Fate's Way
Chapter 8 - A Certain Hill of Blades
A hill of swords…
It's a landscape he'd never seen before…
With a fiery sky stood above, and swords planted at my feet that stretches beyond the horizon…
The world is inorganic with no living organism, filled with only steel...
The swords stand like trees in a forest, ashen wind courses through them…
In this landscape, the number of swords wasn't just ten, a hundred or even a thousand,
No, it may as well be infinite as even beyond the horizon were even more swords...
All he could smell was the smell of steel and fire, it was as if the world he stood on was a forge...
Presumably from the scorching hot sun where lies the patches of scorched earth slowly expanding, as if the blood of the world courses of fire…
Near the horizon were gigantic floating cogs that were ever so slowly creeping closer to the hill he stood on…
As if a plague, the smog that was being brought alongside the gigantic cogs caused the swords they passed to become worn down and rusting, as if they were ageing at an accelerated pace…
The world he was standing on was as if a graveyard, and beyond the horizon warns the eventual fate of the hill he stood on.
And on the horizon, he glimpsed upon a different hill… A familiar white-haired figure stood on it all alone with his back turned to him…
"Harden your heart into Steel, then it wouldn't be as painful." With that, the world he stood on dissipates into flecks of light as the dream comes to a close…
Shirou stirs awake and wakes up in a familiar room.
"What. I'm in my own room?" He asked to no one in particular
As soon as he spoke, he started feeling sick.
"It tastes bad… in my mouth…" He tasted blood in his mouth and breaths in the thick air.
He felt really sick, his stomach particularly, and his body felt like burning as if coursing with fire.
He didn't know why he felt like this, but something must've happened.
Bearing the pain to himself, he stood up to go to the bathroom.
He felt dizzy and almost fell before he put a hand against the wall to support himself.
He felt nauseous, even more so when he tried to move… No, it felt more like pain than nausea.
His nerves in particular were hit with a wave of the pain of unknown cause, but it isn't something he'd never experienced before with his training in Magecraft.
His body felt scorching hot and burning, while his stomach felt like turning every time he moved, it was as if someone poured molten iron into his stomach.
Imagining it, he grimly says, "Ugh… Imagining that is giving me headaches." Actually, he was having a headache
'Harden your heart into Steel, then it wouldn't be as painful' The words originating from his dream flood into him
"That… Dream…" He couldn't remember who had said that due to his headache, but what do those words mean?
He shook his head, not understanding the words.
Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he wobbles out of his room.
It was slow but steady, he eventually arrived at his bathroom.
Turning on the sink he washed his face, and to his relief, he started feeling better.
Taking a closer look, he notices on the reflection from his mirror that his body was wrapped with bandages for some reason, and on a side note he instinctively felt it was made with projection magic, but he doesn't recall using his magecraft.
On the topic of Magecraft, he notices that although his nerves felt as if it was scorched in flame, it felt liberating, as if something inside him had awakened.
He felt a surplus of magical energy, more than he has ever had access to before and took notice of several Magic Circuits that he doesn't recall making in his body.
Maybe those circuits were related to why his entire body felt the need to rest, but regardless of the implications, he left them be for now.
"...I'm hungry. I wonder if there are any leftovers…" Even though his stomach feels terrible, it seems my body wants energy.
He groaned in pain and started to walk along the wall towards the kitchen.
Walking forward, he let out miserable sounds.
"Ow… Owww…." He still felt dizzy, and his body felt dull to the pain.
He grimaces at the thought of what he could've possibly done before going to bed to be in this miserable state.
He couldn't remember any training that could've caused this pain. The pain from his occasional creation of Magical Circuits should've mostly worn off after a while, and that's only in his spine.
Meanwhile, the pain he felt was concentrated on his stomach.
Maybe he did try making Magical Circuits, that would've explained why he had several additional circuits, but if that's the case what method did he use?
The new circuits felt different from the ones he usually makes, it felt as if it was always there and produced more magical energy than the ones he created normally.
He also felt as if something foreign was inside his body, but dismissed it as a side effect of whatever caused his pain.
He reaches the living room and the smell of cooking reaches his nose.
