Chapter 48: Bloodied Saber


"Why do you resist? Why do you not accept it? Why do you cling to humanity? Britain must fall. You must perish. If this island is to be defiled by human hands one day, then I will bring it back to its original form. I must turn Great Britain into hell. A paradise of darkness forever uninhabitable by man."


A windowless room lit only by candlelight...

With a hand on his chin and his elbow against the king sized bed of otherworldly silks was the enemy I could not defeat whom Shirou claimed to be Gilgamesh. It wasn't too long ago that we shared a drink at the Einzbern estate between kings and now we were sharing a bed, but for him it was 10 years ago. Patience is a quality of a good ruler and I could not comprehend what he was wasting his patience on, but that was true of the king who preceded me from before I pulled the sword from the stone. I had no illusions to how I myself came to be. I had no illusions of the king I supplanted or the dragon I slew. I had no illusions to the problems I inherited. That was all the more reason why I strived to be the perfect king. A king should solve problems and not cause them, but none of the Heroic Spirits who claimed to be kings followed this rule. They were all tyrants who only followed their own desire and thought nothing of the world they would left behind once their journey was over, but what of this world?

Gilgamesh.

He was so close that I could feel his breath which gave away his now mortal nature. No longer encased in gold, there was nothing to stop a blade from cutting his bare skin. Before the Grail, he was the final obstacle and it was the magus who summoned me who ruined everything in the end, but I was no longer bound to any Master. After bathing in the mud of the Grail we had become part of this world with no need for Masters to anchor us and that only cemented the fact we did not belong, but that wasn't any different from the world I lived in. Neither of us could call ourselves purely human, but as kings we had decided to side with humanity, yet only one of us embraces it. He caresses the black nightgown I had chosen and he only laughs. His hand traces my body before resting on my chin.

"The threads beneath us are finer than what covers you, my little king of knights," he remarks.

If I spent another 10 years in this world indulging in the food of this world, would I grow just as lackadaisical? No, Gilgamesh was always this way; in his mind that is what it meant to be king. He saw no one as his equal and thus gods had to create one to put him in his place; his only equal. His heart had no room for anyone else. After all his tales and his bluster, I only had one thing more to ask of him.

"If I agree to be your wife, then are you willing to give me the Grail as a dowry?"

A smile forms on the face of Uruk's former ruler as he scans my paltry figure with no one to admonish him. His disappointment could not escape my senses. Through the depths of history through the mystery he commanded, he reaches for a golden goblet of the finest drink, but from the fragrance it was a different one from the one he shared 10 years ago. He swirls the liquid treasure in his hands and I gaze upon my own visage reflected.

"The Grail...A vessel to collect miracles with no observable form; people's wishes, but after bathing in them for yourself and tasting it, you should know how worthless it really is. The mongrels of this era do not so much wish but curse. Please allow yourself to cleanse your tongue because I don't want to taste anything foul," as the crownless king offers me a sip.

I take the drink, but I couldn't taste anything. A drink without food was hardly noteworthy.

"It was by bathing in that mud that you're still here."

"And you've kept me waiting for 10 years silly woman. What can that little cup offer you that I cannot? Did you not already run through two of them with your blade? Did you not see the dreams of that little princess, of all that she had escaped and what it all amounted to? Haven't you already made up your mind by presenting yourself to me, your King of Heroes?" the tyrant taunts evermore.

"I can't say any of the heroes we've met were eager to bow to you."

Blood red eyes were trained on me, but hidden behind them was not of hatred, contempt or disgust, but a greedy desire just like curses I bathed in. The moment I give myself to him is the moment I'll lose my value, but that was no different from when Camelot was under my rule.

A king does not belong to any one person.

I spent my life encased in steel. I burned all other desires but one. I swung my sword without rest, cutting air, flesh, enemy, ally and my own blood alike. The dragon who looked down upon me and the child that looked up to me were pierced by the same lance. To reach that place everyone yearned for I had to become the perfect king before anything else. To cling to humanity, I had to throw away humanity. This path I have chosen was indeed correct.

"And yet you're begging for me as mere girl," he remarks as he grasps my solid hips.

