IBHJ Chapter 929

Tiamat cried out, staggering from the impact of her own attacks. Her immense power, meant to crush her enemies, had become a liability. But it wouldn't matter for long. The confusion would wear off in mere seconds, and then she could continue her attack.

Just then, she felt something sticky and wet on her hand. She looked down to see thick, black mud oozing from the ground, writhing as if with a life of its own. A wave of pure malice washed over her, the mud's touch dredging up painful memories and attempting to poison her mind.

A fierce light flashed in Tiamat's eyes, shattering her usual composed expression. She clenched her fist, unleashing a blinding burst of energy that blasted the encroaching mud away. The malicious mud shrieked as it evaporated, leaving behind only a faint whiff of sulfur.

She raised her head, her purple eyes looking at him with some displeasure, "You child, you really are unpleasant."

"Consider it a privilege to have annoyed the Goddess of Beginning," Shirou quipped, forcing a smile. He knew the raid's success hinged on whether he could keep Tiamat in a state of perpetual confusion.

Tiamat scoffed, activating the nine planets once more. Ignoring the mud's influence, she unleashed a barrage of attacks directly at Shirou.

He may have been the lowest level on the battlefield, but she recognized him as her greatest threat.

As several blasts flew towards him, Morrigan reacted without hesitation. A graceful sweep of her staff enveloped Shirou in a shimmering magical barrier. Behind him, three breathtaking landscapes materialized, each one a mesmerizing pocket dimension: a realm of verdant mountains wreathed in mist, a sun-dappled expanse of crystal-clear water, and a whimsical forest teeming with fairies.

The Land of the Fairy. This was the ultimate ability of fairies specialized in support roles, similar to the Noble Phantasm "Avalon," granting temporary invincibility. The key difference was that this ability only functioned within this virtual world, lasting for five seconds but with a lengthy cooldown.

Normally, this trump card would be reserved for the main damage dealers, but Morrigan had cast it on Shirou, a mere level 2 adventurer. But no one protested. It was clear to everyone that the key to defeating Tiamat wasn't Enkidu, Morrigan, or any of the other adventurers. It was Shirou.

Tiamat's blasts slammed into the barrier, but they didn't even cause a ripple. With a soft "pop," they dissipated harmlessly into the air.

Shirou let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, sis," he murmured, then raised his hand.

The scattered remnants of black mud surrounding Tiamat began to stir. Like Majin Buu's regenerative cells, they rapidly converged, forming multiple black hands that reached out and grabbed at Tiamat's legs. Her pristine divine robe became stained, turning black where it made contact with the mud. The symbol of confusion above her head, which had been slowly fading, flared back to life.

"My head... ugh, it hurts...!" Tiamat groaned, clutching her temples as a tidal wave of malice flooded her mind. Painful memories of betrayal by her children surfaced, each one a sharp jab at her heart.

Regret!

Tiamat cursed herself for discarding her Beast form. Had she retained it, she wouldn't be so susceptible to this insidious malice.

It wasn't the stolen curse power from the Dark Vortex that truly tormented Tiamat. It was the concentrated malice and negativity from Evil Blossom that was driving her to madness.

Seeing Tiamat's confusion, everyone unleashed their attacks. Swords flashed, spells flew... yet, these attacks barely scratched her compared to the damage she was inflicting on herself.

Shirou approached Enkidu while Tiamat was preoccupied.

"Enkidu."

"What is it, King of Knights?" Enkidu asked, turning to face him without stopping her attack.

"Tiamat is growing wary of my mud. It may not affect her for much longer. And without the mud to confuse her, we don't stand a chance. So, I have a plan, but I need your help."

"Go on." Enkidu's expression hardened. She knew that his mud was their only hope.

He looked up at Tiamat, who was under heavy fire. "She's probably going to snap out of it soon and come after me. When she does, I need you to use your chains to bind her with everything you've got."

"But even at full power, I can't seal Tiamat," Enkidu said, worried.

"Trust me, you can," he said earnestly.

