Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes.
The dust around them still settled slowly, illuminated by the light radiating from Excalibur. Arturia stood firm, her posture impeccable, as if it were impossible to make her take a step back. But something changed in the king's expression.
A sudden understanding.
A cold calculation.
An inevitable conclusion.
He tilted his head, observing Arturia from head to toe with renewed interest, not the interest of an excited warrior… but that of a predator who finally perceives the prey's weak point.
"Hmph… now I understand." His smile widened, cruel. "You are not just an obstacle… you are the final piece in this ridiculous game."
Arturia did not answer. She only tightened her grip on Excalibur.
"The Grail War…" Gilgamesh raised his arm, and even with the Angel interfering, the Gates of Babylon tried to open behind him, revealing only fragments, incomplete blades, echoes of treasure. "...ends when all the servants are eliminated."
He extended his hand toward her, as if choosing her from among multitudes of inferior mortals.
"And you, woman… are the last piece on the board."
Arturia felt the air grow heavier.
The king was no longer fighting for fun.
Now he wanted to win.
"If I eliminate you…" Gilgamesh continued, his voice deep and laden with triumph, "This idiotic war ends immediately. And the fleeing worm, that insolent boy, loses his only protection."
He took a step forward.
Then another.
Each step he took seemed to carry absolute certainty.
"Then why would I waste my time with him…" his smile grew even wilder, "...if I can simply kill you?"
Arturia raised her sword, the golden light enveloping her silhouette.
She did not retreat.
She did not waver.
She did not tremble.
"If this is the destiny of my current role…" she said, her voice firm as polished steel, "...then so be it. But know this, King of Heroes…"
Her green eyes gleamed like embers in the wind.
"I will not let you take a single step towards Yuji."
Gilgamesh gave a low, haughty laugh, delighted by her audacity.
"Excellent. Excellent indeed. Die, then… with honor."
And so, with lethal intent, the king advanced. Arturia too.
The final battle between the two began there, with Gilgamesh determined to end the war by killing the last servant… and Arturia determined to stop the king with all the strength she had left.
The impact between Excalibur and Gilgamesh's reinforced fists exploded in shockwaves that swept through the streets of Fuyuki, shattering windows, raising dust, and shaking the asphalt as if something alive roared beneath it.
Arturia advanced first, swift, precise as a gust of cutting wind.
Gilgamesh intercepted the blow with his palm, his brute strength enough to stop the sacred blade for an instant… but not for long.
The golden light of Excalibur ignited the air.
Gilgamesh frowned, pressing harder against the blade.
"Hmph… so you still possess that glow, woman?"
Arturia pushed harder, and Gilgamesh was dragged half a meter back, not from lack of power, but from the ferocity of the charge.
"I still possess everything necessary to take him down." Arturia declared, her voice firm, even though her breath was beginning to take her breath away.
Gilgamesh smiled, a wild smile, fascinated by her resilience.
"Then try."
He swung his arm, deflecting the blade with a single movement and throwing a punch that distorted the air. Arturia raised Excalibur as an improvised shield, and the impact threw her several meters back, her feet scraping the ground until she planted the sword in the soil and locked.
Dust rose like a veil.
Gilgamesh advanced again.
And so did she.
The second clash was even greater: Excalibur cut through the air in a brilliant arc, and Gilgamesh used fragments of incomplete weapons that appeared and disappeared from the Gates of Babylon, unstable, nullified by the Angel's power, but still dangerous. He used them as makeshift reinforcements to block the blows.
The weapons shattered.
"Not Excalibur."
Gilgamesh took a step back, short laughs escaping him.
"Tsk. The sacred blade remains irritatingly resistant."
Arturia gave him no room to regain his rhythm; she advanced with a sequence of blows that seemed to come from all directions—high, low, diagonal, thrust, spin—each movement flowed like water, but struck like red-hot steel.
Gilgamesh dodged some, blocked others, but several cuts still marked his robes and golden skin. Nothing deep… but enough to irritate him.
He gripped the blade with both hands, the veins bulging in his arms.
Arturia felt his monstrous resistance, but tightened her grip with equal determination.
The two stood close, face to face, their strength trying to crush each other's.
"You fight as if you really have a chance," Gilgamesh murmured, his red eyes burning. "Admirable… but useless."
"I don't need to win..." Arturia replied, bringing her face even closer to his. "I just need to buy time until Yuji finishes what he needs to do."
Gilgamesh's eyes flashed with fury.
"Insolent to the core."
He thrust Excalibur upward, launching Arturia into the air. Mid-leap, she spun her body, a skilled swordswoman, and landed striking from above with the force of a meteor.
Gilgamesh raised his arms to block, and the impact sent him to his knees, creating a crater beneath his feet.
The light of Excalibur shone too brightly, forcing Gilgamesh to narrow his eyes.
"Rrrrgh… damned…!"
Arturia, breathless but unwavering, leaped back, keeping her sword raised.
"I won't allow you to take a single step towards him."
