Two years passed.
Not in silence — but in obsession.
The Black Vault's archive was unlike anything Rain had ever seen. No cataloging. No system. Just floor after floor of handwritten grimoires, cursed relics, astral projections, and fragments of languages that no god or devil dared speak aloud.
To them, it was junk. Dangerous junk, maybe — but myth, nonetheless. Legends meant to inspire fools.
To Rain, it was a hunting ground.
He had spent millions. Bribed archivists. Smuggled relics. Reconstructed entire bloodlines to trace how names shifted between worlds. All while maintaining his cover: that of a rich heir with too much time and too many curiosities.
But behind that polite smile, behind every "harmless" conversation about folklore…
He was looking for one name.
"The hero whose pride surpasses the sky.""The king who never bowed.""The legend that refused to die."
Gilgamesh.
The legend appeared in both worlds.
Rain had combed through hundreds of myths — and this was the only one with mirrored echoes. The same hero. The same pride. Different names, but the same essence: a being who looked down on gods and devils alike and still walked away alive.
The Black Vault laughed at it.
Rain didn't.
Because Gilgamesh wasn't a name. It was a pattern. A warning in the dark.
"He is number one.""He is the enemy of fate.""He is… inevitable."
✦
The ritual took place in the lowest level of the archive — an abandoned sub-basement Rain purchased quietly through a fabricated shell company.
He had reconstructed the Hero's Codex piece by piece — a symbolic vault written in dead tongues. And now it was whole.
He stood alone.
No candles. No circles. No gods.
Only silence… and the weight of history.
As Rain opened the final page, the world around him held its breath.
The codex pulsed in his hands. Pages of golden text began to glow, then burn, as if rejecting the idea of being read by a mere mortal.
Rain didn't flinch.
"I know what you are," he whispered. "You're not a gift. You're a challenge."
Then the floor shattered.
A golden storm exploded outward, tearing through dimensions like silk.
Rain's soul was pulled into a vast void — a throne room in ruins, stars broken above, and on the floor, shattered swords littered like forgotten prayers.
A voice, deep and cold, echoed through the emptiness:
"Do you understand what it means to wear my name?"
Rain stood in silence, blood trailing from his nose, his eyes glowing with golden script.
"Yes."
"Then you understand the price."
"They'll come for me anyway. I'd rather greet them with a sword in hand."
The golden light slammed into his chest — not gently, but violently, like the world trying to reject him. His bones cracked. His heart skipped. The codex fused into his very soul, rewriting his existence.
He screamed, once.
Not in pain, but in defiance.
And then… silence.
He fell to his knees. Breathing hard. Cold sweat clinging to him like chains.
And in his mind, a single page flipped.
[GATE OF GILGAMESH: BOUND][CAUTION: Each use will attract the attention of Outer Monarchs][TRIAL ONE UNLOCKED]
Rain looked up, eyes hard, smile razor-thin.
"Then let them come."