11
Chapter 11
Arc 2 King of Heroes Grand Order
Part 1: Golden King Descends on Burning City
A rainbow portal opened in white and blueish hall, it was quite cold looking place almost like a laboratory.
A figure walked out of the rainbow portal. Dressed in army camouflage combat pants, with running shoes and a white t-shirt.
The most striking part of this individual was his presence and his blonde hair with blood-like red eyes.
"Hmm? My luck is quite something else if I have ended up in Chaldea of all places." The Once and Forever King of Heroes said to himself.
"For a moment I thought I will end up in Fakers timeline. And meet my other disgusting self." The golden hero said with a disgusted look, as he looked around.
He saw the Chaldea symbol on the walls, while on the other side it was windows, but he could not see anything as it was a ragging blizzard there.
A small shiver went down his spine, he is not big on the whole cold climate thing, he prefers summer, hot weather, even desert is much better than snow.
Before he can think where he specifically ended and the possibilities his Sha Naqba Imuru quite literally screamed into his mind, showing him what is going to happen in less than a minute.
"Scratch that one-off! My luck is too much." Gilgamesh rushed forward first doors he saw, he had no idea how they operate but he has no time.
The bomb will go off soon enough, and he needs to save the girl first.
No subject of his will die like this when he is around!
Gate of Babylon opened behind him and a massive drill came out, with a burst of prana the drill rushed into the doors.
Punching a hole right through it.
Before anyone can comment on the fact that a massive drill just blew up the doors multiple golden portals surrounded the white-haired girl, whose eyes were wide like saucers seeing a blonde blast through the doors.
Next moment a series of explosions went through the room.
~~~
"Far too close to liking," I said with a relieved sigh. As my gaze scanned the surrounding.
There was alot of fire, and my Noble Phantasms took most of the explosive force.
Thankfully those were regular explosions and not magic-based ones.
"W-What is going on!? What is this? Who are you?" The white-haired girl with a borderline hysterical voice said from inside the cacoon of shields that I have called forth from my vault.
I recalled the shields around the white-haired magus girl.
Her gaze instantly went on me for a moment, before looking around. Her facial expression paled as she looked around the destruction.
"No! nononono!" She quickly rushed through the wreckage, checking the coffins.
While, my gaze went to the partially covered girl which was buried by the rubble.
I went towards her and got on one of my knees.
My hand touched her for a second that moment the command seals which I got from Emiya Kiritsugu glowed forming a connection.
My eyes slightly narrowed at this.
'Very well then. I shall be your Master, when I am done with you, you shall be one of strongest Servants around.'
"Rayshifting in 3…"
"Nonono! Cancel the rayshifting! Anyone! Cancel it now!!!" The white-haired girl forgot about the coffins and rushed toward the doors.
"...2..."
My eyes went from the girl to the massive imitation of burning earth on the other side of the room.
'For burning my world… I shall teach you what is true fear, you filthy demon.' I know full well who did this, I already started to think of methods of punishing this filthy tentacle demon nuisance.
"...1…"
~~~~~~Fuyuki [Singularity F]~~~~~~
*Groan*
With a groan, the blonde demigod slowly opened his eyes and so cloudy sky it was full of black clouds.
Not only that, but it was quite warm, quite a change from the previous place he has been in.
"That's one method of travelling which still needs some work…" King of Heroes slowly got up on his feet.
His eyes scanned the surroundings, all he saw were fire and burning half-collapsed buildings everywhere.
It was unrealistic in sense, as there is no fuel for fire to burn.
Most of the burning material was consumed in the initial fire spread now its… like it is magical...
If it's magical then it means it is feeding of the leylines, making the fire's life span quite longer than it should be.
And if it's magical then it can even hold some of the original curses which were in the cup.
'And why my stupid hedonistic side wanted this thing loose? If it did this, then the planet would be dead like this city!' Gilgamesh shook his head at his past self ludicrous ideas.
All he can say is that he was in his late teenage rebellious stage.
Few moments after looking around he heard a weird sound.
"Hmm, that reminds me… the population of the city…" He didn't need to finish saying that as he saw walking skeletons.
"Of course… the curses in the mud forever trapped humans in this state." As he said that golden portals opened behind him.
Mentally Gilgamesh already selected several loadout's of weapons, since he knows generally what kind of enemies he will face he could prepare specific weapons for them.
His Sha Naqba Imuru only ironed that out.
Nonetheless, he could not stop smiling remembering what is waiting for him as the last enemy of this place.
'Yes, Saber, I shall see you soon!'
"Hahaha!"
Blunt weapons rushed at the enemies from the golden portals behind him.
Destroying them in the process, of course, it was nothing more than a test shot.
As after seeing the durability of the enemies, the King of Heroes loaded appropriately specific weapons.
Soon enough weaponry started raining down from the sides and the sky.
Destroying all the opposition, leaving only broken bones behind.
"You know I can sense you through our contract," Gilgamesh said to his side as he didn't even look.
A girlish like squeak spread through the area a girl with pink hair and a large shield came out looking quite embarrassed with her actions.
"Umm… I…" She didn't know where to look at.
"...I was thinking to jump in… and assist...but, you had it under control...Master…" She explained herself with an embarrassed tone.
"Indeed. Now, that nuisance is out of the way why don't you introduce yourself?"
King of Heroes with his chin commanded the weapons to return to the vault before looking at her.
"Well?"
The girl didn't know who was her Master but his sheer presence was something she never felt before. She is pretty sure he is not completely human either.
