Chapter 418: A Wrong Call
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Tiamat was an important figure from ancient Mesopotamian mythology, specifically from Babylonian and Assyrian sources. She was depicted as a primordial goddess of creation and then chaos; she was a powerful and malevolent deity who initially gave birth to the first generation of gods, but eventually became angered by their noisy and disruptive behavior. In response to this disturbance, Tiamat waged war against the younger gods.
She represented the primeval waters from which many of creation emerged, yet at the same time, she was the one who brought chaos to the said creation.
Neji had no idea how much of these myths was true in this worldline, but as his knuckles clashed with hers, his bones being crushed in response, he was at least certain that she was no weaker than the Satans and the Major Chief Gods.
"Who are you, anyway?" her tone was loud as she asked, swinging her elbow at his chin that he blocked, causing the sound barrier to explode. "Never heard about such a strong dragon like you, but you dare call yourself @thedragonkingofbabylon while looking like Abzu."
'Sisty, who the fuck is Abzu?' Neji yelled in his head as he felt his muscles strain, his bones crack, as he cowshed with her. He supposed Abzu must be some guy from the Babylonian Myths. 'Search through the Internet, and also Gilgamesh's memories.'
Neji was using the Eighth Gate, Lightning Armor, and Tenseigan Mana Mode. Yet, his physical strength didn't match hers. He was dodging some attacks with Kamui, but her punches broke space so this kind of spatial defense didn't help much. He thought that Overhaul would work, but she had her own kind of Chaos power, similar to the PoD, that countered it.
Obviously, this wasn't all Neji could do, but she wasn't using her full powers either right now. It must be related to her questions, so he decided to ask Sisty. His reliable system interface returned with an answer less than a millisecond later.
In Mesopotamian mythology, the term "Abzu" (also spelled Apsu) refers to the primeval freshwater abyss or the underground waters, often associated with the concept of the deep, chaotic waters that existed before the creation of the world. The term is Sumerian in origin, and it plays a significant role in the creation myths of the region.
[This is interesting, Master. "Abzu" is a Babylonian God, he represents the primeval freshwater abyss or the underground waters, in some texts, Abzu is depicted as the male counterpart to Tiamat, in most he was her husband. Tiamat represents the saltwater or oceanic chaos, while Abzu represents the freshwater or subterranean chaos.
One of the most well-known myths involving Abzu is the Enuma Elish, which is the Babylonian creation myth. In this myth, Abzu is depicted as a primeval god who eventually becomes angry with the noise and behavior of the younger gods. Tiamat, his female counterpart, also becomes involved in this conflict. Abzu plans to destroy the younger gods, but his plans are thwarted by the god Ea (Enki), who captures and subdues Abzu. That is where Abzu dies.]
She added, [In the myths, Tiamat died too, but as she is alive right now, we can assume only Abzu died in this world. The Fate Franchise exists in this world, and from what I gathered from the internet, Fate associates Gilgamesh with Abzu. It's how they turned a Babylonian King named Nebuchadnezzar II into Gilgamesh, if you remember you realized that when you met Nitocris for the first time in Jerusalem, since Netorcris is the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar II. Yes, it's very convoluted and complicated.
Fate always does that, both on this Earth and the one you're from, in Prime. Since the Cube Omniverse gives birth to dreams, with fiction originating from the Prime worlds, it's not usual for you guys to have a connection, maybe even beyond just your physical appearance. That's what's going on here, Abzu was a variant of Gilgamesh. That's why she says you look like Abzu.]
That didn't make sense, what the fuck was going on?
"Say something, you look alike!"
However when a continent-buster punch landed under his chin with a "Bam!" and sent him flying kilometers into the sky, it was not hard to accept that maybe he indeed was a lookalike.
"Okay, fuck you."
Neji spat out a tooth while another grew right away, as he stabilized himself in the air. If she wants to fight, he will give her a fight. With a thought, his casual white shirt and pants were replaced by the Golden Armor of Gilgamesh, though it left his chest out in the open – it boosted his speed when he wore it this way. His blue Divinity Marks shimmered in a line; this would let the Devils know that he had Divinity, but it shouldn't be that odd for a Dragon.
As his clothes changed, a golden portal opened beside him, his hand reached out to take out his strongest weapon, the black sword that existed from before the concept of a sword was a thing. The Sword of Rupture, Ea.
He was kilometers in the air, and Tiamat was rushing towards him at a speed that touched light. Only the strongest amidst this battlefield could perceive their battle now as he drew his sword back and then thrust forward.
"Enuma," He shouted. "Elish."
The Chaos Karma Dragon hair stood on the back of her head, danger filled her senses as she parted her jaws at the last second and breathed out.
Her purple-red Chaos Breath rushed towards his black-red Enuma Eilish, while the world itself trembled, the dimension cracked. The two beams met, and if not for the three Satans on the ground giving their all to keep the dimension intact, everything would have been consumed by the Dimensional Gap.
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Enuma Elish was Ea's maximum output, an EX-ranked Anti-World Noble Phantasm, as such it's well-suited for the destruction of worlds, realities, and dimensions.
Once fired, the black and red energy vortex and space-time dislocation deal catastrophic damage that can't be reduced without an attack of equal might or Anti-Purge defense. The attack cuts space itself, allowing it to rend the world to show the "Truth" or in other words the basis for hell, the planet's primordial form where no life can exist.
