Pumping this out on a Friday. I condensed this major plot-filled and action-packed arc into one longish chapter. I'm glad to see that someone's excited for Kakashi finally making his appearance in this story, lol.
Anyways, without further adieu, and because I don't really have much to put in the author's notes, please enjoy this chapter! This is good-sized crossover battle, so I hope you guys like it.
The entire outside perimeter of the beach-side property where Yamoori had built his gang's infamously hidden compound encompassed enough acres to cover a quarter of the entire size of Konoha's entirety— an impressive feat that made Tsunade and Minato feel like they were leading a raid into a castle than any sort of hideout. Just like Ryouma had predicted, Yamoori had been preparing for the day that all hell would break loose on his slice of heaven.
And unlike how Ryouma had hoped for, the majority of the servants saw them, including Oryou and himself, as invaders, and didn't hesitate to back up their respective masters in defending the first magical barrier that protected the entirety of the vast property that Yamoori owned. Had it not been for Zeke, then Tsunade's forces would have never made it past the impenetrable force-field that encompassed the prestine-ivory walls of the White Suits' stronghold.
Using his black and golden sword-staff hybrid to pierce the grass of the hill he and his army were huddle on, Merlin casted his noble phantasm, 'Garden of Avalon', and summoned an white-majestic castle-like tower that elevated him high above the walls of Yamoori's base. While Modred and Oryou were summoning magical barriers to cover him and the rest of their numbers the best they could, Ryouma was running up the wall of Merlin's tower— sniping the hundreds of white suits gang members who were taking out Tsunade's ninjas, one-by-one with his six-shooter.
And despite everything that was fired at the tower, including a powerful blast of chakra that caused Ryouma to lose his footing and fall down toward the protective arms of his dragon maiden below, Merlin's tower, erected from the Throne itself, proved itself indestructible, and allowed for him to bloom an ocean of beautiful-white flowers that grow over the grass and cobblestone fortress alike— absorbing all the mana within the area, and nullifying the magical barrier.
Once the fortress' defenses were done, Tsunade roared for Eren and for Zeke to launch their counterattack, before retreating back to help her medical-nin attend the wounds of those who had survived the onslaught of projectiles from the white suits on top of the fifty-meter tall wall. Together, the two brothers used their 3D-maneuver gear to sling themselves up and over the wall— biting down on their thumb once they were over their enemies.
In a flash of two lightning bolts that launched upward into the atmosphere, Eren and Zeke had transformed into into the 'Rogue Titan' and the 'Beast Titan', and their combined weight as they came falling down on those who were still trying to flee on top of the fifty-meter tall wall was enough to send it crumbling down like fallen building blocks. Once they landed and fell through the fifty-meter's worth of bricks and steel, Eren and Zeke were immediately targeted and forced to take the brunt of the white suits' fury.
Enough that their bodies were heavily fortified and could tank damage that not even a servant could handle, the fact that they survived for as long as they did was nothing short of a miracle. But even so, Eren and Zeke were soon forced to be pulled out of their mutilated and burning Titan forms, after pasting approximately twelve seconds of direct fire from white suit ninjas and their servants alike.
Coming to Eren's rescue were Modred and Mikasa, whose agility as they dodged and deflected all their enemies' fire were only rivaled by Minato, who decided to use his flying thunder god technique to clear a path straight through the enemy's defenses— vaporizing any servant and white suit who got caught in his crossfires. Wanting to take the pressure off of Tsunade's army, Minato continued to paint a target on his back, as he teleported repeatedly throughout the hideout's grounds— forcing the most agile of the servants to direct their focus on him.
And while Minato was being forced to take on thirty servants at once, all of which were able to get in a few knicks before he inevitably out maneuvered each of them, Levi made it clear to all those around him why he had earned the title 'Humanity's Strongest Soldier'. Faster than light, fast enough that not even the majority of the white suits' servants sixth sense were able to predict where he was going to land, Levi used his twin electable blades to hack-and-slash through their numbers— cutting the heads of servants and their masters faster than the concept of future-prediction could fathom.
Moving faster than time itself, Levi met his match when he clashed blades with the immortal servant who was capable of phasing out of existence, and who kept respawning after her life was taken: Taira-No-Kagekiyo. With Levi preoccupied with keeping the unkillable servant at bay, Kakashi had just finished pulling Zeke back to safety near Merlin's Garden of Avalon, which was being used as a triage area for the medical-nin to heal the injured.
Battling with Sasuke by his side, it gave Kakashi a sense of nostalgia as they used their chidori to cut down their nearly endless wave of opponents together— reminding Kakashi of the pride and protective-instinct he felt, back when he was an instructor for Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Throwing their kunais and showing off their skills with paper bombs, and all the other tools that Kakashi had taught Sasuke to use, when it came time for his matured student to use his most devestating attack, both of them were stunned by how powerful his 'Ameratsu' technique had gotten.
