That protagonist is trash; I could do better!

"The black side's Caster uses magic techniques that are very similar to Shinji's magic foundation. This battle has shown alchemy, gem magic, and elemental transformation, all of which are magic techniques mastered by Matou Shinji. Is Shinji really that powerful?"

“My father once said that it was Shinji who prevented the Fourth Holy Grail War from collapsing, purified the corrupted Holy Grail, and killed that arrogant Hero King.”

“Aside from the difference in appearance, isn’t that guy Shinji?”

"No, that's impossible! The second method, [Parallel World Travel], is held by the master mage, Kishua Zelrich Schbein Augu. I traveled to this parallel world entirely because of the box that the master created."

"Could it be that Shinji borrowed the power of the Holy Grail to come to this world where the Holy Grail has not been corrupted, in search of a Holy Grail that can truly grant wishes?"

"It's possible that the Greater Grail system in Fuyuki City is jointly managed by the Matou family and the Einzbern family, and Irisviel basically obeys Shinji's every word."

"Ugh~ This is infuriating!" Ishtar muttered through gritted teeth.

"But this is also an opportunity. He probably doesn't know his own identity yet and thinks he is Rin of this world."

"I just wanted to say hello and confirm my identity, but I didn't expect it to turn out like this."

"Blame that guy. Why is he clinging to Saber like that? I'm the only one who's supposed to be his fiancée. We haven't even held hands yet. Ugh~ Even though I haven't acknowledged the relationship my father arranged, I still feel a bit angry."

"..."

Ishtar was stunned for a while, then sighed with melancholy: "No matter what, I must obtain the Holy Grail, to fulfill the Tohsaka family's long-cherished wish, to prove my worth as a magician, and most importantly, to defeat that guy, hmph."

"Spare his life after this is over, then reveal his true identity. Hehehehe~ What kind of expression will that guy make then?" Ishtar seemed to have thought of something amusing, and covered her mouth, letting out a silvery laugh.

"I'm really looking forward to it."

"Although I learned a lot of magic from him during those years, and Sakura was very happy, this is one thing, and that is another. I will repay all the humiliation I suffered during that time!"

"Just you wait, Shinji Matou!"

Chapter 189 Gugalana

The trial ended, and the effects of the magic were slowly being repaired. The road and the surrounding wilderness were covered with countless boulders and fragments, all of which were mud colossi that Saber had dealt with.

"What? The battle ended so quickly?"

The silver-haired saintess descended from the sky, looked around at the devastated earth with disappointment, and glared fiercely at Hall beside her with her amber eyes, her tone showing great dissatisfaction as she scolded, "Why did you end the battle without permission?"

"..."

Has your brain been fried?

Hall's face darkened, and without uttering his thoughts, he asked, "Lord Ruler, didn't you come here to stop our fight?"

Jeanne Alter looked completely bewildered: "Stop? Why?"

“It’s daytime now. If Servants clash, it’s very likely that civilians will see it, which is the last thing a Ruler wants to see.”

Jeanne Alter sneered: "That's why I'm here: to kill all the witnesses to ensure the secrecy of the Holy Grail War, so you can fight without any scruples."

"..."

Jeanne Alter looked at Saber standing to one side, using Ruler's ability to see through things, and muttered with a solemn expression, "I see, I see."

hum~

Flames erupted, transforming into a black banner. Jeanne Alter raised the battle flag, her spear pointing at Hall, and demanded, "Caster of the Black faction, can you explain to me why you are Saber's Master?"

A surge of magical power was brewing, and the air temperature rose significantly. At Jeanne d'Arc Alter's feet, the lush green weeds quickly evaporated and turned to ashes.

"What do you intend to do to my Master, Ruler?"

Saber gripped her holy sword, watching Jeanne Alter warily, ready to slay her at the first command from Howl.

They were discovered after all.

