-When are we getting out of the portal master?
-As early as possible, we need time to find the mad man and stop him from interfering with the battles. Now! Fujimaru shouts as he, Mash and Fou exit the portal. They are thrown out into a harsh world rolling over as wind blows in their faces.
-Vimana!
-Oh, if this isn't a surprise to find you two here!
-Gilgamesh?
-You've arrived at the perfect time. I was just about to be done with these enemies. Fujimaru looks around and sees a sea of pillar god demons. The ground was nothing but dessert covered in pillars reaching all the way to the sky firing beams towards the ship. Towering over them, a monster the size of a mountain. A titan made out of gold covered in obsidian jewellery was slowly following them.
-What in the world is going on here? What is happening?
-Someone or something freed all the demons of Salomon and created that gold titan in order to destroy humanity. I was summoned here alongside another one hundred servants to fight them off. We've failed. As a last resort Salomon removed this time line from history making it it's own separate future where humanity loses.
-It, it cannot be! What about the other servants, the counter force, the grand servants, the gods themselves?
-All dead. I am the last being alive on this planet. Everything else was destroyed by the pillar demons and the golden titan. I don't even know how long I can move forward.
-Master. We'll need reinforcements for this.
-If we would have summoned Gustav now, ridiculous amounts of fire power would have been amazing.
-Be careful! Mas shouts as the titan's hand reaches from beyond the clouds to grab onto them.
-We have to avoid it! Fujimaru says. Gilgamesh spits out blood as he tries to control his ship changing direction. He must have been flying it for days without stopping reaching a state where he could only keep it moving forwards.
-It's too late now. Whatever comes out, here goes.
-Are you doing this on purpose? Are you trying to kill us even more than we are? What do you think you've summoned into the world.
-This is... Giant wings push the hand away as the titanic creature meets it's match. A being just as large and powerful as he is. It's horns scar the land, it's feet crushing pillar gods underneath. The reminiscent song they've fought to eliminate from the world has returned to the middle east.
-Tiamat! It was none other than her, their once mortal enemy came to their rescue. With her imposing presence and pressure she blows away the straggling pillar gods underneath her as she engages the golden titan in battle. With her arrival above the battlefield a gate opens bringing into the world a giant flesh like spaceship which starts deploying thousands upon thousands of creatures that join the battle. A weird instinct was telling them the ship was safe so Gilgamesh pulls up his spacecraft and lands there. Once they reach safety he falls to the ground exhausted as two of the weird monstrosities take him away to what they called "infirmary".
-This looks like Tiamat while she was flying over the red sea.
-This is the one time I hope there are two of them. I don't think she'll be enough to stop all this.
-She won't. One of the wriggling creatures stops by and answers.
-We can feel it, mother is being overwhelmed, there are more than one entity inside the giant. Evil beings, beyond even mother. She will lose, but there is hope. We can use the DNA we can collect from Gilgamesh to colonise other worlds. We will start again, somewhere else.
-You intend to leave the planet?
-We will run, alone we cannot fight them. Mother will die. Look. Tiamat's body was already taking heavy damage. The fight with the titan was already hard but combined with the relentless assault of pillar gods she started taking a lot of damage.
-Even if I use a command spell now it will be useless. Her body will just be damaged again and again. Do you know how many enemies we face?
-To this point, approximately 95% of Earth's solid surface is covered in pillar gods. The few exceptions being the tallest mountains in the world and remote islands to which the corruption hasn't reached yet. With how many Tiamat can kill at the moment, it will require... too many command spells for her to manage it.
-Intruders! Intruders! Another one of those creatures start shouting as a portal opens right inside their ship, followed by another.
-It's Berserker's master! And the other man that was at the base of the mountain!
-The name's Cato by the way. We've never got the chance to introduce ourselves, though I'm no longer Berserker's master any more. I can't get Odin to turn back into a berserker, so I command over a second Lancer.
-The best Lancer however. Odin says, opening his eye.
-You're not even a grand lancer.
-I am a god, gods cannot become grand servants. That would be cheating.
-Eh... I... well, I don't think we'll fight any time soon so might as well introduce myself. My name is Aike, master of Saber. A young man with the stench of old all over him. A monster in disguise, a mage which prolonged his own life by squeezing the life force of others into a potion of youth. If divine justice isn't going to punish him by living forever might as well keep living.
-Well, where is he? Come one, let us see him or her. You even know my servant is Odin for goodness sake.
-Fine, you've asked for it. Before everyone else manifests a huge bearded man wearing a chequered dress with chain-mail underneath. A bonnet on his head and a huge sword. Everyone was in awe at this apparition, then he started talking.
-So then I grounded their bones into dust and put them inside my drink. Didn't feel a thing but the next morning I was all purple. I told the lads to drink it but the bunch of cowards were afraid of turning purple as well to not be ridiculed so I put them to the ground and forced them to drink otherwise they would have died from the poison. The next day the whole camp was purple and the enemy started laughing at us, they didn't laugh when their trickery didn't work and we scaled the walls of their city with our bare hands. To wash it off we bathe in their blood and as I told them, it was gone! They just wouldn't listen! Then...
