Chapter 33

What's the situation?

Could it be some Servant from the Future World, or some kind of prehistoric human Black Technology?

Xia Zhi felt somewhat unable to comprehend; the luminous vessel appearing behind the layers of cloud layers undoubtedly looked like some kind of powerful Noble Phantasm, symbolizing a materialized Miracle, the proof of a hero held by a Servant.

But just looking at the design told him...

It could only be said to be ancient yet not primitive, even revealing a characteristic that was ahead of its time, transcending the era.

Indeed, the Holy Grail War was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers; he had figured it out—these fellows each possessed supreme skills... either a Mad Enhancement Greek Hero or the Knight King as a girl, and now another showy fellow piloting something like an alien Spaceship.

His initial thought was indeed correct—

if he wasn't ruthless, he wouldn't last until now; if he didn't flip the table, he had no chance of winning at all.

"Hahahahahaha..."

That arrogant, almost rampant laughter echoed beneath the Night Sky, announcing the arrival of the true master.

"Gilgamesh!!"

Artoria's complexion flickered with a hint of strangeness in an instant; this arrogant and detestable voice had echoed countless times by her ear during the Fourth Holy Grail War, allowing her to immediately recognize the newcomer's identity.

But why was this Lamp Post King appearing here?

Could it be that not only was she summoned once again, but the other party was also summoned again? What an extremely low-probability event was this?

"Long time no see, Saber. Do you still remember the decision I made?"

On the flying vessel in the Sky, a youth clad in golden Jia Kui looked down at the Courtyard with a cold smile.

Then, as a matter of course, he ignored everyone else, displaying an astonishing disregard.

He spoke such words in a seemingly affectionate tone, but those crimson eyes flickered with a gaze that made one feel quite uncomfortable, as if appraising his own precious possession, tightly locked onto Artoria.

However, at the same time—

Xia Zhi perceived that the appearing golden Heroic Spirit's arrogant and rampant attitude, and also perceived that the other party's attention was entirely focused on Saber, behaving as if no one else existed.

While his mind stirred slightly, he decisively and quietly retreated and slowly Spiritualized, using the most perfect magical power control and coordination he could achieve, directly disappearing into the darkness of the Courtyard, thus entering the strongest Stealth Art posture.

Presence Concealment EX—!!

With everyone's attention drawn to Gilgamesh, and Gilgamesh's attention entirely captured by Artoria, almost no one noticed his disappearance, whether by sight, hearing, or attention...

As if diving in an instant into a Phase deeper than the Reality World, becoming a ghostly image that basically did not exist, he quietly approached toward Rin Tohsaka and Medea's direction.

After all, no matter what, he first had to protect his side's Crystal; that was the top priority.

After all, once the Master had an accident, the Servant could no longer continue to exist.

Although this sounded rather helpless, the fact was just so; a Servant was merely some kind of Magecraft phenomenon, and without a Master and Contract as a Fixed Point, they would have no intersection with the Mortal World... for a Servant, the Master was the weakness.

——"Master..."

The black-haired Pigtails girl had a doubtful expression on her face when she suddenly heard a whisper like an Illusion quietly transmitted by her ear; her body stiffened slightly, but before she could react, that voice stopped her movement.

Telling the Master not to actively attract attention, after simply explaining clearly, the ghost in Stealth Art quietly transferred to Medea's side; he needed his colleague's Cooperation, and at least in the worst-case scenario, to Restrain the opponent and buy time.

And during this process.

Artoria also simply exchanged words a few times with the golden Heroic Spirit in the Sky.

"Gilgamesh..."

The swordswoman girl tried her best to Suppress her voice; there was not the slightest joy of meeting an old friend in a foreign land in her words, replaced instead by an extremely solemn Expression.

"Were you also summoned here as this time's Archer?"

She deeply knew this Lamp Post King's evil nature and how difficult he was to deal with. His evil stemmed from his twisted personality; he was unreasonable and unable to communicate normally, and his trouble came from the Noble Phantasms he possessed, the Quantity being too absurd.

It was like a madman completely immersed in his own world, holding an automatic Mors Charge, unable to communicate effectively and extremely Dangerous... letting such a Fellow come to the street was undoubtedly a terrible thing.

"Summoned? Heh heh, this King has never left at all..."

Gilgamesh laughed happily, seeming to enjoy Artoria's shock, "It's been ten years since then, right? Although for you it might have been just a few days ago, it still made this King wait too long, foolish woman..."

