"How could this be... our secret is out...?"
When Tokiomi Tohsaka heard Shirou expose all of those disgraceful dealings in front of everyone, he nearly tumbled out of his luxurious chair in a panic.
How does that brat know our inside story? Where exactly did the leak come from?
Could it have been Risei Kotomine... no, impossible!
He has no reason to betray me.
As the Church's overseer, secretly colluding with a Magus. If that were exposed, Risei Kotomine's reputation and future career would both be ruined.
There is absolutely no way he would betray Tokiomi Tohsaka.
Then it was Kirei Kotomine who betrayed him...
Tokiomi Tohsaka wanted to deny that absurd thought at once, but found that he could not.
Kirei Kotomine.
As for this former Church Executor, the man who had entered under his tutelage three years ago, Tokiomi Tohsaka had always found him difficult to read.
He clearly possessed extraordinary talent, yet cared about nothing and lived a dull, ascetic life like a monk in penance.
Tokiomi Tohsaka had once believed that was simply the sort of man he was, and had even been quite satisfied by it.
After all, Kirei Kotomine was to act as one of the seven Masters and assist in securing the Holy Grail. If he had too many private desires, Tokiomi Tohsaka would have found that far less reassuring.
But looking back now, could that inhuman lack of desire in Kirei have all been an act?
To make me lower my guard. To keep me from suspecting him. He deliberately pretended to care about nothing at all!
At that thought, Tokiomi Tohsaka felt his heart sink.
No, that is still too hasty. It does not necessarily mean Kirei betrayed me.
"Tokiomi-sensei."
At that very moment, Kirei Kotomine contacted him. He had clearly witnessed the scene now unfolding in the streets of Shinto through familiars or a Servant.
"What exactly is happening? Why has our affair been exposed?"
Tokiomi Tohsaka heard the agitation in his disciple's voice.
Though he knew he could not yet conclude that Kirei was the traitor, a thought of contempt still rose unbidden in his mind.
If you were the one who betrayed me, then you really are good at acting innocent.
With a strained smile, Tokiomi replied, "I do not know what is going on either."
"Could it be because I have been overusing Assassin lately, and their movements were exposed as a result?"
Tokiomi Tohsaka had once laid out an extremely meticulous plan of action. His original intention had been to sit elegantly in a rocking chair with black tea in hand, watch the other Magi slaughter one another while gathering information, and only step in at the very end to clean up the remains.
But once the war began, one unexpected development after another had appeared.
There was Faker, the Servant who could not be observed by the [Spiritron Disk] and was later identified as an Extra class Servant.
Possessing firepower no less than Archer's, Faker had annihilated the sea demon in an instant, and his existence had become a waking nightmare for Tokiomi Tohsaka.
In order to gather as much information on Faker as possible, Tokiomi Tohsaka had ordered Assassin to intensify their reconnaissance.
And that, in turn, meant they could no longer devote themselves fully to concealing their movements.
Kirei Kotomine reasoned that someone in Fuyuki must have seen Assassin, who was supposed to be dead, and then linked that to the flamboyant public execution on the first night of the Holy Grail War. From there, it would be easy to infer that Assassin and Archer were actually in league.
Kirei Kotomine's deduction was in fact quite reasonable. If Shirou had not been even more skillful, things might well have unfolded that way.
But by the time that excellent deduction reached the Magus's ears, it sounded rather different.
After all, while Assassin's actions were directed by Kirei Kotomine, the one issuing the orders had been Tokiomi Tohsaka.
So to his ears, it sounded like a complaint that Tokiomi Tohsaka had interfered too much with Kirei Kotomine and Assassin's actions, and that was why their secret had been exposed.
So now this is my fault too? Tokiomi Tohsaka thought bitterly.
Unaware of his teacher's displeasure, Kirei Kotomine continued speaking at length.
"At this point, dwelling on that is useless. What matters is what we do next."
Those words from Tokiomi Tohsaka were meant partly to shut his disciple up, and partly to reassure himself.
At the same time, the voice of the boy came through the clairvoyant magecraft, dripping with mockery.
"As expected of the oldest Hero King. Even your acting deserves praise."
"I had a wonderful time watching the little farce you and Assassin performed together that night."
"Could you do that one again?"
"[Mongrel, who allowed you to look directly at me?]"
Tokiomi Tohsaka felt his scalp go numb.
"...Boy, do you even realize what you are saying?"
If you want to die, then just say so! Just do not get blood on me!
Come to think of it, this child looks a little familiar. I feel like I have seen him somewhere...
"Ah!?"
Tokiomi Tohsaka cried out in shock.
Isn't that the brat staying with the Matou family!? Why is he mixed up with Saber's Master?