Gilgamesh rose slowly, his smile returning, a monstrous smile that mixed fury, excitement, and madness.
"Excellent."
He cracked his neck. "Show me, then… how far the strength of your devotion goes."
Arturia raised Excalibur, which responded by pulsing with light.
And the two clashed again, more ferocious, faster, more desperate, as if each blow were the last of their lives.
Illya worked silently, as she always did when determined to protect someone she loved.
While Arturia and Gilgamesh exchanged blows that tore through the air and scratched the ground, the traps of little Einzbern began to activate one by one, like pieces of a very ancient mechanism finally awakening.
First came the dissipation field.
Gilgamesh raised a golden blade to cut Arturia in two, but a blue rune exploded beneath his feet, draining some of the attack's energy. He growled, irritated at feeling his own strength being forcibly ripped away.
"Tsk… Childish witchcraft," he spat, clenching his teeth.
Arturia took advantage and charged forward forcefully, Excalibur describing a luminous arc that forced him to retreat.
The second trap was more subtle: barrier circles scattered across the terrain, invisible until activated.
Gilgamesh tried to move sideways to create distance, but stepped on one. A translucent prison rose up, trapping his foot for a second.
A single second…
But for Arturia, trained to slay kings and monsters, that was an eternity.
She struck.
Gilgamesh only escaped because he opened dozens of gates at once, creating a wall of blades that blocked the last-minute attack.
"That brat… dares to interfere in my duel?" he roared.
Then came the third trap: sensory recalibration illusions, created by Illya with the help of what little energy remained from her family. They distorted focus, scrambled perception, created false echoes of the environment.
Gilgamesh saw three Arturias.
Then five.
Then none.
"What useless sorcery is this?!" he roared, opening the Gate of Babylon to fire projectiles around, trying to dispel the deceptions.
Arturia glided through the shadows created by his own disorientation and attacked him from the right, only for a new circle to glow on the ground: physical amplification.
She felt her muscles contract with doubled force, her blade vibrate with an almost divine impulse.
Gilgamesh had to use two weapons to block the impact.
Arturia retreated a few meters, panting. She felt Illya's support like an invisible hand on her back.
Illya, hidden behind a pile of rubble, murmured almost in tears:
"Hold on, Saber… I promise… I won't let you die."
And then the last trap, the most dangerous one, lit up beneath the golden king:
a seal of mana, something only someone of the Einzbern lineage could attempt.
Gilgamesh realized it too late.
The mark glowed like white fire and pulled away some of the mana that sustained his spiritual body.
He fell to one knee, furious, wounded in his pride.
And Arturia stepped forward, Excalibur ready for the decisive blow.
Arturia concentrated all the power she had left into the blade.
The light of Excalibur expanded like a golden lightning bolt, laden with decades of suffering, honor, and promise. As she spun her body and delivered the blow, the impact resounded like thunder.
Gilgamesh didn't even have time to open another Gate.
The wave of force hit him full force—chest, shoulders, face—throwing him backward like a metal puppet. He flew dozens of meters, skidding across the ground and destroying columns, walls, and terraces until finally stopping, half-buried in rubble.
"Tsk… wretched man…" he growled, spitting golden blood.
But when he raised his head, Arturia was no longer there.
She had turned the instant the blow ended, retreating with quick, almost stumbling steps, like someone who needed to conserve every ounce of energy she had left.
She crossed the devastated battlefield, dodging smoke, debris, and the shimmering remains of Illya's traps, and ran away before Gilgamesh had fully recovered.
Arturia needed to regroup.
She needed to breathe.
He needed to find Illya.
And, above all, he needed to avoid direct combat until he was certain he could defeat him without a doubt.
Gilgamesh, still pinned to the ground, felt his anger burning even stronger.
"Running away? No…" he gritted his teeth. "She's not running away. She's preparing something. That glint in her eyes… A real challenge."
He stood up, cracking his neck, his hatred throbbing.
The Grail War wasn't over yet, but Arturia had just turned the tide.
Shirou advanced before the dust from Arturia's blow had even completely settled.
He emerged from the opposite side of the destroyed field, his eyes red with contained rage, not irrational fury, but the pain of someone who had lost something that should never have been lost.
The wind still carried particles of Uraume's ice, the scent of Choso's blood, and the golden trail of the clash between Arturia and Gilgamesh.
But for Shirou…
The only scent that existed was that of Tachie's death.
He entered the battlefield walking, not running, and this calmness was all the more terrifying.
Gilgamesh, still brushing dust from his body, looked up. "Hmph. Another insect who doesn't know his place. You're nothing without that girl."
Shirou's jaw clenched.
He didn't respond immediately, only raised his hand, and the projected blade began to form, materializing with a shimmering glow, as if being struck by an invisible blacksmith.
Trace… on.
His voice echoed cold, dry, almost emotionless.
It was the voice of a tomb.
Gilgamesh arched an eyebrow.
"So you came to die too? Pathetic. You don't even have a Servant anymore."
