Chapter 201
"So it's time for the Grail's schemes to be carried out then?"
Lounging on the velvet upholstery sofa, the King of Heroes spoke with Kirei as he lifted a glass of his personal wine to his lips, taking in its taste with a refined sip.
"Yes my lord. Angra Mainyu is currently executing their plans and is confronting the Clock Tower magi even as we speak. However, they have promised to leave Saber alone."
"Hmph. My bride-to-be is not so weak that she would be defeated by the likes of them."
Tilting his head, he drained the cup dry, the last of the divine ichor disappearing down his throat.
"Still, I suppose it would be entertaining to see her corrupted by the mud. She would surely survive, and it would be much easier to have her by my side without the need for a Master to sustain her."
Standing up, he retrieved his favorite leather jacket from his vault.
"Its time for her to know her place, which is by my side. She will submit to me, willingly or not."
He was about to head out before he stopped next to Kirei
"If the others prove worthy, then perhaps they could serve as my concubines. Tell Angra that those under me are not to be trifled with."
With that, he left the church. Behind, the priest smiled as he stood in the doorway, an inscrutable gleam in his eyes.
His ride stood parked on the road outside the church, a modern stallion that represented the very apex of speed. With a skeleton of aluminum, a skin of carbon fiber reinforced plastic and shining, golden stainless steel exhaust that proudly stood at attention at the rear. He'd only recently purchased a few months ago, but it was now firmly one of his favorite toys to date.
Sliding smoothly into the leather saddle of his ZX-12R Kawasaki Ninja, his hands gripped the ridged rubber handles. The keys were already in, and all he had to do was start up the engine.
His smile just grew a little bit wider as he felt it purr beneath him, the engine crooning like a hot-blooded lover awaiting a night of passion. His right hand twisted the the throttle once, twice and thrice, revving her up until her cries of ecstasy washed across the entire neighborhood.
"Good hunting, Your Majesty."
Without further ado, he took off in search of his prey.
His steed roared, tearing across the streets at such a rapid pace that the leaves and branches trembled violently in his wake. If the engine was a lover's cry before, now it was a full on metal band in full swing at the Wacken Open. From it's previous gentleness, if it could be called that, it had turned into a vicious slavering beast strapped to a jet engine. Cars, trucks, bikes, people, animals and everything outside heard him coming from miles away, with some cars actually instinctively braking before he was even in sight just from the sheer shock of the sound.
That wasn't all though.
When he'd ordered the bike, he'd had it customized in Fuyuki, coincidentally at the same shop that Shirou worked at for Taiga's grandfather. Whether Shirou had worked on the bike or not, Gilgamesh would never know, but the fact was that they had faithfully followed his requests to the letter, and managed to delivered a product that met his expectations. Among the many customizations that they'd added, one stood out from the rest.
Normally, wings or fins were added to fast motorbikes to keep them stable and stuck to the ground, so their sheer speed didn't risk them suddenly taking off in the air, as the front wheel tended to lift due to the center of gravity's position interacting with gravity and the bike's own acceleration. As such, the fins were all angled downwards. However, he specified for the wings to angle upwards.
The result was a shrieking eagle of gold hurtling through the air, completely ignoring the concrete barriers and traffic cones as it crossed from one road to the next. Sirens wailed behind him as the Fuyuki police deployed in full force for one rider, but they would never catch him. He knew this, for they'd done the same rodeo almost every night for the past few months ever since he'd bought the bike. His stunts were more than worthy of appearing in a Fast & Furious movie, each jump reaching absurd heights by clearing entire buildings or rows of houses with one leap, with a little assistance from his other treasures.
In the months that followed, the legend of 'Flying Gold' would spread on the streets in Fuyuki, a godly biker who repeatedly bested Fuyuki's best and brightest over and over. He would be heralded as a demon who terrorized the streets, brazenly crossing the roads left, right sideways with and against the flow of traffic with no care for the rules or limits. In fact, there was an influx of bikers into Fuyuki during his time driving on the asphalt of the city, and there were more than a few that attempted to chase down his elusive headlights when they heard the roar of his steed. In the end, none even came close to him as they were all left eating dust in his wake, but his feats would be immortalized as one of the city's urban legends.
