Finis Chaldea

A wondrous thing to look upon, she said. These words were better than even Enki expected, even after hundreds upon hundreds of years. Now, he could finally move on to the greater test. What sort of queen could he claim to have, if not one who heralded the next generation of gods to rule over this world? With the absence of Ishtar, Enki alone would take up the position of Anu and reign over the next group of divine beings. It would take only a few years of utilizing this mortal's body to do so, and then, he could deal with that bastard king and all others who would rise against him. These thoughts played through the water god's mind as he disrobed. Apart from an arm of metal and fabricated magic circuits, Enki bore only flesh and tool before the puppet queen he acquired so long ago. He seemed rather confident as his semi-firm length was taken into his own grasp, being worked up to something usable. "It's finally time. Come here. You can start with your mouth," he ordered.

Ah, that movement into his bedroom came with the idea that he would get to bed her. Well a man like this did need more didn't he. A puppet-queen did him no good if he would not be allowed to make babies and propagate. He could have done that with any random mortal in his harem but he did not want them for that purpose, no he wanted her, his queen. That is what all kings wanted wasn't it? But he'd chosen wrong, Artoria Pendragon would not give children to a man she didn't like in place of the one she did. He was not owed her mind, body or soul. Her virtues were for the one person she'd allow to have them, and it was not him. That command to move forward got a single step out of her, just the one, but after that single step she stopped. He wished her to start with her mouth did he? Artoria's body did not move from the spot it was on. That fog the Queen of Knights lived in, the thickest of darkness spread ever so gently. That clawed hand of hers pushed just a bit and the flame of her eye flickered for the first time in centuries. "No." This man and his nudity stirred nothing about her. Did he not remember what she swore? On her honor, he could never have her. She said those words, she meant those words. She held those words so close to herself they sustained her. The Queen of Knights would not give herself to this man. False god that he was, she would not give in she would not be tamed. He'd waited hundreds of years? He could wait thousands more and she would not bed him and she would not allow herself to be forced into it. Hundreds of years of patience could fly out the window... Artoria Pendragon remained unbroken. 'The last one who tried to force such a thing, lost his manhood as the price. Tell me cowardly god, do you really wish to risk yourself?' Artoria's words were in her own mind but she wondered how hard he would push. She'd not moved and he obviously would not enjoy being defied, but she was not going to give herself to him. Those parts of her, were for someone specific she would not be sullied by a man like this.

No. How annoying. The moment Artoria took that single step forward, Enki thought her consciousness had been properly, fully suppressed. Apparently, that was not the case. Hearing this, Enki could only assume she denied the use of her mouth. That was fine, he thought. She was but some measly girl; it was likely no one had ever bothered to make use of her maw before. Well then, he only needed to breed her like the lowly creature she was anyway. Still stroking away at his own member, Enki took a step forward. "Useless. Fine; you're probably terrible anyway. Get on the bed then," he said with a sigh, thinking he was to have his way with this woman even if she managed to reject his first order. The long-term plan still progressed in his mind. He'd use Artoria Pendragon as a veritable factory to birth new divinities into the world, and Ishval would be the center of a new Celestia for Enki to lord over. Maybe he'd even make himself chosen for that Holy Sword; that would be a decent positive to throw on top of everything else.

Annoying? Artoria had been called insufferable. He would only be realizing how many problems he had in the next few moments. He said she was probably terrible anyway and ordered her on the bed. He was very wrong about that too. She was not having sex with him. She'd taken another single step forward and stopped. He'd been holding on to her for hundreds of years had he really not thought about the nature of her oath? "No. You can never have me." Artoria's words were clear. As she fought against orders, as she held her head high. It did not matter to her if he thought her useless. It did not matter to her if he was annoyed. She would not be used by some cowardly god to bear his children. She would not give away what was hers to someone so undeserving. There was no man who could have her that she did not want to have her. And the only man she wanted to give herself to was her King of Heroes, Gilgamesh. This puny god was nothing by comparison. She felt nothing looking at him. Even now her heartbeat remained steady. There was no redness to her cheeks no desire to look nor any to look away. It was like staring into an empty glass. She had no desire whatsoever. There was no passion in her body for sexual activity with this man. He could not force her, and she would not submit. Such was the lesson that Enki was learning this day. 'The audacity of you, to think you can touch me. To think you can have what I have decided is his alone!' Oh? When did she start thinking of herself as something she would willingly give to the King of Heroes.

