The time for battle had finally arrived.
The sun had already set, and it was now night.
The members of Gilgamesh's Faction stood on the rooftop of a 5-star hotel in the outskirts of the location where Odin and the Japanese Gods were to meet.
The members currently present for the battle were Gilgamesh, Enkidu, Sebas, Karna, Mordred, Arturia, Valerie, Tiamat, Arthur, Le Fay, Xenovia, Achilles, and Merlin.
Asia and Leonardo were not participating in the battle, as Gilgamesh decided it was better for them to stay safe. He also insisted that Fenrir not take part.
He didn't doubt the Divine Wolf's loyalty, but even so, he didn't want Fenrir to fight against his own family.
In addition to them, Barakiel was representing the Fallen Angels, while Rossweisse, clad in her Valkyrie armor, was there to represent the Norse.
"It's time," Gilgamesh announced to everyone, who prepared themselves.
The meeting was about to begin. This meant an important conversation had started in one of the hotel's rooms.
And now, all that remained was the appearance of the Evil God.
Gilgamesh looked at the sky, narrowing his eyes.
The sky above the hotel began to distort, and a large rift was created.
Emerging from the rift was the Evil God Loki and the giant gray wolf clone, Fenrir!
(Author: Since the real Fenrir won't participate in the battle, I'll refer to the clone simply as "Fenrir.")
"Target confirmed. Commence mission."
When Barakiel said this through the small communicator active in their ears, a massive magic circle in the form of a giant barrier was activated around the hotel.
Gilgamesh raised his hand, snapping his fingers and using his power to teleport his entire Faction, their allies, as well as Fenrir and Loki, to the true battlefield.
Loki noticed this and merely gave a sarcastic smile, not resisting.
Then, everyone was enveloped in light…
When the light faded, it was revealed that they were in a rocky, desolate region.
Looking back, Gilgamesh saw that all his allies were with him.
Barakiel, who was slightly behind Gilgamesh, couldn't help but shudder. The thought that the King of Heroes could forcibly teleport not only them but also an Evil God and a Fenrir clone through sheer power was truly terrifying.
Gilgamesh turned his gaze to Loki.
"So, you're not going to run?" Gilgamesh asked, laughing sarcastically.
Hearing this, Loki only laughed.
"There's no need to run. You'll all chase me anyway, so I'll take you all out here and then return to the hotel. It's only a matter of time. Whether he attends the meeting or not, I'll make Odin disappear," Loki said with a wide grin.
"You're consumed by dangerous thoughts," Barakiel said.
"The ones who started having dangerous ideas were you. An alliance between factions… Ever since the Three Great Powers recorded in the Bible decided to form an alliance, everything's gone crazy," Loki said seriously.
"It seems you have no intention of talking," Barakiel said sternly.
Barakiel quickly enveloped his hand in Holy Lightning. From his back, ten black wings appeared.
Seeing this, Gilgamesh sighed.
"I'll handle Loki. Deal with Fenrir or anyone who gets in the way," Gilgamesh said calmly.
All the members of the Avalon Faction nodded in agreement, and even Barakiel and Rossweisse, though hesitant, nodded as well.
Gilgamesh planted his foot on the ground, shooting into the sky and positioning himself in front of Loki, who smiled radiantly.
"Marvelous! So the great Sekiryuutei, the Nemesis of Gods, the King of Heroes himself, will try to defeat me, Loki! My heart has never raced so much!" the God shouted with a wide grin.
Extending his hand, Loki created dozens of Norse magic circles, from which dozens of beams of divine power shot toward Gilgamesh.
However, the moment they reached Gilgamesh, they were all nullified, turning into tiny particles of light.
Gilgamesh's body was surrounded by a thin, ethereal aura that protected him.
"Hoho, what's that?" Loki asked, genuinely intrigued.
"These pathetic attacks won't overcome my [Absolute Defense]," Gilgamesh said, smiling.
In this battle against Loki, Gilgamesh saw a good opportunity to test his Ultimate Skills against real enemies, not dungeon creatures.
Currently, Gilgamesh was using the Ultimate Skill [King of Hope Sariel], activating its [Absolute Defense] ability.
