Klipper: respect? No... I wouldn't go that far! Gilgamesh doesn't respect anyone... except Enkidu. Let's just say that Gilgamesh thinks that Caster is a little less shabby than the other Servants.
The Golden King
In order to protect the Cedar Forest
Enlil assigned (Humbaba) as a terror to human beings,
Humbaba's roar is a Flood, his mouth is Fire, and his breath is Death!
He can hear 100 leagues away any rustling(?) in his forest!
Who would go down into his forest!
Enlil assigned him as a terror to human beings,
and whoever goes down into his forest paralysis(?) will strike!"
Gilgamesh spoke to Enkidu saying:
"What you say ..."
[About 42 lines are missing here in the Standard Version; lines 228-249 are taken from
the Old Babylonian.]
"Who, my Friend, can ascend to the heavens!"
(Only) the gods can dwell forever with Shamash.
As for human beings, their days are numbered,
and whatever they keep trying to achieve is but wind!
Now you are afraid of death-
what has become of your bold strength!
I will go in front of you,
and your mouth can call out: 'Go on closer, do not be afraid!'
Should I fall, I will have established my fame.
(They will say:)'It was Gilgamesh who locked in battle with Humbaba the Terrible!'
You were born and raised in the wilderness,
a lion leaped up on you, so you have experienced it all!'
[5 lines are fragmentary]
I will undertake it and I will cut down the Cedar.
It is I who will establish fame for eternity!
Come, my friend, I will go over to the forge
and have them cast the weapons in our presence!"
Holding each other by the hand they went over to the forge.
[The Standard Version resumes at this point.]
The craftsmen sat and discussed with one another.
"We should fashion the axe...
The hatchet should he one talent in weight ...
Their swords should be one talent...
Their armor one talent, their armor ...
The Epic of Gilgamesh Tablet II
From the hallway, Pyrrha could see the snow that kept falling in the garden. The destruction of the Cold Genius had allowed the temperature to rise, but the depression caused by the accumulation of cold air continued to cool the atmosphere... and the snow would continue to fall for a long time yet.
A virtual screen floated in front of the Invincible Girl. Thanks to Merlin, the young redhead could follow the negotiations that had begun at Ryuudou Temple.
King Arthur looked with distrust at the two women who had just appeared at the top of the stairs. The youngest was to be seventeen or eighteen years old, she wears a long blue dress like the ones of a noblewoman and has ribbons of the same color in her long golden blonde hair styled in large coils. In her hand was an ivory-handled umbrella dusted with white snowflakes.
As for the older one, she couldn't have been five years older, she was a very demure woman who wears a brown, two-piece business suit with a red-violet necktie. She has short, magenta hair and a mole just below her left eye. She also has two ovaloid earrings. But what made her especially remarkable was that the left sleeve of her jacket was hanging empty... the woman was one-armed!
Cù Chulainn, the Lancer-class Servant of this Grail War turned pale as a dead man when he saw the one-handed woman...
"Bazett!"
Still sitting in Berserker's hand, Illya tapped her Servant's arm to lay it on the ground. The adorable little girl took a few steps laughing, swirling between the snowflakes, her arms spread wide before stopping in front of the young woman whom Lancer had just named. She lifted the edge of her skirt to bow:
"You know each other..." She clapped her hands, suddenly overexcited." Interesting! Does this have anything to do with this sudden ceasefire?"
But before Bazett could answer, Illya had left, running and giggling, to stop in front of the rich ojousama:
"And you... you are Luviagelita Edelfelt!"
As the little girl bowed again, the young and talented head of the Edelfelt family bowed elegantly flipping the bottom of her dress:
"I am not surprised that you recognize me, Illyasviel von Einzbern, our two families stand out even among the most influential dynasties of Magi. But allow me to introduce my friend and ally, Bazett Fraga McRemitz. She is an Enforcer of the Clocktower and... the true Master of Lancer. Not the usurper who uses this Servant actually.
Arthur startled:
"A Usurper?!"
Luviagelita turned to Saber and made another gracious bow:
"I am appalled that this Grail's War is so unworthy of the presence of the legendary King Arthur. I suspect that the King of Knights must be ashamed that his events so unworthy of chivalrous conduct took place during a conflict involving him but to my great shame, things are so. Bazett Fraga McRemitz has been betrayed, and for proof, I invite you to listen."
