Chapter 5: Target Acquired, Target Eliminated

Magus Training Day 1

Gilgamesh stood nearby, looking at his protege from top to bottom. He didn't expect much from her physical-wise - seeing as she was yet to fully mature, and even with the advantage of Faunus physicality, he had to take into account her limitations. When he was King of Uruk, his men were trained and disciplined warriors. The men of his kingdom needed to be these things in order to whether out threats of great magnitude, from natural forces as well as from mankind as and the gods.

Incorporating those same techniques into Lily's training would be a trial and error process. Even if her Faunus traits were ignored, training a female body would be different than training a male body. With a few noteable exceptions, females were inferior to males in terms of combat potential. That was just a fact of life itself. This only made his job much harder, but he had to start somewhere, so he began with what he knew.

"We will begin with an obstacle course." Gilgamesh pointed to the 'playground' that he had created. "You will complete this course in five minutes."

"WHAT!?" Clearly, Lily wasn't getting it. "But WHY?!"

"In order to use magic effectively, good physical conditioning is critical." Gilgamesh spoke at first, then decided to simplify when he received a confused look from the girl. "You need to be in good shape."

"But I thought that walking a lot was being in good shape." Lily recalled their journey to Vale. "What about that?"

"That is only the beginning." Gilgamesh grilled her, his face adopting a frown. "Walking long distances trains discipline and endurance. Now stop dawdling and begin. You have five minutes. Get to it."

"B-but-" she stammered.

"I SAID NOW!" Gilgamesh boomed.

Lily no longer questioned, only throwing herself headlong into the training. He didn't expect her to get this down the first time. She would learn betterment over the course of constant and consistent repetition. What mattered right now was determining if she was used to a standard technique or if she had her own way of adapting to situations. Depending on what she tried to do, it would affect how he would train her in magic.

Plus, he was still getting use to this whole guardianship thing. He was not family-friendly in the least, but now that he was working towards the goal of making Lily his equal, he knew that the easiest way to go about it was to adapt her body if not outright train her in magic. First thing was first though: get this girl into decent fighting shape.

There was also the matter of making sure that she didn't die. She was so damn close to looking like Enkidu that it would be a crime beyond all crimes in the eyes of the King of Heroes if harm were to come to her from anyone. Her being a Faunus increased the liklihood of her experiencing danger. Well, he didn't plan on letting her go so easily, but the idea of something harming her made hims hands clench.

Gilgamesh watched as Lily began to scale a rock wall with only her hands and feet guiding her. For a girl who seemed to think that she wasn't very capable, she was doing a good job thus far. Then again, this girl hadn't exactly been sheltered and trained to be docile. She was a thief before, and as disgraceful as that status was, the demi-god understood that this lifestyle taught her survival skills and made her more physically fit than most children her age, even amongst Faunus children.

But would it be enough to get her through an impossible obstacle course?

The girl seemed to have a grip, and then she fell on her butt. She yelped, but otherwise continued to try again. She fell again, then a third time. After the third time, she took a step back. It was pathetic to watch really, but most children were. He could not not hope for maximum performance at such an early stage and he had to constantly remind himself that this would take time. Great things could be achieved by those with strong wills and the right talent, but even with those two, some things were impossible.

But Mankind has the strength to overcome what should be impossible. Gilgamesh still stuck to his guns. Impossible or not, she'll have to complete this course.

The King of Heroes watched as Lily seemed to finally get some sort of idea. She began to grab ledges that were more jagged and protrusive from the wall. From there, it was a steady climb to the top. She had scratches and bruises, but these were healed by aura and she moved on. She looked to her guardian with a hopeful look. The only indication he gave was for her to keep going. This seemed to frustrate and motivate her at the same time.

Watching the green-haired girl do her thing, there was one thing that stood out. Lily appeared to not only change her moveset when things didn't work out; she also seemed to compile and build off of previous experience. Things she had done previously showed when she tackled the next object. This in turn helped to make incoming objectives easier to tackle.

