Chapter 123
"Hah, you're a cheeky one, golden boy. Are you ogling the princess's body? I think you need to be taught a lesson," I sneered maliciously, standing up and summoning my bow. At the same time, a white glow began emanating from within me, cleansing my body of alcohol.
"I've been wanting to wipe that smirk off your face for a long time," Saber echoed, rising from the table and summoning her armor and sword. Though unlike me, she was swaying slightly from the alcohol.
"In that case, it's time to dance!" Gilgamesh donned his golden armor, golden portals opening behind him.
Gilgamesh and I made the first moves. As soon as the tips of his weapons emerged from the portals—some aimed at the people at the table—I blinked a short teleport to increase the distance and infused my body with Electro energy so intensely that lightning started to spark off me, affecting the area around. In the next instant, my arms blurred from the speed of my movement. Countless Electro-charged arrows were fired in a flash, knocking down the Noble Phantasms just as they began to emerge from the portals, completely shutting down the King of Heroes' attack.
Of course, Artoria wasn't sitting idle: the moment the first arrows and Noble Phantasms were fired, she shot forward at supersonic speed like a missile, charging at the King of Heroes. Wind swirled around her sword, ready to strike the enemy with a blow as powerful as the hammer of the Lord of the Winds. Unfortunately, the tip of her blade met an insurmountable obstacle—the shield Gilgamesh raised at the last moment. Streams of compressed air splashed against the shield's surface, which seemed like an entire world unto itself, and only the cracks in the marble floor testified to the true strength of her attack.
"Foolish woman, I am the KING OF HEROES!" he roared, swinging his shield at Saber. It created the illusion of an entire world materializing behind him, ready to crash down on the chest of the armored woman. Arrows aimed at his head shattered against an impossibly dense mana shield. His swing looked deceptively slow, but under the pressure of the world within the shield, Saber couldn't move. Just when I expected the attack to land on Artoria, golden particles surrounded her like a barrier, and everyone around heard a soft whisper: "Avalon." Once again, an overwhelming attack was nullified, but unlike Achilles' shield, Avalon is an absolute defense surpassing even True Magic.
After that so-called exchange of opinions, Saber and Gilgamesh took distance. Both had drained a lot of mana for the brief Noble Phantasm clash. However, Artoria lacked the handy Treasury containing all possible Noble Phantasms, even the most despicable ones. While Artoria was limited by the mana of the second-rate mage Emiya Shirou, Gilgamesh needed only to set aside his disdain and hang a particularly vile book at his belt, granting him an endless supply of energy.
"You play dirty, Archer, attacking the bystanders during our duel. Aren't you ashamed?" I decided to stall a little, all the while materializing a ring with a small rune in my right hand—to allow me to share mana.
"If they cannot survive the aftereffects of our battle, they are unworthy to stay here," the king sniffed contemptuously.
"Your Majesty, if you don't mind, perhaps I could deal with him myself?" Kevin interjected. Cold began radiating from him, frosting the surface nearest to him.
"No need, just see to everyone's safety—and, please, save wine samples for Mei," I replied. From the look of things, our casual attitude, as if Gilgamesh's defeat was a given, only made him angrier.
"Pathetic mongrels," Archer growled, and the room filled with thousands of golden portals, tips of at least B–rank Noble Phantasms glinting within.
While it took Kevin just a single sweep to shield everyone else at the table, I grabbed Saber and teleported us to the balcony leading outside—safely outside the blast radius.
"Put on this ring. I'll share mana," I pressed the ring into Saber's hand, the Norse Gebo rune on its tip glowing blue, symbolizing connection and energy exchange.
To her credit, Artoria didn't resist and put the ring on calmly, immediately feeling an overflow of energy, so different from before, giving her full freedom of action. Meanwhile, I fired a lucky shot—a rapid infinity arrow—straight at the back of Gilgamesh's head. It crashed into an invisible barrier, which for a pitiful instant was covered in a fine web of cracks.
"What an annoying guy," I grimaced, summoning Oz for fusion and started gathering energy in the clouds, teleporting into the manor's yard, planning to gradually draw the battle into the forest.
"What was that that protected him?" Saber asked, dodging more Noble Phantasms flying her way.
