Once again, let me thank you for your constant support.
Desert War
Las Vegas, Nevada.
Only a handful of cities are as well known as Las Vegas and most of these cities are state capitals. But, in the beginning, Las Vegas didn't have anything to attract tourists. It was a lost place in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Until 1905, apart from the old Mormon fort and some farms, there was only a swamp, the only fertile area for miles around.
It was with the development of the Hoover dam and the legalization of gambling that Las Vegas found its vocation... Sin City.
In this windowless and clock-free city, where life unfolded around the gaming tables, it was not surprising that Leviathan's presence remained so long unnoticed.
Like a ghost, John Pluto Smith passed through a wall that had become fluctuating.
The next moment, the wall exploded under the impact of swords, axes, and halberds. These weapons formed a heterogeneous collection. They seemed to come from both Europe and Asia, some were richly decorated and others had a coarse appearance. Sacred words adjoined with cursed spears.
As a magnificent golden axe emerged from the breach, Smith jumped to the side whereas the weapon cut in half a large garbage can before sinking deep into the ground. His reflexes also allowed the American superhero to dodge a trio of European swords and a Chinese Guan Gong Dao halberd which followed immediately afterward. This time it was the wall on the other side of the street that exploded under the impact, projecting from a distance broken red bricks.
[Be careful, we're going to get in trouble again for destroying private property.]
Annie Charlton's mental voice annoyed Smith tremendously.
[Can we talk about this later? I'm a little busy, in case you haven't noticed.]
[Sorry...]
Hearing the sound of footsteps, Smith straightened out.
A man was coming out through the breach in the wall. He was dressed in black, except for a very tasteless jacket, with a print pattern similar to a leopard's stain.
Gilgamesh seemed bored.
With his hands in his pockets, the tyrant of Uruk walked slowly with a dull expression on his face. The King of Heroes had a scornful smile as Smith got up.
"So this is the... 'superhero' of Los Angeles, the famous John Pluto Smith? I see only a mongrel even more ridiculous than the others. Did you win your Devil King title by exhausting your opponents in the race?"
"It's a little hard for me to fight in a city, Oldest King of Humanity. I couldn't hurt innocent people."
"Oh?"
Gilgamesh looked at Smith with amusement and then flipped his head back to laugh at full lung. His hilarity was brief, quickly replaced by a smirk.
"Then let's fight somewhere else, mongrel."
Although his strange mask prevented him from seeing his face, the American Campione seemed surprised. It took him a few seconds to find an answer.
"Thank you for your consideration, King Gilgamesh."
The Humanity First Hero shrugged and began to walk away.
"A true king must be generous... and then you have the right to choose where you want to die." [Ominous] murmured Annie.
Gilgamesh walked without turning back. Smith could have fled or tried to backstab him... but the Golden King seemed to have no fear... Never before had an adversary so clearly shown his contempt for the Campione.
This irritated Smith deeply. He clenched his teeth and set out to follow Gilgamesh. He would prove to this hero that he was wrong to underestimate him.
In front of Gilgamesh, a strange vehicle came out of a golden tear. It was a kind of scooter of yellow-gold color but, instead of wheels, it had a series of horizontal rings. These rings rotated slowly while generating an anti-gravity field that allowed the strange motorcycle to levitate above the ground.
In human form, the Devil King was unable to move fast enough to follow the Golden King. But Smith was not limited to human form alone. He began to recite an incantation while collecting a brick from the ground.
"By my name as the king of the underworld, I hereby decree. Make offerings to the legs of the beast traversing the dark night. O Light, thou needst only to illuminate my path towards conquest!"
This was the first Authority the Campione obtained from Tezcatlipoca, an Aztec God associated with many concepts such as the Night Sky, Jaguars, Rulership, Sorcery, etc.
The ability to transform into different creatures.
Among them, the jaguar represented speed. But to transform the ritual required a sacrifice: an artificial light.
Completing the incantation, Smith threw the brick against a lamppost at the end of the street, smashing the huge light bulb.
The Mojave Desert was icy. There was no cloud. The moon - almost full- and the stars gave enough light to see from a long distance. The wind was blowing, rolling uprooted bushes that moved randomly through the desert. The vegetation was restricted to cacti and yuccas. The lights of Las Vegas shone to the east. To the west, you could see the mountains that separated Nevada from California.
