Gilgamesh had a hole in his stomach, a missing arm, and had been nearly ripped apart by the Grail. And yet, he was the one who was still on his feet, looking down at Shirou as the magus stared about him, his eyes dull and his body broken by the fall.
Considering the Faker was out of magic energy, it was incredible that his human body had even survived the impact, let alone the journey.
"You really are a stubborn mongrel, aren't you." Gilgamesh said as he summoned up one of the ripples that connected to his Gate of Babylon in front of his severed right arm. Shoving the stump in, he gave a momentary grunt before withdrawing the arm to show a golden prosthetic, with a potion in its hand.
Gilgamesh popped off the cork and took a drink of the elixir, feeling its effects spreading through him, slowing his bleeding and starting to replace his lost blood. But even with one of the most powerful potions ever created, it would be a while before his body fully recovered.
As he felt himself getting further and further away from death's door, the King of Heroes gave a short sigh before looking at Shirou again. The King's eyes went from the young man to the bottle in his hand, still a few drops of the miracle liquid still inside.
"...You, who was the weakest of the Masters managed to put me in such a state, to beat me even. You really are an example of what humans can become when faced with adversity. So why? Why is it that you cannot understand how sick this stagnant world really is?" Gilgamesh said as he glared down at Shirou, waiting for a response that didn't come. "It's sad that the closest thing to a hero born into this age would be a mongrel like you. If it wasn't for your lack of vision, you would have made a decent subject."
Then, before he could think better of it, Gilgamesh reached out his prosthetic arm and allowed a single drop of the elixir to fall from the bottle, into the Faker's slack mouth.
"By the time you regain enough strength to stand, it will all already be over. Perhaps you will then learn to see things clearly." Gilgamesh said before returning the bottle into his Gate of Babylon.
The Golden Servant turned away from the still half dead former Master, prepared to go and hunt down the location of Saber and the Grail, so that he could return humanity to what it was meant to be. It was only then that he realized that something was off.
The mana in the area was far thicker than it had been before. So thick that it was almost dizzying, as the normalizing effects of wild Mana, what the Magus called the 'Will of Gaia', assaulted his Phantasmal body, seeking to unmake his unnatural existence.
Not only that, his surroundings didn't look at all like something you would see in Japan, nor any time period that Gilgamesh could think of. Hanging from the walls were some kind of light admitting magic tools, rather than the common electric lights of the modern world. Have they somehow ended up in the Clocktower?
No. Gilgamesh had spied on the Clocktower and Church during the years between the Grail Wars, and the mana there wasn't this intense. It was more like the way the world was back in Gilgamesh's time.
"Where in the world have you taken us, Faker?" Gilgamesh asked himself as he looked around, momentarily not knowing what to do next.
That was when what Gilgamesh would describe as some kind of monstrous cross between a woman and some kind of toad. The creature was more than a hand taller than Gilgamesh himself, had dark skin and some kind of leather armor that didn't cover the arms or legs.
If the Servant had to guess, the thing must have weighed around 500 pounds.
The Toad started to speak at Gilgamesh, using some language that sounded as though it was a Greek dialect, but not one that the old King could recognize. Strange, since the ritual that had once summoned him was supposed to have given him knowledge of all spoken languages. Perhaps the magic did not extend to beasts.
But even if Gilgamesh didn't understand the words, he was fairly sure he knew what the panting breath and the lick of the lips meant. "Disgusting creature. Be gone with you." Gilgamesh said with a sneer.
The Toad blinked in surprise before a look of anger crossed its face and it started to draw out a pair of giant battle axes as large as Gilgamesh's body. It said something else that was equally unintelligible and likely unintelligent as it pointed one of them at Gilgamesh.
The Golden Servant was about to kill the monster on principle alone, when he heard a shout that he could understand, the familiarity of the voice making him momentarily pause.
"Don't be an idiot! Get away from him!" The voice was rich and clear, containing a property that made it impossible to not understand, regardless of language. It was a property that Gilgamesh recognized.
It was the voice of a God.
Gilgamesh started to turn his head, instinctively looking for the source of the voice, but when he moved his eyes off of the Toad, the monster woman moved at surprising speed, dashing straight at him.
Gilgamesh raised his prosthetic arm in order to take the blow of the axe and was taken off guard by the creature's strength. It was strength he would rate at around the C-rank level, if just barely.
If he had been prepared for it, he would have been able to counter easily, even with his strength decreased by the wounds he was still recovering from, but yet again, he had underestimated the threat.
So it was with the slightest of wounds to his pride that he was sent flying backwards and through one of the walls, causing much of the building to fall down on top of him.
"...Hm…" Gilgamesh's eyebrow twitched from underneath the pile of bricks and wood.
Now, he was angry.
Ishtar was completely shocked as she saw Phryne sending Gilgamesh straight through the brothel wall.
She just could not believe it.
