Proofreader & Editor: Lotas
"I'll take them all!"
Xu Zong replied decisively without hesitation.
"Hey, aren't you being a bit too greedy?"
Even the god Ea seemed taken aback, his frustration barely contained.
"I can only give you one, because I only have these two myself. If I give them both to you, what will I use?"
What kind of person is this!
I already said I'd give you one, why are you still asking for so much?
"Isn't it rumored that the king of Uruk is a wise ruler? Why are you so greedy?"
"That rumor was spread by my own command!"
"……"
Ea was dumbfounded.
He didn't know what to say for a moment; Gilgamesh's behavior was completely unexpected!
"Did you just say you only have these two?"
Xu Zong looked at Ea, his eyes suddenly deepening.
"Indeed."
Ea nodded frankly.
"You said your name was Ea a long time ago, right?"
Xu Zong nodded in understanding, then smiled again.
"So, what is your name now?"
Ea fell silent for a moment.
The names and forms of conceptual gods change with the concept, that is, with the changes in people's recognition of them. He was called Ea a long time ago, but now he might not bear that name.
In Sumerian mythology, Ea is a very special deity.
He was born at the beginning of chaos, which means he was born alongside Apsu and Tiamat, and even predates them!
But as the myths evolved, Ea's name was merged with other deities, causing his own name to be lost in history. This led to the gradual disappearance of his aspect as Ea, and he is now walking the world in a new identity.
"Let me guess."
Xu Zong stepped down from the golden throne and walked towards Ea with a smile.
"The two divine artifacts you presented, one is a 'sword' that has lost its name, let's call it the Ea Sword for now, and the other sword has a name, the Sword of Ending, Enki."
The Ea Sword is the EA Sword, also known as the Sword of Rupture.
The Sword of Ending is also called Enki.
"Your divine name now should be the guardian god of Eridu, the water god Enki, right?"
In the hall, as Xu Zong's words fell, there was a long silence.
"Sigh."
After a long silence, the man in the black robe sighed, shed his black robe, and the refractive water membrane on his body also receded, revealing the figure of a young man with water-blue hair.
"You guessed right, my name is indeed Enki now."
He spread his hands, his face full of helplessness.
Long ago, he was Ea, one of the three pillars of gods at the dawn of chaos. Unfortunately, with the arrival of the white giant, he died as a primordial god and has now fallen to a lower-tier conceptual life form, a spirit. His identity, power, and even self-recognition are all closely related to human faith.
Once humans completely forget the name Ea, his aspect as Ea will also disappear, and from then on, he will simply be the water god Enki.
Xu Zong did not expect that the first city of Eridu he attacked was guarded by the god Ea.
Of course, from the current point of view, it should be the city-state guarded by the water god Enki, and Enki is a relatively weak target among the gods.
"Why are you helping me?"
Xu Zong asked Ea in disbelief.
His actions were akin to rubbing salt into Ea's wounds. Once humans forget him, not to mention the aspect of the god Ea, he might even lose the identity of the water god Enki and possibly die!
"I am one of the three pillars of gods from the beginning of chaos, so I am different from the current gods."
Ea, or Enki, shook his head with a melancholic expression.
"At the beginning of this planet, it was indeed the world of the gods, but everything that begins must end. The era of the gods will eventually pass, and the future will belong to humans. In the distant future, the era of humans will also pass, and the future will belong to new life forms…"
Ea was not fixated on preserving his own era; he was an open-minded god. He knew that the future human world had no place for gods to intervene. It was better to suffer a short pain than a long one. Instead of letting the Sumerian gods cling to this land, it was better to give Gilgamesh a push and quickly drive away the gods.
That way, these gods might live a little longer.
After hearing his words, Xu Zong also fell silent.
The era of humans will also disappear in the future; this was undeniably true. Neither the Coral of the Moon nor the Steel Earth had a place for humans to survive.
But if he were in that era, would he, like Ea, willingly give up the era and leave?
Xu Zong asked himself, and he doubted he could do it.
"Since you've guessed it, I have nothing more to say."
Ea shrugged helplessly.
"This 'Ea Sword' is for you. I probably won't need it in the future anyway. Be careful, this sword is meant for gods to use, and it was used by me, one of the three pillars of gods at the dawn of chaos. The more you use this sword, the closer your divinity will become to mine. In the end, you may even lose yourself and be assimilated into a divine spirit. Don't use it lightly!"
