The fist that had regained human constitution—flesh, blood, and bone in three thirds—collided with the divine yellow barrier covering Rey instead of striking the original user. After feeling his bones break and his flesh evaporate upon contact with the divine barrier, Gilgamesh recoiled toward the ground, astonishment on his face.
Because the sword impaling Rey was part of "Shamash," it also vanished when Rey canceled the magic words that invoked god-grade strength and wonders. As he fell through the air and before he lost consciousness, the young man's heart regenerated just enough for him to keep going. The defensive barrier covering him disappeared as soon as Gilgamesh got far enough away.
"Shamash! Shamash!" the sovereign of humans announced without success. "Marduk… An!"
With the last word, the glorious golden barrier appeared around him, giving him enough confidence to attack again.
"De-An," Rey said, making Gilgamesh's barrier disappear and allowing him to strike with a closed fist.
The force of Rey's blow was so violent that, for the first time, he managed to send Gilgamesh's body flying backward.
Amazed by the sensation of having lost three of his best powers, the god of humans regained control of his body quickly enough to plant the tips of his feet on the wall he was about to crash into and fully absorb the impact, preventing him from slamming onto his back or taking damage.
"The real fight begins now," Rey added, standing in the middle of the arena. Then he thought, I have to pressure him to weaken his protections so I can decode them. The last three aren't attacks—they're permanent defenses. I don't think I heard him mention their names.
He used—and then deactivated—my 'An,' just like he did with the other three attack blessings, Gilgamesh thought. Magnificent. In the worst circumstances you still manage to surprise me. I still have the protection of 'Nana,' 'Istar,' and 'Enlil.' I don't need Enki's intelligence to recognize he can't use my powers unless he's close to me. Something tells me that as long as he doesn't know the names, he won't be able to use my powers or deactivate them—but this feeling isn't good. My intuition screams it's a battle of time, and he has other ways to deactivate my immortality. Maybe I should stop being blind and accept him.
Before Gilgamesh's eyes, Rey cut the palms of his hands with the edge of the forearm blades he had summoned. The bleeding worsened from the pressure of his fingers against the wounds, and then he let a heavy stream of liquid spill over his weapons.
Gilgamesh prepared to be attacked when he noticed something strange. The weapons his opponent had made disappear at the start of the fight were now visible again, and once bathed in blood, they began to give off an unmatched glow.
Those weapons are designed for defense, Gilgamesh thought. That he's choosing to attack me with them now, after the fight has started, is something I truly need to watch out for. Then he shouted, "Are you blinded by the urge to win—do you really want to kill me?!"
Rey heard his opponent's exclamation and replied:
"I want to win, and this is the part where I fight with all my power. It's time to see how flexible your immortality is."
Warriors like this young man—worthy of being my cherished friend—can keep themselves alive because they don't underestimate their opponents, Gilgamesh thought. Even in the harshness of these circumstances, he keeps running into convenient, lucky moments—enough to stay alive and even have control, though I've stopped counting the rounds. From the start, he knew he was in my world and made me his prey… he didn't ignore me, but he also didn't come looking for me. He simply waited until I cornered him. Carefully, he's been watching me, searching for my weak points, and when he finally has the knowledge, he attacks with the intention to kill. But of course—defending is always easier than winning. After all, you and I are the same: two heroes fighting epically.
Gilgamesh didn't notice a shadow appear at his side. By reflex, he shifted to exactly the right spot where he wouldn't be intercepted by the edge of his enemy's blades—something that made him step back and move, seizing one of the shields and a sword lying in the arena to block and counterattack.
I can't properly feel the vibrations of his power cores. My own chakras are blocking even more, and my energy is being drained far harder than normal, Rey thought as he fell to the ground and still tried to maintain the same ferocity he'd shown at the beginning—drawing an unmistakable smile of relief from his opponent.
Without needing to be aware of his surroundings, Gilgamesh moved—and every time he stretched out his hand, conveniently there was a sword or a weapon capable of defending him from the next attack. Even the stones falling from the ceiling landed on the "fallen from the sky"'s head, not to mention some human would appear and try to fire a weapon at the young man. Regaining the advantage, Gilgamesh began to throw blows, kicks, and punches as he silently closed in on the body of the youth with half-lidded white eyes.
Little by little, the blood beginning to disperse through the air belonged to Rey. The sword's edge became a cruel executioner against his bestialized skin, despite how resistant it had been in the first exchanges. Of course, the places where Gilgamesh's sword struck were already close to giving way from earlier damage.
