Type-Moon/Fate World – Chaldea
"What the—?! Sneak attack! No honor!"
Fujimaru leapt up in reflex, arms raised to defend, startling Mash beside her.
Mash had been watching no. 5, Stella, and had no idea why her senior suddenly cursed and jumped.
Still brooding over the name Lancelot, she nearly brought out her shield to guard Fujimaru.
Then she remembered—they weren't in a Singularity but safe inside Chaldea.
"Senpai, what's wrong?" she sighed. "You scared me."
"Mash, Tiamat just attacked me!"
Fujimaru waved her arms. "The Tiamat from Mesopotamian myth—the final boss behind everything! We were fighting alongside King Gilgamesh in the video, and she ambushed me!"
"Huh?" Mash tilted her head. "But, Senpai, didn't you keep calling him 'the elbow-slicer king'?"
"Elbow-slicer? I never said that!" Fujimaru sat back down, deadpan. "I always say King Gilgamesh or king of heroes."
??????
Mash was puzzled; just minutes earlier Fujimaru had yelled, "Go, Emiya Shirou! Slice that poser's elbow!"
Now her senior was calmly praising King Gilgamesh?
Whatever had happened, Mash would find out soon enough—she just wanted to finish watching no. 5, Stella.
Demon Slayer World, Infinity Castle.
Is this guy really Gilgamesh?!
Kibutsuji Muzan froze; she had never imagined the arrogant man who spat 'counterfeit' and 'mongrel' could actually act to save someone.
By her reading of Gilgamesh, he should have coldly watched the one called Fujimaru Ritsuka die.
After all, this was his country; the plan had been clear—so long as he lived, Uruk would not perish.
Kibutsuji Muzan had thought the same: no matter how many demons died, as long as she, the progenitor, survived,
hope remained.
The screen had gone black for a moment, but Muzan had seen it plainly—Gilgamesh shoved Fujimaru Ritsuka out of the way.
At such close range, pushing the other meant he himself would take the hit.
Did he have some way to heal himself? Muzan fell into troubled speculation.
Inside the video, the footage rolled on.
After a second of darkness, blood spilled across the ground and a sharp stench filled the air.
Fujimaru Ritsuka's face was flecked with blood; her pupils trembled, unable at first to grasp what had happened.
Mash stood rooted, staring at the scene before her.
"King Gilgamesh," Fujimaru said, voice shaking.
"Sniping, how contemptible," Gilgamesh muttered, blood trickling from his mouth; his heart had been pierced, yet his expression was oddly calm.
"Not bad aim—damn Tiamat's gotten capable," he said, then started to walk aside.
Mash finally reacted, her composure cracking. "K-King Gilgamesh! I couldn't protect—"
"Hmph!"
Wise King Gilgamesh cut her off, not letting her finish, and sneered, "A mere fatal wound!"
With his back to them he seemed to sigh in relief. "As long as you two are safe."
At that moment, most of the people watching the world feed exploded in disbelief.
This was the Gilgamesh from No.8? They might as well be two different people!
The difference in character was staggering; compared to the earlier one, this "King Gilgamesh" inspired far greater admiration.
Wise King Gilgamesh raised a hand; the stone tablet reappeared, and he declared, "Move, Gate of Divine Authority!"
The Gate rumbled once more, every weapon firing in unison, launching a full salvo at Tiamat.
From behind, Mash shouted through tears, "Please stop! No matter what, your body—"
Fujimaru Ritsuka remained frozen.
"Are you saying it's impossible?!" Wise King Gilgamesh glared ahead, anger flaring. "Believe your king has reached his limit?! Think Uruk can no longer fight?!"
"Will you say it too, Fujimaru Ritsuka?!"
He almost roared the final words.
The camera slowly panned: Uruk submerged in black mud, countless corpses gone, walls shattered.
Only the roar of the Gate's cannons and Tiamat's every footstep—each sounding the city's ruin—remained.
Clearly, save for Wise King Gilgamesh, no one else, not even Fujimaru Ritsuka, could fight just then.
Even so, tears still in her eyes, Fujimaru's gaze hardened; she stood and stared at the king's back.
"No!"
She clenched a fist to her chest, eyes fixed on that back.
"No—!!"
Fujimaru shouted, "Uruk still stands—!!"
"Well said!" Hearing that, Wise King Gilgamesh smiled anew, voice softening. "Then I shall show you my true strength."
Golden light enveloped him; outwardly he looked unchanged.
He even joked, "Though I've been going all-out from the start, a king must keep up appearances!"
.....
50 power stones for bonus chapter