Unlike before, the flames were no longer black, but instead burned brilliantly as if Sasuke had manifested the sun itself. In groups, the white suits and their servants who weren't prepared for Sasuke's new Ameratsu were instantly atomized into particles of plasma that fizzled out within less than a microsecond— the frenzied flames seemed holy and ethereal, and radiated with comfort, as if though there was a deity behind Sasuke, each time he used his eye to turn his opponents into pure light.
However, Sasuke's chakra hadn't been prepared for how much of a toll his new Ameratsu would have on it, and after using it for seven times, he had collapsed onto one knee— leaving himself completely vulnerable for him to be shot by a blond cowboy-servant, who would have killed Sasuke, had it not been for Kakashi using his body to protect his student.
With six magical bullets landing inside of him, the only way Kakashi was able to survive the projectiles bursting inside of him was thanks to a brave young medical nin who rushed over to heal him. Unfortunately, neither Kakashi or Sasuke were able to protect the medical nin from getting his head blown clean off. Before the sharp-shooting servant named 'Billy the Kid' could fire his next shot at the back of Kakashi's head, Merlin created a magical barrier behind them— causing Billy the Kid's bullets to deflect straight back at him.
While Merlin's last-minute spell wasn't enough to cause any fatal wounds upon Billy the Kid, it was enough for him to become the blond servant's main target— giving Kakashi time to carry Sasuke out of the line of fire, as the two powerful servants battled it out amongst the chaos. Feeling frustrated at himself for being unable to help the men and women who were being overwhelmed by the surrounding white suits, Kakashi cursed as he made his way back to the Garden of Avalon, where he handed Sasuke's unconscious body over to Ino Yamanaka— all of them flinching and looking back, as a pillar of fire sprouted from where the active battlefield was taking place.
Annie Leonhart, the blond stoic woman who was put in charge of assisting with protecting Eren, used her crystalized wings to block him and Mikasa, as Modred summoned the night of her Clarent blade to create another massive pillar of fire into the sky, before slamming it down upon those unfortunate enough to be vaporized by her powerful magic. Providing Eren and Mikasa cover fire by firing an near endless flurry of crystal-projectiles into the many, many servants and white suits surrounding them, Annie felt her heart racing as she spotted none other than the very servant who mutilated her insides.
Jack the Ripper, the scarred and stitched-up loli made up of the amalgamation of souls of aborted fetuses, was moving faster than Annie ever seen before— ripping and gutting out the white suits around her, targeting them in order to cut the ties between them and their servants. Once Jack the Ripper had cleared the immediate area around them, Annie, Mikasa, and Eren watched with shock in their eyes as they witnessed the deranged and murderous loli escorting none other than the missing daughter of the ramen chef, Ayame, back towards the safety of the garden.
Not even the fabric of reality surrounding the dead universe was spared of the universe-busting spells and jujutsus being used against the opposing forces. Tears into the fabric were creating black streaks across the sky and around the battlefield— exposing the black void and the endless balls of light that represented the infinite worlds of the multiverse through their tears. The largest tear measured up into becoming nearly fifty kilometers tall, as a colossal tear above the stronghold opened up when Christopher Columbus himself anchored his magical vessel into Yamoori's mutilated corpse of a universe: the spirit of the Santa Maria herself.
Having the air-superiority over Tsunade's army, Christopher Columbusc and the souls of those who he enslaved into an eternal afterlife of servitude, began to bombard the battlefield with of magicka-infused projectiles— exploding ninjas and white suits alike, as the Santa Maria's crew destroyed the parts of the invaded stronghold, along with various fabrics of the universe as well.
With Kagekiyo's hidden master being unintentionally blown to smithereens, Levi was able to join the rest of his scouts in invading the Santa Maria— their anchors laughing upwards and hooking on to its golden and luxurious haul, before all of those who were equipped with the 3D-maneuver gear boarded the ship to begin battling Christopher Columbus and his enslaved crew. From there, Levi was able to dodge the buckshots of Christopher's musket, and was clashing blades with the servant himself— getting shot by the underhanded servant's side-flintlock, just before slicing the captain's head into two pieces.
Without Christopher Columbus there, with his eternal soul being dragged back to the Throne to wallow in his failure, the flying ship made out of gold and all sorts of precious jewelry was unable to maintain its inter-dimensional flight, and titled forward until it was descending down upon the tower surrounded by the Garden of Avalon. Abandoning the ship as the souls of the ascending crew of the Santa Maria thanked the scouts for freeing them, Levi was escorted by Annie, while Mikasa made sure to keep Eren safe in her arms as they anchored themselves to the towering roofs of Yamoori's burning fortress.
With the shadow of the meteor-sized ship defending down upon them, engulfed in a blazing fire as it came crashing down toward them, all the medical nin, including Ino and Sasuke, were attempting to carry the wounded away from their sanctuary. But then, that was when a pillar of holy light erupted from where Minato was, the word 'Excalibur' echoing from the distance, as the massive blade of magicka light atomized the Santa Maria in a blaze of glory— leaving behind only sparkling light that descended down upon Tsunade's medical nin, and their patients who all of them were willing to die protecting.
