Fate's Way
Chapter 9 - The Golden King
"Sword Barrel… Full Open!" Numerous blades manifested out of thin air and fired to meet the opposing force
The two sides clashed fiercely...
A False Hero against the First Hero...
Imitations against the Originals…
However, even so, weapons from both sides broke the same when clashing with each other
Fragments fell out of the sky, and the shrapnels blew in all directions grazing the surrounding forest
Brandishing his twin blades, Saber went on the offensive and rushed towards the King to engage in close quarters
Under the rain of weapons from a boundless treasury, Saber slipped past the initial defence and approached the King with a frightening pace
Saber knew that Gilgamesh can't utilize his weapons effectively due to him not bothering to learn how to use any of them, however in this case…
Gilgamesh pulled his twin golden blades from his back and stood invitingly towards the Servant of the Sword.
Yeah… Just looking at the Golden King using his ultimate armaments indiscriminately seems to scream into Saber's mind that the man could actually utilize them.
His body crackled in magical energy as he combined [Mana Burst] and leapt towards the golden king attempting to catch the man by surprise.
Gilgamesh however foresaw the situation coming, likely from a Noble Phantasm he possesses that grants him something akin to future sight and moved beforehand to intercept Saber.
Bringing down his blades, a clang was heard from the clash of steel as sparks flew.
Saber's Ying-Yang like shortswords were caught by the golden twin blades and were successfully stopped even with the combined might of Mana Burst.
Weapons shot out of the portals point-blank like a machine gun as Saber rectified his mistakes and leapt back while repelling the Noble Phantasms mid-air, sacrificing his footing.
Gilgamesh had a wide grin on his face and took advantage of the precarious position Saber was in,
He moved alongside the winds and flew directly to Saber's predicted landing spot, crossing the distance in mere moments
Such an act caught Saber off guard as the Gilgamesh he knew wouldn't have bothered to take the initiative.
However, with this, he discarded any thoughts of using his previous knowledge of Gilgamesh and quickly adapted to his new opponent.
Saber threw Kanshou and Bakuya towards his opponent, aiming to distract the man.
"Burst!" Detonating the blades, the act succeeded as he caught the King off guard
The man moved his weapons to shield himself from the remnants of the Noble Phantasm.
Like a tiger about to pounce on its prey, Saber landed right in front of the still disoriented King
Without wasting any time he mustered a punch and threw it directly to the golden king's unprotected chest.
The blow caused the golden man to spit out blood, the strength of the Servant sent the man crashing through the trees
Readying himself to end it quickly, Saber chanted the first line of his Aria.
"I am the bone of my sword." A foreign reality was imposed on the surrounding area with it, anyone near the battleground would feel it was as if the air around them shook.
Alongside projecting his bow, he projected another favourite out of his arsenal of Noble Phantasms.
"My core is twisted in madness," The power of those words would send chills down the spine of the observers.
He drew the sword back to his bow while transforming it into an arrow. It was an armament he obtained from his travels, the Rainbow Sword Caladbolg.
The weapon of Fergus mac Róich, in its original form it was a great sword with a spiral shape, it looked more like an oversized lance than a blade if he were to be honest, it was inefficient for him to use due to its size and blunt nature besides the tip, however, its strength as a Noble Phantasm was indeed undeniable.
It was a prototype to many weapons, possibly even Excalibur itself, however due to numerous problems not only that it was hard to utilize as an actual sword, and neither could it be used from range, Saber was initially stuck on how to use it, then a stroke of genius came to him,
By modifying it using Reinforcement he had shrunk it down to a size where it could be then utilized in forms more efficient to his fighting style like transforming it into an arrow,
And by a stroke of luck, utilizing it as a projectile also brought out a positive side effect of creating a twisting distortion in space, effectively allowing it to penetrate any objects and the bane of any magical defences.
Overcharging it with magical energy, he transformed it into a Broken Phantasm, an A rank one at that.
"Caladbolg!" The Fake Spiral sword was released upon the world and raced towards the Golden King like a crazed demon out for his blood.
The Golden King had once more foresaw it coming and had already unleashed a hail of Noble Phantasms to intercept the flying demon racing towards him.
The barrage of Noble Phantasms was mowed down by the strength of the Broken Phantasm, however, they fulfilled their intended goal and destroyed the incoming projectile.
Before it could reach the Golden King, the spiral arrow detonated prematurely under the rain of Noble Phantasms, although many of his treasures were lost against that single projectile, his life was no longer threatened.
"Impressive Faker, to think you'd have such a toy in your arsenal, however, such a meagre projectile would merely delay your death." The Golden King took his opponent more seriously now
"Huh, I would've expected that you would be more angered with the loss of your treasures." Saber commented wryly
"Bah, while I do not deny that such losses are unacceptable, an exception is made in this battle between Heroes, something no treasure could ever grant." The golden man laughed in joy
Saber started sweating buckets, 'Did Cu's thirst for battle leak to this guy?'
