Chapter 48: Divine Confrontation
Divine Confrontation
"At last I have found you, godling."
Gilgamesh's words echoed through the empty church, as final as an executioner's bell.
Shirou's heart raced in panic, his hands twitching madly while the muscles in his core tensed, unreasonable terror taking hold of him.
But only for a moment. Within seconds, Shirou had calmed himself down again, at least sufficiently to not grab the girls and make a break for it, and to not attack with everything he had right that instant.
Because both fight and flight were obviously futile.
Fighting was futile because Gilgamesh was far, far above him in everything that mattered in combat. That was clear as day now that Shirou took a proper look at him. Trying to attack would undoubtedly invite the kind of retaliation that would turn the redhead into a scattered pile of ash.
Fleeing would not help either, because one, Gilgamesh was likely faster than him, or at the very least, his weapons were, and two, the king had apparently been looking for him for a while and would not let him escape easily. Even if he managed to get away, the golden tyrant would likely just hunt him down again.
With those two options rendered impossible, Shirou was forced to explore other avenues of survival, and he used his Reinforced brain to hastily take stock of the situation at large.
The reason for Gilgamesh's interest in him was not hard to infer. His use of the word 'godling' strongly indicated that Gilgamesh had an idea of what was happening to Shirou, and the former Servant was undoubtedly curious about the precise circumstances that surrounded Shirou's slow ascent to godhood, something that had, to the best of Shirou's knowledge, never happened before.
It was the kind of thing that would have made everyone curious, from Gilgamesh to King Arturia to the Dead Apostle Ancestors.
The fact that it was understandable didn't mean however that Shirou liked it. In fact, his first reaction to learning that Gilgamesh knew about his true nature was a pressing need to deny everything.
That impulse passed pretty quickly though. Lying was impossible, as Gilgamesh would see right through him, which meant that the only thing left to try was damage-control, trying to reduce the fall-out of Gilgamesh's discovery as much as possible.
That would not be easy though. The king's curiosity would likely not be sated with only a few pieces of information. He was more than intelligent enough to trick or otherwise cajole Shirou into saying more than he wanted to.
At the same time, the golden king's curiosity also provided opportunities. Shirou himself was curious about why and how the king was still in existence after the Grail War had ended, and why he was hanging around in Fuyuki of all places, so an exchange of information could potentially be profitable for them both.
The presence of his girls was still a problem however. Gilgamesh, or at least the version Shirou had heard about, was an unrepentant rapist, and the fact he hadn't touched a single woman since being summoned –because all modern women were 'beneath him' or something pretentious like that– didn't take away from that fact.
Perhaps he could demand that the girls would be allowed to leave before they spoke with each other? Would Gilgamesh go along with something like that?
It was worth a try.
"I-" Shirou began to try and negotiate-
"You were my father's Servant!"
-But barely got the first syllable out of his mouth before Rin spoke up first, her eyes blazing as she glared at the Servant, who, Shirou now remembered, had been contracted to her father during the Fourth War, and had subsequently failed to protect him.
Rin had come to the church with the intention of confronting Kotomine, and Shirou realised, too late, that with the priest gone, her anger needed another outlet, and that Gilgamesh would serve perfectly well as that outlet, being at least as guilty as the priest in her eyes.
Couple that with Rin's utter disregard for authority and power disparities, and he really should have seen this coming. It was too late to keep her quiet though, as Gilgamesh took an interest.
"If you refer to that bore, Tokiomi, then yes, I allowed him to take on the mantle of my Master during the Fourth War." Gilgamesh confirmed, his victorious smile at having found Shirou turning into a lazy smirk as his terrible gaze shifted to Rin. "I am afraid however he was a disappointment, unable to even slightly impress me."
"Isn't that something you say about all modern humans?!" Ayako spat, coming to stand a bit closer to Rin, as if to protect her.
"Yes." Gilgamesh admitted without batting an eye, making Ayako deadpan at him. "But even among modern humans, Tokiomi was almost astounding in his banality."
"Banal?! He was a Magus!" Rin protested loudly, sounding insulted at the notion that her father could be banal in any way. "And a lord besides. Our family is old and respected, the opposite of boring!"
"All the advantages a servant of mine would need, yet he still managed to bore and insult me at the same time." Gilgamesh was clearly not impressed by Rin's vehemence, crossing his arms as his lazy smirk turned a tad condescending. "If he'd had half of your spirit or a quarter of your sister's mannerisms, he might have been entertaining enough for me to indulge him a bit longer, but instead, he squandered all his potential on his precious, worthless 'elegance'. He was nothing but tiresome. His death was no great loss to the world, or any loss at all."
Rin was becoming red in the face at all the insults levelled against her late father, and Shirou decided it was wise to cut in before the girl said something she might regret.
"Even if Tohsaka Tokiomi was boring, did you not swear to obey him during the Grail War?" He spoke, making his tone sufficiently challenging to attract the king's attention "Or failing that, to be his partner at least?"
"I did no such thing." Gilgamesh brushed his words aside like they were nothing. "When he summoned me, he addressed me in a manner befitting of my station, so I responded as would a king to his subject. That does not mean I considered him an equal, a useful servant, or even someone worth keeping around."
"That people bore you does not mean they deserve to die." Sakura protested, her face conflicted. She still held no love for her father, but even so, the tyrant's words were too much for the gentle girl to accept. "They have rights, even if they are Magi."
"That goes without saying." Surprisingly, Gilgamesh agreed with her. "Killing people because they are boring is a sign of impotence, a sign that a ruler is unfit. I would never do something so base."
"But then-?"
"However," the Golden King went on, his voice becoming ever so slightly sterner, which was enough to make Sakura freeze on the spot. "Them being boring is good enough a reason not to save them."
"Not save them?" Rin ground her teeth together, instantly connecting the dots. "Then tell me, Archer, what exactly did you not save my father from?"
"Kirei of course." Gilgamesh said, as if it was obvious, and it kind of was, if one took all the context clues into account.
"Kirei." Rin repeated in a tone filled with cold fury, her jaw clenching so tightly she might break it. "The fake priest killed my father?!"
"Yes." Gilgamesh confirmed, studying Rin like one might study a child telling a clumsy joke, with fond amusement. "The priest indeed killed his teacher, your father."
"And you let him?!" Sakura asked when it became clear Rin was too agitated to speak, looking incredulous herself. "Was it not your job to protect him?! W-Where were you?!"
"I was watching." Gilgamesh smiled, as if thinking back on fond memories. "With me in the room, Tokiomi was unprepared for Kirei's assault, and Kirei capitalised on that, using the dagger Tokiomi had just gifted him to stab him to death."
"In the back." Rin hissed between clenched teeth, her eyes almost spitting fire.
"In the back." Gilgamesh confirmed, sparing her a short glance. "Exactly as he and I had plotted beforehand."
"Why?" Sakura asked again, looking even more conflicted than before. "Why did you let that happen?"
