A dead sky hung over a graveyard of swords that was to serve as the theater of battle. The air was dry and full of smoke and embers as if this entire dimension was simply the heart of a furnace hard at work. Gears turned in the sky without thought, working away at the generation of more weapons. This was the inner world spawned from the mind of Shirou Emiya, a symbol of his mind that had been forged in countless battles until it had turned to steel. It was a mind that moved not by the flames of his passion, but simply from the built up momentum that he had accrued over several lifetimes. Shirou Emiya did not fight because he was choosing to do so, he simply no longer remembered how to stop. He was a perpetual motion machine with only one goal; kill those who had been marked as enemies.
At the Counter Guardian's left was a girl with hair that was dark brown and red that had been tied back into a ponytail, her hand holding an Azoth Sword. She wore a red sweater with a white cross on it with a black skirt, the same outfit that Emiya always remembered her wearing. In his time, they had been allies, friends even. She was Rin Tohsaka and she was unyielding in her will. She possessed skills born from both talent and effort, her potential getting to reach its apex now that she has become one with a future version of herself. There was a sense of pride that the Assassin felt at seeing this girl be all that she could be, as if he had previously had some investment in her. He didn't. This Rin was nobody to him, and yet he still cared for her just a little bit. Perhaps some grain of the old and naive Shirou Emiya still stuck to the Counter Guardian despite all this time.
To the Assassin's right was a young woman who hated him, and yet she was also his protege. She had put aside all her grievances with Emiya so they could work together for the sake of the greater good and so her mother could be saved. She was wise and mature. In another history, Emiya and the homunculus had been like siblings, and yet they were reluctant allies at best here. Despite that, Emiya still felt proud of her in much the same way that he did for Rin, though perhaps that was helped by him getting to see her match and surpass his expectations as a student. Illya had traced every single weapon Emiya had in his arsenal to add to her own, along with her magecraft and her Origin Sword that she was gripping tight. She wore quite the unique outfit, a modified version of the Dress of Heaven she created by tracing Leysritt and projecting a copy of the homunculus' inanimate form. This permutation of the outfit was less of a dress and more of a pant suit, white with gold trimming and a cape that split into seven tassels, each strip tipped with a golden ring. The outfit made Illya look like a fairy tale prince while it amplified her magecraft and ability to transfer souls. Its most practical use in a fight was that any who made skin contact with the outfit would turn to gold if they weren't an elemental, demi-human, or homunculi.
Standing across from the trinity was a man in golden armor who's serpentine eyes were as wide as could be. A moment earlier he was in the middle of a fight with Heracles and was only a few meters away from Artoria Pendragon, the woman he wanted to take for himself as if he were Romulus kidnapping the Sabine women. Now the King of Heroes had been cut off from both his rival and his quarry so he could instead face three individuals who were as worthy of acknowledgement in his eyes as a dying ant on the side of the road. Emiya expected King Gilgamesh to be more expressive in his rage, to make some display of power, but instead there wasn't even a single fluctuation in his magical energy. Perhaps he was not only angry, but genuinely taken aback by the audacity of Emiya and his allies to try and face him in this isolated setting, distant from any further help. It was also possible that his ire had become so fathomless that it was simply beyond comprehension or traditional measurement.
"Heh." A laugh from the golden man. "Fuhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!"
This wasn't what Emiya was expecting.
"I must say, you mongrels have left me feeling a cornucopia of different things right now!" Gilgamesh put his hand on his forehead as he laughed more. "On the one hand, I feel outrage so deep you could drown it! I also recognize that I've fought two of you before and yet you both still have the courage to face me again!" Gilgamesh pointed at Rin. "I was sure I blew you to pieces, and yet we meet again after you've stitched yourself back together with the pieces of your Servant self! That is infuriating, and yet it is commendable! The other girl is the annoying child of the woman I will make mine! The fact you keep getting in my way makes this whole situation resemble something out of a comedy! You two girls are starting to grow on me! I want to punish you both, but I also want to know what nonsense you'll show me next! To top it all off, there's this faker who's somehow strong enough to summon a Reality Marble! You three are so anger inducing that it's funny! What a strange feeling! Fuhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
Emiya, Illya, and Rin all watched Gilgamesh laugh and clap his armored hands. One might think this reaction as a good sign, a sign that his guard was down, but the trio knew better.
"None of that changes the fact that I cannot allow this insult." The King of Heroes stopped laughing and everything felt heavy. His power weighed down on all that was within the Reality Marble. His power didn't take the form of an aura like Heracles, nor whirling wind and light like Artoria. Gilgamesh's power was just weight and solidity in its purest form. He felt unchanging and inescapable.