Enkidu looked into his bright blue eyes and saw a familiar flame burning there. It was the same flame she had seen in the priestess whose form she had taken, in Gilgamesh, and in Siduri, the high priestess of Uruk. It was the flame that had shaped her into who she was, the flame she had been yearning for.

"I understand," Enkidu nodded resolutely.

She didn't know what other tricks the King of Knights had up his sleeve, but she trusted him implicitly. After all, this was the Knight that Eternal King himself relied on.

"You're all such a nuisance!" Tiamat waved her hand, swatting away the adventurers' attacks and withdrawing her authority. The nine orbiting planets vanished as a divine light flashed in her eyes. An immense power surged from her slender form, and she casually broke the black mud binding her body.

Her gaze then landed on him. She knew that as long as he was present, she couldn't fully use her authority without harming herself. But if she could eliminate him, the rest would fall easily with a single sweep of her hand.

As she broke free from the mud and prepared to lunge at Shirou, a metallic clatter echoed through the air. Chains rained down on her, binding her limbs. Tiamat felt even her divinity being slightly suppressed.

Enkidu!

Tiamat turned her head to see Enkidu gripping the chains tightly.

"This is useless against me, child," Tiamat said calmly, looking at Enkidu.

Useless? Of course, Enkidu knew that. As the Chains of Heaven, her binding power increased with the target's divinity. But this had no effect on the Goddess of Beginning. Tiamat, having shed her Beast form, possessed divinity far exceeding any god Enkidu had encountered. Even Ishtar paled in comparison.

Enkidu could restrain Ishtar, but not Tiamat. Tiamat's divinity had reached an unimaginable level, far exceeding the upper limit of Enkidu's power to regulate.

However, this was Enkidu under normal circumstances. In this virtual world, having reached level 9 and equipped with various bonuses, Enkidu's Saint Graph and combat power had been significantly amplified by the system. Restraining Tiamat wasn't an impossible dream. Even a slight hindrance would suffice.

If Tiamat could be slowed down, even for a moment, it would give the King of Knights a chance to use Eternal King's black mud to confuse her again, sealing her authority. This might be their only path to victory.

But...

"Boom!"

A rainbow-colored mana blazed around Tiamat like a wildfire, shattering the chains that bound her.

"How... not even for a moment..." Enkidu stared at Tiamat in disbelief. She had expected the chains to break eventually, but not this quickly.

"If you already doubted your ability to restrain me, how could you ever hope to succeed, child?" Tiamat said calmly, looking at Enkidu.

The situation was clear. Tiamat knew she could avoid [Confusion] and attack Shirou by withdrawing her authority. Once he was out of the picture, she could turn on her authority again and unleash her full power on the rest. She was aware that her debut as the boss meant someone had taken the "God Brain," changing the rules of the game. Everyone here would be stripped of their right to resurrect. That's why Tiamat didn't intend to kill them; instead, she planned to send them all to the pyramid where failed challengers were imprisoned.

If Tiamat had truly wanted them dead, she could have wiped them all out before Shirou discovered that his black mud could affect her authority and gave her Confusion debuff. But she wasn't about to let them off easy, either. If they couldn't defeat her, they had no hope of defeating the true threats lurking in the shadows, those who harbored real malice towards this world.

Though she hadn't expected to encounter the inheritor of that ancient civilization's legacy here, it had to end now. As Tiamat considered this, the shattered fragments of Enkidu's chains began to hum, then flowed together like molten metal.

"Hm!?" Tiamat was caught off guard, and in that split second, the reformed chains bound her once more.

"My chains... they're back," Enkidu murmured, staring in wonder at the chains that had once again bound Tiamat. This was beyond anything she could have imagined.

"It's no use, child. This won't hold me."

Tiamat shook her head and strained against the chains. They groaned under the immense pressure of her power, but they didn't break.

"Oh?" Tiamat's voice was laced with surprise. She couldn't break free. This was impossible!

She looked down at the chains, her eyes widening as she saw faint, ancient words inscribed onto the reformed links. Tiamat stared at the markings, a flicker of recognition in her eyes. "Runes?" she murmured.