"So devious! No wonder that woman opened the door willingly and let me in; she had set a trap waiting for me to fall in!"
But then, a glint of cunning appeared in her eyes:
"Though she’s crafty, we aren’t foolish either; we came prepared!"
Saying this, Ishtar glanced at the five peculiar life plates inscribed with lines of cuneiform divine patterns cradled in her arms, her lips curling in a proud smile.
Upon learning that her husband, Dumuzi, had been lured into the Netherworld, she knew a fierce battle awaited her with the sister she couldn’t see eye to eye with.
In order to successfully defeat her sister and bring back her beloved, she heeded the advice of her friend, Siduri, and made a trip to Eridu before setting off. Familiar with the place, she easily got the Earth God Enki drunk with divine wine and then "borrowed" some items from his Water Temple — seven Heavenly Destiny Mud Cards.
These items were born from the Authority of Apsu and shared the same origin as the remains of Apsu, which gave birth to the Netherworld, allowing her to counteract the Netherworld’s suppression and unleash her true strength.
Originally, she thought this could be her trump card to take her sister by surprise when facing Aile.
She didn’t expect that woman to be so insidious, actually setting her up in advance, forcing her to use the seven cards once again.
However, since they weren’t her belongings, she wasn’t distressed if they got damaged.
If she could save her beloved with them, it would all be worth it.
Determined, Ishtar clutched the remaining five Heavenly Destiny Mud Cards, transformed into a swift streak of light, and dashed through the remaining five Netherworld gates.
The cursed red thunder continuously fell, and the five Heavenly Destiny Mud Cards were destroyed one after another.
Eventually, with her body charred from the lightning, Ishtar successfully arrived at the temple at the end.
She kicked the door open, rushed into the great hall, and, gritting her teeth, glared at her sister on the throne:
"Where is Dumuzi? Hand him over now!"
"Entering the land of the dead unauthorized, Ishtar, you have violated a taboo. Leave quickly, or meet my wrath here!"
Aile, not directly answering, put on an official business-like demeanor.
"Playing dumb? You have the guts to steal a man but not to own up to it?"
Aile rose from the throne in anger and shame, a terrifying low pressure sweeping through the entire hall. The eerie divine power instilled unprecedented terror in the nearby souls and Galura spirits, causing them to scatter.
Subsequently, the pervasive death energy in the temple transformed into a pale shroud, and seventeen kinds of death-omened plagues embodied as red monsters formed of countless skeletons, enveloping Aile like layers of flesh armor.
"You brought this upon yourself!"
Under the harsh rebuke, the red skeleton monster pulled the temple from the ground, transforming it into a colossal luminous gun wheel, vigorously sweeping forward. The ground sprouted sharp earth spikes interspersed with black tides of death mist, mixed with seventeen curses.
"Afraid of you, huh!"
Undeterred, Ishtar casually pulled out her second secret treasure from the Magic Circle Diagram and hurled it forward:
Instantly, a small creature with horns, black fur, and golden stripes, resembling something between a pig and a bull, rushed straight into the encroaching death mist and light gun.
The moment it touched, the chubby little fellow was smashed into the ground like a ball, letting out a shrill scream.
Seeing her beloved pet so useless, the heartless owner who first threw it to block the spear was infuriated, cursing:
"Useless! Raised you for nothing, if you don’t show some backbone, I’ll stew you when we get back!"
Whether it was Ishtar’s threat that worked or the dignity of being a top-tier Divine Beast couldn’t tolerate humiliation.
A deep, resounding bellow spread, and the little creature battered into the pit swelled rapidly, turning into a giant golden bull, towering over ten thousand meters high.
The monster, as if cast in steel, raised its head, and a majestic temple condensed from thunderbolt emerged behind it.
At the same time, it stomped its massive hoof, enveloped in a storm of real substance formed by the wind and fire of thunder, charging at the red skeleton ahead
— Azure Thunder Flame, Heavenly Sound Divine Hall!
The azure thunderbolt shattered the death mist in front of the red skeleton, crashing directly into the descending luminous gun wheel, moving forward with overwhelming force against the Netherworld Goddess Aile.
"Well done, Number Two!"
Delighted by the scene, Ishtar seized the opportunity to prepare her strongest strike:
"Loading divine power, granting the Land of Emptiness with the light of the sky!"
Countless starlights converged into a golden torrent, filling the cartridge of the Heavenly Ship Maanna, forming a giant arrow of stars on the drawn bowstring.
In Aile’s heart, a strong omen of peril arose; she immediately stopped thinking and decisively went all out.
The gigantic red skeleton stomped the ground, creating a raging crimson Aether Storm, forcibly halting the charging Heavenly Bull Gugulan.
Immediately, the earth cracked, and peaks like javelins thrust out from the Abyss, piercing into the Heavenly Bull’s body.
Instantly, the top-tier Divine Beast wailed, its body shrinking rapidly like a deflated balloon, no longer able to hinder the Netherworld Goddess’ advance.
With Gugulan no longer in the way, the two sisters facing each other called their Divine Artifacts by their True Names in unison, revealing their ultimate moves:
"Mountain Shaker, Star of Firewood — Maanna!"
"Heavens have an absolute sea, earth has a prison — Mistlamteia!"
The gun wheel collided with the light arrow, a thunderous tremor extending for thousands of miles, with landslides, stones flying, and a colossal mushroom cloud rising.
No one knew how long it was before the dust settled from the center of the clash, revealing a conical pit with a diameter of several kilometers, nearly piercing through the entire Netherworld, connecting to the bottomless Abyss, with a sinister, rotting death aura seeping out continuously.
And the two perpetrators of all this were positioned on opposite sides of the pit.
One stood calm and composed, while the other sat on the ground, gasping for breath.
The stronger and weaker were self-evident.
"In my domain, you can’t win. Leave before I truly get angry, or else..."
Aile raised the gun wheel flickering with lightning in her hand, coldly pointing at her already exhausted sister opposite.
Yet, faced with this outcome, the proud Ishtar didn’t become angry but smiled instead:
"You think you’ve won? I didn’t come to the Netherworld to brawl with you."
Hearing the mockery in Ishtar’s tone, a strong sense of foreboding arose in Aile’s heart.
Simultaneously, a familiar aura penetrated through her barrier and broke into her secret garden — Eden.
Aile’s face changed drastically, immediately transforming into red thunderbolt, eager to rush to the Garden of Eden to reclaim her captive.
However, several light arrows shot over, forcibly stopping her.
"What’s the rush? Haven’t we finished our fight yet?"
Ishtar ascended into the air again, happily drawing her bowstring taut, showering the ground with a torrent of light arrows.
Before she officially entered the Temple to challenge her sister, she had thrown out the amber necklace she was wearing.
This was her agreement with Siduri.
She was in charge of holding Aile head-on, while Siduri was responsible for helping her snatch the person.
If she counted the timing, Siduri should have succeeded by now, right?
So in the end, I still win!
Ishtar beamed with pride, entirely oblivious to the increasingly ashen and grim face of Aile below.
"You’ve forced me to this!"
With anger reaching its peak, the Netherworld Goddess gritted her teeth and roared, icy killing intent surging in all directions, causing the entire Netherworld’s temperature to plummet as if it had sunk into a prehistoric icy hell.