"I-I am Mash Kyrielight, a Demi-Servant of Shielder Class."
"Shielder huh? That's an Extra Class Servant, haven't met one of those yet." While he already knew that they existed and knew that the girl will be host to Galahad he never takes everything for granted not anymore.
"Yes… You formed a contract with me, saving my life in the process. I will try my best to live up to it."
"Don't think too much about it. Overthinking in this kind of situation is not wise. And besides saving my subject is one of King's duties."
"King's duties?" She asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"Indeed. My name is Gilgamesh, King of Heroes."
Mash eyes this time went wide as saucers. Trying to comprehend what she just heard.
"...The one from Epic of Gilgamesh? The oldest Hero story in recorded history?" She asked with disbelief.
"The one, and the same. Still, though, I am impressed you know me." The blonde King nodded approvingly.
"O-Of course I know! I need to! And Chaldea is to summon Heroic Spirits to assist the Masters in the protection of human history. So, we need to know the Heroes we summoning!
B-But, how are you even alive? I-I-I mean no disrespect! But, you should be dead for over 5000 years!" Mash quickly explained herself and got quite self-conscious of her abilities now that her Master is quite literally one of the oldest and most powerful Heroes in recorded history.
*Snort*
"As if death can stop a King and a Hero, we all get recorded in the throne and eventually resummoned for one thing or another." Gilgamesh casually waved his hand towards her reaction.
"I was summoned for a Grail War. Which I, obviously won as a Master."
"As a Master? But, didn't you been summoned as a Servant? How did you end up a Master?" Mash asked with a confused look, this is getting more ridiculous by the minute.
"By getting reincarnated and then taking over as one of Masters. Obviously." He said that with an eye roll.
"Now enough of chitchat we have to figure out where we are." King of Heroes said that with a commanding tone which made the girl instantly straighten herself out.
"Yes!"
~~~
As Gilgamesh was walking through the destroyed city, Mash was following him diligently, constantly fighting herself and not starting to ask all sorts of questions.
Not every day one can meet someone who is regarded as King of Heroes, a Demigod, from Age of Gods! And most importantly him being alive and not a Servant!
This was far too curious for the girl. But, this moment was not the right time for any of this.
*Girl's Panicked Scream*
"That's the Director's voice! W-We should assist her Master!" Mash was having some problems not knowing how to address properly Gilgamesh.
Should she call him His Majesty? Master? King of Heroes?
Not too informal or too friendly? This was new grounds for her.
"The white-haired girl?" He asked her curiously, pretending not to know her.
"Y-Yes! Olga Marie Animusphere, she is the Director of Chaldea! If we lose her, there will be quite a bit of trouble." Mash explained as simply as possible at the moment.
"Hmm, very well. Let's save her."
Hearing the all-clear Mash started rushing towards the direction where she heard the scream.
To her bafflement, her Master easily keep up with her.
He had both hands in his pockets while instead of running he was jumping large distances.
Few moments they saw Olga being surrounded by skeletons.
"Take the one around her, while I take care of rest." The King of Heroes ordered Mash.
"Yes! Orders understood!" The Demi-Servant this time leapt herself, and landing in the middle of the encirclement, with the shield larger than her she bashed the skeletons which were about to attack the Director of Chaldea.
While King of Heroes landed on a half-destroyed building, from a higher vantage point he was able to see how his Servant was doing and of course deploy his Gate of Babylon how he wanted.
Moments later golden portals surrounded the encirclement, multiple blunt weapons came out, pointing from inside the circle towards the outside.
Without wasting time weapons started raining down on the skeletons.
Shredding them to pieces.
Moments later Gilgamesh jumped down from the building landing not far from his Servant and the Director of Chaldea.
Both of the females were still in shock and no small amount of awe.
"T-Those were Noble Phantasms! Every single one of them!!!" The white-haired Magus said with disbelief.
The King of Heroes didn't say anything he simply motioned for his treasures to return to him.
"Master… How do you even do that? Is this related to your legend?" Mash asked with wide eyes, she already saw Gate of Babylon in action before but now she saw it being used in a more versatile manner.
The Demi-Servant is wondering what are the limits of this versatility?
"Hmm? Oh, you wondering about my Gate of Babylon?"
By this point, the director stomped towards him was about finger poking him and demand explanation but Gilgamesh has… Sha Naqba Imuru…
That means…
"Who are you…"
*Flick*
"Ow!"
"This is not how speak to your King." The King of Heroes said with a disappointed tone, like he was reprimanding a child.
While Olga ended up crouching and holding her forehead, it was red from the powerful flick the Blonde King administered.
"Director...please, be respectful with King Gilgamesh," Mash said that with quite a worried tone.
"Hmm? King Gilgamesh!?" That moment the white-haired magus forgot about her hurting forehead and looked closely at Blonde King who had his arms crossed while looking around.
She noticed the sheer presence he was emitting, it's like the surrounding around him simply are brighter… like gold… then his eyes and… he was simply perfect human specimen!
"Y-You are not a Servant… no way! That's just no way a real King of Uruk would appear here!" Olga more like forced herself not to believe that someone from 5000 years ago is simply here in front of her! Not even as a Servant! But living, breathing being!
The sheer possibility of that happening is less than 0.1%!
*Sigh*
"Can we get the part where you shock is over with? I dislikes this environment, and if I dislike the environment I usually erase it.
