The Mother of Origins, the Goddess of Creation—Tiamat, is a primordial deity who rejects death itself, embodying the concept that her existence is proven so long as life persists. Unlike the false immortality of the Gorgons or the pseudo-immortality of Ozymandias, who ascended through the legend of mummification and his radiant composite temple, Tiamat truly denies the concept of death.
In her existence, death does not exist as a concept, making her an enemy completely beyond Alaric's comprehension.
"Truly... incapable of dying?"
Alaric's eyes bled as his expression froze, his heart seemingly ceasing to beat.
He had always placed absolute faith in his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. It was his trump card, the hidden ace he had relied on time and time again.
With the power of his Mystic Eyes, Alaric had overcome countless trials. Not only had he defeated many formidable foes, but he had also utilized the assassination techniques of the Old Man of the Mountain, skills he would not have been able to master without the aid of his Mystic Eyes.
To wield these techniques, one must possess the same level of refinement and perception as the Old Man of the Mountain. Without such mastery, the assassination arts would lack their lethal effectiveness.
But through the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Alaric could see death, which allowed him to emulate the Old Man of the Mountain's adherence to fate and thus enabled him to use those assassination techniques.
Time and time again, Alaric's Mystic Eyes had proven their worth. While they were not infallible—before Alaric had honed his skills, he couldn't even strike his enemies accurately—his continuous battles had sharpened his abilities. Once he could reliably strike his foes, the true power of his Mystic Eyes became evident.
It felt as though nothing was beyond Alaric's ability to kill.
Whether it was a physical form or abstract concepts like "bonds" or "contracts," Alaric could sever them all.
But this time was different.
A being without the concept of death meant that Tiamat was truly immortal. Even if her physical form were destroyed, it might instantly regenerate—
Realizing this, cold sweat dripped from Alaric's forehead.
He had faced countless adventures, including his journey through the Human Order Incineration incident, and considered himself well-versed in the extraordinary.
But this time, he had truly hit a wall.
Killing the Gorgon was the wrong choice. At the very least, he should have focused on restraining the Gorgon and then eliminating Kingu.
If Tiamat could not be killed, would he have no choice but to let her reach Uruk and bring about the destruction of humanity?
Would this mark the end of Alaric's path toward a golden future?
Unacceptable!
Absolutely unacceptable!
Overwhelming emotions surged through Alaric's heart, solidifying his resolve to fight.
"So what if she lacks the concept of death? I'll go back and consult the others!"
Believing in the saying that "three heads are better than one," Alaric realized that if he couldn't solve the problem himself, he would return to Chaldea and seek help from the others.
With Chaldea and Gilgamesh working together, a solution would surely present itself, right?
Whether it would succeed or not, Alaric was determined to believe in that possibility.
As Alaric activated his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to observe the Mother of Origins, Tiamat, violent waves erupted across the boundless sea below.
The sound of the waves, accompanied by thunder, echoed across the sea, and the surging magical energy was something even Alaric could not ignore.
The magical energy of the Goddess of Creation radiated in full force, and her authority was unveiled to Alaric.
Sea of Life: EX
[Beast II] Tiamat is the sea of life itself, the ocean that gave birth to all existence. By recycling the primordial ether of Earth's genesis, this ocean can infinitely supply magical energy.
To those trapped in the black mud and submerged in the sea, random abilities such as self-modification, ecological mutation, ecological fusion, and individual reproduction are forcibly applied.
When Tiamat emerges from the sea onto land, a cellular-level contract known as the "Amino Geass" must be formed with [Beast II]. This automatically designates her as an enemy of humanity.
No living being should have fallen into the Sea of Life at this moment. Even the three Servants who perished during the battle at the Northern Wall were not consumed by the Gorgon's authority, Womb of a Hundred Beasts.
Thus, Tiamat could not obtain samples from other lifeforms to establish any contracts.
That should have been the case.
But as is often the case, unexpected events occur. A drop of blood, shed by a human who confronted the primordial goddess with their burning will, fell into the Sea of Life.
Ordinarily, a single drop of blood would not meet the activation criteria of the Sea of Life's effects.
But beneath the surface of the sea lay endless waters, the divine mud considered the essence of the gods, and the universal material that had created the Lahmu swarm.