While he understood he no longer was fighting the same Gilgamesh it still surprises him whenever the golden king acted outside of his expectations.
The Golden King ended his overextended period of laughter and sharpened his expression, the battle truly starts now.
Without sparing a second, using the Gates of Babylon equivalent he fires his treasures like a machine gun would firing bullets
Saber this time simply traced Kanshou and Bakuya, the mana cost to counter Gilgamesh is not worth it and the speed the projectiles were travelling at is too fast for his comfort.
Something that made him confident about fighting against an assault of Noble Phantasms was that once fired Gilgamesh couldn't change the direction it was going in, and as such, the most efficient way to deal with it was to evade and parry.
The hailstorm of blades rained upon the swordsman as the man prepared.
Saber moved aside, avoiding the first barrage of blades that ended up cutting down the trees behind him.
Sidestepping in between the flying projectiles with immense precision and evaded with minimal effort and absolute efficiency.
A single mistake in his movement would've spelt his end, however his combat instincts were sharp to pick up on the flaws of his stance to rectify any.
For those he can't avoid he would swiftly bring up his twin blades to parry them, blocking is not an option against the hail of projectiles.
As he started moving closer it was getting harder and harder to avoid, therefore parrying took a more active role.
The blades sparks upon contact and each of the projectiles would be deflected, however, his blade being one of inferior quality would be rapidly dismantled due to the strain it was put against the onslaught of blades.
Although he didn't need to worry, as for each time his weapon breaks he would merely project a new pair, replacing the old pair.
Slowly but steadily, progress was made, for each step forward he took the closer he was to victory.
However, before any of that happens, a sudden chill runs down his spine as his decades' forged combat instinct warns him of an abrupt attack.
Without even hesitating he broke off the assault and retreated away.
And in the place where he had stood just moments ago was whirlwinds of swift yet silent cuts made by the Golden King.
He wasn't able to detect it till the last moment due to the onslaught of blades blocking his sight of the golden man and deflecting the blades made it impossible to detect such a silent movement.
"Tch." The golden man clicked his tongue in disappointment, but Saber didn't care for such a thing as he dashed to close distance to Golden Man.
The Golden King this time decided to meet his attacks to a head-on battle.
As the two warriors clashed their blades, they were stuck in a tight spot.
For their parameters are identical, their skill in the blade and their weapons themselves would decide the battle.
Both parties ferociously battled as the steel meets steel, even with reinforcement most humans would fail to perceive beyond fast-moving blurs.
The shockwaves generated from the clashes between the two pairs of blades could be subtly felt.
Saber made a swift cut towards the opponent's legs, yet Gilgamesh went to parry the blade and raised his golden sword.
When the white shortsword met the golden longsword, Bakuya broke in the resulting clash with the ultimate weapon, the strain being too much for it to handle.
Saber retreated back while throwing his other blade Kanshou towards the golden king, feigning an act of desperation.
Gilgamesh simply flickers the portal and fires at the incoming blade and annihilating it in less than a blink of an eye.
They were at an impasse, for both warriors are skilled in their weapons, and while one possesses a pair of nigh high unbreakable blades, the other possesses the ability to reproduce his blades.
Saber projected another pair of the Chinese falchions, this time readying to unleash one of his most effective techniques in subjugating opponents of a higher calibre.
"Trace… On!" He projected many blades, directly copied from Gilgamesh's treasury and fired them to distract the machine gun like portals.
"Spirit and Technique, Flawless and Firm." A flawless technique invigorated by the strength of his firm spirit.
Throwing the first pair of blades towards the Golden King, it was easily parried.
"Our strength rips the Mountains." The strength of a hero shall break the opponent's defences.
In the same time span, he projected another pair of blades and dashes towards the Golden King.
[Mana Burst]
His body crackles in strength once more
"Our sword splits the Water." The swords shall cleave the opponent's frame.
Saber brought upon the man the two of his blades, forcing the king to sloppily block using his long swords.
Suddenly the Golden Knight's expression flickers into one of desperation, it seems the jig was up.
However in his awkward position, and his blade being moved due to the Mana Burst boosted blades forcing him in place, he was unable to intercept the threat in time.
"Our names reach the Imperial Villa." Our name shall be heard by those above
The first pair of blades which were deflected initially came back like a boomerang and stabbed the golden king's unprotected back.
Gilgamesh made a gurgling sound as he fired down his treasury upon the swordsman.
Retreating a bit he narrowly avoided being skewered by them, Saber projected the third pair of blades
"Overedge!" The two shortswords transformed into ugly longswords as if wings had sprouted.
