To become a king and a magician

One after another, Noble Phantasms burst forth from Gilgamesh's golden ripples, shattering the endless black waves like Gatling guns and slaying the countless monsters emerging from within.

Behind him, Iskandar sat leaning against the rock wall, missing one arm and blind in one eye. Diarmuid was also leaning against the rock wall, his injuries clearly more severe than Iskandar's, his body covered in deep, bone-revealing wounds.

"Hehehe, this time we really miscalculated. We never expected that such a monster would be lurking in this mountain... Thank you for protecting us all this time, Hero King."

"Fool! Since you stand on the king's land, you are my subject. Without my permission, who told you to die?"

As he spoke, several more treasure vault doors, which had already opened to nearly a hundred, opened, bringing the total number of doors to over one hundred. The golden ripples floating behind Gilgamesh reached three digits, and countless Noble Phantasms were launched like cannonballs. In an instant, a golden meteor shower completely cleared the black waves and sea of ​​monsters in the entire area in front of him!

however--

"It's no use, Archer."

The next instant, the cleared area was once again occupied by the same entity. Sajō Ayaka sat atop the mountain of corpses and laughed, "No matter how many times you kill it, it's useless, Archer. Why not give up protecting the two burdens behind you and focus all your energy on fighting me?"

Although they are not the same person, they are both Gilgamesh. Sajō Ayaka knows how powerful this Servant is. In her last resurrection, in order to be on the safe side, she sent the corrupted Ramses II and Arash to deal with him. However, even so, they still failed to completely defeat him.

Meanwhile, Gilgamesh here, compared to the one she encountered who focused more on the use of the Gate of Babylon, seemed to have weakened melee abilities, but his destructive power was greatly increased. In addition, since Ayaka Sajou was not yet in her full form, for a time, the balance of power could only be maintained by a single Servant.

Faced with Ayaka Sajou's low-level provocation, Gilgamesh curled his lip in disdain: "Your voice reminds me of a certain goddess I despise most. A woman who is so convinced of her own beauty is nothing but an ugly creature. And the sin of making me feel displeased is one that deserves to die a thousand deaths!"

If it weren't for the two wounded soldiers behind him who needed protection, and the fact that EA required casting time, Gilgamesh would have already used EA to wipe out the entire area!

Even he hadn't expected such a situation to occur before entering the Great Void. Although he had limited the power of the Omniscient Star for the sake of fun, he occasionally encountered situations that were slightly beyond his capabilities. If the Omniscient Star had been used normally, he should have been able to know about the existence of this ferocious beast.

(Ha, even I, the king, have moments of lamenting my own mistakes.)

As Gilgamesh was thinking this, a monster that had managed to break through the Gate of Babylon's barrage of firepower appeared in the corner of his vision, and then several Noble Phantasms fell from the sky and pinned it to the ground.

Seeing this, Sajō Aika couldn't help but laugh and said, "What's wrong? Are you running out of weapon storage? Hero King. Your firepower has dropped."

"That despicable woman..."

"Hey, King of Heroes." Iskandar's voice reached Gilgamesh's ears in his rage. "Although it's just a guess, you must have some kind of deadly Noble Phantasm. Don't tell me that what you've thrown out so far is your limit."

"Nonsense! But I can't pull out that treasure right now; there are too many annoying insects!"

Upon hearing this, Iskandar immediately laughed: "In other words, as long as these insects aren't around, you can pull out your treasure, right? That makes things easier—the rest is up to you, Hero King."

Supporting himself with his remaining arm, Iskandar stood up, raised his sword, called to his beloved horse, mounted the saddle, and roared with all his might!

"Gather together, my fellow countrymen! At this moment, we will once again etch our legend into the history of this planet!"

"【The King's Army (IonioiHetairoi)】!"

The yellow sand rose into the sky at Iskandar's call! Black waves, seas of monsters, mountains of corpses... everything, including Ayaka Sajou, was swept into this mental world of only yellow sand!

