Accompanied by Li Xiang’s declaration, which was saturated with a pure, unadulterated fighting spirit, the nighttime streets of Snowfield City transformed into the starting point of a magnificent battle.
Violent magical energy erupted like a tangible shockwave.
Li Xiang did not waste a single moment hesitating or testing the waters.
Stomping his legs violently against the ground, he charged straight at Gilgamesh, facing down the torrential rain of Noble Phantasms that streaked through the sky.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
The deafening symphony of clashing metal echoed in rapid succession, sounding like a torrential downpour.
Completely unlike Gilgamesh’s combat style—which involved standing in place like a stationary turret to pour out his treasures—Li Xiang’s combat style was a fusion of wild ferocity and peak martial artistry.
His hands tightly gripped the twin heavy, broad greatswords, masterpieces he had forged with his own hands within his specific story.
These two greatswords felt entirely weightless in his hands.
Every swing cleaved through or perfectly deflected the divine weapons hurled by Gilgamesh.
As he charged, golden ripples similarly shimmered in the empty space behind him.
With an exquisite rhythm, spears, short swords, and chains shot forth, intercepting Gilgamesh’s projectiles, altering their trajectories, or cutting off his retreat to carve out a path for close-quarters combat.
Greatswords slashing, Noble Phantasms providing covering fire—a seamless integration of melee combat and the Gate of Babylon.
This was Li Xiang’s unique way of fighting.
“Hahahahaha!”
Amidst the swirling sparks and fragments of shattered armaments, Li Xiang grew increasingly ferocious.
A look of unsuppressed excitement and ecstasy illuminated his face, which looked almost identical to the King of Heroes.
Feeling the recoil surging through his arms from each weapon collision, he let out a thoroughly exhilarated laugh.
“This is exactly the kind of battle I’ve been looking forward to!
Splendid!
Truly magnificent!”
However, as he watched Li Xiang tearing through his assault like a wild Berserker from his perch atop the streetlamp, Gilgamesh’s brows knit tightly together.
His crimson eyes were filled with unvarnished speechlessness and disgust.
“Honestly…
you nonsensical mongrel.
Brawling and shouting like an uncivilized savage—where is your kingly dignity?”
In Gilgamesh’s eyes, a king who ruled over all creation should sit elegantly upon a high throne while crushing his enemies.
Personally descending into the fray to engage in a physical brawl, getting covered in dust and grime like this, was utterly crude.
It was an absolute insult to the supreme majesty of the King of Heroes.
Initially, Gilgamesh had dismissed this sudden interloper as a magus wielding cheap illusions or some pathetic imitation.
Yet as the battle progressed, he captured an incredibly absurd reality.
The core essence of the enemy’s soul and the frequency of his magical energy fluctuations…
were entirely real.
This man swinging greatswords on the ground could, in a conceptual sense, actually be considered Gilgamesh himself!
“What a ridiculous joke…” Gilgamesh’s face completely darkened.
“I could tolerate a counterfeit, but this King will never acknowledge that in any timeline, I would turn into an tasteless wild monkey like you!”
This infuriated him even more than seeing someone steal from his personal treasury.
However, in the face of Gilgamesh’s mockery and rage, Li Xiang merely slapped away a spear aimed directly at his face using the flat of his blade, loudly firing back without a care in the world:
“Stop putting on such airs!
When it’s time to fight, you should enjoy the battle with everything you’ve got!
Just standing up there and throwing things from a distance can’t possibly be fun!”
Li Xiang paused, a mischievous grin curling on his lips as he ruthlessly poked at Gilgamesh’s sore spot:
“Besides, whether it’s the current me or you, aren’t we both demigods who are two-thirds god and one-third human?
You keep throwing around the word ‘mongrel’ to insult others, but have you never realized that you’re technically including yourself in that insult?”
“—!!!”
The air seemed to instantly freeze at that moment.
A prominent vein throbbed violently on Gilgamesh’s forehead.
His originally dark expression instantly flushed a brilliant red.
He had completely overheated with rage.
“You loose-tongued mad dog…
This King will blast you and your crude soul into nothingness today!!!”
Driven by the King of Heroes’ absolute fury, the entire night sky was illuminated by the brilliant light of the Gate of Babylon.
Hundreds of golden ripples unfurled simultaneously, manifesting a terrifying volley of firepower sufficient to level the entire street in an instant.
Since his Master was already safely protected, all that remained was to grind this rabid dog into dust!
Faced with this cataclysmic strike, the smile on Li Xiang’s face dimmed slightly, replaced by absolute focus and seriousness.
He also opened his personal treasury behind him.
Utilizing his staggering reaction speed and calculated precision, he deployed his own Noble Phantasms to intercept the incoming assault while swinging his greatswords, continuing his steady advance toward Gilgamesh.