As the name implied, it was a barrier in the form of a thin aura that covered Gilgamesh. All magic-based attacks were completely useless, as they were entirely nullified, and even physical attacks couldn't harm him.
Even another Ultimate Skill couldn't easily overcome his [Absolute Defense].
The space around Gilgamesh rippled as dozens of golden portals appeared around him, resembling ripples in a lake, and from them emerged a variety of weapons.
Swords, spears, halberds, axes, hammers, maces, daggers, and all sorts of weapons appeared behind Gilgamesh as his [Gate of Babylon] manifested.
The weapons shot forward at high speed, advancing in flashes of golden light toward Loki.
Loki quickly activated a large-scale defensive magic circle that enveloped his entire body.
The weaker weapons clashed against Loki's defense and began to break, and seeing this, the Evil God began flying acrobatically to dodge the weapons while counterattacking with his divine power.
After dodging all the weapons and Gilgamesh closing his [Gate of Babylon], Loki began to smile.
"Now it's time for me to attack seriously!" Loki said, grinning.
When Loki snapped his fingers, Fenrir, who had been merely observing until now, charged forward.
"The fangs that can kill a God. My servant, Fenrir, possesses them! You'll meet your end with just one bite! If you can defeat him, then come at me!" Loki shouted gleefully.
Seeing Loki command Fenrir, Merlin quickly extended his staff, summoning a hurricane of flower petals that temporarily immobilized Fenrir.
"I can only hold him for a few seconds!" Merlin shouted in desperation as Arturia sighed.
Enkidu quickly touched the ground, activating his Noble Phantasm [Age of Babylon] to create dozens of chains capable of sealing divinity from the earth.
Tiamat and Barakiel swiftly advanced as the Fallen Angel unleashed a blast of [Holy Lightning] at Fenrir, and Tiamat fired a burst of flames.
Containing the wolf, Enkidu manipulated his chains, which bound Fenrir.
"Fuhahahahaha! It's useless! Countermeasures against Gleipnir were taken…" Loki shouted as he watched the chains surround Fenrir.
Unfortunately for Loki, those weren't Gleipnir; they were something Enkidu created to seal Fenrir.
[OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON…!]
The giant wolf howled in pain, the sound echoing throughout the area.
"Fenrir, captured," Barakiel said, observing Fenrir's body, which couldn't move.
Everyone turned to Loki, expecting him to lose it with Fenrir's movements sealed. But he was still laughing eerily.
Seeing Fenrir bound, the Evil God spread his arms with a smile.
"They're weaker, but…"
The air on both sides of Loki distorted.
From the distortion, something "new" appeared.
Gray fur. Sharp fangs. Expressionless eyes.
And a wide-open mouth.
"Sköll! Hati!"
As if responding to Loki's call, both howled at the sky.
[OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!]
[OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!]
The clouds in the night sky parted, revealing a full, yellowish moon.
Bathed in the moonlight, the two giant beasts—no, wolves—howled.
"I turned a jötunn from Járnviðr into a she-wolf and had her mate with Fenrir. As a result, these two were born. They're a bit weaker than their father, but their fangs are just as deadly. They can easily kill a God and all of you," Loki said, smiling.
"Go, Sköll, Hati! This group captured your father! Tear them apart with your claws and fangs!" Loki announced quickly.
With the sound of the wind, the two wolves leaped toward Gilgamesh's group.
"Hmph! Mere dogs!" Tiamat scoffed.
With a single breath of flames, the Strongest Dragon King spewed an intense stream of fire that completely engulfed Fenrir's offspring.
Yet, the Fenrir offspring continued to charge, unfazed by the flames.
While his companions began fighting Fenrir's offspring, Gilgamesh turned his attention back to Loki.
A deep golden aura enveloped Gilgamesh's body as he activated one of the [Authorities of Verethragna].
"O lightning! O lightning! I am the conqueror who defeated a thousand with a hundred, ten thousand with a thousand, and tens of thousands with ten thousand. Now, for the sake of me who stands on the side of justice, unleash the brilliant and resplendent radiance, and grant me divine power!"
With his declaration, Gilgamesh activated the Avatar of the [Goat], allowing him to control lightning.
The sky darkened as dozens of golden lightning bolts of immense power rained down on Loki.