In an instant, Ayaka Sajou understood the current situation.

"A Reality Marble? There are actually such Noble Phantasms?"

This is the Noble Phantasm of Alexander the Great, who summons his former subordinates as independent Servants to fight against the enemy. It unfolds the world of his mind as the land where Alexander's army marched together, and the scene imprinted in the minds of all the soldiers, thus eroding the world.

Riding his warhorse at the forefront of the army, Iskandar raised the sword of Cyprus.

"The enemy is a great calamity that is hostile to the world, a ferocious beast, one of the seven evils of mankind! As our adversary, we have no complaints! In this battle, let us conquer even the most ferocious being!"

"All troops—charge!!"

The iron hooves that once ravaged the world have now set their sights on the princess of the monsters.

This is the Conqueror King's final conquest!

42. Heaven and Earth are separated, the star of creation.

This is a battle that no one but those directly involved will remember.

Army and army, hero and monster, heroic spirit and evil beast.

In this world of flying yellow sand and scorching sun, the conqueror king who once ravaged the land led his unparalleled army to raise his iron hooves against the princess who was sinking into a dark ocean.

What was needed was not to defeat them, but simply to buy time—that was what Iskandar thought before the war began. But the moment he stepped onto the battlefield, the moment he summoned his comrades, the moment he shouted the order to march as always...

He changed his mind.

Delaying time?

Foolish! How could he conceive such a cowardly idea! He is Iskandar, the world-renowned conqueror, the overlord who nearly conquered the world!

So what if the enemy is a beast? He has conquered countless enemies, conquered one country after another, conquered vast territories! He has never retreated, never been afraid, so why should he be afraid here! Why entrust things to the enemy here!

There has always been only one thing he wanted to do—conquer!

(Oh, King of Heroes, I apologize. Although the purpose is to buy time, if I were to accidentally defeat him—you wouldn't have any complaints, would you?)

Thinking of this, Iskandar squeezed the horse's belly hard, and the horse's shrill neigh echoed through the rolling yellow sand.

“ALAAAAAAAAA——————!!”

The resounding chorus of ten thousand soldiers swept across the entire enchanted barrier.

Despite facing a formidable enemy, Ayaka Sajou, sitting atop the mountain of corpses, remained fearless.

"There are so many people, but it's pointless to compare numbers, because we have the advantage no matter what."

As she spoke, a crown radiating an eerie light appeared above Ayaka Sajou's head. From the surging, boiling black mud around her, one monster after another emerged. Although they were all different in appearance, each monster had the same number engraved on its forehead—[666].

This is the manifestation of the primordial goddess's power over the womb of all beasts. The black mud surrounding her is actually something she has created, constantly eroding another layer of this inherent barrier, the "Monster Queen." As long as one is within this black mud, countless divine beasts, magical beasts, and phantom beasts will be born endlessly!

"Go, my children," Ayaka Sajou commanded. "I sense it! My prince is on his way to see me. No one can stop me! May all the insects that hinder my meeting with the prince vanish!"

The dark ocean beneath the girl's feet spread rapidly, and the monster life forms born from the black mud continued to appear and multiply at a speed that was beyond the reach of the naked eye!

In just a few breaths, in the blink of an eye, the girl's domain had already encroached upon most of the yellow sand world. Half was a black ocean, and the other half was yellow sand swirling in the air—the entire Reality Marble had formed this bizarre scene!

And at the very moment the two sides collided—

"Crack!"

The crisp cracking sound drowned out all other sounds within the protective barrier. A black wave, no, a tsunami, blotted out the sky, completely engulfed the invincible army, completely submerged the endless yellow sand, completely submerged the entire [world].

Then, "Snap!"

The world is shattered!

Everything is back to reality!

Struggling in the black ocean, Iskandar glanced back one last time at Gilgamesh, who was now shrouded in a crimson storm, and smiled with satisfaction.

