We quickly gathered our equipment and prepared to move. While everyone was getting ready, I treated the maid, Sella. After the preparations were complete, I went out to the living room, where Sakura was asking Rider to come with us.
"Sakura, if even I am absent in a situation like this, there will be no one left to protect you."
"Rider, please. Protect Senpai."
"But… Sigh… I suppose I have no choice. Very well."
Rider, knowing what Shirō meant to Sakura, could not refuse.
"Thank you, Rider."
Thanks to Sakura's persuasion, Rider eventually decided to follow us as well. I handed Shirō a pair of swords I had made in advance from Chitauri metal obtained from the MCU. Shirō hadn't even seen the swords he would use in the original story, Kanshō and Bakuya, so I had no choice.
"What are these?"
"Weapons. You don't even have a decent sword right now."
"Oh~ Thanks. But is it okay for me to just keep receiving things like this?"
"If you feel that way, then make me something delicious later."
"Got it. After this is over, I'll show you what I can do."
With Sella, who had regained her energy thanks to my healing, leading the way, we quickly moved to Einzbern Castle. Whether the battle there was already over, the castle was destroyed in places, but no human presence could be felt.
"It seems we're late."
"Oh no… Young lady~~!!!"
Sella urgently entered the castle, looking for the young lady, and we followed her inside. As soon as we entered the castle, we saw the body of the maid, Leysritt, her entire body pierced by something, and behind her, Illya, dead with her heart removed.
"Young lady!!!"
Sella cried out, hurriedly picked up Illya, and sobbed. I approached Sella and said,
"First, let's see if I can save her."
"Sob sob… What are you saying? The young lady is already…"
Sella seemed not in her right mind because Illya was dead, so I spoke firmly.
"Show me Illya. Hurry!"
When I urged her loudly, Sella finally showed me Illya's corpse. It seemed less than an hour had passed since her death, so just as I had done with Sakura, I quickly revived her with [Resurrection] and then urgently healed her with [Sacred Hines Heal] and [Mugensen]. Perhaps because she had no heart, it consumed quite a bit of mana.
"Cough!"
"Young lady!! How can this be…"
Illya coughed up blood, but color began to return to her. Of course, her heart was now an ordinary heart, not a Lesser Grail, but it seemed functional enough. However, Illya would likely have difficulty using magic in the future. Not only was the Lesser Grail gone, but I had also almost entirely analyzed and erased the Magic Crest that put strain on her body.
"Phew~ That's done."
I approached Leysritt's corpse and tried to revive her as well, but it seemed it was already too late for Leysritt. Since [Resurrection] didn't work, it appeared more than an hour had passed since her death. I had no choice but to analyze only her Magic Crest.
"This maid is already too late… Her soul has left her body. I can't save her like this."
"I see… Leysritt… Still, thank you for saving the young lady."
Sella expressed her gratitude and attended to Illya. However, Tōsaka Rin approached me and asked about my reviving Illya.
"Jin, how is it possible to revive the dead?"
"In the place I come from, so many people were dying that resurrection magecraft was developed. It only works if the soul is still in the body. If too much time passes and the soul has left, it's impossible. Also, I can't bring back someone who died of old age. It's a resurrection magecraft with many limitations."
"Then, did you do the same thing with Sakura?"
"Yeah."
At this rate, I thought my [Liar] skill might only increase. At any rate, when I explained, she didn't ask any more questions. We couldn't just leave Leysritt's body, so we tried to bury her next to the castle and make her a grave, but Sella stopped us.
"You don't need to do that. We homunculi are stored in the castle's underground when we cease functioning."
"Why do you do that?"
When Shirō asked, Rin answered.
"For a homunculus, that makes sense. Each homunculus contains a vast amount of a family's knowledge, so they do this to preserve it."
"You are well informed, miss. That is correct."
Shirō was surprised and asked, "Huh? So she wasn't human?"
"Yeah. She was an artificially created lifeform."
"I… I see…"
Having been through so much, Shirō simply accepted it.
We waited at the castle for a while. It seemed we needed Illya to regain consciousness and provide information in order to decide our next course of action.
"She has awakened."
Sella informed us that Illya had woken up. We immediately entered Illya's bedroom to hear her story.
"I'm not sure why I'm still alive, but I'll tell you what I know. Based on what I heard while fighting, they seem to be after the Greater Grail. So they needed my heart, the Lesser Grail."
The Lesser Grail was the key to opening the Greater Grail.
"What about information on Kotomine's Servant?"
"He was a blond man with an arrogant way of speaking. When he fought, he summoned various weapons in the air and fired them. Those weapons weren't just ordinary weapons; each one seemed like a powerful Noble Phantasm."
