Fate: Hammer Time

by TedTheRabbit

Shirou Emiya wanted to become a hero. That was clear to all who truly know him. For a long time though, he lacked the power to actually achieve that goal. No longer. No longer will he lack the power, now that the Hammer of the Odinson has chosen him as new wielder. Prepare for Thunder. ShirouxMultiple, Thor-Shirou.

48. Divine Confrontation

Divine Confrontation

---

"At last I have found you, godling."

Gilgamesh's words echoed through the empty church, as final as an executioner's bell.

Shirou's heart raced in panic, his hands twitching madly while the muscles in his core tensed, unreasonable terror taking hold of him.

But only for a moment. Within seconds, Shirou had calmed himself down again, at least sufficiently to not grab the girls and make a break for it, and to not attack with everything he had right that instant.

Because both fight and flight were obviously futile.

Fighting was futile because Gilgamesh was far, far above him in everything that mattered in combat. That was clear as day now that Shirou took a proper look at him. Trying to attack would undoubtedly invite the kind of retaliation that would turn the redhead into a scattered pile of ash.

Fleeing would not help either, because one, Gilgamesh was likely faster than him, or at the very least, his weapons were, and two, the king had apparently been looking for him for a while and would not let him escape easily. Even if he managed to get away, the golden tyrant would likely just hunt him down again.

With those two options rendered impossible, Shirou was forced to explore other avenues of survival, and he used his Reinforced brain to hastily take stock of the situation at large.

The reason for Gilgamesh's interest in him was not hard to infer. His use of the word 'godling' strongly indicated that Gilgamesh had an idea of what was happening to Shirou, and the former Servant was undoubtedly curious about the precise circumstances that surrounded Shirou's slow ascent to godhood, something that had, to the best of Shirou's knowledge, never happened before.

It was the kind of thing that would have made everyone curious, from Gilgamesh to King Arturia to the Dead Apostle Ancestors.

The fact that it was understandable didn't mean however that Shirou liked it. In fact, his first reaction to learning that Gilgamesh knew about his true nature was a pressing need to deny everything.

That impulse passed pretty quickly though. Lying was impossible, as Gilgamesh would see right through him, which meant that the only thing left to try was damage-control, trying to reduce the fall-out of Gilgamesh's discovery as much as possible.

That would not be easy though. The king's curiosity would likely not be sated with only a few pieces of information. He was more than intelligent enough to trick or otherwise cajole Shirou into saying more than he wanted to.

At the same time, the golden king's curiosity also provided opportunities. Shirou himself was curious about why and how the king was still in existence after the Grail War had ended, and why he was hanging around in Fuyuki of all places, so an exchange of information could potentially be profitable for them both.

The presence of his girls was still a problem however. Gilgamesh, or at least the version Shirou had heard about, was an unrepentant rapist, and the fact he hadn't touched a single woman since being summoned –because all modern women were 'beneath him' or something pretentious like that– didn't take away from that fact.

Perhaps he could demand that the girls would be allowed to leave before they spoke with each other? Would Gilgamesh go along with something like that?

It was worth a try.

"I-" Shirou began to try and negotiate-

"You were my father's Servant!"

-But barely got the first syllable out of his mouth before Rin spoke up first, her eyes blazing as she glared at the Servant, who, Shirou now remembered, had been contracted to her father during the Fourth War, and had subsequently failed to protect him.

Rin had come to the church with the intention of confronting Kotomine, and Shirou realised, too late, that with the priest gone, her anger needed another outlet, and that Gilgamesh would serve perfectly well as that outlet, being at least as guilty as the priest in her eyes.

Couple that with Rin's utter disregard for authority and power disparities, and he really should have seen this coming. It was too late to keep her quiet though, as Gilgamesh took an interest.

"If you refer to that bore, Tokiomi, then yes, I allowed him to take on the mantle of my Master during the Fourth War." Gilgamesh confirmed, his victorious smile at having found Shirou turning into a lazy smirk as his terrible gaze shifted to Rin. "I am afraid however he was a disappointment, unable to even slightly impress me."

"Isn't that something you say about all modern humans?!" Ayako spat, coming to stand a bit closer to Rin, as if to protect her.

"Yes." Gilgamesh admitted without batting an eye, making Ayako deadpan at him. "But even among modern humans, Tokiomi was almost astounding in his banality."

"Banal?! He was a Magus!" Rin protested loudly, sounding insulted at the notion that her father could be banal in any way. "And a lord besides. Our family is old and respected, the opposite of boring!"

"All the advantages a servant of mine would need, yet he still managed to bore and insult me at the same time." Gilgamesh was clearly not impressed by Rin's vehemence, crossing his arms as his lazy smirk turned a tad condescending. "If he'd had half of your spirit or a quarter of your sister's mannerisms, he might have been entertaining enough for me to indulge him a bit longer, but instead, he squandered all his potential on his precious, worthless 'elegance'. He was nothing but tiresome. His death was no great loss to the world, or any loss at all."

Rin was becoming red in the face at all the insults levelled against her late father, and Shirou decided it was wise to cut in before the girl said something she might regret.

"Even if Tohsaka Tokiomi was boring, did you not swear to obey him during the Grail War?" He spoke, making his tone sufficiently challenging to attract the king's attention "Or failing that, to be his partner at least?"

"I did no such thing." Gilgamesh brushed his words aside like they were nothing. "When he summoned me, he addressed me in a manner befitting of my station, so I responded as would a king to his subject. That does not mean I considered him an equal, a useful servant, or even someone worth keeping around."

"That people bore you does not mean they deserve to die." Sakura protested, her face conflicted. She still held no love for her father, but even so, the tyrant's words were too much for the gentle girl to accept. "They have rights, even if they are Magi."

"That goes without saying." Surprisingly, Gilgamesh agreed with her. "Killing people because they are boring is a sign of impotence, a sign that a ruler is unfit. I would never do something so base."

"But then-?"

"However," the Golden King went on, his voice becoming ever so slightly sterner, which was enough to make Sakura freeze on the spot. "Them being boring is good enough a reason not to save them."

"Not save them?" Rin ground her teeth together, instantly connecting the dots. "Then tell me, Archer, what exactly did you not save my father from?"

"Kirei of course." Gilgamesh said, as if it was obvious, and it kind of was, if one took all the context clues into account.

"Kirei." Rin repeated in a tone filled with cold fury, her jaw clenching so tightly she might break it. "The fake priest killed my father?!"

"Yes." Gilgamesh confirmed, studying Rin like one might study a child telling a clumsy joke, with fond amusement. "The priest indeed killed his teacher, your father."

"And you let him?!" Sakura asked when it became clear Rin was too agitated to speak, looking incredulous herself. "Was it not your job to protect him?! W-Where were you?!"

"I was watching." Gilgamesh smiled, as if thinking back on fond memories. "With me in the room, Tokiomi was unprepared for Kirei's assault, and Kirei capitalised on that, using the dagger Tokiomi had just gifted him to stab him to death."

"In the back." Rin hissed between clenched teeth, her eyes almost spitting fire.

"In the back." Gilgamesh confirmed, sparing her a short glance. "Exactly as he and I had plotted beforehand."

"Why?" Sakura asked again, looking even more conflicted than before. "Why did you let that happen?"

"I already answered that question. Don't tell me you have already forgotten the reasons I gave." Gilgamesh huffed, his expression suggesting he didn't think much of the plum-haired girl's mental capacities.

"Because lord Tohsaka was boring." Sakura let out a breath, realising just how callous the golden figure truly was, before narrowing her eyes in confusion. "But why did Kotomine do it? And why did you accept him as your Master?"

"What motivates Kotomine is not for me to tell you." Gilgamesh smirked slightly, before shrugging. "As for what motivated me to accept him as my new Contractor, it was his drive and inner struggle, or perhaps his capability to amuse me, something Tokiomi never even attempted."

"It was not my father's duty to amuse you!" Rin bit out, looking highly insulted by the notion. "It was a Grail War! You were both supposed to fight!"

"When your father summoned me and received me with the words of a dutiful retainer, it became his duty to amuse me." Gilgamesh easily countered her words. "Everything in this world exists for my pleasure anyway."

It was honestly astounding to Shirou that someone could say something like that with such a straight face. He would have cringed in embarrassment if he'd said that the world existed to serve him, yet Gilgamesh truly seemed to believe it.

He truly was the very concept of tyranny in the flesh.

"But that is not-" Rin began to protest, but it seemed Gilgamesh was done talking about the subject.

"Enough!" He demanded, and before his immense authority, they could do nothing but fall silent. "I tire of your continued inquiries. I have answered, you know what occurred, and your pathetic denials mean nothing to me. Your ears have not deceived you merely because you do not like what you heard."

Rin and Sakura still looked as if they wanted to continue to grill him, his reprimand having cowed neither of them, but Shirou didn't think it was smart to continue challenging Gilgamesh like that.

For the moment, he had let them get away with questioning him, most likely because he was in a talkative mood to begin with, but it was obvious that the king did not like repeating himself in any way.

As such, he stepped up first, asking a question that had been on his mind since the beginning of the conversation.

"Where is Kotomine?"

"Gone." Gilgamesh's answer was as simple as it was unhelpful. "I became aware of your impending arrival several days ago, and I told my most talented playwright that his church was no longer safe. As befitting of a senior retainer of mine, he had already prepared for such an event, and has long since departed."

"I assume you are not going to tell us where he went?" Shirou tried.

"You assume correctly." Gilgamesh nodded with an approving smile. "Just like the four of you, Kirei still has a role to play in the upcoming theatre. I cannot let you kill him, as you are no doubt planning once you find him."

"…No, you've got it all wrong. I don't want to kill him. I just want to talk with him." Rin suddenly put on her most innocent and pleasing smile, putting her hands together under her chin while leaning forward slightly, applying all of her idol-power to appear like a gentle girl who merely wanted to speak with her guardian. "Could you please tell us where he is, oh wise king?"

"Bwahahahahaha!" Gilgamesh burst out in laughter in response. It was not mocking or scathing but rather amused and maybe even a bit approving. "Wonderful! Simply wonderful! Had you summoned me instead of that bore, we may have finished the Grail War together!"

Rin maintained her idol-posture despite the insult to her father, not even twitching as she kept smiling innocently, and honestly, if Shirou hadn't known her as well as he did, he might have believed that smile to be genuine.

"But I will not tell you where he is." Gilgamesh covered one eye with his right hand, peering at Rin with the other, his own smile wide and knowing. "Your bloodlust is clear even with that innocent expression."

"Tsk." Rin made a sound of displeasure as her idol-expression melted into one of dissatisfaction. "I will have my revenge, you know. One way or another."

"I look forward to seeing you try." Gilgamesh nodded, before his gaze shifted to Sakura. "And what about you?"

"…Me?" Sakura blinked in surprise, pointing at herself.

"Will you try to avenge your father after all he did to you?" Gilgamesh asked, his eyes gaining a cruel glint, twisting the knife that Sakura had almost managed to remove. "Or will you thank Kirei for killing him?"

"Don't answer that, Sakura." Ayako spoke up, her tone sharp as she placed her hand on the plum-haired girl's shoulder. "He's just trying to mess with your head. Don't let him."

"I don't need an answer to that, Sakura." Rin agreed with the brunette, turning slightly to give her little sister a reassuring glance. "Your opinions are your own and none of my business."

"Answer me." Gilgamesh's order was final however, his tone so threatening it was clear that refusal wasn't an option.

"…My personal opinion on what happened to Tohsaka Tokiomi is hardly relevant here." Sakura said after a few moments, her expression tight. "Kotomine Kirei is evil for far more reasons than only killing Tokiomi."

"He still did you a great service." Gilgamesh countered, deliberately pouring salt into her open wounds. "You cannot deny he avenged you."

"I don't think I played any role whatsoever in Kotomine's decision to kill his own teacher." Sakura scoffed, her eyes becoming misty as her trauma was brought up to the surface again, though her voice didn't waver in the slightest. "I can see what you are doing, your highness."

"And what is it that you think I am doing, young one?" Perhaps it was because Sakura had shown him some deference by referring to him by a royal title, but Gilgamesh's voice was oddly placid as he asked his question.

"You are trying to cause a rift between Rin and me." Sakura replied.

"Guilty as charged." Gilgamesh nodded once, as it would have been ridiculous to deny his intentions when they were so obvious. "Is it working?"

"No." Sakura shook her head, before she suddenly smiled. It was a shaky smile, fragile-looking, but the conviction behind it was undeniable. "I love my sister. We are finally reconnecting again after so many years, and I have long since decided to forgive her. You will not change that, oh great king, no matter how hard you try."

"The bonds between you were frayed and worn." Gilgamesh uttered.

"But never broken." Sakura effortlessly parried.

"…" Rin remained silent after Sakura finished speaking, her body completely still, and when Shirou turned towards her, he saw to his shock that a single tear was making its way down her cheek.

"Sakura…" She whispered, before she smiled, so happily that it seemed as if the sun had emerged from between the clouds.

"Hmpf." Gilgamesh made an odd sound, like a child that had been denied a toy that it had somewhat been looking forward to, and a shadow seemed to pass over his face.

Before Shirou could verify the existence of that shadow however, the king lowered his head, seemingly pondering about something.

Then he raised his head again, and his expression wasn't cruel or amused, like Shirou had expected, but almost sympathetic.

"Kirei was wrong, you know." He told Sakura, his voice oddly soft and gentle all of a sudden.

"Wrong?" The plum-haired girl asked cautiously, suspicious of what the golden king was doing now.

"You visited Kirei, not too long ago." Gilgamesh elaborated, still looking so oddly friendly. "You wanted to ask him, as former apprentice to Tohsaka Tokiomi-"

Rin flinched at that part.

"-Whether your father knew what would happen to you when he gave you up to the Matou." Gilgamesh cocked his head to the side. "Kirei told you that Tokiomi did know what Matou Zouken would do to you long before he gave you away, did he not?"

"The priest did say that, yes." Sakura confirmed, while Rin flinched again, lowering her head in shame and pain.

"Kirei lied." Gilgamesh suddenly revealed, taking everyone in the room aback. "Or rather, he was mistaken. Kirei thought that Tokiomi knew, because he always thought his teacher to be near all-knowing. His worship of his betters is a rather adorable personality-trait he hasn't quite managed to shake yet."

"But father didn't know?" Rin prompted the golden king when he fell silent, her expression so hopeful it almost pained Shirou.

"He didn't." Gilgamesh confirmed again, looking at Sakura once more. "Of course, he did expect that your childhood would be filled with hurdles and strain, like any Magus', but he did not foresee the worms or the intended sacrifice that you were to become."

"O-Oh." Sakura mumbled, her eyes becoming rather dazed as she took a step back, cradling her head in her hands. "I see."

"I-Is that good news?" Ayako asked, looking very unsure whether to be happy or sad or angry or any other emotion.

"I think so." Shirou nodded. "Or at least, I hope so."

At the very least, it should make Rin happy, and even Sakura might find some relief in it, to know that her family hadn't consciously deserted her to a fate worse than death.

"Sakura?" Ayako ventured carefully, turning towards their girlfriend with a questioning look. "Are you alright? Is this good news?"

"I…" Sakura took a deep breath, before letting it out again, confusion radiating from her. "Wow, this is… I'm not sure how to deal with this…"

"Father… was not a monster." Rin too was looking confused at first, but she recovered quickly, and before long, she was smiling in utter relief. The smile wasn't wide, nor was it blinding, but it was happy. So happy that Shirou's heart melted at the sight. "Father was not a monster!"