Trying to stabilize the balance, Rey shifted his stance back and began dodging his opponent's attacks, not paying attention to what might happen around him. Focused on Gilgamesh's behavior, Rey could interpret that for this man, being a hero meant having the chance to protect and to win. As long as he protected himself, he would win at the end of the fight.
Gilgamesh also jumped, intending to retake the air and assess the superficial cuts he'd received. He was in a state where he could ignore pain, and even though his sword-fighting moves wouldn't even rank in the first classification tier of martial sword arts, he was beating someone of advanced rank. Still, that wasn't enough reason to let his guard down and stop being cautious.
The sovereign of humans began to look worried despite winning, because the fight dragged on longer and longer.
Even though I'm fighting a sorcerer, there are reasons he still hasn't done the same move that pulverized the subjugators in the arena—and if I lose my luck, those conditions could manifest. Also, sorcerers are notorious for being sore losers; before dying he might curse me with some malicious, vengeful magic. I'm far from winning easily the way I thought I would from the beginning. If he refuses my friendship, the moment I defeat him I'll have to kill him, and the only way is by making his head disappear—but I don't think I'll have to go that far, because after all, he will be my friend.
In the brief breath he got, Rey was able to momentarily clear his chakras and cast: "Lightning impact."
After drawing his conclusions, Rey created an illusion of himself, allowing him to fall back and crouch on the ground out of his opponent's sight. Having decided to push his body's limits even further to keep pressing his opponent's luck, Rey prioritized mobility and muscle strength, greatly increasing his speed and circling the field to slip out of his enemy's vision—then appear behind him.
Gilgamesh noticed his opponent was casting, which made him shift position so he wouldn't be an easy target.
Flashing like a spark and as fast as light, the electric bolt manifested at the voice and hands of the young hybrid's copy. The blinding glare of electricity didn't strike Gilgamesh, because lightning doesn't always travel straight like a bullet—unless it has an opposite charge target to hit properly. But luck had little room when the events were well calculated. Rey's original body was right behind Gilgamesh, so close that he laid the palm of his hand on his opponent's back.
Gilgamesh didn't even have time to look back before a lightning flash shot past him and connected specifically with the young hybrid, who—through the conductivity of his body—returned it and made it pass through Gilgamesh from side to side. The champion of humanity's undefeated fights looked down, witnessing how his chest and stomach had ended up packed with flames that were still consuming the charred flesh of his skin.
Even though luck, chance, and possibility didn't align cleanly with the calculations, Gilgamesh's heart kept beating—while Rey's beat wildly fast, faster than he'd ever felt it.
Gilgamesh lost control of his legs, dropped to his knees on the ground with his mouth open, and felt pain surge through every tiny cell inside him. The fallen from the sky also created distance.
"The outcome of this battle doesn't have to end with one of us dying… my dear friend," Gilgamesh said, then spread a wide smile. "You are worthy and perfect for being who you are to me—and for fulfilling the purpose you were sent for. Maybe I've realized a little late that I can't defeat you without having to kill you, but I hope you won't pay attention to petty squabbles like this. Join me. Be my ally, and we'll conquer the universe together!"
Rey perceived time in slow motion. He chose to inhale deeply through his nose and release all the air through his mouth as if blowing through a tiny opening, intending to use vagal maneuvers to slow his heartbeat. Even so, his heart wasn't the only thing that had suffered: The flesh on my left hand is so charred I can't even feel it—better to tear it off so I can generate more. On the other hand… did he call me friend?
"So I take it that alliance comes with conditions?" Rey asked aloud.
"They're not conditions…" Gilgamesh said. "As you can see, for a tree to grow large, splendid, magnificent like no other, it has to be surrounded by the proper environment. The death of those humans was nothing more than my way of telling you something. I know you understand: on the path to success, the weak will only slow you down, make you feel guilty, and become a burden you'll have to cast off. Let me, as your friend, solve your problem—just as you solved mine."
Trying to catch his breath and process his opponent's words, Rey reached the heart of it just as he sensed his brothers, the two girls, and Lía appear through the same door he had come out of.
"What are you doing here?!" Rey asked, unable to hide his agitation and anger, because the last time his brothers had helped him in a confrontation, things hadn't gone the way he'd planned.
"Following her," Dante replied, eyeing Gilgamesh with defiant eyes.
It was obvious to Rey that Lía was the kind of person who would risk her life without thinking twice; maybe that was why she'd run out to help him. Meanwhile, his brothers were sure they could win against a weakened enemy.