Wait... could he be the representative the Matou family sent into this Holy Grail War?
Because he had heard that old man Zouken had already left Japan, Tokiomi Tohsaka had assumed the Matou family had abandoned this war, but...
Shirou Amamiya! So you are Faker's Master!?
"What is it, Tokiomi-sensei?"
"I found him, Kirei. This child is without question the Master of the seventh Servant."
Tokiomi Tohsaka recovered a bit of his composure.
The final Master had turned out to be a child the same age as Rin. That truly was a blind spot. No wonder they had nearly turned Fuyuki upside down and still found nothing.
But this was the end of it.
Now that he had enraged that golden king, it no longer mattered what sort of genius Shirou Amamiya was. He would die without even a grave left behind.
And yet, when Tokiomi Tohsaka looked toward the Hero King in smug anticipation, he found that just as on the night the sea demon had been destroyed, Gilgamesh was not angry at all. On the contrary, his face was unnervingly calm.
"Mongrel, I trust you are already prepared to die."
As Gilgamesh spoke those words flatly, space began to ripple behind him.
Countless Noble Phantasms overflowing with magical energy emerged, then launched forth all at once with explosive speed.
The target of that torrent of fire was not only the red-haired boy who had spoken so brazenly, but also Saber and Irisviel beside him.
When the Hero King raised his foot to crush an ant, he naturally had no reason to care whether the ants nearby lived or died.
Saber hurriedly clad herself in magical armor and gripped the invisible holy sword in her hand, steeling herself to be wounded if necessary so long as she could protect the Master behind her.
Yet as the rain of Noble Phantasms descended toward him, Shirou did not take up a stance as Saber did. He did not even project the Corrupted Holy Sword or the Blades of Chaos.
"If I said I wasn't ready yet, would you stop? Of course not."
As he spoke, the space behind Shirou twisted as well, forming deep blue ripples like moonlight on a lake.
Countless chalk-white swords of every shape surged out from behind the boy, filling the entire space.
In the next instant, the mass of swords behind Shirou shot forth like a storm, crashing head-on into the [Gate of Babylon] descending from the Hero King.
"BOOM——————!!!"
The heat and flash of the explosion lit up the surroundings in an instant. The shockwave of magical energy twisted into a violent vortex, then vanished just as quickly.
"...Oh?"
Rider stroked his chin, surprise written across his face. So Archer was not the only one with multiple Noble Phantasms.
And it was not only Iskandar. Every Magus and Servant who witnessed the scene was too stunned to speak.
Every sword the red-haired boy had fired was a genuine Noble Phantasm.
That much was obvious from the shattered fragments of the Hero King's treasures scattered all over the ground.
"Shirou, why do you..."
Saber stared in disbelief. So it was not just Excalibur Morgan you possessed?
And more than that...
The swords Shirou had unleashed just now gave Artoria a strangely familiar feeling.
Gilgamesh's golden ripples overflowed with the absolute majesty of the Hero King, but the lake-like ripples Shirou summoned gave off a completely different sensation.
Artoria even had the illusion that her consciousness had returned to the age when she was still alive.
Her heart swelled with emotion, and yet at the same time she felt a faint loneliness.
On the other side, Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes slightly.
I see... so that is how it is.
Your appearance changed, and your presence weakened so much that I failed to recognize you at first...
So it was you, Faker.
The Hero King's expression sharpened.
A moment ago, when he unleashed those Noble Phantasms, what he had in mind was the execution of a criminal who had offended the king.
But now his state of mind had changed.
The king's mood shifted from [execution] to [let me amuse myself with you for a while].
"You dare flaunt tricks like these before me in such a childish body. Are you trying to preserve your strength?
Interesting... reckless mongrel, let me see how far you can struggle with that body!"
As the golden Archer spoke in a voice tinged with excitement, golden ripples far greater than before blotted out everyone's view. More than a hundred weapons were arrayed thickly across the night sky.
Then the Hero King's collection, carrying enough force to shatter even the earth itself, once again rained down toward Shirou.
Faced with that blade-storm blotting out the heavens, the eight-year-old red-haired boy looked terribly frail.
And yet he still did not even make a move to defend himself. He merely raised one arm, spread the fingers of his hand, and softly spoke the Noble Phantasm's name.
"[Vivian Pool Dozmary (Lake of the Holy Sword)]."
And so, beneath the starlight, everyone once again saw a vast magical ripple spread through the void behind the red-haired boy, like the surface of an entire lake.
This was one of the aftereffects left behind when Shirou used [Dead Count Shapeshifter].
Lady Avalon's Spirit Origin had flowed into his body, altering the nature of his existence itself.
Put simply, Shirou Amamiya had become capable of using the Servant-only ability known as [True Name Release].
