Alec Gascoigne: I see the Fan Club "Die Alec Die!" has just received new recruits! XD
Hmmm, will Gilgamesh somehow recognize Hakuno? To be more exact, Gilgamesh knows that the Sovereign of the Moon (the holder of the Regalia) is Hakuno Kishinami, certainly not 'his' Hakuno (CCC version) but still Hakuno. Gilgamesh had a rather peculiar personality... he has very few friends or people he cares about but he is very faithful to them. So much so that (F/GO Caster) Gilgamesh comes to Kingu's aid and gives him the Great Grail of Uruk simply because he uses Enkidu's body.
A more active role for Hakuno: Honestly, I would love to. But I try to respect everyone's personality. By nature, Hakuno tends to act as a background character, while figures as flamboyant as Ishtar or Shirou will leap into the fray.
Excalibur is or is not a Divine Construct that is the question.
The answer is not as simple as 'yes' or 'no'. Let us go back to the beginning to understand.
The Fateverse is not one universe, but a collection of parallel universes with important divergences. For example, in Fate Apocrypha, the Grail is a kind of huge egg that grants wishes. In Fate/ Stay Night the Grail is a succession of magical circles in caves and it needs a Lesser Grail. It is through this medium that the Greater Grail grants wishes.
From one universe to the next, events, Noble Phantasms, and even places or the way magic works can differ.
So in the Extraverse, there is no vampire. The creation of the Moon Cell prevented the appearance of Brunestud of the Crimson Moon and therefore True Ancestors and Dead Apostles. The only 'vampires' are literary creations... like the Vlad Dracul of the Extraverse which (like his Apocrypha's counterpart) has vampire powers because his legend includes Bram Stocker's Dracula.
Initially, these universes are clearly separated and have distinct histories. For example, the Extraverse version of Gawain dies fighting Lancelot, while the Gawain of Fateverse dies at the Battle of Camlann (probably fighting Mordred).
The universes derived from Fate/ Stay Night (Apocrypha, Strange Fake, Capsule, Coliseum, Unlimited Codes, etc.) and the universes derived from Fate Extra (CCC, Extella, Link) have the particularity of having separate Servants.
For example, the Artoria Pendragon of Fateverse can be invoked as Saber, Lancer, and even Caster which are Alters, but they are however the same Artoria. Nevertheless, the Artoria Pendragon of the Extraverse is a totally distinct version with a different story.
As I understand it, the Moon Cell Automaton originally invoked some of the Servants we know and then recorded them inside the Seraph. From there, each time a Servant is invoked in the Seraph it is this version recorded by the Moon Cell that appears.
Until the release of F/GO, a series of simple rules allowed these different universes to coexist.
1) The Throne of Heroes is 'out of the universe' and 'out of the time axis'. In other words, a single servant can be invoked in separate universes, in the past, present, and future.
2) The Servants are invoked by the Grail in Containers, i.e. Classes (Saber, Archer, Berserker, etc...) which are limited versions of a Hero having only part of his capabilities.
3) The Servants invoked have only the memory of the events that occurred during their lifetime (and therefore no memory of their other invocations) apart from a few special cases (Artoria, since she is still alive) but in no case does a Servant remember the Future (in F/SN, EMIYA is partially amnesic because it comes from the future).
4) The Grail can invoke only one aspect of a Hero (for example, Cù Chulainn Lancer and Cù Chulainn Caster cannot appear in the same war).
These rules prevented the appearance of temporal paradoxes or other absurdities of the same kind.
Have you understood my explanation so far?
Then Fate/ Grand Order came out and because it's a gatcha game, and the goal is to get people to collect as many Servants as possible, these rules have ceased to apply... at least when Servants are invoked by the Fate System. What has generated complete chaos; even some servants of the Extraverse can now be invoked in Fateverse, which was until then perfectly impossible (they existed only in the Seraph). Alters can coexist and talk about events that took place in separate universes... it makes you dizzy. Nevertheless, it was never said that the events in F/GO and the modifications made in this universe had retroactive effects on the other universes, or that this applied to Servants invoked by the Fuyuki's Grail or in the Seraph.
Well, keep that in mind, and back to the main question: Is Excalibur a Divine Construct?
