Truly, I was the Honored One.
The weather had been terrible the past few days, and yet today, the sky cleared up. The Sun shone bright in a beautiful blue sky, casting warm light upon my face.
I felt it a while, then opened my eyes to my foe. He had forgone his casual clothes for a resplendent gold armour with massive pauldrons, a crimson cape draped from his waist. Ancient symbols were carved along the chestplate, and obsidian lines marked the edges.
Yet, there was more, my eyes saw more.
"Oh? What's this~?" I craned my neck, grinning, "You contracted with someone."
In the end, he was a heroic spirit, an incarnated one, but a heroic spirit nonetheless. The mana of this age was insufficient to manifest his complete power.
"Let me guess, that priest? Did he ask for something inappropriate in exchange~?"
The King of Heroes scoffed, "Compared to that, you've decided to dismiss your servants."
"Nah, I gave them to Rin for a bit. Can't kick your ass completely while maintaining two." I stretched my arms, "I thought I was an insect. Must be a pretty massive one for you to depend on someone else for mana."
"Foolish mongrel. This is merely to ensure I trample you as thoroughly as possible. Enough words!"
Despite that, he did not attack me. For him to attack something beneath him first was unbecoming. That was fine, more than fine.
I flicked my wrist.
The wind howled. The skyscraper beside us groaned mightily as the top half slid off, crumbling upon itself. Bits and massive chunks of rebar and concrete came raining down with its fall.
I brought my hands together.
Noble Phantasms shot from the Gate of Babylon, exploding against the debris headed towards Gilgamesh.
"Imaginary Technique, Hollow Purple."
In the blink of an eye, a great impossible mass carved though all in front of me, the road, buildings, cars and street lamps all, leaving only dead earth behind.
I had to use the strongest techniques in my arsenal. Anything less was unbecoming, and would do nothing to him for the sheer weight of his existence.
"So even you'll dodge that, huh?" I smiled.
Gilgamesh stood up a building to the side, arms still crossed and expression still unperturbed. "I'll admit, mongrel. As a magus, few will ever come close to you. But for a magus that relies on cheap tricks to encroach upon this King is unthinkable!"
Carved spears and swords laid with gems rained down from the gates behind him. I avoided one by jumping to the side one leg, another I kicked back, a third I had to jump back again, then again until my hand found a stray car.
Thoughtlessly, I tossed it at Gilgamesh.
A futile attempt.
"A futile attempt."
A sword erupted from his treasury and exploded against the car. I shot through the explosions, Red forming in my hands. At that, finally, he grinned, the Gate of Babylon opened up right against my palm and shot some ancient weapon.
Both Red and the Noble Phantasm exploded against my arm.
But so what?
Blue dragged me to the sky, I put a hand against the same arm that took the explosion and shot another Red, a much greater one. Aged shields from forgotten legends formed above the King of Heroes.
I heard one crack and shatter, then another and another.
That was all.
He remained untouched.
The apartment complex he stood on was not the same. It took the spell head on, and stood nary a chance as it was crushed into the ground.
Now, Gilgamesh stood below me, arms still crossed.
"Mongrel, there's a limit to jokes! How dare you stand above me?!"
I was in the air. Any movement to avoid his swords would be difficult. I did not move at all. There was no need to. They never made it through Infinity.
"You can't even reach me, you senile old bastard!" I cackled.
"You rely on spells and think to stop me?!"
More treasures came bursting from the countless ripples below. Far older, far baser, too many to even keep track of. It was as if the very earth was basked in his golden radiance. They found an insurmountable distance between myself and them, one that could never be crossed.
"Don't you get it? It doesn't matter what you pull out!" I raised a hand and spun it around. No Blue, just the distance manipulated by Infinity until their trajectory was spinning around me and then down back at him.
His own golden hell rained down on him.
