"We're gonna die, we're gonna die! Run away~!"
"Nigerundayo~!"
"Ah... we're saved..."
Amidst a flurry of panicked screaming, the vanguard team tasked with stalling Tiamat scrambled frantically out of the Spatial Gate. Seeing the familiar, comforting sight of Uruk, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief, collapsing onto the open plaza where they had initially departed and violently wiping the cold sweat from their foreheads.
Ushiwakamaru was even muttering delirious nonsense like: "If I had known my attacks were going to be completely useless, I never would have volunteered to go in the first place!"
"You're back already?! Could it be that you've successfully formulated a viable strategy to halt Tiamat's advance?"
It had barely been fifteen minutes since they departed. Hearing the familiar, chaotic clamor outside, Gilgamesh hurriedly strode out of the Ziggurat, looking at the exhausted group with an inquiring, slightly hopeful gaze.
Facing Gilgamesh's expectant stare, the group exchanged profoundly awkward glances. After a brief, silent visual negotiation, they unanimously nominated Ishtar to bear the agonizing burden of explaining the situation.
"Phew... Alright, Goldie. Whatever I'm about to tell you, you must promise absolutely not to panic!"
Taking a deep breath to steady her racing heart, Ishtar looked Gilgamesh dead in the eyes.
Gilgamesh immediately noticed the utterly miserable, battered state of the group. More concerningly, seeing Takumi—who was usually completely unfazed by anything—looking noticeably pale and clutching his arm, a profound sense of impending doom settled in Gilgamesh's stomach. However, refusing to show even a hint of weakness in front of Ishtar, he forced a haughty sneer:
"Hah! What a ridiculous joke! My eyes can literally perceive the future itself! I have already witnessed the absolute despair of Uruk being reduced to a mere five hundred survivors! Do you honestly believe anything you say could cause me to panic?!"
Hearing this, Ishtar shot him an incredibly complicated look. She slowly shook her head and replied:
"I genuinely admire your stubborn, unyielding arrogance. But unfortunately... I still have to deliver the bad news."
"After fighting desperately for over fifteen minutes... 'Mother,' who was originally projected to arrive at Uruk sometime tomorrow, will no longer be arriving tomorrow..."
"Oh?"
Gilgamesh's crimson eyes instantly lit up with a flicker of genuine hope.
"—Because in less than fifteen minutes, her newly evolved, thousand-meter-tall Dragon form is going to violently crash directly into Uruk's front gates."
Ishtar threw her hands up in a helpless shrug. At this point, she had completely embraced the despair.
"Hah—?!"
Gilgamesh froze completely solid. His eyes bulged so wide they looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets. He stared at Ishtar, absolutely refusing to believe the words he had just heard.
It took him several agonizing seconds to process that he hadn't hallucinated.
"Are you telling me... that I sent you out there specifically to delay her advance, and not only did you completely fail to do so, but you actually managed to drastically accelerate her arrival time?! Hah?! Is that what you're telling me?!!"
His face contorted in absolute, unadulterated disbelief. He closed the distance in three massive strides, grabbed Ishtar violently by the shoulders, and began shaking her back and forth furiously.
"Well, to be perfectly accurate, it wasn't just her speed that increased! Every single one of her base parameters received an absolutely massive, catastrophic upgrade~!"
Quetzalcoatl cheerfully held up a single finger, smiling brightly as she delivered the final, fatal blow to Gilgamesh's sanity.
Hearing this, Gilgamesh shook Ishtar even faster.
"Waaah! Stop shaking me! Stop shaking me! It's not like I wanted things to turn out this way! Why are you only shaking me?!"
Ishtar, her eyes swirling with dizzy spirals, complained with slurred speech.
Watching this absolute farce, Takumi finally stepped forward and concisely summarized the entire "stalling operation."
To boil it down to two sentences: We utilized every single ultimate attack at our disposal. Tiamat was completely unbothered, instantly evolved into a thousand-meter-tall Dragon with hyper-speed flight capabilities, and Uruk is currently moments away from total annihilation.
