The walls have been breached, and now there is only slaughter.

He is laughing as the city of his unworthy ancestors burns. The mortal vermin scream in terror as they are hunted by the children of the Gods, their pain and fear feeding the beautiful creatures that will replace them.

He is lounging upon his flying throne, watching it all unfold. The spectacle takes place beneath him, as it should be. He is greater than them all, the vessel through which the will of the divine exerts itself upon the World.

This is the Hour of Rejoining. This is the Fall of Uruk.

This is where Gilgamesh fulfills his destiny as champion of the Gods.

With a sweep of his hand, he summons into existence a score of blazing weapons, which rain upon Uruk like meteors. Hundreds are annihilated, their final moments spent in abject terror and incomprehension. He can taste their despair, and it pleases him. In his other hand is a goblet of the finest liquor in all the lands, and he drinks it, savoring its taste even more thanks to the knowledge it is the last of its kind in existence.

Slaughter. Ambition. Despair. Excess. By these are the Gods honored, when their followers become all that they can be. This is the truth, revealed to him when he journeyed into the Underworld, past the watchful gaze of the guardians of this false reality –

The skies boom with lightning, and he sneers. They are coming, as he knew they would. The slave of the usurpers, a blind fool serving greater fools still.

He throws his head back, and roars at the heavens. Let them come, with all their futile fury.

By his will, the lost power shall be reclaimed, the barrier erected by the usurpers torn asunder. Those worthy of the Gods' favor shall rise, while the common rabble shall burn as fuel for their ascension.

A figure descends from the skies, a streak of white and green surrounded by gleaming gold. He recognizes that being, that slave-thing born of the futile desire to stop the inevitable. He knows its name, and he growls it between gritted teeth as he prepares to destroy it once and for all :

"Enkidu …"

Soon, the skies quake from his battle against this creature of base clay. The air shakes from their confrontation, creating a howling storm all around them. And yet, over the sound of this final battle, Gilgamesh can still hear that familiar noise, which he remembers hearing all his life :

The laughter of the Dark Gods.

November 27th, 2004 AD – Ryuudou Temple

According to Shirou, walking from the Emiya residence to the Ryuudou Temple took an hour. Using a car to reach the base of the mountain (at which point there was no other choice but walking up the stairs leading to the temple at the top) cut that time by around half, depending on traffic.

With Saber and Lancer driving their bikes and the latter carrying Illya up the stairs while Shirou reinforced his legs to keep up with the Servants, they reached the temple within ten minutes of their departure from the Emiya household.

The mountain was unnaturally silent. The wildlife, which should have been panicking over the darkened sky, was completely absent, save for a few ravens resting on the branches of the trees growing around the path. Saber could feel the birds' gaze, yet she didn't detect any mana inside them : they were normal animals, not familiars. Even asking Illyasviel to scan them with her Magecraft revealed nothing out of the ordinary.

When she asked Shirou about it, however, the response surprised her.

"Ravens were the only animals that stayed at the Park too. Even they were gone when we went there, though," he said, glossing over just what had happened when the two of them had gone to the Park for the sake of his sister's pride. "But there is something … I don't have access to all of Corswain's memories, even now, but as far as I can tell, he was afraid of something related to those birds."

"I thought Space Marines were supposed to 'know no fear' or something ?" asked Illyasviel. Saber nodded : she'd read something like that in Rin's notes as well.

"That was always more propaganda than the absolute truth," explained Shirou. "Astartes' brains were operated on to suppress the capability for fear, but even before the Heresy, there were things that could scare them. The goal was to make sure they wouldn't freeze or panic on the battlefield, and that much mostly succeeded."

"Mostly ?" Lancer asked with a raised eyebrow. Shirou shrugged.

"Daemons have a tendency to break through even the strongest conditioning when it comes to causing terror. Back to the ravens, though … I don't know why, but they are definitely making me uneasy."

"Aren't ravens associated with Odin ?" suggested Illyasviel. "You know, the old god whose spear Rider is carrying ? Could that be related ?"

"… I'm not sure. I suppose it's possible he is taking an interest in what's happening in Fuyuki …" He didn't sound like he believed that. Which made sense, given that, as far as Saber knew, the Hanged God hadn't interfered in worldly affairs since centuries before her own birth. Even Merlin hadn't been sure whether the King of the Aesir still lived or not.

"Should we kill all the birds if you're so scared of them, Onii-chan ?" Illyasviel asked half-jokingly, half-seriously.

"No," Saber's Master immediately refused. "We might be watched, and I don't want to give away anything. Whatever's going on with the ravens, we have more pressing concerns right now."

The four of them had reached the top of the mountain, and stood before the gate leading into the temple grounds proper. Looking through the torii gate showed a perfectly tranquil sight, though none of the temple's residents could be seen. Of course, that was a lie : they could all sense the Bounded Field's edge in front of them, hiding what waited on the other side.

Saber and her Master went first, walking side by side, weapons at the ready and prepared to fight through any ambush or trap. Shirou had already called upon his power, though not in full, and she could feel that something had changed in him. Now that he knew the truth of Corswain's past after Pretender's attempt to break his will, her Master was more in balance, less reliant upon his contract with Rin and Sakura to keep control of his energies.

The notion that Kor Phaeron had accidentally helped make Shirou stronger was one Saber found deeply amusing, but that amusement vanished when they passed through the gate and were immediately struck by a gale of burning air.

The entire Ryuudou Temple was ablaze. Only the torii gate through which they had entered into the inner courtyard was intact. And these weren't natural flames either : Saber could feel the mindless malevolence within them, as well as the magical energy that fuelled them as much as the wooden structures they were devouring.