"I already answered that question. Don't tell me you have already forgotten the reasons I gave." Gilgamesh huffed, his expression suggesting he didn't think much of the plum-haired girl's mental capacities.
"Because lord Tohsaka was boring." Sakura let out a breath, realising just how callous the golden figure truly was, before narrowing her eyes in confusion. "But why did Kotomine do it? And why did you accept him as your Master?"
"What motivates Kotomine is not for me to tell you." Gilgamesh smirked slightly, before shrugging. "As for what motivated me to accept him as my new Contractor, it was his drive and inner struggle, or perhaps his capability to amuse me, something Tokiomi never even attempted."
"It was not my father's duty to amuse you!" Rin bit out, looking highly insulted by the notion. "It was a Grail War! You were both supposed to fight!"
"When your father summoned me and received me with the words of a dutiful retainer, it became his duty to amuse me." Gilgamesh easily countered her words. "Everything in this world exists for my pleasure anyway."
It was honestly astounding to Shirou that someone could say something like that with such a straight face. He would have cringed in embarrassment if he'd said that the world existed to serve him, yet Gilgamesh truly seemed to believe it.
He truly was the very concept of tyranny in the flesh.
"But that is not-" Rin began to protest, but it seemed Gilgamesh was done talking about the subject.
"Enough!" He demanded, and before his immense authority, they could do nothing but fall silent. "I tire of your continued inquiries. I have answered, you know what occurred, and your pathetic denials mean nothing to me. Your ears have not deceived you merely because you do not like what you heard."
Rin and Sakura still looked as if they wanted to continue to grill him, his reprimand having cowed neither of them, but Shirou didn't think it was smart to continue challenging Gilgamesh like that.
For the moment, he had let them get away with questioning him, most likely because he was in a talkative mood to begin with, but it was obvious that the king did not like repeating himself in any way.
As such, he stepped up first, asking a question that had been on his mind since the beginning of the conversation.
"Where is Kotomine?"
"Gone." Gilgamesh's answer was as simple as it was unhelpful. "I became aware of your impending arrival several days ago, and I told my most talented playwright that his church was no longer safe. As befitting of a senior retainer of mine, he had already prepared for such an event, and has long since departed."
"I assume you are not going to tell us where he went?" Shirou tried.
"You assume correctly." Gilgamesh nodded with an approving smile. "Just like the four of you, Kirei still has a role to play in the upcoming theatre. I cannot let you kill him, as you are no doubt planning once you find him."
"…No, you've got it all wrong. I don't want to kill him. I just want to talk with him." Rin suddenly put on her most innocent and pleasing smile, putting her hands together under her chin while leaning forward slightly, applying all of her idol-power to appear like a gentle girl who merely wanted to speak with her guardian. "Could you please tell us where he is, oh wise king?"
"Bwahahahahaha!" Gilgamesh burst out in laughter in response. It was not mocking or scathing but rather amused and maybe even a bit approving. "Wonderful! Simply wonderful! Had you summoned me instead of that bore, we may have finished the Grail War together!"
Rin maintained her idol-posture despite the insult to her father, not even twitching as she kept smiling innocently, and honestly, if Shirou hadn't known her as well as he did, he might have believed that smile to be genuine.
"But I will not tell you where he is." Gilgamesh covered one eye with his right hand, peering at Rin with the other, his own smile wide and knowing. "Your bloodlust is clear even with that innocent expression."
"Tsk." Rin made a sound of displeasure as her idol-expression melted into one of dissatisfaction. "I will have my revenge, you know. One way or another."
"I look forward to seeing you try." Gilgamesh nodded, before his gaze shifted to Sakura. "And what about you?"
"…Me?" Sakura blinked in surprise, pointing at herself.
"Will you try to avenge your father after all he did to you?" Gilgamesh asked, his eyes gaining a cruel glint, twisting the knife that Sakura had almost managed to remove. "Or will you thank Kirei for killing him?"
"Don't answer that, Sakura." Ayako spoke up, her tone sharp as she placed her hand on the plum-haired girl's shoulder. "He's just trying to mess with your head. Don't let him."
"I don't need an answer to that, Sakura." Rin agreed with the brunette, turning slightly to give her little sister a reassuring glance. "Your opinions are your own and none of my business."
"Answer me." Gilgamesh's order was final however, his tone so threatening it was clear that refusal wasn't an option.
"…My personal opinion on what happened to Tohsaka Tokiomi is hardly relevant here." Sakura said after a few moments, her expression tight. "Kotomine Kirei is evil for far more reasons than only killing Tokiomi."
"He still did you a great service." Gilgamesh countered, deliberately pouring salt into her open wounds. "You cannot deny he avenged you."
"I don't think I played any role whatsoever in Kotomine's decision to kill his own teacher." Sakura scoffed, her eyes becoming misty as her trauma was brought up to the surface again, though her voice didn't waver in the slightest. "I can see what you are doing, your highness."
"And what is it that you think I am doing, young one?" Perhaps it was because Sakura had shown him some deference by referring to him by a royal title, but Gilgamesh's voice was oddly placid as he asked his question.
"You are trying to cause a rift between Rin and me." Sakura replied.
"Guilty as charged." Gilgamesh nodded once, as it would have been ridiculous to deny his intentions when they were so obvious. "Is it working?"
"No." Sakura shook her head, before she suddenly smiled. It was a shaky smile, fragile-looking, but the conviction behind it was undeniable. "I love my sister. We are finally reconnecting again after so many years, and I have long since decided to forgive her. You will not change that, oh great king, no matter how hard you try."
"The bonds between you were frayed and worn." Gilgamesh uttered.
"But never broken." Sakura effortlessly parried.
"…" Rin remained silent after Sakura finished speaking, her body completely still, and when Shirou turned towards her, he saw to his shock that a single tear was making its way down her cheek.
"Sakura…" She whispered, before she smiled, so happily that it seemed as if the sun had emerged from between the clouds.
"Hmpf." Gilgamesh made an odd sound, like a child that had been denied a toy that it had somewhat been looking forward to, and a shadow seemed to pass over his face.
Before Shirou could verify the existence of that shadow however, the king lowered his head, seemingly pondering about something.
Then he raised his head again, and his expression wasn't cruel or amused, like Shirou had expected, but almost sympathetic.
"Kirei was wrong, you know." He told Sakura, his voice oddly soft and gentle all of a sudden.
"Wrong?" The plum-haired girl asked cautiously, suspicious of what the golden king was doing now.
"You visited Kirei, not too long ago." Gilgamesh elaborated, still looking so oddly friendly. "You wanted to ask him, as former apprentice to Tohsaka Tokiomi-"
Rin flinched at that part.
"-Whether your father knew what would happen to you when he gave you up to the Matou." Gilgamesh cocked his head to the side. "Kirei told you that Tokiomi did know what Matou Zouken would do to you long before he gave you away, did he not?"