After hearing the full report, Gilgamesh fell into a dead, horrifying silence. Even throttling Ishtar no longer provided any stress relief. He numbly let her go.
"See? This is exactly why I said we should have just stayed in Uruk! If we had just fortified our position and waited for her to come to us, we could have at least gotten one last good night's sleep..."
Ishtar rubbed her sore cheeks, grumbling under her breath.
Gilgamesh completely ignored her. He lowered his head, his brilliant mind frantically working in absolute overdrive. But given the sheer, suffocating imminence of the threat, even he couldn't suppress the rising tide of frantic desperation.
Who? What method? What conceptual Authority could possibly halt the impending charge of a fully awakened Beast II?!
His [Clairvoyance (EX)] was completely useless right now. Aside from the original timeline's apocalyptic visions of Uruk's destruction, he couldn't perceive a single detail regarding this heavily derailed, unprecedented mythological clash. And because Takumi's anomalous presence had completely shattered the established timeline, even the original visions of destruction were no longer accurate. He was flying completely blind, entirely reliant on his meticulous, physical preparations.
But what use were his preparations now?
The Fangs of Utnapishtim? Even if he constantly poured mana into them, they were functionally just slightly sturdier walls. The next wave of the Chaos Tide would effortlessly crush them into powder.
The Dingirs? He had spent months constructing 360 divine cannons along Uruk's walls. But even if he sacrificed his own life-force to fire them all simultaneously at maximum output, against Tiamat's new Dragon Form, it would be the equivalent of throwing pebbles at a battleship!
At the absolute minimum, he would need to fully unleash Ea to even have a fraction of a chance...
Then what else is there?! What can possibly stop her?! Think! THINK!
But no matter how frantically Gilgamesh racked his brain, the only thing staring back at him was an inescapable, absolute dead end.
No one could physically stop her. Even if two Ereshkigals magically appeared right now, they couldn't relocate the Underworld in fifteen minutes. Even Takumi, the anomaly he had placed all his hopes on, had been forced into a total tactical retreat...
"Merlin! What contingencies do you have?!"
Feeling as if his brain were literally going to explode from the stress, Gilgamesh furiously scanned the room, locking onto the Incubus who was quietly stroking his chin in thought. He pointed an accusatory finger and barked the desperate question.
"Me?"
Merlin, who had been completely lost in his own thoughts, blinked in genuine confusion and pointed at himself.
"Yes, you! Aren't you supposed to be the legendary Court Magus and grand strategist of the King of Knights?! Now is the time to earn your keep!"
"...While I am certainly flattered by the high expectations, the fundamental concept of 'strategy' implies that both sides actually possess the capability to exchange blows. Given the current absolute disparity in power, you surely don't expect me to just casually put her back to sleep again, do you?"
Merlin's "Live Broadcast" Clairvoyance was arguably even less useful than Gilgamesh's right now. He had been completely out of ideas for a while. In the past, he could act incredibly smug and omniscient because he only ever involved himself in situations he knew he could control. But this?
A fully awakened Beast II! The Mother Goddess of Creation!
A fully matured Beast was an apocalyptic threat that often required the combined sacrifice of multiple Grand Servants just to suppress. Furthermore, he was technically only a Grand Candidate, currently manifested in a highly restricted standard Servant vessel. To put it bluntly: if Takumi and Quetzalcoatl, utilizing their absolute maximum destructive output, couldn't even leave a lasting scratch on her... he certainly didn't possess a magical silver bullet to fix the situation.
—Unless, of course, a literal Deus Ex Machina occurred, and the Counter Force magically summoned half a dozen Grand Servants directly onto the battlefield right this second.
But that was entirely unrealistic. The Counter Force (Alaya) and the Human Order Foundation had been so brutally ravaged and suppressed by Goetia's Incineration of Humanity that they were practically nonexistent. If they wasted any more time, both concepts would be completely erased and overwritten by the "New World" Tiamat was trying to birth.
Under these circumstances, the Counter Force was even weaker than during the future "Bleaching of the Earth." Where would it possibly find the astronomical energy required to deploy a squad of Grands?
