Chapter Thirty

There was little conversation as they made their way through the city streets in the dead of night. Fuyuki was eerily quiet, even this close to midnight there would normally have been some form of movement through the streets or at least cars passing by. But there was nothing. Their group did not see another soul through the entire walk.

The path to Ryuudo Temple was so familiar to Shirou that he could have walked it in almost complete darkness, so even with the lack of company they made their way safely.

They stopped walking once they reached the foot of the massive stone staircase that led to the temple proper. Shirou didn't need any kind of magical training to tell that some great ritual was being prepared here. The air felt different.

He could see the breath coming from Rin as she sighed at the sight of all the climbing awaiting them. "Alright. If anyone wants to go over the plan one last time, now's their chance."

Everyone shook their head, but Luvia still looked unhappy about it. "I still think it's a mistake to send Master on his own..."

"Sorry Luvia, but it has to be done." Shirou said, trying to give her a confident smile.

Bazett nodded along. "He's right. If we fail, someone needs to disrupt the grail ritual before it can be completed. With this method only one of us needs to succeed."

"Master would have a better chance if one of us went along with him..."

"Gilgamesh would be far less likely to ignore a Demi-Servant than a human magus." Rin countered. "Besides, even with the four of us we can't guarantee a victory. With one of us supporting Master, we would be practically ensuring that the others all died."

Shirou felt his heart seize at the very idea. No. He needed to rescue Illya, but he couldn't have any of his Servants dying on his account. His ideals as a Master and as a Hero of Justice simply wouldn't allow it.

"This is the only path." He said, simply.

They began to climb. He was the only one without a Demi-Servant's strength, but he wouldn't allow the others to slow themselves down for his sake so he powered through the fatigue. The steps he'd walked up countless times now seemed as alien to him as an unfamiliar street. They advanced towards the temple above like marching soldiers.

He wished he knew what to say. For a situation like this a speech felt appropriate, but he had no words.

The temple gates were directly in front of them now.

"Everyone... see you when this is all done." He said. "I... As your Master, I forbid you to die."

Even Bazett grinned a little at that one. ""Yes, Master!"" They responded, in perfect unison.

Gilgamesh was waiting for them beyond the temple gates. He stood imperiously in his golden armour, staring at them with his arms folded. His eyes did not regard any of them as human beings. Shirou did not think he would even qualify them as wild animals. To the king, they were all simply annoyances to be swept aside.

There was no more time for words, so Shirou simply nodded as his Servants and began to jog towards the back of the temple. Gilgamesh did not even bother to watch him go.

X X X

Rin watched her Master leave with a heavy heart. Thinking about his safety was enough to make her sick, but her Magus training set allowed her to kill her heart and shut those feelings aside. She would be guaranteeing the deaths of him and countless others by worrying about him now. Since she wanted to keep him safe, she would just need to finish off Gilgamesh before he could get himself into too much danger.

"How pitiful." The King of Heroes declared. "Did you deceive yourselves into thinking that one more of you would be enough to make a difference? All the mongrels in the world can not stand against the king."

"King of what?" Luvia shouted. "Do you wish to rule over the ashes Angra Mainyu will leave behind?"

Gilgamesh did not even flinch at the accusation. "Of course. Only those who – "

Rin loosed an arrow at his head. Inches before it could reach him, a Noble Phantasm halberd struck it out of the air, and a sea of golden portals began appearing behind the king.

"Mongrel!" He screamed, pure derision dripping from every word. "You dare to interrupt the king!?"

"There's no point in conversation with someone like you anyways." Bazett said. She nodded in agreement to Rin. A silver ball began to float behind her body, and it swiftly formed into a blade.

Sakura threw her daggers into the ground, setting up her network of chains. Luvia called forth dozens of floating stars around herself. Rin knocked another arrow, her head swimming with possibilities as she analyzed every possible angle of the fight.

Against all four of them, fewer than one in a thousand potential opponents could hope to even survive. Unfortunately, they were facing the one in a million kind of freak who could easily kill them all.

As Bazett and Sakura charged, the air become filled with the sound of clashing metal as Gilgamesh rained Noble Phantasms on them like they were worthless baubles.

X X X

Shirou panted as he ran. It wasn't long before he'd walked past the temple building and began to hear small explosions like dozens of cannons were all firing at once. The noise was coming from the Servants he'd left behind. He grimaced, but forced himself to keep walking despite his groaning legs. He wouldn't betray his Servant's faith in him by turning back now.

He kept walking, and soon found an enemy of his own.

Although he'd been to the temple before, he'd never spent much time behind the grounds proper. There was a small lake here, one that he could remember being crystal clear. Now it was drenched in black mud, that made his eyes burn from looking at it. Shirou looked up, and had to scream.

"Illya!" He cried.

