Alaric's uninhibited laughter echoed across the Persian Gulf, its resonance so powerful that it seemed capable of crossing the boundless sea to reach Tiamat. Below, the Lahmu swarm, resembling surging waves, reacted to Alaric's laughter with a cacophony of unsettling cries that overlapped endlessly, roaring as if to shake the heavens.
Yet, Alaric ignored it all. At this moment, his eyes were fixed solely on Tiamat hovering above the endless sea.
The Lahmu that had begun to land were insignificant to Alaric, entities incapable of withstanding divine judgment. They posed no threat to him.
Before the Mother of Origins, how could Alaric spare attention for such trivial beings?
Even if the Lahmu bypassed him and continued toward Uruk, Alaric would not feel it was inappropriate.
This was not a task he could accomplish alone. Resisting the Lahmu, or even Tiamat herself, required the collective effort of all sentient life in Mesopotamia.
If Alaric thought he could stop everything by himself, it would only be an act of blind stubbornness.
Alaric also trusted Gilgamesh and the soldiers of Uruk to withstand the Lahmu invasion. Only now did he understand what Gilgamesh had been preparing for in those recent days.
The unsealing of Tiamat seemed an inevitable conclusion, just as Gilgamesh had said that he alone could deal with the Three Goddess Alliance—but such an act would ultimately lead to the extinction of civilization.
The collapse of Sumerian civilization would, in turn, lead to the complete breakdown of human order. Thus, Gilgamesh had to forsake personal combat in exchange for control over the larger picture.
"One or two, I can handle—but all of you leaving me to deal with this? That's a bit much!"
Yet, this was not a justification for Alaric to allow the Lahmu to land en masse.
Finally, Alaric raised his hand, holding the Holy Spear. The crimson lightning roared, becoming instantly the sole brilliance in the world.
The sky seemed to dim, leaving only the crimson lightning as the singular presence.
Unlike the serene light of a distant end, the crimson lightning was a violent thunderstorm, akin to the apocalyptic breath of the Last Dragon. With the immense support of magical energy, its power rivaled even the breath of a star!
Boom!
Like divine judgment, a terrifying thunderstorm erupted over the Persian Gulf. The chaotic tides, deemed by Alaric as the Sea of Life's Origin—a force capable of altering the world's ecosystem—instantly evaporated under the crimson lightning!
Thousands, tens of thousands of Lahmu vanished within the storm, leaving none alive.
Not only were the chaotic tides carrying the Lahmu obliterated, but the seawater and even the ground itself evaporated, leaving behind a terrifying scar.
However, this was but a drop in the ocean. The chaotic tides stretched far beyond Alaric's vision, spanning thousands of meters.
Millions, tens of millions of Lahmu remained deep within the sea, yet to land. Even those already landing numbered in the tens of thousands!
The crimson lightning, comparable to an anti-fortress Noble Phantasm, left only an insignificant mark in the vast chaos!
Even if Alaric exhausted all his power, he could not annihilate the tens of millions—perhaps even hundreds of millions—of Lahmu.
Alaric understood this well. The unleashing of divine judgment to destroy the Lahmu was merely an appetizer. The true battle had not yet begun.
Confronting Tiamat, Alaric dared not truly step into the Persian Gulf. Even with the Heavenly Vessel enabling him to traverse the endless sea, he could not make such a decision lightly.
It wasn't just reverence for the supreme deity. More importantly, it was the emotions surging within him.
It wasn't merely the excitement of confronting Tiamat or the desire to devour her. It was also the shared sense of abandonment—a deep resonance.
These intertwined emotions churned within Alaric's heart, but the one he could not ignore was the overwhelming sense of impending death.
As the Mother of Life's Origin and the Goddess of Creation, Tiamat's presence heralded a new world—and absolute death.
For Alaric and Gilgamesh, representatives of old humanity, this was a death that could not be denied.
A vague intuition screamed madly at Alaric, warning him not to step into the chaotic tides—not even to approach from the sky!
For other lifeforms, it might have been fine. As long as they didn't directly touch the chaotic tides, they wouldn't be affected. But Alaric faced a much graver situation.
Tiamat had already noticed Alaric in the sky. Even though she hadn't moved, the chaos tide, an extension of her divine authority, was spreading toward Uruk.
"You don't hold back, Tiamat. What exactly are you trying to do?" Alaric frowned. As one of the Seven Evils of Humanity, Tiamat's goal was clear: to reform the world's ecosystem, initiate a renewal, and replace humanity with the Lahmu—the new humanity mentioned by Kingu.
But what Alaric couldn't understand was why Tiamat was paying him much attention.
He had never considered himself particularly special, worthy of such focus from entities of this magnitude.
In terms of uniqueness, he probably wasn't even as significant as Fujimaru Ritsuka, humanity's final Master.
But—
"If that's what you want—
Then come and see who wins!"
Crackle!
The surging crimson lightning churned the atmosphere, causing the clouds across the boundless sky to spiral, as if a true thunderstorm was being born!
A newly awakened Red Dragon, a Beast-class entity, now unleashed its full power, even drawing upon the energies of the very cosmos!
His golden dragon-like eyes shone brilliantly, piercing through the endless tides to lock gazes with Tiamat.
Without question, this was a human-shaped dragon.
His primordial divine body embodied the very concept of a dragon—an existence that surpassed even the crowned dragon Albion.
What was a dragon, truly?
Alaric might have been unclear on this concept in the past, but in the instant he locked eyes with Tiamat, he understood.
It was the embodiment of the highest mystery.
In the ancient, pre-human era of unawakened rationality, dragons were the world itself.
As the Mother of Origins, Tiamat's primordial divine form naturally manifested as a dragon.
Yet, at this moment, Tiamat appeared in human form. Like Alaic, she seemed to have restrained her power within a human vessel—or perhaps the human form was merely the tip of her iceberg-like strength.
Her true primordial divine form, akin to a god dwelling in the depths of the sea, had yet to surface.
Boom!
The crimson lightning streaked across the sky. Under the gaze of tens of millions of Lahmu, it crossed the vast sea in an instant, hurtling toward Tiamat's location!
And as Alaric made this bold move, the Lahmu within the chaotic tides—
Grew wings, entering the domain of the sky!
As children of the Mother of Origins, the Lahmu were like malleable templates. The flight was a trivial matter for them!
Tens of thousands, perhaps over a hundred thousand Lahmu rose from the sea, seeking to intercept the crimson lightning from the heavens!
But such Lahmu alone could not block Alaric's path!
Boom!
The unstoppable crimson lightning tore through the sky, finally reaching the Goddess herself.