After returning his vehicle to his treasure, Gilgamesh turned around.
The divine wisdom which was a legacy of his mother allowed him to recognize Smith in the form of the magnificent jaguar which materialized about twenty meters away. The King of Heroes frowned, slightly surprised, teleportation? No, Smith seemed rather distorting the space-time around him. In his jaguar form, thousands of kilometers became a few steps.
Interesting.
Gilgamesh concentrated and his clothes were replaced by his gold armor.
He didn't really fear that Smith might hurt him, but he didn't want to ruin the Modern Costume of Volupté. This outfit had been offered to him by Hakuno Kishinami and he appreciated it very much.
Crossing his arms on his chest, Gilgamesh smiled.
"The honors were yours, Smith."
Hakuno had told Gilgamesh several times that his arrogance was his weakness, but he was certainly not going to change now... especially since this fight was only a feint.
The Oldest King was fully aware that the Campione was looking for help. If that help happened before he killed Smith, it would be perfect. Otherwise...
Like all the Servants accompanying Altera, Gilgamesh pursued personal goals that were only momentarily consistent with Velber's plans for looting Earth.
Still, in the form of a jaguar, Smith concentrated on using another of his authorities. The beginner Campiones - like Godou Kusanagi- could only use one Authority at a time and often at the cost of great fatigue. Nevertheless, it was in fact possible to use up to two Authorities at the same time... at least if these Authorities were not antinomian.
But it was exhausting and even painful.
The superhero of Los Angeles focused, seeking in him the link between the Fairy Kingdom and the mortal world. It was an Authority he had usurped after killing Oberon, king of the Elves.
Thanks to this power, he could travel between the two worlds, and the fairies recognized him as their new king... but he could also summon the inhabitants of the kingdom of fairies to the world of men.
"Come to me, Mirror Knight!"
He didn't have to shout the name of the faerie he called... but Smith was a flamboyant and theatrical character.
Obedient to his king, a knight in armor mounted on a barded horse appeared in the sand of the desert.
When we say 'fairy', we always imagine a small winged character. But the term covers many different creatures. And not all were small and cute. For example, the Bogies were tiny malignant forces of mayhem. When the Nymphs and the Dryads were human-sized.
Fatis (Upper Fairy Knights) and Faitaux (Lesser Fairy Knights) sometimes appeared in the Arthurian legend where they defended bridges (symbolizing the border between the world of men and that of fairies).
The Mirror Knight deserved his name. His armor was as reflective as a polished mirror.
Moving forward his mount, the Fatis raised his cavalry lance in a defiant gesture.
"In the name of chivalry, I challenge you to singular combat, King Gilgamesh. But I warn you, you can't beat me and you better give up this fight."
The Golden King burst out laughing, amused by the arrogance of the fairy knight. Who could say he has no chance of defeating this pitiful knight? Him? The one and only king?
In the sky above Las Vegas a bright door appeared. Out came a strange object, like two bows fashioned in gold and partly covered with blue enamels.
Floating beside Maanna, her Bow-boat, Ishtar seemed in a bad mood... rectification... in a foul mood. Shirou was seated on Maana's inner bow. Behind him, Ereshkigal had her arms wrapped around his waist.
He turned to her and began to whisper.
"Excuse me can you explain what you're going on?"
Smaller than him, Ere had to look up to see Shirou's face.
"Oh... uh... Gilgamesh is in Vegas."
"That I've got. What I want to know is why Rin has wet hair and why she's mad?"
Ere blushed and looked away.
Ishtar turned to her two companions. She smiled very cutely to her sister... except that it did not seem natural at all, besides her temple was wrinkled with annoyance. Shirou recognized these signs... Rin was furious and internalized her anger... to explode later.
"No need to whisper, I can hear you very well. Ere?"
"Y... yes?"
"Once this case is settled, you and I need to talk."
Ere swallowed painfully and became as white as a hospital sheet. Unable to utter a word, the Goddess of the Netherworld nodded painfully.
