The endless deep sea.
A gentle, sorrowful voice echoed within it.
It sounded like singing—or perhaps, it was a language beyond human comprehension. Words that didn't belong to mankind.
The original tongue.
Here again? Shiomi thought to himself.
He tried to speak, but seawater flooded his throat, swallowing his voice. He could only close his mouth.
Gradually, though, Shiomi began to understand what this ocean represented.
…This is original sin—the original sin of humanity.
There are many kinds of sin.
Deception, harm, envy, murder.
These are evils borne solely by humans—poisons that touch only humankind.
Yet among them lies the oldest of evils.
"Original Sin II."
The sin of abandoning ■, the sin of forsaking paradise.
Life was born from the sea—the primordial sea, Nammu. The goddess of beginnings, Nammu.
To mankind, the goddess is the ocean. The crashing of waves becos a call, chronicling every sin in detail.
Looking back, he could never forget.
That voice was humanity's original sin—and its na, humanity's salvation.
As his consciousness began to blur, a light deep in the sea—still distant and unreachable—seed to call to his will. Instinctively, he wanted to reach it, but he couldn't.
"Who are you... child... whose...?"
The words rang with a strange familiarity, as if he had heard them sowhere before.
"...My child… no… not… not mine…"
Affirmation and denial. Acceptance and rejection.
Contradictory truths.
"If… all humans are your children, then—"
Before he could finish, his subconscious reply was swallowed by the sea. The light vanished, and he was caught in an invisible current.
Sinking and rising.
And then, drifting away.
...
"—?!"
His vision spun. Above him was the do of a side hall in the Divine Tower of Uruk.
One of the guest chambers prepared for him in Uruk.
His body felt heavier than lead. He couldn't move a finger—getting up seed impossible, like gravity itself held him down.
He saw soone holding his hand. Turning his head slightly, he managed to move his fingers.
The person holding his hand looked up.
"Morgan…"
Her na left his lips and beca sound.
Shiomi had seen many expressions on Morgan's face—joy, sorrow, coldness, amusent—but never one so helpless.
Even a lone traveler lost in an endless wilderness, with no direction or destination and no place to rest, could not compare.
The tension in her brow eased slightly, but her expression remained like wrinkled silk—impossible to smooth.
The light in her eyes shifted from despair to hope.
Her smile blood like the first breeze of spring, gently spreading—yet tinged with the chill of early rain.
Those were her tears, sliding down her cheek onto the back of his hand.
"…I'm sorry…"
"You're finally awake," Morgan said softly. But her grip tightened, as if to confirm this wasn't a dream.
Shiomi apologized because he understood how dire his condition was.
Using power beyond one's limits only led to destruction.
He knew that. And yet he had still chosen recklessly.
The axe of the God King Marduk—he had tried to harness the power of that Noble Phantasm, a weapon that could well be called divine, in order to defeat his foe.
Had it been anyone else—any other Magus—they would've been destroyed by the force the mont they used it.
The fact that he survived was nothing short of a miracle.
"How long was I asleep?" Shiomi asked.
"Ten days—an entire ten days." Morgan's voice trembled slightly.
Chaldea's instrunts had even determined that Shiomi's body could no longer sustain itself and would eventually vanish.
"I see." Shiomi didn't know what else to say.
For him, it might have felt like just a nap, but for everyone else, it had been a near-hopeless wait.
No matter how he looked at it, he was undeniably the linchpin in the restoration of the seven Singularities.
"Not even the burden of the King of the Gods could break you. Truly, you're my husband." Morgan held his hands, her gaze and voice impossibly gentle, yet her tears stread down like rain.
Shiomi gave a bitter smile and shook his head lightly. "It was just a foolish and arrogant move. I had no real certainty, yet I still went through with it."
"Mm..." Morgan nodded.
As his senses gradually returned, Shiomi was finally able to move. He tried to sit up, and Morgan imdiately helped him.
After ten days of deep sleep, his body had mostly recovered.
Though the aftereffects of forcibly wielding Marduk's Axe hadn't completely faded, he wasn't in a state where he couldn't fight.
He would just have to rely on his allies more than usual.
Then, he sensed a powerful surge of magical energy coming from the direction of the northern Magical Beast front.
His mont of calm vanished instantly, and Shiomi tightened his grip on Morgan's hand.
"Since yesterday morning, the Goddess of Demonic Beasts, Gorgon, and Kingu launched an assault on the Magical Beast front. Their army, made up of Magical Beasts and Demon Pillars, is attacking with more ferocity than ever."
Morgan quickly composed herself and explained the situation to Shiomi.
"Two of the Three Goddess Alliance have withdrawn from the pact and are no longer part of Uruk's destruction. Combined with the severe injuries you suffered, it's led to the current crisis."
"Not even a mont to breathe," Shiomi muttered, then suddenly looked up. "If the battle started yesterday, then everyone—"
"They're all at the front, holding the line. Gorgon hasn't made a direct appearance yet, so only Kingu is commanding the Magical Beasts and Demon Pillars. Thanks to that, Ereshkigal and Quetzalcoatl are able to help with the counterattack," Morgan said, eyes lowered.
"...So you're the only one who stayed behind with ?" Shiomi sighed.
He felt no resentnt. If Morgan had left him—uncertain if he'd ever wake—to fight on the front lines, she wouldn't have been able to focus anyway.
"I sent a clone instead," Morgan replied. "So far, there's been no sign of one being destroyed."
"Alright. Now that I'm awake, let's head there together." Shiomi stepped off the bed, standing barefoot on the cold, smooth stone tiles of the chamber.
Feeling the chill underfoot, he moved his body around.
As long as he could fight—without needing to hide in the rear and leave the burden to others—that was enough.
After quickly changing into his combat gear, Shiomi reached out and took Morgan's hand.
"You usually listen to , but I know you never actually take my advice, especially at tis like this. I'm the sa, really," Morgan said with a sigh, not trying to stop him. "But before you go, don't forget sothing."
"What?"
"Marduk's Axe."
...
(100 Chapters Ahead)
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