And the Noble Phantasm Shirou had just released was one of the few great magecrafts he learned during his time in the Fairy Kingdom.
The lake fairy Vivian, who according to legend bestowed the holy sword upon the king and later reclaimed it.
Using that lake as a catalyst, this was a great magecraft that created and spread vast numbers of imitation holy swords.
To turn the lake that nurtured hope into a factory for mass-produced weapons. That was the strongest secret art created by the Fairy of Paradise in the latter half of her journey as a savior.
However...
...
...
"Huh!? You learned it!?"
The golden-haired Fairy of Paradise, Aesc the Savior, looked like her whole world had been shaken.
Shirou nodded blankly. "Yeah. I do not really understand the theory, but somehow I think I learned it."
"Ugh..."
Seeing the troubled look on the Fairy of Paradise's face, Shirou quickly apologized.
"Sorry... was that bad?
You put so much time and effort into creating that magecraft, Morgan, and I just casually stole it from you. I'm sorry."
Hearing that, Morgan seemed a little displeased instead.
"[Stole]... do you not think that sounds a bit too harsh?
This was always your kind of magecraft, Shirou. How could that possibly count as theft?
Thanks to your power, my work has become much easier.
If you are a thief, then I am your accomplice. The two of us bear the same crime.
If one day divine punishment comes for Shirou, I will not let you suffer it alone."
Shirou blinked. "Morgan..."
For some reason, the blonde girl's face suddenly flushed red.
"Ugh. D-don't look at me with eyes like some little puppy... what if I get the urge to pounce on you again..."
"What?"
"N-nothing! But anyway, this is incredible... just how did you learn it?"
Aesc the Savior frowned, puzzled. "Has Shirou already mastered the technique to mass-project the same weapon all at once?"
"No."
Shirou shook his head and explained, "What I projected was not the holy swords of the lake, but the lake that produces holy swords."
What he projected was not countless lake-forged holy swords, but the lake itself, the lake that endlessly produced holy swords.
This was one of the very few non-sword Noble Phantasms Shirou was capable of projecting.
"I see. So that is it."
The Fairy of Paradise smiled and murmured softly, "If that is the case, then somehow... that makes me a little happy. Hehe."
It was only natural that Shirou could learn it.
After all, that lake-light was a shared landscape that existed in both of their hearts.
[Lake of the Holy Sword - Vivian Pool Dozmary] was not Shirou's inner world alone, but a Noble Phantasm sublimated from the bond between him and Morgan.
...
...
With a tearing rush of wind, countless holy swords from the lake shot toward the Hero King's treasury.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Know your place!"
Gilgamesh's arrogant laughter rang through the midnight park.
He had already realized it. Although Shirou's Noble Phantasm looked very similar to the [Gate of Babylon], there was in fact a gap between the two.
Not in [quantity], but in [quality].
Every blade, spear, sword, and halberd Gilgamesh launched was a prototype Noble Phantasm drawn from myth and legend. Even without the added weight of heroic legacy, the average rank of his Noble Phantasms was still extremely high.
By contrast, the mass-produced holy swords Shirou generated in an instant were certainly impressive, but in the end they still fell a step short of the [Gate of Babylon].
Back when he was alive, the Hero King had often engaged in contests of firepower with his friend. He knew very well what a lack of [quality] meant.
Once this volley of Noble Phantasms ended, that red-haired brat would be blown to pieces, and in his final moments he would regret not going all out against the Hero King.
And yet, what happened next shattered the Hero King's expectations once again.
Though the mass-produced holy swords Shirou fired were on average a full one or even two ranks below the [Gate of Babylon], they were not destroyed so easily. Instead, the two sides ended up annihilating each other.
The reason for this was a third factor Gilgamesh had overlooked, one beyond [quantity] and [quality].
[Speed].
Shirou's Projection magecraft used his own body as a medium, reading and projecting the weapons stored within his inner world.
Having endured countless battlefields, Shirou had refined that technique to an absurd level of accuracy, speed, and mastery.
But [Lake of the Holy Sword - Vivian Pool Dozmary] was different.
When releasing that Noble Phantasm, Shirou did not even need the usual step of reading the weapon.
That was because the only thing he needed to project was the lake that endlessly produced holy swords.
Since the lake produced only one type of thing, holy swords, its production speed was unprecedented.
In terms of loading speed, rate of fire, and projectile speed, Shirou's [Lake of the Holy Sword] was clearly faster than the [Gate of Babylon]. Its firepower was far inferior, but it could still shoot down Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasms before they were even launched, or before they reached full velocity.
Because Shirou's firing speed was faster, the [Gate of Babylon] was reduced to little more than flashy ornaments, sharp and durable, yet unable to display the true value a Noble Phantasm ought to have.
