Kamar-Taj Village / A Hound’s Duty

Master Ancient sat before Tony Stark’s desk, tilting her head slightly.

She stared curiously at the slender, strange little creature before her.

Then she softly asked,

"An Ishtar person?"

The little creature nodded ingratiatingly.

Master Ancient looked at Tony and asked, "You’re saying this little thing suddenly appeared in front of you?"

Tony rubbed his temples and said in distress,

"Yes, Master. It said it wanted to exchange wisdom with me."

"It wanted me to visit some library on their side."

"I suppose that’s a recognition of my intelligence?"

Master Ancient looked even more puzzled.

She slowly said,

"Have you not been reading the group chat lately?"

Tony froze. "I… I have been reading it. Probably that thing about, um… what’s-her-name… Little Madoka?"

Master Ancient almost wanted to sigh.

As she told him, "Look at the messages in the group," she walked over to the Ishtar person.

This Ishtar person, inexplicably carrying a hint of fawning eagerness, looked up at her.

Her expression grew even more puzzled.

Then, under Tony’s horrified gaze, Master Ancient gently reached out and grabbed the Ishtar person’s long tail.

Kamar-Taj Village

Izayoi Sakamaki lay on Mithras’s back, drowsy with sleep. His mind was still replaying what the Hound of Tindalos guarding the Puella Magi Madoka Magica world had said before he left.

"Lord Izayoi!"

The other party had called out to him as he was about to leave and said solemnly,

"Lord Izayoi, the state of this world was entirely Lady Akemi Homura’s request."

"She said the world needed a sense of crisis, and she needed one too."

"Some of them were even creatures I specifically drove back from outside."

Izayoi Sakamaki fell silent for a moment, then subconsciously glanced at the Giant Macrophage Worm below.

That thing definitely did not look native to this place.

Perhaps it had been painstakingly driven back from outside by this very hound.

Izayoi Sakamaki immediately felt embarrassed.

He cleared his throat. "Well, I’ll leave things here to you."

"Let’s go, Mithras."

Before leaving, he hurriedly added,

"I’ll compensate for the losses here, probably…"

Pulling himself from his thoughts, Izayoi Sakamaki looked at the Chat Group.

Master Ancient and Tony, who had not chatted in a long time, had appeared.

And the moment they showed up, they brought some good news.

Tony: "Hey, guys, an Ishtar person found me and said it wanted to exchange bodies with me!"

"Aha, proves that even alien races know about my intelligence!"

"By the way, it didn’t even go looking for Master Ancient. It came directly to me~"

Tatsumaki: "What is Tony even talking about?"

Master Ancient: "My apologies. He hasn’t looked at the group chat in a long time."

Minamiya Natsuki: "But if it’s an Ishtar person…"

Akemi Homura: "…How utterly clueless."

Tokisaki Kurumi: "Hehe, it seems you really forget the pain once the wound has healed."

Izayoi Sakamaki: "? I remember that the last time we exchanged wisdom with the Ishtar people, you were one of them. You even thought the Chat Group was gone. Have you forgotten?"

Tony: "Huh? I don’t remember that. When did that happen?"

Everyone in the group immediately felt their hearts sink.

It seemed that despite all their precautions, the Ishtar people had still found a loophole.

They did not know what method had been used, but Tony’s memories had been completely erased.

That made him think this was the first time an Ishtar person had approached him.

Having no memories of what came after, Tony naturally believed the Ishtar people were still a friendly race that exchanged memories.

He also completely failed to remember that he had once entered the Ishtar person’s library.

Master Ancient even subconsciously glanced at Tony across from her in real life.

Though the presence of the Ishtar person kept both their expressions unchanged,

Master Ancient had indeed seen Tony go blank for a moment.

Without revealing anything, she glanced at the Ishtar person beside her and said,

"Friend from afar, how about I take you around and show you what our world is like?"

Of course, though she called it a friend, this Ishtar person had not even given its name.

As far as Izayoi Sakamaki knew, only Ishtar people who exchanged True Names would truly open their hearts to one another.

Since these people had already made their attitude clear,

Master Ancient had nothing more to say.

Ever since obtaining a Hound of Tindalos, Master Ancient had been busy reinforcing and strengthening Earth’s protective formation.

Likewise, she had made a decision not too different from Akemi Homura’s.

That was to ask the Hound of Tindalos to occasionally allow some minions of the Outer Gods inside.

Earth needed them as a warning.

The Avengers Alliance needed them as well.

Odin, the Father of Gods, had also been very concerned about Dormammu’s Dark Dimension situation.

But he was not in good condition, and it had not caused any trouble on their side in Asgard.

…More importantly, his useless eldest son had somehow been corrupted by that strange power to the point he could not show his face.

Odin could not understand it.

What exactly had his dim-witted eldest son done?

…Why was he so stupid!

Of course, unlike Odin, who was tearing his hair out over his son,

Master Ancient calmly took the Ishtar person on a tour around Earth.

The other party also showed an appropriate amount of amazement.

But Master Ancient knew she could not trust any of its outward displays.

Just as they finished touring Earth, she suddenly said,

"Oh, right. Would you like to visit my birthplace?"

"I haven’t gone back in a long time."

Master Ancient truly had not returned for a long time, having been busy repairing Earth’s defensive formation.

But she was not returning because she missed home.

It was simply because…

Master Ancient discreetly glanced at the unmoved Ishtar person beside her.

Then a circle appeared at her side.

On the other side of the circle lay the snow-covered Himalayan Mountains.

Izayoi Sakamaki actually fell asleep.

Mithras’s back was simply too comfortable to lie on.

And nothing much had happened.

There was no livestream in the group.

But Tony had already told the group that Master Ancient had taken the Ishtar person away.

It seemed they would not need to make an extra trip after all.

A Hound’s Duty

By the time Izayoi Sakamaki stood before Tony, Tony was practically about to kneel. "Boss, you’re here! Thank goodness!"

Izayoi Sakamaki shoved away the face crowding in front of him in disgust. "Where’s the Master? And where’s that little thing?"

The moment he finished speaking, Izayoi Sakamaki saw a circle appear beside him.

Inside it was another scene of ice and snow.

Izayoi Sakamaki exchanged a glance with Tony.

He led Mithras through the portal first.

Tony, meanwhile, turned around to retrieve his Iron Man suit.

But Tony had not expected that in the brief moment it took him to bend down and straighten up, the portal had already disappeared.

Tony blankly opened his mouth, then abruptly said,

"Friday, locate every humanoid life sign in the Himalayan Mountains!"

The instant Izayoi Sakamaki stepped through, he felt a trace of chill.

A snowflake drifted onto his face and quickly melted.

He wanted to enjoy the feeling for a little longer, but a huge shadow appeared before him.

It was Mithras.

The White Wolf said vigilantly, "Lord Izayoi, I sense an extremely powerful force."

Master Ancient’s gentle voice came from nearby. "That should be me."

Mithras jumped in fright and turned to look.

A bald head had already appeared beside Izayoi Sakamaki.

Under the reflection of the snow-covered mountains, it was dazzlingly bright.

Master Ancient ignored Mithras’s sudden act of raising a paw to rub his eyes.