CHAPTER 23:

PRETENDER GODDESS VERSUS FALLEN GODDESS

Part of Tiamat wanted to rage at the sheer gall of this impostor. Part of her wanted to laugh. And part of her just stared in bemusement. This was the pawn Goetia had chosen?

Tiamat had sung with both Medusas about their respective pasts. Medusa, along with the other Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale, were deities born from the wishes of men to be perfect beauties. Medusa, however, was imperfect, and she aged, albeit into adulthood rather than senescence. She was still immortal, relatively. But she was cursed by Cybele and Athena. It was Cybele who inflicted the Mystic Eyes of Petrification on Medusa, but it was Athena, jealous of Medusa's beauty, who cursed her with what became lethal bloodlust.

The song turned tragic, as the elder Gorgons were also coveted by humans, and they withdrew to the Shapeless Isle. However, Medusa's curse gradually overwhelmed her, until she became a monster, consuming her sisters. Eventually, Perseus took her head, and her life, ending her song.

This creature, then, was Medusa at her lowest, when her curse had all but consumed her. Little more than a monster singing a song of malice. Already, she could feel the power of the Mystic Eyes of Petrification, not truly active, but certainly exerting a pressure that threatened to become more.

But Tiamat's song, while filled with anxiety and apprehension, still felt assured. While this entity was indeed strong, and perhaps stronger than she was, she had a weak point that would certainly scupper her potency. Even now, Tiamat was gathering power for a Nammu Duranki, aimed at two specific points on the Avenger Servant's body. True, her abilities weren't as potent towards a Servant as they were on a living entity, due to the fact that her abilities worked best on actual biology, rather than a Spiritron body that emulated biology…but hopefully, this would work.

And she could follow it up with something she had been meaning to try for some time. Her lack of strength wouldn't allow her to do so for more than a few minutes, and that was probably overly generous…but she had to do something, especially as the soldiers coming with them all sang discordant songs of fear that could lead to desertion. Assuming Gorgon would let them.

"So…these are the ones you spoke of, Kingu," Gorgon mused, her voice echoing around the area. "One of the last Masters of humanity…and the one who seduced the false version of me."

"Hello Pot, my name is Kettle," Harry snarked. "Have we met? Oh wait…we have, haven't we, Medusa?"

Gorgon blinked, before her gaze narrowed onto Harry, and then the Rider version of herself standing close to Harry. Oddly enough, she didn't seem to notice Ana, her younger Lancer self. A dark chuckle emerged from the Gorgon's lips in dark harmony. "That name means little to me, you human pest."

"And yet, here you are, playing at being Tiamat using some of her stolen authority," Harry said. Tiamat knew his song was filled with fear and anxiety, as this situation was bad, but that was the thing. If you kept them talking, then you stopped them from fighting. And as long as you chose the right words, you could stop them from fighting for a time.

"Do I look like I am playing, boy?" Gorgon sneered. "Regardless of where my authority came from, whether I am truly Tiamat or not is irrelevant. I am a goddess, and you are insects."

"Hubris is a blinding flaw," Merlin said. The emphasis he placed on the word blinding didn't escape Tiamat's notice. She knew he was subtly trying to draw her attention to what she already knew. Instead, Tiamat decided to take that as her cue, and unleashed Nammu Duranki.

On both of Gorgon's eyes.

The beautiful, if malice-filled violet orbs suddenly exploded in a shower of gore. Tiamat then turned to the other soldiers. "KEEP BACK IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES!" she sang. And then, she looked at the crimson marks on her hand, and concentrated.

The Command Seals were potent packages of magical power, usually used by Masters to command Servants. In standard Holy Grail Wars, only three were granted to each Master, and once used up, they couldn't be replenished, save by an authorised figure like the Overseer in the Fuyuki Grail Wars, or a Ruler Servant in Grail Wars that had a Ruler. The ones provided by Chaldea regenerated over a period. However, they could be used to help Servants break their limits, like powering up their Noble Phantasms, or transporting them to the Master's side for defence. They could also be used to force the Servant to do a command they might otherwise disobey, though those with Magic Resistance would need two under such circumstances.

