Marduk
Rewinding time a little—
Around the moment Nergal, having blocked Sunya's fist, went hurtling away into the distance, Enki quietly approached Ninhursag.
"I think now is the time."
"The time for…?"
"Unseal Marduk."
A complicated expression crossed Ninhursag's face. Even so, she didn't look startled—they'd spoken of this before. If anything, she had secretly hoped a situation like this would arrive.
"And you?"
"At a time like this, our son will listen better to a soft, gentle mother than a rotten father like me."
"…You're not seriously planning to jump into that, are you?"
Ninhursag seized Enki's wrist, anxiety tightening her grip.
"Let's go together."
"Go? Please. I'd be lucky if I didn't get beaten to death."
"You still need to beg for forgiveness. Don't throw your life away here!"
"I'm just buying time. And if my prediction is right, he probably won't kill me—so don't worry."
"What makes you so sure?"
"A hunch?"
"Hey!"
Enki stroked her cheek, trying to put her at ease.
"If Sunya actually kills Enlil right now, things get bad. Setting the domain issue aside, if the rightful king Father appointed loses his life, chaos will sweep through the society of the gods. There might even be a war."
"…"
"So I'm asking you. All right?"
"…I don't know if this is really the right thing to do."
"Trust me, Ninhursag."
Enki pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"…Don't die, Enki."
"I'll be fine. I'm only doing this because I genuinely don't think I'll die."
And so Enki secretly sent Ninhursag to his palace.
Arriving aboard a sky-boat, Ninhursag made her way deep into a part of the palace only she knew. With every step, her heart hammered in her chest. She was glad she could finally see the child she fretted over most; she reproached herself for not having come sooner; and she felt fear at the prospect of facing her own sin.
In the deepest chamber of Enki's palace lay a room no one had entered for a long time. Magic veiled it so thoroughly that most people couldn't even perceive it—but Ninhursag opened the door with ease and stepped inside.
The interior was far larger than it appeared from outside. According to Enki, he'd cast a spatial distortion spell on it.
In the center of that vast chamber, a man knelt alone, both arms bound in chains, unconscious. Though he had been chained for no small length of time, Marduk's body had not withered in the slightest—a muscular physique developed like a beast's without any particular training, a powerful divinity that radiated even in unconsciousness, and an innate, crushing presence. Had anyone other than Ninhursag come here, even a god might have hesitated to approach him.
Magic restricting access hung around him, but Ninhursag was an exception. More precisely, only Ninhursag and Enki were exceptions.
When Ninhursag chanted a spell, the chains binding the man snapped and vanished. Drawing closer, she chanted again, and a warm green light settled into his mind.
Presently, the man's hand twitched.
"Marduk? Are you awake?"
Ninhursag stepped closer to check on him—and in that instant, Marduk's hand shot out and seized her by the throat.
"Ghk—"
"…Well, well. If it isn't the irresponsible mother who locked me away in here."
Marduk slowly raised his upper body. He glared at his mother with four eyes that glowed the same green as Ninhursag's own.
"I figured you'd never come at all. What's this about?"
"Ghk— koff—"
"Ah, my bad. Hard to talk with a hand around your throat."
Marduk released her. Ninhursag clutched her throat, coughing and gasping.
"So. Why come looking for the son you abandoned all this time?"
"…I'm sorry."
"Of course you should be. Do you have any idea how much I resented you people, stuck in this hole?"
The wind around them began to thrash in time with Marduk's emotions. It would take him only an instant to tear Ninhursag to shreds. Even so, what she felt was not fear so much as remorse.
"I'm truly sorry, Marduk."
"Sorry is all you've got?!"
Marduk roared in fury. Once more the entire palace shuddered violently.
"What did I do for you people? I risked my life alone and tore that monster Tiamat to pieces!! And you locked me up in here just because I was 'dangerous'? How could you do this to me?"
"…I'm sorry."
Ninhursag offered no excuses. She didn't claim they'd been too young, or that they couldn't defy their father's word. She simply apologized—with all her heart.
"…"
And Marduk—who had always been a good son—felt his resolve soften. His mother, who now looked far younger than he did, was weeping as she apologized. How could his heart not move?
"…Fine. We'll talk about that later. Just tell me what you came for."
"How did you…?"
Marduk snorted at Ninhursag's surprise.
"Why else would you wake me if you didn't have a job for me? Did maternal instinct suddenly kick in?"
"…"
Ninhursag had nothing to say.
"So spit it out. Who do I need to erase?"
"That's…"
"Never mind. If you're coming to me, the guy must be ridiculously strong."
"Wait—"
Marduk didn't wait to hear the rest. Stretching both arms as if working out a kink, he unleashed his authority.
A roaring torrent of power erupted.
"Kyaaaaah!!"
Ninhursag went flying with a scream. A waterspout born from Marduk completely obliterated Enki's palace.
It felt good. Awakened from his long sleep, Marduk savored his freedom and burst into wild laughter. The laugh rang out so thunderously that the entire heavenly realm trembled.
"All right then. The one I need to take down is…"
Loosening up as he went, Marduk surveyed his surroundings. "Surroundings" was an understatement—his range of perception existed on an entirely different plane from ordinary gods. Most of the gods he saw were strangers, but it didn't take long to find his target.
"That one, huh?"
A young man with silver hair and blue eyes. He hadn't received a single detail from Ninhursag, yet Marduk knew at once that this was the problem he needed to solve. The reason was simple. One look was enough to tell that Sunya was the strongest among them all.
Marduk flew straight at Sunya. He was so fast that the mere passage of his body generated shockwaves that shredded the surrounding area. Several gods were caught in the aftermath and tumbled ignominiously across the ground.
"You're the one? The guy I'm supposed to put down?"
Without waiting for an answer, Marduk seized Sunya by the face and took off. He was putting distance between them and the other gods, in his own way. He had no particular reason to care about strangers, but having them nearby would just get in the way.
A sound like the earth being violently plowed tore through the air. Mid-flight, Marduk slammed Sunya into the clouds as he moved. Hardened by An's authority, the clouds were denser than ordinary ground—an ordinary god would have been ground to paste on impact.
But Sunya was no ordinary god.
Sunya gripped the forearm holding him with both hands.
A sharp crack rang out.
"Huh?"
A strange sound. Before Marduk knew it, his forearm had snapped clean through into an N-shape. Before the pain even registered, the sudden break left him tilting his head in confusion.
In the next breath, Sunya snared Marduk by the throat and spun—and slammed him into the clouds in reverse.
BOOM!!
The force was enough to blast a section of those hardened clouds apart.
"Guh!!"
The impact was tremendous. It felt as though his spine had snapped and his organs had burst. Marduk broke his fall and bounced back to his feet.
Sunya stood unharmed, watching him with emotionless eyes.
"That hurt like hell. You're pretty good, huh?"
Marduk was impressed. How long had it been since something hurt this much? Not since his body had been a child's, if ever. Inwardly, he raised his threat assessment of Sunya.
For a moment, the two simply stared at each other in silence.
"…You're just a child."
"What?"
The sudden remark left Marduk slightly flustered. Setting aside the flowering of his divinity or the rank of his godhood, Marduk's mental age was young. It wasn't that he was immature—he'd simply spent very little time awake and active. And Sunya saw straight through it.
"I still have some anger left to burn off, as it happens."
Sunya tucked one hand behind his back and extended the other, crooking his fingers at Marduk in a beckoning gesture. He didn't fully understand the pose, but Marduk knew a provocation when he saw one.