Chapter 25 The Third Battlefield: The Beginning and the End
Casino and Hotel, "Crystal Hill"
This is a luxury structure built within the last thirty years. It adheres to an integrated design: the lower levels house a massive indoor casino, while the upper levels consist of a skyscraper hotel for VIP guests. Since the clientele are those who spend lavishly on the floors below, the views and decor of the upper levels are so exquisite that five-star hotels would blush in shame.
Because the rooms in the upper hotel are so exorbitantly priced, several smaller hotels have cropped up around its perimeter to absorb the gamblers who come to see the casino but cannot afford to stay at "Crystal Hill" itself.
Sovereignty.
This building, stretching toward the city's highest point and resembling the Tower of Babel at a glance, offers a more complete view of Snowfield the higher one ascends. In a room near the summit, the King of Uruk sat ensconced upon the largest sofa.
Yes, ensconced.
Though he appeared to be merely lounging with his legs crossed while sipping wine, in the eyes of this golden individual, this was "sitting upright." There was no contradiction! For the King's posture is the standard of uprightness!
At his side, a dark-skinned girl named Tine kneeled respectfully, three Command Spells etched upon her hand. Strictly speaking, Tine was not originally a Master.
Her beginning involved seeking the King's approval to incinerate the original Master—who had summoned Gilgamesh in a cave—thereby obtaining the "Sovereignty" of the Command Spells.
However, she had no intention of using them. Unlike jaded clan magi, she truly considered herself a subject of the King before her, and she had secured his promise to fight the Holy Grail War for her family.
'Though if Enkidu weren't present, he might have "voluntarily" reverted to a child state and then "voluntarily" let every overpowered monster in existence kick down his door, but as far as the fight goes—he fought.'
In any case, as Tine listened to Gilgamesh recount the glorious tales of building the city-state of Uruk, her entire body suddenly shuddered.
Archer, Gilgamesh, paused his speech. Narrowing his eyes, he asked, "Why do you tremble before me, Tine?"
There was no malice in his words, but the innate pressure he exuded forced Tine to hastily snap her attention back. She replied:
"My King, I simply felt a sudden... intrusion into the leylines."
Tine's family are the stewards of the leylines. Tine herself is, in a sense, a "Darling of Nature." Through special processing, her Magic Circuits are linked directly to the earth. This allows her not only to supply Gilgamesh with mana from the entire leyline system but also to cast large-scale magecraft using the same incantations as smaller spells. Her nature is almost that of an older version of a Lesser Grail without the soul-collecting function—perhaps the most formidable type of Master.
Because of this, she is more sensitive than anyone to abnormalities in the earth.
"And what of it?"
Seeing Gilgamesh's lack of interest, Tine suppressed the sense of taboo coursing through her and chose her words carefully:
"My King, your vision is too lofty; you likely haven't bothered to notice. But you should know—one who can do such a thing is my natural enemy."
"That is natural. For unlike you beasts who can only wander upon the ground, I have no natural enemies. Hahahaha!"
Given the Heroic King's tangible power and spirit, Tine firmly believed he indeed had no equal. She continued based on that premise:
"To interfere with leylines, one usually needs the cooperation of the land's steward to find the spiritual pulse and follow the flow inward. To violently intrude upon and peer into the leylines from a non-monitored, non-specific location is considered an anomaly in the world of magecraft. If it is a deviant capable of such a feat... it might even be possible for them to sever the connection between the leylines and an individual.
In terms of difficulty, intruding into the leylines unconditionally at any time or place is perhaps harder than severing a connection. Cutting an individual off might take eight or nine parts of one's strength, but forcing an intrusion like this requires twelve."
Tine lowered her head, her tone becoming humble. "If my connection to the leylines is severed, my combat ability would be less than that of a beast—I would be closer to an ant..."
Hearing Tine adopt his casual metaphor, the Heroic King laughed heartily with satisfaction.
"There is no need for concern, Tine. Even with such an ability, they are but a slightly stronger mongrel. A single Noble Phantasm is enough to slay them. You need only stay obediently behind me, look up at my radiance, and wear an expression more befitting a child!"
'Is there truly no need for concern...?'
Tine broke into a cold sweat. But as a twitch in her heart caused a flow of telepathic information to surge through her, she pushed that worry to the back of her mind.
