FATE: Target of Grand Master

"you!"

Ereshkigal was speechless at Gilgamesh's words and couldn't think of anything to refute them.

"Even with the Heavenly Lock, it wouldn't be effective against him in his current state where he can barely stand."

After a moment, Ai Lei still stubbornly uttered those words.

Gilgamesh did not refute, but instead gave Eresh a playful look before gently patting Xia Yan.

"Go, let this mistress of the underworld witness the will of us humans."

Xia Yan nodded slightly, then slowly walked towards Ai Lei's direction.

"Why? Your body is already so battered and bruised, why are you still attacking me? Am I really that annoying?"

Looking at Xia Yan's bloodied eyes staring intently at her, Ai Lei felt two flames ignite in her heart: "sadness" and "anger."

"That's right! I am a gloomy, introverted, passive guy who wouldn't be liked by anyone! But since I was born, I've been diligently managing the underworld. There's no joy, no friends, just endlessly repeating the cycle of bestowing death upon all living beings and collecting their souls. At least, at least I've done this job hard enough. Doesn't that deserve praise?"

"No."

Xia Yan walked towards Ai Lei step by step with difficulty.

"Granting death and collecting souls is your duty as the goddess of the underworld."

"That's right. Ereshkigal, Xia Yan isn't stupid enough to praise something that's taken for granted."

Gilgamesh, pleased with himself, delivered the final blow.

Ai Lei's face immediately darkened.

"Indeed, whether it's you or the gods, everyone is the same. No one consulted me before dumping the responsibility of managing the underworld on me. No one cared about my feelings, yet demanded that I manage the underworld perfectly. No one praised my achievements, as if it were all supposed to be this way. You..."

"Although I know that managing the underworld is painful for you, and I know it's not a choice you could make..."

Ai Lei raised her head and looked at Xia Yan, who was making the loudest noise possible.

"However, I cannot praise your achievement because it stems from the act of 'making someone continuously do work they don't want to do.' Cough... cough..."

Because he spoke so quickly, Xia Yan couldn't catch his breath and coughed twice. After catching his breath, he continued, "Because praising suffering is an insult to the sufferer. So, Ai Lei, I'm not denying you who suffers, but the suffering you've endured."

A tear slid down Ellie's cheek.

"Huh? What's this?"

Ai Lei wiped away her tears; this was the first time since she was born that she had been understood.

It's now!

Taking advantage of Ai Lei's momentary daze, Xia Yan swung out the Heavenly Lock in his hand.

Only those who have used it know how useful this Heavenly Lock is.

Although Xia Yan's throw was slightly off-target, the Heavenly Lock seemed to have a built-in enemy-locking cheat, refracting in mid-air and precisely wrapping around Ai Lei, instantly binding her tightly.

"ah!"

Before the goddess of the underworld could react, Xia Yan used all his strength to pull Ai Lei towards his position.

Then, Xia Yan raised his right hand and made a punching motion.

Just when Ai Lei thought she was about to be beaten down by Xia Yan and subconsciously closed her eyes, the expected pain did not occur.

Ai Lei slightly opened her eyes and saw Xia Yan's fist stop about one centimeter in front of her face. Then, with a "thump," she fell backward to the ground, with the weight of an adult man pressing down on her.

Xia Yan lost consciousness the moment he stopped punching.

"Quick, someone come and help me!"

Ai Lei cried out in a panic.

"Something's wrong! Help! Xia Yan looks like he's about to die!"

When Xia Yan regained consciousness, the first thing she saw was Morgan's beautiful yet heartbroken expression.

"Okay, it's alright now."

Xia Yan reached out and touched Morgan's face, only then realizing that Morgan's face was upside down in his field of vision. Coupled with the warm and soft touch from the back of his head, Xia Yan was "enjoying" Morgan's lap pillow at this moment.

"it hurts!"

Xia Yan sat up immediately, feeling pain all over his body, and couldn't help but make a sound.

"Player!"

Immediately afterwards, Nero excitedly pounced on Morgan's lap again.

"Nero, be gentle."

While Xia Yan was in pain, he still had to hold Nero and comfort her.

"Don't do that again!"

Nero puffed out her cute cheeks and sat on Xia Yan's stomach with her hands on her hips.

"Okay, okay, I understand."

"Hmph, what a lucky guy."

Just as Xia Yan was gently comforting Nero, Gilgamesh's voice reached his ears.

Xia Yan turned his head and saw Gilgamesh sitting not far away, watching him with a mocking expression.

"Hey, Nero, that's enough. There are still outsiders here."

Xia Yan gently patted Nero, signaling her to get up, and Nero obediently did so.

"By the way, what happened next?"

Xia Yan was naturally referring to his condition after he fell into a coma.

"Hmph, you only managed to save your life thanks to the elixir in my treasure."

Gilgamesh knocked Xia Yan unconscious, and Morgan and Nero helped him up from Ereshkigal, fed him the elixir from the treasury, and then the two hours he remained unconscious were condensed into a single sentence.

"I am deeply grateful for the King's grace."

Xia Yan immediately bowed to Gilgamesh.

"By the way, where's Ereshkigal?"

Gilgamesh extended a finger, and Xia Yan looked in the direction of his finger. He saw that Ereshkigal was still in the same state as before she fainted, bound hand and foot with the Chains of Heaven.

The mistress of the underworld lay there at the very bottom of the underworld for more than two hours.

Xia Yan stood up, walked over to Ai Lei, and sat down cross-legged.

"You've won, Xia Yan. Do with me as you please."

After two hours of calming down, Ai Lei's emotions also returned to normal. Although she hadn't used even one percent of her full strength in the previous battle, she still accepted the fact that she had been defeated by Xia Yan.

Xia Yan helped Ai Lei up and began to pull on the Heavenly Lock to loosen her bindings.

"Xia Yan, what's wrong?"

"I didn't come here specifically to kill you. Just keep your promise and release the souls of Gilgamesh and the citizens of Kusa."

"But I still belong to the Goddess Alliance, which aims to destroy humanity. Aren't you afraid that I'll release their souls and then bring them back?"

Xia Yan looked into Ai Lei's eyes and asked very seriously, "Ai Lei, do you really want to destroy humanity?"

Seeing Xia Yan's burning gaze, Ai Lei guiltily avoided his eyes.

"But if we don't do this, I really can't think of any other way to protect humanity."

"We humans don't need protection."

Xia Yan's words made Ai Lei feel that he was being arrogant, but she quickly understood what he meant.

"Whether we face gods or anything else, we humans will muster the courage to confront and challenge them. We are not flowers in a greenhouse, needing no one's protection, but we also know the limits of our abilities. Therefore, we need your strength. Ereshkigal, please help us as an assistant, not a protector."