"The priest did say that, yes." Sakura confirmed, while Rin flinched again, lowering her head in shame and pain.
"Kirei lied." Gilgamesh suddenly revealed, taking everyone in the room aback. "Or rather, he was mistaken. Kirei thought that Tokiomi knew, because he always thought his teacher to be near all-knowing. His worship of his betters is a rather adorable personality-trait he hasn't quite managed to shake yet."
"But father didn't know?" Rin prompted the golden king when he fell silent, her expression so hopeful it almost pained Shirou.
"He didn't." Gilgamesh confirmed again, looking at Sakura once more. "Of course, he did expect that your childhood would be filled with hurdles and strain, like any Magus', but he did not foresee the worms or the intended sacrifice that you were to become."
"O-Oh." Sakura mumbled, her eyes becoming rather dazed as she took a step back, cradling her head in her hands. "I see."
"I-Is that good news?" Ayako asked, looking very unsure whether to be happy or sad or angry or any other emotion.
"I think so." Shirou nodded. "Or at least, I hope so."
At the very least, it should make Rin happy, and even Sakura might find some relief in it, to know that her family hadn't consciously deserted her to a fate worse than death.
"Sakura?" Ayako ventured carefully, turning towards their girlfriend with a questioning look. "Are you alright? Is this good news?"
"I…" Sakura took a deep breath, before letting it out again, confusion radiating from her. "Wow, this is… I'm not sure how to deal with this…"
"Father… was not a monster." Rin too was looking confused at first, but she recovered quickly, and before long, she was smiling in utter relief. The smile wasn't wide, nor was it blinding, but it was happy. So happy that Shirou's heart melted at the sight. "Father was not a monster!"
"Yeah." Sakura nodded slowly, raising her head a bit. "At least not any more than a normal Magus. That is… good."
Rin turned towards her little sister in a flash, taking her hand as she smiled brightly, and Sakura cautiously smiled back. Ayako too looked very content now, and about ready to take the sisters into a bear hug to celebrate.
Even Gilgamesh himself had a half-smile on his face, his red eyes having lost a bit of their edge.
It all seemed like a very happy scene.
Shirou was not happy though. Not at all.
To any outside observer, it would seem at this point as if Gilgamesh had done a good thing. He had corrected a false story that had been told to Sakura, and as a result, the sisters were now much happier than they had been before, having learned their father was not as horrible a person as they had been led to believe.
That outside observer might actually come to think that Gilgamesh was not such a bad person after all, or that he was perhaps even sympathetic in some way.
But nothing was less true. Even at his best, Gilgamesh had been uncaring of individual humans, preferring to look at the whole of mankind instead. Even at his very best and most sympathetic, he would never have gone out of his way to console a single person or correct a cruel lie.
And this form in front of Shirou was the exact opposite of 'his best'.
There was no way in hell that Gilgamesh had told Sakura the truth merely because he wanted to make her happy. There had to be something behind it, and Shirou was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
He did not have to wait long.
"Of course, it wouldn't have mattered even if Tokiomi had known what would happen to you." The golden tyrant then closed the trap, the viciousness that had been strangely absent from his voice so far returning with a vengeance as he grinned cruelly. "Rather, he would have requested to join Zouken's project himself."
"What?!" Rin's gaze snapped back to him, her eyes widening in horror.
"Huh?!" Sakura's eyes flew open wide.
"Gilgamesh, shut your mouth-!" Shirou tried to stop it, but the golden king continued unabated, easily talking over the redhead.
"He would have embraced the Worm's attempt to use you as a makeshift Grail." He spoke mercilessly. "Not only would he have gladly turned you over, but he would also have actively joined in, to break you and mould you into a vessel for the Lesser Grail. He would have welcomed any opportunity to disadvantage the Einzbern, who had always held the Lesser Grail before then, and sacrificing one of his daughters, the one who wasn't going to be heir to begin with, would have been a small price to pay."
"What?! No!" Rin shook her head frantically, the horror slowly being replaced by panic. "He would never-"
"Your uncle, Kariya." Gilgamesh continued unabated, as if Rin hadn't said anything. "Tokiomi faced him during the Grail War, in a conflict of Master to Master. It was obvious to everyone that Tokiomi was the stronger combatant, yet even so, he did not do his old friend the favour of killing him swiftly. No, he attempted to slowly burn him to death, and he would have, had Kirei not intervened."
"Burn him…" Sakura went even paler than before. She might not remember much about Kariya, but she did know he had tried his hardest to save her, and the news that Tokiomi had attempted to kill him in such a torturous and brutal way...
That was like something Zouken would do.
"As for you, boy." Lastly, Gilgamesh turned towards Shirou, and the redhead braced himself for words crueller than anything he'd ever heard before. "Tokiomi was more than happy to promise your father's wife to me, should we be victorious during the War. Though of course, with her nature, that was an empty promise from the start-"
"STOP IT!" Ayako suddenly screamed, looking utterly distraught by the horrible things that Gilgamesh was saying. "Why are you telling us this?!"
"I am merely testing that girl's resolve." Gilgamesh huffed, apparently not minding the brunette's interruption. Rather, he seemed to have anticipated such a reaction, basking in the distress that he had just caused. "She was so confident of her love for her sister that I thought I'd reveal a little more of the truth."
"That is-"
"Tell me, girl." This time, it was Gilgamesh who did the interrupting, smirking at Sakura. "Did I change your mind? Will you still declare with such confidence that you love your sister, the girl who had everything that was denied to you? Or did my little story ruin your familial relationship?"
Gilgamesh's pettiness and wrath were on full display, and Shirou couldn't help but get the idea that this was somehow personal to the king. When Sakura had told him that she loved Rin, something in her words had pressed all the wrong buttons in the golden figure's mind, and he was now retaliating.
Sakura remained silent, her eyes shadowed by her hair and her body completely still. In the meantime, Rin had gone as pale as a sheet, Ayako was looking between the sisters with an expression of panic, and Shirou felt so enraged with the golden tyrant he was a hairbreadth away from slipping into Warrior's Madness.
"No."
Sakura's response made them all freeze in place however.
"No?" Gilgamesh cocked his head to the side, frowning a bit in displeasure at the brevity of Sakura's answer. "Explain yourself."
"That is all there is to say, your highness." Sakura sighed, sounding wearier than Shirou had ever heard her be. "My father was a monster, I suppose there is no denying it now, but that will not change anything about the way I see Rin."
Her voice grew firmer, and she wiped away the tears that threatened to form.
"She is my big sister, irrespective of what our father did, and I love her. Yes, there was a time that she meant nothing to me, and I assumed I meant nothing to her, but that time is in the past now. I realise that we still have a lot to learn about being sisters, and I know that we might never become as close as we could have been, but right now, I am happy with any kind of bond we can form."
Sakura thrust her arm to the side, as if to brush away Gilgamesh's words.