A king does not beg or bow and this tyrant doesn't want a mere woman. To be acknowledged as king I needed undisputed power in the sword in my hands, lineage in the blood that flowed through my veins and a queen by my side before I could even begin to strive for perfection. With Avalon by my side, I would have reigned forever, but I will reign again.

"You may be the first King, but I'm the Once and Future King."

His crimson eyes steel themselves as he is disappointed in my response.

"Of course the dregs you coddled would wish for you to rule once again so much so it became part of your legend, but a flower is its most beautiful when its petals fall. I wanted to show you the pains and joys of life you had always ignored, but you still yearn for eternity," as his biting words give way to an alien tenderness.

"Eternity was once in my grasp."

"I gave away such a thing to the snake. This moment by contrast is far more precious," Gilgamesh jokes, but my instincts told me that he was sincere as he inches his face closer.

Shirou had already revealed his identity to me and the Grail grants knowledge of all legends on the Throne. I knew his story, but I knew more than anyone else of how all legends can be embellished and how all kings had things to hide. If I was truthful to my people, they wouldn't have accepted me as a king.

"You held a sword your entire life. You say you played the role of the man for Guinevere, so you must know how to pleasure one?" was his vulgar question before raising his goblet as a toast and downing it. My legend was nothing more than a comedy to him.

I can't say I was deaf to the idle chatter certain knights would make in the barracks while on campaign. I can't say I was deaf to the gossip about my own origins. There were things you would never say to your king, but this king of heroes did not see me as one from the start. I could not hide my disgust, but my gaze only evoked pleasure from him. I couldn't understand what he found so fascinating about my paltry body. I trace my right hand slowly over his solid abs. He certainly had more to grab onto than I.

"Yes, my hands have only ever handled swords."

The grin on his face breaks into uncontainable laughter.

"HehahhahahahaHAHAHAhehehahhahahahaHAHAHA," as he basks in the moment before his face contorts in unimaginable pain as a scream escapes lips.

"GAAAAAAAAHHHH," he cries as a blade pierces my gut sending me into a wall. As I'm temporarily pinned, golden shimmers surround me as he continues to scream. Blood drips from my hand, but it wasn't mine. Steel was harder than flesh. Blades of judgement were ready to fly in compensation for the wound I inflicted, but the king of heroes with bloodshot eyes was a hoarder. Hoarders would always need a moment before discarding something, but I was different as I bring Excalibur's hilt into my hands.

*shing* *shing*

With the patter of steel, blades continue to fly with the intent of piercing my flesh, but my sword does not lose.

*shing* *shing*

"Certainly nothing compares to my Excalibur," were my mocking words that seal my execution as the candle lit room is drenched in golden shimmers of unsheathed execution tools, but someone disagrees.

"But this life is not yet over."

"MONGREL!" was a guttural cry of malice more befitting of a berserker, but not even the words of my knights could wound my heart because...

"This false body was still made of swords."


The world falls away and the execution tools aimed at my life never reach me as cold steel comes in defence of the once and future king. Billowing around me was a blizzard and countless graves. The bloodied golden figure stands against the blowing snow or rather he does not even pay any heed to the change in the scenery. There is only a burning rage in his crimson gaze as he brings out everything to destroy his enemies. He calls upon new tools of execution, but in this white world, doppelgangers were ready and waiting.

In this war unlike the last, Emiya has lent me his swords.

There was no room to hesitate. Blades shatter against blades as I lead the charge with Excalibur in my hands as I trace the star filled sky. The blade lodged in my gut does not matter. Swords fall and swords rise, but I was no foreigner to this sound of clashing steel as I swing my sword in the direction of the enemy commander. As long as the symphony of steel can be heard, the battle was yet over. Blades without wielders cannot replace my knights; there was something only I could do at this moment. My bare feet launch against the cold ground with a burst of billowing snow. Golden chains were ready and waiting, but my feet do not fail me as a dragon's blood flows through me. Countless glinting chains seek to ensnare me, but countless blades were ready to tangle them.

The enemy king was without clothes.

"Enuma..."

The world shakes at his words and in his hands was a sword that may have surpassed mine, but my calloused hands were faster.

*shing*

Certainly faster than the one he had remaining.

*shing*

A head without a body plunges face first into the frozen ground before I could even register its gaze.