The sun hadn't even set when he arrived on the outskirts of the Einzbern grounds, his motorcycle sending birds flocking to quieter regions of the forest. Leaving it parked on the side of the road, he ventured in without a care.
With his magic resistance, it was a piece of cake to pierce the magical defenses of the forest that befuddled the mind and led people astray. In no time at all, he was already at the mansion gates after issuing his decrees to the occupants of the mansion.
Standing in front of the gaping ruins he had torn through the mansion entrance hall, a squad of homunculus guards stood with halberds, spears and shields. Each one of them was a formidable fighter, blessed with extraordinary strength, reflexes and agility that exceeded the limits of mankind, such that the towering weapons they held which dwarfed them in height could still be wielded as easily as a toothpick.
Against them, he only manifest a single portal, with a steady stream of weapons fired at a machinegun's pace that easily obliterated the shield of a female homunculus and turning her into shredded meat paste. The rest of the homunculi fanned out, splitting up to avoid getting annihilated in one go, but the portal easily tracked them as it swiveled with their movements, matching their speed and mowing them down one by one. Sacrificing themselves, several of the homunculi shielded their comrades, allowing four to get close to him. In a heartbeat, he was surrounded, each one of them attacking from four different directions as they lunged towards him simultaneously.
The portal above him stopped spitting out weapons, instead allowing a dull crimson spear point to poke through, pointed barbs jutting out at random intervals. Just as their blades were about to reach him, they stopped cold mid-air, the closest halberd barely a heads length away from his face.
"A commendable effort for such inferior creations."
They fell to the ground with a thud, barely recognizable as homunculi as the barbed branches retracted from their bodies, rivulets of blood watering the ground as they flowed down the thorny limbs of the spear that extended in branching paths. Without giving them another glance, he walked past their lifeless bodies, entering the mansion proper.
He was immediately bombarded with arrows, each one of them fired from a Mystic Code in the shape of a bow with provided a wind enchantment to the arrows. The magically reinforced metal tips were fully capable of punching through tank armor, and a volley of these would completely mangle a tank into a pile of scrap metal.
Sighing, he gazed at the homunculi firing down at him behind his shields, each more than capable of surviving a missile head on multiple times.
"It seems that you mongrels still don't understand what it means to defy me. Very well, feast your eyes as I show you a sliver of a kings true worth."
Above him, three portals opened up, each bearing a stave of intricate design, carved with letters from a language long-lost to mankind. The portals spread out equidistant to each other in a triangle, with Gilgamesh below as the center. At his command, the staves letters glowed with magical energy, charging up to unleash a barrage of elements that engulfed his surroundings in a storm of fire, ice and lightning. Each blast was equivalent to one of Rin's high-end gems stocked with a years worth of energy, and it was sustained for twenty seconds, freezing then charring the ground in a cycle of destruction.
When he was finished, the walls had all crumbled, with only the two spiraling stairs leading into the depths of the mansion still remaining. A lone pillar stood in the west, while the charbroiled remains of a homunculi lay next to it, scattered fragments of her bow lying around her. Here and there, an arm or a leg poked out of the rubble. Residual ice fell from the sky, with patches of fire quickly snuffed out by the icy wind.
The shields that protected him returned to his treasury, allowing him to walk freely through the wasteland he'd just created. He hadn't taken two steps before his feet sank into the ground, the seemingly solid marble taking the consistency of liquid concrete.
"Y-"
Whatever he said was cut off as an enormous explosion tore through what remained of the entrance hall, an expanding cloud of snow, dust and ice obscuring the front half of the mansion. The wave of air from the blast smashed into the tree line, generating a rippling wave through the trees that sent countless leaves flying into the air. When everything cleared, all that remained was a crater. Even calling it a wasteland was too generous. And at the very center of the crater, there was a golden dot.
I was forced to use my armor. Hmph, these mongrels are not completely worthless.
Standing up, the armor faded from his body, revealing his clothes whole and untouched, the barest hint of dust settling on his mussed up bangs were the only sign that he had just survived a magical explosion. Taking out a comb, he pulled out a floating mirror and brushed his hair back in place, carefully examining his appearance until he was satisfied enough to stow away the mirror and comb.
