Fate/Pseudo Night
.
.
.
Chapter 4
.
.
.
She is always so brilliant.
Even now, in a conversation with the moderator and between the three of them. She manages to outshine everyone in that room and take control of the situation. Her Senpai's trauma coming out face first, the priest's sadistic delight on his suffering, and her sis… Tohsaka's stoic face with regards to the rules.
…
She always was far better than her no matter what.
But even so… with this Grail War happening… since she was now a Master… would she have to fight her?
She has a Goddess, a wealth of experience with magecraft, combat experience possibly, and… she is everything she wanted to be. Everybody noticing her, how talented she is, how amazing she is. The results would be obvious. She was superior in every way compared to who she is.
She can only stare in silent awe.
She clenches her heart in secret and looks at her hero once more.
.
.
.
Emiya is in worse shape than she thought. From a scared and traumatized look, seconds away from hurling to a look of cold steel. His goals are set. His objective is at hand.
She decides not to comment on it.
Whether he'll be an ally in the upcoming war, whether he'll be an opponent is left to be seen. If he doesn't take this seriously… if he doesn't fight with complete seriousness, then she'll take him out and take his Servant.
Sakura on the other hand…
She shouldn't think about it.
She won't delve into the matters of the Matou family. She won't ask why two people of the same family will be fighting even though it makes no sense.
Did she run away? Are they against each other or are actually aligned with each other? Is this some new form of strategy?
As a magus she must fulfill her duty. She will do what she trained her whole life for. What she strived for the past ten years. Her duty as the Tohsaka head and representative of the Holy Grail War.
But…
Her eyes linger on the ribbon that ties Sakura's hair. Sakura absentmindedly rubbing it as a habit that developed over time. Her gaze focused on Shirou.
As her former older sister, her heart feels like it's elsewhere.
.
.
.
"When I was young… I wanted to be a hero of justice."
Shirou looks at Kotomine. "In the end… I have to fight no matter what in order to decrease the casualties."
Kotomine chuckles. "Indeed. No matter how you think of it, should you choose not to fight, you will only be abandoning innocent people to fight in the war."
"But what about just defeating the Servants? Wouldn't that be enough? Why should I have to target the- "
"Emiya."
Shirou turns his head towards Tohsaka, whose stoic face gives nothing away. She sighs. "As you are now… do you honestly think that you can beat your own Servant?"
The silence was enough.
"Masters are prime targets since they are the anchor of prana for the Servants. And if the Master is gone, the Servant will be weakened, making them an easier kill." Kotomine expounds on Shirou. Smiling all in the process.
Shirou's fists tighten even more. "So then…"
"There may be Masters that summon to kill for the sake of killing like in the previous war. The only way to ensure the safety of others is if- "
"I'll do it then."
Kirei stares at Shirou. Shirou's gaze is firm and set.
How naïve.
"I'll fight as a Master!"
The priest smiles. "Rejoice young man. For your dream will finally come true."
.
.
.
"I know I praised your swords, but quit wasting them like toys to throw around damnit!" Muramasa exclaims as he parries another rain of swords coming his way. With each new katana formed, it broke when it came into contact with the oncoming swords. With each broken sword, his life was saved by mere inches.
It was endless. The barrage of Noble Phantasms that rained down on them felt limitless and had no limit. It wouldn't run out, nor would it ever stop.
Kama snipes down a couple more with pinpoint accuracy. If you are to confuse her for an Archer class Servant, it would make sense. She pulls back the string and fires at such speeds, it rivals a live machine gun. Without even looking, she manages to shoot down dozens of more.
Flying straight past her hair, the swords all either miss or get blocked by her arrows. Though these are meant to fire off against humans, this form of defense will not last long against the rush of swords.
She slams her palm into the floor, summoning Vajra, one of her Noble Phantasms, to act as a barrier between her and the oncoming Noble Phantasms. "Quit complaining old man! We all have to deal with this!" She snaps her fingers and blue flames show up and melt all oncoming attacks aimed towards her.