The hegemon's power made Emiya's body ache. His instinct screamed for him to run away. Meanwhile, both Illya and Rin stood with their swords at the ready, any fear in their hearts paling in comparison to the determination they felt to save and protect those they loved. How could Assassin be losing his nerve now, while these two girls were unflappable in the face of the oldest hero? Emiya smiled and crouched slightly, Kanshou and Bakuya raised.
"You do not tremble." Gilgamesh said. "The question is whether that is because you are courageous, insane, or insolent."
"It's just that you aren't very intimidating." Rin was smirking, trying to piss Gilgamesh off.
"It's tragic. Even after having seen my power once before, you're simply incapable of comprehending how out of your depth you are." The king put a hand on his forehead and leaned his head back.
"Or maybe I just know something you don't." Rin said.
"Don't tempt me, little girl. I can learn exactly what you're planning at any time with my Clairvoyance. Be grateful I've decided to go along with this diversion or I'd have already spoiled the details of your strategy and ended all three of your lives."
"Can we skip the banter and get to the fighting?" Illya was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "Fighting you is just a detour, Gilgamesh. I need to kill you real quick before I go save mama."
"Detour? You dare consider me a detour on your path? I am the one whom all roads arrive to. I am the one whom all those roads were paved for in the first place."
"Yeah, yeah, shut up. Shoot your weapons and shit already." Illyasviel wasn't looking at Gilgamesh, she was looking past him.
"Mongrel." Gilgamesh's eyes were wide again. "Never mind what I said earlier. My emotions are no longer in conflict and I do not plan to indulge this farce anymore. All three of you are going to die."
A wall of portals formed behind Gilgamesh, a variety of Noble Phantasms creeping out that were all of high rank. Emiya began tracing them, as did Illya and it was apparent that many of them were Divine Constructs and thus beyond their ability to project copies of. Gilgamesh had been incensed enough to actually bring out some of his strongest weapons. The King of Heroes didn't have nearly as many Divine Constructs as he did man-made Noble Phantasms due to the nature of his treasury's purview, but that was like comparing an ocean to the seven seas; both were still massive. Thousands of armaments began to fire from the gates and that was just the first wave.
"Trace on." Both Emiya and Illya began projecting copies of the weapons they could comprehend. The Assassin handled most of them due to the advantage Unlimited Blade Works gave him. As for the Noble Phantasms that were beyond being copied by both the Servant and the homunculus, they would be dealt with by the third member of their trio.
Rin pointed her Azoth Sword at the storm of weaponry.
"Sword of Tohsaka. Trace on."
The Azoth Sword, a common Mystic Code, was designed after the Sword of Paracelsus created by the famed alchemist for whom it was named after. Rin Tohsaka, the one from an alternate future who eventually became a Counter Guardian, had managed through research and experimentation to turn her Azoth Sword into a new Sword of Paracelsus. The weapon could analyze and copy the magecraft of others and even create a mimicry of True Ether, but that wasn't good enough for Rin. She had recreated the Jewel Sword and the Sword of Paracelsus, but those were mere recreations of the successes of her predecessors. If she were to cement herself as a legend, she had to create something new. That was why she upgraded the Sword of Paracelsus so it could not only copy magecraft, but trace and project copies of anything that were exactly the same as the originals. It was a use inspired by a dumb boy Rin had once known. Thanks to the sword being able to create something akin to True Ether, it could even generate replicas of Divine Constructs like the ones heading the trio's way. This was Saber's legacy.
Emiya, Illya, and Rin created copies of all of the incoming Noble Phantasms, a feat helped by the Sword of Tohsaka's ability to amplify the power of magecraft and skip any rituals necessary for usage. The weapons crashed into each other and were all destroyed. Fragments went flying. There was no time to rest as more Noble Phantasms appeared from an increasing number of gates.
"You mongrels dare make forgeries of my collection?"
"You got a problem with that?" Rin roared as she and her allies instantly made copies of every single one of the new weapons. An endless flood of Noble Phantasms came out of the gates that formed a dome around the trio, but they just kept on creating replicas that matched and destroyed them. Assassin's Magic Circuits were blazing, but the pain did not shake him; he just focused on his tracing and projecting. The entirety of Unlimited Blade Works was rumbling as the highest class of Noble Phantasms were being unloaded. Swords that could sever fate and causality, explosives that could erase space itself, arrows that could generate World ending floods, they all were met by duplicates of themselves and were annihilated. This was an impossibility. Someone was actually matching the Gate of Babylon. Veins bulged on Gilgamesh's forehead as he kept opening more gates and yet he still couldn't outpace the three who dared defy him. This was an insult he had never experienced before. It wasn't just that the contents of his treasury were being copied, it was that this specific trio was copying all of his treasury. Even as he pulled out some of his greatest Divine Constructs, they were still copied. Even Assassin and Illya had begun copying some of the Divine Constructs thanks to the boost they were being given by the Sword of Tohsaka. This feat the trinity was performing was only possible thanks to all three of them being there. If even one of them wasn't present for this fight, then they wouldn't have been able to face this large-scale unlocking of the Gate of Babylon. Portals opened up on the ground to try and get the trio from below, but Rin lifted the three of them into the air as they began firing projections downward too.