In F/GO: yes, undoubtedly
To be precise, we learn that Excalibur is a Divine Construct in the Camelot Lost Bell and... It's certainly true in this Lost Bell. What is a Lost Bell? A Lost Bell is an alternative version of the history that is considered a wrong Time Line, the result of an error. A Lost Bell is all that should not exist, all that the Human Order has rejected on the road to fulfilling human destiny.
Besides, in this Lost Bell Artoria is Caster-Class... We can therefore doubt that the F/GO Excalibur and F/SN Excalibur are really identical.
And in Fate/ Stay Night?
First of all, in F/SN Excalibur is only called Sacred Sword. Gilgamesh mentions that Excalibur is the most powerful Noble Phantasms in the legends. But when Artoria and Gilgamesh clash, Excalibur is unable to resist the power of Ea, and the Oldest King says he is disappointed by reality.
Clearly, this scene is there to make us understand that the two Noble Phantasms are not at all equal.
Then there is more direct evidence.
At the end of Fate/ Zero, Gilgamesh is covered by the black mud created by the Fuyuki Grail, the materialization of All the World's Evil. Although the King gains a physical body of flesh and blood, he is not corrupt. Why? Gilgamesh boasts that this is because he is a true Hero and it's a Hero's job to endure all the corruption of the world... but should we really believe his bragging? Don't forget that Gilgamesh is a demigod. The Grail of Fuyuki in spite of all its power is only a human creation. And in Fate/ Stay Night it is often said that humans are unable to recreate or alter divine creations.
However, Angra Mainyu managed to corrupt Artoria in the Heaven Feel Route... including Excalibur (Excalibur Morgan). When you collect all these clues together, it's obvious that (in Fate Stay Night) Excalibur has never intended to be a Divine Construct.
Black Prince and Golden King
London, Royal Arsenal
Sir Iceman clung to the ground while a series of explosions ravaged the corridor. His magical powers were unable to cope with the violence of the struggle that was taking place around him. Without his reflexes, he would have been shredded.
While several magical weapons were driven into the wall and the ground, Ishtar flew over the knight, throwing several gems in the direction of Gilgamesh.
Four gold shields floated near the King of Uruk, they moved to intercept the attack. New explosions shredded the corridor.
Gilgamesh put a hand on his face and flipped his head back to laugh.
"Have you finally lost your mind, pathetic little girl? These are the shields of the god Asur, he created them to protect himself from his rivals. Such a pitiful Magecraft is powerless against divine protection."
He snapped his fingers and six golden openings appeared. The weapons that emerged suddenly sprang. Ishtar avoided the first three by hiding behind the corner of the corridor, but an axe, a scimitar, and a scythe turn at the corner, pursuing the Mistress of Heaven.
There was a high-pitched scream of surprise and even panic, and then...
A violent shock shook the old gun foundry; dust fell from the ceiling as broken bricks bounced down the hallway.
Gilgamesh had a cruel smile.
"Ouch... it must hurt!"
Walking over Sir Iceman without even looking at the prostrated knight, the King of Heroes turned around the corner and disappeared pursuing the Goddess of Love and War.
Still lying on the ground, the English knight took a few seconds to understand that he was still alive... it was a miracle.
He rose up, looking with dismay at the weapons stabbed into the walls and the ground, the dust slowly falling. It was... it was... it was... terrifying! How could simple humans fight a monster like Gilgamesh? No attack seemed to touch him and each weapon coming out of the golden openings he created had a different power!
Sir Iceman got up and ran to his office. He picked up the old military phone.
300 meters below, King Minos' Labyrinth.
The Faceless Queen reappeared near a collapsed pillar. This time she changed her tactics. Thanks to her control of water magic, she made appear eight ice stalactites she launched straight toward Jeanne.
La Pucelle preferred to save her stamina. Rather than dodge, she stayed there and... The stalactites disappeared into the air just before they touched her.
Black Prince Alec, who was watching the fight, had time to see a kind of energy sphere forming around Jeanne d'Arc.
"She has a kind of protection against magic. Your spells can't reach her!"
The Faceless Queen turned briefly to Alec and nodded without a word. The woman with a face veiled by her long hair extended her hand and a spear materialized between her fingers.