"Tch. I ain't even a damn swordsman. How'd I end up in this scenario?!" He mutters angrily as he swings around and stops another sword. He turns his head and narrowly dodges another that shoots through with the speed of sound. He summons a flurry of swords and barrages them back. However, for every sword he summons, ten gates open.
He jumps backwards, summoning a long odachi. "Horah!" He slams it down, causing a pillar of flame to burn right through even more swords. He looks up to see a couple more, but the sword he was wielding broke. "Haah!" He swings in a cross motion as he raises two katanas that he projected in the blink of an eye to handle the oncoming attacks.
He is incredibly lucky. He is summoned in his own home country, so his name is well known. It adds to his strength and gives him a slight edge overall. His swords are stronger, his abilities better, his skills more powerful.
But it doesn't mean anything when faced with the first hero. Too many swords appear out of nowhere and he is forced to project even more swords to fend them off. "This is too much for me to handle!" He wouldn't be able to keep up with these many weapons all at once coming at him in this speed. Surely he had enough blades to counter him, but he didn't have the speed to create them as quickly as that king does.
Kama glares as gates no longer aim at her. For some reason, they've all converged to Muramasa and Ishtar. Perhaps his focus on her is dwindling. "Fine, I'll help out! But tell your master she- "
"I got it!" Muramasa cleaves down more Noble Phantasms as they scatter.
Kama pulls out her spear and aims it towards Muramasa. "How rude, cutting me off like that…" She opens her palm as blue flames appear once more.
"Vajra!" The thick round obelisk like spear launches forwards and spirals around the Japanese swordsmith. Senji turns around and waves at Kama as they somehow managed to get a break.
On the other hand, Ishtar was receiving no breaks at all as she dodges and weaves under many oncoming weaponries. Thanks to her ability to float and her own flexible body, she can dodge many of these with ease. But the fact that there were so many gates opening to shoot her made it more difficult.
Several more portals open near Ishtar.
"Why you…!" Ishtar rushes forward with her ride. Maana acting as a shield in front of her to protect her front side as she rams into the King of Heroes.
Red eyes glare into crimson as Gilgamesh barely manages to block with two enormous swords to act as a barrier. "You wench… Just die already!"
Right now, Gilgamesh's mental state is obviously closer during his time as a tyrant rather his time as a king. Unbending, unyielding, and unbreakable. His ego is unmatched, even against hers which says a lot. He would never succumb to her whims nor do anything for her as a Goddess. But more importantly, he is furious at what she had done to his closest friend, Enkidu.
Several portals opened up to her sides.
"Tch!" She retreats as the swords envelope where she once was, crushing the area. However, some of the swords flew right past her. Each of them ricocheting off of each other as they are sent flying into random directions.
"What the hell is going on?"
Muramasa turns to see all their Masters come out of the Church as they see the chaos that is happening right in front of them.
"Well shit."
.
.
.
"In the previous war, was there someone who managed to obtain the Grail?" Shirou asked. He just wants to get these thoughts and questions out of his head. His decision is final to fight as a Master. But having more knowledge about the previous war wouldn't hurt.
Kirei smiles. "There was. Someone who hid and let someone else fight his own battles. In the end, he obtained an incomplete Grail and caused the great catastrophe ten years ago."
Shirou narrows his eyes at the priest. There is something off about what he just said. Not necessarily what he said, but rather how he said it.
"You sound like you've seen it for yourself." Shirou says his thoughts out loud.
If Kirei was shocked at that sentence, he managed to hide it well. "Because I myself fought as a Master in the former Grail War. However, since my Servant was weak, I dropped halfway through the war." Tohsaka's eyes widen.
"Hey, what do you mean? How come I never heard about- "
Kirei holds up his hand as his smile instantly fades away.
'Lancer. What is it?' Kirei asks annoyed.
'Huh. I managed to annoy you. Well, your blondie's approaching the three Servants and… Oh fuck me.'
'Lancer? Lancer? Report to me what's going- '
The ground shakes and the sounds of clashing metal can be heard. Sakura loses her balance and holds on to a church pew. While Shirou and Kirei manage to remain standing. Tohsaka on the other hand slips and falls down to the floor.