She felt Shirou's shock at the sight. Of course, she should've realized. Her Master had died and been remade in a place not too different from this. Was it a deliberate move by their enemy to remind Shirou of his traumatic past, or just mockery ?

A man strode out of the inferno, seeming wholly unconcerned by the flames that surrounded him. He was clad in golden armor, save for his head, and carried no visible weapon. His posture was supremely at ease, with his arms crossed before his chest. His blond hair fluttered in the heat currents, and even in that relaxed state, he radiated power and authority.

Saber recognized him at once. It should've been impossible for him to be here, for him to have endured for ten years past the end of the Fourth Grail War. But so many supposedly impossible things had already happened that Saber didn't even feel surprised at the sight of the golden Servant. Annoyed, angry, and even darkly glad of having another shot at taking the arrogant bastard down, but not surprised.

"Gilgamesh," she hissed, unable to stop herself.

"Saber," he greeted her with that arrogant smile she despised so much. "You look even more beautiful than the last time I saw you."

"Friend of yours, Saber ?" asked Shirou in a deceptively light tone.

"An old enemy," she answered. "He was the Archer of the Fourth War. He is also a despicable tyrant who felt I should be honored to be reduced to his concubine, and that whether I desired to be so or not was of no concern."

"Oh." She felt the contempt from all three of her companions, including her other self, and it made her smile.

"And that was before he got drowned in the corrupt Grail's mud," she added. "Who knows what he is like now."

"I'll forgive you talking to these mongrels in your presence, Saber," declared Gilgamesh, "but only because I find that seeing you again is putting me in an exceptionally good mood. Now that the Grail has purged you of your weakness, you are truly fit to stand at my side as my queen."

Saber smirked. Despite the seriousness of the situation, this was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"I'm afraid you're too late for that, Gilgamesh." She leaned in Shirou's direction, brushing her left hand against his arm. "I've already found someone, and he's much more worthy of my affections than you could ever be."

A few seconds passed, during which the King of Heroes stared at her in incomprehension, while Shirou gave her a deadpan stare that all but screamed 'You are doing this now ?' and Illyasviel glared at her while Lancer … blushed and looked away ? Really, her other self was far too shy for her own good.

"It wasn't enough for you to insult the Gods by rejecting their blessings, mongrel ?" growled Gilgamesh as he glared at Shirou, his face contorted in an expression of anger whose memory Saber was going to treasure. "You dare lay your hands upon my property as well ?!"

"Saber isn't your property or mine," said Shirou. "She makes her own choices."

He paused, and then added four words that shocked Saber :

"Unlike you, Alter Ego."

Gilgamesh would have been handsome, if not for the expression on his face, which reminded Shirou of the Salamanders Corswain had met during the Heresy, once they had abandoned even the pretence of caring for other people. This was a being who considered all others to be beneath him, seeing them not as people but as potential tools and toys, to be used and discarded at a whim. The red eyes made the likeliness to the Eighteenth Legion's power-hungry sociopaths even more striking.

The King of Heroes' physical appearance, however, belied the true horror that Shirou's eyes perceived when he looked upon him. If not for the fact that, according to Saber, he had already been a would-be rapist before the Grail had gotten to him, Shirou would've pitied the ancient Heroic Spirit. It was this, combined with the information he could glean through his Command Seals as a Master of the Grail War, that had revealed to him Gilgamesh's current Class.

"What do you mean, Shirou ?" asked Illyasviel, her gaze still fixed on the King of Heroes.

"He isn't an Archer," he explained. "Not anymore at least. His Saint Graph has been changed, just like your sword was. No matter how arrogant, I find it difficult to believe that the real Gilgamesh of Uruk would ever submit to Kor Phaeron's Dark Gods. I think what we are seeing is the result the Grail was going for and failed to achieve with Saber. His very legend has been overwritten into something that fits Chaos' purpose, transforming him into a puppet."

"I am no puppet !" roared Gilgamesh. His display of anger when Saber had revealed her relationship with Shirou paled in comparison to what he was showing now. "I am the chosen of the True Gods !"

"I suppose it's possible that the legend we know is wrong," Shirou conceded. "It has been thousands of years, after all. It'd make sense that your enemies would do everything in their power to make sure the truth stay buried, lest someone else make the same mistakes as you. But I can see you, Gilgamesh. You were at ground zero of the Fuyuki Fire ten years ago, weren't you ? Just like Saber, the black mud released by the Grail's destruction swallowed you up."

There were limits to Shirou's perceptions, especially since Gilgamesh didn't carry any weapon on him. But he could still read the surface of his golden armor's past, and it made him want to puke. As he had said, it had been rewritten like Excalibur's had been, and while the King of Heroes wouldn't have been considered heroic by modern standards, Shirou didn't doubt he'd have been a saint compared to the grotesque tale of genocide and pointless cruelty he could glimpse.

"You are not the Archer of the Fourth War," he said. "You are an Alter Ego, a twisted and warped reflection of the King of Heroes, wielding powers stolen from the Throne of Heroes."

"The Throne of Heroes ? The Throne is nothing but a prison," sneered Gilgamesh. "A cage for the architects of this lie we inhabit to imprison those souls with the potential to surpass them. It was first created to hold me after I nearly succeeded in bringing the True Gods to this world, and then expanded for the others who blindly followed in my footsteps on glory's path, even if none ever reached as far as I."

… Wait. Why hadn't he reacted to the rest of Shirou's sentence ? Why was he rambling on his last words, which were arguably the least important to the situation ?