-You see, that's the problem.
-Oy, master, you summon me before some milk sipping, tea drinking, still growing kids and you don't introduce me. The name's Saber, the man that made kingdoms fall and rise. I bet you've heard of me. Like that one time when...
-He likes to speak a lot. It's not a trait that belonged to him, it's... cultural. Like he adopted it after he was summoned.
-So I poured it all inside the catapult's arm and threw it into the air. It was disgusting as hell but now the enemy had to deal with our latrines, not us. Bloody bad idea that was, we had to clean up the city both from corpses and...
-And he keeps on going on and on and no matter how much I tried telling him to stop he just won't. Oy, Saber. See those bastards down there?
-Yea, those cow tits looking things that spin all around with all those eyes of theirs.
-They're the Brits.
-Getting them now! Saber says as he jumps out of the flying space ship all the way from above the clouds to the ground.
-Won't he die from the fall? Everyone wanted to ask but their question was soon answered. Saber pulls out his sword and points it at the ground. It catches fire and increases in length to the point where it looks more like a pole than a sword. In an instant it reaches the ground passing through three pillar gods at once slowly breaking Saber's fall.
-Aren't you afraid he's going to be overwhelmed by the pillar gods?
-That's the better part about him. The more he's overwhelmed the stronger he gets. Bad things happen when there are few enemies to fight him. Falling from the sky Saber shortens his sword turning himself into a giant projectile. He hits at the base of a pillar god bashing it with his shoulder with such might that the monstrosity topples over and falls to the ground.
-We can't let Saber grab all the glory for himself. Ragnarök awaits! Odin shouts as he jumps out of the ship on the back of Sleipnir.
-They are relentless aren't they. The ship quakes. Tiamat was hurt by the golden titan.
-We need to go, we must leave this planet at once while mother still has power.
-No! We cannot leave anyone behind. Fujimaru says.
-As long as we fail to save one world it is as if we've failed to save them all.
-One who saves a soul saves a thousand. Isn't it?
-Leon, you're here too.
-We're all here. We've all been summoned in the safest place possible in this world.
-I will be the one to win the war! Leon proclaims.
-If any of you want to be crowned second, then they must defeat more pillar gods than me! He says as he and Lancer jump off ship into the middle of the battle. While everyone was watching the two falling from the sky the air resonates with the sound of Tiamat punching the golden titan square in the face with such strength that it's metal like body gained the properties of flesh for a moment.
-She! She punched it back! Only for an instant Tiamat managed to push the golden titan back. Oh, but what everyone feared the most became true. Beyond the golden exterior lied the fearsome truth. The one behind it all was none other than the mad man who summoned a giant entity inside the hollow body of the titan. From the wound that Tiamat caused tentacles and a black tar like substance started flowing out. The tentacles reach out trying to grasp onto Tiamat but her body is too large for them to do any damage. While she managed to gain the upper hand against golden titan the pillar gods around her struck her in the back making her fall to her knees.
-It is time! With this power, I'll heal...
-Not yet! Look, she's changing form, into that of a dragon! The quadruped form was far better suited for her to fight against the multitude of enemies on the ground. Saber points his sword perpendicularly to the ground and shots the tip kilometres in front of him, straight to god, earth and water. He runs forward to impale even more before swinging his sword wildly cutting the pillar gods to pieces.
-I don't ever remember eating octopus. They didn't grow back home. That's something only the weak teeth of the southerners might enjoy. Ah, what am I saying, you look like tentacles, literal pieces of swirling octopus legs. What self respecting enemy takes the form of a blob? Is an octopus even an animal? It has no bones does it? I'm fighting literal backbone-less enemies. What is today? Am I battling the English again? Trying to catch him by surprise while he was lost in his thoughts a pillar shoots a ray of energy at Saber but he deflects it with the flat end of his sword before going back to thinking out loud, insulting both the enemies and the English.
-And I chopped off both the horse and the rider's head with one swing. Even their metal was weak. They thought their stones would stop us but walls don't exist when fighting me! Run already! I'm coming to pummel you into the earth damn it! With one slap behind the back... side... of a pillar god he topples it to the ground then finishes it off with a cut from his very long sword.
-This looks easy, too easy. If the rest of the servants keep the pillar gods at bay then Tiamat might be able to defeat the golden titan.
-She won't.
-Gilgamesh. Shouldn't you be resting?
-Gotta say, this mud of life surely brings back the energy in my bones. Still... This happened before with Solomon. We thought we had the upper hand, drove back into a corner the pillars, then a giant gate in the sky opened. Not only did all the pillar gods come back to life, but there are other things that came through it too. Giant metal birds floating motionless into the sky, some wear like creatures that tower over mountains, squids from the sea and so forth.
-Damn it! One of those required divine intervention to defeat, imagine a whole army of them.
-There's still a chance. Something we can do. We could eliminate them from the world before resurrecting, with EA. However! To do that we need power and you are holding right onto it. That necklace of yours, it stinks but it holds the power of godhood within it. You'll need to summon me through the power of that necklace in order to do it.
