The journey of the King of Conquerors had come to an end.
The fall of the hegemon was indeed lamentable. Even though he had surpassed his limits, in the face of Gilgamesh's absolute power, everything seemed pale and powerless.
On the Light Screen Danmaku, countless viewers mourned the passing of the King of Conquerors, while also being shaken by the immense power of Gilgamesh.
Ea—or rather, the Sword of Rupture—was a divine instrument of creation. If not for the Counter Force, that 'sword' undoubtedly possessed the power to destroy the world—
[Eiriri Sawamura]: "Splitting heaven and earth, destroying the world—this Holy Grail War has zero fairness! How are you supposed to fight an opponent like that?"
She now understood why the King of Heroes was so arrogant. If she had that kind of power, she'd be even more inflated than him.
[Madara Uchiha]: "Cleaving heaven and earth... comparable to the Sage of Six Paths... No, perhaps even beyond him? If my current self were to face that attack, I would be powerless. However... that is only for now."
[Kars]: "A weapon that opposes the world? A weapon that can only be surpassed by transcending the world itself? Merely being the Ultimate Lifeform is not enough. I, Kars, must surpass the world itself!!"
[Monkey D. Garp]: "I can't even imagine... If a man like that were a pirate, what kind of chaos would engulf the New World."
[Saitama]: "So strong. I really wanna fight him."
Countless individuals from extraordinary worlds made an appearance due to the reveal of the Sword of Rupture. After all, not every world possessed a power capable of world destruction...
---o---
[Light Screen Projection——
With the disappearance of the King of Conquerors, only Waver remained on the Fuyuki Grand Bridge, and the King of Heroes clearly had no intention of letting him go.
Gilgamesh stared at Waver with cruel, blood-red eyes, slowly approaching.
He must not look away. Although his body was frozen in fear, Waver knew this much: the moment he looked away, his life would be over.
The King of Heroes stood before the boy who, though trembling all over, stared back at him resolutely. He asked in a voice devoid of any emotion:
"Boy, were you Rider's Master?"
He had thought his throat, seized by fear, would be unable to make a sound. But when asked about his relationship with the King of Conquerors, the rigid bonds were instantly broken. Waver shook his head and answered in a hoarse voice.
"No. I am... that man's subject."
Facing the King of Heroes, though terrified and his body trembling uncontrollably, Waver still looked at him with firm and resentful eyes.
"Hm?"
Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing Waver from head to toe. He could see the anger in Waver's eyes. If he truly considered himself a subject of the King of Conquerors, then this was only natural.
"—Is that so. But boy, if you are a truly loyal subject, should you not avenge your fallen king?"
He had used "boy" instead of "mongrel." Waver didn't notice this subtle change, but the audience outside the light screen did. It seemed Waver would not have to die...
"...If I challenge you, I will die."
"Naturally."
"So I cannot do that. The king ordered me to 'live'."
Yes—he could not die. As long as the King of Conquerors' final words echoed in his chest, Waver had to do everything in his power to escape this desperate predicament.
Even with the enemy right before him, with no means to defend himself, in a situation so hopeless it seemed all was lost—he absolutely could not give up. He could not trample upon the oath he had made.
In a sense, the torment Waver was currently enduring was far more cruel and painful than calmly accepting his fate.
Faced with inescapable death, the boy's body trembled involuntarily, but his stubborn gaze spoke of his unyielding spirit.
Gilgamesh silently looked down at his frail body and nodded lightly.
"Your loyalty is commendable. Do not waver from the resolve you hold now."
The golden Heroic Spirit turned on his heel and walked in the opposite direction.
Waver could only silently watch him depart. Perhaps surviving the Holy Grail War was incredibly fortunate, but right now, he only wanted to burn everything that had just happened into his memory...
---o---
Under the night sky, the battle between the King of Conquerors and the King of Heroes came to a close. The Fuyuki Grand Bridge was a wreck, covered in the tracks of the chariot's rampage and craters blasted by Noble Phantasms.