"Yeah." Sakura nodded slowly, raising her head a bit. "At least not any more than a normal Magus. That is… good."

Rin turned towards her little sister in a flash, taking her hand as she smiled brightly, and Sakura cautiously smiled back. Ayako too looked very content now, and about ready to take the sisters into a bear hug to celebrate.

Even Gilgamesh himself had a half-smile on his face, his red eyes having lost a bit of their edge.

It all seemed like a very happy scene.

Shirou was not happy though. Not at all.

To any outside observer, it would seem at this point as if Gilgamesh had done a good thing. He had corrected a false story that had been told to Sakura, and as a result, the sisters were now much happier than they had been before, having learned their father was not as horrible a person as they had been led to believe.

That outside observer might actually come to think that Gilgamesh was not such a bad person after all, or that he was perhaps even sympathetic in some way.

But nothing was less true. Even at his best, Gilgamesh had been uncaring of individual humans, preferring to look at the whole of mankind instead. Even at his very best and most sympathetic, he would never have gone out of his way to console a single person or correct a cruel lie.

And this form in front of Shirou was the exact opposite of 'his best'.

There was no way in hell that Gilgamesh had told Sakura the truth merely because he wanted to make her happy. There had to be something behind it, and Shirou was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He did not have to wait long.

"Of course, it wouldn't have mattered even if Tokiomi had known what would happen to you." The golden tyrant then closed the trap, the viciousness that had been strangely absent from his voice so far returning with a vengeance as he grinned cruelly. "Rather, he would have requested to join Zouken's project himself."

"What?!" Rin's gaze snapped back to him, her eyes widening in horror.

"Huh?!" Sakura's eyes flew open wide.

"Gilgamesh, shut your mouth-!" Shirou tried to stop it, but the golden king continued unabated, easily talking over the redhead.

"He would have embraced the Worm's attempt to use you as a makeshift Grail." He spoke mercilessly. "Not only would he have gladly turned you over, but he would also have actively joined in, to break you and mould you into a vessel for the Lesser Grail. He would have welcomed any opportunity to disadvantage the Einzbern, who had always held the Lesser Grail before then, and sacrificing one of his daughters, the one who wasn't going to be heir to begin with, would have been a small price to pay."

"What?! No!" Rin shook her head frantically, the horror slowly being replaced by panic. "He would never-"

"Your uncle, Kariya." Gilgamesh continued unabated, as if Rin hadn't said anything. "Tokiomi faced him during the Grail War, in a conflict of Master to Master. It was obvious to everyone that Tokiomi was the stronger combatant, yet even so, he did not do his old friend the favour of killing him swiftly. No, he attempted to slowly burn him to death, and he would have, had Kirei not intervened."

"Burn him…" Sakura went even paler than before. She might not remember much about Kariya, but she did know he had tried his hardest to save her, and the news that Tokiomi had attempted to kill him in such a torturous and brutal way...

That was like something Zouken would do.

"As for you, boy." Lastly, Gilgamesh turned towards Shirou, and the redhead braced himself for words crueller than anything he'd ever heard before. "Tokiomi was more than happy to promise your father's wife to me, should we be victorious during the War. Though of course, with her nature, that was an empty promise from the start-"

"STOP IT!" Ayako suddenly screamed, looking utterly distraught by the horrible things that Gilgamesh was saying. "Why are you telling us this?!"

"I am merely testing that girl's resolve." Gilgamesh huffed, apparently not minding the brunette's interruption. Rather, he seemed to have anticipated such a reaction, basking in the distress that he had just caused. "She was so confident of her love for her sister that I thought I'd reveal a little more of the truth."

"That is-"

"Tell me, girl." This time, it was Gilgamesh who did the interrupting, smirking at Sakura. "Did I change your mind? Will you still declare with such confidence that you love your sister, the girl who had everything that was denied to you? Or did my little story ruin your familial relationship?"

Gilgamesh's pettiness and wrath were on full display, and Shirou couldn't help but get the idea that this was somehow personal to the king. When Sakura had told him that she loved Rin, something in her words had pressed all the wrong buttons in the golden figure's mind, and he was now retaliating.

Sakura remained silent, her eyes shadowed by her hair and her body completely still. In the meantime, Rin had gone as pale as a sheet, Ayako was looking between the sisters with an expression of panic, and Shirou felt so enraged with the golden tyrant he was a hairbreadth away from slipping into Warrior's Madness.

"No."

Sakura's response made them all freeze in place however.

"No?" Gilgamesh cocked his head to the side, frowning a bit in displeasure at the brevity of Sakura's answer. "Explain yourself."

"That is all there is to say, your highness." Sakura sighed, sounding wearier than Shirou had ever heard her be. "My father was a monster, I suppose there is no denying it now, but that will not change anything about the way I see Rin."

Her voice grew firmer, and she wiped away the tears that threatened to form.

"She is my big sister, irrespective of what our father did, and I love her. Yes, there was a time that she meant nothing to me, and I assumed I meant nothing to her, but that time is in the past now. I realise that we still have a lot to learn about being sisters, and I know that we might never become as close as we could have been, but right now, I am happy with any kind of bond we can form."

Sakura thrust her arm to the side, as if to brush away Gilgamesh's words.

"You did not 'ruin our familial relationship' at all, because Rin is not our father, nor will she ever be."

Sakura's answer had not changed. She endured Gilgamesh's horrible words, and gave him a calm, measured response that contained not a trace of doubt.

Her back was straight, her head held high, and for all intents and purposes, she looked like a queen, staring down a cruel king from a rivalling kingdom. She looked, in one word, so incredibly cool, cooler than Shirou himself could ever hope to be.

Then Rin slammed against her from the side, lifting her up in a tearful hug, and the moment was gone.

"Nee-san!" Sakura protested weakly, but Rin paid her no mind, maintaining the hug as she buried her face in Sakura's shoulder to hide her happy tears, unable to suppress her sobs of delight. "Oh, fine, come here."

"Phew." Ayako wiped some imaginary sweat from her forehead at the scene, before she grinned at Shirou. "Is our girlfriend the coolest or what?"

"She is the coolest." Shirou nodded.

"Indeed." Even Gilgamesh agreed, crossing his arms with a pensive look. "I am pleasantly surprised. It is good to see that your resolve does not crumble easily. Naturally, I will be testing you further-"

"No."

At that moment, Shirou had had enough. The golden king may have succeeded at unbalancing them for a time, by playing with the girls' hopes and taunting them with the truth, but Shirou was not going to let that continue.

In a single movement, Shirou manifested Mjolnir and aimed it at the former Servant, whose eyes widened in shock as he looked at the weapon.

"We have entertained you for long enough." Shirou spat, walking forward until he stood at the front of his group, motioning with his free hand for the girls to get behind him. "Either you will tell us where Kotomine is, or we will leave, now."

"Your handmaidens can leave." Gilgamesh replied immediately, his eyes shifting from Mjolnir to Shirou's face, all traces of amusement gone from his expression. "I want to speak to you some more however, in private, godling."

"We are not going to leave Shirou behind with you!" Ayako proclaimed heatedly from behind Shirou's back.

"I insist." Gilgamesh smiled again, though it was not a nice smile. Shirou had always thought that Rin had a scary smile, but the king's smile was easily a thousand times scarier than any expression Rin could make. "The conversation between the godling and me is long overdue."

"I will be telling them everything we discussed afterwards anyway." Shirou said bluntly. "I will hold no secrets from them."

"I will permit it."

"I was not asking for your permission." Shirou hissed in return, and Gilgamesh's eyes narrowed slightly.

Strike one.

Shirou then turned his head slightly. "Girls, please give us a moment alone."

"What?! We cannot-!"

"Please?" He begged, striking Ayako silent as she looked at him in clear shock.

He was loath to send them away, especially since they had promised to support each other, but he knew he had little choice here. Gilgamesh was too dangerous for them to handle, even when they were all together, and that meant he wanted them as far away as possible.

"…We'll be standing right outside the church." Rin dictated after a moment, gently taking hold of Sakura's and Ayako's wrists to pull them along. "If anything goes wrong, we are only a shout away."

"Thank you." Shirou nodded, though he was well aware he was not going to call for help, no matter what. As much as he appreciated their offer, the fact of the matter was that they simply could not contribute anything during a possible battle with Gilgamesh.

They'd be alright if it was a verbal battle –Rin and Sakura were even better than he was in such a case– but not a physical or magical battle, and Shirou feared the conversation might very well end in one or both of those options.

The girls probably knew that too, but even so, they left, keeping a sharp eye on Gilgamesh, wary of any further tricks. They might not stand a chance against him, but that did not cow them into submission.

The golden tyrant did not act out though, seemingly content to wait until they were gone, meeting their gazes with his own, seemingly amused by their glares.

It was with a jarring shock that Shirou realised he had seen that expression before, in someone else.

It had been during his part-time job at the café. A man had walked in that day, taking a cat with him, apparently because he was just returning from the vet and needed a coffee before going home.

As the man seemed polite and the cat well-mannered, Neko had allowed them entrance, and had guided the man to a table in the corner. There, the man had let the cat out of its cage, promising that it was 'a good boy' and that he wouldn't let it out of his sight.

True to his word, he had kept the cat on his lap, and had begun petting it.

But the cat, perhaps still angry about the visit to the vet, had proven itself to be an absolute hellion. It was constantly biting and clawing at the man, it screeched and whined, and it eyed the glasses on the table as if it wanted nothing more than to push them onto the ground.

But even though the cat was behaving terribly, the man merely continued to smile and coo at it, calmly petting and kissing it until it calmed down a bit. His expression had been one of fond amusement and content, as if having his pet rebel against him was nothing but a good time.

That man's expression was echoed in Gilgamesh's, and Shirou realised that the entire reason he hadn't retaliated against the girls' disrespect was because he saw them in exactly the same way that the man had seen his cat. As nothing but amusing pets.

It would have been no different if Shirou had taken three barking dogs with him into the church. In fact, Gilgamesh might have taken the dogs more seriously than he did the girls, as dogs couldn't provide him with amusement. Their barking might very well have gotten them killed.

Sakura and Rin were just amusing little critters though, the kind that you shouldn't take too seriously.

As happy as Shirou was with Gilgamesh not attacking his girlfriends, knowing that it was because he saw them as less than human, as irrelevant, still rankled him fiercely, and he couldn't stop his eyes from narrowing into a glare.

Then, when the girls had left and the church doors had closed again behind them, Gilgamesh turned towards Shirou again.

"You have trained your handmaidens well." He noted, the difference between his kind tone and awful words rather jarring to Shirou. "But not completely. Perhaps you want my assistance-"

A golden portal opened and placed a silver shield in front of Gilgamesh just in time to stop the lightning bolt Shirou fired at the bastard, the electricity harmlessly splashing off the shield.

"I'll take that as a no." Gilgamesh smirked, before he spread his arms wide as the silver shield went back into the portal. "Then let us waste no more time. As King of this world, I order you to answer. What are you and where did you come from?"

---

"Could you please at least make an effort to hide your crosses?" Waver almost begged when he saw the necklaces hanging from Kayla's and Mira's necks, proudly displaying a crucified Jesus. "We are in the Clocktower! We don't do religious ornaments here!"

"Except angels apparently. You can find those all over the Clocktower." Lily remarked in a playful tone, before raising her hands in surrender when Waver glared at her. "Sorry."

"Angels have some use in Magecraft." He ground out, essentially condensing a massive lecture about the use of symbols in Magecraft in one small sentence. "Crosses do not."

It was the best explanation he could give in such a short time, but the Executors still looked unconvinced, and Waver could only sigh.

He hadn't expected it to be easy when he had agreed to help this team of Executors to infiltrate the Clocktower, but keeping them in line had turned out to be vastly more difficult than even his worst expectations. The saying 'managing a herd of cats' came to mind, if the cats were all religious and working together to make things as hard as possible for him.

Their purpose of trying to sniff out any Magi in cahoots with the Dead Apostle Ancestors was a noble one, he admitted that much, but he would have dearly appreciated it if they could be a little more cooperative with him, the man who was doing his best to give them the opportunity they needed to perform their task at all.

Caren Ortensia had promised him that they were all professionals, who would have no trouble acting in the way he instructed them to, but he was slowly starting to suspect she might have been less than honest with him there. Getting them to listen to him was like pulling teeth, slow and arduous.

Right now, they were all in the quarters he'd assigned them in the Department of Mineralogy, and he was paying them a visit under the guise of checking up on several new employees of his quickly growing department, and he had already been forced to stay twice as long as he'd planned.

It had only been a single day since he'd practically smuggled them into the Clocktower, and already, they were making numerous mistakes, the crosses being the most obvious but by no means the only one.

"Kayla, please listen to the Magus." The large guy, Sidonus, rumbled in his low voice, and Kayla, who had seemed a bit recalcitrant at first, sighed in acceptance, before hiding the necklace beneath her clothes, Mira copying her a second later.

"Thank you." Waver nodded, immensely glad an argument hadn't been necessary, before he took a deep breath. "There are also several other points of improvement I wish to relay to you."

"We are listening." Sidonus nodded.

"Magi don't openly carry weapons." Waver gestured at the combat knives openly hanging from their belts. "Magi don't wear combat boots in the Clocktower." At least not with steel-tipped noses. "Magi don't just wear reflective sunglasses for no reason." At least, he'd never seen any Magus do so. "Magi never use the word 'heretic' in any of its forms, nor do they use the word 'Witch'…"

Even just addressing the points already took a while, but making sure that they actually took his feedback into account took even longer. He'd planned on spending an hour on lecturing them about proper Clocktower protocols, but ended up spending nearly four times as long on arguing with them over every single matter.

With enough perseverance and patience though, Waver managed to get them to listen, and ultimately, felt reasonably secure about releasing them into the wild. It was just a shame though that it had to take so long.

"You should all be able to pass mild scrutiny now, as long as you stick to your cover-stories." He spoke once he judged them adequately prepared, wiping away some sweat from his brow. "Nevertheless, I strongly advise you to only tread in the public areas and in the Departments of Modern Magical Theories, Mineralogy, and Botany."

"Because those are yours, right?" Jonah asked, not mockingly, but completely sincerely.

"…In a way, yes." Waver nodded, pursing his lips at Jonah's choice of words. He wouldn't say that he really owned those departments. Yes, he was nominally their leader, but so far, that amounted to little more than being the head teacher and the main administrator. Oh, and the main negotiator of course. "If you want to go elsewhere for your investigations, let me know in time so I can arrange access for you."

Being a leader sure was a lot tougher than his king had made it seem. Rider had said it was mainly about living life to its fullest, being the most emotive man in the empire, and doing whatever you wanted, but Waver mostly found himself doing paperwork and practising diplomacy these days, and he was quite sure that if he started being emotive, baring his true feelings, things would collapse at lightning speed.

Then again, the Clocktower wasn't Ancient Macedonia, so it was no wonder the comparison didn't work.

"We will of course endeavour to cause as little trouble for you as possible during our stay." Sidonus promised him, his rumbling voice and large size making him look fairly reliable. "It is the least we can do in exchange for your aid."

"So is there anything else that we should correct about our appearances?" Lily asked, spreading her arms to display herself. "Just say the word and we will do it."

