The conflict turned bloodless, but no less brutal. Lulal's followers, desperate and believing his gospel of a broken cosmos, began sabotaging the outer irrigation channels, trying to divert water to their own camp.
Enki found Lulal himself at the breach, not directing others, but digging with his own hands, his face smeared with mud and a terrible, focused rage.
"Lulal, stop this," Enki said, his voice low. "You are poisoning the very water that gives life."
Lulal looked up, his eyes hollow. "You taught me that water follows the path of least resistance. This is the path now, Master. The resistance was your lie." He gestured at the broken channel. "This is what your truth looks like. You built a world on a secret. I am just digging down to the foundation."
It was not a battle. It was an autopsy of their partnership, conducted in the mud. Enki could not fight him. He could only watch as his greatest student used his own teachings to dismantle his life's work, believing it to be a righteous crusade.