Shirou finally spoke:
"She trusted me. And you killed the one who believed… that there was still something human in me."
One step.
Another.
The air around Shirou seemed to tremble.
His aura wasn't that of a hero or a mage, it was that of someone who had abandoned all limits. Perhaps, for the first time, Gilgamesh felt something akin to… genuine irritation.
"I'll show you," said Shirou, his fingers firmly gripping the hilt of the newly created blade, "that Tachie didn't die in vain."
He advanced.
The battle of vengeance began the very instant the king of Uruk prepared to crush, for the second time, a human who dared to face him.
Rin arrived just as Shirou was almost struck by an oblique blow, not because he was weak, but because Gilgamesh was beginning to get truly angry, and when Gilgamesh got angry… the whole world felt it.
She raised her arm, her coat torn from previous encounters, her face dirty with dust and sweat, but her eyes shining with the fierce blue that had always characterized her. "Shirou! Duck!"
He threw himself to the side instantly, blindly trusting her.
And then—
CRACK!
A deep blue crystal streaked across the air like lightning and exploded in Gilgamesh's chest, causing no real damage… but throwing him a step back.
Gilgamesh turned his head, first annoyed, then genuinely surprised.
"Brat… you're still breathing? What a stubborn, useless brat."
Rin smiled slightly.
"I'm harder to kill than you think, golden peacock."
She opened her hand.
Five different crystals floated in the air, each with a distinct elemental glow: red (explosion), blue (magical impact), yellow (stun), green (movement sealing), purple (mana interference).
Gilgamesh snorted.
"Pathetic. These trinkets won't stop me."
"They don't need to..." Rin replied, narrowing her eyes. "I just need them to annoy you."
And then she attacked.
The Crystal Rain
The crystals flew like magic bullets, each following a calculated angle:
— The red one exploded on the ground, raising dust in Gilgamesh's eyes.
— The green one hit his ankle, causing a micro-tempo of muscle locking.
— The purple one formed a distorted field that made the air heavy around him.
— The blue one ricocheted off his shoulder, distracting him for a second.
— The yellow one exploded above him, producing a flash that obscured his vision.
Gilgamesh roared:
"ENOUGH OF THIS!"
He tried to activate the Gates of Babylon reflexively,
But a slight tremor, coming from the Angel's power and the previous interference, still limited its opening. The delay of only half a second was enough.
Shirou advanced.
Rin noticed and increased the intensity of her attacks. "Shirou! GO! I'll hold him off!"
She wasn't trying to hurt Gilgamesh. She was controlling the rhythm of the battle like a maestro, opening gaps, creating blind spots, making Gilgamesh look in all directions, forcing him to scatter his attention.
And Gilgamesh hated that.
"You insolent brat! I'll rip your head off and use your crystals as ornaments!"
Rin, panting, smiled.
"If you come after me…
Shirou will get you from behind. If you go after him…
I'll throw you off balance."
And then she snapped her fingers.
BOOOOOM!
Five simultaneous crystals exploded in a perfect chain of light, smoke, and shockwaves, not to hurt, but to destabilize.
Gilgamesh staggered a step back.
The first time this had happened in the entire war.
His gaze twisted in pure humiliation.
"...YOU DARE TO MAKE ME STUMBLE? You mere worms?"
Rin, panting, blood dripping from her forehead, raised another crystal.
"We're not finished yet."
And as she spoke, Shirou appeared behind Gilgamesh with a projected blade gleaming.
Gilgamesh realized it too late, but he understood that Rin was guiding the pace of the battle and Shirou was growing within it, as if each opening was a flame feeding another.
And that deeply angered him.
Shirou attacked with copies of swords that materialized in his hands in perfect sequence: Kanshou and Bakuya, then a curved blade, then another long sword. He advanced without hesitation, forcing Gilgamesh to fight without his usual advantage.
Gilgamesh smiled.
Not an amused smile.
A smile of anger.
"You really believe you can catch me, boy?"
Shirou spun the blades downwards and attempted a cross attack aimed at the King of Heroes' collarbone. Gilgamesh dodged, but Shirou had anticipated this, advancing with his shoulder and pushing him back.
Gilgamesh slid a few inches into the ground.
A second retreat.
"Insolent… you think we're equals?!" Gilgamesh roared, his pride burning.
Shirou raised his sword.
His gaze was cold, determined, hard.
"I don't think so. I know we're not equals."
Gilgamesh gritted his teeth. "Then why do you insist on raising your blade before me?"
Shirou lunged forward with everything he had, his muscles burning, the air cutting through his lungs. "Because someone has to stop you."
The impact of the swords clashing against Gilgamesh's fists made the air vibrate. Shirou was truly holding the King of Heroes himself in hand-to-hand combat.
Rin watched this and, even exhausted, couldn't stop her pride from swelling in her chest.
For a moment, just one,
it seemed that Shirou could truly surpass the impossible.
Until Gilgamesh grew tired.
"Enough of this, you copycat worm."