The shaking stops for a brief moment. Shirou's eyes look like plates thanks to fear. "What… what on earth was that?"
Kirei chuckles a bit. "It seems… that someone couldn't wait for our meeting to be finished." He dusts off his black robes.
Meanwhile, Sakura looks around and finds Tohsaka on the floor. "Ne…Tohsaka." Sakura outstretches her hand to pick up Tohsaka. Tohsaka on the other hand is flushed as she looks at Sakura. "Ummm. Thank you, Sakura."
Sakura pulls her up and looks at the entrance. Tohsaka turns over to Shirou. "Emiya. Come on! We have to go out there."
Shirou looks at Tohsaka and Sakura before letting out a breath of air. "Yeah. Let's go." With that he rushes out alongside the two other Masters.
Kirei looks at the gate as they run out. "And so begins the first night of the Holy Grail War."
.
.
.
Tohsaka looks in awe that all three of their Servants are struggling to keep up with… a single Servant. He is just standing there as dozens of Noble Phantasms fire off.
'What the hell? How is that possible? It should be extremely difficult to fight against Divine Servants even if their abilities are lowered. How the hell can a single Servant even keep up against two at once along with another Servant? Is he some Heroic Spirit with anti-divine traits? But he's even putting Saber in a vice… Wait those are all different Noble Phantasms?! What on- '
"Tohsaka! Look out!"
Her eyes widen as she is tackled to the floor and two swords spinning through the air slice the spot where they once were. The sound of something sharper than a razor breeze past their ears and land on the church doors.
Shirou winces as a wound on his right arm begins to open up.
"Emiya…" "Senpai!" Sakura rushes over to check his arm but he gives a pained smile. Tohsaka in shock that he would save her like that.
"I'm… fine. It's just a wound. Nothing too bad…"
The bleeding isn't stopping. It's a fresh wound so it's natural that the bleeding would start.
But he's losing a lot of blood.
Muramasa ticks. If the cut is too deep, it could become worse for the kid. They had to get him out of their current situation. He turns over and focuses on the fight again. "Hey, Assassin, Archer! Do your best to handle the blondie! I'll make sure to protect out Masters!"
Kama simply ticks as she gets more arrows as the gates open up and fire again. Multiple swords, spears, axes, all kinds of weaponry began to burst forth. She fires a shot that explodes into a multi-directional laser that shoots them all down.
Her eyes widen as she notices she missed some. "You're being a royal pain in my ass, you know!" With that, she resummons Vajra and launches it at the thrown Noble Phantasms. Some of them bounce right off and land into the floor but some don't change trajectory.
It flies right past her and into the direction of…
"Aaah!"
… her host.
Sakura Matou tripped and fell as soon as she saw the swords coming in their direction. She is powerless to do anything against them.
"Saber, hurry up and- "
Suddenly a wall of swords, naginatas, axes, and all sorts of bladed weapons pierce the earth and act like a shield to block the oncoming attacks.
"Sorry about that… had to make something real quick that wouldn't break in one or two hits." Muramasa says as he sweat drops, putting away his hammer and returning to his katanas as he parries and defends from the bullets.
On the other hand, Ishtar ignored the orders of Muramasa. She has one objective. "HA!" She attempts to crash Maana again at insane speeds towards the golden king.
"You…!"
"Drill right through him!"
Maana begins to spin at insane speeds. It transforms into something like a drill in order to get past all his swords.
He jumps back and summons dozens of swords right in front of him to protect him.
Ishtar smirks at his response. "That won't stop me!" She bulldozes through the many swords in order to get to him.
Suddenly the Servant bursts forth and slashes a sword against her, stopping her ride from going any further.
"You're taking me seriously now, huh?" She laughs with disdain as she looks at her opponent. Golden from top to bottom and no helmet to protect him. A red robe from his pants reaches to the back of his knees.
The King of Heroes dons his armor. "We both know that I'll have to in order to kill you!"