With the assistance of their unknown savior having just saved their only lifeline, Tsunade watched with inspiring hope welling up inside of her, as she stood at the foot of the garden where she was able to watch as Eren and Zeke flashed back into their titan forms. With the tides of war going in her favor, Tsunade handed her authority over to Kakashi— instructing him to protect the injured and medical nin, as she ventured into the madness to find the man who ruined her life.
High above the rest of the fortress, on the other side of the city-sized stronghold that he called his sanctuary, Yamoori stood with his hands held behind his back and his back turned toward the opened doors of his arena-sized observatory— standing beside the magical super-telescope that appeared archaic in its gold-plate and gear-based appearance. Reaching up while stroking the eyepiece of his golden treasure, Yamoori turned his head over his shoulder to stare stoically at Minato, who stood far away from the dangerous leader of the White Suits.
"It's over, Yamoori! Your life of evading the consequences of your vile acts ends here, right now!" Minato shouted hatefully, as he felt his blood boiling from the crimson eyes of the eight-foot muscular man alone. "Call off your men, and stand down! There's no point in throwing their lives in exchange for yours! No one else has to die but you!"
Continuing to brush his hand across the golden eyepiece, Yamoori remained silent for a brief period of time, before finally letting out a humorless chuckle as he turned his head forward, and away from Minato. "… You're absolutely correct, Namikaze: There is no point… In anything, really," Yamoori said with a somber voice, as he finally lowered his massive hand down to his side— his chin lifted upwards to view the opening arches along the marble walls of his giant observatory. "Do you honestly believe that this is a victory for you? A man, who's seen just how vast the multiverse is… Who's failed time-after-time again; letting those who believed in him endlessly down… This entire universe is a testament to your limitless failures, Namikaze, but I'm sure you never told that to your friends and loved ones."
With the cynical words of Yamoori getting underneath his skin, Minato growled and bared his teeth at the blond monster— his fingers tightening around the handle of his iconic sai-like kunai. "What the hell would you know about 'loved-ones'?! Your father was a piece of shit who died like a coward! Just like how you're going to die here, you PSYCHOPATH!" Minato screamed at the top of his lungs, trying his best to hold himself back as he knew exactly what Yamoori was trying to do.
Finding Minato's anger to be mildly amusing, Yamoori's wide lips curled into a smirk as he let out a throaty chuckle. "You cast judgment upon me, acting all-so high and mighty, when you and I both know that my body-count is dwarfed by the lives you and Madara racked up together during your last encounter with him," Yamoori pointed out smugly, as he slowly turned around to smiled tauntingly at the visibly shaking man before him. "You chose to have Madara and Gilgamesh chase after you which each leap through the multiverse you took… So, why was it that you knowingly sacrificed the trillions-upon-trillions of lives you knew were going to be wiped out by him? I'll tell you why…"
"… It's because you're a selfish-coward, Minato; you're as much of a monster as you claim me to be," Yamoori said bitterly with his own judgemental look, as he watched as Minato took a step closer to him. "That man, the one who cherished the lives and safety of others? Hmm… He died long ago, Minato… You've been pretending to be him for decades, and yet… Here you are, sacrificing others for your own vendetta. Why? Because you've seen them die again-and-again— it doesn't phase you anymore…"
"… You know just as well as I do, that none of this matters in the grand scheme of everything. There will always be a reality where you kill me, and I kill you, and where Madara achieves his victory, and where he's defeated… This doesn't matter… You don't matter… I don't matter…" Yamoori said with a melancholy voice, and remained silent as he and Minato locked eyes with one another, before he finally let out a nihilistic sigh, as he ripped his white blazer and shirt off in one motion.
"… Let's just get this over with," Yamoori said bitterly, as his entire body became engulfed in a burning-golden fire that temporarily disoriented Minato. "... Six-Paths Mode," Yamoori announced unenthusiastically, as his eyes became burning red-orbs, and his golden-skin became etched with black-markings. Unveiling massive black-tendrils that erupted from his shoulder blades that took the form of unholy-demonic wings, Yamoori launched a flurry of truth-seeking balls that destroyed the entire ground underneath— creating a debris of dust beneath Minato's feet, as the blond ninja teleported out of the way in time to avoid being turned to dust.
Constantly having to teleport out of the way to outpace the millions of truth-seeking orbs that were homing in on him, Minato launched a volley of lightning-bolts from his chidori— creating an opening for him through the sea of deadly projectiles that he used to teleport through. Using his chakra to endow himself through sage mode, Minato was able to activate a pseudo 'Bijuu-Mode' to keep up with Yamoori's modified 'Six-Paths' mode.
With both of them being kept alive through their massive amounts of chakra reserves, Minato was able to use his affinity over wind and fire to create his own solar-flares that he used to fly above orbit of the abandoned planet below— the moon absent in that false paradise, as Minato dodged the blast of golden chakra being fired at him by Yamoori.
Using his own chakra-absorbing wings to take flight, Yamoori continued to summon truth-seeking orbs to home in on Minato, who in turn was able to use his natural chakra attacks to destroy each and everyone of them that got too close to him during their space-bound battle. Through the power of the six-paths, Yamoori was able to manipulate Jupiter's gravity, and from there he took aim while flying circles around Minato.