He spun his body with brutal precision, his fist becoming a golden bullet.
Shirou raised his arm to parry
too late.
The punch struck Shirou's abdomen with crushing force.
His world spun.
The air left his lungs.
His vision trembled in waves. He was thrown back like a rag doll, sliding across the ground, shattering stones, leaving a trail of dust and blood from his mouth.
"SHIROU!!!" Rin screamed, despair breaking her voice.
Gilgamesh, panting, leaned forward slightly, examining his own fist as if he had just crushed a pesky insect.
"Pathetic. Believing you could cross blades with me was your greatest delusion."
Shirou tried to stand.
He coughed up blood.
But his hands trembled as he braced his swords against the ground to rise again.
Gilgamesh stared at him, irritated…
and perhaps a little impressed. "Still trying to stand? Your spirit is irritating."
Shirou wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and smiled, even as he staggered.
"I promised… that I wouldn't let anyone die here today."
Illya watched Shirou being thrown far away, the impact echoing across the field like a dry thunderclap.
Her heart nearly stopped.
"Shirou!" she cried, her voice breaking.
But she didn't run to him.
She knew that approaching would be suicide.
She knew Shirou didn't want her to get close.
So she did what she could.
What she could always do.
She activated the traps.
---
The ground glowed.
Gilgamesh took a step to advance toward the fallen Shirou, and the ground beneath his feet lit up in black and white circles, etched with ancient runes that Illya had buried hours before.
"Hm?" Gilgamesh looked down, confused and annoyed. "What is this childish game?"
The instant he tried to lift his foot, the weight multiplied.
It wasn't offensive magic. It was gravitational anchoring, made to hold Assassin-class Servants… but Illya had increased the power to its limit. Gilgamesh sank a few inches.
"Tsk…! Insolent homunculus girl…!"
He tried to force his leg out at that moment, but three more seals appeared, firing bursts of light from the side.
They weren't explosions meant to hurt.
They were explosions meant to push.
Gilgamesh was thrown to the side, losing his balance for a second.
And that second was all Illya wanted.
---
Shirou breathed.
It hurt.
Everything hurt.
But when he felt the dust vibrating and saw the light from the seals Illya had placed…
…he understood.
Illya was helping him up.
"Thank you, Illya…" he murmured through his teeth, lifting his torso.
Rin ran to him, but stopped when she saw the glint in his eyes.
He wasn't finished.
Not yet.
Shirou placed his hands on the ground, and a new blade formed, unstable, cracked, but real.
Illya activated the next seal.
The wind swirled around Shirou, compressing his posture and strengthening his legs—a runic boost, a rudimentary but powerful reinforcement magic when performed by Illya.
Shirou felt his body ignite, his muscles respond, his heart beat faster.
He finally stood up.
And Gilgamesh saw.
The King of Heroes frowned, irritated by human persistence.
"You really don't know your position, do you?" Gilgamesh growled. "Even with my simplest blows you can't stay on the ground."
Shirou clenched his teeth.
The projection aura burned on his arm.
"I stand… because I can't let Tachie's death have been in vain."
The air exploded with tension.
Illya, panting, poured more prana into the seals, trying to give Shirou a chance that perhaps didn't even exist.
Gilgamesh cracked his neck. Shirou raised his blades.
The next exchange would be decisive.
Dust swirled as Shirou and Gilgamesh clashed once more, blade against fist, human courage against divine arrogance.
Shirou advanced with two projected swords, Kanshou and Bakuya, cracked, unstable, but dangerous enough to force Gilgamesh to move carefully.
Rin fired crystal projectiles that exploded in light around them, forcing Gilgamesh to constantly alter his stance.
Gilgamesh, irritated, easily dodged, but felt the growing discomfort of human persistence.
"You… really believe you can defeat me like this?" he growled, between blocks.
Shirou didn't answer.
He no longer had the breath for words. He just struck, struck, struck even as his vision began to blur and his right arm trembled.
Gilgamesh dodged a side slash, countered with a kick to Shirou's stomach, and threw him backward.
"Miserable… doesn't know how to stop!" the King of Heroes lunged forward to finish this once and for all.
He raised his hand to pierce Shirou with his own brute strength,
his golden eyes blazing with fury.
But then…
"Tch. You really turn your back at the worst moment."
Gilgamesh heard the voice behind him.
A dry voice.
Casual.
Disrespectful.
His pupils narrowed.
Before he could turn around—
SHNK!
A blade pierced his back.
Not magic.
Not treasures.
Not technique.
The silent, brute force of someone who shouldn't be there.
Gilgamesh's eyes widened as he felt the blade tear through muscle and spiritual fiber.
"You…" he hissed, spitting blood from his mouth with pure hatred, "...worm…"
Toji Fushiguro was behind him.
The Sorcerer Hunter's blade was buried in the divine armor, pushing with its weight, its muscles sculpted, its gaze cold and sharp like a beast.
Toji tilted his head, as if analyzing common prey.