Before he could think of anything else, Ishtar floats and spins, kicking him in the chin. The force of impact pushes him far away like a soccer ball that got kicked. She opens her hand and summons a white arrow and instantly, fires it in the direction the Servant was kicked at. After seeing the arrows fly, Ishtar herself begins to do the same with her ride in order to catch up.
"Wait, Archer!"
Ishtar turns with her red eyes being replaced by furious golden. Suddenly, red tattoos began to grow on her body like thorny vines, the arrow she carries for Maana becomes pitch black as well as the white parts of her own clothes.
She glares at her Master as a warning. "Stay out of this, Master. If we're gonna beat that blond brat, we're gonna have to do it now. Let me handle this and focus on those other two you have your eye on."
With that, she breaks the sound barrier in order to chase after the Servant, leaving Tohsaka Servantless.
Muramasa rushes over to pick up his Master while Kama comes over and looks at her own.
"Master, you alright?" Muramasa asked as he holds her hand, pulling her up from the floor.
"Don't you look pathetic?" Assassin says as she just looks at Shirou pull himself up. He winces at the pain that his right arm is giving him.
"Sorry."
Assassin looks again before huffing away. "Whatever. You're fine right? We should get out of here. Whoever that golden king is, he's too busy paying attention to Ishtar…" Her eyes narrow before widening in realization. "Oh. Aren't I stupid? That man practically and literally revealed his true name to us…"
Tohsaka rushes over to them. "That heroic spirit? Who is he?"
Kama smugly turns over to Tohsaka, "Ooh. Wouldn't you like to know princess?"
Before Tohsaka could even reply, Shirou cuts right in. "Assassin, please. We don't have time for this. We need to know who that heroic spirit is. Archer is- agh!" He clutches his right arm as the bleeding continues.
Muramasa cuts in. "Sorry kids, but it's best if we do it while we're on the run since Archer's buying us time." With that, he picks his Master up and turns around, all while Sakura yelps in surprise. Kama, picking up Shirou in a princess carry, leaving him flustered while she has a disgusted look on her face. She follows suite.
Tohsaka looks in the direction to where Ishtar flew away. Just staring into the distance.
.
.
.
"You bitch!" Gilgamesh backs out as he opens more portals and has them all open fire even more swords, all of them high ranking Noble Phantasms. He quickly recovered and is now deep within the forests near the church. His golden armor, shining in the dark night.
He opens a portal by his shoulders and sends one sword flying at insane speeds. Ishtar simply tilts her neck to dodge the swords as the wind breezes right past her, cutting only a few strands of her hair. "I'm so gonna get you for that!" She rushes down as several more portals open.
"For you to even be an Archer class Servant… the very same as my own… is the apex of insults thrown against me!" Even more portals open up as they all fired at an even more rapid pace and threw out more swords.
She weaves through the shots and points at him with a finger gun. Prana loads up to her fingertips and has it all ready to fire up. "Eat this!" The energy blasts forth, spiraling around the swords and lands directly into the chest on Gilgamesh, sending him back by a slight bit. 'Damn, there wasn't enough prana in that shot?'
Gilgamesh touches his chest where smoke is coming out from and glares at Ishtar. His eyes popping red with rage, his veins pulsating and thickening across his face. "ISHTAR!" With that, an uncountable number of swords shoot to the sky, burying the sight above him in a sea of swords.
"Maana!" She calls her floating bow and loads it with energy. She points a finger gun and fires one round with several more following it as it rains down on the rising tide of swords. This causes an enormous explosion that can be seen throughout the entire city, leaving a ginormous dust clout.
It was only momentarily, but the swords stopped shooting thanks to the dust cloud, leaving Gilgamesh out in the open, vulnerable to a hit.
Ishtar wouldn't waste this chance.
She flies down in such fast speed and prepares to kick the king in the face once more with enough strength to knock his head clean off his body. She inches so close to his body with her attack at ready.
However, in a split second, she retreats even farther back than where she originally was as chains begin to sprout from the floor. Each of the chains were filled with a powerful energy that would be enough to restrain someone like her. She knows very well what those chains are.
