Chapter Summaries

Samael confirmed that Apsu’s Divine Foundation lay beneath a well in the Temple of Ea and helped Tiamat destroy his manifested body. With Tiamat towing the three Noah’s Arks toward the temple, the survivors prepared to strike at Apsu’s source.

• Samael identified the well beneath the Temple of Ea as the likely location of Apsu’s Divine Foundation and provoked Apsu by revealing the discovery.
• Tiamat countered Apsu’s beam with her Dark Star Pupils while Samael fed her the Holy Grail, empowering her to pierce and destroy Apsu’s body.
• Samael and Tiamat decided to reach the Temple of Ea while Apsu reformed and destroy his Divine Foundation.
• Tiamat offered to tow the three Noah’s Arks, and Enkidu transformed into the Chains of Heaven to link them together.
• Tiamat carried the Arks swiftly through the floodwaters as the exhausted survivors slept, while Samael prepared for the final battle.

After the survivors escaped, Samael checked on the ship and returned Gilgamesh’s Royal Seal. Gilgamesh revealed why he had sent Samael to the underworld, and Samael ended the chapter questioning whether the Royal Seal’s authority could oppose Destiny.

• Quetzalcoatl beat Miss Leopard Person until she vomited up the Solar Calendar Stone and came back to her senses.
• Samael found Anna helping Siduri care for the survivors while Ishtar and Ereshkigal remained shaken by their encounter with Mother Goddess Tiamat.
• Samael returned the Royal Seal to Gilgamesh and refused his offer to make him Uruk’s new king.
• Gilgamesh said Samael’s choices fell outside Destiny’s calculations and explained that Samael owed him two lives.
• Samael realized Gilgamesh had sent him to the underworld to hide him from divine detection, and Gilgamesh laughed off Samael’s resentment.
• Samael asked whether the Royal Seal could truly place royal authority above Destiny and wondered what awaited him in Eridu.

Samael and the goddesses destroyed Apsu, but his blood and primordial divinity had concealed a trap that ensnared Tiamat. A golden giant descended from the cosmos as Samael lay pinned beneath its crushing pressure.

• Tiamat unleashed Anti-Genesis, which devastated the world and exposed the red-black mist containing Apsu's divinity.
• Ereshkigal raised the abyss and its mist into Tiamat's barrier, and Ishtar shattered Apsu's draconic form with Sky Ark Ma'anna.
• Tiamat used the Sea of Life to assimilate Apsu's divinity and give him a new life-form, but a distant Magic Beam severed him and split his heart.
• Tiamat cried out a warning, and Samael rushed toward her before a cosmic force slammed him into the ground.
• Golden threads made from Apsu's blood and primordial divinity tightened around Tiamat, as a golden giant bearing a clay tablet and battle-axe descended from the stars.

Marduk appeared before the survivors, offered humanity forgiveness if they abandoned Tiamat, and threatened those who defied him. Gilgamesh and their allies attacked, but Marduk used the Fate Tablet to overpower them and strip Ishtar and Ereshkigal of their divine power, leaving Anna to unleash her rage.

• Marduk restored the Temple of Ea and promised humanity a new paradise if they renounced Tiamat, whom he called a Beast of Calamity.
• Gilgamesh rejected Marduk's judgment, attacked him, and used his blood and the Royal Seal to begin freeing Tiamat from the golden threads.
• Enkidu, Leonidas, Ereshkigal, Ishtar, Anna, Quetzalcoatl, and Merlin joined the assault, but Marduk dispelled Merlin's illusions and turned the Chains of Heaven into ordinary iron.
• Marduk erased Ishtar's and Ereshkigal's Divine Names with the Fate Tablet, shattering their divine cores and severing their connection to their divine selves.
• Anna recognized Marduk as the mastermind behind the Third Storm and the Triple Goddess Alliance, then transformed into Gorgon's savage form and attacked him with purple-red beams.

Marduk used the Fate Tablet to overwhelm Anna and the Spartans, but Quetzalcoatl intervened and attacked him. She was caught by his Threads of Fate, and the Jaguar Warrior was trapped as well.

• Marduk repelled Anna’s Petrifying Eyes with divine script, causing the backlash to injure her.
• Leonidas defended Anna and rallied the Spartans, who answered Marduk’s taunts and charged to protect her.
• Marduk’s lightning killed the Spartans one by one until Leonidas was left standing.
• Quetzalcoatl knocked aside Marduk’s axe and rushed him, dodging his Flames of Destiny to reach him.
• Marduk froze Quetzalcoatl with Threads of Fate, then trapped the Jaguar Warrior when she tried to help.

