The Third Day - The King of Kings


On the night one month ago; a crusaders heart was removed after being tricked by a demon. Since a man allowed the demon to enter his heaven, all the other demons began to grow envious of this move and as a union, wished to enter this paradise as well. Using an open gate left by this man, they began to seek their entry. As more creatures moved into the world, the knight grew weaker; knowing that as soon as the earth was engulfed, they would be too.


"Welcome to Kenji News. We've just had some breaking news within the last few minutes with the possibility of a group of murderers are roaming the streets of Fuyuki and ambushing trespassers. We've also had reports that one of those murders occurred in the basement of Fuyuki High School. On top of this, each location pictured has been noted to give adverse side effects including nausea and dizziness. Police and officials are warning to keep away from such areas, and as a result many shops and places of work will be disrupted throughout the day. We'll keep you posted as-"

The brunette female with the newreading papers was interrupted as the screen of the television turned blank.

It was early morning and the bask of sun resumed its potent shine through the open windows of the living room. The girl in red, Rin Tohsaka, had reached for the television remote and turned it off. Zephyr hovered over her shoulder, as if she was some kind of Magical Girl with a weird pet. Rin seemed surprised at her approach. "Hey don't creep up behind me like that!"

"I apologise,"

"So Shirou is still in that room huh?" Rin asked.

Zephyr simply nodded. It was that response that made her feel now was the time to pay a visit. Before she had a chance to move, the phone in the corner of the room began to ring.

Briiiiiiiinnnngggg...

Briiiiiiiinnnngggg...

Briiiiiiiin-

"Hello?" Rin spoke into the plastic phone attached to a cord.

"Oh... Rin?" A modest voice spoke from the device. "It's Sakura... I was supposed to be phoning Shirou, did I get the number wrong somehow?"

"No... this is the right place."

It was then Sakura went silent for a moment. Rin seemed a little concerned for a few seconds but as she plucked up to speak out, her blood-sister replied "Could you please pass a message along to Shirou when he's there... that the school is closed today?"

"Oh alright then," Rin didn't seem too surprised. "Is there anything else you want to tell him?"

"Well... I can't come over today," Sakura had regret in her tone. "I'm so sorry, something came up and-"

"Don't you worry about a thing," Rin interrupted.

"O-okay then. I'll make it up to him tommorrow, I promise. I guess I'll be seeing you."

Rin firmly placed the phone down. She felt it was about time now to check on how Shirou was doing, since he hadn't moved from last night.


Zephyr had already beat Rin to the room further up the corridor; Shirou's room. The boy graced his eyes over the sleeping maiden, waiting for her to leave dormancy. He thought hard over the net of complexities that had occurred the nights before and wondered how he could confront them. For a moment, his mind dipped into a well of shadow. "I feel so useless."

"It was an inevitability." Zephyr spoke.

Shirou turned to face the cat creature. "You said she was supposed to resist the Hex and now because of you...!"

"Now, now." Rin scolded. "I don't think it's entirely Zephyr's fault."

"What are you talking about-" Shirou was stopped.

"That knights heart was already ripped out before I got here. She is fully capable of fighting all of this on her own if she so believes in it; but that was only because something already reached inside her body and triggered a spiral of Hex." Zephyr interrupted Shirou with her long winded babble. "It's a problematic situation. If she can't learn to take the increasing pressure of the Hex as it evolves each day, then this town nor the world surrounding it will survive."

"Survive...," An eyelash flickered as the blonde girl opened her eyes slowly and slowly sat up. "You're all here."

It was then she felt arms wrap around and tightly around her small body. "Saber!" Shirou exclaimed.

"Watch out, if you squeeze her too much she might pass out again," Rin joked before her expression soured into a somewhat jealous face.

Saber tried contemplate why so many surrounded her. It was then when she placed fingers from a single hand against her forehead and finally realised. "So that wasn't a dream."

"This is Edge's fault, not yours Saber," Shirou stood up.

It was then Saber opened her eyes wide in surprised. "Maverick Elderson!"