"The two of us cannot hold the hea-" Right when Saber was about to finish his technique, the golden man suddenly sprung up as if a foreign force was strengthening him.
His instincts warned him as Gilgamesh swung Enki against the two Broken Phantasms at the theoretical speed limit, something even heroes would find nearly impossible to actually pull off and utilize in combat.
Saber's pair of blades didn't stand a chance and was obliterated in that instant, Saber found it astonishing that someone like Gilgamesh could pull such a stunt, and by a hair's breadth avoided being cut alongside his blades.
However it left him in a bad position, with this split-second opportunity, the Golden King sent his revenge in the form of a cross slash towards the vulnerable opponent.
Saber Mind's Eye had already deduced a way to escape his predicament had attempted to retreat back.
However… multiple chains sprung forth from the treasury of Uruk and bound him in place, cutting all opportunities to escape entirely.
The Sword of the End ripped the Servant of the Sword's torso and caused the man to cough out a mouthful of blood as he pitifully struggles against the bindings.
The Golden King simply stood there with his mouth still bloody and laughed out in victory.
"You had offered a great deal of entertainment to me, Faker. I commend you for struggling this much against I, the greatest of all heroes." The man laughed out once more as Saber tries to figure out a way to escape.
"So I shall give you an option. Relinquish your Master to me and I shall let you live to fight another day." The golden man arrogantly offered
Saber's face scrounge up in resentment, meanwhile, his nearby Master who just caught up overheard the King's words and sent a glare of suspicion towards the man in gold.
"What do you intend to do with me/her?!" Both Saber and Artoria coldly asked the man in gold, while Artoria unsheathes her golden sword and prepares to fight the man at any moment.
"For the moment I shall merely observe your actions, if I see fit then I shall reward you by offering you to become my wife!" Gilgamesh callously proclaims
Saber's mind was circulating his old memories of this exact occurrence, Gilgamesh was still Gilgamesh even if his manners were better. His thoughts wander to an image…
One of his Saber laying down defeated right next to him, her body torn up to the point he wasn't sure if she was alive at the time after she clashed with the Golden King's ultimate weapon.
He recalls the king's crazed laugh that carried over the burning air to the heavens, insulting his Servant. The image was stuck to the back of his mind, even if he so desperately wanted to take it off, it carried on to haunt him in his worst days.
What's to say that this Gilgamesh wouldn't be the same? Discarding his "Treasures" the moment they lost their shine? Such a thing brought anger to him, but he didn't have the time nor freedom to project or utilize his armaments to escape.
That is because the unfamiliar chains were revealed to be a borderline Divine Construct, a Noble Phantasm with the concept of binding the gods, while there is a chance to pry it off him due to it being less effective to those without divinity, the man before him would surely skewer him before anything.
So that's why… If he must, he will reveal his trump card and exploit the Golden King's arrogance and take him by surprise…
Artoria cringed back in disgust, it's not just her personal feelings, but also her common sense…
'Is he a paedophile?' Even if that common sense is really not useful right now…
The man who shows up out of nowhere, fought her Servant and defeated him, then asked the master of the defeated servant which mind you was her, to ask her to become his wife? How does he expect her to actually accept that offer?
'This man's arrogance truly holds no bounds.' She inwardly thought, but she composes herself for a response
"I am afraid I cannot do such a thing, and for many reasons at that." Artoria sugar-coated her words as even she knew that provoking the man before her wouldn't be wise
"Kuhahahahahahhahahahaha!" Gilgamesh laughed madly once more and placed his hands on his face as if covering how much amusement he had obtained
"Oh, foolish King of Knights. It seems even after your death you continue to refuse my offer at any opportune you had without considering." The man named Gilgamesh spoke out in annoyance
"King of Knights? What are you even trying to say?" This time Artoria was completely lost in what the golden man was talking about
"If you hadn't discovered it yet, then someone such as I wouldn't be bothered to remind you, besides… Your fate is completely at the mercy of your Servant's decision." The arrogant man turned back to face the white-haired warrior
"Make up your mind, Saber. Or else I shall just slay you here and take your Master with me." Noble Phantasms prepared to exit the portals as they trained on the bound Servant
A moment of silence passed before he suddenly spoke up.
"I am the bone of my sword." Artoria heard her Servant spoke that mysterious line once more
The golden clad man laughed crazily once more.
"Did your hearing fail, or do you have that much confidence in your parlour trick? If it was the latter, then I shall let you proceed and crush it with my might." Gilgamesh arrogantly stood there and waited
'Sorry Master, do your best to escape, I shall delay him as much as I can.' Even when communicating through their pact, his grim tone was obvious to her
'What are you even sayi-' She could feel her Servant cutting off the communication line before she could finish her sentence
"Unknown to Death, Nor known to Life." The firmness of his tone reflects on his faith towards those words.