His sister and fiancee was hanging naked above the lake, floating as though she was being crucified. Her eyes were pitch black, and she didn't respond to his shout.

"Hmmph. Your words can not reach her."

Shirou turned to glare, as the false priest regarded him. Kotomine was no longer wearing priest garbs, instead he was dressed in the black cloak of an Assassin. Bazett had implied that Kotomine only had the powers of a Demi-Servant, but he did at least also have the outfit. "Kotomine."

"Emiya Shirou." He responded. Despite the horror around them, Kotomine smiled easily. "You cannot imagine how delighted I felt to see the son of my enemy appear before me. However, you have proved to be a disappointment. I see little of your father in you. All you care about is gathering Servants like a certain greedy king."

He said these words as if they should have been biting criticism, but they rolled off Shirou's back. He had no doubts. Not since that dream, since Luvia had pointed out the beauty of the wishes of those dreamers. His heart had been captured then, and had settled ever since. "Let Illya go." He said.

"How disappointing." Kotomine looked down, seemingly genuinely upset Shirou hadn't risen to his bait. "At the very least, you should prove to be a source of amusement before you die."

Instincts that belonged to Shirou even though he had not honed them in this lifetime shouted at him, and he threw himself into combat. Kotomine summoned several long blades between his fingers, slashing at Shirou like they were claws. The strike would have taken off his head, but Shirou matched it with summoned blades of his own. Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands less than a second before they clashed. Each copy was forged faster and of far better quality than anything he'd been able to manage the last time he'd met Kotomine.

The priest grinned, throwing a few more blows at Shirou's head that he easily deflected. He followed up with a lethal swing meant to cut through the priest's heart, but Kotomine ducked backwards easily.

Shirou knew it was a foolish emotion, but he couldn't help but feel elated. He was doing it! He was pushing the priest backwards!

Kotomine raised a hand, and tendrils of the dark mud reached upwards as though they had a mind of their own. Shirou had only half a second to respond to their presence before they were lashing towards him.

X X X

Fighting Gilgamesh was like trying to fight war itself. No matter what they threw at him, he wiped away their efforts with countless weapons and treasures. Rin was sure the golden portals he used would never run out of ammunition.

She grimaced as a sword flew directly towards her skull. Ignoring her instinct to dodge or block it, she instead knocked and loosed twelve more arrows before it could reach her. The sword was blown away inches from her face by a falling star.

"Sorry!" Luvia called out. Rin could barely hear her. She was too busy, firing at more floating swords before they could be launched.

Between the two of them, Rin and Luvia were doing their best to deflect the endless Noble Phantasms Gilgamesh was firing upon them. Rin's arrows were good enough to knock aside the weapons that hadn't fired yet, while Luvia summoned floating stars to crush anything that she missed. Rin could match him Noble Phantasm for Noble Phantasm if she'd wanted to, but she would have run out of magical energy far before Gilgamesh ran out of portals, and besides she would be too slow.

The time for that would come... but things weren't ready yet.

With her and Luvia on defence, Sakura and Bazett were taking the fight directly to Gilgamesh. Rin winced as she watched Sakura narrowly deflect an exploding arrow that would have blown her to bits, before slinking backwards like a snake. Bazett took her place like they'd planned it, Fragrach flashing as it struck Gilgamesh in the chest.

He only glared at her, gesturing with one hand to summon another storm of swords. Bazett dodged between them, taking a few cuts and scrapes along the way and unable to continue her attack.

That left Sakura free in turn to spring forward, pulled by her chains, so that she could land a kick on the same spot Bazett had struck a couple of seconds before. She bounced off the armour without leaving much more than a scratch, already moving out of the way of Gilgamesh's return attack.

Like they'd been training together for years, the two front line Servants traded blows with Gilgamesh. With each exchange they lost precious energy and strength, while the King of Heroes suffered only scratches on his armour.

Rin could only hope that it would be enough.

X X X

Shirou dodged between the tendrils of black mud warily. He had to assume they would kill him with a single touch, but that wasn't why he was suspicious. They were too slow. A normal human would have been trapped and consumed by now, but Kotomine had to know he was too fast for such an attack. So why was he leaving himself open, merely standing there and throwing around the tendrils while Shirou easily dodged between them?

A particularly large tendril passed over Kotomine's head, and as the shadow consumed him, he disappeared.

Hesitating for even a fraction of a second would have gotten Shirou killed, but thankfully he had started throwing himself into a roll as soon as Kotomine vanished. Kotomine's black key was tossed through the spot his head had been occupying as the priest stepped out of a shadow beside him. Shirou tossed Kanshou at the priest's head, but he blocked the blow.

Before Shirou could finish his roll, the priest stepped out of another shadow directly in front of him and kicked. Shirou threw up an arm, turning a blow that would have broken his ribs into something that merely shattered Bakuya.

