The battle in Uruk raged on.
From the south gate to the Divine Tower at the royal palace, a third of the city had fallen and was now submerged by raging floodwaters.
Fortunately, Ereshkigal, the goddess of the underworld, used her authority over the earth to raise a series of spiritual peaks to block the mudflow and elevate the Divine Tower's terrain. Layer upon layer of mountains barely shielded the barrier's interior, protecting just over ten thousand survivors.
In the southern zone, now a deadlocked battleground, the clash of metal rang without pause. Spider-like Laḫmu skittered across half-collapsed buildings. Thousands of Jaguar Warriors emerged from the shadows, baring sharpened claws and fangs, their stone weapons etched with Mayan glyphs slashing into Laḫmu limbs.
Everywhere, the two monstrous sides tore into each other in a brutal frenzy. Blood splattered, flesh flew, and limbs were crushed. Due to the disparity in rank and strength, it often took three to five Jaguar Warriors to barely restrain a single hardened Laḫmu. But these summoned beasts, born from the worship of the First Sun God, "Smoking Mirror," embraced "devotion" and "live sacrifice" without fear of death.
Time and again, a Laḫmu would drive its claws into a Jaguar Warrior's chest—only to be pounced upon by the maddened feline mid-strike, biting and clawing at the mysterious offspring. And even as their life flickered out, the Jaguar Warriors would clutch the nearby Laḫmu and detonate their Spirit Cores, inflicting devastating damage.
More figures emerged atop the remaining walls and nearby mountain passes. Uruk's soldiers, magi, and priests maintained the high ground, launching coordinated strikes and providing steady support.
Even when a few Laḫmu broke through the earth's restraints and took flight, they were swiftly intercepted by the Quetzalcoatlus Riders, who launched from the outer perimeter of the Divine Tower with pinpoint accuracy.
"Boom!"
A small hill that had blocked a street entrance was just shattered when several Laḫmu sensed the trembling earth beneath them. A new peak abruptly surged upward, halting their advance.
Then, as if waiting in ambush, a mixed force of Jaguar Warriors, human soldiers, magi, and shrine priestesses emerged from narrow alleys and crevices, their numbers perfectly matched to hold the mysterious children at bay.
Elsewhere, Laḫmu who had caught the scent of humans and were pressing toward the Divine Tower also found themselves intercepted. No matter how far they advanced, new threats always emerged from every direction.
Standing atop the Divine Tower, Merlin had a clear view of the entire city. Under the command of the earth goddess who trampled upon the land, most of the Laḫmu approaching from Mount Ebih were endlessly circling within the one-third of the city that had fallen. Even when following their predatory instincts down the correct paths, the narrow trails carved between the peaks stretched their journey severalfold—and that's without counting the ambushes waiting along the way.
Below, the battlefield had become a chaotic mess of black and white—like a pot of porridge, the colors churning together.
Even if the Laḫmu now tried to obey orders and retreat, the maze-like terrain and countless enemies lying in wait made any escape nearly impossible.
Beneath the shattered dome, the sun's faint projection flickered uncertainly.
Time ticked on, and the brutal clashes to the north and south showed no signs of stopping.
Dark red blood spread through the floodwaters, carrying pink flesh, shattered black exoskeletal limbs, purple-black chunks of corpses, and other debris, rising and sinking with the current.
"Bang!"
A Bel Laḫmu spread its wings and drove its claws into the skull of a Quetzalcoatlus, hurling the corpse toward the mountains.
Rising high into the sky, the creature looked toward the tip of the Astrology Tower, its gaze locking onto the cracked but still faintly glowing solar calendar stone. A realization struck it, and it let out a shrill scream.
"Time... is wrong!"
"The sun... misleads!"
"Humans not all dead... Father God comes... angry... terrifying!"
At that moment, a bolt of light pierced the god-tier Laḫmu, the arrow erupting in a blast of brilliance that reduced it to dust.
"Hey, Samael!"
"These bastards are evolving way too fast! That little trick you pulled with Merlin and Kukulkan—it's been figured out!"
At the top floor of the Astrology Tower, the War Goddess glanced at the illusionary celestial bodies overhead, their motion slowed dozens of times over. Her expression was grim, her voice sharp.
Inside the Divine Tower, the ancient serpent suddenly turned its head to the great sage, who stood with his staff, spreading the power of dreams.
"What time is it?!"
"10 p.m. We've held on for about ten hours since lifting the restrictions on the southern wall."
"Alert the outside forces—we can't hide it anymore! Get ready for impact! Hold that thing off for at least two hours!"