Have you forgotten? In the original timeline, I literally had to run all the way from Avalon to Uruk on foot just to participate in the final battle!
"Brilliant! Then I command you to immediately fully unleash your highest-tier illusions! You must trap Tiamat in an inescapable labyrinth of the mind for at least two days!"
Gilgamesh waved his hand dismissively, issuing the utterly impossible order with absolute authority.
Merlin: "..."
At this exact moment, Merlin genuinely wanted to point at Gilgamesh's nose and ask him if he had suffered a severe concussion.
"My King, the only reason I managed to trap her in a dream previously was because she was already half-asleep and entirely passive! Now that she is fully awake and actively raging... trying to force her back to sleep is utter suicide! Frankly, your theoretical plan to spontaneously summon six Grand Servants has a statistically higher chance of success!"
Merlin shot back with profound exasperation.
"An excellent suggestion! Everyone, gather every single catalyst and magical resource remaining in Uruk! We have less than ten minutes to construct a massive, hyper-efficient Heroic Spirit summoning array! We must summon a Servant capable of stalling Tiamat for two days!"
Hearing this, Merlin violently slapped his own forehead in despair.
It's over! The pressure finally broke him! King Gilgamesh has completely lost his mind!
***
Takumi didn't participate in the frantic, desperate brainstorming session.
Just as he firmly believed their initial vanguard assault couldn't truly halt Tiamat, he also firmly believed it was fundamentally impossible for them to suddenly conjure up a magical solution to defeat her in the next ten minutes.
A backup plan? Exactly as Gilgamesh had suspected, he did indeed possess a hidden trump card.
However, the reality was... even Takumi himself didn't truly know exactly what form this "trump card" would take, what kind of power it possessed, or if it would even be effective against Tiamat...
When the [Heart of Fire] burns at absolute, maximum capacity... what true Authority does it awaken?
A hyper-efficient training cheat code? The ability to forcibly anchor and manifest unique inherent skills? The power to forge completely original conceptual armaments like the [Sword of the Heart] and the [Silver Arm]?
All of those were merely the baseline, passive abilities the [Heart of Fire] provided when it was only half-awakened.
So, when fully awakened, was its ultimate power simply granting him absolute physical durability? Rapid cellular regeneration? A slight aesthetic upgrade to his appearance?
Or perhaps it was the incredibly striking "Fiery Pupils"? The brilliant, plasma-like hair and blazing flag?
Or maybe it was just a drastically enhanced ability to perfectly transmit his emotions and willpower to others?
If that was truly the absolute limit of the [Heart of Fire], then honestly, fully awakening it was practically useless compared to its half-awakened state.
So... what exactly is the true, absolute Authority of a fully awakened [Heart of Fire]?
Takumi recalled the desperate battle against the Lion King in Camelot. He remembered the exact moment he had channeled his power into Bedivere, sharing the concept of a [Miracle] and temporarily granting the knight a fraction of his own abilities.
Just as he had instinctively desired to lend his strength to the Servant who had loaned him power in the past, he had naturally, effortlessly comprehended how to execute that specific technique. Therefore, if he wanted to uncover the true nature of his fully awakened power, he needed to look inward and ask "himself."
Following a brief period of intense introspection several days ago, Takumi had arrived at a profound conclusion:
[If I wish to manifest the true, absolute Miracle of the Heart of Fire, it fundamentally requires the unified, unyielding prayer of countless souls!]
Exactly! Unlike Takumi's usual combat style—which heavily favored operating as a lone wolf and fighting entirely on his own—the fundamental, absolute essence of the fully awakened [Heart of Fire] was the collective [Miracle] of the masses!
The power of a single individual was inherently limited. Even with his current, god-like strength, it was fundamentally impossible for him to perfectly protect every single person from Tiamat and her endless swarm of Lahmu. In fact, during the brief fifteen minutes they had spent fighting Tiamat, the resulting shockwaves, the Chaos Tide, and the few Lahmu that slipped past their blockade had still resulted in the deaths of over a thousand citizens in Uruk, despite the desperate defense mounted by Leonidas and the others.
