'To think I would find a human with a Mystic Spirit. It truly was good of me to eradicate those twelve foolish gods when I did. Now all their belongings are mine, and I shall make great use of this one in particular.'
'Once I leave this world, my life will essentially be forfeit. The gods of my world will have free reign over my passage through the void. However, it was never once established that I would have to leave on my own. Heh, sometimes my genius frightens even myself. I can't say I'm not proud of it.'
'If I take her with me, I can turn her spirit into a powerfully explosive weapon. Better yet, if I use her as a focal point, I can teleport directly to her as long as she remains within range. Quite a useful tool for tense situations.'
'To think Anu would allow such pitiful gods to nurture such a spirit. His focus must be elsewhere, separated from reality. What matter could be pressing enough to require his full attention? The issue with Nether-Earth perhaps? I don't think that would be enough to occupy his mind so completely. It must be something else.'
'Something I'm not yet able to see.'
|Gilgamesh's Thoughts Upon Meeting Seha Helal Barakat|
To the east of the Empire, in a large rice field, an enormous magic circle could be seen. It whirled and shone, fluctuating with immense magical power. Despite Gilgamesh still being in the Temple of the Twelve-Head, his spirit's perception could easily reach this far.
He had summoned his parents' army; the full might of House Dramaour was being mobilized.
Posted here were soldiers of the Ezzat Empire, meant to guard and watch the borders. The instant that such a grand magic circle had appeared, they immediately sounded their alarm, and prepared for the fight of their lives.
Much to their surprise, an army of regular mortals was not what they saw. Materializing out of thin air was an army of monsters, with the only thing human about them being their shape. They stood many heads taller than any man they had ever seen.
Fear struck those soldiers, but an undying love for their country and those they wished to protect enabled them to remain standing. They were prepared to fight and die for their purpose, as long as they could do something that might help save lives.
It was a truly noble purpose and, given the circumstances, anyone with a heart would stand with them. Gilgamesh had uplifted his family, almost instantly bringing them to the peak of power in all of the world, then had prepared them to swiftly snuff out any and all competition. This was, to the average onlooker, incredibly unjust.
Yet, this was the way of things.
Standing at the forefront of the Shafra was Volsung, Warrior-Lord of the Shafra People. His eyes, much like the rest of his kin, glowed with icy blue light. This was a result of the training that Gilgamesh had put them all through. Those that succeeded in withstanding the hellish training were forever changed, both in body and in spirit.
Such a rapid growth of their spirit caused subtle changes, one of them being the change in their eye color. However, the reason for such a coldness emitting from their eyes was entirely different.
After putting each and every one of the Shafra through the training, there would, of course, be a number of them that could not make it. Those whose eyes remained unchanged were killed on the spot by Gilgamesh, and the Shafra could do nothing- say nothing.
He had forced them into the most horrid kind of submission, and they had to accept it. Not being able to take their frustrations out on Gilgamesh, they all subconsciously decided to vent their frustrations on Gilgamesh's enemies.
Thus, their blue eyes attained a chilling effect that pierced into the souls of others.
Upon the first sight of their enemy, the Shafra all recalled those moments of pain, and their rage grew a hundredfold. With no weapon but their bare hands, they rushed toward those soldiers and, literally, tore them apart. It was a bloodbath, but even this could do nothing to assuage their anger. They wanted more.
They needed more.
This day would be one looked back onto, generations in the future, as the day the world itself ran red with the blood of innocents. A global massacre that would be remembered as the day humanity almost went extinct- a Quasi-Omnicide.
Sitting outside of the Temple, atop the highest mountain, Gilgamesh sat on the ground and oversaw the entire battle. Seha stood at his side, her superior sight also allowing her to somewhat survey the battle.
Her expression, over the course of a few minutes, underwent numerous drastic changes, reflecting the horror she witnessed. As the chaos spilled into the city, her anger even started to flare. When she looked at the young boy next to her, who was casually watching all this unfold with a satisfied smirk, she could not help put imagine a world in which she was able to kill him.
Gilgamesh could feel what she was thinking, and he turned to look at her with even more satisfaction.
"That's a good way to feel. It will fuel your growth in the future. Suppression like this is the only way to birth true power; rage is just the first step. Use it well."
Then, Gilgamesh went back to watching the massacre unfold.
The Shafra had only just reached the gates of the inner city, and were preparing to knock them down. The entirety of the inner city was surrounded by a large moat, with only two ways in and out. The steel gates were shut tight, but the chains to the drawbridge had long been shattered. The Shafra stood on one side, and the remaining forces and citizens were on the other, behind the fortified wall.
Amidst the panicked crowd, a young girl clutched two dollies to her small chest, whispering to them as she was shoved by the people around her.
"Fwee, don't cry. Trayla and I are right here. We'll protect you until Mommy comes."
The scared masses fled as far away from the gates as they could possibly be, and the little girl was pushed back with them, unwittingly moving with the crowd despite not wanting to. She wanted to stay close to where the soldiers were, still holding out hope that she would see her mother again.
"THEY'VE BREACHED THE GATE!!!"
