"King Gilgamesh, I will preside over the Great Offering!"
Samael rushed into the central cabin, leapt onto the altar, and spoke with absolute resolve.
"Good! The rest is in your hands!"
"I'll head out first to hold off the enemy and buy you the remaining time!"
Gilgamesh nodded without hesitation, tossed over the royal seal, and drew Ea from the golden vortex. In the next instant, his figure turned into a streak of light, soaring toward the heart of the battlefield where the Ether storm raged.
Samael opened the royal seal, set it in the center of the altar, then drew a golden Holy Grail from his robes and placed it atop the seal.
At the same time, the Ancient Serpent, Ereshkigal, and Ishtar stood within a pillar of golden light, each taking position on one side, facing one another. The Ancient Serpent extended a hand toward the two goddesses.
"Trust me! Together, we'll pour our divinity and blood into the Holy Grail!"
Ereshkigal and Ishtar, both grievously wounded, nodded without hesitation. Each of them cut their wrists, letting blood and divinity flow into the Grail.
The golden-red liquid intertwined, glowing like amber. It gradually filled the Holy Grail, overflowed into the divine patterns of the royal seal, and finally spread to stain every rune of the altar.
When every trace was fully illuminated, the mingled gold and crimson flared with explosive brilliance.
"Buzz! Buzz!"
In that instant, heaven and earth resonated as a pillar of golden-red light pierced the sky.
The tremor of the earth dispersed the raging storms and towering waves as if they were nothing more than tamed beasts, while the oppressive black clouds above were torn apart by a spiraling gale.
An ancient, sacred warmth—like the embrace of a mother—spread in all directions.
The three of them instinctively looked up. At the end of the pillar, beyond a nearly transparent barrier, a figure appeared—majestic as the starry sky, glittering like a gem.
She was navigating through the surging tides of the Sea of Imaginary Numbers, breaking apart waves and mist, swiftly sailing toward the world of Mesopotamia.
Using us as a medium… he can summon our mother?
How can this be?!
Ereshkigal and Ishtar, the twin goddesses, stared wide-eyed in shock.
"Because you are the divine foundation that was separated from the Mother Goddess!"
The Ancient Serpent, as if hearing their very thoughts, spoke with a cold smile, revealing the shattering truth.
After the War of Creation, the divine foundation of Tiamat, the Mother of Genesis, was stripped away. Under the manipulation of the Babylonian gods, it was forged into the sky and the earth.
Yet, because of the power of the Origin, the divided authority gave birth to new divine spirits from the remains of the sky and earth—Ishtar, Mistress of Heaven, and Ereshkigal, Mistress of Earth.
That is why they embody the two sides of life and death.
One makes the land fertile and vegetation flourish; the other brings decay to flesh and withers all living things.
Together, they form the complete divine power of life—the very divine foundation stripped from the Mother Goddess Tiamat.
In certain Age of Gods myths, Ishtar was even revered as "Female Anu" and "Queen of the Universe," her status equal to Anu, the Sky Father and one of Babylon's Three Pillars.
Likewise, her counterpart Ereshkigal was in no way inferior to Ea, the Earth God and another of the Three Main Gods, and in the depths of the underworld, she was nearly invincible.
Let me ask this—if these twin sisters did not hold an identity so profound that even the gods dared not speak of it, what right would they have to be exalted so highly?
And the gods not only thought this way—they acted on it.
They separated Ishtar and Ereshkigal, sending one to the underworld and keeping the other in the heavens, all to ensure that Tiamat's divinity could never be reunited.
Yet even so, the two goddesses—two sides of a single whole—remained drawn to one another, instinctively seeking each other's presence.
And that deep-seated reverence for life, that hidden compassion, never faded from their hearts.
So, when the third storm swept over the Mesopotamian world, among all the gods of Babylon, only they were foolish enough to lower themselves and show mercy to the pitiful ants that were humanity.
What led Samael to this realization was, without a doubt, the third prophecy of Ziusudra:
"When heaven and earth reunite, the world will face a choice once again!"
Understanding this connection, the Ancient Serpent brought Ishtar and Ereshkigal to the altar to create the perfect anchor and channel for Tiamat's descent.
From the joyful, resonant echoes, Samael knew for certain: with royal authority as the decree, faith as the roots, the Holy Grail as the medium and crucible, and the divine essence of heaven and earth merged with the power of the Mother of Genesis, the Beast of Calamity could truly descend as the Goddess of Beginning—
And retain her reason.
The Ancient Serpent looked past the layers of the light pillar at the form gradually taking shape, unable to hide his excitement.
But in the next instant, the soft touch lingering in his palm and the sudden swirl of chaotic thoughts sent his mind astray.
Come to think of it… Ishtar, Ereshkigal, and I… we were all born of Tiamom…
So ethically speaking, does that make us siblings?
Wouldn't that be… incest?
Samael's expression shifted strangely, his mood swinging from shadow to light.
No!
But… why does it feel so exciting?
A certain depraved long serpent, feeling the ship lurch violently again, flushed crimson and buried his wicked thoughts deep.
"Aaaaa..."
Just then, the monosyllabic chant in his mind quickened, edged with unease.
For the moment the massive draconic body reached the world's barrier, wedge-shaped divine runes appeared on the outside of the thin membrane, knocking back the Mother Goddess Tiamat's foreclaws.
No! Damn gods!
Samael's face hardened, his gaze darkening.
"Boom!"
A sphere of red-black light, like a sun of calamity, detonated in space. The Jaguar Warrior, in a forced berserk state with her divine main authority awakened, was blasted away and thrown into the flood.
Even Leonidas and the others aboard Ship No. 3, who cast nets in an attempt to haul her back, could do nothing. The nets, woven from the hair of magical beasts, tore and dissolved the moment they touched her.
From afar, the red-black Ether surging from her body raged wildly, darting and lashing out, erasing anything living that dared approach.
The stimulants had worn off—it was backlash time.
At that critical moment, a sharp whistle cut through the chaos. Kukulkan, grievously wounded, leapt onto the back of a Quetzalcoatlus to drag her battered, dying old rival from the waters.
Now, with the Grand Berserker gone from the battlefield, Gilgamesh—his strength only partially restored—was left struggling alone, danger closing in on all sides.
"Bang! Bang!"
Beside the altar, Ishtar and Ereshkigal, their blood and divinity rapidly draining, collapsed one after the other. The sky-piercing light anchor guiding the Mother Goddess Tiamat flickered unsteadily.
"Aaaaa!"
The Mother Goddess's call in his mind grew more urgent, more desperate. The end loomed like a slide into an endless abyss.
Samael's anxiety spiked. Lowering his head, his gaze locked on the seven replica Tablets of Creation stacked upon the altar.
Enuma Elish? Enuma Elish!
The Ancient Serpent's cross-shaped pupils shrank to pinpoints. He snatched a soldier's spear, drove it through the ship's covering, and through wind and rain bellowed toward the distant figure:
"King Gilgamesh! The final blow!"