At dawn, the solar calendar stone shimmered with flowing light. High above the dome, a projection of simulated celestial bodies gradually formed, dispelling the final traces of night.
Inside the embassy, the table was strewn with messy cups and dishes. The Jaguar Warrior pulled her head out of the floor, stuck out her plump rear, curled up like an earthworm, and slept soundly.
Siduri, who needed to arrange the transport of supplies, had already left early.
At the steps, Quetzalcoatl gently swirled her wine bowl, gazing elegantly at the scenery inside and outside the dome.
On her lap, the little loli Ana lay with her cheeks flushed red, smiling softly in her sleep, seemingly lost in a sweet dream.
Meanwhile, the criminal who had lured the girl into drinking—Merlin—was now strung up from the rafters, bound and left to dry by Ana's summoned black chains.
At that moment, on the second floor...
The Shepherd King and the Goddess of the Underworld sat side by side.
As sunlight spilled across the goddess's shoulders, the calm gold of her flowing hair gradually shifted into a lively black.
"Is it almost dawn?"
Ishtar stretched lazily, like someone just waking from a deep sleep.
"Mm..."
Samael gave a soft hum, a gentle look flickering in his eyes.
"Also... thanks..."
It was thanks to Ishtar's compromise that Ereshkigal could elevate her consciousness to the surface and take full control of the body.
"Mmhmm, by the way..."
The goddess lifted her right index finger, gently tapping her soft pink lips. Her left arm wrapped around Samael's shoulder as she leaned in, exhaling against the shepherd king's ear.
"She's a terrible kisser, right?"
"You could feel that?!"
Samael coughed hard, his face darkening.
"Of course!"
Ishtar's grin was mischievous, the corners of her lips curling up like a fox smugly grinning after stealing a hen.
"The body on the surface is under my control. As long as I stay alert, even if my consciousness is dormant, I can still perceive what happens through a third-person perspective."
"Oho~ So you're pretty good at flirting, huh? As expected of my student!"
"But tsk tsk... after all these centuries, she hasn't improved a bit. She always needs someone else to take the lead."
"She's such a pain. Honestly, I don't see the appeal. Why not just ditch her? If there's anything else you want to learn, I can keep teaching you."
The goddess leaned forward, pressing Samael into the corner. Her playful smirk now carried a hint of desire.
But before she could go further, his fingers rose and glided along her long neck, stopping at her earlobe to gently rub.
"Nnngh..."
"You—how dare you!"
The Great Goddess of Uruk instantly flushed red on one side of her face. Her earlobe flushed hot as she stumbled back a few steps, retreating to the corner, stammering like a startled rabbit.
So that really is her weak spot... and she seems even more sensitive than Ereshkigal.
Samael rubbed his fingertips in the air, shooting a glare at the wary Ishtar.
"That's it? And you want to be my teacher?"
"Tch, don't underestimate me! Having a wealth of theory doesn't count?"
Ishtar stuck out her neck, trying to defend herself.
"Heh, you think I need your theory? You think those 10 gigs of study material I collected were for nothing?"
"Huh? Study material?"
"Curious? I charge by the hour."
"Dream on! This goddess is famous for only taking, never giving! You won't squeeze a cent out of me!"
The moment she heard the word "tuition," the greedy goddess—twisted by her obsession with gemstones—snapped back to reality, clutching her purse as she tossed aside the lingering flirtation without a second thought.
After effortlessly tearing through Ishtar's fake facade, the ancient serpent sneered and raised his chin proudly.
Of course, the intimidated goddess of love had no idea that real men had long entered the battlefield.
No one ends up this flirtatious after thirty years of being single unless they've had some serious practice. Who else would stockpile that much "study material" without a reason?
True veterans never waste time with words. They get straight to it, measuring the odds and acting decisively.
Samael knew this all too well.
Buzz...
As the last remnants of night faded, Kukulkan tossed aside her wine bowl. Downstairs, the group that had remained vigilant throughout the night instantly came to attention, sobering up in an instant.
"Phew, is it time?"
Ishtar exhaled deeply. Hidden in the corner, her delicate hand trembled slightly as her heart pounded violently.
In the pale morning light, a hand gently wrapped around hers. The goddess turned in surprise—and saw the Shepherd King beside her, smiling and winking.
"So, are you ready to protect your people and your city-state, Your Majesty?"
"Of course!"
Standing at the railing, bathed in light, Ishtar gazed down at all of Uruk, taking in the city at a glance.
Her grip on that reassuring hand tightened. Her tone grew resolute, her expression proud.