Arthur rebuked a sigh of annoyance... all the Masters of this Grail War must now know is True Name. He turned to the young mutilated Magus. The Irish woman took two steps forward, raising her hand she touched her earrings, looking only at Cù Chulainn:
"What Luvia said is true, I am the true Master of Lancer. My earrings are proof of that, as they served as a catalyst for Lancer summon."
Indeed her silver earrings were similar to that Lancer wore... Or rather, they were the same earrings. As the Irish Magus said, the earrings worn by Cù Chulainn during his lifetime had served as a catalyst for his invocation.
Illya rubbed her chin, swirling around Bazett, in her impatience to know the rest of the story:
"And what happened next?"
"Although I am a participant in the Fifth Grail War, this was not my main mission. I was sent by the Clocktower to evaluate the Magi who would participate in this minor ritual. Upon my arrival, I introduced myself to Kirei Kotomine, the representative of the Church and arbitrator of this Grail's War. My orders were to cooperate with him, except he stabbed me in the back... literally... and cut off my arm to take my Command Spell. He left me to agonize in the crypt under the church. But I survived and Assassin found me and brought me to Luvia for treatment."
All eyes were now on Lancer. The latter was fleeing Bazett's gaze... swallowing, he ended up looking at the ground, his hands clenched on his red spear to the point that his knuckles become white. His reaction only confirmed the story of the Magus.
The Einzbern's master was the first to react. Shrugging her shoulders, she sighed:
"I feel sorry for you, Bazett, but there are no rules against the referee participating in the dispute!"
[What? But... it's insane!] The mental voice of Pyrrha resounded violently in Saber's head. Saber sighted:
[Illya is right, Master. There is nothing to prevent the arbitrator from participating in the dispute.]
[But... but... this is nonsense... if the arbitrator is not neutral it is...] The Spartan stopped, short of words.
This time it was Merlin who replied:
[Two hundred years ago, when the first seven Masters invoked their Servants, it was a ritual requiring the voluntary participation of the Masters and Servants. There was just one little problem... only two wishes. Until then, the participants had worked together without a hitch, sharing the same goal of building a better world. They had never imagined that things would degenerate into a mutual massacre, once the ritual began. But that's what happened... worse, it's replicated in what we ended up calling "the Second Grail War". As is often said, hell is paved with good intentions. It was not until the Third Grail War that the current system -with an arbitrator and a confrontation between the Servants- was formalized. The Church and the Clocktower thought they would keep the... "spillovers" under control by introducing these new rules. But these rules were not encoded in the original structure of the invocation, nor is there an implemented referee function. These are just further additions perfectly optional. Moreover, Kirei Kotomine was a Master during the Fourth Grail War and you never stop being a Master, which means he kept the ability to steal the Command Marks from another Master... those of Bazett in this case. And because Kirei has a Servant again, he is a participant in this Grail War as legitimate as any other. So, indeed, nothing can be done.]
Having allowed the revelation of Bazett to take effect, Luvia went on to say:
"Alas, this is not the only discovery made by my Servant, Assassin." She made a small nod of the head to the masked hero." There is something much more serious. According to my research, Kirei Kotomine was a Master of the Fourth Grail War and his Servant survived the conflict!"
"What?"
The exclamation had just come out of Lancer's lips! He seemed even more surprised than the others...
Once again, Illya was the first to recover from the revelation's shock:
"How can you know that?"
It was Assassin who answered. The strange young woman shrugged her shoulders:
"It wasn't just Bazett in the crypt under the church. I found about fifty bodies of children and adolescents. They had been killed by a Servant who had devoured their souls."
"Did you tell it to the Clocktower?"
Luvia agrees:
"Of course, I made my report to Lord El-Melloi II, but he can't do much. There is no violation of the rules on the secrecy of the Magecraft set up by the Clocktower... since Kirei's crimes have been discreet enough not to alert the press or the police. And what could Lord El-Melloi II do? Send Enforcers? It would look like a provocation... The Church would believe that the Clocktower wants to seize the Grail and retaliate by sending the Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament to Fuyuki... launching a religious war would not help us in any way."
Illya remained pensive:
"There's nothing we can do about that... but the most important: do you have any proof of what you are saying?"
"You only have to go into the crypt to see the corpses," Assassin replied.