The doctor—aware of how far her patient and beloved's illness had advanced—ran toward the boy she worried about as fast as she could. She hugged Rey, and just before kissing him, she cut her tongue with the edge of one of her fangs to make it bleed, so she could give that liquid to her beloved—while receiving the pleasure their reunion had promised.
In the middle of a fight, what are you doing? Rey wondered, and then he realized Román and Heliúk weren't there. Makes sense. I'm on the brink of death. I still have the hole in my chest, a burned arm, and several broken bones… there's no way for them to know the fight can continue, that this wasn't the final blow.
For a few seconds—maybe because his heartbeat was returning to normal—Rey looked as if his body was losing control, even though he felt the shock and couldn't even open his eyes to blink. Slipping back into his subconscious in the middle of a battle wasn't usual. He lifted his gaze toward the flame of will and, gritting his teeth, ignited his power in fury. He had to regain control of his body, impose himself on the situation—especially when Gilgamesh had made him a proposal his honor would never accept.
"Silence is consent," Gilgamesh said as he rose from the ground. ("Quien no dice nada, con el silencio botarga.")
Rey moved the fingers of his hand, slowly regained mobility, and forced his body to answer the intentions of his blazing heart. The moment his vision focused enough to recognize the vampire's face, he heard her let out a moan as she trembled.
Lía's mouth flooded with far more blood. Breaths were stolen by absence. Only a pained moan was silenced by the girl's decision.
"You promised you wouldn't mind if I were selfish…" were the words written in the vampire's blue eyes—ready to show her love and die loving.
As the seconds passed, the fallen from the sky became more aware of what was happening, perhaps thanks to the blood he was consuming, which—through his vampire condition—was returning part of the energy he'd lost in the fight. Along with the energy, life returned: strength in his muscles, healing for broken bones, missing flesh. His senses picked up the sounds and sensations ruling the space—the gunshots from Jhades, Dante's slashes and frantic shouts, the smell of more familiar blood, and finally the energy of death imposing itself over everything.
The owner of the white eyes began to tremble as his view of the world returned to normal. Then he slowly separated from the person who no longer held him tightly, and he saw the vampire's dull, lifeless gaze. More shots followed, more screams, blood, and energy. Denying it again and again, Rey tried desperately to hold the limp body collapsing into his arms. His hands were shaking, soaked with moisture that seeped into his beloved's clothes and spread like an unstoppable current as he held the vampire's body.
What was the point of refusing to accept what was happening? Another life had been lost.
"Aww!" the young man screamed, literally brought back to life as he tore his vocal cords.
Rey slowly laid his beloved's body on the ground, and then a stone struck him in the head. Though the blow opened a new wound and sent a stream of blood flowing, it wasn't enough to pull his attention away.
Focused on not losing his beloved, Rey tore open the veins in his wrist to let blood drip into the doctor's mouth—the one who had helped and guided him so much in her time. The same one he had promised and sworn to protect arrogantly when the sovereign of the planet's name had first been mentioned.
The fight between the two brothers and Gilgamesh had turned into a massacre at the sovereign's hands. Jhades could barely keep up with the speed and strength of the arrogantly built man, and he was uncomfortable with his brother's irresponsible behavior—his defenses were down.
Darting from side to side with hurried movements and firing repeated bursts of bullets through the darkness he had created, the vampire scolded Rey, trying to bring him to his senses and get him back on his feet to fight, because what had happened had no other solution. Dante tried to get up from the ground, but he could do nothing but drag himself along with his hands—his spine had been split in two. And while Gilgamesh paid him no attention, the werewolf kept transforming and un-transforming his body again and again to realign the vertebrae in his back and regain the sensation of movement.
"Everything's going to be fine…" Rey said softly, trying not to relive scenes from the past. "Listen to me, Lía—don't stop looking at me. Drink my blood. It'll make your wounds recover. You're a vampire; with you this works, doesn't it?"
He clenched his teeth so hard they ground together, because he couldn't say anything else. The tears that escaped uncontrollably from his two white eyes—adorned by an infinite pentagram within—perfectly exposed the feelings of pain, sadness, and helplessness.
Lía raised her hand, rubbed Rey's face, wiped away much of his tears, and in weak words added:
"I'm glad I made it in time, but with this I won't stand in your way anymore. Don't waste your blood. At this point I'm not capable of doing what you do. My father was a just man I always admired, and I remember him for taking care of me. So much time has passed that I don't even remember his face, his voice—but I do remember his scent…"
"Don't talk, please," the boy pleaded, becoming aware once again that his power and strength endangered those around him.