"Ah, what a crushing defeat! How shameful. But that's enough, isn't it? The rest is up to you—King of Heroes!!"

"Well done, Iskandar!"

Gilgamesh laughed for the first time during this Holy Grail War.

"Then let this strike be our farewell ceremony! As we send the beast to its death, let us also give you a grand funeral!"

Grasping the hilt of the precious sword, Gilgamesh raised Ea high above his head.

"Narrive at the beginning. At the moment of creation, even Nothingness offered its congratulations! With my Sword of Divergence, I tore the world apart!"

The three sections of the Ea sword, which resembled a cylinder, began to spin rapidly in opposite directions. A crimson vortex swept out in an instant, and everything it touched was undoubtedly shattered and annihilated!

"The mortar of stars, the hell of heaven, is the end of the eve of creation! — Let your death bring an end to everything!"

"【Heaven and Earth Diverge, the Star of Creation (EnumaElish)】————————————!!

The original Hero King pronounced the death sentence, and countless crimson vortexes finally converged at the very tip of the Ea sword. As the Ea sword was swung down, the red light that had been compressed into a sphere also exploded, burst forth, and vented out!

"————————————————————"

All voices were silenced at this moment, and everything in front of us was swept into this earth-shattering storm!

Then—everything collapsed!

The crimson torrent that surged from the gaps between the three pillar-shaped blades of the Ea sword transformed into a crimson storm in an instant, like a terrifying red dagger, creating the most terrifying wind pressure and cleanly cleaving the entire space apart.

Wherever the red storm passed, space seemed to shatter, as if it had been torn apart by an invisible, gaping maw, creating jagged, dark spatial fractures!

"Bang--------!"

An indescribable, terrifying shock erupted within the underground cavity. The cramped space was simply unable to contain such a massive amount of energy. The next moment, the raging storm directly blasted open the top of the underground cavity!

The mountain began to collapse! Nature was utterly powerless to stop this earth-shattering blow! A significant portion of Mount Yuanzang was engulfed by the storm and then completely vanished!

And naturally, among the things that disappeared were Iskandar and that endless black ocean!

—————————————————————

Not far away, watching the burst of red light.

Arthur, who was carrying Natsukawa Tiger and speeding along the highway, subconsciously stopped.

"That is?"

"It should be someone's Noble Phantasm, Rider... no, it should be Archer's Noble Phantasm."

Natsukawa Torara could naturally tell that it was the light of the Ea sword, and the appearance of this scene meant that the situation had become so serious that Gilgamesh needed to use this supreme treasure.

To be fair, given the effort exerted by the Ea, Natsukawa Torama didn't think Sajou Aika had any chance of surviving.

but--

"Go forward, Arthur. I don't believe that Ayaka Sajou will be defeated so easily. You should know this better than I do."

"Yes! Hold on tight to me, Master!"

43. Look me straight in the eye, Aika Sajou!

The earth was turned into scorched earth.

A section of the mountain was removed.

A scene resembling hell was presented under the moonlight.

With the true name of Ea released, everything in Gilgamesh's path was annihilated and pulverized, leaving no trace. Gilgamesh knew the power of Ea better than anyone, and looking at the scene before him, he was certain that the beast disguised as a young girl had been completely destroyed.

"It wasn't a fully grown beast, but merely a juvenile—it's truly something to celebrate that we were able to discover and eliminate it so early. Don't you think so, Holy Sword Wielder?"

Turning around, Gilgamesh looked at Arthur and Natsukawa Tora, who had arrived late.

"You're too late, Holy Sword Wielder. Your journey has been ended by me, and you can now retreat from this Holy Grail War without any burden. That being said, now is not the time to continue the Holy Grail War."

Sheathing his sword Ea, Gilgamesh turned around with a smile: "In any case, the greatest threat has been eliminated. Now, let's—"