Gilgamesh's anger was not to be taken lightly.
"You cur! You cur!"
Shining divine constructs poured down. The armaments meant to kill me, a single person, turned the palace into a chaotic mess.
But not a single weapon, pouring out from dozens, hundreds of openings, could kill me.
They were simply being fired. No matter how good a bow is, if it cannot hit its target, it is meaningless.
"Very well. I will end this with my own hands."
Gilgamesh finally rose from her throne.
Despite the palace being devastated, the throne Gilgamesh sat on and the one next to it remained unscathed.
Because Gilgamesh had been particularly careful.
"I shall bestow upon you the glory of dying by my hand. Mongrel."
In that instant, her presence changed.
The image of the innocent, kind, and wise king sank into the abyss.
In its place, the image of a noble king took root.
A king more excellent than any human on earth, wiser than any god.
Therefore, arrogant, and therefore, conceited.
"...Here. This axe is yours, so I'll return it."
"Not just the axe. Your sword. Your name. Everything about you is mine. Prostrate yourself at once and offer your neck."
"I have no intention of doing so."
Gilgamesh drew a spear and swung it.
It must have been a weapon imbued with the power of the moon, as I could feel the energy of my sword diminishing.
"A counter strategy using countless treasures. A technique only you could use."
"I did not permit you to look at me. Kneel."
Before we had even exchanged a few blows, she drew another weapon.
This time, it was a staff.
Gilgamesh swung the staff and chanted.
Vines grew through the palace floor and instantly wrapped around my ankles.
It felt as if I had become one with the ground.
"Mongrel...!"
Gilgamesh tried to cut my neck with her sword, but she hesitated.
Not missing that brief opening, I burned the vines away with my sword and fled outside the palace.
Outside the palace was filled with citizens who had gathered after hearing the noise.
After landing on the ground and catching my breath, Gilgamesh soon followed me out.
She was wearing golden armor.
"That's a nice suit of armor."
Gilgamesh raised her hand without a word.
I couldn't help but be flustered.
Gilgamesh had opened a hundred gates.
Even if all the projectiles hit me, the people around would be harmed.
They might even die. They would die just by being grazed by Gilgamesh's treasures, which were filled with mystery.
"Wait a minute. There are people here. Are you aware of that?"
"The people are also my possessions. It is up to me whether they live or die."
Even seeing Gilgamesh's murderous glare, the people did not flee.
They, who only had memories of her as a wise girl-king, did not want to believe what the current Gilgamesh was saying.
"This is insane."
Can I take them all on by myself?
I could dodge them all if I wanted to, but then these people would die.
I'm someone who wants to avoid innocent people dying as much as possible.
I spoke to Gilgamesh. I asked her to stop, even now.
"Don't do it, Gilgamesh."
"I do not follow anyone's orders."
She finally lowered her hand.
A bombardment of countless treasures rained down on the city of Uruk.
"Aaaaargh!!!!"
"Help me!!!"
"Mom———!"
No matter how many I deflected, the bombardment of treasures did not end.
People were dying.
The things that had once been her happiness were now tumbling on the ground as pathetic lumps of meat.
When she raised her hand again, there was no one left alive in the vicinity.
The ground was stained with blood.
Shattered pieces of flesh were scattered all around.
Gasping for breath, I corrected my stance.
My body was covered in wounds.
An arrow I couldn't dodge was embedded in my shoulder. A piece of an axe blade that had shattered the ground had left a deep gash in my abdomen.
Gilgamesh sneered at me.
"You seem to be quite wounded. You could have dodged if you wanted to. You fool."
"...You did that on purpose, didn't you? You weren't just aiming at me, you were aiming at the people too."
"Hmph. And what of it!"
Gilgamesh rushed at me.
A sword and a scythe.
She pulled at my blade with her scythe.
My guard was broken, leaving my upper body defenseless.
My body, dulled by injury, could not prepare for her follow-up attack.
Thwack. With the sound of cutting meat, her sword pierced my abdomen.
"...Keuk!"
"I will not grant you an easy death."
She slowly lowered the sword.
My body naturally moved downward.
My knees met the ground.
"Kneel."
"Kuhk..."
The blade that pierced my abdomen radiated a heat hotter than flames.
That was a sword for slaying beasts.
It was inflicting a fatal special attack on me.
"Does it hurt?"
I looked up at Gilgamesh.
Her smirking eyes were devoid of emotion.
They were the same eyes I had when I looked at her.
"Why do you not fight in earnest?"