-Can't we just make a contract?
-No, it has to be a completely new summon. At the moment I'm held afloat by the powers of Solomon, however, those also limit my capabilities.
-It's true master. Think of Teach, he couldn't get to the maximum of his powers before becoming a whole different being. The same is true for me as I don't get any power from the necklace.
-How can we do that though? The fragments summon servants at random and I cannot control it.
-That will not be a problem. There is a way to deal with that! However, we must leave this place in order to do so.
-Then we'll have to leave Tiamat and the rest behind!
-Don't worry, we'll look after her.
-She's starting to get damaged though...
-We could do an experiment before you leave. If we remove part of the command spells and turn them into a surplus of energy, we could store them to be used when necessary. Something akin to, creating a surrogate body to host them for a while.
-Can you do that?
-Yes, but it will require... unpleasant procedures. First you'll have to bathe in the life giving mud so that your body can be analysed. The second part of the procedure is the removal of the arm and it's substitution with an artificial one for the time being. The arm can be returned once we are done, however... The removal is troublesome. We'll have to cut it off first.
-Cut it off! That's absurd.
-It will be painful however the life giving mud will remove the pain immediately afterwards. At most it will hurt for a few minutes as the mud replaces your hand.
-Are you sure you can put it back.
-Master! You cannot really be thinking too.
-Let's do it.
-You've got guts I see.
-No. I just cannot stand by as people fight and suffer to reach the same goal that I have. If saving this world means losing an arm, so be it.
-Then let us begin! The swirling creatures take Fujimaru and place him inside a pool of mud. From the bottom of the pool an operating table appears and Fujimaru is tied to it. His right arm placed perpendicularly to his body.
-You want to bite into this. A swirling creature offers him a piece of cloth to sink his teeth into. The mud starts enveloping his body as it wraps around his shoulder. One of the creature's arms turns into a sharp, long blade.
-You can look away if you please. Cutting in... 3...2...1. Chop! A clean cut. The hand is perfectly separated from the rest of the body. Now the pain begins. First, the cut reaches the brain, then the mud. The procedure is more painful than anticipated. The mud enters the wounds nearly fusing with the flesh reconstructing the lost limb. The pain is, as if someone is pulling onto the muscles, stretching them to the length of an arm. The bones are next, the same pain one feels when a tooth has to fall is pulsing through Fujimaru's body. Nails, skin... They're done. The arm is finished and the pain is gone.
-Take deep breaths. His original arm is taken and placed in a pod where veins reach into it in order to preserve and utilise its powers when necessary.
-This was the worst pain.
-On your feet. There is no time to waste. Gilgamesh says once Fujimaru finished recovering.
-Where are we heading?
-We must go to two places in order to be summoned as a new servant. We must meet with the god of craftsmanship, Enkin and the god of laws, Shamash. To do that we must fly to their temples, one in Eridu and the other in Larsa.
-Wouldn't the temples be destroyed by the pillar gods?
-No, by just being in the right place we can access them as they are built in a pocket dimension. We'll take my ship there, however. We must first cross the desert, which is filled to the brim with pillar gods. I alone cannot fight one of them, let alone a thousand.
-Then I'll use another fragment of the box to summon a secondary servant.
-Don't! We need as many of them intact as possible. Think what an upper hand we would have if we could summon all the most powerful servants in history with a power-up to boost. It would be enough to drive back all this madness.
-Hearing your plan, the best thing to do is help you. Me and Odin can go with you, if that's alright with the others.
-Go for it. Caster says.
-We will keep the situation stable until you return. Then, all of you get a trip back to hell.
-Oh, we'll have a long discussion about sending people to hell soon enough.
-Don't fight now! Concentrate on surviving then we'll kick each other as much as we want.
-Then let us be off. The sooner we free the world the better. Gilgamesh, Mash and Fujimaru get on the ship while Odin and his master ride on Sleipnir. As soon as they leave the ship they are being targeted but the other servants of the ground do not allow even one blow to reach them. The two flying objects pass beneath Tiamat's arms as they head towards their first destination; barely undetected by the titan too occupied fighting Tiamat.
-Do not be afraid to go as fast as you can. This able beast desires to run! Odin says as he praises Sleipnir's speed.
-Any faster than that and we'll be in danger of heading face first into a surprise attack.
-Then I'll take them all in. Odin says as he starts throwing his spear at pillar gods, making them fall over. Every time he threw the spear, it didn't matter in which direction it would return to his hand without fail and no matter how he would throw the spear it always reached it's target.
-Unchained servants are the real deal aren't they?
-Imagine how easy our lives would have been if one of these were present in Babylonia.
-You remember all that? Servants usually don't remember past events when summoned by different people.
-Everything that happened since then, added to all the times I've been summoned as a servant, I remember them all. As if, someone wants me to know all this. It might be the nature of my summoning, it might be that something changed as well as it might be that I changed. Everything started to become clear after the last time I was summoned in a holy grail war. It was terrible, a mockery of the war! What in the world did I even fight, no struggle to die with a little bit of decency against. Someone broke the rules, summoned the fury of nature on top of all the participants. It was so maddening, if one day I'll be able to see that person again I swear the horrors I will inflict upon him are going to be indescribable. Yes, once I gain the power of an unchained servant I will seek that person out for revenge.
