Saber took a step back, gripping her sword.
It had already been an hour since the full-scale battle with the beast began.
The appearances of Saber and the beast were in stark contrast.
Saber's armor had only a few scratches, still boasting the figure of a steadfast knight.
On the other hand, the beast's body was covered in blood. It was due to his fighting style.
His purely offensive, reckless combat style befitted his moniker, "Beast," but it was ineffective. The wounds he received were far deeper than the damage he dealt.
He had been cut by the holy sword dozens of times. His blood-soaked body had even stained his black hair.
"Good. The blood loss is waking me up."
But the beast paid it no mind and threw himself forward. His way of fighting, dancing on the line of death, could not be seen as human.
Saber felt as if she were facing a magical beast, not a person.
She parried his incoming claws with her sword once more.
"It feels like I'm fighting an immortal…!"
But he does not die.
He should have been dead dozens of times by now.
He wasn't returning from death. When he reached the brink of death, his life would pause for a moment, then return to a perfect state.
Regression rather than revival.
Something was preventing his death.
"It has been a tedious time."
High in the skies of Fuyuki City, above the clouds, Gilgamesh spoke to her visitor.
Before the golden brilliance of the Vimana.
A devastatingly cold beauty stood alone, absorbing all light.
It was as if the sun and the moon were facing each other.
"Everything in this world is mine. Even if it is not in my treasury, that truth does not change."
Gilgamesh was drinking wine. Three empty oak barrels were already rolling about on the Vimana.
Reeking of alcohol, Gilgamesh muttered.
"Therefore, I have no need for obsession. I can dismiss it as a cute rebellion. However, the story changes when a thief sneaks in to steal the entire treasury."
Downing another glass of wine, she threw the golden goblet into the air.
The goblet pierced through the clouds and fell to the earth.
Morgan followed the goblet with her eyes, then lifted her head again.
Flushed cheeks. Gilgamesh's clairvoyance was piercing through her.
"Morgan. You have crossed the line."
"You are not talking about Kyle."
"No one may shake the world without my permission. All of creation is mine. To remove its roots is an act of rebellion."
Gilgamesh had seen through Morgan's plan.
She had not intended to intervene, but Morgan's scheme was far more vicious than she had thought.
She was trying to change the very foundation of the world to that of the fairies.
If she succeeded, all of Earth's current history would be reduced to nothing.
The Lostbelt, which had branched off 14,000 years ago, long before humanity's birth, would become the new foundation, and everything that came after those 14,000 years would vanish.
It could no longer even be called a Lostbelt. The Lost World had committed an act of rebellion against the Proper World.
Gilgamesh was not one to stand by and let such a thing happen.
"The will of humanity and the land should have eliminated you… but it seems you've pulled some tricks."
Magecraft on a divine level. To deceive the will of the world.
Even Gilgamesh could not do such a thing. Across all branches of all parallel worlds, those capable of this could be counted on one hand.
But Gilgamesh remained composed.
Her face, flushed with drink, quickly regained its usual color.
Her once-relaxed eyes had regained their firm brilliance.
As much as Gilgamesh disliked Morgan, she acknowledged her abilities, so she was not surprised.
And she certainly had not let her guard down.
"I shall eliminate you with my own hands. Consider it an honor."
Morgan remained silent.
Instead of words, she raised her staff.
Gilgamesh rose from her throne.
Motes of golden light gathered, forming her armor.
Gilgamesh raised her hand.
"If you recall the time you stole Marduk, you won't last even a second."
Thousands, tens of thousands of portals filled the sky.
She gathered more firepower than in her fierce battle with Enkidu in life.
An omnidirectional bombardment. The golden ripples, too vast to be hidden by Fuyuki's clouds, filled the sky.
Though it was night, it was brighter than day.
The Holy Grail War had long since vanished from Gilgamesh's consciousness.
Now, only the Arbiter of Humanity, punishing a traitor to the Human Order, reigned supreme in the sky.
She looked upon the endless barrage of treasures, holding her golden armor and a strangely shaped sword.
Not for a single moment did Gilgamesh lose sight of Morgan.
Morgan's form was nowhere to be seen. It was only natural. Dozens of Noble Phantasms per second were pouring from tens of thousands of portals.
There was no way to withstand it. The target should have been instantly killed within 0.1 seconds of the bombardment. That would be the general consensus.
But Gilgamesh clicked her tongue.
"…Tsk."
Her treasures were slowly being pushed back.
The treasures, focused on a point, were gradually expanding into a plane, and from a plane to a sphere.
Morgan had deployed a small barrier, about one meter in diameter, around herself.
A gossamer-thin veil, like the surface of a lake wrapped around her.
The fragile-looking barrier, which seemed as if it would pop with a poke of a finger, was withstanding hundreds of thousands of Noble Phantasms.
To be precise, it was ignoring them.
The attacks themselves weren't reaching her.
The moment Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasm touched the barrier's surface, the impact of dozens of tons evaporated, and the Noble Phantasm fell lifelessly to the ground.
What was the principle? What kind of craft was this? Gilgamesh gave up trying to deduce it.
A witch is a witch. The magecraft wielded by witches has always been terribly wicked.
The mystery of a witch was that it killed those who tried to uncover its secrets.
If a witch deploys a defense beyond comprehension, then one must retaliate with an attack beyond comprehension.
She had already anticipated this. Gilgamesh raised Ea, which she had already taken out.
"Let this strike be our ritual of parting."
A great storm raged around her.
Ea, the first sword that separated Heaven and Earth.
The first pillar is the heavens, the second is the earth, the third is the underworld.
The nature governed by each pillar responds to Ea's release.
Holes opened in the heavens and the earth.
A strike that tears the world apart.
A simple and clear attack. That is why none can oppose it.
"Know that no trickery can evade this."
The clouds in the sky part.
The world breathes in sync with Gilgamesh's breath. All of creation revolves around her.
At this moment, Gilgamesh existed not as a Heroic Spirit, but as the one and only King on Earth.
There was no letting her guard down.
It took less than two seconds to prepare and release the Noble Phantasm.
Even then, she was protecting herself with over twenty other Noble Phantasms.
Now, all that remained was a single death.
"[The Star of Creation that Split Heaven and Earth - Enuma Elish]"
One strike.
A death that no one could escape descended upon Morgan.
Gilgamesh thought the strike was more than enough; she never considered it might be insufficient.
She had even used an excessive amount of magical energy, adding a bit of personal animosity into it.
On top of Gilgamesh's own mana, she had poured in so much more that Tokiomi, waiting in the Tohsaka mansion, fainted with a high fever from the drain.
Of course, Morgan must be dead.
It had erased one of Fuyuki's mountains from existence.
Gilgamesh brushed back her bangs and boarded the Vimana.
But she sensed a magical energy that should not exist.
"...…Don't be ridiculous."
Her face contorted in a scowl, Gilgamesh stomped her foot. The Vimana swayed from the impact.
She's alive.
The shadow that blocked the moon was Morgan. Not a single scratch on her.
Morgan looked down at Gilgamesh and smiled faintly.
"You witch, whose very existence is a sin… Do you dare look down upon me?!"
Having completely lost her reason, Gilgamesh raised Ea once again.
She released the Noble Phantasm with blinding speed. Morgan was once again engulfed in a crimson storm.
And yet, Morgan emerged unharmed once more.
Gilgamesh felt an indescribable emotion.
An emotion that should never appear on the face of the King of Heroes, the supreme king, the Arbiter of Humanity.
"What is this? How in the world…?!"
In the face of such overwhelming power, her legs gave out without her realizing it. She felt fear.