Redirecting asteroids from the meteor belt between Mars and Jupiter, Yamoori sent a flurry of space-rocks down not only at Minato, but the planet that housed his fallen fortress. Knowing exactly what was going to happen, Yamoori dodged the flurry of burning rasengans that Minato launched at him as he gazed upon the split-second of where the Hokage's servant manifested to use her infinite-sword to instantly annihilate the meteors, before they had a chance to reach the planet.
Smiling with a look of clarity in his crimson eyes, Yamoori chuckled softly as he watched the knightley servant soaring toward him with her famous sword held tightly in her gauntlets— her ceremoniously armored blue-dress radiating with holy light, as hee emerald green eyes were narrowed onto his. "Huh… I knew it… I fuckin' knew it all along," Yamoori muttered triumphantly, before being blitzed by the very woman who was responsible for defeating Madara and Gilgamesh; something that Yamoori always had a feeling that Minato himself was incapable of doing himself.
Faster than Yamoori's 'Six Paths' mode that he learned through the combined help of Kira and Madara themselves, Artoria Pendragon, the grand servant that Minato summoned in exchanged for his very soul, slashed apart her opponent's black-wings— breaking through his only means of defense without a scratch on her, as she teleported over him with her glowing sword raised above her shoulders.
"EXCALIBUR!!!" Artoria roared out at the cathartic man, before aiming the tip of his sword directly at his center mass— hitting him at a point-blank range, just like how she had done with Madara, over twenty years ago. Blowing apart all of his powerful defenses that Minato couldn't have hoped to penetrate himself, Arthoria rammed Excalibur's blade straight through Yamoori's abdomen as she continued to tear his very soul apart, as she and him entered back through Earth's atmosphere.
Striking the planet like a devastating meteorite, the only thing keeping Tsunade's remaining army alive were the combined efforts of Merlin, Modred, and Oryou, who together formed a protective barrier around the Garden of Avalon— where those who were able to reach its safety survived, while those who were unfortunate to be caught in Artoria's noble phantasm were obliterated along with the rest of the mutilated fabrics of that universe's existence.
Once the dirt, rocks, and molten lava had cleared up from the sky, Tsunade, along with the rest of her exhausted soldiers stood around the flowery garden below the base of Merlin's tower, as their entire bubble-barrier around their area was the only thing keeping them from falling endless into the void that encompassed the vast and endless star-like universe that they all saw surrounding them in every direction.
Having planted the final nail into the coffin that was Yamoori's dream, Minato hovered above where his defeated opponent and him were floating in the vast nothingness— Artoria Pendragon hovering on top of Yamoori's body, as she pulled her blade out of his stomach. Watching as the knight who defeated him vanished back into Minato's sold-soul, Yamoori lifted his chin and paid no mind to the blood pouring down his chin, and instead used the last of his dwindling strength to sneer at the somber expression within Minato's hateful stare.
"Heh, haha, ahhh… You don't know how fucking hilarious it is, knowing that you're just as fucked as I am… Haha, heh," Yamoori chuckled in a deep voice, as his skin began to grow even pailer than it was— his eyes lighting up as he looked past Minato's shoulder. "Heh… I guess Kira's backstabbing ritual actually worked… Welcome to the Holy Grail war, Namikaze… Make sure to say hello to Madara for me, before you and I go to hell," Yamoori choked out, before taking his last breath as his corpse floated endlessly through the vast nothingness of the void around them.
Before Minato could realize what Yamoori had meant, the blond hokage's eyes shot wide open as he felt something cold piercing through his chest from behind him. Hearing Yamoori's dying laughter, Minato's body violently shook as he forced himself to look over his shoulder. There, looking back at him were the cold Rinne Sharigan eyes of Madara, who had been responsible for piercing the blade of a sword straight through where his heart was.
"… I could have saved you. Could have saved everyone," Madara said with nothing but resentment and hatred toward the blond man, before pulling the blade of his sword out of the shadow clone's chest, just in time to parry the real Minato's kunai. Glaring through narrowed eyelids, Madara locked eyes with Minato as they locked their blades against one another. "But no… You chose to perpetuate mankind's ongoing need to forever spill the blood of the innocent… And for what?"
"M-Madara…! I'm going to send you straight back to hell, where you belong…!" Minato spat out through his greeted teeth, as he and Madara both prepared to summon their servants to battle one another. "I did it once, and I'll do it again…!"
"Hmmm… You got lucky once, Minato— don't mistake that for power," Madara said in a cold voice, as he and Minato's bodies began to emit a bright aura that grew from them like righteous flames of gold. "Bring your servant out… Give me the pleasure of dishonoring you, and your summoned knight!"
Reaching his knee up to kick Minato away from him, Madara predicted exactly where his opponent was going to teleport, and immediately put his guard up as he summoned his servants. Summoning Gilgamesh infront if him, Madara kept his eyes focused on Minato's as Artoria clashed Excalibur's blade against the night of Ea.
