SentinalSlice: Another good point... but I wouldn't answer it... not directly at least. I don't want to spoil my own story.
Before writing the first chapter of Moonchild, I make a synopsis and planned the course of the story. For now I have followed this scenario very faithfully.
And it is no coincidence that the Arthurian legend (Campioneverse version) suddenly takes on such importance. It is even less a coincidence that in the last fight Shirou and Lancelot (Campioneverse) clashed.
Of course I'm scheming something for Shirou (in fact I'm planning all of this from the very beginning).
And if you can add two and two, you must already have figured out where this leads us.
TalonScythe: My mistake, no pun indented. And I like... No, I very love ancient history.
Temsen: Arrogant? This proves that you know Athena only through Campione! the Anime. You have never seen Athena fight at 100% of her power. In their first fight against the Japanese Campione, she underestimates Godou so much that she gets beaten. The parallel with the fight between Shirou and Gilgamesh in UBW is troubling. Those who only know the cartoon have never seen Athena's true appearance and have never seen her most powerful Authority. Athena is the goddess of reason and strategy. She calculated that if she absorbed the power of another two Gods of Steel, she would be strong enough to defeat King Arthur. And in the LN the fight between Athena and Arthur is long undecided. To be clear, if Arthur had been what Athena thought he was, she would have defeated him... But Athena (despite all her knowledge, despite all her wisdom) was unaware of a crucial fact... I say no more. But those who have read the LN have understood what I'm talking about.
Reaper200851: Note that I would have trouble giving you a second lesson... I am not a specialist in dead languages.
Author's note: Oops... I say I was fascinated by ancient history (not just Babylon... which is not even my favorite civilization). When I decided to write this story, I relied on what I already knew, but I also did research. Last week I received a book that I had ordered (Daniel Arnaud's Nabuchodonosor II roi de Babylone). In the part devoted to religion... I learned that there was no more priestess in Babylonia since the 2nd millennium BC... The priests were 100% male for fifteen centuries at the time of the fall of Sousa. So... no priestess of Ishtar in Sousa. Mea Culpa, I'm sorry I misled you.
Kingdom of Monkeys
The Heretics Gods had always been a threat to mankind.
For example, the appearance of an angry sea god resulted in storms, hurricanes, tidal waves, or the sinking of islands or even entire continents... as the history of Atlantis reminded us.
The first rule of any magical association in the Campioneverse could be summed up: "In case of an attack of a Heretic God, leave it to the Campiones."
Yet the History Compilation Committee had a secret...
Centuries ago, by ruse, they had succeeded in capturing a powerful Heretic God, transforming him into a stone statue, released only to fight dragons and divine beasts.
Of course, the existence of this captive God of Steel was a well-kept secret, known only to a minority of Committee members...
But a certain goddess incarnation of feminine wisdom and darkness had a Divine Authority that allow her to learn the hidden knowledge... and she wanted precisely to absorb the power of a God of Steel.
Every semester, the Jounan Academy Student Council decided on a field trip. This summer, it was decided that students would visit Lake Chūzenji. It was a beautiful, sacred place, also known as the Sea of Happiness.
The date chosen for the trip was not randomly chosen, of course. The students attended a traditional festival more than a thousand years old, the Nantaisan Tohai-sai or "Ritual of the ascent of Mount Nantai".
It was not a long trip. The lake was in the mountain above the city of Nikkō, 140 km from Tokyo.
In the bus that was moving along the mountain roads of the Tochigi prefecture, took nearly one hundred and twenty students of all ages. Obviously, this represented only a small fraction of the students of the Jounan Academy. But this school trip was not mandatory, moreover, it was paying.
Godou Kusanagi and his harem (minus Eina Sheishuuin who was not a member of the Jounan Academy) had settled in the seats at the back of the bus. The Japanese Devil King was in the middle, the girls arguing to sit next to him.
And Godou was very uncomfortable...
First, because the girls were making a scene... and more because all the boys on the bus looked at him with enough anger and jealousy to drill a hole in a steel sheet!
All this would have been bearable... it had even become a kind of (horrible) routine, like a nightmarish parody of daily life. But the presence of Shizuka Kusanagi made things even more painful.
