In the middle of his own reality marble, Shirou stood defiantly against Gilgamesh. He was bloody and covered by nothing but a torn shirt and jeans, his opponent in a biker jacket and matching black pants brandishing an arrogant smirk and piercing, red eyes which Shirou contested with his own.
"Why are this bastard's blades giving me trouble?"
The King of Heroes paused, halting the hail of blades. Shirou matched Gilgamesh's gaze with his own,
"Don't you get it?"
The servant paused.
"It is simple. You are a king, not a warrior. You may be regarded as one of the strongest servants because you possess countless noble phantasms. However, you didn't take the path of taking a single phantasm to its ultimate limit."
He placed his fingers on a nameless weapon beside him, pulling it out of the earth and pointing it at his foe. Where it was true that most of his enemy's noble phantasms weren't any more lethal than an enchanted projectile, it was the pure overwhelming mass that would eliminate opposing servants without fail.
"You are a one trick pony, just like me."
Gilgamesh's lips, no longer curved upwards slowly contorted into an expression of rage, further expressed
"When I'm done with you, there would be not a single shard left, of your counterfeiting skull!"
And with the Gate of Babylon opened, and bringing with it, a hail of swords that rocketed towards Shirou.
He leapt, first above three polearms and then dashing to his left, narrowly avoiding a painful death from impalement by a spear. Successfully defending himself he immediately traced the next nine projectiles, summoning nine copies to meet them in their flight. Pouring mana into his bones, then his tissue and muscle to the point of inhuman lengths he grabbed the closest two blades and dashed at Gilgamesh.
A greater storm of swords flew at him. Feeling additional strain being placed on his body as he conducted more of his mana into unlimited blade works, Shirou felt a slight sensation of numbness in his fingers as his body was literally being used as a giant conduit for the mana being poured into the reality marble.
Calling for three nameless blades, he sent them flying into the ground around his target, kicking up dust and dirt then dashed in, tracing the closest sword and aggressively swinging it at Gilgamesh.
The attack was met with equal force as the King of Gods held the strike with his own blade, causing a forced interlock of the two swords.
"Impossible. I'm being forced back, by a fraud like you?"
"Against any other servant, creating a world like this wouldn't let me hold my own. Creating a thousand swords wouldn't let me stand up against a servant who had mastered one."
He stared Gilgamesh in the eyes.
"But against you, my swords are ready and waiting, so that I'm always one step ahead!"
Suddenly tightening his grip on the sword he placed all his weight into the strike, shattering both blades, throwing Gilgamesh off balance. The expression on his face, that of pure anger as he took a step back.
"Damn you…"
The King of Heroes summoned another sword, gripping the handle and swung it in a wide arc at Shirou, bringing it down twice, each aimed at his head before quickly switching the weapon for a straight, double edged blade aimed straight for his neck.
"Damn you damn you damn you!" Repeating this phrase each time he threw an attack at Shirou. Each swing was met with a parry as the attack on Gilgamesh's part continued. As the sword was again brought down on his neck the red-headed boy caught the edge of the blade on his own at the base of the hilt, flinging it into the air. Shirou stopped thinking. His blades were moving on instinct, for he knew at that point, if he stopped pushing himself past its physical limits his mind and ultimately his body will fail to keep up against the king's assault.
Momentarily it floated, before it, along with twenty other blades were flung at him. The arena thundered with the shockwaves of the countless projectiles slammed into the red soil, barely allowing him any time to leap out of the way.
"Damn you! To think that I have to go all out against a pathetic fraud!" And with that the portals to his vault multiplied, splaying the sky bright yellow an aggressive, golden glow. The blades amounting in the thousands launched themselves at Shirou in quick succession.
Before he could utilize any of his blades in unlimited blade works the first of the swords already dug into the soil around him. Utilizing a more aggressive approach now that Gilgamesh has gone full-out he grabbed the closest sword to him and met the projectile that was aimed at his head with such force that both shattered at the impact. He felt his legs almost give way as he planted both of them into the floor to absorb the brunt of the force as he grabbed more to counter the hail of knives and swords of every kind. Before long he was covering steady ground, again utilizing unlimited blade works to lessen the waves of weapons. Firing like a bullet at Gilgamesh, corkscrewing in the air before summoning a pair of swords, shattering them as he blocked two more blades.
Disgusted the king of heroes took out almost all of his weapons in his vault, having them surround his target and all of them fired in unison, creating a shockwave as they all hit the ground. Longswords, sabers, knives, polearms, arrows, the volley contained any and every blade one could think of. Shirou barely had any time to react.
"I am the bone of my sword."
"Die vermin!"
And with that the surrounding area erupted in a cloud of dirt and steel. Nothing short of a pure divine being would've survived the shot. Gilgamesh was sure.
A moment passed.
A small shadow appeared above him. As he looked up he saw a pink aura, expanding and shrinking, a rose petal being torn back and forth in the wind.
"Rho Aias." Shirou declared. The only remnants of the barrier was the last petal in its wrecked state. It wouldn't last, though Shirou had no intention on drawing the fight on for any longer.
In desperation the king of heroes began firing a barrage of his ranked B and A phantasms at the figure. Shirou felt Rho Aias finally give out. Not caring he continued his descent. A blade clipped him in the side, drawing blood. If he didn't manage to kill, or at the least incapacitate his opponent it would mean sure death to Rin. Summoning Kanshou he held the blade high above his head, aimed directly for his opponent's neck.
"Shit…"
Gilgamesh reached for Ea.
He drew the weapon.
A tenth of a second passed, his hand flinched before drawing the weapon.
A tenth of a second was all Shirou needed.
The blade cleaved clean through the flesh, bone, and the veins the upper bicep as he landed.
"I shall give you this."
Shirou drew Bakuya, aiming for his enemy's torso.
"At this moment, you are powerful!"
"You aren't getting away!"
Blade bit into flesh. The king was no more.
He won. Unlimited blade works slowly collapsed as the mana connection as cut. The reality marble imploded, giving a faint aura as the area around it glowed bright yellow and the surroundings changed to their normal state. Shirou felt his mana suddenly drain clean as his circuits shut down. His senses dulled and again his body was supported only by bone and flesh. He had won, the Grail War was good as over, Gilgamesh was no longer a danger to account for.
In his moment of fatigue, Shirou took one last breath before falling victim to his own exhaustion. Perhaps if the the mana drain was not as taxing on his body, perhaps if he had managed to realise his arm that lashed upwards at the last second seemed to move on its own, he would have questioned the blonde head that rolled at his feet or even noticed the small dot that appeared as little more than a swirling abyss at the base of the severed neck of the corpse, but for now all that lay on his mind was the seemingly endless exhaustion that consumed him.
And he let consciousness slip away from him as all energy within him seemed too little to bear the weight of his body. He passed out before his head had a chance to hit the floor or witness the rapidly growing shadow that erupted from Gilgamesh's corpse moments later.
Sorry for being gone. 14/11/19