Apparently, it was not simply a refusal to offer her mouth. She repeated words from many centuries before. They were words of defiance, words of opposition. Enki grimaced, his teeth grinding as he came to realize what this one's will was truly made of. "Bitch! It's been a millennium; you can't keep resisting me!" He was so tired of waiting, so tired of dealing with this woman generation after generation. Another step forward, and Enki's prosthetic arm stretched out. If she wouldn't follow this order, his aim would be to push her onto the bed himself. It didn't really matter how willing she was, or rather how willing she wasn't. Simply because she was only mortal, it should be nothing to force her down and force himself upon her. It only mattered that he could make use of her. So long as she remained complacent before the masses and could be used to further his plans for returning to divine glory, all was well. Besides... he was a god. If he could make her experience him, it was only to be expected that she collapsed to the absolute bliss, right? Naturally. "You're going to be made a breeding factory for the new Age of Gods. Your opinion holds no weight," he would declare during an attempt to hold the queen down and take his place between her legs.

A millennium, that was all? In addition to the ridiculous amount of time he'd been keeping her from her King of Heroes he had the outright audacity to refer to her so colorfully. "I will resist you forever! You are unworthy!" The words of Artoria Pendragon. He pushed her on to the bed with that mechanical arm, her body found strength drained over a millennium. He was tired of waiting and so was she. He would have no progress not with her. She simply wouldn't allow it. She would not be an unwilling participant in his plans. On her honor. Those had been her words she would not give herself to him. After being tossed to the bed her legs clamped together. Her arms were throwing concise punches at his torso. She would not allow him to force himself upon her. "I will not bear the children of a false god! IT IS NOT OPINION IT IS FACT!" Artoria Pendragon was a willful individual. She would not allow him to take her. There was fire in those emerald eyes of hers and tenacity in her person. She would not be defiled by this man, her virtues were hers to protect until the only person who deserved them claimed them. That little bit of cleared fog was enough for the realness of her personality to reach out in this shining moment. It was like her running at the door with her full body to burst out into the light. If she was fought on this she would be free then all she would need was her weapon and she'd kill him. If he wanted a breeding factory he should have left her where she was and went looking for Ishtar. The tenacity of this particular mortal said she would not be felled by some cowardly god. He could not have sex with her in any way she wouldn't allow it. 'This is a slight against me. I will not fall here. Not to him. He disgusts me. We belong to the King of Heroes.' Oh? Artoria wasn't sure when she became so sure of her taste, but physically this man wasn't attractive to her. Emotionally he was not attractive to her. And the audacity of him to try and force himself upon her made her despise him truly.

Him, unworthy? There was no worthiness above that of the only god left in this world! She'd see, one way or another. She'd carry the children of the one true god, and she'd succumb to him while doing so. All he had to do was force her down until that happened. He managed at least the forcing part, but her legs would not offer space. Ah, that wasn't the half of it either. In addition to being incapable of sliding between the queen's legs, he was being assaulted by fists. How had she managed to develop a fire in her eyes? This was going to be far more annoying than he imagined, Enki thought as his torso was battered. It would be by Command Seal that he decided her insolence should have a price. "Stop moving!" he ordered. It was clear he could do nothing to properly force her just yet; perhaps a few more centuries would be required for any headway. For the time being though, there was something he could do. The people of Ishval had seen the king and his queen leave for the bedroom, so they would see the results. By halting her movements, he could at least make a show of things, and show that mortal the folly of her ways in doing so. How would this be accomplished? Well, he'd continue stroking his tool until he could eject himself directly onto her person. He had rather good aim, and wasn't really fond of the lack of color on her cheek. Yes, that would be a wonderful place to mark.

He enforced a stop of her movements with a Command seal. Of course he would. Her arms lost the ability to move but the fire remained behind those eyes of hers. She was not to move, but he could not have her. He would aim to mark her instead of defile her. Another slight against her, 'The false god wants things he cannot have. Regardless of his place in the world he is absolutely unworthy of me!' Artoria Pendragon was no mere human. She could be considered the pinnacle of human ability. She would not be falling to some pathetic man, like him. No, she'd already decided the one for her... She would not go silently into his abuses. No, he could not force his will upon her and every time he tried she would make sure he knew. Disgusting as he was, seed upon her face was nothing but a show for the masses. It would eat away at him inside knowing he could not have her... of this she was certain. And not even another three millennia would give him what he desired of her.

