Chapter 24: I've Helped You Take Back Your Home!  

Broly grew angrier the more he thought about it. Why could the other guy throw things, while he...

"Huh?!"

A spark of inspiration flashed in Broly's small head. He suddenly realized that he could throw things too.

Raising his small hand, he took aim at the golden-haired figure in the sky, gathered his energy...

[What is he doing?]

Gilgamesh wondered, only to feel a sudden sense of dread.

He quickly moved from his spot.

In the next moment, an energy blast swept through where he had been standing.

The Noble Phantasm he had been standing on was vaporized.

Gilgamesh: "?!"

He immediately looked down.

Broly blinked, as if discovering a new world, and raised his other hand. Just then, he looked up.

Their eyes met, and Broly gave Gilgamesh an innocent smile that seemed to say, [Now it's my turn to throw things at you]. Both of his small hands began to glow green.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

A series of explosions echoed amidst the pouring rain, and the steam from the evaporating water formed a thick mist.

This world seemed to follow the rule of "no harm in smoke," as a golden-green flying ship emerged from the mist.

Gilgamesh stood on the ship. If he hadn't reacted quickly and summoned a barrage of defensive Noble Phantasms, he would have been killed by the energy blasts.

Now, though unharmed, he was somewhat disheveled. His regal, crossed-arm pose was gone, and the magical barrier that had been shielding him from the rain had vanished. His face and hair were drenched.

To make matters worse, the monstrous child had taken to the air again, hands glowing green as he chased after Gilgamesh. Just as Gilgamesh had thrown Noble Phantasms at him, Broly was now hurling terrifying energy spheres at the king.

The difference was that Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasms couldn't break Broly's defense, but Broly's energy blasts could end Gilgamesh if a few landed directly.

Behind the Vimana, streaks of green light flashed, and terrifying explosions pushed aside the rain.

Below, those who had been watching the battle were stunned. The heavy rain masked most of the commotion, and the world's internet wasn't yet widespread. Otherwise, the spectacular explosions in the sky would have become common knowledge among ordinary people in no time.

The Vimana climbed higher, and Gilgamesh steered it into the thunderclouds. Inside the clouds, natural lightning occasionally flashed, while Broly's energy blasts continued to chase him.

[The Vimana can avoid lightning!]

Gilgamesh thought this and glanced back.

Just then, a bolt of lightning struck Broly.

The lightning was too fast for Broly to dodge, and he was hit directly.

Smoke rose from his body as he fell.

"Even a monster can't match the power of nature."

Gilgamesh sighed. He had once fought against the natural laws of life and death, only to fail.

But just as he finished his thought, another energy blast exploded nearby.

Looking back, he saw the boy, who had just been smoking and falling, now full of energy and chasing after him again.

Broly's body was tingling from the electricity, but he was otherwise unharmed.

Seeing this, Gilgamesh felt a surge of frustration, but there was no time to dwell on it.

He could only continue leading Broly into the densest part of the thunderclouds.

Lightning soon struck again, drawn to the residual charge on Broly's body.

But this time, the lightning didn't paralyze him.

Broly had already raised a green energy barrier, and he charged through the natural lightning, continuing his pursuit of the flying ship.

"Did the bygone Age of Gods leave something behind in this world?"

This was a question Gilgamesh desperately wanted to ask. Only the terrifying beings of the Age of Gods could have the power to contend with natural forces.

Of course, lightning alone wasn't the most powerful force of nature, but being able to withstand it with his bare body was still astonishing.

The chase and bombardment continued, and as Broly grew more accustomed to aerial combat, the pressure on Gilgamesh increased.

Tokiomi was an excellent magus, but even he was struggling to keep up with the barrage of Noble Phantasms and the Vimana's high-speed maneuvers.

Half an hour into the aerial game of dodgeball and hide-and-seek, Gilgamesh had no choice but to pull out a mana potion from his treasury and drink it.

After an hour, as the heavy rain began to lessen and the lightning became less frequent, the Vimana was forced to ascend to an altitude of 10,000 meters by Broly.