Hall stroked his chin. Saber had killed Lancelot before, and Hall could have asked Ruler for a Command Seal as a reward, but he didn't want to give up the Command Seal reward if it was discovered that Saber had been summoned against her own rules.

Hall shook his head and said, "Does that need explaining?"

Jeanne Alter suppressed her anger and said furiously, "Isn't this obvious? It's foul! It's foul! As a Servant, summoning another Servant is a clear foul."

"Is it really a foul? This is the Holy Grail War, not the Holy Grail War. The seven Servants are on the same side, so it doesn't matter who the Master is."

Jeanne Alter frowned in thought, and the black banner in her hand turned into flames and disappeared.

"That's true, but rules are rules. Yesterday, Saber defeated one of the Black Faction's Servants, and should have received a Command Seal as a reward. However, given your illegal summoning, we'll use that Command Seal to offset it. Caster of the Black Faction, do you have any objections?"

“No, then, Lord Ruler, we have important matters to attend to. Farewell.” Hall shook his head, not wanting to linger here with Jeanne Alter, still thinking about what Ishtar had just said.

We must return to Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld, as soon as possible to confirm this matter.

Jeanne Alter waved her hand impatiently: "Get out of my sight right now."

·······

Underworld

Ereshkigal, the silver-haired, red-eyed flower of the underworld, stood with her hands on her hips at the end of the stone bridge. Seeing Hoare and Saber return, she angrily went to greet them, scolding, "Too slow! How long do you think I've been glaring at you here?"

Despite the goddess of the underworld's angry appearance, she posed no real threat in her girlish demeanor; in fact, her anger only added to her cuteness.

Hall resisted the urge to reach out and pat her head to comfort her, and said apologetically, "Sorry, we encountered some Red Team Servants on the way, which delayed us a bit."

“I also bear some responsibility, so please don’t blame Master too much. I’m sorry,” Saber apologized.

Ereshkigal glanced back and forth between Hall and Saber a few times, his anger subsiding before he looked at them with a helpless expression and asked with concern, "So you're not hurt, are you?"

"We barely managed to pull through."

Ereshkigal's eyes gleamed with curiosity: "For you to say something like that with your strength, that Red Team Servant must be quite powerful as well."

"It's not a matter of strength. That guy wasn't an ordinary Servant to begin with. Like you, he responded to the Holy Grail's call by possessing a body in a degraded form."

"Demoted summoning...that guy is also a god?"

"You know not only gods, but also spirits."

Ereshkigal pondered, “The underworld was originally established as a prison for the gods. I have encountered many gods, but I cannot confirm their identities based on this knowledge.”

"Although she is a deity, she is not a resident of the underworld, and she once passed through the seven gates of the underworld."

"..."

This hint is practically a direct mention of the name, since the Seven Gates of the Underworld were originally a ritual used by Ereshkigal to strip Ishtar of her divinity.

Ereshkigal nodded casually: "What, it really is that guy."

“You don’t seem very surprised.” Hall, on the contrary, seemed taken aback.

Ereshkigal nodded and explained, "Although I hate it, the goddess Ishtar who rules the sky and I, the lord of the earth who rules the underworld, are like mirror images. When one appears, the other will not be left behind. This can no longer be explained by fate; it is no exaggeration to call it a curse. It is truly amazing that you were able to escape from her clutches. I underestimated you before."

"Lancer, who do you think is stronger, Ishtar or Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes?"

Ereshkigal crossed his arms and pondered for a moment before affirming in a crisp voice: "If it were an era in which the gods existed, Ishtar, as their favorite, would certainly be more powerful. But if I were a demoted summon like myself, I might not be able to defeat the King of Heroes. In some ways, the power of the monarchy is more troublesome than divinity."

Hall nodded and pressed further, "If Ishtar claims she has absolute confidence in defeating the King of Heroes, what do you think is the reason?"

Without hesitation, Ereshkigal replied, "There can only be one reason: Gugalana, the culprit who ravaged the land for seven years, leading to the destruction of Uruk."

really.