Kicking off the ground, Shirou pulled out a new weapon. Hrunting sang as he swung for the priest, letting the enchantment behind the blade do it's work. Kotomine didn't try to dodge, instead he stepped backwards into a tendril of black mud, and Hrunting was consumed as it swept through him.

"I should finish my work."

This time, even all his instincts couldn't prevent Shirou from getting stabbed through the gut as Kotomine reappeared from a shadow. Shirou cursed. The priest had hit him in the exact same spot as before, mocking him with the repeated injury.

He gritted his teeth and made another pair of the married blades. If he could only close the gap, he could finish this. But Kotomine simply couldn't be stopped as long as he simply walk through a shadow every time Shirou got close enough to kill him.

It was a problem beyond his skills, but that didn't matter. He wasn't strong enough to overcome this, but he could make a weapon to close the gap.

X X X

Luvia's stars and Rin's arrows flew through the sky. Ten, twenty, a hundred, a thousand. They launched them at speeds exceeding bullets, with force strong enough to break stone. And it was only barely enough to stall Gilgamesh's assault.

Not yet.

Rin watched as Bazett threw Fragrach into Gilgamesh's chest. Once, twice, three times. Gilgamesh responded by grabbing an axe from his treasury and trying to cut off Bazett's head. She blocked it with Fragrach, but that broke her sword in two. Without missing a beat, Bazett threw four more of them into the air, and another directly in front of herself. She punched the floating ball in front of her, which hit Gilgamesh in that same spot before ping ponging back and forth between his armour and the floating orbs in a flash of light.

Gilgamesh roared, and Bazett had to jump away to avoid being consumed by the explosions surrounding Gilgamesh.

Not yet.

As the dust settled, Sakura threw herself back into the fray. A failed attempt to use her Mystic Eyes had left her half blind, but she still had the energy to fight back. Focused on Bazett, she was able to get in two quick blows onto Gilgamesh's chest with each of her daggers. They didn't find purchase, but they each chipped away another tiny bit of golden metal.

Not yet.

Gilgamesh moved faster than Rin had ever seen him do so before. A series of golden portals appeared around Sakura, and a chain lashed out around her from every direction. Rin fired arrows at each portal, but they just bounced off the chain without even shaking it.

Sakura didn't even have time to scream before three swords were flying for her head, heart, and stomach.

Luvia threw herself in the way. She caught one weapon on her sword, another with her scale, and took a third directly through one of her arms.

"Luvia!" Rin shouted.

"Rin! Now!" Luvia screamed.

It wasn't what she'd wanted. But Rin knew there wasn't going to be time for perfect.

She held up an arm.

"I am the bone of my sword."

X X X

Shirou danced through the tendrils of mud as he charged towards Illya.

Naturally, Kotomine wouldn't allow that. Shirou ducked under a black key that was aimed for his heart, and threw himself into a roll to avoid being consumed by a tendril as it swept above him. Then he slashed upwards with a projected sword to slash away Kotomine's followup attack. The false priest was so surprised his attack had been seen through that Shirou was able to put a foot against his side and shove the man backwards.

Kotomine fell into the embrace of a tendril and vanished, reappearing behind Shirou to drive a fist into his back. Shirou never broke stride, slipping just outside of the priest's reach.

That was getting harder. His stomach burned with pain, and every step he took shifted the blade that was impaling him. He kept seeing flashes of light.

But worst of all was the sounds of battle. He could hear the explosions and the screams coming from behind the temple. His Servants were still fighting. There were depending on him so he couldn't stop now!

He screamed, pushing himself further. He couldn't run in a straight line without the black mud getting in his way, and he couldn't move at full speed or else Koromine would find him too easy to predict. He had to be constantly moving, projecting countless blades as he moved through the grass like it was a battlefield filled with a thousand enemies.

But he made it. Chest panting, he stood at the foot of the massive pool Illya had been crucified over. She was still hanging there, mud pouring from her naked body.

Despite his success, Kotomine only laughed at him. "Well? Do you have some foolish plan to try and rescue her from the grail itself?"

Of course not. He'd only wanted to make sure Illya was behind him. If he'd done this facing her, she would have died.

"Trace, on!" He cried out. His circuits went into overdrive as he called upon more magical energy than he ever had before. From deep within his soul he called forth a sword, a glowing holy sword that rested heavily in his hands. It shone with light, and the black mud receded from it's path. Holding it above his head, Shirou called out the name to release it's power. "MERODACH!"

All of the energy his Servants had given him was sucked away in a breath. The world was filled with light.

X X X

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood. I have created only a thousand blades. Unknown to death, nor known to life. Have withstood pain to create many weapons. Yet those hands will never hold anything."

