The Frog and the King
The frog in the well doesn't know the ocean.
Zhuangzi
Matou Shinji ran into the night.
His steps echoed in the dark and icy streets. The blue-haired teenager was still dressed in his school uniform, having not returned home since the morning.
He stopped for a moment and looked around.
There was a freezing haze in Fuyuki.
His eyes covered the facades of the tiny detached houses that were quietly lined up along this sloping street. The windows were dark. In this small provincial town, everyone slept at two o'clock in the morning.
The light came only from the street lights. The stars were almost invisible veiled by bands of clouds. Even the moon could only be discerned as a vague clarity behind the nebulosity.
One of the lamps on the street lights might be worth changing. At times, the light bulb was only emitting a dark reddish light before a snap occurred and the light returned to normal... and the cycle began again.
Shinji looked around, eyes enlarged with terror.
Hearing the sound of cans, he quickly turned in that direction.
But furious cat meowing reassured him.
Two kitties were fighting in a nearby alley.
His fists closed and his knuckles whitened from anger.
"How could this happen to me?"
He should be the winner... not the runaway! He should have defeated Emiya Pyrrha! It was normal for him to win, he was so superior to all these idiots!
His face was writhing in anger.
It was Rider's fault! Did she have to be pathetic to get beaten by the Servant of this Emiya!
Even in the face of defeat, Matou Shinji was still trying to blame someone else. It was the others who were wrong and failed, he was just the innocent victim of their stupidity. How could he succeed when Sakura summoned a loser like Rider? Yes, it was... it was Sakura's fault! As usual, it was her entire fault.
A little more serene, Shinji looked up at the top of the hill. One could see the cemetery of the foreigners and the little church that seemed to be waiting for him. The most important thing was to get to Kotomine Church. Everything would be fine once he was safe...
As Sakura's brother was about to resume his walk, he heard a crystal-clear laugh... the laughter of a little girl.
Shinji uttered a small cry of terror and turned around.
At the top of the street, a duet cut him off to safety.
She.
She was a little girl wearing a purple coat and wearing a fur hat of the same color. Her hair looked like a snow slide and her eyes were red. Despite her albino appearance, she was an adorable girl who could not be more than thirteen or fourteen years old.
Shinji had read all the contents of the Makiri library... he recognized an Einzbern Homunculus.
Nevertheless, Shinji Matou remained there with his arms dangling, unable to move and he swallowed with difficulty.
Because she wasn't alone, there was something next to the little girl...
Something he didn't want to watch... he knew if he did, he'd regret it.
Yet he looked up because people like Shinji were like that, even though they knew it was a bad idea, they still wanted to know.
Next to the Einzbern Master, there was a colossal silhouette...
He.
It was as if savagery, violence barely channeled had taken shape and substance to roam the icy streets.
He was too big to be human, too muscular. Barefoot, dressed in all and for all bracelets on the wrists and ankles as well as a kilt made of metal plates, the being was completely blotted by an enlarged musculature that swelled his dark skin. The face was rough, a man-monkey face with animalistic features half concealed under long dark and tangled hair, like a lion's mane.
The worst was the eyes.
One of them was red as blood spilled and the other looked like molten gold, burning with dementia.
Shinji also noted the chest that was rising, producing forge bellows snoring, expelling air in the form of long jets of vapors.
In his left hand, the Servant held a kind of stone sword-axe... a weapon as ugly and barbaric as its user.
Shinji didn't have to be a genius to understand that he was facing the Berserker. Even in a Grail War, there could be two Servants who more perfectly embodied madness and violence.
The Einsbern Master laughs again.
As Shinji turned to her, she grabbed the bottom of her skirt and made an elegant curtsy:
"I am Illyasviel von Einzbern, delighted to meet you Matou Shinji, Master of Makiri."
Sakura's brother recoiled with a small cry, raising his hand in a protective reflex. His face was as pale as a hospital sheet.
"What... what... do you want?"
Illya made an amused pout:
"I witnessed your fight against Pyrrha-ane. I'm not usually one to steal a game that belongs to another hunter, but since Pyrrha didn't take care of you, I figured she wouldn't blame me."
Stunned, Shinji opened his eyes... 'big sister Pyrrha'? The Einzbern Master was Emiya Pyrrha's sister... A small voice - the voice of reason- whispered to him that in the end, it was perhaps not because Medusa was 'pathetic' that he had lost.
Illya put a finger on her lips with a thoughtful air.
"After all, throughout the city, there are signs that say it is forbidden to leave garbage on the street. It seems that the inhabitants are responsible for the cleanliness of Fuyuki."