The rock wall had taught her watch her terrain for anything that could be useful to her. She then applied that to pole climbing. Trying to up the length of a tree trunk required not only a tight grip but fluid body control, something that few people had on instinct. Then there was hand-eye coordination, a key asset in the rope-swinging portion. If one wasn't quick enough on the draw, it could be their death, especially when these swings could be hundreds of feet in the air.

How strange that I've forgotten what it means to struggle. Gilgamesh felt his mind begin to wander. Of all the people to wake me up to this reality of Mankind, it had to be the Faker.

It usually took a tragedy or a horrific loss for anyone to realize their own pitfalls, and though the King of Heroes had a lot of divine blood in his veins, he was still human in part, and thus subject to the weakness of humans, albeit to a far lesser degree than fully-blooded humans. For virtually all opponents, he could simply use the Gate of Babylon to rain down death upon his foes. For the few that could keep up with his volley and retaliate in kind, he had very little in the way of actual physical combat, an error that he would rectify in order to make sure he was never be taken by surprise ever again.

"Once I'm done, no mongrel will ever be able to defeat me." Gilgamesh tightened his fists. "Nor will I be alone."

Fate/Stay Night - - - RWBY

One Week Later…

The days passed uneventfully. Days of sleeping, waking up, eating, training, downtime, all on repeat.

Lily really had no reason to complain about this routine. While it was tough, there was food and water and shelter for me. She also was getting a reprieve from being judged and abused and mistreated. Her big brother seemed to want to protect her at every turn despite his insistence that she would have to work for his favor. She guessed that she was closer to him than most people, maybe everyone in the world. He always looked grumpy and unhappy whenever he had to talk to anyone that was not her.

The little faunus girl wanted to ask about her brother and where he came from and what he wanted to do. He looked like he wanted to do a lot of cool things. She wondered why she had become a part of that plan. She could think of numerous ways to answer, all just guesses with nothing behind them. In the end, the only thing she could do was continue to work harder and get the rest of the Fall Maiden power.

The Four Maidens. It was kind of hard to believe that four women in the world controlled these magical powers. On further consideration, four women and herself, that is. Sure, her semblance was cool. She could practically go anywhere and steal anything that she wanted, but she always had to hide while doing it. Being invisible was all well and good, but the fact was that she couldn't just go up and buy things and talk to people. It was bad enough that she couldn't pay for anything, so add a pair of Faunus traits and she might as well be little better than a dog in the eyes of many Humans.

But this is different. Lily thought to herself. This time, I'll have power and people will look at me differently. Respect and fear, that's what big brother said.

She could at least get behind the respect part if nothing else. The afraid part was kind of an iffy thing for her. She knew what it meant to be afraid and she didn't like that feeling one bit. Being the one to do it to others seemed kind of not good either. Yeah, there were people that she wished would suffer and be unhappy like she had been, but it wasn't like she expected the world to treat her like a princess. Nobody had cared for her, so she cared for herself, and that was simply how the world worked for her. She didn't pretend to understand everything that adults did, but she did know one thing: the adult world was complicated and she knew it better than most kids did.

But in the end, if life had taught her one thing, it was that it was better to be the one with power.

Deciding that she was getting nowhere within her mind, she called upon her maiden powers and without too much effort, she felt a light breeze at her beck and call. It was really cool to be able to summon the elements with just a thought and a bit of willpower. It was amazing how much power she wielded. With just a thought and a move of hand, she could change the wind direction and its intensity. A light breeze to the left suddenly reversed course and became a more harsh breeze to the right. She raised her hand to the open sky and began to form a mini little tornado to collect anything loose on the ground. A few leaves collected and began to whirl around the eye of the 'storm.' This was where things started to get interesting. Maintaining fine control of this thing was harder than it looked. She had only but barely a few days to get acquainted with her new powers.

