Ultimately, although Rovi did not loathe the gods in the heavens as Gilgamesh did,
His disrespect for the gods was a fact.
As someone who had crossed over from a modern world in another dimension, Rovi found it difficult to believe in these so-called gods.
He had become a priest of the gods only to get closer to Gilgamesh.
He had accepted the Key of Heaven only so he could resist the suppression of his surroundings and seize every chance to seek death. To some extent, it was precisely because he did not trust the gods that Rovi had accepted the Key of Heaven.
He wished they had some scheme ready to use against him.
But that never meant Rovi could accept them looking down from on high and deciding his future for him.
What made mortals precious was the self.
And what made the self precious was freedom.
Within the Monster Forest west of Uruk, this lush land had already been thrown into immense turmoil by the battle between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. At this moment, it became filled with a scene both awe-inspiring and terrifying.
Enkidu, fully revealing her power, no longer took the form of divine weapons forged from endless mud. Her entire body vanished from where she stood, replaced by a silver-white chain that rose from the earth and shot toward the clouds.
Dazzling golden light shimmered as the Treasury of Babylon rippled layer upon layer, enveloping the chain.
The power of Gilgamesh, the 'Keystone of Heaven,' formed a passage connecting above and below.
And Rovi—
Held both the Keystone of Heaven and the Lock of Heaven.
His body hung in the center. He looked upward, gazing toward the faintly emerging eyes of the gods high above the heavens.
From afar, it looked like a magnificent flower blooming at the lowest level.
The enormous chain was the flower's stem.
The rippling gates were its leaves.
The suspended 'key' was its heart.
Gorgeous and magnificent.
'What is he doing?'
'What are they trying to do?'
'Using the Keystone of Heaven as a path, the Lock of Heaven as a guide, and the Key of Heaven as a gate...'
'They want to shake the heavens!?'
Insolence!
Boom—
The gods' furious rebukes erupted alongside thunder that tore through heaven and earth.
They had finally realized what Rovi and the others intended to do, and what followed was naturally fury.
The wrath of gods offended by mortals manifested.
Gods were manifestations of nature itself. In their rage, heaven and earth underwent drastic change.
Yet neither thunder nor wind nor rain could stop Rovi.
He extended the Lock of Heaven upward.
"Hahaha... You rotten fools!" At the side, upon his throne, Gilgamesh laughed even more merrily. "You worthless mongrels who only know how to hide behind layer upon layer of curtains and fume! I am right here—come down and fight me to decide victory or defeat!"
The gods: "..."
This guy was so punchable. They really wanted to hit him... but they could not go down. What were they supposed to do?
Deal with it cold!
Rovi glanced at the wildly laughing Golden Flash and could not help laughing as well.
Unrestrained and utterly free.
That was exactly the feeling he wanted!
Boom, boom, boom... The thunder swept down ever more rapidly, revealing the gods' growing fury.
At that very moment, Rovi fiercely gripped the 'Lock of Heaven' Enkidu had become, and then... suddenly thrust upward!
Bang— The thunder shattered like fireworks, while wind and clouds were swept aside like dust.
Rovi wielded it like a spear, piercing the vault of heaven.
He stabbed toward the gods' 'eyes'!
'Damn it, damn it, damn it—'
'How dare they? How dare this man...'
'The last remaining eyes of us gods in the mortal world must never be destroyed!'
At that moment,
The gods were afraid.
Unable to descend into the present world in their true forms any longer, if even their 'eyes' were blinded, they would not even be able to observe the present world, much less interfere with it.
Not every god could descend through possession.
Vessels suitable for divine possession were ultimately few and far between.
So they could not possibly be unafraid.
The sky swayed violently beneath the chain's motion. Not only the Monster Forest, but even the earth beneath their feet and the sky above their heads began to tremble!
The boundaries between the three realms of heaven, earth, and mankind began to waver under the combined force of the Key of Heaven, the Keystone of Heaven, and the Lock of Heaven!
'Leave first...'
'They still cannot move the heavenly realm where our true existences reside!'
'Leave, leave—'
The gods finally made their decision. The 'eyes' in the firmament rapidly vanished as they retreated.
Rovi was not surprised.
He had never intended to truly drag the heavens down and make the gods fall into the dust. At most, he wanted to make the heavens shake a few times.
The Keystone of Heaven, the Key of Heaven, and the Lock of Heaven did indeed possess immense power, but the three of them had yet to bring it to its fullest extent.
But this was also a perfect chance to demonstrate Rovi's resolve—and, more importantly, to provoke the gods into hating him!
From this day onward,
The gods would place their primary conflict upon him.
Once a Divine Attendant,
Yet now he had turned against them.
The gods would inevitably hate him to the bone.
Naturally, Rovi would become the one most targeted by the gods.
This should probably change Enkidu and Gilgamesh's fate, right?
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu had ultimately withered and died because of the gods' curse.
Rovi hoped they would do the same to him.
I hope the gods step it up—
But Rovi did not notice—or rather, did not care—
That amid this violent shaking, it was never only the mortal world and the heavens that were affected.
There was also the realm below.
The Netherworld—
"There is a sound... from aboveground? How long has it been..."
A pitch-black, frigid wilderness was steeped in endless cold. Desolate and devoid of the slightest trace of life, it held only several clusters of ghostly blue flame drifting and swaying through the air.
A shadow opened eyes as splendid as red gemstones. Her loose golden hair scattered in every direction as it swayed.
How long had it been since she heard a sound?
A long, long time... ever since the soil belonging to the gods had completely vanished from the present world.
The Underworld Goddess raised her head.
She saw a sliver of light, a crack appearing in the previously airtight vault of the underworld, upon the 'road' leading to the mortal world.
'Is this... not a dream?'
In a soft murmur, the goddess shed tears of emotion, like one who had seen daylight again after endless solitude.
This was the deepest part of the Netherworld.
And above it, on a level close to the mortal world,
Someone else stood upright, leaning on a sword.
"The vast heavens and earth tremble because of them, and a territory spanning ten thousand miles shakes without end. The gods rage at their contempt for Divine Authority, are alarmed by their reckless deeds, and yet can do nothing."
"Because this land no longer belongs to them."
"Because the age that belonged to them has long since passed."
"The gods retreat, and Divine Authority wavers."
"The Primordial Trio—"
"Heroes who shook the pantheon."
"To think that this old body, having endured such long years, could still see you..."
"This old man, Ziusudra, is truly honored beyond measure."
Ziusudra was an ancient Mesopotamian immortal, a man who dwelled in the Netherworld.
And that was her—
Crack.
She pulled the heavy sword from the ground. Bathed in ghostly blue firelight, she strode forward, her heavy armor clanking and scraping as she walked toward the light, toward the mortal world.
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