Hahaha! 3 weeks have passed!

...Umu, sorry for the long delay, but here it is, the prelude to the end! "Eh!? Prelude!?" I hear you ask. And...well, this was originally supposed to be the ending chapter for the Fate/Zero Arc, but the way I ended it previously felt a bit anti-climactic, and I suddenly had an incredible spark of inspiration, so the whole thing got extended and...well, here we are!

I have something to discus, but this is spoiler territory, so skip if you don't want to read!

So, for anyone wondering, or just someone who's curious as to what I'm writing here, why did I pick [Enki] as Gilgamesh's ultimate Noble Phantasm instead of [Ea]? Well, simply put, from the way she is, I think she fits Proto!Gilgamesh better compared to the Gilgamesh we all know and hate(love). Of course, she has some aspects that I took from original Gil, but she just fits with the other one better, in my opinion at least. That, and it does fit better to the different backstory I have for this Gilgamesh.

Anyways, have fun reading!

P.S. Made a quick recounting edit, cause I can't seem to count correctly.

[Quest [End of Zero] has become active!]

[Quest: End of Zero]

Once you have banished the evils of the world, and it has sent itself to the past, carrying you and your companion along the way. New allies have been met, stories have been changed, enemies defeated, and worlds beyond one's wildest imaginations have shown itself to you.

Now you stand at the cusp of the end. The evil tainting the Holy Grail has appeared once more, stronger than ever before, larger than ever before, and it knows of you and the danger you pose. All its effort are drawn to destroy you, to send you back into the root where you came from.

Push forward, [Gamer]. Whether you live or die, the end shall come, and all will return to zero.

Requirements: Destroy the [Tainted Heart of the Grail]

Rewards: [Fragments of heaven]

Extra Mission: Destroy the [Tainted Heart of the Grail] without destroying the [Holy Grail]

Extra Rewards: The [Holy Grail]

...Well, the recent quests have been laying it a bit too thick, don't you think?

But it's true. This one's going to be a doozy, and there's no retries (and even if there is...well, I don't really want to think about it). The grail's activated and surrounded most of Fuyuki in a pseudo reality marble, creating a perfect battleground for it to thrive in. It's got the magical energy from Ryoji's defeat and the many leylines it's taken over, and it's slowly spreading its tainted mud to swallow us whole.

Oddly, I don't feel too threatened by it, maybe because I've seen this sight before?

It is doing literally the same thing as last time, just with more prana to back it up. Then again, it isn't human, so it probably doesn't feel like it's doing something repetitive anyways.

"Fuu…" I take a deep breath, letting the prana inside my circle around my body to try and repair what zero gravity had done to my internal systems. It's not completely wrecked, mind you, but my skirmish through space caused several of my arteries to pop. My important organs are mostly safe, but they're not in the best condition either, and it didn't help that I basically pushed past my body's speed limit for far too long.

Oh, and I'm freezing right now, with how low my internal temperature is compared to the outside.

Still, there's no permanent harm, so I've avoided the worst case scenario.

Francis and Caster are unharmed but fatigued, their battle against the ancient hero Arjuna needing them to spend quite a large chunk of their magical energy. Francis was doing better, considering she has me as her giant prana battery, but Caster isn't so lucky, as Waver, though he's grown, can only provide so much.

"Honored priestess!" Someone calls from behind, and I turn to see Amarilla returning, only slightly injured with my Brimstone Elemental tailing just behind her. None of them looks ready to fall like the two servants by my side, which makes sense, considering their opponent was much weaker when compared to Arjuna, and they had items and stats from me to boost them.

"Amarilla. Stay with them and fight back any incoming enemies." I say, and the dragoon nods. I turn to the Brimstone Elemental, my intent transferred through our link, and the being nods. "I'll go in."

"You sure you'll be okay, Hanami?" Francis asks me, and I go silent, unsure what to say. After a while, I simply turn to her and grimace. "No, but this whole thing won't end if I don't go. Might as well finish it for good."

With my piece said, I generate a bubble of gravity around me and fly forward, making sure to go slower so I won't just outspeed my Brimstone Elemental.

Now that no one's around, I can sigh, doing my best to repair as much of my body as I can before the fated encounter. My mystic eyes activate, scouring the vicinity to find Shirou, and I do find him, being brought along inside a car with Kiritsugu and his companions, and with Sakura safely retrieved.

I smile at that.

However, one objective may have been completed, but the mission is far from done. In fact, if I fail, then all the work Shirou and I had done would've been for nothing.

So I just need to not mess this up.

No pressure, right?

Of course, if things go far too south, then I have one last trick up my sleeve, one I'm not even sure what it'll do, but I'll save the explanations for when it actually happens. For now, getting into the grail's inner systems is the current objective. Any and all other things can be shelved for a later date.

[WARNING! APPROACHING UNKNOWN LOCATION. ESCAPE MIGHT BE IMPOSSIBLE. WARNING! APPROACHI…]

I blink at the sudden warning, but I dismiss it, already knowing the gist of it.

As I near Mount Enzo, where the body of the grail is currently situated, I begin to feel an opposing force trying to push me away, an invisible barrier trying to stop me from going any closer. I give a single thought to it, and burst through the opposing force with my gravity. The barrier gone, I continue flying forward.

[WARNING! Escape will be impossible. Quest [End of Zero] will activate and cannot be deactivated]

[Continue? Y/N?]

With no hesitation, I press the [Yes] option and continue on,

And then, the world twists. The night sky becomes a sickly, disgusting purple, with a giant hole situated high above. Veins of red and black stretch all over the ground, slowly becoming longer and expanding their reach. The front half of Mount Enzo is gone, instead replaced by a giant rib cage, with a deep red, beating heart protected inside it.

[TAINTED HEART OF THE GRAIL]

HP: 500.000.000/500.000.000

MP: -

Stamina: -

The core of what was once the Holy Grail, now twisted by the curses of all the evils of the world. It holds the power of the true magic, having a path towards the [Throne of Heroes]. Both alive and not, it beats with magical energy gathered from the world, intent of enacting the end like it'd been foretold to do.

And yet, you've stood in its path, with powers that it fears. Rid you it could not, taint you it could not, weaken you it could not.

