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year 5, quarter 3
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[attr="class","ion-heart"] I wield the greatest sword there is!
A soi-disant collector of exotic weapons and all-around melee combat enthusiast, Gilgamesh once served under Exdeath as his lieutenant and top enforcer until a series of unfortunate events resulted in his permanent banishment to the Interdimensional Rift. He would later attempt to sacrifice his own life in defense of the Light Warriors he failed to defeat, only to be sent hurtling across and throughout the Rift for an indeterminate length of time until it ejected him into the alien world of Zephon.[break][break]
Stranded without a means to return home, Gilgamesh has since taken to aimlessly wandering this new land in search of special weapons, secret treasures, strong opponents, and something that might actually resemble a legitimate plot. Surely, it can't be worse than being stuck in the Rift forever, yeah?
RAPPORTS FLY THROUGH THE STORM, POWER OF STEEL
Gilgamesh has a fast and loose understanding of the word "friendship" here. He believes the quickest way to get to know somebody is to fight them, and those who manage to impress him with their strength and skills receive the pitiful distinction of being treated as one of his close companions. Even without having to do battle against him, Gilgamesh is a rather affable fellow and has no qualms with mingling among the commonfolk in peaceful settings, provided one can tolerate his ceaseless yammering for more than five minutes. Putting aside the more annoying qualities of his personality, Gilgamesh will gladly lend aid to those he has grown fond of, and, if necessary, put his own life in jeopardy to defend someone else's. Just don't expect him to blow himself up again; it was supposed to be all poignant and dramatic the first time around, but it didn't work like he planned for it to, and now he just feels like an idiot for even trying that idea to begin with.
RIVALRIES STRIKING WITH VENGEANCE, FORCE THEM TO KNEEL
Rivalry is traditionally defined as a lasting competitive relationship between two or more people, and people who beat Gilgamesh in some manner or another invariably end up being marked as one of his countless rivals on the road to eternal glory. That being said, however, the fact this occurs so frequently means no one ends up taking him seriously whenever he comes back for the inevitable rematch. Mark his words, though, he will come back. Eventually. At some point. Maybe. Who knows? He could be plotting to ambush you right now...[break][break]
Wanting to make Gilgamesh a true enemy, on the other hand, really depends on how low a person is willing to sink in order to provoke this kind of response from him. Go ahead, make fun of him, call him names, dunk on how badly he sucks at fighting, say his weapons are fake, shamelessly dehumanize him until your lungs give out—but never tell Gilgamesh he cannot succeed, suggest that his dreams are unattainable, convince him to quit trying, threaten to injure or take away what is precious to him, or slander those he respects and honors as true warriors.[break][break]
I'm being legit here, y'all, I've never considered the possibility of Gilgamesh actually getting that upset with someone, and I don't know how that'll show itself in words, so, uh... take caution and hope he shows mercy, I guess...
ROMANCES SOLDIERS UNITE, FORCE OF THE WORLD
Ah, the smoldering flame of love! Gilgamesh is a well-traveled man, has seen many sights and experienced much of what life has to offer him. Yes, even that. But for him to consider the idea of being in a relationship? Settling down?Marriage?! Perish the thought entirely! Only two passions have been known to enamor Gilgamesh completely, these being his appreciation for fine weaponry and his enjoyment of the fiercest and toughest battles. You could tempt him with the sweetest and darkest pleasures imaginable, and Gilgamesh would still find a way to prioritize his love of weapons and fighting over these. Rumor has it that a Siren tried to charm Gilgamesh and failed so badly, she had an existential crisis; some say she continues to work as a barmaid in Walse to this very day...[break][break]
But speaking entirely from an outsider's perspective here, you could consider his brotherhood with Enkidu to be a kind of domestic partnership, if you want to... only if you're a deranged nutcase, that is.