"You did not 'ruin our familial relationship' at all, because Rin is not our father, nor will she ever be."
Sakura's answer had not changed. She endured Gilgamesh's horrible words, and gave him a calm, measured response that contained not a trace of doubt.
Her back was straight, her head held high, and for all intents and purposes, she looked like a queen, staring down a cruel king from a rivalling kingdom. She looked, in one word, so incredibly cool, cooler than Shirou himself could ever hope to be.
Then Rin slammed against her from the side, lifting her up in a tearful hug, and the moment was gone.
"Nee-san!" Sakura protested weakly, but Rin paid her no mind, maintaining the hug as she buried her face in Sakura's shoulder to hide her happy tears, unable to suppress her sobs of delight. "Oh, fine, come here."
"Phew." Ayako wiped some imaginary sweat from her forehead at the scene, before she grinned at Shirou. "Is our girlfriend the coolest or what?"
"She is the coolest." Shirou nodded.
"Indeed." Even Gilgamesh agreed, crossing his arms with a pensive look. "I am pleasantly surprised. It is good to see that your resolve does not crumble easily. Naturally, I will be testing you further-"
"No."
At that moment, Shirou had had enough. The golden king may have succeeded at unbalancing them for a time, by playing with the girls' hopes and taunting them with the truth, but Shirou was not going to let that continue.
In a single movement, Shirou manifested Mjolnir and aimed it at the former Servant, whose eyes widened in shock as he looked at the weapon.
"We have entertained you for long enough." Shirou spat, walking forward until he stood at the front of his group, motioning with his free hand for the girls to get behind him. "Either you will tell us where Kotomine is, or we will leave, now."
"Your handmaidens can leave." Gilgamesh replied immediately, his eyes shifting from Mjolnir to Shirou's face, all traces of amusement gone from his expression. "I want to speak to you some more however, in private, godling."
"We are not going to leave Shirou behind with you!" Ayako proclaimed heatedly from behind Shirou's back.
"I insist." Gilgamesh smiled again, though it was not a nice smile. Shirou had always thought that Rin had a scary smile, but the king's smile was easily a thousand times scarier than any expression Rin could make. "The conversation between the godling and me is long overdue."
"I will be telling them everything we discussed afterwards anyway." Shirou said bluntly. "I will hold no secrets from them."
"I will permit it."
"I was not asking for your permission." Shirou hissed in return, and Gilgamesh's eyes narrowed slightly.
Strike one.
Shirou then turned his head slightly. "Girls, please give us a moment alone."
"What?! We cannot-!"
"Please?" He begged, striking Ayako silent as she looked at him in clear shock.
He was loath to send them away, especially since they had promised to support each other, but he knew he had little choice here. Gilgamesh was too dangerous for them to handle, even when they were all together, and that meant he wanted them as far away as possible.
"…We'll be standing right outside the church." Rin dictated after a moment, gently taking hold of Sakura's and Ayako's wrists to pull them along. "If anything goes wrong, we are only a shout away."
"Thank you." Shirou nodded, though he was well aware he was not going to call for help, no matter what. As much as he appreciated their offer, the fact of the matter was that they simply could not contribute anything during a possible battle with Gilgamesh.
They'd be alright if it was a verbal battle –Rin and Sakura were even better than he was in such a case– but not a physical or magical battle, and Shirou feared the conversation might very well end in one or both of those options.
The girls probably knew that too, but even so, they left, keeping a sharp eye on Gilgamesh, wary of any further tricks. They might not stand a chance against him, but that did not cow them into submission.
The golden tyrant did not act out though, seemingly content to wait until they were gone, meeting their gazes with his own, seemingly amused by their glares.
It was with a jarring shock that Shirou realised he had seen that expression before, in someone else.
It had been during his part-time job at the café. A man had walked in that day, taking a cat with him, apparently because he was just returning from the vet and needed a coffee before going home.
As the man seemed polite and the cat well-mannered, Neko had allowed them entrance, and had guided the man to a table in the corner. There, the man had let the cat out of its cage, promising that it was 'a good boy' and that he wouldn't let it out of his sight.
True to his word, he had kept the cat on his lap, and had begun petting it.
But the cat, perhaps still angry about the visit to the vet, had proven itself to be an absolute hellion. It was constantly biting and clawing at the man, it screeched and whined, and it eyed the glasses on the table as if it wanted nothing more than to push them onto the ground.
But even though the cat was behaving terribly, the man merely continued to smile and coo at it, calmly petting and kissing it until it calmed down a bit. His expression had been one of fond amusement and content, as if having his pet rebel against him was nothing but a good time.
That man's expression was echoed in Gilgamesh's, and Shirou realised that the entire reason he hadn't retaliated against the girls' disrespect was because he saw them in exactly the same way that the man had seen his cat. As nothing but amusing pets.
It would have been no different if Shirou had taken three barking dogs with him into the church. In fact, Gilgamesh might have taken the dogs more seriously than he did the girls, as dogs couldn't provide him with amusement. Their barking might very well have gotten them killed.
Sakura and Rin were just amusing little critters though, the kind that you shouldn't take too seriously.
As happy as Shirou was with Gilgamesh not attacking his girlfriends, knowing that it was because he saw them as less than human, as irrelevant, still rankled him fiercely, and he couldn't stop his eyes from narrowing into a glare.
Then, when the girls had left and the church doors had closed again behind them, Gilgamesh turned towards Shirou again.
"You have trained your handmaidens well." He noted, the difference between his kind tone and awful words rather jarring to Shirou. "But not completely. Perhaps you want my assistance-"
A golden portal opened and placed a silver shield in front of Gilgamesh just in time to stop the lightning bolt Shirou fired at the bastard, the electricity harmlessly splashing off the shield.
"I'll take that as a no." Gilgamesh smirked, before he spread his arms wide as the silver shield went back into the portal. "Then let us waste no more time. As King of this world, I order you to answer. What are you and where did you come from?"
"Could you please at least make an effort to hide your crosses?" Waver almost begged when he saw the necklaces hanging from Kayla's and Mira's necks, proudly displaying a crucified Jesus. "We are in the Clocktower! We don't do religious ornaments here!"
"Except angels apparently. You can find those all over the Clocktower." Lily remarked in a playful tone, before raising her hands in surrender when Waver glared at her. "Sorry."
"Angels have some use in Magecraft." He ground out, essentially condensing a massive lecture about the use of symbols in Magecraft in one small sentence. "Crosses do not."
It was the best explanation he could give in such a short time, but the Executors still looked unconvinced, and Waver could only sigh.
He hadn't expected it to be easy when he had agreed to help this team of Executors to infiltrate the Clocktower, but keeping them in line had turned out to be vastly more difficult than even his worst expectations. The saying 'managing a herd of cats' came to mind, if the cats were all religious and working together to make things as hard as possible for him.
