Maybe You Should Find Another Savior

Compared to the vast desert, there was nowhere to hide in the sky. That made it even easier for Gilgamesh to find his targets.

Feeling the gale high above battering his body, Xi Jianxi flipped over and rapidly descended toward Gilgamesh.

"Fool."

Gilgamesh turned some of the gates holding his Noble Phantasms and aimed them at Xi Jianxi.

Perhaps because he was paying too much attention to Xi Jianxi, the number of Noble Phantasms Gilgamesh unleashed upon the Ionian Hetairoi dropped considerably.

Having gradually adapted to the pressure and found an opportunity to strike back, Artoria immediately prepared to release the Wind King Barrier wrapped around her Holy Sword.

Using the fierce wind compressed around the sword, she could leap into the air and reach Gilgamesh, joining Xi Jianxi in a pincer attack against the King of Heroes.

As long as they kept pressing him, the golden king would have no time to prepare and activate Enuma Elish.

Artoria seized the moment, leapt from her warhorse, slid to a stop across the desert, and instantly released the Wind King Barrier.

With a thunderous roar, Artoria shot straight toward Gilgamesh like a hammer.

Every Noble Phantasm along her path was knocked away at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.

"Kid! Hold tight!"

Unwilling to be left behind, Iskandar snapped the reins and prepared to send his ox-cart flying.

"Soldiers, hold formation and ready your ranged weapons!"

Having issued the command, Iskandar's Gordius Wheel charged into the sky atop violet lightning.

Weber had never been particularly accustomed to riding the ox-cart Noble Phantasm at full speed, but after gripping tightly and feeling the wind howl around him, he saw a sight he had never cared to notice before.

The world was so vast, the sky so boundless, and he himself within it was so insignificant.

—I met my king, and only then learned how vast the world was.

"We're going, Rider!" Weber shouted, extending a hand and pointing at Gilgamesh.

Iskandar bared his white teeth in a grin, laughed heartily, and accelerated the ox-cart once more.

The army on the ground watched this unprecedented spectacle. Having gathered here beyond life and death, they had already been stirred beyond measure, yet they had never imagined they would witness something so far beyond their expectations.

Gilgamesh wore an expression of utter delight as he opened more than a dozen gates beside him.

The instant those gates opened, Xi Jianxi, the King of Knights, and the King of Conquerors closed in one after another.

Three attacks rushed toward Gilgamesh at once.

"Uoooooh!" Xi Jianxi gritted his teeth and forced himself onward, but he could go no farther.

The gates spread around Gilgamesh released weapons, protecting him completely within their midst.

Then, two golden swords were drawn from the gates behind his shoulders and swept forward, exploding together with the other Noble Phantasms and blasting all three of them away.

"King of Knights!"

Iskandar landed atop the ox-cart that caught him and reached out to grab the nearest Artoria, pulling her into the cart as well.

But Xi Jianxi was too far away. Noble Phantasms fired in the nick of time divided them.

"Do not worry!"

Xi Jianxi flipped over and abruptly stopped in midair.

"He... created a fixed foothold with mana?" Weber saw at once what Xi Jianxi had done.

Normally, without a place to stand in the air, if such an attack failed once, it would be difficult to launch a second.

Yet Xi Jianxi used this magecraft to begin a second wave of attacks.

"I'm coming too!"

Artoria also flipped over, stood at the edge of the ox-cart, and kicked off into the air again.

The ox-cart could not be left uncontrolled for long, so Iskandar chose to pilot the Noble Phantasm in a turn through the sky, focusing on evading Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasms while preparing to retrieve the two of them on their next pass.

From afar, countless Noble Phantasms were knocked aside as a battle beyond the realm of men unfolded in the sky.

Suddenly, a Noble Phantasm struck by Artoria exploded instantly.

Even with her intuition guiding her evasions, she could no longer sustain those few seconds of aerial combat and began falling backward.

At this height, even hitting the ground would not hurt her much.

A sharp sword flew toward her chest, about to pierce her body the next second, but—

A hand suddenly reached out and grabbed her empty left hand.

It was Xi Jianxi.

He had also temporarily retreated after evading the explosion.

He swiftly pulled Artoria close and supported her back.

"I'll make footholds. Use this chance to release your Noble Phantasm!"

"Understood!"

Her body gradually felt lighter. Then, like Xi Jianxi, Artoria stepped onto the empty sky, the glow of a magic circle appearing beneath their feet.

"Now!" Xi Jianxi shouted.

Artoria held her breath and focused. The Holy Sword in her hand bloomed with incomparable radiance.

"Let us settle this! Excalibur!"

Yet Gilgamesh had made similar calculations. He opened the gate to his treasury as well, retrieving the ultimate Noble Phantasm from its deepest depths. It gathered power, ready to sweep away his enemies.

"Submit in death! Enuma Elish!"

The light that cleaved heaven and earth collided with the fantasy forged by the Inner Sea of the Planet within the inner landscape of the king who had once built an empire spanning three continents.

Enuma Elish, which should have been capable of cleaving even this world apart, had its power blocked by Artoria Pendragon's Noble Phantasm.

The clash of the two powers unleashed a storm that swept through heaven and earth, as though it would tear apart this inner landscape.

But this deadlock could only be maintained for a moment. It could be broken at any time.

So they needed one more thing.

Xi Jianxi spread his hand.

"In the name of the paradise at the end, grant the king peace! Avalon!"