Nearby, she glanced to see Gilgamesh with his arms crossed, observing her with the critical eye. He expected a lot out of her, and while she couldn't say that she appreciated every aspect of her time training, she more or less understood what was going on. Her life was in danger and the only way she could make sure she was safe was by gaining more power. Simply put, she needed to become more powerful than everyone else, which sounded like a lot of work, but who was she to say what was right or wrong? Her guardian knew better than she did. He had power, more power that she had ever seen before, even from a huntsman.

"Summon two elements at once." Gilgamesh ordered her.

With a nod of her head, Lily did as she was instructed. Summoning her new magical power wasn't difficult by any stretch. Like with her semblance, her magic was almost instinctual to activate, requiring very little in the way of concentration and exerted very little energy. That, however was the easiest part of her newfound power. The most difficult part would be harnessing and mastering her power to such a degree that she could control how much power she used, what sort of combinations she channelled, and the degree of technicality she employed among a long list of things to consider.

She reached out with her wind abilities and began to gather some leaves in her left hand. All the while, she summoned a light flame in her right hand. A small circle of leaves swirled with inches of the palm of her hand. The flames danced all around her other hand, flickering up and down violently.

"Now employ them together." Gilgamesh commanded next. "Attack the target."

Nodding her head in compliance, Lily sighted the dummy targets set up before her and with one savage stroke, she hurled the elements, relying on instinct to guide her hand. The wind attack blew the dummy away while the fire wildly surrounded it, catching it on fire. It wasn't done with any sort of finesse.

"Sloppy." Gilgamesh reported his opinion. "Observe."

She stepped to one side as her guardian called upon the Gate of Babylon, then struck with the force of a Goliath with one single blade. The dummy was instantly torn into tiny pieces; what remained was scattered to the wind.

"Stop hesitating and use your powers with deadly intent." Gilgamesh kneeled down to look Lily in the eye. "Your enemies will not think twice about killing you. You would be wise to do the same. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes." Lily replied and she truly did understand what he was getting at.

She was literally in a do or die kind of situation. Maiden powers came with it a price. If she didn't learn to fight and kill, then people would come for her and take her power. She knew how rough people could get, but killing people seemed extreme even for a former thief like her. Now no longer having any real say in the matter felt incredibly stifling. Would this always be the price for the power she wanted?

Gilgamesh sighed. "Only the strong survive in this world. The strong rule over the weak. The weak follow the strong. Do you understand this? And do not lie to me."

"I k-kinda get it." Lily managed. "But I don't want to rule."

"You no longer have a choice in the matter." Gilgamesh warned her. "Like it or not, your life is forfeit if you do not kill this woman."

The King of Heroes used his magic to project the image of Cinder Fall. The image meant little to the little girl, but she had no doubt that with her new powers, she would be targeted and most likely killed. She wasn't ready to die, but she wasn't ready to kill others either, not that what she wanted mattered.

"I am not requiring you to kill senselessly." The man kneeled down to look at her. "But when this woman comes from you, make no mistake that she will kill you if given the chance. She has no reserves about killing you. Furthermore, I will not be defending you when this happens. All I am doing is giving you the means to fight back. Since her use of the power is limited, she will not be properly trained to use the power, but you will be."

"So… I can beat her?" Lily asked

"You can. No, not just that you can beat her." Gilgamesh grabbed her left shoulder with his right hand. "You will beat her."

The more she thought about it, the more she knew that what he was saying was true. The world wasn't going to be nice because she wanted it to be nice. She needed to be able to fight for herself and possibly kill for herself, for her own survival.

"If we're done chatting, then let's resume training." Gilgamesh projected another dummy. "Now fight!"

Lily did as she was told, even if she was not sure about any of this.

RWBY - - - Fate/Stay Night

Cinder Fall was positively seething right now. This was not part of the plan, but there wasn't much that she could do about it. Without the power of the Fall Maiden in her hands, she couldn't succeed at her plan. This was but the first step to true power, power that would give her the ability to rule over all people. She would have them in the palm of her hands, trembling in fear as she had always wanted them to.

But that damn meddling fool had gotten in the way, stolen what was hers by destiny and by right of conquest. How dare he take that from her. She hated him and that hatred had put her in a bad mood for the many days that followed. The only thing keeping her from being perpetually was her reshaping her plan. She couldn't possibly succeed without the full power, so now she had to consider her next move.