Human strength has its absolute limits. Even if Takumi completely abandoned offense and fully transitioned into a dedicated "guardian," he couldn't possibly shield everyone under these apocalyptic conditions. Just like a speedster in a comic book, he would always be a fraction of a second too late to save someone.
—If that is the absolute truth... then I simply need to elevate everyone! I will grant every single person the absolute power to protect themselves!
The strength of one person might be insignificant. The combined strength of a hundred thousand people might seem like a fragile leaf in the face of an apocalyptic hurricane. But the absolute [Unity of Will] of a hundred thousand souls is more than enough to forge an unprecedented, world-altering [Miracle]!
Tracing the profound, invisible connections of the "Heart of Fire" he had ignited within countless citizens over the past week, Takumi cast his spiritual gaze deep into the subterranean Underworld. Once again, he broadcasted the exact same call he had made previously...
[Spirits of the departed... do you feel the burning sting of regret? Are you unwilling to accept such a meaningless, pathetic death? Do you refuse to watch your beloved home be reduced to ashes...?]
***
Meanwhile, in the Underworld.
Ereshkigal was still diligently swinging her "pickaxe," when out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a massive cluster of soul-fire beginning to continuously, violently agitate.
"Hmm? What exactly is going on over there...? In all my millennia governing the Underworld, I have never seen the souls of ordinary humans become this intensely active..."
Muttering to herself in profound confusion, Ereshkigal couldn't help but walk over to the specific sector and carefully observe the anomaly.
Although Takumi's presence had significantly reduced the casualties in Uruk—the city closest to the Northern Wall—the other cities had suffered catastrophic losses. Some were completely wiped out, while others lost more than half their population. Therefore, exactly as depicted in the original game's plot, the Underworld was currently incredibly "lively," completely overflowing with the soul-fire of millions of deceased humans.
Furthermore, because Ereshkigal hadn't had the time to construct her usual soul-cages, the soul-fires were simply floating freely in massive, dense clusters across the barren landscape.
"The ones getting agitated... seem to belong exclusively to the citizens of Uruk?"
After a brief observation, Ereshkigal was genuinely baffled.
Due to the extreme time constraints, she had been incredibly casual with her soul organization. Basically, she just grouped them based on the city they had died in.
The specific cluster currently vibrating with intense, chaotic energy belonged entirely to the deceased citizens of Uruk.
But why?! Even if you Uruk citizens consider yourselves the absolute elites of Mesopotamia while you're alive, once you end up in my Underworld, everyone's status is completely equalized! Why are they acting so bizarrely?!
For a completely isolated shut-in like Ereshkigal, this phenomenon was entirely outside her realm of comprehension. As the Mistress of the Underworld, this was genuinely a first for her.
Just as Ereshkigal was wracking her brain for an explanation, the soul-fire before her began to agitate even more violently.
***
"Jaguar Man! Do you possess any brilliant tactical insight?!"
Driven to absolute, frantic desperation, Gilgamesh actually resorted to asking Jaguar Man for a plan.
Jaguar Man narrowed her eyes, adopting an incredibly deep, profound expression. Then, enunciating every single syllable perfectly, she declared:
"AB-SO-LUTE-LY NOT!"
Gilgamesh slowly turned his head to look at Quetzalcoatl and Ishtar, pointing a trembling finger at the feline Servant:
"What exactly is wrong with her brain now?"
Before either Goddess could answer, Jaguar Man crossed her arms and haughtily interjected:
"I am currently undergoing intense, specialized training to become an 'Unfathomable Master'!"
Gilgamesh: "..."
Well. If nothing else, Jaguar Man's sheer, unapologetic absurdity successfully snapped Gilgamesh out of his frantic panic.
"Sigh..."
Gilgamesh massaged his forehead and let out a long, heavy sigh. He turned toward Siduri and asked wearily:
"What is the current situation? How many citizens have chosen to join the evacuation...? Oh, actually, never mind. It's a pointless question. No matter where they run, it won't make a difference."