SPELLS & ABILITIES FIGHT TILL THE END, WE WILL DIE BY THE SWORD
SKILLS[break] Dischord: Halves the level of a single target, significantly weakening their performance in combat.[break] Dancehall Daze: Inflicts one target with Sleep status.[break] Electrocute: Inflicts minor lightning damage against one target.[break] Wind Slash: Inflicts moderate wind damage against all enemies.[break] Hurricane: Reduces one target's HP to a single digit.[break] Rocket Punch: Inflicts damage equal to half the target's HP and Confuse status.[break] Chain Detonation: Dummied skill. No, really, this attack actually does nothing. It was programmed in there, and it probably had some kind of purpose related to death animations at one point, but it's defunct now and taking up valuable space in his move list, and Gilgamesh can't get rid of it. It could have other uses, though...[break][break]
BLUE MAGIC[break] Aera: Inflicts moderate wind damage against one target.[break] Goblin Punch: Inflicts physical damage against one target, with larger amounts possible if the target's level is equal or close to the caster's.[break] Missile: Reduces one target's HP to 1/4.[break] Death Claw: Reduces one target's HP to single digits and inflicts Paralyze status.[break] Pond's Chorus: Inflicts one target with Toad status.[break] Lilliputian Lyric: Inflicts one target with Mini status.[break] Flash: Inflicts all enemies with Blind status.[break] Time Slip: Inflicts one target with Sleep and Old status.[break] Self-Destruct: Instantly kills the user and inflicts damage equal to the user's HP against one target. [break][break]
WHITE MAGIC[break] Protect: Reduces damage received from physical attacks.[break] Shell: Reduces damage received from magical attacks. [break][break]
TIME MAGIC[break] Haste: Hastens the passing of time for one ally, doubling attack rate. [break][break]
SECRET TECHNIQUE: "IT'S MORPHING TIME!!"[break] Invoking the face-melting power of Saturday morning superhero programs and pop culture memes, Gilgamesh can call out this greatly beloved catchphrase to unleash his full power through an egregiously overbudgeted transformation sequence that allows him to change his body to its true form. Upon completing this process, not only does it radically alter his physical appearance to become more threatening, he obtains an additional six arms and hands to hold and wield extra weapons with. The metamorphosis also amplifies Gilgamesh's natural abilities and combat skills to the absolute peak of their expression, greatly adding to the amount of danger he imposes against his enemies.[break][break]
UNIQUE ABILITY: OCTO-BREAK[break] Active only in his true form, Gilgamesh can draw out a weapon's hidden potential and manifest it as a special property, attribute, or effect for as long as it remains firmly grasped in his hands. Like the name of this talent implies, he can achieve these results with up to eight separate weapons at once. Since every weapon has their individual idiosyncrasies, Gilgamesh will not be able to tell what sort of quality will spring forth until he decides to pick it up, which loans a dangerous unpredictability to an otherwise already formidable and powerful warrior. Or it could hoist him by his own petard. That's likely to happen, also.
Post by Gilgamesh! on Dec 27, 2023 13:29:12 GMT -6
Gilgamesh
"Enough expository banter! It's time we settle this like men! And ladies! And ladies who dress like men!"
I. BASICS
FULL NAME:: Gilgamesh NICKNAMES:: Swordsman of Legend(?), Ancient Man of Mystery, "Greg", any insult GENDER:: Male AGE:: Unknown ORIENTATION:: BATTLESEXUAL® GAME OF ORIGIN:: Galuf's World, Final Fantasy V ALIGNMENT:: Neutral EQUIPMENT:: Gilgamesh has earned worldwide notoriety, and perhaps even fame, for his ever-growing collection of rare and powerful weapons; he can always be counted on to produce just about anything for a good fight, and can wield any kind of weapon with a master’s skill and creativity. He is usually found brandishing his trusted Giant’s Halberd, an erroneously named cutting weapon of Oriental construction which is actually called a naginata. The butt end of this polearm is filled with powder filaments that create a blinding smokescreen when punctured, allowing Gilgamesh to make a clean getaway should the going get tough.
When faced with a worthy adversary, or if he’s really desperate for an advantage, Gilgamesh can don his one-of-a-kind Genji Gear: a priceless suit of full-body battle armor celebrated for its legendary resistance to all kinds of damage. Composed of four separate parts—a helm, body armor, gloves, and a shield—the entire set yields conglomerate immunity to the Toad, Confusion, Mini, and Paralyze afflictions. However, Gilgamesh does not like to bring out this particular outfit, as paranoia has convinced him some sticky-fingered freeloader is waiting for a chance to pilfer it when his back is turned.
HEIGHT:: 7'10", he easily towers over most people.
HAIR/EYES/SKIN:: No one is certain what color his hair might be; theories suggest Gilgamesh may actually have none at all, and that his iconic crimson shawl is an effort to conceal this fact. Both his eyes and skin are a blank white, his face accentuated with fierce red markings evocative of the kumadori face painting techniques found in Kabuki plays.
DISTINGUISHING MARKS:: Nothing about Gilgamesh insinuates he has any sense of subtlety, or fashion. Exudes an aura of mystery that suggests his true level of strength may be inconceivably greater than it actually is. Has his own theme music—or, so he says.