"Wait a second."

Just as Broly was about to continue bombarding the ship with energy blasts, Gilgamesh called for a halt.

If it were any other opponent, they wouldn't have stopped at this moment.

But Broly was different. Curious about what Gilgamesh wanted to say, he actually stopped.

"If we keep fighting like this, we'll just be wasting each other's time. How about we settle this with one final move?"

Gilgamesh proposed.

Most of his magical energy had been spent on flying, and he was running out of power. Meanwhile, the monstrous boy across from him still looked full of energy.

If the chase continued, defeat was only a matter of time. Rather than drag it out, Gilgamesh decided to use his strongest attack to end it.

"Alright."

Broly thought for a moment and agreed. His time was also limited, and he had already wasted a lot of it chasing this guy who could throw things and fly fast. The idea of settling it with one move suited him just fine.

"First, let's agree: no sneak attacks before we unleash our strongest moves, and no dodging each other's attacks once they're launched. Do you accept these terms?"

"Fine."

"Good, then it's settled."

Seeing Broly agree, Gilgamesh breathed a sigh of relief. His strongest move was tied to his sword, Ea, but to unleash an attack powerful enough to break through the boy's defenses, Ea needed time to absorb magical energy.

However, Broly had been chasing him relentlessly, leaving no time to charge Ea. Even if he managed to charge it, Broly's speed might allow him to dodge the attack.

That's why Gilgamesh hadn't used Ea until now, when he was backed into a corner. He had called for a halt to propose this decisive move.

Admittedly, using such tactics against a child—even a monstrous one—was somewhat underhanded.

But intelligence was also part of strength. If Broly agreed, it was only because he was young and inexperienced. Gilgamesh couldn't be blamed for that.

Ea appeared in Gilgamesh's hand, and he began absorbing magical energy from the atmosphere. Meanwhile, down below, Tokiomi had already regained consciousness.

Battered and bruised, he was informed that his Servant had taken the fight with the monstrous boy into the sky.

"Tokiomi!"

"Hero King, have you achieved victory?"

"Not yet. This is a formidable opponent. I've agreed to settle it with one final move."

Gilgamesh didn't mention that he had been pushed to the brink.

"Use all your Command Spells. I need a massive amount of magical energy to fully unleash Ea."

"Ah, this..."

Tokiomi hesitated. If he used all his Command Spells, would he still be considered a Master?

"Stop worrying about that cursed cup. If I don't deal with the guy in front of me, you might not survive."

Gilgamesh, seeing his Master's hesitation, snorted.

"..."

Feeling the pain of his battered body, Tokiomi made his decision.

"By the power of my Command Spells, great Hero King, I command you to defeat the enemy before you."

Tokiomi repeated this twice, his voice muffled due to his injuries. The two Command Spells on his hand vanished, transforming into a surge of magical energy that flowed through their contract to Gilgamesh.

At 10,000 meters, in the stratosphere, the normally stable air currents began to churn as Gilgamesh's Ea started to spin.

The magical energy from the Command Spells wasn't enough. Gilgamesh used it to draw upon the magical energy of the entire city of Fuyuki, gathering all the free-floating energy into Ea.

The result was that the remaining storm clouds in the troposphere below began to swirl, creating a massive area of effect.

---

"Anomalous weather patterns have been detected off the coast of western Japan..."

Meteorological satellites from various countries picked up on the unusual weather changes.

"Director, something big is happening."

At the United States Special Investigations Bureau, a spy satellite displayed footage captured from high above Fuyuki City.

"Oh my God, is that something a human can do?"

The staff gasped as they watched the two figures at the center of the meteorological anomaly, especially the terrifying sight of Gilgamesh's Ea influencing the weather.

"That's not a human. It's a Servant. According to intelligence, three prominent magus families in that area are conducting a secret ritual called the Holy Grail War."

"Are you kidding me? This is what they call a secret ritual?"

"Uh..."

The intelligence officer who had provided the information was at a loss for words. The commotion in Fuyuki was so massive that any country with a weather satellite would have noticed.