As such, the location of the battle matters. If it happened on earth, the "Truth" would be different than what it was here, in a corner of the Dimensional Gap. The Void.
Neji didn't plan to kill anyone, so he hadn't charged EA to its fullest. He just wanted the dragon woman to take a hit and calm herself down. How was he supposed to know that when it would clash with Tiamat's dragon breath, the collision would cause the world to be torn apart?
The collision of the beams caused the space to shatter, despite the attempts of the Satans to hold it down.
"What's going on?"
Rias held her peerage close to her as the cracks appeared in reality.
Everyone around her was panicking, the devils in the audience were running. But where could they run if the world they were in was collapsing? The few high-ranked devils, such as Lord Phoenix and Lord Gremory, the cowards who could have helped if they wanted, quickly teleported away with their high-ranked scrolls of teleportation. But most others didn't have such high-class teleportation that could push through this imbalanced space and time.
Rias and Hinata stared up at the forces of destruction in the sky. Hinata's Byakugan locked on the chiseled man behind the stronger beam, while Rias and her peerage gulped in fear.
Then, Enuma Elish overpowered the beam of Chaos. It rushed ahead, it overpowered the other beam with ease because its nature made it so that the Dimensional Gap helped it. The black-red rushed ahead, pushing the purple-red one back, and slammed on Tiamat.
The Chaos Karma Dragon let out a shriek of pain as the beam devoured her, but soon vanished to leave her alive; alive but fried, her eyes white and her mouth wide, with her previously milk-like skin red and burned.
The shaking of the world stopped, though large chunks of it were already broken like a shattered mirror. The sky in particular was broken, looking at it from here made it seem like they were looking out of a broken eggshell. The red hue of the sky was gone and the stars were visible everywhere. The stars were only in the part that wasn't broken, revealing the usual galaxy outside, while the broken part showed pure empty darkness mixed with chaos, creation, void, and all kinds of other energies mingling together. That was the Dimensional Gap.
Neji moved toward the falling Tiamat and caught her in midair. She was unconscious which was good, the injury wasn't as serious as it looked since he held back; she would be healed soon. He held her in a princess carry, putting EA away in the Gate, as he dropped to the ground gently.
"You! Neji!" An angry shout came as Satan Leviathan rushed at him. "Just what are you doing!? That was dangerous! The weaker devils would have died instantly if we fell in the Dimensional Gap, and even we would have been in danger if Great Red noticed us!"
"Shh,"
Neji put a finger over his lips in a serious gesture, then pointed the same finger upwards at the crackled sky.
"There is someone more dangerous up there. No, not just one. Thousands."
And one of the thousands just appeared there, having slipped past Great Red somehow. His dark-skinned hand grabbed the crackled spot from outside, as a horned head that lacked any humane feature peeked out of it.
If everyone felt the world was ending just earlier, the silence that fell along with the pressure that was being executed, made even the three Satans shiver. The weaker devils simply passed out, with Rias and the others bleeding from their noses.
Neji looked up, his eyes cold. He already knew where such a being came from.
[Wor Te – Vraat'ails – Tier 91]
There was no one here who could defeat that being. Not even Neji. All he could do was run, and that's what he planned to do in just a moment.
Until its black hand suddenly reached out toward him.
By sudden, Neji at a speed that didn't make sense. It was beyond the speed of light, and he couldn't perceive it. One moment the large hand that could flatten Everest under it was holding the crack, and the next moment it was right in front of his nose. It was now smaller with a geometric mess behind that shrunk its size, just enough that Neji would be squeezed under its finger. Neji tried but he was too slow to move away.
What was insulting was that it wasn't even a real attack, the being was just reached out with his thumb and index finger, intending to indeed just squeeze his entire body under simple pressure.
Funnily enough, Neji felt this being would be able to do it. This was sudden, but he knew he would die. Things were happening at a speed that Neji could only perceive thanks to the Sha Naqba Imuru side of his Jogan, that he gained from Gilgamesh. The eyes could perceive the past, present and future.
"Calculations. Complete." A voice said out of nowhere. Then, a hand of flesh and wooden texture came out of thin air right ahead of Neji's nose. "...Overwriting the existing order from Mother. Self-assigning a new order. Must. Protect. Father."
Then, a man two feet taller than Neji came out of the gap, his initial hand stopping the large black hand of the horned entity, while his other hand threw a simple punch ahead.
"Divine Sun's Pyrocosmic Purge."
The man said a slow chant, as his punch connected with the dark skin of the large hand, letting out a bright light upon contact- and then blink. The huge entity that overshadowed the world vanished. His entire body turned into a burst of photon lights as he ceased to exist.
Time returned to normal, and the man with root for hair turned back to Neji. There was a hint of a smile on his face that dropped once his eyes met with Neji's. He blinked.
[Ra – Life Golem – Tier Incompressible]
"Ah." He said, a slight hint of sadness in his tone before it too vanished. "Not father. Similar signatures, somehow. But not the same. It was a mistake. Returning to fulfill mother's order."
As Neji stared ahead, confused and baffled, with his mind filled with questions, the man vanished as fast as he came. Sadly, he didn't have any second to wonder about anything as the dimension finally collapsed.
Coming back to his senses, he expanded his Jogan and opened a Gate of Babylon under everyone but him and the Satans. The thousands of devils fell in a separate gate away from the treasury, while he drew out and swung EA once more to cut a portal into the devil's world, where he stepped in and the stiffened Satans followed.
The Rating Game dimension collapsed.
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