Sakura must've cooked for him, although Fuji-nee must be at school as there's none of Fuji-nee's loudness.
"Sakur-" He was about to finish before he was greeted with a foreign sight.
"Good morning. I'm afraid I came in without asking you, Emiya-kun." Tohsaka stops eating to face him
No, it was definitely not a good morning.
On the table was an extravagant array of dishes that he could vaguely recognise made from the ingredients in his refrigerator.
On one side was Tohsaka looking at him with her blue eyes, she was wearing the school uniform. On her hand was a set of chopsticks and a half-eaten rice bowl.
On the other side were his two classmates of foreign descent, Artoria and Guinevere, the latter also lowered her food to face him, meanwhile the former was still gouging into the meal ahead of her.
In the kitchen, he could see a man he manage to recognise as Saber wearing his apron while cooking another batch of food.
"Wha-" Three of his schoolmates were sitting on a cushion, the calmness of Tohsaka Rin makes him think that he was the guest of his own house, and that surprises him even more.
"Ah Shirou you're awake now, come eat Saber's food with us." Guinevere cheerfully offered
"..." He didn't know how to answer any of them, so first of all, he sat down.
Taking a deep breath, he asked.
"Why are…" He wanted to question why the four of them were at his house, but Tohsaka cut him off
"Hold on. Could you apologize first? I can't calm down until I hear an apology for last night." As if realizing the situation, Artoria pointedly gave him a cold look.
"Emiya, what you did last night wasn't necessary." She added
"-Hold on." Memories started pouring in with those words.
He recalled it now, although he was too relaxed knowing it.
He tried to save Artoria and… Berserker blew away his stomach
The nausea returned, he felt a chill at remembering the feeling of having a hole in his body.
He felt really sick, his body lost whatever appetite it had.
He felt sick, he felt heavy, he felt pain…
However, that is the definite proof he was in fact alive.
Wait… Shouldn't having the middle part of his body almost completely blown off spell him an instantaneous death?
"...That's strange. How the hell am I alive?" He murmurs
"Saber saved your life." The girl he saved told him
"You shouldn't have tried saving me, I admit that I would've been unable to completely nullify the blow however I had time to reinforce my body, as such would've had better chances surviving whatever wound Berserker might've inflicted-" Artoria mercilessly tore through him
"Arty! Don't be that harsh, he had good intentions in saving you." Her friend stops her from continuing
"But-But, you would've gotten serious wounds, it isn't wrong to save people! I wouldn't have been able to face myself if I had let someone in front of me die when I had the opportunity to save them." He protested
If he couldn't at least give his life up to save others, then how would he ever be a Hero of Justice when he couldn't even save a single life?
Artoria's expressions softened at his reply,
"Shirou, I understand you fundamentally want to save others, and I appreciate your efforts to save mine, however, you should consider the well-being of your own life." She softly said with an odd level of maturity, as if she was talking gently to an ignorant child
Now that he realizes it, the Artoria at school was different from the one he was talking to.
Although her blunt and decisive attitude carried on, she wasn't cold and emotionless, when concerning people she's acquainted with she acts more expressive, and in fact, he could vividly recall her expressions that were filled with numerous mixed emotions when he shoved her away.
"Now that you remember the stupid thing you did last night, please review your actions." Tohsaka let out a humph and criticizes him
"What are you saying? There was nothing else to do at that time! Oh…-" He started before pondering to himself
His plan was to move Artoria away from the point of contact and jump away himself.
He managed to do the first part, but he didn't take into account that Berserker could swing the gigantic rock-sword like paper.