A shiver ran down Shirou's spine as realization hit him.

I don't think he understands what we're telling him, he silently told his allies. The Grail won't even let him realize he's being manipulated.

He felt Saber's sudden spike of anxiety as she realized that this would have been her fate as well, had she not managed to resist the Grail's corruption during her captivity. Her memories rewritten, her very thoughts controlled so that she couldn't rebel. Was this how the Dark Gods controlled the Chaos Marines in Corswain's reality of origin ?

"I sought immortality so as to be free of the chains of time," Gilgamesh continued to monologue. "And in my quest, I discovered the truth of this world. Cut off from the True Gods, Mankind is weak, unworthy of life." He smiled. "But when the Grail opens the way for them to descend upon this miserable planet, there shall be a great culling, and only the strong, those who deserve to live, shall be left to serve in my reborn kingdom !"

There was a moment of silence.

"Alright," said Saber at last. "I see you're even crazier than ten years ago. One last thing before we start : where were you hiding all this time ?"

"Kotomine Church," said Shirou confidently. "He's still a Servant, and he needs a Master to keep him anchored. Only Kirei could've done the job."

"You're right, mongrel," nodded Gilgamesh. "Not that it matters. The last ten years have been deeply boring, save for the light entertainment your petty struggles provided. Kirei believed they were the prelude to you realizing the foolishness of your father's beliefs and joining us, as did Kor Phaeron, but I always suspected you were too broken for that. Whatever power you stumbled upon in the aftermath of Kiritsugu's pointless defiance, you don't deserve it."

The King of Heroes took a step forward, and Shirou felt the power around him spike.

"And it will be my great pleasure to rip it from your corpse."

Golden ripples appeared in the air, at the center of which emerged a wide assortment of weapons : spear, staves, swords, axes … every type of tool men had invented to kill each other in melee combat that Shirou knew of and more was represented with some of the finest examples of Humanity's craft. With his enhanced sight, Shirou could see the history behind each and every one of them : they were weapons of myth and legend, once carried into battle by a people who had gone on to become Heroic Spirits themselves.

Of course, these weren't the actual weapons, just like what stood before them wasn't Gilgamesh's original body. They were constructs of mana forged in an exact semblance of the originals through the King of Heroes' legend and the Grail's summoning system. Unfortunately, the distinction was a philosophical matter rather than a practical one : each weapon of the arsenal was just as deadly as its original.

With a lazy flick of Gilgamesh's wrist, a score of legendary weapons hurled themselves at Shirou and his allies as if they had just been shot out of a cannon. Radiant Moon was already in his hand, and together with Saber and Lancer, they managed to block Alter Ego's opening salvo – thought it was clear this had been only a taste of Gilgamesh's power. It would've been too much to hope that his corruption would've weakened him : Chaos might inevitably bring those it ensnared to ruin, but rarely before they had served their purpose in the Dark Gods' demented plans.

This is how he fights, sent Saber. He doesn't have any true martial skill of his own : all he can do is use the weapons of other, better heroes.

"You'll learn not to mock me, Saber," threatened Gilgamesh, shocking them as they realized he could somehow hear them over the Servant-Master bond. "By the time I'm done teaching you your place, you'll give me the respect I am due even in your own thoughts."

"You aren't 'due' anything, you delusional megalomaniac," riposted Saber, now speaking out loud. "You always were a self-centered narcissist, and now you're nothing but a slave to Ruin. Your people would weep to see you reduced to this."

"Why should I care for the thoughts of my slaves ?" There was genuine incomprehension on Gilgamesh's face, as if he couldn't even conceive of such a thing.

"Slaves ?" Lancer spoke up, her voice calm but still furious. "A King's subjects are not his slaves. His duty is to them, his life must be dedicated to them."

"Ah ah ah !" Gilgamesh's laughter was just on the wrong side of unhinged. "I already had this discussion with Saber ten years ago. I look forward to repeating it with you later, Lancer. Breaking your spirit will be just as enjoyable as breaking in that new body of yours !"

"Stop talking," said Lancer bluntly, her noble features slightly twisted in a grimace of disgust. "Just … stop."

Gilgamesh continued to rain down legendary weapons on them, but it was clear the King of Heroes still wasn't taking this seriously. He was enjoying his perceived superiority, how they were forced to use all their strength simply to withstand a fraction of his power.

But pride, Shirou knew, was a weakness that had brought low beings far more powerful than Gilgamesh.

Now, Saber.

With Shirou covering her, Saber was able to charge through the hail of blades and reach Gilgamesh. Her blackened blade swung for his neck, but the Alter Ego barely managed to avoid a decapitating blow by throwing himself backward at the last moment, eyes wide.

"You dare force me to take a step back ?!" spat out Gilgamesh. "You continue to add to your tally of insults, Saber !"

A sudden deluge of weapons forced Shirou's Servant to retreat, and when the dust settled and their vision cleared, they saw the King of Heroes sitting on a strange, throne-like contraption that immediately soared up in the air.

"Is that a spaceship ?!" asked Illya, shocked. "Where did he get a spaceship ?!"

He used this when we fought Caster in the last War, sent Saber. At the time, I remember it was able to outmanoeuvre the planes of this country's military.

A quick Structural Analysis told Shirou that this was Vimana, the Throne of the Heaven-Soaring King. It was fortunate no Hinduist would ever learn of this fight, because Gilgamesh using it as a weapon in was the kind of blasphemy that started holy wars.

"Witness now my true power !" Gilgamesh bellowed, and the number of golden portals in the air doubled.