Inwardly, Rin screamed at the heroic spirit within her. That moron. Did he not even realize how bad he'd been hurting? She'd die before she ever let her Master go through such a life that would lead to a bleak mantra like this one.

Sakura twisted free from her chains, aided by Bazett. Luvia fell backwards, barely able to stop herself from being torn apart by the falling Noble Phantasms. The king seemed sure of his victory.

"So, as I pray. Unlimited Blade Works!"

The transformation wasn't instantaneous, but it was dramatic. Piece by piece the landscape around them transformed, the temple grounds vanished and instead they stood on a field of blades. Giant gears hung above their heads, turning away like cogs in an invisible machine.

This was the culmination of all the efforts of the Emiya Shirou who had become a Heroic Spirit. Every weapon he'd ever seen was scattered around them like trophies. Or like countless tombstones in a graveyard. All instantly within Rin's reach.

She took them all, and threw them towards Gilgamesh.

"What!?" He cried out. It was the first time Rin had ever seen him express something as simple as surprise. She saw his scowl and smiled.

Every inch of Rin's reality marble was filled with golden portals, each filled with a treasure that kingdoms would have gone to war over. They fired, and each one of them was met and destroyed before it could find it's marking. Every new blade he summoned only gave Rin more ammunition, and she didn't need to bother with the portals.

Every one of her weapons was already in the palm of her hands.

Gilgamesh raged as his battle quickly turned against him. Luvia, no longer occupied keeping back his assault, threw herself into front line combat. Her blade glimmered in the light as she stabbed repeatedly into his chest, repelled only for the briefest of seconds before he pulled back.

"Fine! I grant you this!" The King of Heroes shouted. "Four of you together are strong enough to die by my blade!"

And then he called forth a different weapon. One unlike anything Rin had stored within this reality marble. The sword that had destroyed Luvia's Noble Phantasm like it was made of paper. It would do the same thing to this place no doubt, and Rin couldn't stop it.

"Enuma!" The air twisted around the spiral sword as it activated. "Elish!"

"Fragrach!"

Time reversed. The king, who had been about to release the ultimate weapon that would kill them all in one strike, froze.

Of course, he hadn't been about to do anything. He really had managed to complete his victory condition and use the sword that split the heavens and the earth. His perfect unstoppable trump card.

The exact thing Bazett had needed, to unleash a Noble Phantasm of her own.

"Hmmph. I was worried your armour would prove to be too strong after all. But it seems we weakened it sufficiently." Bazett said, brushing dust from her arms as though this had all been a routine assignment.

Gilgamesh clutched his chest. The same exact spot that the Demi-Servants had been weakening all battle was now red with blood, the blood of a king.

Without getting the chance for one final taunt, he fell forwards and died.

Rin released her hold on the reality marble, and the world around them vanished along with the king it had been summoned to defeat.

X X X

Not a single tendril of mud withstood the onslaught of the holy blade. It was wiped away, leaving a clean patch of earth behind.

The only survivor was Kotomine. He held a hand against one of his lungs, which had been struck by debris. His cloak was burning, and he wasted no time shrugging free of it. When it was removed, Shirou could see something black and pulsing on the priest's chest, like a second heart. "You..."

Shirou had no intention of letting the man finish.

In his hands, Kanshou and Bakuya appeared. No sooner had he created them than he threw them away, tossing the swords at Kotomine like arrows. If they'd hit he would have celebrated, but even weakened the priest was still strong enough to deflect both blows.

"Divine skill, flawless and firm. Strength moves mountains. Blade cuts water."

He summoned another pair of weapons, so quickly that Kotomine's eyes widened in shock. Shirou Emiya had no right to wield this much magical power. That was right. He'd taken strength from his Servants before they'd gone off to battle, so he needed to answer for that sin.

Life approaches the Imperial Villa

"!" Kotomine only had time for a wordless shout before Shirou charged at him. Two swords versus Kotomine's seemingly endless supply of black blades. His wounded injured body versus one that had the power of a Demi-Servant.

Two great men, shared life.

They crossed blades, and only one of them remained standing. Shirou's weapons were destroyed, along with all of Kotomine's black keys.

The technique called for another set of blades to finish off a weakened enemy, but there was no need. Kotomine had seen the swords behind him coming, as their magnetic attraction had reversed their paths towards the blades in Shirou's hands, but he'd been too injured and slowed down to respond in time. And there were no shadows left to duck away into.

He fell over dead, two matching swords in his back.

Shirou fell down beside him. His circuits groaned so deeply that he knew he was seconds from death.

As he lost consciousness he looked upwards. Illya. I wanted to save you.

One chapter to go.

A Gilgamesh fight is a surprisingly real challenge to write, since if he's depicted as too arrogant it feels cheap and if he's depicted as not arrogant enough it's untrue to his character. I tried to strike a healthy middle here, but obviously it's up to all of you to decide how I did.