Lily and Sidonus were by far the most cooperative members of the team, doing their best to make things as easy as possible for themselves and for Waver. They were the voices of reason that gave him some hope that this team might actually bring their mission to a good end.

On the other hand, Mira, Jonah, and Kayla were very nearly hopeless, with their only saving grace being that they were willing to listen to the other two.

"You look perfectly average now." Waver assured Lily, who smiled at him in return. "Just make sure to act calmly and keep your mouths shut, and no one will look at you twice."

"We will keep you in the loop on our progress, Lord El-Melloi." Sidonus promised as he shook Waver's hand. "After all, you are as hostile to the bloodsuckers as we are."

"Frankly, I am still sceptical about your claims." Waver admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "The thought that any Magus in here would willingly cooperate with the Dead Apostle Ancestors feels ludicrous to me. If you find proof however, I promise not to be obstinate, and I will do whatever is necessary to aid you."

"Thank you, also on behalf of bishop Dilo." Sidonus nodded, and Waver sighed at the mention of their mutual friend.

Normally, even an investigation into the Dead Apostle Ancestors wouldn't have been enough for Executors to secure Waver's aid in infiltrating the Clocktower, not in a thousand years. If it got out that he was doing this, on nothing more than a rumour that the Dead Apostle Ancestors might have a few moles in the Association…

Well, he wouldn't be killed, as he was too important to kill right now, but it sure would be a blow to his prestige and reputation, and his underlings might also find themselves greatly suffering from it.

Normally, he would have thrown these people out by their ear, even if it was miss Ortensia who asked him to help them, but this was unfortunately not a normal situation. These Executors were cheating, using bishop Dilo, Waver's surrogate father, as their shield.

He could never refuse a request from the bishop, not even if it was such a dangerous and near-impossible request, and that was how he came to be in this situation.

The Executors better find evidence for their wild theories though, because if they didn't, Waver was going to send a very strongly worded letter to the Pope, and by the Root, he would make sure it arrived in the man's hands too.

"Until later, Lord El-Melloi." Lily waved at him as she and the rest of the team left the room.

"Good hunting." He replied, waving back, before he also left, though in the opposite direction, heading towards his office to get back to work. His new office.

After it had been confirmed that he was to marry Marianne Archelot, and once he'd restored Mineralogy to a reasonably good state, Waver had forcibly been assigned a bigger office by his underlings, to 'better reflect his new status'.

Waver himself would have preferred to keep his old office, which he'd adjusted fully to his personal tastes over the past eight years. Still, he hadn't needed much convincing in the end to see that keeping up appearances was sufficiently important to move somewhere else in spite of his own wishes.

No matter his personal tastes, it just wasn't appropriate for the lord of three departments to have such a poor place to work in, and, more importantly, to receive other lords in. Appearances were extremely important at the Clocktower, and Waver had to account for that.

Besides, now that he'd spent some time working in his new office, he had to admit it was pretty decent as well.

The thing he liked most about it was, admittedly, its larger size, which not only allowed him to receive more guests with greater hospitality, but also enabled him to give his students better working conditions.

Grey had never complained about not having a desk of her own in his office, but Waver was still very glad he now had a desk specifically for her in the corner. A place that was truly hers, where she could do her homework and take care of any private matters in peace and relative privacy. He'd even had a small curtain installed which she could put between them if she wanted some time alone.

So yes, being more important also had its perks.

Waver arrived at his new office about fifteen minutes after leaving the Executors to their jobs. Inside, he found Grey sitting at her new desk, working hard, not at her homework, but at several documents that were actually Waver's, in an attempt to help him.

She wasn't the only one in his office though, nor was she the only one helping him. Reines was currently sitting at a desk in another corner of the office, busily scribbling away on a piece of paper that dealt with several matters related to Mineralogy. Marianne on the other hand had placed her desk right next to Waver's, and was working on something that concerned Botany, while Adashino was looking over her shoulder, periodically making comments.

Waver really didn't know how, why, or when, but at some point, Adashino and Marianne seemed to have hit it off, and it wasn't at all unusual these days for the snake lady to visit the blonde woman for at least a few hours every day.

Having four people present –five with Waver himself included– would have been too much for his old office, but his new one easily housed them all with room to spare.

"Welcome back, sir." Grey was the first one to notice that Waver had returned, and after receiving a chorus of greetings from the others and replying to each of them, the lord fell backwards into his chair, letting out a weary sigh.

It got him concerned looks from Grey and Marianne, while Adashino's smile widened and Reines kept working without looking up. None of them asked where he'd been though, because they already knew.

Since helping Executors infiltrate the Clocktower was a very time-consuming and intensive project, trying to keep it hidden from the people he interacted with every day was probably futile. As such, he had just revealed it to them, and asked them to stay silent about it.

For the most part, they had. Perhaps it was out of loyalty to him or because they themselves had a lot to lose as well if Waver's reputation fell, but they had all kept their mouths shut, even Reines and Adashino. The only one who had been told, by Adashino, was Lady Montmorency.

Rather than worrying about it however, Waver was actually happy that the elderly woman was aware of his most recent project. If Lady Montmorency knew about the Executors but hadn't stopped them, or even looked their way, then the elderly lady was likely purposefully ignoring them, perhaps even discreetly giving her approval.

Knowing she wouldn't come down on him like a ton of bricks at some point was a massive relief.

"I take it the religious fanatics didn't cooperate all that well with your instructions?" Adashino asked lightly, her face set in an expression of amusement as she looked at his exhausted form. "Don't say I didn't warn you beforehand."

"Your warnings all came true, every last one of them." Waver sighed, giving credit where credit was due, as the snake lady had indeed pretty much predicted the entire conversation with the Executors. "Did you meet these people before?"

"No, but the fanatics in the Burial Agency are all the same, bar a very small number of exceptions." Adashino giggled behind her hand. "If you've met one team of Executors, you have met them all."

"You should have refused them immediately." Reines scoffed, looking up from her work to take a dig at him. "Even if you weren't already drowning in work as it is, their church-stuff is none of your business."

"Having possible spies in service of the Dead Apostle Ancestors within the Clocktower is everyone's business." Waver countered, giving her a tired glare. "And besides, bishop Dilo asked me to help them."

"Your loyalty to your friends is truly astounding." Reines huffed, crossing her arms lightly as she left her work for what it was for the moment to focus fully on him. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. How can I, when I have profited from that loyalty multiple times? I'm just surprised every time at how far you will go to help people. You must have had a weird childhood to turn out like this."

"I wasn't like this in my childhood." Waver shook his head, doing his best not to cringe as he thought back on how he'd been in his youth. "I merely-"

"Had the luck to fight a Holy Grail War with your king, which turned you into a better man." Reines finished for him, rolling her eyes, though somehow, the gesture wasn't unkind. "As you have told us a thousand times before."

"Um, I think Rider would have been very proud of you, sir." Grey piped up, her gentle voice and gentler words very soothing to Waver's ears. "You're just as good a leader as he."

"Thank you, Grey." Waver nodded to her. "But I am aware I still have a long way to go before I can be as good as he was."

"Waver, I'll be blunt with you." Marianne suddenly sat up straight, and Waver unconsciously copied her, as the mood in the office became a little heavier. "Alexander the Great was not a good king."

It became deadly quiet in the room, as everyone seemed to hold their breath in shock. Even Adashino was gaping in surprise at her new friend, who had just done the equivalent of setting off a bomb in the middle of the office.

Marianne herself though looked straight at Waver with a fearless gaze, awaiting his response.

"…I don't entirely disagree." Waver ultimately nodded, as frankly, he knew perfectly well that his king's reign had been marred by several serious flaws.

"EH?!" Grey's mouth fell open.

"Really now?" Reines' reaction wasn't so overblown, but her eyes widened considerably nevertheless.

"Hm." Adashino lightly scratched her chin.

"You don't?" Marianne froze for a single moment, before she cocked her head to the side. "But… You always speak of him so admiringly."

"What can I say? His charisma was immense." Waver shrugged, leaning back in his chair again. "And his philosophies contained a core of valuable truth. Listening to him did, I think, make me a better person."

"B-But… R-Rider wasn't a good king?" Grey asked, looking rather hung-up on that.

"Iskandar was an unparalleled conqueror, who defeated every army in his way. He was a visionary, a man with great ambition, but I don't think he did much in the way of ruling." Waver answered honestly, thinking back on both his dreams during the Grail War and the books he'd read afterwards. "He founded a bunch of cities, claimed a few thrones, and enjoyed his power, but I can't see him creating any laws or customs. I believe he just copied everything from his father and from king Darius III."

"Not to mention his new country instantly fell apart after he croaked." Reines smirked. "The dangers of expanding too fast."

"Is that a dig at me again, Reines?"

"Hehe, who knows, big brother?"

"I am a little surprised by this." Marianne mumbled, before turning to Adashino. "Hishiri, what do you think?"

"…I would prefer not to talk about that man, if you do not mind." The snake lady replied, her smile somewhat terse.

"Iskandar?"

"…" Adashino's smile, already a fragile thing, became even more brittle, and she resolutely looked away.

"Now you have made me curious." Waver remarked, turning to look at the officer of Policies. "If you are afraid of insulting me with your honest opinion, don't be. I am well aware that guy had numerous flaws that hurt, and often killed, countless people around him. Feel free to be as harsh as you want."

"…He is a destroyer." Adashino eventually spoke, turning to face the room again, a faint blush high on her cheeks showing her agitation. "He is Alexander the Terrible! He razed beautiful civilisations to the ground for no other reason than that he could."

"Uhm." Grey made an uncomfortable noise, looking between Waver and Adashino. "You mean Persia?"

"He began with Thebe." Adashino shook her head. "A crown jewel of Greece, a city that had lasted for centuries. Iskandar destroyed it completely, leaving nothing behind for future generations to find. Hundreds of years of civilisation, gone in an instant."

"Archaeologists everywhere have never forgiven him for that." Marianne muttered.

"In modern-day Lebanon, just above Israel, there was a city called Biblos." Adashino continued. "It was from there that the most ancient civilisations in existence got their wood and their paper. It was so influential that the Bible was even named after the city. It was a place that had been conquered numerous times, but never destroyed, until he came along, razing it to the ground, merely because he could."

"A terrible loss." Waver nodded, having already been aware of what his king had done.

"Persia was a glorious empire at the time." Adashino went on, lifting a hand and clenching it before her face. "Far greater than either Macedonia or Greece. It was filled with unimaginable treasures of archaeology. None of them remain however, because Iskandar erased it all from history."

"S-So he broke a lot of things?" Grey mumbled, looking rather intimidated by the list.

"And he killed tens of thousands of people, for reasons so weak and arbitrary they make me want to throw up." Waver added, wondering when exactly this had turned into a session of character assassination. Ah well, it was the truth anyway. "He told me, face-to-face, that he had invaded a country for no more reason than that he wanted to be first in line at the market in their capital."

"T-That's…" Grey had turned slightly green at this point, and Adashino bared her teeth slightly.

"He was the greatest warlord to have ever walked the Earth, rivalled only by Genghis Khan and Napoleon." Waver finished his little speech. "He was unequalled in everything, from killing people to conquering nations. He was an ideal before he was a man. That was why his men were so loyal."

"I disagree." Adashino said suddenly.

"Oh?"

"His men were loyal not because he was a great man, or because he was emotive, or because he was so inspiring." The snake lady continued, before brushing a lock of hair out of her face. "Oh, I'm sure there were many in his army who were completely taken by his forceful personality and were loyal to death and beyond, but the vast majority only followed him because he brought them plunder."

"Plunder?" Grey's head swivelled towards Adashino, asking for an explanation.

"Gold, silver, food, weapons, silk, women." She gave a few examples, making an almost dismissive hand motion. "The usual fare that gets men to risk their lives for the ambitions of someone else."

"Not to be pedantic, but what you say is actually not quite true." Waver argued, drawing Adashino's gaze back to him. "In fact, he was the first conqueror in recorded history to put a limit on the plundering, raping, and killing that his men were allowed to do. It actually caused some tension in his ranks, especially when he told them the common folk of all conquered nations were under his protection."

"Thebe, Tyre, and Biblos would disagree." Adashino countered his argument.

"He made mistakes when he was… enraged." Waver allowed, pursing his lips, as he knew she was right. "He greatly regretted those outbursts later though, and in my opinion, it says something about his rule in general that those three cases were such shocking exceptions."

It was a weak argument, he knew that, but strangely enough, Adashino didn't capitalise on it. Instead, she made a small concession.

"I suppose I can agree that although he went further than all his contemporaries in sheer quantity, he wasn't especially cruel in his time." She said, inclining her head. "It's just such a shame he had to destroy so much and leave so little for later generations."

"Not to mention he plunged the entire Middle East, Greece included, into succession wars that lasted entire decades." Reines, ever happy to throw oil on the fire, added, flashing her pearly white teeth in a grin. "It didn't end until the Romans came along, I believe."

"Alright, alright, I get it. None of you are very fond of Rider." Waver sighed, slowly rubbing his face. "Nevertheless, his teachings greatly helped me and continue to help me."

"That's because you were already a good man." Marianne proclaimed, placing a hand on her heart. "He didn't change you in any fundamental way, he merely brought out what was already inside you."

"How sappy." Reines grinned, but Marianne didn't falter, her childlike love for great stories giving her enough pride to stay strong.

"Thank you." Waver nodded at Marianne, though on the inside, he was unsure how to feel about her words.

"So what you mean, is that he taught you a lot, even though he was evil?" Grey asked, her voice halting and unsure.

"I wouldn't go as far as to call him evil." Marianne said immediately, almost defensively. "Just not a good king."

"But, he killed people, and began wars, and plundered cities." The white-haired girl protested. "That is evil, right?"

"By our standards, yes." Waver nodded sharply. "If I were to try and conquer several countries like he did, I would rightly be condemned as a warmonger and a monster. In his time however, it wasn't seen as an evil act."

"In modern times, we cannot imagine that someone would try to conquer the whole world, just because they want to reach some imaginary ocean or because they want to be the leader, but back then, things were different." Marianne took over the explanation, speaking in a much gentler tone. "I believe such actions were considered quite normal even."

"Normal?!" Grey parroted, looking appalled now.

"Yup." Reines replied, smirking lazily at Grey. "Things worked differently back then, Grey. Things like chivalry, mercy, war crimes being bad, and all that stuff hadn't been invented yet. War and conquest were the norm, and the strong did whatever they wanted with the weak. In that light, Iskandar was pretty chill, as he did protect the weak at least a little bit."

"But there were others who were worse?"

"Oh yes." Waver nodded, gesturing at his bookcase. "History is full of appalling deeds. Not to make excuses for my king, but there were many people who far eclipsed him in brutality. I recommend the book about the ancient Assyrians if you want an especially poignant example, although the Sumerian cities weren't exactly kind either."

"So ancient people were just bad?" Grey wilted slightly, looking rather disillusioned. She had grown up with nothing but stories about chivalrous knights and brave heroes, so hearing about how brutal historic figures had actually been had to be difficult for her.

"In all times, there were good people and bad people." Waver tried to reassure her, giving her a sympathetic look. "Unfortunately, being remembered centuries later often requires being either especially good or especially bad, and being bad is easier."

"Oh…" Grey mumbled. "Then, the Servants in your Grail War…?"