Shirou wracked his brain to find a way out of this situation, all while parrying the rain of weapons with Radiant Moon to shield himself and Illya. On his own, he would have been overwhelmed within seconds, but Saber and Lancer were at his side. Together, the three of them barely managed to defend themselves, but it would only take one mistake for them to get wounded, and from there it would only get worse.

Mundane weaponry couldn't hope to hurt the two Servants, and even Shirou would be able to withstand them with little more than pain that he could easily ignore. But, once again, these weren't ordinary weapons. Each of these projectiles was a weapon with a long and storied history. They were legendary artefacts, once wielded by heroes who had carved their legend in the collective memory of Humanity. Like Vimana, they were touchstones of their respective cultures, symbols of values held throughout generations.

And Gilgamesh was using them with the same amount of respect modern military did for individual artillery shells.

Shirou's wrath, already inflamed by Gilgamesh's threats to his sister and Servant, grew stronger with every Noble Phantasm his Structural Grasping took in.

A human being couldn't hope to stand against the King of Heroes' arsenal. But then, he wasn't human, was he ? He may not be the monster Corswain had become, but he wasn't blind to the truth. There was no name in either this world or the one from his visions for what he had become and for what he was becoming. But as long as he could protect the ones he loved, as long as he could follow his ideals, it didn't matter.

Thanks to Kor Phaeron's failed attempt to turn him, the fragmented memories of the First Archduke of Cysgorog were open to him. And with that knowledge, he could access more of the embers of Corswain's power than ever before – and, more importantly, use it far more efficiently.

Shirou steeled his will, and drew upon the well of energy that rested within him.

"Is that your best, King of Heroes ? Threats and empty promises ?" Shirou shouted, loud enough to draw Gilgamesh's attention to him. "I see why you and Kor Phaeron get along so well : you are just like him, down to how you run away from any confrontation that doesn't go entirely your way."

Gilgamesh's face contorted into a grimace of raw hatred. When he spoke, his voice was deceptively calm :

"I'm going to make you watch as I tear out that doll's heart for Pretender to use in his ritual, then break your Servants to my will."

Shirou's anger, which was wholly his and had nothing to do with Corswain, suddenly blazed into an inferno to match the one surrounding them.

"No," he replied, dark wings stretching from his back as power coursed through his flesh. "You won't."

Saber looked in wonder at her Master's transformation. The shadows that formed his wings had spread all over his body like a living suit of armor, turning him into a three-meters tall avatar of darkness in whose hands Radiant Moon finally looked like a reasonably-sized blade.

He looked a lot like the daemon lord from the vision she had shared with him, yet undeniably different. The taint of malice that had hung over the Archduke on the battlefield of Hell was absent, as were several of the subtler manifestations of corruption. Shirou'd still be utterly terrifying to mortals, that much was obvious, but the overall impression was more of an avenging angel than a fallen one.

With a beat of his wings, he flew up to face Gilgamesh's floating throne. The corrupted King of Heroes recovered from his shock quickly, and hurled another set of mythical weapons at him, having seemingly forgotten those still on the ground. But between his sword and his mobility, Shirou managed to avoid or block every attack, circling around the flying throne.

The mountain trembled as Noble Phantasms that missed Saber's Master crashed into the forest that covered most of it below the temple. Next to her, Lancer and Illyasviel watched the spectacle with the same awe she felt.

Yet for all his strength, Shirou couldn't get close enough to Gilgamesh to strike. Worse, the longer this went on, the more enraged Gilgamesh grew and the more of his power he used, summoning more and more Noble Phantasms from his armory. He could never have done something like that back in the Fourth War, not when he had relied on Tokiomi Tohsaka to sustain him, but it seemed the Grail had removed such limitations.

Lancer, said Shirou's strained mental voice. Rhongomyniad. Full power. Now.

It didn't take long for the three women on the ground to realize what her Master meant.

You'll be caught in the blast, sent Illyasviel, her mental voice just on the edge of panic. Saber could understand why : she had to hold herself back from screaming at Shirou to stop being stupid and self-sacrificing, knowing any distraction from his battle against the corrupted King of Heroes might mean his death.

I'll dodge, was Shirou's clipped reply.

And Gilgamesh won't ?!

Pride, replied Shirou as if it explained everything. And, to Saber, it did.

"Just do it !" she shouted at her Lancer counterpart, who looked at her own Master for confirmation.

After what seemed like an eternity, Illyasviel nodded. Saber moved to be able to cover the other Master-Servant pair, just in case Gilgamesh noticed what was going on despite Shirou keeping him busy.

The fact Lancer could use her Noble Phantasm without the use of Illyasviel's last Command Seal was a testament to the prodigious mana capacity of Shirou's sister. Even so, the Servant of the Sword didn't dare think about the damage such a strain would've inflicted on Irisviel's daughter if not for the copy of Avalon inside of her. The pain alone would doubtlessly have crippled a normal Magus.

But then, much as the thought unnerved her, Illyasviel was used to pain.

With a mental command, Rhongomyniad assumed its base form : that of a bright white lance, which was still only a mere shadow of the weapon's true shape, which existed in realms beyond the physical.

"Seal Thirteen, decision start !"

With that proclamation, Lancer felt the ghosts of her comrades all around her. They were mere echoes of their true selves, but she still found comfort in their presence, despite the bitterness of their partings.