"...Because there is no reason to."
I felt an excruciating pain.
Gilgamesh was twisting the sword, churning my insides.
I could smell cooking meat. From inside my own stomach.
"Are you mocking me? Still?"
"I'm not mocking you. There's no reason to... kgh!"
Gilgamesh struck my shoulder with her axe.
I felt a burning pain there as well.
It was the axe I had been using. The axe of Marduk, a god-slaying weapon.
"Haa...!"
Blood poured from my mouth as if I were vomiting.
Even breathing was difficult.
I felt like I was going to drown in my own blood.
"...Even now, say that you will become mine. Say that you love me."
"I can't do that, Gilgamesh."
From the tips of my toes to the top of my head, I felt a tingling sensation. My bones, my muscles, every nerve was on fire.
And yet, I could not speak a lie.
"No matter how excellent a being you are, not everything goes according to your will."
"Do not lecture me, mongrel. Do you think I do not know?"
She twisted the axe. The wound on my shoulder widened.
I couldn't speak.
Making a croaking sound, I held onto my fleeting consciousness.
"The preparations were sufficient. I know everything. Your disgusting roots and way of thinking. I know everything."
She grabbed me by the collar.
Her trembling was transmitted directly to me.
"There were no errors in the plan. Everything was perfect. You must have my perspective, you must walk with me!"
"There is no such thing as a perfect being, Gilgamesh. Gods, humans, beasts... they are all incomplete."
"I am perfect."
"How arrogant, Gilgamesh."
I gave a bitter smile.
My lungs were burned, so a proper smile didn't come out, but the meaning must have been conveyed.
Gilgamesh's cruel gaze. Within it was an emotion no different from that of any other person.
"Arrogance is who you are. The one who stands at the top, a being more lonely than any other."
Did she realize that I would not change my mind?
Gilgamesh begged in a soft voice.
"You are here, are you not? Be with me. With you, I…."
"Then why did you deceive me?"
"Deceive you?"
Gilgamesh's eyes widened.
"If you had asked me to be with you from the beginning, I would have. There were many opportunities. But you always deceived me."
"What are you talking about?"
"You only ever tried to mold me to your liking through your plans. You're not looking at me as I am now."
Is that not what you are doing even now?
Gilgamesh closed her mouth.
"Creating a companion isn't about a plan. It's about heart. A beast weak to affection is swayed by the heart, not the intellect."
I remembered an anecdote I had once heard.
There was a wolf that plundered a farm.
The wolf was very wise and never fell into the traps set by humans.
When they thought there was no way to catch it, the farmer came up with a plan.
He captured the wolf's mate and used her as bait.
And the wolf, seeing his mate captured, walked right into the trap of his own accord.
"I cannot love you."
"...Why?"
"Because you have never once loved me."
Gilgamesh froze like a puppet with its strings cut.
The treasures that had dug into my body scattered into golden dust.
Had she not been throwing real treasures from the start?
It must have been Gilgamesh's own form of consideration.
She, who had even shed her golden armor, bowed her head low.
"...Go."
She pointed to the city gate.
"Disappear to a place where my eyes cannot reach. Do not tread upon the land of the living ever again."
Her golden hair covered her face, so I could not see her expression.
The only thing I could confirm, her voice,
was as lifeless as a corpse.
"...Love is a shackle. The sky god Anu loved Ishtar, and so he raised her to be a foolish god."
She was not speaking to me.
That is why I did not look back.
"Therefore, I will not love. I will embrace no one, and no one will be able to embrace me."
Even at her voice, thick with moisture, I did not look back.
Gilgamesh, the arrogant king. A lonely being from the moment of birth.
To pity her would be to dishonor her.
Just before leaving Uruk.
Gilgamesh cursed me.
"I curse you. You will die. Your soul will be torn to shreds and scattered across the world, and you will be betrayed by all those you loved. Your existence will be forgotten from everyone's memory, and no one will be able to remember your name."
The moment she finished speaking, a chill seeped into my body.
A curse, laced with a woman's resentment, took root in my soul.
I left Uruk.
I was free.
He left.
He will never be able to return.
I, the master of all things, have cursed him. His fate is decided.
"King Gilgamesh…."
"Is that you, Siduri? ...The palace has been destroyed by a traitor. Have it repaired."
"Understood."
The gate was already closed.
But the final image of his back kept replaying in my mind.
The mercy of a king.
I decided to bestow one last act of mercy.
"...Only I. Will remember you."
"King Gilgamesh?"
"It is nothing."
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