A True Story: Orgy of Swords (Incomplete)

 

 

Matsuki Takato hurriedly made his way to the door.

 

Who could it possibly be? It was not particularly early or particularly late, but he was sure nobody at the large residential complex of the Nonaka family (and friends) was expecting visitors.

 

Not that day. Everybody who was expected was already there…and he should be there with them!

 

The doorbell rang insistently. Seriously, if it was yet another person requesting a miracle, he was so getting it. Have the many others he has rejected not been enough of a hint?

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming, I’m coming,” Takato muttered in a bored tone.

 

Opening the massive outer gate, Takato came face to face with an unexpected visitor. Of course he remembered her or, namely, there was a record of this person in his human brain, which was more of a RAM than a hard disk. When you have free access to the Akashic Record that contains all of Reality’s data, the brain becomes only the tiny portion of a system; an interface with the collective knowledge of Creation.

 

Long, fair black hair was elegantly flicked behind the woman in her early thirties. Of course, she was Supernal, so she looked quite younger than that.

 

“Layla.”

 

Eyes the color of honey sparkled mischievously, and the naughty grin on her face would have unsettled a lesser man.

 

“…onii-chan.”

 

Takato raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

 

“Stop that. It seriously doesn’t suit you.”

 

The woman of Iranian origin laughed merrily, her smile becoming warm and affectionate. She was a veteran of the Last Holy War and someone Takato could proudly call a friend.

 

“Didn’t expect you.”

 

“Nah,” the woman shrugged. “Events like today’s are better watched with company. So I thought: ‘how about Reality’s best possible company, then?’”

 

Takato grinned and nodded.

 

“Fair enough. Come in; it will begin any second now.”

 

On the way to the humongous backyard the three buildings shared, they met a short figure struggling to balance a tray of drinks.

 

“Awawawa—wah!” Kamiya Shinobu squeaked when the tray escaped her grasp and took to the air.

 

“Let’s do it this way, Shinobu-chan,” Takato suggested as he walked past the girl, tray in tow.

 

“Hey,” the smiling Layla greeted, and Shinobu promptly returned with an exaggerated bow.

 

“Ah, Layla-san. How good of you to come today.”

 

“Well, I gotta cheer for my fair Mistress,” the Priestess of Lilith admitted before turning her attention to the man who had already made some distance between himself and the two ladies. “And I find it hard to believe that’s the intended use of Seder Hishtalshelus.”

 

“As long as it’s done Supremely, it doesn’t matter what I do,” Takato dismissed with easygoing words, but his unmatchable aura flickered long enough to send a shudder down the two females’ spines.

 

---

 

Layla blinked upon sight of the ‘theater’.

 

“…you’re really treating this like a festival, aren’t you?”

 

Takato chuckled.

 

Men and women and Digimon, all of them entities of power both small and grand, reveled together like attendants to a gala. A long table with assorted snacks stood along the yard’s end, currently being ravaged by…

 

“Aaah, Taichi-san, please don’t eat everything so quickly!” Shinobu hurried to (attempt to) stop her soulmate’s rampage.

 

“So,” Layla began, standing next to Takato. “Who set up the screen?”

 

In the middle of the scene stood a large vat two feet tall and thirteen in diameter. It was full of crystalline clear water in unnatural motion. Supernal power raised the liquid upwards, creating a wide and thin transparent curtain.

 

“Suzie made the container and Jeri’s taking care of the water. Arisu’s doing the scrying.”

 

“Wouldn’t things be much simpler if you just did everything?” the Incarnation of the legendary Assyrian Queen pondered.

 

“That line of reasoning leads to a dangerous path.”

 

Just because he could do everything did not mean he should.

 

Adam Kadmon is meant to represent the pinnacle that drives the permanent growth and improvement of Reality, not its stagnation.

 

“Layla Ibrahimi.”

 

The approaching figure of Alice McCoy was a beacon of humanity in this gathering of Supernals. She was not the only human present, though. A quick glimpse at the entire scene quickly revealed Henry and Kenta chatting in the company of their respective wives, Jeri and Misaki. Somewhere apart from everybody else, Kotoko appeared to be in the middle of explaining something to the Vanderberghe siblings. An assorted group of members of the Alpha G-Team sat stiff like good students in front of the water screen, led by Ootori Riley. Their overly serious attitude and faces scrounged up in concentration deeply contrasted with the festive feeling all around them.

 

“Alice,” Layla greeted with a somewhat stiff smile. Takato could see why: the look on his ex-wife’s face was all business. It heavily contrasted with the baby in her arms.

 

“Umm…can it wait until the after-party? Please?”

 

Alice paused, pondering the offer. After glancing at the light-hearted mood of that day’s gathering, she sighed.

 

“…fine. But don’t think you’ll get away from explaining that bloated budget, Semiramis.”

 

“Urgh…”

 

Takato had to hide a grin. Alice was awesome when talking Supernals down.

 

“Takato, here.”

 

He received the baby, who immediately locked her deep red eyes on his face as if hypnotized. Takato smiled at the tiny human, restraining his Supernal aura from flooding the world with the joy this little life filled him with.

 

“Aria,” he called her. “My Aria.”

 

“Huh, it’s the killer queen.”

 

“Just one of many, Lady Kamael,” Layla quickly retorted, turning her gaze at the Archangel of Might. Nonaka Rika, wife of Matsuki, looked very informal with her unbuttoned jeans and her short-sleeved white shirt buttoned only half-way down.

 

Rika raised an eyebrow at the exaggerated attention Takato was placing on her exposed bellybutton, but quickly dismissed it to join the other two females’ conversation. Knowing he was no longer needed there, Takato stepped into the yard proper towards the scrying screen, sparing short glances and waving greetings at people on the way, all the while carrying the baby as if it were the most fragile and sacred object in the Universe.

 

Alone by the full vat and staring at the image on the screen, stood the Eternal Child Maiden.

 

“Thank you for the hard work,” Takato greeted, gently placing a hand on the Third Bride’s left shoulder. Driven by instincts billions of years old, Arisu seized the hand and tilted her head to rest her left cheek on its back.

 

“You’re worried.”

 

It was not a question or a hypothesis.

 

“Even if he wins, he will not kill her. He knows Lilith’s death would cause far more harm than it would do good.”

 

“But, Papa…” Arisu muttered. “How would losing affect her? She is…her pride…”

 

“If it happens, it happens,” Takato declared. “If she loses, she will acknowledge him as her better, humiliating as that may be for her. And, if that happens, well…isn’t that what family is for?”

 

Sophia let go of the hand she was holding, which then fell on the crown of her head to tenderly stroke her hair for a few seconds before bringing it back up to hold the baby more properly.

 

“Jeri can take care of her physical wounds, and you and Ruki and Aria and I will heal her battered pride. How about that?”

 

Arisu still wondered and worried, but it was hard not to believe everything would be alright when his Supremely warm presence infused her with joy and relief.

 

He was her sustenance, far more important than water or oxygen. As a powerful Supernal, those she could actually live without for quite some time.

 

She knew she was staring at him, and she knew anybody who bothered look in her directly would immediately see the dreamy glitter of her irises and her flushed cheeks as she admired him and longed for him.

 

Takato, however, was watching the screen with no little attention. But was he really?

 

Not even an Aspect of God like her could begin to understand the mental processes of one such as the Supreme.

 

“It’s starting,” he said, and Sophia absolutely believed it, not even bothering to look at the screen to confirm it.

 

The words resounded like an omen, heard by all the present.

 

They knew they were not the only ones watching this. Takako had been very forthcoming with her intentions; they were sure every Incarnated Supernal had found out some way or another, and there was no way any of them would miss such an events. It was likely there were currently dozens or even hundreds of similar scrying windows all over the world, all of them centered on that desolated area of the Digital World where Supernal history was about to be written.

 

“She needs this,” Takato’s voice reached the minds of all the present. “Now that she has ‘a new life’, she wants to put all the painful chapters of her past life behind.”

 

“So, she needs this. If she truly wants to return to the light. If she truly wants to stand by my side again as the Empress of Heaven, then she needs this, no matter the result.”

 

“So fight, my Lilith,” Takato spoke to the liquid scrying screen. “Fight and show him, show everybody in this world, just how radiant you are.”

 

---

 

She had cleared up an entire area of the Digital World just for this. Thousands of Digimon had been evacuated to empty a wasteland two hundred kilometers in length and one hundred and fifty in width. She feared it might not be enough, but she would do her best to keep innocents from getting caught in the sublime crossfire that was sure to ensue.

 

It had been dotted with spires of rock and compacted soil like fingers of titans hoping against all hope to reach the unforgiving sun. She had also removed all but one of them: she wanted a perfectly plain battlefield, entirely devoid of features that could give an advantage to one or the other.

 

Everything had to be perfect in its simplicity, to give room to nothing but their powers and skills. If she wanted to find satisfaction; if she wanted to have a proper closure, everything had to be perfect.

 

“He’s late.”

 

Yet she had allowed herself one little fit of arrogance.

 

A lone spire remained as a beacon; a wordless letter of challenge. Her voice had resounded throughout both worlds, mortal and Digital.

 

“Come at me one last time, King of Uruk.”

 

Since that day, she had stood alone and unmoving on top of that spire, waiting for the answer she knew would come.

 

She had chosen the date, having waited to fully recover her strength after her pregnancy and labor. She had chosen the place and prepared the battlefield to ensure absolute fairness. There were no traps, no hidden mechanisms or secret advantages in this empty wasteland.

 

There were only the rocky spire, the girl and her unblemished regalia.

 

Wearing the half-plate armor, Etemenanki – The House of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth, she shone like a battle angel, an untainted valkyrie, a warrior-goddess clad in white. Unlike Semiramis’ Regalia of Babylon, rich in blue and gold, Lilith’s was of a spotless, blinding white.

 

Never had a garment fit a person so little.

 

A sword as long as she was tall was planted on the rock to her right, a single hand wrapped around its hilt of white and gold: Belit-iti – The Forgotten Missing Power. A weapon angelic in its appearance, pristine as if it had never been used.

 

Contrastingly, the eight floating tower shields that surrounded Takako in a ring were explosions of color in this barren land: Gates of Babylon – The Unbreakable Will that Withstands Eternity. They were all of gold and a different color, just like the fabled gates of the ancient city each represented a different divinity.

 

Even after wearing and carrying them for so long, the drain on her energy reserves was minimal; of all the weapons and Supernal tools in her vast Treasury, these three were made just for her.

 

…no. That was not entirely true.

 

The former Lilith, the one who died that day, was never able to wield these weapons.

 

She had never been worthy of them, until that day.

 

That Lilith had felt betrayed by Heaven and by the man she loved. That Lilith had turned her back away from her home and the only one who could possibly understand her and accept her unconditionally. That Lilith had fought a war of billions of years against hopelessness, and she had lost.

 

That Lilith was dead. She needed to die, so a new Lilith could be born.

 

Lilith.TakaKo. That was her designation in the Reality Servers.

 

In the standard EQUERIA_PROTOCOL, the word “Takako” was a Soul Code usable only by Adam Kadmon—and, consequently, by Takato and Micael—, meaning “The Perfect and Ideal Beauty”, or “The Most Beautiful and Exalted.”

 

However, the “TakaKo” in her new designation came from the new language Adam Kadmon had invented.

 

In that language, because of Takato’s Border Script, all sentences could have two simultaneous meanings.

 

“I will be delighted to destroy everything until only our happiness remains.”

 

“Driven by love, I will create a new, fantastic power for the ruler of this world.”

 

Even if there was a new Lilith, those feelings had not really changed, had they…?

 

The earth rumbled. The vibration came from both land and air.

 

It happened again, like the work of a titan’s hammer at the forge.

 

No.

 

Like the drums of the army of a God of War.

 

He was there, his Reality Script a thick line in the horizon like a Boundary between Heaven and Earth.

 

For they marched as one: an army not vast in numbers, but in ‘history’.

 

She could count their numbers if she wanted to, but there was no reason for such a thing. In the past, counting targets had been an important preparation for the casting of her Reality Script, Gardens of Babylon.

 

Her Existence was so much more than the conglomerate of all the world’s evils. To reduce the fundamental expression of her self to a mirror of Angra Mainyu had been a mistake.

 

She was working on fixing that, but it would take a while before she could finish her new and definitive Reality Script.

 

The drums of war that filled the Digital World had gained a steady rhythm. They were not a call for battle, but the triumphant march of a king above all kings. He was not the first, but he was the first whose name became so much more than cuneiform on a stone slab.

