, the Einzbern family, which is 'our' family, their lifelong ambition, the purpose of this Holy Grail, or rather, the meaning of the Holy Grail itself, is all to complete the Third True Magic possessed by the Einzbern family: Materialization of the Soul."
"The Ruby wand in your hand is precisely a creation of the Second True Magic. It's a True Magic mastered by an old man at the Clock Tower called the Wizard Marshall, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, capable of borrowing unlimited magical energy from parallel worlds."
"And that woman you see, she has mastered the Fifth True Magic."
"Uh... That sounds amazing... But, if Ruby is also True Magic, doesn't that mean I'm as amazing as her?"
Ruby timely popped up, "Hmph, hmph, of course! Ruby-chan is a masterpiece of Zelretch! That little brat, even if she has mastered True Magic or something, she's definitely no match for me and Illya."
"Yes, yes, it seems you two are very confident. Very good, then you two can go deal with that woman next!"
"No way! We'll die! Don't drag me into Ruby's boasting!"
"What are you talking about, Illya? We are a community! A community!"
"Believe in yourself, a beautiful magical girl can do anything!"
"Yada yo, I don't want to be a magical girl anymore!"
'Bang!'
"Gomen nasai, we were too arrogant." Little Illya and Ruby performed a lightning-fast dogeza.
And at the scene.
Aoko Aozaki looked speechlessly at the Bull of Heaven, towering like a small mountain, and then at her Servant.
"What are you doing?"
Honestly, getting involved in this Holy Grail War was also an accident for Aoko.
She was originally traveling around, and then inexplicably found Command Spells on her hand—she inquired about the Holy Grail War from her good friend Alice Kuonji. Although she herself wasn't particularly attached to the so-called wish-granting Holy Grail, based on the thought 'it seems quite interesting,' since she was chosen, she might as well go.
With such a simple purpose, she came to Fuyuki. Because she hadn't prepared anything beforehand and was just joining in the fun, she relied on pure compatibility for summoning and ended up summoning that childlike, extremely troublesome goddess, Ishtar.
Honestly, she didn't particularly like Ishtar. After all... how should one put it, that willful streak, that arrogant demeanor, and that Noble Phantasm... Aaargh, seriously, Aoko always had a sense of déjà vu, like seeing 'another version of herself'—the compatibility between these two was almost maxed out!
Of course, Aoko was the type who didn't like people too similar to herself, thus feeling a bit of same-sex repulsion towards 'Ishtar'—If you want to do something, just do it yourself. Having dismissed this troublesome goddess like that, Aoko, who had seen quite a few good shows today, was already planning to have a good night's sleep and see if anything interesting would happen tomorrow.
But then...
Miss Aoko, whose beautiful dream was disturbed by this huge commotion, was not feeling well at all.
I told you to do whatever you want, but isn't this going too far?
Isn't the Holy Grail War a secret magical ritual?
Although Aoko herself was also the type who often caused big commotions and disliked restraint, no matter what, this bull was too exaggerated!
"It's not my fault! It's Baka Enkidu! It's Enkidu!"
"Wouldn't it have been fine if he had just submitted earlier?! Is it that hard to submit to a goddess?!" The somewhat childlike Ishtar, confronted by her Master, felt a little guilty, but the next moment, she started shifting the blame, putting all responsibility on Enkidu—it had to be said, it perfectly matched the image of that unreasonable, irresponsible goddess Ishtar.
"Wait, what's that on your shoulder?"
She noticed a familiar figure seemingly carried on Ishtar's shoulder and was somewhat surprised and uncertain.
"Oh, seems to be your father? That man named Tokiomi Tohsaka."
"Eh?"
"On my way here, he seemed to have gotten into a fight and was sneak-attacked. I happened to bump into him, so I just brought him along."
"Ah... Eh eh eh?!"
"It's that man?!!"
Ishtar, riding Maanna, instantly panicked a little, flew to Aoko's side, and asked in a slightly worried tone:
"Is he okay?"
Although she was a goddess possessing a vessel, she would still retain some aspects of the vessel. If it wasn't a particularly malicious type, she would still care somewhat.
"I did some emergency treatment with magecraft, but his condition doesn't seem very good."
"I don't know what kind of method it was, but it actually crippled his entire Magic Circuits. His life as a magus seems to be completely over?" Aoko said casually, not very concerned, even somewhat gloating.
Well, magi are like that. In her eyes, which differed from normal magi, most magi couldn't be considered good people. If they were crippled, then apart from their personal dreams, it was an undeniably great thing for others and for their life as a simple person!
"Seriously, how did it turn out like this?" Ishtar was somewhat speechless and annoyed, but then sighed, "Well, for this man, it's probably a good thing."
She knew the disposition of this 'father' of hers—a traditional magus. Although not the most extreme type, he definitely couldn't be called a good person.
He could sacrifice everything for his obsession with magecraft. Therefore, after losing his qualifications as a magus, he would probably become extremely miserable, right?
But from 'her own' perspective, for the girl she was currently possessing, this was an undeniably great thing.
After all, although Tokiomi Tohsaka was somewhat twisted as a father due to his magus ideals, he still had some fatherly affection.
If he wasn't a magus and simply a good dad, he should be quite qualified... probably?
Glancing at Tokiomi, even Ishtar couldn't be too sure.