So now, here it is, ready for its final act, with you as its spectator.

There it is, the one and only. The damned thing that's been a thorn in my side for the entire story and the thing that's been trying to kill Shirou and I.

I bring my Noble Phantasm into my hands, taking a deep breath and letting my prana flow freely.

"[Call of Lightning]."

A spark lights, shooting into the sky above. Clouds gather at my command, growing turbulent as winds begin to pick up and lightning begins to snap through the growing clouds. The darkness surrounding me grows even darker, and winds of great power blow through the area, throwing away anything too small to hold on.

A storm has arrived.

My stats increase from my skill's passives, and I soak it all in, letting the power settle inside me before doing anything else. Of course, the grail sees my lack of movement and immediately begins attacking, firing dark purple bolts of magical energy created from the refined evils that Angra was cursed by in his life.

My Brimstone Elemental swiftly moves to defend, firing her own streams of accursed fire to counter the grail's deadly magical bolts. The two sides clash in bright explosions, with my Brimstone Elemental slowly being pushed back as the grail continues to increase the ferocity of its magical barrage.

But the time my elemental has granted me is enough, and I begin the chant of my Noble Phantasm.

Because, hey, why should I hold back my strongest attack until the end? That just doesn't make sense, kid.

"An eternal song, a melody as old as time!"

To be honest, I'm not quite sure where the words are coming from, nor where I'm getting the ideas from, but they just seem to be flowing out my mouth without any previous thoughts.

Each words spoken pulses with power, and the air around me begins to glow with an ethereal blue. My magic circuits light up brightly under my skin, spreading all over my body.

"A battle that never ends, a tale that goes on forever!"

Clearly detecting the sudden spike in power, the grail's attacks grow faster and more plentiful, covering the skies and racing towards them. The Brimstone Elemental begins to struggle, the chunks of brimstone she sits on beginning to crack from the amount of prana she's expelling at every moment.

"A beast of nature, one that the world could not rule!"

Distantly I begin to see a mirage, of a giant dragon soaring through the skies, its breath scorching everything in its path and its roars tearing apart the grounds. I see its magic, an iridescent light that shot through the skies like a shooting star.

"On your grave a world was made."

An unholy screech resounds from the grail as it fires everything it has at that moment. All the mud it was slowly raising suddenly rushes up into the sky to overwhelm me. Every leyline it's connected to explodes up violently to try and burn me. Every single magical bolt it was firing is stopped, instead gathered into one and amplified, before being fired at me as a giant beam of curses of decay.

"And atop it, legends were told."

My Brimstone Elemental prepares a counter, gathering as much flames as it can possibly handle at that moment and coiling it all into one tout sphere, filled with flames of the accursed underworld it comes from.

Not that it matters. Not anymore.

"Upon the stars, I have wished."

Everything slows, and the last words of my verse are spoken.

"So I call upon you, being of old!"

"[Hearth of Daedron]!"

A loud roar sounds from the skies above, and down from it descends a dragon of gargantuan size, its body made from crackling, green electricity, with its green beating heart visible through it all. It looks down to the heart of the grail, and to the cage of bones it'd shielded itself with, and narrowed its eyes.

[Heart of Daedron]. The dragon I conjured from the lightning gathered in the storm I generated was as close as I came to recreating the legend of the dragon whose death created the world the dragoons now lives in. A superpowered figure of lightning, enchanted by the essence of dragons and fueled by the legends I had gathered when I absorbed the energy of Daedron's core back in the [Hearth of Daedron] ID.

Daedron roars, the sheer volume of its sound creating winds that rivalled tornadoes. With my control and intent, Daedron dives downward, jaws opening as lightning begins to build inside its mouth. The grail doesn't remain silent however, firing beams of malevolent curses at the descending dragons.

But the sheer amount of energy and heat Daedron was outputting burns and blasts away the grail's attacks.

Then, Daedron finishes charging, the electricity it's been gathering in its mouth has fully turned into violent plasma. With what looks like a smile, it opens its mouth as wide as it can,

And lets go.

Out from the dragon's mouth comes a giant beam of green light, burning away anything in its path. All the beams the tainted heart fired are overpowered in an instant. All the mud even remotely close to the beam suddenly disappears, evaporating and leaving nothing behind. Not even the rib cage protecting it, one made from pure, crystalized energy, is able to withstand the beam's power, holding out for seconds before they melt away.

An unholy screech sounds when the beam impacts the tainted heart, burning and searing through the tainted flesh that it's built up. The muscles of the heart are burned, the blood vessels popped, and purplish black blood flies out from the wounds before being burned away by the heat of Daedron's attack.

Soon, Daedron's attack finishes, leaving the surrounding a metled, charred mess and a giant burn mark on the tainted heart. A hefty 150 million HP is lost from that one strike, a product of my increased stats due to the storm above and me combining both my [Morningstar] and [Attribute Enchant: Dragon] to drive up my damage to insane levels.

And as one extra gift for the thing that's been harassing me for so many chapters now, I direct Daedron to rush down and crash into the tainted heart, causing it's form to become unstable and explode in a brilliant flash of viridescent green light. The tainted heart of the grail cries out again as its already injured self is damaged even more.

The resulting explosion soon dies down, and with it, almost 30 million HP from the tainted heart is lost. The tainted heart's HP has dropped just above 300 million, and its once pristine self is now a black, charred mess with purplish black blood flowing out from the many popped blood vessels, leaking the curses that created it down into the earth below.

I smiled at the mess my Noble Phantasm created, before suddenly having fatigue strike me and nearly causing my control over gravity to disappear.

[MP: 32879/107865]

[Stamina: 40.3%]

Which, considering that around 50.000 MP and 60% of my stamina is now gone, is understandable.

Unleashing a Noble Phantasm sure is tough work.

Perhaps that fatigue is why I didn't notice the malevolent beam that was fired at lightning speeds before it hit me square in the chest. I was too slow to react, my Brimstone Elemental was still healing and was too slow to move,

And as the beam's energy blasts deep into my body, curses flood through my very being.