 

A king and a usurper without peer; his shameless at claiming the treasures of others could only be called ‘kingly’.

 

Takako could recognize the advancing lines: they were the infantry of the Ganderite and Praesii armies; two hundred thousand men those under Alexander III of Macedon refused to fight after Hydaspes. Their steps matched the sound of the drums; their march of conquest creating tremors that filled the land. It was a mighty army, one that would make many Supernals tremble in wariness.

 

It was a mighty army, made even mightier by the same Reality Script that brought it back from the sands of history.

 

Every single one of them carried an identical shield, aesthetically unique in that it was cut on the two sides, making it somewhat peanut-shaped. It was the legendary shield of the Roman god of war: Ancile – Anointed Effigy of the Eternal City.

 

After the lines of drummers, about a fifth of the soldiers were spear-bearers. Among those, a fourth of them carried­—of course, Takako mused while rolling her eyes—the spear that knows no defense: Lancea Longini – The Spear Which Pierced the Flesh of God. The others carried—well, isn’t this interesting—the spear whose legend is vastly shadowed by that of its owner’s legendary sword: the spear of Arthur Pendragon, Rhongomyniad – To the King There is no Equal.

 

And then, line after line after line of archers, all of them wielding the same bow: a thing of wonder, seemingly made of twin and opposite eruptions of ice shards. Within the ice crystals, something like flame lurked within, casting eerie lights as they were refracted before escaping into the outside world. It was a strange choice of weapon, Takako thought, but she guessed it was a suitable one—a strong pick among the ‘standard’ bow-type Instrumental Weapons; strong enough to make a difference but not so much that those rank-and-file soldiers could not wield it.

 

Aizen – The Ambivalence of Love and Duty.

 

An army of two hundred thousand, equipped with Supernal tools.

 

It would be a terrifying thing, were their opponent not an Aspect of God.

 

No, no, the real scary thing marched ahead of the army.

 

For once, the King of Heroes was clad not in his favorite Humbaba, but in, of all things, the armor Lilith had crafted for her Priestess, Semiramis: Aibur-shabu – The Enemy Shall Never Withstand the Might of Babylon. The usual polychromatic armor had been replaced by cobalt blue and gold, and his usual regal cape had given way to a pair of metallic wings. Unlike his soldiers, he carried no weapon; his favorite Enlil rendered unusable by the effect of Lilith’s armor, Etemenanki. Not that he needed to, what with all the weapons floating around him, more and more created every few seconds by the power of his Transcendence of the Root of Legends.

 

The reasons for Gilgamesh’s armor choice stood closely around him. Given the origin of the army he had chosen that day, those figures gave the whole situation a certain ironic aftertaste.

 

She could name each and every single one of them, for their names had remained in history and showered with praise.

 

Aristonous.

 

Arybbas.

 

Balacrus.

 

Demetrius.

 

Hephaestion.

 

Leonnatus.

 

Lysimachus.

 

Menes.

 

Peithon.

 

Perdiccas.

 

Peucestas.

 

Ptolemy, the Seleucid.

 

They were the elite of the elite; the central guard of the Conqueror King who was never defeated in battle.

 

The Somatophylakes.

 

Takako noted the absence of Ptolemy Lagides, but that made sense: that one had been in fact the Incarnation of Archangel Kamael.

 

Exemplars of valour, each and every single one of them.

 

Boosted to the max by Gilgamesh’ arsenal of Supernal tools, each and every single one of them.

 

It was a gathering of warriors praised in history and legend, followed by a fraction of one of the most fearsome armies in history. It was truly an amazing, mind-blowingly beautiful scene; the furious beating of the drums and their perfectly synchronized march a promise of victory that would be remembered throughout the ages.

 

Were Takako not as pissed as she was, she would have whistled in appreciation.

 

---

 

“This is not good,” Layla Ibrahimi muttered from her seat in the “front row”. It was an honor bestowed upon her after being suddenly appointed “guest of honor.”

 

It basically meant being allowed to sit next to Takato, on the place usually reserved for his wife.

 

“Not at all,” the Supreme agreed. “It is a perfectly valid strategy from Gilgamesh’s part, but…”

 

“This is not the fight Takako wished for,” Arisu, seated to Takato’s right, completed.

 

“While I’d normally understand the advantage of numbers, though…” Matsuki Ruki, three seats to Takato’s left, commented. “…isn’t this a case of ‘one plus two hundred and fifty thousand times zero’?”

 

No matter how many times you add zero to a number, the result will never change.

 

“Well…” Takaishi Hikari began to suggest from her seat in the second row. “…wouldn’t that depend on how he intends to use them?”

 

“Nintur,” Layla suggested.

 

The All-Accepting Womb of the God-Mother. A ‘fake Reality Script’ crafted millennia ago by the primeval Sumerian goddess, Ninlil.

 

“Wouldn’t work,” Arisu immediately objected. “The concept of that Program is ‘Intimacy’. Do you honestly believe someone like Gilgamesh could truly feel anything towards those artificial soldiers?”

 

“And even if it worked,” Ruki added. “That thing is exactly the kind of Program Lilith finds easiest to unravel.”

 

Throughout the history of mankind, Lilith was an existence associated with ‘corruption’ and ‘perversion’.

 

“Hmm,” Layla muttered as she nodded in agreement with the others’ statements. “Well…should we start betting on how many hits they manage to land before she destroys them all in a maelstrom of unholy rage?”

 

To the left of Semiramis, Nonaka Rika chuckled, almost snorting the soda in her mouth.

 

“What a rude and utterly accurate way to say it.”

 

---

 

“GILGAMESH!”

 

Her voice resounded loud, clear and utterly angry in the mind of the King of Uruk, drowning the rhythmic hammering of the drums behind him.

 

“Will you ever cease to insult me!?”

 

The tall, well-built man in the armor of blue and gold showed no outward response to the girl’s angry words.

 

“My fight is with the King of Heroes! Not with his band of merry homunculi!”

 

In this newest version of the Digital World, the progression of day and night was more natural, even if this world lacked an actual sun. Instead, it was the Chariot of God, Merkava, which crossed the vast extension of the digital realm every day. Considering that the Digital World was not a sphere, nobody was really sure how that really worked.

 

While it was already night time in Japan, the Digital World used the Standard Greenwich Time. In the chosen battlefield of that day, the sky still was a soothing blue, marred only by the usual anomalies of such an unusual world. A dry wind blew through the wasteland, but the rigid metal wings of Takako’s and Gilgamesh’s armors were not disturbed by the currents.

 

The ancient king raised his right hand.

 

Bows were raised and readied to fire.

 

Takako gritted her teeth.

 

Not like this… she thought, this time keeping the thoughts to herself.

 

The spearmen also prepared themselves to throw their weapons. These were not merely human soldiers anymore, and so the idea of spears having the same range as arrows was not inconceivable.

 

I won’t be satisfied if I win like this…!

 

Gilgamesh’s hand was swung downwards, and the sky was obscured by two hundred and fifty thousand missiles. Most of them where icicle spears shot by the copies of Aizen, but they were all preceded by the barrage of flying spears.

 

Lilith’s powerful mind, aided by the ultimate processing capabilities of the Thread of Destiny, captured the trajectories of each and every single one of them in an instant.

 

In the time the volley crossed the distance to the top of the rocky spire—much faster than any ordinary volley—, Takako made a mighty swing of her bastard sword to meet the first of the incoming attacks. It was a copy of Lancea Longini, of course.

 

Sword met spear. The lance’s effect did not apply—Takako was meeting the spear’s flight with an attack of her own.

 

The spear flew backwards, spinning into the path of the incoming weapons behind and disrupting their paths as well. The process repeated over and over in the blink of an eye, until not a single one of the weapons that could have reached Takako even made it to where she stood.

 

Thousands of weapons struck the rock around and behind Takako. Fragments of shattered ice glistened under the Digital World’s artificial sun, and metal rained on the foot of the rock spire.

 

“Guh!” Takako spat as her body bent forward. Blood escaped her lips, but a moment later it dispersed into loose data.

 

Two dozen weapons pierced her body. All of them fired by Gilgamesh much faster than his foot solders ever could.

 

“Wha…guh…” Takako gasped, trying to understand the incredible pain that rendered her speechless.

 

All but one of the swords were copies of the legendary holy blade, Durandal.

 

The last one was the emerald-studded sword of Persian legend, Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar.

 

Gilgamesh had fired his weapons to reach Takako at the exact same time, so that the holy swords could take advantage of the Persian sword’s effect of ‘nullifying all defensive capabilities of the object it touches’.

 

In the short time the emerald-studded sword was piercing through Etemenanki, it was as if Lilith were not wearing any armor. It was a strategy Takaishi Takeru had used more than once.

 

Lilith howled in pain as the sacred blades punished her insides.

 

---

 

“Ha-Hauuu…” Shinobu uttered pitifully, cringing at the sight and inching closer to Taichi.

 

“Gilgamesh draws first blood,” the Sixth Archangel concluded.

 

Takato grinned.

 

“Yes and no.”

 

“Seriously, that Lilith,” Ruki grumbled. “Always coming up with the most grotesque ideas…”

 

---

 

Not two seconds had passed since the first onslaught when the second was unleashed. This time Gilgamesh’s own barrage accompanied the hundreds of thousands of flying spears and arrows of ice.

 

Blood trickled down the sides of Takako’s disgusting grin.

 

“It hurts so GOOD! Ah—aaahn!”

 

The cry of orgasmic bliss was accompanied by a second swing of her pristine sword. This time, the swing created a gale that blew each and every single one of the incoming projectiles away. At the same time, the swords impaling her body disintegrated as if struck by a supernaturally potent acid. The incoming copy of Arsalan’s sword bounced off Takako’s weapon, allowing her animated shields to block the second onslaught of holy blades.

 

“Buffing complete!” Takako announced teasingly.

 

Forbidden Art – Exuberant Aegis of Algolagnic Climax.

 

It could not be called a ‘Perfect Defense’, for it did not prevent a successful attack. It is instead a ‘Perfect Damage Nullifier’ that furthermore converts the pain inflicted by the attack into a power boost.

 

All Supernals have a limit to how far beyond their own powers they can be enhanced by the effects of Programs and Instrumental Weapons. Furthermore, Instrumental Weapons themselves have a limit on how far they can enhance a creature’s powers, regardless of that creature’s innate limits.

 

As the oldest entity in Creation after Adam, Lilith has no such limits. Or rather, her limit is ‘the current limit of known Supernal power’.

 

If we could measure the physical capabilities of Supernals in a scale of 0 to 100, the Lilith right now would most definitely be a firm hundred.

 

---

 

“Typical Lilith,” Taichi grumbled.

 

“But now she can’t use that defense until the enhancement effect comes to an end,” Sophia reminded.

 

“You say that as if it were a problem…” Tai retorted in a flat tone.

 

---

 

How many seconds had passed? Five, perhaps?

 

Lilith found herself surrounded by the Somatophylakes. It was not teleportation or any instant-movement technique—they were simply that fast, reaching the peak of the spire she stood on in a mere instant.

 

There was no time for Lilith to appreciate their speed, however. They were all carrying bows readied to fire. Furthermore, they had flown their way there, which meant they enjoyed the flight effect of Gilgamesh’s armor, which itself meant Gilgamesh was also in the vicinity.

 

To be precise, exactly over her.

 

This had all happened in a fraction of a second: noting the elite soldiers around her, and locating Gilgamesh. Furthermore, recognizing the Instrumental Weapon they were about to unleash.

 

It was not their bows, but the arrows they had prepared. Gilgamesh, as usual, had several copies floating around him and would send them loose with Ninlil’s wind technique.

 

According to legend, this arrow carried colossal destructive power. Ama-no-wakahiko wasted it in an attempt to end the life of a pheasant, killing many innocents in the process. For this, he was punished with death by the primeval god, Takami-musubi.

 

Ama-no-Habaya – The Pacifier.

 

The air rippled next to Takako, not unlike the waves created by the fall of a rock in a still pond. A bow emerged from an adimensional gap in Minkowski space, gradually making its way into the Digital World. It was no mere bow, but the legendary bow that was meant to be used together with those very arrows now pointing at her.

 

Gilgamesh may be able to create countless copies, but Lilith happened to carry the original arrow and bow set.

 

Ama-no-Makakoyumi – The Discarded Blood-Stained Treasure.

 

Takako grabbed the bow and readied it aiming upwards.

 

The instant ended.

 

Arrows were unleashed from both sides.