"My father smelled like you," the vampire continued in agony. "You're like him. Maybe that's why my body chose you and my selfishness grew so strong. My intention was to make you love me—to make you fall desperately in love with me… just so I could reach this moment of giving my life for you, before your eyes."
"Just drink my blood—don't talk, please. You're breaking even more…" Rey interrupted again.
"No one knows this, but my mother didn't have the same scent as I do. In part, I'm also an unwanted daughter. That made me perfect for being with you. I would've wanted to be your companion in life and watch you grow, age, and die at your side. Too bad this rushed ending happened where I have to leave you—but don't think I'm giving up. I'm asking you not to waste my death. Devour my body, chew my bones, and take my blood so you become the warrior who will be victorious in this battle. Forget my selfish order not to kill and become the greatest. Kill Gilgamesh, everyone who follows him or stands in your way. Don't let those who have lived off our name stop dying, and make them burn in the cauldrons of a thousand hells. Use any means within your reach—grant an eclipse worthy of this moon many call sun."
With the final breath of the aching girl, the life in those blue eyes left as well.
"Will you always wonder whether you made the best decision? Oh, my soulmate!" Gilgamesh bellowed as he tore Jhades's heart out. "You'll think you're betraying them, but you aren't. They betrayed you by failing to survive and surrendering to death before you. Show loyalty to someone who will never leave you. Stay here and join me—to make this moon shine brighter than ever."
Rey heard Gilgamesh's voice as clearly and loudly as the vampire's last words. The flame inside him was shrinking considerably—just as the light of life that had illuminated his beloved's expressions was fading.
"Lía? Can you hear me?" Rey asked, ignoring Gilgamesh. "No—don't stop talking, I'm still here. I promised you everything would be fine. Lía! You can't die and leave me with all these feelings I have for you."
The world's chaos was muted by the young man's senses; he focused only on the body in front of him. After reliving memories of the past, the vampire wasn't entirely wrong. If her wish was to be devoured, maybe he could bring her back to life in the future by practicing his necromantic abilities—abilities he'd had to use because White had made him understand there was no need to waste the sacrifice of a noble being. But that wasn't the case: Lía wasn't noble, because she desired the deaths of hundreds of thousands of humans.
"Why? Why can't I, even if I want to? When I have you in my hands, I lean over your body, press the flesh of your delicate face to my mouth—I only want to fix you, I want to bring you back to life."
"I want the scent of your neck stamped into my nose…"
"I want part of your flesh and blood in my stomach. I feel like I have to do something so I don't keep drifting away from you, the same way I feel like I want to defeat that wretch."
"Even if I have you inside me, this infernal distance is killing me—this distance that, no matter how hard I try, I can't understand. I want to fix you even more, but I also feel guilty for not being able to turn time back. We didn't have to come to this. I want to find a way to truly touch your body. Don't abandon me like this, Lía! What do I have to do to bring your gaze back to normal? It's your gaze—those eyes are what put the distance between us, those eyes that seem not to be looking at this world anymore… Lía, come back with me, please—I'm begging you."
Rey swallowed the last bite, and inside the microworld the doors of nothingness located within him began to open little by little, while the host known as Ranger danced from side to side in happiness.
Meanwhile, White writhed on the ground, shocked, because he felt the same suffering and sorrows as the young man he served. He began to speed up his breathing and to understand what his companion could be forced to endure when he lost someone so close—someone who had domesticated him.
"Why are you so happy?" the ligre asked the host, irritated by someone else's joy and eager to pick a fight.
Ranger was so enthralled he couldn't hide it. "Guilt, regret, duty, and obligation are very conflicting emotions—not to mention Rey has just lost a reason to keep living and fighting." In a soft, relaxed tone, he explained to the ligre, "Emotions are powerful factors that determine someone's existence in life. Your connection to reality has just been restored—don't you want to go out?"
After hearing the host's words, White impatiently left Rey's interior and revealed his true form outside, which caused shock. The situation was extremely tense, because Rey's companion had become an enormous, terrifying beast.
Rey was on all fours. He had black fur with white stripes. His head remained lowered, his muzzle resting on the bloodstain left by the vampire's body. White recognized his father—his precious companion and savior—but he couldn't say anything, because the beast he was looking at was nearly three times his size and had human features that looked deformed and grotesque.
Rey showed beastly limbs wreathed in black flames, dark violet skin between the thick fur covering him, and luminous, sharp white eyes. His fangs reached all the way to his jaw if he opened his mouth. He had werewolf claws that increased in size, and he emanated a cold, eerie energy.