II. PERSONA
Duly eccentric, even among those who would find pride in being called such a thing, Gilgamesh carries himself like a samurai of ancient antiquity, peppering his dialogue with obsolete expressions and colorful prosody that one might learn to expect from a third-rate stage performer trying too hard to chomp into the bit. Efforts to immerse himself in character are tragically betrayed by off-handed allusions or direct references to concepts and subjects that are guaranteed to bewilder and confuse even the most savvy individual — this may either suggest cosmic awareness of knowledge beyond the realm of human understanding gained through prolonged exposure to the Interdimensional Rift, or just plain insanity. Whatever the reason is, for legal purposes, we can’t really get into it at the moment.
Hammier than the entire pig population, Gilgamesh is loud and boisterous to the point where existing in the same space as him can quickly prove itself physically insufferable. Unless he’s in a fight with somebody else, he lacks the ability to read a room and has been known to interject his thoughts and opinions wherever, and whenever, he deems it relevant to, even when there’s nobody around to humor his hogwash. Not only can he maintain a monologue for the entire stretch of literal eternity, Gilgamesh seems to think exclusively with his mouth a majority of the time, and will even narrate his own stream of consciousness if his emotions are sufficiently stirred. He is known to exaggerate his observations to the point of redundancy.
There are only two things in life that provide Gilgamesh with a sense of purpose and a reason for being: collecting powerful weapons, defeating strong opponents, and obtaining a rematch with Bartz Klauser and the Warriors of Light. He’s also mathematically challenged, if that speaks for anything.
Gilgamesh passionately describes himself as a treasure hunter and collector of rare artifacts, showing an almost singular interest in weapons of all varieties to the point of showcasing profound encyclopedic knowledge surrounding their numerous properties and characteristics. He is especially fascinated with objects steeped in lore, and will pursue whatever leads are given to him for the sole purpose of adding these relics to his ever-expanding arsenal. Unfortunately, he also tends to be rather superficial in his perception of such tools, as he holds an obvious bias for glamorous decoration and routinely tends to assume that every pretty weapon is a powerful one, which often results in laying claim to suspicious forgeries, flimsy copies, gaudy imitations, or mass-produced replicas of famous and popular weapons.
Even when armed with counterfeits, however, his skills and drive for combat are undoubtedly the real deal, and he will not be any weaker for it. There have also been occasions where serendipity blesses Gilgamesh with a weapon of superior make and quality; such circumstances have resulted in his acquisition of named treasures or equally recognizable objects of considerable historical significance. Such finds are kept fiercely guarded secrets, to be revealed as trump cards against only the worthiest foes, or as tokens of status and prestige to make himself feel better about the quality of his life.
His obsession with expanding an arsenal of armaments culminates into a singular, overwhelmingly strong, and potentially schizophrenic impulse to find and possess the fabled Excalibur, a sacred blade of light rumored to be the most powerful sword in all of existence. Ever since he managed to acquire a nefariously similar-looking forgery of the mystical weapon, Gilgamesh has been hounded by bad luck with regards to his quest for Excalibur, even though he believes it to be the solution for all of his problems. Were he to acquire this holy weapon, some might be inclined to believe that no force throughout creation could ever hope to stop him. Or maybe that’s just what he thinks will happen.
Gilgamesh’s “hobby” as a collector overlaps suspiciously well with his continued occupation as a force of obstructive antagonism, as most conflicts with him are as frequent as they are annoying by virtue of him wanting to possess a weapon that somebody else has. Those who make the mistake of accepting his challenges must also face the risk of having their equipment claimed (read: stolen) by Gilgamesh as a trophy in the event they should lose to him; but, should he be the one to suffer defeat instead, Gilgamesh will humbly acknowledge the winner’s strength and consider them a friend and rival-in-arms. He tends to do it a lot, which speaks volumes about his win-loss ratio. There’s probably an achievement or trophy for that somewhere.
Grandiloquent gesticulations and sesquipedalian verbosity aside, Gilgamesh occasionally demonstrates cowardly behavior whenever he is pushed against the back foot. For instance, he is not above fleeing a fight he cannot win and will do so the moment an opportunity presents itself. Barring this, he will capitulate and even beg for mercy, yet does this (or so he says) to lower his enemy’s guard before seizing the upper hand from them. Even with all of this said and done, Gilgamesh perceives the art of battle as an expression of a person’s character and ethics, and can be generally trusted to honor and abide by the rules of engagement for no other reason than simple enjoyment of the challenge it offers him. He has a reputation to uphold, you know!