Phryne was a level 5, and nearly at the peak of what could physically be achieved by a level 5, making her one of the top hundred strongest people currently alive, if a little low on that list. Her power was nothing to scoff at. But Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh's power had been something else entirely.
In a time before the creation of the Falnas, the blessings of the Gods and Goddesses that allowed mortals to reach their full potential, Gilgamesh had wielded strength surpassing even a level 10. No mortal alive, nor any born within the last hundred years, could have held a candle to that man. Even in the Age of Heroes, he had been a figure above the rest.
So to see him taken by surprise and sent flying was not something that Ishtar had ever expected to see.
It gave her hope, hope that perhaps Gilgamesh's strength had faded over the last four thousand years, or maybe she was wrong and that was not him at all.
That second one seemed unlikely as the rubble on top of the golden haired man was easily tossed aside as he stood up to face Phryne, a look on his face that Ishtar knew only Gilgamesh could have. It was rare for even a God to be able to convey such a level of arrogance with facial expression alone. "To attack a King in such a manner, you must really want to die." Gilgamesh said in the ancient tongue.
"Ha, so the pretty boy is still alive then. Well, I'm going to break you before I drag you back to my place." Phryne said, not having understood a word that Gilgamesh had said.
Phryne took one step forward before over two dozen golden ripples appeared behind Gilgamesh.
The Adventurer barely had enough time to try to defend herself before the wave of sharpened steel came raining down upon her. Two dozen swords, each easily identifiable as being of a quality worthy of legends.
Ishtar thought she even recognized some of them. The trophies that Gilgamesh had once collected, as he traveled the world, stealing literally all the world's treasures for himself and beating into submission any who dared to question his right to their personal belongings. The crazy bastard had even asked Ishtar for the means to venture safely through the Underworld once, so that he could rob treasures from Hell.
Phryne's guard didn't make a difference. Even with some of the best armor and weapons that money could buy, they were no match for the treasures that Gilgamesh had thrown at her.
The blades pierced through not only her armor, but also cut straight through her axes as well. It couldn't have even been called a proper fight. Phryne was dead in an instant.
"Urg, it's filthy blood is all over my treasures." Gilgamesh said with disgust as he walked up to Phryne's corpse to retrieve his weapons.
That clenched it. More than the aura. More than his face. That attitude could come from no one other than the true Gilgamesh himself.
"Tammuz, we need to go." Ishtar said as she started to turn away, grabbing onto the man's arm and pulling him along. "We need to sound the evacuation. We need to get everyone out of here now before that crazy bastard…"
"Inanna." Ishtar's heart dropped as she heard Gilgamesh call her by her old name. The name she went by when she was still a young and naive Goddess of only a few hundred years.
Turning her head back to him, Ishtar saw the psychotic kleptomaniac staring at her with apparent shock, which turned to recognition, and then to rage.
Seeing that expression, she knew he would not let her escape.
Ishtar pushed Tammuz away from her. "Ishtar-sama?"
"Go and evacuate everyone. I'll try to stall him." Ishtar whispered.
She didn't know if she could reason with Gilgamesh. Four thousand years ago, he had been completely beyond reason. But perhaps he had changed. After all, if Gods could change in such a long period of time, why not him?
"It's been a long time…" Ishtar started, but before she could get any further, the golden ripples had appeared again, and the blades came out again, pointing at her.
Gilgamesh had no interest at all in talking.
"Ishtar-sama!" Tammuz shouted, rushing towards Ishtar. But the blades were moving too fast. He would never make it.
Ishtar closed her eyes, prepared to be sent back to Heaven, only praying that Tammuz would make it out of there alive.
But to her surprise, she did not depart from the mortal world.
There was a resounding crash and Ishtar opened her eyes to see a large pink barrier between her and the incoming weapons. The barrier was strong, with only the outermost layer being damaged when the legendary quality treasures smashed into it.
And standing between her and the shield was the figure of the young man who appeared alongside Gilgamesh, his footing unsure, and his clothes soaked in so much blood that its color was starting to match the boy's hair. And yet, despite the fact that he looked dead on his feet, Ishtar couldn't help but think that his shoulders somehow looked strong.
"You just exist to get in my way, don't you, Faker!" Gilgamesh growled at the young man, who was panting hard.
"I can't stop him for long. Go." The boy said without looking back at the Goddess.
Before Ishtar could respond, Tammuz had an arm around her waist and had pulled her off of the ground, using his considerable strength as a level 4 Adventurer to run the hell away.
Gilgamesh's eyes followed them and more weapons appeared, firing after their retreating forms.
Five beautiful, golden swords flew at high speeds towards the Goddess, only for five perfectly identical swords to be shot from near the red haired young man in order to collide with those thrown by Gilgamesh, both shattering as they made impact with each other.
Gilgamesh gritted his teeth in anger as he looked away from the Goddess and to Shirou, confused as to how the Magus was even standing, let alone already using his magecraft when he had been completely dry of mana just moments before.