Samael slammed his fist onto the table, his voice low and urgent.
Merlin nodded firmly, then struck the ground with his staff. Several light bursts shot skyward from Uruk's remaining buildings like ceremonial salutes.
At the same time, the Laḫmu that had surged into Uruk let out piercing screeches. Like a tidal wave, their cries echoed in all directions.
In that instant, thunder cracked across the heavens, the ground quaked violently, and the entire fortress-city trembled like a pile of blocks with its supports pulled out.
"Rumble!"
The earth split open, and with the roar of advancing waves, a monstrous beast—over a thousand meters long, formed entirely from bone, Ether, and black mud—burst from the abyss near the Cedar Forest, howling into the skies.
As the dragon's wings, coated in black mud, began to beat, a terrifying Ether storm formed—howling like a hurricane as it swept outward. A rising torrent of black surged across the sky.
The seventh wave of the Black Tide had arrived.
The Creator God had returned.
In the next moment, a streak of light fell upon the northern high platform.
The War Goddess leapt from the skyship Maanna and stared at the monstrous form that stretched across thousands of meters. Her eye twitched as she swallowed hard.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu, who had been waiting, stepped out from the ruins of the northern platform. Their expressions were heavy with tension.
Buzz!
Before Ishtar and the others could make a move, an Ether resonance with a strange rhythm surged from the depths below.
The earth, continuously eroded by the Black Tide, suddenly solidified into jagged mountains and rocky peaks, rising steeply into the air.
Kur Kigal Irkalla: The Bellows of Kur that Tramples upon Ekur.
The divine power of Ereshkigal made it clear—the northern high platform now held the combined strength of Uruk's four most powerful combatants.
They were the final line of defense standing between Apsu and the city.
But Apsu hadn't even arrived yet—just the Ether storm generated by his wings was enough to tear the land apart. Cracks tore through the ground, stretching deep into the abyss as murky darkness gushed up, flooding the surface. The soil, corroded to the point of collapse, disintegrated like soaked paper, crumbling and tumbling down.
And as the surface continued to erode and break apart, the full form of the Ether Dragon emerged. Its bones, skin, flesh, and scales all came into view—clearly, the horror buried underground was revealing more of its immense body as the rift widened.
In just over ten minutes, the beast's wingspan swept across most of the wasteland, drawing within mere hundreds of meters of the northern platform.
The Ether storm raged with ferocious force. The instant it struck, everyone's cloaks whipped violently, and even breathing became difficult.
Two hours... just two hours...
Ishtar stared at the spiritual peaks shattered like tofu by the advancing black tide. Her heart pounded, and her delicate face twisted in an expression between a laugh and a cry.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Deafening explosions rang out one after another. The dark, oppressive sky outside the northern wall lit up with one dazzling "star" after another—bursts of light from the battlefield.
The violent tremors spread all the way to the Divine Tower, causing even the multi-layered protections of Uruk's last bastion to waver. The light barrier flickered erratically.
Samael sat before the tactical sand table. He inserted an obsidian dragon-beast figurine into the northern wall section, then lifted his rattling teacup and downed the now-cold tea in one gulp, thoughts racing.
Stage one: lure the enemy in.
Stage two: delay.
Both had been executed flawlessly.
Now, as long as they could hold out past midnight—just until their reinforcements arrived—they could retreat from Uruk in good order.
"Samael, the northern wall's in bad shape. We're losing ground fast. Even with the four of them combined, I doubt they can hold for two hours."
Merlin, watching the unfolding battle, frowned as the northern wasteland was repeatedly plowed by Ether storms. The battlefront pushed relentlessly closer to Uruk.
And in his mind, doubts began to pile up—so many things about Apsu's actions didn't make sense.
"Also... I don't get it. If Apsu is this strong and clearly intelligent, why does he keep testing us over and over again?"
Samael gently set down the teacup, his voice calm and laced with deeper meaning, as he slid another divine statue into the sand table.
"Because he's afraid..."
Merlin's eyes landed on the statue—the outstretched limbs, touching the earth with a form that blended elegance with menace. His expression shifted.
"Goddess Tiamat...?"
He's afraid of the Mother Goddess Tiamat.
A thought—absurd at first—took root in Merlin's mind. But the more he considered it, the clearer it became.
Apsu had spent divine power to command Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, Abgallu, the water beast, and Huwawa, the cedar guardian—to launch a three-pronged assault on Uruk.
It wasn't a random offensive.
He was probing—trying to determine if the Mother of Genesis was still somewhere within the fortified city.
As for why exactly... that was still unknown.