 

The speed of Gilgamesh’s arrows was greater than that of his guards’. But the speed of Takako’s arrow was even faster because it had been fired from its matching bow. Lilith wondered why Gilgamesh did not make matching bows for his soldiers. Energy conservation, perhaps?

 

When Takako’s arrow collided with one of Gilgamesh’s, the bow’s effect activated, creating replica arrows that struck each and every single one of the arrows aimed at her.

 

The air around Takako was filled with explosions, but she knew better than to expect having harmed such an elite strike team. Indeed, from the smoke and flames they all emerged almost unscathed, all of them wielding the supreme paladin sword, Durandal.

 

But that was not all; something really impressive had appeared in the distance, behind the many lines of archers.

 

Trebuchets. So many of them they created a line along the horizon. Of course, they were not ordinary trebuchets.

 

War Wolf – The Instrument of Inevitable Retribution.

 

The largest trebuchet ever made, proudly and barbarically used by Edward Longshanks to destroy Stirling Castle.

 

Huh. Weird choice.

 

Uncaring of the distant siege weapons, Lilith unleashed her attack.

 

“God Art – Infinite Blades of the Underworld.”

 

Takako’s shadow became alive, shooting countless spikes of dark-stuff from the ground to impale everybody in Takako’s vicinity. The severely enhanced agility of Gilgamesh and the Somatophylakes allowed them to squeeze their way through the narrow spaces left by the shadow attacks, and those they cold not avoid they dispelled with the holy touch of Durandal.

 

They were about to step forward to attack when the shadow blades began to emerge from their own shadows.

 

“Hmph,” the King of Heroes snorted.

 

Lilith was ready to set a defense against War Wolf’s effect: the rocks it launched were simply props; as soon as they reached the highest point in the flight path, they would disappear and explosions would wreck a location of Gilgamesh’s choice—namely, hers.

 

But that did not happen.

 

While the sky was obscured by two hundred and fifty thousand ice arrows—Lilith could not care less that the spear-bearers had now become archers—, it was further obscured by an unnatural change from day to night.

 

A single constellation shone in the artificial sky.

 

“Shit!”

 

It was an Instrumental Weapon she knew very well. She had its ancient predecessor in her collection; a weapon even older than Gilgamesh, which then inspired the weapon he was about to unleash upon her.

 

Aquarius – The Pourer of Stars.

 

It was a simple tool which consumed a weapon—in this case, the rocks thrown by the many copies of War Wolf—and used it to fuel a mighty barrage of holy arrows of light.

 

Takako paid little attention to her unholy spears tearing apart one of the Somatophylakes, Demetrius, which might explain how the artificial soldier managed to fling his blade to pierce through the Aspect’s right hand.

 

“Argh!” Takako howled. “Goddamn holy sword, am I still not ‘good’ enough for you!?”

 

The language might explain it.

 

Stars rained upon the battlefield like heavenly retribution, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of ice arrows.

 

---

 

Most of the people watching all over the world had to close their eyes as the battlefield was flooded with light.

 

Those who could see through the explosion of light were a little worried.

 

“Takako, she…” Takato muttered.

 

“She’s gonna unleash something really troublesome.”

 

Takato chuckled and patted Arisu’s head, eliciting a strange sound composed of both a whine and a moan.

 

“But I still trust her.”

 

---

 

Something was eating the light.

 

Most of the rock spire Takako stood on had already been ravaged by the rain of missiles. However, it still stood, because the light rays that should have struck Takako were not doing anything.

 

It looked like water…or mercury. A sphere of silvery black fluid had surrounded the Aspect of Chaos, and everything that touched it ceased to exist. Even the ground under Takako’s feet had been devoured, which implied she was now floating in the air…but the air itself was being eaten as well. Gilgamesh could feel the inward-bound flow of air as it was constantly devoured and more air moved to fill the gap, like flies drawn to a Venus Flytrap.

 

Whatever it was, it was something Gilgamesh had never seen before, and that was worrisome.

 

The King of Heroes and his soldiers picked copies of Lancea Longini still remaining from the first volley and threw them at the unknown sphere. No matter what kind of power that sphere had, it mattered not to the weapon which ignores the very existence of the concept of ‘defense’.

 

Indeed, the spears flew through the liquid barrier as if it were not there.

 

Gilgamesh gritted his teeth at the sound of metal striking metal. It could not be Takako’s armor; that would have been ignored by the spears.

 

It was the sound of the spears meeting each other midflight.

 

“She’s not in the—” he tried to warn the others until he was interrupted by a burst of that ominous liquid emerging from within the rock in front of him, with Takako in tow.

 

Abzu – The Unfathomable Primeval Cosmic Ocean.

 

One of the oldest Instrumental Weapons born from the history of humankind. A conceptual weapon which could not be allowed to exist in its active state, for it has the power to unfailingly obliterate anything that is not Supernal.

 

Takako had dug a hole inside the rock to set up an unexpected strike.

 

She was right in front of Gilgamesh. Even with their greatly enhanced speed, the King’s guard would not be able to reach him before Lilith attacked.

 

The terrible water disappeared as if swallowed by Reality itself, no longer needed. Takako released a mighty war cry as she swung her large sword with awesome power. It glowed a bright white innate to its sublime power, but it was also surrounded by a terrible black aura; the empowerment Lilith had placed on the blade to make this a truly world-shattering strike.

 

This unbelievable harmony of light and dark carried tremendous power, and the ancient king could see this.

 

But Gilgamesh, if anything, was confident.

 

The sword’s descending path was interrupted by an invisible barrier, as if Reality itself denied Lilith the pleasure of striking the King of Heroes. The air rippled between the two arch-enemies, surreal waves spreading outwards.

 

Hē Tou Aiautos Aspis – The Sublime Sevenfold Boundary Which Protects the Ravaged Earth.

 

---

 

“There it is,” Takato pointed out with some amusement.

 

Those who knew Lilith, those really acquainted with her powers, understood what was about to happen, even if they could not point out exactly how she would do it.

 

It was Lilith’s turn to take the offensive.

 

---

 

There were many, many ways Lilith could obliterate the meddlesome army Gilgamesh had conjured. However, all those methods, were they used right away, would meet an unsurpassable obstacle: the Perfect Defense.

 

Gilgamesh, in his capacity to create all Instrumental Weapons younger than his legend, had several such ‘Perfect Defenses’ available to him. His favorite by far was the legendary shield of Ajax, the Telamonian, which managed to stop Hector’s javelin. This was because it was the easiest for him to deploy and, not having a physical form, it did not get in the way of other weapons he would also like to wield.

 

Lilith was absolutely sure that every single member of Gilgamesh’s army had been outfitted with a copy; it was a convenient protection even the weakest of Supernals could rely on.

 

That’s why, before she destroyed the army, she had to destroy their Perfect Defenses. To do so, she needed one of them to be deployed.

 

She had a few ways to destroy Aiautos Aspis herself but, to add insult to injury, she would not use her own Techniques to obliterate this army.

 

“God Art – Sympathetic Dimensional Splitting.”

 

It’s fairly easy to draw a line on a piece of paper and then split it in equal halves along the axis of its length. You end up with a top half and a bottom half. This is because the object drawn on that paper is not really a line, but a very narrow two-dimensional plane.

 

A true line is supposed to be one-dimensional, and thus indivisible.

 

Moloch’s Program, Dimensional Splitting, forcefully tried to split one-dimensional objects, which always resulted in the object ripped apart. The version Takako used was ‘symphathetic’, which meant that not only the initial target, but any identical entity within a certain area would be subjected to the same ripping effect.

 

The target this time was ‘Aiautos Aspis’. The area was twelve kilometers.

 

The Telamonian’s shield has a glaring weakness: while it is excellent at protecting its wielder, it has no means to protect itself.

 

In the end, it’s just another bounded field.

 

A deafening sound like glass breaking filled the battlefield as hundreds of thousands of copies of Aiautos Aspis were destroyed.

 

---

 

“She’s only used Moloch’s Programs so far,” Rika noted with a strange annoyed voice.

 

“Except for the disgusting buff,” Henry pointed out.

 

“Then she’ll probably use that one,” Ruki proposed.

 

Noting her beloved’s curiosity, Arisu gave further details.

 

“A Program of Moloch’s which has not been seen since the original Holy War.”

 

The Incarnation of Shekinah nodded sagely. After all, she had been the target of that Program back then.

 

“If she pulls it off, lil’Gil’s gonna be in for a world of hurt.”

 

---

 

“God Art – Violated Empathy—buh!” Takako managed to speak out before her body was pushed to the side by the spear that pierced through her right cheek across her mouth and exited through the other cheek.

 

Three spears struck her legs, the part of her body not protected by armor. These were the ones which had made it past her Gates of Babylon; all of them copies of Rhongomyniad.

 

Had Takako not executed that last Program, she would have been in serious trouble.

 

Rhongomyniad – To the King There Is No Equal.

 

The spear of King Arthur inflicts more damage the closer in overall power the target is compared to the wielder. Using the RPG-like XANADU system, we would say that Rhongomyniad ‘inflicts damage inversely proportional to the difference of the sums of the wielder’s and the target’s unmodified Parameters’.

 

Gilgamesh had modified the copies he had created so that they would all use his power as a reference, no matter who wielded it. However, Violated Empathy had erased that modification, meaning that the spears that struck Lilith inflicted minimal damage.

 

No matter how great the Somatophylakes were, they were mere specks of stardust compared to the immensity of Lilith.

 

In the blink of an eye, Gilgamesh and his guard had their copies of Durandal out and rushed at Lilith to strike. Belit-iti flashed at a speed belying its size interrupting the offensive path of Gilgamesh’s weapon while in the same fluid motion Takako spun her body to meet the artificial soldiers. Spears met swords as Takako used the very weapons that pierced her body to parry the ten holy sword attacks.

 

Before they could attack a second time, Takako disappeared.

 

The moment she stepped out of Instant Movement at the base of the rocky spire, the one member of the Somatophylakes who had not climbed the natural structure emerged from hiding to attack her midsection. Lilith’s armor, however, preventing all sorts of surprise attacks by giving her all-around perception, and Lilith calmly met the attack with her sword…

 

The soldier’s, Hephaestion’s, Durandal moved through Belit-iti as if it were not there, similarly ignoring the presence of Takako’s armor.

 

As her abdomen was torn open, Lilith realized Gilgamesh had modified that particular copy of Durandal with the ability to phase through inanimate matter, just for the sake of this surprise attack.

 

Lilith roared with bloodshot eyes. At her wordless command, Etemenanki disappeared, revealing a cringe-inducing black lace teddy that left very little to the imagination, especially on the backside.

 

“Taboo! Ravening Festival of Flesh and Marrow!”

 

At the same time Gilgamesh and his soldiers reached ground level, Takako’s intestines burst out of her body, suddenly impossibly longer than they should be and eagerly reaching for anything and everything in their path. The King of Heroes and the Somatophylakes instinctively jumped away from the sudden tidal wave of innards that fell upon the first lines of Gilgamesh’s immense army. At the ancient king’s command, the archers switched from ice to fire and unleashed another volley. Takako’s body was protected by the Gates of Babylon. As for the tentacle-like entrails, they just became entrails on fire.

 

“Forbidden Art – Lilitu Engine.”

 

Gilgamesh’s Durandal met Takako’s Belit-iti, while the remaining members of the Somatophylakes were met by Takako’s floating shields. Instrumental Weapons rained upon Takako’s form, but were blocked by a wall of writhing, bulging intestines, save for a copy of Lancea Longini that ignored the entrails and pierced Takako’s right shoulder.

 

One of Takako’s small hands let go of the sword.

 

“This ends NOW!”

 

Enlil appeared in Gilgamesh’s right hand, but it was too late.

 

Takako’s fell as a fist on the hard ground before her feet.

 

“Duality! Curse of Instrumental Equivalent Exchange!”

 

---

 

Most of the audience looked away yet again. This time time it had nothing to do with the brightness of the image on the water screen. The very opposite: it was a gigantic pillar of darkness which had uniformly filled the screen with utter black. There was nothing to see, so they pulled their eyes away from the screen.

 

“Well, there it is,” Shekinah stated, her voice barely hearable through Gilgamesh’s screams.

 

“That child…” Arisu continued, referring to Moloch. “He always comes up with the cruelest ideas.”

 

There’s no reward without sacrifice, no pleasure without pain. One’s own happiness always comes at the expense of others’. To gain something, someone, somewhere, must lose something.

 

Moloch’s ‘anti-Shekinah’ Program relied on this duality of sacrifice and reward.