Shirou was confused by her sudden outburst. "Who's he?"

Saber turned her head to face up to the boy. "I encountered him in your school when I was looking for you. He said he was related to Edge. His brother."

Rin clenched her fist "That conniving bastard must have been the one who planted that seed!"

Zephyr nodded "Certainly seems like it. Whatever the case we need to plan our next move, and quickly. Unfortunately, we have no real leads where he is now. What I'd like to find out is where the first gate to Eden was ruptured."

"There's only one place." Shirou replied.

The place in his dreams. The scape of green that rises into a cliff, surrounded by the lick of the ocean and watched by a stone tower. "It's not far from here." Shirou explained.

Saber got up slowly, before Zephyr zoomed in close to her personal space. "What do you want now?"

"I would like to try something. But not here, outside if we're able to. We need a large open space without many people around... I think Shirou's estate should have a perfect garden. We'll all meet there later. But for now, relax for this morning."

None of them seemed convinced, especially Shirou of whom was the most protective. "Just what are you planning?"

"Just meet there later... I'll explain everything then."


Shirou spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen attempting to create a meal for everyone in the house. He felt it was his turn to do the work sinvce he found out from Rin that Sakura wasn't stopping over today. He chopped away at meat on a chopboard, before placing it in a frying pan and sighed. It was then he moved over to a draw and looked around, realizing he didn't have a wooden spoon. He pulled his shuffling hand from the drawer and shut his eyes. Within the black space of his mind, he visualized the object he was missing. "Trace On!"

His hand tightened as a solid object fell into his palm, and when he opened his eyes; the ladle from his mind appeared. A foreign hand placed itself upon his shoulder "Stop cheating."

Shirou turned and his brown eyes met with the emerald eyes of Saber. "Oh, I'm sorry," He apologized. It was then he noticed his servant seemed unusually mesmerized by his cooking arts.

"I forget that when someone's cooking you just can't help yourself can you?" he chuckled before resuming his work.

"I just like what you and Sakura do... that is really all there is to it. Do you perhaps need any help with this?" Saber seemed eager to help her master.

"You sure can," Shirou smiled.

It was then she smiled a little and searched the draw beside him. She searched adamantly for something and the clatter of metal made him concerned. "What are you looking for?"

Saber then pulled out a gigantic meat cleaver, that was somehow stowed away in the tiny cupboard. "We need something reliable to cut through anything that stands in our way." She held it up in the air like she did with the Excalibur. She seemed entirely serious, but from Shirou's angle, it looked somewhat ridiculous. "We don't need a knife that big, I've already got one out," Shirou pointed to the smaller knife he had just used on the meat.

Saber seemed disappointed and confused. "But Shirou, how can something that small be effective?"

She smashed down the giant knife repeatedly on the chopboard three times, before it finally gave in and split in two. "See, this is much more durable!" Shirou opened his eyes in shock and began to flail his arms as he watched his poor chop board become a victim of a guillotine. He grabbed both her wrists to prevent her from doing further damage.

After a while things began to settle down. Shirou assisted Saber with his arm, imparting his chef knowledge on what to do. "Thanks Shirou," Saber seemed embarrassed "My lack of talent seems to be doing more harm than good. I was never allowed to cook."

"I imagine all the chef's at you castle did the cooking for you right? It's fine, you've got to learn from somewhere," Shirou replied comfortingly.

"Shirou." Saber's voice darkened.

"What is it Saber?" Shirou addressed her quickly.

"We should do things like this together more often. Say tomorrow or later we-" Saber sounded morbid.

"It's not like the world will end. You have nothing to worry about Saber."

"It does not matter. She still thinks me as some monster. Do you think the same Shirou?"

"Zephyr..." Shirou trailed off a little, failing to fully respond to her question. Saber could see in his face that he was unsure how to answer.


After the meal, Shirou dusted his hands and left the dining room. It was then he saw Rin, one foot against the wooden panel wall, her arms crossed. "Shirou. I want a word with you,"

"What about?"