Enkidu. The Chains meant to restrain the Heavens. She knows damn well what they are and what she did to him.
'Argh. Thanks to this vessel, I'm actually feeling guilt over that?! Damn it. I should focus on dodging these for now!'
She flies left and right till she just zig zags across the sky to avoid the chains that are chasing her. If she gets caught by those things, then it's over. She will be restrained and the King will be free to kill her. She is weaker compared to her time in Babylonia. It would be much easier to kill her.
She fires off as many bullets and arrows as she can against the chains, but more pop up and persistently chase her like a tiger hunting its prey.
"Damnit!" She has to focus on those chains or it's over. They're her current priority over anything else. She has to come up with a method on the spot to get rid of those things.
She opens a portal and retrieves dozens of gems from her own treasury. "Eat this!" She throws several gems in the air to misdirect the chains as they provided some sort of barrier that stopped them from reaching their target.
"With this I- "
She feels something penetrate her back and through her stomach. She looks down and sees a sword sticking right through her as it pierced through her insides.
After being so focused on the chains, she forgot that those were just one of his many Noble Phantasms capable of piercing her.
She coughs out blood.
Strange.
…
..
She falls from the sky and crashes into the earth, Maana disappearing into golden motes of light as she weakly struggles on the earth to catch her breath.
"I finally caught you, you damn vixen. After this, I shall kill that other Goddess, then think about what to do with the blacksmith. But for now, I have your head." He walks over to her with a sword in hand, ready to cut her down.
So, this is how it ends?
He meets her host and gets to know her for only three days and now she loses everything? What a joke.
How could she forget the most important and vital part of Gilgamesh's armory is how flexible and limitless it is? She only remembered the dangers of the chains and discarded everything else. Normally she would plan and consider this sort of thing.
…
…
Ah.
She understands it now.
Her host is influencing her so much.
So much for that.
Guess she couldn't win this war for her, huh. Isn't that a-
"By order of my Command Seal, Archer! Heal up your wounds and use your Noble Phantasm to claim victory!" A red wave of energy washes over the entire forest as the wounds on her body disappeared.
She looks into the forest in shock. "Master…?!"
.
.
.
Tohsaka is out of breath. But if that is who Assassin thought it was, then they need to pull out all stops for sure.
Gilgamesh. The King of Heroes. The first myth of all of mankind. Even though he isn't popular, since he is the origin of many heroes, then it should mean that he is incredibly powerful. It could be argued that he is the strongest Servant period. There could be no way to beat him in combat.
At full strength, he could wipe them out.
As soon as Assassin told them that, she immediately turned and ran into the direction of the forest in order to get to Archer. After all, this is not only the worst possible match up, but it could lead to the worst possible outcome.
Luckily, right now, he is too focused on Ishtar to notice anything else. But that also has its negatives.
If Ishtar is hurt too much to continue, then it would mean disastrous consequences. For all she could know, the Grail War could be forgotten, her life would be in jeopardy until that king will kill her. Like hell she would accept that!
She is her Servant. She will win this Grail War. She will fight until everything about her is exhausted. She will not lose so early and so instantly!
"Tohsaka!"
She turns to see Sakura and Shirou rushing in to meet up with her. Her mind nearly blanks out as soon as she sees them.
She glares at them. "Why are the two of you here?! You should've headed back to safety! And Emiya, your arm is ble…"
She stops and looks at his arm. He's still holding it like he's in pain, but the bleeding stopped.
In a burst of blue flame, Assassin appears besides her own Master. "Well, my Master gave me such a heartfelt request to check on you rather than him as soon as everyone found out you split from us. I found it amusing to see someone so self-destructive so I led them here."
Muramasa on the other hand finally appears besides his own. "Don't… don't make an old man run like that… I've been fighting for my damn life… and I'm out of breath… damnit I'm too old for this shit…"
Kama looks at Muramasa again with a smirk on her face. "But don't you have the body of a younger man like my Master?" She begins to seductively place her finger under the chin of Shirou, who begins to blush furiously as Sakura stares in horror.
