The blue light cannon, carrying enough energy to create a massive hole in the city wall, blasted directly toward Ophis.
Without any visible movement from Ophis, a silver light shot out from her sleeve, transforming into a shield in mid-air. The light cannon struck the shield and was immediately reflected, landing outside the city of Uruk.
Only then did Ophis slowly look in the direction from which the cannon had been fired.
There, a 'girl' in revealing clothing sat atop a crescent-shaped aircraft, smiling and waving at her.
After tilting her head in thought for half a second, Ophis responded with a massive magic cannon, its radius over a meter wide.
"Hey, hey, hey! Is this how you welcome me after not seeing me for so long?" the girl complained.
"It's only been a month... and this way of greeting was taught to me by Ishtar," Ophis replied calmly.
"...I've always felt you're a bit sinister," Ishtar remarked with a frown.
"Illusion," Ophis responded blankly.
"King Ophis, did you just say... this person is the goddess Ishtar... Inanna?" Siduri, the priestess standing nearby, asked with surprise.
The girl, who was indeed the goddess Ishtar, appeared in her usual revealing attire, but with noticeable changes: her once golden hair was now black, and her body had shrunk considerably. Despite these changes, her eye color remained the same.
Though goddesses can change their appearance at will, Ishtar, the goddess of beauty, typically maintains the appearance of a woman in her prime. The fact that Ishtar had chosen to appear younger than usual was strange, but Siduri, recalling the instability that attempting to understand a goddess's mind could cause, quickly let it go.
Siduri's momentary surprise did not go unnoticed by Ishtar.
"Oh, our little priestess, are you surprised by this body? Well, it may not be as voluptuous as before, but it still has its charm. Maybe this goddess will condescend to accept it."
"Ish... Ishtar, I wasn't sure when I saw you before... But, is it really you?" Ophis asked, almost calling her by her original name before correcting herself.
Ishtar narrowed her eyes. "Oh? I should ask you the same. I didn't understand why you asked for my help with that task back then. I wasn't completely sure until just now... But now, hearing you say that... Can you really see the future?"
Ophis did not respond.
"Well, now I'm here opposing you, but you sought my help earlier... Does that mean what you see is limited? Or did you foresee my hostility and still believed I'd help you later?" Ishtar laughed mischievously.
"Well then, can our little Ophis see if I will go to that southern land next to reclaim my power?"
"I can't do that," Ophis sighed slightly.
As for this particularly nosy goddess, she really had no way to deal with her unless she could simply ignore her.
"Ishtar is a Servant. No matter how close she gets to the original, she can never reach the level of the original," Ophis had already deduced. This Ishtar appeared in the human world in a similar way to how she summoned Heroic Spirits. However, it seemed that she had to possess a human being, which likely explained the changes in her appearance.
Although Ishtar's current strength was close to the original, she did not possess all of the original's abilities. It wouldn't be easy for her to reclaim the power set by the original. At the very least, this would give Ophis time to stop her.
"Tsk, how boring," Ishtar muttered, disappointed by Ophis's lack of reaction.
"Ishtar, why are you doing this?" Ophis asked, trying to understand her motives.
She originally thought that this catastrophe was caused by the gods punishing humans for their betrayal, but... Ishtar wasn't a god who hated humans. On the contrary, though Ishtar's nature was contradictory, at her core, she undeniably loved humanity. There was no apparent reason for her to want to destroy it.
Then again, Ophis also knew that gods didn't always need a reason to act. They simply followed their desires.
"Huh? What a silly question. Do gods need a reason to punish humans? Don't you find it fascinating to see whether humans will survive or perish?" Ishtar responded nonchalantly, casually ruffling her black hair tied into two ponytails.
But as soon as she finished speaking, she noticed something wrong.
Looking down, she saw dozens of weapons of various types, all emanating a threatening aura, emerging from golden ripples and pointing directly at her.
"In that case, please leave," Ophis said indifferently, unleashing a heavy rain of weapons.
"Hey, hey, hey! Are you the type to start a fight just because we disagree? Shouldn't we talk things over first? Wait a minute!!" Ishtar shouted in alarm.
Ophis, however, didn't see the need to exchange pleasantries with an enemy after confirming their hostility.
"You're not alone, are you? Is there someone else with you?" Ophis asked, releasing her treasures with a calm demeanor.
"Huh?" Ishtar, dodging the oncoming attacks, answered reflexively.
"Aren't they just those two snakes who always look sinister and love making faces..."
Ishtar suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
"Ahhhhhh, this is so annoying. Just remember, I will definitely come back!!!" she shouted before hastily departing on her aircraft.
Ophis tilted her head slightly.
Really... She just said it out loud...