Seeing the attacks coming, the Evil God strengthened his barriers to defend himself, but the immense energy of the attack began to annihilate the Norse God's barriers.
Gilgamesh prepared to increase the intensity to strike Loki, but he was forced to stop to dodge an attack.
Gilgamesh leaped away just in time to avoid an attack from… Fenrir.
Gilgamesh's eyes widened as he saw the Fenrir clone attack him; it should have been bound, after all.
Looking around, Gilgamesh saw that one of Fenrir's offspring had the chain in its mouth. Instead of fighting Gilgamesh's companions, it took advantage of the distraction to free Fenrir.
As Fenrir charged at him, Gilgamesh extended his hand, manifesting his Ultimate Skill [King of Purity Metatron], and an intense light gathered in his hand.
The power of [King of Purity Metatron] was a stream of light that destroyed everything it touched.
It was the most powerful holy magic attack.
With a single wave, a pillar of holy energy consumed Fenrir's body, and its howls echoed across the battlefield as it was sent flying.
Even a clone of the God-Devouring Wolf was powerless before the might of an Ultimate Skill.
Of course, Gilgamesh hadn't used it at full power. He had only recently acquired these skills and wasn't yet able to use their full capabilities.
Loki narrowed his eyes at what he saw and prepared to attack, but he was forced to focus on defense as a pillar of purple flames advanced toward him.
Looking down, Gilgamesh saw Valerie unleashing the power of her second Longinus.
"Tsk, you're all really a nuisance," Loki said, releasing his power.
"At this rate, I'll make you fight these too," Loki announced.
The shadow beneath Loki expanded, and from it emerged dozens of massive gray Eastern dragons.
"So you've even mass-produced Midgardsormr!" Tiamat said with disgust.
What stood before them were clones of one of the Five Great Dragon Kings, the Sleeping Dragon, the World Serpent Midgardsormr.
Miðgarðsormr (or Jörmungandr) is Loki's middle child and a dragon created some time after Fenrir. Unlike his brother, however, he wasn't loyal to his creator.
Due to his massive size and laziness, the Norse Gods put him to sleep in the ocean, telling him to at least do something at the end of the world, earning him the nicknames Sleeping Dragon and Dragon of the End.
All the dragons began spewing fire simultaneously!
"You won't defeat me with something like this!"
Roaring, Tiamat unleashed her own flames.
When they clashed, the dragons' fire was nullified by Tiamat's flames.
Following Tiamat, Karna enveloped his body in [Mana Burst] and charged alongside Achilles.
"Let's go!" Achilles shouted excitedly.
Using his divine speed, Achilles sliced through all the World Serpent clones with his spear, while Karna and Tiamat advanced, incinerating everything in their path.
As he watched this, one of Fenrir's offspring charged at the other members of the Avalon Faction.
Seeing this, Mordred advanced with a wide grin, swinging Clarent and slicing off one of the God-Devouring Wolf's offspring's legs, which howled in pain.
Even so, it tried to advance, but Enkidu intervened, touching the ground and summoning dozens of giant swords around the Fenrir offspring, trapping it.
Xenovia and Arturia swiftly advanced, swinging their holy swords and unleashing bursts of pure holy power, delivering massive slashes to the Fenrir offspring, which collapsed in pain.
"Sebas!" Enkidu called.
Floating above them was Sebas, his hand extended toward the Fenrir offspring.
A small purple sphere appeared in Sebas's hand, surrounded by a black aura, and the very space seemed to collapse under the generated power.
"Hakai."
With a wave, the sphere of power generated by Sebas's [Destruction Magic] advanced toward the Fenrir offspring, transforming into a massive sphere that engulfed the wolf's body.
With another wave from Sebas, the sphere completely consumed the Fenrir offspring's body, destroying it entirely and erasing its soul.
While Sebas erased the soul of one of Fenrir's offspring, Tiamat, Achilles, and Karna were annihilating all the Midgardsormr clones.
Tiamat advanced, her hand transformed into a dragon's claw, unleashing multiple bursts of her draconic aura, annihilating the clones with single strikes.
Similarly, Achilles, thanks to his divine speed, dodged all the clones' attacks and easily shredded them with his spear skills.