"-... well, it does look stupid if you just look at the results, but I was going to do it better. So it wasn't a mistake." Shirou glares at her
She sighs, "Didn't I tell you that you're my apprentice?" Shirou tilted his head in confusion
"Look, I can't just have you save people only to die in the process while you're my apprentice. I would need to be a terrible teacher to have my apprentice die under my watch." Tohsaka glared at him
Thinking upon a retort he remembered something she had said earlier,
"But… Didn't you say that Servants will disappear if their Master is killed? If Artoria was killed, Saber would disappear alongside her, wouldn't it make more sense for you if I died in their stead?" Tohsaka's angered state was completely replaced with a surprised one
"We-Well, of-of course that's true, but…" She averted her gaze off him, her face beet red
"But?" His classmate Guinevere repeated with a questioning tone
"Nevermind! Let's finish eating first!" Tohsaka looks back to the table, but as soon as she does, she cringes as if she saw something bizarre
Shirou looked towards the table to check what she saw to make such an expression
The plates which were full of dishes just not long ago… Are now completely empty, devoid of any form of food, with only their rice bowls left untouched.
Artoria was gluttonously devouring the last few bites of food.
She took notice that they were all staring at her
Her eyes looked from right to left, person to person before settling down her gaze at him.
"What?" She asked with her mouth still full of food, chewing the last portion.
Shirou inwardly nods in awe, this was another side to his steel-faced classmate, her title "The Lion" does not just apply to that her ferocity with the blade rivals Fuji-nee, but her appetite was of an actual Lion as well.
Looking back at Tohsaka, he thought she was about to throw out a temper before her eyes brightened up.
He notices Saber had arrived to take away the empty plates, with precision, he swiftly collected the empty dishes and placed them on the counter, before bringing a freshly cooked batch of food.
While Saber was doing all of that, Shirou was oddly disturbed.
At first, it was nothing more than a passing thought, but the more he looks at Saber's face the more disturbed he becomes. It was as if he was looking at a mirror image of himself.
Yes, his face is more mature and toned due to his age, his skin is tanned, and his hair is white. But for a second there, he could see something… he could smell something…
What lies beyond his eyes was a hill of swords, the eyes of a machine reaching the end of its use.
He is the bearer of a world. The world smelled of a forge, with unlimited steel and the heat of a fire.
The hill of swords with a sun that never sets, being the only guide in the smog-filled world.
It's name was Ṳ̶̰̼̖̖͑͑̑̐̑̒̋̿̐̄n̴̢̞̘͕̻͉̝̺͎̣̱͍̰̫̰͚̦͈͍̏̋͋l̸͙̫̽̂͊̂̆̓̋̌̊͌̆̐̚̚͜͝i̴̡̙̩̰̮̦͎̥̙͗̎́ͅm̵̘͂̈͆i̴̛̭̗͓̼͕̲̫̝͖͉̹͖͔̒̇̈́̉̈́͆̐̆̌̒̓̿̉͠͠͝ͅť̷͎̟̮͚̱̟̘̥̈́̅̽͊̎̏̊̌̀̈́́͝ͅë̴̡̯̩̥̪͕̬́̃̚̕d̶̡̡̦̜̻͖͈̙̗͋̒̄̎̕ͅͅ ̶͔̰̘̊̅̏͂̌̒̌̂̊̄̀͐̊͘̕̚̚͝B̸̛͔̫̏̀̑̇͆̄͋̾̓̔̀̆͐́͋͝l̷̢̢̬͖̘̳̫̼̗̲̠̖̘̟̬͑̈́͑̏͊́́ͅä̴̠̲̭̱̩̰̪̺̰̓͂͑̓̈́́̇̈́͜ḍ̶͂́̓e̵̡̡̢̛̹̝̰̪͈̗͈̼̪͔̫̽̈́̾̀̾͗̇̾͠ ̷̜̘͈͐͂̈́̾̐̃̔̔́̍W̷̛̖̹͛̽͛͊̉o̷̡̗͔̦͒r̶̢̛̯̱̖̜̥̘̥͕̭͉̦̼͙͎̲̼̒̆̀̄͜k̵̛̘͕͍̭̉̽̀ŝ̸̥̞̹̫̫̳͓̮̻͕̤̅̀̑̀̑̌̕͝
A headache suddenly hits him, he couldn't comprehend the last part and his mind refuses to acknowledge it happening.
In an instant, all the pain that he tried his best to ignore suddenly came to him all at once. He squirmed in pain as a response.