With both knowing how interfering with a one-on-one servant battle would often result in causing more harm to oneself than good, Madara and Minato stood back and braced themselves as Artoria and Gilgamesh fought furiously before them. Crossing his arms over his chest, Madara remained stoned face after getting a cut straight through his shoulder, after Artoria managed to parry Ea, before plunging her sword straight through Gilgamesh's golden pauldron.
The trick with going up against servants as strong as theirs, as Minato found out before Madara could do on his own, was to outlast one's opponent as long as they could— whether that means transferring their chakra to heal or empower their own servant, or use their chakra to heal themselves first, since most servants were capable of self-regeneration. Floating there in the vast empty void, the fact that both Minato and Madara, along with their battling servants, meant that their fight was more so mental than physical— as each of them would have to outsmart one another, such as when Gilgamesh broke Minato's left knee when Madara conveyed to him to kick Artoria, after blocking her horizontal slash.
A part of that dance, so to speak, was being able to maintain focus, and overcome the pain of receiving transferred damage that a servant would normally be able to shrug off, while their master would be more sensitive to that damage, like how Gilgamesh was able to brush off getting his left arm momentarily severed, while Madara, despite his own feats, seemed to flinched as his own arm was cut clean off.
Grabbing his severed limb and pressing its bloodied stump against his open wound, Madara healed himself while gritting his teeth at Minato, who was in the midst of holding the gash across his throat closed, after Gilgamesh had managed to knick Artoria's jugular with Ea's blade. Growing impatient with the fact that Artoria and Gilgamesh were considerably on equal footing when it came to combat, Madara used his jujutsu to summon the might of his Perfect Susano'o— and powerful form that had led to his demise once, back when it made him a big-enough target for Artoria to obliterate him and his phantasmic outer body, when she used Excalibur on him.
Rather than trying to use his Perfect Susano'o to go past the protective barrier Gilgamesh was creating for him, as Madara himself knew it would have been suicide to try and attack Minato directly with how close Artoria was to her master, the legendary warrior instead used his massive-glowing from to momentarily distract his opponents. Creating a diversion for his servant, Gilgamesh called upon his own servant to directly blindside Minato: Enkidu, a genderless golem who took the form of an androgynous young teenager with beautiful pale skin, long flowing green hair and alluring emerald eyes, who was just as capable of fighting as Gilgamesh himself was.
Knowing fully well that he wasn't a match for two servants who were directly targeting him alongside Madara, Minato recalled Artoria back to his side. Summoning a magical barrier between where Minato and her were going to teleport, and where Endiku was manifesting a volley of golden-magical projectiles from the 'Gates of Babylon' that Gilgamesh manifested in front of them, Artoria was able to block the green-haired servant's bullet-hell attack.
"SABER!!! You conniving MONGREL! You think you're capable of defeating the 'King Of Heroes', now that I know who your master is?!" Gilgamesh taunted with his red-gaze fixated on the blond woman who he was flying towards. "There's three of us, and two of you… Not even the 'King of the Round Table' has any hope of defeating Enkidu and I!" Gilgamesh shouted triumphantly, as he swung Ea's blade horizontally down on Artoria, who had no other choice but to back away and protect Minato once again from Enkidu, who was specifically targeting her master with his devastating projectiles.
"G-Gilgamesh!" Artoria spat out with an intense look of righteous anger in her green eyes, as she immediately tried to make a beeline straight for where Madara was heading towards Minato, only to once again be forced to retreat after both Gilgamesh and Enkidu ganged up on her.
Once Artoria was locking blades with Gilgamesh, he immediately turned his head over his golden pauldron to stare cockily at his green-haired companion. "Enkidu, I alone shall be the one to send Saber back to the Throne! Assist Madara— I'll call upon you if I need to."
Having grown used to just how arrogant and overconfident Gilgamesh was capable of being, Enkidu knew better than to argue with the so-called 'King of Heroes', and merely rolled their green eyes before saying, "As you wish," before flying through the void to make their way back to Madara's side.
Seeing what was practically his second servant returning to aid him, Madara kept his eyes fixated on where Minato was floating behind Artoria. Using his 'Storm Release: Lightning Fang' to fire a beam of energy straight towards the hundreds of encompassing burning-lightning bolts that Minato had tried shooting back at him, Madara had Enkidu create a blossoming forest that took on the shape of a large moon above them. With a new territory created for him to use his 'Deep Forest Bloom' to summon colossal wooden roots out of Endiku's newly created floral-moon.
Although Madara knew that the Deep Forest Bloom wouldn't be able to quite effective against an opponent who was as fast as Minato, and within the endless-space environment they were occupying, the legendary Uchiha clan member utilized his massive roots to begin firing billions of wooden-projectiles directly towards both Artoria and Minato— forcing the two to be back on the move.
Pursing Minato with Gilgamesh hot on Artoria's tail, Madara and Endiku flew through the endless abyss of the void— crossing in between the spaces of their clustered sister-universes, as Madara summoned nine truth seeking orbs to encircle him. Having had much practice with perfecting his craft while spending twenty years underneath Gilgamesh's thumb, Madara developed a way to endow his orbs with the power of his lightning fang release— giving them a funnel-shape appearance, which soared ahead of him as he had them home in on Minato.
