Night fell over Uruk, and with the maddening rain finally gone, the city sank into deep silence. Bodies drained and minds worn thin, its people could finally rest easy and sleep soundly.
Atop the Astrology Tower, the hastily installed Solar Calendar Stone shimmered under the starlight. It cast projections of constellations and celestial outlines across the night sky.
Golden light patterns pulsed intermittently, spreading in rhythmic ripples. The energy swept outward from the tower, pouring down like a vast, tasseled canopy—an elegant veil covering the fortress-city.
The dark clouds that had once blanketed all of Mesopotamia were now repelled by the protective radiance of the sun's light, forced to churn and gather far off, miles away from Uruk's borders.
Even the floodwaters on the ground were pushed back, diverted along the perimeter, unable to breach so much as an inch of the barrier.
To the north, the Fangs of Utnapishtim formed a natural buffer. Rain rushing down from the Cedar Forest was blocked and rerouted into drainage ditches that led toward the Tigris.
If all went well, the muddy torrents would follow the river's course and empty into the Persian Gulf.
But outside the reach of the golden light and the fangs, the floodwaters were still swelling—surging eight meters high at their peak.
At this rate, in no more than seven days, the waters roaming just beyond the city would overtop Babylonia's outer wall.
Standing atop the northern ramparts, Leonidas watched with grim concern.
This time, their enemy wasn't just Magical Beasts—nature itself had turned against them.
...
In the royal palace's Divine Tower—
"The task's done. I've made contact with the king."
Merlin wiped the sweat from his brow as the Magecraft array on the ground flared to life, glowing brighter with each passing second.
As the magical runes surged and intertwined, a familiar, irritable voice snapped through the array.
"What do you want with this king? Speak—quickly! I'm busy!"
Immediately, sharp explosions rang out from the connection—bursts of Ether detonating, wind howling, and metal grinding like blades tearing into flesh.
In the background, there were guttural howls and blood-curdling, inhuman screams.
Buzz!
A moment later, the magical connection stabilized, and the projections linked to the array became clear.
What they saw made everyone suck in a sharp breath.
Trees. Dense, tangled, and grotesquely twisted trees.
They jutted up from blackened soil, some over a hundred meters tall, the shortest still towering several dozen meters. Their limbs were warped, their roots and bark etched with vein-like lines that pulsed ominously.
From afar, they looked like malformed arms clawing their way out of the earth. The scraping of their branches created a shrill, eerie screech that made the scalp crawl.
Now, these monstrous growths completely engulfed the area around Gilgamesh—and the entirety of the Cedar Forest was overrun with them.
Worse, seen from above, these "Arms of Dawn" had already devoured two-thirds of the wasteland. It was only a matter of time before they reached all of Uruk.
No—if no one had intervened, they might've already breached the northern wall.
The group stared grimly at the shifting projections, watching blades, spears, and arrows rain like gunfire into the twisted forest below.
Unlike the lush southern rainforest ruled by the Mayan goddess, where life thrives in abundance, this cedar-covered region was a dead land—scarred by deep ravines and devoid of any living creatures.
Layer upon layer of lifeless, red-black sludge crept forward, spreading its roots like a disease. Protruding from the ground were gnarled roots tangled with the bones of beasts, while twisted branches overhead clattered together, strung with the corpses of birds.
The bark bore divine patterns, and beneath the roots surged a black tide. These grotesque trees, harder than steel, grew without end—twisting madly into shapes like arms and spears, reaching up to ensnare the two figures hovering in the sky.
Even the barrage of weapons fired like bullets into the forest only managed to slow the creeping advance of the Cedar Forest.
"Gil! Left side! It's coming out!"
The green-haired androgynous beauty spread the chains around him, slicing through hundreds of creaking black shadows. At the same time, he shouted a warning, having noticed the tremor beneath his feet.
In the next instant, the earth split open with a sickening crack, shaking the entire Cedar Forest. From the gaping abyss burst forth a monstrous creature over a hundred meters long, horned and lion-like, letting out a deafening roar.
What was horrifying was that its fur was made entirely of those bizarre trees.
Half of its body was rotting flesh that reeked of death, like festering soil. The other half was a tangled mass of roots, twisted and alive.
This creature was clearly some twisted fusion between plant and beast.
Its eyes radiated hatred—one socket hollow, squirming with writhing roots, the other blood-red, glaring with a single, demonic eye.
"If you're dead, then stay dead, mongrel!"
Gilgamesh summoned his Holy Staff, Original Sin, and, with a cold snort, swung it down. The Noble Phantasm surged with the power of the earth, causing the land beneath the Cedar Forest to rise and compress—ripping out a massive chunk of the forest floor.
But before the floating landmass could fully rise, the lion-like beast—its body torn a third apart—lashed out with twisting branches. It shattered the platform meant to isolate it from the ground.
Chunks of soil flew through the air, and the beast's roars, like screeching branches, echoed like thunder. Several black sludge torrents erupted from the ground, firing straight at the airborne Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
Both of them frowned and quickly evaded, their movements tight with caution.
"King, this isn't..."
Inside the royal palace's Divine Tower, Siduri raised a hand to her lips, her eyes wide with shock.
"Huwawa—the Cedar Beast! That damn mongrel's come back from the dead!"
Gilgamesh's face darkened. He snorted coldly before replying.
"Don't worry. Leave this to me. I'll stop the Cedar Forest's advance without drawing Apsu's attention. We just need time—for Uruk's sake."
Samael cast a grim glance at the war table, then gave a terse report about Gugalanna's attack.
"..."
"Authority control?"
"They dare?! Mongrels!"
Gilgamesh stood silent for a moment under the pounding rain, then looked up at the thick, clouded sky, his expression twisted in fury.
In the next instant, he launched into action, violently blasting apart half of the Cedar Beast's body.
But with the Cedar Forest and the Black Tide fueling it, the monster kept regenerating without pause.
ROAR!
Suddenly, the ground quaked with an eerie tremor. A deep growl echoed from the depths of the abyss, spreading through the air.
Damn it! This land is absorbing attacks—and even Ether from the air—channeling it underground to accelerate Apsu's awakening!
If not for that, I'd have already torn it apart without restraint!
With that thought, Gilgamesh turned to Samael, his gaze deadly serious.
"Kid, whatever you're doing—hurry up!"
"Judging by the magical response below, I can confirm Apsu will awaken at dawn on the seventh day!"
At that moment, hundreds of golden, diamond-shaped light cores rose from above the Arms of Dawn, firing dense volleys of Mana beams.
The violent tremor of Ether in the atmosphere caused the Divine Tower's projected image to shatter into static.
...
(50 Chapters Ahead)
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