"I don't like it when someone hits the kids I'm helping," he said with a crooked smile. "And you're too noisy."
Gilgamesh struggled, his anger growing. "How dare you… how dare you touch me… with that blade filthy with mortal blood?!"
Toji twisted the blade, pushing it even deeper. "If you're feeling pain, then the blade is good enough."
Shirou, kneeling on the ground, watched the scene with wide eyes.
Toji was fast, too fast.
Even Gilgamesh hadn't noticed his approach.
Rin took a deep breath, sweating, unable to believe that Toji was still standing after the fight with Kirei and Uraume.
Gilgamesh finally managed to leap forward, disentangling himself from Toji's blade, leaving a trail of golden blood falling to the ground.
He spun around, furious, his eyes incandescent.
"YOU INSOLENT WORM…!"
Toji twirled the blade between his fingers, indifferent. "Relax. The stab was just to let you know I've arrived."
Tension exploded in the air.
Shirou slowly stood up, supporting himself on his blades.
Rin prepared more crystals, taking a deep breath.
Toji twisted his shoulder, cracking his neck.
Gilgamesh, wounded and enraged, charged forward like a golden comet.
Toji took two firm steps forward, with the same calmness as someone going to buy bread, and placed his arm in front of Shirou as if holding a stubborn dog.
"Hey. Get out." he said, without looking back.
Shirou, panting, still with trembling swords in his hands, widened his eyes. "Toji…? He's going to kill you alone—"
"No." Toji replied, his voice sounding like a blade dragging on the ground. "He'll try. And that's enough for me to want to see his face when he realizes he can't."
Gilgamesh gritted his teeth, golden blood dripping from the gap in his armor.
Even wounded, his presence crushed the air.
"Wonderful audacity… human." his voice came out as a restrained roar. "Abandoning support and facing me alone… a stupid animal even by subhuman standards."
Toji raised the blade, spinning it as if assessing its weight and balance, but he already knew that weapon better than his own body.
"Brat..." he said in a tone that left no room for discussion. "Get out of here. Now."
Shirou clenched his teeth.
He wanted to fight.
He wanted to avenge Tachie.
He wanted to prove he could protect everyone.
But looking at Toji's back… His relaxed gait.
His loose shoulders.
The complete absence of fear.
Shirou realized:
Toji was in predatory mode.
This man didn't need help.
He was happy to fight alone.
Rin pulled Shirou by the arm.
"Come on. Don't get in the way," she said, her voice low and tense. "He… is like Archer said. A monster that only exists to kill monsters."
Shirou, reluctant, but realizing he truly didn't have the strength to continue after the last blows, retreated.
Toji gave a crooked, emotionless smile.
"Ready. Now that's more like it." He pointed the blade at Gilgamesh. "You and me. No distractions. No one for you to brag to."
Gilgamesh smiled cruelly, distortedly, almost sickly.
"HA…
Hahahahaha!"
The laughter echoed like thunder across the devastated field. "You believe… honestly… that you can face me alone? Insignificant mortal."
Toji tilted his neck, as if stretching. "Believe? No. I just like to see the faces of arrogant people when they realize they are mortals just like everyone else."
He pointed his finger at Gilgamesh. "And you… from the first time I saw you… I knew."
Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes.
"Knew what?"
Toji smiled, that beastly smile, the kind that even made Rin swallow hard.
"That it would be a lot of fun to break you."
The air crackled.
Gilgamesh advanced, a golden flash. Toji advanced too, without hesitation.
The 1v1 fight finally began.
Toji didn't hesitate. As soon as Shirou stumbled back, still trying to comprehend the situation, the Sorcerer Hunter advanced like a predator that had finally found the perfect prey.
He swung his arm, and from inside his black jacket fell his makeshift arsenal, a set of cursed weapons that seemed to breathe hatred.
A black chain, imbued with negative energy, slid from his hand. He hurled it at Gilgamesh with a snap that broke the silence of the battlefield. Gil blocked with a golden blade, but the impact made him recoil half a step, something that almost never happened.
Toji smiled.
Not a happy smile.
But one that said: finally someone worth my time.
Gilgamesh responded by opening more gates in the sky, firing blades, spears, and mystical treasures that streaked across the air like luminous meteors.
Toji leaped forward, not backward.
He ran in a straight line, dodging not out of fear, but with reflexes so quick they seemed instinctive, almost animalistic. A blade crossed his face, tearing a hair from his head. Another pierced the ground behind him, raising dust. Two spears crossed in front of his chest, and Toji simply ducked inches at the last instant.
With his free hand, he pulled out a cursed dagger that pulsed like a living heart.
He threw it forcefully, and the dagger cut through the air in a perfect arc.
Gilgamesh dodged only by moving his head, but the dagger exploded in cursed energy as it grazed him, distorting the air around it.
"How interesting…" Gil murmured, irritation and amusement mixing. "A powerless dog who dares to face me?"
Toji didn't respond with words.
He drew a cursed hook, stuck it in the ground, and used it to propel himself like a slingshot, gaining absurd speed. He appeared before Gilgamesh in the blink of an eye.