Then came the scroll call. It was short and it gave only the most bare details. The caller identification was Roman Torchwick, and at first, she didn't care to answer the call, but then reigned herself in. As arrogant and cocky of a man as he was, she did require his expertise in thievery and trickery. She couldn't afford to antagonize him too much. Even without the power to oppose her, he did have the brains to make her life miserable and his skills weren't easy to find in Vale.

She answered the call. "What is it, Roman?"

"This is not Roman." An arrogant and smug tone. "If you intend to speak to me, then address me as Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, you mongrel."

"...YOU!" Cinder yelled. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Calm yourself, woman." His voice continued on as her anger was irrelevant. "You will have your chance to get back what you want. If your desire for power is strong enough, then make to the location I am providing. We begin tonight. Be warned, I will not provide you this opportunity a second time. You either come or you do not. Choose."

The call was dropped and Cinder nearly burned the scroll in her hand, letting what power she did have rage within her. The magic coursing in her body then began to react against her will. At first, she sought to dominate it through sheer willpower, but it wasn't trying to wrestle with her, but rather trying to tell her something. She forced herself to calm down to assess what exactly she was sensing.

Her head perked up, then her gaze turned towards the north. Something was telling her to go in that direction. There was no logical thinking behind it, but it was the right way to, the place where she would find the other half of her power.

Her power.

Fate/Stay Night - - - RWBY

Midnight

Lily was sure she wasn't ready for this. Just two weeks of using her powers and now she was expected to use them in live combat with no assistance and no mercy from her enemy. Naturally, she was scared out of her wits, so her first instinctual reaction was to activate her semblance staying completely still. Only the light of the moon illuminated the forest area surrounding them. Still, even with the fragmented moon producing light for the nighttime, there were many shadows littering the ground, providing the green-haired girl with more than enough blackness to hide her own shadow in.

The little faunus girl couldn't help but hyperventilate, even knowing fully well that such an action would be very audible and easily give away her position even if her semblance made her invisible. She had encountered death many times in her life, but usually, she would be able to avoid it or bypass it. This time, there would be no escaping from it; either she would beat death or death would beat her. Numerous times Gilgamesh had told her that if she wanted to live, she would have to kill this time. He would be providing no support whatever, a not-so-surprising announcement, but disheartening all the same.

Lily heard footsteps approaching. It was time for her to decide how much she wanted to live. She steadied her breathing as much as she could. The flame within her called out to its other half. Did that mean she couldn't hide? She listened, only hearing footsteps and sensing the most extreme killer intent ever. Was it even possible for any human or faunus to become this enraged? Well, she would see in a minute.

"I know that you're here!" A woman's voice cut through the dark, as did her eyes. "Show yourself!"

The little girl might've just done what her opponent wished, but she halted and recalled something that Gilgamesh had once said to her.

Never fight a battle on your opponent's terms. Always fight by your rules.

If she exposed herself as her opponent wished, she would be dead meat very quickly. This woman was no doubt more skilled and experienced in combat. She would never be able to win on equal footing. No, she had to fight using any means necessary. She wanted to live more than anything else. This Cinder women might be better in every way, but desperation had a fascinating way with overcoming the best.

Lily, using her skills to hide, maintained ghost footsteps, making absolutely no sound as she maneuvered behind her opponent. Trying to put her actions above her thoughts, she cast a lighting strike. The woman realized too late she was being attacked and her face took the brunt of the attack. The force was enough to send her flying to the ground and it was a few meters that she slid along the ground before she came to a halt.

"ARGH!" Cinder's rage skyrocketed. "HOW DARE YOU!"

The older one leaped back on her feet, her face contorted into a not-so-attractive look. Her head whipped left and right as she tried to discern where the invisible girl was. Had she been more rational, she might've already known where to look. The next attack that came her way was a hail of frozen leaves turned into projectiles. The first wave chipped away a small portion of Cinder's aura and she ran away to avoid further damage.