"Most of them were bad, I'm afraid." Waver hated having to disappoint her, but there was no denying it. "The Assassin was an assassin, the Caster was a crazy, abomination-summoning mass-murderer, the Rider we already discussed at length, the Lancer was an oath breaker, I never knew what went on with the Berserker, Saber was a killer who cared about nothing but obtaining the Grail, and the Archer…"

"He was the worst of them all?" Adashino prompted him after he fell silent, able to somewhat accurately guess what was on his mind.

"Yes." Waver nodded, though he privately admitted he might be a little biased. "I am very glad he is gone."

---

"As King of this world, I order you to answer. What exactly are you and where did you come from?"

Gilgamesh stood before him, his smirk lazy and confident, and Shirou racked his brain for a proper response.

It was difficult though, to decide that response. Gilgamesh wanted to know about his true nature, something he'd only ever told his girlfriends and sister about, and while a large part of Shirou wanted to tell the tyrant to stuff it, the more realistic part acknowledged that such an answer would get him in deep trouble very fast.

On the other hand, just telling Gilgamesh the truth also didn't appeal to the redhead at all. At the very least, he should ask something in return, to show he wasn't cowed by the tyrant's implied threat of violence.

"If you wish to know what I am, will you tell me how it is you survived until now, King of Heroes?" Shirou asked eventually. "As far as I know, the Grail is no longer active, which means you should no longer exist."

"There is not much to tell." Gilgamesh hummed, blinking once. "The Grail manifested itself, Saber used her Noble Phantasm on it, its Cursed Mud overflowed and submerged me, and it somehow manifested me, giving me an actual form. It has been quite convenient, though I can no longer take Spiritual Form."

So it was Angra Mainyu who was behind Gilgamesh's continued existence. That explained a whole lot, especially the fact that the golden king's Spirit Origin had been so warped as to change him into an evil parody of himself.

The Cursed Mud hadn't directly overtaken his mind or cursed him, probably because the king's willpower was too great, but it had dredged up and combined Gilgamesh's worst aspects until he was as close to evil as he could possibly be.

A rather creative approach, Shirou had to admit.

"Does that mean you no longer need a source of Magical Energy to exist?" Shirou continued his questioning, knowing that if that was true, it would present a massive problem. Gilgamesh had been plenty dangerous as a Servant. If he'd been fully Manifested now…

"Oh, but I do." Gilgamesh continued being strangely honest and forthcoming. "Even though I am Materialised, I am a thing of the past, and need to struggle against the forces wishing to make me disappear, like any other act of Thaumaturgy. Furthermore, without the Grail, I have been severely weakened. My parameters are lower, and although the Gate of Babylon still functions, I cannot truly awaken any of my weapons without dying."

"It is rather bold to tell me all that." Shirou lifted an eyebrow, wondering why Gilgamesh was so open about his being severely weakened. "Are you not afraid I will attack you?"

"I've done more with less." Gilgamesh smiled confidently. "Even when weakened, I can still handle a young nestling like you."

That remark stung, and Shirou lifted Mjolnir again, before he had to throw himself to the side to dodge a blade fired at him from a golden portal, a blade that would have caused his insides to rot had it pierced him.

Naturally, a copy was automatically stored in his mind.

The sword flew through the church, but just before it could impact the cross, it dissipated into motes of light, returning to Gilgamesh's treasury.

It had been an attack, but not a remotely serious one, and just like Shirou's lightning bolt earlier, it was not mentioned again.

The message was received loud and clear though. Gilgamesh was by no means powerless or harmless, even when weakened by the Grail's absence.

"Now that your curiosity had been sated, answer my questions." The golden king ordered. "How is it that you possess Divinity in this horrible modern age when all other Mystery is dying at an astounding pace?"

"I inherited it." Shirou answered honestly, knowing that the golden tyrant would instantly spot any lie he tried to tell him. "Mjolnir came to me and gave me my current powers. That is what is changing me into a god."

"Mjolnir? Ah, so you are one of those barbarian gods." Gilgamesh concluded, the look in his eyes becoming even more condescending than it already was. "Barbarian gods belonging to barbaric, nihilistic people whose only ambition was not to freeze to death. How dull."

"You really are charming, aren't you?" Shirou scoffed, beginning to get fed up with the constant snide remarks.

"Hm." Gilgamesh gave him a mocking smile. "It is no more than fact that the barbarian gods of the North were by far the least interesting of all the gods in existence. Mere constructs created by their precious Yggdrasil to safeguard the World of Man, actually not differing all that much from humans themselves. At least the Ancient Greeks had what you would call Mecha Spaceships to worship."

"…Pardon me?"

"You are pardoned. I shall be genial, and accept that it is not your fault that your kinsmen were so dull. Even the people of what you now refer to as Central America had gods that arrived on Earth by lifting along on the meteorite that destroyed the dinosaurs. And I suppose your Japanese gods were rather fascinating, with them being temporal-based manifestations of clusters of different dimensions."

"…Were they now?"

"All of them powerful beyond belief, and all of them now gone." Gilgamesh's gaze sharpened at those words. "SEFAR broke them, and the Age of Man forced them into the Reverse Side of the World centuries ago. At this point, with over seven billion humans, there is no room for gods or Phantasmal Creatures on the Earth. And yet, here you are, godling, alive and well, seemingly ignored entirely by Gaia."

"If you want to know how it is possible that I am on Earth while the other gods are gone, I don't know the answer to that." Shirou said, truthfully, as he had no idea what had sent those other gods to the Reverse Side of the World and why he was still on Earth. It could be that his Thor was from another universe entirely, but he wasn't sure about that.

"You don't know? Oh well, it's not that important." Gilgamesh dismissed the matter with nary a second thought, as if Shirou's answer did not really matter. "My only interest is ascertaining that your existence will not hamper the development of the World of Man."

"Hamper the development of the World of Man?" Shirou did not like the sound of that at all. "How would I even do that?"

Gilgamesh gave him a meaningful look, and then it clicked.

"Are you suggesting I will bring back the Age of the Gods?!" Shirou asked with no small amount of horror, feeling like someone had punched him in the gut. The Age of the Gods had been a horrible time, and if it was returned to the present, it would result in billions in deaths, literally. "How do we stop that?!"

"Calm yourself. You won't bring it back merely by existing passively." Gilgamesh laughed, his tone carefree. "As long as there is a single human alive in this world, the Age of the Gods can never fully return. Humanity has claimed the World, and not even Gaia herself can undo that anymore."

"It can't return? Really?"

A confirming nod answered him.

"Then why were you looking for me? I thought you said you wanted to make sure I wasn't hampering the World of Man?"

"I wanted to ascertain that you weren't actively working towards the return of the Age of the Gods." Gilgamesh explained further. "You are not, so this matter is closed."

"How would I work towards the return…?" Shirou began to ask, but he realised the answer halfway through. "By eradicating humanity myself."

"Correct." Gilgamesh nodded approvingly. "However, it is clear you are planning nothing of the sort. As such, the gods have no hope of returning, though I cannot say the same for Phantasmal Beasts. I believe you have slain one yourself."

"I have." Shirou admitted, wondering how the king knew about that.

"As have I. It is something you'll have to get used to. Your presence on the Earth could prompt the return of some of them, and they will likely seek you out. Not in any significant numbers however, so it is little to be concerned about."

Shirou was concerned though. Even if he was now assured there wouldn't be a wave of Phantasmal Beasts overflowing the Earth, even a few of those creatures was still more than enough to cause untold damage and destruction.

It would fall to him then to hunt down those Phantasmal Beasts. He was likely one of the very few people currently alive who were up to the task.

"Now tell me, godling, why is it that you 'inherited' this power? You out of all people." Gilgamesh then continued his line of inquiry, and although Shirou once more hesitated to answer, the fact of the matter was that there wasn't that much to say.

"All I know is that my predecessor, Thor, left me his weapon and his power for a reason." He replied, as that was literally all he knew. "I don't intend to fail him."

"What is it then that you will do?" Gilgamesh asked, appearing quite eager to hear the answer. "What will you use your newfound Divinity for if not to restore the Age of the Gods?"

"I will become a Hero of Justice!" Shirou stated, no trace of hesitation or doubt in his voice, even as he knew that the golden king would likely laugh himself silly at his answer.

"Become a hero?!" But Gilgamesh didn't laugh, at least not right away. His eyes flew open, his pupils dilating as he looked at Shirou, appearing truly surprised for the first time since the conversation had begun. Then he smiled. He smiled so widely his face seemed to split in two, and he threw his head back.

Only then did he start laughing.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" A deep breath. "HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHA HAHA!"

The golden king's laugh was, in all honesty, not unpleasant to hear. It was, like his voice, smooth and silky, and the fact that he seemed genuinely amused and happy, without a single trace of mockery, also contributed to how nice it sounded.

He was handsome beyond belief, intelligent like few other men, his voice was beautiful and smooth, and he had mastery over countless skills by virtue of being humanity's first king. It was almost infuriating, how all those positive qualities were granted to such a man, who was not worthy of them in the slightest.

"A hero!" Gilgamesh shouted once he'd gotten his laughter under control, grinning widely. "You want to become a hero in the modern day! You wish to ascend to the Throne of Heroes even though no one has done so in many years!"

"That is not my priority." Shirou protested, as Gilgamesh made it sound like he was only helping people out of selfish motives. "I want to help people, to save them. I want no one to cry, not if I can help it. It's nothing that special."

"You are not being honest." Gilgamesh shook his head, still with a massive grin on his face. "You don't merely want to 'help' people. You want to make an actual difference in their lives. You wish to relieve this world of needless pain and sorrow. Maybe reaching the Throne is not your primary, secondary, or even tertiary goal, but what you aim for is the sort of thing that will elevate you regardless of your goals."

"I…" Shirou wanted to protest again, but he didn't know what to say, and the king used his hesitance to talk over him.

"I never thought I'd see someone like you, not in these times." Gilgamesh said with genuine happiness. "To think that your motivation would have been such an idealistic goal. It delights me as much as it vexes me. This has not happened since… quite a few years."

The ending of Gilgamesh's sentence was strangely docile, soft almost, but Shirou ignored it in favour of asking another question.

"What would you have done if I had another goal in mind?"

"I would have been satisfied as long as you had any goal." Gilgamesh sounded remarkably cheery, though his voice carried an undertone of danger. "Any sort of purpose would do as long as you are not idle. An idle god would be a grievous insult, one I will not forgive or forget."

"Lucky me then, I suppose."

"You might actually become something interesting in time, if allowed to grow." Gilgamesh went on, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at Shirou, those horrible red eyes making the redhead feel as if he was made of glass. "I'll have to keep an eye on you, though you have my guarantee I won't interfere with your affairs until the next War about my Grail starts."

"You won't?" Shirou blinked in surprise when he noticed Gilgamesh wasn't lying.

In fact, now that he thought about it, he had not registered a single lie in anything the golden king had said since their conversation had started.

Was that because he considered lying to be beneath him, or just because he saw no use in lying to Shirou at this point in time?

"Be careful." Gilgamesh suddenly cautioned him, his gaze one of vicious amusement. "You are jumping to conclusions. Your ability is not without its flaws."

"What?" Shirou blinked in surprise at the king's words. "What are you talking about?"

"Watch me closely, boy, and try to see if I am lying." Gilgamesh suddenly ordered, before spreading his arms mockingly. "I enjoyed raising your handmaidens' hopes before crushing them again. I did not enjoy raising your handmaidens' hopes before crushing them again."

Shirou froze, his heart leaping into his throat. Two sentences, one the exact opposite of the other, yet according to his senses, both of them were true.

He couldn't tell if Gilgamesh was lying!

"You have noticed." Gilgamesh laughed. "Yes, although our Divine power grants us the ability to discern truth from lies, this ability is not infallible. We can still be lied to, provided the right conditions are met."

"What are those conditions?" Shirou asked, unable to keep the urgency out of his voice.

"Charisma!" Gilgamesh proclaimed proudly. "You cannot discern whether I am truthful because my Charisma is too high!"

"Charisma? The skill?" Shirou's mind raced at the answer, hurriedly digging up everything he could remember about Servants and their abilities. "It is a skill that is obtained when the Servant in question was a great leader in life."

"Correct." Gilgamesh nodded. "It does not have much use in battle, but it is very convenient for deception."

"So it's efficient?"

"Sufficiently so that I could not tell if Saber was lying unless I fully activated Sha Naqba Imuru." Rather than looking displeased at his own inability, Gilgamesh seemed very happy that Saber had been able to lie to him. "That I could not see through her was something that added to her charm. Even at the last, she still held secrets from me. Oh, how I wished to make her my wife so I could pry all those secrets from her!"

Shirou frowned for a moment, before blinking in surprise when he suddenly felt a possessive anger rise within him. It was a nonsensical feeling, but it took him a surprising amount of effort to suppress it.

"Now then, godling. It is time to address a more serious matter."

The mood in the church shifted so rapidly Shirou always got a sense of vertigo from it. One moment, things between him and Gilgamesh had been strangely light-hearted, almost friendly, as if they were making some kind of oddly intense small talk. The next moment, Gilgamesh had him pinned down with a penetrating gaze, the pressure inside the church increasing by a factor of thousand, almost making Shirou's knees shake from the power behind it.

The golden king picked up the two cups of wine he'd placed aside earlier, and handed one of them over to Shirou. Knowing that it would be unwise to refuse the cup, the redhead accepted it.

He wasn't allowed to drink yet, being too young and all, but underage drinking-laws were the furthest thing from his mind right now. He waited until Gilgamesh had taken a sip, and then took a sip himself.

Vaguely, he registered that the wine was pretty good, if a little too sweet for him, but most of his attention was squarely on Gilgamesh, who was smiling at him again.

"I have answered your questions, and those of your handmaidens." Gilgamesh rumbled, his smile giving Shirou cold shivers down his spine. "It was the generosity of a king. Now it is time you repay me."

---

"They really are taking awfully long in there." Ayako grumbled, looking with narrowed eyes at the doors of the church. Their boyfriend was inside that church, together with an evil demigod, and it was all the brunette could do to not storm inside immediately, especially when she heard muffled laughter and several cries of surprise coming from behind the door. "I hope everything is going well."

"We haven't heard anything yet that suggests things are getting out of hand." Rin sounded calm and strong, carefully keeping any sign of nervousness or fear out of her voice and mind, trying to be a beacon of strength for the other two. "If things turn violent in there, we would surely be able to hear it."

"But what if Gilgamesh kills Senpai silently?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"He can't." Rin was confident about that much at least. "Didn't you notice? He was much weaker than a Servant of his calibre is supposed to be. He must have been diminished by something."

"So Shirou can beat him?" Ayako asked, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. In the absence of more evidence, I'll have to remain on the fence about that." Rin admitted, before giving the other two a reassuring smile. "What I am certain of however is that any battle between them will likely take a while and will produce an awful racket. We will be sure to hear it, even from here."

"If you say so…" Sakura mumbled, clenching her hands together under her chin, her lips trembling as she continued looking at the church, apparently not very reassured yet.

"I do say so." Rin declared strongly, coming up to stand beside her sister, hesitantly placing a hand on her shoulder. "I am certain that Shirou will be fine, so don't worry too much."

Sakura nodded slowly, before turning around and throwing her arms around Rin in a hug. The black-haired girl froze in response, but only for a moment, as she quickly wrapped her arms around Sakura in turn, squeezing her tightly in an attempt to comfort her.

And if the fact that Sakura was just as tall as she was despite being a year younger bothered her in any way, she did not show it at all. She had more self-control than that.