"It's a warning. Be careful. If you stop taking this situation so seriously by trying to play the act and forget what's going on, it's going to hurt you later. We need to go meet Zephyr outside now, I don't know what she's planning but the sooner it's over the better. I want to look forward to finally going home when things are safer around here."

"A-alright then," Shirou was unsure what she really meant. Wasn't it obvious that he was being as careful as he could? All he could do was keep moving forward as each day came, tackling the situation head on.


As the boy ventured outside, he saw Zephyr hovering in front of Saber at eye level. The cats ear perked as she heard the scuffling of Rin and Shirou's shoes.

"Ah, good to see you here finally. Stand at a good distance. I need space to cast my magic," Zephyr warned as she too fluttered backwards.

Everyone besides the cat were confused. "Excuse me... but what are we doing? Why do you need me in my armour like this?" Saber asked.

"I'm going to perform a small ritual. It will prove two things to me in doing so. The first, is that it will help us find out if the tower Shirou mentioned really is the location of this problem. Secondly, it will prove to me if you are a Drakon. Are you ready?" Zephyr asked.

"Are there any side effects to this spell?" Rin asked intelligently.

"Well, it is testing Saber's endurance, that's for sure. I'll be exposing her to extremely high quantity of Hex at a singular pressure-point, forcing out the drakonic evolution. It's a kind of controlled transformation if you will. However, if she is truly incapable of handling it, she's just turn into a Terraform we'll have to slay."

Shirou's face changed to one of anger. "You've got to be kidding me! I can't let you do that to her! I won't let you!"

"Quiet. She has a point to this. If we keep going on like this then your Servant most definitely won't make it. You're an incompetent Master," Rin scowled.

It was then Saber stepped backwards. He sword was in her hand, but she planted it in the ground and left her hands free. "I'll do it." By now the knight was tired of all this pain in her body and the hollowness of her heart.

Zephyr clasped her paws together and charged a purple sphere between them. She pulled the sphere apart as she pulled away both her limbs. "Even knowing you could become something that could kill Shirou right here and now, along with the rest of the city?"

Saber shook her head. "I won't let that happen."

Shirou began to sweat in fear. He could only imagine a fraction of what Saber was going through. Was this cat truly sane? Was this even a good idea? He completely disagreed. But as long as Saber agreed; there was nothing he could do.

Rin just watched silently, observing Zephyr's technique. "You're a mage Rin. Watch closely and I can pass this spell onto you!" Zephyr homed in closer with her two glowing paws and reached close; stretching them out until they hovered over both points of her shoulders. It was then a gate erupted from below her plated boots.

I call upon the brimstone of under,

I call upon the wish of night,

Summon the gate o'er purgatory,

Lend me your might!

Zephyr's paws then came in contact with the points her paws had hovered over, blasting a bolt of purple. "This spell... reaches into the very depths of hell itself..." Zephyr communicated telepathically through the air. Saber reacted immediately, trying to put her hand to her chest, but unable to because of Zephyr being directly in front of her face. "Hex is the equivalent of Hell. That is why they call us Hex Conjurers..."

"That is why the very fabric of our species is forbidden in every land.

We seek only to do good...

but the people always feared us."

Shirou and Rin seemed disturbed. Both they and Saber now began to wonder what this creature was truly trying to achieve. The knight was now quite clearly suffering, as if acid was burning her inside out. "Shirou... I-" Saber could feel the darkness well up in her very being so quickly. The chattering of demons raced through her skull rapidly, faster and faster. This was nothing like what she had experienced one month ago... it was worse than any dream.

"Shirou... give her some support, she could break at any second!" Zephyr warned. While the cat didn't panic, she would be the first to die if the boy's Servant went insane.

It was already clear enough to see. Saber's eyes glowed more furiously than the night before. Her fists were tightened together like silver clamps.

"Saber, you can do it!" Shirou cried. He didn't know what else to do besides listen to the cat.