"Assassin, please stop doing that! And don't use my face to do so also!" She screams in a high-pitched voice, all while blushing like a cherry.
Before Kama could even respond, a strong wave of magical energy floods across the entire forest. All of them turn to pay attention and feel a devastating weight from the sky.
Everyone looks up.
They see the Goddess of Venus in all her glory.
.
.
.
Gilgamesh looks into the direction of the voice with visible anger. "You…!"
She smirks as she punches the king straight in the face. Sending him flying quite the great distance. He gets up to see her flying to the sky.
"Well… this is kind of overkill. But it's Master's orders after all." She chuckles to herself.
Gilgamesh looks at her in slight surprise despite being hit in the face once more. 'This woman is not the type to obey others… wait… is her Master or host…!?'
She snaps her fingers and the sky opens up. Showing the vast emptiness of space, something enormous begins to slowly fall down and reveal itself. The Planet: Venus. Larger than the Earth itself, it falls under the grace of Ishtar. The entirety of the Planet descends and shrinks into the palm of Ishtar's hands, closing the portal. The concept of a planet, shrunken into a tiny ball of mass. The energy in Ishtar's hands could potentially end the planet.
She looks at the city.
She didn't want to destroy it. It is such a precious place to her Master after all…
Then minimize the damage.
She aims towards Gilgamesh, with the energy focusing all into her bow. The arrow stretches thinner and thinner.
This Noble Phantasm is the concept of her destroying the mountain range simply because she didn't like it. If that destruction was more focused, then what would happen? If she focused it into a smaller shot, a more accurate arrow, a more precise bullet… then she damage would all be focused on where Gilgamesh is.
"Eat this…"
"So, you plan on using that against me woman?! Then I shall reply in kind!"
With that, Gilgamesh pulls out a sword from his armory.
Shirou stares at it as well as Muramasa. But as soon as it's pulled out, their eyes begin to see glitches. The sound of static and lighting echo across their ears as the sword reveals itself in all its glory.
Shirou looks in fear at the unknown object while Muramasa smirks. "Well damn, I don't even think it's fair to call that a sword anymore."
The appearance of the sword is spherical in nature. With red circuit lines and a black blade that seems to be divided into three parts, it's attached to a golden hilt that matched the armor of the king. The upper most and bottom most begin to spiral clockwise while the middle part in an opposite direction.
With Ishtar, her arrow that's usually thicker than the bow itself somehow managed to shrink itself to a small normal sized arrow that fit itself in the oversized bow. As they say, size doesn't matter.
"… Modified Noble Phantasm: An Gal Ta Ki Gal Se!"
"The time of judgment is now! Awaken! EA!" He points towards the sky and towards Ishtar.
All the energy of his sword was focused on the very tip as it continues to spiral. Simply awaiting the command of the wielder.
"Enuma Elish!"
With that, the arrow fires, breaking the sound barrier and surpassing the speed of light with god speed and unimaginable strength.
The sword fires off all the energy, wiping out anything near by and heading towards that singular small arrow.
Both grow closer, and closer and closer.
The arrow makes impact with the blast.
And the explosion blasts the entire forest away.
.
.
.
Muramasa realizes what's about to happen as both are about to prepare their Noble Phantasm. "Oh no. We have to get out of here now! We won't make it out of this alive."
Kama looks on in fear as she stares at that object…
This is…
This reminds her of…
"Shiva! Please! Your wife told me to wake you up with my arrows! I meant no-"
The third eye begins to open. A blast powerful enough to extinguish the universe is blasted in his direction and ultimately wiping him out. He who was nothing more than someone who brought people together with her arrows was wiped out in an instant.
But he is not dead.
He is forced as a shapeless entity, an eternal figure to be a goddess of love.
All because some cow wanted to be with her husband.
"Assassin!"
She is being shaken by her own Master as the two super beings behind him are about to face each other off with each of their own Noble Phantasms.
Everything within the vicinity would be destroyed. There would be no escape. All of them knew that. There is no miraculous object to counteract against that kind of destruction.
Yet her Master, for some strange reason doesn't realize this.