It was a nice scene, and Ayako was loath to interrupt it, but if there was anything she'd learned over the past months, it was that certain matters shouldn't be allowed to fester for any amount of time.

And what had just happened in the church was definitely one such matter.

"Girls, I hate to be the one to address the elephant in the room, but are you going to discuss what that bastard told you back there?" The brunette asked, her voice soft yet insistent. "About your father and all? You cannot pretend it didn't happen."

Rin flinched at her words, and Sakura stiffened slightly, but neither of them made any move to break the embrace just yet.

"I… I don't know what to say." Rin said eventually, her voice devoid of any emotion. "I had already accepted my father was a bad man, and although I foolishly allowed that treacherous Servant to get my hopes up, I don't think much has changed now."

"If we can trust Gilgamesh's word at all." Sakura huffed, sounding more frustrated than depressed. "Or the priest's. From what I have seen so far, it is entirely possible that both of them are lying liars who lie, about everything and everyone."

"To spread as much misery as they can." Ayako nodded, immensely glad both girls seemed to be taking the news with such stoicism. "Really, those two are prime examples of toxic people."

"I'm not sure what that means, but I can take a guess, and yes, Ayako, I wholeheartedly agree." Rin nodded with conviction, breaking her hug with Sakura and taking a step back to clench a fist in front of her face. "They're a fake priest and a… fake king?"

"I'm pretty sure he actually was a king, Nee-san." Sakura protested, though without much conviction.

"And the fake priest is actually anointed. It doesn't make him any less fake." Rin huffed, before she nodded decisively. "Alright, I have decided. That guy in there is a fake king. No way I'm going to accept a king should be like him. He might have been a ruler, but he was never a king, at least not if his personality was always like that."

"Now you've made me curious." Ayako turned towards the black-haired girl, cocking her head to the side. "What should a good king be like, according to you?"

"Well, they should be courteous, regal, dignified." Rin tried to answer as best as she could, trying to imagine what she thought an ideal king should act like. "They should strive for justice, and do what is right, unafraid to call out even the powerful when they do something wrong."

"Like a chivalrous medieval king?" Sakura asked, before she nodded in agreement. "I agree, Nee-san. A king should be nothing like that…. That man in there."

"Hear hear." Ayako nodded. "Using your parents and your… messed up family situation to try and mess with your heads is just vile."

"He didn't mention mother though, not even once." Sakura mumbled.

"He probably thought she was too insignificant to mention." Rin shrugged, her expression completely straight. "He wasn't wrong."

Rin's mother, Tohsaka Aoi, had spent the last eight years in a mental clinic as a result of injuries sustained during the Fourth Holy Grail War. Rin had told the others about that before but never brought it up again.

Until now apparently.

"Sakura, can I ask you for a favour?" The black-haired girl addressed her sister, suddenly looking anywhere but at the plum-haired girl. "It's a bit sudden, but since mother came up anyway, it might be a good time to… address it."

"Oh?" Sakura made a curious noise.

"You are both aware she is currently staying in a mental clinic because of brain damage, right?" Rin asked, to which both girls nodded. "Well, you see, while she does interact with her surroundings, it is clear she has no idea what is happening around her. She keeps asking about father and how he is doing, and she thinks I'm still seven years old, and that the Grail War never happened, as if she's living in a d-dream world."

Rin stumbled over those last two words, her feelings of impotence getting the better of her, and Sakura was quick to take her other hand, making comforting noises in an attempt to calm her down.

"She's also asking about you." Rin then revealed, looking straight at the plum-haired girl, whose eyes widened in response. "Every time I visit her, she asks where you are, and she cries when I tell her you won't come. She doesn't remember that we gave you away to the Matou, and even if she does, that event clearly holds no meaning to her anymore."

"I see." Sakura muttered, biting her lower lip at the thought of her mother wasting away in a mental hospital, crying at the thought that her youngest daughter wasn't coming to visit her. "Should I…? Would it help if I visited her?"

"Would you?" Rin's voice had turned almost pleading at this point, which made Sakura bite her lip even harder. "I-I don't know if it would help, or if she'd even recognise you anymore, b-but I would really appreciate it."

"I will." Sakura promised, placing a hand on her heart. "I will visit her and be kind to her, whether she remembers me or not."

"The latter's more likely." Rin huffed with fake humour. "She doesn't even recognise me half the time, and I visit her as often as I can. Frankly, I don't even know if it's worth it any-"

"You won't know until you try." Ayako interrupted her, her tone stern. "We are going to visit your mother. Let's take Shirou along as well."

"Emiya-kun?! I'm not sure if-"

"Nee-san." Sakura spoke up, recognising that Rin was not terribly enthusiastic at the prospect of taking her boyfriend to meet her mentally damaged mother. "Please? I do think it would be for the best."

"…Alright." Rin agreed after a few moments, looking as if she'd bitten into a lemon.

Meanwhile, Ayako and Sakura exchanged glances, both well-aware that Shirou, having also heard the story of Rin's mother before, would want to use his Healing power to try and restore her damaged brain.

However, since they didn't want to give Rin false hope, they did not tell her that yet. It could wait until the moment they actually arrived at the mental clinic.

"Ah, but really, how long can those two take to exchange a few words?!" Rin quickly changed the subject from her mother to the ongoing discussion in the Church, and Ayako and Sakura went along without protest. "I'll need to have words with Emiya-kun not to let his girlfriends wait for so long-"

Rin was brutally interrupted by an immense crashing noise from inside the church, as if someone had smashed into one of the inner walls at a very dangerous speed.

"What was that?!" Ayako cried in shock, jumping like a startled hare.

"Senpai!" Sakura didn't bother asking questions. She just sprinted at full tilt towards the doors, having drawn her knife in preparation for combat.

"After her!" Rin barked, upon which both she and Ayako burst out into sprints as well.

Straight at the church.

---

"You want me to repay you?" Shirou asked cautiously. "For answering my questions?"

Gilgamesh didn't reply verbally, but his smile said everything, though his eyes seemed to narrow the tiniest bit.

"…Alright then." Shirou eventually said, figuring the king had indeed been surprisingly forthcoming with information, before he took another sip of the wine, which suddenly tasted far worse than earlier. "I suppose the information you gave us is worth something in return."

That turned out to be the wrong thing to say.

"Cur! You should be flattered that your king requires your aid!" Gilgamesh's eyes flashed dangerously as he swore for the first time in the conversation, a renewed pressure descending on the church, suggesting Shirou had actually made him angry just now.

Which was perhaps to be expected, Shirou belatedly realised. Kiritsugu had taught him a bit about ancient civilisations, in preparation for a possible Fifth Grail War, so he could better interact with Servants, and there had been a few topics that had been of paramount importance.

One of those topics was debt.

Ancient civilisations, such as the Mesopotamians, the Greeks, and the Romans, took the debt principle extremely seriously. If someone did something for you, then you had to repay them, no matter what. That was how things worked.

The repayment of debts, good and bad, was one of the most important facets of early civilisation. It was what made people human, what made them developed social creatures that could live together in significant numbers.

That was why it had been acceptable in those times to enslave people who were indebted to you. If you had done something for them, it was only logical that they repaid you with everything they had. The only ones you could take from without giving anything in return were animals, and even back then, people weren't animals.

In essence, Gilgamesh had given Shirou what he wanted, and now it was time for the redhead to return the favour, as was proper.

Add to that the fact that Gilgamesh genuinely believed himself to be the king of the world and it was only logical that he was not happy about Shirou looking reluctant to pay him his dues. It was, in his eyes, nothing short of a direct insult to both his authority and perhaps even his humanity.

Strike two.

"What is it you desire, great king?" Shirou tried instead, in a more respectful tone, having no desire to be speared on a Noble Phantasm over a cultural difference.

"Hm." The anger that had clouded the king's face passed, and he smiled again, though a little less widely than before, indicating Shirou had been forgiven for the moment. "I told you before that I am not as powerful as I should be."

"You did." Shirou nodded, able to see that for himself now. "Because the Grail is dormant, right?"

"Correct." Gilgamesh nodded, looking pleased at the fact he didn't have to explain everything from the start again. "I do possess a great deal of Independence, and Kirei has been diligent in finding alternative ways to provide the 'Magical Energy' I need, but the lack of the Grail is still clearly noticeable."

Well, of course, that was only logical. Gilgamesh probably possessed the skill Independent Action, having been an Archer, and Kirei, being a Magus, could probably serve as an acceptable Master, but the Grail provided the lion's share of the Magical Energy in a Grail War. Without it, the Servant would be massively weakened at the very least.

"Does the fact that you are telling me all this mean you want me to be your Master?" Shirou wondered out loud. He wasn't happy with the idea of bringing Gilgamesh back to full power, but if he got Command Seals and a link to the golden king in return, that would go a long way in-

"Under no circumstances!" The king thundered, looking both amused and affronted at the suggestion. "All I need from you is your power."

"My power?"

Instead of responding verbally, the king gestured with a hand, and right next to Shirou, a golden portal opened, depositing a bronze cup in his hands.

It was a ridiculously large cup, seemingly more fit for a giant's hand than for Shirou's, and a quick Tracing revealed its purpose to the redhead. It was a vessel capable of storing all kinds of energies, both Magical and Divine, for a long period of time. It was actually not dissimilar to a Grail, if far less efficient and incapable of summoning anything like Heroic Spirits. It was essentially a battery for Magical Energy.

"You want me to pour power into this goblet?" He asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Fill the cup with the Divine power you possess." Gilgamesh ordered, confirming Shirou's suspicions. "It shall serve as my energy-source for the coming years."

"And if I do this-" Shirou began, but Gilgamesh didn't let him finish.

"It is both compensation for answering your questions and your duty to your king." He huffed, before he smirked, pointing downwards at the floor. "If you truly need another incentive however, look no further than below our feet."

Shirou cocked his head to the side, before he indeed looked down.

-And immediately choked on his own breath.

Gilgamesh had to have done something, removed some kind of cloaking Noble Phantasm, because he could suddenly see the church's basement where before he could not.

And in that basement, the emaciated, hollowed forms of seven children were visible, all of them close to death, as they were constantly drained of their Souls, to serve as a substitute to Magical Energy.

Magical Energy that was sent straight to Gilgamesh.

"This is how Kotomine kept you materialised?!" The redhead asked in horror, looking back at the king, his grip on Mjolnir tightening as he crouched in preparation for battle. "Through draining children?!"

"Did you think he provided the energy himself?" Gilgamesh's eyes sparkled in dark amusement, his smile one of utter condescension. "How naïve of you, how fitting for a fool."

"I am taking them away from here!" Shirou spat, already searching for a way down.

"I will not stop you." Gilgamesh nodded once, before gesturing at the bronze goblet in Shirou's hand. "As long as you provide me with another source of power."

"…" Shirou's first instinct was again to tell the guy to stuff it. After the revelation that he'd been draining the life-force of children to keep himself alive, the redhead was not in a charitable mood, to say the least. However, the golden king was still the stronger combatant between them, and if he decided to prevent Shirou from reaching the children, there wasn't much the redhead could do.

And even if he slipped past the golden king, it was still not a wise idea to sour relations between them, not when Gilgamesh had already shown himself surprisingly willing to keep a low profile for now.

Over the past eight years, Gilgamesh had done nothing to cause a stir, and Shirou would really like to keep it that way, at least until he was strong enough to fight the former Archer in direct combat. For something like that, and for the freedom of seven tortured children, a bit of power was a small price to pay.

So he relented, and he started pouring the Mysterious Power into the goblet, though he made sure it couldn't be used for anything except a standard power source for a Servant. It wouldn't work for spells, or for rituals, or for anything else. The only thing he did add though was a tiny bit of Cleansing Power, hoping beyond hope it might slightly improve the king's personality.

Shirou had already noticed that the goblet was inferior to a proper Grail, and that was confirmed yet again when it was filled completely after a surprisingly short amount of time of pouring power into it.

How odd. Shirou had numerous containers in his Vault that could hold a lot more power before they were full.

Not that he was going to tell that to the golden tyrant. He might demand one of such containers, or all of them.

"Here." He spat, holding the goblet out to Gilgamesh. "Your power source."

A golden portal opened in front of him, and he placed the goblet into it, after which the portal disappeared again.

Gilgamesh was silent for a moment, closing his eyes in concentration, and then he opened them again to show his red pupils were shining now, with the power that Shirou had just given him. The weight of his presence increased significantly, and if Shirou could have seen his Servant parameters, he would undoubtedly have seen them rise a rank, returning to what they'd originally been.

"Marvellous." The golden king breathed out, and his golden armour materialised on his body for the shortest of moments before disappearing again. "I had almost forgotten what it was like to have sufficient Magical Energy to operate at full capacity."

"You have your power." Shirou said, cautiously though forcefully. "Please leave now. I really don't want to see you again until the next Grail War starts."

"I shall allow it." The former Servant proclaimed bombastically. "Indulge yourself in your normal life, boy. Go to your school, entertain yourself with your fellows, and make your handmaidens pleasure you. The conflict over my Grail is set to begin soon after all, and I would have you participate with your full strength."

"That is not your call-!" Shirou began his retort, before Gilgamesh's ominous words really sunk in, and he stopped. "Wait, what?! The Grail War will start soon?!"

"Hm? Yes." Gilgamesh confirmed, giving him a mildly surprised look.

For a second, for a single, short second, Shirou furiously hoped that Gilgamesh's sense of time had been warped after four-thousand years and that fifty years was 'soon' for him, but the tyrant's next words immediately stole that hope away.

"After the failure of the last War, the Grail retained most of its power and thus needs far less time to recharge." Gilgamesh explained, making an awful lot of sense. "It certainly will not need sixty years, like the ritual prescribes. It will start sooner."

"…How much sooner?" Shirou honestly wanted to scream in anger and desperation at the news that that wretched slaughter would begin again earlier than it should, but considering that Gilgamesh would likely enjoy such a reaction from him very much, he held himself back. "Do you mean it will start in another forty years instead of fifty, or…?"

"Try less than three years from now." Gilgamesh purred, smirking cruelly when Shirou buried his head in his hands in pure desperation, his resolution to not give the tyrant the satisfaction crumbling into nothing. "What's more, this particular Grail War is going to be… anomalous."

"Anomalous how?" Shirou asked, raising his head again when his desperation was put on hold by another ominous statement from the golden tyrant.

"Even I cannot say." Rather than looking put out at his own ignorance, Gilgamesh seemed to revel in it, smiling widely and happily. "What the future holds is a mystery to us all right now. Literally anything could happen. The world could end, humanity might transcend, the two of us might end up killing each other or we'll be forced to work together. No one can say."

"…" Unlike Gilgamesh, that prospect filled Shirou with a deep dread. A normal Grail War was already damaging enough, especially if another madman like Gilles de Rais would be summoned, but an anomalous Grail War…

It might mean the end of Fuyuki.

"So much could happen." The golden king laughed, before he shook his head, a surprisingly human gesture from a figure that had seemed awfully inhuman so far. "But I must be patient. I have waited eight years, so another three years or less should be no issue. There is still much to do, many things to prepare, and there are few places in the world that I have yet to see before the conflict starts. You will likely not see me again until the Grail awakens once more, godling."

"What?" Gilgamesh casually dropped yet another bomb on the conversation, and Shirou was starting to feel woozy from the constant whiplash. "You are leaving?"

