Defying Truth

Feeling Samael in his hand, Gilgamesh instantly channeled spiritual power into it.

'You're back!' Samael's voice reached his mind.

'I am. Tell me what happened to you. Was it the beast's power?' 

'I... I don't know. It didn't feel like the power belonged to the beast, but it enacted his will. I don't understand it, but it feels vaguely similar to my own power.'

Gilgamesh nodded, and an understanding began to surface in his mind. He did not know anything for sure, but his hunch was beginning to seem all the more likely.

"I can't wake the others," Verdant said from the side.

As Gilgamesh glanced over at them and frowned, the Beast's slow voice made its way to his ears.

"You should be dead. The power of Truth itself has passed through you, and yet you live?"

Then, it's disgusting head turned to stare blankly at Verdant.

"You. What did you do? You will tell me the truth!"

Before either Gilgamesh or Verdant could react, more shards of green light came racing from the direction of the glowing ore of the crater. Before long, Verdant was encapsulated within the light, before it quickly shattered and faded.

Verdant's facial expressions suddenly began to betray an intense internal struggle, and he opened his mouth with great resistance before saying in a bland voice, "I used the power of Truth present within this room to reverse your actions."

Both Gilgamesh and Verdant looked to the Beast, and saw it start to tremble.

"My power... You used my power!?"

It's body writhed as it thrashed and bashed about, all the while it shouted, "My power! My power! Mine! Mine! Mine!"

"So it is the power of Truth," Gilgamesh spoke out loud what he was thinking, and looked down at his sword.

"Yes," Verdant replied. "It used the power of truth to kill you all."

"You were unaffected?"

Before Verdant could respond, the Beast roared and lunged at Verdant with its massive body. Since this was not an attack reliant on the power of truth, they both could react and easily evaded.

"Never mind that. I'm going to need your help."

Verdant nodded, and as the Beast slammed into the wall of the other end of the chamber, its body coiled, indicating that it had used all its force in that attack.

Gilgamesh took advantage of that and rushed toward it, raising Samael into the air. While the Beast was turning around, Gilgamesh was about to stab into its body.

"I already told you, your sword will not work!"

Once again, Samael met with insane resistance, as though the Beasts body were impenetrable.

"It will!" Verdant spoke the words, and a minuscule amount of green light appeared on the tip of Gilgamesh's sword.

Following a loud gasp by the Beast, Samael progressed a single inch into the Beast's body.

Even so, the Beast's reaction was entirely too much.

"GAAHHHHH!!!"

It was as though boiling hot lava had been poured on the Beast's body, and it began to flop around on the floor in pain. It's cries were so loud that even Gilgamesh had to shield his ears, fearing that he would go deaf.

"Did your sword work," Verdant asked.

"Just barely. The big worm must not be used to taking damage." As Gilgamesh said this, he looked down at Samael and thought back to how Verdant's power of truth was able to bolster its attack.

"If the Old Power can't change Truth..."

He raised the sword and took a breath, "Then I'll have to acquire the power of truth as well!"

The beast turned around again to lunge at Verdant, but Gilgamesh ignored it completely. He dove out of the way of its mindless attack, and continued on toward the ore at the center of the crater.

"Verdant, lend me a hand!"

"Right!"

Gilgamesh leapt into the air, prepared to stab into the ore with the tip of his sword. Verdant realized what he was trying to do, and poured all of his energy into mobilizing the power of truth once again.

"Your sword will break through!"

As the green splinters of light converged around Samael's blade, Gilgamesh let out a mighty roar and summoned his full might as well. With a downward thrust, Samael slammed into the transparent stone but could go no further.

"You fool! You think that this whelp can summon the full power of truth hidden within the ore? Not even I could do such a thing! If the Creator did not will it to be so, then I would never have even accessed the ore no matter how hard I tried!"

With ridicule, the beast slithered over to Gilgamesh as an empty smile appeared on its face. Verdant looked on; it was all that he could do at this point.

If the beast was right, and his power was not enough, then Gilgamesh's plan would never work.

'Perhaps,' he thought, 'if Gilgamesh could acquire the nature of Truth as well, then we might have a greater chance.'

As for Gilgamesh, he was completely focused on stabbing into the ore with his sword. Verdant's power of truth had already faded from Samael's blade, but he did not care.

His growl filled the chamber, echoing unendingly. The beast's ghastly smile widened, revealing a dark and gaping mouth that seemed entirely empty.

"Foolish fleshling. The ore itself is born of Truth. The power that we summon from the ore is just a fraction of the power of Truth's Mind, which belongs solely to the Creator. Only such a power can hope to break through to the ore."

The beast was upon Gilgamesh at this point, looking down on him with a disgustingly self-satisfied expression.

"If there is an afterlife, I hope you remember that it was your arrogance that spelt your demise. A fitting end for a fleshling such as you."