Unlike Achilles, Karna didn't dodge the attacks, taking the flames head-on without care due to his immunity to fire.
With a swing of his spear, Karna generated solar flames so hot and destructive that they incinerated the dragons as if they were made of paper.
While Tiamat, Achilles, and Karna completely annihilated the Midgardsormr clones, the rest of Gilgamesh's group dealt with the remaining enemies.
Valerie, Arthur, Merlin, and Le Fay handled another of Fenrir's offspring.
The Fenrir offspring charged, but Valerie quickly took the lead, waving her hand and generating massive pillars of holy flames that burned the wolf's skin, causing it to howl in pain from the sacred flames.
"Let's seal its movements," Merlin announced with a smile.
Both the Flower Mage and Le Fay touched the ground, turning it into mud beneath the Fenrir offspring, sealing its movements.
With its feet trapped and movements sealed, someone approached with a Holy Sword radiating an immense amount of aura toward the Fenrir offspring.
Arthur, wielding the Royal Holy Sword!
"I'll start by taking one of its eyes."
He used the Royal Holy Sword Caliburn to plunge deep into the Fenrir offspring's left eye!
"Your claws are next."
He then began cutting the claws of its front paws, along with the flesh.
"And finally, those dangerous fangs! With the Royal Holy Sword Caliburn against a mere Fenrir offspring, it should be able to send those fangs to another dimension!"
The Royal Holy Sword made the Fenrir offspring's fangs vanish, causing the air to tremble.
Losing its eye, claws, and fangs, the Fenrir offspring began to howl in pain.
Seeing this, Barakiel, Rossweisse, and Valerie swiftly advanced to deliver the finishing blow.
Channeling all his power, Barakiel summoned a massive [Holy Lightning] against the Fenrir offspring, while Rossweisse created a massive Norse magic circle and unleashed a powerful magical blast.
Valerie also extended her hands, as two massive pillars of Holy Flames consumed the Fenrir offspring's body until nothing remained.
Seeing that his companions had finished their battles, Gilgamesh turned to Loki and Fenrir.
The Evil God had a deeply irritated look, while Fenrir still struggled to stand after taking a hit from [King of Purity Metatron].
"Well, let's end this quickly," Gilgamesh said, smiling. "But in your honor, I'll show you something interesting."
Gilgamesh then clasped his hands, his thumbs, index, and middle fingers joining upward, while his other two fingers pointed downward.
(Author: Basically like what Sukuna does.)
Then, with a smile, Gilgamesh announced another of his techniques.
"Domain Expansion."
The moment the words left Gilgamesh's mouth, a massive golden glow enveloped him, Loki, and Fenrir, and they vanished from the barrier.
When the glow faded, Loki was greeted by something he could never have imagined.
A golden world.
The ground around Loki was made of pure gold, with immense golden structures resembling houses, and at the center of it all was a colossal palace, entirely made of gold.
While some parts were pure gold, others were intricately crafted, depicting various battles similar to the carvings on Egyptian walls.
Other parts were adorned with more jewels and riches than Loki had seen in all his millennia of life.
It was a golden world emanating unmatched wealth and grandeur.
But that wasn't what terrified Loki. What truly frightened him was what surrounded him.
Thousands upon thousands of weapons—swords, spears, daggers, axes, halberds, arrows, bows, and every conceivable weapon Loki could have seen or imagined. Their numbers were so vast they could be called infinite.
They were arrayed throughout this golden world in an organized manner, some embedded in the ground, others floating in the sky like stars.
Swords with power rivaling the Excaliburs were mundane, hanging beside blades so beautiful that one could gaze at them day and night and still not tire of their sight. Swords purer than a mother's love hung beside blades so horrific that merely knowing of their existence would taint one's soul.
Weapons capable of leveling cities and mountains with ease, primordial blades that killed demons and gods, legendary axes that split mountains and tore the skies, shields that protected humanity in its darkest moments, demonic blades that slew gods and seraphim, holy blades that killed demon lords and Satan himself.
Speechless, utterly ridiculous. Each weapon radiated power like a fountain. Some exuded sacred properties, others emitted demonic auras, and some literally dripped with bloodlust. It was unbelievable—every weapon was equal to, if not superior to, the divine weapons of the Norse.