The King of Heroes clicked his tongue, forced to respond by unleashing even more of his treasures to stop his own. Much of the city lit up in explosions both great and small. Countless buildings were vapourised in a bright flash. Street lights were ripped from whence they stood by the strong winds that followed and tossed into the outskirts.
Really, I was glad that the city had been emptied out beforehand.
I tried to close the distance between us. He knew where I was going to appear and a noble phantasm awaited me just as I did, exploding into the earth when it could not against me.
To meaningfully hurt him, I needed to close the distance. He knew that. He wasn't going to let me.
Every time I made to close the distance, he surrounded me with his gates and rained down fiery hell.
That too, was fine.
My heart thumped, raging against my chest. I felt my breath shorten, and sweat form on my scalp when it should not have.
"What? Have you realised the futility in meaninglessly throwing spells against me, mongrel?" He threw his head back and laughed.
I brought my hands together, as though I were praying to some God who did not care for me.
"Nah."
An invisible string carved through the very world between us. One he could not see.
Gilgamesh's crimson eyes shimmered and then the King of Heroes... stepped aside a moment before it carved his arm off.
"You can see it?" I felt my eyes widen, and a grin crossed my lips.
"I see all." He declared with a grin far more terrible than mine, "Did I not say that paltry tricks would not work on me?"
"It's fine even if you see them. After all, how many can you stop?"
Tens. Hundreds. Thousands of slashes erupted from all around me. I felt my magic circuits strain and pain under the sheer effort of it all. The slashed tore into the earth, carved aside what remained of buildings, flew off haphazardly into the forests around the city and sliced and diced the few mountains tall enough to be in the way.
Gilgamesh responded immediately, in the only way a King like him could. The Gate of Babylon opened behind him, and countless treasures came at my head. Some were carved in twain with no resistance by those slashes that divided the world, others exploded and stopped them, several were ancient enough to de-stabilise the very spell sustaining them and blow right through.
They hung against Infinity. Those of them that did not indiscriminately blew into all that was behind me.
Gilgamesh stopped many, he did not stop them all. One nicked his pauldron, then another sliced outside his shoulder, and another carved his tendon and then his neck. The metal of his armour was slowly torn away until his chest had begun to bare, and then even that was marked by cuts upon cuts.
A minute passed.
Five minutes.
He had no shortage of treasures.
Ten minutes.
Cuts he withstood. Cuts he remained unbothered by until finally some of his fingers fell to the earth, blood gushing from the stumps left behind.
"You squander what you have, and fear the thoughts these knaves have for you! How dare a cowardly bastard like you go so far?!"
"I'll go farther!" I laughed maniacally.
Breathing was getting a little harder.
"You've gone too far already!"
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a dagger. A twisted knife that was most certainly useless as a weapon and would not even cut anyone. I noticed it too late.
Rule Breaker.
A noble phantasm to negate all magecraft upon contact.
The moment it made contact with my spell. Infinity shattered.
All those noble phantasms I had been holding back tore into me instantly. I heard Gilgamesh's boisterous laughter. But, I couldn't make out what he'd said through the pain of becoming a pincushion in the blink of an eye.
Fortunately, only six of the noble phantasms hit me.
Unfortunately, six noble phantasms had hit me.
The pain didn't even register until a moment later. When it did, I wanted to scream. Then I realised a sword was jammed down my throat.
Whatever, it'd heal-
"Do you know why none of those disgusting bloodsuckers would never think to face a servant, much less myself?"
Though the pain was paralyzing, and it felt like someone had poured oil over my head and set me aflame, my eyes snapped to his face. I made sure I heard his every word.
"Just as their existence rejects humanity and all they have done, noble phantasms reject them," He let out a grating laugh, and let his head hang to the side a bit, "Against the crystallization of man's delusions, their regeneration falls apart, and while what you've done with their abominable ability is... somewhat praiseworthy, its true nature remains the same. Don't tell me you didn't know even that much?"
So... my wounds weren't going to heal... and he had a way through infinity too.