Hearing this, Saber was surprised and asked Illya,
"By any chance, did he have red eyes?"
"Yes, he had red eyes."
"Oh no… Gilgamesh. A foe I never wished to meet again…"
Shirō asked Saber, "Saber, you know this Servant?"
"Yes, I do. He is extremely arrogant but also highly capable and powerful. During the previous Holy Grail War, he proposed to me, but I refused him immediately."
"Huh? Proposed?"
"His rude attitude and arrogant personality did not suit me."
Saber truly disliked Gilgamesh. Not only did he mock her as a king of a ruined country chasing a futile dream, but he also told her to abandon the Holy Grail and saving Britain and become his bride instead. Saber was beyond angry at his words and speechless.
"Hee~ So Saber doesn't like guys like Jin?"
At Rin's words, Saber's face turned red and she looked flustered.
"N-no. Jin is somewhat arrogant, but he is not rude."
"Uh… you don't mean…"
"I do not!!"
Saber quickly turned away and hid her reddening face. Just then, Illya looked at us as if we were pathetic.
"Excuse me, but I don't think this is the time for a morning drama."
"Ri-right."
Illya told us the location of the Greater Grail. We immediately headed to the mountain where the Greater Grail resided. On the way, Rin kept poking me in the side and needling me.
Poke, poke!
"Hey~ Must be nice to be so popular?"
"Huh? Y-yeah, haha…"
"Is that all you have to say to the person you're about to start dating?"
"No, that's…"
Tōsaka Rin's sulking wasn't easily resolved. Looking behind, Saber's face was red and she couldn't say anything. Finally, we arrived at the mountain where the Greater Grail slept.
"It's here."
Shirō looked up toward the mountain and asked, "Do we need to go to the top?"
Hearing that, Rin, still sulking because of me, silently pushed Shirō toward a wall beside the mountain path.
"Uwah!"
The wall didn't block him; he passed right through, entering a cave that led inside the mountain.
"Not above. Below."
We entered the cave and continued downward. Eventually, we came to a large cavern. There, we saw Gilgamesh, Kotomine Kirei, and Berserker. Kirei seemed to have become Berserker's Master with Gilgamesh's help.
Gilgamesh looked at Saber and said,
"I have waited long, Saber. It is not too late. Come to me. Then I shall allow you to use the Holy Grail."
"I no longer need such things."
"Oh~ Is that so? What has caused such a change of heart?"
Saber glanced briefly at me. Seeing this, Gilgamesh became enraged.
"It was you!!"
Just then, Tōsaka Rin stepped forward and asked Kotomine Kirei,
"Kotomine, why did you break the rules?"
"You woman there! Be silent!"
Gilgamesh, displeased with Rin's interruption, caused a golden gate to appear in the air and a single sword flew toward Rin.
Thump!
I immediately caught the flying sword. Seeing this, Gilgamesh looked surprised.
"Oh! You may have the right to covet my woman. Very well!"
"You're rejected by Saber, and now you call her your woman? That's absurd. You're just a stalker."
"You bastard!"
Just then, Kirei laughed and said,
"For the sake of amusement, I will tell you. I simply wish to witness the birth."
"What birth are you talking about?"
"If you defeat me, you will know automatically."
"How did you become Berserker's Master?"
"I killed the original Master and contracted with him again. He was difficult to handle and cost me two Command Spells, but that should no longer matter."
With those words, we naturally divided into separate fights. Gilgamesh and I faced each other, while Shirō, Rin, Saber, and Rider took on Kirei and Berserker.
"I will kill you brutally before Saber's eyes and prove what a pathetic excuse for a man she had pinned her hopes on."
Gilgamesh opened a great number of golden gates and fired countless weapons at me.
"Oh~ Lucky~~!!!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
Thump, thump, thump!
I caught the incoming weapons and repeatedly put them into my inventory. Gilgamesh looked baffled.
"Do you also possess the 'Gate of Babylon'?"
"Similar, but mine is better."
[Unlimited Inventory] was, as the name suggested, unlimited; it could even hold a planet, so of course it was better. The Gate of Babylon was a bit different, being a method of connecting a vault and firing its contents, but in terms of utility, it couldn't surpass my Inventory.
"Is that all you've got?"
"Wretched mongrel!!! Let us see how long you can endure!"
The ease disappeared from Gilgamesh's face, and he summoned several times more gates than he had initially and began firing weapons.
"Oh~ Thank you~~!!!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!!