In fact, Godou's participation in the school trip had no other purpose than to please his little sister. She was excited about this school trip, dreaming of attending the closing fireworks display in traditional kimono. It had tormented Godou, he had hidden from his sister that he had become a Campione... but it did not change the fact that she was easy prey for all those who wanted to harm. Certainly, members of the Committee were discreetly protecting Shizuka. But the enemies of a Campione were Heretics Gods and would have nothing to fear from human mages.
Not wanting to sadden his little sister, Godou had no choice but to accompany her. It was also an opportunity to share time together, between brother and sister.
But could a Campione hope to participate in an ordinary school trip?
As soon as he made his decision known, Erica Blandelli mentioned that a knight's duty was to follow his king wherever he went. At that moment, Godou had a clear glimpse of the future... and, in that future, Erica took advantage of the night to slip into his bed... in the middle of the male students' dormitory. He was still looking for an idea that would allow him to escape this impending scandal when Liliana Kranjcar blushed. Overcoming her shyness, the Croatian knight explained that she was also his knight and that she was equally entitled to accompany his king! As the two knights began to argue Yuri Mariya intervened to try to calm them... The girls couldn't decide which of them would accompany him, so they opted for the worst possible compromise... that all three take part in the school trip!
In the few days that had passed, the argument had not really stopped... getting worse ever since they were on the bus.
The routine for the Japanese's Campione...
Except that Godou's little sister was also sitting in the back of the bus, near the window. She was an adorable 14-year-old pre-teen, with green eyes and brown hair done by two pink hairbands. At first glance, she seemed tiny and absolutely harmless...
At first glance...
Because Godou knew her too well to believe her harmless. In fact, he feared her reactions more than a duel to the death with a Heretic God.
Shizuka had watched the behavior of the other girls first with amazement, and then with outrage... now she looked like a pressure cooker about to explode. With a little imagination (not much) Godou could see clouds piling up over the little girl's head.
Hurricane Shizuka would soon sweep over Japan... and would probably be the storm of the century.
Poor Godou!
On the bus, only one person was completely oblivious to what was happening in the back.
As anonymous and silent as an NPC, Hakuno Kishinami watched an anime on her tablet. The headphones completely cut her off from the fight.
Normally she would have made the trip with the sisters Tohsaka and Shirou, but they still hadn't come back from Vegas.
At the same moment, in a strange distortion of light, three characters appeared on the shore of a lake at the foot of majestic mountains covered with forests.
The first was an arrogant man with blond hair. It was clad in magnificent gold armor too heavy, too expensive to be worn by a mortal. His eyes were red with vertical pupils.
He turned to the silver-haired teenager, dressed as a schoolgirl with a knitcap.
"Is this the place?"
"It's right here, just across Lake Chūzenji, King of Uruk. A temple built around a sacred relic. This very old sword was used for the Keeper of the Horses ritual. Since then, a troublesome Heretic God is trapped inside the Netherworld."
Without answering Athena, Gilgamesh turned to the third member of their small group.
"Altera?"
The thin young woman with brown skin simply nodded to signify her agreement... so they would follow the plan. In fact, Gilgamesh found it difficult to hide his annoyance. The One and Only King was obviously not used to following the orders of others. In addition, collaborating with the goddess Athena seemed unnatural to him... But what troubled him most were the ambiguous feelings he felt every time Guinevere spoke of waking up King Arthur.
When the Golden King agreed to join Altera, his goal was simple. He wanted to derail Welber's plans. With this in mind, he should have done everything possible to prevent the Scourge of God from waking Arthur or on the contrary, help Athena to kill this Heretic God... But for some reason he didn't understand, Gilgamesh felt a strange nostalgia about King Arthur. Yet he had never met this king. It was not even because he would have known his equivalent in his original universe. Gilgamesh had only heard of the King of Knights from Gawain during the events of Sakura's labyrinth (1).
Annoyed, the First Hero of Mankind forced himself to focus on the present.
"Well, let's cross this lake because we have to."
There were many Noble Phantasms stored in Gate of Babylon, some were weapons, but there were some that were perfectly suited to this situation. It was obviously out of the question for the One and Only King to cross this puddle in a boat that did not suit his majesty.