---

"Get in the chariot!"

"What's going on, Rider?"

Waver Velvet was suddenly hoisted onto the chariot by the burly man, confused.

"We're making a strategic retreat."

Iskandar explained.

"Huh? Why?"

"See those clouds up there? Feel how the magical energy in the atmosphere is gathering above us?"

Iskandar pointed to the swirling vortex in the sky.

Waver nodded, but he still didn't understand why they needed to run.

"That's probably the Hero King going all out. If he really unleashes his strongest Noble Phantasm, with the scale of what's happening, this city might be destroyed. If we don't get far away now, we might not get another chance."

"Wait, you're saying this is Archer's doing?"

Waver's eyes widened.

"Of course. I recognize his aura. No time to talk, hold on tight! Giddy up!"

The chariot took off, speeding away from Fuyuki City.

---

"Aren't you going to prepare?"

Gilgamesh, having gathered enough magical energy, noticed that Broly was just floating in the air, seemingly doing nothing.

[What should I do?]

Broly was puzzled for a moment, then had an epiphany. He flew from Gilgamesh's left side to his right.

"What are you doing?"

Gilgamesh frowned.

"The left side always loses in beam clashes, so I'm moving to the right."

Broly replied seriously.

Gilgamesh: "..."

He didn't know how to respond to that.

"Aren't you going to prepare your strongest move?"

He asked.

"I'm already prepared. Look."

Broly opened his right hand, revealing a small, glass bead-sized energy ball.

He didn't know what his strongest move was, but he knew that compressing energy could create a more powerful blast.

This tiny, deep green energy ball was the limit of his current control over energy compression.

Gilgamesh: "..."

While it wasn't fair to judge an explosive energy ball by its size, at this moment, the King of Heroes felt confident of victory—or rather, he felt he was about to win in an underhanded way.

Look at the massive spectacle he had created by gathering magical energy, and then look at the tiny glass bead Broly had produced.

"Are you sure you don't want to prepare more?"

"I can't compress any more energy into it. If I try, it'll explode."

"Fine. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Enuma Elish!"

Terrifying red-brown energy surged from Ea, engulfing everything in its path.

Broly simply tossed his compressed energy ball.

The moment the two energies collided, the tiny energy ball began to expand.

In the blink of an eye, the red-brown energy from Ea was swallowed by the expanding energy ball.

Gilgamesh's eyes widened as he thought, [Does the left side really always lose in beam clashes?] before his body was obliterated by the overwhelming energy.

Broly's compressed energy ball continued its path, neatly parting the Earth of the Type-Moon world before heading into space. Before it flew too far, it grazed the Moon, taking a tenth of the celestial body with it.

A certain princess sleeping in her castle was jolted awake. She looked out the window at the now slightly smaller Moon and felt a chill, realizing how close she had come to losing her true body.

---

"Gurgle..."

With the fight over, Broly's stomach growled. He had expended a lot of energy and was now hungry.

Descending from the sky, Broly's clothes were tattered, but no one dared to underestimate him.

Food could wait. He still had to finish teaching that man a lesson.

Broly raised his small fist and marched toward Tokiomi.

"No, stay away!"

This was pure, unadulterated violence. The already injured Tokiomi was beaten again, and under Broly's persuasive methods, the matter of adopting a daughter was dropped.

Of course, the more important reason was that Tokiomi had lost his Servant and was effectively out of the Holy Grail War. Sending his daughter to another family under these circumstances would have been madness.

Zouken Matou had his own plans, but when Broly's menacing gaze turned toward him, he quickly handed Sakura over with a forced smile.

Who would risk antagonizing such a monstrous child for the sake of a talented heir? That would be suicidal.

The sky after the rain was beautiful. Broly stood in the sunlight, refracted by the lingering moisture, and said to Sakura, "I've taken your home back for you. You can go home now."

Sakura was stunned. Her happiness value soared, and finally, she couldn't hold back. She threw herself at Broly, wrapping her arms around his neck and crying, "Broly, I don't want to go home. That's not my home. I want to go home with you."