A burst of cold laughter resounded at that moment. While everyone turned around to the stairs that led to the city. Standing on the Torii, a figure in golden armor was cut out against the light. This presence was that of a Servant! He seemed to contemplate them in a haughty attitude, arms crossed on the chest. Around him appeared about twenty discs of golden light that waved like the surface of a lake where a stone ricocheted...
"It is inappropriate for cockroaches to doubt or debate the existence of their king! You claim to be great heroes and are unable to recognize the majesty of my presence. This lack of wisdom and perception irritates me to the core!"
Master and Servants looked at the newcomer with the same shocked expression... all were surprised. But Arthur was surprised for a different reason:
"Archer!"
Pyrrha was no less surprised than the others:
[Merlin, how is it that Arthur knows this Servant?]
But Merlin didn't have time to answer. "Archer" turned to Saber and, despite the darkness, the Invincible Girl guessed a mocking smile on the stranger's face:
"Saber... I see that you have not given up trying to seize my Grail. Perhaps I would agree to let you use it... After all, watching your wish turn into a nightmare might amuse me. Naturally, you would have to ask me in the form, wouldn't you? On your knees, jester and amuse me! "
Arthur's face tensed up. He had enough control over himself not to show his anger, but the mineral expression that had taken his face did not hide the fury that bubbled in him.
However, this must have been the genre of "entertainment" requested by Archer, as he rolled back a hand resting on his face and laughing in gleam. His amusement was brutally interrupted by an explosion of fury:
"Kotomine! What does all this mean! Explain yourself! Who is this Servant?"
It was Lancer, and... Cù Chulainn was absolutely furious. Although he screams with all the strength of his lungs, his message was mostly relayed by the mental bond he shared with the false priest.
Archer had frozen himself. Between his fingers he watched Lancer, his red eyes with vertical pupils reduced to thin slits. His gaze on the Ireland Child of Light was as cold as liquid oxygen:
"There's a dog barking loudly. His master should beat him with the stick!"
Inside the church on the hill, Kirie Kotomine stood in the middle of the alley separating the prayer benches. Crossing his arms behind his back, he looked at the wooden cross where the statue of a crucified man was dying, his head crowned with light:
[Lancer... what is there to say? You heard Assassin. Archer is my Servant since the Fourth Grail War.]
The anger of Cù Chulainn radiated through their bond:
[And who am I to you then?! You never intended to allow me to reach the Grail, did you? You've always played double games with me! ]
Far from being worried by the threat from the Servant whom he had stolen from Bazett, Kirei had a falsely gentle smile:
[I see... You think I made a mistake and treated you badly. I admit that. My duty as a priest is to give you a chance to correct this error.]
Kirei Kotomine placed two fingers on the Command Spell which covered his entire forearm and the back of his hand, comprising more than twenty Command Marks:
[By my first Command Seal, Lancer, I command you... kill Bazett Fraga McRemitz!]
Kirei Kotomine was a twisted being who said he loved humans deeply... in fact, he loved watching them struggle with death and suffering. Sharing the senses of Cù Chulainn, he went to see this Servant kill the Master who had invoked him and for whom he still felt loyalty. It was the kind of... "show" that satisfied this sadistic voyeur... For him, it was like tasting a fine wine. And Bazett... when the cursed spear pierced her heart... would she weep? Would she feel betrayed? And Lancer, would he suffer? Would he have remorse... Yes, he would be tortured by remorse smiled on Kirei. Moreover, the false priest would make it so. Ah, as he complained of novelists, playwrights, and cineastes. Even the death of Romeo & Juliet did not reach the tragic drama he had just improvised with his talent as a manipulator...
Nothing could be compared to the authentic reactions of Live-Action!
Lancer arched violently as a red light surrounded him. Trembling, he twisted and shouted:
"Bazett, run! He... ah... he... run... want to kill you... he told me... to kill..."
Gae Bolg radiated a sinister glow as Cù Chulainn leaped forward. Fortunately, Lancer tried to resist Kotomine's order and his attack was slowed down... enough for Bazett to have time to activate the speed-enhancing runes inscribes on the heel of her shoes.
She avoided the first attack. But Lancer was already in pursuit. The spear struck a second time, but Cù Chulainn found himself violently thrown back as Saber's Sword of the Wind King blocked his attack.
