The Four Book Formation

Gilgamesh looked at the silver sword's broken blade, and a part of him hesitated.

He knew that this was Law's offer of assistance, and that alone was enough to make him feel like kicking Law in the balls.

However, the part of him that felt this way was thoroughly suppressed by the part of him that was now willing to accept reality.

If he didn't accept Law's help now, he would suffer for it.

He would very soon be going up against the kind of opponents that he could only have faced when he was at his previous peak.

In his current state, with almost an entire arm of his inherent nature restored, he was already close to the end of his potential.

Thinking about it, he found it harder and harder to believe that he could do this on his own.

As 'Gilgamesh' he had the attitude of the Absolute Authority, which made sense because he was actually the Absolute Authority.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the Absolute Authority anymore. He had given it up, because his ego weighed too heavily on his good sense.

In a way, it was a bittersweet truth to him.

He was at his most powerful when he was at his most egotistical, but being so egotistical, he had thought more of himself than his power.

He did not realize that the power was him, but he was not the power.

He was not enough.

On a fundamental level, Gilgamesh's sense of self was beginning to transform.

And it all started with him taking the broken silver sword from Law's hand.

Gilgamesh nodded, and Law hid his surprise; He had been expecting a swift boot to the groin.

"I will be sure to call on you, just promise you won't die."

Law smiled softly, "I will do what I can to avoid that. After all, I don't wanna die either."

Gilgamesh and Law shared a short laugh, and Gilgamesh left for another Page.

Strangely enough, he met very little resistance in these pages.

Just a few stragglers with odd natures and immense power, but nothing he could not handle.

His inherent nature started to show signs of weakness; his absorption of soul dust was having more and more of a reduced effect.

Eventually, he was able to restore the full right arm of his inherent nature.

That was the furthest he could go.

He laughed bitterly.

All he was, in his current entirety, was only equal in power to his past self's right arm.

He was upset. Angry. Hateful.

All towards himself.

As he continued to push himself, further and further, all manner of thoughts came to him.

'Should I just stop with this futile attempt?'

'Why do I keep absorbing soul dust? It does more harm than good at this point.'

'The power increase is a little bit more than negligible, and eventually I won't be able to suppress the raging soul power within.'

'Why am I still fighting?'

Gilgamesh's mind began to split, creating a rift between his sense of self and who he actually was.

The part of him that was his inherent nature- the remainder of the Absolute Authority- was being forcefully separated from his current identity.

It was as if he were a puppet, gaining sentience and deciding to cast off the moniker of puppet.

He sought to be rid of the strings that forced him to dance to his own tune.

He wanted to create a new tune-- or perhaps stop the dance altogether.

Whereas his past self sought a new life because of pure, self-inflating arrogance, his recent realizations sparked a new desire.

If he was not 'Gilgamesh.'

If he was not the 'Absolute Authority.'

Then he refused to live as something he was not.

Gilgamesh was beginning to desire something that he had never desired before.

He desired...

Nothing.

Suddenly, his progress halted.

He stood in one of the Early Pages, standing and staring into a flower petal sky.

His eyes brimmed with tears; the red glow in them seemed to dim while also dispersing.

His eyes were now a calm red, not nearly as vibrant or angry.

The gold glow of his black hair receded, while also deepening. His long hairs were slowly- very slowly- becoming gold instead.

Gilgamesh fell to his knees, and suddenly looked around at the world.

He did not see the Page for what it was.

He felt like he was seeing the entirety of the Second Book of Existence.

Or perhaps more.

He felt like, for the first time, he was seeing the place wherein it was all contained.

He felt like he saw a lot more than just Four Books.

A lot more than Eight, or Sixteen or even Sixty-Four Books.

He felt like he was on the cusp of realization, about to break away.

But, at the last moment, his eyes bled and the agony of soul-splitting filled him as he cried out.

He instantly lost his connection to those sensations.

Whatever he had been about to accomplish, he was no longer able to. He was forced out of that special state by the feeling of his soul tearing.

His mind had acted as the precursor, and now his soul was following suit.

He was now fully split into two.

It was no longer true to say that his inherent nature and him were the same person.