Gil opened a portal instantly, drawing a broadsword encrusted with jewels. The blade descended, intent on splitting Toji in two.
Toji placed the blade of the cursed spear between them, not to block, but to redirect the attack, using Gilgamesh's own strength against him. The blow deflected, tearing a crater in the ground beside them.
Toji turned, attempting to pierce Gilgamesh's flank with a thin, jagged dagger.
A golden portal appeared behind Gil, automatically blocking the blow with another treasure.
But Toji had anticipated this.
He left the dagger embedded in the treasure and drew another, heavier, darker, with runes that burned green.
Gilgamesh, for a moment, frowned. The speed at which Toji switched weapons, always the exact weapon for the exact interval, was something that no mage, no ordinary Servant, and not even Shinji or the heroes present could keep up with.
Shirou, in the distance, pressing his hand against the wound, watched in disbelief.
Rin also stopped, the crystals trembling slightly.
Illya, who had just activated another reinforcement trap, was in shock.
Toji Fushiguro was fighting Gilgamesh as if he were facing just another target.
And Gilgamesh… was having a hard time.
Toji charged again, with almost animalistic movements, his cloak billowing behind him as he launched simultaneous attacks, each blow coming from an unpredictable angle, each weapon changing at the last instant, each step calculated to break the King of Heroes' rhythm.
It was a 1v1, exactly as Toji wanted.
And, for the first time in a long time, Gilgamesh was truly being forced to fight.
Gilgamesh had been irritated from the very first minute… but now, he was furious.
The kind of fury that comes when a king is forced to descend from his throne to get his hands dirty.
"Insolent… insect…" Gil growled, his voice vibrating with hatred. "How dare you make me work?"
He opened more gates.
Dozens.
Each one spitting out legendary weapons that tinkled in the air like death bells.
But none of that mattered.
Because Toji was already there.
Up there.
In the blind spot.
Leaping so fast that even the gates of the Gate of Babylon took half a second to catch up, and half a second, for Toji, was an eternity.
Gilgamesh raised his hand to grab him; after all, he wanted to seize Toji with his own hands, tear him to pieces, crush every bone as punishment for his insolence.
But Toji simply… wasn't there anymore. He descended like a torpedo, passing by the side of the King's field of vision, landing behind him without even making a sound.
Gil turned his face, irritated, and saw only a dark blur.
"STOP MOVING!" he roared.
Gates appeared all around, closing in on Toji like a wall of blades.
Toji leaned to the side, sliding the sole of his boot on the ground as if in a short-distance race, and passed between the weapons before they crossed.
He was too fast.
Not "fast for a human."
He surpassed even the activation speed of the divine treasures.
Gilgamesh felt his chest swell with rage.
"I'll rip your head off, you damned worm," he whispered, each syllable dripping with venom.
He tried to grab Toji again, opening a portal in front of his fist to widen it, as if he wanted to increase the reach of his hand.
The intention was clear:
To hold Toji.
To hold and tear.
Toji smiled.
A short, crooked smile.
He spun his body, dodging underneath, bracing his hand on the ground and propelling his foot upwards—striking Gilgamesh's chin with a kick that echoed like a hammer blow.
The King took a step back.
One step.
It was enough for his rage to explode.
"ENOUGH. I'll turn you into worm food!" Gil shouted, and the entire sky opened in gold.
Weapons rained down like meteors.
But Toji didn't retreat.
He advanced.
Running through the treasures as if dancing amidst invisible blades, leaning, leaping, rolling, dodging by millimeters, each dodge enraging Gilgamesh more.
The King began to lose control. He wanted to reach him, feel him, destroy him with his own hands. He cut a path through his own weapons with heavy steps, faster and faster.
But Toji was a shadow.
Each time Gil reached out…
Toji was already past.
Each time Gil tried to grab…
Toji was already far away.
"STAY. STOP!" Gil shouted, his voice breaking with frustration.
Toji turned his face just enough for Gilgamesh to see his short, provocative smile.
"I don't feel like it."
This caused the King to completely lose his composure.
Gilgamesh ignored his own treasures, ignored his posture, his arrogance, his coldness.
He lunged forward like a raging animal, determined to capture Toji and tear him apart with his bare hands.
The battle ceased to be elegant.
It ceased to be noble.
It became something primal.
Gilgamesh wanted carnage.
Toji was ready to seize every fraction of this opening.
And the fight was about to become even more savage.
Gilgamesh was on the verge of sanity.
Frustration accumulated like lava beneath his skin; Toji fled, slashed, disappeared, mocked.
And now, the King no longer wanted to play games.
He raised his hand.
Slowly.
Majestic.
Full of hatred.
And behind him, the portal opened like the mouth of an ancient monster.
The air trembled.
The wind shifted.
The ground vibrated as if the world were holding its breath.
Ea.
The sword that wasn't a sword.
The world divider.
The weapon Gilgamesh only wielded when he wished to annihilate, not fight.