King Gilgamesh held out his hand and a gold object appeared in his palm. It was the representation of a ziggurat, a multi-story tower like those used as temples to the Mesopotamian gods. Athena was immediately very attentive. A divine power emanated from this miniature... an immense power of creation.
Gilgamesh smiles while reciting an ancient poem:
"A holy house, house of the gods, in a holy place was not built,
The reed had not grown, the tree was not formed;
The brick was not in place, the mold was uncreated
A house was not made, a city was not formed,
A city was not built, living beings did not exist;
Of a holy house, house of the gods, the dwelling was not made,
The whole country was the sea,
The source in the country was sea,
Then Eridu was built, and the 'High-Rise-House' was completed.
The gods of heaven that Marduk created in balanced numbers
They solemnly named it 'Holy City'
Tower of Babel!"
Having pronounced the True Name of the Noble Phantasm, the miniature ziggurat began to radiate.
The next moment, Gilgamesh, Athena, and Altera were on top of the steps of a long staircase lined with winged lions and bulls. They stood on the forecourt of the temple of Marduk crowning a ziggurat entirely made of gold block. Despite its unthinkable weight, the multi-story tower was floating on the surface of the lake.
Athena immediately understood where she was. According to Mesopotamian legends, at least according to some versions... when the gods created the world, they first created the first ziggurat. And it was from this first ziggurat that floated on the surface of the original ocean that they shaped the rest of the world.
To cross a simple lake, Gilgamesh did not hesitate to summon the most prestigious 'ship' of all Babylonian mythology... In spite of a thousand years of existence and the countless Heretics Gods, allies, or enemies, with whom she had been acquainted, the Queen of Night had yet to meet an individual arrogant enough to use such an exceptional Divine Authority for such prosaic purposes. (2)
Athena was of course unaware that Gilgamesh used the Holy Grail of Uruk as a simple cup to drink his wine...
Around Lake Chūzenji there were several shrines. The oldest of these dates back to the reign of Kanmu Tennō (737-806). It must be said that the monk Shōdō had lived in the area. Considered a saint after his death, his body had been dismembered and scattered among three shrines. The first was a pagoda on the island of Kōzuke, another was a cave on the beach of Shōbu and the last was the Buddhist monastery of the city of Nikkō.
Other saints, such as Jigen Saishi, had been buried around the lake and this only strengthened the sanctity of Lake Chūzenji.
However, not all of the lake's sanctuaries were as famous or even accessible to the public. One of them was harboring an ancient sword entered into legend for killing demons and dragons. It was known as the Divine Monarch.
What few knew was that this sword was above all the key to a very powerful ritual that had been created by the Japanese god Susanoo. Used by a powerful priest, this ritual had imprisoned a Heretic God.
Of course, the priests who officiated at this shrine knew the truth... How could one have hidden it from them? The petrified body of the vanquished god was kept in the sanctuary... and his living head burdened them with insults and threats every time they came to renew the ritual!
Not relying solely on secrecy to prevent the liberation of the Heretic God, the monks had surrounded the sanctuary with many Kekkai (magical barriers) capable of repelling, immobilizing, or disorienting Evil spirits.
Even if such barriers might have stopped the Divine Ancestors... they were, however, of no use to a true Heretic God.
For the average person, the lake would have appeared empty that morning. But some of the monks at the sanctuary of the Divine Monarch had the Spirit Vision power... and when one of them saw a floating ziggurat, radiating an incredible level of divine energy, panic spread among the monks.
For centuries, they had feared this day...
Gilgamesh lowered the Spell Return Shield, a Noble Phantasm resembling a circular mirror. For the King of Uruk the magic barriers were not really an obstacle and did not bother him any more than cobwebs in a corridor.
His gold-kicked feet were rattling on the pebbles of the beach. Followed by Altera and Athena, He was heading towards the low building built a bit in retreat.
The monks had bowed to the ground. They understood that they could not stop the trio by force and tried the only method with a slim chance of success: supplication.
Without raising his head, the chief of the monks dared to speak.
"O God whose name I do not know, I implore you to..."
Gilgamesh's eyes narrowed in anger as his face changed to reflect the deepest disgust.
"Ignorant insect, how can you mistake me for a pathetic deity? I am Gilgamesh, I'm the King and the King is me!"