Perhaps his most admirable (or irritating) feature is Gilgamesh’s persistent refusal to accept failure as an outcome, for any reason. No matter how badly he stumbled, or how much punishment he endures, or how many losses keep piling up against him, Gilgamesh simply comes back and tries again, and usually with twice the power and passion he had before. He has an ostensible talent (if it can even be called that here) for reading between the lines and observes victory in every defeat, meaning there will never come a time where he abandons his dreams for something lesser. If nothing else, his can-do attitude and world-famous winning spirit could offer itself as positive inspiration for somebody in need of a role model, provided they can overlook all of the more bizarre aspects of Gilgamesh’s character, as well. For these reasons, and more, it is completely pointless to try and defeat him in a contest of wills—especially when he has a reason to stop holding back and fight seriously.
Taking all of this into consideration when examining his earlier career as a henchman for the evil warlock Exdeath, it becomes painfully transparent to anyone with a conscience that Gilgamesh simply hasn’t got one despicable bone in his whole body, even if his role is one of constant aggravation. Certain petty behaviors aside, he just doesn’t have it in him to walk the path of villainy. Even as he tried repeatedly to crush the Warriors of Light in battle, he genuinely appreciated their skill for fighting and eventually grew to respect their virtuous spirits, hoping to one day join them and pursue a life of honest adventuring after they had finished saving the world.
Gilgamesh may be a glory seeker, but it stands to reason that what he actually yearns for, and ultimately hopes to receive, is the joy and admiration of those who would look to him as a hero willing to fight for noble reasons.
Or he could just be delusional. Honestly, it’s… hard telling, really, so you’re better off taking all of this with a grain of salt.
III. BACKGROUND
No one is more skilled or knowledgeable in the use of weapons than Gilgamesh. He can arm himself with anything and everything you could possibly imagine, even improvised objects, and wield these implements as if they were organic extensions of his own body. Whether attacking his foe in melee range or at a distance, there is nothing that Gilgamesh cannot use as a tool of warfare. Augmenting his total command over weaponry are his tremendous physical strength and expertise in numerous different fighting styles, which allows him to fight multiple opponents at once without breaking stride. As a testament to his mastery of battle, Gilgamesh has even displayed the power to defeat entire armies by himself.
His bottomless passion for fighting and never-say-never attitude loans Gilgamesh immeasurable fortitude in both body and spirit, meaning he can take just as much punishment as he is capable of dishing out, and could very well survive attacks that are otherwise lethal to anyone else. Say what you will about his comical disposition, Gilgamesh treats his love for battle very seriously, and attempting to overpower him in a contest of attrition is almost a guaranteed impossibility when he suddenly decides to buckle down and start showing off his true power.
Gilgamesh also exhibits aptitude for learning and using Blue Magic, suggesting he may be naturally inclined for its practice. He also utilizes a handful of eccentric enemy abilities that are unique to his character, such as Hurricane, Dancehall Daze, Dischord, Electrocute, and his world-famous Rocket Punch. He is also possessed of incredible leaping ability, and though he cannot clear tall buildings in a single bound like some cape–wearing weirdos out there, he does have knowledge of the Dragoon’s signature Jump command as a result, which he routinely uses as a method of capturing opponents off-guard. A vast majority of his repertoire enables Gilgamesh to mercilessly cripple unprepared opponents with a plethora of negative status afflictions, although many of these moves can only target one enemy at a time, which also serves as a tell to his preferred way of fighting.
In the event the tables should turn against him, Gilgamesh can cast the spells Protect, Shell, and Haste to give himself extra protection before launching back into the fray. There really isn’t an explanation for why he knows these spells, either. They’re just kind of there, evidently. Still, they ought to be relevant somewhere down the road, surely.
If you thought he was awful by himself, then prepare for trouble and make it double; through the unbreakable power of friendship and the series fanbase’s expectations, Gilgamesh can summon the aid of his cherished companion and rival-in-arms Enkidu to come and lay the smackdown on some of these underleveled scrubs. As the designated aerial support, Enkidu picks off targets from above with his own array of abilities such as Vampire, Web, and Missile. Especially worthy of note is his ability to conjure the White Wind, substantially replenishing both his and Gilgamesh’s health to keep them both in the fight for even longer. With their powers combined, they are Captain Planet form the best dynamic duo since Batman and Robin chocolate and peanut butter, and any encounter with Gilgamesh becomes impossible to overcome significantly harder to endure once Enkidu arrives on the scene.
When he’s (finally) ready to start taking things seriously, or discovers an opponent he believes is worthy to bear witness to it, Gilgamesh can induce an earth-shattering transformation that alters the shape of his body to perfectly mirror his inner nature, ergo “morphing” into a form representative of his endless quest for glory through combat. On completion, Gilgamesh gains an additional six arms and hands, thereby increasing the amount of weaponry he can wield simultaneously to a total of eight pieces. Not only does he also acquire a more ferocious and threatening countenance altogether, the metamorphosis apparently seems to actualize the full potential laying dormant within Gilgamesh’s soul, elevating his already considerable fighting abilities to an almost transcendent level.