[Gilgamesh moved] announced Hakuno from the basement of the Tohsaka Mansion [He's west of Las Vegas now. But I have trouble saying where...]
The Mirror Knight returned to the attack. He was persevering; one could not say the contrary. Under the hooves of his mount, the sand squirted as the Fatis gained speed. But, like the first three times, the knight's spear struck a wall of shields. Among them, we could identify the prototype of Lancelot's shield (it gave his bearer the strength of three men and made him tireless) as well as the 8-shaped shield of the king of Rome Numa Pompilius.
There was a shower of sparks and the fairy horse neighed and stopped suddenly.
These four failed attacks had no reward but a smile of contempt.
"Is that all? Obviously, all your strength is in your tongue, knight. You're not even worth it for me to dirty my treasures to put you in your place, mongrel. I'm the great king, one who had everything in his hands.
Several golden openings formed on both sides of the shoulders of the Golden King. This time no swords or shields come out... but only the end of mage staffs.
Lightning, fireballs, and rays of light converged toward the Fatis.
If a jaguar could have smiled, Smith would have smiled.
Gilgamesh had fallen into the trap that the Campione had set for him. How could he defeat someone so strong that he never lost a fight? The Los Angeles superhero had found the answer: make him face the Mirror Knight.
This Fatis has a very special power. If the helmet reflected the face of the one who looked at the fairy knight, the face under the helmet also took the features of his enemy. As the Fatis always announced, he could not lose. When his opponent struck him with a mortal blow... the damage was sent back as the light was reflected by a mirror... because by the strange magic of the fairies, the Mirror Knight BECAME the one who looked at him.
Normally, the Fatis appeared in a trial designed to make understand the fundamental absurdity of violence.
To kill the Fatis was to commit suicide!
Except that...
Gilgamesh was still standing.
At first troubled, the Humanity's Oldest King looked at his hands and his armor, before smiling... not his usual scornful smile... a real smile of joy.
As the smoke cleared around the Fatis, the Devil King saw the Fairy Knight and his mount lying on the ground, blackened and charred! Fairy magic had not worked!
With a retrospective thrill, Gilgamesh realized that he had passed very close to death. But his armor had saved him. Indeed, this equipment was largely responsible for its Magic Resistance.
And he only wore it so as not to damage the clothes that Hakuno had given him. There was certain poetry in his survival... because it was the memory of his Master that saved him.
John P. Smith recovered very quickly from his failure. Especially because Annie Charlton's mental voice cried out to him to react.
He resorted to another Authority: Artemis Arrows.
Using the incredible speed of his jaguar body, the Devil King crosses a few hundred miles in a matter of seconds. Momentarily sheltered from any retaliation he opened his mouth wide and... a 'magic bullet' came out!
Guided by the Authority stolen from Artemis, the goddess of hunting, the energy projectile rushed straight toward Gilgamesh, ignoring the roundness of the Earth and the obstacles that stood between the two kings.
Hovering above Las Vegas, Ishtar contained her exasperation more and more difficult.
[Be careful...]
Hakuno's mental voice did not have time to pronounce the whole "Be careful something is happening." A dazzling flame ball formed in the middle of the Mojave, creating an overpressured zone. The wind began to swirl violently and shake Maanna, making Ereshkigal and Shirou scream.
An instant later, the fireball burst into a powerful explosion that ignited the twisted desert trees, cacti, and dry bushes.
Ishtar had great difficulty keeping her bow-boat in the air shaken in every way by the frenetic winds.
"Rho Aias!"
A hand outstretched Shirou Emiya appeals to the most powerful protection present in his Reality Marble. Only five petals of the purple flower unfolded, but this was enough to block the air whirls that threatened Maanna's stability.
As the blast effect calm down, Ishtar headed toward the devastated area. The ground had turned into an ocean of fire (1) and the sky was filled with black, thick, oily smoke...
In the center, they saw an irregular crater. However, in one place, the burning crater stopped on a regular line, as if an impassable wall had contained the explosion.
Wearing his usual gold armor, Gilgamesh stood in the intact area just behind this line. In front of him was a huge heavily ornamented black shield, too big, too heavy to be held by a mortal.
