Reunion

'With Father gone, all of Eusia feels empty.'

'I cannot find it in me to be excited about taking his place. He was taken from me- ripped away so cruelly. I keep thinking that I should have done something, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that there truly was nothing that could be done.'

'Gilgamesh wanted my father dead, so my father simply had to die. Whatever sadness and guilt and rage I feel does not matter. It is useless to cling to these feelings. I am now a puppet. A figurehead.'

'I am a living object for Gilgamesh to manipulate in anyway he sees fit. Through me, he will command all of Eusia.'

'I am already becoming numb to this. I fear that, if he does expand his influence worldwide, the numbness I already feel will only worsen.'

|Nailah's Thoughts As She Sits On Her Throne|

After hearing Anu's voice, there was not a trace of boredom left on Gilgamesh's face. His typically calm and uncaring attitude morphed into something vengeful.

His eyes glowed intensely as he poured his spirit out without measure, allowing all of it to be put to work. He did not hold back- not even a little. He assaulted that energy signature with everything he had.

This message was not intended for him, it was intended for the Twelve. They were, supposedly, the only beings in the world with spirits powerful enough to sense this energy signature. It was clear that the Divine Ruler, Anu, did not know just how much of his spirit Gilgamesh had recovered.

By directing all of his spirit toward the energy signature, Gilgamesh overloaded it with his own energy. Any and all gods trying to connect with it were then forced to bear the brunt of all his power, and instantly nine of the twelve gods perished.

Not only were they not prepared, they were simply too weak. Ra, Amon and Osiris watched in terror as nine of their brethren were reduced to glittering, golden dust. This was a catastrophic loss, without even considering the impact it would have on the world they governed together.

They stood on their barren moon, looking at the world, and saw Gilgamesh's spirit take form in the upper atmosphere. This was where the energy signature had been sent to.

When the three remaining gods saw this, they realized what had happened. They had never approached Gilgamesh physically, and so he could never get a lock on their spirits. If he did, he would have been able to erase their spirits in an instant.

Since they had to bend the truth a little regarding the situation, the Divine Ruler underestimated Gilgamesh's recovery, and sent the message this way. This allowed Gilgamesh to connect with it. Not only did he hear everything the message said, he was also able to erase the spirits of nine gods.

Amon, Ra and Osiris became rife with fear. They could only stand and watch as Gilgamesh's spirit materialized above their world.

No, perhaps the right way to say it would be: Gilgamesh's world.

Realizing what had happened, the source of the energy signature reacted accordingly.

In the still darkness of the void, an almighty energy tore apart space and time to arrive above the lowest world. It was unknown where exactly it came from, but it left a streak in the void that seemed to stretch infinitely.

No eyes, mortal or immortal, could see the other end of it.

Gilgamesh, in spirit form, watched it arrive and folded his arms. He knew what was about to happen. He knew that, because he had cut the energy off from its source, that he had set off an alarm.

He knew that Anu had come for him.

Above him, amidst the stars and heavenly bodies, a face emerged from the divine light. This face alone was larger than the world below them- so much so that the planet could not even compare in size to one of its eyes.

Gilgamesh recognized this face, and his wrath was kindled against it. Before it, he was not even a speck to be considered, yet his spirit did not waver. No matter the size difference, the three gods watching knew that, in that moment, both Gilgamesh and the Divine Ruler were stood on equal footing.

For just that one moment, they could not tell who between them was greater than the other.

"We meet again, Gilgamesh." Anu's voice was unfiltered, and it rained down on the world below like heavenly thunder.

No matter where anyone was on the planet, they heard that voice as clear as day, louder than anything they had ever heard before.

Logan and Angelica were relaxing together in the living room when they heard it, and they rushed to the veranda.

Completely encompassing the sky, they saw the face that was speaking to their son, and they were sore afraid. The Twelve never felt like a threat to them and their family, and so they had never felt this much fear before.

Now, as they stood before the Divine Ruler, they felt just how big of a threat He was. He could wipe their world out with a thought, and they would be helpless to stop it.

Having heard what He said, they knew he was speaking to their son. Logan wished he was powerful enough to do more; Angelica wished her son would return safely to her.

They both feared for his life.

Sidha, who had moved out of the East with the rest of the sisters of the Church, was also fearful. She had wished that her friends had never had a son like Gilgamesh, who would bring such misfortune unto them. Now, she knew that Gilgamesh did not bring misfortune to just his parents, but to the entire world.

Nailah, who was discussing matters at court, heard the voice and then felt how it thundered in all the world. She ran outside and saw dozens of guards all looking upward. When she did so, she saw a face that was many times larger than the sky itself. She stared into one of its eyes, the only one she could see, and felt innate reverence.

"Please... kill Gilgamesh." A tear rolled down Nailah's face.

Everyone everywhere heard the voice of the Divine Ruler. Most did not yet know who Gilgamesh was.

The highest members of the Church, the Twelve-Head, had been thrown into chaos ever since they felt the blessings of the Twelve weaken. They could feel the instant loss of nine of their gods, and were terrified.

To make matters worse, the Divine Ruler appeared and mortified them. They did not know who this was, or what such an event meant, but they did know that the world was in peril.

For once, the most influential force on the planet felt true powerlessness.

They were all weaklings. If not for his promise to his parents, Gilgamesh would have ignored the world's inhabitants completely. He would have focused his efforts on locating the Twelve and killing them, then leaving the world behind once they were dealt with.

Seeing Anu's face and hearing his voice, Gilgamesh spoke through his spirit, the volume of his voice perfectly matching that of Anu's.

"We would have met sooner or later, so I chose to just get it over and done with."

Anu scoffed, and the slight force generated from this action rocked the entire world. This time, all the world suffered a truly massive earthquake.