The monk touched the ground with his forehead, stiffened by terror, and renounced to continue his plea. He began to pray to Buddha. Only a miracle could prevent the catastrophe now!
In the great hall of the temple, the sword was on the altar placed on gold support, and surrounded by various offerings. A statue of the Amida Buddha (the Buddha of Infinite Light) stood behind the blade and incense sticks surrounded it, slowly burning.
Altera turned to the Greek goddess of wisdom.
"Where is the captive god?"
The silver-haired teenager concentrated and held out her hand. The floor seemed to undulate revealing a staircase that had been hidden by an illusion.
"He is imprisoned in a cellar under the sword room, Lady Altera."
"How should we proceed?"
"I have to absorb the power of the Divine Monarch and then only I could kill the captive god."
Athena opened her mouth to continue her explanation but shuddered and turned to Gilgamesh. The latter had just invoked a magnificent golden sword inlaid with lapis lazuli. With a smirk on his lips, he looked at the Divine Monarch and...
"Tzinch!"
—with a stroke of his Noble phantasm, the legendary Sumerian Hero shattered the ancient blade on the display.
The result was not long in coming. The sanctuary began to vibrate. At first, it looked like a distant tremor before it ascended crescendo changing into a true earthquake. It became difficult to stand because the slats of a parquet floor broke one after the other and...
A roar of joy was heard. They had time to see a fuzzy shape come out of the cellar stairs, rush to the temple doors, and disappear into the sky.
Athena turned to Gilgamesh and gave him a look of pure anger before turning into an owl with silver feathers and pursuing the god suddenly released.
Altera looked at the King of Uruk.
"Why?"
He shrugged with boredom.
"I could say that I am opposed to the idea of spoiling the gods. They are lazy fools who always lure mortals to perform difficult tasks in their place. I could also say that this is a way to gauge the strength of the goddess Athena. If she can't beat that Heretic God, what chance does she have against King Arthur?"
Then the Golden King began to laugh louder and louder, flipping his head back.
"But the real reason is... it's much more fun like this!"
Even though Altera had superhuman self-control, her nostrils pinched... a contained anger reaction.
"Let's follow Athena," she ends up saying.
The First Hero smiled almost kindly.
"Of course, I wouldn't want to miss the rest of the show."
The god imprisoned by the Divine Sword had been released... but only partially. His petrified body was still in the cellar. Only his mind could move at will. Nevertheless, the remains of the Keeper of the Horse ritual still weakened him.
It was imperative that he find an animal or a human with sufficient spiritual strength to incarnate. Without a physical body, the gods could not act in the material world... he needed an avatar.
Students at the Jounan Academy had dispersed into downtown Nikkō. Most of them visited shops or went sightseeing. Still, others took pictures of the kaisan-dō (founding shrine) where one could see representations of the famous monk Shōdō, the founder and first abbot of this monastery.
Irritated by Godou's 'friends' who monopolized her brother, Shizuka Kusanagi moved away. She walked quickly, furious, whispering in an unintelligible voice a mixture of curses and complaints.
If Shizuka had been honest with herself, the little girl would have admitted that she was jealous that her older brother, who had been taking care of her since childhood because of their parents' repeated absences, was being monopolized by 'strangers'. To tell the truth, she felt neglected. Neglected by her parents who preferred to dust old pieces of pottery in Europe rather than take care of their children. Neglected by her older brother who had arrived at THIS age...
But Shizuka preferred to believe that the indecent behavior of her Casanova-like brother was the cause of her anger. It was difficult for her to admit (even in her inner self) that the real reason for her anger was so selfish.
Godou's little sister was now following a narrow street between two rows of houses.
Feeling a sense of danger, she raised her eyes sharply and stopped, astonished.
A fuzzy shape, a bit like a cloud, remained in the alley. But... a golden cloud that the wind did not dispel!
Shizuka swallowed her saliva while receding... confusingly, she felt that... that the thing before her had noticed her presence and looked at her.
The god who had just escaped was indeed watching Shizuka.
Yes... a great spiritual strength emanated from this child.
It would be a perfectly acceptable temporary host.
Seeing the 'cloud' approaching her, Shizuka screamed and wanted to escape.