Ah, but now there was something else occurring. In strong walled Uruk a young woman with red hair and rather dazzling red eyes was making her way before the King. She seemed to have a razor's focus and was pretty decently muscled. Her clothing style was strange as she seemed to be wearing black hakama and a shirt that was torn across the middle. There were little marks on the side of a rather angular face and she in general looked a bit displeased but there was still a keen and burning intelligence behind her eyes. Whatever the case, she would find herself standing before his throne hands on her hips. She had a strange bearing like a mix of two very distinct livings were in her body and soul. But she'd made it here, and now that this was where she stood she needed to have a very specific conversation. Why? Because in the distance... she could hear him. Enki. Or rather she was always casually aware of the placement of other deities and she just so happened to know where to find the one that Gilgamesh wasn't to kill and he was in luck because she wanted him dead too.

Would Enki be eaten away from the inside? Undoubtedly. He was the most divine being in this world presently, and the idea of a mortal resisting him over that two-thirds-blood king was repulsive. It should be he who had the power, the treasures, and the pick of all women in this world. He was a god, and this was justice for all he'd done for those pitiful humans over the millennia. He'd go on to see how long that wench could act against him while dealing with not only the humiliation of spunk on her face day after day... but the fact that he was soon recording it with Ishval's technology as well. Across the throne room, there would forever be many banners of the queen's face stained by the seed of Enki. The people would not question this, but would instead take it as a sign that their god's queen was not to be approached. That much would be enough to deal with her silent state of being when she wasn't addressed and commanded.

The passage of time was not kind. The number of years Artoria Pendragon had been absent could no longer be counted. Many times, Gilgamesh himself had scoured the world to search while Francis Drake and her ilk were on the long journey of discovery. None could find the former segments of AS-IKU, even the great king himself. Why could they not locate one of six locations across the entire world? The geography was very different on the lower levels, yes, but it made no sense. There was far too much required even to discern whether the fragments of an old empire had merely merged with other civilizations, or not. Moreover, there were the seas to be searched, but so few ways to inspect the depths. This day, though, there was a single beacon. A perpetually furious Gilgamesh sat upon the throne, looking directly upon a new visitor. Those eyes... they could belong to only one of few. That crimson hair was like a trademark to boot, letting it be known that this was no additional threat to be wiped out. Ah, but what would he have to say? "Nanshe. Your kind has made innumerable problems for me. If you have not come presenting that wet dog brother of yours, then begone from my sight. I am in no mood to see the color of your eyes, unless it is the blood of your people."

The most divine being in the world thought himself special? How ridiculous. Artoria Pendragon would not bow to such a man... never would she have done so in the first place. But as humiliations and slights against her person piled up, she remained unbroken. In the fog of her mind she knew one truth absolutely, Enki was undeserving of her. He would record her, and leave her shamed before his people? She felt none. Why? Well, the answer to that was complex, within her own mind she knew... she knew how deeply he was properly bothered by the fact that she'd rejected him. She knew that though he claimed patience and waiting he wanted to know why Gilgamesh was favored over him. In moments where Artoria's consciousness was close to the surface her eyes let her see the truth, he was envious of that man on the deepest level possible and it was bothering him that she would not cave to his wishes. 'Only one deserves me. This is but a blink...'

The years that had passed for the King of Heroes had also passed quite differently for the one now standing before him. Standing before the Hero-King, this woman he called Nanshe seemed to be recognized in a moment. What was more he made the claim that her kin had been doing nothing but causing him problems. That was factual, none knew more so than herself that her family had fallen to depravity. Strangely, she'd expected all that. Every showing of evil from one of her family members, she'd predicted from before the time of their falling. "Ara? I cannot say I have been called such a thing in a very long time," she said of that old title. She was no longer being worshiped in the traditional sense. She'd been the first of the gods to let go of Divinity, mostly based on the outrage she'd felt at this young man's treatment. "Those who possess Goddess Eyes have never harmed you, Wedge of Heaven." There was a clarification there made which likely would be unknown to most but the absolute fact of the matter was, only three of the four goddesses above had eyes like these, and none of them had a hand in the negative things that happened to Gilgamesh. Now, she stood before him for similar reasons. "I know what the one who was my brother has done to you. I do not condone his actions... He was always so very jealous of you, the taint of his soul has not helped," she said seemingly calm about the entire situation. "I know you want him dead, and because of our connections as divinities I know where he can be found," she said carefully. "I can lead you there for the rescue of your bride, on the condition that I be the one who ends the life of Enki."