"This is nonsense!" Gilgamesh's whole body shook and his teeth grit.
Assassin projected a copy of a large golden ax he just saw that could carve space and used it to slice open a portal that the trio jumped through, ending up right next to Gilgamesh. Emiya swung the ax again, but Gilgamesh caught and pulled away the weapon with a chain he summoned. Illya used her time dilation to quickly attack from behind Assassin, her Origin Sword thrusting below the Guardian's armpit and towards the king. Gilgamesh jumped back while taking hold of his chains to actually wield them as a normal weapon. Given the skill he whipped around those chains with to attack, it was one of the few Noble Phantasms he was proficient in wielding. The chains lashed while more weapons fired from portals. The projectiles were deflected by Rin's copies and the chains were knocked away by Assassin, leaving Illya to dash in close to the King of Heroes. More portals opened by Gilgamesh's sides, a freezing chemical, man-made lightning, and a white inferno all coming out.
"Avalon!" Illya was embraced by the land of the fairies which made the elemental attacks all fail to affect her. She stabbed with her rapier again, but Gilgamesh protected himself with a summoned shield right when Illya left Avalon. Emiya, right as Gilgamesh was dealing with Illya, threw Kanshou and Bakuya. The weapons were deflected by electric bolts fired by golden disks that appeared from portals; auto defensors. Emiya projected another pair of black and white blades that entered their Overedge form while the first pair curved back towards the king and Rin projected and fired multiple Divine Constructs. Staves appeared from gates and enacted a combined spell, creating an octagonal field in front of the king that blocked both Assassin and Rin's attacks, the impact making all the sand in the desert jump upward. Simultaneously, Gilgamesh spun and deflected the swords coming for his back, but Illya had been running around to flank Gilgamesh from the side. The homunculus thrust the Origin Sword towards the King of Heroes' exposed back while he was in the middle of whipping with his chain. The auto defensors fired lightning at her, but she used Avalon to tackle through them as her blade's tip neared its target. A portal opened from which a hammer appeared and blocked the rapier.
"Don't underestimate me, mongrel!" A chain whipped at Illya and she was hit before she had the chance to use Avalon. Her body was sent flying and her arm was nearly broken off. She spun through the air as Avalon began to heal her, but Gilgamesh wasn't done with her. Portals opened up all around the homunculus as she was mid-flight and weapons fired out of them. Rin sniped the Noble Phantasms out of their air with her copies while Emiya used his cloak and Presence Concealment to try and sneak up on Gilgamesh. A scythe that bypassed defenses to sap targets of their energy appeared in the Assassin's hands and he swung wide with it, but the king jumped over the slash.
"I have plenty of Noble Phantasms that let me see through all your little obfuscations." Gilgamesh began to rise higher into the air until it was obvious he was flying through the use of a Noble Phantasm. Several lances fired towards Emiya who deflected them with swords that shot out of the ground and into his hands. Each time one of his blades knocked away a projectile, Emiya felt like his arms were going to tear off from the force he was redirecting. More swords ripped out of the ground, thousands coming from all throughout the desert expanse and even beyond the horizon to rise towards and impale Gilgamesh. Rin added in her own projections, as did Illya who had quickly recovered from the hit she just took. The wave of weapons was so thick that no light pierced through the mass of them that had gathered and formed a ceiling of sorts, blanketing the land in shadow as it rose towards the King of Heroes.
A beam of light burned a hole down through the wave of weapons, Rin dodging out of the way of the attack as it bored into the desert sands. Then another beam created another hole. Another beam, another hole. The trinity's mass of Noble Phantasms was whittled away to nothing in a matter of seconds. Gilgamesh was still floating above, a sword in each hand and more floating around him. Emiya traced them. Merodach, Gram, Durandal, and many others of their ilk that were even stronger. They were swords of the same genus as Excalibur. It was no wonder how they could so easily dispatch the onslaught of armaments the trio had thrown at the king. The swords all fired their beams again, aiming for all three of Gilgamesh's enemies, Rin summoning her own copies of the blades. Instead of just having them unleash rays of destruction, Tohsaka shot the swords themselves as Broken Phantasms which increased their power and allowed them to drive through Gilgamesh's beams. The King of Heroes used the same barrier spell as before along with summoning thousands of shields of both the physical and conceptual kind. The projectile swords exploded on impact with Gilgamesh's defenses, an explosion of light filling the sky as far as Emiya could see, all visibility getting drowned out in the radiance.