The smile of the homunculus was cute... but -paradoxically- Shinji felt transformed into ice, the cold terror creeping into his bones.
And then Berserker howled like a mad dog...
The nice little chat was over.
As Berserker flipped his head back to scream, a sudden transformation seizes him.
His skin grew red and his muscles swelled again. The Servant raised his arm to strike with his barbaric weapon... and jumped back.
Shinji screamed in terror and fell to the ground, tangling his feet in a panic.
He closed his eyes and raised his arms in a paltry gesture of protection... but death did not come.
The former Master heard several shocks like explosions and the ground rose.
"Berserker!"
The voice of the Einzbern Master was no longer triumphant. On the contrary, Illya was terrified. Matou Shinji opened his eyes.
While Berserker was going to kill Shinji, an instinct warned him that he was in danger.
His reflexes pushed him to jump back. With a speed and agility that seemed abnormal in a colossus, he blocked and dodged the projectiles.
His axe-sword struck a black metal sword and repelled it in a large shower of sparks.
Without taking a moment's rest, Berserker jumped aside while three weapons belonging to different eras came to smash the macadam of the street: a German zweihander, an African tribal lance, and a Chinese halberd.
Berserker roared and made a reel to repel other weapons that had just emerged from openings similar to discs of golden light.
But even the Hero Heracles could not remain unharmed for long against the King of the Heroes...
A short Greek sword in the shape of laurel leaf pierced his arm, while a Scandinavian spear cut his shoulder.
The Mad Hero fell to his knees.
Shinji discovered a Hero walking down the street as if the passage had been built for his own sake. The man was crushing the world from an unlimited morgue. Dressed in a jacket with a fur collar, he had profiled ray-bans. His hair was blond and heavy gold earrings clicked every step of his walk.
He looked like a human...
But a multitude of pools of circular light continued to appear around him. The golden openings waved concentrically, like a pond on which had just ricocheted a pebble. And from each opening emerged an ancient weapon: spear, sword, scythe, dagger... or even exotic weapons that had not been made by humans.
At the rate of a machine gun, the openings appeared and expelled these Noble Phantasms.
A Hero often spent his entire life perfecting a technique or training with a weapon.
This extraordinary achievement was his Noble Phantasm.
A minority of Heroes had a second or (very rarely) a third Noble Phantasm.
Only one hero had a legend that identified him as the possessor of all riches... and all weapons.
His name was Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, the oldest Hero of mankind.
Heracles turned in full leaps whipping the air of his arm armed with his stone sword. Several weapons catapulted by the Gate of Babylon were repulsed and smashed walls or gates. A car was overturned and landed on the roof... triggering his burglar alarm.
Berserker leaps forward, raising his terrifying weapon.
But Gilgamesh didn't even take his hands out of his pockets. Smiling, he leaps back, dodging the attack as a normal man would step aside to avoid a puddle of water.
Several golden openings appeared at the height of his shoulders as he leaped back again...
Berserker was pierced by a spear with a wide spearhead. He slowed down... which allowed Gilgamesh to open other openings catapulting a Druidic sickle, a primitive axe, a Renaissance's pole-axis, and an Egyptian khopesh.
But these weapons bounced off Heracles' skin.
Gilgamesh smiled:
"I see, you are invulnerable to all Noble Phantasms Ranked B or lower."
Screaming, Berserker jumped, raising his axis-sword above his head.
Once again, Gilgamesh simply took a few steps back. While the Madman fanned the street, he opened more Gates of Babylon.
The Noble Phantasm spit through the openings were this time legendary weapons: Caladbog, Harpe, Merodach, the yatagan of Saladin... among others.
The barrage of projectiles would have cut Heracles to pieces... but if the Mad Enhancement had deprived the son of Zeus of all intelligence, his reflexes, and his fighting instinct were flawless. His muscles and nerves remembered the battles that made him a legend.
Berserker howled and struck the ground in front of him... an attack called Augeas: Ground Breaker. The street seemed to explode. Plates of asphalt tilted into a wall that stopped the salvo of Noble Phantasms.
A series of explosions of flame, the sudden formation of huge ice cubes, and lightings harrows followed. A veil of smoke enveloped the battlefield...
"Tsk!"
Gilgamesh had a pout of annoyance. Jumping sharply back, he dodged a telephone pole that Berserker had just sent him.
Yet he himself was unable to locate his opponent. Smoke and fumes drowned the street. The King of Uruk plunged his hand into a golden opening and pulled out a Chinese iron fan. It was Bā Jiāo Shàn, the famous fan that used Sun Wukong to extinguish the mountain of fire.
