"Now—sharpen the edge. And take precautions."
He invoked Enurta's Oil and Royal Authority Damukina, boosting the sharpness and Noble Phantasm rank of every treasure in his arsenal. Mana reserves secured for their full deployment.
"The Sea God's blessing—mana without end. Divine meddling is needless, but... better safe."
Then Royal Authority Kishar, temporarily fortifying his Spirit Origin's durability to rival the gods of the earth.
"Overkill? Let's see you break the avatar of the land itself."
All damage—conceptual or physical—halved completely.
The king donned the resilience of the Age of Gods.
"Now... hm?"
"『Chaldeas Animusphere—The Flower of Hope That Embraces Human Order』—!!"
Olga Marie's Reality Marble unfurled, rewriting the world.
『Gil! Please—your all!!』
"Devotion with every breath, at any time. Nameless one. What a fine find you've become."
"————"
Solomon raised both hands high.
In response, the Demon Pillars incarnated and rose.
Smelters: Those who know sound and weave songs. Naberius, Botis, Bathin, Saleos, Pursun, Morax, Ipos, Aim, Zepar.
Intelligence Bureau: Those who gain letters and chant phenomena. Flauros, Andras, Vapula, Zagan, Valac, Oriax, Andrealphus, Kimaris, Amdusias.
Observatory: Those who smell time and pursue phenomena. Forneus, Bune, Ronove, Berith, Astaroth, Foras, Asmoday, Grassulabolas, Garp.
Control Tower: Those who assist oversight and maintain the fringes. Barbatos, Baimon, Buer, Gusion, Eligos, Caim, Sitri, Beleth, Leraje.
Armory: Those who mourn war and honor losses. Halphas, Raum, Phenex, Furfur, Maraxias, Stolas, Malphas, Focalor, Vepar.
Gazing Star: Those who assemble logic and devour Human Order. Amon, Baal, Agares, Vassago, Gamigin, Marbas, Malephar, Allocer, Orobas.
Life Institute: Those who celebrate birth and praise fusion. Sabnock, Shax, Vine, Bifrons, Uvall, Fucal, Balam, Crocell, Haagenti.
Waste Vent: Those who fill lacks and incite discord. Andromalius, Dantalion, Belial, Decarabia, Seere, Ose, Murmur, Gremory, Amy.
『No way!? Against Gil, Solomon's committing to this!?』
A sea of writhing flesh before them. Demon Pillars swarming, grotesque meat-blocks barring the king and his treasures. Exactly seventy-two—the full projection of all pillars once commanded by Solomon—!!
"Endgame fodder, yet all-in. Good. I'll crush every last lump equally, meticulously. A collection battle, as they call it. Was it Christmas in the staff's timeline? Fine then—their scraps go to the staff. My Christmas gift. Take it with gratitude."
"All Command Spells to Gil!! Take them—!!"
The Master's seals poured into the Hero King, becoming his power.
"Well done, Ritsuka. That's a Master for you. —Now."
The Demons surged, writhed, roared toward the Hero King.
He snorted in scorn, slowly leveling Ea's tip.
Golden ripples bloomed—a gate to the vault that holds all treasures.
"Light feint first. Dodge well."
Ten thousand gunports. An endless barrage from infinite treasures—overwhelming didn't begin to cover the trampling purge—!!
The self-proclaimed pillars were gouged, scattered, blasted. Healed, only to be carved away again.
Killed and revived. Revived and killed—an infinite hell.
Blood sprayed. Agonized shrieks begged to be unheard.
To the Hero King, mere feint. To the Demons, volume enough for despair.
"Don't slack. You won't die easy."
He raised the bow nocked in his left hand, proclaiming Enkidu's presence to the Reality Marble sky.
"Next—taste the wave of the end."
The golden arrow loosed to the distant heavens.
Demon assaults closed in.
But drifting chains danced freely, swatting them down before they grazed his friend's form.
"Don't trouble yourself, my friend."
The king gazed at the chains, murmuring with fond reminiscence.
"Gil—"
Vimana scooped up the shouting Master and Mash.
"Wha—!?"
"This is...!?"
In turn, the giant ship—the Golden Colossus That Tears Heaven and Earth, Marduk—swallowed Vimana whole.
Yes—that battleship doubled as an ark to shelter life acknowledged by the king amid world's ruin. Its life sector: a top-tier standalone colony. Enough provisions for thousands of turns, in that vessel alone. —A function, too, for voyaging to the distant cosmic edge someday.
"Shelter them, Siduri. She's not awake, but she can manage the basics. —Now."
Acknowledging recovery complete, the king solemnly heralded the flood that would swallow Demons.
"Behold the heavens. The fire of ruin fills them. The stars become tide, flood the earth, then return skyward. God, man—all phenomena—devour the fools who challenge the king: Great Cataclysmic Wave of Napishtim!"
—That was the signal.
Seven heavenly arrows answered the golden shaft, streaking into the Reality Marble.
—Enkidu, Sword That Calls the Waters. From the moment its wielder manifests, the countdown to ruin ticks. Power peaks on the seventh day.
Yes—the prototype of Noah's Flood. Recreating Napishitim's Great Wave that scoured the world clean, burying all life—
Sweeping away every last thing on the face of creation—!!!!
"————..."
Solomon shifted to another dimension to flee.
Nearly every Demon Pillar drowned in the torrent, pulverized to dust by the apocalyptic cascade—
"What? No matter. Mere peripherals. Die without worry."
The Hero King spoke slowly, solemnly.
"Bundled together, you're less than a speck between my teeth. Don't end until I've hammered that into your bones. No mercy for trespassing on my soul... but I won't forgive easy escape into death. —My judgment's just begun. Nock arrows—at my command!"