Countless armaments and Noble Phantasms began pouring into my inventory. I wondered if Gilgamesh might be a donation angel. Giving away weapons for free like this.
It pays to live a good life. Golden Santa even gives me presents like this. Hahaha.
When this pattern continued for a while, Gilgamesh, perhaps deciding it wasn't working, summoned Enkidu (a chain weapon) and instantly bound one of my arms with the chains.
"Finally caught you! It's over—"
Before Gilgamesh could finish his words, I immediately put even the chain weapon, Enkidu, into my inventory.
"What were you going to say? 'It's over…' what?"
Gilgamesh was flustered for a moment, then frowned in anger.
"You thief!!! Ea!!!"
Finally, Gilgamesh summoned his trump card, 'Enuma Elish'—also known as Ea. Ea was a weapon in the form of a cavalry spear, with a beautifully crafted golden handle and countless Magic Crests engraved in red on a black shaft.
But the problem was Ea's power. It was worthy of being Gilgamesh's trump card, possessing tremendous force and even shattering space-time. Since we were currently fighting inside a cave, if Gilgamesh used Ea, the entire mountain could collapse, burying everyone.
Therefore, I quickly teleported behind Gilgamesh, snatched Ea, and kicked him.
Thump!
"Ugh!"
Crash!
Gilgamesh rolled across the floor from my kick.
"You fool! Were you trying to get us all killed in here?"
"Tch… Who in the blazes are you?"
"Me? I'm the opposite of Adam. The end of the world."
I explained roughly, but Gilgamesh thought for a moment and immediately understood. He was indeed a smart one.
"I see. A hero from the future? That's why I could not find any information on you."
Gilgamesh seemed to have heard about me from Kirei and searched for a similar hero. Even if he let his guard down, he was not an incompetent man.
"Is that all you have to say?"
I put Ea, which was in my hand, into my inventory and slowly walked toward Gilgamesh as I spoke. At that, Gilgamesh angrily protested.
"If you survived to the end, you should have just rotted away jerking off down there! Why did you come here and cause this, you cockroach!!!"
"Ha! You just made a big mistake, buddy!"
Even in this situation, Gilgamesh was still getting on my nerves. I immediately approached Gilgamesh quickly and started beating him.
Thump, thump, thump!
"Gwaaah!! Stop!!"
"How dare you! Do you know how much I hate bugs?! And you compared me to a cockroach!!"
Thump, thump, thump!
Actually, even when I was in the bunker, I had no small number of troubles with cockroaches. The outside temperature was high and there was no food, so bugs were always finding their way into the cool bunker. Especially cockroaches kept getting in, even though there were almost no passages connecting to the outside.
The problem was, if bugs appeared, they could cause hygiene issues, so I had to catch them, but cockroaches were extremely fast and hard to catch. And I couldn't spray poison in the poorly ventilated, confined space of the bunker. So they were truly annoying creatures.
"Guaaah!"
Thump, thump, thump!
Looking down at Gilgamesh, now beaten into a pulp, I dusted off my hands and stood up. I thought it was enough.
Tap, tap, tap!
"Phew~ That feels good."
"Ugh… Just kill me already."
"See? That's why you should watch your mouth. Still, I've somewhat cooled down, so I'll kill you quickly."
With those words, I slashed Gilgamesh's neck.
Swish!
Thud!
Ding~
[You have acquired the abilities (S) Gate of Babylon and (SS) Sha Naqba Imuru (Clairvoyance).]
[(S) Gate of Babylon can be linked with (SSS) Unlimited Inventory. Do you wish to do so?]
"No, I'll do it later."
I intended to transfer all of Gilgamesh's treasures connected to the [Gate of Babylon] into my inventory. After that, I planned to link it with my inventory.
"I'll organize this later…"
I then looked toward where Shirō and the others were fighting. However, Kirei was nowhere to be seen; Berserker was facing the group alone.
"Wow~ Berserker is impressive. Even while fighting both Saber, who isn't lacking in magical energy, and Rider, he's still holding on."
The funny thing was that while Shirō was swinging his sword, trying to help, Rin was just hiding, occasionally peeking her head out and watching. I approached Rin and asked why.
"Rin, what are you doing here?"
"Jin, are you done? Since none of my attacks work on him at all, I was just hiding here because it felt like a waste of jewels."
That was understandable, as Berserker was completely immune to Noble Phantasms and attacks below a certain rank. And since Tōsaka Rin valued her jewels greatly, she wouldn't want to waste them.
"By the way, where did that Kotomine guy go?"
"He ran deeper into the cave? I wanted to go after him, but Berserker blocked the way. I couldn't follow."
This guy, surely he wouldn't…