"Emiya-kun?" "Shirou?" They all said at the same time out of concern
"Are you alright, Shirou-kun?" Guinevere concernedly asked
"Yeah, it just still hurts a little." He scratches his head
"Well obviously, you almost got killed for the second time, the pain won't be going away for a while," Tohsaka stated
For some reason, her attitude annoys him, but he doesn't bother with it.
"If it hurts, I could help feed you." Guinevere offered sincerely
"No, it's fine. I could eat without." And at that same moment, the surge of pain suddenly shock him, causing him to drop his chopstick.
"Mm, I think you do actually." Suddenly he found himself been fed by the energetic girl next to him
The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes how this seems to be oddly similar to a cliche setting up a romance-
His brain froze, he didn't know when he had the time to read enough stories to think like that, but he clung to his subconsciously made thought
And the next moment he cringes back in embarrassment and raises his hand to signal a stop.
"W-Wait, I appreciate it but I don't need any help-" Shirou's face heat up,
He cursed his luck for the worst possible timing the pain could have hit him.
His classmate's expression saddens presumably from being unable to help "Really?"
It triggered his guilty conscience to make someone upset just because he didn't want to be helped.
After a quick overview, he inwardly sighed. It couldn't hurt to accept it.
"If you want to, then I won't stop you." He finally expels those words out of his mouth
His classmate's expression took a 180 and brightened back up again as she started feeding him.
The embarrassment he was feeling was unimaginable, what kind of hell did he sign up for,
Meanwhile, while that's going on, Rin and Artoria watch as jealousy fester out of nowhere.
Rin being that she has a crush on Shirou, and Artoria feeling a baseless instinctual feeling that she was the one who was supposed to do that, but she banishes her thoughts as they were inappropriate.
Saber's cooking was as per usual, heavenly. The man even knows it himself as he gave a smug grin while standing in the corner.
Somewhere in the middle of the meal, he remembers something.
"Em… Artoria, Guinevere, why did both of you stay here?" He questioned as he was chewing
"Hm?" Artoria tilted her head letting him proceed
"You know… I understand why Tohsaka is staying here as she is going to teach me Magecraft, but what about both of you? Shouldn't you be back at your homes?" He bluntly asked
"That's because we were tired after last night so we decided to tag along and stay here for the night. Does that disturb you?" Surprisingly not surprisingly the person who's feeding him responded first
"Ah, no-no, it's just that I would've thought someone from your family would pick you up since I heard that both of your families were wealthy." He explained his thoughts
"Ah, that… My brother did try to pick us up, but I declined because I wanted to talk more with Rin and also go to sleep as early as possible." Artoria
"Although it took more effort than it's worth." She frowns
They continued breakfast silently.
Soon after they finished breakfast, Shirou approached the tanned swordsman who was washing the dishes.
"Let me help you with that." He took a plate and started washing next to the Servant
The Servant merely responds with a glance before turning back.
It annoyed him that Saber didn't bother responding, but he continued regardless
"Thank you for saving my life last night." He mustered all the gratefulness he has in him
"That's nothing to be thankful about. I merely helped you to boost my Master's own chances of winning." The Servant plainly says
"Even so, you still did help me, so I'm thankful for it." Shirou persisted in thanking the servant
Saber gave him a long look before proceeding
"If you want to thank me then make yourself useful, whether it is your Magecraft or your own combat ability, they're lacking." Saber pointed out the obvious
"Geez, thanks for telling me something I already know." He snarkily replied, Saber merely frowns at him
The two had a silent standoff as their eyes met each other while washing the dishes.
"Hmph." Saber averted his eyes seeing how pointless it was
"Then let me give you an advice harden your heart for the pain soon to come, this battle would not be an easy one, neither would the ideals you would pursue." Shirou almost jumped back in surprise
"How did you-" The Servant cuts him off
"It was obvious by the way you acted." Shirou glared daggers at the Servant
"What do you even know about me?" He raised his voice
"Obviously more than you think I know." Saber chuckles as if revelling in his moment of suffering, before his expression harden into a solemn one
"Remember this Emiya Shirou, you only possess one thing that you're ever going to be good at, so sharpen that lone talent to its utmost limit." He felt insulted at Saber's cryptic words but doesn't retort
After all, he wasn't wrong either, the only things he had ever been able to do was projection magic and reinforcement magic.
