Once they were inside, Gilgamesh informed them of the rooms. In total, there were seven rooms. They all went to separate rooms, except Cassie, whom he led through the house towards her room. When they were inside the room next to his, Gilgamesh made her sit on the bed.
"I... genuinely don't know how I will ever repay you for everything you have done, Gil."
A guilty expression overcame Cassie's face; she felt that she was a liability.
"We have already discussed this before, Cassie. You being alive means more to me than anything else."
The blind girl nodded slowly, still feeling unsure. Gilgamesh bid her goodbye and told her to just ask him if she wanted something.
Walking out of the room, he closed the door behind him and walked towards the master bedroom. When he reached the bed, he dismissed the upper part of his armor entirely.
Laying down on the bed, Gilgamesh relaxed.
He had made it to the Dark City; he had done it. Rather easily, too, he hadn't needed to use his strength fully. The only thing left to do was defeat Gunlaug and reach the Crimson Spire.
Another thing, would Kai be stuck inside the well right now? Gilgamesh doubted it because they had arrived a month and a half earlier than the original, still, it might be worth checking out.
The Crimson Spire was interesting as well.
He doubted that anything it threw at him would cause any trouble. Gilgamesh could break its gates rather easily, so there was no point in wasting time collecting the Shards.
The battle with Gunlaug was something he was looking forward to; he wanted to check how many hits it took before he broke the Transcended Echo.
Gilgamesh honestly didn't blame the Golden Serpent for failing to find a way out; he had done a remarkable job considering how weak he was. Not many people could win against the feeling of absolute power; Gunlaug hadn't either.
It was time for him to hand the throne over to its rightful owner, Gilgamesh.
Even the first Bright Lord was very interesting. He had not only been the first person to unite the people of the Forgotten Shore but also beat a Fallen Beast and stand against the horrors of the Hollow Mountains without an Oracle.
The man was a beast, unfortunately, he didn't have any plot armor.
Gilgamesh also had to defeat the dark knight of that Cathedral and get the Mask of Weaver for Sunny.
Seeing that he had nothing to do, he started depositing all the memories he had gotten from today inside [Gate of Babylon].
Just when he was about to fall asleep, Gilgamesh realized that he hadn't visited his Soul Sea once.
That thing had slipped from his mind completely due to everything that had happened until now. Still, it was weird that he hadn't thought about it until now.
'Better late than never.'
Having nothing else to do, Gilgamesh decided to finally visit his Soul Sea.
'How am I supposed to do this thing again?'
Since Gilgamesh had never visited his Soul Sea, he was confused on how to do it.
Closing his eyes, he meditated on the thought of going inside his Soul Sea. Almost instantly, he felt a tugging feeling inside of him, leading him somewhere.
...
His feet landed somewhere.
It was honestly a weird experience; Gilgamesh could 'see', 'hear', and 'feel' everything outside normally, yet he could also do the same things inside here as well.
It was as if his mind was divided into two.
Opening his eyes, he finally looked at his Soul Sea.
What he saw took his breath away.
The sky above was a swirling expanse, bathed in a palette of golden hues. Luminescent tendrils of various shades of gold intertwined in the air, forming clouds that pulsed with an glow.
Scattered throughout the sky were countless glittering specks; it looked like he was gazing at the night sky where there was no light or air pollution.
The sky looked like the Heavens itself; it radiated a warm and bright feeling, making him feel at home.
(Image)
A single golden Sun floated in the air with weird lettering running across it, similar to the ones that were on Ea.
Gilgamesh stood there for a second, basking in the Sun.
It was definitely the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on.
Looking away from the sky, he finally looked at the thing in front of him.
His breath was again stolen from him.
A grand hallway stretched immensely; its width could only be counted in kilometers. Ornate golden arches and colossal fluted columns lined the expansive path, their polished surfaces reflecting the abundant light from the sky.
Above, the vaulted ceilings were adorned with intricate designs in shimmering gold, painting a beautiful golden picture across the dome overhead.
At the top, massive circular openings revealed patches of the golden sky with multiple fluffy clouds. On the sides multiple trees and branches wrapped around the pillars.
It was simply breathtaking.
(Image)
At the end of the hallway sat an immense golden figure, almost transparent in nature, on a golden throne. It was impossible to discern any features of it, except one thing:
It had a wide grin on its transparent face.
Gilgamesh felt that there were supposed to be figures kneeling in front of it, but there were none.
The whole scene could have only been crafted by the hands of a Divine being. It was too gorgeous. There were no words in his vocabulary that could describe its beauty.
Gazing at the wonders all around of him, Gilgamesh laid down on the decorated marble ground and looked at the various beautiful designs above him.
It didn't take long for him to fall asleep in not only the Soul Sea but also in real life.
...
Gilgamesh woke up the moment he felt the rays of the Sun shining on him. Equipping the upper part of [Golden Armor], he walked outside of the room to see if anyone was awake.
Noticing that everyone was sleeping, he walked down the stairs towards the door of the house.
The dark and gloomy surroundings of the Outer Settlement greeted him the moment he opened the door.
With the Sun still low, no one could be seen on the streets.
Teleporting into the air, Gilgamesh tried to spot the well where Kai should have been kept.
It didn't take long for him to find the well.
Opening the portal, he was standing beside it.
Peeking inside the dark depths of the well, he could see that there was no one inside.