Yet, even the aura of all these weapons paled in comparison to the massive aura Loki felt emanating from the grand palace.
Looking there, Loki saw a scene he would never forget, even in death.
Seated on an immense golden throne was a being who would make even the greatest gods kneel in worship, a being mortals would give their lives just to behold.
Clad in armor made of gold, exuding divine patterns of beauty, with spiked golden hair and crimson eyes gleaming with power.
His head rested on his hand as he looked at Loki indifferently, and at his side were two weapons the Evil God realized were superior to anything he had ever seen.
To his left was a spear. Its design was incomparably beautiful, with a coiled shaft entirely made of gold. Its rear blade was an isosceles triangle with a cross, featuring two small handguards between it and the shaft. The main part of the spear, the front tip, had a slightly elongated double-edged blade. It was red with a golden line down the middle and some golden details. Near the blade's grip was a cross, and slightly below were two handguards.
Just looking at the spear, Loki felt profound fear, as if continuing to gaze at it would annihilate his soul.
To the right was an equally, if not more, dangerous weapon.
In truth, Loki wasn't sure if it could even be called a "weapon."
It had an abnormal form that didn't correspond to what would typically be classified as a specialized weapon, like a sword. It was something born before the concept of a "sword" existed, so it couldn't truly be called a sword or resemble any known blade.
Though it had a hilt, a guard, and the length of a longsword, the section that should have been a blade differed from a typical edged weapon. The "blade" and tip, twisted into a spiral, were blunt. It was a cylindrical, drill-shaped pillar composed of three independently rotating segments engraved with crimson cuneiform letters, spinning slowly in alternating directions—the middle segment clockwise, the upper and lower segments counterclockwise. The drill design was modeled after rock-boring machines used for underwater tunnel drilling.
Just looking at it, Loki was certain that if this sword—if it could even be called that—were ever unleashed…
The entire universe would be annihilated.
No matter the mythological world—Asgard, Heaven, the Underworld, Mount Olympus, Mount Kailash—it didn't matter who protected them, be it beings like Shiva, Indra, Great Red, or Ophis.
All would be annihilated if that weapon were unleashed.
"What is this place?" Loki's voice came out in a whisper, yet it reverberated through the golden world.
"This is my world, or rather, my Domain Expansion: Babylonia," Gilgamesh announced calmly.
"What does that mean?" Loki asked, trembling with fear.
"What's the point of explaining? You're a dead man, Loki," Gilgamesh said, laughing lightly.
Then, one of his fingers touched his throne.
In that instant, all the weapons in the golden world, except those at Gilgamesh's side, turned toward Loki and a defenseless Fenrir.
If the [Gate of Babylon] were the Gates leading to the treasures of Babylon, the treasures collected by the King of Heroes, then this [Domain Expansion] represented Babylon itself.
Instead of summoning his treasures from his vault to use against his enemies, with his [Domain Expansion], Gilgamesh brought his enemies into the world where all his treasures were stored, inside the [Gate of Babylon] itself.
And as a [Domain Expansion], all attacks performed by Gilgamesh in this world had a 100% chance of hitting their target.
In a world where weapons capable of killing gods and making the world bow with a single strike existed, and with the absolute certainty of always hitting their target, in this world…
Gilgamesh was invincible.
A wide grin spread across Gilgamesh's face, one that made Loki realize the enemy before him was someone he should never have challenged.
And when his finger touched his throne again, all the weapons fired at Loki and Fenrir.
Even with Loki using the most powerful defensive magic he knew and Fenrir attacking with everything he could, it was futile.
In this world, those weapons would always hit the enemies of the Golden King.
They struck their legs, arms, chests, hearts, heads, and even after Loki and Fenrir's deaths, they continued to advance, annihilating every fragment of their existence.
Gilgamesh watched as his weapons completely pierced the bodies of the two divine beings with such intensity that they destroyed their bodies and souls, leaving not a single trace behind.
And at such a sight, the King of Heroes burst into laughter.
In that golden world, all that could be heard was the laughter of the King of Heroes, filled with joy at seeing his enemy annihilated.