In this case, I can't without figuring out what is going on. So, I suggest we move on, figure out what is going on, deal with it, and return to Chaldea." The blonde King said that while rolling his eyes.
He didn't comment on the fact he knows what is going on. King of Heroes simply doesn't want to explain everything the whole time. So, he is sticking with the clueless part.
"Of course! I apologise for previous behaviour!" Olga quickly did a respectful bow. She knows her myths, And she know quite well all the myths surrounding the Golden King next to her!
Like hell, she will miss the opportunity to learn something from a Demigod King from Age of Gods!
"Good. Since you are the director of the Chaldea I am recruiting you as my advisor… hmm, wait. Since you are from Europe should be more appropriate to call you my Castellan?"
Olga's eyes slightly widened hearing that before they started to twitch from annoyance.
"Don't worry I always reward hard work, riches await you, or perhaps as a mage you more interested in what I have in my library?"
The moment the white-haired girl heard the word 'library' her annoyance evaporated faster than water in the hot desert.
"I graciously accept your offer, your majesty." The Director of Chaldea did an elegant bow, as one expects from a noble family.
Mash had looks of sheer disbelief and even dumbfounded after seeing this!
The Demi-Servant did not expect to see this! In her whole life, she did not expect to see Olga Marie Animusphere bow like this to anyone!
"Wonderful! Consider your Chaldea under my protection. You can be assured that I am taking what happened to you in Chaldea before our transportation here as a personal offence to me as well."
Olga eyes slightly widened hearing that she nearly grinned from ear to ear.
She has the protection of the King of Heroes himself!
The white-haired magus felt much better already!
"Thank you, your majesty."
This time she did more earnest bow.
While Gilgamesh slowly nodded in turn, he already changed quite a bit of the future. He has no idea who will be Beast VII. Not that he cares about it.
One way or another Lostbelts will be happening. Once the process starts with Goetia, all the beasts will descend one way or another.
That's why it will be for the best for him just to collect what he finds along the way. One can't predict Beasts behaviour as they operate outside human's understanding.
"Good. Now that is out of the way we should proceed."
"Yes! Our priority at this moment should be to contact Chaldea. We need more information." Olga said that with a thoughtful look. It was time for her to show to her new King that she is worthy of being his 'Advisor' or 'Castellan'.
"For that, we need to find a leyline." The white-haired Magus clarified to King of Heroes.
"A leyline huh? I know several in this city." Gilgamesh had thoughtful look as he heard what they need.
"Master... you know this city?" Mash asked curiously while Olga finally noticed the changes in the pink-haired girl.
"Yes, it's called Fuyuki. I was here a few hours ago before I crossed timelines." The blonde casually answered the question which earned another set of dumbfounded looks.
"...I see...may you share anything of importance? All we know is that this singularity is set in at least 2000 the specific date is uncertain." The Chaldea director respectfully asked.
"Hmm, I came from the year 1994. It's the date of the Fourth Grail War. As you can imagine I was victorious. If the date set in the year above 2000 then it's should be the Fifth Grail War at least." Gilgamesh said without going into more details than necessary.
"...This… this is not even the timeline I know… we truly need to contact Chaldea as soon as possible," Olga said with quite a stressful look, she doesn't like not knowing what is going on!
"Then follow me." The blonde motioned to follow him as they started walking towards the closest leyline to their location.
~~~
"It's so good to see you alright Director!"
"Archaman!? Where is Lev!? What's going on!?" Olga demanded a quick explanation, but she had a bad feeling about this.
"There is the thing… he is gone, Director, majority of Chaldea was blown up. We operating on the emergency system as I speak. Over 80% of personnel has been killed by the explosion." The man explained with quite seriousness tone.
"Then ask for support from the outside world. It's emergency." The white-haired director said the obvious.
"...There is another matter…" Archaman had a very uneasy look on his face.
"What? Speak up!"
"Humanity is gone… everything beyond our boundary field is gone… " With a tired sigh, he explained to her.
"You...joking! This can't be happening!"
Olga collapsed while being in complete denial. Mash went over to her. Just like the Director she was in just as much shock as the Magus.
*Sigh*
"Since my Advisor has a nervous breakdown, tell me what can Chaldea do as it is at this moment?" Gilgamesh walked over with crossed hands. He looked at the hologram of the human.
"Umm… you must be the one who formed a contract with Mash, yes?" Archaman scratched the back of his head while not knowing how to talk with the blonde Demigod.
"Let's keep it short, I have more than enough firepower to level the city. My point is can Chaldea bring us back? Is the so-called 'Rayshifting' operational?" The blonde asked the important thing.
The explosion is far more dangerous this time than King of Heroes memories told him.
"Ah, yes! While it's not in critical condition we can bring you three back. May I ask who you are? I would like to thank you for saving Mash, we saw the camera footage of the explosion. You were the one who saved her."
"I see. That is good news." Gilgamesh was relieved that he was not stuck in singularity and he doesn't need to do any drastic measures trying to escape.
He is doesn't want to push his Sha Naqba Imuru and take a page from Morgan le Fay and master Rayshifting as magic over a night. Not yet, he only just started his adventure.
"And yes, I suppose introductions are in order. I am Gilgamesh, King of Heroes."
"..."
The reaction of the guy on the other side of the hologram was pretty much the same as the Director's was.
The man was speechless. And the blond King can understand that. Not everyone can swallow the reality that he was back to the world of the living and not as a Servant.
"On the other hand, Archaman was it? Is Chaldea's capacity to Summon Servants is operational?" Gilgamesh curiously asked.