Hearing the profound defeat in the King's voice, Siduri offered a sad, helpless smile.
But the smile quickly vanished, replaced by an expression of absolute, unwavering solemnity:
"Aside from the individuals you explicitly ordered to evacuate... not a single citizen has expressed the desire to flee Uruk."
Gilgamesh froze.
While he possessed absolute confidence in the loyalty of the citizens he had governed using his [Clairvoyance], he had genuinely never anticipated a scenario quite like this.
After all, this wasn't a standard war between human nations where both sides bled the same. The enemy they were facing was an apocalyptic, world-ending natural disaster. Given the physical limitations of humans in the Age of Gods, even if tens of thousands of them dogpiled a single Lahmu, it was highly likely they wouldn't even be able to kill it.
Facing a horrifying, utterly incomprehensible monster where the probability of victory was mathematically zero... to witness the absolute miracle of an entire nation universally choosing to stand their ground and die alongside their city...
"HOOOOO—!!!"
Just as Gilgamesh opened his mouth to speak, a deafening, apocalyptic roar suddenly echoed from the direction of Uruk's main gates.
The atmosphere in the grand hall instantly turned to lead. Everyone exchanged a single, grim look. With the sole exception of Takumi—who remained completely silent in the corner—every single Servant and official simultaneously sprinted out of the Ziggurat to assess the threat.
It was currently early evening, and visibility was naturally low. However, even through the encroaching darkness, everyone could perfectly, terrifyingly clearly see the colossal, rapidly approaching storm clouds. The mere presence of Tiamat—a fully awakened Beast—was enough to passively warp and distort the global weather patterns.
And within the heart of those apocalyptic storm clouds, illuminated by the violent flashes of her bio-magical thrusters and the frantic beating of her sky-blotting wings, was the mountain-sized silhouette of Tiamat.
"?!"
"YOU USELESS GODDESS! Didn't you explicitly state it would take her at least fifteen minutes to arrive?!"
"It hasn't even been five minutes! Given her current velocity, in less than sixty seconds, I am going to be violently pulverized alongside this entire Ziggurat!!"
Gilgamesh whipped his head toward Ishtar, his eyes blazing with absolute, unadulterated fury.
"H-How was I supposed to know that?! When we initiated our retreat, I mathematically calculated her trajectory based on the speed she was moving at the time! It absolutely should have taken fifteen minutes!"
Ishtar was completely dumbfounded, frantically defending herself and entirely refusing to take the blame for this massive miscalculation.
"Then what exactly is THAT?!"
Gilgamesh roared, pointing furiously at the Mother Goddess who was currently locked in a hyper-speed, apocalyptic dive-bomb directly toward Uruk.
"I..."
Ishtar was entirely speechless.
"I suppose it's because Tiamat was fundamentally an Earth Mother Goddess, possessing absolutely no conceptual ties to the sky. Having finally achieved flight for the first time, she likely required a few minutes to adapt to the aerodynamics of her new form before fully accelerating."
Therefore, Tiamat's flight speed was actually exponential, not linear!
Merlin stroked his chin, offering a perfectly logical, yet entirely unhelpful deduction.
WHAT THE HELL IS THE POINT OF EXPLAINING THAT NOW?!!
Gilgamesh and Ishtar simultaneously turned and glared at Merlin with absolute, murderous intent.
***
[...If you still harbor fear that this encroaching calamity will devour your beloved home and the family you cherish... if you can truly feel my will burning within you... if you still possess the absolute, unyielding desire to fight—then stand up.]
[The battlefield belonging exclusively to you, the absolute battlefield of Uruk, is fully prepared—]
CLANG—!THUD! THUD-THUD!
The profound, soul-shaking resonance of the bell and drum echoed directly into the depths of their hearts. However, unlike the rapid, aggressive tempo Takumi utilized during intense combat, this specific melody was unimaginably grand, sweeping, and steeped in epic, mythological solemnity. Within the resonance, one could faintly hear the unified chant of countless human voices.
The melody pierced directly into the Underworld.
[!]
[I must return! I refuse to sit this battle out!]
