Gilgamesh's golden goblet tilted, spilling crimson wine onto the white stone floor, staining it like blood. His pupils contracted... the foundation of Uruk, blessed by the twelve Sumerian gods, trembled like leaves in a storm.
A girl burst into the royal hall.
Wrapped in a light green linen priestess robe, the deep red tassels at her waist jingled like urgent rain as she entered. Her long, dark hair, tied with a matching red ribbon, bore clay tablet fragments from her hurried arrival.
Beneath her red cloth headpiece, her sweat-dampened nose glowed faintly red, lending a rare youthful charm to her otherwise dignified, moon-goddess-like face.
Most striking were the seven wheat stalks tucked behind her ear... a symbol of Uruk's high priestess lineage... quivering with her rapid breaths, scattering fine light under the eternal temple lamps.
Her translucent veil, dyed with cuneiform patterns in ochre, partially concealed a sacred marriage tattoo at her neck. As she adjusted scattered clay tablets with ink-stained fingers, the twelve silver chains on her wrist clinked, echoing the Euphrates River's misty flow.
She was Siduri, the priestess serving Gilgamesh.
"My King!" Siduri clutched her tablets, stumbling as she called out, "The northern sky… look!"
Her cloak billowed in a sudden gust. The Sage-King strode to the crystal window, his scarlet eyes reflecting a collapsing starry sky.
The ancient star trails, like a child's scattered pearl necklace, carved silver cracks across the indigo firmament.
Farther out, an untimely full moon swelled visibly, its craters flowing with liquid, radiant light, like rivers of luminescence.
"Sha Naqba Imuru !" Gilgamesh declared, divine glyphs blazing on his forehead. His usually steady voice roughened as he discerned a faint silhouette in the moonlight. "A creation-level divinity has descended… but it's… the Greek Moon Goddess?"
His tone carried clear doubt. He knew who the Greek Moon Goddess was. If Zeus, unified with all Greek divine authorities, had achieved creation-level divinity, he could accept it. But why the Moon Goddess?
Regardless, a creation-level divinity had indeed descended upon this land, giving Gilgamesh a headache.
The gods were already the land's greatest nuisance, each a troublesome force. Now, another had appeared, and in that brief moment, he sensed it was among the mightiest!
Even Uruk's proud king found himself silently praying that this new god wasn't here to trouble humanity.
Then, lightning flashed in the sky, and he felt the authority of thunder. Gilgamesh's shock deepened. This aura... Zeus? On the Moon Goddess? Had she slain Zeus and stolen his authority?
Was such a thing possible?
As he pondered, the power vanished, the trembling earth stilled, and the moon's silhouette faded.
Gilgamesh exhaled, but his brow furrowed.
"Prepare to gather intelligence thoroughly in the coming days. Check for any anomalies nearby!"
…
"What a joke!" Ishtar, brimming with Venus's power, gripped the golden railing of her celestial boat, Maanna, her elegant nails screeching against the giant bow.
Her proud dawn powers were fading, the divine forces of nature, fertility, love, and war eroding, as if reverting to a meaningless primordial state.
Worse, her once-obedient Venus power now surged chaotically within her, like startled sheep.
The goddess's stunning face twisted with fury. "A mere outsider dares… this is my sky!" She froze... cracks in her deployed Noble Phantasm revealed boundless mana, the torn sky flooded with thunderstorms, then the rift vanished.
In that fleeting storm, a ripple of divinity shattered the glow of her Noble Phantasm.
She was the goddess among goddesses, or so she arrogantly believed, superior to humans and gods alike. Yet, this fourth divinity's mere trace suppressed her power completely!
Though not in her true form but as a Demi-Servant in a human vessel, she was still a goddess wielding divine authority, far surpassing humans, Servants, even Grand Servants.
Yet, this sliver of divinity had overwhelmed her!
Who was this?!
Could it be…?!
Recalling that familiar sensation, she formed a guess but dismissed it.
Moon and thunder powers shouldn't coexist in one being, yet she'd sensed both Artemis's lunar aura and Zeus's thunder…
This already chaotic world was about to get messier!
…
In a primal jungle, untouched by civilization, resembling ancient Mesoamerica, a voice rang out.
"Well, well, well~"
Quetzalcoatl, the goddess of life, harvest, culture, storms, and briefly the sun... better known as the Feathered Serpent Goddess... wore a twisted smile, like a deranged patient.
She licked blood from her lips, her bronze skin gleaming like honey under the moonlight. Having just snapped the tenth magical beast's horn, she gazed skyward like a child with a new toy. Her bandaged right arm trembled... not from fear, but from a warrior's blood boiling.
"This level of oppression… more thrilling than onee-san at her peak!" Quetzalcoatl tossed the beast's corpse onto the altar, her ornate, savage earrings jangling. She leaped to the pyramid's peak, arms spread toward the sun. "Come, my dear! Let's revel before the sun chariot falls!"