The sincerity of Saber's tone questioned whether he was just trying to provoke him or if he actually thought of that just based on his observations.
It annoyed Shirou to some extent that Saber seems to be able to do anything he could but significantly better, so it could just be that the Servant basing off his own personal experience and at which Shirou would be flattered, but still…
"I suppose you won't be generous enough to help me reach there, would you?" Saber scowled,
Shirou didn't know why but just by being close to Saber brings the worst out of him, they could still tolerate each other, yes, however they could easily push each other's buttons by just talking.
"Prepare for the worst days of your life if you do." Saber passively threatens him
"I expected as much." Shirou thoughtlessly spoke those words before something flew by his face
Following it, it stabbed deeply into the wall. It was a knife.
Turning back to the man beside him he saw several projected kitchen knives floating in mid-air aiming directly towards him.
"Then let's start right now." At that moment he knew he made a mistake, the man in front of him was completely serious and would skewer him
Within less than a blink of an eye, he dashed off barely avoiding the knives which Saber was firing half-heartedly.
The chaos inside the house reached the ears of the other inhabitants
"SABER! What are you doing?!" Saber's Master arrived at the scene
"Training him obviously, he had after all requested for my personal guidance," Saber responded dryly
"Okay?! But what does it have to do with throwing knives at Emiya?!" Artoria exasperatedly asked
"Obviously to teach him how to evade attacks, after all, if you can't evade you're simply a sheep waiting to be slaughtered." He made a very good point, and that frustrates her to no bounds
"I'm not even sure who provoked who at this point." Tohsaka suddenly appearing rubs her temples
"I assure you, I did no such thing." Saber shrugs it off
"Hey don't pin the blame on me." Shirou once more glared at the smug-looking Servant
"Alright Alright, settle down everyone." Guinevere enters the scene
"Tsk." Both of them Tsked at the same time
"Shirou brought up an interesting proposal, since both your and Saber's skill sets are similar, how about you learn a bit from Saber?" Tohsaka proposed with a devilish grin that sends chills down the spine of the subjects in question
"As long as Saber still cooks for me I'm fine with it." Saber looks towards his Master with one of betrayal as his Artoria gave him an unimpressed looked
"Then it's settled." Tohsaka brings the judgement hammer
"No, it's not!" The two reacted in a similar fashion, which humoured a certain blonde-haired girl.
It seems that even if the day didn't start in the "Noble" Household of Pendragon, it would always be as bizarre whether Artoria likes it or not.
Artoria was currently at school with Gwen, she's being far more anxious and cautious today after the result of yesterday's battle.
Sitting in class, she's barely paying attention to the board in front of her, thinking about the things her day could have possibly gone wrong.
Shirou stayed at home today due to possible health issues in the aftermath of yesterday's event, meanwhile, Rin is going out to investigate the 'gas leaks' which most likely was the aftermath of a battle between other Servants.
Saber as per the usual that she set just yesterday, was standing nearby concealing his presence with her blade. She inwardly coughed. Oh she's sorry, she meant a projected version of her blade, it turns out somehow both she, the apprentice of Nilrem and her Servant who was supposed to be a hero of legend, somehow let the fact that Saber could project practically any weapon slip out of their minds.
So the risk she put on herself without her trusty Mystic Code was very much unnecessary. She recalls the yelling at her servant.
"How did you even forget about your own ability?!" Artoria shrieked with her hands halfway extended to borrow Saber her Carnwennan.
"My apologies, it slipped out of my mind, Master." Saber doesn't dare to meet his Master's eyes
"How?! Should I worry that you might forget how to fight?!" To say she's exasperated was an understatement. Did her incomplete summoning cause her Servant to get memory loss easily or was her Servant just being an idiot?
Suddenly she felt a finger landed on her lips, the sudden object silenced her as she turned to look at its origin.
"Arty, please don't yell at others, it was an honest mistake." She was about to protest until she saw the expression Gwen was making
From an outsider, it may look to be an innocent wide smile, but her years with Gwen has earned her the ability to understand how much dark intentions are put into the smile.