Still standing on the Torii, "Archer" had looked at the scene with interest, but Saber's intervention was obviously not to his liking. He made a gesture of his hand, and a volley of swords goes out of the circles of golden light:
"Who told you, you could interfere with the Kotomine dog's education, buffoon?"
Although caught by surprise and attacked in the back, Arthur Pendragon managed to dodge or fend off the twenty swords that had just been aimed at him. He received only one or two scratches.
However, as he turned to "Archer" to send him a look of anger and disgust, the amused expression of the Servant in golden armor disappeared and his voice snapped with the hardness of steel:
"Who allowed you to look up at your superior, you buffoon?!"
But Saber was certainly not the type to submit to a contemptuous tyrant like "Archer". He continued his staring contest...
"Archer" made a gesture... and a wall of golden circles appeared behind him. In the midst of the watery tremors, various weapons emerged: a Chinese halberd, a black metal sword with a milky stone pommel, a gold sword, a lance adorned with pompons, a scimitar adorned with golden arabesques... at least fifty Noble Phantasms!
No doubt Arthur amused the Golden Archer, but the very second Saber challenged him there was no longer any question of having fun. This Servant ruthlessly crushed any individual who did not bow down to him. For "Archer," the world was full of slaves or... corpses. It was as simple as that.
The rain of Nobles Phantasms collided with an obstacle brutally born from the impact of the stone axes-sword of Berserker with the ground of the courtyard. The Noble Phantasms brutally exploded against the slabs raised by the impact and Saber was able to jump at a safe distance, blocking and dodging the few projectiles that had crossed the obstacle.
"Oh." The scornful look of the archer in heavy armor landed on Berserker and his adorable little Master who had come back to snuggle up in his hand: "A small marmoset and a huge ugly gorilla... you are very unworthy of me to make the effort to crush you. I mean, it's gonna be fast!"
Illya turned to Arthur:
"Protect Bazett, I'll take this arrogant golden guy. Come on, Berserker, crush him!"
Heracles uttered a prodigious howl and leaped forward... or rather tried to leap forward. Because suddenly, dozens of golden discs surrounded the son of Zeus, and chains came out of it, tying him completely and holding him in place.
"Crush me?"
The archer in gold armor burst out laughing. Having once again changed his mood, he seemed to be enjoying himself.
He snapped his fingers...
And Berserker was transformed into a human pincushion, with dozens of spears, swords, halberds, and other more exotic weapons were piercing him through and throughs...
Saber, again fighting Lancer, turned around when hearing the horrified cry of Illya. Berserker had once again been killed. Fortunately, the black smoke that was the manifestation of his Noble Phantasm Hand of God was already surrounding him, and... his wounds disappeared.
But it didn't really impress the Golden Archer:
"Regeneration? No... your Noble Phantasm seems to allow you to roll back time and undo the injuries to bring you back to the state you were in before you were hurt. Hard to kill? I mean, it's pretty normal with cockroaches. Let's see how many times you can come back to life."
The Golden archer made a small careless gesture of the hand and on nearly one hundred meters of sides and more than twenty meters in height appeared discs of golden light... and from each emerged a weapon... more than two thousand Noble Phantasms who were all turned in the direction of Berserker.
He was lower hand to command the execution of the Servant when...
A column of light was born in the middle of the courtyard!
Everyone had forgotten Caster. Deprived of Master, the Servant would have disappeared in a few minutes. In fact, he should have disappeared by now, but he had dragged himself into the center of the invocation circle he had drawn to call the Cold Genius. The magic energy present in the pentacle had helped him to keep his shape. Alas, it was only a stop-gap measure. Busy watching the prana particles leave his body, Paracelsus was now almost catatonic. He no longer had any curiosity for what was going on around him and had not raised his head when Gilgamesh arrived.
But the voice of a woman drew him from his torpor... It must be said that the words she recited were taken from the invocation of the Servants. He straightened himself up and began to run without even thinking.
When the fingers of Paracelsus joined the hand of Bazett Fraga McRemitz there was an explosion of blue light.
Having instantly forgotten Berserker, the golden Archer turned to Bazett and Paracelsus. He understood the situation in a glance and - again- his mood changed. He held his hand to his face, and his shoulders trembled as he silently laughed:
"I had never imagined such a change of situation". He let his arm fall back and looked around him. Lancer was still trying to resist the order to kill that Kirei had given him and was fighting Saber. The King of Knights did not take advantage of this to eliminate his opponent... as always this chivalrous buffoon was reluctant to seriously fight a manipulated opponent. As for the other Servants present...
