Chapter 247
"We lost..."
Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash felt utterly defeated.
"Even two against one, we were still no match..."
"It's totally normal," Xia Yu retracted her fishing rod with an effortless flourish. "Maybe the fish in the Persian Gulf just really love me."
She looked down at the bucket overflowing with her catch, a guess already forming in her mind.
"It's more than just love," Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed. "It's practically a moth-to-a-flame kind of love. They just bit the hook one after another..."
"I feel like they practically couldn't wait to jump straight onto Sister Kiana," Mash also lamented.
"No, this is definitely unscientific!" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Xia Yu. "Did you cheat?"
"It's not magical either," Mash added.
The two of them had watched with their own eyes. Every time she cast her line, it would get a bite within seconds. What about them? Kiana's bucket for holding fish was already full, while the combined record for the two of them was still just one palm-sized fish each.
"Me? No, how could the honest and kind Miss Kiana cheat?" Xia Yu gave a light chuckle.
Of course, if someone insisted on making the fish hook themselves, then that was none of my business.
She looked up at the surface of the Persian Gulf. 'Isn't that right, my dear "Mother"?'
Even though she hadn't awakened yet, she would still respond to her child's needs upon sensing them...
"Remember, you owe me a request," Xia Yu said, riding high on her success.
"Alright, alright, fair's fair," Fujimaru Ritsuka dejectedly put down her fishing rod. "Then is Sister Kiana coming home today? We miss your cooking!"
"Then I'm coming back!" Xia Yu agreed. "I'll make grilled fish for you guys."
"Long live Sister Kiana!" Fujimaru Ritsuka raised her hands and cheered.
"Grilled fish?" Mash also swallowed her saliva ungracefully.
The older sister's culinary skills were simply too incredible. By comparison, the Chaldea staff meals they had grown accustomed to were somewhat...
Completely unmemorable, neither good nor bad.
"Whew, the calm and peaceful Persian Gulf..." Fujimaru Ritsuka sat down where she was, looking out at the distant surface of the sea where patches of golden scales scattered under the sunlight. "It's really beautiful weather."
"If we could just take a vacation here, we'd be able to go swimming in the sea," right then, the Doctor's voice rang out from the wristband. "What a shame."
"Doctor?" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked down at her wristband.
"Thanks for your hard work," the Doctor said with a smile. "How does it feel to see the Persian Gulf with your own eyes?"
"It must be quite a big difference from the sea you saw in Okeanos during the Third Singularity, right?"
"Yes," Mash replied with some excitement. "Just thinking about the vast Indian Ocean ahead makes my heart race with anticipation."
"Then let me tell you some more heart-racing news," the Doctor said with a chuckle. "The scale of this Seventh Singularity is far larger than any of the previous Singularities."
"Scale?" Mash was a bit puzzled. "What does that mean?"
"The observation results show that the Indian Ocean ahead of the Persian Gulf can be seen," the Doctor's expression wasn't very good. "Presumably, the ocean is an indispensable part of the Mesopotamian world."
"Compared to the Indian Ocean, the Mesopotamian Plain is much smaller," Fujimaru Ritsuka also realized the core of the problem. "But this Singularity actually possesses such a massive body of water..."
"That must be why it formed on such a grand scale."
"It feels like this has suddenly turned into a super startling topic," Mash murmured. "The Indian Ocean... we haven't heard any news about the Indian Ocean from Uruk."
"No, there is, Mash," Fujimaru Ritsuka's expression grew solemn. "Do you still remember our mission?"
"Think about it, why would Uruk continue to maintain a maritime observatory right next to the Persian Gulf when they're facing such a severe shortage of manpower?"
"So King Gilgamesh must know why," Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't help but look toward the observatory in the distance.
"But he won't tell us," Mash sighed. "The King's behavior is always so unpredictable."
"Actually, it's fine," Xia Yu shrugged. "At least you're facing Caster Gilgamesh, who can actually listen to reason."
"I remember Firefly killed a goldie back in Fuyuki. That chuunibyou-phase guy was the absolute hardest to communicate with."
"Is that so?" Fujimaru Ritsuka turned her head to look at Xia Yu once more.
Was the person in front of her really her?