But what few people realised was that, with the right way, Command Seals could actually be used by the Master in another way, as a means of supplementing their own magic temporarily. And in a way, Tiamat did technically qualify as a Servant, albeit one without the need to sustain herself on the mana of a Master or a Holy Grail. All that was needed was some concentration. Indeed, Sieg, a Homunculus who had fought alongside Jeanne d'Arc in the Romanian Great Holy Grail War, had something not dissimilar.

It was Hermione who had suggested this potential technique after the debacle at the observatory. Tiamat knew that to test this out during a vicious battle to the death was probably unwise, but her impostor and her little doll had filled her song with fury, and she needed to protect the others. So she dashed towards where Gorgon and Kingu were, holding up her hand with the Command Seals. By my Command Seal, she sang, I bring forth my power!

The surge of power wasn't as great as she hoped, but it would be enough. She allowed herself to grow, her frame becoming larger, until she towered over the others, save for Gorgon. But she kept running, even as the earth shook in harmony with her steps. The surprised look on Kingu's face filled her song with schadenfreude, even as she swatted him aside, sending the doppelganger back into the ruins of Niddur. As Gorgon moved her head to her approach, the snake-like heads firing jets of violet energy at her, Tiamat threw up shields, even as she bore the blinded Gorgon back onto the ground.

"How dare you?!" Gorgon screamed. "I AM A GODDESS, MORE WORTHY OF YOUR POWER THAN…" Tiamat merely smashed her head harder into the ground, cutting off her discordant diatribe.

Instantly, while the Gorgon was disoriented, Tiamat grabbed the fallen goddess' tail. She knew she had to finish this quickly. Even if she couldn't kill Gorgon, she could at least damage her enough that their plans could be delayed, or even that the other Servants could finish her off. With a scream of effort, she began smashing Gorgon to and fro, the attacks having a metronomic nature to them, before she slammed Gorgon down, hard, into the ruins of Niddur.

"Puny goddess," Tiamat sneered, in the tongues of men, just so that everyone could hear her. But before she could land the finishing blow, chains shot out of the ground, and she was forced to dodge them. She soon saw the cause. Kingu, looking more than a little nettled, was floating nearby, glaring at her.

"Even if you can sustain that size long enough to make a difference, you only served to make yourself a bigger target!" Kingu snarled.

Tiamat dodged more, and then heard Atalanta's voice echo in her song via their link. Tiamat, keep moving! I will use my Noble Phantasm on them.

Tiamat dodged again, even as she felt the drain on her reserves from Atalanta. "I dedicate this calamity to Lord Apollo and Lady Artemis!" she heard Atalanta declare. "PHOEBUS CATASTROPHE!"

Tiamat felt the two arrows whizzing overhead. Kingu and a now-recovering Gorgon, her eyes regenerating, looked up to see a constellation bloom in the middle of the day. Tiamat chose that moment to rush to the side, as a small deluge of arrows of light rained down on Kingu and Gorgon.

Before Tiamat could rejoin the fray, though, she realised her reserves were getting low. She needed to keep her mana levels at a reasonable level in order to sustain her three Servants. Making the decision, she leapt away, back to the others, before letting herself shrink back, a shade of her former glory she briefly assumed. Her song already yearned to change back. But had her efforts been enough? Gorgon did look a little worse for wear, but it seemed that their battles would turn into a war of attrition, and Tiamat wasn't sure they could win.

"Miserable wretches," snarled Gorgon. "You will pay for that insult, you human-loving whore!"

Whore…once more, that vile word stoked the embers of fury in Tiamat's song. But before she could lash out with another Nammu Duranki, it was Kingu, oddly enough, who intervened. He looked a little the worse for wear himself. He looked angry too, but his voice was calm enough. "I believe that's enough, Gorgon. We've got what we came here for. And I doubt advancing on Uruk is a good idea for now. The moment Uruk falls, so too does the Three Goddess Alliance. And we're not quite ready to beat them. Our new Laḫmu need time to gestate, after all."

Gorgon looked at Kingu, before nodding. "You speak wisely, Kingu." She then turned her attention to Tiamat and the others. "You have but ten days until doomsday, humans. Writhe and wriggle in fear like the maggots you are. I will make especial care to make my younger self die in torment…as well as you, you weak shade of Tiamat." With that, Gorgon disappeared in a blast of dust, burrowing a hole beneath the ground.