At the king's order, the fortress he once designed materialized. Countless batteries, gunports, launchers armed.
Plus—via Staff Net—every spacetime's, every dimension's tech, armaments, conceptual offerings of awe, now mounted as Uruk's arsenal—!!
"Show Uruk's splendor with supreme treasures. —The light that illuminates the earth is my radiance!"
Left hand swept down—the signal for all-out salvo.
""Royal Cannonade—Melam Dingir""
Dingir's barrage dyed the land crimson. Unthinkable interdimensional conceptual weapons, offered by the staff—unprecedented mega-bombardment. No escape, no safe zone. Perfect annihilation relentlessly hammered the gasping, mercilessly flushed Demons.
"No holding back. Burn my radiance into your spirits. Beg forgiveness, flee if you like. —I'll kill you without mercy anyway."
—Incredible...
Words failed. This... the Hero King unleashed, fighting with his all...
...I've fought alongside this great king?
This overwhelming sovereign has guarded this soul...!
(Outrageous. Casually sweeping all Demon Pillars. —Watching, Nameless?)
Fou, nestled in the golden sphere, spoke.
(That king's drive, that strength... it shines because of you.)
—My heart's too full... words won't come.
"—Fou."
(Hm?)
"—Is it... okay for me...?"
(...Yeah.)
"To be this happy... this proud...?"
(...Of course. He deemed you worth all this.)
(—Proud as your friend.)
"Yeah... yeah...!"
Tears wiped, words slipped free.
"...I'm so happy... —"
"By the by—savor my friend's strength too. Quite addictive, no?"
The few remaining Demon Pillars—five, maybe three—bound and crushed by Heaven's Chains.
Crunch. Rip. Vile sounds as they tore apart. Piercing death-cries, pleading for life.
"What, mewling in torment? No pardon. Suffer to the last scrap—die clawing."
Riiip—bisected. The will-less swept away by the deluge.
"Now—for you lot, overkill. But banquet's end demands this. Bow your heads. Judgment time. Roaring in my right: the hell-knower. My true zenith: Ea. Mortar that turns the formed stars. Eve-of-creation's heavenly hell, chronicled in epic."
The Sword of Rupture held aloft. Three mortars spun faster, compressing gales, clashing, raging—
"Be quelled by death. Know primordial law through my sentence. This strike—the distant primordial star that rent genesis chaos: Star of Creation's Rift. The one peerless supreme treasure held solely by I, Hero King. The ultimate singularity encompassing heaven, earth, origin—Severing Sword—"
A crimson blade rent the world, imparting void-hell, revealing heaven-earth sundering truth—!!
"With its might, I split heaven and earth—and render judgment upon you. Survive that hell if you can— "Enuma Elish: Star of Creation's Rift That Sunders Heaven and Earth""
World entire—even the deluge—even Demon-dust—
—All rent asunder, blasted to nothingness beyond the void—!!!
Blast winds swirled, heavens wept, earth quaked. Phenomena scattered, smashed, pulverized, bisected, massacred.
Pitiful Demons shoved to oblivion, erased without quarter.
That unprecedented crimson strike rent Olga Marie's Reality Marble surface clean through—!!
When the Star of Creation shone and the apocalyptic wave ebbed, what manifested was Olga Marie's longed-for heartscape.
Sun and red star beneath cloudless blue.
Endless white mountains.
And there—the paradise on earth. Chaldea, Human Order's guarantor, flower of hope in full bloom.
—By the time her true Reality Marble landscape emerged, not a speck remained of the Demons.
"—Judgment rendered. Understand? To reign is this phenomenon. Repent crossing me and my soul. And—demons as demons, await fate in the underworld."
Only the one calling himself Solomon remained.
"——————"
"How's that? Even bundled, you familiars can't touch me—etched in your bones?"
"——————"
"This time, I won't finish you. Just discipline for trespass—a proper thrashing. That's the Master's order. —Or..."
A feral grin.
"Burn me with that Third Treasure? Might even give you a shot."
"——————"
"...No meat-lump worth conversing with? Fine—begone. You're just stepping out to piss. Finish quick, back to work."
"————In that Spirit Origin, we—"
"Can't win? Wrong. You're superior only in 'rank'—that's all. Cling to your false crown, you leeches. I'll spare you—for the spectacle of your omnipotence stripped, your pathetic downfall."
"——————"
"My Master will claim the Seventh Grail, reach your temple. Demon God King—your judgment waits till then."
The Hero King descended slowly to earth.
"Don't forget. Pruning you is child's play—like crushing infants. And—"
Crimson eyes pierced Solomon.
"Touch my soul again—and no mercy. I'll pinpoint your nest, the Time Temple, and with your vile scheme—"
Twisted grin.
"—grant a 'death's end' befitting your sin of scorching my garden: dust-speck oblivion. Your 3,000 years of futile toil—I'll hurl to the underworld's depths myself. Abyss of lightless ignorance, soul-freezing cold, absolute zero hell. Savor it all. Legends say I rule the afterlife. —I'll toy with you plenty... look forward to it—"
He mocked the false Grand Caster from the heart—
—Simmer ugly with your meat-lumps in the temple. Wash your neck and wait.
I see your position clear. Next trespass, your plans to ash. Remember.
—Don't forget, you incantation-swine. Erasing you? Trivial. You live for my amusement alone—pitifully spared.
"Ah—"
Her consciousness faded in echo.
—The vessel called her soul back.
(Go greet them. Leave the vessel to me.)
"—Yeah... please..."
Nod to her friend. Eyes closed.
Consciousness sank peacefully, deep, deep...
Into the vessel's abyss...
Consciousness to the Vessel's Depths
—Hero King and Hero-Princess: The Moment of Reunion—
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