-Gilgamesh seems, kind of broken don't you agree master?
-Something really bad must have happened to him in the past.
-How far are we heading out for?
-The first god we have to meet is Shamash, the god of laws and justice. He will remove the randomness once we try to summon a servant with the pieces of the box you hold. Then we'll have to meet Enkin, he will make it so the pieces can turn into any relic necessary to summon a servant, thus giving us an unlimited choice. The first thing is to summon me, destroy the pillar gods, use Tiamat's ship to restore the world then get revenge. Indeed, revenge is very important.
-What actually happened?
-I'm not sure myself. The first thing I remember is being summoned in the middle of a battlefield. People were running, the sky was on fire, lightning everywhere, not one person dead! My master forced me to run away and retreat in order to form a better plan of attack. Most of the other masters were already defeated right after they summoned their own servants. I and an assassin servant found out who was the master of the rider that defeated everyone else with such ease. We caught him by surprise one day, the assassin sacrificed himself and I managed to catch him by surprise. I used him as a bargaining chip, however I failed. Little did I anticipated, the absolute power my opponent held. I even remember the whole scene. Everything was ruined, the sky was dark filled with lightning. I caught him by surprise and impaled him through his hands and feet. If I were to kill him on the spot Rider would have destroyed the whole planet and even worse, he would have come back! I saw it with my own eyes. When my master and assassin's master tried working together to poison him, with one quick gesture Rider gave him poison immunity. We chopped his head clean off his body and she got him back on his feet in one move.
-That sounds incredibly hard to deal with.
-Indeed, without defeating her first we couldn't have ever defeated her master, so we went ahead with our plan. We captured Rider's master and impaled him, you can still see the holes from the spikes that I used to impale him to the ship.
-Wait. You impaled someone to the ship and his servant was a terribly strong rider... Could it be that you fought against Laurie?
-I have no idea what his name was, the one thing I know for sure the rider's identity was Quetzalcoatl!
-It was him then!
-Have you met with him?
-Yes, Quetzalcoatl is the one that gave me the necklace.
-No wonder I could smell that horrible, foul odour coming out of it. It was reminding me of those horrible times.
-What happened afterwards?
-Quetzalcoatl pile drove me into the core of the planet. First she appeared out of nowhere and kicked me so hard in the neck it broke on contact then wrestled me back into the throne of heroes. The group travels above the endless sea of pillar gods.
-You flew above them for all that time while being chased by the golden titan? That's impressive.
-They didn't shoot at me for some reason. Perhaps I was too weak to notice or maybe the golden titan wanted to finish me off himself.
-How did all of this happen, how did it start?
-All I know is that the situation was already getting out of hand when Solomon summoned us. We fought and fell one by one until there was no one left. The golden titan was unmatched, unstoppable. His march continued through all our fronts. No amount of damage could break him, nothing we did could harm him. The pillar gods started rising one after the other as servants started falling. When Solomon was gone the whole world turned black. The sky turned cloudy as if it was night then a giant circle in the sky opened up covering the whole world in pillar gods. They started from a cradle near Jerusalem then spread out like a plague consuming everything, vegetation, animals, humans. We stood no chance. But we'll fight back.
-There! In the distance! Is that our target? Odin asks as he rises from below the cloud of dusts and lasers he has created during the whole voyage.
-Yes, the temple of Shamash. We'll have to hurry. The metal birds are enclosing onto the entrance.
-You think mere poultry is going to stop me? Do not doubt for a second that you stand by the side of the all father, head god of the Aesir! Odin rises his spear high into the air, lightning striking it multiple times then followed by chill winds of snow.
-Valhalla! He shouts, raising the rainbow bridge from the underworld to the world of the living. Valkyries arrive first then thousand upon thousand of warriors that died valiantly in battle rose upon longships and mighty steeds to fight Odin's enemies. Ships are flying through the sky on waves of magic, warriors are jumping, harpooning and slashing at the metal birds. Their attacks don't do even a scratch but they do not falter.
-Is that all Asgard has to offer? He shouts as a thunderbolt strikes one of the metal birds with such power that it toppled to one side.
-Go now! Through the portal while we can keep the birds busy! Gilgamesh's ship passes through the portal reaching the realm of Shamash. But alas, the temple was desecrated, the avatars of Shamash are fighting in deadly combat against the invading forces of the interloper. Shamash himself was fighting a monstrosity with six arms and six legs like a spider hanging from a thread. The monstrous creature hits the weirdly shaped body of Shamash pushing him into the walls of the temple. Shamash was a large, lizard like being shaped like half of the Yin-Yang symbol. It has a very large round body covered in stone like jewellery with a small head and a short, thick tail. It's arms and legs are small and stubby like those of a newborn. His face covered half his torso and in his arms held the book of laws.