The enemy was eliminated, and everything should have been over. The next step was to deal with Saber. But... but why? Why was the ominous premonition in Gilgamesh's heart growing stronger and stronger?
There was no movement around him. Other than the boy behind him, there was nothing. But it was precisely because there was no movement that it was the perfect time for an ambush.
Gilgamesh stopped. He could feel an unknown danger nearby. Just as he was about to draw Ea to force the insolent rogue out of hiding.
Suddenly—a massive magic array materialized beneath the Fuyuki Grand Bridge, enveloping the entire structure.
As if premeditated, layer upon layer of countless magic arrays stacked upon each other, forming a gigantic magic formation that not even a god could escape!
Faced with this sudden development, the King of Heroes' expression turned furious. "Mongrel hiding in the shadows, you dare!!"
The camera's perspective shifted to follow the King of Heroes' gaze. Unsurprisingly, it was the true Caster of this Holy Grail War—Solomon!
Silently watching the King of Heroes trapped within the magic formation, Solomon's heart was devoid of any extra emotion. It had taken him three days and three nights to construct the array beneath the King of Heroes' feet.
Let alone the King of Heroes, even if the creation gods of Mesopotamia were to arrive, they wouldn't be able to break free in a short time!
"Now—let the plan begin."
Trapped in the magic formation, Gilgamesh was nothing more than a wolf stripped of its fangs and claws, completely at another's mercy.
"Gate of Babylon—unlock, search, Holy Grail Vessel—"
As Solomon's words fell, Gilgamesh's body seemed to be controlled by a Command Spell. Countless golden ripples appeared in the air, and objects resembling the Holy Grail began to emerge from them.
"ONORE—How dare a mere mongrel defile this King's treasury with your filthy hands!!!"
At the center of the array, Gilgamesh's expression was contorted, bearing no resemblance to the one he had when facing the King of Conquerors. He probably never imagined that his Gate of Babylon would one day be used by an outsider.
Within his treasury, which contained all of creation, the number of items that could be called a Holy Grail was too numerous to count with the naked eye.
Solomon had originally intended to find a vessel similar to Irisviel, but he hadn't expected so many containers capable of holding the mana of fallen Servants to appear.
But it didn't matter. He just needed one vessel to hold the mana.
Soon, Solomon found what he was looking for: a vessel identical to the Holy Grail from the original history.
The glittering golden Grail levitated in Solomon's hand. After weighing it lightly, Solomon knew this was what he wanted.
He turned to look at the still-struggling Gilgamesh and said in a mechanical, emotionless tone, "Alright, you are of no more value, King of Heroes..."
No more value... Solomon's words were a grave insult, a clear statement that he was grinding Gilgamesh's dignity into the dirt. If looks could kill, Solomon would have been torn to shreds by Gilgamesh by now.
What made the audience outside the light screen feel a sense of loss was that, despite all the treasures in the Gate of Babylon, many of them genuine divine constructs, Solomon showed no interest, merely taking a simple cup.
If they were given a chance to pick something from the Gate of Babylon, they would surely take every last treasure before they were satisfied.
Insulted in such a way, the fury on the King of Heroes' face was nearly tangible. He stared silently at Solomon, as if to sear that face into his memory for a lifetime.
But upon seeing the ten rings on Solomon's fingers, a flash of astonishment crossed his enraged expression.
"This King was wondering what kind of rat was plotting against me! To think, it was you!"
"A fellow like you, who doesn't even have a self, is participating in the Holy Grail War?"
Solomon. If Gilgamesh had known this man was participating in this war, he would have absolutely cast aside his usual arrogance and faced him with one hundred percent of his power.
Unfortunately, there were no second chances in this world. And even if there were, he, trapped here, could not get one.
Having successfully restrained the King of Heroes with a trap-like method and obtained the Holy Grail vessel, Solomon spread his arms.
The ten rings he wore on his fingers simultaneously burst into a golden radiance, and ancient runes appeared on each one.