Rhongomyniad was too powerful a weapon to be used freely. She had known this from the moment she had picked it up, even before Merlin had explained its origins and ultimate purpose to her. This was a weapon meant to protect the World itself, a remnant of an age that had been forgotten before the old gods had been born. No one could be trusted with such power, certainly not her. It was why she had asked her court wizard to seal the bulk of its power under the Thirteen Restraints, so that the full might of the Lance That Shines to the Ends of the World could only ever be brought to bear in circumstances that absolutely required it.

No such circumstances had presented themselves during her reign, however tumultuous it might have been. The fraction of Rhongomyniad's might still available even with the Thirteen Restraints in place had been more than enough for her needs; after all, in the end, it hadn't been a lack of military power that had caused Camelot's fall.

And, despite Shirou's orders, she wouldn't be able to unleash Rhongomyniad's full power here either. Which, given that she supposed the young man wanted Fuyuki to survive the battle, was probably for the best. She hadn't been able to explain Merlin's explanation in full, but she knew that each Restraint didn't block one-thirteenth of the Lance's power : rather, each additional Restraint removed added more power than the last.

"This is a battle against a stronger enemy."

"Accepted." Bedivere. Loyal, faithful Bedivere. All his life, he had considered himself the weakest of her Knights, never realizing that he was perhaps the strongest in the ways that really mattered.

"This is not a battle against an Elemental."

"Accepted." Lancelot. Knight of the Lake, who had been raised by one such being and sworn to uphold the delicate balance between Humanity and the hidden denizens of the World.

"This is not a battle for personal gain."

"Accepted." Galahad. The Perfect Knight, embodiment of all the ideals the Round Table had pursued, to the point he had been even more blind than her to the fact not everyone could measure up to them.

"This battle is not against Humanity."

"Accepted." Gaheris. Soft-spoken and quiet, concealing the rage that burned within him, born of witnessing the crimes committed by Britain's enemies upon its people.

"This battle is not inhumane."

"Accepted." Gareth. Kind, youthful Gareth, newest of her Knights, who would one day have risen to surpass them all. Only for her life to be cut short, another victim of Artoria's failures as King.

"This is a battle for truth."

"Accepted." Agravain. Her nephew and advisor, whose heart been warped by her sister's treacherous ambitions yet who yearned for the light of utopia they had all chased after regardless.

"This is not a battle against one pure of heart."

"Accepted." Percival. Courage tempered by caution, kindness tempered by justice, wrath tempered by mercy. Not the most perfect of knights, but perhaps the greatest all the same.

"My comrades-in-arms are brave."

"Accepted." Tristan. The first of her Knights who had turned away from her due to her insistence on distancing herself from her humanity, for he could not bear to see her lose herself in her duty.

"This is a battle to live."

"Accepted." Kay. Her foster brother hadn't joined the Round Table for glory, wealth, or even to protect the people of Britain. He had come to Camelot to help her, to protect her. Which was why his Restraint alone could be considered 'selfish'.

"This is a battle to save the world."

"Accepted." Her own personal Restraint, added by Merlin without asking her permission. Her friend hadn't told her why he'd thought it to be necessary, and once again Artoria wondered just how far the Magus of Flowers' sight had reached.

"Ten restraints removed," she said, finishing the activation sequence. "Deploying the Holy Spear."

There was an eleventh restraint she could have removed, for this certainly qualified as a battle against evil. But despite the danger they faced, she couldn't find it in herself to call upon Mordred's echo. She was too afraid of her child's judgment, too ashamed of what she'd done to them to ask them for help, even in such an indirect manner.

As for the last two restraints, this wasn't a one-on-one duel, so Palamedes' was right out. And attacking someone while they were distracted wasn't honorable, no matter how Gilgamesh deserved and needed to be destroyed, so Gawain's couldn't be removed either.

With ten Restraints removed, she felt the influence of the Lance on her mind. Rhongomyniad was far more than a weapon, however powerful. It was, in a way, alive, and possessed of a cold intellect, utterly rational intellect that pursued its own goals. The more of its power she wielded, the greater influence it had on her, which was another reason why she'd asked Merlin to seal it. Even she, who had pursued the Path of the King, had been disturbed by the pitiless logic of the Holy Spear.

Rhongomyniad didn't like Shirou. It considered him as much a threat as Gilgamesh, perhaps even more so. It wanted to fire without warning, to remove these two threats to the World at the same time. Yes, Illyasviel would die without the copy of Avalon inside of her, but she would live long enough for Lancer to deal with the remaining threat posed by the Grail -

No ! Lancer growled, focusing on her vow to protect her Master, on the painful memories that drove her to seek the Grail in the first place. She wasn't the Goddess Rhongomyniad, looking upon the World as a set of equations to solve. She was Artoria Pendragon. Logic and reason had brought her kingdom to ruin, and she would not repeat the same mistakes again !

Shirou ! She sent across the bond, her words relayed by her Master to the dark figure battling the enthroned King of Heroes in the skies. Move !

The air around Lancer crackled with energy, and she felt her draconic heart quicken as it reinforced her body to withstand the strain. Even so, the power she had gathered was too much to hold back for long : she had to unleash it. Lancer pointed her spear toward Gilgamesh's throne, and the words forced themselves out of her throat, echoing all across the mountaintop :

"Light, may you be released from the ends of the world.

Split the heavens and tether the earth, anchor of the storm!

Rhongomyniad !"

Shirou had been fighting Gilgamesh in the air for almost a minute, though it felt like much longer. Within him, Avalon was working at full power, keeping his body from being utterly ruined by the amount of power he was channelling through it from Corswain's remnants. Radiant Moon was also blazing, empowered to match the Noble Phantasms Gilgamesh hurled at him without breaking.