With Rey's transformation, one of the many conditional spells he carried in his body activated, making the planet's inhabitants able to hear his furious voice:
"Whether you're innocent or guilty, do whatever is necessary to save yourself. Between my enemy and me—between the sky and the earth of this moon they call sun—there will be storm, destruction, devastation, and death."
Suddenly, Rey stopped speaking to vomit up a still-beating heart that his digestive system had been unable to consume.
With a carefree smile, the closed-eyed man known as Ranger appeared before the halted time Rey perceived, urgently intent on speaking to him:
"That's what you're seeing—her heart. Yes, Lía's heart was still alive when she died in your hands. If you're looking for a way to make your body accept her, not everything is over." With trembling hands, Rey tried to hold the organ, but couldn't bring himself to—not for fear of dropping it, but for fear of changing it, because he had become a beast designed to harm. "Rey, why wasn't a vampire's heart tolerated by your body, which shares the same traits?" Ranger asked. "Your body detects it as an invasive organism. Yes, vampires have an enormous survival instinct. Not everyone knows how to effectively kill the descendants of Lilith, the first primordial spirit of cold air. Even if you cut off their heads, dismember them, burn them, or bury them, they won't die if their hearts aren't destroyed."
"Say whatever is necessary…" Rey demanded through clenched teeth, because he didn't have much time.
"Once the functioning of their organs and brain is fully paralyzed, vampires preserve their hearts to save themselves. In other words, while this species' heart remains intact, they can be reborn. In the times I lived, there were many stories and legends of people who ate hearts that were underground, surrounded by bones, and stopped being who they were. Take that heart and put it into your body somehow—only then will this organ become a parasite without being rejected by your organism, and it will allow her to be born again."
Does that come with consequences? That was what Rey wanted to ask, but he couldn't forget he was in battle, and refusing risks wasn't part of winning. Besides, the host who called himself Ranger had given reliable information so far. And Rey wanted to save Lía by whatever means were possible.
He extinguished the flames on his right hand and took the organ as delicately as his claws could manage.
In Ranger's presence, the foreign blood made the organ react: the veins behaved like tentacles whose sole purpose was to suck the liquid from the hand holding it.
Gilgamesh felt disappointed hearing the declaration of war after seeing his opponent transform into something that promised terror and calamity for the place. After trying to end the lives of those who had interfered in the fight, the champion of humanity's undefeated battles felt he needed to hurry and deliver the finishing blow to his soulmate, who was taking a bad path.
After leaving Jhades barely alive, the sovereign of humans positioned his fist—like an executioner's guillotine—and came close enough to end the crouched young man in a single blow, distracted and paying more attention to a heart than to the fight.
The host's eager smile vanished when he heard Rey open his mouth and align his chakras. With that surge of energy, the presence faded—and Gilgamesh was forced to collide with a force never before seen.
"Ancients, Antiblicals," the young man cast, staring at the restless organ in his hand. "With a strong and resolute voice, I summon you!"
In the present, on the front line, the twelve elemental lords appeared—tasked with controlling the elements as primordial pillars of everything—within the world of the summoned, in the book created by the goddess Athena.
Behind the twelve gigantic warriors were innumerable creatures that had reduced their size to fit into a place almost as tight as the smallest of the entities would be at its natural scale. Behind them all, coiling around them, was a colossal serpent with draconic traits, so large it had managed to bite its own tail. The serpent was lifted by the twelve elemental lords and the other creatures present, which meant the universe's natural laws were being altered.
After shattering the boundary between the possible and the impossible for a limited period, Rey raised his voice:
"I address you," the young man said, speaking to the countless presences within the book Sanctuary of Athena, who were interested in hearing him. "Alongside my presence, I demand hers, and in her presence I make known the anguish her absence leaves me. At this moment I am helpless before death. Before my eyes, mind, heart, and soul, I declare her innocent. I summon her powers so they may permeate this organ, so it can become refuge and be part of my body until she fully recovers. Only then will she be blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh."
The champion of undefeated fights and sovereign of humans did everything he could to destroy what stood in front of him. He felt invincible as long as he could demonstrate his power. On the other hand, he felt somewhat relieved, because the sorcerer's measurement—his opponent's grand display—was not in his name nor dedicated to him, which had worried him from the start.
Inside the dome, silence took hold and the atmosphere became heavier. Words were spoken that only Rey—the one who had cast—could hear.