"So, he hasn't been kidnapped yet."
Feeling disappointed, he turned away, walking through the streets of the Outer Settlement. While walking, Gilgamesh activated the enchantment of the [Golden Armor], making it glow brightly, attracting the attention of the remaining Nightmare Creatures. He was fairly certain that the enchantment did more than just make the armor glow brighter; it probably had some sort of mental attack that made them pay attention to him instantly.
A sword flew out of the portal, instantly annihilating the head of a stone statue that tried to attack him from the shadows.
Just when Gilgamesh was about to walk away, he paused. Turning back, he looked at the remaining body of the statue.
"Isn't that supposed to be the Echo of Sunny?"
Furrowing his brow, he opened his Runes to check the Echo section. While ignoring the other Echoes that he had, Gilgamesh finally found what he was looking for: [Stone Saint].
Nodding his head at the Runes, he instead stared at the number of Golden Fragments.
Golden Cores: [2/7]
Golden Fragments: [559/2000]
In just a few days, his fragments had increased by almost three hundred. Almost all of those were from yesterday's killing spree.
He wanted to form at least his second Golden Core before the final fight of the Crimson Spire.
So, on he went, Ea in his hands, eliminating any and all Nightmare Creatures that came in his way. While going through the streets, multiple people had started to follow him, wanting to witness his prowess. They collected all the Soul Shards and the food from the corpses, making sure nothing was wasted. It was the first time they would be getting to eat Fallen meat, after all.
Suddenly, as he was walking, Gilgamesh looked up, staring at the Spire Messenger flying in the sky.
It landed in front of him with a loud boom and screeched in the air, raising its ugly beak.
The monstrous creature resembled a cross between a lion and a raven. Its body was pale as a corpse, while its head and chest were covered with dark feathers. It was massive in size, with muscles rolling like steel cables under the skin. It had two powerful hind legs and six more protruding messily from its wide chest, each ending with a set of deadly claws. It also possessed a long, jagged black beak.
The people behind him didn't scream and run away like he was expecting. Instead, they were staring at him with worshipful eyes, as if he was going to take it down in one strike.
Well, they weren't wrong.
Gilgamesh was planning on taking the thing down with just one swing of Ea, not only because he could, but because of the multiple people assembled behind him, not wanting them to get hurt.
Simply raising his hand, he announced, "Today, all of you shall be feasting on the flesh of the Spire Messenger."
The people behind him cheered at his aura.
Gilgamesh couldn't help but get confused.
Was it that easy to win the trust of these people?
Perhaps he was being harsh on them. Not only did he have [King's Charisma], but his [Golden Armor] probably had an enchantment that increased his charisma as well.
There was also the fact that they were stuck here for years, watching their close friends die in front of their eyes; they probably had felt suicidal atleast once since they had come here.
Also, most people here had difficulties killing an Awakened creature; Fallen were unimaginable to them.
One day, a random guy starts floating in the air, kills most of the Fallen Nightmare Creatures and Awakened Nightmare Creatures, shares all the shards and food equally—food which many people probably hadn't eaten in days.
Maybe it was not as unbelievable to instantly think of this person as their Messiah.
The Spire Messenger moved lightning quick, its claws extended.
Its head was separated from its grotesque body before it could even realize it. The head fell to the ground, with the blood and innards of the creature spilling out.
The titanic sound of people shouting joyously in the air reached his ears.
Gilgamesh clicked his tongue in annoyance at the loud sound. Still, not breaking character, he raised his hand, instantly making the sound stop due to his hand.
"This is a gesture of my promise that each and every one of you shall be making their way back to the real world."
When he lowered his hand, the sound reached a crescendo, with multiple people chanting his name.
So on he went, clearing the streets and houses of the remaining filth that was residing in them cowardly.
While walking through the streets, he couldn't help but admire the architecture of the whole city.
The city looked like it had come straight from a picture of a Dark Fantasy world.
The houses themselves radiated a gloomy, ominous glow.
The whole area had a dense sprawl of houses stretched out, a collection of closely packed, decaying buildings with steeply pitched, weathered roofs and narrow, deteriorating structures.
Because of thousands of years of neglect and battles between Nightmare Creatures, most of the structures made from the dark stone were falling apart.
Even the cobblestone street beneath them was broken in almost all places, with barely a few stones peeking out, suggesting that there actually used to be a proper road beneath them.
It was genuinely impressive that all of these houses were still left after centuries of neglect.
It was in one of these streets when the procession encountered the men of Gunlaug.
Leading a group of people, at the front was a strange, pale man with a bony face and glassy, emotionless eyes. His spine was twisted, making him appear deceptively short. The hunchback was wearing simple black clothes with no adornments and holding himself with a bit of awkwardness, as though uncomfortable with the attention of hundreds of people on him.
If Gilgamesh wasn't wrong, then this was supposed to be the favorite slave-dog of Gunlaug, Harus.
There were a few more people behind him, none that he recognized.
The man standing next to the hunchback stepped out from behind him, looking nervously at the sheer number of people standing behind Gilgamesh. The man nervously coughed into his hand, trying to hide his fear.
"Our majesty, the just ruler of the Bright Castle, has ordered you to come to the hall of the main keep to address your threat directed to him yesterday. Appropriate action shall be taken against you if you were to refuse."
No one dared to speak after he was finished.
Gilgamesh laughed.
...
Word Count: 2219