"What do you mean there was not a baby inside?!" Gilgamesh exclaimed. "She was pregnant, everyone knew! Everyone saw!"
He paced around your chamber as the court doctors tried to explain what they couldn't understand.
"Please believe us, your Majesty," one of the doctors said. "When her highness arrived, her belly was already empty."
"We did our best to look for any signs of life inside her but there just wasn't any anymore," another agreed.
During the span of your pregnancy, these doctors were the ones who monitored your every condition. Needless to say, they have enough knowledge of you and your baby's health.
At the same time, they were also mages and through magecraft, they were able to detect your child's heartbeat. Unfortunately, they could not detect a single beat anymore.
This incident also rendered them shocked and hopeless.
Gil remembered how the robed man disappeared without a trace. There was no blood or ashes on the floor. If the same case happened to your baby, how come you bled?
"We truly do not understand, your Majesty," one answered. "But through our analysis, we assumed that it was due to the sudden disappearance of the baby that Her Highness's womb was not able to accommodate the sudden change.
Hopeless, Gilgamesh ordered the doctors to get out and to leave you and him alone. He looked at your resting figure, unconscious and unaware of the tragedy that has happened.
In his chest, he could feel something stirring within his heart—a foreign emotion, one he never felt before. It was suffocating and it rendered his ability to put the blame on others.
Could he blame you? Perhaps not. You made the necessary actions to protect yourself, after all. The bounded field you put up was one of them.
Could he blame Enkidu? Perhaps not. He stayed with you the whole time and went on nightly patrols around the ziggurat.
So where? Where was the flaw in the walls of defense that surrounded you?
Indeed, he didn't know. And certainly, he couldn't blame himself either.
There was a small thought at the back of his mind that fights to take over. An infinitesimal thought he could not let reach the surface.
After all, he never knew other feelings besides pride... greed... and pleasure. So how could he understand?
How could he comprehend the thought that maybe, if it was he who was more careful, none of this may have happened?
He couldn't admit—he'll never admit.
So with fists clenched hard, he left your chamber. He stormed through the halls of his big and mighty temple that couldn't protect you until he reached the Royal Hall.
What welcomed him was a sight he would've been joyous about. His enemies were on the floor kneeling with divine chains wrapped around their bodies as they squirm around attempting to escape but all those efforts were miserably futile.
Such a scene would've already made him bend over in laughter at the pathetic sight of useless mongrels begging on his feet for mercy.
But today wasn't one of those days.
Usually, he would've loved to see these mongrels pitifully grab on any chance to stay alive amidst his projectiles. He loves to watch his enemies take upon a slow death.
But right now, all he wants is for these people to vanish—from his sight and from this world, the same way your flames would've burned them out of existence.
And so a light shined before these pitiful men. Their eyes widened in terror at what is to come—of the tragedy that will befall them because of their obsession with Ishtar—of the mere wish to summon a goddess.
And for what reasons? Some of these accomplices do not even know. Hell, some of them were just collateral damage.
But it wasn't an excuse, and it definitely wasn't a way out of the king's wrath.
Hilts of multitudinous weapons stuck out from the portal above the king's throne. Screams of despair and begs of mercy and apology echoed through the entirety of the ziggurat yet all those noises fell deaf to the king's ears.
In the blink of an eye, the weapons protruding from the Gate of Babylon fired towards them like bullets that never misfire on their target. And despite hitting the bullseye, weapons continued firing out of the portal.
Not long after, the walls and floors of the Royal Hall were stained with blood but still, Gilgamesh kept going.
If there was anyone hiding behind the pillars of the Royal Hall to witness this event, then they were lucky to not be the target of the king's wrath, the ultimate expression of overwhelming force.
Suddenly, the firing stopped.
The only thing that stopped the king from further mincing the poor bodies of these people, adults, and elders alike, was Enkidu's hand on his shoulder.
Slowly, the Gate of Babylon closed.
Gilgamesh stood and walked down his throne. His armored shoes created a loud metallic click as they came in contact with the floor.
With heavy footsteps, he walked forward, across the pool of blood that gathered on the floor. It was akin to the pool of blood that gathered beneath you not long ago.
At that moment, Gil knew that in his own way, he had avenged you and he has brought justice to the son he lost too soon.
As he walked, blood clung to the soles of his shoes as if those killed were still begging for mercy. Every step or two, he would occasionally step on soft flesh that crushed beneath his feet.
It was such a gruesome scene and today was a terrible day for the entirety of Mesopotamia.
Gilgamesh eventually reached the platform of the ziggurat. The sky welcomed him out in a mourning shade of gray.
Below the ziggurat gathered a huge crowd of people. The sun was yet to rise but the people have already awakened. The inhuman screams of those sentenced to death earlier brought this crowd of people together.
Some of them were worried. Some were just curious, waiting to know what could've happened this early. What could this commotion be about?
Upon seeing the king emerge from the temple, the crowd fell silent. Hushing sounds were given to those who remained unaware of the king's presence.
All of a sudden, thunder roared through the skies. It was as if the heavens itself shares the king's grief and wrath.
For a moment, Gilgamesh took a deep breath. "Let this be a warning to each and every one of you," he started, his voice loud and firm, his tone authoritative and commanding.
"Any more of you who dare threaten and hurt the queen shall die by my very hands," he continued. "You too, shall die in the same way the former priests and priestesses of Kutha perished!"
Gasps were heard and murmurs spread like wildfire on a dry grassland. The citizens were left confused as they inquire to one another about what could have happened.
Gil took this opportunity to turn away and head back to the Royal Hall. Upon seeing the bloodied mess, he ordered his servants to have them clean up.
"Mongrels!" His voice roared through the hall. "Have these carcasses be fed to the lions!"
Hurriedly, the ziggurat's servants rushed to clean the Royal Hall. Gilgamesh sat on his throne in the same unamused way he had before you came around.
Enkidu appeared beside him. "Do you not want to find out the reasons why they did it?" He asked.
Gilgamesh gave a small nod.
"It was an act of rebellion; the elders' way of opposing your rule..." Enkidu started. "And a way of disproving the queen."
Gil's eyebrow furrowed.
Enkidu continued. "They believed that there is no one else better to be queen of Mesopotamia other than Ishtar which is why they were never in favor of (y/n). Hypocritically though, they found no other vessel worthy for the goddess other than her."
"So they waited until the queen was pregnant because that was the moment she is most vulnerable. And it is also the moment they thought was perfect for Ishtar is the goddess of fertility. Your child became their catalyst, and the queen was supposedly Ishtar's vessel."
There was a temporary moment of silence as Enkidu allowed his words to sink into Gil's system. At that moment, only the sounds of clothes being wiped against the floor were heard.
"According to them," Enkidu continued. "The ritual was almost successful; Ishtar has almost taken residence in (y/n)'s body. However and fortunately, (y/n) regained consciousness. And that is when she began to fight back."
After hearing all these, Gilgamesh was more than glad he killed them. They were all foolish and delusional and were absolutely mongrels.
What itches his curiosity now is your power. Once again, the sight of your black flames engulfing the robed man flashed before him.
"When I found (y/n), she was surrounded in black flames," Gilgamesh said. To his surprise, Enkidu gripped the side of his throne.
Gil looked up to see his dear friend shocked. Enkidu's eyes widened and his lips were slightly apart.
That's right, the two of them have only talked now. Things happened too fast earlier that they didn't have time to discuss this with each other.
"This is bad," Enkidu said. "Really bad."