-Shamash! We come to seek your aid in fighting off these creatures! Grant us your power, allow us to control the shards of the reliquary to summon whichever servant we want! Struggling as he was being hit by the mysterious creature, Shamash activates his powers out of sheer desperation hoping for something to happen. His eyes glow red and the shards change becoming brightly coloured while emitting light.
-Good, the first part is finished, now we only have to meet with Enkin in order to gain the true powers of these fragments. Let's go!
-Wait, we can't just leave things like this!
-We still can't summon servants as will. You'd be wasting shards summoning a servant now.
-Whatever I'll summon it will be strong enough to deal with these creatures.
-Are you listening to me, you'd be just wasting... Gilgamesh tries to stop Fujimaru from summoning a new servant. Thanks to Shamash's powers the shard starts glowing brightly as a servant is about to be materialised. Gilgamesh grabs Fujimaru by his wrist as the shard was glowing and light turned from a bright blue into a deep crimson. Powerful winds start blowing with such intensity that everyone inside the temple is blown away. The red light engulfs Gilgamesh too creating a weird chain reaction.
-This is it! I am being summoned into this world again! He shouts as the light pulls him inside before spitting him out violently.
-It worked!
-Then let us establish a contract immediately. However a bolt of lightning strikes the top of the temple destroying several pillars.
-Why isn't the shard dying down?
-It cannot be! A second servant is being summoned. I cannot feel any link with that servant though.
-Look master! There's a hand reaching out from the light. It has a hole in it!
-Iztlacatini?
-I felt so much rage. A voice that doesn't normally belong to Iztlacatini says.
-He was drawn out?
-The anger I feel towards him, called out to me.
-Gilgamesh was used as a catalyst?
-Berserker type servant, Iztlacatini has been summoned. Gilgamesh! He shouts as he fully emerges from the light covered in battle armour. Iztlacatini jumps out of the light right in Gilgamesh's face. He raises his hand to strike but instead of lowering it it glows bright red and for an instant Huitzilopochtli materialises into the world hitting Gilgamesh instead of him. The punch was quite strong and if not for Gilgamesh summoning a magical shield out of his Gates of Babylon the impact would have been a lot more devastating.
-Is this the time to do this?
-I will bite your throat out!
-What did you do to him to make him so angry.
-I impaled him to my ship.
-I can't wash my face without help any more. I can't swim!
-Those don't sound like too much of a hindrance, especially for a Mage.
-I'm friends with the god of all waters and I live in a city built on top of a lake, you think swimming isn't an issue?
-It certainly feels like there's more behind his anger than just some old wounds.
-I'm gonna bash your face in so hard your skull will cave in on itself.
-Iztlacatini, Gilgamesh! Enough, this isn't the time nor the place. Look around you, the temple is overrun with enemies.
-Then it shall be dealt with first! Gilgamesh says before opening the Gates of Babylon throwing endless amounts of weapons and relics at the monsters killing them with ease.
-These powers of an unbound servant... Not even while I was alive I could have done this, no, this is something akin to a gross overstatement of what a servant can or can't do. In a state like this even a human child could stand face to face with a grand servant. What is this power?
-It is mine! Iztlacatini says. I created the crown of life, the item that allows for the impossible to happen. A mere grail is a joke compared to my creation for it does not increase in power multiplicatively but exponentially. This world of yours is under the rule of Gaia and nothing is beyond that, gods, servants, humans, demons and beasts, all creatures that belong to this planet have a ceiling beyond which they cannot go. What the crown allowed me to do is beyond the creation of a planet, of a solar system, it allowed me, no it forced me into painstakingly creating an universe of my design! These manifestations you find so outlandish are the servants from my world, the servants that cannot be summoned in my domain. I created a world free of grail wars and you came to steal what was mine. No, not stealing, proliferating. You proliferated war into your worlds not knowing the magnitude of power you were dealing with. That's where everyone went wrong, they tried correcting reality! They started a war to limit the power of the crown over the world, something they should have never done... I was going to absorb all of it. This body is meant for that, my whole existence is a long series of events meant to lead me on the path to universal godhood. You all made my plan stumble, but luckily not fall to the ground. Iztlacatini stops for a second. Even he feels the maddening powers of the enhancement clouding his judgement.
-I'll bash your teeth down your throat. That was the best thing to say, that was the reasonable thing to do. Bash his face in first, then calm down later. While Iztlacatini was having a chat with the stones of the temple, Gilgamesh's managed to eliminate all the monsters from inside the structure.
-Master. We can't have the two be at each other's throats for the rest of the war. What are we to do? Mash asks not knowing how to proceed.
-We'll settle it. As men do. Iztlacatini says and Gilgamesh nods before floating in front of him.
-Then I shall oversee it. Shamash says before raising his arm summoning a scale. Within each arm of the scale he places the divine powers of the two which both give up willingly. It will be returned once the whole deed will be done.
-So small? I hope it isn't a sign of the worst things! Gilgamesh says as he notices how small Iztlacatini's divinity looks like compared to his.