Their purpose of trying to sniff out any Magi in cahoots with the Dead Apostle Ancestors was a noble one, he admitted that much, but he would have dearly appreciated it if they could be a little more cooperative with him, the man who was doing his best to give them the opportunity they needed to perform their task at all.
Caren Ortensia had promised him that they were all professionals, who would have no trouble acting in the way he instructed them to, but he was slowly starting to suspect she might have been less than honest with him there. Getting them to listen to him was like pulling teeth, slow and arduous.
Right now, they were all in the quarters he'd assigned them in the Department of Mineralogy, and he was paying them a visit under the guise of checking up on several new employees of his quickly growing department, and he had already been forced to stay twice as long as he'd planned.
It had only been a single day since he'd practically smuggled them into the Clocktower, and already, they were making numerous mistakes, the crosses being the most obvious but by no means the only one.
"Kayla, please listen to the Magus." The large guy, Sidonus, rumbled in his low voice, and Kayla, who had seemed a bit recalcitrant at first, sighed in acceptance, before hiding the necklace beneath her clothes, Mira copying her a second later.
"Thank you." Waver nodded, immensely glad an argument hadn't been necessary, before he took a deep breath. "There are also several other points of improvement I wish to relay to you."
"We are listening." Sidonus nodded.
"Magi don't openly carry weapons." Waver gestured at the combat knives openly hanging from their belts. "Magi don't wear combat boots in the Clocktower." At least not with steel-tipped noses. "Magi don't just wear reflective sunglasses for no reason." At least, he'd never seen any Magus do so. "Magi never use the word 'heretic' in any of its forms, nor do they use the word 'Witch'…"
Even just addressing the points already took a while, but making sure that they actually took his feedback into account took even longer. He'd planned on spending an hour on lecturing them about proper Clocktower protocols, but ended up spending nearly four times as long on arguing with them over every single matter.
With enough perseverance and patience though, Waver managed to get them to listen, and ultimately, felt reasonably secure about releasing them into the wild. It was just a shame though that it had to take so long.
"You should all be able to pass mild scrutiny now, as long as you stick to your cover-stories." He spoke once he judged them adequately prepared, wiping away some sweat from his brow. "Nevertheless, I strongly advise you to only tread in the public areas and in the Departments of Modern Magical Theories, Mineralogy, and Botany."
"Because those are yours, right?" Jonah asked, not mockingly, but completely sincerely.
"…In a way, yes." Waver nodded, pursing his lips at Jonah's choice of words. He wouldn't say that he really owned those departments. Yes, he was nominally their leader, but so far, that amounted to little more than being the head teacher and the main administrator. Oh, and the main negotiator of course. "If you want to go elsewhere for your investigations, let me know in time so I can arrange access for you."
Being a leader sure was a lot tougher than his king had made it seem. Rider had said it was mainly about living life to its fullest, being the most emotive man in the empire, and doing whatever you wanted, but Waver mostly found himself doing paperwork and practising diplomacy these days, and he was quite sure that if he started being emotive, baring his true feelings, things would collapse at lightning speed.
Then again, the Clocktower wasn't Ancient Macedonia, so it was no wonder the comparison didn't work.
"We will of course endeavour to cause as little trouble for you as possible during our stay." Sidonus promised him, his rumbling voice and large size making him look fairly reliable. "It is the least we can do in exchange for your aid."
"So is there anything else that we should correct about our appearances?" Lily asked, spreading her arms to display herself. "Just say the word and we will do it."
Lily and Sidonus were by far the most cooperative members of the team, doing their best to make things as easy as possible for themselves and for Waver. They were the voices of reason that gave him some hope that this team might actually bring their mission to a good end.
On the other hand, Mira, Jonah, and Kayla were very nearly hopeless, with their only saving grace being that they were willing to listen to the other two.
"You look perfectly average now." Waver assured Lily, who smiled at him in return. "Just make sure to act calmly and keep your mouths shut, and no one will look at you twice."
"We will keep you in the loop on our progress, Lord El-Melloi." Sidonus promised as he shook Waver's hand. "After all, you are as hostile to the bloodsuckers as we are."
"Frankly, I am still sceptical about your claims." Waver admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "The thought that any Magus in here would willingly cooperate with the Dead Apostle Ancestors feels ludicrous to me. If you find proof however, I promise not to be obstinate, and I will do whatever is necessary to aid you."
"Thank you, also on behalf of bishop Dilo." Sidonus nodded, and Waver sighed at the mention of their mutual friend.
Normally, even an investigation into the Dead Apostle Ancestors wouldn't have been enough for Executors to secure Waver's aid in infiltrating the Clocktower, not in a thousand years. If it got out that he was doing this, on nothing more than a rumour that the Dead Apostle Ancestors might have a few moles in the Association…
Well, he wouldn't be killed, as he was too important to kill right now, but it sure would be a blow to his prestige and reputation, and his underlings might also find themselves greatly suffering from it.
Normally, he would have thrown these people out by their ear, even if it was miss Ortensia who asked him to help them, but this was unfortunately not a normal situation. These Executors were cheating, using bishop Dilo, Waver's surrogate father, as their shield.
He could never refuse a request from the bishop, not even if it was such a dangerous and near-impossible request, and that was how he came to be in this situation.
The Executors better find evidence for their wild theories though, because if they didn't, Waver was going to send a very strongly worded letter to the Pope, and by the Root, he would make sure it arrived in the man's hands too.
"Until later, Lord El-Melloi." Lily waved at him as she and the rest of the team left the room.
"Good hunting." He replied, waving back, before he also left, though in the opposite direction, heading towards his office to get back to work. His new office.
After it had been confirmed that he was to marry Marianne Archelot, and once he'd restored Mineralogy to a reasonably good state, Waver had forcibly been assigned a bigger office by his underlings, to 'better reflect his new status'.
Waver himself would have preferred to keep his old office, which he'd adjusted fully to his personal tastes over the past eight years. Still, he hadn't needed much convincing in the end to see that keeping up appearances was sufficiently important to move somewhere else in spite of his own wishes.
No matter his personal tastes, it just wasn't appropriate for the lord of three departments to have such a poor place to work in, and, more importantly, to receive other lords in. Appearances were extremely important at the Clocktower, and Waver had to account for that.
Besides, now that he'd spent some time working in his new office, he had to admit it was pretty decent as well.
The thing he liked most about it was, admittedly, its larger size, which not only allowed him to receive more guests with greater hospitality, but also enabled him to give his students better working conditions.
Grey had never complained about not having a desk of her own in his office, but Waver was still very glad he now had a desk specifically for her in the corner. A place that was truly hers, where she could do her homework and take care of any private matters in peace and relative privacy. He'd even had a small curtain installed which she could put between them if she wanted some time alone.
So yes, being more important also had its perks.
Waver arrived at his new office about fifteen minutes after leaving the Executors to their jobs. Inside, he found Grey sitting at her new desk, working hard, not at her homework, but at several documents that were actually Waver's, in an attempt to help him.