A king does not kneel and the corpse before me was still that of a king, but he no longer had anything to stand on. The body does not collapse, but the feet sink into the snow and into the sea of imaginary space beneath where Sakura was waiting. Shirou had described him as the strongest Card and in my own experience 10 years ago that was no exaggeration, but that was all the more reason to show no shred of mercy. This was the only consolation I could give to the knights who served under and fell by my blade all the same. Kingship is not decided by strength alone and I was not even a knight just yet when I pulled the sword from the stone. A king decides and I have never chosen wrongly and that is why I persist even in this melting white world of graves.


As the world melts away into the original one, the weapon in my gut evaporates as confirmation of Gilgamesh's end. The wound he inflicted was already closing as a surge of magical energy floods my body. Still, not all swords had dissipated.

"Gilgamesh is dead, Emiya Shirou. There is no reason for you to cling onto those blades and there is someone else you should tend to."

The killing intent in the air hasn't dissipated, but Emiya stills his blades all the same. In that sense, Shirou was the same as his father; he hated Heroic Spirits. He tried to bury that feeling, but I could always sense his animosity from the start.

"...," he doesn't say a word as he turns his back and runs towards the stairs as he makes a fatal realization.

I let my feet sink down through imaginary space to the source; Matou Sakura.

"...senpai...," she whispers and Shirou's clattering footsteps become louder.

She was writhing on the ground thrashing about trying to hold back the tears, but this was nothing more than indigestion. Shirou unlike his sister wasn't adept at the healing arts. Otherwise, there was no reason why he had to seek the aid of Kotomine Kirei and now he may have to contemplate another visit. As he takes the girls side, he could not hide the frustration on his face, but he out of anyone else should have known how strong Sakura was.

"You're involving Sakura in your schemes...," he says of me.

"Our agreement does not only pertain to you and I. She is your partner and has decided to fight alongside you, so it is only natural she bear some of your burdens, no?"

"You already killed Gilgamesh like we agreed, there was no reason to...," were words I cut off.

"She once wielded Gilgamesh's Class Card, so this sensation must not be anything she hasn't overcome before. Illyasviel was able to draw from a Heroic Spirit without a Class Card so I imagine Sakura can do the same if she truly is another Grail vessel as Gilgamesh had claimed. It's not wise to leave such an asset unused."

"You aren't supposed to be like this...," he mutters, but even he has no confidence in his words.

"You've known about Gilgamesh since the start and the basis of your magecraft is the natural enemy to his treasury. Did Kiritsugu not raise you for the sole purpose of countering him?"

"...It wasn't like that," he mutters, but there was no reason to listen.

"He was not the sort of man who would throw away a useful tool. Not a single thing was without purpose. Between me and first King, you deemed me the lesser threat, but to save your sister, you need me just like you need Sakura to wield the first King's power. In exchange for the Grail, I'll grant for you what it could not."

"If you doubt its power, why even seek it?" he asks.

"It's unfortunate that most people do not make wish with good intentions, but with curses instead. The Grail from the start was already defiled by human hands, but I am an ally of humanity."

A vessel of the Holy Grail is a gate, but Sakura who was pushed into this role by some unscrupulous magus could not form a proper lock. Even without that proper lock, Sakura had held on all this time, so there was no reason why she wouldn't be able to hold on longer.

"...Sen...Shirou...its okay...there's no arguing with Saber...our relation is nothing but an equal exchange, nothing more...she'll help us save Miyu...there is no reason to understand each other because we'll never agree...nothing else matters," Sakura reassures him as she forces herself to stand as she tries to ignore her very soul be eroded away.

Despite her words, Shirou only glares harder at me, but he knows how futile it is.

The expression on his face says it all and the contradiction was not lost on me. It was the same one his father made that was filled with self-disgust. Neither had pride, but there were things they would never abandon. As long as I had a use for him, he would not turn his sword against me regardless of how much he personally disliked me. His Reality Marble was the perfect counter to the Babylonian ruler's treasury, but that was all. His magecraft alone would not afford him certain victory against other Servants, just like that red Archer Tohsaka summoned.

I encase myself in blackened steel once more.


I look up into the night sky and then there was that golden throne that stood amongst the stars.

I still remember how Emiya Kiritsugu desperately searched for vantage points in this city, but the high ground is a meaningless thing when the sky is under ones rule. If the Babylonian king wished for victory, he would have claimed it on the very first day for few heroes let alone magi could fight against the sky itself unless they were an Archer, the very same class container he took up.