[To actually have the chance to rise from the dead and fight again... This is the most badass thing ever!]
[Mother Goddess of Creation—allow us to ensure that even the Gods clearly hear the unified roar of Uruk!]
[Come! Now is the absolute moment for our counterattack!]
Driven by the sweeping melody and guided by an absolute, unified will, the deceased citizens of Uruk rapidly awakened from their eternal slumber. Simultaneously, the massive sea of soul-fire floating before Ereshkigal began to agitate violently. The pale, eerie blue flames suddenly erupted, igniting into a blinding, brilliantly radiant shade of gold.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
"Eh—?! EH—?!!!"
Accompanied by Ereshkigal letting out the exact same panicked shriek Ishtar had earlier, the millions of golden souls launched themselves upward like a barrage of artillery shells, transforming into a torrential shower of golden meteors that shot directly out of the Underworld!
Leaving a completely dumbfounded Miss Ereshkigal standing alone in the darkness, her mouth hanging open as she stared up at the sky.
Bringing the dead back to life without a physical vessel is something even I, the absolute Goddess of the Underworld, cannot achieve! How the heck did he just casually rip millions of ordinary human souls out of my domain and send them back to the surface to fight?!
Furthermore, I didn't even give my official permission! Why did they all just run away?!
***
Watching the apocalyptic storm rapidly bearing down upon them, Gilgamesh was so anxious he was practically vibrating.
Suddenly, he remembered Takumi—who had seemed entirely confident just moments ago, yet hadn't spoken a single word since returning. He immediately turned his head to locate him.
However, Takumi's voice, ringing with profound excitement and joy, reached his ears first. And accompanying his voice was the deafening, earth-shattering roar of ten thousand unified voices.
"King Gilgamesh!"
"MY KING!!" × 10,000.
Realizing exactly what had just transpired, Gilgamesh whipped around. The moment his eyes processed the scene before him, he froze completely solid, his crimson pupils trembling violently.
Standing directly before him, Takumi had fully ignited the absolute maximum output of his [Heart of Fire]. His hair, glowing with a brilliant, plasma-like white-gold radiance, whipped wildly in the wind. He held his blazing flag firmly planted in the earth, staring directly at Gilgamesh with incredibly bright, spirited eyes.
And standing directly behind Takumi were over ten thousand translucent, fiercely glowing golden silhouettes. They crowded the streets, stood atop the roofs, and filled the plaza. The eyes of every single phantom warrior burned with absolute, unadulterated excitement and a ferocious lust for battle. This army wasn't merely comprised of the soldiers who had fallen in combat; it included countless ordinary citizens who had never wielded a weapon in their lives. Yet, at this exact moment, their gazes were completely unified, entirely focused upon their "King."
—The grand, epic resonance of the bell and drum began to echo throughout the entire city.
Every single living resident within Uruk heard the blood-pumping, soul-stirring melody. While they didn't fully comprehend the mechanics of what was happening, their bodies reacted instinctively. Their breathing grew heavy, and their hearts pounded wildly in their chests.
Standing before the impending, apocalyptic calamity, they completely ignored the mountain-sized beast rapidly approaching their walls. Instead, with eyes shining brightly, they all turned their gazes toward the Ziggurat, entirely focused on the blinding sea of golden light radiating from the plaza.
"To actually possess the capability to drag the souls of the dead back into the mortal realm to fight... Takumi's power is infinitely more profound and miraculous than I ever imagined..."
Staring at the majestic, radiant sea of golden phantom warriors, even Merlin couldn't help but feel his blood pump with genuine excitement, feeling a sudden, intense urge to draw his sword and charge into battle alongside them.
"Even if he is merely temporarily condensing the souls of the departed into tangible, physical forms that can interact with the material world... that feat alone fundamentally belongs to the realm of True Magic... no, it belongs entirely to the absolute Domain of the Gods..."
Quetzalcoatl muttered in profound awe, her eyes reflecting the blinding golden light.