Rather than directly trying to land a blow by making contact with Minato, Madara had his nine truth seeking orbs circling around the radius of his opponent— each one moving sporadically, while maintaining their distance to dodge Minato and Artoria's attempts at destroying them. Madara's 'funnels' instead fired beams of plasmic-energy towards the direct path of where Minato was going to fly across— forcing Minato and Artoria to dedicate their mobility to focusing on finally destroying the funnels.
"You're mine! MINATO!!!" Madara shouted furiously from the top of his lungs, as he had both Gilgamesh and Enkidu keep Artoria busy, as he soared past the three servants and straight for his nemesis. Sacrificing his sword to disarm Minato, by locking his blade between the prong of the blond shinobi's kunai and tossing both their swords into the endless abyss, Madara rushed forward and delivered blow-after-blow of punches— striking Minato's chest, where he had him stunned locked each time his powerful fist landed against his broken ribs.
With Minato's injuries transferring to Artoria, both he and she were getting their bodies pierced by Gilgamesh's blade and Endiku's golden projectiles— furthering Minato's own bodily damages, as his blood from his opened wounds was getting splattered out of him each time Madara landed a devastating blow on him.
"You've fled from your destined defeat for long enough…" Madara spoke under his breath, as he delivered a powerful round-house kick that sent Minato spiraling out into the vast-void. Racing toward where he had launched the critically-injured Hokage, Madara soared through the infinite cosmos with a raging ball of lightning emitting from his right cock-backed hand— his black eyes glowing crimson, as he zeroed in on his target.
"… Minato Namikaze, DIE!!!" Madara roared in the form of a battle cry, as the illuminating blue-light of his chidori drew closer toward the bloodied blond man, who used the last of his remaining chakra to cast the flying thunder god technique one last time— transporting him and Artoria through the void and away from Madara and his two servants, after having successfully led them away from where Tsunade's remaining forces were huddled up around the Garden of Avalon.
Aggravated and frustrated that he had used up all of his remaining chakra in that last attack for nothing, especially since he was still recovering after having been imprisoned within the Throne for so long, Madara floated in the cold-black abyss— heaving and coughing, covered in cuts and injuries similar to Minato, as Gilgamesh and Enkidu located him.
Floating behind him with his arms crossed over the golden breastplate of his suit of armor, Gilgamesh narrowed his crimson eyes at the back of Madara's head— his armored fingers tightening around his golden-plated forearms, as Enkidu floated by his side. "You… WORTHLESS Mongrel! You let him get away? How, he was right there?!" Gilgamesh barked angrily with his teeth gnarled, while Enkidu once again felt the need to be the voice of reason.
"Do not lose your temper, my King. You must forgive him, for Madara hasn't recovered yet— resurrection is never easy for mortals, as it is for our kind," Enkidu said in a calm and feminine voice— his arms outstretched toward Gilgamesh's body, as to signal for the blond servant to stand down.
Having always had a soft side for the green haired golem, it didn't take long for Gilgamesh, as arrogant and hot headed as he was, to drop his shoulders when he finally calmed down. "… What you say is true, my dear friend… Forgive my outburst, Madara, for I… I too have been dishonored by those two, and… And may have forgotten that you're still in the midst of regaining your full strength," Gilgamesh apologized with a still bothered look in her crimson eyes, as he and Enkidu watched as Madara slowly turned around to face them.
"I can sense where his location is… As well as Saber's… They're with other servants, as well as what I can sense to be humans who carry chakra within their souls… Perhaps you know them," Enkidu mused, before asking, "Shall Gilgamesh and I pursue them?"
Shaking his head while trying to cover his slowly-healing deep-gashes along his chest with his hands, Madara dismissed the idea before explaining, "I can't afford to jeopardize losing you two… As powerful as you two are, the pursuit of vengeance isn't worth risking your lives for."
Nodding their head softly before flying toward Madara to raise their healing hands over the legendary shinobi's wounds to help speed up the process of recovery, Enkidu nodded his head in response. "Very well… In any case, the 'Holy Grail' has spawned, and… Well… Never before can I think of a time where I've heard of the ritual ever being completed within the cold-vacuum of the void itself," Enkidu said with an overwhelmed look on his green eyes, as he looked over shoulder to gaze upon the infinite amount of universes clusters in bunches— all of which were connected to the Throne itself by the golden roots in which they sprouted.
Agreeing with how hopeless their situation seemed at the moment, Gilgamesh nodded his head and placed his fists on his hips. "… While patience might be a virtue, I refuse to go to universe-after-universe, exploring each of their dimensions and collective celestial bodies, as we go blindly looking for whatever vassal the Holy Grail chose to manifest itself into this time.