"I am." The king nodded. "I have what I came for, and I will not spend my days until the War in this dull church. The Modern Age has turned the world ugly, but there are a few spots with some shine left to them that I wish to see."

The news that Gilgamesh would be leaving again brought out both delight and great concern in Shirou. On one hand, he hated the idea of having to let the former Servant walk away, free to spread more misery and pain, but on the other hand, he was painfully aware that he did not have the strength to stop him.

But he did have to try. His very nature demanded it.

So he took on a combat stance, and Gilgamesh's eyes narrowed again.

That was strike three.

Shirou was out.

"With our discussion finished, you undoubtedly wish to save the children below our feet." The golden king stated, dropping his cup into a golden portal that appeared next to him. "Allow me to aid you in reaching them quickly."

Shirou had only a fraction of a second to be confused about that statement before Gilgamesh was upon him, his fist raised above his head, showing off the kind of speed that Shirou had never seen before, even in himself and Lady Barthomeloi.

Shirou only just managed to throw up a cross guard in the nick of time, preventing the king from striking his head, but the downwards blow still sent him straight down, where he smashed into the ground with enough force to crater it below him.

The next blow landed a fraction of a second after the first, right into the redhead's stomach, making the crater even deeper and driving all air from Shirou's lungs. The third blow struck his chest, and the fourth would have landed on his face had he not still had his cross guard up.

All of the blows were aimed straight down, and Shirou realised with no small amount of shock that Gilgamesh intended to literally beat him through the floor and into the basement.

Aid him in reaching the children indeed.

Shirou didn't even try to block the fifth blow and instead rolled to the side, narrowly dodging Gilgamesh's fist and creating some space between them, before he flipped back onto his feet.

He then fired a lightning bolt straight at the king, which was blocked by another shield, different from the one before. Shirou did not have time for another attack before he had to use Mjolnir to parry a very mean looking copper spear, a poisonous knife, a golden hammer, and an extremely thin rapier, all of them Noble Phantasms.

That had only been the start though, and the next moment, he was fighting to survive an utter barrage of the mystical weapons.

His father had told him about Gilgamesh's ability to fire Noble Phantasms, but he had massively understated the sheer speed at which he could shoot the damn things. It was all the redhead could do to keep up without being pierced from his blind spot.

Eventually, he spotted an opening, and he retaliated by using a Rune to send a storm of icicles at Gilgamesh, something that a single shield wouldn't easily block. The king wasn't caught off guard though, and used some kind of staff to create a wall of fire, rendering the icicles harmless.

It drastically reduced his visibility however, momentarily halting the rain of Noble Phantasms, and Shirou used that to get in close. Gilgamesh might have just successfully sucker punched him, but that didn't mean the redhead was entirely outclassed physically.

If he could get up close and personal…

He rushed forward, and the moment the golden king emerged from the wall of fire, he went for the throat, while numerous golden portals opened themselves all around them and-

"Enough!"

Shirou skidded to a halt at the shout, immediately ceasing his attack, while Gilgamesh's eyes flitted to the side. He didn't move his head though, as Sakura was currently holding her knife only millimetres from his right eye.

At some point during the fight, Sakura had snuck up on the tyrant, had jumped onto his back, thrown an arm around his neck to hold herself up, and used her other hand to hold a knife at his eye, clearly threatening to gouge it out if he moved a single inch.

"Stop it!" She hissed, moving the knife even closer. "Leave Senpai alone!"

Gilgamesh was clearly astonished, at the fact she had managed to sneak up on him, that she'd be so brazen as to threaten him, and especially that she continued to stare at him without fear, even though they both knew he could easily skewer her before she could even think of moving her hand to stab him.

That astonishment turned into a deep amusement very quickly.

"Heh."

Quick as a viper, Gilgamesh snatched Sakura from his shoulder, her knife clattering on the ground, before he threw her towards Shirou, who caught her as gently as he could.

"So your handmaidens are also your guards." He remarked with clear humour in his voice, the portals behind him closing as the weapon retracted. "A unique choice, though I don't dislike it."

"Then how about you clear off before I give you something to really dislike?!" Rin, who had just entered the church, snarled, raising her hand, in which she held over a dozen gems, more than enough to level the entire church.

"What she said!" Ayako grinned ferally, standing to the left of Rin, though she made no aggressive movements, knowing that there was nothing she could do to harm the golden king. "It seems Shirou is unharmed, so we'll let you go, this time."

"Unharmed?" That seemed to surprise Gilgamesh, and he turned to Shirou, looking him over for injuries but finding none. "Even though I felt your skull fracture and your ribs break? Your healing is impressively fast."

"I know." Shirou remarked, giving no further explanation.

"Hm." Gilgamesh hummed, before he nodded. "Then our ways shall part here. Tis not farewell though, for we shall see each other again. Take heed, for when our paths cross again, I will wield my true strength once more."

"I'll be waiting for you." Shirou promised darkly. "And I will defeat you."

"Grow stronger first." The golden king advised kindly. "No fledgling, no matter how powerful, can hope to fight a hero. The whole reason I am letting you live is because our confrontation during the Grail War will be the highlight of the entire event. Make sure you don't disappoint me."

And with those words, the king departed, walking out of the church and down the hill, before disappearing into the city.

Shirou didn't waste a moment after that. He put Sakura down, checked her for injuries, and then moved towards the altar, which hid a stairway into the basement.

"Senpai?!"

"There are children down in the basement." He explained quickly, dismissing Mjolnir again.

"This place has a basement?" Rin looked befuddled at the information, before she shook her head, realising that that was not relevant. "What was that about children?"

"Kotomine locked up several children in the church's basement to serve as power sources for Gilgamesh." Shirou hastily explained, sinking to his knees before the altar to search for the mechanism that would allow him to move it aside. "They have been drained of their Souls for years, and are close to death."

"He did what?!" Rin cried, her face becoming bright red in anger. "That slimy toerag! That cross-bearing psychopath! How dare he?!"

Rin's reaction was one of outrage, but Shirou didn't pay attention to what she said. He continued examining the altar for a few more seconds, before he decided finding its proper mechanism was taking too long and just tore it from its place instead, throwing it away.

He was sure the Lord would forgive some damage to one of His homes. It was for the sake of dying children after all.

With the altar removed, the stairway leading into the basement was laid bare. Shirou wasted not a moment and flew down the steps at break-neck speed, before rounding two corners, tearing down a reinforced door, and rushing into a hidden room.

There, he found the children, chained to the wall and bereft of everything but their clothes, only their shallow breathing indicating that they were still alive at all.

Years of neglect and cruel Soul-eating had left them little more than skeletons, at the very edge of life and death, covered in filth and grime. It was a heart-breaking sight, and Shirou heard how Ayako gasped in horror behind him, before she threw up in a corner.

He ignored the brunette for now though, trusting that Sakura and Rin would take care of her, and reached out to touch the closest child, who turned out to be roughly the same age as Shirou, though the abuse and the starvation had massively stunted her growth and development, making her appear years younger than she actually was.

She was still alive though, if only barely, and Shirou immediately used his Healing Power on her. He wasn't sure whether it could help when the victims were in such a state, but at the very least, he could mend the most pressing physical issues that were plaguing her.

He channelled as much of the Healing Power as he could, transferring it to the girl's body, and in doing so, he realised two things, one of them good, the other bad.

One, the damage, both to her body and to her Soul, was in fact reparable. With enough Healing power and enough care, preferably from expert doctors, this girl would be able to mostly return to a healthy state. She would never make up for her stunted growth, but she would be able to live a mostly normal life at least.

Two, returning her to a healthy state would likely take weeks, if not months, of extensive treatment and patience.

Her physical maladies weren't the issue, as Shirou had already fixed the most urgent ones and enough food would take care of the starvation. It was her heavily tarnished and tattered Soul that would take months to recover and return to a semblance of a healthy state, even with Shirou's help.

Normally, Souls could recover by themselves. Just by living, human beings generated life-force, which would sustain their Souls, meaning that being drained for a short amount of time would have no long-lasting effects.

These children had been drained for eight years already however, and the resulting damage was so extensive that there was no way in hell they would ever recover by themselves. They would remain as they were now, unresponsive and comatose, even if their bodies became healthy again.

In other words, it fell to Shirou to make sure that the children would be fully healed. He was likely the only one in the world both capable and willing to help them.

So that is what he did. He substituted their life-force with his Mysterious Power, filling up the gaps in their Souls. It was something that would normally only be possible for those wielding the Heaven's Feel, but through his Divinity, Shirou was once more able to mimic its effects.

He finished treating the first child in short order, and quickly moved on to the second, who was in a very similar state, as was the third, the fourth, and all the others.

It was horrific to see. Kotomine had taken these children and then, without any care whatsoever for their well-being, had turned them into batteries, condemning them to a slow, drawn-out death.

It wasn't the cruellest thing Shirou had ever seen, not after witnessing the atrocities committed by some of the Meluastea's flunkies, but it placed well into the top five, perhaps even the top three.

It confirmed that Kiritsugu and Rin had been right all along. Kotomine truly was evil beyond belief.

The unspoken pact of non-aggression between Shirou and Kotomine was broken now, there was no way around it. If that priest dared to show himself around Shirou again, he would pay for what he had done.

Shirou continued healing the children for well over an hour, the golden glow never dying down as he worked. In the meantime, Rin arranged a van to take them all to the hospital later, while Ayako and Sakura tended to the children whom Shirou had finished healing.

"I'll have to send a notice to the Magus Association that we need a new priest here." Rin huffed when she returned to the basement, glancing over at the children again, her expression becoming colder than the Arctic. "Because if that fake priest dares to step foot in my city again, I'll kill him."

"Atta girl!"

"Yes, Nee-san!"

---

The mood at the graveyard of the Ryuudou-temple was dark, darker even than normal, and that was saying something, considering it was a graveyard and all.

It was mostly abandoned, as it was the middle of the day and most people were working, but there was one grave that had visitors. Quite unique visitors, with white hair, red eyes, and clothes that seemed to have been taken straight from the wardrobes of European nobility.

It was those visitors who were the cause for the dark mood, or rather, one of them in particular.

Illyasviel von Einzbern was staring at her father's grave with empty eyes, her maids standing behind her in solemn silence. The bouquet of black flowers that she had brought with her had already been placed on the grave, as had the small, handheld mirror that had belonged to Irisviel.

Illya had known for some time now that Kiritsugu had died. The Einzbern had never kept it a secret, and Shirou had only confirmed it within minutes of her first meeting with him. The Grail's Curse had gotten the better of him years ago, and there was nothing that could be changed about it.

But even though she'd known, the sight of her father's grave, his actual grave, containing his actual dead body, still managed to make her feel like someone had punched her in the gut multiple times, tears pricking in the corners of her eyes as she tried to stay composed.

Shirou's friend, Issei, was standing off to the side. He'd brought her to the graveyard when she'd arrived in the temple, and now, he was politely keeping her company, though from a distance. As an aspiring monk, it was his duty to make sure she wouldn't break down completely, a task he clearly took very seriously.

According to Shirou, he'd probably give her some spiritual advice later on as well, to help her with processing her loss. It would be her choice whether to accept it or not, but she was going to get it either way.

That was fine. Illya didn't hate it or anything. In fact, seeing someone act so dutiful about tending to graves and grieving relatives was a nice contrast to how the Einzbern treated their dead, with nothing but contempt.

For now though, she appreciated that Issei kept his distance, just as she appreciated the fact that her maids were perfectly silent. This was a private moment, or at least, as private as could be, and she didn't want to talk to anyone.

She just wanted to remember the best moments with her father again, so that she would never forget them, and would never forget him.

Illya was also very glad that her father had a proper grave now. Old Man Acht had often talked about how Kiritsugu would end up in a ditch, or how he'd be eaten by dogs, or some other humiliating end. The fact that he was lying peacefully in a temple was far better, and also a good snub to her grandfather.

Her mother hadn't gotten any kind of grave after her death though. Her body had been used to complete the Heaven's Feel ritual, leaving nothing behind after it was finished.

Illya wondered if it would be possible to put Irisviel's name on Kiritsugu's grave as well, to reunite them in some way, like a loving husband and wife. It was something to think about, and perhaps discuss with Shirou and Issei.

Those matters and many other ones kept playing on her mind, and it was only a solid thirty minutes later that Illya managed to wrench herself away from the grave, taking a step back.

"Einzbern-san." As she had expected, Issei immediately approached her, his eyes set in a very serious expression. "Have a cup of tea before you go."

It was less a suggestion than it was an order, and Illya, knowing that Sella and Leysritt agreed with the aspiring monk, nodded her assent.

She was then taken away from the graveyard and towards the main hall, where she was offered a seat in a corner, away from any possible prying eyes.

"Here you go, Einzbern-san." Issei said, handing her the promised cup of tea. "It can't have been easy, visiting your father's grave for the first time, so please take as much time as you need to recover."

"I will." Illya nodded, taking a sip of the tea. It was still very hot, but in all honesty, she liked the painful sensation of the fluid going down her throat. It distracted from all the other pains. "Shirou told me you would have snippets of wisdom for me, Ryuudou-san."

"Did he now?" Issei huffed, a glint of amusement entering his eyes. "I don't have anything prepared, but I can try to improvise a little, if you want."

"Please do."

"All life moves in a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth." Issei began, his voice soft and at least an octave lower than before. "Although the separation of death can be painful for those who stay behind, it is not the end of the world. It was merely your father's time to move on to the next part of the cycle, and although his current form is no more, you can rest assured that he is still with you in spirit if nothing else."

"Hm." Illya was probably even more aware of that than the monk, since she had literally been visited by her father's spirit, several times even.

"As long as we carry them within our hearts, no one is ever truly gone." Issei continued, making a sign with his hands. "That goes for both loved ones, whom we should fondly remember so they will stay with us, and those we hate, and thus should forgive to make them go away."

"Forgive our enemies to get rid of them?" Illya huffed, her grieving momentarily disrupted by the odd comment. "Really?"

"I believe that forgiving one's enemies is a general tenet in most religions and spiritual movements." Issei smiled, before holding up a finger. "After all, one forgives one's enemies not for their sake, but for one's own. Carrying hatred in your heart poisons no one but yourself."

"…I suppose." Illya herself certainly hadn't been the sanest of people while she'd been in the middle of her Shirou-hate episode, so maybe the monk was on to something. "Sometimes though, there are scores to settle. I don't think I can forget that."

The Einzbern for instance were people she'd never forgive or forget, to say nothing about Angra Mainyu.

"Even then, there are several steps you can take to mitigate the damage to your mind." Issei, ever the practical man, easily ignored Illya's acerbic tone. "Just ensure that you keep justice in mind when you strike at those who have hurt you. Don't do it for yourself only, but also for the people they might hurt in the future. That way, you might find some righteousness in your quest."

"…!"

Oh good Heavens, that was brilliant! Of course Illya's reprisals against the Einzbern wouldn't be revenge! They would be justice for herself and other victims, as well as protection for those who would be hurt in the future!

When she would cut off their heads and put them on spikes, it wouldn't be an act of senseless bloodthirst or foolish vengeance, but a heroic deed that would protect the innocent people they would undoubtedly harm later.

She gave Issei a beaming grin, and the monk, who had been smiling a bit before, now looked very concerned, his natural ability to read people suddenly telling him he may have just made a huge mistake.

Naturally, as he was a dutiful person, he tried to amend his statement, to make Illya see sense again, but the white-haired girl wasn't listening anymore, too happy with her own conclusions to let anyone bring her down.

