At Koji's suggestion, Tiamat dragged Merlin into the dream and beat him senseless. He was sprawled on the ground, completely unable to take care of himself.
Her little fists might have looked soft, but when they landed on him, they carried the blessing of a special law. Every hit dealt real, honest-to-goodness damage.
It really hurt. Merlin bared his teeth in pain. He felt like he had already died once.
He had clearly just been sitting there watching the show, yet Tiamat had followed the dream-network connection, yanked him straight into the dream, and beaten him up without another word.
"Was that really necessary? I don't think I have a grudge against you, do I?" Merlin lay there, feeling as if his body no longer belonged to him. It hurt so much he could barely think.
Tiamat really was obedient. Koji had only made a casual suggestion, and she had immediately dragged Merlin into the dream and pounded him. The force itself was not overwhelming, but the pain was absolutely real.
"No grudge, no. But it was fun," Koji said with a smile.
Watching Merlin get humiliated brought him absolutely no guilt whatsoever. On the contrary, it was incredibly entertaining.
Merlin: "..."
Hearing Koji answer so brazenly, Merlin was so exasperated he nearly laughed from anger.
Of course you'd say that. You weren't the one getting hit. You had no idea just how painful that kind of pain really was.
"Whatever. I'm leaving first. You all can figure things out yourselves. Just remember not to go overboard," Merlin said, glancing at Tiamat with unusual seriousness.
Even if Tiamat herself had no desire to destroy the world, the Principle of Regression was not something she could control. Once she truly entered the real world, the Sea of Chaos she carried with her would launch indiscriminate attacks on civilization and the world itself.
Merlin left the dream. Staying here together with Tiamat made his half-incubus instincts crawl. Not just anyone could peacefully coexist with the Mother Goddess of Creation.
"Well done."
Koji gave her a thumbs-up. Watching Goddess Tiamat beat Merlin up had been deeply satisfying.
"Aaaa—"
Receiving praise, Tiamat let out a cheerful sound. After all, it had been many years since anyone had spoken with her.
As the Mother Goddess of Creation exiled into the Imaginary Sea, she had lived in loneliness. There were no children there, no one she could speak to, so most of the time she simply slept, using slumber to dull the boredom.
"Tiamat, do you want to come outside with us?" Koji's eyes shifted slightly. If he took Tiamat to stand in front of Gilgamesh, that would definitely be a very interesting scene.
[Hey! If Tiamat goes out, then everything is completely over!]
Merlin's anxious voice rang out. He had no desire whatsoever to see Tiamat rampaging across the earth.
Tiamat shook her head. She did not really want to go out. Her nature was not one that wished to harm others.
"I'm not saying your main body has to go out. With the divine nature of the Mother Goddess of Creation, splitting off an avatar shouldn't be too hard, right?" Koji said.
Merlin stopped trying to dissuade them. If it was only an avatar, then there was not really any problem.
That said, if something happened to the avatar, it would definitely awaken Tiamat's main body. And if that happened, things would no longer be a game.
"Aaaa—?"
Tiamat thought about it for a moment. Yes, she could do that. She had simply never considered it before.
The next second, she closed her eyes, as though slipping into sleep. A strand of her divine nature as a creator god split away and formed a smaller Tiamat in front of Koji and Lumine, like a younger version of herself.
She was now a blue-haired girl in a white dress. If someone claimed she was Tiamat's daughter, no one would question it. In this childlike form, her figure had shrunk drastically.
Even so, she was still adorable. She no longer had that mature, big-sister aura, but the loli form was completely valid too.
"So cute~" Lumine's eyes lit up as she immediately wanted to hug her.
No matter how you looked at it, Tiamat's beauty was beyond dispute. She could pull off both the mature beauty form and the loli form with ease. It even seemed like she had some kind of self-remodeling authority, meaning she could probably transform into even more forms.
"Aaaa—"
Tiamat was a little unaccustomed to such a small form. In this state, her power had also been greatly weakened, making it much easier for something to go wrong.
Even if anything happened to this split body, though, it would not affect the main body.
"Merlin, we're heading out," Koji said as he left with Lumine and Tiamat.
Outside, Merlin's mouth twitched. Honestly, I'd rather you leave as soon as possible. He had been beaten up for absolutely no reason and did not even have anywhere to file a complaint.
From here on, Gilgamesh could be the one with the headache. After all, this was Goddess Tiamat they were talking about, even if it was only a split-off body.
When Tiamat arrived in reality, her fair little bare feet stepped onto the ground, yet not even a speck of dust clung to them.
Lumine looked at those deliciously tempting little feet and licked her lips. They probably tasted amazing.
Thunk.
"Is there any color inside your head besides yellow?" Koji lightly bonked Lumine on the head.
"Of course there is. There's all kinds of colors in there," Lumine said righteously.
"Oh? Like the blue of wisdom?" Koji teased.
"Nonsense. It's not like I'm some idiot goddess. Blue is obviously Dumb Furina's color."
Lumine knew blue represented wisdom, but she was definitely not some idiot goddess.
...
To be fair, Furina's intelligence was still decent. She was way better than that idiot goddess. Aqua really was outrageous, somehow even more airheaded than Ishtar.
"Heh. If Furina finds out, she'll probably cry and make a fuss. And when it's time to put you on trial, she'll sentence you straight to death," Koji said, shaking his head with a laugh.
Lumine did not care. Even if Furina found out, she was not afraid at all. That silly little deer could be coaxed right away with a small cake.
All of them knew Furina's preferences perfectly well. She was very easy to appease.
"Tia-mama, how does it feel?" Lumine asked affectionately as she hugged Tiamat's arm.
Lumine was not exactly young, but compared to Tiamat, she was practically a child.
"It feels... unfamiliar."
Tiamat looked at the world around her. It was no longer what it had been before her exile, so naturally it felt strange to her. There were no traces of the familiar left here.
The two fell silent. Everything had changed, and all that remained was the ache of what was gone. Ever since Tiamat had been exiled from reality, countless years had passed, so everything she saw now felt alien.
"There's no need to worry. I'm fine." Tiamat gently patted Lumine on the head.
"When Goldie and the others see you, Tiamat, they'll probably be in for quite a surprise, right?" Koji had already guessed Gilgamesh's reaction.
Even Gilgamesh would have to respectfully address Tiamat as Mother. That was the kind of status Tiamat held here.
Ishtar was proud by nature, yet even she had to respectfully call Tiamat Mother.
Lumine also pictured that scene. It was definitely going to be unbelievably entertaining.
(End of Chapter)
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