He winces in pain as his arm acts up again. He received her blessing, but that wound hasn't completely healed.
She pauses as she stares at him.
…
…
No, he does realize that it is meaningless.
She sees it in his eyes, almost like looking at something so blatantly obvious yet hiding unaware…
He just wanted action done. Even though it wouldn't matter in the end.
What a troublesome Master she has been burdened with.
Muramasa shouts as both the sword and the arrow began to fire at each other. With Muramasa shielding his own Master as a last case precaution. Tohsaka ducks and covers herself since she herself lost the ability to run as her legs were shaking.
Shirou suddenly hugs Kama in order to protect her from the blast like his counterpart… not that would do anything, but Kama chuckles at his consideration.
It makes her sick.
Kama looks over at the others, sighs, and snaps her fingers.
"Ananga."
And the five of them disappeared in a blink of an eye as the surrounding area was swallowed in a ball of light.
.
.
.
Ishtar pants as she attempts to feel her connection to her Master. Something happened so now, she's suddenly drained dry and empty.
She floats down slowly with the last bits of her strength as she sits on the charred earth beneath her. Her wound is gone so she should be fine. She just needs to catch her breath.
She looks at the floor and ponders about her own Master. She'll have to talk with her later.
It's only been three days and she knows only a fair amount on how she's really like.
Ishtar chuckles to herself as she loses herself in thought.
"Surely you didn't think that would be enough to get rid of me Ishtar… or are you underestimating me again?"
Ishtar looks up to see Gilgamesh, no longer a proud king that stands above, but as a blood dirtied warrior. His left arm has been torn off from the explosion and his head is bleeding from the aftermath. Such an explosion even shattered the upper part of his armor, leaving the torn sports jacket on the inside.
Ishtar grits her teeth as she points the last bits of her magical energy towards him. "I… won't let you harm them…"
Gilgamesh stares at her.
It wasn't a glare but rather a look of slight surprise. He steps back as though the person in front of him said something unbelievable.
"You… wait… unless…"
He holds his remaining hand to his forehead. Forcing himself to think even further.
Ishtar, still feeling the rush of energy, glares back. "What?"
Gilgamesh looks at Ishtar once more before his eyes widen in realization.
"Hm."
She wasn't the selfish brat that tried to bed him. She wasn't the power hungry bitch that took away his friend. She wasn't the crazed Goddess who sent Gugalanna towards his kingdom nor was she the one who went to the underworld to squabble against her sister and fail.
Was her host influencing her this much…?
That's just…
"Hmhm."
That's just…!
"Fuhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
The loudest laughter he could muster erupts from his mouth. Almost as though he heard something or saw something that amused him more than anything else ever had in his life time.
Ishtar lowers her hand and just stares at him like he's some sort of crazed person.
"You… you… you are now like this… Ishtar? You? Fuhahahahahahahahahaha!"
Ishtar glares at him. "What is it?" She asks in an irritated tone.
Gilgamesh doesn't stop.
Ishtar feels something throbbing in her head, like the world's most painful headache was approaching. The only thing that would make this situation worse would be two of them, but that's a nightmare for another time.
After a long and uncomfortable amount of time passed, Gilgamesh looks at Ishtar with an amused smile. "Very well, I shall allow it. I'll even let this transgression slide, Ishtar." He points to his left arm, before turning and walking away.
Ishtar, confused looks at his retreating figure. "H-hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"
"That host of yours is influencing you well." Gilgamesh begins to walk away, with a smile on his face and laughter still erupting from his mouth.
Gilgamesh stops. "Eh. I'm feeling generous. So, I might as well tell you as well." He turns and his face still covered in a smile, gives off something very important. "Be careful around that Assassin, Ishtar. There's a reason she's my next target."
He walks away.
Ishtar just stared, dumbfounded, at how things have progressed in this situation.
"What the hell?!"
.
.
.
Muramasa, Tohsaka, Sakura and Shirou are floating around in empty space.
No, it's not right to call it that. They can see dozens of stars floating from every direction. Gravity feels like it is non-existent, time is non-existent. Everything is just an endless and shapeless place that stretches on for eternity.