"Shirou... I can still hear him," Saber growled as she focused on his voice, rather than the voices nipping away inside. It was at that moment, it was as if Zephyr had shot a bolt through her body right to the other side; as the two points her paws rested on ejected two red bladed matters from her back. They folded over twice, the talon ends were blood red, with lavender bones and leering jewels for eyes like heads.

Rin was surprised. "What the heck are those?"

Shirou had seen them before. "I think they're supposed to be wings."

"Are you joking!?"

"Shirou is right." It was then Zephyr pulled her paws from Saber's body and stood back. The gate below her shoes faded.

Saber's mind cleared a little as Zephyr stood away. She was surprised to find herself still standing as she looked around at everyone. Besides feeling a little fatigued she felt mostly the same. "I don't feel any-" It was then she saw a shadow over her head like a washing line. As she looked up, she saw two familiar objects; two slunked bloodied talon wings look down upon her. Saber seemed a little shocked. "These are!-"

"They are Drakon wings. Those who prove they are a Drakon are able to display their wings, but as for you, I had to force them."

"They look freaking scary," Rin rubbed her eyes. She knew she had seen Saber nearly lose it the night before, but this was something else. She felt intimidated, if not daunted by them. They didn't match her honorable visage in the slightest and looked ready for a brutal killing.

"Now what do we do?" Shirou asked. "We can't go around town with her like that... it's way too realistic for cosplay. We won't be able to get to the tower without being noticed." Shirou complained.

"I never planned for us to walk there." Zephyr looked over at Saber. "Your wings should be strong enough to fly both Rin and Shirou to that same place."

Saber pointed to the sky with a distraught face. "I can't fly!"

"Weren't you able to before Saber?" Shirou asked.

"How much have you not been telling me from last month?" Rin simply shook her head and shrugged.

Saber crossed her arms in defiance. "I'll give it one try. But I'm telling you, it is impossible."

Saber held out both of her hands awaiting Rin to grab one, and Shirou for the other. "This feels so stupid," Rin complained furiously. She felt awkward holding onto a girls hand.

"I'll just use my own wings to follow you there,"

It was then the wing talons seemed to sweep at Saber's instinct; buffeting the ground with the wind trapped between the white skin holding them together. It was then, Saber let off a burst of mana, allowing her armour to vanish in favor of keeping her weight down. Shirou and Rin soon found their feet being well and truly lifted from the ground.

"Holy cripes!" Rin exclaimed. "How the heck did you learn to fast!"

"Intuition I guess," Shirou replied.

They soon found themselves completely lifted into the air, despite dangling. Shirou's face turned pale from the amazing height. "I think I'm gonna barf..." Shirou complained.

"Don't do it here!" Rin moaned.

"Please do Shirou, it'll make you lighter." Saber worded in a serious tone.

"You wouldn't do that to me, would you Saber!?" Shirou seemed worried.

From the distance they soared, they could quite easily see the tower ahead. Purple lights emitted from its base. Saber closed her eyes mid flight and observed. The tower still stood out brightly despite being engulfed in blackness from her eyelids. "There is most definitely something going on over there."

Zephyr simply nodded in agreement.

As they finally reached the grass fields, Saber attempted to slow and descend. As she reached near the ground, the wings went limp like broken bones and shattered into pieces like ceramic. Rin, Saber and Shirou all hit the ground with a thump. Shirou was unfortunately at the bottom of the pile, being crushed by the weight of the two women on top of him.

"Of course" Zephyr worded "The transformation doesn't last forever,"

As Shirou was finally released from his downed position he shouted furiously "We could have fallen an died you idiot!"

"If I had told you, would you have gone in the first place? Anyway, your Servant still needs to learn when her power is just about to release and act properly to it."

The tower ahead of them loomed. It reeked of poison as the fleshy hex substance had crawled its way up the tower. "This is the place where Saber was held one month ago," Shirou revealed. It was then they saw the figure of a man step out from within the building, causing Saber to summon her sword.

