However, at the same time, something within Ishtar felt unsettling.
A strange sensation that was difficult to explain—like a small impulse from deep within her instincts suddenly urging her to do something to the human in front of her. Or rather, only Ishtar was stubborn enough to still regard Kuro as nothing more than an ordinary human.
Her blood-red gaze remained fixed on him for several seconds. Slowly, her left hand lowered from her chest while her right hand casually lifted.
And in the next moment, Ishtar pinched Kuro's ear.
"OW—?!" Kuro winced instantly as his ear was pinched without warning. "Hey, what are you doing?! Why are you pinching me all of a sudden?!"
However, Ishtar didn't answer right away. She simply continued pulling his ear for a few seconds with a blank expression, as if confirming something.
Only after that did she slowly release it. A brief silence followed between them. Strangely enough, a small sense of satisfaction suddenly rose within Ishtar's heart.
As if what she had just done was something she had been meant to do from the beginning—an instinctive reflex without needing thought.
The corner of her lips lifted slightly.
"Heh." She looked at Kuro, who was still rubbing his ear with an annoyed expression. "You should feel honored." Her tone returned to the proud arrogance of a goddess. "Not all humans in their entire lives get to be touched directly by a goddess like me."
Kuro immediately returned a flat stare. "That's not a touch. That's assault."
"Quiet."
Ishtar snorted softly before turning away.
Rin's long black hair swayed gently in the morning wind as she began walking toward the house entrance. Her steps were relaxed and confident, as if the half-destroyed gate from earlier was nothing more than an insignificant detail.
But after only a few steps, she stopped without turning back.
"Oh right." She casually pointed at the iron gate damaged by her earlier attack. "Fix that."
Kuro stared at the nearly destroyed fence, then looked back at Ishtar's back with an incredulous expression.
"You're the one who destroyed it."
"And now a human has the highest honor of repairing it."
Ishtar's tone was so natural it sounded like that logic was completely self-evident.
Without giving Kuro any chance to respond, she continued walking into the house gracefully, leaving him standing in front of the broken gate while rubbing his ear.
A faint, amused smile slowly formed on Kuro's lips. Of course, he had already seen the possibility of Ishtar pinching his ear through Sha Naqba Imuru—and had allowed it to happen.
"Heh…" he murmured softly while rubbing his ear. "Having an ability that shows too many things is surprisingly troublesome."
His dark gaze narrowed slightly, as if looking at something invisible to others.
Since obtaining that ability, his perception of the world had changed completely.
Countless possibilities, branching futures, and preemptive actions a few seconds ahead continuously surfaced in his mind like overlapping ripples on water.
And that was only a fraction of the ability.
"It seems…" he continued quietly, "I should also learn how Gilgamesh restrained something like this."
Otherwise, sooner or later, his own mind would be the first to tire.
Knowing too much was not necessarily a pleasant thing.
On the contrary.
There was something strange about a world where everything became too predictable.
As if surprise itself was slowly fading from his life, leaving behind an indescribable emptiness.
For a moment, Kuro finally understood why the King of Heroes sometimes appeared so bored with the world.
After thinking for a few seconds, Kuro shifted his gaze toward the iron gate damaged by the Mana Bullet barrage earlier.
Metal fragments were still scattered across the yard, and parts of the fence were barely hanging on.
Silence lingered for a moment.
Then Kuro let out a small sigh.
"I should fix this first…"
***
After repairing the fence using Magecraft, Kuro cleaned up the commotion that would inevitably be caused by the explosion sounds.
Once he entered the house, his appearance gradually changed. His black hair slowly lost its color until it became pure white, while his eyes turned a deep crimson like embers covered by a thin layer of ice.
He paused for a moment.
He looked at the ends of his long hair with a calm expression, as if such a drastic transformation was nothing unusual.
This was Kuro's true form after his Divine Corruption had risen to Level Three.
Until now, this appearance had always been concealed using layers of illusion and Magecraft, as it was far too conspicuous to be considered normal in human eyes.
"Even after seeing the possibilities…" Kuro murmured softly. "Ishtar's charm ability really surpasses Magecraft and other impossible things."
His red gaze slowly scanned the interior of the Tohsaka residence.
The atmosphere inside felt different. Mana flowed far denser than before, covering the walls and corridors like an invisible fine net.
He could sense that the Tohsaka family's bounded field structure had changed.
A previously complex yet stable formation had been subtly modified—almost flawlessly, without leaving any rough edges. The result was quite troublesome.
"She even turned this bounded field into an anti-disguise area."
His tone remained casual, but a hint of admiration slipped through.
Not because of the complexity of the magic.
But because such a large-scale alteration had been done so effortlessly, as if Ishtar was simply rearranging furniture according to her mood.
After observing the area for a while, Kuro finally continued deeper into the house toward the Tohsaka family's underground chamber.
However, upon reaching the corridor leading there, he stopped again.
Near the entrance, Ishtar was casually leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, as if she had been waiting for him.
Her blood-red gaze immediately locked onto him.
"You're still here?" she asked flatly, though faint surprise lingered in her tone. "I thought you'd leave after fixing the gate."
Kuro placed both hands in his coat pockets. "Of course not."
"Hm?"
"This is my master's residence." His answer came calmly and without hesitation.
"The body you're using right now to manifest belongs to Tohsaka Rin." His dark crimson eyes met Ishtar's directly. "As her student, it's only natural for me to come and learn."
A brief silence filled the narrow corridor, where only the faint flow of mana from the Tohsaka bounded field could be felt like a warm current behind the walls.
Then slowly, a small smile formed at the corner of Kuro's lips, as if he had just thought of something interesting.
"Coincidentally…" he murmured casually. "Since you're using Rin's body to manifest, why not teach me Magecraft as well?"
Ishtar's eyebrow twitched slightly. But Kuro continued without paying attention to her reaction.
"Besides, according to myth, Ishtar is the Goddess of Fertility, War, and Victory, right?"
His smile widened slightly—lazy, but clearly intentional.
"So something like that shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Silence.
Then slowly, Ishtar's brow twitched.
"…Ha?"
The magical pressure in the corridor subtly shifted, making the air feel slightly heavier than before. Her blood-red gaze narrowed sharply at Kuro.
"Human." Her tone dropped a level. "Your mouth is quite disrespectful, isn't it?"
She uncrossed her arms and stood upright from the wall. Her movement was graceful and light, yet carried the faint pressure of an Age of Gods existence.
"You think you can just become my student so easily?"
Ishtar snorted in disdain, as expected of a goddess.
"How bold of you to speak as if that's something normal."
Even so, her gaze seemed slightly intrigued.
After all, it was rare for a human to speak to her so casually without trembling, panicking, or worshipping her.
Kuro smirked faintly.
"Why would I be afraid?" he replied without hesitation. "Besides, I'm not asking for free."
As he spoke, golden ripples slowly emerged behind him. Gate of Babylon opened one after another, emitting a dim golden glow that filled the Tohsaka underground corridor like a trapped sunset.
Ten ornate treasure chests fell neatly onto the stone floor. Their size was considerable, covered in ancient engravings clearly not of ordinary craftsmanship.
Even without opening them, the aura of wealth radiating from them was overwhelming.
At first, Ishtar only glanced at them lazily. But after a few seconds, her nose twitched slightly.
"…Hm?"
Her blood-red eyes narrowed instantly. As a goddess associated with wealth and luxury, her instincts recognized something immediately—an enormous concentration of jewels.
Kuro remained calm as he approached one of the chests and slowly opened it. A burst of multicolored light reflected across the corridor. Red, blue, green, gold, and transparent crystals shimmered inside like fragments of the night sky filled with stars.