A blade of icy steel tore through the air.
At the same instant Ren Kuroda's voice rang out, his sudden appearance catching the golden king completely off guard as the slash came straight for him.
Gilgamesh's pupils shrank.
The blade was already within lethal range.
He instinctively tried to summon defensive Noble Phantasms, but the timing was off—his reaction speed simply couldn't keep up.
In a flash, the fastest and most trusted restraint among his arsenal—the Chains of Heaven—burst forth from multiple angles, shooting toward Ren in an attempt to bind him and slow his advance.
But the result was pitiful.
This rare divine-binding armament, infamous for restraining gods, had virtually no effect on Ren whatsoever.
The reason was simple.
Ren possessed not even a trace of divinity.
With a single violent tug, the chains shattered one after another, snapping apart like brittle twigs, utterly incapable of hindering his momentum.
And just as the edge of the Nichirin Blade was about to sever the throat of the King of Heroes—
A crimson spear thrust in from the side.
CLANG——!
A sharp, ringing clash of steel echoed across the deck of Vimana as the cold blade was intercepted.
Staring at the red rose spear blocking the strike, sweat broke out across Gilgamesh's back.
He had always sneered at Lancer, dismissing him as unworthy even of cooperation.
But just now… if not for that intervention, he might truly have been finished.
After the shock passed, Gilgamesh's expression shifted into deep confusion as he stared at Ren.
He couldn't understand how Ren had managed to conceal his presence so completely right in front of him.
Yes, Assassin-class Servants possessed the Presence Concealment skill—but back on the first night of the Grail War, he had already seen through that with treasures from the Vault of Kings.
Even this time, he had kept that detection-type Noble Phantasm active the entire time.
And yet… he sensed nothing.
Nothing at all.
"I was actually planning to properly do my job as an Assassin," Ren said casually, blade still raised."Go for a textbook assassination, nice and clean."
He shrugged lightly.
"But it looks like I'm not really suited for sneaking around after all. Well, whatever—if I beat all of you into the ground, that still counts as a successful assassination, right?"
The reason Ren had slipped past Gilgamesh's detection was, in truth, quite simple.
He hadn't relied solely on Presence Concealment.
He had layered another ability on top of it.
"Hidden by Divine Inspiration, Veiled for Silent Execution—Hard to Know as Shadow: Integrity."
Unlike the earlier techniques of Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain, which focused on offense or defense, Hard to Know as Shadow was a technique centered on concealment and speed.
While Presence Concealment merely hid one's aura, this technique went far further.
It obscured presence, created false impressions, and could even erase the user's form entirely.
If it had to be compared to something, it was similar to the fear-induced illusionary authority possessed by the Nurarihyon—Mirror Flower, Water Moon.
More importantly, Hard to Know as Shadow corresponded to the most mysterious of the human senses—
The Sixth Sense.
Meaning that to pierce through it, one needed an extraordinarily sharp sixth sense.
Against swordmasters with Instinct, like Saber, its effectiveness might be limited.
But against someone like Gilgamesh, who relied almost entirely on the brute power of Noble Phantasms?
Its effectiveness was nothing short of outstanding.
No Noble Phantasm—no matter how powerful—possessed a sixth sense.
And the fact that Ren had nearly succeeded just now proved exactly how terrifying this technique was.
The only thing Ren hadn't expected…
Was that Dirumudo had somehow ended up working together with Gilgamesh.
"Lancer," Kaneshiro barked sharply, "hold Assassin back. Archer, look for an opening!"
His eyes gleamed with calculation.
"Without territorial advantage, Assassin still dares to fight alone. How arrogant."
Originally, Kaneshiro had prepared for a worst-case scenario: a two-on-two clash against Ren and Mordred.
But he never imagined Assassin would be so overconfident as to step onto Vimana alone.
Mordred, after all, lacked the ability to fly.
As long as Vimana stayed airborne, this would become a two-versus-one battle.
Kaneshiro was convinced the advantage was firmly theirs.
Ren, meanwhile, was already surprised by Gilgamesh's cooperation with Dirumudo—but when he heard Kaneshiro openly issuing orders to Gilgamesh, his expression shifted into outright astonishment.
Just who was Gilgamesh?
If arrogance were a Noble Phantasm, his would be at least EX-rank.
Even Tōsaka Tokiomi—the so-called winner of life—had only ever played the obedient "son."