She wasn't the only one in his office though, nor was she the only one helping him. Reines was currently sitting at a desk in another corner of the office, busily scribbling away on a piece of paper that dealt with several matters related to Mineralogy. Marianne on the other hand had placed her desk right next to Waver's, and was working on something that concerned Botany, while Adashino was looking over her shoulder, periodically making comments.
Waver really didn't know how, why, or when, but at some point, Adashino and Marianne seemed to have hit it off, and it wasn't at all unusual these days for the snake lady to visit the blonde woman for at least a few hours every day.
Having four people present –five with Waver himself included– would have been too much for his old office, but his new one easily housed them all with room to spare.
"Welcome back, sir." Grey was the first one to notice that Waver had returned, and after receiving a chorus of greetings from the others and replying to each of them, the lord fell backwards into his chair, letting out a weary sigh.
It got him concerned looks from Grey and Marianne, while Adashino's smile widened and Reines kept working without looking up. None of them asked where he'd been though, because they already knew.
Since helping Executors infiltrate the Clocktower was a very time-consuming and intensive project, trying to keep it hidden from the people he interacted with every day was probably futile. As such, he had just revealed it to them, and asked them to stay silent about it.
For the most part, they had. Perhaps it was out of loyalty to him or because they themselves had a lot to lose as well if Waver's reputation fell, but they had all kept their mouths shut, even Reines and Adashino. The only one who hadbeen told, by Adashino, was Lady Montmorency.
Rather than worrying about it however, Waver was actually happy that the elderly woman was aware of his most recent project. If Lady Montmorency knew about the Executors but hadn't stopped them, or even looked their way, then the elderly lady was likely purposefully ignoring them, perhaps even discreetly giving her approval.
Knowing she wouldn't come down on him like a ton of bricks at some point was a massive relief.
"I take it the religious fanatics didn't cooperate all that well with your instructions?" Adashino asked lightly, her face set in an expression of amusement as she looked at his exhausted form. "Don't say I didn't warn you beforehand."
"Your warnings all came true, every last one of them." Waver sighed, giving credit where credit was due, as the snake lady had indeed pretty much predicted the entire conversation with the Executors. "Did you meet these people before?"
"No, but the fanatics in the Burial Agency are all the same, bar a very small number of exceptions." Adashino giggled behind her hand. "If you've met one team of Executors, you have met them all."
"You should have refused them immediately." Reines scoffed, looking up from her work to take a dig at him. "Even if you weren't already drowning in work as it is, their church-stuff is none of your business."
"Having possible spies in service of the Dead Apostle Ancestors within the Clocktower is everyone's business." Waver countered, giving her a tired glare. "And besides, bishop Dilo asked me to help them."
"Your loyalty to your friends is truly astounding." Reines huffed, crossing her arms lightly as she left her work for what it was for the moment to focus fully on him. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. How can I, when I have profited from that loyalty multiple times? I'm just surprised every time at how far you will go to help people. You must have had a weird childhood to turn out like this."
"I wasn't like this in my childhood." Waver shook his head, doing his best not to cringe as he thought back on how he'd been in his youth. "I merely-"
"Had the luck to fight a Holy Grail War with your king, which turned you into a better man." Reines finished for him, rolling her eyes, though somehow, the gesture wasn't unkind. "As you have told us a thousand times before."
"Um, I think Rider would have been very proud of you, sir." Grey piped up, her gentle voice and gentler words very soothing to Waver's ears. "You're just as good a leader as he."
"Thank you, Grey." Waver nodded to her. "But I am aware I still have a long way to go before I can be as good as he was."
"Waver, I'll be blunt with you." Marianne suddenly sat up straight, and Waver unconsciously copied her, as the mood in the office became a little heavier. "Alexander the Great was not a good king."
It became deadly quiet in the room, as everyone seemed to hold their breath in shock. Even Adashino was gaping in surprise at her new friend, who had just done the equivalent of setting off a bomb in the middle of the office.
Marianne herself though looked straight at Waver with a fearless gaze, awaiting his response.
"…I don't entirely disagree." Waver ultimately nodded, as frankly, he knew perfectly well that his king's reign had been marred by several serious flaws.
"EH?!" Grey's mouth fell open.
"Really now?" Reines' reaction wasn't so overblown, but her eyes widened considerably nevertheless.
"Hm." Adashino lightly scratched her chin.
"You don't?" Marianne froze for a single moment, before she cocked her head to the side. "But… You always speak of him so admiringly."
"What can I say? His charisma was immense." Waver shrugged, leaning back in his chair again. "And his philosophies contained a core of valuable truth. Listening to him did, I think, make me a better person."
"B-But… R-Rider wasn't a good king?" Grey asked, looking rather hung-up on that.
"Iskandar was an unparalleled conqueror, who defeated every army in his way. He was a visionary, a man with great ambition, but I don't think he did much in the way of ruling." Waver answered honestly, thinking back on both his dreams during the Grail War and the books he'd read afterwards. "He founded a bunch of cities, claimed a few thrones, and enjoyed his power, but I can't see him creating any laws or customs. I believe he just copied everything from his father and from king Darius III."
"Not to mention his new country instantly fell apart after he croaked." Reines smirked. "The dangers of expanding too fast."
"Is that a dig at me again, Reines?"
"Hehe, who knows, big brother?"
"I am a little surprised by this." Marianne mumbled, before turning to Adashino. "Hishiri, what do you think?"
"…I would prefer not to talk about that man, if you do not mind." The snake lady replied, her smile somewhat terse.
"Iskandar?"
"…" Adashino's smile, already a fragile thing, became even more brittle, and she resolutely looked away.
"Now you have made me curious." Waver remarked, turning to look at the officer of Policies. "If you are afraid of insulting me with your honest opinion, don't be. I am well aware that guy had numerous flaws that hurt, and often killed, countless people around him. Feel free to be as harsh as you want."
"…He is a destroyer." Adashino eventually spoke, turning to face the room again, a faint blush high on her cheeks showing her agitation. "He is Alexander the Terrible! He razed beautiful civilisations to the ground for no other reason than that he could."
"Uhm." Grey made an uncomfortable noise, looking between Waver and Adashino. "You mean Persia?"
"He began with Thebe." Adashino shook her head. "A crown jewel of Greece, a city that had lasted for centuries. Iskandar destroyed it completely, leaving nothing behind for future generations to find. Hundreds of years of civilisation, gone in an instant."
"Archaeologists everywhere have never forgiven him for that." Marianne muttered.
"In modern-day Lebanon, just above Israel, there was a city called Biblos." Adashino continued. "It was from there that the most ancient civilisations in existence got their wood and their paper. It was so influential that the Bible was even named after the city. It was a place that had been conquered numerous times, but never destroyed, until hecame along, razing it to the ground, merely because he could."
"A terrible loss." Waver nodded, having already been aware of what his king had done.