For a single moment, I see the evils of the entire world. The one second that vision lasted is painfully stretched on, and I bear witness to the sins humanity has, and will commit in their lives.

Killing, stealing, raping, cursing, lying, destroying, plauging, bleeding, torturing, everything.

Even with my passive [Magical Resistance], the damage the curse inflicts deep into my psyche is large. My body is fine, but the nerves that govern my motor and mental functions are shocked, and I'm pretty sure my brain shut down for a second or so.

The vision ends, but I'm still far too frazzled to be fully conscious. [Morningstar] deactivates, my control over gravity wanes, and I'm subjugated to the earth's gravitational pull, causing me to fall down. Numbly, I bring up my status to check on my condition, and proceed to wince as I see my HP hovering just over 20.000.

Not good.

Seeing me seemingly down for the count, the tainted heart glows, and from it comes a legion of wraiths, created from potent curses and all flying towards me with the speed of a tactical missile.

Still, not everything's bad. My nerves may still be too shocked to function optimally, but even with me downed like this, I'm not defenceless.

Namely, by summoning several hundred tons of logs and firing them at the incoming wraiths with my gravity control. The wraiths stand no chance as they're swiftly obliterated by what looks like a lumberjack's wet dream come to life.

Why do I have several hundred tons worth of wood you may ask?

Well, I chopped down several forest-themed island back in [Yuriele], so that's where they came from.

And why?

I don't know.

Either way, the technique is still very effective. The wraiths approaching me are eliminated in an instant, and the logs are now heading straight for the tainted heart. In retaliation, it fires several accursed beams at once, slowing moving them around like spotlights and burning and hitting away the logs I fired.

It's a pity I couldn't kill the heart by flattening it with wood.

Oh well.

I continue my wooden assault as I slowly recover, pushing myself to stand back up. And I succeed, albeit my stance is a bit wobbly with my still somewhat shocked nerves, but it's better than kissing the dirty ground the entire time!

[MP: 24116/107865]

I take a long, deep breath. Effective it may have been, but my wood assault still took quite a significant chunk of my remaining MP, and I'm left with just above a fifth of my maximum. My motor function isn't perfectly healed either, but it's good enough for now, and I can't afford to wait too long.

Mostly because as soon as I let go of my breath, a black blur rushes just over my shoulder and crashes a distance away. An explosion follows the impact, kicking up a thick cloud of dust, which soon settles to reveal Saber Alter, her face still as pale as I remember.

Or, to be exact, the upper half of her body. Her lower half is missing, seemingly having been grizzly torn off by what looked to be a jagged weapon.

"I see you haven't died yet."

"Of course. I can't kick the bucket just yet." I can't quite help but smile as I turn to see Gilgamesh land right beside me, her body covered by her favored golden armor, enchanted and created by magic from the age of gods. "That, and I haven't shown you what sushi is just yet." I add on, and Gilgamesh meets my smile with her own.

"That you haven't." She says, but our attention shifts as a rain of cursed bolts of energy rain down from above, and I swiftly jump back to avoid it. Gilgamesh just sort of stands there, letting the curses splash harmlessly down onto her armor. As expected from an armor from the ago of gods, not a single point of Gil's HP is lost.

Then, Saber Alter's body is enveloped by black ribbons, reminiscent of those that Sakura had in Heaven's Feel, twisting and forming into an oblate sphere. From what my Mystic Eyes can see, Saber Alter's body seems to melt into the curses the grail has supplied her with, before she emerges out of the sphere of curses, her body returned to its prime form.

"The mongrel just won't stay down." I hear Gilgamesh whisper with a click of her tongue, her annoyance over the situation large enough to bring her favored catchphrase back.

"She's connected to the grail. As long as it lives, she's going to keep coming at us." I say, using my Mystic Eyes to trace the long and convoluted connection between the tainted heart and Saber Alter.

Of course, it's not as simple as I make it sound. Saber Alter's 'anchors' are numerous. She has the tainted grail providing her with energy, she has the magical energy in the atmosphere, the leylines she's taking mana from, and even from the souls of the many Fuyuki citizens who died when catastrophe struck.

She's a self-sufficient automata.

But her connection with the grail is the strongest, so taking it down should make her unstable as well.

Hopefully.

"Then so be it." As she says that, a portal shimmers behind Gilgamesh, and out of it comes a pair of golden swords, shaped and carved by inhumane origins. She flips them around, and with ample force, she smashes the two swords' hilts into one, merging them together to create an almost bow-like construct.

"This farce has gone on for too long." A magical string forms around the bow's ends, and Gilgamesh swiftly pulls out another sword, this one thinner and much longer, and fires it at the grail faster than the normal eye can see.

Only the arrow flew at like, mach 20 or something. The beam of curses the tainted heart fired is pierced through in a single moment, and the arrow stabs right into it, dealing a nice 100.000 or so to the grail. Of course, compared to the remaining 320 million HP it has left, 100.000 is merely a small fraction.

But that doesn't matter, for what was fired at it was not merely an arrow, but a warning shot, a sword to paint a target for an attack much larger.

At first, I simply blink, confused at what just happened, but then I remember what Gilgamesh told me a week ago as we were having a nice beel bowl as dinner, and immediately create the biggest [Empty ID] I can currently handle.

Things are about to get awesome. Well, if everything goes to plan at least.

And Saber Alter will give her everything to hinder our plan from working.

Her blade erupts with tainted purple light and she raises her sword above her head, ready to unleash her Noble Phantasm. Gilgamesh quickly fires another arrow to interrupt her, but as soon as her arrow comes close a translucent barrier appears and blocks the arrow completely in an effect eerily similar to [Avalon].

I say 'eerily', but it's actually basically the same thing. It seems, just as a big 'fuck you' to us all, the moment the grail healed her back up it gave her a passive Noble Phantasm with effects similar to that of Avalon. The Phantasm itself doesn't seem to have a name, and it's obviously not as strong as [Avalon]'s complete protection and isolation, but it's still a very powerful passive shield.

Beside me, I hear Gil click her tongue as several golden portals shimmer to life behind her back, each with the edge of a weapon slowly extending out. From within her treasury, I hear the collective sound of locking mechanisms, the sound similar to the locking that sounds when you finish notching a crossbow bolt.