"By doing so, you have brought yourself to my attention. I know now that your spirit is almost fully recovered. I also see that the curse remains intact. Know that not even you can break it."

Gilgamesh laughed, and the power emanating from his spirit sent waves of energy onto Anu's face. They did not harm him, but he was clearly disturbed by them.

"You know me. Does anything exist that I cannot destroy? No mortal, no world, no god, no heaven. I will shatter every branch of reality until the method of breaking this curse becomes known to me."

Gilgamesh's suspicions seemed to be right. The memories that remained suppressed were a result of the Gods' Curse.

"What makes you think you will leave this world alive?"

Again, Gilgamesh laughed. Anu frowned, but then smiled as he listened to Gilgamesh's reasoning.

"Who can stop me? I have already killed nine of the twelve gods governing this world. The three remaining will die just as quickly; now that I see them, they cannot escape my sight."

Anu shook his head. "The Gods of the Highest World may not be able to pass through Heaven's Door, but we do not need to. In your current state, cursed as you are and unable to fully recover, other gods will be more than a match for you."

"As for those three..." Anu looked over at Ra, Amon and Osiris. He blinked, and their spirits were reaped- they perished. Their spirits returned to Anu, and he continued once he had reabsorbed their lifeforce.

"I shall take charge of the twelve opportunities they begged for, so as not to break Heaven's Edict. As Divine Ruler, however, the rules they had to adhere to do not apply to me. I shall perform Twelve Acts in this world, and it shall become your final resting place."

"Finally, once you have fallen to one of the gods I send, your spirit and its power will return to us, and we shall reclaim that which you have stolen."

Gilgamesh had, up to this point, listened with a smirk. Seeing that smirk, Anu felt the slightest bit of unease. He knew all to well what this smirk meant, and he did not like it.

Not one bit.

"I am guessing that, in order to avoid your wrath, the twelve children did not tell you everything. Some good it did them." Gilgamesh said this as he looked over at the barren moon that once housed the twelve gods.

"I am here. There is nothing hidden from me; I see the recovery of your spirit. Those fools actually allowed you to grow to half of your previous power, but it does not matter."

"Half, you say?" Gilgamesh gave a mocking smile.

"I sense your spirit, Gilgamesh. Do not think you can play games with me."

"Oh, but I'm not." Gilgamesh raised a single hand, and on that hand he raised a single finger.

"Perhaps you should check again."

Before the words could fall from his lips, power unlike anything Gilgamesh had ever used since Anu arrived arose in him. Now that he released it, Anu immediately sensed it and gasped.

"Recreate Magic!" Gilgamesh said this in a loud voice, and a black sphere of lightning took shape on his fingertip. In a matter of nanoseconds, that sphere of lightning became of streaking bolt that shot toward Anu's face, growing as it did so.

Those looking on from the Shafra Plains, Volsung and Verra, noticed that this bolt of lightning looked identical to the lightning that had destroyed the village.

The only differences were its size and power. In those ways, it was completely different from that first bolt of lightning.

Anu was still in shock, and the lightning struck him on the right side of his face.

This was not his physical form, but his spirit. Just like Gilgamesh, he had sent his spirit out to somewhere his physical body could not go. Anu was confined behind Heaven's Door, and Gilgamesh was still unable to traverse the void.

But, he was about to rectify that...

The black lightning tore off a piece of Anu's cheek, indicating that his spirit had taken serious damage. Not stopping there, Gilgamesh poised himself and took off flying toward that hole in Anu's face.

As the Divine Ruler writhed in agony, Gilgamesh reached the injury he had caused and vanished into Anu's face- this was the same as invading his spirit.

As for the mortal audience, they were all shuddering in fear. Aside from the terrible quakes, Anu's screams were unbearable. Most covered their ears and tried to escape the sound, but they couldn't.

Dramaour City was in no better shape. Gilgamesh could not divide his spirit to protect them; he needed all of his power to hope to deal with Anu's spirit. After all, his spirit was only half as powerful as it was in his first life, and even then the gods had been able to overpower him.

The only way he could make up for this difference in strength was with something he had never had before: Neutral Magic.

"THOSE FUCKING FOOLS! SUCH IDIOTIC GODS SHOULD NEVER HAVE EXISTED!!!"

Anu's enraged and pained shouts continued. A spiritual injury such as this, to him especially, was almost intolerable. To make matters worse, Gilgamesh had used lightning, which was incredibly effective against the spirit.

As for Gilgamesh, he soon emerged from the tear in Anu's face with three glowing orbs.

"GILGAMESH!" Anu's enormous eyes locked onto Gilgamesh's tiny spirit, and they began to glow a bright red.

"INFINITY EXPOSURE!!!" That bright red light filled all the void, but was concentrated on Gilgamesh alone.

Quickly, Gilgamesh swallowed the orbs and assimilated them; these orbs were the spirits of Ra, Amon and Osiris. With them, Gilgamesh had now taken the spirits of the twelve gods in charge of the world. In the eyes of Heaven's Edict, Gilgamesh was now the ruler of the world, and possessed all the benefits that that position brought.

This could have happened no sooner, as the full might of 'Infinity' itself was brought down onto him. One of the perks of being the ruler of a world was being closely connected to the source of all that world's magic.

Thanks to this, Gilgamesh was able to raise his hand in the face of that red light.

"I understand, now, why you feared letting me acquire magic- even neutral magic."

Suddenly, all of Anu's red light vanished and, with it, all trace of his spell. Then, Gilgamesh laughed madly, like a deranged, villainous psychopath.

"Recreate Magic!"

In that moment, endless red-colored magical energy poured out of Gilgamesh's body and bore down on Anu's spirit.

Shockingly enough, he had recreated Anu's 'Infinity Exposure' perfectly.