"Another Noble Phantasm. He must really want to win, with how much he's stacked up," I replied grimly, as an activated Gáe Bolg flew at me—only to be knocked aside when I struck its death point. Immediately after, Gilgamesh appeared in the sky, seated on his vimana, more portals unleashing a torrential rain of anti-space weapons—aimed at me, and anti-dragon ones—for Saber.
I continued teleporting actively, pelting him with ever-more energy-charged arrows, hoping to pierce his barrier. Saber, using the mana I supplied, parried with explosions of compressed wind, gradually retreating into the forest to allow larger-scale attacks.
"Why don't you just kill him? You have eyes like Shiki's, don't you?" Saber asked as we managed to fall back deeper into the forest, catching a brief respite from Gilgamesh's renewed arrogance. He didn't even bother with Enkidu, merely bombarding us with countless Noble Phantasms—some even wounding Saber, though she quickly recovered thanks to Avalon.
"If I kill him like that, he'll be erased from the Throne of Heroes. And even if I dislike Archer-Gilgamesh, he's still useful to this world."
"Naïve princess. Just surrender. You stand no chance against me," the haughty voice of the King of Heroes boomed over us, seated on his golden throne.
Saber glanced at me dubiously, as though to ask, "Him? Useful?!"
"Doesn't matter. Just use your Noble Phantasm—we've retreated far enough."
"Very well," Saber nodded. Her sword no longer concealed by the wind, the blade glowed with golden light, which she trained on Gilgamesh.
"Hmph," the King of Heroes snorted disdainfully, pulling from the Gate of Babylon an identical sword, which glowed with the same golden light.
"Ex—"
"Ex—"
"Calibur!" they both shouted, unleashing pillars of light capable of erasing nearly anything in their path. The two blasts canceled each other out, clashing midway between them. With neither side lacking for energy, neither was able to overwhelm the other. But there was a crucial difference: unlike Archer, Saber was not alone.
Teleporting behind Gilgamesh, I fired two arrows at once. The first—a rapid infinity arrow—targeted at the death point of his barrier. The second—to serve as a beacon for the lightning I'd gathered in the clouds. As expected, the barrier shattered, and in the next instant, all the energy stored in the clouds descended as bolts of lightning, striking Gilgamesh as he dueled Saber.
"Bzzzzt—BOOM."
A concentrated Electro energy explosion erupted on the flying throne, amplified by Saber's Noble Phantasm, no longer restrained by Gilgamesh's.
By rights, this should have meant the King of Heroes' end in this Holy Grail War. The amount of energy I compressed in that attack alone could wipe out a whole city if not so concentrated—especially when combined with Excalibur.
But, unfortunately, just as I thought that, a charred figure staggered from the trees. A gaping hole, the size of a watermelon, was burned through its torso, almost splitting it in half—yet the figure stayed on its feet, gulping a strange golden liquid from a flask that swiftly regenerated the injuries.
"Excalibur!" Saber didn't wait for his recovery; she unleashed her Noble Phantasm, which slammed into the shield Gilgamesh somehow held up with one hand, while the other, still charred, retrieved from a golden portal a strange weapon: a handle with three spinning cylinders.
I knew exactly what weapon that was. EA—the strongest Noble Phantasm Gilgamesh possessed. This was one of those times where holding back was no longer an option.
For the first time since becoming the Princess of Judgment, I appealed directly to the energy within myself—a golden sun. Instead of converting this energy into anything weaker, I readied my bow and drew the string, barely holding steady as I notched an arrow composed of raw primordial energy. The aura from this arrow was overpowering. I could feel my skin start to peel and burn, unable to withstand the energy's intensity. It hurt. It hurt so much, my arms were raw to the elbows, blood scorching as it welled up, only to crust instantly. The more energy I poured into the arrow, the harder it became—my desire just to let go growing stronger. To forget how useful Archer might be in a potential nasuverse crisis, and just kill him outright, erasing this version from the Throne of Heroes by the simplest means. But the sense of responsibility welling up from deep inside helped me hold back, refusing to let myself show weakness.
"Your sentence is death," I whispered. Yet, despite speaking softly, everyone heard me. I released the arrow. It destroyed my bow and my arms in the process. In slow motion, I saw it fly toward the now-realizing Archer, and then there was a flash of golden light—after which I lost consciousness, barely managing to cast an Anemo healing skill, summoning a flurry of teal feathers around me to begin repairing my body.