No one showed up at all while he was grooming his appearance, and he was quickly running out of patience for their antics. Furrowing his eyebrows, he glared at the rest of the mansion, projecting his voice for them to hear.
"If you still wish for a merciful ending by the king, then show yourselves now! My patience for this farce is fading, and I do not care for the disobedience of my subjects."
His voice was clear but sharp, cutting through the air just as easily as the explosion had, but no one responded. All the curtains remained drawn, and not a single living thing stirred in the wake of his words.
Folding his arms, he glared at the mansion, before a thought struck him. Could it be, that there was simply no one left to hear his summons?
Eyes widening, he quickly ran through the mansion, practically ignoring the multitude of traps he triggered with a plethora of defensive equipment that just about blocked everything. His steps echoed in the empty marble hallways, each open door revealing an empty room devoid of life. Grinding his teeth, he reached into a portal and pulled out the prototype of Hrunting, a hunting blade split into three sections with four holes lining the center all the way down to the hilt. The blade hummed as he filled it with energy, and when he let it go it hung in the air for a second, and then it darted across the halls to smash through the window, zipping out into the forest.
"Like a cowardly dog, running with their tail between their legs."
Smirking, he leapt through the window and followed the scarlet trail of the blade, each step forward taking him closer to what would be the crowning jewel of his vast wealth, the radiant King of Knights.
"Do you think he's still alive?"
"I am sure of it. He was a formidable foe during the Fourth Holy Grail War, and nothing short of my Noble Phantasm would be able to do him harm."
The two Servants bounded through the woods, escaping through the forest on foot. With their speed, it was child's play to exit the forest before Gilgamesh even realized they were gone. The secret exit from the mansion also simplified things considerably, giving them a direct path to the outside. As they ran, Saber gave a quick glance backwards, thinking back to her time with the self-proclaimed King of Kings.
He may have been haughty and arrogant beyond measure, but his ability was more than enough to back it up. In the last war, if it wasn't for that man ordering her to destroy the Grail, she would have been utterly humiliated by him and taken as his consort.
Once she had told the others about Archer and his true identity, Caster proposed escaping and splitting up, with herself hiding within the mansion with Shirou due to his condition. Illya and Souichirou were accompanied by the maids and escaped in another direction, while Berserker and Saber went in another. The rest of the homunculi staff were ordered to hide, while the specialized combat models dedicated themselves to slowing down Gilgamesh as much as they could. The trail of carnage left behind wasn't pretty to look at, their bodies paying the price of blood and flesh in exchange for time.
On Leysritt's shoulders, Illya felt something hum in her coat pockets. Reaching in, she pulled out the phone with her gloved hand and answered the call.
"Tohsaka-san?"
"YOU HAVE TO-szzzrchrt-BOOM"
"Tohsaka!"
"-ROGUE SERVANTS IN CITY! WE'RE-crkkkkk-KABOOm"
Illya winced as the speaker peaked on her end, but she refused to let go of the phone.
"Tohsaka-san where are you!?"
No reply came through for a few moments as constant explosions, static and sounds of collision filtered through the speaker, before finally someone replied to her.
"Hi it's Flat! We're getting attacked several Servants and a priest, so we'd really appreciate you guys coming to help!"
A muffled shout came through in the background, but the only thing she could make out was Flat's name.
"Oh yeah, and we need to suppress them as soon as possible cuz of the secrecy of magecraft and everything. So yeah, I'm going to give you guys a signal now and you guys come soon ok?"
With that, he ended the call without hearing her reply.
"The Clock Tower magi are dealing with rogue Servants in the town, it's imperative we go and assist them to conceal Mystery!"
"Understood mistress."
Concentrating on her link with Berserker, she relayed what she'd been told to her Servant.
'What type of signal should we expect Illya?'
That gave Illya a pause. He hadn't specified what to look out for at all.
Then in the distant sky, she saw a flare shoot up towards the heavens, piercing the clouds from below and into the stratosphere. As she watched, it exploded into a burst of green and purple sparks, an audible pop arriving at her location a few seconds later.
'I guess that's the signal.'
Saber and Berserker changed directions, heading straight for the conflict zone within the city. As for Illya and the rest, they reached their vehicle at the forest edge on the opposite side of where Saber and Berserker had exited. Sella took the wheel while Souichirou rode shotgun, the teacher unfazed by the turn of events as he adjusted the Mystic Codes strapped to his forearms.