The Dingirs have been set, and ready to fire.

Happiness fills me when I realise she's taken my advice, but I shelve the feeling for later.

Because history is about to be made!

High above the sky, up just above the earth, there exists six golden spears, spinning and burning with magical energy. Down on the surface, the arrow Gil shot into the heart blinks, and its coordinates are transferred up into the six swords. With its target sighted, it begins thrum with power, the magical energy spinning around it weaved into what looks to be golden chains.

The chains spin and weave together, and from the six golden swords come one giant golden spear, made entirely of magic from the age of old. Its authority is invoked, its history reimbursed, and on Gil's call, it starts a swift descend back onto the planet.

Saber Alter doesn't seem to realise this and continues burst firing her Excalibur Morgan. It seems she's trying to separate me from Gil, and then probably take me out seeing as I'm still weakened from being hit by the grail's curse.

It's kinda working actually. I've become separated from the king of heroes, and Saber Alter's invulnerability isn't helping me fix the situation either.

But that matters not.

Sharing a glance with the golden king, we both immediately take to the skies, her on her Vimana and me using [Morningstar]. Saber Alter continues to bombard us with beams as we escape, but we easily swerve around her attacks, seeing as, well, she can't fly.

Then, the sky is suddenly split when a giant golden spear falls from the heaven. Saber Alter can only watch in muted shock.

No, she couldn't have known, as there need be no words spoken, no incantations uttered, nor any signals given.

Where its king wishes for it to go, it shall go.

For it is the sentinel of the stars, [Enki].

The spear digs into the tainted heart, right where Gil's arrow struck, and hell follows soon after.

An unholy screech erupts from the grail as a myriad of a thousand forces tear open its insides. Flesh is torn, muscles are burnt, vessels are popped, and blood splattered all over the open area where the heart resides. A massive 300 million HP is decimated in an instant, leaving behind only a small 20 million HP as its lifeline.

But the show's not over just yet.

The oceans surrounding Fuyuki grow turbulent, called to action by the Noble Phantasm and enchanted to cleanse the filth from the earth. With tides taller than even skyscrapers, the ocean crawls its way onto land.

Survival is impossible.

In a last attempt, the grail directs all its energy to Saber Alter, commanding her to cut open the sieging waters.

Saber Alter takes a step forward, digging her foot into the dirt, and with her sword brimming with magical energy she calls out her Last Phantasm.

"[EXCALIBUR MORGAN]!"

From her sword, a beam is fired, bigger than any she's fired before. It's futile to attempt to deny their end, the grail knew that, so it didn't try to bother.

Instead, it commanded her to fire her Last Phantasm at me.

Shit! The beam is far too big and fast for me to completely avoid. I'm on my own, I separated too far from Gil in our attempts to avoid Saber Alter's beam bombardment. Even in the best case scenario my Mystic Eyes can see, I'd still get a part of my body hit, and my HP would drop to zero.

So, I'll fight back!

Bringing out my staff, I ready an attack of my own, channeling the lightning I'm gathering with [Holy] and [Draconic] energy. My vision begins to blur, my senses numbing as my MP and Stamina takes a massive drop.

But then,

"[EXCALIBUR]!"

From out of nowhere, a beam similar to the one approaching me is fired, this one a warm, bright gold instead of Saber Alter's ominous purple, and the two sides clash against one another. Light bursts out, exploding as a myriad of miniature stars.

However, it isn't enough, so I unleash my already charged attack at Saber Alter's attack, aiding the other one in its efforts. With our combined efforts, Saber Alter's Last Phantasm is shot off its course, instead flying up high into the sky and exploding harmlessly into the night sky.

And so, I survived.

Down below, Saber Alter silently looks up, her Noble Phantasm falling down as her hands cracked and broke away.

Strangely, I can't help but wonder if she felt any peace as she was swallowed by the tides.

The grail screeches as the waters crash against it. Its already singed flesh burn even further as the cleansing properties of the waters tear away at the many curses that created it. One by one, sin by sin, it pulls away any and all evil from the grail, cleaning the ancient artifact to return it to the object it was meant to be.

Every patch of tainted mud the water touches is cleansed, every leyline corrupted by the grail's influence is restored, and the cursed dirt caused by the grail's magic is returned to its original self.

It was a recreation of Noah's Ark.

With nothing but a whimper, the last remains of the tainted heart fades from the world. Its purpose fulfilled, the raging waters finally calm, reducing and seeping into the earth. Soon, all the water that'd been called is gone, with only the fertile wet dirt below as a remnant of the historical event.

A relieved sigh leaves from my lips, thankful the entire debacle ended before my stamina and MP hit a painful zero. Still, with the battle over and my adrenaline dying down, my focus wanes and my control over gravity fades.

"You've done well." But before I can fall, Gil arrives and catches me, gently lowering me down onto her flying ship. With my blurry vision, I can somewhat make out what seems to be a smile, and I smile back.

I let myself rest soon after.

Gilgamesh will never admit it, but she was fairly worried.

Not for herself nor the world mind you. She had all the treasures in the world within her gates, so she was hardly worried, and the world may be bruised, but it'll live.

Hanami, strange and powerful she might've become, was still very much a human. A strange and powerful human, and perhaps one on the course to immortality, but a human nonetheless. The girl had already undergone many trials, sapping her energy, and now she was facing the crux of this entire war.

When the world began its course towards death, her Noble Phantasm blurred to life, and her mind's eye rang loudly in warning. She'd still been in combat against Saber Alter, firing Noble Phantasms after Noble Phantasms at the infinitely regenerating servant. She was swiftly growing annoyed, but then a wave of power washes throughout the entire city, one she was familiar with, and her passive Noble Phantasm went silent.

She was intrigued by the possible results, so she fired a particularly volatile Phantasm from her gate and exploded the regenerating mongrel, tearing her bottom half apart and sending the other flying towards where the tainted grail is situated. She soon follows, flying on the ancient flying ship she'd kept in her treasury.

And there she saw Hanami, injured and tired and her skin slightly burnt, but she was overall fine. Nothing an overnight rest couldn't fix.