"Eh? Yes, it is. We need Mash shield for it though. And Chaldea doesn't have Prana to sustain Servants at this moment." The man apologetically said to the Golden Hero.
"Prana is of no importance. My reserves are more than enough to sustain several Servants." The blonde casually waved off the concern on prana. He is ⅔ God and his reserves are rapidly refilling since his reincarnation.
"I see. It does make sense since you are a demi-god. Now that connection is established we can monitor and provide assistance from our end here."
"Focus on rebuilding. I will deal with whatever is doing this here." Gilgamesh said with quite a commanding tone and it made the man slightly flinch even though he was on the other side of the hologram, he received quite a dose of the King of Heroes charisma.
"Ok."
After that, the conversation has ended and the blonde Hero looked at Mash and Olga.
The pink-haired Servant of his is looking at the Director with concern.
He doesn't remember the Magus girl like this, but then again he was here, and not Ritsuka…
The kid was completely clueless. So, the Director pulled through, now however he was here and she doesn't need to show a strong front.
With a sigh, he turned towards them then got to their level since Olga was on her knees.
Once more he flicked her forehead.
"Ow!!! Why did you hit me!?"
"Stop being dramatic! It's my job as the King to be dramatic! Your job is to make sure everything runs smooth!
If you worrying about the fact that someone has burned the world then you shouldn't be! Whoever burned my world, my property, I will kill it! That much you should not worry about."
Olga and Mash both of them gulped down while slowly nodding.
The Golden King's aura has made sure they understood.
"Good. Now, we going to summon a Servant." Gilgamesh said that as he looked at the pink-haired girl.
"Archaman said that for it to work we need your shield."
"Y-Yes! Let me set it up!" The girl quickly got up and summoned her shield she put it down on the ground.
By this point Olga was back on her feet, massaging her hurting forehead and looking at the summoning which is about to happen.
"...the summoning is random unless we have a catalyst." She explained to him.
"Thankfully I have every single treasure in my vault related to most heroes." He said with a shrug. There was a smirk on his face.
"...Right… your legend about all the treasures in the vault… how do you still possess them?" The white-haired director asked him with wide eyes.
"While my vault content has been scattered to the winds of time since many years have passed it has transformed into Noble Phantasm." As Gilgamesh said that he lifted his hand and a portal opened just above his palm.
Slowly a blue golden scabbard came out of it.
"This…"
"Is Avalon, we going to summon my Saber." The blonde King of Heroes said with a happy smirk.
"...The Legendary King of Knights… you have the scabbard?" Olga said with wide eyes. The legendary scabbard of the sword of promised victory how did it end up in his hands of all things? Just how broken is his vault!?
"I have the sword too…" He casually shrugged at her.
The director's mouth opened but no sound came out, it closed up the next moment.
The Golden King motioned for the scabbard to float to the shield. Landing not far from it.
Before long Mash set up everything for summoning.
"It's all done Master, we only need prana for the summoning." The pink-haired Servant said to him.
Gilgamesh nodded, he could barely control himself and not start smiling like crazy, it was only a few hours ago that he felt that sour Victory, now it's going to be sweet Victory.
Without wasting too much time he walked over to the shield and started channelling his prana.
Both Olga and Mash gulped down feeling the sheer amount of energy the blonde can produce.
~~~~~~???~~~~~~
On top of a mountain, surrounded by countless corpses and weapons.
A girl dressed in blue and white armour was looking at the cloudy sky.
She just returned victorious from a Holy Grail war.
And what 'Victory' it was.
The King of Knights fought three times…
And only killed one Servant in the whole war.
Now that she has time to think it was nothing more than a spectacle for a Demigod King.
Still, Artoria can't believe she won a cup through her Charm of all things!
She didn't spend most of her life learning how to wield a sword so that she could win through her charm when it's most important!
It felt like a slap to her hard work!
No...No...NO…
This is something she won't going to accept! Even if her dream can't happen, even if she can't redo her rule, she won't be going to the afterlife before she wins the cup with her hands!
And… hopefully, this next war won't going to have him.
Artoria knows she is powerful, her sword is one of the strongest weapons in the world, crafted by fairies themselves.
But, that man…
The King of Knights feels completely powerless in front of him.
It's like he has an answer for anything and everything inside his vault.
It simply annoyed her that he didn't see her as any sort of adversary, it's like he never acknowledged her power.
Same time she was quite...touched, that he went out his way to allow her to have her fight with Lancer to a proper end.
Dealing with Caster's madness so quickly.
One thing is for sure she quite respects him and doesn't want to deal with him if she is to meet him in another war.
'Not that it's going to happen, he is alive now once more.' The blonde thought with an unreadable expression on her face.
In the end, Artoria simply… had no idea how to deal with him.
No, one taught her how to behave around Demigod King.
"Hmm?"
The blonde King of Britain stopped thinking and looked at the sky once more.
The clouds are clearing up, once more she felt a pull.
"Another summoning… This time for sure." King of Knights resolutely thought to herself. This time she is going to win! She WILL show her strength!
~~~
"Servant Saber has answered your summons, I ask of you…" Saber's face widened seeing who summoned her!
"Gah!!!" She took a step back, there was some panic on her face. She quickly took a defensive position.
"A-Archer! H-How did you summoned me!?" She asked with a panicked tone. An incredible amount of embarrassment and panic started to rise in her gut.
'If Archer can summon me, then… this is not good!!!'
