Giligmesh looked on at the battle between Saber and Ichigo with the utmost interest with his arms folded.
"Amusing...that mongrel boy despite having the power of a lowly grave keeper has proven more than a match for Artoria. Even forcing the King of knights to sacrifice her armor just to barely contend with that transformation he has unleashed…"
He then looked over to Ichigo's black Zanpakuto Tensa Zangestsu.
"Bankai..." he muttered slowly. "Quite a splendid power indeed, In which the young mongrel takes all of the release power of his Zanpakuto and compresses within both the weapon itself and his entire body. Not only vastly increasing his strength..." Gilgamesh analyzes as he sees Ichigo use a flash step to get behind Saber to cut her down only for her to block the strike at the last second even as the force of the blow pushes her back a few inches and caves into the earth under her feet, only to then to saw to her astonishment that Ichigo had had now create multiple after-images of himself. "But most of all his speed"
The King of Heroes grinned in delight. "If any other servant would have battled that boy now without Saber's instinct...save for me of course, they will most certainly die in an instant...and thus I am ecstatic…"
His red eyes then shine menacingly with malevolent intent as he gazes at the two combatants fighting. "That on this night I shall not only reclaim my future bride but another worthy treasure to my vault!"
Meanwhile during the battle below Saber continues to struggle against Ichigo's strikes as she feels her arms slowly wearing down like a lead and her exhaustion slowly overtaking her.
Yet even so she continued to press forward and kept her eyes open for an opening or a flaw within her opponent's fighting style...but to her frustration, her enemy was doing the same to her.
'It's obvious now judging from his movements he is experienced in fighting against foes stronger and more experienced than him...' Saber thought as she blocked another blade strike which pushed her back several feet across the ground. 'And it is only a matter of time before he fully analyzes my swordplay, exploits an opening, and due to his superior speed and strength, he'll take me out faster than I can' She then furrowed her brow. "Assuming he isn't still holding..." a spark of realization then hit Saber. "...back"
Saber then backflipped over a swing from Ichigo and ignited her noble phantasm Excalibur. While Ichigo looked on with determination.
"So...You decided to end this single clash huh?" Ichigo then flared up Tensa Zangestsu with his power. Causing the sword to burst forth with enormous black spiritual pressure with a shining white outline as Ichigo placed both hands on his zanpakuto handle. "Well BRING IT ON!"
The King of Knights responded by channeling and gathering more mana from both the world itself and the supply within her body, knowing full well this was her only shot at victory and like her sword's namesake...she hoped with all her heart that it would promise her victory.
The two blades then surged further with power to the point the sky and earth itself seemed to be divided into day and night. With the Getsuga Tenshou taking the form of a black flaming eclipse. While Excalibur shines like the rays of the morning dawn.
Then without a single word, the two warriors lung the power of their blades against one another in a final clash for dominance.
At first, Ichigo was the one that seemed to be pushed back, as the light of the greatest of the Holy Swords gradually ate away at his darkness, Yet with a determined roar Ichigo soon pushed back the surging light as he poured more of his spiritual power into the attack fueled by his resolve to win, while in contrast Saber held her determination and tighten her stance and grip.
Eventually, as the clash of energies continued Ichigo managed to nearly meet Saber's blade as Ichigo continued to push himself forward in hopes of eventually deflecting the light of the sword of promised victory and claiming said victory for himself. With his black blade just within centimeters meeting Saber's and matching her evenly he thought that even if was only for a fleeting moment he was going to win.
But it was that specific moment that Saber was waiting for...
Within the blink of an eye, the light of Excalibur vanished much to Ichigo's confusion, as he almost clumsily released the full might of his Getsuga Tenshou up into the air as it split dozens of clouds in the sky apart.
Only then did he notice that the King of Knights had gotten right behind Ichigo with her blade already about to release and the former, due to the massive drain of his spiritual pressure couldn't avoid the blow even with his speed...aside from countering with another attack.
In less than a second the light of Excalibur and the darkness of Tensa Zangestsu alight the heavens and earth once more, cutting through the ground and departing the air and water of the nearby river respectively.
However unlike last time when the two energies clash against each other with seemingly equal might.
Both attacks have landed their mark.
Saber sporting a deep cut and a wide cut on her ribs that nearly cut her in half on the left side.
While Ichigo had a huge nasty burned scar on the right side of his stomach.
The two then glared at each other for a few seconds wordless...before they both collapsed on the ground on their backs.
"You got to be fucking kidding me..." Ichigo grunted. "A tie...that is how this fight ends up as?" he then laughed at himself. "Fucking unbelievable..."
" I will admit" Saber spoke up while clutching her wound" even I never expected this outcome…"
Ichigo then forces himself to get up. "Yeah even so…I refuse to back down now…not when Illyasviel's life is on the line!"
Artoria then winded her eyes on confusion as she forced herself up as well. "What do you mean…Illysasviel's life is in danger?"
The Shinigami then knitted his brow in puzzlement. "You know Illyasviel…the girl you plan on sacrificing to make the lesser grail?"
Artoria then gasps in the offense. "Sacfrice I…" she began to stutter. "I never thought that the grail would need a sacrifice to manifest…Illysaviel never once mention such a thing!"
"Wait…" Ichigo begins to say as an enormous realization hits him. "She never told you…" he then remembered Illysaviel staring him down at the park a few days ago to prevent him from saying the same thing to Shirou. "Oh crap…" he then gave Saber a fearful yet remorseful expression.
"I think there has been a huge misunderstanding here" Ichigo concluded and then pulled out his soul phone from his pocket. "Let's call a truce for now and tell the rest of our allies to back off"
Saber then raised an eyebrow and lowered her sword. "So you were fighting mainly to prevent Illyasviel from sacrificing herself…" She then thought back to her expressed mistrust of the Shinigami to Shirou even though he made friends with one who turned out to simply want to protect the innocents…just like her and Shirou. "I…have severely misjudged you"
Ichigo then cast her an annoyed remark. "Hey we can all feel sorry about ourselves after we both call off are friends from killing each other and getting ourselves patched up!" he snapped as he began to punch in a few numbers. "This may be a stupid question but are you aware of cell phones?"
Saber paused at Ichigo's but gave a simple nod. "I am" and Ichigo sighed in relief.
"Good, then this makes this much easier..." he then placed the phone on his ear and heard it ring. But before Ichigo could answer it. A golden sword suddenly stabs the phone from his hand and pins it to the ground, destroying the device. Much to Ichigo's and Saber's shock.
"Now, now, we don't want the battle of this fine night to end too early don't we?" Gilgamesh spoke smugly as he hovered down to greet the two wounded warriors before him. "Given that there are plenty of servants that have yet to fill the vessel of the grail"
Meanwhile on the other side of the city as Shunsei cut down another hoard of huge flying crest worms he then noticed a severe dip in power from one of the Servants and from Ichigo of all people and the strong presence of another Servent within the city. The Hollow also shares the same expression.
"So it would seem that another Heroric Spirt has come into the fray…" Shunsei commented. "Can I assume that they are also part of your alliance Hollow?"
The Adjuchas then growled lowly. "Hardly…but the fact he has stepped on the battlefield means that this war has shifted considerably in my master's favor" He then glared his yellow eyes in Shunsei unnerving the captain. "And unfortunately the deaths of that Shinigami and Servent..."