The light faded and a heat haze remained which distorted the visage of the King of Heroes. He was alive, but his armor had cracks in it and his swords were in pieces. His expression was hard to read. It seemed neutral but it was hard to believe that the King of Heroes didn't have any strong feelings about the damage he had just taken, or at the destruction of some of his greatest treasures.
"This is truly an unprecedented occurrence. To think three fakers could pose any kind of difficulty for me to dispatch."
"Well believe it." Rin said.
"I don't, because I have realized that truly isn't what's happening."
"What is happening then?" Illya was sweating.
"I'm not fighting three fakers. Ultimately, I am fighting myself. You utilize my arsenal against me, and I am so overwhelming a person that it would take at least three people to equal one of myself. You are simulating me, because I am the only person that could ever pose a challenge to me." Gilgamesh had a shit-eating grin that made Emiya want to roll his eyes.
"How have you not suffocated yet?" Illya said.
"Why would I suffocate?"
"Because your head's so far up your own ass. I'm surprised there's air in there."
"What a vulgar little cur you are." Gilgamesh reached his arm into one of his gates. "Returning to my point, I am facing myself in battle right now. In that case, it would be an insult towards myself not to fight at full power." The King of Heroes pulled out something that could never be replicated or even be utilized by anyone but Gilgamesh. It was a weapon that vaguely resembled a sword, but was in truth a device meant to manipulate the air and destroy space itself to damage and even terminate the World. Its name was Ea.
"It's time!" Emiya looked at Illya for a second, signaling that it was time for her to use her secret weapon.
"Be honored that you will get to die by the full power of my Sword of Rupture." The three cylinders of the strange weapon began rotating in different directions, a vortex of wind forming around it that scraped away at the surrounding space. Multiple miniature galaxies floated above the weapon as an expression of its sheer might. The very World itself was under threat of destruction. Emiya felt the instinctual fear one experiences when seeing something of too grand a scale to comprehend or stop. This version of Ea was weaker than its true full strength given Gilgamesh was limited in his power as a Servant, but it was still more than enough to overpower any offensive the trinity could try to counter with.
That was why they had to use their ultimate defense.
"Enuma Elish!" A storm of red started splitting apart Unlimited Blade Works on its way to eradicate Emiya, Rin, and Illya.
Illya used the high-thaumaturgy she had just barely finished mastering. Thanks to the Sword of Tohsaka, the incantation could be skipped, and yet Emiya swore he still heard Illya chant.
"I am the heart of my world
Light is my body and time is my blood
I have created this lone utopia
Aware of hate,
And aware of love.
I have withstood pain to create a miracle
An impossibility I forced into reality
My power is Transient Avalon Works."
Golden light from the planet's core came forth and washed away Unlimited Blade Works. The graveyard of swords was replaced with a flatland of green; immaculate grass being fed by a generous sun whose light was tempered by a sparse amount of clouds. It was a simulacrum of the domain of the fairies created by using the sheath within Illya as a catalyst.
The red vortex raged across the entirety of this new Reality Marble. Emiya, Rin, and Illya all got enveloped in the chaos.
It did nothing. The sword that could sever heaven from earth failed to do anything to either the Reality Marble, or the trio that stood in opposition to Gilgamesh.
"What?" Gilgamesh only said that at the sight of his greatest weapon failing.
Emiya didn't only show Illya his traced weapons, but also his Reality Marble so she could trace as much of its structure as possible. It was impossible for the homunculus to copy Unlimited Blade Works, or create a Reality Marble of any kind with this method, but it allowed Illya to understand the framework of what a Reality Marble was to use as a blueprint. Even this was only achievable due to Emiya showing Illya Unlimited Blade Works multiple times and the fact that they had the same Origin. To add more onto this conceptual skeleton, Illya channeled the power of Avalon within her into the framework using her Thaumaturgical Attribute of the flow and transfer of power, using the barrier the sheathe created to build off the blueprint and form an actual space. Then she used her knowledge of matter manipulation through alchemy to boost her ability to alter her surroundings and thus apply this half-baked Reality Marble to reality. Finally, Illya infused the transformed space with her time magecraft, which is something close to a Reality Marble already, and an extremely weak version of the Third Magic that was only feasible given she was wearing the Dress of Heaven. This gave the Reality Marble just enough substantiation to be completed. That was how Transient Avalon Works came to be.