Calling upon the power of truth once more, the beast spoke the words, "Now you will truly die."

Immediately, the ore of truth responded, and more of that green light emerged, covering Gilgamesh in its glow.

"No! You will not!"

Verdant's voice broke as he shouted; it was evident that he had already reached his limit. He was not well versed in utilizing the raw power of truth that came straight from the ore, and thus could not keep up with the beast for long.

Even so, he held firm in his effort to keep Gilgamesh alive.

Samael's power, as well as the combined powers housed within Gilgamesh all attempted to break through to the ore, but the sword remained lodged within the transparent stone, going no further.

Verdant's efforts slowed the beast's attack to a crawl, but it was slowly regaining its power. As for Verdant, he had fallen to his knees, bleeding profusely from both nostrils.

"This power belongs to me," the beast chuckled, "it seems I was worried for nothing. I am the chosen of the Creator; the one true successor of Truth's Mind!"

As the beast was busy with its early celebration of victory, Verdant collapsed. Gilgamesh felt the protective layer of power around him fade, and he knew that he was steady on his way to die once again.

He gave a final roar, and pushed Samael downward with all his might. He looked over to Ishtar's motionless body lying within the crater, feeling as though doing so brought about a wave of positivity.

"A valiant effort, but you still die in the end." The worm's nasty expression came into view as he bent over and brought its face just inches away from Gilgamesh's. It wanted its face to be the last thing he saw.

The beast obstructed his view of Ishtar.

Gilgamesh was pissed.

Realizing that acquiring the power of truth was not a viable option, his mind started to work on a new way to resist the beast's power of truth.

Once his thinking morphed into this, subconscious suggestions arose in his mind, teaching him applications of his power that he had, unknowingly, already acquired. 

Three distinct energies flashed in Gilgamesh's eyes, and the surface of his body began to glow in a light that reflected them. Coating himself in the Old Power, the Obscure Spark and the Endless Cycle, Gilgamesh braved the beast's attack with an expression of unbridled anger.

"Don't be so sure I'll be the one to die."

Samael, basking in the glow of Gilgamesh's power, was forced to take on those external energies. Despite the fact that Samael was born purely of the Old Power, it was a sword that belonged to Gilgamesh.

Therefore, it could never just be limited to a single kind of power.

Both boy and sword, coated in three unimaginable powers, faced off against a truth that sought to bring about their end.

The beast smiled with glee, and watched as its attack finally reached Gilgamesh. It gave a victorious shout, as if the image of Gilgamesh falling dead had already played out before it.

"....huh?"

The green light dimmed, and still standing in the face of it was Gilgamesh, his body still coated in the same three energies.

"Impossible!" The beast slithered backwards with great speed, trying to retreat while attempting to understand what had happened.

Gilgamesh scoffed, and took a step forward. With that single step, he arrived in the beast's face with Samael at the ready, stabbing into its fearful face.

"NOOO!!! AGHHH!!!"

The giant worm did not bleed, but it writhed in pain and wrapped all over itself as it cried out. Gilgamesh held onto Samael as the beast thrashed; so firmly was the sword lodged into its face.

Finally, he decided to pull it out and leapt off of the beast, landing on the floor in silence. A wave of dizziness threatened to make him fall over, but he powered through it.

"WHY!? WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY!?!?!? YOU WILL DIE! YOU MUST DIE!"

An astronomical amount of green light rushed toward Gilgamesh, concentrating around his body until he could no longer even be seen. Still draped in unease, the Beast cried out once again.

"MIRELINGS! WAKE UP AND COME TO ME! COME TO MY AID! DIE FOR ME, I COMMAND YOU!!!"

Just as the beast feared, Gilgamesh was unaffected by its latest attack. The power of truth dissipated once it was unable to kill Gilgamesh, and revealed his figure slowly walking up to the beast.

From the massive hole, the sounds of thousands of mirelings rushing to the beast's aid could already be heard. In a matter of seconds, they flooded the room, heading straight toward Gilgamesh.

However, with a nonchalant wave of his sword, Gilgamesh created an arc of power that evolved into a dark spiral, engulfing each and every one of the mirelings in its freezing miasma. At the same time, similar-looking spirals of black also emerged in his eyes.

The mirelings were all killed, and brought under his control.

Gilgamesh's advance could not be stopped. The beast had no where left to run, and could only watch him approach.

"No... This isn't right... You were supposed to die. I am meant to live... I am the chosen one... That is my truth..."

With his sword raised, Gilgamesh's face twitched out of pure anger, and he clenched his jaw in an attempt to keep himself calm.

His sword arm flashed, and Samael cut a streak through the air.

The beast could only watch as its body was sliced open, and torrents of its inhumanely thick, black blood slowly poured out like mud.

Gilgamesh stared into its already lifeless eyes as he watched the worm die, and slowly felt some of his anger reduce.

"Fuck your truth."