[ Days pass by day after day, and the days are so peaceful that you feel it is unreal.
]
[ You had thought this peaceful life could continue for a while longer.
]
[ But the news from Uruk instantly extinguished your thoughts.
]
Uruk City-State, atop the Ziggurat.
Gilgamesh was listening to Siduri’s report on recent trade and agricultural harvests, yet a faint, imperceptible irritation flashed through his scarlet pupils.
It was not because of government affairs; these trivial matters were clear and understood in his eyes.
What made him feel displeased was a vague premonition, as if ominous clouds were gathering at the edge of the horizon.
“My King, Lord Enkidu has been gone for three days to investigate the abnormal ley line tremors in the Northern Mountains; according to the plan, he should return today.” Siduri closed the clay tablet and reminded him softly.
“Hmm.” Gilgamesh tapped his fingertips against the armrest of his throne, his gaze cast toward the vast Mesopotamia plains outside the window.
“As for that guy, perhaps he has been delayed again by some ‘interesting’ beast or wonder.”
Although he said that, the bond connected by the Chains of Heaven between him and Enkidu transmitted a subtle sense of discord.
It was not danger, nor was it pain, but a kind of…
gradually peeling sense of alienation, like exquisite pottery slowly losing its glaze; although the form remained, the inner charm was quietly fading away.
“I hope so.” Siduri bowed slightly; she could feel the King’s implicit worry.
“In addition, there are no new movements from Kusha.
That young High Priest Doros does not seem to have taken any further eye-catching actions, and the City-State is operating smoothly.”
“Hmph, under the protection of that woman Ereshkigal, he has learned to hide his clumsiness.” Gilgamesh snorted coldly and temporarily moved his thoughts away from Kusha.
“Continue the surveillance; what is more important right now is…”
His words came to an abrupt halt.
He stood up from the throne suddenly, his scarlet pupils contracting sharply as he looked toward the northern sky.
The sense of discord transmitted through the bond intensified suddenly at this moment, transforming into a cold, corrosive feeling filled with intense malice!
“Gil?” Siduri looked at the King, who had lost his composure, in surprise.
“Enkidu…!” Gilgamesh let out a low roar, his figure instantly turning into a golden streak of light, breaking through the window of the Ziggurat and speeding toward the north.
Northern Mountains, edge zone.
Enkidu stood in a desolate valley, his emerald long hair seemingly having lost some of its luster.
He lowered his head slightly, looking at his palms constructed from the clay of gods.
On his fingertips, a trace of extremely subtle, ash-like decay was slowly spreading; although slow, it was unwavering.
He had come on the orders of Gilgamesh to investigate the ley line anomalies.
At first, he did not find any major problems, only feeling that the “nature” here seemed somewhat dull.
However, just as he attempted to communicate with the earth spirits at a deeper level, a curse hidden deep within the ley lines, targeting his essence as a “God-Forged Weapon,” was triggered.
This was not an attack on a physical level, nor was it a shock on a magical level, but an erosion at a more fundamental “concept” level.
It was as if the entire natural world was silently rejecting him, this “fake,” wanting to decompose him back into primitive clay.
“So…
this is ‘divine punishment’?” Enkidu whispered to himself, with no fear on his face, only a hint of realization and faint sadness.
He had long perceived the gods’ growing dissatisfaction with Gilgamesh and also understood that as the “Chains of Heaven” connecting gods and humans, his very existence was a contradiction.
He just didn’t expect that the gods would choose such a roundabout and fatal method to deny his existence by polluting the earth. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
He tried to mobilize the Age of Gods magic within his body to resist, but found it was like a clay ox entering the sea.
This erosion acted directly on his core; just like water can extinguish fire, it was an absolute suppression of attributes.
He felt the clay constituting his body was gradually losing its vitality, his ability to communicate with all things in nature was rapidly declining, and even the clear bond with Gilgamesh was beginning to become blurred.
“Gil…” Enkidu looked toward the direction of Uruk, his emerald eyes reflecting the sky, but they seemed covered with a layer of thin dust.
He could feel that his proud friend was rushing over at an astonishing speed.
But he knew even more clearly that this erosion, perhaps even Gilgamesh could not reverse.
This was the gods’ final disposal plan for a “tool that deviated from its duty.” Because he did not bind the Celestial Wedge well, but instead walked with it, and even fueled the arrogance of humans to deviate from the gods.
And the rise of Kusha was perhaps just the fuse that accelerated this process.
In the sky, the golden vimana tore through the air, and Gilgamesh arrived at the valley where Enkidu was at the fastest speed.
When he looked down from the sky and saw that figure in the valley, even the King of Heroes, who was accustomed to the world’s treasures and disasters, felt as if his heart was tightly gripped by an invisible hand.