It was a smile that only surfaces when her friend is absolutely at her limit and doesn't want to deal with anything anymore.
It seems she had been neglecting her friend's mental wellbeing, she was just exposed to the existence of magic, the fact that her friend was selected to participate in a battle royale to the death against heroes, and one of which she died to before Saber revived her, and then proceeded to watch her best friend nearly die to a mad warrior, to then witness a classmate who took her best friend's stead and got pretty much cut in half.
And all of it happened in the span of 2 days.
Now that Artoria recounted it all from Gwen's perspective of the events, it did sound far more stress-inducing than what she herself has been going through.
She whimpers. Looking down she deliberately avoided any eye contact and shudders in fear of what was to come if she pushes any more of her friend's buttons.
Artoria once more got chills down to her bones at the mere fact that she was almost going to be metaphorically murdered by her best friend. As although Gwen wasn't violent, her playful attitude and actions would turn something into something equivalent to torturing others.
For example, one of Gwen's favourite ways of playing with Artoria was to tickle her friend, due to being very effective in bringing reactions out of her friend. Now turn it twice as hard and ten times as long. At that point, Artoria could only beg as such a thing would be unbearable.
Artoria hummed as she continued her train of thoughts uninterrupted, save for the occasional times she was called up to answer a question.
She didn't have any plans for today if she were to be honest with herself.
She could try to investigate further about the mysterious servant in the school which she might do, however, there's a chance the servant wasn't even here, which would mean her efforts would be pointless.
She could also follow and assist Rin in investigating the gas leaks, which might end up being equally as pointless as it's unlikely any Servants would stay in the same spot twice.
The last option was to just wander around the city in hopes of finding something interesting, Gwen seems to still want to explore the city for all its worth, maybe this could be a way for her to make up for not being considerate of her.
Time went by fast without Artoria noticing and the school bell rings at the end of the day.
She went to ask Gwen what she had thought, even if only Artoria and Saber could do anything, Gwen should still give out her own opinion.
As Artoria predicted, the third option was sought after, and now here they were in the middle of the city walking around and exploring the giant maze.
They walked through shops after shops after shops, entered shopping centres- What was her obsession with shopping? She wonders how her friend had the energy to do all these things
Of course, she wasn't completely left out, she ransacked any food she could find and had burned through more money than she has ever earned. Meanwhile, Saber merely follows them silently, from the perspective of outsiders he may as well just be a bodyguard to the two wealthy blonde girls in front of him.
The world eventually reaches its twilight as the sun sets below the horizon, leaving a beautiful gradient in the sky above. Gwen was still going strong, pulling a reluctant Artoria to every place that could be conceivably called as eye-catching.
They walked through the urban area of the city filled with several skyscrapers. There's still quite a number of people around, though not as many as there used to be before the Great Fire and the seemingly random incidents which should've raised safety concerns.
With their final destination of the day being an ice skating rink, they paid to loan the boots… Now that they were here, Artoria had second thoughts on the matter...
"Why were we here again?" Artoria questioned unsurely
"Don't be silly, Arty! What else could we do here other than ice skating?" Artoria becomes even more confused
"But… I have never skated before?" Gwen pouted at her response
"If you haven't then this would be your first experience!" "What- W-Wait, Saber h-help!" Artoria squeaked when she was forcibly dragged into the most slippery place she had ever been in
Saber merely chuckles at his Master's helplessness at doing anything other than following along. What could he expect from someone who couldn't even swim to save her own life, though it made her all the more cuter.
It took all of her control over her body to not slip and fall, however, Gwen seems to be breezing through it like breathing in air.
"Cmon, I'll teach you, so don't be afraid!" Artoria gulps, even if it wasn't intentional, it was going to be hell nonetheless.
Artoria took off the skating boots, she was still internally debating if she should be upset or glad that it was finally over.
It was possibly one of the few moments in her life that she was scared of something so mundane, her inexperience with this method of entertainment makes it feel like she was walking to the abyss, however with Gwen with her at all times she had the most fun she had since the night before all of this began.
