Chapter 7 Gilgamesh

Chapter 7: Gilgamesh

At this moment, Sakura was conversing with a blonde foreigner, or rather, the foreigner was speaking unilaterally while ignoring Sakura's reactions. Sakura's expression was clearly far from pleasant.

However, when Lolita caught sight of that blonde foreigner, her pupils shrank sharply. The person before her had sleek, compliant short blonde hair, a handsome and dashing face, and wore a blue-and-white striped tracksuit with the upper half unzipped, revealing a white shirt underneath.

"What is it, Archer?" Rin Tohsaka asked, noticing Lolita's abnormality.

"The other party is a Servant," Lolita said, not directly revealing Gilgamesh's true name and identity, but speaking vaguely instead.

"What?" Lolita's words caused Rin's body to tense up.

Seemingly having obtained a satisfactory answer, the blonde foreigner left Sakura with a pleased expression, heading in the direction from which Rin and Lolita had previously come.

'Rin has been noticed!' After suppressing her presence, Lolita saw Gilgamesh cast a glance toward Rin's direction.

Watching the man leave, Rin let out a relaxed breath of air.

Right at that moment, however, Gilgamesh stopped in his tracks and said, "That little mouse over there, I believe you've finished watching the show?"

"I haven't been exposed, don't give me away," Lolita whispered into Rin's ear.

"Who are you?" Rin understood Lolita's intention and spoke up.

"Hmph, come out, mongrel. Though I know not what method you used to elude my detection, if I failed to notice someone wielding Command Spells and possessing such formidable magical energy, I would be unworthy of the title of King for so long..." The next instant, his outfit shifted into a suit of shimmering golden armor.

The sudden surge of immense pressure caused Rin to momentarily forget how to breathe, her body freezing as if struck by petrification magic. Was this the Holy Grail War? Her nasal passages were flooded with the thick, unprecedented scent of death.

"Rin! Damn it, I forgot about this!" Lolita hurriedly materialized, standing before her and releasing the overwhelming battlefield aura of the Red Archer to counter it. After all, had Lolita released her full aura right then and there, everyone in the vicinity would have been crushed to death.

"To direct killing intent and coercion at a human is quite excessive, King of Heroes," Lolita stood between Gilgamesh and Rin, draped in her previous red cloak.

"Huh? You actually know of me?" Gilgamesh looked surprised at the young girl before him, then smiled.

In truth, the King of Heroes was not an overwhelmingly powerful Servant in physical strength, combat power, or movement speed, which were merely ranked between C and B. However, his Noble Phantasms were of an anti-heavenly EX rank; he was essentially a bugged character relying entirely on equipment to PK.

"Very well, since you know my name, then mongrel, let this King see if you can entertain me!" The words were supremely arrogant, yet matched with his formidable bearing, it left one unable to refute him.

As he spoke, the King of Heroes extended a hand, and the space behind him rippled. Emerging from the thin air were a dozen divine weapons and treasures of various designs.

"This has to be a lie!" Rin cried out in sheer disbelief. Even with the naked eye, one could tell that those dozen weapons were all renowned divine artifacts. Judging from the magical energy contained within them, those weapons were all Noble Phantasms! But isn't this cheating? Noble Phantasms are the weapons upon which a hero builds their fame, essentially acting as the "Proof of a Hero." Yet right now, conventional logic was being thoroughly subverted before her eyes. True, certain heroes possessed multiple Noble Phantasms, but for someone to summon over a dozen at once—and such a number clearly was not his limit—violated all natural laws.

It would be somewhat forgivable if these Noble Phantasms were all counterfeits, but the ones before her were the genuine articles!

To be honest, facing such a vast array of approximately A-rank Noble Phantasms put a tiny bit of pressure on Lolita, forcing her to utilize the power of the Hogyoku.

"There is nothing to be surprised about; these are all treasures collected by this King during his lifetime," Gilgamesh clearly looked very satisfied with Rin's astonishment. "You should feel honored to perish beneath this King's treasury."

"Gate of Babylon!"

At Gilgamesh's command, a torrential rain of Noble Phantasms poured down upon Lolita and Rin.

Sabers, lances, staves, swords, hammers, halberds—every conceivable weapon was present, and these were all authentic Noble Phantasms. If struck by them, let alone Rin, even Lolita would suffer some torn skin. But what of it? With a demon's regenerative capacity, it would heal in the blink of an eye.

"Rin! Fall back, retreat at least twenty meters." Disregarding the incoming Noble Phantasms, Lolita first cast ten layers of lightning armor upon Rin, then hurled her ten meters away. Following this, Lolita's body violently accelerated in a small dash to the right, dodging the dozen or so flying weapons. However, Gilgamesh had anticipated this; knowing the first wave might miss, he had specifically reserved a weapon to target Lolita after she dodged.

"Whoosh!" A sword flew rapidly toward Lolita's head...

"Archer!" Rin scrambled to her feet. Thanks to the lightning armor, she had sustained zero injuries, but upon seeing the sword—which moved with the speed of a bullet—she cried out in alarm.

"Clang!" Catching the sword with both hands, Lolita exerted force and squeezed...

"Crack!" The entire weapon was crushed to pieces. As an alchemist, the moment Lolita gripped the weapon, she had located its core and surged her magical energy into it to destroy it, rendering the sword as malleable as tofu. However, despite studying Lightning and the Scarlet Dance for a long time, neither Lolita nor Shustar had ever discovered the cores of those two weapons—though Lightning could still be broken and repaired.