"You're sick," a deep, powerful voice roared, belonging to the Lord of Fire: a giant who became a sun wherever he stood and represented those who kept silent—except for the dragons, because those had to be restrained by the others to keep them still. "In the middle of a battle, with the heart of a vampire in your hand, you dare to summon every last member of a book you didn't even create. What insolence, arrogance, and hubris from a sorcerer. And all for love?! We'll support you—not because it's hard, but because all of us will want something in return."
Rey nodded.
"The organ in your hands will feed on so many energies it will be impossible for it to identify yours. That will shape it and develop it until it decides to be reborn," the Lord of Fire assured him. "What we want in return—besides your energy and vital force—can only be paid with an offering that satisfies the needs of those present. Whoever remains unsatisfied will be your curse. The time won't be much, but it will be enough for you to think about what you're going to offer us."
Ranger cursed and called it a needless waste of resources, but he could only watch as the pulsing organ was flooded by more than a thousand different colors and energies that formed letters and figures that meant something. With that, the heart calmed its thirst and restlessness—and Rey, without lowering his gaze or showing regret, inserted the organ into himself after opening a wound with his hand in the right oblique of his abdominal cavity.
In a place made only of the metal of dead bodies, there was a board with three colors. This table represented what existed beneath that world and was carefully studied by a creature with fire blood. The strange, flashing being—without a face, fingers, limbs, or any visible body silhouette—stood upon a gigantic platform made of even more squares.
In Lía's very voice, the strange creature spoke in a completely different language, though its tone was warm and faint. At the same time, it lifted a piece bearing Rey's same features. "I sense your voice differently… could it be the voice of your heart? Yes, that's the one speaking. I've never felt you speak that way. You walk beside her… Sigh-ains! The system finds no anomalies in your composition, though it keeps searching tirelessly and working harder than it should. After all, you're becoming more interesting. I'm afraid I'll have to follow you closely… I hope you're able to hear me."
As soon as the entity finished speaking to itself, it returned the piece to its original place, then watched other notable pieces appear.
Gilgamesh—recently repelled by an overwhelming force—kept his eyes wide open, unwilling to be taken by surprise by an unexpected attack. He felt dissatisfaction begin to seep into his movements, because on camera he hadn't been able to demonstrate his strength by shattering what had been created before him with a single punch. The uncertainty of what was happening with his soulmate was maddening. He couldn't deny that if the innumerable creatures that had appeared were to curse his empire—or him—everything would be lost, and the entire moon would be swallowed by a pack of hungry atrocities thirsting for destruction, whose very purpose was to bring about the end of times until no trace of any existence remained.
As soon as the moment arrived, the powerful energies of fearsome summons dispersed into the air. Gilgamesh swallowed hard, then touched his body with his right hand, eyes wide as he looked from side to side. The sovereign of humans realized neither he nor his empire had been cursed—nor had his opponent. He remembered witnessing how the sorcerer who had granted him immortality along with six other blessings perished before his eyes, struck down by a curse unleashed as a side effect when he tried to bestow an eighth blessing and couldn't. This moment wasn't like he remembered it—maybe because he was lucky, as he had been in the past.
"So then, my dear friend—have you changed your mind?" Gilgamesh asked, hoping to hear his opponent say yes. "Since you didn't use the spell to curse or attack, I could assume you want to be my friend…"
The sovereign of humans lifted his gaze and watched as his soulmate rose—still bestial—forcing the wound at his side, near his heart, to close. He came to a conclusion: the priestess from the temple of amorous arts that Román had assigned him was a vampire. Rey had summoned a calamity, and now her heart was gone. To Gilgamesh, that meant discovering that this man would rather cling with tooth and nail to the lives of useless beings than value his friendship.
The hands that had once seemed receptive were now inspiring rejection.
"Don't you understand?! You fool!" Gilgamesh shouted.
Meanwhile, Rey could feel what it meant to carry the curse imposed by the creatures that made up the summoning book he had stolen from his master. He was sure that when the curse activated, his life would collapse in the blink of an eye—but he didn't believe it was dangerous, because the situation was under his control. And he could also feel the new organ's heartbeat in his abdomen, which meant Lía now lived inside him.
Ignoring his enemy's accusations, Rey vanished from where he stood.
Gilgamesh grew even more irritated. He raised his guard and took special care to protect his back, because he had the feeling his enemy would do anything to win. To him, protecting his blind spot was the best decision; it would prevent any lethal strike. But his intuition failed him.
Rey appeared directly in front of him and threw a violent punch that landed full on his face—turned toward the opposite side.
Gilgamesh's jaw fractured and split into ten pieces, while several molars and teeth were dislodged. His colossal body, like a wild bull's, was knocked away like a rubber ball each time the young man vanished.