This Reality Marble embodied the same power as Avalon, making the space itself and all those that Illya chose immune to all harm.
Emiya, Rin, and Illya all projected dozens of Noble Phantasms and fired them at Gilgamesh. The armaments and their wielders were all accelerated by time dilation magecraft infused into the Reality Marble while the King of Heroes was being slowed down by that same power. The king thrust Ea and unleashed another spiral of red, but it did nothing to the weapons as they too were protected by Avalon's grace. Rho Aias appeared from a portal in its original form as a physical shield along with the barrier created by the various staves and the lightning of the auto defensors, but the weapons broke through all the obstructions. They were being protected by Avalon which meant they'd normally be unable to attack anything just as they couldn't be attacked, but this Reality Marble changed that fact. The Third Magic existed to move and manifest Souls which were higher dimensional existences. Avalon's power also existed in a higher dimension so Illya, using a small-scale form of the Third Magic through her modified Dress of Heaven, could materialize Avalon's protection partially. This meant that Transient Avalon Works and those it protected were able to still enact harm upon others.
Gilgamesh raised his arms and Ea to block, the Noble Phantasm proving so durable that even the projectiles dressed in Avalon's light were deflected upon impact with it. The king's arms weren't so lucky as they were torn apart by incoming blades. Ea dropped along with the remnants of Gilgamesh's arms and the armor they once wore. Before the King of Heroes could use one of his Noble Phantasms to retrieve his strongest weapon, not that he could use it without his arms, he was assailed by Rin who had flown right into his face so fast he barely perceived her. Having his time dilated to be far slower than those around him who were accelerated meant that Gilgamesh had no chance of keeping up on his own. Rin swung her Azoth Sword as the king's legs entered two golden portals, coming out wearing the winged sandals of Hermes, or at least a similar pair of footwear. Gilgamesh dodged the slash and flew away with speed that left him a near blur despite having his time decelerated. Rin projected three more pairs of the sandals, the trio quickly putting them on and pursuing Gilgamesh. They nearly caught up to him in less than a second.
The seeming infallibility of Transient Avalon Works was obvious, but such a powerful ability would certainly have a weakness, and that was that it didn't last long. Illya couldn't maintain this Reality Marble for extended periods and the only reason it was still active was because Rin was using her sword to give the homunculus a boost, otherwise it would have vanished already. Suppressed squeals of agony came from Illya as she was straining herself to an incomprehensible degree to keep up her patchwork Reality Marble. It would only be a few more seconds before it would disappear.
Illya, despite her agony, projected multiple copies of her Origin Sword and fired them all at Gilgamesh who was pulling out a large disk, a wheel with the asterisms of the different Babylonian zodiac signs on its rim. It was a counterpart to the Wheel of the Zodiac that belonged to Chronos the Greek god of time. It began to spin and as it did, Gilgamesh's time sped up to its original speed and even exceeded it beyond what Illya's time magecraft could provide. Gilgamesh continued to dash backwards with newfound velocity that allowed him to evade Illya's swords. To have to run away from three fakers after losing his arms and having his ultimate weapon fail was clearly unpleasant for the King of Heroes given that he was visibly shaking and a vein on his head was bulging.
Rin began to project a copy of the wheel Gilgamesh just used, but it was then that the jewel on at the end of the Sword of Tohsaka's hilt cracked. The weapon had been overtaxed from having to copy so many Divine Constructs. It didn't completely stop functioning, but it could no longer replicate Divine Constructs like the Wheel of the Zodiac. They couldn't even project a new Sword of Tohsaka that was fully functional due to it being too complex.
Gilgamesh was getting farther away by the millisecond. The trio projected and fired several Origin Swords, but the King of Heroes maneuvered around them while never taking his eyes off of his three opponents. He was going to keep running until Illya couldn't maintain Transient Avalon Works anymore. Despite his arrogance, Gilgamesh wasn't stupid enough to keep on the offensive at the cost of his life. He was just going to enact his revenge after the trio was left without Avalon's protection. The king will go all out with his Gate of Babylon while Emiya, Rin, and Illya are too exhausted to fight back.