With a gesture of his hand, barely accentuated, Gilgamesh unleashed a hurricane, pushing away the vapors that obscured the view.
"So you can stop my attacks when you see them? Not bad... but not enough."
Gilgamesh was smiling mockingly.
Once again the golden discs appeared... but instead of forming a wall on either side of the Golden King, they materialized above and all around the mad warrior, blocking all his flight paths.
Berserker howled in frustration as the weapons vibrated in their openings before rushing to pierce it simultaneously.
"Berserker!"
Illya ran to the place where the Raging Destroyer was standing. The Servant was standing, like an oak thunderstruck but not felled. Nevertheless, the light had gone out in his eyes, he was dead... The cause of his death was obvious, the gigantic body was pierced by multiple weapons, bearing hideous wounds... however, this was not the end for the son of Zeus.
Black smoke began to welling up from the wounds and enveloped the large mutilated body. The fingers began to tremble. A moment later, the eyes began to sparkle, filled with boundless anger.
As the monster howled and a red light began to pulsate, drawing marbling patterns on his chest, a mocking laugh was heard.
One hand on the face, shoulders shook rhythmically, Gilgamesh cruelly rejoiced.
Illya clenched her little fists:
"Shut up, shut up, my Berserker is invincible. He is Heracles, the most famous hero of Greek mythology!"
Gilgamesh stopped laughing. Between his fingers, his red gaze was literally piercing Illyasviel. The Einzbern Master took a mechanical step backward.
The king of Uruk crossed his arms on his chest.
"Show me your foolish insolence! No matter how many times Berserker can come back to life, it's not unlimited, is it? And can he give me even a scratch, little girl?"
Illyasviel wanted to answer, but the presence of the Golden King completely chilled her.
"Well, the king does you the signal honor to talk to you and you don't answer? Don't worry, everything will be over soon. In my regal kindness, I would end your pathetic broken doll life."
Illyasviel stepped back and looked around for a way out. Despite the presence of Berserker at her side, for the first time, the young Master did not feel safe...
"Storch Ritter: Knight of Stork"
Illya took several of her hair and using her Magecraft, turned them into four beautiful ibis constructs, like woven moonbeams and silver threads.
The familiars started shooting prana bullets called Zähra.
But, as always, Gilgamesh resorted to the Gate of Babylon. Several gold shields materialized. These ancient divine shields were created to protect gods against True Magic spells cast by rivals from the Age of the Gods... then against a contemporary Magecraft, this was overkilling.
Even when Illya transformed her Engel Rid: Angel's Poem into their Dengen form, the silver swords bounced back without causing a scratch to the shields.
"I don't have time to play with a bad girlie. Remember? I'm here to kill your precious Berserker. Play with that!"
Gilgamesh opened his hand and a gold disc decorated in its center with a ruby came out of the Gate of Babylon. The object was floating in the air and the precious stone was moving, like an eye following a movement... the next instant a kind of laser beam came out of the ruby eye, burning the handle of the Einzbern Master.
Illya ran to shelter herself from a garbage can, pursued by the gold disk which was a kind of automated defense, capable of tracking down an enemy and attacking him. Thanks to Engel Rid: Angel's Poem, Illyasviel von Einzbern was able to defend herself, but she could no longer help Berserker.
And the Golden King seemed to think the joke had lasted long enough. While Berserker leaped to attack him again, the colossus found himself surrounded by golden openings from which the Enkidu chain emerged. As this Noble Phantasm can bind those with high divinity, in spite of its gigantic strength, the demigod Heracles was only weakly able to move.
Gilgamesh took a mocking look at the Einzbern's Master:
'Well, I could just throw Noble Phantasm to Berserker until he stops moving. But I hate the idea of defiling so many of my treasures with the blood of this... thing. Some weapons must be able to kill Berserker in one shot, don't you think?"
A Gate of Babylon opened and Gilgamesh took out an elegant bastard sword with a guard in the shape of a golden crescent moon:
"This is Gram, Sigurd's sword."
He had a cruel smile...
"And if that sword isn't enough to kill Berserker. I could try another weapon. After all, I'm the great king, the one who had everything in his hands."
She had watched the battle calmly, almost without emotion.
She was not of an expressive nature.
Although she had a human appearance, like the other homunculi, she was not like them. She was the fruit of high-level alchemy known only by the head of the Einzbern. In fact, her creation had used an Ether Clump (1) and the little that the Einzbern still included of the True Magic called Heaven Feel.