The Goddess rushed towards Jeanne and the two women clashed, moving so fast that they became blurry. Their weapons collided creating bundles of sparks or generating a strange ghostly glow.
Alexander Gascoigne watched the battle with anxiety. Certainly, Jeanne d'Arc was exhausted and had to protect Guinevere. But the French 'witch' still managed to put the Faceless Queen on the defensive. If ever the subordinate Goddess were defeated, the Campione would have to face Ruler... and his magic would probably be ineffective. The Nobleman of Godspeed had kept one last asset. But by nature, Alec hated to use it. Some old enemies might take advantage of his momentary weakness to attack him.
Behind him, he heard the phone ring. It irritated him. Ishtar and Ereshkigal still wanted to intervene in his fight? He stopped on this idea and thought for a brief moment... Actually, it wouldn't be such a bad idea. He could pretend to be interested in the concerns of the goddesses and let them 'generously' fight Jeanne d'Arc... while ordering the Faceless Queen to finish off Guinevere. Alec smiled. Yes, that was a good idea, so he could win the fight without exhausting himself further while appearing open to dialogue with the two goddesses.
Once in possession of the Holy Grail, he might even be generous enough to help them in their fight against Sefar. That was expected of a king, wasn't it?
His reflections were interrupted by the anxious voice of the Occultist who had picked up the telephone.
"King Alexander, we are under attack... this is the demigod Gilgamesh!"
Tokyo, Tohsaka Mansion
Standing in the center of the Ereshkigal and Ishtar Temple, Hakuno was surrounded by several translucent windows. Probability calculations or graphs appeared on some while other windows showed the fight between Ishtar and Gilgamesh.
The King of Heroes was fighting now in close contact. He held a pair of single-edged sabers decorated with blue enamel inlays. The guard was protected by a foil guard lined with spikes.
[Guard]
On the largest window, Ishtar jumped back and swirled Didibat, her silver spear, creating a kind of luminous shield.
Gilgamesh's attacks bounced back against the obstacle, and the Mistress of Heaven counterattacked by hitting the Oldest King on the shoulder. There was a sound 'clang' and Gilgamesh staggered. He had barely received a scratch, his golden armor had protected him.
Gilgamesh receded and several pools of golden lights appeared around him. But Hakuno was already reacting.
[Attack.]
Hearing the telepathic order, the Goddess of Venus jumped forward, giving a great blow with her strangely ornate lance.
Struck in the chest, Gilgamesh tensed himself with pain as well as anger. The golden openings closed. Distracted, the Oldest Hero failed to summon the Noble Phantasms he wanted to use against Ishtar.
Hakuno hesitated briefly; she wasn't quite sure what the Golden King was going to try.
[... Attack] she ends up saying.
Ishtar leaped forward, spinning her spear. But Gilgamesh summoned a shield, blocking, before counterattacking with his two sabers. When she was hit in the shoulder and hip, Ishtar screamed in pain and recoiled.
The blood flowed and the goddess swore in a low voice.
[Hakuno, focus!]
[It's difficult!]
Predicting the attacks of the King of Heroes was not obvious. He used a very varied arsenal of weapons with equally varied effects.
Again in a good mood, Gilgamesh opened Gate of Babylon. The discs of golden light materialized around Ishtar, but also before and behind the Goddess of Venus.
[Skill!]
Ishtar threw four emeralds on the ground and translucent shields appeared around her. Each of them actually looked like a huge emerald.
Created by the magic of a goddess, the shields began by resisting the rain of Noble Phantasms coming out of the openings... except that Gilgamesh continued to attack, ruthlessly. A crack appeared on one shield, then on another. With each new impact, new cracks were created, gradually expanding.
[Skill.]
Rin threw a single diamond over Gilgamesh's head. The gem disintegrated in a small explosion, generating a shower of diamond dust that fell on the demigod. But every piece of diamond that touched the gold armor quickly enveloped the affected area with a thick layer of diamond... And in a few seconds, Gilgamesh was completely embedded in a huge diamond block!
Ishtar smiled, happy to have finally stopped her old enemy. But her contentment lasted only a short while...
Several gold discs appeared around the huge diamond. Noble Phantasms came out and violently struck the Golden King prison, causing it to shatter.