Alright, enough digression. In short, under the dumbfounded gazes of Gilgamesh and Rin, Lolita kneaded the scrap metal in her hands into a ball and said, "Take this, King of Heroes! Though I don't know why there's a second Archer, let me show you the prowess of someone who is also an Archer."

With that, Lolita infused the iron ball with magical energy directly and hurled it at Gilgamesh...

"What?!" It was too fast to defend against; it was a guaranteed hit.

"Bang!" The iron ball struck Gilgamesh squarely in his handsome face, sending him flying backward.

"Spit." Getting up and spitting out a mouthful of blood, Gilgamesh rose and said, "You mongrel, this is not the fighting style of an Archer at all! How dare you injure this King? Die, mongrel!"

"Gate of..." The space behind him ruptured with countless cracks. Gilgamesh intended to unleash another barrage, but before he could finish chanting the true name release, Lolita had already appeared directly before him.

A flash of electrical arc transformed into the shape of a katana held firmly in her grasp, and utilizing her speed—which far exceeded A-rank—she materialized right in front of Gilgamesh...

Left with no choice, the King of Heroes halted the half-released Gate of Babylon, casually drew a Noble Phantasm from it, and engaged Lolita in close combat.

It had to be said that Gilgamesh's swordsmanship was shockingly abysmal; any bottom-tier knight thrown out from the Magic Sword Cult could act as his teacher. Relying on her A+-rank physical strength and A+-rank agility—both far surpassing the King of Heroes—Lolita utterly thundered over Gilgamesh.

"Clang!" With a fully charged sword strike, Lolita batted Gilgamesh away. Glancing at the scattered fragments of the destroyed treasures on the ground, she smiled and said, "It seems the King of Heroes is nothing much after all!"

"Do you intend to mock this King?!" Being suppressed and beaten was intensely grating; perhaps for the King of Heroes, this was an experience he had never undergone before.

During this time, Gilgamesh had attempted to use the "Gate of Babylon" a few times, but faced with Lolita's flash-like speed, aside from damaging some flowers and grass, it yielded virtually no results.

Rin watched the Servant-level battle in shock, her current emotional state extremely turbulent... ahem, deeply excited.

It was a sheer collision of Noble Phantasms—whether it was Gilgamesh's collection of genuine proofs of heroes, or Lolita's peerless divine weapon that easily destroyed those treasures. The mystery that had previously existed only in imagination was now clashing violently right before her eyes, time and time again. What unfolded before her was nothing short of a reenactment of myth!

However, Lolita could also sense Rin muttering to herself on the sidelines. Having overcome her initial terror, Rin grew deeply resentful of Gilgamesh's wasteful handling of such treasures.

Suddenly, however, the battle ground to an abrupt halt. Gilgamesh casually tossed aside the dwarf warhammer that had just been cleaved in two, choosing not to draw another Noble Phantasm, while Lolita likewise ceased fighting and put away her lightning blade.

"Though these are all Noble Phantasms, your power ought to extend beyond this! Are you only capable of hurling things blindly?" Lolita asked Gilgamesh.

"Mongrel, do you seek to insult this King? How much of your own true power have you deployed?" Gilgamesh retorted angrily. His Noble Phantasms extended far beyond those contained within his "Gate of Babylon." Compared to these varied treasures which at best reached A+ rank, his sword of genesis—the EX-rank *Enuma Elish* (The Star of Creation that Split Heaven and Earth), hereinafter referred to as the Ea—was the true Noble Phantasm belonging to him. Arguably, only when wielding the Ea was the King of Heroes truly the King of Heroes.

Yet, compared to Gilgamesh, Lolita possessed far too many hidden trump cards.

"Besides, this King has no mood to continue fighting when petty scoundrels are eavesdropping from the sidelines!" Saying this, the King of Heroes glanced toward the other side. Standing atop a residential rooftop across the street was a blue figure.

Lolita had sensed him long ago, but perceiving no killing intent from the individual, she had chosen to ignore him.

Clad in tight blue attire, the crimson longspear grasped in his hand instantly revealed the newcomer's identity—Lancer.

"Oh my, I was merely passing by, please continue," the man leaped down to the ground, chuckling and waving a hand. "What a magnificent battle, Saber... well, Archer. I was originally worried that being summoned to this world this time would be dreadfully boring, but it seems this Holy Grail War will be unexpectedly interesting."

'Saber? One who uses a sword is not necessarily a Saber; they could also be...' Lolita thought to herself. Meanwhile, Gilgamesh lacked the habit of exposing others'底细 (bottom lines/secrets).

"Do not prattle on so shamelessly, mongrel. If you wish to return to the Throne of Heroes, this King can temporarily grant you the glory of dying by my blade!"

Facing Gilgamesh's provocation, Lancer merely shrugged. "Though I would love nothing more than to have a hearty battle, my Master is a coward and lacks the courage to let me engage when two Servants are present."

With that, Lancer leaped backward, intending to leave the battlefield.

"You think you can flee, mongrel!"

With a wave of Gilgamesh's hand, six or seven Noble Phantasms shot forward toward the direction where Lancer had jumped.

Yet, all of those Noble Phantasms missed their targets entirely. No, using the word "dodged" would be inaccurate; Lancer had made no evasive movements whatsoever, as if those treasures had never been aimed in his direction in the first place. As a Servant of the Archer class, given Gilgamesh's pinpoint accuracy in archery, he naturally would not commit such an infantile error, yet the facts were laid bare before them—every single one of those treasures had missed.