As for the others, their reactions were identical. They all stared at the unfolding miracle with rapt attention, occasionally letting out soft gasps of sheer amazement. Even the usually hyperactive Ishtar had completely fallen silent, watching the scene with wide, shocked eyes.
"Hahahahahahahahaha!"
Gilgamesh covered the upper half of his face with one hand, throwing his head back and letting out a booming, genuinely ecstatic laugh.
Under the rapidly deteriorating, apocalyptic weather, a freezing, violent gale whipped against his back. Yet, he didn't feel the slightest trace of cold. The suffocating, agonizing despair and frustration he had silently borne for months were completely, violently expelled in this single moment of absolute triumph.
Abruptly cutting his laughter short, Gilgamesh turned around. A fierce, predatory grin stretched across his face as he threw his arms wide open. Every single trace of gloom and despair vanished entirely from his crimson snake-like pupils. Radiating an aura of absolute, unparalleled majesty, he issued an unprecedented declaration of war directly to the encroaching Beast:
"I once declared that, regardless of our struggles, Uruk was ultimately destined for complete annihilation! —Ah, while I truly loathe to admit it, it seems this King's absolute calculations were fundamentally flawed! For even unto this very day, Uruk remains truly and absolutely victorious upon this earth!"
"Since that is the case, let us show this Mother Goddess—who birthed creation only to seek its absolute destruction—the true, unyielding power of Uruk! Let us prove to her that We, Humanity, possess the absolute strength to carve our own path and pioneer this world!"
"—Right here! Right now! We shall fundamentally reject the Genesis of the Gods! We shall ignite the dawn of a new era for Humanity, and fight the final, decisive battle of the Age of Gods! Let the eternal, absolute glory of Uruk echo throughout all of Human History!!!"
Finishing his epic declaration, Gilgamesh violently thrust his fist into the sky.
[OOOOHHHHH—!!!] × 100,000.
Through the absolute conceptual connection of the Heart of Fire, Gilgamesh's words were broadcasted with perfect clarity into the minds of every single soul in the city. The exact second he finished speaking, an earth-shattering, heaven-piercing roar of absolute, unyielding defiance erupted from the entirety of Uruk!
"Come! I have been waiting for this exact moment for a very, very long time!"
Staring at the colossal, mountain-sized silhouette rapidly bearing down on Uruk's main gates—a beast whose sheer kinetic momentum would effortlessly cleave the entire city in half upon impact—Takumi didn't hesitate for a single microsecond. He raised his blazing flag high into the sky.
Seeing the signal, every single one of the golden phantom warriors standing behind him—acting with absolute, flawless synchronization—transformed into streaks of blinding golden light, rapidly converging directly upon Takumi's position beneath the flag.
The millions of translucent souls violently swarmed Takumi. They intertwined, fused, and perfectly assimilated, exactly like countless droplets of water violently merging to form a raging river. In the span of mere seconds, an unimaginably colossal, blindingly radiant humanoid silhouette rapidly erupted from the earth.
Takumi felt a sudden, intensely scorching heat erupt within his chest.
It was the minuscule fraction of Divinity he possessed actively igniting. However, it wasn't burning away to fuel an attack like Quetzalcoatl's Noble Phantasm. Instead, utilizing that composite Divinity as the fundamental spark—he was igniting a true Divine Core!
CLANG—!THUD! THUD-THUD! THUD!
The profound resonance of the bell and drum continued to echo across the entirety of Uruk, so incredibly loud it could be clearly heard even at the Northern Wall. Fueled by this impending, absolute miracle, the [Chorus of the Dawn and Dusk Bells] skill began to undergo an even more profound, miraculous conceptual evolution.
A light so intensely radiant it dyed the apocalyptic storm clouds entirely gold pulsed continuously. Yet, not a single person within the city found the blinding light harsh or painful to look at. Whenever they tilted their heads up, they could clearly see through the golden brilliance to perceive the physical form of the colossal giant—and floating directly within the very center of the giant's forehead, holding his flag high, was Takumi.
"Can a completely useless cripple like me... actually contribute to a battle of this magnitude?!"
