"Throwing a tantrum doesn't justify resorting to cheap tricks. It hands your opponent the moral high ground to do whatever they please."
—At the very least, let's fight on equal terms.
"Let this tale teach you the folly of such mistakes!"
The True King's Ship
"…A-Are they done shooting?"
Crouched on the deck, Jason lifted his head.
"Medea, send a familiar to scout."
"No need. I'm sorry, but Heracles has been defeated."
"—What?"
"…Ugh…"
"Hey, Medea, that's not funny…"
"…"
"It's a joke, right?"
"Hey, Jason! Kept you waiting, huh?"
The stellar pioneer Drake, aboard the Golden Hind, called out to the invincible hero.
"This is the final showdown! Let's go all out!"
"—Impossible! Heracles! What happened to Heracles?!"
"You're slow on the uptake. If he were still alive, do you think we'd be standing here?"
"No way he's dead! He's Heracles! The pinnacle we heroes admire, challenge, and get crushed by!"
The invincible hero's frenzied cry carried the despair of rejecting reality.
"To think he'd fall to a ragtag bunch of garbage like you—!!!"
"…Hmph. Seems you felt some twisted friendship for him, didn't you?"
—…
"—If you're so desperate to see him, we'll make it happen, Master."
"…Is that okay?"
"Dreams fade upon waking. Let's end his nightmare with our own hands."
"—Alright."
"I'd like to ask the same."
The voice over the comms belonged to the witch—no, the wise woman Medea.
"It's only right that those from the same homeland handle the cleanup and the mess."
"Master, what are you…?"
"Sorry, Marie… I don't want you to see this. But I can't run away either."
"Understood. —Come forth."
Raising her right hand slowly.
"—Heracles, Medea."
"—What?"
The divine-age witch appeared.
"—Been a while, Jason. You've been having quite the time, haven't you?"
—And then…
"—Enough of this shameful display, my friend."
And there stood the unparalleled great hero, the one Jason had revered and relied upon with burning obsession…
"—Hera…cles…?"
"…Jason. I've come to end your torment and childish pride."
For Jason, facing these two—his fated nemeses—was destiny itself.
"Hahaha! There, I've brought them to you! How's it feel to face the pinnacle you idolized and craved?! Though, well—compared to the rabid dog you kept, he's in a league of his own!!"
"Wow, the king's on fire! That's so brutal it's hilarious! I can't stop laughing! NDK vibes!"
"I love my scummy darling!"
"—Hello, future me. How do you do?"
"—Oh, my. The ignorant, dream-chasing me."
A tangled web of fate now stood face-to-face.
"...…"
Jason said nothing, head bowed, face hidden.
"What's that, clown? Silence doesn't suit you. Some jester you are! Know your place. A clown who can't entertain is worthless."
"Did the shock break him?"
—No…
"—Again, huh?"
What was that…?
"Hm? Speak up, use your gut!"
"—You're stealing from me again, you treacherous witch!!!"
His words burned with seething hatred and fiery rage.
"My happiness! My future! My glory!! Not content with robbing my life, now you take my best friend too, you filthy hag!!!"
"—Jason…"
"Shut up!! Don't call me with that vile voice, witch!! You stole my Heracles too, didn't you?! You've always done this! Every time I finally grasp happiness, glory—you burn it all to ashes!!"
(He's not entirely wrong, which is the problem.)
(Gil, shh.)
"Wow… blaming others and dodging reality. That's the end of a man."
"Like you, Orion, turning into a mascot? Were you already done as a human?"
"Yup!"
"Don't answer so fast?!"
"…That bad habit of yours. It's tragically unchanged, Jason…"
"Shut up!! Why are you here?!"
His anger and anguish lashed out at Heracles.
"I called out to you countless times! Invited you over and over! To reform the Argonauts! To stand by my side!! I thought you'd come! But you refused! You never nodded yes! 'I wanted you, only you, by my side'!!"
"—…"
"That's why I took your reason!! As long as you were there, nothing else mattered! Even if you were just a wretched guard dog!! If you, Heracles, were with me, that was enough!! So why?! Why are you being used by that garbage, looking just like you did back then—?!"
—Jason…
Heracles never answered his summons. He refused to aid in humanity's destruction, even for a friend.
Jason couldn't forgive that. So he used every means to keep Heracles close, even if it meant driving him mad.
"—A hopelessly twisted thing."
The vessel muttered with pity.
"It's entertaining, yet pitiful. —I've never been rejected by a friend, save by death's parting."
"I wanted you like that!! The way we were when everything was fun!! Not some Berserker! I wanted you as an Archer!! But, but, but, but, but, but—!!!"
Pointing at Medea.
"You treacherous witch!! You and human history should never have existed—!!!"
"—…"
—…
"Master…"
"…It's fine. I'm used to being despised. …I have a wonderful disciple. It doesn't hurt."
Medea smiled, pulling up her hood.
"—So, what will you do? This witch who so brilliantly stole Heracles—what punishment will you mete out?"
Embracing her role as the seductive, wicked Witch Medea.
"A bold woman. I can see why that's one of your facets."
"Don't ruin the moment."
"Sorry, Medea."