-That is the wrong thing to take. I have as much divinity inside me as any human does, that is just the residual... residues I had on me. If we are to fight with only what our bodies allow us to then I shall give up my powers by myself. Shamash judges Iztlacatini and sees that there is nothing left inside him besides the power of his mere muscles and bones. For all that it mattered, the two were mere human mortals for those instances. Gilgamesh puts forward his hand and Iztlacatini grabs it as if to shake hands but, as soon as the two touch they punch each other with incredible force. They both clench their teeth as they get hit, nearly flying backwards only to spring back forwards hitting each other again. They use their heads as fists clashing foreheads like goats. Their punches slowly become more and more violent as if their rage builds up inside them. Sweat, tears and blood jump off their bodies with each hit. The hits rang through their ears as if someone was playing the flute really badly. They kept going like this for quite some time to the point where everyone was thinking they are evenly matched, however. Out of nowhere, be it Iztlacatini's berserker enhancement he got really panicked and his senses became more alert. He ducks one of the punches, pushes himself back on his feet from his squatting position then, while jumping backwards, uses the momentum to pull Gilgamesh towards him. A point blank drop-kick to the face! Gilgamesh falls on his back incapable of standing back up, yet it was Iztlacatini who was startled!
-There is no god in this world he says as he tries running away.
-I'll be taking these! A recognizable voice says.
-Turning yourself into a berserker to have an excuse to go on a rampage! That requires a lot of punishment, master.
-Begone evil spirit of the forgetful goddess of watermelons! Begone! Sadly Iztlacatini no longer had any powers over his servant. Forgoing his "divine" powers for the battle made it so he lost all control over Quetzalcoatl. Since Iztlacatini is the bearer of the crown of life as well as a very close catalyst to summon Quetzalcoatl, she can abuse his powers actually and forcefully summon herself to his side. While she lies telling everyone she does it to aid him and help him out in reality she does it only to keep him in check and bully him into following her way. "If it's not big sister that makes sure this evil guy follows the rules, who's it going to be?" she says to herself.
-Time to beat the caster back into you! She says. Quetzalcoatl appears behind him, grabs him by the waist and throws him high into the air before placing his head onto her shoulders performing a Muscle Buster on him. Iztlacatini falls off her shoulders on his back immobile.
-Did I overdo it? She pulls out of a pretty fashionable bag a bottle of something she calls "energy potion".
-Drink this, it will make you feel better. Seeing the potion Iztlacatini grabs it, drinks it down in one breath, gets back on his feet, grabs his divine powers then tries to run for it. However, when he got back his powers a Coatlus swooped in and picked him up in his beak.
-You won't run away this time! Quetzalcoatl says as she jumps on the flying lizard's back.
-I accept my fate. Iztlacatini says with a defeated voice.
-Turn back into a Caster first. Then I'll see about your punishment. Quetzalcoatl answers with a happy tone.
-She's bullying him. Mash says.
-Definitely. Fujimaru replies.
-They deserve each other. Gilgamesh butts in.
-Kick his ass. Iztlacatini orders Quetzal from inside the beak of her mount.
-It's been a long time Gilgamesh. She says as she does a cartwheel flip. She hits him with her legs bouncing back up smashing him into a pillar. Gilgamesh's falls to the ground unconscious. He didn't pick up his divine powers back so he was mostly human, the impact was similar to that of a truck.
-Was that intentional?
-I wouldn't know... Quetzalcoatl refuses to answer. What luck Fujimaru had however. He managed to summon Gilgamesh as an unbound servant and on top of that the summoning ritual acted as a catalyst to summon Iztlacatini which on his behalf summoned Quetzalcoatl.
-Now that we are capable of doing so, we should start eliminating the pillar gods from the world.
-Aren't we going to head for Enkin any more? Mash asks.
-There is no need. I was already summoned as an unbound servant. My powers are more than enough to solve this problem.
-Then let us... Fujimaru starts but a sudden pain in his arm stops him. His fake arm starts falling apart.
-What is going on?
-Master, your arm is...!
-Being destroyed because the powers that sustained it are fading. Iztlacatini says before stopping Fujimaru's arm from disappearing.
-Something must have happened with Tiamat. Fujimaru says in pain. Now that Iztlacatini was there he took everyone back to Tiamat by teleporting them there. As soon as they appeared on the edge of the ship they were engulfed in pillar god fire and under heavy bombardment.
-You've finally returned! Leon says covered in blood running behind Lancer.
-What is going on here? What's the horrible smell?
-The golden titan summoned a weird monster to invade our ship, an amalgamation of man and animals, fish and what other weird kind of beats these are.
-Are they strong?
-They're thousands! Lancer says as he moved his mighty blade to cut down another wave of them.
-Protect the ship or our plan to rebuild the world is doomed! Just as Gilgamesh said that the ship shakes and they start drifting as it leans to the right.
-What in the world was that?
-The second of Tiamat's horns! The pillar gods and the golden titan managed to rip off both her horns and throw them at the ship.
-Damn it! I'll have to use a command spell and bring her back. Fujimaru says but Quetzalcoatl suddenly pushes him backwards.
