Chapter 548: My Enkidu May Not Be Fake After All
The spatial cracks that suddenly bloomed in the void were like a shattered mirror, and in each spatial crack, golden lava seemed to flow, emitting dazzling magical light.
It started as just a point, but quickly spread into a surface, filling the entire sky.
Kirei Kotomine, who had chosen to return early due to a slight unease, froze when he saw the golden sky covering the church.
Normally, battles between Heroic Spirits are defaulted to take place at night; this is a default rule of the Holy Grail War... of course, whether to follow it or not depends on the individual.
The relationship between the King of Heroes and Kirei Kotomine was not a forced contract; if a definition had to be given, their relationship could be described as "accomplices."
Due to Gilgamesh acquiring a quasi-real body through the Holy Grail's black mud and being able to act freely, with almost no magical constraints, he was theoretically the biggest variable in this Holy Grail War.
Logically speaking, even the most willful King of Heroes, in every sense, shouldn't have directly made a move at this early stage of the Fifth War. In Kotomine's understanding, this chuunibyou king should have more pleasurably watched everything unfold, and then entered the fray when the climax arrived, rather than this current berserk state where, despite knowing it was broad daylight and in an urban area, he still chose to fully unleash a divine-era level Noble Phantasm, clearly about to unleash a barrage of attacks... But from another perspective, this also sufficiently indicated that at this very moment, an existence had appeared that was enough to make the King of Heroes abandon everything and go all out!
Was it the ignorant provocation of some foolish Master? Or had a completely unknown variable appeared?
His mind rapidly cycled through all the Master-Servant combinations of this Fifth War, pausing for a moment on a certain red-haired brat before moving on.
At this moment, Kirei Kotomine himself didn't notice that despite the critical situation where he had completely failed as a supervisor and was about to cause a huge commotion, the corners of his mouth uncontrollably curled upwards.
Work was work, hobbies were hobbies; the pleasure that spontaneously surged in his heart at this moment already filled his incomplete inner being.
This was the fate of a pleasure-seeker!
And in response, other factions who also witnessed this scene through various means were also in an uproar at this moment.
However, no matter how they exploded, they couldn't compare to Cheng, who was directly facing the full firepower of the Gate of Babylon.
Sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, battle-axes, hooks, forks... for a moment, it was impossible to count how many original Noble Phantasms from human history revealed their sharpest parts from those golden spatial ripples.
Then, all of them, like a downpour rather than mere rain, charged towards Cheng Tian, carrying an aura capable of easily tearing space and countless trailing flames!
"To die in such a magnificent spectacle! You ants should feel honored!"
The King, enraged by the casual manipulation of his best friend's illusion, was still instinctively spouting some special trash talk at this moment.
But it was at this moment that the King of Heroes' expression suddenly unified, because a magic power fluctuation with a very large peak suddenly appeared in the gathering place of the ants below. Immediately, a semi-circular barrier with a holy radiance appeared out of thin air, enveloping the man, two women, and the illusion of Enkidu.
"A barrier? Such petty cleverness will only slightly delay your demise."
The King of Heroes said with disdain, then directly increased the intensity of the Noble Phantasm rain.
But very quickly, the situation began to deviate from the King of Heroes' imagination.
While the Gate of Babylon was unleashing its full power, continuously outputting like a dense missile bombardment, some magic power projectiles, few in number, clearly weaker in power, but imbued with Noble Phantasm magic, were actually flying back at the same speed!
Almost instantly, the King of Heroes combined this with the previous failed headshot attempt and concluded that the opponent's barrier not only had excellent damage resistance and absorption capabilities but also came with a special reflection effect!
It was the inferior Noble Phantasm fakes that the oldest King of Heroes hated the most!
And not only that, these inferior fakes flying back would even probabilistically trigger those black spatial particle fluctuations!
These fluctuations could not be defended against by conventional means; no matter how many Noble Phantasms were shot out, they could only pass through them, ultimately allowing them to strike the outer wall of his treasury.
But at the same time, it was because of this strike that the enraged King of Heroes noticed the sky.
At some unknown point, next to the sun hanging high in the sky, a false full moon had suddenly appeared.
The surrounding sky was clearly still daytime, yet it gave Gilgamesh a strange feeling of being in both day and night simultaneously.
At the same time, a voice that made the King of Heroes tremble involuntarily, small but clear, drilled into his ears.
"I am very happy, Gil... I didn't expect to have another chance to have such an exhilarating performance comparison with you in this form."
The King of Heroes' body trembled.
The barrage from the Gate of Babylon also came to an abrupt halt.
"This... how is this possible!?"
The King of Heroes' expression was completely replaced by shock, and he spoke with difficulty, as if squeezing something from deep within his throat.
The smoke and dust from the countless Noble Phantasm bombardments gradually dispersed.
The church was gone, completely reduced to ruins... no, it should be called a hollow.
Currently, the entire hollow only had a solitary stone pillar remaining in the very center, protected by the barrier, and it looked like it could collapse at any moment.
The ladies were somewhat shaken, while Cheng Tian stuck out his tongue and spat twice.
"Nothing is impossible, Gil."
Standing in front of Cheng Tian and the others, his colors had already changed from the black and white static of before to a fresh, vibrant mix of white and green. At the same time, Enkidu, who should have been as wooden as a marionette, now had a very lively expression.
"To be precise, I am a shadow Heroic Spirit who, in the form of a rumor aggregate, successfully reproduced the personality, thoughts, and even abilities that an individual Enkidu should possess within a specific Reality Marble. Strictly speaking, my origin is actually you.
I am him and yet not him; how to view me is entirely up to your subjective judgment, Gil.
Furthermore, it may seem absurd to you, but my temporary Master, he is truly a person of Gaia."
Facing his bewildered best friend, the gender-neutral Enkidu still managed to show a brilliant, flower-like smile. Immediately after, the shadow Heroic Spirit continued to provoke without explanation.
"Gil, you wouldn't refuse this small request from your best friend, would you?"
"...Bastard! I will fulfill your false wish right now!"
Although the King of Heroes said this, his eyes now only held this soulmate.