But the tainted heart of the grail looked far more interesting, with part of it burned and torn by whatever attack the girl had launched at it just moments ago. She grinned at the carnage, before bringing Vimana back into her treasury and gracefully landing next to the tired girl.

Then they soon delve into idle talk, and Gilgamesh was once again faced with how seemingly unaffected the girl was of the current situation. Even with the fatigue built from continuous battles, her quips remain, said with an amused smile. The king couldn't help but smile at the girl's cheeriness, but the torn body of the altered Saber is restored, and her annoyance peaks once more.

The damned mongrel just wouldn't die.

So she took action, called for the Noble Phantasm she'd sent to the heavens a week before and sent it crashing down. The Noble Phantasm left no trace behind, burning and cleansing every curse and sin that made up that detestable creature, but like any animal, it fought to live and sent its magical energy into Saber Alter, enough for her to perhaps fight off the approaching waves.

They'd gotten far enough from the area, and Gilgamesh had relaxed, ready to watch the waters cleanse the filth that'd stayed on this earth for far too long when her mind's eye suddenly became active again, crying out in warning.

Immediately portals shimmer to life behind her, ready to fire at the beam Saber Alter fired at a fatigued Hanami. Even fired from the Dingirs, her weapons wouldn't make it in time, perhaps lessening the damage Hanami would take against the superpowered Last Phantasm, but before such a thing could happen, another familiar voice cried out, and a beam of golden light raced through the air.

The two opposing sides clashed, fighting for dominance, and Hanami quickly added to the flare with her own attack. Hanami succeeded, diverting the Last Phantasm up into the sky instead, and finally fell to fatigue as the battle came to an end.

Now here she is, back down on the soil cleaned by the flood, with Hanami laid gently atop a bed Gilgamesh had pulled out from her treasury. The girl looks far too gentle, far too comfortable for someone who'd come so close to death so many times.

It's quite cute actually.

"So, you've finally come to understand, haven't you?" She asks, sounding more like a statement than an actual question and the one on the receiving end clearly understands as such, replying with a sigh. "That I have, Archer." Saber answers, striding towards her with power and honor, with Hanami's companion and charge right behind her.

Or is it master now?

The boy himself is weary, tired, much like the girl sleeping not far from them. His body is swiftly healing, most definitely a product of the ancient artifact living inside his soul, but his energy remains emptied.

His eyes lock onto Hanami, and he rushes forward past her, worried. She allows him to, and respectfully distances herself from the two and turns to Saber. Gilgamesh smirks. "You took quite some time going here however, Saber. Enjoying your time with your new master?"

It greatly pleases her to see the normally stoic girl suddenly stutter, her cheeks gaining a tinge of pink. "I-It has been a while after all." Saber tries to reason, but Gilgamesh doesn't care. She swiftly commits the image to her memory, intent on using it on further teasing sessions.

The king of knights is simply too fun to tease.

Her mind's eye suddenly rings and Gilgamesh turns to where her instincts are directing her to. Saber and her master seem to have noticed as well, though only Saber steps forward to face whatever is about to appear, forcing her master to back down and rest. Golden portals shimmer behind her, weapons from all ages already peeking out from her treasury.

Then, out from the ground comes a blob of malevolent curses, and immediately Gilgamesh rains down a volley of Noble Phantasms on it, uncaring whether the beast inside could even fight back. By her side, Saber doesn't remind idle either, launching a burst of wind from her sword to shred whatever that blob of curses is.

And of course, even after all that, the blob of curses remains. Saber poises her sword to strike, but Gilgamesh holds her hand up to stop her, now genuinely curious as to what might come from it. Saber, though somewhat unwilling, understands and reluctantly draws her sword back.

Slowly, the blob of curses begins to rise, growing taller and turning somewhat humanoid, before collapsing on itself and returning to just being a black blob. A tall one to be sure, but still a blob.

"So this is what you've been reduced to, Angra Mainyu." Gilgamesh sneers, the collected annoyance she'd gained bubbling back to the surface. The blob lets out an incoherent gurgle, its slimy body rippling,

Before it suddenly shoots forward, intent on forcing its curses down her throat.

It doesn't get far. The moment it'd moved, Saber had as well, slicing what remained of Angra Mainyu in half. The half that was flung off was blasted by Saber's Noble Phantasm, while the other remaining half was stabbed into the dirt by a volley of Noble Phantasms from Gilgamesh's gates.

But it doesn't panic. It simply looks up to the golden king, and with its remaining energy, it forms a twisted smile on its slimy body.

"[I wISh UpON tHe HoLY gRaiL-" It begins, a suffocating wave of prana cascading outwards from Angra Mainyu. Gilgamesh's eyes widen in realisation, and she swiftly rains down a wave of swords and spears upon it, but it doesn't matter. Its words may not have been fully said, but Angra's intent is conveyed clearly through its connection to the Holy Grail, and using the abundance of magical energy gathered from the many defeated Heroic Spirits, the ancient artifact activates.

The two kings are blown away when winds powerful enough to shred reality begins to spin around the blob of curses. Shirou and the resting Hanami are blown away as well, though Shirou quickly takes hold of Hanami and jumps away. Both kings land on opposite sides, but they both see the same hurricane, composed by winds of untamed energy, its colour a shifting rainbow.

"Well, isn't this an interesting situation." Gilgamesh comments lightly as she reunites with the sleeping Hanami, Saber not far from her. The king of knights says nothing, opting to instead observe what might come out of that twisting pillar of wind.

"...I should never sleep again…" A tired voice says, and they all turn around to see Hanami slowly waking up from her sleep, her eyes dead as she stares at what's happening not too far from them. Sighing, she shakes her head and activates her set of Mystic Eyes, her green eyes turning to a bright shifting blue, and she peers through the fabrics of history and reality. Her deadpan turns into a frown, which then shifts into a deep grimace.

"Yeah, that's...that's not good. Not at all."

"What might you mean, Hanami-san?" Saber asks and Hanami sighs again, running a hand through her hair as she starts her explanation.

"It's...I guess you can say Angra's using all the energy it gathered into the grail to create a new body for itself, one that can actually fully use all the curses the world implanted into him."