Large amounts of magical energy gathered around Saber, as she could feel the air, the world around her started shifting.
It's now or never, she could either stay and fight or flee with Gwen from the area. Speaking of her friend, just by her expressions, she's clearly asking her of what was happening.
She could… She should listen to Saber… However, fleeing and letting her Servant fight alone, most likely to death doesn't sit well in her stomach.
But… If she doesn't flee, neither would Gwen, and such unnecessary endangerment of her friend is unacceptable…
Whatever was coming next is clearly his Noble Phantasm which he had been trying to hide, whatever it is must mean something important in his legend…
So that's why… That's why she couldn't flee, Artoria knows she's a selfish girl, but… She wanted to be selfish this time around, it was by her decision, not by instinct but one she consciously made…
Even if it goes against her code… Even if it goes against the wishes of others… She couldn't bring herself to do such a thing, how cowardly she indeed was.
Her gaze meets Saber's stern one, he's waiting for her to flee before finishing it… Yet she betrays her trust by doing what she did next.
Her magical circuits are already activated, she only needs to mutter a single word…
"Sigetíber…" And that she did
She reinforces her body's framework in preparation for the next step,
"[Mana Burst]!" Those words left her mouth as Magical Energy flooded her entire body, raw power emanating from her body.
With a dash, the road below her cracked from the sudden strength, mana being expelled from her body like a jetstream as she brought down her blade towards the distracted golden man.
However her instincts warned her of an incoming wave of projectiles, therefore she did what she felt right and slid down the ground as the portals turned and fired to where she had been just moments before.
Her enemy is now moments away from entering her attack range, though not even a moment later her instinct suddenly warned of an imminent slash to her left arm, in her position she couldn't do much evading, therefore…
"Foolish girl, you should stay put in this battle between heroes even if you were once one yourself."
Artoria didn't know why he sounds so confident that she's whoever this "King of Knights" was (She couldn't be bothered to remember history lessons right now), but she ignored it regardless.
She swung her blade to meet the incoming attack her instinct had predicted, and just as it predicted, the golden king with his superior parameters closed the gap for her and swung down his blade.
The two steel from legends clash with each other, she could feel that she was at a disadvantage-
Visions of unknown times flooded her system, it had seemed as if they had always belonged to her, vague memories of a Kingship commanded by a blonde-haired figure in knightly armour, defeating the large armies of invaders from beyond the sea.
The two beings clashed, one being a Hero, the other being a mere human. However, there's no rule that a mere human cannot rival a Hero.
Gritting her teeth, she attempted to press her blade against the enemy with all her might.
Even if her disadvantage was clear, it was also clear she wasn't losing by much in the raw strength department.
"Oh? So you still retained some of your edges even after being recycled?" 'Recycled' Yeah right, Artoria grunted in response
Her instincts warned her again of a blow to her chest, but… There's no actual way for her to completely evade, therefore she purposely lowered her position in the clash of sword, and…
As predicted, the golden king attempted to send a kick, but this time her hands took the full brunt of the attack.
She slid back still firmly clutching onto her golden sword, but her arms were sore and numb from the sheer strength of a Heroic Spirit,
"Bloody hell." She inadvertently cursed in her father's tongue
Her battle instinct warned her once more… But this time, it was unable to locate any way to completely get out unscathed.
Looking forwards, she could already see projectiles firing off the six portals that were still free.
Looking at Saber, she felt sorry at the infuriated look combined with despair in her Servant's expression, he gave up on trying to convince her to escape, that's why…
"Unlimited Blad-'' His words were suddenly cut off as silver lights crashed unto the chains he was bound with and to the flying Noble Phantasms sending them off course and missing the two humans.
A red-haired figure clad in knightly armour landed in front of her, at the same time…
"The king does not understand the hearts of men." The knight muttered before leaving the Round Table
"My Ki- Allies, fight if you must, but otherwise stray away from the battlefield, this is no place for humans to engage," Archer spoke as he prepared to fire another round of arrows.
Saber himself was freed and projected his pair of weapons.
Meanwhile, she was still shocked at the sudden entrance of the man, alongside the vision that hurt her to the core for no apparent reason.
"Wha-" She was suddenly dragged to the nearby trees that were yet to be cut down by the battle.
"What did you think you were doing trying to fight a Servant?!" The voice she recognised as Rin shrieked at her
Rin shook the still confused Artoria as if she was a statue that doesn't understand human words.
"Wait, Rin! Arty surely has a good explanation!" Gwen defended her companion and tried to stop Rin…
However, compared to Rin who has extensively trained in Martial Arts, Gwen's physical condition was less than ideal in a war of this scale and completely failed to even slow Rin's arms down.
