Gilgamesh sat alone in the middle of the garden as the moon shone in the night sky.
"..."
"You seem distraught."
"Distraught... such a grave word. I know nothing of being distraught."
"I believe we are similar in this regard, King of Heroes."
"Yeah, sure. I can tell you're nothing but distraught."
"Do you think so?"
"I know it."
"But of course, thanks to your clairvoyance which you hide most of the time."
"How do you-"
"Do you believe you're the only one who can tell people's true intentions and emotions?"
"... I admit that you're a pretty sly mongrel."
"And I admit that I am indeed distraught. I'm not sure of my future, or the future of this world."
"I'm not either, all I see in front of us is darkness and death. All visions of failure."
"Naturally. You can only see what you believe. And you get to see only what you are."
"Spare me your riddles."
"You must have gotten stronger than you were before."
"It seems that way."
"You have increased your power. But what hasn't changed is your mentality."
"..."
"You still move into every conflict believing you're the stronger one, that you're the predator, you're the one who will hunt down the enemy. And normally you'd be correct. But this isn't the case. We're all prey trying to fight back with all their strength. We can't allow ourselves to go easy. We must always use all our power."
"It almost seems like you're suggesting I intentionally held back."
"Maybe I am. But I recognise that by this point, it must be almost an instinct for you. The instinct of superiority, of the predator."
"..."
"However, as hard as it is, I... we need you to let go of this instinct. I know that changing habits that are engraved into our very soul is nearly impossible... so allow me to help you."
Just then, a fireball flew towards Gilgamesh. He summoned a weapon to fire back at it, but the attack hit him before he could.
"What... the... hell..."
"I altered your perception of speed to catch you off guard. However, if you had summoned a shield, that attack would have done nothing. Why did you counter it with a weapon?"
"Are you seriously going to-"
Before Gilgamesh could scold him, Louis released another fireball.
A golden shield appeared in front of Gilgamesh, but the attack still blasted him in the head.
"What?"
"This time I messed up your perception of position. Why did you counter with only one shield?"
"You bastard!"
Gilgamesh shot at least 20 golden lights at the King of France, but a barrier appeared, stopping them dead on their tracks.
"Nothing short of a fully opened gate will breach my defense. You're not putting enough of yourself into this."
A huge fireball, the size of a building, appeared in the sky, threatening to atomize everything on the ground.
"In a battle for survival, you must give your all from the very beginning if you wish to stand a chance."
"This is insane! Your palace, you're going to-"
The fireball dipped down at incredible speed. A second longer and Versailles would have been totally destroyed. A scarlet flash could be seen for a moment, and the miniature sun was dispersed.
"Good. This is a start."
"You're a complete fool!"
"A fool? I am merely showing you my kingly way. I wasn't born from a goddess. I had no great destiny. I was supposed to be a mere puppet for the nobles to play with. All I accomplished, all that I am known for, I had to obtain it and to show it. I had no space for weakness, no space for hesitation. To not show your power is equivalent to not having it. Because when you lie dead on the ground, who are you going to show the full extent of your capabilities?"
***
In a great hall of the palace...
"It wasn't easy to convince my friends to join up. I mean, they weren't exactly favourable to the king. However, they were smart enough to recognise the looming threat of the destruction of the world."
"Umu, that's great, D'Arty!"
"What kind of nickname is this?"
"You know, Gil never lets me speak freely, I always have to watch what I say."
"Isn't he your partner?"
"Ahh, don't say it!"
D'Artagnan nearly got killed by a swing of a ruby red sword.
"What was that?"
"I'm sorry... I'm not used to speaking so directly of our relationship."
"Oh, well... I apologise..."
"No, I'm the one who's sorry... and yeah, I guess you're right... though I suppose we're still working on it."
Salter suddenly sat down next to them.
"So, how is it going with your boyfriend?"
"Ahhh-"
"Watch out!"
Meanwhile...
Soldiers were queuing to receive blankets and hot drinks from a pale man they had never seen before.
"Here you go."
"Thank you, sir."
"Oh, don't mention it."
"The King of Heroes is now running a charity."
"Oh, shush, will you? You both never have anything positive to say..."
"What's the matter? Did I anger you?"
"No, you just annoyed me."
"So you can actually get annoyed, who would have thought..."
"Yes, indeed, and you are annoying me right now."
"... do you expect me to apologise?"
"I expect nothing of the sort from you..."
"... sorry..."
"I didn't know you could say sorry..."
"Now you're the one annoying me..."
"More importantly, Jeanne, you still haven't talked to your variant?"
"... why should I?"
"I'm sure you could have a productive conversation."
"I doubt it."
"Oh, come on, why the hell not?"
"You know exactly why. She stepped on that fire willingly. I would never do that. That alone tells me that she's an idiot. And I don't waste my time talking with idiots."
"... you're being defensive."
"I'm not!"
"Yes, you are. You're deflecting the issue. Just because it's hard to talk about something doesn't mean you shouldn't discuss it. You think that just because I'm over it, my failure still doesn't haunt me? You have unresolved conflict and trauma. Nothing wrong with that. And you have the perfect chance to discuss it with the perfect person: yourself."
"You're so..."
Jalter paused.
"... so?"
"... fine, we'll chat for a bit. But don't get mad if I end up hitting her."
"Well, as long as I'm not the one getting hit..."
Galter chuckled as he handed a hot chocolate to Jalter.
The grey-haired woman walked next to Jeanne and sat down.
"Oh, hey... you look..."
"Yeah, I'm you."
"Excuse me?"
At the same time, Galter felt a force tugging at his arm. He turned around and saw Salter.
"Is something the matter?"
"You're tired. You should rest."
"It's fine, I can keep going. Keeping my gate open for this long is pretty exhausting, but-"
"Rest."
"But some soldiers hav-"
"Rest."
"... I can take a break, I guess."
"Gil, you also have needs. Don't neglect yourself."
"Of course not, I-"
"That wasn't a request. It was an order."
"..."
"..."
"... in that case, yes, sir!"
Galter left to find his bedroom.
Salter squatted down on the ground.
"Stupid, you're so stupid... that was so corny..."
After a while, the dawn started to approach.
The last day of Versailles.