 

A Program that inflicts damage to all subjects in an area but the user. The damage is proportional to the amount of working Instrumental Weapons in the area of effect, regardless of ownership.

 

---

 

The black faded, revealing once again the lively colors of the Digital World. Even the barren wasteland was a welcome respite from the utter all-consuming darkness Lilith had just unleashed. For a few seconds, the battlefield had become a separate dimension where the body failed to register any sensation other than the most agonizing pain.

 

At least to Gilgamesh.

 

They were alone.

 

The troops had deployed their copies of Ancile, but the Shield of Mars’ area defense was shattered in an instant, overwhelmed by the absurd destructive power of Takako’s Technique.

 

The Somatophylakes never stood a chance.

 

Gilgamesh fell on his knees and then flat on the ground, panting heavily. It was simply absurd!

 

All of Lilith’s attacks are greatly decreased in their power output when they target Gilgamesh. This is a Reality Protocol; a ‘truth’ engraved in the Thread of Destiny and always enforced. Yet, in spite of that, to have taken so much damage…!

 

A small green stone bounced off the ground once and came to halt before his eyes.

 

It was the Jewel of Benevolence, Yasakani no Magatama.

 

“There,” Takako spoke in a cold tone. “Recharge yourself.”

 

Gilgamesh’s eyes hardened with hate.

 

“Wha…”

 

“From this point onwards, it’ll be just you and me,” Takako continued. “I hope I’ve made my point clear. Now, hurry.”

 

A silent Program execution recreated the armor Etemenanki around Takako’s chest.

 

“If I’m going to beat you today, it will be at your absolute best.”

 

---

 

“Ne, Takato…”

 

At some point, Guilmon had made it to the front row and shamelessly placed his head on his Tamer’s lap. Takato was scratching the Demon Dragon Digimon on the back of his ears when Shekinah’s call got his attention. Little Aria was now in Arisu’s arms.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“You know, no matter what you say, I’m still surprised you actually allowed this fight to happen.”

 

Takato sighed, somewhat tired of that question.

 

“There are many reasons I wished for this battle,” Takato admitted. “Like I said before, Lilith has several things to prove.”

 

“Yeah, I get it; she wants to beat Gilgamesh—”

 

“That’s just the cover; the obvious reason everybody would assume,” Takato interjected, shaking his head. “This battle means a lot more to her, even more than she herself is aware of.”

 

“She does not know it yet, but this battle may be more important to her than any she has fought before. More so than you Archangels, more so than Sophia, more so than Rachel.”

 

“Now I believe the pace of the battle will increase from now on, so I better work some magic here. Seder Hishtalshelus.”

 

It was almost annoying how, upon discovering his ‘basis’ and becoming truly equal to Supremacy, the Reality Script became pretty much second nature to him. It was just sickeningly convenient, the power to do anything.

 

“Papa…” Arisu spoke quietly, but not quietly enough for the people present not to listen, especially after the Supreme Reality Script had just enhanced their sensory perception.

 

“…just what are you aiming for, with this fight…?”

 

“Me? Nothing,” a smiling Takato responded. “There’s nothing I can do…well, more like nothing I should do?” He paused a little to organize his thoughts. “I needed Metatron’s help to fully understand myself, my power and my origin. By understanding history, I understood ‘Adam Kadmon’, and with that understanding I knew just in which way I am equal to Supremacy. Now it’s Lilith’s turn.”

 

“So that Gilgamesh can understand her. So that the world can understand the Supreme greatness of her darkness, Lilith must first understand herself. She still doesn’t know her ‘basis’; she has not seen what Rachel and I see in her. She has not caught the first glimpse of her ‘absolute truth’. And without that truth, she will never be able to walk proudly by my side.”

 

All this time, he had been watching Takako’s small form on the liquid curtain which acted as a screen. After those words, he turned his head to smile at the one he called daughter.

 

“I believe Gilgamesh can help her reach the root of her existence. Because he is the Supernal most like her in Creation.”

 

And he said no more, thus leaving the present with more questions than answers.

 

Adam had never revealed this ‘personal truth’ he had found; the so-called ‘basis’ of his existence. Takako mocked everybody who asked by claiming that her onii-chan had provided enough clues in his many speeches in the last years. At one point, however, Takato made her admit that she did not have the complete answer herself.

 

“It matters not,” Takato had said. “This is truly a personal truth. It’s something immensely important to me, and something only I need to know. I could remove the memory from Metatron if I wanted to, but I do not do so out of respect and gratitude, for I would still be lost without him. So, really, you don’t need to know. Just rejoice with me on that fact that I have truly found peace.”

 

It was Adam Kadmon’s personal enlightenment, found only by reaching the answer to the fundamental question: What is ‘Adam Kadmon’?

 

That was truly the first and foremost question. With the answer in Takato’s possession, everybody had assumed all the mysteries of the past, all the obstacles that led to history as it happened, had been finally overcome.

 

But Takato had now pointed out another question. It was an important question, if one everybody had unconsciously decided to ignore. But it was a critical question, for it could explain oh so many things, both exalted and horrible.

 

What is ‘Lilith’?

 

---

 

The sky exploded with weapons.

 

They were like rain, like hail, like a meteor shower; descending from the sky at an angle like heavenly vengeance. High above Gilgamesh’s head, new weapons came into existence at his command, and immediately became part of the barrage. The King of Uruk was like the director of an orchestra, and legends were the instruments.

 

Explosions rocked the Digital World, fortunately unfelt because Takako took the precaution to evacuate a two-hundred-kilometer-radius patch of land. The blades struck the ground at supersonic speed, which would already be enough to unleash massive explosions, but many of them also carried destructive effects unleashed upon impact with anything. The world was deafened by the rain of metal and the roars of the tortured land.

 

“…tch!” Gilgamesh spat in annoyance.

 

Against the so-called Aspect of Chaos, his weapons were worthless.

 

He had seen it clearly, with the deft perception his immense Supernal power granted him. Lilith had swayed her body with slight, delicate motions that wasted no effort, time or energy, letting the first components of the barrage fly past her and explode far behind her. She dodged a dozen or two weapons before her hand reached like the tongue of a frog and caught one of the flying tools of death.

 

Chrysaor – The Golden Sword of Justice

 

With weapon in hand, Takako began to cleave her way through the barrage, shattering weapons and creating a void space of safety as large as the reach of her thin arms. Naturally, Gilgamesh saw this and promptly dismissed the legendary sword of Sir Artegal.

 

Takako was reaching for the next weapon even as the first hints of its prompt disappearance could be felt on the copy of Chrysaor.

 

Like that: patiently, confidently; Lilith closed the distance which separated her from Gilgamesh, step by step. Reaching for a new weapon every time Gilgamesh dismissed the one in her hands, or whenever something better than what she had was launched towards her. The ancient king understood that Lilith’s powerful mind was good enough to instantaneously identify every single weapon he threw at her. It was a skill completely different from Shekinah’s natural knowledge of Instrumental Weapons; Lilith’s knowledge was merely born of experience.

 

Just how many of these weapons had been raised against her throughout millennia of human history?

 

How many of those weapons had he used against her in their many battles?

 

“There!” Takako shouted triumphantly as she reached for a flying giant scythe: Oulomos – For Not Even Time is Eternal. A single swing of Cronos’ adamantine scythe drew a path of void as it sliced through Instrumental Weapons like they were nothing. She then took a single step forward, dropped the scythe just an instant before it ceased to exist, grabbed a new weapon—a sword this time—and then disappeared within a tidal wave of weapons that descended upon her.

 

They did not explode.

 

That was abnormal: Gilgamesh had included several Astra missiles within that barrage; the whole place should have been swallowed by divine flame with the destructive equivalent of nuclear weaponry.

 

The inert weapons were willed to disappear, and Lilith emerged from the pile with a predator’s pounce; her sedate pace having suddenly become an eager sprint.

 

Gilgamesh recognized the weapon Takako had picked before willing it to disappear. It was Corrougue – Unreasonable Arbiter of Distorted Equality; the sword of the Saracen Otuel gifted with the power to nullify the effects of weapons wielded by lesser opponents. It was the weapon currently wielded by Archdemon Adrammelech, and it was defeated by Katou Juri and her Digimon partner in the Room of Crystalline Despair.

 

Takako had reduced their distance by half by the time the next barrage fell upon her. She grabbed the first weapon that threatened to impale her—Lancea Longini—and became a wall untouchable by any other weapon. Steel and wood flew around her, swatted off their deadly trajectories by her dexterous wielding of the Spear of Destiny. The spear disappeared and Takako grabbed the legendary sword from the Nibelungenlied, Balmung, which was then replaced by Harpe, and then by a copy of the original Sanglamore.

 

She had yet to tap into her vast treasury. She needed not to, for Gilgamesh’s absurdly powerful Script provided them both with enough Supernal tools to engage in a maddening clash of blades.

 

There was no other sound but the clash of metal against metal. Takako’s flimsy arms blurred as her current weapon, constantly changing, swatted away countless other Supernal tools. It would have been impossible to track the girl’s eyes like blood rubies as they picked each and every single of the dozens—hundreds—of incoming weapons in but an instant.

 

Suddenly, Takako flickered out of existence, just before the space she had occupied a moment before was struck by dozens of simultaneous, invisible and equally massive strikes, as if the blades of abominably colossal gods had suddenly descended upon the Digital World.

 

Caladbolg – The Rainbow Blade that Severs the Land.

 

Weapons were already flying towards her new position the moment Lilith stepped out of Instant Movement. Finally calling upon her Belit-iti to meet the incoming attacks, Takako did notice the several dozen identical swords floating over Gilgamesh’s head without attacking her. She noticed them, identified them, and promptly cursed before replacing parrying by an endless succession of Instant Movements.

 

The many identical swords began to flail spastically in mid-air. They were all copies of Obelisk – For the Enemies of Babylon Shall Prostrate Before its Bravery and Pride, with the power to strike from a distance at any opponent within sight. Takako darted from place to place, and the swords’ furious slashing could not keep up with her unparalleled agility. When Gilgamesh managed to predict the end position of an Instant Movement, she used her sword to block the sudden attacks.

 

It was the dance. The same artful, alluring dance of evasion that was already Takako’s signature. With a sword in her hand, she was not only a dancer; she was a dervish that could only be seen and admired, but never touched. How many had tried to disrupt the dance only to meet with defeat and humiliation? How many had dared try to put an end to the lascivious sway of Takako’s lithe body and failed?

 

Gilgamesh had not failed, never failed. He was the one Reality had invested with the title of ‘He Who Defeats Lilith’.

 

But this one was a Lilith he had never fought before.

 

Takako’s patient approach had ceased. Now her pace was furious, flickering form place to place and with every single Instant Movement the distance that separated her from Gilgamesh became shorter and shorter. Even as the distance decreased, her time to react to the flying weapon attacks decreased as well, but that did not change the situation in the slightest: blades and projectiles were swatted away without denting Etemenanki or marring Takako’s lovely milky skin. The dancer in the midst of the maelstrom of blades was the embodiment of untouchable perfection.

 

Gilgamesh accepted this as fact: the barrage of weapons would not work this time. So, he welcomed her approach and prepared himself to receive it.

 

He had always been better at close-combat, after all.

 

“Durendal,” he muttered, invoking two copies of the holy sword. In the mere moments before Takako reached him, he enhanced the swords’ holy attribute to maximize the damage they could inflict on the Empress of Darkness.

 

“Come! LILITH!”

 

Takako’s grin spoke louder than any words.

 

“You don’t have to tell me that, idiot.”

 

The two holy blades met Lilith’s absurdly large zweihänder. Powerful weapons wielded by powerful Supernals, their clash unleashed violent waves in every direction. The air roared and rippled around them. The force of the impact made Takako’s legs vibrate and the ground under her feet crack and shatter, raising chunks of rock like spikes around them.

 

There was a brief respite, as the swords stuck to each other, and the two fierce rivals stared at each other knowing what was about to unfold.

 

They accepted it, embraced it, even. These two, who had spent their entire lives defying rules placed upon them by Reality, accepted this ‘fate’ of rivalry the world decided for them.

 

They were both legendary beings. In the long history of humankind, theirs could be considered ‘the first rivalry’, born from that terrible battle that shattered the dark skies of ancient Sumer. Their battle, their power, their fury and their burning emotions would be engraved in the collective memories of mankind and give rise to countless tales of hero and nemesis in just as countless different forms: Hector and Achilles, Karna and Arjuna, and even the (totally made-up) tale of Cain and Abel.

 

They were rivals, bound together by one battle and a fate engraved in their Existences by Creation.