"I thought Emiya was stupid, but this is on a new level of stupidity! What had compelled you to think you could take on a Servant, when your Servant which mind you was still trapped by the enemy at the time, who not only was more powerful than you but also more experienced than you, ended up in his sorry state?!" Rin berated her fellow blockhead magus
"I thought..." Artoria was about to say something but had stopped herself
After all, her reasons were the epitome of selfishness, and the more she thought about it the more she's ashamed of herself. What kind of friend is she to risk the life of her friend, and deliberately betrayed her Servant's trust just because she thought she could help.
Maybe… Maybe all of those betrayals in her nightmares were well deserved.
Self-deprecating thoughts emerged and nearly took over, but she was brought back into reality by the still angry Rin's rant about how everyone around her is all idiots.
"Like seriously, am I the only sane person in this group? Because it happens to seem very much the case here." Rin finishes her frustration fueled rant and tiredly sighed (She's been doing that a lot lately)
Artoria stayed silent, being too guilty to even talk back, and Rin noticed
"Geez, you don't need to get so caught up in this, say something." Rin annoyedly told her with slight concern that she might've gone too far in her rant.
Of course, that wasn't entirely the case, but she didn't know that.
"I apologize for my actions, but my reasons are of no concern to you." Artoria composed herself and tried acting as indifferent,
However, her facade failed to fool neither of the other girls, for one of them was someone who had known her for nearly half a decade now and the other being a master at facades herself.
But neither of the girls pressed on (Well by that, it means they're going to question her at a more appropriate time)
Rin looked behind the tree, the area that was relatively tame not a few minutes ago is now decimated with signs of Noble Phantasms being deployed. She wonders how Kirei would hide this considering the gas leak excuse he usually employs won't be working here.
It made her grin in satisfaction at the imagination of the fake priest actually getting annoyed on covering these up.
Archer and Saber were working in tandem against the golden knight who was holding himself well, it seems the man is taking them seriously by using his brain alongside his body this time.
The gold-clad man seemingly has an endlessly supply of Noble Phantasms which he fired as if they were junk.
"Oh right, did you discover who that servant's true identity is?" Rin asked
"Yeah, he called himself Gilgamesh." Gwen nodded
"Gilga...mesh?" Rin's face paled at the mention of that name
"Impossible… Father's servant should be dead by now…" The Tohsaka mutters in shock
"Your Father's?" Gwen again spoke up, Artoria preferred to remain silent for the time being
"But… There's no way anyone could have obtained another catalyst for him…" Rin didn't respond as she continued
"Well, how are you sure about that Rin?" Gwen asked curiously
"Gilgamesh is the oldest hero in existence, to find relics to summon other younger heroes such as King Arthur is already next to impossible, but from one whose origin dates back thousands of years far earlier? It would mean whoever the master was had come from a very influential family." She gritted her teeth in frustration
"We're retreating, even with the combination of Archer and Saber their legends are arguably far lesser in comparison." Rin turned around and ran to the exit, the others followed suit
They ran the entire way back to the Emiya household, Artoria was glad that she had told her brother that she was going to get back home late as right now it's already nine.
After they ran a suitable distance both Rin and Artoria told their Servants to retreat, Rin had Archer recall into Spirit Form meanwhile Saber distracted the Golden King with another Noble Phantasm before taking off escaping the area as quick as possible.
Both of them came back to them worse than wear, both of their armour had visibly torn and they were still bleeding from their wounds, luckily both masters still had more than enough mana in their reserves to heal their servants.
From what they had seen through their servant's eyes, Gilgamesh wasn't in any better condition than both of them, but considering it was a 2v1 it was clear which Servant was the superior combatant, although it wasn't entirely a loss.
They had learned of the servant's true identity and the extent of his combat style, which relies on combining both his first Noble Phantasm Bab-ilu and his combat ability with Enki to form a powerful combination.
He could fire from a range which nullifies any advantages of Archers, his treasury most likely housed Noble Phantasms that are Anti-Magecraft which nullifies Casters, his skill with Enki was nothing to scoff at and could put Sabers a run for their money if not for his lesser parameters, other classes are still unknown, but considering in his legend his treasury housed all of the treasures in the world, it's likely he could nullify the advantages of other classes too.
But Enki itself was a headache, he has yet unleashed it, but from the description itself, Rin doubted anyone in the entire world could actually stop the Noble Phantasm, further proven by its ranking of EX.
Another thing is according to the status sheet the man was an Archer, which shouldn't even be possible as there is only one container for each class which strengthened Rin's suspicion that it was the Gilgamesh from the previous war, she would have to ask the fake priest when she got an opportunity to.
Overall it was a headache for the magus and she was very much up for a cup of tea, specifically the ones she had brought because the teabags Shirou has in store are cheap ones.