Every time Ritsuka felt she could be certain, she could always find some subtle difference.
"But speaking of the sea..." Mash, on the other hand, was looking at the ocean surface. "No matter how distant the world of the past is, humans will always want to face the ocean and cross the seas."
She reached out and pulled her legs close.
"Mash?" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the slightly fragile Mash beside her.
"What's wrong?" Xia Yu also tilted her head and looked over.
"Senpai, Sister Kiana, do you think I'm facing things properly?" Mash lowered her head and said, "Can I face myself, and then find my true wish?"
Speaking up to this point, she recalled her past journey.
On that grand ship, Captain Drake had laughed and said to her, 'You've possessed a wish of your own for a long time now, Mash.'
'As long as someone is a human, they will have a wish. A person without a wish can't survive.'
'Human? But I...' Back then, Mash was still very lost regarding her own identity.
'Evil people perform good deeds, and good people perform evil deeds,' Captain Drake's expression had been exceptionally free and easy. 'That's what humans are.'
'That's all of us.'
'That's what humans are?' Mash had been very confused.
'In the end, you will definitely understand,' Captain Drake looked up and smiled. 'Understand what exactly it is you want to do, and understand exactly what it is you are swinging your shield for until the very last moment.'
The scene from that day was still vivid in her mind.
"Mash," Xia Yu patted Mash's shoulder. "Why didn't you come ask me about this kind of question instead of asking her first?"
"That... Senpai..." Mash mumbled, unable to explain clearly.
"No, really, how could she have more experience in this area than me?" Xia Yu smiled. "Aren't you just lacking confidence? Doubting your identity as a homunculus, doubting whether your abilities can carry you through to the end, doubting everything around you..."
"But let me tell you, none of that matters," she smiled, looking exceptionally free and easy. "Look, aren't I a homunculus too? Yet I'm still living such a comfortable life."
"But I don't have power as grand as Sister Kiana's," Mash lowered her head.
"Hey, there's no rush for that," Xia Yu waved her hand. "How old even are you? What's the rush? Trust me, in the future, you will absolutely feel that your current thoughts were truly boring."
You want to know why?
Heh, who hasn't gone through puberty, and who doesn't feel embarrassed looking back at their rebellious-phase diary after growing up?
"You'll have everything in time," Xia Yu patted her head. "You just need to cheer up and live your life well."
"Mash, throughout our journey so far, I've always been by your side watching you," Fujimaru Ritsuka also spoke up. "Facing oneself sounds simple, but in reality, it's very difficult."
"What you should do, and what you want—the answer I want to hear is the one you already possess."
Ritsuka smiled at her. "I believe you will definitely find it."
"Yes, Senpai, I know... Wait!" Right then, Mash suddenly looked toward the distant sea surface. "Doctor, check the nine o'clock direction quickly!"
"Something is flying straight toward us!"
"I've confirmed it on my end too!" The Doctor immediately opened the scanner. "Within the magical energy concentration of the Age of Gods, its speed can actually reach five hundred kilometers per hour!"
He looked completely incredulous as he said, "How is that possible!"
"Time remaining until contact is 3, 2, 1... Mash, set up your shield!"
Just as his voice fell, a massive booming sound accompanied by sky-filling yellow sand appeared before everyone.
"Honestly, I'm amazed," Kingu's violet eyes looked at the Chaldea duo with disdain. "Isn't your sense of crisis a bit too weak?"
"To dare come to such a deserted place without bringing any guards."
His tone was so gentle, yet beneath this gentleness hid a lethal contempt. "Are you relying too much on your own good luck, or are you just ignorant?"
"Enkidu..." Fujimaru Ritsuka's expression was unreadable. "You're clearly already dead!"
"Master, I feel the aura of the King of Mages from him. He really isn't..."
"Yes, I am not Enkidu," Kingu sneered. "I am indeed the child of the Mother Goddess."
"So who exactly are you?"
"I've merely switched to a different master," Kingu sneered, then began to shift the topic.
"Humans truly are beyond saving."
"Switched to a different master?" Fujimaru Ritsuka frowned.
"But these are just minor details," Kingu lowered his head as lightning-like magical energy surged over his body.