But when Gilgamesh looked at the man's face, seeing the same glowing lines on his face and arms as before, something clicked. The boy was forcing himself to absorb mana from his surroundings at a rapid rate in order to replace the energy he had already used. Gilgamesh could actually see Shirou's skin starting to burn away around the glowing lines as his body couldn't handle the intake of such dense mana.
"Why are you killing yourself to protect Inanna? Do you even know who that is?" Gilgamesh demanded of Shirou.
"I won't… let you just go around killing people." Shirou replied, coughing up blood as he did so, showing that no matter how gruesome the damage on the surface was, it was nothing compared to the damage inside of his body. Blood was even starting to drip from one of his eyes.
Gilgamesh glared at the boy, annoyed by his continued insistence on that fool's ideology of his.
Just like with Enkidu, Gilgamesh was starting to gain a certain level of respect for the boy, but his blind desire to save even the poisons that threatened the world made Gilgamesh almost embarrassed for having respect for his strength.
He didn't have time for this.
He didn't understand why the spoiled daughter of Nanna seemed so weak compared to usual, but he couldn't allow the immature Goddess to run wild on Earth. Who knows what kind of damage her whimsical use of power could cause.
Gilgamesh felt no sense of irony thinking such things, even as he personally planned on wiping out the vast majority of the human race. He was only thinking of removing Shirou from his path so that he could pursue the dangerous Goddess and drive her from this world.
In order to bring this to an end, Gilgamesh called on his Ace. He would destroy the Faker, and everything else that got in his way.
Shirou's eyes widened as Gilgamesh reached into the Gate of Babylon and retrieved the primordial sword, Ea.
Normally, it was not a weapon he would use lightly. Even if he did hold respect for Emiya, he wouldn't draw it when the magus was on his last leg, but his rage at having seen Inanna right in front of him had sent him over the edge.
"This is your final chance, Faker. Kneel or die." Gilgamesh said as he prepared Ea. It was to be an attack that would level most of the city and cost him most of the mana he was using to remain stable, but it would be worth it.
Dark crimson light started to wrap around the weapon as the Divine Construct started to power up.
But before Gilgamesh could unleash the power, and before Emiya could respond, something happened.
Gilgamesh staggered as it felt as though the weight of all the mana around him turned on him, pressing down on him and attempting to smother his existence. It crushed Ea, forcibly deactivating the Divine Construct's Mystery and dispelling the flames.
Then, the ground underneath the pair started to rumble and then exploded outwards, sending both Gilgamesh and Shirou flying through the air.
The two fighters managed to correct themselves and land with some level of grace nearly a block away from where they had just been, turning their heads to see a giant glowing red rift where they had once stood.
"What have the Gods brought about now?" Gilgamesh said through gritted teeth as a massive black creature clawed its way from the rift.
A hound like beast, nearly fifty feet tall and covered in thick black fur. It's eyes were like ruby gems and steam exited its mouth as it turned its head from left to right, seeming to search its surroundings until it spotted Gilgamesh.
The monster let out a piercing roar before rushing towards the King of Heroes, who was really not having the best of days.
Gilgamesh's attempts to use a Divine Construct inside of the dungeon city has caused the dungeon to spew out one of its black monsters. And since he was going full force, it is a biggy.
For the sake of fairness, Gilgamesh won't have access to his Divine Constructs, including Enkidu. (Yes, the chains are a Divine Construct.) No sucking the world into a black hole.
For all those who say that Gilgamesh brought up how all of Ishtar's lovers end up suffering, go and actually look at the list the guy gives of lovers. Only one of them is a lover, and it is Tammuz, who as a said, was caught red handed partying in celebration of Ishtar being dragged away to the Underworld. Most of the other things on the list are animals.
And the way that Gilgamesh says it is being a huge dick.
I also want to point out that the Epic of Gilgamesh isn't the original, it copied the story of the Bull from another poem and changed it so that Ishtar threatened her father rather than her father doing it because she was crying. Probably because the writer wanted Ishtar to be a more unlikable character than Gilgamesh, who was said to be an especially bad tyrant to the humans, to the point were the Gods actually took notice.
Ishtar/Inanna was often characterized as being spoiled by her father and being among the youngest of the Gods, so I will concede the point to anyone who called her a spoiled brat, but she wasn't evil.
On the subject of relative power levels, I am assigning things so that 150 points in stats is equal to adding the human peak to your strength.
So 1500 total points is E rank, 3000 is D rank, 4500 is C rank and so on.
Each persons growth per level is restricted to 999 (unless they have skills that allow otherwise) and most people grow a level after 500 points with you being strong in something if you have 900 in it. Your strength is relative to the sum of all the stats you gained at each level up.
So the average level 4 would have 1500-3600 strength or between E and D rank strength.
Having B-rank Strength, Gilgamesh would be as physically strong as a level 7, when at perfect health.
Gilgamesh isn't as strong as Ishtar remembers him, because Gilgamesh is only a Servant and restricted by the Servant summoning system. As such, he is weaker than he once was.