Artoria's one of the greatest reasons for denying Gilgamesh twice is her pride and most importantly she has no clue about the relationship at all!
Her best excuse was that they were enemies! Servants locked in battle royal!
Now, however… she was summoned not even into a grail war in the first place!
All she knows is that she was summoned to assist in something big, the contracts vague at best and there is no limit! Gilgamesh can keep her as long as he deems needed…
"Ah, my beautiful Saber. We meet again. And you know already that I am not Servant anymore. I don't go by that classification anymore."
"...Yes, I remember. Even so, how did you summon me!?" King of Knights nearly squeaked her question. This was not what she expected! She expected to run away from him! To prove herself worthy of the title of King of Knights!
How she is supposed to do that with him hovering around her!?
"Please Saber didn't I tell you that we will speak again after the war is over!? Hmm? And it happened! It only has been four hours since we spoke." Gilgamesh said in matter of fact tone.
"..."
"..."
While Saber is out of words Olga and Mash were shocked just as much as the King of Knights was. Well, their shock was quite different.
For one… The legendary King Arthur is a female… and another one is that King of Heroes made the legendary King of Britain blush and behave like a teenage girl.
"Umm…Master… shouldn't we…" Mash got Gilgamesh and Saber's attention.
The blonde King of Knights quickly gathered herself.
"Since you summoned in this kind of location...something has happened… may I know what is going?" Artoria walked of the shield and took a few steps towards the King of Heroes.
She could feel his raw presence has increased. While she can't probe his power like that, she can tell that he was even more powerful.
Or maybe he is regaining his old power? Well, time will tell.
On other hand, she noticed the shield…
'Don't tell her, she needs to figure out herself it's necessary for her growth,' Gilgamesh said that through the new connection he had with Saber, as he noticed where she was looking.
'...I assume there is a reason why one of my knights is lending strength to this girl?' She asked him mentally with a raised eyebrow.
'As far as I know, they had problems summoning heroic spirits. So, they tried several different ways.' He said that as he saw Mash pick up her shield and ready to move.
'I see...Still, you dodged my question. How did you summon me?' For now, she decided to ignore the fact that her knight's power is used to power up a girl.
She was far more interested in understanding how she was summoned to his side.
Instead of answering her the Golden Hero showed to her.
And that is by picking up the sheath which was handed over to him by Mash, who picked it up for him.
"Of course… I should have known…" Saber said that with a deadpan tone.
Of course, it will one of her treasures… a man who brags about his treasures will use a treasure to summon her…
Why she is even asking?
"Umm… it's an honour to meet the Legendary King of Knights! I am Mash Kyrielight, I am a demi-Servant of Shielder class!" The pink-haired girl introduced herself with a bow. She was nearly on cloud nine meeting someone like Saber who was standing in front of her.
The blonde knight slightly smiled at her. She can already tell that this girl is an honest type.
"Likewise, now can someone tell me where are we? Why everything is on fire?" Finally, the King of Knights addressed the elephant in the room.
"Well? You know this is the best. Do tell Saber about this place." Gilgamesh said that to his advisor, who quickly got into her director's role.
"Well, this is a singularity, a distortion in the main history. Something or someone has been brought into this region which distorted it. We need to find whatever it is and remove it once we did that the timeline will fix upon itself." Olga explained as plainly as possible.
"And how did you get involved in this mess?" Saber asked extremely curiously the King of Heroes.
This is quite... interesting development, fixing history? Now that is quite… irony...she just wanted to alter history and now she needs to save it…
"Not by chance. I used one of Kaleidoscope's jewel sword to cross timelines to find some sort of adventure after you disappeared on me." The King of Heroes said with a shrug.
"Well… you got the adventure part covered. But, Kaleidoscope? Seriously? What your vault has else?" Artoria asked with disbelief writing on her face same with the other two ladies from Chaldea.
"Your question should be what I do not have. After ascending to the throne my legend took it literally and transformed into a Noble Phantasm.
It only got more powerful with the flow of time, by this point, I have no idea what is inside my vault. Each time I check there is another pile of something new." The blonde Demigod said with a shrug. He stopped checking what he gets the moment he realised that it's just too much of a drag.
That's why he only has some basic sorting going on.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"I see. So, do we know anything else about this place?" Sabee decided that she should stop questioning about the vault she was just reminded of that.
"According to his Majesty, this is the location of a grail war. In my timeline, there was only one war. While in his one there was four, and this one aftermath of the fifth one. At least that's what we theorized." The white-haired magus explained with a thoughtful look.
After hearing the explanation Saber looked around with wide eyes. Seeing such destruction of the supposed Grail War was quite a shock to her.
Who could do such a thing at such a scale?
"Then we should solve this as quickly as possible. Any idea where should we go?" The King of Knights asked seriously.
"At the source of this. I can sense quite a bit of prana at the location where Greater Grail is." Gilgamesh pointed in the direction.
Saber and Mash nodded as they started walking while Olga stared at the golden king with wide eyes.
'Just how strong is his sense to sense something through this thing!' She asked that herself, her magic sense is all over the place in this location. The fire was not normal at all!
~~~
A knife attached to a chain rushed towards the white-haired magus girl but Saber intercepted it with her sword blasting the knife away.
Moments later the blonde knight saw who it was.
A shadowy figure, a black miasma surrounding it, all she could tell was that its a woman, from body form to long hair.
But, something was off with this...thing.
She can't tell if it's a Servant or something else entirely.