"Kuzuki-san, if you're caught up in any fighting then please use these Mystic Codes. If you find yourself against a Servant though, retreat and escape with Illya."
Anyone watching would find it hilarious, watching Caster, a young girl who was a whole head shorter than him, lecture him on what to do and not to do like his mother, but the serious glint in her eyes was nothing to laugh at. Mystic Codes flowed freely through her hands as she gave him every bit of protection possible, and when she was done he had become a walking armory of daggers and swords that both provided enchantments and could also be directly used as weapons.
"Caster-san, our time together may have been short, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. I hope wasn't too much of an inconvenience to you as a 'Master'."
Caster almost gawked at him, but then shook her head as if getting rid of her surprise.
"What are you saying? Of course you weren't an inconvenience at all, far from it! In fact, I'd say you were the Master I needed."
They both thought back to that day, when Gilgamesh had slain Atrum, and then he had found her soaked in the rain on the steps of the temple.
"I will make sure to tend to the grave of your former Master after you're gone."
"Awww thanks, but I might still be around after all this is done, y'know?"
He stared at her, and she couldn't help but lower her face.
"Well, maybe not. But, the time I had here was already more than I could have asked for."
She smiled at him.
"For the second time, I experienced what it was like to have people care about you."
Turning around so he couldn't see her face, she looked up at the ceiling.
"For what its worth, I swear I won't forget about you, Atrium, Shirou any everyone else that I met here."
Turning around, she smiled at her Master.
"So don't go forgetting about me, okay?"
"Of course, I would never forget about you."
Caster pouted.
"Jeez, you can't just drop lines like with such an expressionles-?!"
Pulling her into a hug, Kuzuki wrapped his arms around Caster's back. It was a little awkward considering the height difference, and he was forced to bend a little to accommodate her, but his stiffness only made it all the more charming to her.
Surprised at first, Caster's arms limp at her side finally came up and reciprocated the gesture. Her much shorter arms circled around his lower back, squeezing tightly. After a while, they let go of each other.
"Hugging a girl out of nowhere is a no-no at school ok? Don't try that stunt again with your students!"
Leaning in, she pointed at him with her index finger poking his nose.
"I merely felt it would be appropriate for the situation."
He replied in his deadpan voice.
"Hmph, I guess you can read the room sometimes. Well then, let's go!"
Pumping her fists, she left the room as Kuzuki followed from behind. As he walked, a stray thought entered his mind.
I wonder, is this what it feels like to have a daughter?
These memories and more swirled in his mind as they rode in the car, trundling along the mountain roads towards the city.
At the same time, deep in the mansions bowels, Caster maintained several Bounded Field with intense concentration, each one preventing her and Shirou's presence from leaking out to any outsider observers, while another Bounded Field arrested the constant movement of Shirou's mana via several blades inserted in his body, calming his unstable Circuits. He had yet to wake, but Caster was confident that he would be fine, since his breathing had evened out by now. The physical mutations remained but they didn't seem to be too serious. He could live with some tanned skin and bleached hair. In fact, she was sure there some girls who would like the wilder look that he now sported.
A soft tinkling alerted her to the fact that somebody was closing in on the room they were hiding in. Tensing up, she turned to face the doorway, which she hadn't dared to trap for fear of harming Shirou while he slept. There were other traps outside though which should have triggered if the intruder had tried to come down into their little hideaway. How had they avoided all of those?
Deactivating the Bounded Fields that were concealing them, she raised her staff and prepared for battle, her Noble Phantasm at the ready to protect Shirou if needed.
"Wait, I come in peace!"
Instead of opening the door, the unknown person announced themselves first.
"Who are you?"
Her mind raced. Had the Clock Tower magi sent someone here, or were they lying? If it was Gilgamesh, he'd obviously just blast the door open, so it wasn't him right?
"I'm…an ally."
"Are you a Servant or a Master?"
"I supposed you could call me a Servant."
"Which class?"
"..."
Without answering her, the door slowly creaked open. Caster bent her knees and summoned her blades, each one of them pointed at the entrance, but when she saw the person's face her will to fight faltered.
"You-!"