Another copy of the space severing ax appeared in Emiya's hand and with a wide swing, a hole opened up that led right next to the king. Both Illya and Rin sent more Origin Swords through the gape. The wheel next to the king reversed its direction of rotation and Gilgamesh's body was sent backwards in time slightly, appearing in the position it was a moment ago which caused all the blades aimed at his previous position to miss. One sword under Illya's command changed trajectory and curved back towards Gilgamesh who dodged again, but then the blade swung as it moved past the monarch. The edge missed the king, but it did hit the wheel, slicing through it. The wheel stopped spinning as its power was destroyed.
Now that Gilgamesh was under the slowing effect of the Reality Marble again, the trinity flew right through the hole in space and over to him whilst firing even more Origin Swords. A red spear came out of golden ripples in the air and touched the bloody wound where one of Gilgamesh's arms once was, the time magecraft influencing the king disappearing. It was the prototype of the cursed spear Diarmuid used. Regaining his full speed again, Gilgamesh flew out of the way of the Origin Swords while keeping the spear against him by tying it to himself with a chain. Emiya and his allies continued to pursue the King of Heroes, but the golden man opened a gate from which an incense burner appeared and released a wave of white smoke. The area was blanketed and it became impossible to sense magical energy through the whiteness, nor could any of the five senses perceive anything through it. It was a perfect smokescreen. There was no way to find Gilgamesh and blind firing attacks would only serve to waste energy.
A whirlwind blew through and dispersed the smoke, Rin holding a jousting lance made of four swords that was the source of the gale. The trio looked around for the King of Heroes, but he was nowhere to be seen. He must have used a Noble Phantasm or two to keep himself from being found.
"Gaahh." Illya leaned forward, head hanging down as she grunted and whimpered. "I-I can't-I can't, I can't anymore. I'm gonna die."
"You can release the Reality Marble." Emiya said with quiet resignation. "I'll reactivate Unlimited Blade Works. Rin, give me a boost with your sword so I don't have to say the incantation. Both you get ready for Gilgamesh to counterattack."
The replica of the land of the fairies fizzled away into light while great flames filled the space and recreated the wasteland full of swords.
"Mongrels!" Gilgamesh's voice was accompanied by his reappearance high above the trio who took away his arms. "You'll pay for this defamation! I'll tear your very souls apart and even that will be a mercy compared to what you deserve!"
A ceiling of portals opened up between Gilgamesh and the trio below him, a waterfall of weapons coming down while a floor of portals appeared at the ground and unleashed their own Noble Phantasms upward. Four walls made of more gates completed the cube that served to trap the trinity who began projecting Noble Phantasms of their own to counter those heading their way. The problem was that there were so many and a significant number were so strong that the weakened fakers couldn't create weapons of their own that could match them. The trio had to dodge around the weapons beyond their ability to stop, which added an extra layer that Emiya and his allies had to keep track of. The Assassin's Magic Circuits burned hotter than ever as he simultaneously projected hundreds of Noble Phantasms, fired them at precise targets, and dodged around incoming projectiles. Illya was constantly groaning in pain as she kept on fighting, her fatigue from enacting her Reality Marble leaving her exhausted. She was clearly only acting on instinct at this point. Rin was doing relatively well given the situation, but she was wheezing. None of them were going to last much longer.
The trinity needed to escape the prison of portals and attack Gilgamesh. Hopefully that could cause him to lessen the amount of Noble Phantasms he was firing due to the distraction. Illya could do it if she used Avalon, but could she handle it in her state? Using it would probably kill her if she did so while projecting weapons to help protect Rin and Assassin. If Illya didn't still help to ward off the constant offensive, the remaining duo would get overwhelmed by all the weapons and die. Rin would have been capable of handling a double share of the work if her sword hadn't broken.
Emiya could do it. If he pushed himself beyond his limits without concern for his own wellbeing like he used to when he was young, then he could do it for a little while. He'd die, but he'd do it. What other options were there at this point? It wasn't like he wasn't used to throwing himself into danger for other people's sakes. This would just be a return to the old Shirou Emiya.
"I can take one of your shares of the work for a little while." Shirou spoke telepathically. "It'll give one of you time to get over to Gilgamesh. Which of you thinks you can do it?"
"Can you really handle that much work?" Rin said.
"I can. Unlimited Blade Works and the upgrade your sword's giving me have made me the most capable person for the job right now. Which of you thinks you can put pressure on him?"
"I'll do it." Illya's movements became less lethargic.
"You're in no shape for that." Rin projected a shield that deflected a spear.
"I'll use Avalon."
"You're in even less shape to use that."
"I'm the only one that even has a chance of getting to that golden prick." Illya dual wielded Origin Swords to deflect a string of Noble Phantasms. "Can you stand toe to toe with Gilgamesh without Avalon?"