"Identify yourself! Attacking from behind like some ruffian!" Saber demanded to identify, but all she got is another attack from this shadowy woman.
*Tsk*
With a burst of wind Saber leapt to intercept and engage.
Gilgamesh snorted hearing how King of Knights just called Medusa a ruffian.
Still, the blonde knight is more driven now, her fighting style became slightly more aggressive.
"Master...shouldn't we assist Saber?" Mash asked the blonde Demigod.
"No. There is barely left anything of the original Servant which was this shadowy figure. Neither it can deploy its Noble Phantasm like this. Even the parameters are much lower overall.
You should just focus on protecting my Advisor instead." King of Heroes said with crossed arms as he looked at Saber.
"Understood."
Soon enough Saber was able to deal with the Shadow Medusa. There was no competition, Rider usually utilises her superior speed but in this situation, Artoria's speed exceeded Medusa's and with the assistance of Strike Air the Shadow Rider was defeated with a burst of Golden particles.
Before long Saber was back at the group.
"Good work, your fighting style is slightly more aggressive than usual." The blonde Demigod commented.
Saber slowly nodded. Didn't expect to be praised for dealing with such a weak opponent. It felt slightly weird for her.
"Do you have any idea what it was? It felt it was a Servant, yet it felt too hollow." The blonde knight asked King of Heroes.
"It was something between a wraith and an actual Servant. The creature may possess some of the instincts, memories of how to fight. But there is no personality whatsoever."
"Still… does this mean it was a Servant of this war before all of this happened?" Saber asked him while motioning the surroundings.
"A very high possibility," Gilgamesh said while slowly nodding at her.
"Then it means there should be another 6 of these beings at least." The blonde Knight reasoned.
"Sharp thinking and yes, there should be six more, I can sense at least four more signatures. One is close to our destination. Another one is on its way towards us." The blonde Demigod said that as he looked around.
"Y-You only now told us that you can sense them!?" Olga said with angry disbelief.
"There is no reason for me to tell you something insignificant, like this," Gilgamesh said that with a bored shrug.
"Tell me from which direction?" Saber asked him as she was already holding her invisible sword.
The blonde Demigod pointed to the side, and Saber rushed forward.
"Saber! Where are you going!" Olga asked with wide eyes she can't believe the blonde Knight just rushed off like that!
Not that mattered anyway as Saber didn't even respond to the white-haired girl's words.
"Your majesty what should we do?" The white-haired Director asked King of Heroes after seeing how King of Knight was gone out of her sight.
"We follow her of course. I want to see her fight more." He answered back with the most obvious tone.
Before they started walking towards where Saber has rushed.
Not that they needed to go far as the Blonde Knight already engaged someone quite tall with different length hands, it looked quite weird.
One hand was wrapped in cloth while the other was holding a knife. Even with a black and smoky body, it looked like a serial killer or… an Assassin.
"This one should be Assassin," Olga said after observing the opponent.
"And I was an Archer, without using a bow. Don't fall into obvious like that. But yes, this time you are right, what Saber is facing is a cheap imitation of Hassan of Cursed Arm." As Gilgamesh was saying that, Artoria was overwhelming the Shadow Servant.
Few exchanged later she was about to deal a fatal blow, but another shadow figure was about to have a jump on her.
…
…
Only for golden portals to surround it and moments later sounds of weapons breaking sound barrier and smashing into the shadowy figure from all directions spread through the area.
A complete 360-degree attack, which instantly killed. The worst part for Mash and Olga was that the weapons were blunt type.
And that Gilgamesh didn't even look when he killed the Shadowy figure.
So, the sounds of blunt metals crashing into the body of this Shadow Servant send shivers through their spines.
Same time the ladies from Chaldea were quite impressed by the fact that Saber barely reacted to the execution of this Shadow Servant.
Instead, she finished off Hassan of Cursed Arm similarly like she did with the previous Servant.
Running her sword through the being with partially empowered Excalibur.
Once the thing disappeared the blonde Knight returned to their side.
"This makes three. Another fourth left." She said to the group.
"Indeed, and now we have a guest." Gilgamesh nodded at her before turning towards a building.
Moments later a figure clad in blue robes with a wooden staff walked over.
Saber took a defensive stance, ready to engage once more.
"This is extremely weird…you look like her previous form. This means you are another one from outside perhaps?" The man said with a slightly raised eyebrow as he looked at King of Knights.
"Identify yourself mage!" Saber asked sharply.
"Right, where were my manners...Servant Caster, I am one of the Servants of this war before it went to hell as you can see." He motioned with around while saying that.
"As this weird as it sounds, I can't believe you were summoned as Caster of all things. Hound of Ulster." Gilgamesh could not control himself and almost laugh while saying that.
Now identified as Cu Chulainn rolled his eyes at the blond.
Everyone looked at the blue-robed man with slighly raised eyebrows.
"This is Child of Light? But he should be a spearman no?" The most shocked was Saber, she never expected the legendary spearman from Ireland to be a Caster of all things!
"I know! I never asked for this!!!" Caster pointed at his robes and staff." But, even weirder is you!" Cu Chulainn pointed at King of Heroes." Being alive of all things!"
*Snort*
"Not quite. It depends on my curiosity level and what I find entertaining. Normally I would just be at the sideline and watch as things unfold. But lately, I found new entertaining things to do, so I decided to reincarnate."
This time Cu Chulainn rolled his eyes, he doesn't have precise memories but he can identify the Golden King from miles away.