Luckily, he could still use its power.

Doing so, however, felt far more strange than it did before. It was obvious that the connection between him and his inherent nature was also beginning to change.

Perhaps, as he was no longer himself, his inherent nature would soon no longer belong to him.

Gilgamesh, feeling a sense of urgency, refocused on the mission.

As soon as he did so, the sky of flower petals was completely and utterly eradicated.

Then, the entire Page was destroyed.

It had to be known that, Gilgamesh was only able to cause a Page's contents to be destroyed.

Whatever or whoever it was that had performed this act, was powerful enough to destroy an entire Page.

And one of the Early Pages, at that.

The entire world around him was reduced to Negative Space; nothing but blankness surrounded him, reminding him of when he had first met Truth's Mind.

"Now, activate the Formation! He cannot be allowed to reach our Master before the 12th submits!" Arthur's voice filled the space.

Gilgamesh did not know who it was that was speaking, but he did not care.

The '12th' was Ateah, and by the sound of it, she was going to be forced to submit to the Bright Speck.

Gilgamesh's roar of rage shook the Negative Space, but it could do little else.

In the blankness before him, four Books appeared.

Those Books were simple-looking black books, with thick, ancient pages. The paper appeared to be made of a material that somehow was able to contain both infinity and eternity, while also being filled with emptiness at the same time.

Looking at those Books, Gilgamesh felt like all he had to do was push through.

If he could do that, then he would entirely free himself of the Books.

While thinking this, he noticed that the Four Books began to grow.

They grew and grew while simultaneously moving forward, creating a giant wall in front of Gilgamesh.

That wall kept pushing toward him.

"What the-"

When Gilgamesh tried to move, he realized that he no longer could.

The Four Books were opened side by side, and eventually crashed into his minuscule body with impossible force.

Gilgamesh instantly threw up several mouthfuls of blood and almost blacked out.

After crashing into him, the Books phased through his body and went past him, eventually shrinking and disappearing.

However, the oppressive force did not go away.

Paying close enough attention to himself, Gilgamesh also realized that the pressure of the Four Books was only increasing.

He knew that, if he did not find a way to escape the Four Books, he would soon find himself under the full pressure of them all.

Four Books of Existence, each containing infinity, eternity, nothingness and emptiness.

Four Books of content that was mpossible to quantify.

If he came under that kind of pressure, without reserve, he would perish.

Of that, there could be no doubt!

Gilgamesh summoned every last bit of his power, and forced his inherent nature to overdraw itself. The explosive soul power in his body erupted, and all of his organs were instataneously damaged.

Even so, he persevered.

"RESIST!!!"

Gilgamesh grit his teeth and tried to erase the presence of the Four Books from his body.

But how could he if he was still contained within the Four Books?

He needed to find a way to break free, but he did not yet know how!

As if that wasn't bad enough, the Negative Space was opened, and physical beings appeared.

More physical beings than Gilgamesh had ever seen at one time- in any of his lifetimes.

This was not just an uncountable number.

It was uncountable many times over.

Uncountable times infinity!

Gilgamesh could look from left to right for hours, and he would still not be able to see everyone that had just appeared.

"Now, the Second Phase!" Arthur shouted. He himself was stood at the front of that uncountable army.

Next to him on his left, a black haired, green-eyed woman in a green battle-suit stood tall, wielding a tall staff.

This was Morgana, Bookkeeper of the Third Book.

To Arthur's right, a greying man with bright blue eyes that sparkled with wisdom and untold power in his fingertips looked on cautiously.

This was Merlin, Bookkeeper of the Fourth Book.

Arthur himself was the Bookkeeper of the Second Book, and wore his knight's armor.

In his hand, the Sword of Legend, Excalibur, was raised high in all its glory, adding a kingly air to his battlecry.

"Four-Book Suppression! Begin!"

Gilgamesh's eyes were wider than saucers, and his injured heart pained with each pounding beat.

Without hesitation, he produced the broken silver sword and poured the fullness of his power into it, almost destroying it in his haste.

He hastily cut open a portal with it, and the sword shattered after serving its purpose.

"Law, I need your help!"