Meanwhile, the two blonde girls were planning to sleep as soon as they got home after they finished the group discussion and share the things they all learned for today.
Artoria in particular was actually hoping Nilrem would appear out of nowhere and explain it for them, as it seems the time spent with that womanizer of a Magus seems far more appealing than spending every night thinking about strategy and the ways they could possibly die.
Her Servant may also be a little upset with the stunt she pulled not too long ago and she couldn't even blame him for it, ever since the Holy Grail War started she had been acting impulsively which caused more trouble than necessary.
Rin knocked on the door a few times, soon after it was answered.
"Oh, you're back. Come in." The Emiya opened the door
Each of them took off their shoes and entered the house, with the Emiya finishing brewing tea, everyone sat down around the dinner table and started their meeting.
"Right, let's review what we have gathered so far, aside from our Servants we have discovered we had already met a total of two enemy servants and two more suspected ones." Rin sat with a lecturing pose
"Starting off from Berserker, the master was Illyasviel von Einzbern, still arguably being the biggest obstacle that doesn't involve destroying the entire planet." Shirou raised an eyebrow
"Wait hold on, did you say destroying the planet? What's that about?" Shirou asked
"We'll get there soon enough, but let's continue with Berserker first." Rin dismissed his question
"The Einzbern's Servant in this war is Heracles, the greatest hero in Greek mythology. Usually, the Berserker class would be chosen to strengthen a weak hero, however, it takes their sanity away for such strength, moreover to control such an 'insane Servant' requires enormous amounts of magical energy."
"To have a Berserker means to fully commit yourself to battle, there's no way any Master would collaborate with a Berserker class. That's not really a priority when her Berserker's Noble Phantasm was to stock additional lives and become immune to whatever kills it."
Rin found it terrifying to face it, by herself, she'd have to wait until the other participants to take enough lives off Berserker for her Archer to finish it off. Luckily her newest ally's Servant is a literal factory of Noble Phantasms.
"But to subdue it however is not possible for a normal magus even if the summoned hero was a minor one, this goes to show you why the Saber class is considered the best class when Berserkers would statistically have the advantage in terms of parameters."
"But Illyasviel not only summoned a top-grade hero as a Berserker but also controlled him completely. As irritating as it is to admit, her ability as a Master is on a completely different level alongside her Berserker." She stressed out her point
"That makes sense, but with both Archer and Saber working together we could defeat it right?" Gwen's question landed on the mark
"Probably, but it's better to play it safe and see if anyone else could take him out for us, which hopefully the servant we encountered not long ago would do." Rin gathered her thoughts to the thought of that hero
"Who was it?" Shirou asked
"If my eyes weren't deceiving me, then it was a second Archer class of this war, his true identity being the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh." She slumped down
"What makes this King of Heroes special?" He asked, confused by Tohsaka's reaction
"Oh, nothing. Other than his title being a King of Heroes, he has portals that launch endless amounts of Noble Phantasms like trash and a pair of golden sticks of doom?" Rin sarcastically responded
The Emiya didn't understand the sarcasm spewing out of Rin's mouth, "Okay…? So what's the problem then?"
"The problem is… He has an infinite supply of weapons belonging to heroes which he could fire as projectiles and rip through most Servants, and his primary Noble Phantasm could end humanity itself?!" Rin frustratedly yelled at the Emiya who was finally understand a fraction of the scale of the situation
"Ah… Rin, don't be too upset, we still have a chance in winning right? Besides, complaining wouldn't help much." Gwen reasoned with the tsundere
Under normal circumstances, Rin would have replied something along the lines of "Of course I'm not upset! Totally not, where did you get that idea?!", however, Gwen's silver tongue took effect and convinced the Tohsaka
"You… You're right, it's unbecoming of me as the Tohsaka heir to complain of such mundane things." Rin calmed herself down
"Rin, then what about the other two servants you mentioned?" Artoria voiced for the first time in the entire span of the ongoing conversation
"Yeah, yeah. The first one being the one you had deduced as the creator of the Bloodfort at school, there are still no updates on that yet." Right, that was in the back of her mind since Berserker happened
"The other one I suspect is Caster who resides in Ryuudou temple and has been sucking up magical energy from innocents, that's why there have been more reports of coma patients recently." Rin disgustedly spoke the last half of the sentence.
"Then shouldn't we take care of them first?" Shirou asked, angered by it too
"I considered it, however, there's a powerful bounded field all around the temple that reduces the combat power of Servants entering them, the only way to get in unaffected was through the front gate, which screams 'trap'." Rin elaborated
"Even so, we can't ignore it!" Emiya unrelentingly spoke in response
"Well tell me Emiya-kun, do you think you could defeat a servant?" The Tohsaka
"Of course not! What does that relate to this topic?"