 

They accepted it, for it was the only way to end it, and the Digital World would bear witness to the cataclysmic conclusion; a battle the likes of which nobody would expect to see outside a Holy War.

 

Takako spun her blade over her head, separating from Gilgamesh’s twin swords, and traced a wide arc, almost a circle, with its tip, aiming to gather moment for a mighty head-cutting strike.

 

Gilgamesh’s grunted when he caught the swing with the sword in his left hand. Because of Belit-iti’s effect, Lilith’s offensive power was currently superior to his. In fact, it was superior to all but Adam Kadmon. Thus, Gilgamesh had to put more energy in his blades to parry Lilith’s attack. Even then, he felt his arm complain and his body inch uncomfortably to the side by the strength of the blow. Still, he used that push to turn his body and make a complete spin before lashing at Takako’s face with the same sword he used to parry. Belit-iti is a huge sword, making it extremely difficult to use against an opponent who sticks close.

 

However, to Lilith, ‘extremely difficult’ is a meaningless expression.

 

A silvery trail marked the path of Lilith’s sword at it spun in the opposite direction and then downwards to stand as a wall in front of Takako, all in the same time it took Gilgamesh to make his attack. Swords clashed again with awesome force, and the ensuing shockwave actually blew both Supernals away in opposite directions, rendering them both weaponless, if only for an instant.

 

Over forty copies of Gáe Bolga – The Spear of Impaling Death came into existence and preyed after Lilith like hunting falcons, adding the power of Gilgamesh’s remote manipulation to their intrinsic supersonic speed. Takako grabbed the first one while in mid-flight and used it to parry away the other ones, landing gracefully amidst a rain of powerless crimson spears. Cú Chulainn’s weapon was a mere stick, for its effect can only be activated by Divinities, but even a mere stick can become an instrument of destruction in Lilith’s hands.

 

Gilgamesh found no disappointment in this new failure at inflicting harm on the Aspect. Instead, he just conjured more and more weapons; so many that they filled the sky in a beautiful arrangement of metal, like a triumphant parade of ancient legends and epic tales.

 

They all attacked. They could not do so at the same time, due to the fundamental rule of physics that limits the amount of matter that can fill a definite amount of space. Of course, instead of wasting effort by sending so many weapons at once, it made more sense to unleash them as an unceasing barrage, to put constant pressure on the dark Aspect.

 

Takako dodge a sword, a lance, and then a flying axe. She leaned to the left and grabbed the flying sword that would have pierced her right eye. The sword was Dyrnwyn, the noble blade that became a flaming sword upon meeting an owner it deemed worthy. Unfortunately for Takako, the white-hilted sword of Rhydderch Hael responds only to male wielders. Regardless, a sword was a sword, and she used it to stop a dozen weapons in the instant between grabbing it and Gilgamesh dismissing it from existence.

 

“Helepolis!”

 

As if a titan emerging from the bosom of the earth, a massive structure rose from the unfathomable depths of the Treasury of Nitorcris, carrying Takako upwards in its ascent. It was a legendary creation, made into legend by its colossal size as well as by its colossal failure. The greatest siege tower ever created, built for the unsuccessful siege of Rhodes.

 

Helepolis – The City-Conquering Titan.

 

The weapon barrage that should have struck Takako instead hit the front wall of the colossus, and the pause Gilgamesh needed to redirect his conjured blades was the moment Takako needed.

 

Takako used Instant Movement to reach her sword, Belit-iti, and reclaim it. Gilgamesh created a new pair of Durendal to wield in his hands. The shutters in the siege tower’s top floor opened, revealing firing positions for four dart throwers meant to mow through a city’s defensive lines. In response, hundreds of weapons came into being in the sky over the two enemies.

 

The swords clashed again, and the ensuing shockwave was the signal for the sky to rain pandemonium upon the two fighters.

 

Being an Instrumental Weapon, Helepolis could not possibly have ordinary ancient dart throwers. Instead, the two siege weapons released missiles like machine gun fire; an unceasing barrage of metal bolts that recklessly and savagely fell upon the combating two. At the same time, the weapon barrage made possible by Gilgamesh’s Reality Script descended upon the fighters.

 

But that did not deter Gilgamesh and Lilith from clashing furiously, swords dancing and leaving afterimages in their passing. Even if while caught in melee Lilith had to worry about the dark throwers and Gilgamesh about his own weapons, they might as well not be there at all. Even as their swords closed the distance between them in their countless attempts to harm each other, they also interrupted the path of those projectiles that would have harmed the wielders. Even as they struck at each other with relentless fury, they moved skillfully and swiftly to avoid the blades and bolts that would have otherwise struck their backs. Weapons flew past them, they filled the space between their bodies and caressed their own swords as they clashed over and over, but not a single one of them touched their bodies. It was like fighting in the midst of a vortex of metal, with flying threats coming from every direction. The most they inflicted was pitiful scratches on the two’s armors.

 

Their swords met and sparks flew. Gilgamesh made up for Lilith’s superior power by pumping more energy in his attacks, but Lilith was also doing the same and she would eventually overwhelm him. The swords clashed relentlessly, ceaselessly; Lilith’s great blade keeping up with Gilgamesh’s dual-wielding and even pushing him back.

 

It was the second time Lilith used this sword in real combat, the first being against the Embodiment of Supremacy, Rachel. To think it made such a difference!

 

Truly, Belit-iti – The Forgotten Missing Power was an amazing weapon. Lesser Supernals would be swallowed by despair by the mere idea of facing Lilith wielding such a thing. Gilgamesh, however, would never fear the Empress of Darkness.

 

Suddenly, Takako disappeared, and a sword sliced the empty spot she had just departed from.

 

In an instant, Gilgamesh had replaced the Durendal in his right hand for another weapon: Fragarach – The Blade that Sentences Death. Had Takako tried to parry it like she did Roland’s holy sword, she would have succumbed to its ‘power to destroy opposition’.

 

A massive tower shield appeared in front of Gilgamesh: Ishtar Gate – Stand Nobly, Babylon the Eternal. As Gilgamesh turned around to meet Lilith who had teleported behind him, the shield covered his back from the barrage fired by Helepolis. As if to prove a point, Lilith did not summon a shield herself.

 

“Hmph.”

 

In response to the sound, colossal shadows fell over the two fighters. The King of Uruk had conjured a whole ring of copies of Helepolis to surround them.

 

Lilith grinned and planted her sword on the ground to her side. The air around her began to ripple as she drew into the sorcerer pharaoh’s ancient treasury.

 

Automatic fire fell upon the two from every direction. Invoking the Gates of Babylon, Takako found partial protection in the set of eight powerful shields, but not even they could cover her from this omni-directional fire.

 

With Durendal in one hand and Fragarach in the other, Gilgamesh resumed his powerful assault.

 

The paladin’s sword met a new weapon. It was a vile thing, radiating a conspicuous, dark power from its gleaming flame-like blade. It was an immensely powerful sword, but one he would rarely, if ever, consider using.

 

Tyrfing – Cursed Blade of the Demon God.

 

Three of the eight Gates of Babylon shattered like brittle glass—Takako used their “perfect defense” effect to nullify the three tragedies Tyrfing would otherwise visit upon her.

 

The battle resumed with renewed intensity: the animated shields moved frantically to stop as many missiles as possible, while Gilgamesh’s Ishtar Gate remained uselessly planted on the ground. Takako danced and darted around the swings of Fragarach and the ceaseless barrage from above, while Gilgamesh’s terrific focus allowed him to focus on his melee fight while dispelling any friendly fire he could have suffered from his conjured copies of Helepolis before it could hit him. Weapons rained over the two opponents and on Takako’s original Helepolis, hoping to damage it enough for Takako to consider dismissing it.

 

“Finally wielding a blade that suits you, Lilith!”

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m so evil!” the girl retorted with a voice laden with sarcasm. “Don’t waste your breath with pointless insults…unless you want to end up choking on my blade!”

 

However, Tyrfing was not Belit-iti. With Lilith’s incredible speed, the bigger size of the Sumer-inspired weapon was a boon, allowing her to keep up with Gilgamesh’s dual-wielding. Now she was wielding a medieval longsword against two weapons of roughly similar size, one of which she could not parry or block without severe risk. Removing Fragarach was not an option—Gilgamesh could make another copy, after all.

 

In spite of her superior offense, Takako found herself being pushed back because of the increased need to focus on defense and evasion. She instant-moved a distance away from Gilgamesh to catch a breather; recalling her Helepolis at the same time.

 

“Taboo!”

 

Three balls of fiendish dark energy, each as tall as Gilgamesh, rotated like planets around Takako…until three copies of Durendal pierced them like needles a plastic balloon, and with similar results.

 

Lilith cried out in pain as she was caught in the middle of the resulting explosion, followed by a merciless rain of weapons and bolts the Gates of Babylon could not hope to contain.

 

A single sword emerged from the ensuing dirt cloud, aiming to pierce the space between Gilgamesh’s eyes. It was Tyrfing, released from Takako’s grip and thirsty for blood. Gilgamesh effortlessly swatted it away with Fragarach, but the cursed weapon only bounced off the ground a few times before leaping at the ancient king once more, animated by its own dark will.

 

A grunting Takako leapt out of the dust, her right hand pulling out a copy of Durendal that managed to pierce her left side, and her left hand swinging a huge weapon she had picked from the barrage. It was once again the adamantine scythe, Oulomos. A single swing eradicated every single weapon flying towards her, allowing her feet to touch the floor one more without taking further damage. Paying no heed to the darts shot by the ring of Helepolis—she counted on the protective power of her shields and armor—, Takako began a mad dash towards Gilgamesh, using the scythe to destroy any Instrumental Weapon fired her way.

 

“Enough,” Gilgamesh darkly muttered to himself as he swatted off the cursed sword Tyrfing one more time like one would a pesky bug. The Durendal in his left hand disappeared. So did the Oulomos Takako had picked, but the girl was already leaping to pounce on Gilgamesh, immediately replacing the lost weapon for the summoned Szczerbiec II – The Coronation Sword of the Anointed King.

 

“Haaa!” Lilith roared as she swung down.

 

The rain of swords and bolts had in fact stopped, and in fact the weapons were gathering behind Gilgamesh as new ones came into being.

 

Tyrfing lunged at Gilgamesh at the same time.

 

The King of Uruk gripped the new sword in his left hand, and swung mightily.

 

And, like that, two Instrumental Weapons shattered.

 

“Wha—buh!”

 

In the distraction and consequent loss of balance caused by the destruction of Szczerbiec II, Gilgamesh stepped forward and, instead of slashing with Fragarach—which admittedly is not that powerful beyond its effect—, punched Takako right below her chin with his right fist, launching her light and small body upwards like a missile. Her flight was promptly interrupted by the barrage of weapons Gilgamesh had conjured, some of them enhanced with the ‘Anti-Lilith’ property.

 

Dozens of impacts blew the girl off, this time horizontally, until her body crashed on one of the Helepolis. At the same time all this happened, those other siege towers in Gilgamesh’s control were turned to aim in the same direction, and their internal weaponry had been completely replaced.

 

With Lilith embedded in the wall of metal plates, the other siege towers opened all their shutters, revealing not dart throwers or catapults, but instead solid-state high-energy laser weapons. Naturally, they were Instrumental Weapons, and thus their power output was enhanced, all the way to nine megawatts.

 

“Hnn.”

 

The laser barrage was a thing of beauty and lethality.

 

---

 

Renamon shuddered and could not help but feel for Takako, no matter how…bothersome she was. Watching the battle from the roof of her former Tamer’s house, she could not help but feel a little apprehensive.

 

She had already lost count of how many times she would have died in such a maelstrom of violence. She knew very well that the only reason she, or any of the Tamers’ partners, had survived the Last Holy War was because they were bio-merged with their human companions in all the battles they participated in. Were it not for that, they would have been swallowed whole during Armageddon, if not way earlier than that.

 

It was…perturbing, and it only added to that terrible, terrible feeling that gripped her chest for the longest time.

 

They were loved, respected and accepted by their precious partners, but that did not change the fact that their Tamers had stopped needing them a long time ago. The only reason she could actually see the wondrous battle on the water screen was because of Takato’s Seder Hishtalshelus.

 

She tried not to look at the other Renamon some feet to her left. If she was bothered by this outrageous display of her own weakness, she could not begin to imagine what he felt. He had once been Millenniumon, a Digimon possessing of incredible powers.

 

“Do you mind?”

 

Renamon was struck out of her thoughts by sudden, unexpected company.