Not wanting to hear about how neither of his servants wanted to dedicate themselves into an endless search that Madara himself never planned on pursuing without preparation, the legendary shinobi quietly thanked Enkidu once all of his wounds had been mended, before looking back up to meet Gilgamesh's curious-expression. "We've got nothing but time, and endless possibilities at her fingertips… This mission isn't one that we three alone can accomplish… We're going to need to recruit allies, in order to search for where the Holy Grail is… With that being said, if any of you two can recommend a universe in which we can establish the necessary means to build our haven to house our future army, now would be the time to speak up."
Being the most experienced with traveling through the multiverse, Gilgamesh felt Endiku and Madara's eyes staring at him expectantly— stroking his inflated ego to the point where he was cracking a cocky smirk across his lips. "Heh… Of course your King knows where to begin our conquest! And if we're going to make haste, we might as well do it in style," Gilgamesh said with a knowing look that he exchanged with a sly smirk plastered across Enkidu's face.
Unaware at what the two of them were hinting at, Madara closed his eyelids half way with a mildly annoyed expression. "… What? What, am I missing something of importance here? Because I'm feeling like there's some much-needed context here that I'm not getting from… W-Whatever it is that you two are doing right now," Madara said with a deadpan tone in his voice, as he rolled his extended wrist out toward their direction.
Chuckling confidently, Gilgamesh crossed his arms over his chest once again as he faced toward where Madara was staring back at him with a perplexed look in his eyes. "I speak of course of my flying contraption, of course! Brace yourself Madara, for I know how technologically backwards you and your people are— the speeds of my technological wonder have surpassed that in which the 'so-called' laws of physics allow!" Gilgamesh boasted with an excited look on his eye, before turning around to point a powerful finger toward his androgynous companion. "Enkidu, my beloved friend! Open the gates: Show Madara the wonder that is 'Vimana: Throne of the Heaven-soaring King'!"
"Of course my King," Enkidu said with a wide-smile across his beautiful face, as he extended his petite arms out toward the empty void behind him— creating a wormhole that opened up Gilgamesh's personal dimension. Using his magicka to pull forth a twenty-meter spacecraft made out of gold and emerald wings, Enkidu joined Gilgamesh, as they leaned back while extending their arms out to proudly show off their high-tech alien spacecraft.
"Fueled by solar crystal, rutilated quartz crystals, that burns mercury as fuel too, the 'Vimana' travels at the speed of thought, meaning that all I have to do is think about where I want to go, and we'll be there within that instant!" Gilgamesh gloated, before leaning closer toward the golden haul of his relatively small craft— his elbow pressing up against it, as he awaited for Madara to applaud his toy. "Are you not impressed?!"
Resting his propped up elbow on his other arm that was held horizontally up against his red breast armor, Madara's eyed the shining emerald wings, and the durable and near indestructible haul of the golden flying contraption, before finally raising his gaze over to where the opened 'cockpit' of the ship rested on top of it— toward where the ball thrusters were.
"… Yes, while the feats you claim for his vessel to possess do sound extraordinarily spectacular when spoken, I… I can't help but notice that your ship, the 'Vimana' was it?" Madara said with an unsure tone in his voice, to which Enkidu silently nodded to assure him that he got the name correct. "Yes, well, tell me what use is a ship, if there's only ONE seat?" Madara asked with an unimpressed look in his eye, as he pointed a finger up at the single throne on top of the ship— where he got to watch as Gilgamesh took his seat down upon the ship's throne, before Enkidu shamelessly climbed on top of his lap.
With Enkidu straddling his hips with their petite legs and wrapping his arms affectionately around his body, Gilgamesh looked back down at the look of shock on Madara's face— the blond servant appearing as though nothing was out of the ordinary, as he and Enkidu's groins were pressed up against one another. "Hmmm… You make a valid point… Here, Enkidu, open the gates for Madara— he can reside in Babylon, until we land in a universe where I can get a larger, and equally exquisite, vessel to carry more than just myself."
"Of course Gil, anything for you," Enkidu said softly— resting their chin on top of Gilgamesh's armored collar, before raising their wrist up to half-heartedly open a portal into the King-of-Heroes' pocket dimension.
Looking away just in time to avoid having to watch as Enkidu began to blush as Gilgamesh leaned into their ear to whisper what Madara could only guess were sweet-nothings, the legendary shinobi tried to keep himself preoccupied by plotting a viable strategy for their next course of action— taking refuge in the replica of Gilgamesh's ancient city through the closed gates of Babylon, and leaving just in time to avoid seeing the two getting more handsy with one another.
Surrounded by those who were either silently awaiting orders, or trying to remain quiet as they mourned the loss of those who had died during their seemingly unceremonious victory, Minato sat down within the Garden of Avalon— his back pressed up against Merlin's ivory tower, as Tsunade stood above him with a conflicted look of anger and disappointment on her face.
"… So, were you just… Not going to tell anyone, or, what, Minato? Because… B-Because, just WHY?! Why didn't you tell any of us that you sold your damn soul?!," Tsunade demanded, with a conflicted feeling in her heart. On one hand, she was glad that Yamoori had died, alongside the rest of his despicable followers, and was grateful to have Minato there to save those who he could. But on the other hand, she had lost more than sixty-percent of the men and women she had promised to protect, and on top of that, the truth that Madara had come back only felt worse, now that she knew that Minato had sold his soul for a servant.