Perhaps the most peculiar and wondrous aspect of this transformation—some might even call it a side effect—is that it also extends this benefit to any weapon that Gilgamesh touches and holds, drawing out and manifesting their true power in wild and unpredictable ways. He has taken to dubbing this bizarre talent Octo-Break, but even he doesn’t seem to fully understand how it works, as this property only expresses itself while he is transformed, and the distinctive idiosyncrasies of each and every weapon makes it impossible to predict what one will be capable of when brandished. More often than not, Gilgamesh tends to get stuck using ordinary weapons with no inborn effects, poor quality knockoffs, or the occasional farming implement, but there are times where he gets lucky and comes across a tool with some rather exceptional properties. If that happens, expect to have a bad time.
IV. HISTORY
This is the story of a man named Gilgamesh.
The legend of Gilgamesh is a grand and colorful tale, highlighted with comedy, and underscored by tragedy. It tells of a warrior’s noble journey to engrave his name and soul into the pages of myth. He embarks on a never-ending quest for glory, driven by pride and ambition, yearning for the taste of honor in victory through tempestuous combat as he gauges the strength of countless heroes and champions in search of the ultimate treasure. His mission carries him to the furthest reaches of the world and beyond, into dimensions that transcend the very limits of human imagination, all so that he may be forever remembered and immortalized as the greatest swordsman to ever wield a blade.
Or, at least, that’s what he would have you believe.
It is speculated that Gilgamesh hails from a land far away in the distant East, where he lived as part of the enigmatic and ancient Genji clan, a tribe of warrior-poets and master blacksmiths that combined sword and scripture into a single, harmonious way of life. A ceremonious and philosophical peoples, the Genji had perfected a series of forging techniques that allowed them to manufacture implements that seemingly contradicted their own inherent nature as tools of warfare and bloodshed, thus elevating these creations to the status of peerless artworks. One such triumph are their prized suits of battle armor, awarded only to the bravest and strongest fighters that prove themselves so in a gauntlet of one-hundred consecutive duels; they are built to resist the long march of time, and accumulation of blood and dust imbues even the smallest piece of Genji armor with lavish resistance to all types of damage.
At some point in his life, Gilgamesh came to possess a complete suit of this excruciatingly valuable gear. This would imply that he himself went on the record to complete the fabled hundred battle gauntlet and was awarded the set for his victory, which would also conclusively verify his never-ending assertions of martial prowess by virtue of purest merit. Another story attached to him suggests that Gilgamesh actually stole the Genji Gear for some perceived slight and went into hiding as a fugitive of justice, instead. A more gruesome tale claims that Gilgamesh, obsessed with amassing power at any cost, ruthlessly annihilated the entire clan and took the suit as a bloody trophy, then destroyed the remaining sets to prevent anyone else from ever wearing them in battle against him. There are even insinuations of Gilgamesh stumbling into it entirely by accident, and quite possibly in the literal sense, where it has remained in his ownership ever since.
Whatever the truth really is, his acquisition of this priceless collection of relics served as the lynchpin for what eventually became an all-encompassing fascination with antiques and curios in general, a passion that would compel Gilgamesh to depart his homeland and wander the world in search of magnificent treasures and powerful foes to test them against. From that moment onward, his special interest in such artifacts has become a core aspect of his character, something that Gilgamesh continues to constantly remind everyone about whenever the chance presents itself.
Shortly after committing to the life of itinerancy—probably somewhere around level 10 or so—Gilgamesh had already started gathering notoriety for his singular exploits in fights and for taking the weapons of enemies he claims to have defeated, which caused him to attract the attention of a powerful military figure beholden to the evil warlock Exdeath. Emboldened by the flame of ambition, the graceless, maidenless Gilgamesh challenged this individual to single combat, wanting nothing but to become Elden Lord savor the taste of his opponent’s mettle. It is at this moment where he encounters the winged fiend Enkidu, leader of the Abductors in service to Exdeath, for the very first time.
After about five minutes of expository cutscenes, the two engage in a fierce and bitter duel of skill and will, a clash between ground and sky, heaven and earth, as they trade blow after blow with no intention of giving the other any pause. Gilgamesh expertly deploys every technique he knows against his flying foe, while Enkidu shows the land-bound swordsman no quarter in return with his own arsenal of deadly abilities. Just as Gilgamesh and Enkidu resolve to deliver a finishing strike, whether by sheer chance or the direct intervention of fate itself, they wind up simultaneously injuring each other to the point of incapacitation. The encounter stands out as being one of the only duels Gilgamesh has ever fought to a true stalemate.