Lily had climbed into a nearby tree, but didn't stop moving. She leaped to another tree and watched as the Cinder tried to regain her bearings. The older one lit up a flame in her hand and began to actively seek out the other half. It was time to move to the next attack spot. Unfortunately, the timing was imperfect and she made a slight sound, not loud enough to be heard unless one was actively seeking out unusual sounds, but it was enough for the black-haired fighter to hurl a fireball in the general direction, causing a fire to well up once the flames met with the trees.

Lily jumped to the ground, struggling to find her footing. The bottom of her footwear scrapped against the dirt, quickly alerting her presence to Cinder, the latter once again tossing a flame with the former barely dodging it from such a short distance away.

"So he gave the other half to someone else." Cinder's voice was dripping with utter displeasure. "Not that it matters. Whoever you are, you are going to die. You might be invisible, but that will not stop me from finding you."

Just shut up and keep fighting. Lily struggled to keep her breathing steady. She had already lost the element of surprise. Now she had to create a new advantage or exploit a weakness. Both options didn't present her with great odds.

The green-haired girl kept her invisibility semblance in play, looking around for anything that might buy her some time. Looking down at her feet, she saw a rock the size of her fist. Getting an idea, she kicked it to her left. At the same time she moved back into the burning trees to cover her escape. The hope was that direction of the rock would fool Cinder into believing she was going on direction while actually moving in another way. The idea was sound in principle, but the more experienced one wasn't fooled by it; in retaliation, Cinder lashed out with some projectiles created from thin air and shot them in Lily's direction. The little girl shifted her body to try and evade the sharp objects. She managed to get only nicked by the first one, but a second struck her with enough kinetic force to send her flying into the burning forest.

Lily felt her back careen against a tree trunk before collapsing face-first into the ground. She coughed and sputtered while rising and assessing her damage. Her aura was still intact, but she didn't want to even guess at how much more punishment she could endure. She instead took stock of the crimson oranges and yellows surrounding her. She needed to get out of this place unless she wanted to suffocate to death.

"A little girl?!" Cinder's voice reverberated. "Did that fool really thing that a child could defeat me?! ME?!"

… I turned off my semblance. Lily cured herself. When she had worked out her current aura capacity, she made herself visible in order to consume less aura energy, leaving herself exposed.

As Cinder approached her looking like a demon from hell, Lily viewed the crumbling environment for another angle. The fear was coming back to her. Describing it in words was far too much for her. All she cared about was living.

"Don't even think about trying to escape, kid." Cinder held her blades in her hands as spat more venom. "We're going to have a VERY long talk about why you don't hit your superiors."

"You're not my superior." Lily had the urge the get some words in too. "You're weak compared to the King."

"I'll kill him next once I've killed you." Cinder didn't cool down at the mention of Gilgamesh.

Lily's eyes moved above the two of them to see some very precarious branches about to fall from above. There was far to much cackling of fire and the collapsing of other trees for the noise above to be distinguished.

"The Gods won't be able to help you at all." Cinder misinterpreted this action of looking above. "Praying is useless."

Lily almost tried to bait the woman, but held her tongue and simply collected whatever nerve she had and made eye contact. Cinder narrowed her eyes at this display of rebellion and bravery.

"Go ahead, act brave. It will make your suffering that much more lengthy."

With some willpower behind it, the faunus used her senses to wait for the right moment. Just a little bit more.

"Nothing to say? It's less interesting when you're not fighting me." Cinder was now a meter away. "Go on, say something back to me. Make me earn it."

"Do you ever shut up?" Lily couldn't stand that voice anymore. It was just too damn smug, too damn annoying.

"Clearly, I will need to curb that mouth of yours." Cinder replied.

Then came a dark shadow from above that was so large that it covered a sizeable area around the two of them. That falling branch was much larger than anticipated and the only reason Lily was able to dodge it was because she saw it beforehand and still she barely managed to escape from its impact zone, landing flat on her back in the process. Cinder was not so lucky and wound up underneath it with a resounding crash.