The man's slicked back brown hair waved slightly in the wind. "Ahh... he spoke. I can already feel this delightful world evolving..."

"Maverick!" Saber exclaimed.

"That's the guy?" Shirou shocked. The man did look similar to Edge, save for the face he had no glasses, and wore a brown fluffy coat. The knight raced toward the man, but was blocked as a sword dropped from the sky. She looked up to see another figure above her, a knight like herself, but entrenched in gold. The man jumped down to face Saber. Shirou and Rin couldn't believe what they saw.

The gold knight stood, grinning like a Cheshire cat. His huge pauldrons on his shoulders spoke for his ego, looking down towards the party as if they were his lessers. "Approach me with some respect," The man intimidatingly worded.

He jumped down and stood besides Maverick as if he seeked to protect him. Saber defiantly took a step forward and Shirou lay still in surprise. "Gilgamesh!"

"Have you forgotten your place, mongrels?" Gilgamesh folded his arms and stared them down "I am the first king of all, the King of Kings. Know your place!" He thrust his left arm outwards as it reached out for a portal that seemed to crack open at his command, and pulled a hilt that poked out from it. Without effort, he had a sword of a strange, gold design in his hands.

Zephyr fluttered unphased at the man's attempt to dominate them with words alone. "You're all talk," Besides the cat, it seemed all including Rin were familiar with this man. "I wouldn't underestimate him. His words are as solid as his fighting capability,"

"Why this man? Why protect and defend his values with your own life?" Saber cried, holding her Excalibur fully revealed in front of her face.

Gilgamesh laughed "He just interests me, that's all,"

"Even if it causes the world to fall into a well of despair? This grassland alone is engulfed in that corruption!" Zephyr scolded as the walls of the tower dripped in the hex of the Seed embedded in the wall in front of them.

"It's no different from the Holy Grail. It's just a wish granter, you could say," Gilgamesh chuckled. "After all, I can use it to squeeze a proposal out of you!" His finger pointed towards Saber causing Shirou to get defensive. "You leave her be!" The boy summoned an arrow between his fingers and shot an arrow of light. The blonde man just laughed and swatted the bolt with his blade, causing it to hit a random point of the grass aside him. "I always get what I want. If you don't like it, you can greet me and my base of my foot." It was then his free hand reached for something. Another hilt blade appeared in the air and he pulled out another sword, dissimilar to last.

Rin prepared to fire bolts at the bastard but Shirou stopped her. "What are you doing!? We've got to deal with him!"

Saber leapt forward first, striking Gilgamesh sword to sword. "You're more dangerous than ever," Gilgamesh smiled at her ferocity. "But... you're still not good enough!" He used his other sword to sweep the girl away, slicing part of her corset, drawing blood.

"Stand down Shirou!" Saber shouted back. "This is personal."

"Ahahahaha I like this!" Gilgamesh laughed.

Saber rushed forward again, her sword fully raised and clashed again. "I'll defeat you again Gilgamesh!"

The gold knight pushed his sword and her own upwards with his strength before letting go; connecting his foot with her chest, sending her flying once again. "You're forgetting who I am, foolish girl," Gilgamesh laughed as several red portals opened behind him. "I'm the king of all kings!" The swords within this treasury of gates suddenly flew; aiming towards the party. Rin shot one with a black sphere, but it wasn't enough.

"Trace On!" Shirou stood up in front of a vulnerable Saber and began deflecting the swords that came at them, causing them to fly in different directions as they clashed against his fake sword. "You leave her alone!"

"You speak as if she's your property or something," Gilgamesh sneered "Only the master claims the trophies from the hunt, not the dog. Learn your place." It was then the gold knight snapped his fingers and Shirou was forced to cease. For some reason, his body wouldn't move, but as he looked down, he could see blood dripping from his white shirt. There was a hole in his chest.

Before he could react, he dropped to the floor. It was then Rin rushed over to his body "Shirou you idiot! Zephyr! Can you heal him?" She asked pleadingly.

"I'm afraid not. My magic only works at removing poison with poison. If I did anything it would only hasten his death."