"Caladbolg."

A shooting star erupts from the golden throne.

"Rho Aius."

I make my charge as pink sparks light up the sky atop where the Emiya residence stood. There was no reason to fight the enemy on their own territory if they can be forced to flee. Archer would be the only Servant who could defend against this attack, but it is precisely because he could that Shirou even agreed to stand on that golden throne with Sakura by his side. In the sky, Shirou and Sakura were safe from the enemy, so I could hunt down the fleeing enemy Masters with impunity while they weren't looking.

*CRASH*

A wall rises from the dust in front of me; Berserker, the ever vigilant guardian, but it is not only my blade he has to worry about.

"Ex-..."

"Hrunting."

A red streak converges onto his position, but he swats it away with a golden double sided axe as I bring down my sword against his defenceless body as he erupts in pitch darkness.

"-Calibur!"

I sweep away half his body, but something pink diverts my decisive strike.

"Quintet Feur!"

The river of magical energy crashes against me and I set my eyes on Berserker's diminutive little anchor who shared the sky with the stars. She looks down at the torn ground and her injured guardian before setting her sights on the golden throne that was glowing red.

"Hrunting."

The red streak reaches her before she could reach the throne. She darts away and tries to escape, but there is none or should have been as the one armed warrior in front of me disappears.

"A Command Seal..."

The giant shields his Master's body, but that left others vulnerable to me as my eyes converge onto the routed enemy in the corner of my vision; Tohsaka, two Einzbern homunculi, a teenage boy and my former anchor, Miyu.

"Install: Rider."

As soon as I was on the border of her senses, she shoves Archer's anchor onto the winged horse and its natural instincts were to flee. Magi without Servants in a Holy Grail War were ultimately expendable things. Undoing the seal on her eyes, she directs here petrifying gaze at me, but I already knew of this trick as close my eyes. The wind will be enough to guide me. Someone hits the ground and the two homunculi maids draw cards as well? I cross the distance in an instant, but Miyu with her oversized nail ready to receive.

*clang*

In that small window, I redirect her weapon away ready to repeat what had transpired just yesterday, but this time my sword fails to pierce her as she weaves away.

"Installieren: Lancer."

*clang*

Something is jabbed in the momentary gap in my defence, but I use this shaft as a rail to guide my sword.

"Installieren: Saber."

*clang*

Fairy metal beats against fairy metal, but the air behind my opponent shifts.

"Gae.."

As soon as my ears register the beginning of that vibration, I shunt it away.

"Strike Air."

Something clatters on the ground as my blade weaves through a poor imitation as easily as air. In her hands was the very same blade as mine. No, hers was far too clean to be the real thing.

*squelch*

The life of a homunculi slides easily off my blackened blade just like so many others, but this was a battle of three against one.

"Bellerophon!"

I'm ridden down by Rider's mount as a chain wraps tightly around my ankle. My face grinds against asphalt, but this was nothing I hadn't tasted before. I had slain Rider with my very own hands, so I knew for certain who was commanding the beast. I plant the chain into the ground and into Sakura's imaginary space. Like a ramen noodle, the chain is consumed, but the girl who called me into this world wasn't so weak.

"Install: Archer."

I open my eyes and gaze upon her once again. Garbed in red and black, with a bow in her hands she notches an arrow as she descends to the earth.

"Caladbolg."

I shift my body, but the left half is blown apart as my armor spalls and digs into my flesh. I grip Excalibur with my one good hand and flick off the blood of the homunculus I had just slain. She dismisses the bow and brings to bear those familiar married swords. She used this opportunity to separate herself from the others. She wanted to settle this herself or had deduced my agreement with her guardians. Arcane fuel courses through my magic core.

"5 minutes until my left arm functions once again, Miyu."

She doesn't respond to my words and focuses everything she has. In accordance to Shirou and Sakura's wishes, no harm should befall Miyu, but nothing more. I had to get past her before her guardians realize that further bloodshed would be unnecessary for their goal, but not mine. All other Servants needed to die and Masters were the most expedient way to reach that end. I needed to find Archer's anchor quickly before Sakura has any misgivings.

"..."