"That man, Matou Kariya—he is neither the Berserker nor Berserker's Master. So where, exactly, is the real Berserker?"
The black tip of Ea, the Sword of Rupture, pointed directly at the completely undefended Leon as Gilgamesh demanded in his imperious voice.
"Heh. Who knows?"
Leon chuckled, completely unfazed by Gilgamesh's intimidation.
Heroic Spirits were, for the most part, strange beings who possessed all kinds of deliberate or unconscious principles and personality traits that served as their own restraints.
For example—
The knight obsessed with chivalry.
The dog obsessed with heroism.
The seaweed-haired man who refused to harm the elderly or children.
The golden king whose arrogance would last until death.
With the exception of the Heroic Spirit Emiya, who had inherited Emiya Kiritsugu's ideals and possessed absolutely no bottom line, willing to resort to any means necessary to achieve his goals, nearly every Heroic Spirit had their own principles they refused to abandon.
That was precisely why they had become Heroes praised—or condemned—by the world.
And the "golden king" standing before Leon, Gilgamesh, was the embodiment of arrogance.
Until Leon made the first move, there was absolutely no chance that this proud king would resort to an underhanded sneak attack.
He was simply too easy to read.
Leon could not help sighing inwardly.
"Hmph!"
Upon hearing this, Gilgamesh snorted.
"If you refuse to speak, then after I dispose of you, I shall simply crush Berserker and his Master wherever they are hiding like cowards!"
For someone who had never shown his face even once and possessed not the slightest shred of backbone, Gilgamesh had no desire to fight him personally.
He would simply unlock Sha Naqba Imuru once and locate them directly.
"Now then—what are you waiting for? Saber, Leon!"
Ea began to spin, its blood-red core spiraling toward the heavens.
Golden ripples of the Gate of Babylon spread across the sky, blotting out the sun and moon.
The moment Saber—Leon—made his move, the final battle would begin!
"Oh, come on~ You're getting awfully fired up."
Leon helplessly shook his head.
Instead of summoning the Vibranium armor of King Arthur from his Divine Treasury, he did something else.
A completely black, perfectly spherical spiritual stone materialized at his waist.
Immediately afterward, a mysterious belt with a noble silver body adorned with ultimate golden patterns manifested around the black stone, automatically taking shape around it.
There was no doubt about it.
This was Leon's decisive-battle Noble Phantasm, which had transformed into Ultimate Darkness—
the Arcle and Amadam of Ultimate Kuuga.
"That belt…"
Gilgamesh narrowed his crimson eyes.
He sensed something strange from it, something that instinctively provoked a feeling of rejection and disgust.
"Hen—"
"Mr. Leon!"
Leon was just about to transform when the shadow beneath him suddenly stretched on its own.
A purple-haired little girl then flew out of it and threw herself into his arms like a swallow returning to its nest.
"Sakura? What are you doing here?"
Leon caught Matou Sakura and frowned slightly as he questioned her.
This wasn't part of his plan.
Or had that old worm finally lost his patience?
Leon narrowed his eyes.
His Observation Haki quietly swept toward Sakura's heart.
And there—
From an almost godlike perspective, he could see a special crest worm quietly concealed inside Sakura's heart.
It had nearly completely fused with the muscles of her heart.
Other than someone like Leon, who had known about its existence beforehand and possessed microscopic-level sensory perception, even Gilgamesh—with his extraordinary eyesight—would have been completely unable to notice it without activating Sha Naqba Imuru.
"Mr. Leon, I'm scared…"
"I heard Uncle Kariya's voice. Did something happen to him?"
"I'm so worried about you, too…"
Matou Sakura's little hands trembled as she clutched Leon's clothes.
Her pale face was buried against his chest as she whispered through her tears.
"Sakura~"
Leon gently stroked Sakura's purple hair.
A faint killing intent appeared in his eyes.
From what Sakura had said, he was now one hundred percent certain that the old worm was behind this.
Only Zouken, who had implanted countless crest worms into Kariya, could have sensed Kariya's death immediately and then transmitted the information into Sakura's mind in an almost hypnotic manner.
But now was not the time.
Having his Servant avatar handle this would be somewhat unreliable.
There was only a 98% chance of success.
What Leon wanted was a 1,000% certainty that nothing would go wrong.
So he had to wait for the main body to make its move.
Wait a little longer.
Leon reminded himself.
Meanwhile—
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Gilgamesh suddenly threw his head back and laughed.
He then looked teasingly at Leon, who was holding Sakura in his arms.
"Saber, you truly never cease to provide this King with unexpected amusement."
"So your Master is neither that 'vessel' nor Emiya Kiritsugu."
"But this frail little girl!"
"What?"
Leon followed Gilgamesh's mocking gaze downward.
His pupils immediately contracted.
The miniature shadow barrier concealing Sakura's Command Seals on the back of her right hand had been forcibly dispelled.
At this moment—
Two shallow marks and one deep mark, three scarlet Command Seals in total, were clearly visible on the back of Sakura's right hand.
Two of them had already been consumed.
"Leon, you…"
This time, it was Artoria who was shocked.
She had been leaning against a pillar outside the main gate of Ryūdō Temple while recovering her strength.
She had already been pondering the truth behind Gilgamesh's earlier claim that Berserker—Kariya—was neither a Servant nor a Master, as well as the enormous amount of information hidden behind that statement.
And now—
Matou Sakura had suddenly appeared.
The little girl Leon had kept at his side from the very beginning was actually a Master possessing Command Seals.
Furthermore, judging by the magical energy surrounding her, she had clearly been transported to Leon's side through the compulsory activation of a Command Seal.
Which meant—
"Leon, are you a Servant?"
"What?"
Artoria's question instantly made Gilgamesh realize that something was wrong.
What did she mean, Are you a Servant?
Wasn't he already supposed to be a Servant?
At that moment—
The minds of the three Servants on the battlefield, each unaware of the others' true identities, began racing.
"…"
The atmosphere immediately descended into an eerie silence.
Sakura, instinctively realizing that she might have done something wrong, remained silent out of fear and guilt.
Only by burying her face deeply against Leon's chest could she feel safe.
At that moment—
Leon had never intended to explain anything.
Instead, he suddenly raised his head and looked toward a particular direction.
His soul had sensed a threat.
Something powerful enough to threaten his true body.
Although this Servant avatar had not inherited Leon's Self-Style Ultra Instinct, it was similar to how Spider-Man's body could instinctively dodge an attack even after Doctor Strange had knocked Peter's astral form out of his body.
The same principle applied here.
The Self-Style Ultra Instinct engraved into Leon's soul had never disappeared.
It would automatically activate only when he encountered a genuine powerhouse capable of endangering the existence of his true body.
Yes.
Even someone as powerful as Gilgamesh—the "favorite son" of Kinoko Nasu himself—had never truly been taken seriously by Leon's main body.
This Servant avatar was merely playing along with him.
But now—
Leon fiercely furrowed his brows.
He stared toward the person secretly observing him.
Then, unable to tolerate it any longer, he broke the silence himself.
"Have you seen enough?"
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