 

Takato sat down next to the vulpine Digimon without waiting for an answer. Guilmon X immediately slumped down next to his Tamer, once more placing his large head on the man’s lap.

 

Where was Ryuudamon, anyway?

 

“Matsuki Takato.”

 

“Renamon,” the Supreme responded just for the hell of it.

 

“Why are you here?” Renamon was surprised by such bluntness herself.

 

“Well…” Takato began, stretching the vowel for whatever reason. “To be honest, it’s gotten a bit too loud down there, what with the G-Team guys and Arisu shrieking every time Takako takes a hit. I…like my peace and quiet from time to time, and distance is not an issue if I want to communicate.”

 

“Besides…is it wrong of me to wish to spend some time with you guys?”

 

Renamon watched the taller man with her usual lack of expression. It was really hard to tell what was in that Digimon’s mind. Takato never truly figured her out.

 

“…I take it this is Adam Kadmon’s ‘love’.”

 

Takato’s Renamon partner snorted a ways away. The First Aeon, however, only chuckled and shook his head.

 

“I cannot deny what I am, but…have you forgotten, Renamon? How much Matsuki Takato loved Digimon? How much he loved you?”

 

Renamon said nothing, but she remembered. She would never forget.

 

“Well, I still do,” Takato concluded, before turning his attention back to the supernatural screen. Renamon did the same.

 

“…can she win?”

 

“There’s nothing impossible in this world, Renamon,” the Supreme replied. “But, rather than winning or losing, I want her to find herself.”

 

“You mean the ‘Lilin Mysteries’.”

 

Takato made an expression of amusement and stared at the fox-like Digimon with a measure of surprise.

 

“The ‘Lilin Mysteries’?” He chuckled. “Well that’s a way to put; I like it.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Chuckling one more time, Takato looked at the screen yet again.

 

“So, have you figured them out, Renamon? The ‘Lilin Mysteries’.”

 

“Insufficient information.”

 

“Hmm…to you, yes. I’m a bit miffed those down there have not figured it out either. But then again, if Lilith herself hasn’t seen it, then I can’t blame them for not doing so as well. But we’ll see; I’m feeling optimistic today.”

 

Renamon tilted her head a bit.

 

“Just today? What happened to ‘Supreme Optimism’?”

 

“Well aren’t you cocky today?”

 

A bark-like sound vaguely resembling laughter escaped Renamon’s muzzle.

 

“So, can she win?” she insisted, and Takato rolled his eyes.

 

“Of course she can. If that were all it took to bring down Lilith there would have been no need for Adonamon to intervene that day.”

 

“Gilgamesh has two powerful advantage over Lilith: damage reduction granted by his Reality Protocol, and bonus damage dealt by his ‘anti-Lilith’ weaponry. It is from those two things that the law ‘Lilith cannot win against Gilgamesh’ came to be.”

 

“So, how can she get rid of those disadvantages?”

 

“She can’t,” Takato responded, shaking his head. “Those things are there to stay. To win, Lilith must develop power such that Gilgamesh’s damage reduction becomes moot.”

 

On the screen, Takako’s body twitched in her stone niche, carved with her own body.

 

“So, what you are saying is…that she can become even stronger?”

 

“So can you. So can everybody else.” Takato shrugged and chuckled. “My very existence ensures there is a ‘next level’ for everybody else to reach. As for Lilith…”

 

One last chuckle.

 

“…no, that would be saying too much.”

 

---

 

Gilgamesh stared at the small form of Takako buried in the metal and stone wall of Helepolis. All the other copies he had created had been dismissed, and so had the original Takako had invoked. She had spent all of her Gates of Babylon in an attempt to minimize the damage received.

 

Even in this idle interval, more and more weapons came into existence around and behind the King of Uruk, meant to become the next deadly barrage of Supernal power and legend.

 

Of course, he was not the kind of person who would just stop attack after a successful hit.

 

Takako’s body flickered out of sight just before she could be struck by at least a dozen weapons. Just as expected.

 

Back on ground level, the Empress of Darkness took a good look at the weapon in Gilgamesh’s left hand. It was a beautiful thing; a medieval long sword with a pristine blade that knew no defect and an ornate grip in blue and elegant curves of gold. It was a weapon legendary like few others; a treasure crafted by Reality in response to humanity’s wishes. When a kingdom wished for a utopia of peace and law, this was the blade that appeared before a certain archmage, to be used as the proof of kingship. It is a sovereign blade above all other sovereign blades, if only in concept. But it is that same concept which made it ‘the blade that cannot be defeated in a clash of blades’.

 

Caliburn – The Sovereign Blade of the Faraway Utopia.

 

“Ugh…” Takako groaned. “You’ve brought out an annoying one.”

 

It was a weapon unique in its constitution and effect. Furthermore, it was a weapon that made no sense to reproduce more than one, twice tops. Caliburn does not work unless it is physically held. Regardless, it is the ‘Anti-Unit’ weapon that surpasses all known ‘Anti-Unit’ weapons. It is believed only an Anti-Unit weapon held by Adam Kadmon could survive a clash with the quintessential Sovereign Blade.

 

Szcerbiec II was worthless now. So was Tyrfing. She would need to rely on Jonathon Reilly’s—Hephaestus’—forge yet again.

 

“I guess, it’s about time, then…” Takako concluded. “To start bringing out the really special stuff!”

 

The weapon barrage resumed as the air next to Takako’s right hand rippled as it was disrupted by the door to the Treasury.

 

The Treasury of Nitocris could not hope to match Gilgamesh’ Reality Script, which was limited only by the King of Heroes’ Stamina and capacity to imagine weapons. However, the Treasury was vast—not only Lilith, but Gabriel as well had made it a habit of collecting Supernal treasures, especially those she deemed too powerful to allow them to be within the grasp of Hell. It was a constant effort, for both humanity and Reality pumped out new Instrumental Weapons at a reckless pace.

 

Furthermore, Reality was creative. Sometimes the same weapon would make a legend of itself in different mythologies, and Reality would respond to this by creating two powerful, yet different Instrumental Weapons.

 

Takako reached for the sword, which promptly clashed with the first weapon to threaten her fair body—a copy of Shamshir e-Zorromodnegar. Immediately, all the other weapons were blown away by an invisible force, as if all of them had clashed with Takako’s new sword, because that’s exactly what happened.

 

“Guh!” Gilgamesh grunted as he was pushed back by the invisible impact on his armor.

 

Caledfwlch – The Sovereign Blade of Foughten Supremacy.

 

The army-killing weapon of Llenlleawg the Irishman, with the power to multiply its attacks to simultaneously strike at every potential target within sight.

 

Caliburn’s effect only works against ‘Anti-Unit’ weapons. The solution, then, was simple: don’t use an ‘Anti-Unit’ weapon.

 

Her mad dash towards Gilgamesh was interrupted by a new barrage. In the time it took her to blow the incoming weapons away with a single swing, Gilgamesh closed on the distance between them, his hands gripping Fragarach and Caliburn.

 

The last remaining Helepolis resumed its relentless assault. Caledfwlch met Caliburn, and the ensuing impact pushed Gilgamesh’s other arm away from Takako before he could strike her. Not only Caliburn, but also the hundreds of shots released from the many firing holes in the siege tower and the flying Instrumental Weapons; they were all batted away by the sword of Gaelic legend.

 

Gilgamesh stumbled back, mildly stunned by the impact of Caledfwlch’s effect, and Takako immediately pressed on the offensive. The King of Uruk leapt back to put further distance between them, unleashing a new set of weapons to cover his retreat. Yet again, they were knocked away with a single strike from Takako’s sword. The girl’s eyes never left Gilgamesh’s form, even as two dozen identical swords were created over his head. However, those swords…!

 

As strange as it may sound, there was no time for Instant Movement.

 

Takako interposed her blade to protect herself, but that simply could not be sufficient against the world-shaking impact of twenty-four copies of Caladbolg – The Rainbow Blade that Severs the Land.

 

A so-called “siege rapier” that projects its motion to an expanse of twelve kilometers in length. Even the lightest flick of that sword was like the finger of God stamping its mark on the world.

 

“Gu-ugh!” Lilith grunted against the combined pressure of two dozen attacks. It was powerful and terrifying, how the Digital World trembled under her feet, and the air around her howled as it was pushed away by the colossal attacks. However, this was the Supernal who stopped a falling asteroid forty-kilometer in diameter with her bare hands.

 

The attack relented, by Gilgamesh was upon her right away, slashing horizontally with his Fragarach. Takako took a step back to avoid the un-parry-able sword, and Gilgamesh naturally followed up with Caliburn. Lilith did not hesitate to respond to this one, swinging her blade to knock Gilgamesh away one more time…

 

Caledfwlch completed its swing, striking nothing but air.

 

“Wha—!?”

 

Gilgamesh had dismissed his Caliburn before it could meet Takako’ sword. Now the girl was caught in the middle of an attack—

 

One Instant Movement later, Takako stood facing Gilgamesh’s unprotected back—

 

“Guh!”

 

The fae-like girl gasped, her legs wobbling and failing to support her long enough to make her fall on her knees. Caledfwlch struck the ground with a loud clang as it slipped off Takako’s fingers.

 

Lilith stared hatefully at the three blades piercing her body. One of them was, of course, Shamshir e-Zomorrodnegar, there to disable her armor long enough to allow the other two weapons to impale her. The second one was Durandal, there to inflict unbearable holy damage.

 

The third was Balmung – My Own Worth at the Expense of the Worth of Others.

 

Balmung has the ‘Anti-Hero’ property. Namely, its power increased when used against those heroic mortals who were exalted upon death with the Supernal spark. However, aside from those ‘heroic mortals’, there are two other Supernals Balmung is especially effective against.

 

Shekinah makes sense: she is the Embodiment of Glory, and her existence is the one that predates and transcends all heroic legends. She is the core of the concept of ‘hero’, and by existing she allows heroes to exist and legends to be forged.

 

On the other side, Balmung being effective against Lilith made absolutely no sense to Gilgamesh.

 

But, if it works, why complain?

 

“Guh…aaagh…” Takako moaned, her hands being scalded by the holy power of Durandal as she tried to pull the blades out of her body.

 

Gilgamesh spun with arms held high. The hand which had wielded Caliburn now held another copy of Durandal.

 

Unconsciously, Takako interposed her Love’s Pain, but she knew it was a mistake even before Fragarach did its job, draining Gilgamesh of energy until it had enough to shatter Lilith’s barrier.

 

Gilgamesh’s two swords ripped through Takako’s body from her shoulders to her thighs, and the Aspect of Chaos howled in agony. But the ancient Sumerian god-king knew no mercy: both Fragarach and Caliburn disappeared, giving way to yet another iconic weapon of indescribable power.

 

Before this sword and its magnificence, both Fragarach and Caliburn were utterly eclipsed. It was the sword of a legendary king; forged by Supernals for the sake of an ideal. The sword was kingly in itself, and it was not hard to imagine all other swords bowing before it in reverence. It was not the most powerful, nor the most ancient; but it was a weapon so deeply engraved in the collective memory of humankind, a sword so iconic and recognizable that its sheer legendary status converted it into a unique and irreplaceable instrument of devastation.

 

“EX!”

 

Takako whispered something unintelligible, and the world around Gilgamesh changed.

 

But it was not really the world, or any physical modification that could be perceived with the five senses. It was not the ‘Aura of Lust’ Lilith projects by virtue of one of her Reality Protocols.

 

It was ‘Lilith’s feel’.

 

Her presence, that which permeated the minds of those around her, it had changed in a decisive manner.

 

But Gilgamesh knew better than to hesitate.

 

“CALIBUUUUUR—!”

 

Metal met metal.

 

Sword met sword.

 

The Sovereign Blade of Indisputable Victory did absolutely nothing.

 

“Wha…?”

 

The sword in Lilith’s hand batted away Gilgamesh’s Excalibur and, in a swift and smooth motion, traced a crescent-like arc upwards before descending again, this time upon Gilgamesh’s exposed form. The mysterious blade sliced and broke through Gilgamesh’s armor with little effort, ripping open a terrible, gashing wound from Gilgamesh’s right shoulder to his left hip.

 

The King of Uruk could hit her dozens, hundreds of times. On the other side, when opposed by Gilgamesh’s Reality Protocols, Takako had to make every single strike count.

 

“Enough fooling around, Gilgamesh,” Lilith spoke tersely, her words a warning of what was to come.

 

The Orgy of Swords was about to reach a new stage of violence.