It reminds her that if she were truly trying to enjoy something with Gwen, it would always be the best moments in her life. However, those days seem to be an eternity ago since the day she met a certain blue-haired Irishman.
Gwen had been perfectly understanding of her the entire time and was willing to help her in any way she could. Artoria didn't know how she had deserved such a friend, but she won't be letting anyone steal her from her even if it costs her life.
"Artyy! C'mon don't make that face, I know you had lots of fun!" Gwen grabbed her cheeks and pulled them to make a smile
"Hey, stop that!" Her voice a little muffled
"Only after you smile!" Gwen cheekily answered
An awkward smile came with her cheeks still being pulled
"See! That wasn't so hard." Gwen finally releases Artoria's cheeks
Artoria gave a light scoff before returning the boots.
"Hm…" She hummed to herself as she took her 'revenge' and dragged her friend who was perfectly content in following
Walking back their way home, they visited a few more shops that happen to still be open at a time like this.
They reached upon a deserted park once more, the last place they were at before all hell broke loose into their lives.
Saber seemed to act a little more… Whatever it is she couldn't exactly tell, but her Servant was definitely acting a little off.
"Master, I sense a Servant." Saber finally and suddenly alerted them
"Where?" She asked before the man manifested
"Cur, the King's presence has always been over here." Within less than a blink of an eye, she leapt away and turned back…
"..." She couldn't respond, neither was Saber for his personal reason
"What? Have you lost your ability to respond? What a disappointment of a Hero." The man scoffs disapprovingly
The man posses golden hair which was standing up as if a blazing flame, with crimson blood-red eyes that gives him an unnatural presence.
Donning a golden plated armour with a mix of red with a design that was clearly of foreign origin, the golden man stood proudly, and upon his back was a pair of golden blades that were most likely twins.
"And you may be?" Somehow, Gwen had fearlessly asked,
Artoria didn't know whether her friend genuinely didn't know the situation at hand or she was simply as fearless as her action spoke.
The golden man laughed as if hearing the greatest joke in the world
"Foolish question, nothing would ever be granted so freely. However, as I am feeling generous today…"
"I am humanity's first and greatest King, the greatest of all Heroic Spirits in existence, King of Heroes Gilgamesh!" The man named Gilgamesh boldly proclaimed with pride and arrogance
She immediately viewed his status screen upon learning his identity
True Name: Gilgamesh
Parameters:
Strength: C
Endurance: C
Agility: B
Mana: A
Luck: B
NP: EX
Class Skills:
Independent Action: A
Magic Resistance: E
Personal Skills
Charisma: A
Divinity: B(A)
Golden Rule: A
Noble Phantasm:
Bab-ilu:Key of the King's Law To Enshrine Anti-Unit E~A
Enki:Sword of the End Anti-Planet EX
Saber kept an eye at the direction he sensed the Servant.
In which the next moment his effort was granted as the concealment was released. He had hoped with the indication of presence concealment that the Servant was an Assassin, however the moment he saw gold his hopes were immediately crushed.
'He wasn't supposed to interfere this early!' He inwardly exclaimed as the man had fully manifested
Red flags started triggering inside his head, the appearance of this one was different from the one he knew, the hairstyle was more or less a little messier than the Gilgamesh he knew, but that's just the minor things.
His entire armour was different in form, what used to be a European looking golden plated armour turned into one… More from the Middle East (Mesopotamian?)
The twin golden swords this Gilgamesh carries… He'd never seen him before, as such he did the only thing reasonable and cast Structural Analysis,
What came back to him was readings that couldn't be discerned, No… He was definitely able to discern it, just that the data readings were so incomplete that they can't even be used to project anything more than a mere hollow image.
It was an experience he faced when trying to analyse divine constructs, he needed more time to analyse, however most often than not, such time never lasted more than mere seconds.
The only divine construct he was theoretically capable of projecting to an extent was the sword of the one he had sought after for so long.
At the very least it wasn't on the level of Ea's strength that's for sure. However such thoughts didn't purge him of relief, as what little he managed to discern proved that the weapon behind the current Gilgamesh's backs was still peerless in terms of raw strength.