"Persia was a glorious empire at the time." Adashino went on, lifting a hand and clenching it before her face. "Far greater than either Macedonia or Greece. It was filled with unimaginable treasures of archaeology. None of them remain however, because Iskandar erased it all from history."
"S-So he broke a lot of things?" Grey mumbled, looking rather intimidated by the list.
"And he killed tens of thousands of people, for reasons so weak and arbitrary they make me want to throw up." Waver added, wondering when exactly this had turned into a session of character assassination. Ah well, it was the truth anyway. "He told me, face-to-face, that he had invaded a country for no more reason than that he wanted to be first in line at the market in their capital."
"T-That's…" Grey had turned slightly green at this point, and Adashino bared her teeth slightly.
"He was the greatest warlord to have ever walked the Earth, rivalled only by Genghis Khan and Napoleon." Waver finished his little speech. "He was unequalled in everything, from killing people to conquering nations. He was an ideal before he was a man. That was why his men were so loyal."
"I disagree." Adashino said suddenly.
"Oh?"
"His men were loyal not because he was a great man, or because he was emotive, or because he was so inspiring." The snake lady continued, before brushing a lock of hair out of her face. "Oh, I'm sure there were many in his army who were completely taken by his forceful personality and were loyal to death and beyond, but the vast majority only followed him because he brought them plunder."
"Plunder?" Grey's head swivelled towards Adashino, asking for an explanation.
"Gold, silver, food, weapons, silk, women." She gave a few examples, making an almost dismissive hand motion. "The usual fare that gets men to risk their lives for the ambitions of someone else."
"Not to be pedantic, but what you say is actually not quite true." Waver argued, drawing Adashino's gaze back to him. "In fact, he was the first conqueror in recorded history to put a limit on the plundering, raping, and killing that his men were allowed to do. It actually caused some tension in his ranks, especially when he told them the common folk of all conquered nations were under his protection."
"Thebe, Tyre, and Biblos would disagree." Adashino countered his argument.
"He made mistakes when he was… enraged." Waver allowed, pursing his lips, as he knew she was right. "He greatly regretted those outbursts later though, and in my opinion, it says something about his rule in general that those three cases were such shocking exceptions."
It was a weak argument, he knew that, but strangely enough, Adashino didn't capitalise on it. Instead, she made a small concession.
"I suppose I can agree that although he went further than all his contemporaries in sheer quantity, he wasn't especially cruel in his time." She said, inclining her head. "It's just such a shame he had to destroy so much and leave so little for later generations."
"Not to mention he plunged the entire Middle East, Greece included, into succession wars that lasted entire decades." Reines, ever happy to throw oil on the fire, added, flashing her pearly white teeth in a grin. "It didn't end until the Romans came along, I believe."
"Alright, alright, I get it. None of you are very fond of Rider." Waver sighed, slowly rubbing his face. "Nevertheless, his teachings greatly helped me and continue to help me."
"That's because you were already a good man." Marianne proclaimed, placing a hand on her heart. "He didn't change you in any fundamental way, he merely brought out what was already inside you."
"How sappy." Reines grinned, but Marianne didn't falter, her childlike love for great stories giving her enough pride to stay strong.
"Thank you." Waver nodded at Marianne, though on the inside, he was unsure how to feel about her words.
"So what you mean, is that he taught you a lot, even though he was evil?" Grey asked, her voice halting and unsure.
"I wouldn't go as far as to call him evil." Marianne said immediately, almost defensively. "Just not a good king."
"But, he killed people, and began wars, and plundered cities." The white-haired girl protested. "That is evil, right?"
"By our standards, yes." Waver nodded sharply. "If I were to try and conquer several countries like he did, I would rightly be condemned as a warmonger and a monster. In his time however, it wasn't seen as an evil act."
"In modern times, we cannot imagine that someone would try to conquer the whole world, just because they want to reach some imaginary ocean or because they want to be the leader, but back then, things were different." Marianne took over the explanation, speaking in a much gentler tone. "I believe such actions were considered quite normal even."
"Normal?!" Grey parroted, looking appalled now.
"Yup." Reines replied, smirking lazily at Grey. "Things worked differently back then, Grey. Things like chivalry, mercy, war crimes being bad, and all that stuff hadn't been invented yet. War and conquest were the norm, and the strong did whatever they wanted with the weak. In that light, Iskandar was pretty chill, as he did protect the weak at least a little bit."
"But there were others who were worse?"
"Oh yes." Waver nodded, gesturing at his bookcase. "History is full of appalling deeds. Not to make excuses for my king, but there were many people who far eclipsed him in brutality. I recommend the book about the ancient Assyrians if you want an especially poignant example, although the Sumerian cities weren't exactly kind either."
"So ancient people were just bad?" Grey wilted slightly, looking rather disillusioned. She had grown up with nothing but stories about chivalrous knights and brave heroes, so hearing about how brutal historic figures had actually been had to be difficult for her.
"In all times, there were good people and bad people." Waver tried to reassure her, giving her a sympathetic look. "Unfortunately, being remembered centuries later often requires being either especially good or especially bad, and being bad is easier."
"Oh…" Grey mumbled. "Then, the Servants in your Grail War…?"
"Most of them were bad, I'm afraid." Waver hated having to disappoint her, but there was no denying it. "The Assassin was an assassin, the Caster was a crazy, abomination-summoning mass-murderer, the Rider we already discussed at length, the Lancer was an oath breaker, I never knew what went on with the Berserker, Saber was a killer who cared about nothing but obtaining the Grail, and the Archer…"
"He was the worst of them all?" Adashino prompted him after he fell silent, able to somewhat accurately guess what was on his mind.
"Yes." Waver nodded, though he privately admitted he might be a little biased. "I am very glad he is gone."
"As King of this world, I order you to answer. What exactly are you and where did you come from?"
Gilgamesh stood before him, his smirk lazy and confident, and Shirou racked his brain for a proper response.
It was difficult though, to decide that response. Gilgamesh wanted to know about his true nature, something he'd only ever told his girlfriends and sister about, and while a large part of Shirou wanted to tell the tyrant to stuff it, the more realistic part acknowledged that such an answer would get him in deep trouble very fast.
On the other hand, just telling Gilgamesh the truth also didn't appeal to the redhead at all. At the very least, he should ask something in return, to show he wasn't cowed by the tyrant's implied threat of violence.
"If you wish to know what I am, will you tell me how it is you survived until now, King of Heroes?" Shirou asked eventually. "As far as I know, the Grail is no longer active, which means you should no longer exist."
"There is not much to tell." Gilgamesh hummed, blinking once. "The Grail manifested itself, Saber used her Noble Phantasm on it, its Cursed Mud overflowed and submerged me, and it somehow manifested me, giving me an actual form. It has been quite convenient, though I can no longer take Spiritual Form."
So it was Angra Mainyu who was behind Gilgamesh's continued existence. That explained a whole lot, especially the fact that the golden king's Spirit Origin had been so warped as to change him into an evil parody of himself.