Unable to look up to make eye contact with the woman who had always treated him like a son, Minato's blue eyes were fixated on the beautiful white flowers that surrounded his black boots— their glorious and glowing petals distracting him from all the guilt that was weighing on his heart. "… No. No, I… I didn't want to burden any of you with that knowledge… It… It was the only way that I could have won," Minato said quietly, as tightened his fingers around the handfuls of flowers that he was absent mindfully grabbing at.
Tsunade wanted to scream at him, to call him a fool-hearted idiot for going back on everything that Ninsū taught. Minato had guaranteed that he wouldn't ever be reunited with his loved ones, and essentially existed on borrowed time that his servant expected to be paid upon his demise. Frustrated, but knowing deep down in her heart that she would have done the same thing if she had been in Minato's shoes all those years ago, Tsunade threw her hands in the air and screamed angrily, before stomping over to where Artoria was standing beside her daughter, Modred, and her mentor, Merlin.
"Give it back… Give him his goddamn soul back, NOW!!!" Tsunade shouted defiantly, as she reached over to grab a hold of Artoria's blue dress— which immediately cause Modred to react by shoving the legendary kunoichi backwards, and causing Tsunade to fall on her ass on top of a patch of white flowers.
Looking as though she was fully prepared to throw down with the mature woman, Modred was immediately reprimanded by Merlin, who jerked her back by pulling on her large-silver pauldrons. Just as Modred turned around to confront Merlin for grabbing her, Artoria grabbed her helmet and yanked it off before immediately smacking her daughter across the face— unintentionally knocking Eren out, who fell backwards and into Mikasa's arms.
"Modred, stand down— you will NOT put your hands on this lady again, do I make myself clear?!" Artoria shouted with a furious tone in her voice, as she leaned forward with her teeth bared at Mordred, to express just how pissed off she was.
While Modred had suffered worse forms of punishment, especially from the woman who she called her 'father', she felt more embarrassed than hurt by Artoria leaving a red-hand print across her cheek. "… I was only defending your honor—"
"— You disobedient child! I don't need you to fight my battles for me! Hold your tongue and remain where you are— you and I are going to have a talk, once we're back to Konoha," Artoria said with a scowl, and continued to stare down her daughter until Modred finally lowered her head, and did what was instructed of her.
"… Yes, father," Modred said in a servile voice, and took a few more steps back as Merlin knelt down to pick up her helmet, before handing it back to her as Artoria turned her attention toward where Tsunade was still sitting bitterly on the bed of white flowers.
Kneeling down on one knee to get on Tsunade's eye level, Artoria expressed sorrow and empathy within her emerald gaze, as she stared deeply into the heated-woman's teary gaze. "… I understand what you're feeling… I've spoken with the wives and family members of other nobel souls who've made the ultimate sacrifice, in order to protect those that they love… My Lady, it pains me to inform you that I… I don't have any control of the accord that Minato and the Throne made," Artoria explained with as much patience as she could give to Tsunade, who immediately spat on her face.
"B-Bullshit… T-That's a bullshit answer…!" Tsunade muttered angrily with nothing but resentment for the knight in her eyes. Fueled by the stress caused by the panic attack that was tethering ever so closer to her aching mind, Tsunade violently shook with rage and sadness, as she watched Artoria calmly use her own blue skirt to wipe away the spit on her face. "Y-You can't do to him… N-No… N-No. No, t-there has to be a way to undo whatever bullshit ritual he did! There just has to be…! R-Right…?"
Seeing Tsunade's eyes soften and her lip beginning to quiver as an intense wave of misery and devastation washed over her very being, Artoria gave the heartbroken woman a long-silent stare, before softly closing her eyelids and exhaling through her nostrils. "… I'm sorry. Know that… That he'll be amongst other nobel souls, each of them eternally knighted underneath…" Artoria trailed off into a low mumble, as she opened her eyes to gaze up at the sobbing woman before her.
Hunching forward as she felt the agonizing pain in her heart, as if though she was losing Nawaki all over again, Tsunade's face contorted into that of a mother who just learned of her only child's death. Unable to make any audible noise, Tsunade's red-face was contorted into that of despair, as she couldn't take in a breath deep enough to scream as she wallowed in misery within the field of beautiful white flowers.
Still in shock, along with everyone who knew Minato personally, Kakashi remained frozen where he stood as he watched the blond shinobi getting up from where his back had been resting against the side of Merlin's tower. Despite his injuries and the immense amount of pain that he was in, Minato still dragged his unresponsive left leg behind him until he was able to shakingly reach down to cover Tsunade with what was left of his iconic white overcoat.
Making sure that to the woman who he loved liked a mother was kept warm with his white coat, Minato's legs violently trembled as he got down beside her to wrap his only good arm up to pull her shaking body next to his— resting her crying head on his shoulder, as he continued to stare down at all the beautiful white flowers beneath them.