"Everything? A bounded field is like a fortress for any Magus, entering it would be reckless for anyone unless they're confident in subjugating the fortress. If not only our Servants are weakened, but the enemy is strengthened in this fortress, chances are it'll just be a forlorn hope." This caused Shirou to grit his teeth in response
Though Artoria is interested in Rin's choices of literature to incorporate a word like "forlorn hope" into an actual sentence.
"I see, Then I guess all we can do is wait and see for now," Artoria concluded
"That's right. Our defences here are also perfect, with a boundary field that warns of intruders and additionally my Archer standing by guarding from the roof, we would be able to prepare for enemy assaults regardless of the situation." Rin nodded
"Although… If Berserker came, then all we could do is run away as far as we could." She regretfully said
"Ah right! I almost forgot something." The Tohsaka suddenly stood up and went to her room
What she returned with was boxes worth of … Pencils?
"The way I had been taught was using lightbulbs, but that would deplete more of my money, so we'll make do with these. Emiya, try using reinforcement on these." For some reason, she could hear Saber chuckling in the background
"Reinforcing… Pencils? What would that do?" Shirou grabbed one in confusion
"Dummy head. It is to practice on your reinforcement spell, of course, you've failed at nearly everything you tried reinforcing two nights ago." Rin responded with annoyance
"But why only pencils though?" The next moment Rin was staring at Shirou as if he was the dumbest person she'd ever met
"Consistency is a key when casting spells, imagine how horrible the result would be if you failed to reinforce your arms for example." She coldly responded
The Emiya looked at the pencil doubtfully, but gave in and tried to reinforce them.
It failed, not just ten times, not just twenty times, but fifty times and it's still going on without a single success. The Emiya was obviously frustrated at his lack of progress, while the two proper mages stared at him pitifully, Gwen meanwhile kept on cheering him up from the background
It was honestly depressing for her to see someone failing in one of the most basics of magecraft that badly when he said he had been practising since he was a child.
Though everyone in the house heard the sound of a car being parked outside their house, and then a knock on the front door.
Artoria being a responsible guest and being the closest person to the door stood up and walked to answer it.
The door wasn't locked as they just came in not too long ago, so she slid the door open, and the person in her greeting her sights was someone terrifyingly familiar.
"Ah ah, Father?" Her words stumble
"So you were here Art. Where is Gwen, and where have you been all dinner?" She could see in her father's eyes that he was noting something
"Ah, Gwen is-" "I'm right here Uncle Gawain!" Gwen suddenly appeared behind her
"Mhm, I could see Mr Saber in there too, I presume he has been keeping both of you safe?" Gawain automatically assumed, and Artoria jumped at the opportunity to explain Saber without actually explaining Saber
"Yeah, we met him again while in the city, he said he had some spare time and accompanied us." Artoria nodded while shamelessly speaking, after all she wasn't lying, just that she omitted from telling the full truth
"My apologies for taking more of your time to take care of my daughter and her friend, I shall give you compensation for your troubles." Gawain half bowed
"That's unnecessary, I volunteered to supervise them out of my own will."
"Even yet I couldn't let your deeds go unrewarded… Perhaps whenever you could spare your time, you could work as a part-time bodyguard and I shall pay you with the appropriate amount based on how much time you've had given." Gawain offers again
"Then that would work fine." Saber accepted, the man before him is one with principle and wouldn't take no for an answer, besides he'll just spend the money to buy groceries to fill his Master's bottomless stomach
"Thank you again Saber for your kindness." Saber nodded in response
"By the way, Art, I didn't know you made more friends." Her father was obviously referring to the Emiya and Tohsaka, thankfully Archer is in spirit form
Actually for odd reasons she had felt Archer's mouth would be slightly agape right now looking at her father, even if she couldn't actually see the man.
"We met them while going out yesterday too and we agreed to meet up every night after!" Gwen had saved her from explaining, and coming from her, her father wouldn't doubt a single bit.
"Then you could invite and introduce them to us when you want to." Her father wasn't pushy about the subject thankfully, he perfectly well understands her tendencies to keep things a secret until she's comfortable to reveal it
Rin walked up to greet them, "Good evening Mr Pendragon, my name is Tohsaka Rin from the Tohsaka Household, and that is Emiya Shirou from the household we're standing on right now."
Gawain nodded approvingly, "Then I hope Art and Gwen have been good companions for both of you?"
The two of them continued to talk in this formal manner that honestly annoyed Artoria, but she kept it to herself and hoped it ended soon.
"Then I shall bid both of you farewell as I shall have them return with me for the night." And then her father proceeds to pick both her and Gwen up and put them in the backseat of his car much to her protest
She could honestly feel her Servant being amused from her misery right now, but-
Oh wow, she felt more tired than she would've thought, it was still relatively early compared to her sleeping schedule the past few days.
