"EA, it is time to wake up. A worthy opponent stands before us at this very moment."
Hum——!
Red patterns spread across the staff, flickering with a brilliant light.
Gilgamesh pointed the staff at Enkidu, and then countless golden ripples of varying sizes appeared—the Gate of Babylon.
Within the golden portals, countless Noble Phantasms revealed their sharp edges, all aiming their blades at Enkidu.
Enkidu, who was humming a certain melody, also curled his lips slightly as similar golden portals appeared behind him.
Countless golden chains reached out from within, aiming straight at Gilgamesh.
As the two waved their hands simultaneously, the Noble Phantasms locked onto Enkidu, but those chains intercepted each weapon with precise correspondence.
"Hmph, as expected of you."
Gilgamesh waved his hand again, and the Gate of Babylon expanded across the sky with several times the previous intensity; its sheer pressure seemed ready to tear the forest to shreds.
Seeing this, Enkidu's brow furrowed slightly, seemingly dissatisfied with Gilgamesh's approach. He then knelt on one knee and pressed his hand against the ground.
Countless Chains of Heaven rose from the earth, colliding with the Noble Phantasms shot from the Gate of Babylon, bursting into brilliant colors in the air.
"I won't let you destroy such a beautiful forest, Gil."
"Hmph, fighting with such restraint—are you looking down on this King? My dear friend!"
Gilgamesh's eyebrows twitched with a hint of anger upon hearing those words. He then pulled a luxuriously decorated, massive bow from the Gate of Babylon.
Letting EA float gently beside him, Gilgamesh placed both hands on the bow's frame, pulling the string and aiming at Enkidu below.
"True · Nine Lives!"
Nine beams of light shot from the string, rushing toward Enkidu from different angles, carrying unparalleled power.
The Gate of Babylon contains the prototypes of all treasures in the world. Naturally, he possessed the bow used by the great Greek hero to shoot the Hydra.
(In Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, Kid Gil pulled it out, but he couldn't use it because his younger self lacked sufficient skill.)
Facing the multi-angled pincer attack, Enkidu showed no panic and instead leaped high into the air.
His posture seemed full of openings—and in truth, it was.
However, Enkidu intended to break technique with pure force. He seized the moment the light arrows closed in and rapidly threw out seemingly delicate fists.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!
In a mere instant, Enkidu's punches shattered all nine light arrows, and only a faint wisp of white smoke rose from his fists.
"Tch..."
Gilgamesh clicked his tongue in annoyance, seeing Enkidu's restrained posture.
The battle he wanted wasn't like this; he wanted his friend to fight him with zero reservations.
"Enkidu, testing each other is meaningless. Let's end this with the final move!"
"..."
Upon landing, Enkidu turned his head to look at the surrounding forest, seemingly unwilling to hold the final decisive battle here.
He knew well how strong his friend's power was; the collision of their Noble Phantasms would be enough to destroy this entire forest.
"Hmm? Someone is..."
Enkidu did not respond to Gilgamesh but instead looked to the other side. On a distant treetop, two people seemed to be watching them through some device.
Not just those two, but several shadows with faint presences were lurking nearby as well.
Enkidu, who had been engrossed in the exchange with Gil, only noticed this by utilizing the power of nature.
"Mongrels who hide their heads and show their Tails have no right to interrupt our battle. This is the final blow, Enkidu."
Gilgamesh raised EA in his hand. A surging red vortex of magical energy swirled around EA, and even the surrounding air became saturated with thick mana particles.
Just then, Gilgamesh's spellcasting was interrupted. He glared with crimson eyes full of fury toward the Tohsaka residence.
"Tohsaka Tokiomi! How dare you!"
After a low, teeth-gritting roar of anger, Gilgamesh turned into golden particles and vanished from the spot.
Enkidu breathed a sigh of relief after Gilgamesh disappeared; at least this forest could be saved.
"It seems quite a few people are secretly peeking here. Assassins?"
According to the feedback from the forest, two people seemed to be using firearms of this era, while several other shadows seemed to be Servants. But the number seemed a bit off?
Besides these, there were various strangely shaped familiars watching the scene.
His battle with Gil had been witnessed by various factions. Presumably, their True Names had been completely exposed by now?
But he wasn't worried at all. Neither he nor Gil feared having their True Names known.
Enkidu gave a slight smile toward the treetop where the man and woman were, then vanished from the spot.
"We've been spotted...!"
On the treetop, Emiya Kiritsugu, who was manning a sniper rifle, had his pupils contract. He quickly scanned the surroundings through the scope but could find no trace of the green-haired Servant from just now.
"Maiya, we've been discovered. Retreat."
Realizing things were bad, he called out to the woman beside him wearing black night-ops gear and quickly began disassembling the sniper rifle.
Within a few breaths, after tidying up the scene, the two slid down the tree using ropes.
Beep beep——
Emiya Kiritsugu's old-fashioned phone rang. He glanced down quickly, his brow furrowing slightly.
"Irisviel has encountered a Servant. We need to get there quickly."
"Understood."
The two moved swiftly and without hesitation, running toward the shadows. They disappeared into the forest under the cover of night.
...
Meanwhile, inside one of Fuyuki's spiritual pulse points—the church—a Crest Worm flew in.
After flying to the core of the spiritual pulse, cracks appeared on its body, and several tentacles covered in eyes burrowed out.
The tentacles turned into a black liquid filled with an eerie aura and merged into the spiritual pulse. A moment later, a black Heroic Spirit summoning circle lit up on the ground nearby.
The summoning circle flickered with pitch-black light, and a burly man with a bare upper body and a cloak appeared within the circle.
The man had crimson eyes, with red markings etched under the corners of his eyes, and three crimson magatama patterns encircling his bare chest.
His lower half consisted of non-human legs covered in black carapace, and a thick Tail covered in thorns and spikes was connected to his tailbone.
"..."
"Berserker, Cú Chulainn, has answered the summons..."
The flat and indifferent Cú Chulainn looked around before finally locking his gaze onto the altar-like position in front of him.
He could feel that whatever summoned him was by no means benevolent, but he didn't care about any of that.
Suddenly, pitch-black mud surged from behind Cú Chulainn, seemingly wanting to swallow him whole.
Cú Chulainn reached out and gripped a red spear covered in spikes that appeared in his hand.
He originally intended to slash through the black mud behind him, but for some reason, he gave up resistance and allowed the black mud to taint him.
Cú Chulainn's eyes, which had retained some sanity, were now filled with madness. He then turned into black mud and merged into the ground.
Creak——
At that moment, the door was pushed open. Kotomine Risei walked in carrying a lantern, looking around with a brow full of confusion.
"The commotion here just now... was it an illusion? Perhaps the Holy Grail War has made my nerves more sensitive than usual."
Kotomine Risei shook his head after finding nothing, then turned and left. As he departed, a clump of black mud crawled into his sleeve, completely unnoticed by him.
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