Ishtar left the room in a state of shock.
She truly had not expected this—
Even when faced with such direct and decisive force from the gods, neither Gilgamesh nor Rovi, nor even that Divine Construct Golem, showed the slightest fear.
Weren't they afraid?
Though they had always behaved with extreme recklessness before this, things were different now.
The two greatest "beasts" of the Mesopotamian Plain—the divine beast Bull of Heaven and the demonic beast Humbaba—were the strongest interference the gods could impose upon the human realm at the Present Moment.
As an incarnation descended through the vessel of the mistress of heaven, even Ishtar Rin found it terrifying just to think about.
"I hope they can hold out..." Outside, beneath the sunlight spilling over Uruk's streets, the goddess paused, then turned her eyes back toward the building.
Her bare feet swayed slightly, and the graceful body wrapped in a crimson long coat seemed distinctly uneasy.
For some reason, she hoped Gilgamesh and the others would win.
Perhaps it was because of Rovi's "difference."
Or perhaps... she had been influenced by "Rin Tohsaka," and did not wish to see the human world reduced to scorched earth and littered with corpses.
"I should still let that Goddess of the Underworld know..."
With that thought in mind, Ishtar Rin left Uruk completely.
But inside the room,
after she departed, an age-old silence fell instead.
No one spoke—as though they were worried. At least, that was how it appeared on the surface.
But in truth, what Rovi was considering was...
how to die a glorious death.
Challenge the Bull of Heaven or Humbaba alone?
Or... completely transform himself into the "Key of Heaven," achieving another kind of demise?
What is Rovi thinking? Enkidu blinked. Seeing that Rovi did not speak, she did not know what to say either.
Yet... her slender, fair hand quietly reached out and clasped Rovi's palm.
Rovi came back to his senses. Feeling the soft delicacy of her fingers against his, he turned his gaze and saw that exquisite face already very close to his. Her brows and eyes were like a painting, her red lips slightly parted, and her emerald gaze reflected countless stars.
Enkidu?
What was she trying to do?
The young "aide" had not quite reacted yet.
His instinctively lowered gaze slipped past her cloud-white robe, faintly catching sight of the fair, rounded curves beneath. Her waist was slender, the curve of her hips winding downward and lifting slightly, her long legs slowly drawing together at Rovi's side, ending in a deep shadow between them.
It was almost shockingly beautiful.
Yet it also carried a strangely reassuring aura.
"Rovi, it's all right. Don't worry... we will win." Enkidu held Rovi's hand in both of hers and looked directly at him. "No matter what happens... I will stand with you."
"Because we are friends, aren't we?"
I've never seen friends like this... Rovi glanced sideways, stealing a look at the softness only inches away from him.
The innocent Enkidu naturally had no such thoughts, nor did she understand any of this.
But clearly,
she had mistaken Rovi for being genuinely worried about the gods' methods.
"Ha ha ha ha, that's right!" Gilgamesh laughed again. It had to be said that his laughter possessed a kind of Demonic Nature—either it irritated people or put them at ease.
Seated in his chair with his arms folded across his chest, his crimson eyes beneath his hanging golden hair gleamed with astonishing sharpness.
"As the honor of having once fought alongside this king, I grant you the right to stand alongside me and become this king's friends!" he declared. "Then from this moment onward, this king naturally will not allow anyone to harm his friends!"
"Siduri!"
He suddenly shouted.
"Yes, my king!" A crisp reply came from outside at once. The young female aide entered at a measured pace, dressed in a long skirt with a light veil covering her face.
After resting for an entire day, Siduri clearly looked far more energetic than before.
"Tell them what preparations this king has made!" Gilgamesh waved his hand.
"Yes!" Siduri faithfully carried out her duties as an aide. Though from Rovi's perspective, she seemed more like Gilgamesh's mother, handling everything for him.
"Following the king's orders, I have dispatched scouts to the east and west."
As Siduri spoke, she looked toward Gilgamesh before continuing, "According to the guidance of the king's wisdom, should the Bull of Heaven and Humbaba appear, they will certainly emerge in those two places."
"To the east lies the land of sunrise, the beginning heralded by sacred signs. To the west lies the place of sunset, the boundary approaching death."
"As the strongest divine beast and the strongest demonic beast, both the Bull of Heaven and Humbaba need to absorb atmospheric ether in the most suitable location to shape a physical vessel capable of bearing their activity. The east and west are precisely the most suitable places."
"The moment either appears, the scouts will report back immediately!"
"At the same time—"
"At the same time," Gilgamesh took over, "this king has sent people to the Priest Temple, ordering those priests to proclaim this king's decree to their gods: this king is considering their counsel."
"Those rotten fools will certainly believe it and briefly ease the power sustaining the material bodies manifested by the Bull of Heaven and Humbaba."
"That will give us more time to prepare, correct?" Rovi said nothing. Instead, Enkidu followed Gilgamesh's train of thought.
"Correct. As expected of a friend acknowledged by this king!" Gilgamesh said. He looked at Rovi, saw that he was silent and seemed to be thinking, and paid it no mind as he continued. "The Bull of Heaven and Humbaba are beasts of equal standing, but in terms of difficulty, Humbaba—wild and untamable, imprisoned by the gods in the snowbound forest in the darkest reaches of heaven—far surpasses the Bull of Heaven."
"So this king's plan is—deal with the Bull of Heaven first, then target Humbaba. Easy before difficult!"
"Though this king hates to admit it, against those two beasts, even one as radiant and great as this king, along with you who are qualified to share in this king's brilliance, would find them difficult to handle. Thus, this king is also considering winning over and dividing the gods to gain aid!"
"Those rotten fools have never been truly united!"
For example, the Sun God, Gilgamesh's grandfather Shamash, stood opposed to Anu, the heavenly god who currently ruled the heavens.
And then there was Gilgamesh's mother in this life, the All-knowing Goddess.
Gilgamesh's strategic thinking was very clear, without the slightest error in its overall direction.
Was this what one should expect from a king who ruled a nation?
As long as he did not indulge in childish fantasies, he was still quite dependable.
However, Rovi's thoughts drifted elsewhere along with Gilgamesh's words.
According to Gilgamesh, they still had time.
According to the young King of Uruk, after making sufficient preparations, dealing with the two great beasts did not seem impossible.
However, that was not what Rovi wanted.
After several previous failures, Rovi had now deeply understood one fact.
To die spectacularly, he first had to do something spectacular!
After all, having received the protection of the Goddess of the Underworld, he was not directly immortal. Rather, he was no longer affected by the Underworld. In this land, ordinary methods of courting death might no longer work.
So at that moment, what he thought of was no longer defeating the Bull of Heaven and Humbaba.
Instead... he wanted to completely deal with the gods above, who fancied themselves in control of everything.
That had been impossible before.
With only the three of them, it would have been difficult to achieve.
But if they could gather the power of the entire present-day Mesopotamian Plain, unite all the forces of this ancient civilization... then with the three of them, plus the support of Ereshkigal, the Underworld Goddess, it might be worth attempting.
It was not impossible.
The humans of ancient civilization would unite in the face of a crisis capable of destroying everything.
The Bull of Heaven and Humbaba could serve precisely in that role.
By taking advantage of the situation,
he could turn the crisis into assistance!
Yes.
At this very moment, what Rovi intended was once again to use the Key of Heaven he possessed as a gate, Heaven's Lock as a rope, Heaven's Chain as a path, and the Underworld Human Realm as power...
to accomplish what had remained unfinished before.
To truly shake Heaven's Might.
And drag the gods down into the dust.
Before you continue