"I wasn't sure before, but after I drove off the Laḫmu from the north wall... and with everything that's happened since... this has to be the answer."
Samael fell into deep thought, gently rubbing the tiny three-inch figurine he cherished. A silent prayer echoed in his heart.
Tiamom, watch over us.
Merlin rubbed his chin, slowly piecing everything together, pacing in front of Samael as realization began to dawn.
"No wonder you've been secretly pushing that Earth Mother cult lately... even getting the five goddesses to start calling Tiamat 'Mother.'"
"Trying to mislead him?"
The ancient serpent glanced out the window at a collapsed building, where the Laḫmu had been buried in rubble, and gave a slight nod.
"Even beyond the northern wall, just hearing divine chants that shared a source with the Mother Goddess made him wary enough to withdraw the Laḫmu."
"I figured if we put out a few more signs—fabricate some traces of the Mother Goddess's presence—we might be able to stall him a little longer."
"In the end, things went even more smoothly than I expected."
Merlin's eyelid twitched. He stared gloomily at the dragon statue on the sand table, standing just outside the northern wall.
"The smarter they are, the more paranoid they get..."
Still, for a god of origin known for his violent temperament, wasn't Apsu being a little too cautious? Too clever?
The great sage even began to question whether this so-called Creator God had ever truly died.
Wait—if Apsu fears Tiamat this much... could there have been more to that ancient war of creation?
If so, then maybe...
Merlin glanced at Samael, who stood there as calm as ever, and just as he was about to speak, a meteor wrapped in red-black flame slammed into Uruk's inner city.
"Boom!"
Ishtar was sent flying, crashing through a mountain range. She spat up golden-red blood, streams of it leaking from her ears and nose.
Immediately after, a piercing metallic tremor rang out. The Chains of Heaven—one after another—snapped from the Ether Dragon's body. Enkidu's Spirit Core grew fainter and fainter.
Around them, the encircling Spear Cage shattered. Every blade and weapon launched midair was destroyed.
The red-black wings swept sideways. The central section of the northern wall was pulverized to dust. Hundreds were instantly crushed into pulp.
"Bang! Bang!"
Dragging the last of the Chains of Heaven, Apsu lifted his claws and advanced.
Compared to this monstrous god of creation, the humans atop the walls were like ants. Just one breath from him could strip flesh from bone and leave only ash behind.
More and more red-black waves poured through the gashes Apsu had carved, flooding into Uruk, surging straight toward the Divine Tower.
The immortal army Samael and Gilgamesh had painstakingly built was all but wiped out.
And just as that dreadful dragon was about to cross the never-fallen northern wall...
A sudden, solitary chant burst forth—like a hymn, a syllable, a declaration.
"Aaaaa!!!"
Within it surged emotion—anger, defiance.
The thousands of Laḫmu invading Uruk collapsed, paralyzed. Instinctively, they dropped to the ground.
The Ether Dragon, maw half open and swirling with chaotic Ether ready to unleash destruction upon Uruk, faltered. Subconsciously, it shut its jaws and took a step back.
In the beginning, the authority of the Mother Goddess had always outweighed that of the Father God.
"Enuma Elish, Enuma Elish!"
"You mongrels—get the hell back!"
With his left arm severed at the shoulder, Gilgamesh raised Ea high with his right hand. His face twisted in fury as he smashed the red-black Ether storm straight into the head of the world-ending dragon.
The spiral pillar of red and black light—dozens of meters in diameter—blasted Apsu backwards. Shockwaves rippled outward, and the creature was hurled hundreds of meters through the air.
Almost simultaneously, the few remaining Chains of Heaven wrapped around Apsu retracted all at once. They converged into a cracked, green-haired figure, falling from the sky.
Just as that god-forged clay doll was about to crash into the ground and shatter, Maanna—cutting through the darkness—swooped in just in time to catch him.
...
Inside the Divine Tower, Samael braced himself against the table, coughing violently. Blood spilled from his lips as wave after wave of dizziness struck his mind.
As expected, the Laḫmu were already under Apsu's control. The fear invoked by the Mother of Genesis could only buy them a few precious minutes.
But it was enough. Enough time.
He staggered to his feet and rushed out of the tower. Looking south across the floodwaters, he saw them—three massive ships, carved from cedar, sailing in from the sea. Their silhouettes had become clear at last.
They'd made it.
The Ark of Noah had arrived!
But before the joy could settle, the sky darkened again—thunderclouds gathered. Pillars of wind and arcs of lightning tore down from the heavens.
And within the storm-lit clouds... a monstrous bull's head glared menacingly at the three great cedar ships engraved with cuneiform.