Ereshkigal's answer confirmed Hall's conjecture.

Based on what Hall knew about Ishtar, after being downgraded and summoned, she would at best be a Servant with top-tier strength, and the chance of her defeating the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, would be infinitely close to zero.

Ishtar boasted that she would destroy the Black Faction, and the only possible way to do so was by relying on the Bull of Heaven, who had once destroyed Uruk and required the combined efforts of the Hero King Gilgamesh and Enkidu to defeat it.

But is it really possible?

Hall was highly skeptical that the connection between gods and humans was severed with the decline of the divine age, and that the Bull of Heaven, theoretically the strongest divine beast, had also gone far away with the gods.

In reality, although Ishtar did not summon the Bull of Heaven, she did create one, which naturally led to a series of troubles. In the end, the troubles were resolved through the cooperation of Quetzalcoatl, the chief god of Venus who was of higher divine status than Ishtar, and a group of Servants.

There was a typo in the previous chapter; it was still daytime after Ishtar left, not nighttime.

Chapter 190 There's nothing to be afraid of anymore.

"I have tried many methods so far, but I still cannot summon Gugalana (the Bull of Heaven)."

"It can be confirmed that it is impossible to summon Gugalana in the modern world where the gods have departed. It has fulfilled its duty and returned to heaven."

"But the word 'impossible' doesn't exist in my dictionary. I've even conquered Mount Ebifu, the sacred peak revered by the King of Gods."

"This body has excellent qualities and high compatibility, so it should be possible to do it."

"It's not about summoning or creating, but about borrowing this power from a certain version of yourself in a certain world or era!"

"These past few days I've been busy setting up the key stones for the ritual arrays all over the country."

"As long as I successfully summon Gugalana, I, as her master, will surely regain my original power and will no longer be Ishtar, but Inanna!"

"There's nothing to be afraid of anymore."

"Haha~~~ Hahahahaha."

Under the night sky, Venus, hands on her hips, abandoned her goddess composure and laughed loudly, her smug expression befitting a villainous rich girl from a Mary Sue novel.

Before long, thick clouds obscured the moon, and a faint golden light shone on the dark earth. The strange phenomenon stretched to the horizon and could not be seen in the distance. Beams of light shot into the sky and disappeared into the dark clouds, and the world seemed to have entered daylight.

Ishtar extended her right hand and solemnly commanded: "By the first Command Spell, Gugalana, answer my call from a distant world!"

"By the second Command Seal, with gold as bones, clouds as body, thunder as sound, the concept manifests! Reshape the rules that created the chaotic world, return to the earth! Gugalana!"

Rumble!

A deafening clap of thunder boomed, and thousands of lightning bolts gathered in the clouds, spreading and crawling away. The lightning obscured the moonlight, revealing the slowly gathering clouds in the night sky.

Slowly? No, the clouds are gathering at a very fast pace; it's just an illusion caused by their enormous size.

Judging by sight alone, the super thunderstorm formed by the convergence of clouds spans at least hundreds of kilometers.

Once upon a time, the king of gods, Anu, in order to maintain the majesty of the gods and to demonstrate the wrath of the gods to mortals, created the strongest divine beast, the Bull of Heaven, based on the concept of the creation of the world, using rampant supernatural disasters as its body, and forging it into a golden form.

Gale-force winds, torrential rains, earthquakes, thunderstorms, tsunamis—the appearance of the Bull of the Sky will cause cataclysmic supernatural disasters, enough to destroy a city simply by its appearance.

The gathering clouds unleashed a typhoon of level 12 or higher, uprooting all the trees in the forests and sending fragments of rock flying with the force of bullets.

Rumble!

The earth cracked open, revealing fissures several kilometers long. Amidst this apocalyptic scene of cataclysmic destruction, the goddess Venus looked on with unprecedented excitement, her red pupils turning golden as she gazed at the sky with anticipation.

The rules of the Age of Gods returned with the appearance of the Bull of Heaven.