Marduk used the Fate Tablet to overwhelm the rebels and suppress even Tiamat’s powers. The fighters were left defeated, while Samael sacrificed half his body to divert Marduk’s Axe from Mother Goddess Tiamat.

• Quetzalcoatl discovered that Marduk’s power of fate had limits, but Marduk bound her and the other fighters in threads of destiny.
• Gilgamesh used the Royal Seal to shield Quetzalcoatl and the leopard woman, then tried and failed to strip Marduk of his divine rank before the Seal shattered.
• Marduk used the Fate Tablet’s Genesis authority to dry up Tiamat’s Sea of Life and suppress her Anti-Genesis power.
• Marduk hurled his Axe at Tiamat, but Samael intercepted it and was severed in half as he crawled toward her.
• Marduk’s opponents, including the goddesses, Heroic Spirits, and magical beasts, lay defeated and unable to break free.

With the gods and Heroic Spirits fallen, General Tim rallied humanity to fight Marduk, and Ziusudra struck the god down as he prepared to unleash a storm. Marduk’s left hand then erupted in pain as he tried to summon the Flame of Destiny.

• Marduk suppressed Tiamat with the Fate Tablet and declared that fate had ordained her death.
• General Tim rallied Uruk’s people to stand against the gods, and soldiers and civilians charged Marduk with spears and stones.
• Shamhat urged the survivors to fight back, while Gilgamesh mocked Marduk and said he had taught humanity to resist.
• As Marduk prepared to unleash a deadly storm, Ziusudra sprang from the crowd and severed his right arm before stabbing toward his brow.
• Marduk raised the Fate Tablet and tried to call the Flame of Destiny, but pain shot through his left hand.

Samael and his allies destroyed the Fate Tablet and exposed Marduk as Apsu, who had manipulated fate to make humanity destroy Tiamat. Marduk remained defiant, and the revelation left the gathered gods and warriors stunned.

• Marduk’s flames failed as the black serpent bit him and ate a piece of the Fate Tablet, cracking it and breaking off its lower-right corner.
• Samael mocked Marduk’s curses and offered to eat the remaining piece while Gilgamesh celebrated the tablet’s destruction.
• Marduk realized the serpent had used a disguise and the chaos around Tiamat to reach the tablet, then accused Ziusudra of betraying him.
• Ziusudra rejected Marduk’s claim of mercy and condemned the gods for unleashing disasters and imposing fate on the world.
• Samael confronted Marduk with evidence and declared that he was Apsu, whose original plan had been to make humanity kill Tiamat and reclaim the Fate Tablet.

Samael exposed Marduk’s scheme to use Apsu, the Three Goddesses, and humanity’s destruction to seize control of Mesopotamia. The others realized Apsu’s death had been a deliberate trap and that the Holy Grail was likely hidden inside Marduk, who was still preparing to suppress Tiamat.

• Samael explained how the gods planned to exploit Tiamat’s arrival, betrayals, and humanity’s extinction to restore their own power.
• Samael accused Marduk of weakening resistance, testing Uruk, and using Apsu to curse Tiamat before confronting her.
• Marduk insisted he would still win and claimed he could kill Tiamat again.
• Samael challenged Marduk’s actions as proof that he feared Tiamat and relied on elaborate preparations.
• Merlin realized Apsu had deliberately taken Tiamat’s blow and that the Holy Grail was probably inside Marduk, enabling his near-complete descent.

Samael exposed Marduk’s fear and revealed his plan to absorb the gods of Mesopotamia, while the rebels’ sacrifices damaged the Fate Tablet and weakened his control over destiny. Marduk halted his attempt to reignite the divine war when Samael pointed out that a tsunami was approaching.

• Samael taunted Marduk for relying on the Fate Tablet and exploiting weakened opponents, while the defiant survivors refused to surrender.
• Samael explained that he had tested Marduk’s strength by taking the axe strike, and Ziusudra joined him in a surprise attack that damaged one-third of the Fate Tablet.
• Samael declared that humanity could forge its own destiny, and Marduk threatened to summon the gods and restart the divine war.
• Samael revealed that Marduk had assimilated Anu, Ea, and Enlil, seeking to absorb all things into a supreme origin; Marduk’s ritual stopped as the others grasped his ambition.
• Samael pointed out that a tsunami was approaching, and Marduk turned toward the advancing wall of water in shock.

Samael and Mother Goddess Tiamat defeated Marduk by exploiting the saltwater divinity he had overlooked, but the destruction of his Holy Grail and Fate Tablet fragments began tearing the world apart. As the survivors watched the world approach its end, divine light transformed Tiamat into a humanoid goddess.

