Chapter 20

The bombardment of the Gate of Babylon continued unabated, while moonlight fell endlessly from the high heavens above. Anu, this time, would have to shatter it all while enduring this onslaught.

The Chief God's scepter radiated a blinding brilliance, as one after another, True Aether condensed into solid forms, cutting through everything around them.

By now, Anu was furious to the extreme. Even if it meant harming his own allies, he would kill the man before him.

"Has the old fool lost his mind?"

Ishtar had never seen her father so unhinged. And against a maddened Anu, Fujimaru Kyoya stood no chance of gaining the upper hand.

"There."

Even though "First Before First" was a talent that could conceal one's intent to attack, it could not make Fujimaru Kyoya vanish entirely. As long as he existed, he resonated with the world—and that was enough for Anu to find him.

[Your injuries grow more severe. You will be unable to evade this attack.]

A blazing light pierced straight through Fujimaru Kyoya. Accompanied by a wild, triumphant laugh, it seemed as though everything had been settled.

[You understand. The time you have bought is enough.]

"It is my victory. After I kill you, then Gilgamesh—"

"Old man, where is my hand?"

Fujimaru Kyoya cut off Anu's words. He pointed to his severed arm—where had the cut-off limb gone?

"Your hand? You... you bastard."

Anu stared at Fujimaru Kyoya's empty sleeve. And before this, another person had had his arm severed—the same arm as Fujimaru Kyoya's missing hand.

"Gilgamesh?"

"Of course. Otherwise, why would I have provoked you with words, blinded you with lime?"

Fujimaru Kyoya's laugh grew even more unhinged. Just as Anu moved to end his life, a terrifying pressure descended.

Gilgamesh appeared behind Fujimaru Kyoya, the Enuma Elish in hand. And the arm that had been blown to ashes had somehow returned.

No—that was not his arm. It was Fujimaru Kyoya's.

Gilgamesh had actually grafted Fujimaru Kyoya's arm onto his own body.

"Surprised, mongrel? As my replacement, as my younger brother—can I not use his arm?"

Gilgamesh and Fujimaru Kyoya had been born as the same model of Heaven's Wedge. That was perhaps the greatest mistake of Anu's life.

Chapter 35: Can We Make Peace?

Enkidu was dead. Gilgamesh had long been prepared for this—so why this ache in his heart? Where did this rage come from?

Gilgamesh had been extraordinary from the moment he was born into this world. That lofty self-regard allowed him to treat both men and gods as equals. For Gilgamesh, the only criterion by which he judged others was their soul.

Enkidu was the second person he had met with a noble soul. Even though the other was merely a tool crafted by the Gods, he was still willing to call him a friend. As for the first...

A blazing beam of Aether flashed past. An arm was severed, landing right before Gilgamesh.

"What boldness."

A mere severed arm—and Gilgamesh understood its meaning at once. Though he and Fujimaru Kyoya were both Heaven's Wedges, each had their own strengths.

Fujimaru Kyoya possessed supreme martial skill and the ability to conceal his attack intent. In a one-on-one duel, Gilgamesh might not have been his match. But now, facing so many deities, a gravely wounded Fujimaru Kyoya could do nothing.

This was Gilgamesh's battlefield.

The Chains of Heaven seemed to sense something. They placed the severed arm against Gilgamesh's wound, then rummaged through the Gate of Babylon until they found a vial of Elixir, which they poured over the injury. At once, the arm—once belonging to another—began to take root on Gilgamesh's body.

"You refuse me?"

Agony—agony that even Gilgamesh could barely endure. He felt the arm rejecting him.

Though Fujimaru Kyoya had intended for Gilgamesh to take his arm and restore his peak combat strength, his body carried more than just his own will.

Within it lay the will of the people—the will of those he had harmed.

"Tyrant, you still need our power? Aren't you invincible?"

"When you hurt us, did you ever think this day would come?"

"To help someone who once persecuted us—we cannot do it."