Rey kept the momentum of that first strike, flowing through fine, well-developed transitions—movements only someone who mastered martial arts could execute.
After a series of blows he couldn't stop, Gilgamesh crashed into one of the walls forming the arena. The same thing happened to him—these are my movements in the art of fighting! he told himself, as if realizing something obvious. The instant he could move, he crossed his arms to shield himself from the next hit.
Sure enough, Rey reappeared exactly where his opponent expected him—but struck with far more violence and far more reckless expenditure of energy than Gilgamesh had ever managed. So much so that if the impact had landed cleanly, the sovereign of humans would have lost his entire chest cavity—ribs, lungs, and heart included.
By sacrificing the bones of his arms, Gilgamesh managed to take the blow and survive by a miracle, at the cost of being hurled through eight consecutive walls.
"You've piled up empty victories and graceless movements. You can't keep your speed if you're going to hit," Rey said aloud, pursuing his opponent at a slow walk. "And you can't keep your strength if you plan to move fast. For an undefeated champion of battles, you've managed very well—but it's all been thanks to the three blessings you still have active. I hope you learned how to strike efficiently. After all, it's worthless to copy someone's fighting style if you don't have the ability to improve and refine the movements until they connect with each other—smoothly."
Down in the place's dungeons, Gilgamesh got to his feet and threw a punch at his opponent. Like someone who had just regained his balance, the man with Sumerian skin swung at the grotesque face of his opponent—but Rey remained standing as if nothing had happened, regretting that he'd tried to educate him at all.
"Your body?!" Gilgamesh said bitterly, realizing the solidity he'd struck was incomparable. "In that last spell you did—did you summon the power of all those beasts into yourself, and that's why you're so strong and powerful… that you want to be my friend and you want to surrender in this fight against me. Tell me!"
Ignoring his opponent's words—and despite being larger—Rey, in a single instant, grabbed Gilgamesh by the throat and hoisted him up, choking him with the crushing grip of his right hand, lifting him high.
Kicking and twisting his head, Gilgamesh fought for air, his face filling with dying expressions—hard to imagine on someone so haughty and proud. To turn the situation, Gilgamesh decided to drive the bones protruding from his forearm into the sharp eyes that stared him down with such confident judgment.
"Have you considered the possibility that maybe your blessings are weakening?" Rey added, pressing his face closer to the hands of flesh and splintered bone that tried to gouge his eyes but couldn't for lack of strength and leverage.
"Im-poss-i-ble!" Gilgamesh rasped, guttural sounds spilling out as his gaze went blank.
To the sovereign of undefeated battles, the bestialized youth's words made no sense—his blessings had never lost strength. At least, he didn't remember it, nor had he written it into his books of epic battles, where he was the hero who made and unmade the world no matter who stood in his way. Yet this was the first time four of his most powerful blessings had been neutralized by a sorcerer who had heard the names—the keys to the power he had to speak in order to be vigorous, intelligent, agile, and even stronger.
"Ahhh! Now I know what you want to hear from me," Rey announced as he leaned toward his opponent. "Who said I wanted to be your friend? Who put that stupidity in your head? Don't you see we're enemies?"
And my dream? The one my mother showed me—stars, sky and lights, stones… and my friend, Gilgamesh thought, refusing to believe what he was being asked as he felt the distinctive pain of metal rods driven into his back—rods used in the construction of a solid, lasting wall.
With the movement, one of those iron bars fell to the ground, producing a tinkling sound and splashing blood everywhere. Along with that sound, Rey's words began to make more sense to Gilgamesh's ears. What if my magic powers really are weakening? he thought. After all, in the past—after my body smashed through countless walls, buildings, and columns—there was no reason to end up like this. If he isn't my long-awaited soulmate and Román didn't want to speak… then it won't be my will being carried out anymore, but someone else's.
Without oxygen reaching his brain properly, Gilgamesh couldn't keep thinking clearly, and when he was on the verge of dying from asphyxiation—combined with the effects of immortality—the surface of the moon began to tremble as if it were splitting into four.
The ground of the entire lunar sphere was shaking because Gilgamesh was dying and reviving. At that, Rey hurled the agonizing body through the air like a ball launched by the strongest batter.
On a diagonal arc, the great, solid body of the sovereign of humans was able to breathe again and crashed through more ceilings, out through the coliseum stands, until he finally slammed into the arena.
"Rey, Dragon Slayer," the vampire cast, his voice neither shaking nor thinning, after spitting out a great quantity of blood he had accumulated from using so much power and could no longer keep down.
