Shiomi didn't take this chance to climb to the top of the temple and destroy the Piedra del Sol.
Instead, he leapt across the tiers of the temple and landed on the back of Marduk's axe.
"Huh?" Quetzalcoatl couldn't help but look surprised.
Having taken control of Eridu and built this temple herself, Quetzalcoatl knew exactly what the massive axe embedded beside it represented.
A colossal weapon that dwarfed anything built by humans of its era—it was unmistakably a Noble Phantasm belonging to a chief god.
Such a weapon could only be lifted and thrown by soone like Quetzalcoatl herself. To wield it with the ease of her own macuahuitl, or even attempt to unleash its True Na, was nothing short of impossible.
After her initial surprise ca a surge of shock and unease.
She loved the thrill of battle and always fought with everything she had—but never expected her opponent to make such a self-destructive move.
This was the Noble Phantasm of the King of Gods. Even Shiomi, who had touched the divine authority of the Mother Goddess with a mortal body, could not possibly wield it.
It was pure suicide.
"Stop! That axe isn't like Odin's spear—it's not sothing you can control!" Quetzalcoatl shouted as she clashed with Artoria.
But Shiomi didn't seem to hear her. He crouched down and placed his hand on the axe of the King of Gods.
A human body standing on the back of that axe looked as insignificant as a mantis perched on a human hand.
He knew full well that this axe was nothing like Gungnir, which Odin had entrusted to him for the sake of mankind.
Perhaps it was because he had inherited the Primordial Runes, or maybe there was another reason.
But both were Noble Phantasms of the King of Gods—whether granted or not, the core principles couldn't be too different.
Foolishness. Recklessness. Or perhaps... sothing else.
Shiomi understood the price he would pay. But this wasn't just to defeat the sun goddess in front of him.
It was a necessary step—one taken for the enemies yet to appear, and for those who had already revealed themselves but remained out of reach.
He had been contemplating this path ever since learning of Marduk's axe.
So even if it would be seen as an act of usurpation—he would still make his choice.
"An, Enki, Marduk... Kings of the gods of sopotamia across the ages, your eyes watch this planet from the darkness, and your power has shaped the flesh and blood of humankind. With this human body, I shall wield your strength—to carve a path forward!"
He spoke slowly—not as a prayer, but a proclamation.
Shiomi didn't have faith in gods. What he held was only the most basic respect.
And so, when he attempted to grasp the power of Marduk's axe, to force it under his control, the backlash hit all at once—like sothing trying to tear apart his body, mind, and soul.
This was the embodint of Marduk's power and authority as King of the Gods. Anyone who tried to seize it would feel a terror akin to the birth of the stars, like the primal hell from which the cosmos first erged.
The bright blue sky turned dark in an instant. Thunder roared through blackened clouds as a bolt of lightning struck straight down—right onto Marduk's axe.
Shiomi, wholly focused on the Noble Phantasm before him, had no ti to react.
And this was no ordinary lightning strike—it was divine punishnt, ant for gods who defied their bounds. A force capable of stripping away godhood itself.
But what if the one struck wasn't a god... but a human?
Shiomi was blasted from the back of the axe, crashing into the middle of the Sun Pyramid...
"Master?!"
Artoria cried out in shock.
Morgan couldn't even manage a sound. Her hand reached toward Shiomi, but there was nothing she could do.
This was his choice—and his burden to bear.
"It's over... Power beyond one's limits only leads to destruction. That's true for humans—and even more so for gods."
Quetzalcoatl, still stunned, declared the outco she was certain of.
A mistake built on mistakes. This was not sothing a human should ever attempt.
This battle, then, would end in tragedy.
So it should have been.
Marduk's axe began to tremble. Though untouched, it quivered as if so unseen hand had grasped its long handle in the void.
Shiomi stepped forward from the middle platform of the pyramid. He was no longer what he had been just monts ago—blood soaked his body, his eyes were dim, his form barely holding together.
Only his will kept him moving.
Another bolt of lightning streaked down—but this ti it missed. Shiomi had already leapt into the air—or rather, had begun to float, hovering before the Pyramid of the Sun.
Marduk's axe rose with him, suspended above the temple square.
"——!"
The sight defied understanding. Quetzalcoatl's shock turned to ecstasy. She shoved Artoria aside and slamd her fist into the ground, the impact unleashing a shockwave that blasted them both over ten ters back.
"Whether it's Marduk's axe or anything else—if you can wield it, then show ! Show , mighty human!"
Vast Mana surged from Quetzalcoatl, sweeping across the surrounding land.
Noble Phantasm, unleashed.
"Xiuhcoatl: Fla, Burn the Gods Themselves!"
Legend says that when Quetzalcoatl left the Aztecs, she burned her own palace to keep its treasures from falling into Tezcatlipoca's hands.
Originally, the flas were ant to keep others from invoking their Noble Phantasm's True Na.
But shaped by Quetzalcoatl's will, this Noble Phantasm had taken on another form—an absolute force, capable of striking down even a falling divine weapon.
"■■■■■■."
Shiomi's lips moved, voicing a True Na that none could hear.
And Marduk's axe fell.
Thunder and lightning crashed as the chief gods' Noble Phantasms from two civilizations collided. The earth and the temple's stone foundations lted under the blazing flood of Mana.
Only the Piedra del Sol remained atop the temple, witnessing the impact that painted the world in new colors.
...
When the clash finally ended, Marduk's axe lay embedded in the temple square, surrounded by a massive crater—dozens of ters wide and deep.
Quetzalcoatl lay on the slope of the pit. Her body, once untouched by serious wounds, was now soaked in blood.
"You're sothing else... To be able to control even the power of Marduk's axe... though it looks like you're at your limit too."
She smiled—bright, yet weary.
It had only been a fraction of Marduk's full power. If the god himself had acted, she'd be gone by now.
She had lost. At least, for now, she couldn't keep fighting.
Faced with such overwhelming power, even for her own reasons, Quetzalcoatl had no choice but to abandon the "Three Goddess Alliance."
Shiomi gave no reply. His eyes lowered, and it looked like he managed a faint smile—before falling from the sky like a severed kite string.
Completely unconscious, he was caught by Morgan and Artoria.
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