Like the Inferior Grail, she had been temporarily given a human form and personality because it had been deemed advantageous in the course of her mission. And when the time came, she would sacrifice that appearance to become the Dress of the Heaven.
But her first task was to protect Illya... it was her duty. AND much more than her duty, because Illya was the only person she cared about.
Gilgamesh instinctively responded to the thirst for a murder that he felt by a side jump. A highly ornamented white metal scythe split the air where he had stood.
He narrowly blocked a second attack. There was a violent shock and bundles of sparks illuminated the darkness.
Dressed in her white and black maid dress, Leysritt jumped forward then cleaves the ground, in a classic overhead attack.
Once again Gram blocked the attack, ejecting bundles of fluorescent prana up to several meters away.
The eyes of the king of Uruk opened with surprise as the ground sank beneath his feet... He was a Servant with a force far superior to that of a human and now a toy created by pathetic Magi was able to outperform him in terms of power?! Impossible!
In addition, Leysritt seemed to cling to Gilgamesh like glue. Swirling, bouncing, she never stopped attacking without giving him time for ripost. Leysritt's fighting techniques were self-taught, simple, primitive, and brutal... but ironically, the homunculus's lack of talent was exactly what it took to destabilize the Golden King.
Gilgamesh was a king who possessed all the riches of the world. His legend undoubtedly made him one of the most powerful Servants to be summoned. But he was a king... not a warrior.
Archer-class Servant, he fought by throwing Noble Phantasms at his enemies. Using the Gate of Babylon required a minimum distance from the opponent. Leysritt left him neither the time to resort to his arsenal nor the minimal space to make a Gate of Babylon appear (2).
So Gilgamesh was forced to fight with Gram, a very good sword but... he wasn't a Saber-class Servant.
Seeing Leysritt inviting herself into the confrontation, Illya's first reaction was simply to remain with her mouth wide open... It was really Leysritt? How could she fight Gilgamesh? Even Berserker was no match (3).
However, the young Master shook her head and focused on the present. Using one of her Ritter Scorch to keep the Autodefensor Turret at bay, Illyasviel von Einzbern turned the other three into their Degen-form and used them to attack the Chains of Heaven.
The divine chains were indestructible construction when they were attacked by another divine weapon. But the chains were (relatively) vulnerable to weapons created by mortals. The swords woven with moonbeams and silver threads managed to break several links, allowing Berserker to free himself.
The first action of the Mad Warrior was to throw himself on the Magic Turret and smash it with his Nameless Axe-Sword.
When Berserker jumped to join the fight, Gilgamesh realized he had made a mistake.
He had not put on his armor, he had not used his best Noble Phantasms from the beginning of the confrontation... he had even restrained his blows.
In plain language, the king of Uruk had underestimated his enemies.
Only one thing prevented Goldie from being struck down by humiliation.
The fact that individuals so inferior to him were able to touch him was his only fault. Of course, they could never have harmed the one and only king if Gilgamesh had fought seriously.
Gilgamesh blocked Berserker's attack but Leysritt took advantage of the opening to hit him. The blow tore him off the ground and threw him away, he hit the ground the first time, bounced... once... two must... broke a telephone pole and finally came to a stop.
But he was a Hero... that was obviously not enough to kill him. Gilgamesh got up again. Blood flowed from his forehead and his clothes were torn. The expression of anger on his face was absolutely hideous:
"Bow down mongrels, solely for my sake!"
He seized a weapon that had just appeared in the Gate of Babylon, a gigantic jagged sword, and -with an angry gesture- his arm described a horizontal arc of circle.
And the sword gave birth to a burning shockwave. Briefly, a line of burned mater appeared on all the nearby houses... then the brutally overheated concrete exploded. A hurricane of flame spread in all directions, literally disintegrating the houses and extending into the streets into a wall of volcanic heat.
It was the power of Sul-sagana: The Horizon of Dawn that Purifies the Seas, the sword of the god of war Zababa.
Seeing Berserker's burning corpse fall to the ground, scrape and blacken, Gilgamesh laughed in a haughty way:
"Between heaven and earth, there is only one king."
Then his gaze turned to the roofs. Leysritt was fleeing, holding Illya in her arms.
Several Gates of Babylon opened. However, the Noble Phantasms remained in the openings.
The expression of anger had disappeared on the face of the Golden King.
"All right, I admit I underestimated you... as compensation, I offer you royal grace. Try to stay alive until we meet again, mongrel."
The discs of golden light disappeared and Gilgamesh walked away from a royal step.