-There is no need to hold back in this world master. Just shield your eyes and leave it to us Fujimaru. Be it our very own or others, we gods have a responsibility to mortals, we must nurture and protect them no matter where they stand. Come end of the world, come destruction beyond space and time, this world is a cycle which we can always start again! Iztlacatini arrived from behind her, half his body was burning up already as he was transferring power from himself into Quetzalcoatl. She starts running through the ship with a tail of fire behind her boiling alive the monstrous creatures one by one until the whole structure is safe.
-There she goes... Finally a moment of respite to assess the situation. I've been keeping an eye on you and your fun adventure Fujimaru. All we have to do is let this... Iztlacatini glares at Gilgamesh holding back an oceanic tide worth of insults
-...this Gilgamesh destroys the world then just resurrects everyone with Tiamat's powers.
-That was the plan but there are two things holding us back now. Tiamat is nearly dead and without her the ship is gone too. Second, the sky turned black and the ship won't be able to leave Earth before being destroyed by Ea.
-Surviving the end of the world really is a problem for you I take.
-You say that as if it's something common.
-For me it happened already five times and my circle of acquaintances were responsible for it.
-We can't have the whole world reset only to start all over again every thousand years or so.
-Luckily for you that can be avoided. Piece of tra... I mean Gilgamesh, go ahead and destroy the world as you see fit, I'll just make it so that the planet and everything that isn't pillar gods on it will dodge the hit. Iztlacatini's body lights up and unknown words start floating around him before everyone still alive on the planet and friendly is summoned on the ship, including a small human sized version of Tiamat.
-The mother! Help the mother! The wriggly creatures start shouting as they panicked to put her back together. Quetzalcoatl arrived too making sure the ship was free of enemies.
-We are all here. Destroy the world and let us be done with it! Iztlacatini shouts but the ruler stops him.
-Don't do it yet! We must solve something first. The grail war. Berserker and Cato. You are the losers of the previous fight, you need to leave.
-Is this the time to enforce the rules, Ruler? It's not like the world is about to end around us!
-I must! Because of Berserker's master still being here after he died the grail is confused, power is leaking, things don't works as they should, the world is becoming more and more unstable making it even easier for the mad man to crawl inside them as the grail creates these worlds allowing him time to corrupt and ruin them. Berserker has to go, now!
-I'll stand and fight! This is no time to throw away allies while we face such odds!
-The grail demands it! Ruler says with a stern voice.
-What if you take me instead? Rider says presenting himself forward.
-Rider? Yuna says shocked.
-My master... I sense how unfit for this battlefield you are, it would be for your best to leave it, return home and live on with the ignorance of what is happening in this blaster hellhole rather than suffering and possibly losing your life in battle.
-What about your wish? What about.
-It doesn't matter. What kind of knight forgets the order of who to put forward, the people around him or his own interests.
-I have my interests too and I want to win! Yuna says forcing herself.
-It doesn't matter either. It has to be berserker. Ruler says pulling out his sword.
-I will enforce the rules, even under these circumstances.
-Are we really going to fight amongst ourselves now? Fujimaru tries butting in but Ruler swats him away.
-We have to! If we don't, the mad man will just keep invading our worlds before we can even enter them, turning our war into this... mockery!
-All of this could have been avoided if only you would have known your place and not mess around with my crown.
-You are not helping! Ruler shouts.
-That what I've been thinking ever since all of this happened! They do not have the time to continue their discussion however. A giant hand reaches through the spaceship and is just about to grab everyone inside if not for Iztlacatini's automated dodge.
-The sky master! Mash shouts looking at a giant tear in the sky.
-Oh that's bad. That's really bad. Everyone thinks that internally but Iztlacatini is the only one to say it out loud. An eye the size of the planet was closed beyond a portal of chaos and madness.
-We'll have to close it! If the portal fully manifests and the eye opens were doomed, us two included. While the world Iztlacatini created is a tumour more or less, a part of reality that was forced into existence rather than being something natural, it won't be destroyed by the arrival of the Great Threat beyond the stars, but reality, if that monster awakes it will shatter it.
-Fujimaru, it seems our meeting this time is going to be quick and swift. We won't be able to help you out on your quest any more.
-Why am I dying for outsiders? Iztlacatini shouts, breaking Quetzalcoatl's noble speech.
-We're going to close off that portal but you have to leave before we do that.
-That's madness. If we leave, all the forces on this planet will attack you.
-If you don't leave, win the war and wish for reality to be separated from that thing you'll all be exterminated, no even beyond that, you'll be forgotten from reality, you would have never existed.
-Which makes it even worse since you'll fail and I would have died for nothing.
-We aren't going to die Iztlacatini, we're going to push through. Fujimaru! There is no more wisdom I can share with you. No more heroes I can call upon to aid us, no more tricks humanity has not yet learnt. You'll just have to smash your head against the problem and go forth. Ruler! Summon a portal, leave now or we'll force you to!
-Master. Hate me for it later. Lancer says and he stabs Odin from behind while he was least expecting it. Lancer chose to make the choice, chose to take the brunt of the blame on his shoulders so that their campaign against evil might still prove fruitful.
-It is done, let's leave.
-We still need one more fighter defeated or the mad man will reach the next area before us.