Kingu, after a moment, sighed in relief. "…She wasn't supposed to attack so early. Our headquarters is very well protected. And I will admit, false Mother, you actually put up a good fight. But even then, I doubt you could take her on, along with myself, and our new Laḫmu. That transformation…you could only do it temporarily, and it made you a bigger target. I'm surprised my faulty doppelganger didn't intervene."

"The moment I attacked Gorgon, you would have attacked me," Enkidu said. "I intended to wait for an opening. But it seems that you've decided to retreat."

"Withdraw," Kingu retorted.

"Semantics," Medea said. "Tell me, why should we let you leave alive?"

"I'm not wholly convinced you can stop me." Kingu rose higher into the air, looking down on them, both literally and metaphorically. "And don't think that we are the only threats out there. The other goddesses in this alliance have their own plans. They should make handy distractions while you prepare for your demise. When we next meet…you will be put paid to for once and for all." And with that, he shot away, heading back to their base.

Medea snarled softly, before she frowned. "…Merlin…when Gorgon looked at us, she could only identify her Rider self as herself. Why couldn't she identify Ana?"

"Seals of my own invention, sealing her Mystic Eyes and her Divinity," Merlin said. "Not to mention her signature. It's lucky Kingu didn't truly notice Ana much either. If he realised Harpe was an immortal-slaying weapon, then Ana might have been in trouble, even if he didn't realise her identity. Speaking of trouble…those people who were abducted…it's perhaps too late for them."

"What do you mean, too late?" Ritsuka asked, his tone tinged with a song of repressed fury.

Harry shook his head grimly. "By the time we can mount an assault on Gorgon's lair, those people have been turned into the Laḫmu. Monsters loyal only to Tia's evil part, at a guess." He turned to Tiamat. "…Tia…if we encountered them, could you turn them back with your own Chaos Tide?"

Tiamat contemplated the question, but the answering song was not a good one. "I do not know. My power is less than my other part, and I don't know whether I can reverse their transformation. All I may be able to do is switch their loyalties, and even then…given my other fragment's power…"

"Then what good are you?!" snapped one of the soldiers suddenly. "You're meant to be a goddess, and on our side! I had family in Niddur, and you're telling me you can't save them?!"

"You're not the only one who wanted to save family and friends," Harry retorted coldly, looking over his shoulder at the soldier. "Tia's trying her best."

"It's not good enough! She's a useless goddess!"

The words were like the Axe of Marduk all over again, but slashing across her song rather than her throat. Instead of blood, fury and sorrow welled up within her song. She only distantly heard the commanding officer rebuking his soldier, and an argument ensuing. Sorrow won out over fury, and she staggered over to a boulder, singing a lament…

Harry was tempted to march over and give that soldier a piece of his mind, but his commander was doing that already. Instead, he went over as Tiamat sat down heavily on a boulder dislodged by Gorgon's burrowing, and began wailing, tears streaming from her eyes. He sat down next to her, letting her lean into him.

He honestly couldn't blame the soldier, at least on an intellectual level. Otherwise, he'd be a hypocrite, with his own obsession with saving his own family and friends via time travel. But…emotionally was another matter.

Was Tiamat feeling what Hermione felt, what his friends felt when he sank into his obsession? Probably nothing quite as melodramatic, but still, it was a disturbing thought. Seeing it from the outside was disturbing. After all the talks from his friends and allies about his obsession, this soldier that he didn't even know the name of had shaken him more. Perhaps not as badly as he had shaken Tiamat, but it was still perturbing.

After a few seconds of this, there was a clatter of wooden sandals, and Ushiwakamaru dashed up. "Lord Ritsuka, Lord Harry, Lady Tiamat…what happened? Is everyone all right?"

"Physically, we're fine," Ritsuka said. "Mentally…Tiamat's in a bad way. We all are. Why did you come, Ushiwakamaru?"

"We felt our diversionary operation was going along smoothly, too smoothly. We feared you were heading into a trap. Benkei stayed to protect Lady Hermione and Lady Hinako."