While the same time Gilgamesh was quite curious that Child of Light knows him like that.
The whole timeline things are extremely confusing to him, some Servants have memories of grail wars some don't.
'Depending on timeless or how Nasu wants it, I suppose.'
"Yes. I think you have eaten something weird as you didn't call anyone 'mongrel' yet." Cu Chulainn said with a curious look.
This time Gilgamesh rolled his eyes at the blue-haired hero from Ireland.
This whole thing was quite interesting to watch for the three females. Especially Saber, who realised that this Caster has met another version of Gilgamesh.
"That's because it's what my Archer version would say."
"But you were summoned as Archer." Saber pointed out.
"Ugh…" The King of Heroes facepalmed.
"Yes. Unlike my immature version, I realised my shortcomings. And you should be thankful for that Saber.
My Archer version doesn't take 'no' for an answer. So, I hope we don't meet him any time soon, otherwise I would need to dispatch him as quickly as possible, he is bad for my reputation."
Saber frowned hearing that before looking at Caster who with a very interested look was listening in.
"Is it true Caster? What he just said?" At this point, Artoria already had this image of King of Heroes in her mind, she can't quite see another more… unrestrained version of him.
"Uhh...how should I say it? He is very… tyrannical?" Cu Chulainn tried not to piss off someone who can seriously kill without even looking at you, he already saw how the Goldie dispatched the Shadow Servant.
*Sigh*
"There are three versions of which I am could be summoned as a Servant. As history remembers three versions of me." The King of Heroes said with a slightly annoyed tone, just remembering his hedonistic side pisses him off.
It's like his teenage years are all over the internet and he can't simply forget about it, as the rest will remind you.
"The young kind King, the Tyrant which was in his teenager/young adult years, as you can imagine its the most embarrassing teenager years which everyone wants to forget, and my later years which earned me the title of Sage King of Uruk or the Golden King of Mesopotamia."
"That's alot of different versions of you… how do you even know that?" Cu Chulainn asked that with quite shocked and very much curious tone.
How many heroes have this many versions of themselves which can be summoned like that?
"Clairvoyance." He said that with shrug.
"Damn… you truly are Jack of all trades." Cu Chulainn said with an annoyed tone, if only he could do that! He could use his Spear even as a Caster.
"Umm… not that I find this entertaining. But, could we talk about the matter of burning the city and the Singularity?" Olga carefully, not to provoke the seriously powerful Heroes in front of her, brough the important matter to the top of the discussion list.
"Right… sorry about that missy. But, seeing unique King of Heroes made it my day." Cu Chulainn said with a grin which only made Gilgamesh roll his eyes at him again.
The blue-haired demigod has the feeling that the golden Hero is reigning in his tendencies to impress King of Knights. But that just his thoughts.
"All I know is that someone appeared in the middle of the war and unleashed some black mud from the sky.
Thankfully I was out of its area, being Caster and all. Most of Servants turned into those Shadowy versions of themselves.
After then Saber of this war took control of them. And now they are rooming the city for some reason.
It tried to approach the site where she was holding the fort but THAT Archer is guarding it.
The guy is quite an annoying fellow of sort, who moves quick on his feet." Caster version of Cu Chulainn explained to the group
Olga had thoughtful look, same with Saber who is trying to think of something, while Mash was simply waiting for everyone to make some sort of decision. She was more or less the follower type of person.
"I see. This is quite easily solvable. There is only one Servant who is guarding the entrance. That leaves only Saber who is guarding the grail.
What about Berserker?"
"Gods know. He just walked away somewhere." The blue-haired demigod said with a not caring shrug.
"We going to do a frontal assault then. We got the numbers." Saber offered to them.
Gilgamesh shrugged at her, he simply doesn't care at the moment, he summoned his Saber all he cares is to see her fight.
More precisely he can see her fight another version of herself which is a rare event on its own.
"Then we shall do a frontal assault as you suggested." The King of Heroes said that before looking at Caster.
With a hand motion, he made a portal open and a red barbed spear came out of the portal.
"Let's make a deal Cu Chulainn." Gilgamesh grinned for a second while saying that.
"Oh, This is going to be good." The Child of Light said with a grin of his own as he saw his spear.
~~~
As the group was approaching the Greater Grail ritual site several magically imbued arrows rushed towards them from a tall building rooftop.
"That's him!" The blue-haired demigod said with a pissed off tone.
No matter the timeline Cu Chulainn is always pissed off by the faker.
While Gilgamesh… he was nearly mad grinning seeing him.
Oh, he has tons of pain to extract front this individual.
Without much wasting time, the Golden Hero motioned with his hand for a portal to open quickly and a massive golden shield to come out.
The arrows slammed into the shield, then they explodes upon the impact.
The shield was severely damaged but still functional.
"Faker! Know this, I Will Kill You." King of Heroes raised one of his hands, above his head, pointing at the sky.
A moment later one golden portal appeared, it started to rapidly expand.
So, quick in fact, that it was as wide as the city in less than a minute.
"King of Heroes what are going to do?" Saber asked with wide eyes as she saw the size of the portal, same with the rest.
Even Cu Chulainn gulped down slightly, he never saw the Goldie being… serious.
He wonders if the King of Uruk knows the archer as much as he does?
"I am going to kill them all Saber! There is not many enemies left for you to face in a proper duel anymore! That means I can 'clean the house' as they say!" As Gilgamesh said that golden aura surrounded him.