Shirou instinctively used Structural Grasp but regretted it. His vision was covered with colorful interferences - like the image in a deregulated old cathodic television - he felt a violent headache. The object was completely incomprehensible to a mere mortal. The materials used were not of this world, and the techniques used for its creation had no name in any language spoken on Earth.
All that became clear to him was the name of this Noble Phantasm: the Shield of Gods.
Gilgamesh was immediately aware of the arrival of reinforcements called by the Campione. Discovering Maanna floating in the sky, the Edge of Heaven felt the hatred burn him from within. But... it wasn't that Ishtar who killed his world version of Enkidu, condemning the King to an eternity of solitude without finding any taste for anything. No, he wouldn't face her. In fact, Ishtar and her allies gave him a perfect excuse to retreat... except that this would not prevent Altera from reconnecting with Leviathan. And he had no intention of allying himself with this insane Divine Ancestor.
First, her depraved little cult was emblematic of everything he hated among the gods. Despite his arrogance and contempt for humans, Gilgamesh was a hero. Although he was the tyrant of the city of Uruk, the Oldest King had been accepted by the Throne of the Heroes as a protector of humanity. He had killed Humbaba the guardian demon of the softwood forests and Gugalanna the Bull of Heaven, two calamities that terrorized the men of his time.
Leviathan was a monster of the same kind, a creature as scary as hateful.
And - unbeknownst to Smith- the Divine Ancestor had followed Gilgamesh into the desert to witness the defeat of the Campione.
The Golden King smiled.
He would save her from having to return to Las Vegas by building her a new home in the desert... a pretty grave where the monster with the appearance of a little girl could rest until the consummation of the ages.
Wasn't that a generous gift from the king?
Neglecting Ishtar and her allies, Gilgamesh snapped his fingers. In response to his order, a sphere of black crystal came out of a golden tear. At its center, a strange reddish light pulsated. The Oldest King concentrated and an image appeared in the sphere: a magnificent jaguar!
The demigod held out his hand. A weapon materialized between his fingers: A white wooden javelin with a silver spearhead. He threw the javelin in a careless gesture and the weapon flew into the sky... before disappearing after having covered about ten meters.
It was an anti-personnel Noble Phantasm B Rank capable of teleporting to its target. Gilgamesh held out his hand... and the javelin reappeared in his hand. He smiled seeing the blood on the spearhead...
Ishtar hesitated for a moment and then used Maanna's ability to move faster than thought to return to Las Vegas.
The Goddess of Love and War turned to the passengers of the Boat of Heaven.
"Stay here, I'll deal with the dork in golden armor!"
Of course, Shirou disagreed.
"Wait, Ishtar, you barely came back alive in your last fight. I... "
"I couldn't use my Noble Phantasm in London, the city would have been destroyed! Gilgamesh is in the middle of the desert; this time I have a chance to beat him."
She crossed her arms on her chest and sniffed with a haughty air.
"Anyway, I don't need a useless passenger. Stay away if you don't want to bother me."
Ishtar's personality had undergone a most strange change by taking Rin Tohsaka as her avatar. Although she still considers herself a divinity of destruction, she had acquired Rin's morality. Too proud to admit that she did not want to endanger her sister and the boy she loved, Ishtar decided to play the game by herself.
Ereshkigal took Shirou's arm, forcing him down from Maanna.
"She's right, if you stay with Ishtar, you'll get in her way more than you'll help her."
"Very well, I'll take you all the way to Venus!"
The Boat of Heaven rose in the night sky. When the strange bow-boat was high enough, Ishtar spoke again.
"Here we go, Maanna! Gate open!... Fufu, think of it as an honor. This is my full throttle...!"
A portal of golden light opened in front of the Boat of Heaven and crossed it always escorted by Ishtar floating beside it.
The other side of the portal was the cosmic void. The planet Venus was floating nearby, huge, marbled with yellow and brown clouds. Except... except it wasn't really planet Venus, it was the concept of 'planet Venus' as frozen in the Age of the Gods.
When Ishtar reached out, the planet seemed to hover just above the palm of her hand. Had the planet been reduced to the size of a bowling ball? Or had Ishtar grown to the point that Venus seemed so small?