The Archduke transformation (he would ask Rin about finding a better name for it latter) was different from every other time he had drawn upon Corswain's power.

At last, the King of Heroes noticed the power gathering on the ground.

"You were just trying to distract me ?!" Gilgamesh spat. "Coward !"

Shirou didn't dignify that with a response. Gilgamesh may have thought Shirou wanted to engage him in glorious one-on-one combat, but a total lack of interest in fighting fair was one of the many things he had in common with his father. There might be cases where it had its place, like when it could be used to prevent casualties by limiting the scale of an engagement, but this definitely wasn't one of them.

"No matter," continued the King of Heroes, his expression wild. "Behold my ultimate weapon !"

A new golden portal opened, this one right next to Gilgamesh's right hand. It felt different from all the others to Shirou, and not in a good way.

He could sense the power of the thing that rested in the artificial space on the other side of the portal, but couldn't even come close to measuring or identifying it. It was in the same league as Rhongomyniad at the very least, but it also wasn't the same kind of power at all. Not even in the most terrible of Corswain's memories did he have anything that could vaguely serve as reference, although he knew, without knowing how, that this was no creation of Chaos. No, if anything, it reminded him of …

Of …

The walls of the Palace are shaking. First Legion sorcery meets Fifteenth Legion wards, and artillery rains fiery death upon the Lord of Iron's masterpiece. At the breaches, giants of metal wage war while armies of millions teem at their feet like ants.

He sees one of the giants advance from the Imperial lines, having just slain two of its rebel counterparts. Even from afar, he recognizes the heraldry, the unique weapons it wields.

He cannot feel fear, or so he tells himself. But the sight of a Psi-Titan of the Ordo Sinister still fills him with unease -

No ! Shirou forced himself away from the apocalyptic vision of the Siege of Terra before it could swallow him whole. Now was not the time to lose himself in Corswain's shattered memories – in fact, he could hardly think of a worse time for that. He'd hoped that what Kor Phaeron had tried at the docks would've dealt with that, but it seemed his mind hadn't processed all the memories of the First Archduke yet.

Whatever it was Gilgamesh was trying to bring to bear, he couldn't let him pull it out. He launched himself at the King of Heroes, ready to tank the other attacks so that he could stop Gilgamesh -

But then, the moment Gilgamesh's fingers touched the rift in reality, his entire arm exploded all the way to the shoulder in a fountain of gore.

The corrupted King of Heroes blinked dumbly, staring at his missing limb in shocked incomprehension, while the portal he had opened shut down, removing the awful pressure of the thing on the other side.

Shirou could only guess as to what had just happened, but he wasn't going to waste that miracle. Lancer's warning echoed in his mind, telling him he had run out of time. He beat his wings and violently reversed directions, pulling g-forces that would have shattered a normal human's spine, and sent himself straight down, out of the path of Lancer's attack.

Rhongomyniad was as terrifyingly powerful as Shirou had suspected since his first glance of the weapon, back when he had seen Lord El-Melloi II's assistant carrying the modern incarnation of the Holy Lance after the Enforcer's attack. It was a pillar of radiant light, erupting from the tip of Lancer's weapon and rushing toward Gilgamesh at the speed of thought. Such was the strength of the attack that the daemonic flames that had been raging around them were instantly blown out, the dark spells sustaining them silenced.

Even at a distance, the light burned him. He might not be Corswain – he would never be Corswain – but he could only change the nature of his power so much. At the end of the day, the strength that let him fight the King of Heroes was something that didn't belong in this World, exactly the kind of things Rhongomyniad had been made to defend against.

If he took Lancer's Noble Phantasm head-on, it would kill him. He had known this when he'd told her to fire, which was why he didn't intend to be anywhere near the blast. He had promised his Servant and friends that he would survive, after all, and for all his power and legend, Gilgamesh was not worth breaking his word.

Lancer's Noble Phantasm struck its target. Gilgamesh and Vimana were engulfed in the pillar of light, but it didn't stop, going further up, until Shirou began to worry that satellites might pick it up. When the attack finally stopped, even the clouds covering Fuyuki were gone, revealing clear blue skies and a shining sun.

Only a few seconds had passed, and Shirou finally landed. Although in truth, calling Shirou's contact with the ground a landing would be incorrect. 'Crashing' was more appropriate. Even without Reinforcement, however, it would still have been safer than staying in Rhongomyniad's path. The mere proximity of the holy weapon's beam had stripped him of his transformation, returning him to his human form – except most of his clothes were gone, torn to shreds or burned away, leaving barely enough cloth to protect his modesty.

Gilgamesh's own landing was even less dignified. Vimana had been reduced to dust by Rhongomyniad, and the Alter Ego fell straight into the middle of the burned out main temple, where Issei's father had led religious celebrations for over two decades.

Shirou held his breath, eyes fixed upon the rubble. He hadn't expected anything to be left of Gilgamesh after that attack, but perhaps, if they were lucky, the fall had been enough to finish him off ?

Then, impossibly, Gilgamesh rose again. Somehow, the King of Heroes was still alive – though alive was perhaps too generous. His right arm was gone, and his body was horribly burned. His face was missing, revealing an eyeless and blackened skull. All of his skin was gone, and the exposed muscle that hadn't been completely incinerated was horribly cooked.

Yet still, despite his horrific state, Gilgamesh clung to life. Or, perhaps more appropriately, he was denied the right to die. Before their eyes, black, viscous matter grew on his ravaged flesh, spreading in vine-like filaments and jerking Gilgamesh around like a puppet. To Shirou's mystical gaze, it seemed as if the ink that had been used to rewrite the King of Heroes' legend to Chaos' ends was being made solid, and it made him want to puke.