Accounts of their battle quickly reached Exdeath’s doorstep, where it became apparent that Enkidu had failed to thwart Gilgamesh, let alone defeat him. Acknowledging the roving warrior’s apparent strength as useful, Exdeath offered Gilgamesh the position of lieutenant and arranged to have Enkidu summarily executed for his weakness. Using his newfound position of authority, however, Gilgamesh instantly appealed to have Enkidu’s life spared on the grounds that he be allowed to make up for his errors and improve, as merely killing him would be a waste of his impressive talents. The request bemuses Exdeath, yet he allows it as a token, nonetheless. Moved to tears by his virtuous character in spite of everything that had transpired, Enkidu swore an oath of fealty to Gilgamesh as gratitude for sparing his life and affirming his self-worth, vowing to become both his fiercest rival and most loyal brother-in-arms.
With power and influence in equal measure, Gilgamesh and Enkidu earned a name as Exdeath’s top enforcers and carved destruction wherever they went, laying scores of enemies to waste as they scoured the furthest marches for an opponent worthy of their full combined strength while occasionally acting on the impulse to plunder whatever unique loot cropped up along the way. They were motivations not entirely dissimilar to those of your typical JRPG protagonist, except in the case of Gilgamesh, he was on the road to hitting a skill ceiling so monolithic it would forever shape the course of his destiny.
That ill-starred day would finally arrive when a trio of youngsters quite literally stumbled their way into the world by means of a magic portal before swiftly being captured by Exdeath’s armies. The geriatric king of Bal Castle, Galuf Baldesion, enlists the aid of his granddaughter Krile and amasses a sizable military force of his own to lay siege against Castle Exdeath, deploying the first and largest wave of men in the hopes of overwhelming the warlock’s forces through sheer numbers. Instead of a legion of monsters, however, the soldiers of Bal Castle are met with Gilgamesh, and him alone. In a monumental display of his famous power and skill, he single-handedly obliterates the attacking forces with nothing but his spear and the very weapons used against him before being called back to watch over Exdeath’s new group of hostages.
Unable to advance on the castle without risking the possibility of Exdeath inflicting harm against his friends, Galuf takes command of Krile’s wind drake in order to infiltrate the compound alone, braving the castle’s threats without fear or hesitation. Sensing a courageous will in him, Gilgamesh proudly stepped out of the shadows to challenge the old man to fisticuffs, wholly expecting the skirmish to be quick yet entertaining all the same.
Instead, Gilgamesh is put on the back foot by Galuf’s stunning display of firm spirit and flawless technique, and begins to recoil at his inability to overpower this withered and crotchety excuse of a pugilist. Rather than admit defeat, however, Gilgamesh offers to let him get thrashed some other time before cutting a hasty retreat, which gave the prisoners enough room to reunite with the invader and fight their way to the Big Bridge, cutting down large swaths of Exdeath’s minions in the process.
Before they can even make it halfway across, Gilgamesh ambushes the group from behind a door, having waited for their arrival so that he could simply take them down all at once and end their short-lived careers as castle crashers. He even does a little twirl, too. Give ‘em the ol’ razzle-dazzle.
The clash on the Big Bridge—as this legendary encounter would famously come to be known by nerds all over the world—turns into a cataclysmic contest of power between both sides as they trade attacks in a frenetic dance of swords and sentiments, each combatant driven by their own reasons for putting everything on the line in the name of total victory. The combined tactics of the old man and his extradimensional companions had almost captured Gilgamesh off guard, until he saw fit to flip the tables on the party with a battery of magical reinforcements and a handful of original patent-pending combat techniques™ he was certain would shred them apart like the gaggle of noobs they were.
Somehow, they persisted. No matter what attack he threw at them or how much strength he put into it, Gilgamesh could neither subdue nor crush these nitwits underfoot. Unnerved by their tenacity and determination, he opts to strategically withdraw from the encounter on the pretense of needing to take care of some more urgent business. As he fled the scene, Gilgamesh vowed to return one day and take his revenge with gusto, thereby setting the gold standard for all bridge-based duels against main characters from that point onward.
The insurgent force’s naval bombardment of Castle Exdeath’s barrier towers would yield him the opportunity he sought. As the rebels dedicate themselves to the attack from aboard the flagship of Xezat Surgate’s war fleets, Gilgamesh descends upon them like a bloodthirsty hawk and crosses blades with his sworn enemies for a third time, matching them as evenly as he had when they last did battle on the Big Bridge. After a lengthy skirmish with Xezat himself, Enkidu eventually joins Gilgamesh in the fray, showing utterly no mercy to Exdeath’s former hostages until one of them, in a stroke of purest fortune, lands a decisive strike against his winged companion and takes him out of the fight entirely. Alone and defenseless without Enkidu, Gilgamesh desperately attempts to throw Galuf overboard as vengeance for his earlier defeat, but ends up falling into the drink himself.