"Even if my father came down himself, he won't touch my wealth. He won't lay a hand on my kingdom!"
...
At that moment, the fortified city—now reduced to an isolated island—stood in solemn silence. Within their homes, friends and family embraced one another in farewell.
The final batch of Uruk warriors coming off leave took up the spears and shields their families had polished to a shine. Without needing orders, they lined up in the streets, heading to their posts to reinforce the defense lines.
Able-bodied men and women gathered at the Sacrificial Grounds to form the second echelon, responsible for transporting supplies and ready to plug any gap in the front line.
The elderly, women, and children—those with no real combat power—picked up their well-packed bags and, with assistance from the Jaguar Warrior familiars, moved toward the Divine Tower of the royal palace, the most heavily protected area in the city.
The entire city operated like a tightly wound machine. Gears meshed and turned in silence, revealing the terrifying resilience and endurance of the human race.
...
Outside Uruk, the floodwaters had already reached the top of the city walls. The surface was black and bottomless, blurring the boundary between sky and earth.
"Rumble!"
Thousands of bolts of purple-red lightning struck down, slamming into the protective layer of the solar calendar stone's power.
In the flickering light, tens of thousands of Laḫmu floated on the dark water, cackling eerily.
Dozens of tornado-like wind columns swept violent currents across the surface, hurling dense swarms of corrupted spirits against the outer walls of the defenses.
"Buzz!"
Suddenly, a terrifying etheric tide surged from the north, churning up a red and black wave. The surrounding waters were quickly stained an ominous hue.
The ground shook violently. Even the city walls, reinforced layer upon layer with protective spells, began to tremble.
Amid lightning and thunder, enormous shadows surfaced from beneath the waters and deep underground. An unspeakable horror began to spread.
As they stared at the rising waves to the north, everyone felt their hearts clench. Faces grew grave, palms soaked with cold sweat.
On the seventh day—the Creator awakens.
Leonidas slammed his spear to the ground. His arms bulged with veins, his voice rising in a frenzied roar.
"Maximum alert! Prepare for impact!"
Soldiers and Magi, their minds seized by fear and their bodies paralyzed, began to recover under the solar calendar stone's light. Like souls frozen in the deep sea, their awareness slowly thawed.
Their nerves, hardened by countless battles, held firm. Without sparing a glance at the oncoming black tide, the city's defenders acted like diligent soldier ants, burying themselves in formation or activating their Magecraft.
With a teeth-rattling metallic hum, the Dingir cannons began rotating on their own.
Guided by the magic arrays, the cannons adjusted their aim. The colors glowing at their muzzles grew even more dazzling.
"Melammu Dingir—open all batteries! Target the northern black tide! Activate the magic array!"
"Preheat—volley fire!"
As lapis lazuli and Mana crystals loaded as ammunition disintegrated into dust, the magic arrays resonated in unison.
Thousands of beams pierced the darkness beyond the barrier, ripping through the oncoming black tide with overwhelming force.
Success!
Their first strike had hit home—morale surged.
...
But just then, massive root-like limbs and branch-like tendrils, resembling flesh and human limbs, drifted down from upstream along the Tigris and Euphrates.
Pushed by the black tide, the corrupted Cedar Forest spread its branches—dripping with divine blood like the arms of a dawn god—across land and water like ink bleeding through paper.
In a flash, tangled roots and vines overran the northern highlands. Nourished by abyssal waters, the cedar beast Huwawa, stationed as the vanguard, had grown even more monstrous and grotesque.
The demonic beast was locked in fierce combat with Gilgamesh and Enkidu, unrelenting in its assault.
Its ability to regenerate through roots submerged in abyssal water was giving the Chains of Heaven and Wedges of Heaven a serious headache, making it nearly impossible to uproot.
Still, while holding back the advance of this unkillable monster, Gilgamesh and Enkidu managed to free up their hands to eliminate nearby Laḫmu.
Boom!
The earth shook. The outer wall protecting Uruk trembled violently, its light patterns flickering erratically.
One by one, the Laḫmu broke through the blockade and leapt onto the city walls, only to be swiftly surrounded and cut down by the disciplined Spartan phalanx standing ready in formation.
Immediately after, along the ridgeline of Mount Ebih, layered waves surged forward like an avalanche, crashing down upon the city with unstoppable momentum.
From the darkness, Gugalanna—the long-absent Bull of Heaven—emerged, wreathed in thunderclouds and storms, its terrifying, towering form looming into view.
The second wave of the black tide had arrived!
Sensing that Gilgamesh and Enkidu were intentionally holding back, Huwawa, who had appeared slightly ahead of the flood, veered away from the main surge and was lured toward the northern wasteland.