"You should be proud, insect..." Gilgamesh said, his voice low, deep, seething with contempt. "I will kill you with something worthy… far beyond your level."
Toji felt his stomach sink.
It wasn't fear.
It was pure instinct.
A clear awareness of death.
If Gilgamesh completed the move…
If the EA was released…
He wouldn't just die.
He would be erased, disintegrated, dissolved into thin air.
Toji didn't think much.
He didn't need to.
He only knew one thing:
Either he acted now, or Gilgamesh would win.
He tensed his leg muscles.
Toji's eyes narrowed.
The world slowed down.
Gilgamesh gripped the handle of EA with cruel elegance, rotating the weapon slightly, just enough for the air to begin to distort, as if it were about to collapse upon itself.
— Enuma—
He began to pronounce the word.
Toji moved.
It was the quickest movement of the entire fight.
A horizontal leap, without hesitation, without preparation, without waste, he launched his entire body forward as if he were a living arrow.
Gilgamesh saw him coming.
"Pathetic," he whispered, raising the Ea. "Even running, you'll die anyway—"
But Toji wasn't running to attack.
He was running to stop.
Before the weapon completed its initial spin, Toji pulled the Reverse Blade, the cursed weapon that nullified energy and curses, from inside his jacket.
And as he lunged at Gilgamesh, he thought only one thing:
If he activates this thing, I'm dead.
Gilgamesh finally wielded the Ea, raising it above his shoulder, ready to open the world, and it was in that instant, in that tenth of a second when the King exposed himself, that Toji realized:
This was his only opening.
The air ripped open with a white flash.
The Angel appeared behind Toji, hovering with an empty, serene expression, almost indifferent to the chaos.
An invisible wave spread, silent but overwhelming.
Gilgamesh's eyes widened as Ea… died.
The distortion of space ceased.
The sacred blade began to tremble, its energy silencing as if it had been suffocated.
"What…?!" Gilgamesh growled, feeling the connection to the weapon being severed.
The Angel spoke calmly: "— Authority: Divine Nullification. Rewriting the impossible."
Ea was silenced.
It was the chance. The only one.
Toji didn't hesitate.
He advanced like a predator, legs propelling his body violently, the Inverted Blade in hand, ready to slit the King's throat before he could regain any advantage.
Gilgamesh, for the first time, didn't smile.
Toji came too close for his gaze to follow, a blur of muscle and killer instinct.
The blade rose.
The blow was a hair's breadth away.
And then—
Toji felt it. A weight.
A pressure.
As if the air had become concrete.
As if an intention had fixed itself upon him with absolute clarity:
Gilgamesh's murderous intent.
Cold.
Ancient.
Lethal.
Toji knew in that microsecond:
The King was about to do something far worse.
15 days ago...
The night was too silent.
A light breeze swept through the small courtyard of the house where everyone was staying during the planning. The house lights filtered through the curtains, leaving the outside in a soft amber hue. Everyone had already finished their discussions about strategy, binding vows, and order of combat. Now, each one went to rest, reflect, or train a little more before the chaos began.
Yuji was sitting on the steps of the veranda, arms resting on his legs, looking at the star-filled sky. The weight of the entire plan was crushing his chest; he tried to appear firm, but the idea that everyone there would probably bleed because of him was choking him.
Then he heard slow footsteps behind him. Footsteps without hesitation, without emotion, only purpose.
Toji.
Yuji turned slightly, surprised. The man stopped beside him, without asking permission, without warning. He stood there for a few seconds, staring into the darkness as if searching for something that no longer existed.
"...You spoke well..." Toji said suddenly, his voice low, almost indifferent.
Yuji gave a weak smile.
"Thanks... I guess."
Silence.
Toji wasn't one for conversation. He didn't initiate topics. He didn't express anything. So when he sighed slightly, a sound so rare it almost seemed like a mistake, Yuji understood that something serious was coming.
"Itadori..." Toji began, still looking ahead. "There's something I need to ask you."
Yuji straightened his posture instantly. "What is it?"
Toji's green eyes gleamed under the moon, filled with something Yuji had never seen in him: a silent, buried pain, hardened by time.
"My children..."
Yuji blinked, confused.
"Your… children?"
Toji crossed his arms, as if that helped him maintain his composure.
"Megumi and Tsumiki." He spoke slowly, as if the names were too fragile to pronounce. "They're not here. They're not part of this war. And I prefer it stay that way."
But he had never heard Toji Fushiguro speak about them.
"I'm not going to lie." Toji continued. "I'll probably die in this fight."
Yuji's eyes widened. "Don't say that…"
"I'm not asking for your opinion." Toji cut in, cold as always. "I'm stating the truth."
He crouched down slightly, getting to Yuji's height, looking him in the eyes with an unsettling sincerity.
"If I die…" his voice almost faltered, almost. "Take care of them.
Megumi doesn't need to know anything about me. In fact… it's even better if she doesn't."
Yuji swallowed hard.