The Cursed Mud hadn't directly overtaken his mind or cursed him, probably because the king's willpower was too great, but it had dredged up and combined Gilgamesh's worst aspects until he was as close to evil as he could possibly be.
A rather creative approach, Shirou had to admit.
"Does that mean you no longer need a source of Magical Energy to exist?" Shirou continued his questioning, knowing that if that was true, it would present a massive problem. Gilgamesh had been plenty dangerous as a Servant. If he'd been fully Manifested now…
"Oh, but I do." Gilgamesh continued being strangely honest and forthcoming. "Even though I am Materialised, I am a thing of the past, and need to struggle against the forces wishing to make me disappear, like any other act of Thaumaturgy. Furthermore, without the Grail, I have been severely weakened. My parameters are lower, and although the Gate of Babylon still functions, I cannot truly awaken any of my weapons without dying."
"It is rather bold to tell me all that." Shirou lifted an eyebrow, wondering why Gilgamesh was so open about his being severely weakened. "Are you not afraid I will attack you?"
"I've done more with less." Gilgamesh smiled confidently. "Even when weakened, I can still handle a young nestling like you."
That remark stung, and Shirou lifted Mjolnir again, before he had to throw himself to the side to dodge a blade fired at him from a golden portal, a blade that would have caused his insides to rot had it pierced him.
Naturally, a copy was automatically stored in his mind.
The sword flew through the church, but just before it could impact the cross, it dissipated into motes of light, returning to Gilgamesh's treasury.
It had been an attack, but not a remotely serious one, and just like Shirou's lightning bolt earlier, it was not mentioned again.
The message was received loud and clear though. Gilgamesh was by no means powerless or harmless, even when weakened by the Grail's absence.
"Now that your curiosity had been sated, answer my questions." The golden king ordered. "How is it that you possess Divinity in this horrible modern age when all other Mystery is dying at an astounding pace?"
"I inherited it." Shirou answered honestly, knowing that the golden tyrant would instantly spot any lie he tried to tell him. "Mjolnir came to me and gave me my current powers. That is what is changing me into a god."
"Mjolnir? Ah, so you are one of those barbarian gods." Gilgamesh concluded, the look in his eyes becoming even more condescending than it already was. "Barbarian gods belonging to barbaric, nihilistic people whose only ambition was not to freeze to death. How dull."
"You really are charming, aren't you?" Shirou scoffed, beginning to get fed up with the constant snide remarks.
"Hm." Gilgamesh gave him a mocking smile. "It is no more than fact that the barbarian gods of the North were by far the least interesting of all the gods in existence. Mere constructs created by their precious Yggdrasil to safeguard the World of Man, actually not differing all that much from humans themselves. At least the Ancient Greeks had what you would call Mecha Spaceships to worship."
"…Pardon me?"
"You are pardoned. I shall be genial, and accept that it is not your fault that your kinsmen were so dull. Even the people of what you now refer to as Central America had gods that arrived on Earth by lifting along on the meteorite that destroyed the dinosaurs. And I suppose your Japanese gods were rather fascinating, with them being temporal-based manifestations of clusters of different dimensions."
"…Were they now?"
"All of them powerful beyond belief, and all of them now gone." Gilgamesh's gaze sharpened at those words. "SEFAR broke them, and the Age of Man forced them into the Reverse Side of the World centuries ago. At this point, with over seven billion humans, there is no room for gods or Phantasmal Creatures on the Earth. And yet, here you are, godling, alive and well, seemingly ignored entirely by Gaia."
"If you want to know how it is possible that I am on Earth while the other gods are gone, I don't know the answer to that." Shirou said, truthfully, as he had no idea what had sent those other gods to the Reverse Side of the World and why he was still on Earth. It could be that his Thor was from another universe entirely, but he wasn't sure about that.
"You don't know? Oh well, it's not that important." Gilgamesh dismissed the matter with nary a second thought, as if Shirou's answer did not really matter. "My only interest is ascertaining that your existence will not hamper the development of the World of Man."
"Hamper the development of the World of Man?" Shirou did not like the sound of that at all. "How would I even do that?"
Gilgamesh gave him a meaningful look, and then it clicked.
"Are you suggesting I will bring back the Age of the Gods?!" Shirou asked with no small amount of horror, feeling like someone had punched him in the gut. The Age of the Gods had been a horrible time, and if it was returned to the present, it would result in billions in deaths, literally. "How do we stop that?!"
"Calm yourself. You won't bring it back merely by existing passively." Gilgamesh laughed, his tone carefree. "As long as there is a single human alive in this world, the Age of the Gods can never fully return. Humanity has claimed the World, and not even Gaia herself can undo that anymore."
"It can't return? Really?"
A confirming nod answered him.
"Then why were you looking for me? I thought you said you wanted to make sure I wasn't hampering the World of Man?"
"I wanted to ascertain that you weren't actively working towards the return of the Age of the Gods." Gilgamesh explained further. "You are not, so this matter is closed."
"How would I work towards the return…?" Shirou began to ask, but he realised the answer halfway through. "By eradicating humanity myself."
"Correct." Gilgamesh nodded approvingly. "However, it is clear you are planning nothing of the sort. As such, the gods have no hope of returning, though I cannot say the same for Phantasmal Beasts. I believe you have slain one yourself."
"I have." Shirou admitted, wondering how the king knew about that.
"As have I. It is something you'll have to get used to. Your presence on the Earth could prompt the return of some of them, and they will likely seek you out. Not in any significant numbers however, so it is little to be concerned about."
Shirou was concerned though. Even if he was now assured there wouldn't be a wave of Phantasmal Beasts overflowing the Earth, even a few of those creatures was still more than enough to cause untold damage and destruction.
It would fall to him then to hunt down those Phantasmal Beasts. He was likely one of the very few people currently alive who were up to the task.
"Now tell me, godling, why is it that you 'inherited' this power? You out of all people." Gilgamesh then continued his line of inquiry, and although Shirou once more hesitated to answer, the fact of the matter was that there wasn't that much to say.
"All I know is that my predecessor, Thor, left me his weapon and his power for a reason." He replied, as that was literally all he knew. "I don't intend to fail him."
"What is it then that you will do?" Gilgamesh asked, appearing quite eager to hear the answer. "What will you use your newfound Divinity for if not to restore the Age of the Gods?"
"I will become a Hero of Justice!" Shirou stated, no trace of hesitation or doubt in his voice, even as he knew that the golden king would likely laugh himself silly at his answer.
"Become a hero?!" But Gilgamesh didn't laugh, at least not right away. His eyes flew open, his pupils dilating as he looked at Shirou, appearing truly surprised for the first time since the conversation had begun. Then he smiled. He smiled so widely his face seemed to split in two, and he threw his head back.
Only then did he start laughing.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" A deep breath. "HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHA HAHA!"