With the authority of the Womb of a Hundred Beasts, the mold already existed, and the drop of blood simply completed it.
In the realm of the mystic, blood holds extraordinary significance.
While most magi regard blood as a mana-rich bodily fluid, akin to a commodity, in certain contexts, blood represents a person's identity and essence.
In the presence of deities who transcend physical laws and wield authority at will, blood holds even greater significance.
For the Mother of Origins, Tiamat, this was especially true.
A massive shadow emerged from the sea beneath Tiamat, stretching hundreds of meters in length. Its overwhelming magical energy made even Alaric uneasy.
It far exceeded the power levels of any standard Heroic Spirit, rivaling the divine levels of the Gorgon herself.
Not to mention the colossal size—comparable to Gorgon's—giving Alaric an inexplicable sense of foreboding.
It resembled a dragon.
"What is that?"
The moment Alaric noticed the shadow, he poured magical energy into his holy lance. A full reservoir of magical energy transformed into a black beam of light at the lance's tip.
Unable to determine the true form of the shadow, Alaric's instincts screamed that he couldn't allow it to leave the Sea of Life.
With a hum, the atmosphere violently twisted, and clouds gathered in a vortex around Alaric, forming a terrifying storm.
At the storm's center, a black star-like radiance flickered in Tiamat's eyes.
The holy judgment descending from the heavens was fundamentally different from the starlight radiating from Tiamat. It was Alaric's response to this world.
BOOM!
As the massive judgment beam fell, its familiar expansion engulfed everything within hundreds of meters, including Tiamat herself.
The sea around the beam's impact swelled, roaring outward like towering waves.
But within the black beam of destruction, flickers of scarlet lightning appeared—a phenomenon deeply familiar to Alaric.
The crimson lightning, supported by infinite magical energy, surged against the holy judgment, breaking through its coverage and rushing upward!
The torrent of red energy instantly overwhelmed the judgment beam, evaporating the storm clouds and surging toward Alaric.
Facing the oncoming crimson lightning, Alaric summoned a golden holy sword and activated his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to locate its death line.
With one slash, he struck!
A clear, ringing sound reverberated through the heavens as the crimson torrent dispersed.
At last, Alaric saw the true form of the shadow lurking beneath the sea.
It was a colossal crimson dragon, over a hundred meters long, with wings that stretched wide. It surpassed any magical dragon Alaric had ever encountered—even the infamous Fafnir was no match for this Red Dragon, a being born as the child of the Mother herself.
At that moment, it was born.
And atop the Red Dragon's head stood a small human figure, silent and unmoving.
With both hands resting on a massive sword, the figure exuded a cold, commanding presence. The greatsword crackled with arcs of crimson lightning, evaporating the moisture in the air around her.
Wrapped in armor resembling dragon scales, her snow-white, jade-like skin outlined an alluring silhouette.
Her pure white hair, tipped with jet black, seemed as if it had been stained by the Sea of Life below her.
Her pale golden dragon eyes—identical to Alaric's—gazed quietly at the being above the sky, silent words embedded in her stare.
Yet, no one paid attention to her petite frame. Anyone who directly faced this knight would be overwhelmed by the surging dragon aura emanating from her.
A being fully at the pinnacle of existence, a Dragonkind, combined with the authority of the Primordial Mother—
The Knight of the Red Dragon, the child that belonged solely to the Mother, was born!
Not only did the Red Dragon manifest, but Tiamat also remained intact, standing atop the ocean as the sea surged back beneath her feet.
'Human? No, Dragonkind. Or perhaps… the result of me fully becoming a dragon?'
Alaric looked down at the girl below, her overwhelming aura of the Red Dragon leaving no doubt that she was a being almost identical to him.
But she was a purer Dragonkind. Her humanoid form was merely an external symbol—her dragon essence had reached 100%.
This was an ultimate state that Alaric could not yet attain.
The concentration of Red Dragon blood was secondary; what truly mattered was the power possessed by the Red Dragon.
Despite bearing a resemblance closer to Artoria, the unmasked aura of the Red Dragon was even more akin to Alaric at this moment—or perhaps, it even surpassed him.