Nothing of the sort.
Maanna had led the Divinity of war and love into a universe made up solely of concepts and ideas (in the Platonic sense of the term). And Venus was the very origin of Ishtar's power. The goddess could do whatever she wanted with the planet idea because the rules of the universe did not apply to the gods. Instead, they created the rules that applied to the rest of the universe... except for them.
Ishtar concentrated and Venus began to shine stronger and stronger, turning into a kind of mini sun still floating above the palm of the goddess.
"Be crushed to pieces!"
The goddess loaded the planet Venus in Maanna's magazine. The mini sun went from golden yellow to blue and then purple. As the rope of the celestial bow was stretched back, the plasma ball flattened, and lengthened, turning into an energy arrow. A portal of light appeared in front of the Boat of Heaven.
"An Gal Tā Kigal Shē! "
Gilgamesh looked up and saw a portal of golden light opening in the sky.
He recognized the opening created by the Boat of Heaven to travel faster than thought. But Maanna was also a weapon... and Ishtar could use the doors created by the bow-boat to shoot her arrows at a great distance.
An ability she used especially during her most powerful attack: "from the great heavens towards the great earth."
Fortunately, Gilgamesh had a shield that could protect him even from the crash of a planet.
In Las Vegas, the explosion caused by the Artemis Arrow had already panicked the population. But it was even worse when a comet of purple fire fell on the desert, illuminating Nevada with a more intense light than that of the sun.
But no one was more terrified than Leviathan. The demon with the appearance of a little girl had used her spells to make herself invisible and unnoticeably watch the fight between Gilgamesh and John Pluto Smith, her archenemy. But invisibility only protects her from attacks aimed at her... and she was too close to Gilgamesh to escape the catastrophe.
There was only one way for her to survive: to turn into a dragon. Except that it was the ultimate card of a Divine Ancestor, it was impossible to go back to human form once transformed.
The next moment a titanic explosion broke the windows all over the city.
In the desert gigantic cracks spread, widening before spitting geysers of viscous lava toward the sky.
Ishtar was hovering over the ground. A part of her was happy with the devastation caused by her most powerful attack. After all, was it not proof that she was a prevailing goddess worthy of admiration, veneration, and love?
On the contrary, a more human part of her personality was horrified by the result of her attack, hoping that no innocent had been killed.
As she approached the epicenter of the cataclysm she had just unleashed, the Goddess of Venus stood still with an expression of stupor on her face.
A strange object was floating above the volcanic eruption landscape that had been the Mojave Desert. It was like a translucent lens. The Mesopotamian goddess recognized a Noble Phantasm, a Divine Authority belonging to Scandinavian mythology: Svalinn, the shield that protected the Earth from the sun's rays!
Below the divine shield, Gilgamesh looked at her with a smile. He had not even received a scratch!
However, before the two rivals could take action, an overpowering howl sounded.
Emerging from the ravaged landscape, a huge dragon rose up. The monster was hideous. It has an eye missing and wounds streaking its chest. These were wounds received in a previous fight. But, there were also burns received during Ishtar's attack.
Leviathan, since it was of course her, began to shout her anger. The demon had always been violent, bloodthirsty, and psychopathic, but the recent events and her burns had finished driving her mad. All she could think about was revenge, no matter what she or others had to pay.
"Poor fools, you will regret having cornered me like this. You will suffer the weight of my wrath... I'm not stupid. Only a true god can fight you, a mere Divine Ancestor can't do anything against powerful beings like you. But if I have to die, I won't die alone. I will self-destruct by releasing all my energy to cause a gigantic explosion; even if you survive, I will have the joy of the people of Las Vegas escorting me to the Other World!"
Author's Note: When this battle will be over, there will be little left of Nevada.
(1) One may be surprised at the violence of the fire... in a desert with little to burn. But it is an effect of the Authority used by John Pluto Smith. The Arrow of Artemis creates a fire that lasts more or less long. The American Campione has 6 'bullets' per lunar month. If he fires more than one 'bullet' in a fight, each additional 'bullet' is more powerful than the previous one. If he shoots all the Arrows of Artemis, he would destroy a whole country, turning the land into a sea of fire that would burn for three days.