"Master, he's about to launch an attack!" Mash cried out in alarm.
"Before I am completely destroyed, I will always remain an enemy of humanity."
Golden Ripples rippled out one after another from behind him.
"I shall use your lives to prove this right now!"
After saying that, dozens of chains lunged toward Mash. The strength of Enkidu: Chains of Heaven was astonishing; within just a few exchanges, dozens of chains were deflected.
But from the ripples rising behind Kingu, it was obvious that his relationship with Gilgamesh was anything but shallow.
Enkidu's origin was very simple.
There was a saying that Gilgamesh was a wedge born into the world by the gods so they wouldn't lose their power, allowing humans to continue viewing and worshiping gods as gods.
However, the King of Heroes did not fulfill that mission; he even ruled in a manner that seemed to accelerate the parting of gods and humans.
The spear thrust into the world to correct, question, and impeach Gilgamesh for failing to fulfill his mission—in other words, he himself was a divine weapon born with the sole concept of piercing adversaries and "returning the wedge to the gods."
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, as Gilgamesh grew into a youth, his capacity for violence increased by the day. Needless to say for the citizens of Uruk, even the gods who had sent him down to the mortal realm found themselves completely at a loss regarding Gilgamesh's tyranny.
'Gilgamesh has failed to fulfill his original duty as the wedge.'
'There must be something to admonish him, to showcase the wrath of the gods—'
Arriving at this conclusion, the gods sent a living entity down to the mortal realm, named Enkidu. Like Gilgamesh, he was a human created by the gods.
Following the instructions of the Mother Goddess, Enkidu confronted Gilgamesh in front of the Uruk Temple. Their weapons clashed in a storm-like battle that eventually spilled into the city.
At the climax of the fierce battle, both fell to the ground exhausted. They praised each other's valor and became unique, singular friends. For Gilgamesh, who had never possessed an equal, this was the first time he encountered someone he could call a 'friend.'
Afterward, Gilgamesh possessed his sole 'understander,' and his harsh governance softened somewhat. Having a friend named Enkidu, Gilgamesh defeated the guardian of the forest—the divine beast Humbaba. But this was precisely the beginning of the tragedy that followed.
At this time, Gilgamesh was too radiant. His strength was such that even the gods could not avert their eyes for a single moment. Watching such a Gilgamesh, a certain goddess fell into love just like that.
She was the goddess of fertility, Ishtar. She proposed to Gilgamesh, yet Gilgamesh decisively rejected her because he knew exactly what kind of fickle, cruel witch who toyed with men Ishtar truly was.
Ishtar believed she had been insulted by Gilgamesh. In her towering rage, she wept vengefully before her father, the god Anu, and then unleashed the strongest divine beast, the Bull of Heaven, upon the mortal realm.
The Bull of Heaven was a super-high-grade disaster capable of stirring up violent storms. After it manifested, the mortal realm suffered seven years of destructive famine, which spelled the doom of Uruk.
Facing this invincible divine beast, Gilgamesh and Enkidu worked together to battle it and brilliantly repelled it, causing the goddess to lose face once more. The furious Ishtar naturally wouldn't let things rest there, so she petitioned the gods.
On the grounds that slaying a divine beast with a human body was a grave sin, she demanded that one of the two, Gilgamesh or Enkidu, must die. Ishtar's wish was granted. As one of the two, Enkidu, who was created by the gods, could not defy this command and gradually wasted away until death.
Gazing at the dying Enkidu, Gilgamesh swore with tears in his eyes that in this world, my only friend is you alone; if that is the case, this value shall be eternal and forever unchanging.
Losing him plunged Gilgamesh into an irrepressible, immense grief and shadow, which would be recounted throughout the rest of his life.
As for the Kingu in front of them, whose pupil color was the only difference from the Enkidu of old, he actually had a significant origin as well.
He was a weapon born using the body of the divinely created clay doll Enkidu as a base, and could be viewed as a successor model to Enkidu.
"This fighting style..." The Doctor frowned. "It's exactly the same as King Gilgamesh's!"
"It's his specialty after all!"
"That's a matter of course," Kingu smiled faintly. "Boundlessly creating blades and firing them without reservation—this is the fighting style that suits this body best."
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