Issei would normally have been aided in his attempts to correct the girl's misconceptions by her maids, but they were currently otherwise occupied, and thus unable to provide assistance.

Sella and Leysritt had been standing at a polite distance from Illya, from where they couldn't overhear her every word but were only a few seconds away should she need them, when suddenly, an unexpected visitor arrived.

This unexpected visitor was a tall, thin, and very serious looking man, with cold eyes the colour of ice. He was dressed in simple robes, similar to Issei, and carried no weapons of any kind. In other words, he seemed to be nothing more than a random temple-inhabitant.

His unsettling aura spoke to differ however, as did the fact that his eyes were not only cold, but also very calculating and measuring, as if he was constantly looking for escape routes and killing opportunities.

Something most often seen in war-veterans and assassins.

The man had wanted to enter the main hall, but Leysritt hadn't let him. Judging him a possible threat to her mistress, she'd put herself in his way and had refused to budge ever since. Perhaps it was a bit rude, but she had no intention of stepping aside and letting the man enter until Lady Illyasviel had left the hall.

Unlike most other people, the newcomer hadn't reacted with outrage or shock when his way was suddenly barred by an overenthusiastic maid. Instead, he had immediately adjusted for the new obstacle, had clearly recognised Leysritt as a capable warrior, and had engaged the maid in a staring contest, something she'd happily reciprocated.

They had been standing there for a while now, neither of them moving a muscle, staring each other down as they waited for the other to give in.

Sella could only look at the scene with a bemused expression, wondering if she should perhaps intervene and tell Leysritt to let the man pass for now. Yes, she too had recognised the aura as that of an assassin, but considering the man had walked up towards them in plain view and showed not a hint of aggression, she did not think he was there for their mistress.

Rather, he appeared to live in the temple, if his robes and garden hoe were any indication.

"Kuzuki-Sensei." Ultimately, Sella didn't have to do anything, for the showdown was interrupted by the young monk Issei, the valued associate of Lord Emiya, who had just finished setting Illya straight again. "Is something wrong?"

"Hm? Ah, no, not necessarily, Issei-kun." The man, Kuzuki, replied in a monotone but focused voice, shifting his gaze towards Illya, who had followed Issei to the door. "I was just wondering who these people are. They do not seem like the usual fare who visits the temple."

All of that was said with the bored intonation of a man who was watching a documentary about snails after not sleeping for forty-eight hours but with the focus of a samurai staring down three enemy warriors.

Sella was deeply impressed.

"They came to visit the graveyard." Issei said by ways of explanation.

"I was unaware we have European nobility buried here."

"European nobility?" Illya looked confused for a few moments, before her face lightened up. "Oh, because of my accent and my maids? No, sir, it's nothing like that. My mama was nobility, but papa wasn't, and he is the one buried here."

"I see." Kuzuki-Sensei mumbled, immediately accepting Illya's explanation. "I have not seen you here before though."

"I only recently moved into town." Illya explained, not showing a hint of apprehension even though the man's eyes were fixed on her with a laser-like intensity. "Some trouble back home. I'll be living with my brother now."

"She refers to Emiya-kun, Sensei." Issei elaborated.

The assassin stiffened the tiniest bit when Lord Emiya was mentioned, indicating he'd met the redhead before and was aware of his power, at least to an extent. That only improved Sella's opinion of the man though. He wasn't in any way involved with the Moonlit World as far as she could see, but he did recognise unbeatable opponents when he saw them.

She could respect that.

"I wasn't aware that Emiya-kun was European nobility either." The man admitted after a moment.

"He is my father's adopted son." Illya answered the unspoken question. "So he is not nobility. I'm sure mother would have adopted him too, but she passed away before Shirou entered the picture."

"There is actually a long story behind all that." Issei supplied, well aware that Lord Emiya's life story was a complicated one, even without the Mystical aspects. "I'll tell you about it some other time, Sensei."

"Very well. I should not pry." The man nodded, before turning around with the efficiency of a robot. "I will speak with you later, Issei-kun, when your guests have left."

"Until later, Sensei." Issei replied politely, not looking at all put off by either the man's aura or the abruptness of his departure.

"Ah." Leysritt on the other hand looked quite despondent that her opponent had suddenly left without continuing their showdown or even acknowledging her again.

"Just see this as your victory." Sella offered, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder, trying to cheer her up a little. "He knew he couldn't match up to you, so he wisely left without even trying."

"Yes." Leysritt nodded, the light returning to her eyes as she squared her shoulders, and Sella couldn't suppress a fond smile.

Her sister was so easy to manage sometimes.

---

Rin had always known that the fake priest was bad news.

Admittedly, she had never really been able to back up that claim before. Kotomine was tall, handsome, charismatic, dependable, and strong, which should at first glance make him quite likable. He had also been her father's trusted apprentice, which should have made him seem even more amiable to her, like a big brother of sorts.

However, even though most people, including her mother and her father, insisted he was a good man, Rin had never been able to shake the impression that he was hiding something.

From the moment she gained the awareness to understand who Kotomine was, she'd disliked him, and that had continued all the way up until the present. In fact, her dislike had only grown stronger over the years, going from a slight distaste to full on revulsion at his presence.

He might never have done something to warrant her suspicion and distaste, on the contrary even, he'd always been perfectly helpful and mostly cordial, but there was something about his mannerisms and facial expressions that was just… wrong.

And now she had her confirmation.

Kotomine had killed her father. Gilgamesh had straight up admitted it, admitted that he'd let it happen too. Kotomine had acted the part of her father's apprentice for years, and had then brutally betrayed the man's trust, stabbing him in the back both literally and figuratively.

He'd betrayed his own teacher, before making said teacher's daughter dance to his tunes for years, raising her with nary a complaint, all while silently gloating over the fact that she had no idea what he'd done to her family.

Furthermore, the fake priest had kidnapped children, innocent orphan children, and had locked them up in his secret basement so he could drain them of their Souls and Life-Force to sustain his partner in crime, Gilgamesh.

For close to nine years, he had tortured them, and if it hadn't been for Emiya-kun's presence and special abilities, they would have been completely beyond saving when they had been found.

If there was anything that showed that Rin's bad feeling about the priest were warranted, anything that proved he was evil, even to people who didn't care about Tohsaka Tokiomi's death, it had to be that.

Not that she could feel particularly vindicated about being right though. Not when her father was still dead and the children were still in critical condition. Gloating about it just felt wrong.

At the moment, she was sitting in the guest room of the city's best hospital, together with Sakura and Ayako, waiting until Shirou returned with news.

After their boyfriend had managed to stabilise the children and heal the worst of their physical and spiritual injuries, they'd taken all seven of them to the hospital in the van that Rin had procured for them. Fortunately, Shirou knew how to drive, and they'd had the luck not to encounter any police on the way who might have asked him for his non-existent driving license.

At the hospital, it had taken a bit of Hypnotism and some prodding and bribing, but eventually, they'd been able to find a spot for all the children without too many inconvenient questions being asked. The children were now safe and sound and were being cared for by professional doctors who had been trained in treating starvation.

The reason the four of them were still hanging around now was to make sure Shirou's special abilities were really no longer needed. He might have missed something after all, a pressing issue to either the children's bodies or minds, that normal doctors could not heal. In such a case, he'd have to quickly take care of that himself.

In the meantime, while waiting for the doctors to finish their examinations, he was wandering the hospital, sneakily healing every patient he came across, while the girls hung around in the guest area, doing their best to dodge awkward questions from staff members who wondered who they were.

The children's doctors must have worked fast though, because it was barely twenty minutes later that Shirou returned.

"Senpai!" Sakura rose from her seat to face him, clasping her hands together in worry. "How are they?"

"They have all woken up, and they are well, mostly." He replied, reaching out to comfortingly pat her head. "As far as the doctors can see, they are mostly healthy, and I cannot see any more marks on their Souls either. As for their minds…"

"The trauma is going to be quite a thing." Ayako finished for him, pursing her lips.

"Actually, it's not that bad." Shirou shook his head, surprising all three of them. "It appears they have no memories of what happened. All they know is that they were caught up in the Great Fire eight years ago, followed by a large blank space, and then they awoke in this hospital."

"That must be the priest's doing." Sakura mumbled pensively, before she sighed. "It might be for the best that they don't remember anything."

"Definitely." Rin agreed, rubbing the side of her head in agitation. "Not in the least because it spares us the trouble of having to adjust their memories to preserve the Secrecy of the Moonlit World."

"It wouldn't be so much 'adjusting' as it would be wiping, Rin." Shirou sighed. "They spent all of the past eight years in that basement. There's nothing for us to adjust. All we could have done was remove every single memory of those years completely, which is bad, as you very well know."

"Believe me, Emiya-kun, I know that perfectly well." Rin retorted, her expression tightening. "There is no one happier about us not having to wipe those children's memories than me."

"Uhm, care to fill us in?" Ayako asked, raising her hand as if she was in class. "This sounds rather serious."

"Removing eight years' worth of memories at once, even if those memories are all of a single basement, will leave those children little better than toddlers in intellect." Rin explained readily, taking on a lecturing pose. "Hypnotism, while harmless in small quantities, still involves the practice of reaching into someone's head and warping their minds. Too much of it would result in injuries that are not dissimilar to brain-damage."

Those last two words immediately made it clear why Rin didn't like the concept of removing too many memories at once. The possible result of brain-damage was something that struck very close to home for her, considering what had happened to her mother.

"Anyway, I think the best you can do is let the professionals take care of the children from here on." The black-haired girl continued, looking back at Shirou. "They do not remember anything, so the Secrecy of the Moonlit World is not in danger. Emiya-kun, did you make sure the doctors did not get a good look at your face?"

"I did." Shirou nodded. "Even if they are directly shown a picture of me, they won't recognise me as the one who brought the children here. I also made sure to fool the cameras and the receptionists. As far as anyone knows, these children appeared here out of nowhere."

"Good." Rin nodded approvingly. "Then we shall leave at once."

And so they did. They quickly though discreetly left the hospital, returned the van to its rightful owner with the tank full, and then returned to Shirou's house on foot.

The walk back was marred by silence however. After meeting Gilgamesh at the church, learning of Tokiomi's heartlessness and Kotomine's utter betrayal, discovering the fact that the Grail War would start within a few years, and the rescuing of the children, none of them knew where to even begin striking up a conversation.

And that wasn't even mentioning the fact that Rin's mother had come up yet again, which was always a mood-killer, no matter the situation. The circumstances were just too tragic for it to be anything else.

The silence lasted for several minutes, and then Ayako, who was always the life of the group, couldn't take it anymore.

"Rin, about your mother…" The brunette started carefully, taking a step closer to Rin to hesitantly take her elbow in a show of support, slightly startling the girl with the suddenness of the motion. "Is she staying at that hospital we just visited?"

"No, she is not staying at that hospital." Rin shook her head, allowing Ayako to continue holding her arm, looking like she very much needed the support. "Hospitals are for emergency treatment and for patients who can recover in time. Mom is currently in a clinic for mental patients just outside the city, where they keep the hopeless cases."

"Right, you told us last time that she wasn't in the city itself." Ayako recalled, before giving the black-haired girl a sympathetic look. "Is it a good clinic?"

"It is of decent quality, though it offers different care-packages, from the cheapest to the most expensive." Rin explained softly. "The quality of care depends on how much you pay. Unfortunately, I have never been able to afford more than the cheapest package."

"Sakura, when you took over the accounting for your mother's bills, did you switch to the most expensive package?" Shirou asked immediately. He had been picking up the bill for Rin's mother for a few months now, though Sakura had made the arrangements, and this was not the time to be stingy.

"I did, Senpai." Sakura nodded with a grin. "I also made a generous donation to the clinic, to ensure they treat mother even better. We are rich customers, so we get preferential treatment."

"O-Oi!" Rin spluttered, turning towards them with a complicated expression. "Y-You don't have to-"

"Money should be spent, Rin." Shirou cut her off, placing a hand on her head. "I have more than enough anyway. Heavens, I earned even more over the summer by selling a few trinkets."

"Oh yes, you told us about that." Ayako recalled, before cocking her head to the side. "You never did tell us how much you earned with that though."

"I didn't?" Shirou blinked in confusion, before his eyes cleared up. "Oh yes, it got overshadowed by that Wraith-business, so I forgot to tell you about it."

"How much was it then?" Ayako asked with some eagerness. "How much did you earn?"

"I gave about half to Lord El-Melloi, and I already spent some of it in London, but ultimately, it should be…" Shirou ran a few mental calculations. "About four-hundred-and-eight billion Yen."

It was silent for a few seconds following his declaration, and the girls all stopped walking, making Shirou stop as well.

"Four-hundred billion!?" Rin then choked out, sounding as if someone was holding her throat shut. "Billion?!"

"I could barely believe it myself." Shirou nodded, rubbing the back of his head with a pained smile. "But apparently, amounts like that are quite normal in the upper circles of the Moonlit World."

Rin's lips moved, but no sound came out, and some lip-reading revealed that even if she'd spoken, it would have been nothing but gibberish.

Ayako on the other hand looked very pleased.

"Does that mean you can buy a lot of gifts for me?" She asked coyly, leaning forward while linking her hands behind her back, making herself look extra cute.

"That is exactly what the money is for." Shirou nodded. "If there's anything you want, just say the word."

"Well, if you're offering, I noticed that the costume store we sometimes visit has recently added a sexy bunny outfit to their supply…" Ayako trailed off meaningfully.

"Done." Shirou nodded immediately, making a mental note to buy three, before he turned to Sakura. "Is there anything you want?"

"Oh, you're surprising me a bit there." Sakura looked a little woozy still from hearing about Shirou's newfound wealth, making her reaction a bit slow. "I'll let you know if there's anything I want."

"Excellent." Shirou nodded, and then he looked at Rin. "What about you, Rin? Do you have your eye on anything?"

"…" Rin looked at him with an empty gaze for several seconds, before she lowered her head. "You already pay for my mother's treatment, you gave me countless gems, and you let me use your materials at your house. I cannot keep accepting charity, Emiya-kun."

"There's nothing wrong with accepting gifts from your future husband." Shirou teased her lightly, and he was rewarded by the sight of her ears becoming red. "Let me know if there's anything you want in the future."

"Hmpf." Rin made a displeased noise, lifting her head to glare at him. "Y-You… You rich poser! Wealth has clearly made you insufferable."

"Ahahahaha." Shirou laughed uncomfortably, well aware that his casual displays of wealth could very well be seen as him showing off. "Well, I-"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with being generous." Ayako piped up, quickly coming up next to Shirou to cuddle up against him, looking at him with puppy dog eyes. "I really like receiving gifts, you know."

"Noted." Shirou nodded, placing his arm around the brunette's shoulders to pull her against him.

"Don't be so blatant in your gold-digging!" Rin fumed, making Ayako laugh heartedly. She was quickly joined by Sakura and Shirou, and before long, Rin too had to crack a smile, despite her best efforts to stay mad.

And just like that, the brunette had massively improved the mood again.

---

In the Black Forest in Germany, in a medium-sized, fog-covered clearing close to the French border, a tense stand-off was taking place between two large groups.

It was still completely dark outside, as the sunrise was several hours away, making the lanterns and Magical lamps of both groups the only sources of light, casting the situation in an ominous, foreboding glow.

No weapons had been bared yet, nor had any spells been cast, but it was clear from the hostile atmosphere that that could change in the blink of an eye.