It was the wall of the fairy realm that permitted no outside corruption to enter, the Inner Sea of the Planet isolated from this world, where only the sinless could step.

Beneath the protection of the Holy Sword's sheath, in that instant, every law in the world was shut out.

The strongest defense in the world.

One of the ultimate sanctuaries, beyond even the reach of the Five True Magics, where no one could cause harm.

'I'll use your Noble Phantasm?'

'The battlefield changes constantly. In the worst-case scenario, I simply won't have time to use this second Noble Phantasm. But if it's you, you can certainly withstand the mana required to release the true name of another's Noble Phantasm.'

'...Then I shall not fail your trust.'

Slaying a Demigod

Just as Artoria had said, Xi Jianxi truly could bear the burden of releasing Avalon.

Gilgamesh had not expected this. He had not known Artoria was still concealing such a Noble Phantasm.

Not only was Enuma Elish's attack completely blocked, it was even reflected back at him, slashing toward Gilgamesh alongside the radiance of the Holy Sword.

At this distance, he could no longer evade. Gilgamesh summoned the Shield of the Gods to defend himself.

"Don't even think about it!"

After returning the Noble Phantasm he had used on Artoria's behalf, Xi Jianxi leapt from beside the King of Knights, once again gripping the Red Spear he had summoned.

"Then I shall give you the greatest possible trial!"

The open Noble Phantasm gates fired Noble Phantasms once more.

Having left the sheath's defensive range, Xi Jianxi became the target of every attack again.

But Gilgamesh was not the only one who could fire projectiles. The King of Conquerors raised his hand, brought his five fingers together, and swung it down hard.

The soldiers who had long been waiting hurled the weapons in their hands with all their strength. They collided with the Noble Phantasms Gilgamesh had fired, setting off a chain of explosions.

Though these weapons could not compare to Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasms, they were enough to interfere with their assault on Xi Jianxi.

Xi Jianxi dodged the lethal attacks among the dense Noble Phantasms streaking past his body and charged with all his strength toward the King of Heroes in the sky.

Seizing a gap in the Shield of the Gods' defense, Xi Jianxi thrust out the Red Spear in his hand.

Yet the attack that should have struck Gilgamesh's vital point stopped a hair's breadth away.

Chains stretching from the gates of the treasury tightly bound Xi Jianxi.

Enki.

These chains were originally meant to exert their full effect only against opponents with divinity, but even used as ordinary chains, they possessed immensely powerful binding strength.

"Feel honored. You have forced this king to use this Noble Phantasm to subdue you." Gilgamesh raised Enuma Elish in his hand, intending to use it to kill Xi Jianxi.

"Don't be so quick to draw conclusions. Who ever said a Magus could only fight alone?" Xi Jianxi said with a smile.

His body suddenly dispersed.

The next instant, Xi Jianxi became five, appearing in five different positions around Gilgamesh.

"What?!"

'You want to learn some magecraft from me? My husband truly is greedy. Isn't what the Shadow Realm taught you enough to satisfy you?'

With Morgan teasing him like that, she taught Xi Jianxi one of her specialties without any hesitation.

He had kept it hidden all along, never mentioning it even during the strategy meeting.

The Demon Spear in Xi Jianxi's hand transformed into different weapons according to his will.

A bow, a long blade, a greatsword, and a warhammer.

Along with its original form.

Five attacks crossed in different ways, flashing past in an instant.

Strengthened by the Primordial Runes, they easily broke through the golden armor's defense. Yet the final Demon Spear did not pierce Gilgamesh, stopping only before the armor over his chest.

Gilgamesh gave a cold laugh. Just as he intended to use a Noble Phantasm to move himself and launch another attack, he discovered that the space around him had already been fixed, leaving him unable to move in the slightest.

'Do not rely on just one spear in battle. There will often be enemies a single Demon Spear cannot handle. Use the first Demon Spear to nail the enemy into space, then use the second to pierce the target. I will demonstrate this only once. If you cannot learn it, you know what will happen.'

His master's teachings still rang in his ears.

"Gae Bolg Alternative!"

Summoning a second identical Demon Spear that he had never revealed before, Xi Jianxi released the Noble Phantasm's true name.

The golden king's spiritual core was utterly pierced.

Blood flowed from Gilgamesh's mouth.

"So this is the God Slayer Spear... That woman has no idea what sort of person she has been teaching." Gilgamesh spoke calmly.

The golden armor gradually faded. As blood flowed, the King of Heroes, who possessed the feel of a physical body, slowly began to disappear.

"What did you say?" Xi Jianxi asked, confused.

"It is your victory. Accept it with satisfaction." Gilgamesh stared into Xi Jianxi's eyes without concern. "Prepare yourself, God Slayer. Once you embark upon the path of salvation, there will be no chance to turn back."

Left with words full of unanswered questions, Xi Jianxi could not help asking what they meant. "What exactly are you talking about?"

"This king has no obligation to answer you. Go on, walk your path of no return. Hahaha..."

But Gilgamesh clearly had no intention of explaining further. After saying that, his body rapidly faded away, and in the end, he vanished from this place together with those Noble Phantasms.

Though he had clearly won, Xi Jianxi could only fall downward with a heart full of doubt.

Gilgamesh's words had stirred the deepest question within Xi Jianxi's heart.

Who exactly was he, and where exactly had he come from?

What exactly were the memories that had already disappeared?