And that's the crux of this entire situation, is it not? As the winds slowly dies down, Gilgamesh sees the new form Angra Mainyu had granted itself using the grail's energy, and-

...Enkidu?

For a brief moment, the one that stands there is her eternal friend, the chains of god that she'd travelled the world with, but it soon changes. Not him. She reminds herself. It's form is continually changing, shifting from one body to another. One moment Angra has the body of the king of knights, and then the next it'd become a sumerian goddess.

"Angra's using a collective jumble of Heroic Spirits as its body." Hanami explains as she conjures her staff in her hands. "Don't worry, the switching is only a cosmetic thing...I think."

"That does not fill me with confidence, Hanami-san." Saber says, and Hanami turns to her with her expression stiff.

"It shouldn't."

"Yoo! Hanami!" A certain cheery voice sounds, followed by the sounds of wafting wind, and the girl turns around to see a ship magically float down from the sky. It lands with a soft thud before it disappears into glitters of gold, and from it falls three familiar individuals, two tired but uninjured and the other one injured and unconscious.

"Sir Gareth!" Francis gently places the unconscious Lancer down on the ground, respectfully backing away from the worried king. Hanami quickly approaches as well, using her Mystic Eyes to survey the Lancer's current condition. Her lips purse to a thin line, before she sighs.

"Is she alright, Hanami-san?" Saber asks, and Hanami gives a slow nod.

"She's fine. Hurt and near death, but she'll live."

"Hanami." Hanami turns to Shirou, an eyebrow raised. "Why isn't Angra Mainyu moving?" He asks, pointing at the unmoving body of their revived enemy.

"Oh, he's not done assimilating yet." She says casually with a wave of her hand. "We can't attack him, but it's not able to move either, so we have time to prepare."

"Truly?" In an act of curiosity, Gilgamesh fires a Noble Phantasm out of her gate, and just as the girl had said, the Noble Phantasm bounces harmlessly from the still enemy, as if the weapon had crashed against a wall of steel. "Interesting…" The king stares at the shifting being in interest, wondering just how many different bodies the accursed human will go through before it finally settles.

"That was dangerous, Archer." Saber admonishes.

Gilgamesh simply smirks. "Life is filled with dangers, Saber. One without such would be dull."

"Hanami-chan~!"

Another cheery person appears, this one a male with pink hair and with clothes fit for his love of crossdressing. "Astolfo!" Hanami smiles at the cheerful servant, and distantly Saber begins to wonder if all Riders will be just as cheerful as the two she's come to know.

Hanami notices something strange however. "Astolfo, where's your mount?"

"Oh, my Hippogriff? I had him carry Waver and Akemi out from the area. He should come back soon!"

"Ah." Hanami nods in understanding, before taking a glance at the strange lance in his hands. "How's the [Spuit Lance]? Is it working?"

"It's great!" Astolfo immediately says, hugging the rock-like lance affectionately. "I don't know how this thing's just a Rank C+, but I love it!" The knight then looks to her, his eyes twinkling with excitement. "Can I keep it!?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure." At that, the Rider cheers. Strangely, the [Spuit Lance] seems to glow as well, as if just as excited to be owned by the cheery Rider. Weird, I don't remember it being able to do that. Hanami thinks, and even as she uses her Mystic Eyes, no new set of words has appeared on the item's description. Are the items evolving on their own?

"It really is taking its sweet time, huh…" Francis comments with a curious stare. Hanami takes another look at the changing Angra with her Mystic Eyes.

"He sure is." She deadpans.

"Ah, Tsunaka-san, Emiya-san, please have these." Since the final climactic boss is still powering up, Caster decides to step in and hand over two flasks filled with a strange blue liquid. Shirou takes it, eyeing the potion before looking at Hanami. The girl herself seems to be analysing the potion using her Mystic Eyes, taking in the history and knowledge of the consumable before nodding at her wary companion.

At her approval, the two flip open the lids and take a drink. Shirou's face remains carefully neutral while Hanami shivers as she drinks the last few drops.

"Uf, that feels weird."

"It does, doesn't it? Kinda feels like you're somehow getting fatter by drinking it." Francis says, frowning slightly as she recalls the strange texture of the potion.

"Understandable. The contents of it aren't very light." Caster explains.

"Still pretty cool though! Just wish you can drink another one right after…"

"Hmm? I'm surprised you know that much from just a glance." Caster says, genuinely surprised. "If I may ask, how much detail can your Mystic Eyes read into?"

Hanami blinks at the sudden question, before shrugging. "I can see pretty much anything with it, but the bigger and more impactful the thing is, the more time I have to dedicate to grasp the whole thing." She says, then adds, "And taking in too much information will make my head explode too, so there's that."

"How convenient."

And as Caster says that, light begins to shine from Angra Mainyu, looking almost like it's a Pokemon just about to finish its evolution. Its form flickers, changing from the thousands of templates it'd pulled from the throne of heroes, before settling on a familiar body belonging to a hero of justice.

Hanami blinks, surprised. Unlike what form Angra Mainyu decided to take in Hollow/Ataraxia, the body it takes is one of EMIYA, just with even darker skin and black hair. His clothes, or near lack of it, remains the same however, with only a red garb cloth tied around his waist. Black tribal markings are drawn all over his body, each a curse pulled from all the world's evil.

Astolfo draws his lance.

Caster brings out her bow.

Francis calls her twin pistols into her hands.

Golden portals shimmer to life behind Gilgamesh.

Excalibur forms in Saber's hand, uncloaked and shining in its eternal glory.

The Kojiki Kiyomitsu is gripped in Shirou's hand, the trust he'd built with it becoming its strength.

Hanami calls forth her staff, lightning dancing and crackling all around her, her eyes shining a deep shifting blue.

Two shivs are brought into Angra's hands, unremarkable and unknown yet bearing within them the weight of a thousand curses. The curses etched in his body comes to life, burning with the sins of their origin and tainting the world around it. Slowly, his eyes open, a burning obsidian black, and he smiles.