As the fierce exchange raged on, Gilgamesh perceived the stranger’s abnormalities with greater clarity.
They were entirely different.
Aside from their physical appearance and a shared authority over the Gate of Babylon, they were practically opposites in every other aspect.
Whether it was this crude and direct combat style, or that bright, easygoing, and slightly mundane personality, none of it belonged to him.
Furthermore, judging by the wild, primal instincts driving the man’s movements, his life experiences must have diverged immensely from Gilgamesh’s own.
“What exactly are you?” Gilgamesh growled through gritted teeth during a brief lull in the clashing weapons.
“This is just how the possibilities of the Mirror World work!” Li Xiang shouted back, nimbly altering his direction in mid-air by using an incoming weapon as a stepping stone.
“Among the infinite possibilities reflected by the mirror, it’s perfectly normal for a version to exist that is completely different from you!”
Indeed, though his existence was a possibility projected by the Mirror World, the life Li Xiang had experienced as Gilgamesh had taken a completely different fork in the road.
If an ordinary person had obtained this ability, they might have simply followed the rails of established destiny, passively experiencing the original owner’s tale.
But Li Xiang was different.
It wasn’t a simple case of overwriting his identity; rather, it was a realization of…
“What would happen if the person experiencing these events was Li Xiang himself?”
Thus, during his years in Uruk, he never became an arrogant tyrant.
As a modern soul who thoroughly enjoyed novel experiences and fresh battles, he completely let himself loose after inheriting that incomparably powerful demigod physique.
Because his life path was different, the techniques he could employ and the hidden trump cards he held in his hands were worlds apart from the genuine King of Heroes standing before him.
Case in point.
After a high-intensity clash with Gilgamesh that lasted for a good while, Li Xiang suddenly halted his advance.
He exhaled a long, deep breath.
Then, under the highly confused and vigilant gaze of Gilgamesh’s Master, Tine, he actually loosened his grip, letting his twin greatswords drop with a loud clang, embedding themselves into the asphalt road beside him.
To an outsider, it looked as though he was surrendering.
In reality, anyone who truly knew him would recognize that this was the moment he was getting serious.
Of course, in theory, there was no one who knew him here.
“Let’s call an end to the warm-up session.”
With a light chuckle, Li Xiang slowly extended his right hand into the empty space.
There was no golden ripple from the Gate of Babylon.
Instead, a dark, profound, crimson light manifested, appearing deep enough to swallow the surrounding illumination.
Following that, Li Xiang slowly drew forth a lance.
It was an ancient, simply designed lance, yet it radiated an overwhelming aura of absolute demise.
The moment this weapon appeared, the ambient temperature plummeted to zero, as if a chilling wind from the deepest depths of the Underworld was howling across the streets of Snowfield City.
Li Xiang gripped the lance with one hand, gently brushing his fingers against the shaft.
The fanatical battle intent in his eyes dissolved, replaced by a gaze filled with tenderness and affection.
Then, raising his head once more with the lance in hand, he locked his sights back onto Gilgamesh.
The moment he saw that lance, Gilgamesh, who had been completely consumed by fury, froze mid-motion.
The rage in his eyes rapidly morphed into profound bewilderment, before finally settling into an expression of sheer, ghostly disbelief.
How could he possibly fail to recognize that aura?
The energy swirling around that lance was pure divine authority—the conceptual authority of absolute death.
Without a shadow of a doubt, it carried the distinct aura of the gloomy mistress of the Underworld who dwelt deep below the earth, governing the final resting place of all things!
“You bastard…” Gilgamesh’s voice actually trembled slightly from sheer shock.
“That presence…
that is the authority of that gloomy woman!
How could you possibly possess such a thing?!”
Faced with Gilgamesh’s near-shattered composure, Li Xiang simply burst into a hearty laugh.
Restings the lance across his shoulder, he loudly proclaimed:
“What’s there to be surprised about?
This is a token of affection gifted to me by my wife.”
Yes, this was the single greatest difference within his particular timeline.
In his story, he and Ereshkigal were husband and wife.
Because of this, as Ereshkigal’s husband, he had received the highest blessing of the Underworld, granting him an absolute resistance to death and the ability to draw upon his wife’s power to fight.
“Wi…
Wife?!”
Upon hearing that word, Gilgamesh’s mind seemed to short-circuit entirely.
He stared with wide eyes, looking at Li Xiang as if the man had utterly lost his sanity.
“Has your mind completely burned out?!
That goddess of death who hides underground all day, looking as gloomy as a piece of moldy stone…
You are claiming that she is your wife?!”
Faced with Gilgamesh’s sheer disbelief and questioning, Li Xiang didn’t take offense at all.
Instead, the smile on his face grew even more radiant.
“How rude.”
Li Xiang laughed heartily and said:
“Ours is a story of pure, unadulterated love.”