At this moment, the entire night sky of the desert was completely covered by the magic of the Sea of Life, taking on a strange, sticky bluish-gray hue.
Fierce winds howled, yellow sand filled the air, and Gilgamesh's golden hair whipped violently in the night breeze.
The golden king stood proudly atop the heavenly vessel Vimana, but his crimson eyes were fixed on the blue-haired goddess on the ground below and could not look away.
Tiamat…?
The moment Gilgamesh uttered that name, a chill ran down his spine, yet at the same time an overwhelming sense of absurdity swelled violently within his heart.
His first reaction was, "This is supposed to be the Holy Grail War?!"
The Holy Grail War was a ritual devised by a few mediocre Magus living in a remote corner of Japan. It was a meaningless game where they killed each other over a magical cup.
In the eyes of this oldest Hero King, this so-called war had merely been a slightly refined form of entertainment to please himself—the King.
But now… even the Goddess of Creation who gave birth to all things was participating in such entertainment?!
Logically, that Mother who had been exiled by both gods and humans should be eternally weeping and sleeping in the deepest part of the imaginary sea, shouldn't she?
"Ooh…"
After a long internal struggle, the corner of the Hero King's rigid face twitched slightly, and he immediately let out a low, cold laugh.
"Interesting… truly interesting!"
"Whether you are the true Goddess of Creation or a fake created by some arrogant fool, witnessing this miracle even for a fleeting moment in this remote hunting ground brings me unparalleled joy!"
However—
Gilgamesh was almost certain that the woman before him was Tiamat, the symbol of return and origin.
Possessing two-thirds divinity, the moment her song resounded, the suppression of the gods from the source of creation collapsed like a visible force.
It felt as if the entire sky overhead had suddenly collapsed, exerting heavy pressure on his spine, causing his spiritual core to stiffen uncontrollably and tremble slightly.
It was not from inner fear, but purely a form of biological hierarchical suppression.
Because in the eyes of the divine Sumerian blood flowing within Gilgamesh, Tiamat was absolutely superior—the Mother that all life could not defy.
But—
Even if it really was Tiamat, so what?!
He was the Hero King Gilgamesh! The sole ruler of heaven and earth, the one who trampled the laws of the gods and led humanity toward independence and the sea of stars!
Even before the Mother who gave birth to the world, the King would never kneel!
Behind them, hundreds—thousands—of dazzling golden ripples instantly vanished like a tide receding in fear.
Yes… before the Goddess of Creation, so-called swords, holy spears, and even curses of causality were nothing more than children's toys.
Before the assimilation of the Sea of Life, quantity and routine destruction were meaningless.
He needed an extremely extreme reason.
"Now that Mother has awakened…"
Gilgamesh slowly extended his right hand, and a golden key engraved with red runes rotated in the void.
The next moment, he gripped the sacred weapon Ea, symbolizing the splitting of the world.
Even without a blade, the three cylindrical sections of the mana-infused sword slowly began rotating in opposite directions.
BOOM—!
As the rotation speed increased, a red storm erupted skyward like a shrill scream.
It was no mere gust. It was a crack born from space, time, and the laws themselves being violently torn and stripped away.
Just the aftershocks of the first attack created dark, glass-like cracks across the northern night sky of Snowfield City. It was as if the entire world was groaning in pain beneath the sword's overwhelming power.
Gilgamesh looked down at the ground from on high. The storm blew the arrogance from his lips, leaving only a godlike, cold, and solemn expression. "From the dawn of creation, I have grown familiar with your sorrowful song."
"Now that I have encountered you in the Holy Grail War, I shall use this sword once more to declare the end of the Age of Gods!"
Although Gilgamesh had not used the Sha Naqba Imuru, he sharply sensed that the blue-haired goddess before him, despite her overwhelming status, did not possess the same absolute mana as the Human Evil that devoured stars.
Clearly, this was nothing more than a Servant clone branched off from the imaginary sea.
But even if she was merely a clone, she was still Tiamat.
Despising the Goddess of Creation Tiamat would be tantamount to suicide.
Holding aloft the vividly red-glowing Ea, Gilgamesh's crimson eyes burned with an extremely rare, resolute, and fanatical determination—as if staking his dignity as King.
"It speaks of the beginning tale in which heaven and earth were torn apart and endless nothingness was born!"
His voice echoed like thunder across the wilderness where the magical storm raged.
"Mother, behold—this is the glory called independence that your children have built!"
"Take this blow that cleaves chaos—the Star of Creation, Enuma Elish!"
BOOM—!!!
The primordial crimson-and-black storm transformed into an aurora-like beam piercing heaven and earth, carrying terrifying power capable of shattering the world's laws as it descended upon the blue-haired goddess on the ground!
And almost simultaneously.
Facing the potentially world-destroying destructive storm, Tiamat quietly raised her head.
Her clear, star-like eyes reflected the red beam.
Then, her long blue hair danced without wind, and behind her, countless star-like blue glowing points suddenly appeared in the void, as if the entire ancient sea of stars had parted for her.
She gently brought her hands together before her chest as if embracing the whole world.
"Aaaaaah—!"
Along with that mysterious and graceful chant, a phantom yet enormous sapphire beast emerged from the Sea of Life behind Tiamat.
It was a life form created by the gods, condensed from countless life mana and pure ether.
She did not evade. Instead, she confronted the sword of destruction with her own pure life force.
[Nammu Duranki: O' Child, Abide the Laws of Creation]—!!!
The azure tide of life and the crimson storm of creation collided violently in the night sky above Snowfield City!
…