Muramasa turns around. "Space… no… the universe?"
Suddenly a chuckle can be heard. Like a school loudspeaker, it can be heard everywhere, coming from all directions.
"That's right. This entire space is me."
Suddenly a star in front of them appears and begins to take a shape. "I couldn't stand how pathetic all three of you were, so I decided to place you all in my space." Slowly forming into a human.
"Your… space…" Shirou mutters as he looks around.
It's vast. There's no other word to describe it. It reaches nothingness and extends towards emptiness. What on earth could there be here…
Assassin chuckles. "This entire universe… this entire space belongs to me. No, rather it is me since I am a shapeless entity."
"Ah… so that's your identity…" Muramasa says with slight edge in his voice.
Sakura turns to him in curiosity. "You know her, Muramasa?"
He chuckles. "Well, I know a thing or two about Buddhism. Well, that ain't really relevant, but this girly here's from India."
Kama smiles as she… takes… shape…
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Sakura blushes hard as she rushes over to Shirou's side to cover up his eyes.
She was practically naked except for two flower-like golden seashells that were covering her breasts. But another interesting thing to note are how her arms and legs looks like they were one with the space itself. Like they were there and not there.
Kama looks at Muramasa. "So, you know me huh?"
"Well, your gender threw me off. But without a doubt. Vajra? Universe? Love? Put it all together and it links you to a single being."
Kama laughs. "Well, points for you gramps. Seems like you figured it out."
She extends her arms as she reveals her true name. "I am the Goddess of Love: Kama. I am a shapeless one, and my desire is that everyone will be loved. No matter the form."
Suddenly, another version of her appears besides Sakura. Surprising her as she stares into the eyes of Kama. Kama picks up Sakura's chin and she smiles seductively as she stares right into her soul. This unrequited love. This blackened and tainted soul filled with such corrupt and tantalizing love all came from her current host.
"And no matter the person."
The space began to shine a bright white.
.
.
.
In a distance, Illyasveil didn't know what to feel.
She saw what Shirou did in the memories of Sitonai and how self-destructive and self-sacrificing he is as he would always attempt to do the right thing. For someone else, for family, he would always put himself in the risk of danger rather than others.
He displayed those same traits again as he saved the Tohsaka girl and tired to protect his own Servant from an undeniably powerful explosion.
But what her mother told her was the he was evil.
What her grandfather told her that he was evil.
What her family told her was that he was evil.
She couldn't wrap her head around it and her Servant looked at her in worry. Sitonai looks like she's ready to extend her hand but decides to hold back.
"I… I really know what you're going through… but trust me… at least trust me when I say that Shirou is a good person…"
Illya looks at the destruction with a pained face before turning around. "Let's get out of here, Alter-ego."
Sitonai gives a pained smile. "Yes, Master."
With that, the bear Shirou puts Illya on as Sitonai begins to ride him towards the Einzbern castle in order to regroup with her own thoughts.
Perhaps she needs to see him, face to face to be sure.
.
.
.
AN
Not so sure if I talked about HF3 yet.
HF3 is an 8/10 for me.
Now give us the damn Fate route or I'll call the US to drop another nuke.
Also why are big name fanfiction writers like Pallan Minerva noticing me?
Like I said, I'm currently terrified with how successful this fanfiction is doing. Thank you all for reading, but if I fail to meet your expectations, then I'm sorry.
Also, I would love to talk to you, Pallan. I'll send a PM when I have free time.
With regards to updates, I will not have a consistent schedule. So be forewarned.
Next update is Fate/Heaven's Order. Why?
Looks at it and sees that it's near to an NTR fanfic.
I will not let that stand near me.
Also, why did this chapter take long? I honestly went through a big rewrite in the middle. I looked at it and said, "there's no way that a fight between these four would last only this short amount of time." So, I decided to rewrite the entire middle to make it longer and hopefully better. Took me about a month and a couple more weeks after Heaven's Order to finish this.
Thanks for enjoying! If you didn't enjoy it, then thanks for your time.