The green-haired lifted herself up from the ashes and trained her eyes to search for any signs that her foe was still alive. The only thing audible was the crackling fire and the forest coming down, but nothing to indicate that Cinder lived. That was the moment Lily let her guard down and it was the moment she looked away for a split second.

Then debris exploded all around her and the six-year-old could only shoulder the damage, putting her aura into dangerous territories. Her eyesight and her hearing blurred in and out as she attempted to regain herself. She could swear that something was coming her way. It had to be Cinder.

A hand grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up harshly. Yes, it was Cinder.

"This is the end of the line, you brat!" Cinder's eyes glowed. "For that little stunt, you've earned yourself an extra dosage of pain and misery! I promise you that when you die, you will be broken in body and in mind!"

Lily's strength was fading fast, but what else was she going to do? She didn't have any other options at her disposal.

Her right hand felt something at her side as it gently swayed. It took another second for the little fighter to remember that she had a knife on her. It was a small gift from Gilgamesh. A desperate idea filled her mind; there was no guarantee that it would work and she didn't care. While Cinder was distracted by her blind fury, this would be the only chance to use the weapon.

With all of her remaining energy and willpower, she retrieved the blade at her side and aimed for the eye. Amazingly enough, the damage was enough to rip through what remained of Cinder's aura and the point was driven deeply into her left eye. This caused the woman to drop Lily and scream in pain, dropping her bow in the process and the weapon splitting into its two blades. The faunus felt air in her lungs and felt a temporary surge of strength. Running on pure adrenaline, she grabbed the two swords and thrust forward, impaling Cinder from the front with the blade in her left hand.

Blood began to run from the black-haired combatant's mouth as well as the hole made by the knife still stabbed in her face and her own sword plunged in her chest. Her remaining right eye had this look of absolute terror and fear. To make sure that the job was finished right, Lily separated one half of the blade, rotated to the dead woman's backside and impaled her from the other side. The first blade had already ensured death. The second had made death instant. Cinder Fall collapsed to the ground. She did not rise again.

In that instant, a surge of glowing power poured from the dead opponent and it flowed into the living one. It felt more than astonishing to say the least; with half the power of the Fall Maiden, she felt incredible. Now with the full power at her disposal, she felt power in her that was alien to her, but it was hers now and it would be until the day she died.

With the battle over and her excitement dying down, Lily lost the ability to stand up and once again tumbled to the ground.

So tired. I just… want to… sleep

RWBY - - - Fate/Stay Night

Gilgamesh stood between the dead Cinder Fall and the unconscious Lily Uruk. His face was a stone wall of apathy. It was a simply battle to process and the result had been exactly what he wanted. Now it was time to take his spoils and make an exit.

The King of Heroes quickly ruffled through the pockets and pouches of the corpse to find a scroll and some dust, nothing significant, but he took both anyway. The last thing he did was retrieve the two short swords that doubled as a bow and placed it in the Gate of Babylon. Lily's knife was plucked from its resting place in Cinder's face and pocketed. Once he had collected what he wanted, he left the remains and did not spare another glance.

He picked up Lily's form in his free arm and made his way back to their residence.

Who knew this story was so popular? I almost forgot about it, then I look at the stats and figured it was time for a new chapter.

So last chapter received lukewarm reviews, which I expected, but remember, this is an exploration of Gilgamesh and all aspects of him. Let's not forget that includes the real raunchy things. Granted, it won't be a regular thing, but it'll likely pop up from time to time. If that's not your thing, don't worry. There'll be plenty of other interesting things happening.

Cinder is dead, which is what I wish would happen to her in canon because I just want her to die. She's not even the kind of villain that I love to hate or wish to die because she's such a good villain. I just plain don't like her. With her out of the way, what'll become of Emerald and Mercury? Stick around to find out.

Apologies for grammatical errors. I kind of got this out in a hurry, so please feel free to correct my errors if you see any. Reviews and feedback is also greatly appreciated.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

John F. Kennedy