The exhaustion she had accumulated the past few days began catching up to her and her friend as they both drift into the realms of unawareness.
Some time on the way back they had fallen asleep against each other, if Lancelot had known such a thing was happening he would've brought his camera to add more cute pictures of her sister and her friend to his collection (Inwardly he had shipped them together)
If anyone had seen it, they would've thought that it was an image of the epitome of innocence as the two teenagers unconsciously supported each other's body and took silent breaths, the moonlight shining through windows and illuminating the girls even for just a moment.
Author's Note:
This is written at the start of the chapter, for some reason I can't find it in the wiki anymore like literally just yesterday I read from the wiki that Proto Gil could actually fight with Enki, but after scrolling to it and re-reading it today I have no idea where that line disappeared to!
Like seriously, I'm hyperventilating that I can't find it, without that line I can't really confirm if Proto Gil could fight with Enki skillfully instead of waving it around like the original Gil.
This chapter is like 6900 words I think. I had gone overboard this time, originally I intended to stop around 5500 but I kept writing and writing and in the end extended it to this.
For plot convenience I had upped Saber's Mind's Eye (True) from B to B, you could see that change in his full status sheet on the prologue chapter, essentially at B Rank his combat experience accumulated during his life was enormous enough to allow him to make a more throughout consideration of the possibilities by considering the abilities of the enemy and the battle conditions.
The reason why I did this? Well concerning the battle with Heracles, after thinking it over when I had a debate with a reviewer and looking up Heracles's Mind's Eye again, just to be safe that Saber's trap style actually works the majority of the time I had found it necessary to improve it by half a rank.
It may doesn't seem much of a difference at a first glance, however, if you think about it by also taking into account the ability of the enemy for that matter, it would naturally complement the trap style because it would allow Saber to create traps that are more suited to luring the opponent as an individual rather than the general fighting style the opponent uses as a whole.
For the in-universe explanation on how it is possible to boost the rank like that, since the ranks of the parameters and skill reflect on their deeds in life, in which here I assume Archer died around his 40's to 50's since to fully manifest Reality Marbles they'd need 20 years of training,
The Saber here is of an alternate Fate(True End) route, which means he would have survived much further and had more opportunities to fight which here his year of death in my fanfiction was around his late 60s, therefore reflecting his larger combat experience accumulated during his life ends up with his Mind's Eye being half a rank higher.
This didn't cause many alterations to this fight with Proto Gil as the trap style would be unnecessary, their physical parameters were the same and also Saber's knowledge on how this Gil's fighting style at the time was still too incomplete to even risk the trap style, his Mind's Eye was trying its best here.
Did you also know for some bullshit reason, Gilgamesh has a Noble Phantasm that gives him Clairvoyance EX? It is in fact accessible to all versions of him, for some reason, his Archer self's stat sheet doesn't mention it. I mean, even Ko-Gil has it and he's the child version of Gilgamesh. It is a reflection of his mentality, as I quote "spread across all corners of the world as if the brilliance of the stars, seeing through all creation."
For obvious reasons in here I made it so he suppressed it to merely a supernatural observation ability only momentarily employing its future sight to gain an advantage, but definitely not seeing a glimpse of the Kaleidoscope or else he'd known the ways to bullshit other Servants without even trying.
My justification here is that Proto Gil again has a mentality to prove himself as the strongest Heroic Spirit and would've thought that using its full capabilities would defeat the purpose of doing so as he'd have a guaranteed victory if he does so.
Although, he definitely used his future sight more often in the 2v1, because he would get beaten down if he tried soloing both at the same time even with his more impressive weapons in his arsenal.
There's then Enkidu the Chains of Heavens, the wiki doesn't actually say what rank it is so I have to be based on assumptions here. My theory was that the chains were made out of parts of Enkidu the Divine Construct due to their similar purpose of binding those with Divinity, although without the empowerment of the Counterforce it's entirely based on its concept, which means it gets stronger the higher the Divinity of the one being restrained instead of borrowing the Counterforce and have all the power he needs to restrain the Gods.
Of course, that could be an entirely misinformed conclusion, but I don't have any other conclusions that I could come to.
Also, I noticed a pattern in my writing style, I'm writing what's supposed to be a first-person POV in the form of a third person, which probably was the cause for some of you to be confused between narrator lines and character thoughts, I apologize for that, but it just felt right writing like this
For all the self-deprecating thoughts Artoria had, she's content with her life. I suppose those moments are just her emotions going wild at the spur of her moment, partly blamed on her exhaustion and sudden intakes of memories as Arthur.
It's also hit a month since I started writing this fic, thanks for sticking around!