"It was a bloody trap," Mordred muttered. "And we all but walked into it! We're lucky Tiamat went all giant monster on that bitch's arse." The blonde knight went over to Tiamat, looking at the Command Seals, and muttered, "That's how it is, eh? A temporary boost. Anyway, the other Tiamat's catspaw fucked off and Kingu followed. The problem is, the people of Niddur are now being turned into the foot soldiers of the fake Tiamat's army."

"We have ten days until they come," Ritsuka said, his voice barely calm. "We need to get back to Uruk and notify King Gilgamesh."

"I'll notify him now," Harry said, before conjuring a Patronus. Gilgamesh did have a communications mirror, but the nearest one was back at the wall, and while Harry did have one on him, he didn't feel up to speaking with the haughty king for now. "Gilgamesh…we know who the false Tiamat is. She is the Avenger form of Medusa, the Gorgon. What's more, they're using people abducted from the other cities to create monstrous soldiers known as Laḫmu. We have ten days until they assault Uruk. Details to follow when we get back." And with that, the Patronus left.

Harry then looked to Tiamat, who had gone from wailing to quietly sobbing. "…Tia," he said gently. She looked at him with her now bloodshot eyes. "You're not a useless goddess. By acting when you did, you probably saved our expedition. And if we can find a way to restore the Laḫmu, then we'll try to help them. Okay?"

It took some time before she answered him with a nod, and a morose note. Gently, he helped her to her feet. They'd head back to the wall first, to debrief the Servants there, before heading back to Uruk. Then, they'd find some time to heal…

CHAPTER 23 ANNOTATIONS:

So, there you have it. Gorgon has been repelled, but Harry and Tiamat have taken a rather nasty hit. Of course, when Ishtar is called a useless goddess, it's played for laughs, but here? Yeah, Tiamat needs a hug.

Now, Tiamat being able to grow in size was something I actually planned for the final confrontation, in order to have a Kaiju MILF Battle between the two Tiamats. But I decided to foreshadow its use here. Using a Command Seal to trigger the transformation was a sort of hybridisation of two unconventional uses of Command Seals: namely Kirei Kotomine using them in the climactic fight against Kiritsugu Emiya in Fate/Zero, and Sieg's Dead Count Shapeshifter Command Seals that allowed him to become Siegfried in Fate/Apocrypha. The latter seems obvious, but the former might require some explanation.

In Fate/Zero, during his battle with Kiritsugu, Kirei uses Command Seals to empower his Black Keys. This is important because this means he can bypass using his own magic circuits while battling Kiritsugu, and thus avoid being affected by Kiritsugu's Origin Bullets. Because the Command Seals are an independent source of magical energy and are used up, it basically gives Kirei an ability to power up his Black Keys and use them to defend himself from the Origin Bullets

My point is, Command Seals can be used for purposes other than empowering or controlling Servants. What's more, it's consistently shown that they act as a potent power source. Multiple times in the Fate franchise do we see Masters using Command Seals to boost the power of a Noble Phantasm. This is even an in-game mechanic in Fate/Grand Order (well, charging the Noble Phantasm instantly, anyway), and one that is shown multiple times in the Babylonia anime (notably, for example, with Ritsuka empowering Ishtar and Quetzlcoatl on separate occasions to boost their Noble Phantasms to use against Tiamat). In the game, it can also be used to revive Servants.

So, Tiamat using a Command Seal on herself as a power source to trigger a potent transformation is plausible, in my opinion. BUT, it has its drawbacks. Namely, she has a time limit before she reverts (she only has a fragment of her own power after all, with the lion's share being part of her evil twin, so to speak), and, as Kingu pointed out, she made herself a bigger target. Hell, she couldn't even reach her full size, which is much larger than Gorgon's. However, there is a way to bypass that. You'll see, if I ever reach that point in the story…

Oh, and Ushiwakamaru and Leonidas have been spared…for now. Who knows if that might change?

Anyway, I'm partway through writing the next chapter, so it won't be too long before it's out…hopefully.

Review-answering time! Sultan Asil Arslan: Well, while discussing this story with Arawn D Draven, I actually used the phrase 'Kaiju MILF Battle' to describe the clash between both versions of Tiamat at the climax of the story. So, yes, there'll be another round.

No numbered annotations this time.