-You need a soul to leave the war right? Master, will you do it? Will you allow me to take you to the underworld for a few moments so that the grail will consider you out of the fight? Our bond won't be severed by your "death" and I'll be able to keep fighting even if we won't be able to win the war any longer.
-Pah, if it's facing death then you can go ahead and leave us behind with the blonde and the liar. We'll grind all the cow tits looking things to dust and come back to dinner.
-Saber! Don't make promises on my behalf you loud mouthed...
-Master! Saber interrupts him.
-There are things men must do then there are things real men must do. Are you a real man?
-I've lived long enough to become one. Leave us behind. Living or dying makes little difference to me, all I ask is that these youngsters...
-...spread the legend of how we killed a planet worth of pillar gods alone!
-Ruler! I hereby leave the war for the holy grail! Open the portal, flee and save reality!
-Don't touch the cat without gloves! Saber shouts raising his enormous sword with one hand before rushing away from the group without giving them the chance to even try to stop them or find another option.
-It is time. Don't look behind Fujimaru or you'll be blinded! Quetzalcoatl says as she and Iztlacatini head out to face the rift in the sky. Ruler opens the portal as the necessary servants to continue the war ahead of the mad man were removed from the war.
The feathered serpent descends from the sky and the two jump on it's head while Saber and Aike are fighting against the pillar gods and the golden titan.
-The sun will blind you destroyer of worlds! There are no more shackles of care or friends to keep the two bound, the world will be destroyed to save another. Quetzalcoatl catches fire and soon her power manifests as the sun itself moves closer and closer to the earth revealing a curled up figure inside. The true body of Quetzalcoatl, the sun itself started moving reaching with one arm out from it's fiery surface towards the portal. Quickly enough she starts wrestling with the unspoken horrors from beyond the veil of reality forcing the portal to close or at least remain closed while Fujimaru and the rest flee this world.
-Are we going to make it out of this Iztlacatini?
-If we do... I swear I'll say one truth, whatever you ask of me, one truth!
-Don't give a goddess such a reason to look forward to tomorrow. She might... pull through! Quetzalcoatl locks the gate above her head as for a second she managed to push back the madness. When she locked the portal however, at her most vulnerable the mad man arrived out of nowhere and a bolt of god slaying magic hit her through her chest.
-NO! Iztlacatini shouts with all his might. The bolt was fired by the golden titan who's size was all wrong. Quetzalcoatl was larger than the earth by dozens of times but then the golden titan was just as large and a second after both of them were as small as humans.
-My wrath will destroy worlds! Iztlacatini curses the madman and the chaos that mortally wounded Quetzalcoatl. He grabs out of thin air a red obsidian blade and points it at his chest ready to cut his heart out.
-Don't give into madness. A womanly voice says from behind Iztlacatini.
-She can still be saved... while this world is dying, there is still the possibility of life within it. Take her to my ship, bathe her in the mud of life and take what power I have left, it won't fully heal her but she'll be saved. You said it yourself, the gods have responsibilities towards mortals, sometimes they have to help one another. Iztlacatini, false god, I can feel it in your blood and bones, only your pantheon exists in your world, you've killed all the other gods before they could even be born. I do not ask of you to repent for your actions since I would be wasting my breath. Just stop gambling the future on the constant battle between the two brothers and make a stand for once. It will be good for your health too.
-She tried giving me wisdom all the time too. I'm the oldest god there is, I don't need life lessons from younger gods.
-Yet you're still as young as a human. The sole of your feet are thick from walking the world yet your legs are still fresh as if you haven't done a step in your lifetime. Go, save her life and save the future. There is still one last stand to be made. Tiamat says before jumping down to face the pillar gods alongside Saber and Aike. Iztlacatini takes Quetzalcoatl's no longer burning body inside the ship while the three are fighting outside. Everything was in flames, the ship was being destroyed, blood and guts were flowing through the corridors.
-Damned Mexica, they have ten thousand gods of war but not one god of life. Damn it, Patecatl and Ixtlilton would beat the hell out of me if they were here. Outside the battle was raging on Saber holding out to his pride and spirit of superiority to keep fighting.
-Come one come a thousands. I'll grind the mountains with your guts, I'll shove one inside the other and cut you to pieces like the poor excuse of cabbage, carrot looking things you are... I'll... I'll. He was running out of breath. Cursing at the top of one's lungs and fighting it not a good practice, losing his breath now was the last of his problems. The golden giant just smashed Tiamat under his foot and was about to take his wrath on the two of them.
-Three command spells Saber. Will it be enough? The giant rises his arm into the air and smashes through the space ship dragging it towards the ground to destroy the last sliver of resistance that world had to offer.
-Three commands spells too many master! Use them all at once!
-Command spell! Let none stand before William Wallace! Saber's sword became the size of a mountain and he rose it high into the air before making one large swipe cutting off the titan's feet.
-Off you foot from her. She died standing. With a second swipe he rips through the titan's torso cutting it in half. One last push, he pulls the sword backwards and stabs the titan through its head as the ship, all the pillar gods and the body of the titan are falling from the sky on top of them.
-Look serene master. They are watching.
-Yeah.