[3rd POV]
How many things are there in the King's Treasure?
Even Gilgamesh, the owner of the King's Treasure, cannot answer that question because it is the crystallization of human desires and wishes gathered over time.
"Boom~"
A massive explosion rang out.
The gods didn't expect that Gilgamesh would decisively detonate his own treasures.
The prototypes of these noble phantasms exploded, and the shockwave caught the gods off guard.
"How is it? How do you like the funeral cannon I've prepared for you?"
Even with one arm severed, Gilgamesh laughed wildly. Even if he had to destroy all of his treasures, he would still bury these gods.
"Damned things."
Anu naturally saw the predicament of the gods.
Gilgamesh used the Chains of Heaven to restrain the weaker gods, then fired the King's Treasure as an attack.
Ishtar had to rely on the Bull of Heaven to protect herself and as for the rest of the gods... didn't stand a chance.
As for Anu himself...
"You're still thinking about others' situations? You should be more concerned about yourself."
Kyouya clung tightly to Anu.
The Chains of Heaven came from Anu's hand, and although they were effective on most gods, they would never work on him.
Killing him was the key.
"You ungrateful beings, if it weren't for our creation, would you and Gilgamesh even have been born into this world? I allowed you to connect gods and humans, isn't that a good thing?"
"For the gods, it may be a good thing."
He didn't know what other gods in this world were like, but judging by the current attitudes of Anu and Ishtar towards humanity, it was clear that gods were not exactly friendly towards humans.
"Even though you are gods, you have your own desires. You possess power but enslave humanity. You own this world and yet still crave more. Why is that?"
They possess power beyond humans, but they also have social needs.
They seek to show off their power before others to have people worship them and feed their vanity.
They don't covet treasures themselves, but humanity does. Therefore, they gather wealth and attract human envy.
"You need humans for these things. It's not love nor responsibility—it's pure mutual use. So why is it that you can be so... self-righteous?"
After taking a blow from the Ea, Kyouya was already badly injured.
Fighting against a god was tough, but the light of the moon still surrounded him, and he wouldn't back down even if it meant dying.
"You still dare to talk big even when at your last breath."
Anu could tell that Kyouya was no longer in his prime.
Their earlier battle wasn't fake and was an effort to test each other. They were trying to figure out if they could trust each other with their lives and truly rely on one another.
The injury was real, just like the answer they had received.
A flash of light appeared, the highly compressed and liquefied True Ether.
In Anu's hands, it transformed into blades, and with a single strike, Kyouya's arm was cut.
[Your arm has been cut, and intense pain stimulates your nerves, but you endure it because you know that without paying the price, it would be difficult to get close to Anu.]
[A full moon appears in your hand. Ignoring Anu's attack, you strike him in the face with this moon, and the effect is remarkable.]
The blood obscures Anu's vision, dripping from his nose. He has been made to bleed by a mere human—such humiliation is unbearable.
The next moment, Anu is about to face an even greater insult.
After smashing the moon, Kyouya reached into his chest and pulled out the quicklime he had hidden there, throwing it directly onto Anu's bloodied face.
The blood mixed with the quicklime covered his vision, and the humiliation he felt now surpassed was greater than anything he had ever experienced in his life.
"You bastard, even Tiamat never treated me this way!"
"Then today, I'll teach you a lesson. No need to thank me."
Kyouya certainly hadn't forgotten about quicklime as a tool.
He had held back a bit when he fought Gilgamesh, but he didn't have to against Anu, a great enemy.
"You bastard, I'm going to smash you, smash all of you!"
A barrage of attacks rains down on Anu.
While the damage is small, it was enough to completely humiliate him.
Even if Anu were to defeat these two, he would have no face left to maintain his position among the gods.
The bombardment from the King's Treasury continues, and beams of moonlight fall endlessly from the sky.
This time, Anu had to face it all and destroy them.
Anu's staff radiated dazzling light, and blades of condensed True Ether cut through everything around him.
At this point, Anu is beyond furious. Even if it meant injuring his allies, he was determined to kill the people in front of him.
"Has the old man gone mad?"
Ishtar had never seen her father so mad before, and facing a furious Anu, there was no way for Kyouya to come out unscathed.
"There."
Even though the "Absolute Counter" skill could hide his intent to attack, it couldn't make him completely disappear.
He would resonate with the world as long as he existed, and thus Anu could still find him.
[Your wounds worsen, and there's no way for you to avoid this next attack.]
A fierce light pierced him and accompanied him with manic laughter as if everything had been decided.
[You realize, the time you've delayed has been enough.]
"It's my victory. After I kill you, I'll take care of Gilgamesh..."
"Old man, where is my hand?"
Kyouya interrupted Anu's words. He pointed to his severed arm, asking where his hand had gone.
"Your hand? You... this man."
Anu looked at him without an arm and remembered that someone else had also lost an arm.
That person's severed arm was the same as Kyouya's.
"Gilgamesh?"
"Of course, otherwise why would I provoke you with words and blind your sight with lime?"
Kyouya's laughter grew even more wildly.
Suddenly, an overwhelming pressure descended as Anu was about to finish him off.
Gilgamesh, holding the Ea, appeared behind Kyouya, and the arm that had been broken into dust reappeared.
No, it wasn't his arm, but Kyouya's arm.
Gilgamesh had actually attached Kyouya's arm to his own.
"Surprised, you filthy animal? As my replacement, as my brother, can't I use his arm?"
Gilgamesh and Kyouya were born with the same type of Wedge of Heaven, and this might have been Anu's greatest mistake in his life.
To be continued...
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