Saying this, the golden Heroic Spirit paused slightly, then said in a Playful Tone:

"How about it? Isn't it time to make a Determination?"

"..."

"..."

There was no response.

Artoria looked at that hopelessly arrogant and rampant golden Heroic Spirit in the Sky with a gaze as if looking at a fool.

Here it came, this kind of absurd words, this kind of Naturally Tone; indeed, it was exactly the same as that Fellow in the previous Holy Grail War, absolutely without a doubt it was Gilgamesh himself.

Speaking of which, she also recalled the scene at the end of the previous war when the other party was swallowed by that waterfall-like Black Mud...

Could it be that because of that thing, this Fellow had never Retreated, and had been active in Fuyuki City from ten years ago until now?

Subconsciously, Artoria had such a Doubt.

In the Holy Grail, why did such turbid Black Mud flow out?

"What is that Expression? Could it be that you still haven't had a Realization?" Gilgamesh looked down at the girl below; for that kind of Expression revealed on Artoria's face, displeasure suddenly arose in his Inner Heart.

I told her ten years ago to obediently become my woman, didn't I!

How come she still hasn't woken up until now; such a Stupid woman is truly infuriating!

The Knight King's lack of tact at this moment made him especially irritable, and even more infuriating was that this scene was actually Peeked by those insignificant Existences around, undoubtedly igniting the raging anger in this King of Heroes' heart.

"..."

"..."

Those crimson eyes turned slightly, and a gaze like cold ice unhesitatingly cast killing intent and hostility toward everyone present. He was here to make these clowns look bad, not to be a clown for others to look at.

"Mongrel, who allowed you to raise your heads and look directly at this King—"

As if suddenly flying into a rage at the Onlookers, Gilgamesh's words seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, every word carrying a death sentence, like an invisible death sentence proclamation.

"You all have a path to death!"

————

Ugh!

Doesn't that line sound a bit familiar...

Xia Zhi didn't think twice; the moment he heard those words, a strong sense of crisis surged up, stimulating his thoughts like needle pricks.

He didn't hesitate to manifest his form in an instant, grabbing the bewildered Rin Tohsaka, while saying in a deep voice to Medea: "Try to stall him, use Saber to hold him back, don't clash head-on, I'll activate the backup plan—"

The words behind that were almost not heard clearly by anyone.

Because the deafening roar directly swept across the earth with a shockwave.

Almost the moment Gilgamesh's words fell, the mana concentration in the sky above Liu Dong Si suddenly surged, and the Ship of Light directly responded to its master's fury, mercilessly launching a long-planned saturation bombardment!

Countless dazzling light beams descended from the sky, making a thunderous rumbling sound.

Like a meteor shower suddenly streaking across the night sky, trailing tails of crimson heat, they violently tore through the atmosphere, penetrated the cloud layer, and crashed down onto the summoning circle atop Yuan Cang Shan.

For the citizens of Fuyuki City, tonight's gas explosion is a bit intense...

And this is only the beginning...

"Dare to touch my things, then just die, bastards!"

The golden Heroic Spirit coldly laughed and mocked, not caring that this wave of saturation bombardment had also covered Artoria, because in his view, that Knight King wasn't so easily dealt with, after all she was also a first-rate Heroic Spirit.

—Moreover, judging by the situation, the other party didn't intend to accept the special favor he had bestowed, so naturally he had to teach this stupid woman a lesson.

—Right, first kill all the others directly, then knock down this stupid woman, drag her over and douse her in Black Mud...

Simply a perfect plan!

Although it seemed simple and actually was simple, in the face of overwhelming strength, this was completely sufficient.

Gilgamesh quickly went over the plan in his mind and decided to do just that; he wouldn't allow anyone or anything to defy his supreme will, whatever he laid eyes on he must obtain!

But he had just subconsciously revealed a pleased smile on his face, and in less than one second, it directly froze, becoming twisted and ferocious: "You bastards, how dare you humiliate this King!!"

As the smoke and dust dispersed, the Liu Dong Si below once again revealed its outline.

The mountaintop was already a mess, the forests outside the temple were flattened, as if directly evaporated under the thunder, fire, and flames.

However, inside the temple, it remained as it was, not a single floor tile was damaged, as if covered by a strange rule of "smoke without injury," and once the smoke and dust dispersed, it would surely be completely unharmed.

At the same time, even the people who had just been standing in the courtyard all disappeared.

This was actually because, after a full half day of all-out construction, a certain Witch Miss successfully raised the summoning circle from the standard "Workshop" level to near the level of "Temple."

