No matter whether it was Gilgamesh, Enkidu, or Rovi—all three carried upon themselves the newly awakened and unified concept: the concept of Man.
In this moment, regardless of their origins or how their forms were shaped, each of them embodied the will of humanity in this land.
Because they were the kings of Uruk.
Because the people's hopes rested upon their shoulders.
And thus, at this very moment, the intangible concept crystallized into tangible power.
"Come, Bull of Heaven—receive this king's arrival!"
A wild, arrogant laugh pierced the sky. Golden ripples surged forth. A star chariot blazing with emerald flame instantly closed the distance to Gugalanna.
The golden king faced the massive, terrifying pet of heaven, and slowly opened his mouth.
Meeting him was the bull's low, resonant bellow, alongside the deafening crash of golden hooves splitting the earth.
Gugalanna was afraid—and furious.
Yet, before the might of the mistress of the underworld, even the greatest divine beast could not break free.
Now—it was ensnared entirely by Gilgamesh's treasury, countless golden gates rippling open.
In myths handed down through ages, the [Gate of Babylon] was said to symbolize the Hero King's gathering of all things in heaven and earth.
But in truth, it also represented his nature as the [Wedge of Heaven] itself.
Everything drawn into his grasp rightfully became his possession.
Such was the tyranny—and breadth—of a true king.
At this moment, those golden gates pulled in the bull's wrath, absorbed the power it unleashed, and captured the energy born from its clash with the underworld.
"Gil has started. Then I… must hurry as well."
To the west, white robes billowed gently.
Enkidu brushed strands of green hair from his cheek, lifting his gaze toward the cedar forest—lush, sprawling, yet now crushed beneath Venus's star.
Countless crimson eyes turned in unison.
As Enkidu stepped forth, every eye fixed upon him at once.
A sight terrifying enough to freeze any mortal heart.
But Enkidu only smiled.
"Humbaba, we meet again."
"You clay doll… you still dare!?" A high voice echoed, layered with anger, indignation, and something else unnamed. "Do you still wish to seal me? You cannot. I am fully manifested—my power is now beyond your reach!"
"I know. But I must come all the same, Humbaba."
Enkidu's lips, faintly glistening like petals, parted gently as he spoke, eyes brightening with resolve.
"For my friend… for Rovi, I must."
The god-forged weapon lifted his delicate face, meeting without flinching those countless scarlet eyes.
"I'm sorry, Humbaba."
His expression turned solemn, severe. His white robes surged, the earth trembled, and like shoots bursting forth from soil, infinite chains erupted upwards, encircling the cedar forest completely.
Humbaba fell silent.
No struggle. No fury. Just quietness, eyes locked onto Enkidu.
Unlike the Bull of Heaven—long since tamed—Humbaba, whom the gods called "wild and untamable," possessed a fiercely independent self.
As the king of monsters, it had always viewed Enkidu as kin. Even when Enkidu had no form, merely a clump of clay imbued with divine power—mindless, beastlike—Humbaba had recognized something kindred.
That was then. This was now.
But Humbaba, king of monsters, embodied stubbornness itself.
It could not bring itself to strike Enkidu.
—Though, shackled beneath Venus's star, it hardly had the chance.
And now, it seemed… Enkidu had no intention of killing it either.
Mercy remained—unlike the ancient myths.
Thus Humbaba merely sighed.
"It seems… you have finally discovered the meaning of your existence."
Meaning of existence?
"Rovi is my meaning," Enkidu smiled, radiant as a flower in bloom.
His beauty shone brightly, the aura of a maiden unmistakable.
Humbaba—or perhaps, her smile—answered softly with a sigh:
"You truly are broken… you, the weapon of the gods, forged from clay."
That voice came gently, like wind rustling mountain leaves:
"You've fallen for this 'Rovi' you speak of. Love—a human feeling. Something no weapon requires."
Love…?
Enkidu blinked slowly.
Then, within the chained forest, vines twisted together, forming a faint, wavering figure.
The figure cast one lingering glance at Enkidu, then turned and vanished.
"Remember, one day—return my freedom."
Her voice lingered.
All resistance to the [Chain] instantly faded away.
The god-forged weapon—the girl—smiled brightly.
"If you're in love, then love!"
If broken—then so be it!
If being broken meant staying forever at Rovi's side… that was perfectly fine.
Enkidu reached out, grasping the forest itself, seizing control of that collision of heaven and earth.
"It begins."
Uruk.
The people gazed upward, not knowing exactly what their three "kings" were doing. But because of them, the catastrophe threatening the world seemed to pause.
Their kings had launched their counterattack.
At the palace's forefront stood Rovi alone, lifting his eyes to the distant sky.
Within his pupils shimmered the [Key of Heaven].
Inside him burned the [Wedge] and the [Chain].
As before.
Yet this time, Gilgamesh's position became a conceptual "world":
the Bull as sky, the Netherworld as earth, and himself—the man—standing in between.
Likewise, Enkidu formed another conceptual "world":
Humbaba as earth, Venus as sky, herself—the human—at the center.
These were worlds formed purely from concepts.
Stacked threefold.
The power they granted Rovi was vastly greater than before.
Golden ripples unfolded above his head, the King's Treasury opening in tandem. Countless chains spilled forth—a manifestation of the [Chain of Heaven].
In that same instant, deep in Kur, the [Key of Heaven] hidden within Eresh's heart ignited with blazing brilliance.
The [Lock] spread across the land.
Climbing upward, into the sky.
With Rovi's mortal plane as platform, Eresh's Netherworld as foundation—
A radiant bloom instantly blanketed the heavens.
Similar to before—yet unimaginably greater.
Rovi stood at the heart, wrapped in brilliant radiance, his very form becoming the [Key], soaring upwards within the bloom.
His robes whipped in the wind, his dark hair streamed behind him.
The gazes of the gods descended upon him, startled by this sudden shift.
To turn the very beasts they'd unleashed against him into his support…
Yet even now, the gods refused to believe Rovi could touch the plane where they dwelled.
Their illusory heaven.
Suspended above Mesopotamia's dimension, drifting in the Imaginary Sea beyond worlds. Even if touched, it could never truly be shaken.
Thus they remained calm.
Merely startled.
Watching quietly as he rose.
Calmly meeting his gaze.
That calm lasted but a heartbeat.
For they saw Rovi lift his hand, pointing upwards, and heard his voice clearly:
"Gods—where do you go?"
"Where do you go?"
"Where… do you go?"
His echo rippled through the silent void.
The gods' faces drained of color.
For this voice had not come through their "eyes."
It rang directly beside their ears.
"No… no, this is wrong. They're not aiming to breach heaven… nor to reach…" Anu's severe face froze, colder than ever.
Beneath his long beard, those hawk-like eyes stared once more at the mortal world below.
And he saw.
He saw the "world" within Gilgamesh.
The "world" within Enkidu.
And within Rovi—the "world" of humanity.
Triple-layered. Three worlds stacked upon each other.
Together forming—an immense ritual.
Anu's voice trembled with horror:
"He seeks to forcibly anchor heaven to earth!"
To bind heaven to the mortal plane.
Just as Ishtar had been bound into Rin's mortal body.
This had been Rovi's intent all along.
His robes billowed outward, hands spread wide. The [Chain] blossomed madly.
What he now enacted was the descent of divinity into humanity.
All for this step—
To rewrite heaven.
To overturn the earth.
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T/N: enkidu will now be referred to as she/her :D