Era of Heroic Spirits: I Was Exposed by Alaya

A woman of unbelievable gentleness appeared where she shouldn't have.

Everyone stared at her in stunned silence.

The Beast of Humanity, Tiamat, had transformed into a terrifying dragon after falling into the abyss.

Her form was colossal, her appearance monstrous and horrifying.

Just standing there was enough to make countless people tremble in fear, regarding her as the most terrifying boss.

However.

After Nameless traversed through the tsunami-like horde of frenzied Lahmus and leaped into the [Nega-Genesis] barrier, landing atop Tiamat's fatal weak point—

A woman as gentle as water opened her arms to him.

In her eyes, the cross-shaped amethyst pupils held boundless sorrow and plea.

Like a mother abandoned, betrayed, and opposed by her children, yet still clinging to the faintest sliver of hope.

Hoping her children wouldn't leave her, hoping she could continue to stay by their side.

This scene.

Formed an extreme contrast with the fierce battle moments before.

Countless onlookers stared dumbfounded at their screens—

-[Why do I suddenly feel a little guilty toward Mother Tiamat?]

-[Thinking about it, Mother Tiamat sealed herself from the very beginning. She barely fought back during the battle, just passively taking hits!]

-[Sigh... The King of Heroes and Nameless represent the future, while Mother Tiamat represents the past. They were destined to part ways.]

-[You were the one who wanted to leave, so leave if you must. But now you want to use true love to call me back...]

...

"What a gentle mother," Roya couldn't help but sigh.

Despite possessing enough magical energy for interstellar travel and biological factories capable of spawning endless armies to effortlessly annihilate humanity...

Tiamat had instead chosen to [self-seal] over 90% of her combat power from the very beginning, forcibly reducing her own health by the same margin.

This only reinforced Roya's conviction: the Evils of Humanity were clearly evils born from the purest form of love for humanity!

"Indeed. Compared to the Demon God King who's determined to destroy humanity, she's more like a mother full of contradictions and complexity," Qin Shi Huang nodded in agreement.

As the venerable First Emperor of a unified China, he could naturally discern this.

Tiamat did harbor hatred and sorrow toward humanity, yet she had long since accepted the fact of her abandonment.

Deep within, she still wished to continue sheltering humanity as a "mother," which was why she had imposed [Self-Sealing] upon herself.

Yet,

Children grow up. They cannot forever hide beneath her wings, nor remain eternal flowers in a greenhouse.

She symbolized the bygone era when gods shepherded humanity, as well as humanity's innate fears and dependencies.

Even the King of Heroes, whom she had slain, declared from beginning to end that neither he nor Uruk bore any hatred toward Tiamat.

It was simply destined to be beyond understanding, destined to be a final parting.

The hymn of humanity is the hymn of courage.

This was truly the battle where humanity bid farewell to the gods!

"The battle where humanity parts ways with the gods..." Artoria sighed softly.

Back when the Age of Gods in Britain was on the verge of fading completely, she too had joined forces with Nameless to defeat the Vile King Vortigern, the last remnant of that era.

That white dragon had been her own uncle, who sought with all his heart to drag Britain back into the Age of Gods.

Alas.

Times had changed!

Anyone standing in the path of history's wheel would be ground to dust!

On the screen.

As Nameless leaped into the [Nega-Genesis] bounded field,

The King of Heroes' roar made Ishtar comprehend everything in an instant.

She couldn't help exclaiming in shock: "That bastard... the Master from Chaldea is actually Nameless?"

That detestable scoundrel had deceived her yet again!

Unforgivable, intolerable!

Only now did Ishtar finally understand why Ereshkigal had treated him with such warmth.

Why Merlin had intervened, why King Hassan had acted... All of it, all because that man was—

[Nameless!]

Though called [Nameless], his name had already spread across countless timelines.

Even in Uruk during the Age of Gods, his footprints remained.

Back then, she had wanted to seek him out, only to find nothing—no trace at all.