One by one, these wills crashed into Gilgamesh's mind. The newly attached arm burst with blood. If he could not subdue these wills, no Elixir, no matter how fine, would ever make the arm take hold.

"A pack of fools. You have no idea what I have seen. You—"

"But you did hurt them, didn't you?"

Fujimaru Kyoya's voice came through. This place was, after all, a gathering of the people's will—so it was only natural that his voice could reach here.

"The people are ignorant, so they need a king to guide them. A king sits upon the throne and holds the reins of power—that is our right. And that right comes with a corresponding duty."

Rights and duties—they were twins. If one was taken away, the other would inevitably become a deformed thing.

If the Gilgamesh of before had achieved balance between the two, then the Gilgamesh of now had fallen into utter imbalance.

But this imbalance was something Gilgamesh had deliberately created. He was not, at his core, a scoundrel—because a true scoundrel would never think himself one.

"You're saying I was wrong?"

Gilgamesh looked at Fujimaru Kyoya, who stood together with the people in this Mental Space. The loss of popular support had been something he had engineered on purpose. And yet, now, he felt a trace of unwillingness.

Before he knew it, he was the only one left.

"Gil, you were never alone. No matter who you made an enemy of, I was always by your side."

A voice echoed in Gilgamesh's ears—it was Enkidu's voice.

"I've always been with you, no matter what choice you made. Gil, you don't have to hide the kindness in your heart anymore."

Enkidu's phantom embraced Gilgamesh from behind.

Gilgamesh acknowledged Enkidu because Enkidu possessed a pure soul, and Enkidu acknowledged Gilgamesh because he could see through all pretense and glimpse the kindness hidden beneath that arrogance.

"Kindness? This King is not kind. This King is just as selfish as that man standing over there."

Gilgamesh walked before Fujimaru Kyoya's phantom. He could sense the other's heart—the core within it was still "selfishness."

"You became my enemy because you couldn't bear to hear the wailing. You allied with me because you couldn't stand the Gods throwing their weight around. Your self is mixed within the will of the people—you are both the king who leads the masses and the puppet of the masses."

Gilgamesh spoke aloud Fujimaru Kyoya's true state at this moment—the absolute "selflessness" born from absolute "selfishness."

"If you can do it, there's no reason This King cannot."

Gilgamesh shattered Fujimaru Kyoya's phantom with a single sweep. He looked upon those wills of the people—a mere glance was enough to make one's heart tremble. Then, the Gilgamesh of old had finally returned.

"This King does not need your understanding. Wrongful deeds have already been done. In the future, This King will make amends to you. But for now, This King needs your power—so hand it over."

Gilgamesh still refused to explain. After all, the people did not need to understand the king's affairs so clearly; they only needed to feel them.

"Give your power to This King, and This King will give you a better future. In that future, there will be no inexplicable Gods demanding tribute from you, nor will there be tyrants oppressing you at will. This is This King's promise. And the guarantee of all this is—"

Gilgamesh pointed at himself.

"—the words spoken by This King himself. This is the promise of This King... Gilgamesh."

Gilgamesh's promise.

Every person Gilgamesh had ever persecuted had once been his subject. They understood this king's brutality, and they understood even more clearly this king's pride.

When he gave his word, he would carry it out even if it meant dying to do so.

"Damn arm, you get attached for This King right now."

Gilgamesh poured his will into this arm that did not belong to him. Under the effect of the Elixir, finally... it attached.

A pressure—a pressure that even the Gods feared—came forth.

With the arm attached, Gilgamesh was actually three times stronger than before. No... five times.

"So this is what you feel?"

The sudden surge of power did not make Gilgamesh arrogant. Instead, he silently felt the strength within that arm.

The existence of this arm seemed to connect him to the hearts of the myriad people. The joys and sorrows of those far away all surged within his heart.

Endless power poured forth from it. Faced with such power, how could Gilgamesh have ever been at a disadvantage in his previous battles?

Here it comes.

In an instant, a dark-faced Gilgamesh appeared before Anu. The overwhelming pressure startled Anu.

"Gilgamesh, can we reach a settlement?"