But the god easily caught up with her. His form, devoid of substance, enveloped the little girl. A moment later she was shaking on the ground.
When Godou's sister got up again, her eyes had a supernatural luster.
The scene had a witness... a silver owl.
An instant earlier, Godou Kusanagi had no other preoccupation than to escape Erica and Lili, The two knights each clung to one of his arms to pull him in divergent directions. The thing could have been bearable if they did not stop bickering and if Yuri did not add to the cacophony by criticizing the behavior of the other two girls, and the 'depravity' of Godou.
Then he felt an oppressive feeling of suffocation and icy sweat began to wet his neck as a chill descended his spine.
This feeling...
Erica Blandelli, Yuri Mariya, and Liliana Kranjcar had immediately forgotten their arguments. They felt the same sticky terror as him.
A Heretic God was nearby!
Godou looked around him... but the street had not changed. The students of the Jounan Academy and other tourists were walking on the sidewalks, some cars were moving slowly.
Except that...
"Where is Shizuka?"
His sister was nowhere in sight! After feeling the presence of a Heretic God, the Japanese Campione was already imagining the worst scenarios.
Erica frowned and held out her finger.
"She was walking down the street, in this direction, but... Shizuka is no longer in sight."
Godou had calmed down a bit.
"Erica you look down that street, Lili in that street, and you, Yuri, you take that alley. I'll take this one. You have my phone number; call me if you see Shizuka."
"Shizuka is missing?"
Surprised Godou turned around. He had recognized the voice, but only realized now that Hakuno Kusanagi was all along right behind him, he had not heard her. It must be said that the presence of the girl was very weak. People easily forget that she was there.
"Yeah, you want to help me?"
"I take this street," replied the Inheritor of the Moon.
"Thanks, but... be careful. There's a Heretic God nearby."
She nodded without showing any emotion and entered the alley she had chosen.
When Shizuka had moved away, she had taken a random street and it was destined that Hakuno would take the same path.
The Sovereign of the Moon found herself in a narrow alley with tiny detached houses dating from the Shōwa era on each side. Garbage cans on the ground required detours and air conditioners protruding from the walls. A few doors opened here and there.
Hakuno advanced about ten meters before seeing the girl she was looking for.
"Shizuka?"
The little girl turned around and a golden aura formed around her figure.
"You are not an ordinary human. I feel the mark of a god on you!"
Shizuka's voice was strangely distorted, full of arrogance and mockery.
Hakuno made a Head Tilt...
"The mark of a god?"
"Yes, I can see it because I am the Great Sage Equaling Heaven!"
Hakuno receded, clutching her hands on her chest. She was terrified by the power she felt in the possessed little girl.
"You are a Heretic God!"
Shizuka smiled and held out her hand... a golden stick materialized between her fingers. Immediately the ground began to crack around her as her golden aura became even more powerful, more luminous and the wind was furiously spinning around Godou's younger sister.
The little girl possessed by a god wanted to strike, taking Hakuno as a servant of her enemies. But her weapon only struck several giant swords that had just crashed into the ground forming a real steel wall between them.
Shizuka looked up at the Vimana floating above the roofs.
"Mongrel, I forbid you to touch what belongs to the king!"
Godou heard a metallic roar and a kind of explosion that made the street where he ran looking for his sister tremble.
He stopped, turned his head, and then sprang to the roof. He shuddered when discovering the Vimana... and immediately identified the vehicle associated with the Servant Gilgamesh.
The ancient aerial chariot of Vedic heroes and gods hovered motionless over an alley. The dust settled as a house collapsed with a big bang.
Several golden openings opened around the Vimana, and weapons (swords, axes, halberds,) came from all eras and all continents.
The real steel rain smashed another house but their target had already jumped to avoid the attack and fell further back.
Godou hiccupped recognizing Shizuka.
"No!"
Surprised, Gilgamesh turned his head while hearing a scream. For a moment, he stopped bombing the Heretic God with his Noble Phantasms.
And this hesitation was sufficient. Shizuka leaped near Hakuno. Before the Sovereign could react, Godou's sister wrapped her throat with an arm, pressing Kishinami against her chest using the Inheritor like a living shield.