"The one intruding into the leylines... is close? Less than ten kilometers away!?"
Turning her head while shivering, her eyes turned a chestnut hue as she looked up at Gilgamesh:
"My King, I fear I must never encounter such a—"
Before she could finish the sentence, the sound of glass shattering suddenly rang out.
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—Something was about to begin. This was because Alcides was the one who was going to make it begin.
Stepping upon the solid rock of the canyon, Alcides's vision had already reached a scene twenty kilometers away. He slowly and heavily drew his bow.
In the silence, Alcides told himself to forget the human, the second young girl, the third Heroic Spirit, the fourth "human," and the faint sense of unease their alliance brought. He allowed the all-surpassing fire of vengeance to converge and coil within his heart, focusing entirely on the task at hand.
Stripped of the intrusive thoughts that shouldn't have been there, Alcides was a perfect killing machine.
He released his fingertips. The True Archer fired a "single arrow"—a long-range bombardment.
"It's finally starting, this battle!"
The mastermind wearing a young girl's skin sensed the omen of combat and, wanting to see the world burn, immediately crowded to the front of the group to watch.
"Sigh..."
The young mastermind who had ordered the snipers to fire the first shot noticed something flash on the other surveillance screens but dismissed it as an illusion.
They didn't matter; it didn't even matter if he knew them. What mattered was... Rin felt this battle.
"!?"
The sound of shattering glass was incessant. But the roar stripped away her hearing, suppressing all other trivial noises. The magic circle was blown apart by the impact, and the resonance with the leylines ceased.
Rin instinctively crossed her arms, shielding her body from glass shards and chaotic air currents. A second later, she managed to create a magical barrier to push back the debris shredded by the unknown object.
Shockwaves galloped over the town; the glass of buildings it passed shattered into fragments due to the sonic boom and impact.
"What on earth happened? Who was that?"
It took Rin three seconds to realize this was an "attack" aimed elsewhere, and another moment to recognize the force of this "attack"—one that Rin herself could not resist, but which Shirou had once interrupted. This was the effect of a single sniper shot, finally released with a full charge and a complete infusion of magical energy—something there was normally no chance to witness.
Let alone a human, if it hit, even a Heroic Spirit would have their entire upper body turned into gore!
Rin moved slowly to the floor-to-ceiling window of the hotel, where the glass had been completely blown out, and looked along the trajectory of the shot. Four kilometers away, at "Crystal Hill," there seemed to be a light in the upper rooms.
Rin stared intently—and discovered it was a multitude of golden discs. These treasures, arranged in beautiful geometric patterns, flashed with a blinding brilliance as countless tiny lightning bolts scurried across the sky.
'Ah, it's the pre-arranged automatic defense Noble Phantasms. The people inside are likely fine. Good for them.'
Speaking of which, she wondered if Shirou could copy those Noble Phantasms if he were here. The version Rin heard was that Shirou can only manifest defensive Noble Phantasms for a very short time, so they probably aren't very practical—a bit of a pity. If possible, it would be best to produce a Noble Phantasm that surpasses Rho Aias, otherwise, the functional slot would just be redundant.
Rin knew she was as calm as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on her; her original panic had vanished without a trace. But she couldn't help it. Nor could she help the dead-fish look in her eyes. The reason was quite simple...
Another shockwave, seemingly capable of blowing Rin away entirely, arrived from the distance. Rin used magecraft to steady her coat while locking her gaze on the room at "Crystal Hill," waiting for the person inside to emerge.
Rin first saw a dazzling golden ship.
It appeared abruptly in the blink of an eye. Its gold-and-green radiance exuded luxury more than mystery. A man clad in golden armor strode across transparent objects in the void, leading the dark-skinned girl into the cabin without sparing a glance for Rin.
"Hiss... It's been nearly ten years. To think we'd meet again in a place like this," Rin whispered to herself.
'Hello there, "Goldie," you loser who managed to win a consolation match.'
The "ghost" who had automatically refreshed himself looked with interest through an unidentified lens toward the distance where the projectiles were piercing through.
The former "Final Boss" let out a kingly snort. This former "dead man" wore a disdainful and confident expression before his silhouette vanished behind the walls of the Vimana. The giant gold-and-green vessel gradually powered up, flying off into the distance at the extreme speed befitting a Noble Phantasm.
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