Gilgamesh removed the debris dissolving into blue prana with a kick and smiled mockingly.
"Your king praises you for your inventiveness, little girl... No doubt you could have stopped one of those pathetic braggarts who claim to be Heroes. But only I deserve that title and that kind of cheap trick can't stop Gilgamesh."
A luminous disc appeared. A black metal sword with an inlaid gold guard emerged. It was a weapon of very delicate work.
"Behold Durandal: the Peerless Sword."
He snapped his fingers and the sword began to vibrate in the golden disc before leaping... the next moment the weapon effortlessly passed through two of Ishtar's emerald shields. These shields disintegrated into glistening fragments before disappearing into a luminous haze. The goddess - who had just seen the sword pass a few centimeters from her face- swallowed, almost terrorized.
Hakuno was not far from sharing her friend's panic. On a secondary window, the Sovereign of the Moon took a quick look at Ishtar's life gauge and magical energy gauge. The two bars were slightly below half.
Gilgamesh took out a magnificent scythe from his treasure and rushed forward.
[Guard.]
Once again, the Goddess of Love and War made Didibat spin but... the blade of the scythe effortlessly crossed the shield of light and pierced the goddess's arm through and through
Hakuno, who had taken a quick look at the gauges that showed the condition of the Mistress of Heaven, jumped when she saw the blue bar dropping rapidly.
[Ishtar, get out! This scythe absorbs your Mana! ]
With a scream of pain, her arm in blood, Ishtar leaps back, escaping the vampiric scythe.
Gilgamesh smiled and changed his weapon. This time, he held in his hand a long rapier with a simple and elegant design. Immediately the temperature dropped in the corridor.
[Skill!]
While Gilgamesh projected a whirlwind as cold as the polar winds towards Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess responded by throwing several rubies that turned into a hurricane of fire.
London, Royal Arsenal
Having defused the magical trap that prevented anyone from entering or leaving the labyrinth, Alec Gascoigne used the teleportation circle to return to the surface. This circle was particularly powerful allowing even a Campione to be transported to the circle of arrival... At least if he kept his mouth open.
But seeing his HQ ravaged like an earthquake, the Nobleman of Godspeed would have opened his mouth wide anyway under the effect of stupefaction.
He had just rematerialized that the sound of an explosion made him lift his head. The instant after the ceiling collapsed on him.
Alex stood up, pushing back the beam that had fallen on him with a simple gesture of his hand. His bones and muscles were as hard as steel. He also had a physical strength far superior to that of an ordinary human.
Around him, pieces of board were still burning and broken bricks littered the ground, but he especially noticed the walls covered with frost. His breath condensed into a mist as he came out of his lips.
While whispering the spell formula The Warm Mantle of the Gods to protect himself from the effects of the cold, Black Prince Alec tried to understand what had just happened.
A huge circular hole above his head allowed seeing the sky.
Two very powerful spells or perhaps Divine Authorities had just opposed each other... hence the extensive damage.
Furious that his headquarters was ravaged by an enemy, he pressed on.
"Faceless Queen, find the demigod Gilgamesh - a man in golden armor- and attack as soon as you get the chance."
The subordinate goddess - who had traveled with him reduced to the size of an insect-, grew to human size before going through a wall in immaterial form.
300 meters below, the Labyrinth.
A white wheel of light crossed the ruined throne room. The strange projectile struck the ranks of the Occultists of the Royal Arsenal before returning to the hand of the one who had launched it. In one attack, all the Spell Casters had been knocked out...
Leaning for a moment on the pole of her banner, Jeanne d'Arc clenched her teeth. Her vision was blurred and she had to struggle to remain conscious.
Hearing a noise behind her, the young saint turned before putting down her weapon...
The Witch Queen of Brittany sat on the floor rubbing her head.
"Queen Guinevere... how... how do you feel?"
The Divine Ancestor started to smile. As she was, Jeanne d'Arc was still worried about others.
Ruler was wounded, her armor damaged, and her clothes reduced to burnt rags. In fact, she could only stand up thanks to an iron will.
Grimacing with pain, Guinevere stood up, wiping the blood on her face with her sleeve.
"What happened, where is King Alexander?"
"He went back to the surface. It looks like one of my allies attacked the Royal Arsenal."