"Mongrel. You think you're worthy of a settlement with This King?"

Gilgamesh raised his hand and used Enuma Elish itself as a bludgeon, smashing it straight toward Anu's crown.

Chapter 36: As Long As We Can Reach That Place

Strong. It was power even greater than Fujimaru Kyoya's.

Though the two had expanded their lands after joining forces against the Gods, Fujimaru Kyoya was clearly not the kind of king with an aggressive drive for conquest.

Ur in its earliest days had only been a single city. His people had always been fewer than Gilgamesh's. And now, with this arm as a receiver, Gilgamesh could feel the hearts of both their peoples. Naturally, this power surpassed Fujimaru Kyoya's.

Gilgamesh wielded Enuma Elish as a club, but unfortunately, he did not possess an ability like "First Before First." Otherwise, Anu's crown would not have been spared.

Even so, Gilgamesh still sent Anu flying with a single strike.

"How does my arm suit you?"

"Hmph. It's merely a passable tool."

Gilgamesh still spoke stubbornly. After all, this arm was practically a receiver for the people's hearts. With it, Gilgamesh's strength had multiplied many times over. He now had enough power to suppress everything. But...

"Gods are hard to kill. Even you find that immortality troublesome, don't you?"

"Killing a few isn't hard. But since you've already planned this out, speak up sooner."

Even as the two spoke, Gilgamesh was still detonating his treasures from the Gate of Babylon. Though he had mentally prepared himself, watching treasure after treasure explode before his eyes still made his heart ache and his hands tremble.

"Let's cripple them first."

With Gilgamesh diverting the power of the people's hearts, Fujimaru Kyoya's strength plummeted sharply. But it was still enough for guerrilla tactics. With his harassment, the self-destructions from the Gate of Babylon, and the binding of the Chains of Heaven, most of the Gods were soon restrained. And then—

"Behold Ea."

Enuma Elish appeared in Gilgamesh's hand. With the Gate of Babylon supplying Mana at full capacity, this divine sword that predated the creation of heaven and earth began to reveal its true power.

The power of Enuma Elish unfolded completely. It was no longer a sword—it was a massive millstone.

The device was divided into upper, middle, and lower sections. As Gilgamesh poured his mana into it, the three "millstones" began to rotate in different directions, and then space... tore apart.

That was no power of the mortal world. The immense force, swirling like a nebula, tore through the Gods, and their wails rang out without end. Even Anu, even the Bull of Heaven, were heavily wounded by this single strike.

No one could have imagined Gilgamesh possessed such power.

No, he had always had this power—this was the true strength of Enuma Elish. It was only because the Gilgamesh of before lacked the strength and state of mind to drive it.

Now, with the king's heart united with the people's heart, the mana of the Gate of Babylon converged into a single point. At last, Enuma Elish revealed its world-splitting, heaven-rending might.

"Impossible... You actually... actually..."

Anu could not believe it. That Gilgamesh had fully mastered Enuma Elish. Had he known this in advance, he would surely have waited until Gilgamesh died of old age before making his move.

"Impossible? You couldn't have endured that long. Those who grasp power cannot accept it slipping away from them. Even a single second would be ten thousand years of torment for you."

Fujimaru Kyoya mocked from the side.

Now that victory was assured beneath the might of Enuma Elish, the Gods were no match. Yet the one problem remained their immortality as divine beings.

To completely annihilate them would be exhausting even for Gilgamesh with Enuma Elish. To seal them away would be too many to handle. So there was only one option...

"Come here."

A voice reached the ears of the Gods, and they felt as if they had received a pardon. It was the voice of Ereshkigal, the Goddess of the Underworld.

Yes—if they fled into the Underworld, sheltered by Ereshkigal, even Gilgamesh could neither destroy nor seal them away.

Once Gilgamesh died, they could return to the surface once more.

The gates of the Underworld opened, and the grievously wounded Gods crawled if they had to, desperate to enter and receive Ereshkigal's protection.

"Ereshkigal, truly my own daughter."