"It's fine. …It's the truth. That's why… there's something I must say to him."
"Holy Grail!!"
She raised the Grail high.
"Kill them!! Slaughter them!! And take back Heracles!!!!"
Countless Shadow Servants appeared—not alone.
"Captain!! A ton of pirate ships just showed up!!"
Encircling the Argo, hollow pirate ships emerged—a fleet rivaling an entire division!
"Not Shadow Servants, but Shadow Pirates?! Those are the grudges of pirates clinging to the sea!"
"To pull this kind of power now…!"
"It's resonating with his inferiority complex and all that jazz. Ugh, what a mess."
"—Resorting to such filth means you're truly out of options. —You've shown your hand, clown."
Using the Grail like this is heresy. A foul move, plain and simple.
"What do we do, Captain?! We can't handle that many!"
"No whining! His treasure, our sea of freedom—it's right there!!"
"But…"
—Looks like it's time for that.
"No need to worry. Advance the ship, flank those wrecks."
"Gil?"
"—I'll bring down his curtain. Leave the rabble to me. For daring to tarnish my treasures, he'll pay a steep price."
"—I trust you, Governor."
"Hmph, forgiven."
Soaring into the sky.
"Clown—no, I'll call you Jason for now! I'll shatter every last shred of your pride!!"
"What—?!"
"You, who struts with that petty boat, daring to call yourself a conqueror! I'll show you a true king's ship!! No thanks needed—it doubles as a test run!!"
—Drawing forth two World Grails. Embedding the sacred cups, embodiments of the world, as the core, igniting, activating, and launching—!!
"Let the seas rage!! Let the earth shatter, the heavens tear!! From my treasury's depths, the golden star-sea-conquering, unprecedented dreadnought battleship—!!"
—A colossal shadow fell upon the sea, its form mistaken for a continent.
Gold and green designs echoed Vimana, but its mass was incomparable. If Vimana is a mosquito, this is an eagle—a different species entirely.
"Th-That's…"
"No way—"
"…I'm floored… that thing…"
Even with two World Grails as a test run, its vast frame—far from full power—stunned all, a golden mountain commanding submission.
"—!!!"
"Hahahahahahaha!! Bow your heads! Cower, writhe in shame before my radiance, and perish!!"
This was the archetype of romance slumbering in the treasury's depths. The most ancient, surpassing even the modern—an unprecedented, ultra-dreadnought battleship—
Its name—
"It galls me to crown it with a god's name, but tradition demands it!! This battleship's name is—"
The king sat upon its throne, registering his Spirit Origin. Machine guns, secondary cannons, and main cannons activated, breathing life.
"The one and only god who sundered heaven and earth!! Marduk, the Golden Titan That Cleaves the Cosmos!!!!"
—Cataloging its arsenal with the precision of selecting treasures.
Main Cannon: Planetary-Shattering Ether Wave Cannon Enuma Elish
Secondary Cannons: Triple True Ether Cannons Tiamat
Port and Starboard: True Ether Pulse Lasers Apsu
Bow, Stern, and Side Torpedoes Tide
Onboard Aircraft Anzu
—Countless functions yet to reach full potential.
Two Grails suffice only for activation and annihilation. —But for now, that's enough.
"No more waiting, wretched specters!! I'll send your souls to the heavens without a moment to wander!!"
"Move the ship! Get the Argo closer!!"
"Captain?!"
"Hurry! He's gonna blast 'everything around'!! Move if you don't want to die!!"
—Target: the Shadow Pirates ahead. Main and secondary cannons unusable; anti-air turrets as substitutes. One thousand ships—multi-lock engaged.
"Witness the king's voyage! Let my radiance fill the earth and return to the heavens—!!!"
—Preparations complete. Excluding the Golden Hind and Argo.
"All cannons—fire!!!!"
Ether pulse lasers fired in unison. Compressed divine-age tech beams, rivaling stellar auroras, incinerated the sea and its rabble—!
"Kyaaa!!"
"That lunatic king's out of his mind!!"
"That's it, darling! Genius and madness are a hair's breadth apart!"
"Hold on tight! You'll get thrown off!!"
"Lord Jason, you're safe."
"Why are you smiling?! Do you even understand this situation—?!"
"Ugh, I'm never playing the villain again…"
"Know your place, clown! This is a true king's brilliance! Not bad for a test run! Now, to gather more World Grails!! Haha, hahahaha!!!!"
When the barrage ended… nothing remained of the Shadow Pirates.
Marduk, the Golden Titan That Cleaves the Cosmos
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-Divine, Anti-Evil Noble Phantasm
Range: Variable in active state
Maximum Targets: Variable in active state
The archetype of romance stored in Gilgamesh's treasury. A golden battleship. The most ancient vessel, crafted with the latest technology. An ultra-dreadnought battleship forged at the edge of time and space.
Equipped with an array of divine-age armaments, fully activated it could reduce a city to ash and annihilate even manifested gods.
—In this tale, it's merely a test run, operating at roughly ten percent efficiency. Two World Grails barely sustain its brief manifestation due to immense power demands.
—To awaken its full potential, approximately four more World Grails are required.
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