With a wave of her hand, the Queen of Brittany brought in the Holy Grail, which had remained floating near the front door.
"I, Guinevere, will heal our wounds, then we could to the surface. But we must avoid any fighting, we are exhausted."
London, Royal Arsenal.
Gilgamesh was surprised when the ground collapsed under his feet. He fell to the first floor. Of course, he was not injured. A servant could only be wounded by magic (weapons or spells) or by another Servant. Nevertheless, his ungracious fall had annoyed him. If anyone had seen him, he would have been humiliated... and he would have immediately killed the unfortunate witness.
Fortunately, most members of the Royal Arsenal had already fled, unwilling to face him.
Where was Ishtar? And more importantly, in what condition?
Right now, that was all he cared about. Hearing a noise, he walked into the room filled with rubble and pieces of burning floors.
He smiled as Ishtar got up, her hair was covered in frost and she was shaking in cold... Obviously, his attack had not been completely blocked by the goddess' defense.
"Well, that's what happens when you walk around half-naked, mongrel. You catch a cold."
The Mistress of Heaven turned to Gilgamesh and her gaze was frightening, burning with fury. Nevertheless, she could no longer fly and was forced to lean against a wall in order not to collapse. Mobilizing her last forces, Ishtar attacked.
Golden projectiles came out of her index finger. But a medieval shield came from a golden opening and blocked all the Gandrs without effort.
"One last word? For posterity? No? Too bad."
A sword appeared in the hand of the Golden King. It was Gram, the Sword of the Sun, a weapon that was the prototype of Caliburn.
"Farewell Ishtar, looking forward to never seeing you again."
But just as he was about to hit Ishtar, he felt a presence. Quickly turning around, Gilgamesh blocked an attack with his sword.
A woman holding a spear had just appeared, her long hair completely masked her face.
His divine wisdom, inherited from his mother, had enabled Gilgamesh to recognize Ereshkigal and Ishtar under a different appearance. And he also perceived a weaker divine aura emanating from this creature.
As the Faceless Queen retreated, making several ice stalactites appear with a hand gesture, the King of Heroes used Gate of Babylon. Golden tears appeared in the air. Several dozen magic wands emerged, prototypes of those used by the greatest magicians in history. Blocking all attacks while retaliating with a fireball, lightning bolt, and rays of energy, Gilgamesh countered the Faceless Queen. She disappeared, blending into the shadows.
Nevertheless, the subordinate goddess resurfaces moments later, attacking Gilgamesh on the back.
Several shields materialized stopping the goddess's spear.
The Oldest King had a scornful smile.
"If that's all you know how to do, mongrel? Digs a hole underground to curl up in shame. I'm the one and only king. And someone as weak as you can't hope challenges me."
Several golden openings appeared and objects in the shape of a sphere emerged. Each one was made of metal and decorated with a kind of ruby eye.
When the Faceless Queen came out of a wall, several spheres turned towards her and fired rays of light in the subordinate goddess's direction. Although she was touched several times, she did not appear to be inconvenienced. However, the goddess became immaterial and crossed a wall, probably judging that her opponent had the advantage.
"Well, mongrel, you don't want to play with me anymore? I'm disappointed, I was hoping for a little more opposition. Anyway, I think I'm going to raze this building... so you won't have a place to hide."
About to summon another Noble Phantasm, Gilgamesh stopped. An expression of annoyance appeared on his face.
"Tsss... Ereshkigal!"
Moments earlier, in the Royal Brass Foundry.
Black Prince Alec had heard battle noises and was rushing in this direction. However, the whisper of a conversation made him hesitate. Not everyone had abandoned the headquarters, and the survivors may have needed help. After a brief hesitation, Alec changed direction. Despite his other faults, the Devil King was loyal to his men.
At the foot of the stairs, he discovered a strange scene. Ereshkigal was bound to the wall by gold chains. A man sought- in vain- to remove the bonds of the goddess. The Nobleman of Godspeed took a moment to recognize Sir Iceman, the knight was wounded in the face and his clothes were torn. Hearing footsteps, he turned to Alec and recognized him with relief.
"My king, can you help me free the esteemed goddess Ereshkigal?"
"Sir Iceman, give me your report. What's going on here?"
