Chapter 33: Mama!
BANG!
With a thunderous sound, Saber's body flew uncontrollably backward like a kite with its string cut, smashing through multiple fences before violently crashing into a pile of rubble, kicking up clouds of dust.
"Hahaha..."
Cold rain carried by the night wind soaked the knight's dusty golden hair.
Heavy breathing echoed through the ruined amusement park.
"Uwah, he really is strong, Hero King…"
The golden-haired knight, using his sword as a cane, knelt and stood up. He looked up at the ancient king standing high in the sky—symbol of the oldest ruler in human history—and felt both deep powerlessness and awe.
Even someone as prideful as him had to admit that Hero King Gilgamesh… was indeed despair-inducingly strong.
Beside Saber, the Berserker known as Jack the Ripper was also in an extremely miserable state.
The demon body formed from the concept of terror gasped like a human while collapsing uncontrollably and violently.
Hero King Gilgamesh was probably the most dangerous existence in this Holy Grail War.
Even when Saber and Berserker—the two outstanding Servants—combined their strength to try to overwhelm him, they seemed unable to push him to his limit.
Indeed… Jack could clearly sense with his sharp intuition that the golden king standing in the sky before him still had some strength left after fighting the two of them.
Hearing Saber's heartfelt praise, Gilgamesh merely snorted in mockery.
Like a supreme god, he stood arrogantly atop his aerial vehicle with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"Strong…?"
"You have no right to make me open the deepest part of my treasury. You've only seen a fraction of the King's treasures, yet you speak in such a weak voice."
"What you witnessed was nothing more than dust fallen from my prime. Basing your claim of my power on such a struggle is completely foolish and ridiculous."
Then the Hero King turned his gaze toward the ruins below and looked down at the black-haired boy on the ground.
"On the contrary, you surprised me a little…"
Gilgamesh wore a cold smile. "I thought that in such a desperate situation, you would crawl through the mud like a stray dog with a broken spine, wagging your tail and begging for your life, you mongrel."
"Beg for mercy…?"
Matou Yuu slowly raised his head and met the crimson eyes filled with royal dignity. He grinned and said, "If I begged you for mercy, would the magnanimous Hero King spare me kindly?"
Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Behind him, dozens of golden ripples spread through the void once more; magical artifacts aimed at the boy's forehead, answering with the most direct killing intent.
"Hero King, is there something you're afraid of?" Matou Yuu suddenly asked.
"Oh?"
Gilgamesh paused for a moment, then his eyes turned completely cold. "Is this King afraid? Aren't you afraid of laughing yourself to death saying such nonsense, you mongrel?"
Matou Yuu looked up at the golden king shining high in the sky and spoke while trying to buy time. "If you weren't afraid... then why wait until Tiamat appears to fight fair and square? Why rush here and have to kill the master?"
"Completely foolish!"
Gilgamesh shouted in a cold voice. "That woman doesn't fall into the category of Heroic Spirit. She is a calamity and abnormality that disrupts the order of this world! As the king who judges all things, I must eliminate such heterogeneous existences as soon as possible. What is there to be afraid of!?"
Click.
Almost at the same time the two were talking, a small crack suddenly appeared in the previously perfect illusion dome high above.
Matou Yuu sharply caught that clear sound.
He slowly raised his head, met Gilgamesh's gaze directly, and smiled even more brightly. "Hero King... You've been making all sorts of excuses, but you're just feeling guilty. You're afraid of Tiamat's power that can swallow everything, aren't you?"
Gilgamesh narrowed his crimson eyes.
"A mere mongrel with such weak magic circuits—how dare you guess my intentions!"
"Don't mess with me, you mongrel!"
After intense anger, Gilgamesh seemed to have completely lost interest in the farce and quietly averted his gaze.
"That's enough… I've reached the limit of my patience with this boring verbal exchange. If you so desperately wish to be buried together with that calamity, then I'll mercifully grant you death!"
"I have won this farce."
Click… click!
Inside the illusion wall, spiderweb-like cracks began spreading violently.
"You have won…?"
Matou Yuu raised his head, felt the fresh air flowing in through the gaps, and smiled brightly.
"I don't think so."
Gilgamesh slightly frowned.
At that moment, thanks to his extremely high perception, he suddenly sensed a strange black flow symbolizing life violently swirling around Matou Yuu below.
"This man… could it be…"
Gilgamesh's eyes suddenly widened; an ominous premonition surged in his heart.
He couldn't keep toying with them forever.
His deepest royal instinct immediately sounded the alarm.
"That's enough! With this one strike, I'll turn this entire amusement park to ash, you mongrel!"
Almost simultaneously with Gilgamesh's roar, a strange pattern resembling a keyhole appeared in the void behind him, emitting a dazzling red light.
The sword had no blade; its body consisted of three cylindrical parts engraved with the oldest cuneiform script from before the Age of Gods.
When Gilgamesh gripped it, the three cylinders began rotating violently at a terrifying frequency in different directions, as if tearing space apart.
BOOM—!!!
The next moment, a dark red gust of wind erupted from the sword.
"Kneel, you mongrels! Behold this destructive light that tears apart the stars!"
Gilgamesh raised the sword Ea high.
The sword's three segments rotated at maximum speed; an intensely crimson light that pierced heaven and earth was released into the sky!
Against a mere human mage, this arrogant Hero King did not hesitate to use his strongest trump card—EA.
BANG—————!!!
Under the might of this destructive magical storm, the already crumbling illusion barrier finally collapsed completely.
Feeling the contract perfectly connected, Matou Yuu finally let out a sigh of relief.
He raised his head and faced the sacred storm that could evaporate him in an instant, slowly saying, "Hero King... If compared to you, my power, stamina, magical energy, and all other human abilities are probably less than one ten-thousandth of yours."
"After all, comparing a fragile human body to the heroic spirit at the pinnacle of the Age of Gods is unrealistic and nothing more than delusion."
"However... in this unreasonable world, the ability evaluation panel cannot be the sole criterion for determining victory or defeat."
"What truly creates an absolute difference between Servants... isn't it their Noble Phantasms?"
Before Gilgamesh's sword Ea—the sword symbolizing the ultimate opposition—Matou Yuu suddenly raised his head.
"Hero King, do you still have enough magical energy left to survive the coming battle?!"
Gilgamesh laughed angrily, killing intent burning in his crimson eyes. "You arrogant mongrel! Carve those weak final words into your heart and turn to cosmic dust!"
"Enuma Elish!!!"
A red beam cannon filled with heat that seemed to burn everything away violently struck the boy on the ground!
Faced with the mythical, overwhelmingly powerful red light capable of tearing apart space itself, Matou Yuu suddenly raised his head; his soft black hair violently whipped in the world-destroying wind.
He took a deep breath, squeezed out every last bit of magical energy reconnected within his body, and under Gilgamesh's suddenly widened gaze, shouted those words with all his heart and soul.
"—Mama!!!"
…