High in the sky, Jiang Yang sat aboard the plane, watching the clouds before him as memories of the days before the apocalypse gradually resurfaced.
He, too, had once taken planes for work, traveling between cities on business.
Only, his state of mind back then had been entirely different from now.
Who could have imagined that, from the coming of the apocalypse to the present, a thousand years would have passed?
In the end, the human world had changed.
Piercing clouds and cutting through mist all the way, the plane landed at the Sumerian Shelter.
This shelter had also been built atop a high mountain. It used the most advanced light-and-shadow technology, making it virtually impossible to tell from the outside that a shelter stood here.
As soon as he stepped off the plane, he saw an exhausted-looking Mar appear before him, rushing forward to embrace him tightly.
"Brother, welcome back!"
"I'm back, Mar..."
Almost all of the former Seven Kings of the Apocalypse had become Emperor-Rank transcendents.
In that desperate, tragic apocalypse, filled with slaughter and death, anyone who could rise above hundreds of millions to become a King-Rank existence had already been a peerless prodigy.
But now, Jiang Yang found that, aside from the joy of their reunion, Mar no longer possessed his former soaring fighting spirit.
"He defeated me, and he didn't even use his full strength. As a heavenly god, that's a truly humiliating fact."
Inside the room, Mar poured strong liquor down his throat.
Gilgamesh truly was powerful. Across the apocalyptic earth, it was not only humans who had mutated and awakened as transcendents; among the plants and animals, some had also mutated into powerful, intelligent beings.
And in the region around the Sumerian Shelter, there had been an extremely powerful mutated wild bull that had even developed considerable intelligence.
This wild bull bore no hostility toward the old humans. Mar had fought this powerful bull before, and neither had gained the upper hand.
Later, as Mar extended his goodwill, the bull had grown close to humans. To the new humans outside, they called him the Bull of Heaven.
But Gilgamesh had slain this bull, refining his horns into Ea and cooking his flesh to distribute among his subjects. Mar, meanwhile, could only watch helplessly, unable to stop him.
The awakened of the Sumerian Shelter considered themselves the guardians and nurturers of these new humans.
Following the strategy left behind by their departed elders, they called themselves "gods" to rule over the new humans.
In theory, such a formidable individual should never have emerged among the newly born new humans, but the unexpected had still happened.
Gilgamesh's power had left all the gods at their wits' end. Never mind ruling the earth and shepherding the new humans-the gods of the Sumerian Shelter could barely protect themselves.
"Jiang Yang, you're powerful, and with Gungnir in your hands, I no longer have to worry about Gilgamesh."
After their conversation, Mar had gained some understanding of Jiang Yang's circumstances and was filled with emotion.
Just as they were catching up, someone suddenly came to report.
"Chief, Gilgamesh has sent Enkidu again, demanding that our Divine Clan submit to his rule! If we still refuse, he'll come attack us himself."
This was an A-rank awakened who had just returned from outside, speaking now with barely suppressed anger.
"How arrogant! Do we really have no way to deal with him?"
After hearing him out, Mar glanced at Jiang Yang and smiled.
"Little Kyle, perhaps we didn't before, but things are different now. With Jiang Yang here, and with Gungnir, we no longer fear Gilgamesh."
"So you're Lord Flame King, the King of Salvation!"
This awakened seemed to admire Jiang Yang immensely, wearing the expression of someone who had just met his idol.
He was one of the rare children in the Sumerian Shelter born after that final apocalyptic battle, and he had grown up listening to stories about Jiang Yang.
Jiang Yang nodded modestly. Being admired felt rather good.
"Come on, let's go out together and meet this Enkidu."
Mar nodded, having Kyle lead the way as he spoke to Jiang Yang while they walked.
"This fellow is Gilgamesh's closest friend, and his strength is extraordinary too—a King-Rank existence. Before Gilgamesh became Emperor-Rank, he was only slightly inferior to him."
"Another prodigy, then. But didn't you say before that the chance of a new human awakening was only one in a hundred thousand? How have so many geniuses still emerged?"
"Ah, who knows? Perhaps we really are the embers of civilization, and they're the newborn darlings of Earth."
The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart. Jiang Yang felt that Mar might actually have stumbled upon the truth.
They passed steel walls and corridors filled with a science-fiction feel, left the shelter, and crossed the concealing curtain of light and shadow to reach the outside.
There, above the mountain opposite them, they saw a handsome young man standing in the air, his long green hair a rarity among the new humans.
A hazy green vitality seemed to suffuse his surroundings. He was a King-Rank Awakened, yet he faced them without the slightest fear.
The moment he saw Enkidu, Mar flared with fury and rebuked him loudly.
"Enkidu, I've told you, the Sumer gods will never submit to Gilgamesh. Have you forgotten who protected you when you were weak, taught you to herd and farm, and gave you food?"
With a composed smile on his face, Enkidu spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"Honored God King Mar, I know all of this, and mortals are all grateful to the gods. But my king is different. He possesses the noble blood of gods and humans. He was born the king of kings, and gods and humans alike should live under his rule."
"Fucking brain-dead fanboy!"
Mar muttered the curse, utterly helpless.
Hearing this, Jiang Yang laughed inwardly.
He took a step forward, his confident, invincible bearing overwhelming the colorful clouds on the horizon as a faint expanse of crimson seethed between heaven and earth!
It was the flames singing the praises of their king!
"I'd like to meet this king of kings and weigh his mettle as a ruler. Enkidu, take me to him."
Enkidu had been watching this newly appeared deity all along. Now, as Jiang Yang stepped forward, his radiant, majestic presence seemed to bend the firmament like a bow.
He was awestruck. He had never seen such a glorious, boundless god. He only felt that this deity's bearing seemed on par with his king's!
That was hardly surprising. Though Jiang Yang's rise had likewise been carved through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, he had never been defeated, sweeping all before him undefeated.
One could even say that he had slain Nidhogg with an unflinching resolve to sacrifice himself!
The former Seven Kings had all suffered numerous defeats. Only Jiang Yang had remained undefeated throughout his life!
"May I ask your divine name? I don't believe I've ever seen you before."
Respect had crept into Enkidu's voice without his realizing it.
"This is the Sun God of our Sumerian Divine Court, newly awakened from his slumber!"
Mar raised his brows and spoke with a face full of pride.
Naturally, he knew Jiang Yang's strength. He had sparred with Jiang Yang before, but had never won even once. He had more confidence in Jiang Yang's strength than in his own.
Besides, this was a war between gods and humans, so it was perfectly normal to give Jiang Yang a divine office in the Sumer pantheon.
As for the title of Sun God, that was naturally because Ra had already taken the title of Fire God.
"Then, honored Sun God, please follow me. I shall lead you to the holy city of the mortal world, Uruk, under my king's rule!"
Enkidu placed a hand over his chest and bowed, speaking respectfully.
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