A/N: What do you do when there's a more skilled player in your game?
Prepare the strongest equipment money can buy.
--
"—Senpai! Director! Behind me! Don't ever leave my side!"
"Enemy attack! Director! Protect me!"
"What are you saying!? Have the Servant protect you!"
Missile-like arrows rain down endlessly. At the last moment, Mash enters combat stance and covers Olga Marie and Ritsuka with her giant shield, preventing direct hits.
"Hmph, good reflexes. That gave me a chill... Physician!"
"I know! I'm searching for Servants! From what I can see, we're being targeted by an Archer!"
An archer, eh. One appears as if to taunt me just as I was contemplating this.
The quantity and force of arrows gradually increases. Like an endless storm, they become waves that pound against the shield.
"Guh, uugh...!"
For a girl's slender arms, even as a Demi-Servant, she's holding up remarkably well. Her skill as a protector is unmistakably first-rate.
"Hero King...! I'll protect Master and the Director...! Please, counterattack...!"
She calls out to me in fragments. There's no need to worry about the Master. Her core won't break so easily.
"Well said. I'll leave those two to you."
"Go Mash! Get him, Gil!"
"Don't lean out, it's dangerous! Geez!"
That said, I can't take too much time. The shield's strength is like a fortress, but flesh and blood has its limits. If I allow this rampage to continue, we'll be overwhelmed.
I draw a sword from the ripples. I calculate and deduce the sniping point in my head from the direction, momentum, strength, and frequency of the fired arrows.
"Thinking you can escape my sight is laughable, fool!"
I release a bundle of light from the sword. That beam carrying countless amounts of heat vaporizes the arrows as it races straight toward the distance.
Eventually, impact. The beam strikes a corner of a ruined building hundreds of meters away and spectacularly explodes and collapses.
"Did we get him!?"
"Don't let your guard down. Destroying a high position wouldn't be enough to kill him."
"I can see him!! ...Wait, what!? You'd already pinpointed the location!?"
"Did I not just say negligence is unforgivable!? Are you an idiot!?"
"You didn't say anything about being faster than you!?"
"—Hmm, quite an unusual face we have here."
A voice echoes. At the same time, a man with an extraordinary atmosphere wrapped in black, misty aura faces us directly.
"That is...!?"
"A Shadow Servant! Probably the original Servant summoned in this Fuyuki...!"
Tattered red cloak, dark skin, white hair.
That appearance looks shabby at first glance to be called a hero, but the killing intent he emanates and the overflowing power can't be disguised.
"To meet like this is unexpected, Hero King Gilgamesh. Since when did you start babysitting girls?"
"At some point. You look quite wretched, Shadow Servant."
"...It seems I'm not in your consideration. To not even curse me as a faker as usual."
...It appears this vessel and that Shadow Servant have some kind of history. The other side seems to know me.
I recall the vessel's memories.
—That's a Faker. The recognition is of a counterfeiter who projects and wields weapons he's seen.
I can understand why this vessel dislikes him. There's no way he'd harbor favorable feelings toward a ruffian who shamelessly copies and uses the unique supreme treasures.
"With vagrant-like attire and random attacker-like assault... there's no one among my acquaintances who would expose such shameful behavior, fool."
"You seem rather lacking in composure in your words, Hero King. Where did you leave your usual carelessness and arrogance?"
"Who knows. I too have moods. However I choose to conduct myself at any given time, it's none of your business, counterfeiter."
"Fair enough. Then, I'll do my job—!"
In an instant, the Archer leaps high into the sky and nocks his bow. He probably intends to unleash another rain of arrows.
"Taking distance is cunning... If you're an archer, shouldn't you stand composed? That's why you're a counterfeiter!"
"Unfortunately, I have no intention of indulging your pride!"
In a flash, a vast number of arrows are unleashed, striking Ritsuka and the others relentlessly.
Each and every one is a killing blow. They slam into Mash as she blocks them with impacts that are certainly not easy for her.
"Guuuuh...!"
Mash's anguished voice echoes. Though she's protecting well, her limit will arrive in the not-too-distant future.
This is bad—if we stay on the defensive forever, we'll be the first to give up.
But how should I attack... A single decisive blow to silence him shouldn't be impossible, but carelessly revealing trump cards might work against us in the long battles ahead.
"Gil!"
While I'm thinking, Ritsuka, who had been hiding behind the shield, calls out.
"Hey Fujimaru! That's dangerous! What are you thinking!?"
"Gil! You're both Archers!?"
"Is it okay to fall behind!?"
—Her encouragement strikes my ears.
"Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth! Counter bow with bow!"
...I recall the tactics I was just contemplating.
—Let's fight like an Archer, with bow and arrow.
"—Hah, you dare lecture me on the law established by Hammurabi, impudent girl!"
"It's fine! You absolutely won't lose! You're the Hero King, right!?"
"I believe in you! Because both Mash and Gil are my Servants!"
"Senpai—"
She believes, she says.
I'm still a half-baked person who hasn't established my own fighting style, yet despite our brief acquaintance, she says she believes.
—For a moment, I thought it was dazzling.
How brilliant. Believing in someone despite being in dire straits. Not fearing to entrust life and death to a partner.
Even if it leads to death's decree, she would probably accept it with a smile. That's what entrusting someone means.
—I see, this is indeed a fitting place for reincarnation.
"—I won't allow you to take back those words."
I honestly want to meet these expectations.
Yes, to accomplish something as a Servant. To fulfill my own wish of wanting to accomplish something.
Someday, I won't let the journey of the girl who will save the world be stopped in a place like this.
That is my—
The meaning carved into my nameless soul—!
I reach out to the golden ripples. With determination, I grasp a treasure.
"—What is that?"
It's something shaped like a bow that shines golden.
The bow body forms the shape of a bow, but there's no string stretched across it. No arrow to nock can be seen either.
Instead, several gems constantly float around the bow body, rotating in a bizarre appearance.
"Nothing other than a bow, fool."
I point what I hold in my left hand straight at the Archer. At the same time, the floating gems burst, scattering as fragments throughout the area.
"This is a bow of light that humanity will create in the distant future. No string, no arrows, yet it unfailingly pierces enemies—a supreme masterpiece."
"Bow of light...!? You even had something like an out-of-place artifact!?"
"Wow... so pretty..."
This crystal, bow of light... could it be—!
"Now, learn the difference between authentic and fake with your body. I won't be arrogant, I'll abandon carelessness. With this single shot, I'll pierce your Spirit Core."
"Guh—!!"
Sensing absolute crisis, the Archer's form disperses into mist. But I'm not generous enough to let the insolent one who turned a blade on me escape.
"No matter where you flee, I won't let you escape! Know that this strike is meaningless to avoid unless you surpass the speed of light!"
Massive light energy is loaded into the bow of light. At the same time, the gems reflect a blinding brilliance that would blind the eyes, illuminating the surroundings like dawn.
"Senpai! Close your eyes!"
"Guh—!!"
"Now receive this—this is what you call the majesty of the authentic!"
The light arrow charged to critical capacity is released. A beam of light races through the sky as massive energy toward the space where the Archer exists, his position completely determined by Gilgamesh's eyes.
The supreme strike that swallows and scatters obstacles blocking the firing line, and secures firing lines freely through the irregular reflection of gems.
There's no way to escape that divine light.
—To think I'd encounter a Hero King without even a fragment of arrogance. I truly have... poor luck—
The moment he turned to self-deprecating thoughts, the Archer's existence was unfailingly consumed into the light.