Feeling the profound, thumping resonance within his chest, the Construction Foreman Takumi had helped days ago felt a surge of absolute, ecstatic joy wash over his face.
Without a single microsecond of hesitation, he willingly allowed his consciousness to transform into a streak of golden light, instantly merging into the colossal body of the golden giant.
Seeing this, the citizens standing around him exchanged excited, deeply understanding glances. Following his lead, they all willingly surrendered their individual consciousness, transforming into streaks of golden light and assimilating into the giant.
It was as if a dam had broken. The very next second, countless rivers of golden light erupted from every single corner of Uruk. Flashing like a localized meteor shower in the darkness, it was as if they were all drawn by an irresistible, invisible force, perfectly converging and seamlessly merging into the golden giant towering beside the Ziggurat.
Fueled by the rapid assimilation of countless golden streams, the golden giant—which had initially manifested at a hundred meters tall—violently expanded to two hundred meters! Then three hundred, four hundred, five hundred meters!
And simultaneously, the Divine Core within Takumi was completely, flawlessly ignited—
[Divinity (D)]-> [[Temporary] Chief God's Divine Core (EX)]!
The exact millisecond the Divine Core was fully ignited, the colossal golden giant was completely wreathed in a layer of brilliant, translucent pale-gold flames.
Far away at the Northern Wall, Tetayar—who had been forcefully evacuated by his parents—naturally witnessed the blindingly radiant, continuously expanding colossal silhouette in the distance.
"Is that... the [Super Giant God Uruk]?!"
Through the conceptual connection of the Heart of Fire, he was able to clearly perceive the exact structural details of the golden giant—specifically noticing the faint, mecha-like panel lining etched across its armor. He was instantly dumbfounded.
He quickly pulled out the clay action figure he always carried with him and compared the two. Aside from missing the massive battle axe, the giant was essentially a perfect, 1:1, million-scale replica! Immediately, he decisively placed his clay toy on the ground, surrendered to the conceptual pull, and transformed into a streak of golden light, flying off toward the city.
Playing with a clay toy is completely meaningless when you can literally pilot the real thing!!!
His mother, unable to grab him in time, watched her son transform into a streak of light and rocket away. Left with absolutely no other choice, she gritted her teeth and immediately transformed, following him into the fray.
However, contrary to the name Tetayar had originally designated for it, the true, absolute title of this colossal golden giant was—
[The God of Humanity, Fueled by Countless Embers: Uruk]!
In the span of mere seconds, the [God of Humanity: Uruk] had rapidly expanded to a staggering height of roughly eight hundred meters. Furthermore, this was merely its current height; it had not yet reached its absolute structural limit!
During this brief window, even though Tiamat instinctively sensed a terrifying, unprecedented conceptual threat radiating from the newly manifested Divine Spirit, her thousand-meter-tall Dragon Form possessed far too much forward momentum to alter her trajectory. Carrying unimaginable kinetic mass, she violently plowed through Uruk's main gates, instantly obliterating a massive section of the reinforced city wall along with it.
However, just as she was about to continue her apocalyptic charge directly through the heart of the city, a colossal, glowing golden hand firmly planted itself directly against her forehead.
BAM—!
Even though she had collided at absolute top speed, the seemingly fragile golden arm didn't budge a single millimeter, flawlessly halting her catastrophic momentum. In an instant, a massive, golden shockwave erupted outward from the exact epicenter of the collision.
Before Tiamat could even register the absolute halt of her charge, [Uruk] took a single, thunderous step forward, closing the distance. Grabbing her front claw with one hand and firmly gripping the remaining horn on her head with the other, the golden giant violently pivoted its hips and hurled her backward with unimaginable, god-like brute strength!
Tiamat, a literal Beast of Calamity, was physically suplexed and sent flying through the air!
Having flawlessly executed the throw, the golden giant slowly straightened its posture, standing tall and utterly unbothered amidst the city of Uruk.
Miraculously, despite its unimaginable, mountain-sized mass, and despite having just engaged in a devastating, high-speed physical collision with Tiamat within the city limits... not a single building or structure within Uruk had suffered even a scratch.