Although it was only near, not directly reaching it.

However, the defensive strength was still improved to a considerable extent.

Plus the defensive Jutsu set up by Medea in the sky also blocked some of the damage, and the remaining power scattered, no longer enough to destroy the Liu Dong Si summoning circle in one wave... according to this intensity, it could at least withstand one or two waves of strikes.

Facing such a situation, Gilgamesh was so angry his whole face twisted; he also knew that just now's attack seemed grand in momentum, but strictly speaking was just the fixed firepower of the interception system loaded on the Ship of Light—

Compared to the Noble Phantasm rain he usually used, the luxurious strike of firing dozens of Noble Phantasms at once was actually obviously weaker in power.

But this wasn't the point!

The point was that he had just so pompously sentenced the people below to death, but after a wave of grand saturation bombardment, not a single floor tile below was smashed...

Obviously as expected, at least those two ordinary humans should have been killed, forcing those two weakling Servants Caster or Assassin to be in a sorry state...

"This King has already said, go die! Not committing suicide to apologize immediately, and still dare to resist this King's judgment?!" Suddenly standing up from the throne on the Ship of Light, the golden Heroic Spirit roared with an insulting voice.

He raised his hand in a rage, with a snap, directly snapped his fingers; behind him, as if some strange qi was rising, like the doors of another world opening in response, revealing terrifying killing intent.

Brilliant radiance like ripples passing through water appeared in the air.

Swords, spears, halberds, each rolling with immense mana, all materialized miracles, the heroic proof held by Servants.

In just an instant, Noble Phantasms fell like a rainstorm, the rumbling sounds never ceased, every beam of light fell like a meteor, struck the air currents, and then one after another small mushroom clouds rose.

What luxury, almost using the Noble Phantasms, incredibly precious to Servants, as disposable explosives—

Throwing them out, directly detonating the mana within...

Although it was an extremely crude method of use, but because of the uncherishing squandering, it forcibly made every Noble Phantasm unleash explosive high damage...

Under the sweeping of the gale and shockwave, under the saturation bombardment of thunder, fire, and flames, this time Liu Dong Si didn't hold out long, like a paper castle, directly shattering under the iron hammer coming with a howl!

Every floor tile, every roof tile, instantly crumbled.

Under such a terrifying cluster strike, even the structure of the summoning circle itself was on the verge of collapse, no longer like just now, where measures such as transferring position and distorting images could safely get through the strike.

Amidst the flickering light, the figures of Medea and Artoria reappeared.

The Witch of Xi Jia gritted her teeth, looking at the direction of the sky in disbelief; this method of using Noble Phantasms, and the quantity of Noble Phantasms... was truly too absurd.

She originally thought Xia Zhi's caution wasn't very necessary, only thinking it was the other party's personality, being too cautious... but at this moment, she suddenly realized, if she had dealt with it according to her initial "normal" thoughts—

She would probably have been cleanly and swiftly one-shot, unable to hold out for long at all!

Although...

She might not be able to hold out for too long now either...

"Saber, leave here..." Medea decisively ordered, using her control over the summoning circle with all her might to finally complete one transfer, avoiding the most terrifying and dense firepower strike area.

Continuing to defend the summoning point was meaningless, only becoming a living target...

Therefore they had to transfer out, this could also by the way use Saber to attract that golden Heroic Spirit's attention...

Recalling the plan someone had made with her not long ago, the Witch Miss whose summoning point was breached in an instant also hardened her heart inside, absolutely would not let the enemy have it easy, her side had also prepared a terrifying backup plan!

————

————

"Master, the situation is critical, we're activating the backup plan—"

As the first person Medea transferred out of Liu Dong Si, Xia Zhi dragged Rin Tohsaka running wildly along the mountain path, completely not looking back at the explosions behind.

"I... I know, what should I do?"

Rin Tohsaka was running out of breath, but also knew the situation was critical, subconsciously asking.

"Use your Command Seal to command me to control the Great Holy Grail's power..." the youth said extremely decisively. It happened too suddenly, and his plan still lacked the necessary quantity to activate.

Therefore, he could only utilize the Command Seal to make up for it.

The Command Seal is a Master's three absolute command rights over a Servant, but can also be seen as three temporary Reinforcements of a Servant, with an extremely great amplification effect. Using them all completely repeated and stacked should be able to briefly increase his strength to the point of implementing the plan, making up for that missing necessary quantity!

(Chapter End)