Along with the radiation-poisoned blood splattering onto the ground, the roar and presence of a beast re-emerging made the place keep trembling, even though the moon-sphere's convulsions had already stopped. In the midst of wrath, the enraged animal looked up through a hole in the ceiling and, on the other side, found a target for its fury. Without looking back, the blazing red dragon spread its wings and shot toward Gilgamesh with its mouth open, unleashing a breath of fire capable of blanketing the ceiling, then pouring down the walls to cover the entire stadium—incinerating the humans present and turning the arena to glass.
In the middle of the destructive event, both Jhades and Dante were forced to react quickly, grab their girls, and seek shelter before becoming victims of the infernal flames swallowing the site.
"This place is about to be destroyed," Jhades said, stunned by the power his brother was showing. He was glad to know Rey had won the battle against the one who had left him wounded.
"What about the other prisoners?" Daniela asked, worried.
Jhades brought a hand to his face and, inside himself, denied it as many times as he could.
"The other prisoners?" Marín echoed, shaken, as the situation felt like a domino effect. "We have to rescue them before they're buried under the rubble."
Still aching from the beating Gilgamesh had given him, Dante fell silent in thought, then—seeing the determination on his partner's face—added:
"You can lead the way."
If there was a chance to clean up his image in front of those he wanted, it was here—he only needed to save some people. For the werewolf, that feat couldn't fail; after all, he'd done it once already and everyone had praised him for it.
Because the searing fire was burning his skin and suffocating him again, Gilgamesh screamed with all his strength, covering his face. Overwhelmed by the indescribable pain of the flames and pressed against the ceiling by the torrent of fire, the sovereign of humans saw no way out but to endure as long as he could—or until his opponent made a mistake.
As soon as the blast of fire ceased, the scaled beast—summoned in its complete form—rose from the ground and appeared among the stands, bigger and more imposing than ever. After beating its wings in fury, the creature propelled itself like a bullet to strike its target with the horn protruding from its snout and injure him before he hit the ground. The dragon hurried to breathe, because it had expelled everything it had inside and needed another gulp of air to keep spewing fire.
The impact Gilgamesh took wasn't strong enough to pierce clean through him, but the beast did manage to send him crashing through the coliseum roof, even though it was made from an alloy of gold, diamonds, and other precious materials—so hard only gods had the power to shape it.
In the air, beneath a sky crowded with ships trying to flee into space, the first hero in history was devoured by the jaws of a blazing red dragon.
With a roar that announced the end of peaceful times, the winged beast rose into the sky from a golden orb—a jewel floating in space. To it, that treasure was contaminated. With its burning yellow eyes, the second thing it saw were humans trying to escape, trying to run for their lives—existences whose presence made it relive a past filled with hatred, resentment, and rage. Chest puffed high, the creature roared, shaking the world, and spewed another beam of fire from its mouth. Furious, the instant it finished the second breath of flame, it inhaled again to fire a third—sending its burning breath as far as its eyes could see—and a fourth as close as its neck allowed it to lower. This caused the destruction of a place that looked golden and civilized.
Explosions, buildings collapsing in the distance, and people screaming in terror weren't enough to satisfy the scaled creature, whose only intention was to cause as much destruction as possible before vanishing. Frustrated that it couldn't cause more, the yellow-eyed dragon disappeared and returned to the moon what it had held in its stomach of molten lava.
As it flew through the skies once more, it found Gilgamesh again—burned so badly that part of his skin had melted down to the bone. And beyond that, for a fleeting moment, he watched the empire he'd built succumb to the flames of a summoned beast, forcing him to remember the vivid images of the dream he had once had.
In order to draw even closer to the fruit of his creation, the sovereign of humans spat blood from his mouth—and from the hole in his stomach—his eyes gone distant. In one last surge of arrogance, from the air he decided not to keep waiting for the moment his opponent lowered his guard again, so he unleashed his energy, accelerating his human body's healing process to its limit. After restoring most of his wounds and broken bones, Gilgamesh tried to lessen the next impact stalking him. But unfortunately, it wouldn't be gravity that struck him—it would be his newly declared enemy, officially.
Rey was determined not to let his opponent touch the ground again. With the dragon gone, he leapt with all his strength until he shattered the structure of the floor beneath his feet. As he rose, the bestialized youth aimed the palms of his hands at his opponent's body and began to gather energy.
"This is my strongest attack," Rey thought as he felt the wind's breeze and remembered his earlier fight against Yacer. "I failed the last time I used this move—I can't afford to miss again."
"Step into endless destruction… first touch."