And yet this green-hatted magus was somehow commanding him?
Dirumudo, as ever, obeyed Kaneshiro's orders without hesitation.
That obedience was the very reason he had answered the Grail's call.
A red spear and a yellow spear—one long, one short—moved in his hands like extensions of his own arms, striking from vicious, unconventional angles.
Knowing full well how dangerous Ren was, Dirumudo held nothing back.
From the very start, he released the true names of both Noble Phantasms.
"Gáe Dearg—The Crimson Rose of Severing Magic.""Gáe Buidhe—The Yellow Rose of Fatal Destruction."
The crimson spear shattered magical constructs with ease.
The yellow spear inflicted wounds that would never heal, causing perpetual bleeding.
Though both spears were only B-rank and classified as anti-personnel Noble Phantasms, in the hands of a master like Dirumudo, they were devastating.
The magic Ren had been channeling into his blade was instantly dispersed upon contact with Gáe Dearg.
The technique he had been about to unleash—
Swift as Wind—Breaking the Army—
collapsed before it could even be completed.
Dirumudo used the crimson spear to constantly disrupt Ren's rhythm, while the yellow spear sought every opening.
With Gáe Buidhe, even the smallest cut was enough to inflict relentless bleeding.
Among beings at their level, battles were often decided by details no one noticed.
"You're skilled," Ren admitted calmly as he parried."Among all the Heroic Spirits I've crossed blades with in this Grail War—aside from Sir Lancelot of the Lake—your technique rivals even the King of Knights."
His eyes sharpened.
"But skill alone isn't enough to defeat me."
Before this, most of Ren's enemies had been monsters and yokai.
He rarely fought humanoid opponents wielding weapons.
This Grail War, however, was filled with masters of arms—and it had filled that gap in his experience beautifully.
Among them, Dirumudo stood out as the only dual-spearman.
At first, Ren struggled with the unfamiliar rhythm.
But once he adapted—
He began to suppress Dirumudo instead.
His praise was genuine.
Among the Servants Ren had fought, Dirumudo ranked near the top.
He had never faced Heracles directly.
As for Cú Chulainn, his trump cards were terrifying—but in pure martial skill, he fell short of Dirumudo.
"Archer! How long are you going to stand there?" Kaneshiro shouted angrily."Don't forget—if I fall here, you think you'll continue in the Grail War?"
Watching Dirumudo—boosted by Command Spells—still being pushed back, Kaneshiro panicked.
Seeing Gilgamesh remain motionless, Kaneshiro immediately guessed his intent.
He assumed the king was hoping Assassin would kill him, freeing Gilgamesh from his control.
So he issued a sharp warning.
But this time, Gilgamesh wasn't slacking.
Ren's opening strike had genuinely frightened him.
The fact that Ren had approached undetected meant he truly possessed the ability to kill him.
Compared to Ren, Kaneshiro was nothing more than a noisy clown.
And with Lancer occupying him, this was the perfect opportunity.
Yet as Gilgamesh searched through the Vault of Kings, his expression stiffened.
He had many treasures.
Too many, in fact.
But weapons specifically designed to counter oni or yokai?
Almost none.
And the few that existed were too low-grade to matter.
It wasn't surprising.
This land might boast eight million gods, but on the world stage, it was still a tiny corner.
Compared to the great mythic civilizations of antiquity, one of three major yokai from a backwater region hardly warranted special preparation.
In the end, Gilgamesh reached into the golden ripples behind him—
And drew forth a magnificent knightly spear.
This was no ordinary Noble Phantasm.
Gungnir—Odin's Spear of Destiny.
The spear of the Norse All-Father.
Once thrown, it flew like a meteor, striking its target without fail.
A single weapon rivaling Cú Chulainn's Spear of Piercing Death Thorns.
There was a reason Gilgamesh was hailed as one of the strongest Heroic Spirits.
Raising Gungnir, Gilgamesh didn't worry about accuracy.
The spear carried the property of absolute hit.
He poured mana into it—
And released its true name.
The moment Gungnir was unleashed, its power eclipsed even the Deadly Thorns spear.
As the Spear of Destiny, it carried causality itself.
And unlike Cú Chulainn—
Gilgamesh was not cursed with E-rank luck.
His luck stood at Rank A.
He was certain.
No matter how fast Ren was.No matter how perfect his concealment.
Once locked by Gungnir—
Escape was impossible.