 

---

 

“She…wants to beat him in his own game,” the wheelchair-bound Takaichi Takeru mused, and Ruki nodded.

 

“She’s keeping her own Programs to a minimum, reducing the battle to a clash of Instrumental Weapons.” The Second Bride chuckled. “We might at last see some of the really rare pieces she’s got stored in there.”

 

“Do you think she can win like that?”

 

“Heh,” the former Omnivice Trait snorted. “Normally I would say no, but…that Takato, he’s up to something. I don’t think he’ll help Takako—that would just be unfair—, but it’s obvious something’s going to happen.”

 

Finally, the Aspect of Glory shrugged in dismissal.

 

“I’m not placing bets for this fight. More importantly, when did Lilith got her hands on that sword?”

 

“Gabriel,” Arisu flatly responded, and Shekinah smacked her right fist on the palm of her left hand.

 

“Oh, right.”

 

“Huh? What sword is that?”

 

Shekinah made a face of astonishment, raising an eyebrow at the one who last spoke.

 

“Oh, come on, Rika, don’t tell me you don’t recognize it! You even have a copy of that sword! Remember? Your big, badass duel with Heracles?”

 

“Oooh…” Rika’s eyes widened in recognition, nodding at the Aspect’s hints. “So the loli’s got one as well. Figures.”

 

---

 

The pieces of Aibur Shabu broke down and shattered into useless motes of Supernal power, dispersing into the Digital World’s atmosphere as they fell off Gilgamesh’s body. Data leaked out of the large wound he had just been inflicted. His right hand trembled, almost releasing its grip on Excalibur.

 

“What…what is that sword?”

 

It was a bleak sword, lacking in luster; the metal of this blade did not shine; it was depressing in its opacity. The guard was a perfectly black crescent connected to a roughly pentagonal crest of metal that some would believe is in fact the near end of the blade. In truth, the blade’s unusually long tang was inserted into this crest and then all the way through the length of the hilt. This pentagonal crest was richly engraved, the most notorious of its markings a silver sun reminiscent of Taichi’s Crest of Courage. Like the lusterless blade, the crest only reflected light at certain angles, sometimes gleaming an electric blue, sometimes a bloody red.

 

It was a disturbing sword, but Gilgamesh could not detect the usual “feel” of a true demonic blade. It was a sword of obvious Supernal artistry and otherworldly elegance in its construction; clearly not the work of human hands exalted after becoming legendary.

 

Apparently satisfied with the look of outrage and poorly held pain on Gilgamesh’s face, Takako assumed a knight’s basic stance, gripping the sword in both hands in front of her opponent.

 

“Arondight – An Incomplete Story Reflected on the Lake.”

 

The holy sword of Lancelot of the Lake possesses the powers of ‘self-duplication’ and ‘conceptual tuning’. While the original Arondight is and will always be the property of the legendary Knight of the Round Table, all those who defeat him in a formal duel of swords are rewarded with a copy. Furthermore, the effect of each new copy is different, and more often than not attuned to the nature and capabilities of its new master.

 

Counting Lilith’s—even though it was Gabriel who challenged and defeated Lancelot in a swords fight—, there are currently six different and unique versions of Arondight in existence.

 

Gilgamesh considered facing Takako’s blade with his own imitation, but quickly decided against it. His Reality Script could only create copies of the original Arondight made for Lancelot of the Lake; it could not recreate the other versions wielded by those who had defeated the legendary knight. Furthermore, he still did not know the effect of Takako’s version other than its apparent ability to nullify Excalibur’s effect.

 

He instead recreated Fragarach and Caliburn, the two unblockable blades. To replace his destroyed armor, he invoked the one armor he did not need to reproduce with his script.

 

“So, you finally bring out Humbaba.” Lilith nodded. “Good.”

 

What followed was one of the strangest sword battles. Lilith struggled to strike at Gilgamesh, but at the same time could not allow her sword to meet either of his. Stopping her attacks just before they clashed against Gilgamesh’s blades, Takako relied only in her unsurpassed agility to weave around both the King’s physical attacks and the storm of flying Instrumental Weapons he conjured around them.

 

The air around her exploded with a loud “crack!” sound when Takako disappeared. Suddenly, if only for an instant, Lilith was both in front and behind Gilgamesh at the same time. His sword sliced through two afterimages—

 

Above!

 

He raised Caliburn to meet the girl’s sword coming from over his form, only to meet another afterimage.

 

“Guh—argh!” Gilgamesh grunted as Arondight struck him right on the chest, even if his new and trusty armor protected him this time.

 

It was Quadruple Instant Movement, a miracle of realization of quantum behavior in the macroscale, and a skill only Suzie in her best days could imitate. Not even Takato had ever made it beyond Double Instant Movement without relying on Seder Hishtalshelus, but he has long since replaced that skill with the Boundless Step he inherited from Hecate.

 

Takako disappeared again, but Gilgamesh did not bother attempting to track her this time. Letting go of his two swords, he willed a new Instrumental Weapon to appear in his hands outstretched upwards.

 

“Fuck!” Lilith’s exclamation upon recognizing the sword. She quickly switched all thoughts of attacking Gilgamesh for thoughts of getting the hell away.

 

“GRAM!”

 

Gram – The Reaper of Legends.

 

Everything within a half-mile radius of Gilgamesh was swallowed by the pillar of black and silver flame. The abominable tower of energy ascended and split the sky of the Digital World, reaching even the boundary with the material realm and making both worlds tremble.

 

Just outside the radius of devastation, Takako barely manage to catch Gilgamesh’ roar within the howling flames.

 

“Oh, come on!”

 

Lilith Instant-Moved away from the path of the unleashed Excalibur, but the passing of the two super-weapon’s attacks was followed by a veritable swarm of snake-like blades: dozens of reproductions of the magic sword of Russian folklore, Kladenets – The Steel Serpent, with the power to grow as far as eight thousand kilometers in length. They did not move in a straight line, of course; that would only be asking to be dodged. Instead, they contorted and twisted around each other in odd angles, creating a mesh in their path that prevented Lilith from easily approaching her opponent at the same time they hunted her down.

 

Lilith happened to have the original Kladenets in her Treasury of Nitocris, but she did not bring it out this time. Instead, she bent her upper body forwards in a position that could be seen as enticing if seen from behind.

 

“Grow.”

 

The Golden Tresses of Sif allowed Takako’s hair to grow at a ridiculous speed, becoming mighty ropes that captured the approaching blades. Undaunted by the failure, Gilgamesh covered the distance between them in less than three seconds, Fragarach and Caliburn on tow. Pulling herself by the whips of hair bound to the extensible swords, Lilith threw herself at the King of Uruk to meet his assault head on.

 

Lilith’s Arondight disappeared into the Treasury a moment before it could meet Gilgamesh’s Caliburn. Instead, Lilith’s small hands grabbed Caliburn in mid-swing and used it as support to push herself further forwards, smashing the soles of her feet in Gilgamesh’s face before he could hit her with Fragarach.

 

Gilgamesh was flung back by the kick, and the copies of Kladenets disappear in response to the beating.

 

“Gleipnir!” Takako cried out the moment her feet touched the ground, and the legendary chain that captured Fenrir emerged from within the extradimensional space of the Treasury of Nitocris, dancing in the air to interrupt the flight paths of the incoming barrage of weapons. Before reaching Gilgamesh, however, the chain links split and became instead a rain of metal upon the ancient king’s armored form.

 

“Hmph!” Gilgamesh snorted and merely let the metal projectiles bounce off his armor and the shield he conjured to protect his face. Lilith Instant-Moved to get within close-combat range once again, Arondight in hand even as she commanded Gleipnir to reassemble.

 

However, even when the separate links became a single chain once more, there were still loose metal rings floating around…

 

Lilith figuring out Gilgamesh had mixed his own copy of Gleipnir with hers did not prevent her capture. She did not have time to grunt or curse within her bindings before Gilgamesh’s new Gram struck her head like a hatchet smashing a watermelon. While this was not enough to split her skull open, it was regardless followed up by the dark sword’s natural effect.

 

The Empress of Darkness screamed as she was engulfed by the colossal pillar of black and silver flames. Even as she was devoured by the supernatural fire, swords and all sorts of other weapons mercilessly rained upon her form.

 

By the time the flames receded, Lilith had become a living pincushion, impaled by at least fifteen weapons. Still, she refused to fall. Her knees trembled and her legs looked just about to give in, but she would not fall.

 

Gilgamesh, who despite having taken several blows was still in far better shape than Lilith, dismissed Gram and recreated Excalibur and Durandal.

 

With this, like this, he could deal the decisive blow. It was no longer about killing Lilith: unfortunately, it was better for Reality to keep Lilith alive, if only because the evil known was preferable to the evil unknown. Regardless, he would put all his hate in his blows! He would use the burning hatred to fuel his mightiest attacks!

 

It was not only his hatred! No, it was the scorn of his entire kingdom! Humanity’s hatred against the despicable Lilith, who toys with mortal lives as playthings!

 

That day, mankind would have its revenge!

 

---

 

In spite of the situation, Lilith was not paying attention to the King of Uruk.

 

“I can’t…I thought I could, but…even like this, I can’t…?”

 

She whispered, her body severely weakened by so many wounds, all of them empowered to inflict maximum damage on her form. Holy weapons, ‘anti-Lilith’ weapons, all of them.

 

“I’m really…so hated…by that man…by all people…by the entire world…”

 

It was something to be proud of, really. Adam Kadmon may claim to be supreme, but no Supernal is more hated in this Reality than the Empress of Darkness.

 

“Heh…”

 

It was not a bitter laugh. Lilith truly found this laughable. It was not like she had expected her transformation into Lilith.TakaKo to suddenly earn her the love and adoration of the entirety of Reality, really.

 

No.

 

A long, long time ago, she had accepted it as her destiny: she was a despicable person, and it was her fate to be despised. She learned to revel in it, to laugh in the face of curses and insults, for they only reflected the weakness and futility of those who wished her harm.

 

But Gilgamesh was different. He could most definitely act true to his threats. He could most definitely hurt her and beat her. He was the King of Heroes, the original legendary warrior; in a way, he had become the symbol of humanity’s hatred of her. Humanity’s weapon against the evil Lilith.

 

She was sick of it.

 

Their battles were pointless: Gilgamesh would not kill her, and she would not kill him either. He had become a cat, toying with the mauled mouse without ever eating it.

 

She understood very well, Gilgamesh’s hatred. Unlike Sophia and her hopeless kindness, Lilith was well aware of her vast resume of evil deeds, and she would never deny her evil nature. Something had broken inside her when she turned her back to Adam. She had been haughty, proud and somewhat condescending since the early days of Heaven, when the perfect solitude she and Adam shared in Atziluth was permanently shattered by the birth of countless angels. She accepted the newcomers; she got along with them and maybe even loved them, but to her eyes they were always ‘the others’.

 

It was she, Adam, and ‘the others’. And her loyalty, her kindness and her magnificence she would not share with them.

 

That…that was the beginning of it all, right? That was…when I realized…I was different.

 

Nobody had ‘turned’ her into her wicked self. It was what she was, what she enjoyed being. She loved Adam immensely; her passion could burn the entire universe. But torturing Reality was her call. It was what entertained her, what excited her, what drove her and what she could truly dedicate herself to. She started out of scorn for Adam’s (now known to be faked) pride and (now known to be rightful) unwillingness to acknowledge her as his equal.

 

She continued because she was great at it. Just like some humans have a vocation towards becoming doctors, lawyers or teachers; Lilith was driven towards being Reality’s Number One Annoyance.

 

Did that mean, then, that, to keep doing what she enjoyed doing so much, she would have to accept the existence of Gilgamesh as her ‘punisher’ as well?

 

She could not accept that.

 

Thus, she had tried to settle things with him; to show him her superiority as second to Adam. To show him she could overcome whatever rules and roles Reality decided for them.

 

“But…not enough…not even this…”

 

What could she do?

 

It hurt so much.

 

Even the Angels of Prostitution, who had managed to actually kill her once, never inflicted nearly as much agony upon her as Gilgamesh did so annoyingly casually.

 

What can I do!?

 

…

 

“I am here.”

 

In spite of the situation, Lilith was not paying attention to the King of Uruk.

 

This was because someone (?) was calling out to her from the depths beyond description of the Treasury of Nitocris. A weapon from ancient Sumer, dearly close to Lilith’s heart.

 

Those were definitely not tears forming in Takako’s eyes.

 

It’s…it’s you…it’s been so long…

 

…

 

…do you…really? Do you wish to fight him? But he’s…

 

…

 

…really? Would you really…?