Hearing this shout, the already panicked citizens lost their minds. They ran in every direction, trampling each other, random objects and even themselves. There was no alley where they didn't hide, no crevice that someone hadn't crawled into, and no house that wasn't filled with clamoring, fear-filled souls.
That young girl had been tossed aside, with no one to care for her. She heard the soldiers die and, as she wept alone on the cold brick road, felt the stinging pain of hope leaving her body.
Now there was nothing but fear, and it was ice cold.
Her eyes met the source of her fear, and it was over. She would never again see her mother in this life.
A Shafra boy stood over her, looking down. She was covered in his shadow, too scared to look up at him. That would be her final memory. With a single, mighty stomp, her tiny head was crushed beneath his feet. As he squished it, twisting his foot to make sure he had flattened whatever part of her brain he was stepping on, his frown deepened.
He let out a mighty roar, and went on to slaughter more people.
Scenes like this played out everywhere within the Empire. No citizen was safe. None.
Gilgamesh sighed as he withdrew his spirit from the world around him. It was finished. All that was left now was for him to say his goodbyes. He nodded, then got up and dusted himself off.
"Well, Seha, that's that. I'll come collect you when I'm ready."
Gilgamesh started to walk off, about to leave when Seha spoke up.
"Where will you go? Off to conquer more worlds?"
Gilgamesh frowned, and looked at her with annoyance in his eyes. She seemed to have some idea of the way things worked, which he could only guess was told to her by the twelve gods he'd killed.
"Heaven knows it doesn't matter where I go, the result will be the same."
Seha's hands balled into fists, tugging at the robe she wore, and she grit her teeth. She could almost feel the grief of the people as their souls departed. It was like all their indignation and hatred was now placed upon her shoulders.
"And what result is that? More destruction? More innocents dead!?" Seha had forgotten herself, and who exactly she was talking to. If she hadn't she would never have dared to speak such words.
"The result I seek is neither, but I do not care if those things happen as a result of my pursuit of that goal. If innocents must die, then that is because Heaven wills them to."
"Slander! Blasphemy! How could Heaven will such a thing!" Seha flung her arms about, taking a more offensive stance as she argued. Tears fell relentlessly from her eyes; all she could think about were the lives that had been lost.
"Heaven is every bit as hypocritical as you are. You slaughter the ones you choose to discard, and pour out your all to protect those you deem worthy of your protection. However, when someone challenges the way you choose to do things, you turn against them. You bring down the full might of your forces upon them."
Gilgamesh's hand, with a motion so smooth and quick that it did not even leave behind an afterimage, grabbed Seha's neck and prepared to crush it.
She could not breathe.
"I will not rest until Heaven itself feels the way you do in this moment. Helpless, unable to stop the inevitable. Any god, demigod, monster or mortal that attempts to get in my way will die. That is all."
Gilgamesh let her go and vanished. Seha was left alone to her thoughts and emotions. There was nothing she could do, and no where she could go. Gilgamesh owned the world now. All she could do was await her fate.
However, her belief remained firm. She would never believe the words of such a monster. With no one else to turn to, Seha started praying to Heaven, begging for a way out of her situation.
Unfortunately for her, that solution would never come.
Once everyone in the Empire was dead, the Shafra were then ordered wipe the empire itself off the map. Soon, there would no longer be such a place in the world.
As for Gilgamesh, he returned home to his parents and gave them the news. Of course, he spared no detail. He had stressed many times that, in order for their rule to remain unopposed, he would have to resort to such measures.
His parents did not care one bit. They knew better than most just how cruel the world was. A part of them felt hurt, but it did not matter much. This was to ensure their own prosperity; Gilgamesh could not stay with them forever.
He gave them so much. He had handed them the world, and they would be left to rule it. That was more than, perhaps, any son could say that had done for their parents. They would only ever be grateful to him, and wonder what they had ever done to deserve such a good son.
"Mother, Father, I will be leaving very soon."
Finally, Gilgamesh told them that the time they had been dreading was far closer than they hoped.
Angelica and Logan were sat on the couch together, and Gilgamesh was seated opposite them, the same place that Prince Heka had been sitting when he came to the manor.
"You will visit?" Angelica did her best to hide her tears, but there was no way she could. They came on too suddenly, and in far too great an amount.
"Of course I will. Once I kill my first real god and acquire their aspect, I will return here and bless this world with it. Doing so will extend your lifespans by a huge amount- you may even live for a million years."
Angelica couldn't help laughing through her tears, and Logan smiled brightly.
"We don't need to live that long, Gil. After today, we don't need you to keep acting for our benefit. Take care of yourself first, okay?"
Gilgamesh smiled warmly, "Okay, Father."
"I need you to promise me, son. Promise me that, no matter the situation henceforth, you will hold your life in higher regard than your mother's or mine. Promise me."
Gilgamesh was taken aback, and the warmth of a father's love enraptured every inch of him. There were no words he could possibly use to express what he was feeling, so he simply nodded and agreed, "I promise."
Unable to help himself, Gilgamesh jumped over to them and embraced them in a hug.
He did not know why, but this hug felt different than the others. There was a strangeness to it that left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Gilgamesh did not like that.