She cheered, calling to the newly descended god, yearning to throw herself into battle.
But the mysterious power appeared and vanished abruptly. The earth stilled, the sky cleared. Surprised, Quetzalcoatl's lips curved.
"Hiding, are we? Can't have that. Something this fun needs to be found quickly!"
Outside, human warriors roared, fighting relentlessly. Victors lived; losers died. Blood saturated the air, but for these people, it was as routine as eating or drinking.
Indeed, eating and drinking... the dead became sacrifices, consumed entirely, nothing wasted.
This was the civilization of Quetzalcoatl, the Sun God!
A primal tribe that felt like a glimpse of hell!
…
The Underworld, the realm of the dead, also housed a goddess.
Ereshkigal's soul-weighing scales crashed down, the soul flames on the pans scattered by a sudden flood of life.
This was the domain of the dead, where the living should not tread. Yet, the Underworld seemed to be reshaping, merging into the realm of the living.
The Underworld's mistress stumbled, clutching her obsidian throne, her pale fingers digging into its skull adornments. The silent realm of death now hummed like a spring fountain, with frozen wraiths sprouting green tendrils of life.
Death was being reversed!
No, not reversed... transformed from death to life, a cycle of rebirth!
"Impossible…" Ereshkigal touched a white flower sprouting from the throne's cracks, trembling. The amethyst atop her scepter shattered. As the seventh protective barrier activated, she collapsed onto the warming ice throne, murmuring tearfully, "This is… Mother…"
She sensed her mother's aura, a supreme, maternal essence birthing all, a power of life even a death goddess could feel.
No, perhaps because she was a death goddess, she was more attuned to this life force, its familiarity.
It was Tiamat's power!
No, not Tiamat's... something higher, more maternal!
Within it, she felt a force beyond life and death, from the planet's dawn, before gods and life existed, a power of cosmic upheaval!
Engraved in the planet's memory, etched in stone, from an era beyond antiquity, when all was newly born!
"Destruction… and… creation…"
Murmuring, she looked up, certain this wasn't her mother. An unfamiliar entity had descended.
Her plans, her intentions, were now misaligned, perhaps irreparably so!
…
In a hall of blood and flesh, a beastly hive, the Greek serpent goddess sensed the world's shift.
Gorgon's snake tail crushed three beast corpses, her crimson slit pupils scorching the rock walls.
Stumbling, she gripped the altar's edge. The Holy Grail embedded in her chest wailed like cracking glass... Tiamat's bloodline within her screamed.
The sudden, terrifying power even stirred the stolen Tiamat essence within her!
"Silence!" The Queen of Beasts roared, tearing off new scales from her neck, the wounds spewing a mix of black mud and stardust.
These scales, alien to her body, shimmered with lunar glow, as if the moon's power was eroding her.
She realized, horrified, that her obedient synthetic beasts were prostrating toward a distant point. Strange divine glyphs appeared on their purple crystal surfaces, with lunar patterns at the center.
Suppressing her discomfort, Gorgon tried to activate her Noble Phantasm, but endless moonlight rose from the ley lines, nullifying it!
Or rather, erasing it from the root, rendering her Noble Phantasm unusable for now.
Under the moonlight, her altar sprouted veins, then faded.
Not due to her power, but because the unknown interloper withdrew their force. As it vanished, the hive normalized, but the scales in her hand confirmed it was real, not a dream.
If this entity aided humanity, her vengeance against them would face immense obstacles.
…
By the Euphrates River, a group walked slowly.
Artemis's bare feet touched the water, her silver hair shimmering with moonlight, causing the river to flow upstream before settling back, the fish undisturbed.
She cradled a giggling Jack the Ripper, who became lively in her arms.
With each step, starlit lotus leaves bloomed beneath her, scattering faint stellar sparks.
These sparks sprouted into grasses and trees glowing with stardust, their blossoms radiating lunar silver.
"Tone it down," Medea said helplessly, eyeing the moonlit forests sprouting wildly along the banks. "At this rate, you'll reshape the Sumerian mythos."
Jeanne Alter stabbed Durandal into the river, precisely spearing a fish and tossing it aside for later roasting.
She rolled her eyes, showing no deference to the goddess. "That earthquake nearly tossed me into the river. Can't certain goddesses control their emotions?" She turned sharply. "Hey, Morpheus! What are you secretly writing?"
Leaning against an ash tree, Morpheus closed his golden grimoire with a smile. "Recording the Primordial Artemis's psychological impact on Mesopotamia's native gods. With careful study, I might develop new magic."
Since they'd already drawn attention, there was no need to hold back. Artemis was cautiously practicing control over her power.
This era would reset anyway, so letting Artemis have fun posed no issue.
***
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