• Mother Goddess Tiamat summoned a tsunami that washed away the freshwater curse on her body and spared the human survivors caught outside Noah's Ark.
• Samael called out to Tiamat, who fired her Aether Torrent at Marduk as he attacked with his hand axe and half the Fate Tablet.
• Marduk's weapons shattered, and Tiamat's blast pierced him; he recognized the saltwater divinity hidden in a bite mark before his body exploded.
• The survivors, Heroic Spirits, and goddesses celebrated their victory, while Samael reflected on how he had stalled Marduk until Tiamat could remove the curse.
• The sky and earth began disintegrating as the Great Hollow expanded, and divine light gathered around Tiamat, shrinking her dragon body into a humanoid goddess.
• Samael and the others watched in shock as Tiamat transformed and warned that the world was ending and the divine war was coming.

As heaven and earth began returning to chaos and Tiamat’s war with Apsu loomed, Mother Goddess Tiamat chose to surrender her divinity and exile herself to save the world. Humanity mourned her farewell as her power renewed creation, and Samael held the Holy Grail, still loving the mother they no longer needed to guide them.

• Mother Goddess Tiamat explained that the Divine Foundation would withdraw, the world would collapse, and her war with Apsu would begin.
• Tiamat revealed that she could save the world by abandoning her divinity and exiling herself, and Samael desperately begged her to find another way.
• Gilgamesh rallied Uruk’s survivors, who pledged to face the world’s end and offer their lives in return for Tiamat’s love.
• Tiamat comforted the people, said goodbye, and sacrificed her Origin Divinity, reason, and emotions as the heavens and earth renewed and the floodwaters receded.
• Tiamat ascended into the Sea of Imaginary Numbers, while humanity, the Heroic Spirits, goddesses, and kings tearfully sent her off.
• Samael held the warm Holy Grail and said that humanity no longer needed the gods’ guidance but still loved Tiamat.

After Uruk’s survivors celebrated, Ishtar discovered that the feast’s beef came from her Bull of Heaven and ate three bowls despite her heartbreak. Samael later tried to give her a miniature beast, but when she rejected him, he said he would let Ereshkigal raise it instead.

• Uruk’s survivors and its defenders celebrated together at a feast in the embassy, where Gilgamesh and Leonidas argued drunkenly about kingship and philosophy.
• Kukulkan served beef stew made from the Bull of Heaven, and Ishtar learned that the bull’s meat had been shared with the people of Uruk.
• Ishtar complained that her companions had eaten her bull, but she joined their scramble for the stew and ate three bowls through tears.
• Ishtar went to the city wall to cool off, where Samael teased her and offered her a miniature beast.
• Ishtar rejected Samael and told him to go away, so he claimed he would let Ereshkigal raise the beast instead.

Ishtar thanked Samael for restoring Gugalanna and learned she could remain in Mesopotamia rather than return to the Divine Realm. Days later, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, Merlin, and Leonidas began departing Uruk, while Anna remained.

• Samael gave Ishtar a miniature beast containing Gugalanna's core, and she thanked him for bringing her pet back in a new form.
• Ishtar admitted she could not return, and Samael urged her to stay in Mesopotamia, where the people welcomed her and Ereshkigal as their protectors.
• Samael asked Ishtar to lend him something and took the Golden Holy Grail from his robes.
• Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca declined to stay in Uruk, and Quetzalcoatl kissed Samael goodbye before leaving with Miss Leopard Person.
• Merlin used his final Flower Magecraft to depart as petals, and Leonidas began fading away while Uruk's soldiers honored him with a Spartan salute.

Anna departed after Samael promised he would come for her, and Samael later joined the others in the Netherworld after Ereshkigal discovered that flowers had begun to grow there. Ishtar proposed separating the underworld into layers to protect the new life, leaving Ereshkigal hopeful that her realm could bloom.

• Samael comforted Anna, promised to come for her, and watched her disappear in golden light as Ziusudra reflected that returning to her origin might avert tragedy.
• At the embassy, Samael examined the purple scale Anna had left him while considering the flourishing city and the changes brought by the war.
• Ereshkigal summoned Samael and the others to the Netherworld to show them flower seeds that had sprouted in its valley.
• Enkidu explained that the Mother Goddess's power had brought life to part of the Netherworld, but death would eventually wear it away.
• Ishtar suggested dividing the Netherworld into layers with barriers, and the others praised her idea as a way to preserve its new life.
• Gilgamesh mocked Ishtar even as he acknowledged her talent, prompting her to demand an explanation.