Saber, still on the floor from Gilgamesh's swift kick and wound, looked upon Shirou in shock; her irises lessened. "Shirou! I told you to stand down!"

Shirou wasn't moving. He didn't respond to her call. It was then she looked back to Gilgamesh with hate. "How could you!"

"When a dog dies at the end of the day it is still a dog." Gilgamesh proclaimed. "He would have died sooner or later to the Hex anyway." Despite this, the man continued to laugh as if nothing had occurred.

Saber shut her eyes, visualising the purple aura around him and Maverick. It was then the purple lights changed a vibrant, burning red and she opened her eyes revealing burning emerald eyes. "I'll destroy you!"

Gilgamesh was somewhat disturbed by her dialect and her eyes. But his face changed back to a smile, and once again the portals behind him lit up with a red fire as swords emerged through. "I'd like to see you try!"

The king of knights rushed forward a third time, but this time differently. Shirou can't have died, could he? These thoughts began to ebb her mind away. The gold knight fired his treasury, but she kept on running. She leapt and screamed, nearly slicing Gilgamesh's head clean off with her sword.

Rin continued to tend to Shirou's lifeless body as the two ahead clashed. "What is she doing?"

Zephyr looked upwards at Gilgamesh and Saber fighting, the latter of which was nearly overwhelming him. "This could be bad... she really likes this boy."

Gilgamesh tried to retaliate this time in attempt to push her away with his second sword in hand, but was stopped as another weapon clashed against it. As he looked to see, a single bloodied talon hung over, preventing his blade advancing further. "Just what the hell are you...?" He asked.

Saber didn't respond. She was intent on killing him and being done with it. Her gauntlets tightened once again into blades claws, with sharp, blood lined daggers erecting from her arms.

The man's face smiled again before he finally clashed her away, not before Saber's talon shredded part of Gilgamesh's red lower garments. "It's about time I fought seriously!"

From his Gates of Babylon, Gilgamesh pulled a very different weapon from his treasury. It was not a sword, nor a lance, but it's appearance was some what in between. Its handle was the same metallic shade as his armour, with a long black lance tip decorated in glowing red lines.

"Meet Ea!" Gilgamesh swung the weapon to his side and it sparked bolts of red lightning, burning the grass.

Saber roared again, planting her hands and feet to the ground and raising the wing talons high. The jewels on the 'eyes' of the talon heads glowed menacingly as a red sphere formed between them. Gilgamesh raised his Ea as it was engulfed in it's own red light.

It was then, Maverick finally smiled. "Yes! Continue to fight!"

Both red lights shot towards each other and clashed, causing a massive explosion. Rin and Zephyr clung to Shirou's body as they were blown backwards. It was then Shirou began to move again. "You should be dead!" The cat exclaimed.

They noticed the hole in his body had already closed, at impossible odds. Before Shirou could ask what was going on, Rin cried out to him. "Shirou you've gotta stop her from fighting!"

It was then Shirou sat up and saw his former knight. She embellished silver claws and blades, her wings were fully spread, her face beginning to corrupt with a lavender skull.

It was then the boy stood up and began to call out. "Stop this at once!" Shirou commanded.

Saber immediately ceased. "Shirou- You're alive..." As she looked back slowly, she stopped and fell over as a beam of red light raced past, severing her arm.

"Saber!" Shirou cried.

It was then Gilgamesh walked up to her and grabbed her lifeless body by the collar.. "Why would I want an animal as my wife? I feel ashamed to think the thought."

It was then he flung his arm, and tossed her off the cape into the ocean below. He seemed unimpressed. "Look, I'm tired of dealing with you. You should just go home."

Gilgamesh walked into the tower first, followed by Maverick. Shirou was angered, but had no time to react. He ran to the cliffside and looked down to the spiked tomb of rocks and the splash of ocean below. His knees gave way in hopelessness as Zephyr and Rin followed.

"Shirou! There's nothing you can do to save her! We should just go!"