"No," repeated Godou Kusanagi.
Gilgamesh hesitated and looked with suspicion at the unknown mongrel who dared to intervene.
The Japanese Campione was not far from panicking.
"I don't know what's going on but... but this is my sister Shizuka. Don't hurt her!"
At this moment, a silver owl descended near the Godslayer and resumed human form.
"Devil King Godou Kusanagi, your sister is possessed by a Heretic God."
Gilgamesh had inherited the divine wisdom of his mother, the few words said by Athena were enough for him to understand everything, and... he gnashed his teeth understanding the extent of his blunder.
"I see... this mongrel had no shame to use shields made of children!"
Standing beside the king of Uruk, seated on his aerial throne, Altera nodded.
"Mission: Bring back the Regalia."
Rarely did the First Hero had wished as much to reconsider a choice he had made. But, here, as he watched Athena standing beside Campione Goudou Kusanagi, the King of Heroes had to admit that he had put himself in a very delicate position... He could not attack the Heretic God without endangering Hakuno and if he tried to kill Shizuka by a surprise attack, Godou Kusanagi and Athena would certainly interfere. In the worst case, he would have to face two Heretics Gods and one Campione... and always with Hakuno as a hostage.
The Heretic god who had taken possession of Shizuka Kusanagi's body smiled at his hesitant and scarred enemies.
The Campione, the elder brother of his avatar, turned to the goddess Athena.
"Who is the god who possesses Shizuka?"
Before the goddess could answer, the God of Steel burst out laughing.
"I prefer to answer myself!"
With his/her free arm - still immobilizing Hakuno from the other- Shizuka hit the ground with his/her golden stick.
There was a gong sound and a golden circle grew under the footsteps of the Heretic God.
The god had just activated one of his Authorities.
Erica, Yuri, and Lili had followed their king. Standing on a nearby roof, they were in an ideal position to see the golden circle extend to encompass the entire city of Nikkō. The city had almost 85,000 inhabitants and most of them had no resistance to magic (3). They were instantly transformed into... monkeys. Some became chimpanzees, others baboons, bonobos, orangutans, or even gorillas... only a minority of people were spared.
Shizuka's clothes had also changed, even though she had kept her human appearance. She now wore a tiger-skin loincloth, boots, armor covering the top of her torso, and an ornate headband.
"I am Sun Wukong, the king of monkeys, and I have decided to found my new kingdom in these mountains."
(1) It is canonic. Although Fate Extra CCC's Gilgamesh has never met Artoria, every time he hears about 'him', the King of Uruk feels a strange urge, a desire to meet 'him'. Probably it's just some sort of Easter egg.
(2) There are several things to say about this passage.
To begin with, the myth of an 'original city' appears in very ancient cuneiform tablets... in Sumerian times this city was supposed to be Lagash. Later on (one wonders why) the Babylonians say, "Oh, well, in fact, it is our city that is the original city." It was not the inhabitants of Lagash who could protest, at the time the city was abandoned for more than one millennia and its ruins had disappeared under the sands of the desert.
The poem telling this legend (and which inspired the invocation of the Tower of Babel) is inscribed on Babylonian tablets dating from the second millennium before our era.
Second, this legend says that originally the entire universe was (in potential) within Babylon, and the gods created the world by extending the creation outside Babylon's walls. Therefore, prototypes of everything that has been and will be were already within Babylon.
By the way, in Babylonian, Bāb-ili (Babylon) means "Gate of the Gods".
If one combines the name of the city with the myth of its creation, one will see the image of a door leading to a vault containing all the treasures of the world. I think this legend is the myth behind the Noble Phantasm Gate of Babylon.
(3) Normally, Magic Resistance does not protect from Divine Authority. But this Divine Authority (Divine Monkey) only affects normal humans, turning them into monkeys. Any individual mustering a minimum of magic can resist. Nevertheless, Sun Wukong can transform tens of thousands of people simultaneously.
And - as you will see in the next chapter - the victims do not turn into ordinary monkeys. They were transformed into Divine Beasts (minor) and kept their human intelligence... Here, I'm talking about 85,000 loyal subjects of the Monkey's king!
If you ask my opinion, it's a ridiculously overpowered Divine Authority!