Ereshkigal and Ishtar completed the rebuilding of the Underworld, and Samael proposed opening its lowest level, Paradise Lost, as a home for the worthy. The group began planning their retirements and Uruk’s succession, while Ishtar claimed the role of Paradise Lost’s administrator and took the title Queen of the Cosmos.

• Ereshkigal and Ishtar divided the rebuilt Underworld into upper, middle, and lower sections, and the group named them Purgatory, Hell, and Paradise Lost.
• Shamhat, Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and Siduri expressed interest in living in Paradise Lost, while Gilgamesh said he intended to leave the throne of Uruk.
• Samael proposed that Gilgamesh, Shamhat, and Enkidu train a new king chosen through a public process, and Siduri said she would resign once Uruk was stable.
• Ereshkigal welcomed the others to Paradise Lost, and Samael suggested it admit the deserving, whether living or dead.
• Ishtar volunteered to administer Paradise Lost and named herself the Star of the Morning, Queen of the Cosmos.
• Samael privately wondered whether the names Purgatory, Hell, and Paradise Lost, along with Ishtar’s Morning Star title, were a strange coincidence.

Samael learned that Ziusudra had been possessed by Hassan-i Sabbah, the Grand Assassin, who left him a warning about destruction and creation. The warning prompted Samael to plan ways to strengthen the Underworld and prepare for future threats, before he and Ereshkigal ended the night in awkward intimacy.

• Samael met Ziusudra, who revealed that his mission was complete and that Hassan-i Sabbah had possessed him.
• Hassan-i Sabbah appeared and warned Samael that creation required destruction and life required death, saying, "Heaven in one thought, hell in another!"
• Samael told Ereshkigal that they should improve Purgatory, Hell, and Lost Paradise, putting Gilgamesh, Shamhat, Enkidu, Siduri, and Ishtar to work.
• Samael explained that Marduk remained alive and the Mother Goddess had exiled herself, so they needed defenses and an escape plan; Ereshkigal promised her support.
• Samael and Ereshkigal went to bed and began an awkwardly intimate conversation, ending when Ereshkigal pointed out his other hand.

Samael and Ereshkigal grew close during the night, but Ishtar interrupted them after sensing their shared feelings. The sisters fought over Samael, who proposed sleeping between them before they both let go and sent him crashing to the floor.

• Samael cuddled close to Ereshkigal, who blushed and let him stay beside her.
• Ishtar felt a strange heat and a call through her connection with Ereshkigal, then entered the main hall and found them together.
• Ishtar criticized Ereshkigal and tried to take Samael away, but Ereshkigal grabbed him from the other side.
• The sisters argued over whether Samael belonged to Ereshkigal or Ishtar and nearly tore him apart between them.
• Samael suggested sleeping between the sisters, and when they both released him, he fell hard onto the floor.

Samael tried to secretly leave for the surface and travel overseas to recruit sages, but Ishtar and Ereshkigal confronted him and revealed that they had come to say goodbye. He explained that he needed to find a way to help the Mother Goddess return, and left his companions facing the danger of his departure.

• Samael tried to slip past Ishtar and Ereshkigal with travel supplies, claiming he was going to help Siduri and assess a new Sumerian king.
• Samael admitted that Shamhat and Gilgamesh had asked him to travel overseas and invite long-lived sages to aid Mesopotamia’s recovery.
• Ishtar and Ereshkigal revealed they had learned of Samael’s plan from Siduri and Gilgamesh, and that Shamhat had predicted his escape route.
• Samael prepared to be bound, but Ishtar and Ereshkigal told him they only wanted to see him off and hear him say goodbye.
• Samael explained that Mesopotamia’s world could no longer sustain the Age of Gods, and that he planned to seek a more malleable World Bubble where the Mother Goddess might return.

Samael left Ishtar and Ereshkigal with treasures that would let him contact them, then traveled to the Temple of Blood in Fir Forest. He reached the giant egg containing the Mother Goddess and prepared to take her away.

• Ishtar gave Samael her ruby necklace, and Ereshkigal gave him the Soul Cage so he could contact them later.
• After Samael vanished into the fog, Ishtar teased Ereshkigal about competing for him until Ereshkigal buried her in the earth.
• Several days later, Samael entered the ruined Temple of Blood in Fir Forest and followed Anna's purple snake scale to its core.
• Samael found the Mother Goddess taking shape inside a giant purple-red egg and used the Holy Grail's radiance to awaken her.
• Samael patted the egg and told the Mother Goddess it was time for them to set out.