Several minutes passed before the smoke and dust finally cleared.
Ophis wiped the splattered mud from her face and turned toward Enkidu.
"Ha… Haha…"
All she got in response was an awkward laugh.
Drawing in the mud that made up her own body, Enkidu absorbed the grime from both of them, then looked toward the crater where Humbaba had stood.
"...This should settle it, right?"
Her voice carried a faint sorrow, but also quiet relief.
Perhaps, for Enkidu, returning to nature was the kinder fate for her friend—better than remaining trapped in that madness.
And yet… when she had bound Humbaba with her chains earlier, Enkidu had felt something she shouldn't have: a divine aura.
"No—it's not over yet!"
Though her thoughts still churned, Enkidu's sharpened senses caught it immediately—a faint, flickering life force, nearly gone but not extinguished.
"Grrr..."
A low growl rose from within the fading dust.
The beast staggered forward, its once-proud form now wretched and broken. Even with her legendary resistance to energy attacks, Humbaba was a ruin—hide charred, serpent tail hanging limp and useless.
Even so, she crouched low, baring her teeth in defiance.
She's spent. That posture's just a bluff, Enkidu thought, clearly feeling her friend's dwindling strength.
Ophis, silent until now, turned to her, waiting for the verdict.
"Finish it… In her condition, a single strike should be enough, right, Ophis?"
Biting her lip, Enkidu forced the words out.
She had already decided to grant Humbaba release—yet the act itself still felt unbearable.
Could she really strike down her old friend again, even like this?
Ophis only nodded. Five magic circles flared behind her, forming in perfect synchronization and locking onto their target from every angle.
Humbaba was unlikely to move again, but Ophis would take no chances. She would end this completely, without error or mercy.
Within three seconds, she gathered enough energy for a sure kill and fired.
As the beams streaked toward her, Humbaba seemed, for a moment, to relax—almost peaceful, as though accepting her fate.
But then, in the final instant, some faint awareness flickered within her ruined body. With a desperate surge of strength, she threw herself into the path of the farthest beam.
Her burned fur offered no protection. The violet torrent consumed her instantly, reducing her to ash.
This time, the magic cannons had fired horizontally, parallel to the ground. The four remaining beams that missed tore through the distant forest, gouging vast ravines into the earth.
Enkidu stood in silence, head bowed.
Ophis approached the spot where Humbaba had fallen, her face unreadable.
Though the beast herself had vanished, the seven-colored ribbons still lingered in the air. They drifted toward one another, merging into a single form—an ornate object that looked at once like a dagger and a key.
It descended slowly into Ophis's waiting hands.
"What is this?"
Only then did Enkidu stir from her daze, her voice quiet and uncertain.
Ophis shook her head and began walking slowly toward the direction Humbaba had blocked moments earlier—the path that one of her magic cannons would have obliterated.
Scratching her head, Enkidu prepared to follow, but Ophis suddenly stopped and turned back.
"I don't fully understand yet," she said quietly. "However… since studying magecraft, my intuition has sharpened at times."
"Eh?"
Enkidu paused mid-step.
"So—beyond here… Enkidu shouldn't continue."
With that, Ophis turned again and walked toward the forest.
"I already know that…" Enkidu murmured bitterly. "Yet, some things must still be faced…"
And so, she followed anyway.
They walked in silence. The path stretched on—first through nearly a kilometer of churned, battle-scarred earth, then several more kilometers of forest.
At last, the landscape opened into a place completely unlike the rest of the wilds: a vast flower garden, blanketed in countless tiny blue and white blossoms.
Planned pathways wound neatly through the beds, and faint signs of recent care remained. Every bloom stood healthy and tended, proof that someone had been nurturing this place all along.
Enkidu's eyes swept the garden. She recognized certain flowers that shouldn't have been able to grow here. This land had been altered—reshaped so these impossible blossoms could thrive.
Without pausing to admire the sight, Ophis stepped onto the marked path.
Only at the mouth of a cave did she stop.
There, placed deliberately on a patch of soft grass—as though to ensure they wouldn't be missed—lay two flower crowns woven from fresh blossoms, carefully stacked together.
The flowers were still brimming with life energy. Whether they'd been freshly made or somehow preserved, Ophis couldn't tell.
She only stared at them in silence.
Behind her, Enkidu finally caught up.
Unlike Ophis, she had frozen upon seeing the flower garden, standing motionless for some time before finding the strength to move again.
Her body of earth knew no fatigue, yet her spirit was worn thin—exhausted by grief upon grief.
She knelt beside the crowns, gently lifting them with trembling hands.
"Haha…" she breathed softly.
"How strange… Why would there be two flower crowns here?"
She smiled as she asked, the same warm smile that always brought comfort.
Ophis said nothing.
That gentle smile—usually serene—was now paired with endless tears, making it almost unbearable to watch.
Why did she smile even through such pain?
Was it to reassure her?
But such a smile… Ophis didn't want it at all.
Her fists clenched tight.
Thud!
A heavy sound broke the quiet.
Enkidu looked up to see Ophis setting down a massive stone slab she'd produced from who-knew-where. Gathering mana at her fingertips, Ophis began carving into its surface.
When she stepped back, words etched in Uruk's script glowed faintly on the stone:
───"Grave of Humbaba."
"Enkidu, come here."
Ophis beckoned softly.
Enkidu blinked, then let out a quiet, wistful laugh.
...Truly—so clumsily adorable.
Of the two flower crowns, one was placed atop the stone slab, the other upon Enkidu's head.
If done this way… surely the bond they'd woven would endure.
Surely.