The long swim back to Exdeath’s castle had sent Gilgamesh over the proverbial edge; defeating those upstart scrubs had become a matter of pride now, and he was determined to find a weapon that could finally put them in their proper place. For an indeterminate length of time, Gilgamesh scoured every nook and cranny inside Castle Exdeath for something that could allow him to crush his foes once and for all.
He would find the answer to his problems right below Exdeath’s very throne.
But, first…
________________
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Uh.
Anyways.
The discovery astonishes Gilgamesh, who cannot fathom why Exdeath would possess a relic so inconceivably powerful as this one, let alone keep it stashed away inside a random treasure box. Unwilling to let the surplus of experience points he earned from all that previous grinding go to waste, Gilgamesh stole the contents of the chest, closed it, and waited behind the nearest door to get the drop on his sworn rivals once they came down here to pilfer the storage room on their own time.
When the band of ragamuffins (eventually) show up after they made a frankly deliberate effort to complete all of the sidequests and max out their job classes beforehand, they unknowingly attempt to loot the contents of the lone empty box, giving Gilgamesh the cue he needed to jump out from off-screen and accost the group for a fourth time. One can only imagine what would have happened if they simply decided to skip the box and move onto the final stages of their quest, instead. Thankfully, that didn’t occur, otherwise the rest of this recap would have been totally pointless to type out.
Nevertheless, Gilgamesh sets himself upon the party with no intention of pulling his punches this time, confessing to the youngsters that he had grown to enjoy the heated passion of their exchanges and that, through these tussles, he gained a better understanding of their qualities as people. Fervently wanting to lay into the old man that threw his career as Exdeath’s top-ranking henchman flushing down the toilet, Gilgamesh is quickly crushed to learn that Galuf had tragically lost his life trying to defend his compatriots from Exdeath’s terrible powers.
Feeling aggrieved over Galuf’s demise, as he could no longer obtain the rematch he so desperately yearned for from an opponent as worthy as him, Gilgamesh demands an end to the expository banter and declares that they will settle their differences like proper men and ladies (and ladies that dress like men) before revealing his ultimate technique: changing battle sprites transformation into a terrifying eight-armed form with the express purpose of testing his newly-obtained sword’s latent powers against the party.
Yet, fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
Fully expecting the weapon to function the way any legendary object would, Gilgamesh quickly balks when none of his attacks with it appear to inflict any damage whatsoever, finding out much too late that he was wielding everything except the strongest of swords. Understandably feeling betrayed by this turn of events, yet unbeknownst to him entirely, what he actually found in that treasure chest was little more than a deceptively convincing replica of the mythical Excalibur, which begs the question: why did Exdeath feel it was necessary to own a fake copy of it in the first place?
Witnessing from beyond the veil of perception, Exdeath furiously interrupts the encounter, vexed with Gilgamesh over his constant bungling and repeated failure to kill the brats before him. Before he can even provide an explanation, the warlock cuts him off and tears open a hole in the fabric of space itself, sending Gilgamesh screaming with terror into the bowels of the Interdimensional Rift forever. Exdeath refuses to elaborate on why he has a fake Excalibur.
Time passes slowly here. Fragments of different worlds manifest and disappear at random. All sense of direction no longer bears any meaning. Horrors beyond imagining roam the shattered landscapes. There is no room for respite, no rest for the wicked. Hope is but a faded dream in this place of endless suffering, this hell, where Exdeath’s evil is law. The totality of his circumstances nearly pushes Gilgamesh over the edge and into despair; no matter how many monsters he cuts down, more always show up to replace them, and no amount of tireless exploration or optimism would bring him closer to finding a way back home.
It is only through the grace of serendipity that Gilgamesh eventually runs into none other than the Light Warriors themselves, who had bravely leapt into the Rift in pursuit of Exdeath. Mistaking them for another group of random enemies at first, he quickly realizes his error and promptly begs to be shown the way out. Wanting him gone as fast as possible, the group acquiesces and offers directions to the portal they had taken to get here, but before he leaves, Gilgamesh confesses a desire to accompany them on further adventures once they had finished saving the world first. He stops just short of asking the heroes to call him a friend before fleeing out of embarrassment.
Heeding the advice given to him, Gilgamesh had actually managed to trek his way to the aforementioned hole in space-time and prepared to put his troubles behind him once and for all. Once he was mere inches away from freedom, Gilgamesh suddenly does the unthinkable: he begins to question his choices.