That moment his Prana spiked for a short breath of time.
"Enuma Elish!!!"
The golden portal turned rainbow in colour and thousands of weapons like heat-seeking missiles started raining down on the city below.
Killing all the remaining skeletons and starting to assault the Archer and even Berserker.
~~~
"Why him of all people!?" The darkened version of the Counter Guardian was rushing through the buildings trying to dodge all the weapons which are following him! there were hundreds of them!!!
"Trace on"
He quickly started to trace the weapons and try to deflect the incoming ones with his copies…
The problem was…
"Come! show me that faking ability of yours! can it fake all of my wealth?"
Hearing that arrogant voice always pissed EMIYA.
Now, however… he did not expect Gilgamesh to be this serious…
What did his counterpart do to piss him this much off?
…
…
He shouldn't think too much, whichever Gilgamesh this is… it's simply bad business.
*Tsk*
He barely deflected all of the weapons but at that moment at least three times more appeared and rushed towards him.
"Damn… sorry... Saber…" Before long, the Counter Guardian turned into a pincushion…
~~~
While on the other side of the city extremely tall figure was dodging and weaving through countless amount of weapons raining on him.
The worst part of this for the darkened monstrosity was that the weapons simply changed directions mid-flight and continued to chance after him!
Then in the middle of the dodging...
Chains rushed from golden portals that appeared around him.
Easily restraining him, like they were created to stop beings like him.
Next moment he too turned into a pincushion.
The Legendary and Mythical Hero of Greece didn't know what to think about this turn of events.
At the doorstep of death, he was allowed to regain his clarity.
And all he knew was that he was bested by weapons raining from the sky? What would his father think about him dying like this!?
~~~
"That settles it. All of them are dead. We can focus on the enemy in this cave now." Gilgamesh said that while lowering his hand.
The group didn't notice how excited he was, they were more shocked at the demonstration of what his Gate of Babylon can do.
The massive portal above the city slowly disappeared and all the weapons have returned to the vault.
Saber looked with disbelief and bafflement after seeing such a display of power.
How is she supposed to compete against that?
While Cu Chulainn was...well, shocked just as much, only the thing was he had never seen extremely serious King of Heroes or more like a version of him who doesn't mind doing things on his own.
By this point, he is quite happy to be on the side of this version of him. The sad point is that he won't be getting a good fight if this continues.
Soon enough the group entered the cave but a beam of pure black of red energy was about to greet them.
Gilgamesh snorted and lifted his left hand a portal opened and the legendary sheath of Excalibur came out.
"Avalon!"
The King of Heroes used his connection with Saber to activate the sheath.
The sheath glowed and the beam was reflected.
The Golden Hero has full confidence that Saber Alter will survive this attack.
"Damn… you even have Avalon? Gods be damned what you don't have stashed in that vault of yours?" Caster asked with disbelief seeing how casually the blast was delt with.
"I have your teacher's spears as well." The blonde Demigod said with a shrug.
"Spears? You telling me she started using more than one spear?" Cu Chulainn asked with disbelief, he really is falling behind with his training if his teacher uses two now!
"As far as I know she wields three now," Gilgamesh said that knowing full well what kind of reaction the Hero from reland will have.
"Ugh…"
Without saying anything more they entered a cave.
It was an empty, flat expanse at the other side of it there was darkened version of King of Knights standing, behind here there was a large hole.
Most likely where the reflected beam has ended.
When Artoria saw this version of her she didn't know what to think about her.
Is this a failed version of her? Or some sort of corrupted version? Never before she meet...herself...on the battlefield.
"Ho? So, another version of me was needed to deal with me, very well. Come! Show me your greatest strength! And I shall crush it!" The darkened Artoria said it as she lifted her sword above her.
The very next moment massive amount of prana started gathering in the black blade.
Saber didn't need to be told what to do next, she quickly rushed forward, revealed her sword and started gathering her prana in her golden blade.
Next moment…
"EX-CALIBUR!!!"
"EX-CALIBUR MORGAN!!!"
A beam of black and red light rushed towards the incoming golden beam of light.
Clashing in the middle of the cavern. The amount of force this blast has generated needed to escape somewhere. So, it rushed upwards blowing up the ceiling of the cavern.
The group who was seeing this event from the sidelines needed to cover their eyes.
While King of Heroes opened several portals and multiple shield noble Phantasm cave out to protect them from incoming rocks.
More or less it was for Olga who was just a human compared to the rest of the group.
"Damn… not every day one can see a clash of two Excaliburs." Cu Chulainn said with an excited grin. This was one in a lifetime show!
"Indeed, even in reversed form, the blade is still a Divine Construct," Gilgamesh commented after seeing the black blade in action.
"No kidding, the only thing that mud did to her only changed her battling style! While the rest turned into those shadowy things!"
Cu Chulainn was in a roundabout way telling him that Saber was powerful, something King of Heroes didn't need to be told.
"I know." The blonde Demigod only smiled back at him, it was not a simple smile at all.
And the blue-haired demigod knew that the Mesopotamian King had something in mind.
While two Demigods were talking about the blasts Olga was thinking that she was out of place. The amount of power is throwing around was way out of the leagues of magus.
That's why she was standing quite close to Mash and the blonde Demigod and her supposed King.
"Hoh? That sword is not just for show. Very well, let's see which one is better then!" The Darkened Saber rushed forward with prana burst.
Saber narrowed her eyes and rushed forwards as well empowered by Strike Air and her Prana Burst.