"Possibly." Rin projected some jewels and powered them with a Mana Burst, the gems making a tornado enhanced by the Sword of Tohsaka to blow away multiple projectiles. "As long as I maintain complete focus, I might be able to."
"I definitely can if I use Avalon since I won't have to worry about evading or doing anything besides attacking." Illya dodged a vajra, a dart, and an arrow.
"That's if you live long enough to hit goldie."
"I can last long enough to divert his attention. Longer than that? No, but I just need to distract him."
"And what if he runs?"
"I can hold him down long enough to make him distracted which will cause him to reduce his rate of fire towards you guys. Then one of you can also escape and come over to help fight him."
"I agree with Illya." Shirou knocked away a sword. "Avalon's the only thing that will definitely stop Gilgamesh's weapons and allow for someone to actually be a threat to him."
"But can Illya really use Avalon in her condition?" Rin said.
"She says she can and I trust her. Do you trust her?"
"I guess so. Fine, Illya can do it."
"Thank you." Illya said.
The trio strategized for a bit to make sure their plan of action was clear. They thought up plans of action for every scenario they could imagine.
"Illya, get ready." Emiya began building up magical energy.
"Got it." Illya became livelier as she fought.
Shirou's Magic Circuits glowed against his skin, sparks and electricity-like streams releasing from them as they began working beyond their maximum capacity. The faker's body was burning from his own power, and yet he didn't pay the pain or damage any mind as he just needed to focus on tracing and projecting as many Noble Phantasms as possible. Thousands of different weapon blueprints ran through Shirou's mind, were processed, and then materialized into the world so they could be launched as projectiles at other armaments. There was a sort of omnipotent feeling that accompanied processing and performing so many actions, or being aware of so many things in one's surroundings and creating countermeasures against them. It was complex work, but it required a human touch that didn't allow Shirou to just act on autopilot like a machine. Blood came from all of the Counter Guardian's orifices as his internal organs broke down from the strain they were under. Shirou didn't care as long as his brain still worked, until that burned out, he could still keep going. Two storms of weapons collided with each other, Shirou and Rin giving it all they had to keep Gilgamesh's onslaught at bay.
"Avalon!" Illya was protected by the light of the fairies as she projected the space-severing ax to cut open a portal to Gilgamesh. She flew through, but the king was already beginning to fly away with his winged sandals. Combining her copied sandals and time magecraft, Illya closed the distance and began rapidly thrusting both the Origin Swords in her hands whilst projecting and firing more copies of her blade. Gilgamesh pulled out his own ax to create a tear in space that the projectiles flew into and away from him. As for the thrusts, they were easy to block with just a series of non-magical shields laid atop each other. Since Illya had to release Avalon's protection to attack, Gilgamesh took the opportunity to try and take her out with multiple projectiles from portals he made all around her. Illya barely managed to reactivate her sheath's protection in time to avoid getting turned into a fine red mist. Illya projected more Origin Swords all around Gilgamesh while she kept up Avalon's protection. She couldn't attack while protected in the realm of the fairies, but that only really applied to the actual point of impact for her attacks. Illya could still prep and fire her attacks with Avalon still active, which is what she did as she launched the swords around Gilgamesh, waiting for the very last moment when they were right about to touch the king to deactivate the sheath. Gilgamesh was ready for that as weapons appeared from gates that knocked away the Origin Swords right as they lost Avalon's light. The Origin Swords could scramble magecraft and Magic Circuits, but that didn't mean they couldn't simply be hit away by things.
"Die already!" Gilgamesh's words were barely intelligible due to his voice having become like a dragon's roar.
"That's what I was gonna say!" Illya's own voice was also more bestial than normal.
Illya and Gilgamesh continued their close range back and forth. As the one-on-one went on, the number of weapons being released from the gates around Emiya and Rin decreased in number. The opening had been made.
Rin flew from her spot while deflecting the Noble Phantasms that got close to her. Emiya took her workload too as she got out of the cube and made a beeline towards Gilgamesh.
"All of you just get out of my way!" Gilgamesh opened a portal and from it peeked out a familiar crystalline staff. The Jewel Sword Zelretch fired a beam of magical energy at Rin that was impossible for her to block. Rin created multiple copies of the space rending ax to make a giant portal for the beam to go through and come out right behind Gilgamesh. The king was in the middle of deflecting another wave of Origin Swords as he summoned a spear that could sew space. The weapon stabbed into the portal that was manifesting behind Gilgamesh and closed it. This simultaneously closed the portal that Rin just made in front of herself, leaving her right in the path of the ray of energy again. One of Rin's axes made a new portal that Rin flew through to safety. The magus reappeared somewhere else, close enough to King of Heroes that she could fly up to him quickly yet far enough that the portal she used couldn't be closed by the spear again. Rin flew at Gilgamesh, but the Jewel Sword appeared from a portal again. Before the staff could fire another beam, Rin projected and launched a vajra at the Jewel Sword, destroying it. It may have been one of Saber's greatest achievements, but Rin wasn't so sentimental as to risk her life to keep the Jewel Sword in one piece.