The Red Dragon, nurtured by Tiamat, fully embodied the inhuman side of Alaric's power. It drew upon the seemingly infinite magical energy supplied by the Sea of Life. And with sufficient magical power, the potential battle strength it could unleash…
Alaric knew all too well.
Absolute strength. Barefaced malice—
Crimson lightning shot skyward, evaporating the boundless sea of clouds. Even the ocean below was drastically affected, the waves growing fiercer, becoming towering tsunamis tens of meters high, ready to crash at any moment!
Boom!
With a single flap of her wings, a terrifying gale erupted, sweeping out for hundreds of meters!
Both the sky and the ocean responded to the Red Dragon's every movement!
And beneath those vibrating wings, the massive Red Dragon, over a hundred meters long, slowly ascended into the sky. Relying solely on her extraordinary physical form, without invoking any mysteries, she carried her colossal mass of tens of thousands of tons into the heavens with ease.
The Red Dragon, surpassing even the Evil Dragons, was secondary. What Alaric couldn't ignore was the knight atop the dragon's head.
Naturally bonded to Tiamat through a contract, the knight exuded terrifying malice toward Alaric through the absolute force of the Amino Geass, a binding pact.
Even without words, Alaric could discern her intent.
The intelligence that life gains upon birth is minuscule. Even humans rarely achieve innate knowledge; most intelligent beings must grow and learn.
From a mere seedling, they must study and mature—not just physically but also in spirit.
But this knight lacked such a process. She had bypassed the phase of intellectual growth entirely. Her birth marked her perfection.
Or rather, her completeness as a dragon—a Perfect Dragon.
"So this was your plan all along?"
Gazing at the knight before him, Alaric couldn't help but cover his face and laugh. His body trembled from the force of his laughter. "If Gilgamesh learns that I died laughing here, he'd probably rush to the Underworld to laugh at me all over again."
Using the Red Dragon's blood to nurture such an abomination?
What were they trying to achieve, blocking my path forward?
In the span of a single second, countless possibilities flashed through Alaric's mind as he laughed.
But regardless of the intent, Tiamat had already created this creature—
And with her alone, could she defeat me?
Alaric slowly swept his pure white hair back, pulling it behind his head. His cold gaze fixed on the knight in front of him, and his lips curled into a faint smile: "If this is your goal, then I should congratulate you on the birth of such a novel creation!!"
The crimson lightning swirling around him transformed into pitch-black auroras in an instant, starkly contrasting with the blazing brilliance of the heavens.
"Why must you fight Mother?"
At that moment, the nameless knight slowly opened her mouth and asked, "You are not human. Why must you fight Mother?"
Why?
The emotionless question gradually drowned out the howling winds. The airspace seemed to fall silent, with only the knight's question echoing in the void.
"You truly don't think I'm human? Is it just because I'm not a child?"
Hearing this, Alaric scratched his head. "Isn't Tiamat supposed to be the conceptual Mother? If I'm human, shouldn't I be considered one of her children?"
Seeing that the knight had the desire to converse, Alaric, who had initially planned to unleash a thunderous strike to kill both the Red Dragon and the knight, began to reconsider.
What exactly is this creature thinking?
A lifeform born complete—what kind of intelligence would it possess? Alaric was immensely curious about this.
Unlike humans, who need to learn and interact with others to refine their worldview and intellect, could it be a lifeform like Alaika, one that extracts knowledge from a master template?
But Alaric didn't believe Tiamat could read his memories through blood. So, it must be another possibility—
What could it be?
"You are not Mother's child. You are a life that shouldn't exist in this world—"
The nameless knight shook her head slowly. Her cold, expressionless face remained emotionless, like a puppet. "If you continue to obstruct Mother's return, even if you are Father, I will not spare you."
Her cold warning flowed through the airspace, as though the knight intended to make Alaric retreat.
Staring at her face, which resembled Artoria's, Alaric stroked his chin.
Things were getting complicated. He needed to think.
Forget it. Thinking is a hassle.
Anyone standing in my way deserves death, no matter who they are.
Under the blessing of the Lion King, Alaric desired only to survive and reach the Golden Future. Everyone who obstructed him must die.