Solomon's rings were the source of his power. Each ring was comparable to a top-tier Noble Phantasm. And now, with multiple rings shining at once, the King of Heroes in the eye of the formation was stunned, muttering to himself in disbelief, "You... masaka?"
His only response was Solomon's emotionless Noble Phantasm chant—
"Noble Phantasm—deploy!"
"The Time of Birth has come, I am the one who corrects all of creation."
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE—
The sky seemed to tremble, emitting a deafening roar.
As if the sun itself were falling, the entire sky shuddered. This was a power that could incinerate the surface of a planet, a magical energy that could pierce the planet itself—
Terrifying mana and heat converged in the sky, and a massive, circular band of light appeared. The ring of light was white. The sky outside the ring was normal, but the sky within was deep and dark, as heart-stopping as staring directly into the vast, boundless universe.
This god-like spectacle was a phenomenon created by Solomon's immense magical energy—enormous and awe-inspiring!!
In an instant—Fuyuki City, no, every human and magus on the entire planet felt an intense sense of oppression and threat. Unlike the Sword of Rupture, which was suppressed by the Counter Force, Solomon's Noble Phantasm—was a Noble Phantasm that could truly, at this very moment, destroy the world!
The camera of the light screen then flashed across each character.
Saint Jeanne d'Arc, about to arrive at the Fuyuki Grand Bridge, stared at the despairing scene. She was no longer thinking about upholding the Holy Grail War, but about how the world could possibly survive that astounding magical energy.
"Is that the mysterious Servant who couldn't be detected?... No, it's useless. Command Spells have no effect on him. Even my authority as a Ruler is meaningless."
As an Adjudicator, Jeanne tried to use a Command Spell to force Solomon to stop his Noble Phantasm, but the result was like a stone sinking into the sea. To the King of Magic, a Command Spell was less than a child's toy.
Team Berserker—
Kariya Matou stared blankly at the sky. Lancelot was by his side. The power to destroy the world? This rotten world... if it was to be destroyed, then so be it.
He no longer wanted to live, no longer held any hope of rescuing Sakura.
Tohsaka Residence—
Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kirei Kotomine both witnessed the terrifying scene. Tokiomi tried to use a Command Spell to bring the King of Heroes back, but to no avail. If he couldn't still clearly sense the King of Heroes' presence at the bridge, he would have thought him dead.
Not far from Einzbern Castle—
The group, having roughly understood that the red Archer was a reinforcement sent to help, was heading toward the fated place of the Outer God's descent—the Fuyuki Grand Bridge.
With the release of Solomon's Noble Phantasm, Irisviel looked at the sky in terror, then turned to Saber. "Saber, that is..."
Saber stood in front of Irisviel, her expression grave, cold sweat dripping down her face. "Be careful, Irisviel! That is something terribly frightening!"
Lancer: "Wh-What immense magical energy... Before this power, we are not even ants."
Red Archer: "Ah—honestly, what is that King of Magic thinking? He can feel it too, can't he? The Outer God is about to descend!"
Solomon's sudden use of his Noble Phantasm caught everyone by surprise. A mystery? Hah—if this could be explained away as a gas leak, they weren't just treating the people of Fuyuki as blind, but the entire world.
Even someone as powerful as the King of Heroes had been defeated by Solomon. The entire world seemed to have fallen into despair. And yet, one person alone showed no surprise or fear, merely watching the band of light floating in the sky.
"That shouldn't be the descent of the Outer God, but King Solomon's Noble Phantasm, right—"
To be precise, this spectacle was far grander than the arrival of a Herrscher. Perhaps even the Herrscher of the End was only on this level. Unfortunately, Elysia had never seen the Herrscher of the End, otherwise she could have made a comparison.
However, in the current situation, setting aside the Outer God that was about to descend, she couldn't deal with that band of light alone in her current state.
"Huuu—A protagonist's ultimate move is usually saved for the grand finale, but right now... I can't afford to hold back anymore!"
Under the watchful eyes of Saber and Lancer, from within Elysia's body, the power known as Origin began to slowly emerge—]