The responsibility weighed like a stone.
Toji gave a short, almost imperceptible smile.
"Tsumiki too." He finished firmly. "She's too good a girl for this world. Take care of her. Of both of them.
And keep them away from here. From this kind of war. Away from monsters like me."
Yuji felt his heart clench. "Toji… why are you telling me this only now?"
The man looked away at the sky.
"Because I don't know how many more nights I have left. And you're someone who…" Toji hesitated, something rare. "…doesn't break promises."
Yuji took a deep breath.
"I promise," he said firmly. "If anything happens to you… I will protect you both. Always."
Toji was silent for a few seconds.
Then he nodded, satisfied.
"Great. That's it."
He stood up. Before leaving, he looked over his shoulder.
"Itadori… Thank you."
It was the first time Yuji had seen Toji express gratitude.
And it was the last time he spoke about Megumi and Tsumiki before the final battle.
Back to the present…
The weight of that promise would echo into the present, at the exact moment when Toji faced Gilgamesh, risking his life so that his children's future would be protected.
Gilgamesh held Toji by the chest, not by the shirt, not by the flesh, but by the life, crushing it with his fingers buried directly between his ribs.
It was a brutal sight: the golden hand, still bearing traces of cursed blood, piercing the Sorcerer Hunter's body as if it were nothing.
Toji didn't scream.
He didn't wince.
His body trembled, but his eyes remained open, wild, defiant to the end.
Gilgamesh drew closer, arrogant, triumphant.
"WORM…" he said with utter contempt, "...you really thought you could hurt ME? You're just an insignificant human who dared to touch me."
Blood trickled from the corner of Toji's mouth. His body was already beginning to lose strength, but his will still burned like a blade.
He looked directly at Gilgamesh.
Calm.
Cruel.
Very much alive.
And then—
He spat in his face.
A bloody, hot spit landed squarely on the King of Heroes' nose and trickled down to his mouth.
For a second, the world stopped.
Gilgamesh froze, as if he hadn't processed what had just happened.
Toji offered a weak, almost mocking half-smile.
"King… of Heroes?" he murmured, his voice faltering but laden with scorn. "I've seen beggars with more class than you…"
Gilgamesh's expression twisted.
First disbelief.
Then pure hatred.
Real hatred.
The hatred of someone who had never been insulted so low in his entire existence.
"YOU… TRASH…!" Gilgamesh roared, his voice vibrating like thunder.
He squeezed Toji's chest even harder, crushing bones, piercing organs, almost tearing his body in two. His aura exploded in a surge of divine fury, shaking the ground around him.
"I WILL TEAR YOUR CARCASS APART! NOT EVEN THE ASHES OF YOUR CORPSE WILL REMAIN TO BE MOURNED!"
Toji, even with his life slipping through the enemy's hands, still maintained a firm gaze. He no longer had the strength to lift his weapons.
Nor to fight.
But his gaze said it all:
"I have fulfilled my role. Now… finish, Itadori."
And Gilgamesh, consumed by an almost animalistic rage, prepared the final blow, ready to crush Toji once and for all, driven not by strategy, but by wounded pride.
The Hunter was about to die… but not without taking Gilgamesh's dignity with him.
Toji finally fell, his body plummeting like a heavy burden, without glamour, without light, just the end of a man who lived like a monster and died like a father, even if he would never admit it.
Gilgamesh let the corpse fall with disdain, wiping the bloody spit from his face with a fury he had never shown even before gods.
The King of Heroes breathed deeply, eyes wide, his rage almost feral.
"INSOLENT…" his voice trembled. "His audacity… his audacity… this will not go unpunished—"
"—It will go unpunished."
The voice came from behind, cutting through the air like a blade.
Gilgamesh turned slowly.
And when he saw, his smile died.
There was Yuji Itadori.
Finally standing.
Finally present.
Finally ready.
Not the impulsive boy.
Nor the Jujutsu student.
Nor the vessel.
But something beyond, something that radiated a presence that Gilgamesh himself felt, a presence that surpassed Sukuna, that surpassed the myth.
Yuji walked toward him with firm steps, the dust drifting away on its own.
His four arms moved naturally, each gesture heavy, precise, predatory.
His eyes gleamed crimson-gold, as if Arturia and something else were pulsing within him.
His body emanated the total mastery of his soul, of all the souls he had touched.
He stopped beside Toji's fallen body.
He looked down.
He took a deep breath.
Then he raised his eyes to Gilgamesh, calmly finishing the sentence Toji couldn't.
"...I will finish this. Here. And now."
The wind shifted.
The air grew heavy.
A golden and black aura rose from the ground, as if the entire city responded to his power.
Gilgamesh took a step back without realizing it.
Yuji leaned slightly forward, in a fighting stance, as if he were the ultimate predator.
"Stand up, King of Heroes..." His voice echoed as if four people were speaking at once. "Your reign ends today."
And for the first time since arriving in the world, Gilgamesh felt:
fear.
End of Chapter 29