CURSE THE WORLD

Saber and Astolfo rush forward first, their weapons brandished and ready to strike. Angra easily blocks both with his shivs, his strength far above what he'd normally have as a simple Avenger. Saber breaks away and fires a barrel of spiralling wind at him, pushing him back and opening him for Astolfo to charge forward and thrust his lance forward.

His markings glow.

WEAKNESS

Black tendrils shoot out from him, created by the curses inside him. Astolfo quickly blocks the incoming attacks, but he nearly trips when a sudden weakness strikes him. His arms shake, his legs quiver, and it's only because of Hanami pulling him back that he manages to escape without getting hurt.

Caster and Francis start their assault, firing magical bullets and pellets at the stationary Angra. They only make it so far before they're struck down by the tendrils still lurking all around him, and it's then that the Dingirs Gilgamesh had prepared in her treasury fires, launching the weapons from her gates at incredible speed.

More of the markings glow.

IMPOTENCY

The fired Noble Phantasms suddenly crack, the connection between them and their owner broken, and they disappear into golden dust. Gilgamesh continues to fire, but nothing changes. The Noble Phantasm lose their anchor the moment they come close to him, and those lucky enough to reach him are blocked by the tendrils coming from his body.

Soon, the sickly atmosphere surrounding Angra disappears, and with him still open from Gilgamesh's bombardment, Shirou takes the chance and leaps forward. Angra notices this easily, bringing forth more tendrils to attack him.

But he's not backing down. A weakened version of his [Spirit Embodying] is activated and Okita's haori appears around his shoulders, boosting his strength and speed. Hanami quickly notices, her Mystic Eyes allowing her to survey the battle in greater clarity, and she uses her control over gravity to speed Shirou up even more.

The markings on Angra's body glows, but both Shirou and Hanami aren't going to lose this chance. Leaping impossibly from air, Shirou boosts forward even more, Hanami bending space to increase his speed. The curse in his body is about ready to be unleashed, but Shirou makes three instantaneous thrusts, and blackened blood erupts from his chest as the katana stabs into and out of his body.

BLINDNESS

Shirou's golden eyes suddenly become dull, and he's struck by a blindness in all senses. Hanami is there to pull him back though, allowing Saber to take his place.

Saber swiftly charges on, using [Invisible Air] as powerful jets to boost her forward. Noble Phantasms from varying histories and ages fly past her, each aimed at the still unmoving Angra and burning with magical energy, ready to explode. Following them are a volley of gunfire and magical arrows.

However, even with him focused on healing the injury he's taken, the tendrils he controls don't slow down, easily batting away any projectile sent his way. As she closes in, Saber's eyes and ears become blind, but she continues onwards, using her [Instincts] to guide her body. She ducks under an incoming tendril, and as she rises she slashes her trusted sword up, creating a nasty cut stretching all the way up his torso.

She steps aside to avoid an incoming shiv, but a tendril sneaks up from the soil and strikes her boots. Immediately, screams and wails of an uncountable number of curses bubble within her soul, but she pushes them down. Gathering wind through her sword, she focuses them into her sword's tip, before thrusting her weapon at Angra.

Be struck by the hammer of the wind king,

"[Invisible Air]!" A condensed blast of air shoots forward from her sword, blasting through Angra's body and sending him tumbling back. The accursed screams in her mind stop, her senses return, and quickly steps back to recover.

Angra's stumble is less than graceful, understandable considering his lack of actual battle experience, but he quickly gets up and backs away, dedicating his energy to heal the injuries he's sustained.

Then, from behind, Astolfo appears, using the [Trap of Argalia] instead of the [Spuit Lance]. The curse he's sent has ended, but his markings quickly glow, ready to burst.

CONFUSION

Astolfo's world shifts. He's suddenly upside down, his weapon in his legs and the sky somehow bright green. His eyes are no longer coordinated, moving on their own, and his body is both hot and cold.

But he isn't a knight for nothing. He pushes past those debilitations and gently taps Angra's shoulder with his spear before leaping over him and escaping. The Argalia's curse comes into effect and Angra finds himself falling onto the ground, his knees no longer capable of holding him up.

Hanami quickly pulls Astolfo away, and with the coast clear Gilgamesh readies her armory. Hundreds of golden portals come to life behind her, each Dingir behind those portals ready to fire the Noble Phantasms notched on them. Magical energy floods every weapon in her portals, and at her command, they fire.

Each Noble Phantasm is bursting with magical energy, so much so that they're losing their natural form and beginning to crack under the extreme stress.

A broken Phantasm.

The tendrils coming from Angra's body do their best to defend against the onslaught, but the empowered bombardment of Noble Phantasms soon overpower it, and Angra lets out a silent scream as hundreds of broken Phantasms stab into his body, each exploding the moment they make impact.

Just like with the Dingirs, this was another one of Hanami's brilliant suggestions Gilgamesh had to try out, but the praises can be saved for later.

Though injured, the marks on Angra's body glow, the light an intense purplish black.

Sensing the incoming danger, Hanami reverses the flow of gravity and pulls them all into the sky, up and away from the blast radius of what is to come.

DESOLATION

In a radius of a large lake, every single trace of life disappears. The fertile soil Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasm created turns empty and dead. The small foliage beginning to grow over it decays, crumbling into ash and blown away.

The stronger curses are coming. Hanami narrows her eyes, doing her best to decipher every remaining curse Angra has in his disposal. With the curse ending, Gilgamesh sends a rain of swords at the downed Angra, aided by a volley of magical projectiles from Francis and Caster.

The marks on Angra's body glow.

ISOLATION

A dome of condensed curses form over him. Any and all attacks that come into contact are suddenly broken, their energy sapped and torn away.

Within that protective dome, the markings glow once more.

DECAY

All that's come to this conflict suddenly suffers. Astolfo and Saber both double over, the muscles in their hands suddenly tearing and bleeding. Francis and Caster cough up blood, their lungs suddenly tightening and weakening. Gilgamesh shivers as the portals around her disappear, the connection between her and her treasury cut off with no warning.

Shirou winces as his magic circuits shut off all of a sudden. Okita's katana and haori disappears from him, the reinforcement he's passively applied on himself fading. But Avalon quickly comes to life, healing any potential damages the curse might've caused on his circuits.

