Chapter 49: Golden Star Falls from Heaven, Underworld Appears on Earth
The gods, naturally, ignored Rowe.
What answered him instead was a continuous roar.
Boom, boom, boom.
The Sons of Man Cannons, stuffed with Uruk's courage and bound together by Enkidu, kept falling from the sky. Spreading sheets of flame slammed into the Bull of Heaven's advancing golden hooves, then splashed across the dense Cedar Forest where roots and trunks surged like a living sea.
"Moo!"
Gugalanna bellowed in pain, its massive body shaking as its steps stuttered for the first time.
To the west, Humbaba was forced to slow as well. The boiling forest screamed in a language only monsters knew, its black growths writhing under the rain of fire.
This was not pain either calamity had expected.
Ordinary cannon fire, even a thousand times denser, would have been nothing more than sparks against their hides. But these were not "ordinary" shells anymore. Stirred by Gilgamesh, drawn into shape by Rowe, and linked through Enkidu, the Cannons carried something that did not exist in any forge or workshop.
They carried the concepts in the hearts of every person inside Uruk.
In a crude but undeniable sense, this was the collective will of humanity striking back at the sky and the earth.
A power even the celestial gods could not simply erase.
This was man fighting heaven and earth with his bare soul.
"Have they really managed to do something like this…? Those three have exceeded our control entirely."
Anu's voice, vast as the vault itself, rumbled through the Celestial Realm. The scattered eyes of the gods reappeared like stars, watching and conversing above the battlefield.
"The one who has offended the name of God must die, no matter what."
That crisp, cutting declaration belonged to the main body of the Venus Goddess.
"It does not matter if two of the three remain. We still achieve our goal."
A storm of a voice overtook the skies. Hadad, god of thunder and tempests.
"Afterward, I will borrow the Bull of Heaven and the Cedar Forest to drown the earth in a great flood. Let those who defy us learn again that the gods cannot be crossed."
Surprised, yes.
Moved, not even slightly.
The gods understood the limit of this moment. The Sons of Man Cannons would only fire once in truth. They could hurt, they could delay, but they could not destroy.
Rowe and the others knew that too.
For them, this was enough.
Uruk's people watched Gugalanna and Humbaba falter. They saw the unthinkable.
If humanity stood as one, even divine beasts could bleed.
Even if their earlier courage had been born from panic, something deeper had already fused in their hearts. An invisible concept had taken root, integrated, and manifested across the city.
And Rowe could use it.
This was only the first piece on the board.
When the last cannon fire fell, both monsters finally stamped out the flames burning across their bodies.
Gugalanna lifted its golden right hoof again. Its horns, high above the clouds like twin pillars about to pierce the heavens, lowered toward Uruk once more.
Then it froze.
Before it could take even a single step that truly mattered, the Bull of Heaven halted again.
Its star bright eyes trembled. Not in rage.
In fear.
Because it saw Rowe.
"Moo!"
A thunderous bellow burst out, and the Bull of Heaven abruptly turned away and ran.
The battlefield went blank.
No one understood for a breath, and then memory rushed in. People recalled how Rowe had fought the Bull before it had fully manifested, how he had tried to kill it with everything he had.
That battle had left a shadow.
A ridiculous one.
Somehow, the divine beast looked almost pitiful now.
But while the Bull wanted to flee, someone did not intend to let it.
The raised elephant like foreleg swayed. Its left foot, planted on the ground, suddenly tilted and sank, as if the world beneath it had turned to mud.
Blackness spread from below, tide like, abysmal.
It was the Underworld aura that had once caged Gugalanna. The cage had shattered when the Bull fully manifested, but the aura never vanished.
It fell to earth, and now, under the Goddess of the Underworld's will, it reshaped itself into restraints again.
Deep inside the Underworld, in the temple of Ereshkigal where chaos piled like mountains, the golden haired goddess opened her eyes.
Before her, blue flames flickered. The souls of all dead things rested in that quiet fire, and now they answered the yearning of the goddess who had always protected them.
"I want to help him."
Her voice was soft, but her will was iron.
"The only one who admired me. The only one who liked me."
And also, the one I like.
Her expression was no longer gentle. It was resolute, almost fierce. The fires of the dead burned brighter, feeding her.
For the first time in ages, Ereshkigal drew power without hesitation.
"Manifest the Spirit Peak Embracing the Underworld's Bellows."
The Underworld wind howled. Her crimson robe and golden hair rose in the storm as death surged upward, crashing toward the ceiling of the Underworld itself, as if to hurl that dark world into the human one.
"Moo!"
Gugalanna roared again.
This time what restrained it was not a simple abyss.
Pitch black mountains rose from the Underworld and slammed upward into the living world, sealing the Bull in place like a prison of earth and death.
"Goddess of the Underworld Ereshkigal, how dare you aid one who defies the gods."
Anu's scolding thundered into her mind.
"My sister, why are you doing this."
The Venus Goddess' main body raged as well.
Ereshkigal simply closed the channels.
For thousands of years, they had never remembered her. Even now they only spoke to use her.
She did not care for them.
She cared only for the person who cared for her.
She looked back to the human world.
The Bull of Heaven was trapped by Underworld mountains.
And in the west, the same kind of reversal unfolded.
Brilliant stars fell like a curtain from the sky. They covered the Cedar Forest with shrieking friction, forcing Humbaba's endless vines to crack and press back into the ground.
Ishtar Rin, the vessel of Ishtar, sat atop those descending stars, clicking her tongue in irritation.
"Ah, why am I dealing with something I'm terrible at."
Because you took a lot of my gems, Rowe thought, amused.
"Ishtar, you…"
Anu's voice carried shock and anger.
"Ah, this, no, it's not me. My avatar was interfered with by humans. I can't control it. Really. Believe me."
Ishtar Rin, by now an independent existence holding the Venus Goddess' power, sounded like she was explaining herself to a landlord she had already robbed twice.
Ereshkigal used the earth's darkness to halt the Bull of Heaven.
Ishtar Rin used the sky's stars to pin the Cedar Forest.
Earth and sky clashed on two fronts.
This collision was no accident. It was the plan.
Last night, Rowe had asked Ereshkigal to block Gugalanna today, and he had bribed Ishtar Rin with a frankly indecent amount of treasure to stall Humbaba.
And next came the empty space between heaven and earth.
The space meant for humans.
"Then it's our turn."
Rowe, Gilgamesh, and Enkidu exchanged glances, each wearing the smile of someone stepping onto a stage they wrote themselves.
Rowe's was bright with anticipation.
Gilgamesh's was arrogant, certain, almost joyful.
Enkidu's was gentle and serene, yet unshakable.
None of them spoke. They just reached out, their fists meeting in silent agreement before separating.
Gilgamesh headed for the Bull of Heaven.
Enkidu went to the Cedar Forest.
Humanity would fill the middle.
They would draw on the enormous power generated by the clash of sky and earth, just like they had before in the Demonic Beast Forest.
They would connect to Rowe, who remained where he stood.
They would surge upward once more.
And again, they would shake the gods above the high heavens.
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