Enkidu was still standing there, his posture still elegant, but the vibrant vitality that had originally overflowed from his body was gone, replaced by a kind of dead, gray decay.
His emerald long hair turned withered and yellow, and his fair skin was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, like parched earth.
What infuriated Gilgamesh the most was that Enkidu’s eyes, which were always clear and peaceful, were now dim and lusterless, as if covered with eternal dust.
“Enkidu!” Gilgamesh lowered the vimana and walked quickly to his best friend’s side, reaching out to touch him, but paused just before contact, fearing that his action would accelerate the other’s collapse.
“You came, Gil.” Enkidu turned his head, trying hard to squeeze out a smile on his face, but this smile appeared so stiff and powerless.
“It seems that this time, I was careless.”
“It is those high and mighty mongrels!” Gilgamesh’s anger almost turned into substance; his scarlet pupils were burning with monstrous killing intent.
“They actually dared to use such despicable means!”
He immediately attempted to use various Noble Phantasms from the Kings Treasure that possessed healing and purification effects, or even the legendary elixirs that could put flesh on bones and revive the dead.
Golden ripples constantly surged, and one precious treasure after another was taken out, its radiance enveloping Enkidu.
However, the miracle did not happen.
The power of those treasures, which were sufficient to heal any injury or lift most curses, melted away as quickly as snow under the sun the moment they touched Enkidu’s body, completely unable to penetrate the essence that was being “denied.”
The erosion was still proceeding slowly and firmly.
“It’s useless, Gil.” Enkidu shook his head, his voice becoming somewhat hoarse.
“This is a denial from the ‘Root,’ an erasure targeting ‘what I am.’ Ordinary Noble Phantasms…
cannot resist the rules themselves that created me.”
Gilgamesh gritted his teeth.
How could he not understand this principle?
But he could not accept it!
He possessed the prototypes of all Noble Phantasms in the world, yet he could not save his only best friend?
This was simply the greatest irony and provocation to him!
“This King does not allow it!” Gilgamesh roared lowly.
He grabbed Enkidu’s arm, attempting to infuse powerful magic into it, but the magic was like a stone sinking into the sea, instead accelerating the sandy disintegration of Enkidu’s arm, with fine mud falling rustlingly from between his fingers.
“Stop, Gil.” Enkidu gently broke free.
He looked at his body that was gradually collapsing, his tone unusually calm.
“This is my end.
As a tool, I failed to complete the mission; as a friend, I witnessed the possibilities of humanity with you.
I do not regret it.”
“Shut up!” Gilgamesh rebuked angrily, but there was a tremor in his voice that even he himself had not noticed. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
“This King has not yet accepted your ending!
There must be a way…
there must be!”
He frantically searched within the Kings Treasure, looking for any treasure that might be effective and involved the fundamental rules of the world.
At the same time, he was also thinking rapidly.
The Goddess of the Underworld of Kusha?
No, Ereshkigal controlled the souls after death; she might not be effective against this kind of existential erosion.
Just as Gilgamesh was burning with anxiety, the speed of Enkidu’s body collapse suddenly accelerated.
Cracks spread rapidly over his entire body, and his emerald long hair turned into flying ash in large chunks.
“Gil,” Enkidu used his last strength to stare at his best friend.
In those eyes that were gradually losing focus, there was still the same gentleness and understanding as always.
“Uruk…
I leave it to you.
Also…
be careful of the gods…
they…
will not give up just like this…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Enkidu’s body could no longer maintain its form.
Before Gilgamesh’s eyes, it completely turned into a pile of lifeless, ordinary mud, quietly scattered in the valley.
That “Chains of Heaven,” once full of vitality and divinity, dissipated between heaven and earth, leaving only a dead silence.
Gilgamesh froze in place, his outstretched hand still remaining in mid-air, his fingertips seemingly still retaining the faint tactile sensation of touching his friend.
His scarlet pupils stared fixedly at that pile of mud.
Endless rage, monstrous hatred, and an unprecedented, massive sense of emptiness called “loss” instantly swallowed him.
The sky turned gloomy at some unknown time, as if it were also mourning the passing of this unique existence.
“Ahhhhhhhh ————!!!”
A roar filled with pain and fury, like a wounded lion, shook the entire valley and went straight into the clouds.
The golden King knelt beside the mud, his clenched fists white at the knuckles from the force.
“Gods, are they?…
Hahahaha hahahaha!”
At this moment, between the King of Heroes Gilgamesh and the gods in the heavens, an irreconcilable blood feud was forged.
[ The God-Forged Weapon Enkidu encountered a conceptual divine punishment in the Northern Mountains, and his body returned to primitive clay.
]
[ Hearing this news, you were first startled, then quickly calmed down.
]
[ Because you knew clearly that there was not much time left for you.
]
[ You had originally thought the gods would strike at Kusha first; you did not expect that they would lay their hands on Enkidu instead.