A charred individual dies.
It was something that everyone knew, nobody could survive the hurricane of flames generated by Sul-sagana.
However, Berserker had a much higher vitality than an ordinary Hero (if a Hero can be ordinary...).
Although burned alive, he crawled to the ground, extricating himself from the fire. Is Battle Continuation A-Rank skill allowed him to remain alive as long he had not received a decisive fatal wound.
Nevertheless, as his Master and his foe had distanced themselves, the demigod curled up on the ground... the wounds he had received did not allow him to remain alive much longer.
Yet death was denied him.
Coming out of the sewers, a swarm of disgusting insects enveloped Heracles, penetrating through his mouth and ears.
Berserker was one of the most beautiful pieces on the chessboard of the Holy Grail War. And a player had decided to invite himself into the game.
When Gilgamesh entered Kotomine Church, he had changed clothes for a snake-skin jacket. He also drank a potion that had healed all his wounds.
Kotomine Kirei was kneeling in front of the Cross at the end of the central aisle of the church. Hearing the door creak on its hinges, he got up and turned to smile at his accomplice.
"Ah, my king, you're back. But I don't see Matou Shinji."
An offended expression passed over the face of the Golden King.
"Hold your tongue, Kotomine! Who do you think you're talking to? I never fail."
He snapped his fingers and a Gate of Babylon appeared above a bench. With a cry of terror, Matou Shinji materialized and fell... arriving on the ground with a few bruises and in a rather shameful way.
Straightening himself awkwardly, Shinji looked at Gilgamesh with fright and then recognized Kirei:
"Kotomine... I... protect me."
The Fake Priest put a hand on his heart and bowed:
"Of course, this is my duty as Supervisor of the Holy Grail War, Master of the Matou."
Shinji stared fearfully at Gilgamesh, but the Golden King had gone to a bench and had just extracted a jug and a cup of gold from his treasure. He tasted his wine without appearing interested in the priest and his guest.
"I can't stay here? Will you protect me from the other Masters?"
"Of course, if that's what you want. I'm surprised, however, that a Master of your talent was eliminated so quickly."
Over the shoulder of the Makiri's Master, Kirei exchanged a mocking look with the Golden King. The latter put his hand in front of his mouth, giggling silently.
Poor Shinji, so easy to manipulate...
Kirei's somewhat contemptuous response threw oil on the embers of young Matou's vanity.
"It's not my fault! I got a lousy Servant."
"I see... it is, therefore, the fault of the Servant."
Shinji cut the air with an arm movement:
"Exactly."
"So you would continue to participate if you had a better Servant."
"Yes, I... if I could... I would get back at Emiya and Tohsaka... it's their fault... them and Rider!"
"I see..." Kotomine Kirei had a soft smile and spread her arms wide. "In that case, you're lucky, Matou Shinji, it just happens to be a Servant available."
"A Servant?"
"But naturally, this is the Servant I sent to save you. He is available. If you wish you can become his Master."
Shinji turned to watch Gilgamesh still drinking quietly.
"Gilgamesh is the most powerful Servant invoked in this Grail's War," said Kirei.
"If I can... I want him for Servant."
"You can, Matou Shinji."
"In that case... in that case, I accept."
Kirei smiles:
"Well, I let you conclude a pact with Gilgamesh, it's time for me to go to bed. Good night, Master Matou."
Kotomine Kirei walked through the door leading to the inner courtyard.
Lancer's mental voice resounds:
[What are you up to again, Kirei?]
The Fake Priest had a slight laugh:
[What are you complaining about? It wasn't you who offended that I had another Servant? Rejoice, Lancer, you are my only Servant now! ]
Lancer answered nothing. He shook his head thinking of Shinji. He did not like this boy, a contemptuous idiot who thought he was better than everyone else. However, he took pity on him. Cù Chulainn couldn't imagine anything worse than falling into the hands of Gilgamesh and Kirei... and he spoke from experience.
(1) Failed materialization of the Ether (combination of the four Elements) it's a conductor of magic energy and a form of the First Magic (Materializing Nothing).
(2) I don't know if you've ever paid attention to this, but a Gate of Babylon never appears directly in front of Gilgamesh.
(3) There is a trick of course. Like all homunculi, Leysritt was built with a mana reserve that allows her to live for years. And of course, she has much more energy than ordinary homunculi because she was created around an Ether Clump... When Leysritt fights, she draws on that energy. A few minutes of fighting consume as much energy as years of life. But, thank this little trick she can fight on an equal footing with a Servant... at least temporally.