With a wave of Ea's hand, the primordial sword flew towards Xu Zong.
After speaking, he turned and walked out of the temple.
"Where are you going?"
Xu Zong caught the Ea Sword and immediately asked Ea, thinking of something.
"I'm leaving."
Ea waved his hand without looking back and walked out of the hall with ease.
"I can't maintain the aspect of the god Ea for too long. If I revert to the aspect of the god Enki and have to fight you to the death, wouldn't that be miserable? So I plan to leave now and head to the inside of the world!"
Heading to the inside of the world, huh.
Xu Zong nodded silently.
That was for the best; there was no need to get the Sword of Ending.
A refractive water membrane covered Ea again, and he vanished without a trace.
Because Xu Zong had decreed the prohibition of the worship of the water god Enki, Ea no longer had many followers here. He had to hurry back to the inside of the world, otherwise, he would die inexplicably in the outside world.
Xu Zong watched Ea leave, his view of the gods changing somewhat.
Not all gods clung to the faith of the land, wanting to keep humans in the palm of their hands. At least this god Ea was an exception.
He put away his thoughts and looked at the "sword" in his hand.
This sword existed at the dawn of chaos and is the origin of the concept of "sword." It has lost its name along with the fading of Ea.
"In that case, you shall be called the Sword of Rupture!"
Xu Zong examined the divine artifact in his hand and gave it the same name as in the original story.
Although Ea's name was gradually fading, the power of the sword did not disappear. It was undoubtedly a divine artifact of the creator god level. Once used, it would recreate the most brutal scene before the birth of heaven and earth, capable of destroying all life forms on Earth!
Moreover, unlike the Sword of Rupture in the Holy Grail War, the one used in the Holy Grail War was a replica made of magical power. Although it also had mythological power, it was still a replica.
But the one in his hand was the genuine original, the Sword of Rupture used by the god Ea himself!
Xu Zong casually skipped his administrative duties and quietly left the city of Uruk to find a secluded forest to try out the Sword of Rupture.
"Boom!"
In the forest, Xu Zong only infused a little magical power into the sword, and a massive crimson storm burst forth, leveling the land within hundreds of meters! Not to mention trees, even the grass was gone, much stronger than in the original story where it couldn't even break the floor of Ryuudou Temple.
"Such terrifying power!"
Xu Zong was inwardly astonished and grew even fonder of the sword.
He tried to increase the output, pouring all his magical power into it. The storm that formed suddenly began to spin in the opposite direction, creating a pseudo-spatial rift that destroyed everything within several kilometers. The entire forest disappeared as if it had turned into a Gobi desert.
"With my magical power, I can't unleash the full strength of this sword!"
Seeing the terrifying destructive power, Xu Zong frowned.
His magical power was very high; he was a demigod after all. But even with his demigod-level magical power, he couldn't drive the full strength of this sword. The Sword of Rupture was truly greedy.
But of course, this was the first sword at the beginning of the world, a divine artifact used by the creator god Ea. Only Ea in his prime could wield the full power of this sword! With his little magical power, it was not enough to compare with a true creator god, so naturally, he couldn't unleash its full power.
However, during the process of using it, Xu Zong also felt something unusual.
As he infused his magical power into the sword, a force from the sword fed back into his body, covertly altering it.
Xu Zong thought of the Lion King from the sixth singularity, who, because of holding the Holy Lance for too long, had her body remodeled by the lance and eventually lost herself, becoming the goddess Rhongomyniad.
Just like that lance, this Sword of Rupture was also altering his life form, trying to transform his divinity to match the Sword of Rupture.
"Hmph, you think you can destroy my mind with this? Bring out ten times more!"
Xu Zong sneered, dismissing the transformative force with contempt.
Over the past half year, he had been practicing the Desolate Buddhist Scriptures and the archery of Hou Yi. Although these abilities didn't quite fit with his world, his temperament and soul strength had indeed improved. He didn't believe he couldn't withstand this little transformation!
"Why are you destroying the forest?"
Suddenly, a figure descended slowly from the sky nearby, looking at Xu Zong with displeasure.
It was a beautiful figure, wearing only a simple white robe, with bright green hair cascading down the back. The figure was so beautiful that it was hard to tell whether it was male or female.