"Well... anyway, it's good that he survived. Thanks, Master, I owe you one." Although the Rin part of her would feel some sadness, as a goddess, Ishtar viewed such matters quite indifferently.
Aoko rolled her eyes unhappily, "Stupid goddess... If you're really grateful, then deal with that bull first!"
"If this goes on, those old geezers from the Church and the Mage's Association will really send a Sealing Designation team over!"
"I don't want to deal with those poker faces."
"Relax, relax, just make Gugalanna go back. I'm the Mistress of Heaven; it still listens to me quite well."
With that, she cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and shouted at the Bull of Heaven:
"Hey, Gugalanna, did you hear me? You're not needed here anymore, go back!"
A long silence.
"What happened?"
"You can't control it at all, can you?"
Facing Aoko's suspicious gaze, Ishtar, whose pride was somewhat hurt, shouted loudly:
"How could that be! It's a gift from the gods to me! I'm a goddess! A goddess!"
"Hmm... Maybe it's because it's too big, so it didn't hear me." She awkwardly found an excuse for herself, then the next moment, rode Maanna towards the bull's head, leaving behind her words:
"Mmm, wait for me!"
"Hey, Gugalanna! In the name of Ishtar, Mistress of Heaven, I order you to return! Scram!"
Ascending to a height level with the Bull of Heaven's head, in the eyes of Enkidu, '[Illya],' and the various Masters and Servants peeking at the situation here through familiars, Ishtar arrogantly berated the bull.
The latter remained silent.
"Huh? Didn't you hear clearly?! Gugalanna, you're not needed here anymore! Did you hear me? Stupid bull! Go away!"
"I'm saying..." A vein throbbed on Ishtar's forehead, somewhat impatient.
However, the next moment.
"Moooooo—"
A terrifying sonic boom resounded throughout Fuyuki City, and the simultaneously erupting hurricane directly blew Ishtar away.
"Bakame, that useless goddess, this King knew it!" Gilgamesh, who was dealing with Lancelot's relentless pursuit and also paying attention to the situation here, saw this scene and instantly laughed in anger.
In that instant, he almost had an elbow broken by the pursuing 'mad dog.'
"Onore... There's a limit to offending this King!"
Mr. Goldie was furious.
He now wished he could draw Ea and level the entire ancestral grave of this mad dog before him.
Damn it, when will this end!
But unfortunately, with Lancelot's speed, Gilgamesh had no chance to retrieve Ea from the depths of his treasury. If he dared to try, Lancelot would dare to slice him with one blow.
And the Gate of Babylon... mentioning this made him even angrier.
Although this Noble Phantasm itself had low mana consumption, only consuming mana to open the gates, using it extensively was still very mana-intensive.
Normally, Tokiomi's supply would be sufficient.
But now, Tokiomi was crippled.
As a result, Mr. Goldie now had no mana supply at all.
His continued existence was solely due to Independent Action.
Of course, if it were just mana, the vast number of items in the Gate of Babylon could more than make up for it. If nothing else, his Uruk Cup—the prototype of the Holy Grail—was a super mana source.
However, losing a Master not only meant losing the mana that sustained a Servant's existence—well, for normal Servants, no mana meant dissipation. While those with Independent Action could maintain themselves, without mana support, their stats would also drop significantly.
And for Gilgamesh, in a mana-deficient state with lowered stats, to deal with a berserk Lancelot boosted by three Command Spells, it had to be said, not being killed in three blows was already him performing at the level he did when fighting Humbaba back then.
Fortunately, he could feel that with Lancelot recklessly squandering mana, the immense magical energy from the three Command Spells was also being rapidly consumed. If he could just hold on a little longer... Onore, this King is actually being forced by a mad dog to win by exhausting the opponent's mana!
Undoubtedly, at this moment, Mr. Gold-pika was undergoing continuous spiritual humiliation.
"Stupid goddess, so... you can't control that bull anymore?" Aoko was somewhat speechless, looking at the agitated Bull of Heaven, which was starting to cause disastrous weather.
"Uh... It seems, a bit rebellious... Hmm, Gugalanna should just be in a bad mood. It'll be fine after venting a little."
"Then the whole city will be doomed!"
"You useless goddess!" Aoko scolded loudly, pointing her finger, while the guilty and embarrassed young Ishtar had tears in her eyes, almost holding up a sign on her head that read—
'I am a useless goddess who always messes up at critical moments!'
[Illya] sighed.
"Truly someone you can't count on at all."
"Hmph, hmph, after all, she's that overaged magical auntie."
"It's precisely because I couldn't count on her that Ruby-chan chose Illya, hehe."
"...She does seem to be a very useless older sister."
Little Illya couldn't help but agree with this rather presumptuous thought.
The next moment, she turned pale with fright:
"No! In that case, that super bull can't be controlled anymore!"
"Relax, that woman is on the scene." [Illya] was quite calm, pursed her lips, and glanced at the figure in the magic mirror.
"Facing an opponent of this size, it has to be said, she's exceptionally good at high-powered output—in this aspect, she's completely your superior."
Little Illya—the elementary schooler's only advantage in this Holy Grail War was her ability to output unlimited magical energy.
But unfortunately...
Before the rampaging Bull of Heaven.
"Moooooo—!!!"
The chestnut-haired beauty was full of fighting spirit.
"Mmm, next up, it's Super Aoko's turn!"
"Engine start!"