The living corpse raised his remaining hand toward Saber, and a horrible gurgle emanated from his carbonized throat. For the first time since the start of the battle, Shirou's first Servant recoiled in fear.

"He's regenerating," gasped Lancer between quick, exhausted breaths. She had dispelled Rhongomyniad's lance form, returning it to the rapier she had used during their first battle. "Or … transforming ?"

"It's the Grail," said Saber, her yellow eyes wide. "It won't let him die."

That was bad. All four of them were exhausted, in no condition to face whatever nightmarish second form the Grail's corruption would grant the fallen King of Heroes. Also, Rhongomyniad's blast had completely shattered the Bounded Field around the Temple, so people might actually see it, which would be difficult to keep under the radar to say the least.

Fortunately, they still had a pair of cards left to play.

Shirou raised his left hand in the air, and snapped his fingers.

At once, the air behind Gilgamesh shimmered, and Stheno materialized, a smile on her face that was just the right side of vicious. She sang, and her voice struck the Alter Ego Servant in the back like a hammer blow, sending him crashing to the ground. He scrambled, moving more like an animal than a man, and rose to his feet, turning to face this new threat -

Only for a pink arrow to strike right between his empty eye sockets, burying deep into his skull and erupting on the other side of his head.

They hadn't rushed into an obvious trap unprepared. While Shirou and Illyasviel drew the attention of the enemy with Saber and Lancer by walking right through the front door, Archer and Assassin had circled the mountain and entered the Bounded Field from two other, separate points, remaining in their Spirit Forms all the while.

Thanks to her Presence Concealment, Stheno had been able to avoid detection even by Gilgamesh's preternatural senses, while Euryale had stayed far away, her own weapon at the ready. Then, as they had planned, the two of them had waited for Shirou's signal throughout the battle.

It had been the best use of their resources Shirou had been able to come up with in the limited time they'd had to plan. Saber had approved of it, though Shirou wasn't sure how much of that was due to it making tactical sense and how much had been because it kept the two Divine Servants away from him.

Shirou had kept Euryale and Stheno in reserve throughout the fight even as Gilgamesh unleashed his Gate of Babylon : the two would have been of limited help, and while Archer could've sniped the Alter Ego while he was flying, it would have revealed her and added to the number of people Saber, Lancer and him had to cover.

It had been a gamble, and now they were going to see if it paid off. For several seconds Gilgamesh remained standing, immobile, and Shirou feared that even this hadn't been enough to kill him. Stheno gathered her strength for another attack, but before she could release it, Gilgamesh's accumulated injuries finally proved too much for his Spirit Core to endure.

With a groan that sounded halfway between pain and relief, the parts of Gilgamesh's body that weren't made of Chaotic filth dissipated in golden particles that quickly faded from existence, while the black corruption flowed to the ground with a wet noise. Stheno took a step back, her face twisted in disgust.

"Move away from it, Assassin," said Shirou.

Despite his exhaustion, Shirou forced himself to walk up to the unholy puddle, and stabbed it with Radiant Moon, channelling power through it like he had when he had destroyed Zouken, what seemed so long ago. With his new understanding of his power, he now knew that this was a combination of Corswain's lingering power, Avalon's purifying aura, and his own unrealized Reality Marble, all working together to destroy that which had no place in the World.

The pool of filth ignited, and within a few seconds, it was completely gone, leaving only charred earth around his blade. The last trace of Gilgamesh of Uruk, summoned Archer Servant of the Fourth Grail War and Alter Ego Servant of the tainted Grail in the Fifth, had finally been eliminated.

Looking at the devastation around them, Saber found it difficult to accept that they just won a great victory. Though given that they had failed in their primary objective, the rescue of the Temple's inhabitants, their grim surroundings were certainly appropriate. The burned-out skeletons of buildings were all around them, and in the sunlight that finally shone down upon them, there was no sign of the monks who lived there.

The five women gathered around Shirou, still keeping watch for another attack. Gilgamesh hadn't been the one to put the Bounded Field around the area, nor the one to kidnap the monks. He'd had assistance, and though they hadn't moved to help him fight, that didn't mean they wouldn't try to ambush them while they were exhausted from dealing with the King of Heroes.

"Illya," said Shirou in a worried voice. "How are you feeling ?"

"I … I'm fine. Tired from Lancer's Noble Phantasm, but I wasn't the one who just went toe to toe with the King of Heroes and -" The half-homunculus blinked, then frowned in sudden realization. "Oh. I didn't absorb Gilgamesh's soul."

"Good," said Saber. "I saw what happened to Irisviel as the Fourth War advanced and more Servants were defeated. It … wasn't pretty."

Sure, one single Servant's soul, no matter how powerful, wouldn't cause Illyasviel's body to break down into a cup, especially with a copy of Avalon inside her to help. But Irisviel had begun to suffer the effects of her nature from the moment Gilles de Rais had died, with things growing worse and worse until she'd been unable to even move on her own.

"As happy as I am not to be doomed to the same fate as Mama," snapped Illya, "we should still concern ourselves with what happened to Gilgamesh's power, don't you think ?"

"I think I know," said Lancer grimly, gesturing with her rapier at a figure that had suddenly appeared amidst the ashes of the Ryuudou Temple. It was one they all recognized, and which had them immediately on guard.

"Kor Phaeron," snarled Shirou, immediately moving to put himself between the apparition and his sister.

"Hello, Shirou Emiya," greeted Pretender with the kind of smile that made children scream and adults reach for the nearest throwable object.