Continuing towards Gilgamesh, Rin dodged and deflected more weapons and got right up to the King of Heroes. Her arm reared back to slash at him right as he was busy with another wave of Origin Swords from Illya. A knife shot out of a portal and blew Rin's arm off at the elbow, the limb flying away and taking the Sword of Tohsaka with it.
"Can I go one fight without getting mutilated?" Rin yelled.
The force of the hit to Rin's arm caused her entire right side to be pushed backwards. Instead of letting herself move back, Rin rotated her torso, letting the motion of her right side going away from Gilgamesh push her left side forward. The momentum of the hit was transferring from the pivot into her remaining arm that punched forward, increasing its speed and power. Within Rin's fist was the pendant she inherited from her father, the magical energy inside it getting infused into the strike.
MadÅ Shinken, Rin's perfected magecraft martial art born from the union of the present Rin's experimentation and Saber's knowledge. Though the Counter Guardian known as Rin Tohsaka was summoned as a Saber and thus couldn't use the Second Magic at its full potential, she still knew how to use it and that information was passed onto the present time's Rin. She lacked the practice to use it for combat, but Rin learned how to implement her Magic into her martial arts for a single use attack the same way she could infuse her strikes with normal spells. As Rin punched, there was a flash and her fist became three fists. The Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon caused Rin to reach into parallel worlds to bring about two other punches from alternate versions of herself, each with their own pendant powering them up. The fists formed a triangle around Gilgamesh's head to crush it from three different sides.
Rin's accelerated fists flew at Gilgamesh's head faster than he could react thanks to Rin using the force of his last attack to her advantage. The only way he could stop the triple strike was if he saw it coming ahead of time, which he could thanks to his clairvoyance Noble Phantasm. The king had opened two more gates while he was still busy deflecting Origin Swords, magecraft negating spears, space-rending axes, and other weapons from Illya. From one came an incense burner that released a black smoke which negated the Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon, making the two extra fists vanish. A shield came from the other portal, but Rin's punch didn't hit it. Rin coordinated with Illya, letting her know how she was going to attack Gilgamesh ahead of time. They knew he'd be able to stop the Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon and block the remaining fist, so Illya projected the golden ax one more time and pretended to slash at Gilgamesh with it. When he deflected it, the ax went on a new path right in between Rin's punch and the shield, slicing open a portal that the magecraft strike entered. Gilgamesh, even if he could predict the future, could only process and react to so much and it was clear that his ability to see the future didn't leave him infallible. The exit portal appeared right next to the bloody wound where the king's right arm once sat, Rin's fist leaving the hole in space and hitting the unarmored weak spot.
"This can't-" Gilgamesh never got to finish that sentence.
There was an explosion sound as the punch's magical energy pierced into Gilgamesh's flesh and burst within his torso. His body's trunk ripped open with bits of flesh and shattered armor flying everywhere. Some shrapnel stabbed into Rin and Illya, the latter having stopped using Avalon. Gilgamesh's head and the rest of his remains began to dissipate into magical energy. The king locked eyes with Shirou as his head arced through the air. The faker smirked at Gilgamesh who sneered in response as he disappeared completely.
Illya fainted, all the tension that kept her conscious having released upon seeing the King of Heroes' death. Rin caught her awkwardly with her single arm and they descended to the ground.
The Reality Marble began to warp and gradually fade back to reality. Shirou was pouring blood at this point. His brain was burning. It was hard to think due to the overload caused by projecting so many Noble Phantasms. He was glad he lasted until Gilgamesh was dealt with.
Despite the gradual shutting down of his brain, Shirou still managed to form a few cohesive thoughts. He thought of how proud he was of Rin and Illya. They exceeded his expectations. They would be okay. Why did he care? He wasn't sure, he just did.
It was unfortunate that Shirou didn't live long enough to see Big Sis Taiga turn her life around and follow her dreams. She would be okay though, Shirou had faith in her.
Shirou's body began to disappear. Unlimited Blade Works was almost gone. Rin was looking at Shirou. She wasn't sad, but her features still drooped.
Shirou smiled. He was glad he managed to save someone again, and this time in a way that was unabashedly good.
"Nostalgic." That's all Shirou said before he was gone.