 

…

 

…I’m a terrible friend, aren’t I?

 

…

 

I never…I never deserved you. But, still, I love you.

 

“I am here. I have always been here. Close to you. My dear best friend.”

 

“My first human friend.”

 

---

 

Gilgamesh’s swords came down…and harmlessly touched Takako’s shoulders.

 

He might as well have patted her head.

 

Arondight came up, its tip slicing Gilgamesh’s right cheek.

 

“Guh!” he grunted, but Takako was faster in bringing her right fist to his face.

 

The last he saw before being flung away by a right hook with power inferior only to Adam Kadmon’s was the seemingly ancient knife in Lilith’s right hand. It was a truly old thing, so old it felt nostalgic; a ceremonial knife reminiscent of those in the temple of Inanna in lost Uruk. It was completely devoid of sharp edges, which explained why Lilith punched him instead of just stabbing him.

 

It still hurt like a motherfucker, though.

 

And while Gilgamesh streaked the sky like a living missile, Takako’s power flared with renewed enthusiasm, her right hand firmly but almost reverentially gripping the precious ancient Sumerian dagger.

 

“Ma-Tur! The Innocent Devilishness!” Takako proudly presented one of her most precious Instrumental Weapons, and thus one she had never used before.

 

Gilgamesh’s eyes saw red in both disbelief and all-consuming rage.

 

What…what did she say!?

 

“She has finally come out to play, most enthusiastically!”

 

The King of Uruk hit solid ground at supersonic speed. Even if his armor reduced a considerable fraction of the damage, the impact was no less painful.

 

“You wouldn’t want to disappoint her, would you!?”

 

The Empress was back in her element, and her mocking smile was beautiful in all her wickedness. As if sharing the Aspect’s mischievousness, the dagger gleamed crimson red under the Digital World’s daylight.

 

“…onii-chan.”

 

---

 

Shekinah blinked.

 

“Did she…did she just claim to have turned Gilgamesh’s little sister into an Instrumental Weapon?”

 

“That’s exactly what she said,” a rather annoyed-sounding Arisu retorted.

 

Ruki face-palmed.

 

“Why doesn’t she have the Agenda of Insanity, again…?”

 

---

 

“Let me tell you a story, King of Uruk.”

 

Takako spoke pleasantly as she took her time walking towards his prone form. Her stare was firm and cold as liquid helium; a promise of pain to come.

 

“Once upon a time, there was a certain witch. She had been fooling around in a certain kingdom, and she apparently bit more than she could chew. The gods didn’t like her; the people didn’t like her, so they shared their powers and offered them to a hero blessed by Glory itself. The hero and the witch fought, and the witch was broken and utterly defeated.”

 

Gilgamesh took longer than the usual to get back on his feet, but there was no need to hurry; Takako was really taking her time, seemingly no longer caring about initiative or attacking relentlessly.

 

“With the hero’s victory, everybody saw their chance to pick on the defeated witch. She was chased and assaulted by those who hated her—who, as you probably know, were pretty much everybody. A certain witch hunter was the most persistent and annoying of all, as well as the most dedicated and eager to deal the finishing blow. The witch had to go into hiding.”

 

A veritable barrage of Instrumental Weapons crossed the space between the two Supernals in an instant, aiming to pierce Lilith’s body or at least hinder her advance. Those weapons that would strike her body were swatted away by the dagger in her right hand, their effects never activated.

 

“Those were tough times for that witch, you know? She wasn’t even able to heal her wounds or rest and recover—she had to keep her powers at the absolute lowest, otherwise countless hunters would sweep down upon her, led by that hero and that witch hunter.”

 

“Eventually, she was found. For the second time in her life, the witch feared her end was upon her.”

 

Gilgamesh lunged at the Aspect, unleashing mighty swing of Caliburn. The sword met Lilith’s small dagger, which failed to shatter as it should have. The King was still dwelling on this when he took a straight kick to his solar plexus that sent him flying further backwards.

 

“It turns out, the one who found her was that hero’s little sister, the princess of that kingdom. Unexpectedly, instead of leading her brother and the other vultures to the witch, she hid her and treated her wounds as best as she could. It turns out that the young princess admired the witch.”

 

Lilith laughed; a strange mixture of derision, pity and sadness.

 

“Can you believe that!? The witch was wicked! Manipulative! Pitiless! Merciless in her manipulations! She played with the people of that kingdom, and even with their gods! She was a truly evil witch, the worst of them all! And this little pathetic girl admired her!”

 

Gilgamesh processed what he knew so far: Caliburn did not work, so it was not an ‘Anti-Unit’ Instrumental Weapon. Furthermore, it seemed to disable the effects of all the weapons he created. It appeared to be some sort of ‘Anti-Instrumental Weapon’ tool.

 

“The princess admired the witch because the witch was the owner of her own destiny,” Takako continued. “Because she was not burdened by preconceptions, positions or gender discriminations. Because the witch was free to walk her own road in this world! The princess had a dream, but that dream would remain unfulfilled as long as she remained hidden in the shadow of her brother’s greatness! His name would transcend his life, and even that of his own kingdom; he would be remembered forever, his name synonymous with legendary feats, while she would be swallowed by the sands of history, forever dismissed, forever forgotten!”

 

Many people might forget, what with his outrageous Reality Script and all, but the King of Heroes is also proficient at weaponless combat. However, currently Lilith’s physical stats were higher than Gilgamesh’s, and this his attempts at hand-to-hand brawling were met with a barrage of rapid kicks he could not keep up with. Lilith, who has existed as an Incarnated Supernal for 50000 years, is both jack and master of all physical trades. She was amongst the first to wield a sword in planet Earth, and she was wrestling before the word even existed.

 

“So, the princess and the witch left the kingdom together in search of adventure and relief from the hunting parties. They made for a strange couple: the princess was completely worthless; a complete and utter drag to have around. Born amidst riches, she knew nothing about surviving outdoors and living from the land. She was a worthless woman incapable to doing anything in a fight.”

 

“The witch had to teach her everything: how to hunt, how to forage, how to cook, and even how to experience a woman’s pleasure, and how to use her body to get anything from gullible men.”

 

“Yet, at some point, they became friends. Maybe the witch was just bored, and lonely. Maybe anybody would have done. But that princess just happened to be the only idiot around willing to befriend that horrible witch. And the witch, who had thought she was no longer capable of bonding with others, realized she was wrong after all. Wicked and everything, the witch still had a heart.”

 

He sent copies of Gleipnir, but they slipped uselessly off Lilith’s small body. He launched weapons at her, but they became dead weights upon meeting that dagger. Even his armor, Humbaba, became worthless the moment the small blade touched its pristine form, allowing Lilith to rain heavy blows upon his form.

 

Many lesser Supernals complained about how ‘unfair’ Gilgamesh’s Reality Script was.

 

They knew nothing about unfairness.

 

This; this plain old Sumerian ceremonial dagger; it was truly the most disgustingly unfair tool in the hands of Lilith.

 

“So they loved each other, Gilgamesh! They loved each other in every way two women can love each other! For the few years they shared together, they were fugitives! They were inseparable! Even if they could not have the adventures the princess dreamt of, they were happy!”

 

Indeed, there was something that could be called fondness on Lilith’s face as she spoke those words. But, like all reminiscences of the past, it was laced with nostalgia and sadness at that which has been lost.

 

“But, naturally, the time came for the two to be separated by the merciless boundary that is death. In the end, the princess’ wish remained unfulfilled; she never became the great figure she wished to be—she never really had what it takes. Thus, her existence would never be immortalized; she would end up nothing but a side note in her brother’s Epic.”

 

“Turns out that, in the end, the princess did not really mind. She did not have legendary feats in her roster or great deeds attributed to her…but she only regretted that her friend would be left alone once more. So the witch made the questions: will you offer your soul to me, or to the Chamber of Guf?”

 

Lilith outstretched her hand forwards, presenting the dagger to Gilgamesh.

 

“This is Ma-Tur – The Innocent Devilishness. This is what your little sister chose to become; her second chance at that pitiful dream of becoming a legend.”

 

She playfully handled the blade with her dexterous fingers, making it twirl and slide through the spaces between them.

 

“As the materialization of the ‘Original Little Sister’, she becomes ‘an existence no man wishes to harm’. Attacks made by male Supernals have their output reduced to zero, and all offensive effects are nullified. But that’s only half of it.”

 

With the tip of the blade she pointed at Gilgamesh who had kept his distance, unable to figure out how to fight back against this weapon.

 

“This weapon also conceptualizes Ma-Tur’s wish of ‘becoming a great existence equal to my beloved brother’.”

 

Takako glanced at the dagger almost compassionately.

 

“But she was powerless, truly as ordinary as a human can be. Therefore, her wish was distorted by my power during the forging process. It instead became ‘the power to drag Gilgamesh down to Ma-Tur’s level’.”

 

“In your case, it’s not only ‘attacks’ and ‘offensive effects’. Your defenses as well: all effects you rely on to protect yourself from harm will be negated by this puny dagger.”

 

“There are two reasons I have not used this against you before today.”

 

“First, because Ma-Tur is a treasure I cannot afford to lose. Not in battle, nor by any other means. Even now, the idea of you copying it with that Script of yours sickens me.”

 

“Second, because Ma-Tur, weak little girl that she was, hated fights and staining herself with the blood of others. Her soul resides in this blade, and she can refuse to serve me if she so wishes. It is only today that she has decided to come out and fight by my side, to face you in this form and show you what she’s capable of.”

 

“Feel free to hate me; despise me or whatever you want, Gilgamesh. I hate turned your sister into my tool. But I will not forgive you if you step on her pride. I’m a little sister, too, you know.”

 

---

 

“She’s older than Takato!” About half of the audience in the Nonakas’ courtyard loudly retorted at that.

 

The Supreme pouted where only Arisu’s (formerly Rika’s) Renamon and his own Renamon could see him.

 

“‘Little sister’ is a way of life, you know…” he mumbled rather pathetically. “Age has nothing to do with it…”

 

“Do not tell me you actually believe that,” the older Renamon flatly responded.

 

---

 

“Do not fight her so pathetically, Gilgamesh!” Lilith barked at the wary ancient king. “I refuse to believe this is all it takes to defeat you!”

 

By playing a single card, the fight had become awfully one-sided. Without his Instrumental Weapons, there was little he could do against Lilith’s superior specs and, without Humbaba or his protective Reality Protocols the damage was accruing very, very quickly.

 

“You must have learned something in the past four thousand years!” Lilith taunted. “You can’t just expect to win every battle by throwing enough weapons at your opponent!”

 

She spoke even as she kicked him, and chased him no matter how far his body was flung.

 

“Even if this Ma-Tur affected females as well, do you think someone like Shekinah would succumb to something like this!? You’ve always wanted to prove yourself equal to the Aspects; well, this is your chance!”

 

His rough Caucasian face was finally marred by heavy blows he could no longer recover from.

 

“You are the King of Heroes! The original legend! You have to be capable of more than this!”

 

When he conjured weapons if only to defend himself, they were easily overpowered by Arondight in her left hand.

 

“Think of why you are here! Think of why you challenge the Aspects! Think of why your chase after me! I refuse to believe, that the man who defeated me so many times is driven by something as pathetic as revenge for a kingdom nobody cares about anymore!”

 

The blows struck heavily on his weakened body, and her words hammered deeply in his mind.

 

“You are the original legend, two-thirds demigod. The first and greatest of ‘heroic mortals’! Show me you know what that means! Show me you understand what your existence represents in this world! Show me you’re more than ‘Lilith’s whacking stick’! Gilgamesh!”

 

“Show me the spirit of the ‘human’ who defeated me that day!”

 

---

 

Renamon raised an eyebrow in response.

 

“What is the joke, Takato?”

 

The Supreme ceased his chuckle and winked guiltily at the vulpine Digimon.

 

“Nah, nah, just wondering…if she even realizes what she is doing; what she always does.” He shook his head. “I guess that’s just the way she is. I would call it ‘tsundere’, but I guess that’s not really it.”

 

Noting Renamon had no idea what he was talking about, Takato offered her a comforting smile.

 

“Don’t mind me. I have the advantage of preternatural knowledge, so I’m just rambling here.”

 

He looked back at the water curtain a distance away, and Renamon did the same.

 

“But,” Takato continued. “If Gilgamesh puts the pieces together, we could witness the beginning of something amazing.”

 

Don’t disappoint me, King of Heroes.

 

---

 

To be continued...

 

---

 

Return to the Chapter List.

 

Return to the FrontPage.