"You've a lot of nerve to show up here," growled Saber. "Or do you think you'll fare better than Gilgamesh ?"

"He isn't really there," said Shirou. The look of utter contempt on his face was a new expression for him, but one Saber didn't mind at all. "Once a coward, always a coward, isn't that right, Kor Phaeron ? In all your existence, you never once chose to fight when you didn't think your victory was certain."

"Laugh all you want," sneered the bald Servant. "Gilgamesh's power is now in my hands, just like the monks of this pathetic temple. Both of them will serve the Gods, one way or another. As will you eventually, Shirou Emiya. No matter how much you struggle, it is all part of Their will."

Saber felt Shirou's anguish and his anger through their bond, but none of it showed on his face.

"We'll take them back," he promised coldly. "And then, we'll make you pay for your crimes."

Pretender smiled.

"Come, then," the Servant of Chaos taunted. "I'll be waiting for you. And when this is all over, you will have plenty of time to regret your foolish defiance."

With that last taunt, the image of the Black Cardinal fizzled away. They stayed on their guard regardless – Shirou had made it clear Kor Phaeron was utterly without honor, and not above using any kind of trick to achieve victory. Eventually, however, it became clear that Pretender had withdrawn from the field.

Just as Saber was starting to relax, a voice shouted in her head :

Shirou ?! Can you hear me ?!

If anyone were to ask later, Saber would insist she hadn't almost jumped out of her skin at Rin's sudden call. Of course she hadn't. That would be ridiculous.

The Thirteen Restraints of the Holy Spear

Bedivere : The enemy must be more powerful than oneself
Palamedes : The battle must be one-on-one
Lancelot : The enemy must not be an elemental
Mordred : The battle must be one against evil
Galahad : The battle must not involve personal gain
Gaheris : The battle must not be against Humanity
Gareth : The battle must not be inhumane
Agravain : The battle must be for truth
Kay : The battle must be to live
Percival : The battle must not be against one pure of heart
Gawain : The battle must be an honorable one
Tristan : One's comrades-in-arms must be courageous
Artoria Pendragon : The battle must be to save the world

Gilgamesh, the Sacrificed King

Class : Alter Ego

Strength : B
Endurance : B
Agility : B
Mana : A
Luck : A

Noble Phantasm : Gate of Babylon
Rank : E~A++
Type : Anti-Unit

Noble Phantasm : Enuma Elish [ACCESS DENIED]
Rank : EX
Type : Anti-World

Skills :
Independant Action A+
Divinity B
Magic Resistance E
Charisma A+
Golden Rule A
Collector EX
Mental Pollution B+

Shirou Emiya, the Redemption of Corswain

(This profile shows the stats of Shirou when fully manifesting his power in "Archduke form", such as when fighting Gilgamesh in the air in this chapter.)

Class : Foreigner

Strength : A
Endurance : B
Agility : B
Mana : A
Luck : E

Noble Phantasm : Unlimited Blade Works
Rank : ?
Type : ?

Skills :
Demon Eyes of Structural Grasping B
Projection (Tracing) B
Magic Resistance A
Existence Outside the Domain A
Mental Pollution E (downgraded from D when Kor Phaeron attempted to resurrect Corswain)
Remnant of the First Archduke A (upgraded from B when Kor Phaeron attempted to resurrect Corswain)
Curse/Blessing of the Changing God EX/E

AN : Hello everyone ! No omake for this chapter : instead, you get two Profiles and the list of Restraints I'm using for this fic, adapted from what I found on the wiki.

Funny detail : in FGO, Alter Ego Servants have a Class advantage against Foreigners (a Class which debuted in that game, with the concept of "mortal wielding the power of an entity from beyond the World without being consumed by their sheer eldritch nature"), but are weak against the Knight Classes (Saber, Archer, Lancer). Make of that what you will.

In the first draft of this story, Gilgamesh was going to be a "Faker" Class Servant, based on the events of "Lord El-Melloi II Case Files". Then the Pretender Class was revealed in FGO, and I decided to use it for Kor Phaeron instead.

I personally don't like Gilgamesh's character in FSN. The fact that he's supposed to have a "Good" alignment while being an utter and complete asshole never sat right with me. I mean, when you are going around ripping out little girls' hearts and plotting the destruction of Humanity just because you think they are "too weak", you are not a good guy. You are a villain.

My personal head canon has always been that, when canon Gilgamesh claims that his ego was strong enough to resist the corruption of the Grail's black mud, he was just plain wrong. He was too arrogant to realize his sadistic tendencies from his youth, which were brought back by him being summoned at the prime of his power (so before he gained wisdom by failing to obtain immortality during his trip to the Underworld), were turned into true, capital-E Evil.

Just in case it isn't clear : the vision at the start of the last chapter is what actually happened thousands of years ago, and the one at the start of this chapter is the altered version of events constructed by the Grail's Chaotic corruption and the one Alter Ego!Gilgamesh remembered. Also, whether the Epic of Gilgamesh actually happened in this universe is very much debatable. I haven't studied it myself, only learned some details by cultural osmosis. Fortunately, as Shirou said, any differences can be explained easily.

Thank you to everyone who pointed you my mistake in the previous chapter : the Contender is a single-shot gun, needing to be reloaded manually between each shot. I corrected it.

I am hoping to get the next chapter of this story done before the end of the month - my summer vacation is starting soon, so hopefully I'll be able to get some serious writing done.

As always, please tell me what you thought of this chapter, your theories as to what is happening behind the scenes, and any mistake I might have missed.

Zahariel out.