Enki, the Sword of The End was the crystallized form of the Surge of Utnapishtim, a giant flood that would wipe out all lifeforms on the planet, or in other words summon a tsunami that would destroy the entire world.
"Trace, On!" He whispers and starts projecting multitudes of weapons inside of his Reality Marble in preparation for the battle.
"Hm? Saber? No no no, girl you look familiar." 'Gilgamesh' looks towards his Master, eyeing her intensely
"What do you mean?" Artoria with her steel-faced facade asked, only to falter a little when the golden man stares at her even more intensely
He could feel his Master's discomfort from behind him, and as her Servant, he swore to protect her with everything he had, as such…
A pair of Chinese falchions manifested in the world as he gripped them tightly and fell into a combat stance.
"Oh? The faker had decided to stop fooling around? Rejoice that someone as unworthy as you shall be killed by the hands of the greatest hero." Gilgamesh gave a hearty laugh
Before ten portal manifests behind his back and fires off Noble Phantasms in great speed, signalling the start of the battle.
"Sword Barrel… Full Open!" He unleashes his own armoury in response
Author's Note:
After taking 30 minutes calculating, I have finally come to a conclusion that Day 6 in the visual novel is Sunday, which makes things a whole lot easier to match the days in this fic and the VN. Yes, it took 30 minutes, don't laugh at me, my brain just works really slow for some odd reason.
I replaced our Gilgamesh with his Proto version because I didn't want to follow the original plot entirely. So what better way to derail the plot completely by sending a Gilgamesh who's thirsty for battle and proving himself to be the number one hero-
The chapter is at 5900 words I believe, didn't bother checking.
You know? I very much initially planned to keep our normal Gilgamesh, however, I thought it over to myself and thought that just following the cannon plot would be too boring, and also that I would need some heavy plot armour for the pair of sword and sheath to win against the normal Gil.
So here we are, the first major divergence between canon plot and our fic's plot, yay! I haven't read Fate/Prototype if it even has a novel version, so bear with me if Gil Proto is acting OOC.
As I said before, I'm winging this when I'm writing this as I have no set plans other than the general direction of where I would go, but the items I previously mentioned as important are still indeed important, it's just that it makes a whole lot more sense in this scenario of Gil Proto being our Gil.
Although Seiba is still King Arthur… And I think Gil Proto would try to take over as the main male lead if possible-
I imagine when dealing with Iskandar's Ionioi Hetairoi he just used Enki to summon a tsunami and drown Iskandar's army of Servants.
In the wiki Gil Proto didn't have any written skills so I just copy-pasted Gil Original's skills on him, the same for the classification and rank of Bab-ilu, it was simply blank in the wiki, so I ripped off Gates of Babylon since they work in similar ways and had access to the same treasury.
For Enki, I made an assumption that it was Anti-Planet as it wasn't written in Gil Proto's wiki again. My reasoning behind it is that Ea is an Anti-World because it literally rips time and space by simply existing, maybe it's even a blackhole tbh. However, for Enki, it doesn't have any reality-bending effects, but instead, it literally summons enough water to turn Earth into an ocean world.
Rest assured Ea is still the strongest sword, even stronger than Excalibur Proto's full release probably. Excalibur Proto is the absolute pinnacle of what the planet could forge, however, how would it compare to Ea which lore-wise is a gateway to a black hole or something and has no limits to how powerful the blasts it could fire.
Even against planets, blackholes would win the clash no matter how large the planets were. Though the charging time it would need to actually succeed in blowing up entire planets would take quite a while.
Although it still couldn't get through Avalon, I suppose being a barrier in the sixth dimension would be pretty much god mode, although I wonder, if Avalon is created by the Fae, and Avalon is on the sixth dimension, does that mean the Fae also lives in the 6th dimension?
I also like to think that Genghis Khan is a Grand Rider since, after all, he conquered half of Eurasia with only horses back then. That's gotta say something to the validity of his qualifications as the pinnacle of all Rider servants. Though don't think he exists yet-
Here's where today's notes end, I've taken quite some time ranting here.