Just as she prepared to press further with her questions, she suddenly noticed her sister Ereshkigal's life force rapidly diminishing beside her.

Countless golden motes of light slowly rose from her body.

She resembled a candle in the wind, flickering on the verge of extinction at any moment!

Ishtar immediately rushed over: "I knew something was wrong! You've been breaking the underworld's taboos this whole time, granting authority to the living—there's no way that came without a price!"

"You fool, do you even realize what you've done?"

Cradling her sister, she shouted in fury.

Her earlier intrusion into the underworld, weakened to her limits by the seven gates of the netherworld, had been solely to bring her sister out.

Yet this foolish sister insisted on bearing all the blame herself.

Insisted on guarding this lifeless underworld alone!

Ereshkigal watched Nameless disappear into the [Nega-Genesis] bounded field and smiled gently. "I am the Queen of the Underworld. To protect my world, I chose the most correct method."

"And what use is that if you disappear?" Ishtar's anger gave way to increasing panic.

She had meant to compete with her sister for Nameless.

But now, with her sister about to vanish from the backlash, she didn't know what to do.

"Just once would have been enough... Pity I couldn't stay to grow old with you... Without him, I might have remained just a gloomy, dark goddess of death."

Ereshkigal extended her slender, pale hand, catching a drifting petal. "How wonderful... the underworld is filled with blossoms!"

As the Queen of the Underworld, she had dwelled alone in this desolate realm for countless years.

One thing she had tried countless times.

She wanted to make flowers bloom in the underworld.

She wanted to possess a beautiful blossom.

Yet no matter how hard she tried, no matter how many millennia passed, she could never succeed.

She couldn't even make a single seed sprout!

Until one day.

She met that person—an otherworldly visitor who didn't fear her identity as the goddess of the underworld.

A nameless hero, yet greater than any other.

That person said to her—

"You are the most beautiful flower of the underworld!"

Those words made her feel as if blossoms had bloomed across the underworld.

She waited and waited.

And now, an endless sea of flowers had appeared in the underworld.

How wonderful... my world is now filled with flowers...

Only then.

Did all the viewers finally understand why Nameless had called her a fool and tried to dissuade her earlier—

-[How could I forget that the underworld cannot sustain the living... To break this taboo, one must pay a price!]

-[The underworld that once had only one flower is now in full bloom—Ereshkigal, your waiting has finally been rewarded!]

-[My nose stings, and there's dust in my eyes again! Ahhh, my precious Ereshkigal!]

"Ereshkigal..."

Romani Archaman and the others at Chaldea were also stunned.

They had thought that as the mistress of the underworld, granting Nameless and his companions the ability to fly and strengthening buffs were trivial matters.

Never had they imagined the price would be her life!

A goddess who should have remained aloof, yet willingly sacrificed everything for humanity.

Mash couldn't help but sigh softly. "She truly is a gentle goddess of death."

"Yes, one who claims to represent death, yet yearns for life more than anyone else," Romani murmured in admiration.

Looking at her, he was reminded of his own past.

Once omniscient and omnipotent, able to obtain anything he desired, wielding power no less than that of a god.

Yet back then, he had abandoned it all without hesitation, simply wanting to be an ordinary—

Human!

In this world, humans are the most extraordinary existence.

Even gods are drawn to them.

Da Vinci, however, gave Mash a strange look.

That mistress of the underworld is trying to steal your "senpai," you know? What if she really appears in the human world one day...

Well, one more wouldn't make much difference.

Da Vinci dismissed the thought.

There were already far too many rivals vying for Nameless's affection—poor Mash's head was practically a verdant pasture by now!

The video continued.

The gentle, maternal girl spread her arms wide: "Aaaaaa (Don't leave me)!"

At that moment.

Nameless understood her words.

The uploader of the video, [Alaya], provided a simultaneous translation.

Tiamat, who had been singing "Aaaaa," finally spoke in a human voice.

