Chapter 1424: Semiramis
Hanging garden.
When it comes to this term, the first thing that comes to mind is naturally the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World listed by Hellenic culture.
There were a lot of stories about who had built this garden, the first one was the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II (who ruled between 605 and 562 BC), for his Median wife Queen Amytis, because she missed the green hills and valleys of her homeland.
There are five principal writers whose descriptions of Babylon exist in some form today, but it is said that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was in the shape of a square, with each side approximately four plethra long. The garden was tiered, with the uppermost gallery being 50 cubits high. The walls, 22 feet thick, were made of brick. The bases of the tiered sections were sufficiently deep to provide root growth for the largest trees, and the gardens were irrigated from the nearby Euphrates.
However, in Babylonian literature, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is always a mystery, and nothing mentions it. It is not until modern times that scientists have confirmed that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is located in the capital city of Nineveh on the River Tigris, near the modern city of Mosul.
Today such a legendary garden has appeared in reality in this era.
The user of this garden was the former of Assyria Empress, Semiramis.
She was a famous figure from the eighth century BC, who was also known as Shammuramat. She was the legendary Empress of the history of Assyria.
There were a lot of legends about her that were widely circulated in Europe.
Her husband, King Ninus, was poisoned by her, and after his death, she took charge of the country and became the Empress. It was also because of this that she was also known as the oldest poison user.
She is a very enthusiastic person who indulges in luxury and "exudes a decadent atmosphere from somewhere." Since her childhood, she has studied a wide range of disciplines such as cosmetics, hairdressing, dancing, clothing, music, and astronomy, and her beautiful face has captivated many men. Her passion has led her to start a war to possess a single man, and to poison her husband, the king, for politics, but her abilities as a queen are indisputable. Proof of the many expeditions she has led can be seen on walls and the Ishtar Gate.
Born from the Syrian mermaid goddess Derketo and a human man, she was left on the waterfront by her loveless mother. She was wrapped in the warm wings of a dove and fed with the dove's milk.
It was said that she was the incarnation of Ishtar, the Goddess of Babylon.
Now, this Assyrian Empress, the oldest poison user in human history, appeared as a servant of Assassin of Red and became the servant of Tokisada Amakusa Shirou.
Class: Assassin.
Master: Shirou Tokisada Amakusa.
True Name: Semiramis.
Alignment: Lawful Evil.
Parameters:
Strength: E
Endurance: D
Agility: D
Mana: A
Luck: A
Noble Phantasm: B
Class Skills:
Presence Concealment (C+ Rank): Hides one's presence as a Servant. Suitable for spying. The rank of presence concealment drops considerably when preparing to attack. However, this condition does not apply to poisoning something. By combining her Presence Concealment and her poisons, she was able to easily slip a hypnotic drug into the tea of all the Red Fractions Master allowing Shirou the opportunity to manipulate them.
Territory Creation (EX Rank): Creates an area that is advantageous to oneself as a magus. By gathering specific materials, it is possible to create a "Hanging Garden", superior to a "Temple".
Item Construction (C Rank): This allows the creation of items that carry magical energy. Semiramis specializes in poisons, so she can't make any other types of tools.
Personal Skills:
Familiar (Dove) (D Rank): This allows the use of doves as familiars. They can be directed by thought alone, without the need for a contract
Double Summon (B Rank): Grants the Class Skills of both the Assassin and Caster classes. An exceedingly rare trait possessed only by a select few Servants.
Divinity (C Rank): Semiramis was the daughter of the Syrian fish-goddess Derketo and a mortal.
Semiramis was without a doubt one of the top-level servants.
Even though she was summoned as an Assassin of Red, she also possessed the ability of Caster, not only a poison user, but she was also a Magus.
However, the reason why Shirou had decided to summon Semiramis was that she possessed a very strong Noble Phantasm that reached the highest rank of the Noble Phantasm which was an EX-Rank.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
It is an irregular Noble Phantasm that is impossible to manifest with magical energy like regular Noble Phantasms.
It requires worldly materials and time to construct before it can be utilized. It is "vanity" itself, so the conditions for its activation are strict. In a process of construction that takes at least three days, soil, stone, minerals, wood, plants, and water of a fixed amount must be gathered from the land in which she once lived, ruins in the vicinity of Baghdad, Iraq, and only with their preparation can the activation proceed. It requires enough money to buy a small country to obtain all of the necessary materials. The more money used in its construction, the more its mystery deepens, and the more the garden is strengthened. The complicated ritual is due to the fact that she did not create the construct, have anything to do with its construction, nor even have seen it during her lifetime.
In order to prepare Semiramis's Noble Phantasm, Shirou was similar to Darnic, he summoned her in advance.
When Haru joined the Black Faction, Shirou instigated Avicebron to assist the construction of the garden under the Fortress of Millennia and finally, successfully summoned this Noble Phantasm in this world, then directly stole the Holy Grail.
Semiramis's abilities are normally fairly low, but as long as she stayed in the garden, increased all of her parameters in rank, increased her fame to the highest level, and revised attacks in her favor, adding a plus modifier to her attacks. It also becomes possible for her to utilize Magecraft that reaches into the realm of Magic,
Space manipulation, a blast that comparable to an EX-ranked, and creating more than a thousand Dragon Tooth Warriors in numbers easily, all of that could be done when Semiramis stayed in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Therefore, after this Noble Phantasm was summoned, the Red Faction not only had an extremely powerful fortress but would also have an extra powerful servant that was comparable to Karna and Achilles.
Coupled with the illegal summoning of Shirou, who had survived for sixty to seventy years, Avicebron was instigated and chose to betray the Black Faction.
Under such circumstances, Semiramis was confident.
"No matter what kind of servant it is, I can defeat it."
Semiramis is arrogant and scorned everyone in her eyes, even so, she doesn't want to be alone.
She believes it necessary for one to be superior to others and have more desires than regular people as a ruler, thinking that those who uphold frugality are only playing a sport privileged to those who have gained the "most important possession of all", authority.
She feels that those who rule commit tyranny simply from the act, so those who are kings must also be tyrants.
It is also because in her eyes, all humans are her subjects.
Therefore, because of her way of thinking, none of the servants on the Red Faction loved to stay beside her.
Besides Shirou, there was no one that stayed beside her.
However, at this moment, her arrogance was broken since someone was able to break into her proudly, Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Under a huge beam of magic, Haru's clothes disintegrated before he came out unscathed naked.
"....."
Semiramis looked at Haru who was naked before she saw him wearing his clothes once again. She wasn't sure what to say for a moment, however, she had to admit that his figure was a bit similar to the man that made her start a war to possess him, however, this young man was several times better.
"...."
Haru then wore his clothes and stepped into the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, then stared in one direction before smiling.
"Interesting."
Semiramis smiled and said, "Let's see whether you have the power to come to my place, boy."