Senseless violence was not far away, and the only thing that could prevent a fight from breaking out was the negotiation that was currently taking place between the leaders of the groups, who'd met in the middle of the clearing.

Though calling a negotiation might be a misnomer.

"Get out of here, Magus! That rampant Chimaera running around in these woods is mine! I was here first!"

"By no means! If a Magus has lost control over their creation, the responsibility of putting down both beast and master is mine!"

"Pah! If you truly meant that, you would have stopped the master long before its creation ran rampant, you idiot!"

"Ridiculous! I cannot punish people for crimes they have yet to commit!"

"Oh, how proper of you! I almost cried from how sincere your words are!"

"I request again that you leave this forest immediately, lest I remove you myself!"

"Ahahahaha! You sure talk a big game, miss Director, but I can handle you!"

"I am the Vice-Director, and you may test that assumption at your own convenience!"

Instead of a negotiation, it might be more accurate to call it an argument, one that got progressively more ridiculous as time went by, to the ever-increasing embarrassment of their subordinates.

On one side of the clearing, a group of Enforcers from the Clocktower, numbering about twenty, stood looking at the argument. On the other side, a large team of Executors, about thirty of them, was also bearing witness to the display.

At the beginning, both groups had been standing ready for battle, glaring at each other with utmost concentration, ready to start the inevitable fight between them over who would get to stay and complete the hunt and who would have to leave in disgrace.

Now though, after having to listen to their leaders argue like children, most of their spirit had vanished. They were professionals, so they still watched each other and their surroundings carefully, but there was nothing left of the hostile atmosphere from before.

If anything, the two groups were now united in their desire for their leaders to stop squabbling already.

The group of Enforcers was led by Lorelei Barthomeloi. They had arrived in the Black Forest that same day, on the seventh day of her latest hunt, to hunt down a rogue Chimaera. Over the last week, they had already destroyed several Dead Apostles, a couple of Wraiths, and a few Ghouls, and they had been more than ready to add a rogue Magus and their rebellious pet to the list.

But when they had arrived in the Black Forest, they hadn't found either Magus or Chimaera, but the forces of the Burial Agency instead, led by Ariadne Lissenbaum.

Lissenbaum was very much Lady Barthomeloi's counterpart within the Church. Where Barthomeloi was the Strongest Magus of the Modern Age, Lissenbaum was considered the Most Powerful Executor of the Century. Lady Barthomeloi hated inhuman creatures with a passion, and so did Lissenbaum. Lady Barthomeloi was a leader within her organisation, second to no one but the Director, and exactly the same went for Lissenbaum, whose authority within the Burial Agency was second to no one but the Pope's.

Ariadne Lissenbaum was a tall woman, with long, white hair, blue eyes that were permanently set in an intense expression, and a face full of scars that spoke of her extensive combat experience. Her body was lean and lightly muscled, and currently covered by a long overcoat, coupled with thigh-high boots, black gloves, and a tri-pronged, black hat adorned with raven feathers.

Because of an old injury to her throat, her voice was permanently hoarse, though according to her admirers, who were not few in number, that only made her more attractive.

With so many similarities between the two women, one would have expected them to get along just fine, but nothing was less true.

"So typical for you, Barty, that you're here again to steal my prey!" Lissenbaum yelled in her hoarse voice, her eyes blazing with possessive anger.

"You appear to be confused, Lissenbaum!" Lady Barthomeloi said snidely, her own eyes flashing in anger as well. "It is you who steals my prey at every opportunity!"

"You have a very selective memory!"

"And you still have a penchant for projecting your own flaws onto others!"

"Bitch!"

"Tsk!"

It was a clash between sworn rivals, a fight over who would get to hunt the prey, and all their subordinates wisely retreated a fair distance in case sparks would really start flying.

Their worry was of course for naught, as neither woman was willing to cause a massive diplomatic incident by picking an actual fight, even with their tempers flaring, but since they were both strong enough to lay waste to their surroundings even with a short, non-serious spat, nobody wanted to take the risk of standing close to them.

That also meant however that there was no one who could snap them out of their argument, and several Enforcers who had also been present for the Purge of the Meluastea found themselves wishing Shirou Fujimaru was with them, to smooth things over. The lad was utterly fearless, and had a decent relationship with Lady Barthomeloi on top of that, so he might be able to intervene and settle things.

The redhead wasn't there though, and that meant they all had to wait until the boss-ladies had gotten their frustration out of their systems.

"Fuck this! We'll settle it with a competition!" Lissenbaum eventually arrived at the obvious conclusion. "Let's see who gets this Chimaera first! We start now, we avoid bystanders at all costs, and we don't interfere with each other!"

"I accept your terms!" Lady Barthomeloi agreed, still shouting, as that was the way the conversation was going. "Undoubtedly, it will be me!"

"We'll see about that!"

To the immense relief of their subordinates, the two women distanced themselves from each other again, returning to their respective teams, though they kept glaring at each other with such intensity that sparks almost seemed to be shooting between them.

The groups went in opposite directions, eager to create more distance between them, but even that wasn't enough to prevent several more comments from being thrown to and from.

"Don't start crying when you lose pathetically, Barty!" Lissenbaum called out just before they disappeared out of sight.

"The only one who will lose is you, L-Lissy!" Lady Barthomeloi countered, stumbling slightly over the demeaning nickname, as she wasn't used to shortening people's names like that.

Whatever Lissenbaum said in response was lost as the distance between them had grown too large, and before long, the group of Executors had disappeared into the fog.

Only then did Lady Barthomeloi turn back to her team.

"You know the mission." She barked, clearly still in a bad mood. "Over the recent months, there have been reports of people being attacked by a large, bear-like creature in the Black Forest. Since this creature has shown itself capable of tearing open vehicles, demolishing trucks, and utterly wiping out multiple groups of armed poachers, my informants have concluded it is likely a form of Chimaera."

Chimaeras were artificial constructs, amalgamations of body-parts from different animals, created by Thaumaturgy. Chimaera-building was one of the more distasteful fields of Magecraft, as it caused great suffering for the animals, but as long as no human body-parts were used, it wasn't actually illegal.

Designed with a capacity for great violence and boosted by spells, Chimaeras were often used as extremely efficient guard beasts, and it was not at all unlikely that one would have the strength to demolish trucks, tear open vehicles, or kill armed poachers.

It was a bit unusual for such creatures to go on a rampage, as they were programmed for obedience, but it could happen if the creator was careless. In such a case, the Chimaera would be put down, and the Magus punished, possibly with death if the damage caused was extensive enough.

Lady Barthomeloi generally did not enjoy such hunts, as the Chimaeras were always victims rather than perpetrators, but she would do her duty without fail. If they threatened humans, she would end them, it was as simple as that.

"We will search the forest meticulously." She commanded her group, specifically addressing the trackers. "A creature like this is guaranteed to leave traces. Find those traces, track the beast down, and then we shall dispatch it."

"Yes, ma'am." The head tracker nodded. "We shall find this Chimaera in short order. It shouldn't be too difficult, as such creatures are incapable of hiding, and attack everything in sight without regard for their own well-being."

"Find it as fast as you can." Lady Barthomeloi ordered. "Preferably before Lissenbaum does."

"We'll do what we can."

"Hm."

Their plan made, Lady Barthomeloi and her team headed back into the forest, on their way to one of the sites at which the creature had struck, where they could begin searching for tracks.

The Enforcers left the clearing and disappeared into the dense fog, leaving the open space completely bereft of human presence.

For a few seconds, it was silent.

Then a large shape emerged from the bushes at the side of the clearing.

As large as a bear, with thick fur, large claws, and enormous paws, this creature was clearly the one that had caused the disturbances over the past months. This was the beast that had torn open cars, demolished larger machines, killed all humans daring to bring guns into the woods, and had even chased off all wolves and bears that came too close.

The creature slowly made its way around the clearing, its pitch-black eyes set in a ponderous look. It had been lying in wait in the bushes since the argument between the female humans had started, and it had watched patiently until both parties had left, unnoticed even by the best trackers the Clocktower and the Church had to offer.

While the creature had been waiting, it had also listened. It did not understand human speech very well, but it did understand intent, and thus, it knew that the humans were here to hunt something.

To hunt it.

The creature let out a snort of displeasure at the thought. Most of the humans in the clearing had not been particularly strong or threatening, but the two females were both extremely powerful and extremely dangerous, to the point where they presented an actual threat to the creature.

The creature did not want to fight them. Actually, it did not want to fight humans at all. It merely wanted to protect its territory, and it would have been content to be perfectly peaceful if the humans had proven to be good neighbours.

It had even made sure to select an area as deep into the forest as possible, where humans had no business being, but even though it had gone out of its way like that, its territory had still been invaded, forcing it to take action.

The creature wondered for a moment if it should follow either of the groups, before deciding that it would be better to return to its territory. For now, it was content with playing it defensively.

With some luck, the humans wouldn't be able to find its nest, and would leave without forcing a battle.

If they did force a battle though, they would have to be killed. As much as it hated senseless violence, the creature had no other choice.

It had to protect its lair, at all costs.

---

"So you absolutely have to leave, Caren?" Bazett asked, helping the nun with transporting her suitcases to the taxi waiting outside. "There is no way you can stay for a bit longer?"

"Yes, I do have to leave." The white-haired nun nodded, smiling serenely at the kind Enforcer she had grown to like over the past months. "I was only here to address the issue of the mundane Dead Apostles, remember? Now that the perpetrators have all been purged, my reason for being here is gone, and I have to return to the Vatican for my next assignment."

"We could make up some kind of excuse to have you stay longer." Bazett offered, but Caren shook her head before she had even finished speaking.

"The Burial Agency doesn't like it when its agents spend too much time in enemy territory. Even if you fabricated another emergency, they'll likely swap me out for another agent." She explained, before her smile twitched slightly. "In fact, you could say I have already been replaced."

By which she referred to the team of Executors attempting to investigate the Clocktower from the inside.

"So this is farewell." Bazett sighed in resignation, before she nodded. "So be it. Take care of yourself, Caren, and don't be a stranger. You can always send me a letter."

"Or you can send me one." Caren suggested, knowing that she'd likely forget about sending that letter for months. Her memory wasn't great, never had been.

"At the Vatican?"

"No, I won't stay at the Vatican for long this time." Caren shook her head. "I have already been given some details on my next assignment. It seems that for the foreseeable future, I will be staying in Fuyuki."

"Fuyuki?" Bazett blinked in surprise. "You mean, the Fuyuki? Where-"

"Where your beloved lord fought his war?" Caren finished for her, enjoying how Bazett blushed at the insinuation that she saw Lord El-Melloi as more than just an employer. "One and the same. It seems the former priest in Fuyuki, Kotomine, was involved in some very shady business and has been chased out of the city by the Second Owner, not long ago. The Burial Agency now needs someone there to continue supervising the Grail, and they picked me."

Frankly, it did not surprise Caren one bit that her father had been involved in something evil. If anything, she was more surprised by how long it had taken the Second Owner to finally get rid of him.

They had to be a person of few moral scruples themselves to tolerate Kotomine Kirei for so long, something that did not exactly make her look forward to the coming months.

"But, oh dear, this is actually rather classified information." Caren pressed a hand to her mouth, as if stricken by guilt. "I shouldn't have told you this. Please, don't tell anyone else."

"I can at least promise it won't go any further than Lord El-Melloi." Bazett told her shamelessly. "I will have to inform him, I hope you understand."

"Exchanging secret information for headpats? I suppose that is acceptable." Caren nodded with a completely serious face, before blinking once when Bazett blushed slightly again, looking to the side in an awfully suspicious manner. "Wait, that's actually what you're planning-?"

"Oh look, there's your taxi, time for you to go!" Bazett rattled, hastily pulling Caren through the gate of the Clocktower and towards the taxi waiting for her. "Nice you were here, looking forward to seeing you again. Bye bye!"

"Ah, bye." Caren responded as she was thrown onto the backseat and her suitcases were hastily put into the trunk, before Bazett waved at her as she rushed back inside the Clocktower.

"To Heathrow then, miss?" The driver asked, glancing back at her, speaking in an oddly soft tone.

"Yes please." Caren nodded, recognising the look in his eyes as one of care and concern. It was a look she often got from people around her, and it usually meant she had a large discount or a small gift to look forward to at the end of the trip.

She didn't know exactly why people were so inclined to charge her less than they did other people, or why they kept giving her candy, cakes, and other food, but she certainly wasn't going to complain about it.

The drive towards the airport was calm, and the driver didn't try to make conversation, leaving Caren free to consider her upcoming stay in Fuyuki.

According to her superiors, the duration of the assignment hadn't been determined yet. They were quite open about Caren being only a stopgap until they had found someone better, but since the Heaven's Feel ritual wasn't due to start for another fifty years, they weren't in any particular hurry to find said better person, especially not since she was the one who was going to hold the fort over there.

She was still as disliked as ever after all, so her superiors were only glad to dump her on the other side of the world. Likely, they wouldn't start seriously looking for an actual Executor to take over the position for at least another decade.

As for Caren herself, she just hoped there would be nice people there. She didn't hold out much hope for the Second Owner, not after they had tolerated her father for so long, but maybe there were a few congregation members whom she could tease and befriend, in that specific order.

She could always hope.

---

Alright, chapter over.

Gilgamesh came along and kicked over some hills. He revealed some 'truths', asked a few questions, learned a bit about Shirou, and ended it all by giving the redhead a thorough humbling.

For all the canon-experts and lore-enthusiasts, let me say here that everything that Gilgamesh said does not have to be true. There is no way to know for sure, not for Shirou and not for you guys. Use your knowledge about canon to try and decide whether what he said was true or not, though keep in mind he knows more about his World's inner workings that you could ever hope to.

Do keep in mind though that Gilgamesh does not lie, at least not consciously. He says the truth as he believes it to be. This truth can be subjective, or even just plain factually wrong, but the guy does not intentionally speak falsehoods.

Also, for those of you who might think that Gilgamesh was a little too strong physically, I am planning on giving all Servants a boost when compared to their Fate/Stay Night-selves. In my story, they will truly be the natural disasters that they are supposed to be, undefeatable except by a very tiny subgroup that could maybe eke out a win under exactly the right circumstances. In general though, Servants will be more than anyone in the world can handle.

And as for Gilgamesh himself, the guy is from the Age of the Gods. He's fought Mages of Medea's level and higher. There's no way the tricks of the current Shirou are going to impress him.

Shirou needs to get stronger first.

The abducted orphan children in Kirei's basement (what a sentence) have been saved, mostly, and will make a full recovery. It's kind of a pet peeve of mine that they were never even addressed in canon aside from describing their horrible situation.

Then we have a quick update on the Clocktower, Waver, and the Executors, but nothing too remarkable.

Lorelei is currently out on a hunt, clashing with Lissenbaum, who is an OC. They are hunting a creature they think is a Chimaera, though it is definitely not. Oh, and the creature is already a step ahead of them, as you all saw.

And lastly, now that Kirei is gone, Fuyuki needs a new supervisor, and who better than Kirei's own daughter, Caren?

I realise of course that Caren is not an ideal supervisor of a Grail War, and the Burial Agency knows that too, but with them being short-staffed and with the Grail War still decades away (they think, the fools), they believe they can get away with posting (dumping) Caren there for a while.

Hope you liked the chapter, I'll see you next time.

Ted checks in with the doctor for a routine check-up.