Facing the gentle girl, Nameless sighed softly. "Mother of Genesis, humanity's childhood has passed. We no longer need gods to guide us!"

These words encapsulated the fundamental reason why both the King of Heroes and he chose to oppose the gods.

For humanity to grow, they must break free from divine shackles.

Fear is born from the unknown.

Civilization must bid farewell to the gods.

To create a brilliant civilization and embrace the future, humanity must part ways with divinity!

Tiamat opened her arms, but received no response.

Her expression grew increasingly forlorn as she lowered her head and whispered softly, "I gave birth to countless lives and was once loved by all beings. But my children used me as a stepping stone and left me one after another."

She raised her head, her gaze fixed steadily on the young man before her, tears suddenly welling up in her eyes.

"Tell me, I wanted to keep loving you all, to have you stay by my side forever. Was my love... all wrong?"

Just these simple words.

Especially her gentle, tear-filled eyes, struck a deep chord in countless viewers' hearts.

Many couldn't help but feel their own eyes moisten—

-[Damn, this reminds me of my mom! When I left home for the big city, I saw her secretly wiping tears too!]

-[Sigh, it's so similar. Truly befitting the Primordial Mother Goddess—just a loving mother through and through.]

-[Tiamat, you're not wrong. The world is wrong. I love you!]

-[Hey, Tiamat, want a Holy Grail? I'll steal as many as you want!]

-[Damn it, Nameless, get lost! Tiamat, come home with me and let me fulfill my filial duty!]

"Such is the weight of love that humanity cannot bear," Jeanne d'Arc sighed softly.

Her love for her children was too profound.

Even after being betrayed by the gods and attacked by humans, she still sought to protect them.

Or perhaps.

It was this extreme love that transformed her into a Beast of Humanity!

Jeanne suddenly wondered—when she could no longer hear the "voice of Lord," was it the same?

The supreme "Lord," after guiding humanity, gradually chose to let go.

Yet Tiamat wished only to shelter humanity once more.

Was this the difference between the two supreme deities?

Mordred blinked in surprise. "This feels a bit like Father..."

Back during the Battle of Camlann.

She had rebelled, leading an army against King Arthur returning from the Roman campaign.

After the war.

The Round Table was decimated, and Britain fell into ruin.

She had roared in fury, "See, King Arthur? Your kingdom is finished! Why did you hate me so much, refusing to acknowledge me?"

And yet.

Even as the kingdom crumbled and countless perished on the battlefield.

The other party still replied with gentle calmness: "I have never hated you. There is only one reason I did not pass the throne to you—you lacked the capacity to be king."

Even after suffering betrayal, even after the destruction of the Britain she had been so obsessed with, the other party still did not hate her.

Mordred finally understood—what she had truly hated was never her father, but that kingdom!

She hated all of Britain.

She hated how those people placed all their hopes and futures upon her father's fragile shoulders.

And in the video.

Tiamat, who had also suffered betrayal, harbored not a trace of hatred toward Nameless or the King of Heroes, among others.

How similar they were!

No, not similar at all.

Mordred suddenly realized.

She became aware of the fatal difference between King Arthur and the Beast of Humanity—

Tiamat would not hate Nameless because of her!

From the very beginning, Mordred had hated all of Britain. She had simply wanted to be acknowledged by her father, never caring about the mere throne of Britain!

Damnable father—she had already possessed Britain, already possessed the entire world, yet still refused to let go!

Under the gaze of everyone.

Facing the Beast of Humanity's inquiry.

Nameless softly replied, "You were not wrong, and neither were the children."

"Once, you were abandoned, exiled to the void of imaginary numbers. In your anger, you still chose [self-sealing], wishing to continue sheltering humanity."

***

Hey readers!

Want to read ahead? 📖 Join my Patreon for early access to 30+ advance chapters! Your support helps me write more and bring the story to you faster.

🔹patreon.com/aarvan🔹