Did he really deserve to go back home, after all the trouble he’d caused everyone? Why should he be allowed to walk away without answering for his wrongdoings? Sure, he would be thwarting Exdeath’s punishment, and it would certainly give him carte blanche to rebuild his life, but he couldn’t allow himself to feel the sense of accomplishment that normally comes with getting one over on your old boss or evading the long arm of justice. Like a bad case of indigestion, none of it sat right with him. Something about personal accountability, or, whatever; look, the point is, Gilgamesh just couldn’t go through with his plan, as this would mean leaving those children at the mercy of whatever abominable plot Exdeath had cooked up for them.
Unwilling to let his conscience or reputation be tarnished by the thought of turning a blind eye to the merciless slaughter of four teenagers with attitude—some might say his Fighter-Senses™ were tingling—Gilgamesh called upon every ounce of his integrity and courage as a warrior in order to charge back into the Rift, hoping to intercept them before they got attacked by something nasty, like a very specific kind of high-ranking demon with access to powerful magic that couldn’t be killed conventionally for reasons like having four minions that granted a convoluted invulnerability effect or tedious game mechanics.
Enter Necrophobe: strongest of the thirteen Demons of the Rift, the most powerful monsters under Exdeath’s command. Having cleverly disguised itself as a save point—whatever that means—the creature assails the four champions with a deadly onslaught of arcane destruction, boasting of its inability to be killed conventionally for reasons like having four minions that granted it a convoluted invulnerability effect and tedious game mechanics. It takes the combined strength of all four heroes to destroy the cluster of defensive satellites, but this merely provokes the wrath of the greater threat instead, leading to a vicious and desperate struggle that took everything the Light Warriors could muster to stave off the jaws of impending death.
Just when all hope seemed lost against this insurmountable foe, Gilgamesh triumphantly heaves himself into the fray at the last possible second, vocalizing his refusal to go down as history’s biggest jerk for leaving them all hanging in the lurch. Annoyed by his interruption, Necrophobe expresses that he will be the first to die for his willingness to fight, a threat which only inspires Gilgamesh to keep mocking the vile fiend.
As he squared off against Exdeath’s most powerful servant, withstanding the full might of Necrophobe’s strongest magic attacks, Gilgamesh called out to each of the Light Warriors individually, laying bare his true feelings for all to witness. He affirms to Krile that her grandfather, Galuf, was a true warrior possessed of authentic strength. He implores the pirate captain Faris Scherwiz to fall in love, or something, so that they may learn more about themselves. He admires the princess Lenna Tycoon’s compassion toward animals, hoping that she never loses her pure heart. And, finally, he confesses to the young Bartz Klauser that he was envious of the admirable company he kept, and that he had hoped to face him in battle one last time, mano-a-mano.
Infuriated by this loudmouthed warrior’s obstinate refusal to die, Necrophobe casts the most powerful spell it has knowledge of, yet even this does nothing to slow him down, let alone cease his momentum. With one final taunt, Gilgamesh throws himself at the demon before triggering a catastrophic explosion that appears to consume them both in a hellstorm of fire and fury. He was level 93.
For all intents and purposes, the fabled life of Gilgamesh should have ended here, as the Light Warriors would go on to thwart Exdeath’s plot and save the world from oblivion’s approach.
But while his self-destructive attack did bring about the intended effect of terminating Necrophobe, the resulting shockwave that followed had unexpectedly sent Gilgamesh hurtling across the Interdimensional Rift for an unknown length of time.
As he careened through the space between spaces, he caught glimpses of other dimensions, brushed against different planes of existence, touched realities that all seemed to share a single, universal truth: that the gallant story of Gilgamesh would be forever etched in stone across all axes of time and space, fated to transcend history and the world—a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold!
Spinning out of control without a means to navigate the Rift, vertigo sets in before Gilgamesh can savor the realization that he would be remembered forever as the greatest warrior to ever live.
Nausea shortly follows afterward.
Colors and shapes merge into a formless, blurry mess.
Then, everything goes black.
V. AUTHOR
PLAYER ALIAS:: Ensō OTHER CHARACTERS:: Not just yet. ROLE-PLAYING EXPERIENCE:: (laughs insecurely) HOW YOU FOUND US:: Every time I try to get out, they keep pullin' me back in... NOTES FOR CONSIDERATION:: The "Octo-Break" ability is derived and inspired by its appearance in Dissidia: Duodecim. It maintains the element of randomization to keep true to Gilgamesh's unpredictable whimsy with weapons. ROLE-PLAY SAMPLE::