Assassin had just taken advantage of his distraction to break Enkidu's chains and deliver Berserker. She had remained hidden since Gilgamesh's arrival, waiting for the right moment to intervene. With Caster, that made three Servants ready to face him. Even for the one and only king, it was a lot.
Gilgamesh burst out laughing again:
"Killing all of you at once would be so boring. Besides, I wouldn't want to stain my armor with your blood. I'd come back another day. Enjoy the chance given to you and learn new tricks, monkeys. If you have the misfortune to annoy me at our next meeting, you will regret that I did not kill you today..."
Having said these few words, he gave way to a flicker of golden particles while he astralized. The hundreds of weapons planted in the courtyard soil disappeared with him in a wobble of golden prana particles.
Lancer stopped and breathed a sigh of relief, before disappearing in his turn... Apparently, Kirei had just reported his order to kill Bazett.
And so ended Mount Enzou's battle.
Servants and Masters separated, putting an end to the ceasefire. Nevertheless, they were all shocked by the appearance of the "Golden Archer". The presence of an eighth Servant... especially an individual of such power completely changed the situation.
The Masters needed to rethink their priorities.
Jumping from one telephone pole to another, Saber returned to the Emiya residence.
[Arthur, you didn't answer my question. Where did you meet this second Archer?]
King Arthur was not surprised to hear the question of Pyrrha:
[Master, there's one thing I didn't tell you, during the Fourth Grail War, the Einzberns decided to use a mercenary, an assassin to be their Master. This professional was known as the Magus Killer. They gave him one of their homunculi for his wife and a catalyst that would allow him to invoke a renowned Servant. The real name of the Magus Killer was... Kiritsugu Emiya. As for the Servant he invoked, it was the Saber of this Grail's War... and its True Name was... Arthur Pendragon.]
Pyrrha stayed a few moments without speaking, connecting the dots...
[I see and this Golden Armor Servant was, therefore, the Archer-class Servant of the last Grail's War.]
[Exactly.]
[But why didn't you tell me that you were summoned in the last war... and that you were the Servant of Kiritsugu?]
It was Saber's turn to take a few moments to think:
[When you came to the church, right after my invocation, Kirei Kotomine tried to manipulate you by revealing to you the role played by your adoptive father. I didn't want to hurt you or restrict your choices by telling you what happened between me and Kiritsugu. As a Servant... as a dead man returned to the living... I am certainly the best person to understand that it is better to let the living build their lives from their own decisions rather than pushing them to repay the failures of the dead. ]
Pyrrha had a shiver, thinking that in fact, Kiritsugu had adopted her only for this reason... for her to finish what he had left unfinished. It certainly wasn't a conscious decision of the Magus Killer, but it didn't change the fact.
[I... I get it. I guess you're not going to tell me how the Fourth Grail War went?]
[No.]
[However, as a Master, I need you to tell me what you know about the second Archer. I can't imagine a strategy to beat him if I don't know his weaknesses and strengths.]
[I understand, Master.] Saber remained silent for a few moments. Then his mental "voice" resumed with visible hesitation. [I didn't learn Archer's True Name. But it seems to me that Iskandar - the last war Rider-class Servant- knew him. Perhaps it's an indication of Archer's geographical origin. In this case, he would come from the Middle East. Otherwise, Archer is extraordinarily arrogant and always says that he is "the one and only king" or that he is the "king of heroes" and that everyone should recognize him. One day, I asked him about the multitude of Noble Phantasms he owned. It seemed impossible to me that he has so many and especially of such varied origins... some are Indian like his "Vimana", his flying throne, but he also has Chinese halberds, Japanese katana, European swords, Arab scimitars... his answer was that in ancient times there was only one king ruling the world and that he was that king.]
[This is probably why he always speaks of the Grail as one of his treasures] Merlin intervened. [Moreover, he always speaks as if everything that exists on Earth was his personal property and that we owe it only to a whim on his part that he consents to let us use it.]
Pyrrha yawned and rubbed her eyes. This "king of the world", was a very... "sympathetic" character but the rest would wait well tomorrow. It was three in the morning and there was school tomorrow.