Without ceasing to shake the chains, the knight recounted what he had seen.
"... we must help the goddess Ishtar, she confronts alone Gilgamesh," he concludes.
"I sent the Faceless Queen to fight the demigod."
Alexander Gascoigne turned to Ereshkigal and sighed, he didn't really want to use it now... but he had no choice. He took a vial out of an inner pocket and showed it to the Queen of the Netherworld.
"Esteemed goddess Ereshkigal, this is a teleportation potion. The principle is simple. Once you drink it, you focus on one place. For example here..." the Godslayer pointed to a place close to the wall. "And you will disappear to rematerialize there. Do you understand?"
Ereshkigal nodded, and her chains clicked.
"You've made your point, King Alexander. I get it."
"Let's get started."
Opening the little vial, Alec approached it from Ere's lips and poured the liquid into her mouth.
An instant later, the silhouette of Ereshkigal turns blue and then becomes translucent before evaporating into luminous particles. The Enkidu chain fell to the ground in a melodious rattle.
At the other end of the room, blue particles gathered, reconstructing the silhouette of the Queen of the Netherworld.
Once again material, the goddess bowed briefly before Alec.
"I hope I can pay my respects to you, Devil King Alexander, but I have to leave you. My sister is in danger."
Ere disappeared so quickly that she left behind an afterimage and lifted up a cloud of dust. Alec shook his head, he wanted to say something, but Sir Iceman went ahead of him, and he showed the gold chain.
"Look, my king!"
Enkidu was disappearing, turning into particles of golden prana, returning to the interior of Gate of Babylon.
"The demigod Gilgamesh must have realized that Ereshkigal had escaped." Alec reflected and nodded. "Sir Iceman, we need weapons capable of killing a god... and a plan."
The window broke into a thousand pieces. Using his Flying Ring, Gilgamesh went outside the foundry, dodging the gigantic hand that was trying to catch him. An instant later, the wall and roof of the building collapsed, letting out the Faceless Queen.
The Subordinate Goddess grew again, returning to her normal size... and she was huge, even titanic.
Little impressed the King of Heroes rose again and then summoned the Vinama. Sitting on his flying throne, he held a hand to his cheek, contemplating the scene below, and snapped his fingers. Golden tears appeared. Three very ornate swords and an equally sumptuous lance emerged. Each of these Nobles Phantasms was able to cut a mountain, the perfect weapon against a large enemy.
The attack violently struck the Faceless Queen and the goddess screamed in pain. Faltering, the giant struck the foundry, destroying another part of the wall and roof. Nevertheless, she straightened out almost immediately.
Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow slightly.
"The king is a little surprised. You're not as pathetic as I thought. Maybe you'll entertain me, after all..."
The Faceless queen turned to her foe and a whirlwind of water and wind was born in her hands, chasing after the Vinama. The agile flying chariot of the Indian gods dodged the attack that destroyed a building on the edge of the square.
The golden openings of Gate of Babylon surrounded the returning tornado and... This time no weapon came out of the tears, but a flow of liquid. The latter had the property of freezing liquids. The tornado integrally freezes, suddenly turning into a strange monument.
Gigamesh stood up, a gold bow had just appeared in his hands.
He made the gesture of stretching the rope and an arrow of light appeared. One eye closed, the Sumerian demigod aimed at the giant goddess... But instead of shooting immediately, he straightened himself, sending the arrow to heaven.
What happened then terrorized the people of London. The sky seemed to break... just like shattering glass and fragmented. The reality that appeared on the other side was frightening... green light lines formed a kind of maze-like circuit board. The rest was just a fluctuating void of almost black-blue.
And a pillar of fire fell from the fractured sky, hitting the Faceless Queen.
The goddess was reduced to ashes almost instantly and disappeared screaming in pain. At the place where she stood, there remained only a deep smoking crater.
Seeing Ereshkigal come out of the ruins, supporting her sister who walked in pain, the Golden King had a cruel smile.
"Ah, I was going to forget, I still have a task to do."
Several circular glowing openings appeared around the Vinama.
Ereshkigal flinched as swords the size of an adult man hit the ground in front of her. The goddess did not even have to turn to understand that other weapons on the scale of the titans formed a cage all around her.