Only Hanami is saved from this, a product of her [Morningstar], and even then her Mystic Eyes are forcibly closed by the influx of magical energy. Shaking the feeling away, Hanami quickly activates her Mystic Eyes again, and proceeds to frown.

"Is everyone okay?" Hanami quickly asks.

"We're not dead, so I say we're still adequately fine." Caster says, though whether that was sarcasm or not is unknown and her stoic expression doesn't say anything either. "But we won't win in a battle of attrition." Caster frowns as the protective dome around Angra fades, showing that he's completely healed all the damage he's taken. "So what should we do, Tsunaka-san?"

"There's not much we can do really. With how much prana he's got going for him, he's pretty much immortal." She says with a grimace. "The most I can think of is cutting off his anchors, but even then he'll still live."

"Then we don't have a choice, do we?" Gilgamesh says with a smirk, though the paleness of her face betrays the confidence she's trying to keep, the missing connection to her treasury causing her no small amount of discomfort.

"I just need to get close…"

But such a thing won't be easy, especially with the multitude of accursed tendrils rampaging around him. Well, that, and the many, many curses he still has access to.

Oh well, if she isn't trying to get close up to destroy the foundation of something, then it just isn't her style.

"Then I'll make sure no one will halt you."

"But your hand-"

Saber shakes her head. "I can feel nothing from it, but it isn't a liability just yet." Her green eyes seem to shine, her mind taken back to a time long gone. "As long as I stand, I will not yield. Not now, and never."

"Count me in too!" Astolfo cheers, the famed horn [La Black Luna] already enlarged to its true form and ready to be blown. His arms are shaking, still suffering from the curse Angra struck him with, but he sends a toothy grin at Hanami. "I'll blow away all those icky tentacles for you!"

"I shall as well."

"Don't count us out yet!"

Caster and Francis adds, almost in tandem, and they both turn to look at one another. Hanami smiles at the formation of the new duo, but her attention is pulled away when a large wave of prana flies over her.

Despite Angra's curse, Gilgamesh forcefully returns her connection to her treasury, causing winds to blow as portals begin to form behind her back. They aren't as many as the king likes, nor are they stable enough to allow her Dingir's to function correctly, but she remains silent, her eyes narrowed at the mongrel who dared take away her treasures.

The last to respond is Shirou, the Kojiki Kiyomitsu brandished in his hands and Okita's haori draped over his shoulders. He looks to her, gold meeting bright green, and she nods.

There needed no words to be exchanged, the message he sent simple.

Go.

Smiling, Hanami brings forth her staff, her mission clear.

"Francis!"

"Alright! [Golden Hind]!" Francis' priced ship forms under them, and with a flying construct under them Hanami lets go over gravity and everyone gently drops onto the ship's deck.

Hanami, Shirou, Saber, and Astolfo leap off the ship, their Noble Phantasms ready. The Rider is first to strike, taking a deep breath before blowing into his enlarged magical horn, sending powerful waves of wind and sound at the incoming tendrils. They all are stopped, before they are torn away, blown apart by the magical horn's powerful winds.

Hanami and Shirou speed past the other two, leaping off air and flying fast towards Angra Mainyu. Saber is just behind them, sending gusts of wind to clear the approaching accursed tendrils, clearing a path for the two to charge on.

Next come a volley of empowered railguns, blasting away more of the tendrils in their way, and also blasting chunks of dirt and rock into the sky on impact. At that, Angra lets out a silent roar, his tribal markings glowing.

CORRUPTION

A sickly feeling passes by the two approaching individuals, but the feeling goes mostly ignored, with Hanami's [Morningstar] and Shirou's Avalon providing protection against the curses. Saber, who'd been closely behind them isn't as lucky however, as taint begins to creep up her body. The screams of the world's evil echo in her mind, and the armor she so prized begins to grow black, almost looking like it was rusting.

The corruption seeps deeper into her, reaching deep into her [Saint Graph], the traits that makes her who she is, and it starts to tamper with it, changing it into something else entirely. Her history flashes by her eyes as they start to change, her mind tears in half as new familiar yet unknown memories begin to conflict against her old ones.

Her identity is cracking, slowly being torn away.

As numbness begins to set in, she finds herself carried away into the sky, pulled up by a worried Astolfo, now riding on the mount that defined his class. Gently tapping the mythological beast, the Hippogriff roars and brings them away from the battle.

Back on the ground, Shirou and Hanami are close. The distance between them and Angra Mainyu is less than a metre. A single of Shirou's leaps will be enough to cross the distance, but Angra fights back, calling forth hundreds of black tendrils from inside his body and lashing them at the duo.

His markings glow.

SICKNESS

The tendrils coming to them suddenly turn a sickly purple, diseases of a thousand ages dripping from them. With her Mystic Eyes, she sees a glance of every sickness contained within those accursed tentacles, and she sees pain and death, parasites that dig through the body like some sort of worm, and even illnesses from the distant future.

That doesn't stop her advancement, nor does it stop Shirou.

Because from above comes a bombardment of weapons, each a Noble Phantasm of varying strength and effects. The tendrils moving towards them are torn away in an instant, the diseases they carry useless against the onslaught of material weapons.

They close in, not even a tenth of a metre left.

Angra roars silently, his markings glowing in tandem as he swings his two shivs at them.

BLEEDING

Hanami quickly brings up her staff to intercept, but Shirou beats her to it, moving in front of her and clashing his katana against the shivs instead. The curse Angra brought out activates, surging through their attached weapons and seeping into Shirou's body.

The curse thrashes violently, and blood erupts from every muscle in his body. Strength leaves his body, his magic circuits forcefully closed, and he's thrown aside by Angra to attack her.

But by the time he does that, it's too late.

Hanami reaches her staff forward, the staff's head stabbing into Angra Mainyu's heart.

Then, the world goes still, and she bleeds as she peers into all the evils of the world.

Yeap, that's where I'm ending it. I know, I know, I'm evil, but hey, at least it's better than me deleting the entire thing and restarting! (Because I actually almost did that at one point).

Well, once again, if you have anything you want to add, or anything you want to comment on, feel free to drop a review! Great appreciation from me all the way~!