That was why Shirou was able to fight Gilgamesh to a draw.
If you cannot beat an enemy no matter what, then just drag him down to your own level.
"..."
No detail on the battlefield could escape the Hero King's notice. He quickly saw through Shirou's trick and immediately responded.
And the response chosen by the self-supreme golden king was simple.
More.
At the Hero King's willful summons, hundreds, then thousands of Noble Phantasms appeared.
Irisviel was speechless.
She had known Gilgamesh possessed an almost limitless number of weapons, but seeing a thousand Noble Phantasms spread out before her was still so overwhelming that it left her stunned.
Tokiomi Tohsaka was speechless too.
Why was Shirou Amamiya able to contend against the Hero King's Noble Phantasms? Was he not supposed to be the Matou family's representative Master?
A hint of anticipation entered the Hero King's crimson eyes as he shouted aloud,
"Take this as your reward for struggling so desperately before me. Accept it with gratitude, Faker!"
A savage rain of gold came pouring down.
In a way, [Vivian Pool Dozmary] and [Gate of Babylon] really were similar.
Question. Why is the Hero King the strongest broken Heroic Spirit?
Is it because of his endless Noble Phantasms? Is it because of the eyes that can see the future?
Or is it because of the supreme Noble Phantasm stored in the deepest part of his treasury, the one and only weapon in this world whose firepower surpasses even the planet's holy sword?
No.
None of those are the real answer.
The Hero King's true strength lay in the fact that his magical energy consumption was almost nonexistent.
There were many Servants with multiple Noble Phantasms. Surely there were even great heroes with twelve or more.
But no one could wage a Noble Phantasm battle with so little consumption as Gilgamesh.
That was the real reason the Hero King was a Servant killer. Any Servant drawn into a prolonged battle of attrition with him would eventually lose.
Though it had not been designed specifically for Gilgamesh, Shirou had just happened to create an effect that could sustain a long-term battle against the Hero King.
Using the endless, costless [Vivian Pool Dozmary] to oppose the equally endless, costless [Gate of Babylon].
In other words, as long as the Hero King kept treating this as a game, he would never be able to defeat Shirou.
Even if the thousand Noble Phantasms were all genuine, so long as he did nothing more than mindlessly throw them down, Shirou could still hold his ground.
Of course, the reverse was also true.
The moment Gilgamesh changed his mindset from the playful mood he was in now to the serious attitude he had shown that night against Shirou Amamiya, Dead Count Shapeshifter ver.
The moment it ceased to be mere [amusement] from the Hero King and became a true [judgment] carried out by the oldest king.
Then the red-haired boy would be torn apart and killed on the spot the very next instant Archer changed his mind.
...If Shirou did nothing to respond, that was.
However, before Gilgamesh could be the first to change.
A golden flash tore through the night sky and shot toward the streetlamp above where the Hero King stood with his arms folded.
At the same moment, several arcs of lightning appeared abruptly around Gilgamesh.
The lightning raced together into a defensive barrier, scattering the golden sword-flash aimed at the Archer into boiling magical energy.
The one who launched the surprise attack against the Hero King was not Shirou. Since releasing [Vivian Pool Dozmary], he had made no further move.
At the same time, Shirou had already seen through the fact that although the Hero King appeared defenseless, he had in truth already deployed an automatic defense Noble Phantasm. That was why Shirou had not made any pointless follow-up attack.
"King of Knights, what is the meaning of this?"
Archer turned with clear displeasure toward the blonde girl at his side.
The one who had stepped into the battle between Shirou and the Hero King was none other than Saber, invisible sword in hand.
"That is enough, Archer. Did you really think I would stand by and watch while you attacked a child at will?"
The Hero King let out a sneer full of mockery.
"You call this thing a child?
Well, if we are speaking literally, then yes, it is a child.
A false king who knows no bounds, daring to disguise himself as an ignorant and powerless infant before a true king.
Stand aside, Saber. Once I have dealt with this brat who is bent on dying, I will naturally return and amuse myself with you as well."
"That will not do."
Saber took up a dignified stance.
Archer's expression darkened with annoyance.
"You tactless little girl. I told you not to interfere in a battle between men.
You may think your actions righteous, but to me they are nothing but rude and unbelievably foolish.
Until my game with that brat is over, keep your sword and your chivalry sheathed.
Am I wrong, King of Fakers?"
Gilgamesh said this as he turned toward the red-haired boy, only for.
Shirou to grab Saber's hand tightly and say with obvious delight,
"Don't listen to his nonsense! There's no need to talk about chivalry with someone like him. Saber, let's beat Archer together!"
Gilgamesh: "..."