Inside the Divine Tower of the royal palace, Samael, who had been watching the battlefield unfold, instantly understood. He pushed forward his pieces and murmured into the Magecraft array that linked the entire city.
...
At that moment, outside the northern wall—
The ground shifted. Cracks in the soil around Uruk sealed shut.
Dozens of towering red-and-black spears, each over a hundred meters tall, erupted around Huwawa. They wove upward, crisscrossing to form a massive cage like a bird trap.
This entire chunk of land, covering nearly a third of the wasteland, was forcibly severed from the earth by some unseen force, rising out of the water and into the air.
As the colossal Spear Cage constricted tighter, Huwawa—the twisted, half-beast, half-plant divine creature—let out nauseating creaks as its limbs scraped together, like roots grinding through stone.
Vines and tendrils twisted frantically, trying to escape the enclosure, but the moment any part of them touched the outer ring of red-black spears, they withered instantly, crumbling into dust and ash.
The Authority of Death—Withering of Life. The bane of all that lives!
Creeeak... creeeak!
Within the Spear Cage, Huwawa's space was compressed further and further. The screeches spilling from its maw, sharp and frantic like a horde of crying infants, grew shriller and more desperate.
Its form, tangled in mud, branches, vines, and the black tide, showed signs of both decay and regeneration. Life and death cycled within its monstrous body in a brutal equilibrium, maintaining a balance that the deathly gray mist outside couldn't breach.
...
Almost simultaneously, the purple-haired loli who had been waiting atop the wall solemnly tucked a withered wreath into her chest.
Ana pulled up her hood, leapt onto the back of the Quetzalcoatlus, and burst through Uruk's defensive barrier. In her hands, a purple-red scythe gleamed faintly in the dark.
Harpe—the divine weapon that cuts through immortality!
With it, she could sever the delicate balance that Huwawa clung to between life and death, and put it down for good.
With the plan in motion, Gilgamesh and Enkidu swiftly withdrew from their positions, retreating to Uruk's northern wall before bursting into streaks of light that crossed the sky above.
At that moment, aboard the Boat of Heaven, Maanna, scattering gemstones to stall Gugalanna's advance, Ishtar decisively disengaged and pulled back.
Enkidu, smoothly picking up the relay, faded into a spectral form. Massive Chains of Heaven erupted from the Magecraft array, piercing through the clouds and ensnaring Gugalanna, binding him tightly in the heart of the storm.
"Moo—!"
A guttural roar thundered out as Gugalanna reared up, divine power erupting from his hooves.
A pillar of storm linking heaven and earth!
Pale blue gusts, laced with countless translucent blades, tore into the Chains of Heaven with a storm of slashing wind.
But the chains didn't yield. On the contrary, they fed on the divine power, growing thicker and tighter, sinking deep into the Bull of Heaven's steel-like flesh.
Mongrel. After all this time, and still no wiser.
Gilgamesh's lips curled in a cold smirk. He raised his sword—its blade forged from molten stone and pure fire, a Divine Construct capable of incinerating entire seas—the Sul-sagana.
The Chains of Heaven, forged by his friend, grew stronger in direct proportion to the divinity of their target. They could even absorb divine energy as nourishment.
The more one struggled, the faster they died.
Gugalanna had fallen this way once before, slain by the two of them working in tandem.
Afterward, to teach the goddess who released Gugalanna into Uruk a lesson, Enkidu had even flung the severed leg of the Bull of Heaven at her feet with a warning:
"Careful I don't catch you and tie you up with his guts."
Maybe once they were done with this beast, they could relive the old classic—deliver Ishtar another bull leg just for fun.
Gilgamesh swung the twin-winged Divine Construct, flames surging around him like a burning sea, and brought the blade crashing toward Gugalanna's neck.
At the same moment, the Spear Cage pressing down on Huwawa lit up with a flash of violet-red—Ana's scythe striking from above.
"Boom!"
Just as both monstrous deities were about to fall to the blades of Uruk's defenders, a chain of purple-white thunderbolts cracked open the sky.
Lightning columns as thick as tree trunks snaked downward, striking both the Chains of Heaven and the Underworld's Spear Cage.
Bang! Bang!
In a flash, Harpe and Sul-sagana cleaved downward, clashing against the falling lightning.
Ether surged violently, tearing through the air. Explosive shockwaves spread outward, turning the night sky white with blinding light. The terrifying distortion rippled in every direction.
...
At that exact moment, violent tremors rocked both northern and southern fronts. The black tide surged upward once more.
The third and fourth waves were here.