Ishtar raised her head painfully, looking at the Vinama hovering above the square.
Police and firemen sirens resounded.
Gilgamesh's voice - amplified - was heard.
"The king does not consider you an enemy, Lady Ereshkigal. Nevertheless, the king does not tolerate any opposition. Either you leave now or you share the fate of Ishtar. Decide quickly, the king is not renowned for his patience."
The Queen of the Underworld swallowed her saliva with difficulty. She was clumsy in her gestures, as in her words, and very shy. Yet the goddess knew she could not save her sister by fighting. She had to convince Gilgamesh.
"King of Uruk, please listen to me for a moment. I implore you to spare my sister."
On his throne, Gilgamesh frowned.
"I didn't think you liked each other."
"This is the past, King of Uruk. The sister I hated has changed. She has become able to love, and willing to help. We come from a parallel world, and we have lived for thousands of years. I am not the Ereshkigal you knew and Ishtar is not the one you hate. A lot has happened to us. To fight the demon who threatened to destroy our world, all Heroes have gathered. The Gilgamesh of our world and Enkidu were our comrades... and Enkidu forgave Ishtar and the Gilgamesh of our world forgave Ishtar... even though he still considers her a useless goddess."
A hint of red appeared on the cheeks of the Mistress of heaven. She trembled, recalling that Caster Gilgamesh had forced her to stay at the entrance of his ziggurat carrying a clay tablet on which it was written ' useless goddess' after Ishtar admitted she couldn't call the Bull of Heaven.
"King Gilgamesh, after I got here, I won things I never had. Free from my prison in Kur, I finally had family and friends. I am ready to die to defend my sister, Hakuno, or even Shirou.
"Hakuno Kishinami?"
Gilgamesh's voice was no longer mocking and annoyed. He seemed really interested in her answer. Surprised by this reaction, Ere remained a brief moment without knowing what to answer, then she nodded.
"Yes, Hakuno Kishinami. Do you know her?"
"Somehow." As though regretfully, Gilgamesh sighed.
The Golden King did not add a word, but the swords emerging from the ground disappeared, evaporating into golden prana, freeing the two goddesses.
The attention of the Oldest King had turned to a teenage girl and a child advancing on the square, followed by a huge golden chalice floating a few centimeters from the ground.
Ah yes, the king had almost forgotten why he came here.
"No!"
Black Prince Alec stood at the entrance of his vault; the steel door lay on the ground, torn from its hinges. The Campione looked around him unable to accept what he saw. The arms racks were empty. The chests that contained the most precious magical objects had been forced open and laid on the ground, completely empty.
For more than twenty years, he had accumulated the rarest and most precious magical objects but... they had all disappeared.
There was only one object left in the vault, a kind of sphere floating above the ground, an object that Alec had never seen.
The top of the sphere opened like a flower blossoming and a cone of light emerged. A 3D image was created... that of a man with an arrogant face and wearing magnificent golden armor: Gilgamesh.
"Oh, here comes the famous 'King' Alexander" did he laugh. "I heard you played with Jeanne d'Arc... and the king doesn't appreciate you taking liberties with what belongs to him. She is only a jester. But she is the king's jester. I would not stoop to take revenge on someone so inferior to me. But if you attack the king's property again, I will not hesitate to make you feel the weight of my anger."
Initially silent in amazement, Alec Gascoigne clenched his fists.
"What have you done with the magic objects that were in the vault?"
Gilgamesh's eyes narrowed, he did not appreciate the tone Alec used. Yet he replied.
"I took them back."
"Taken back? They're not yours!"
Since Alexander Gascoigne had stolen most of the magic items that were in his vault, his reply was pretty ironic.
However, Gilgamesh was not laughing.
"All the treasures of the world are mine, mongrel."
Finding that he had spent enough time talking to someone who dared to claim to be king in his presence, the Oldest Hero recalled the sphere of communication in his treasure... which had just been enriched by the entire collection of Black Prince Alec.
It was a profitable day...The king almost had fun.
Author's note: I really like this saying: "we will be punished by where we have sinned". I, therefore, applied it to 'poor' Alec.
Not only did the Grail once again escape him, but his HQ was destroyed and he lost his entire collection of magical objects.