Is Metastacia dead?
Yes, but he was also still alive.
That night, he had parasitized Kaien's body. Their souls had synchronized, drawing infinitely close to becoming a single entity.
However, Shinobu Kocho's arrival disrupted his plans.
Those microscopic Reishi insects severed the soul connection between Metastacia and Kaien, forcefully peeling him away from the Soul Reaper's very essence.
His power was devoured and obliterated by the Reishi insects, plunging his consciousness into endless darkness.
He did not know how long it took before he finally sensed the breath of life once more.
It started as a faint glimmer, and eventually expanded into an entire world.
Perhaps a fragment of his soul had completely fused with Kaien, or perhaps the ability of Shinobu Kocho's Zanpakuto could not entirely eradicate the effects of his parasitism.
Regardless, on one sunny afternoon, Metastacia revived.
But he dared not expose himself, choosing to lie quietly dormant deep within Kaien Shiba's body.
Until one day, when Kaien attempted to tame his Zanpakuto and train for his Bankai, he finally found his opportunity.
Striking while his host was weak, he flared up once more, coming mere inches away from seizing control of the body.
Unfortunately, Kaien not only suppressed his consciousness but also claimed the Hollow's power for himself.
Though Metastacia was consumed by extreme rage, there was nothing he could do.
Having awakened his Bankai, Kaien was a powerful Soul Reaper with Second-class Spiritual Power. Metastacia simply could not fight back.
He could only occasionally curse and hurl vicious insults within Kaien's mind, hoping to provoke his emotions, but the results were negligible.
And now, Kaien had been dragged into this chaotic world, finally losing his mind and perhaps even going completely insane!
And he, at long last, could see the light of day again, slowly separating from Kaien's body!
Berserker's body began to contort as shadowy tentacles extended from beneath his Shihakusho.
A crack formed on the bone mask, revealing the writhing scarlet tentacles inside.
Metastacia sensed that the magical energy of his Master, Kariya Matou, was nearly depleted.
The flame of his life was flickering precariously, and the mana supply was sputtering.
At this rate, Kariya would be drained dry, reduced to a mummified corpse.
Once Kariya died, or the magical energy was completely cut off, the spiritual body of the Servant, Berserker Kaien Shiba, would slowly fade away.
Kaien was a Pseudo-Servant who did not belong to this world. Where would his soul go?
And could Metastacia, acting as a parasite within Kaien, follow him into the spacetime crevice like before?
He wasn't sure, and he didn't dare to gamble on it.
His gaze, piercing through the shattered mask, locked dead onto the man radiating golden light.
'As long as I can parasitize that body...'
'I can rule as a king in this world!'
But how could he get close? The opponent's firepower was simply too fierce. The attacks from the treasury behind him were endless, making it impossible to approach.
'I have to find a way to create an opening... I have to... gamble my life on this!'
To prolong his own existence and fulfill his inner ambitions, he launched a desperate counterattack!
"Roar—!"
Berserker let out a low, guttural roar as black aura surged wildly around him.
He opened his mouth, and red energy gathered within—the precursor to a Cero.
But Gilgamesh did not know this. He merely frowned at the glowing red light. "You still have strength left?"
Before he could finish speaking, a beam of red light carrying destructive power blasted forward!
"An Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm? Or Magecraft? You certainly have a lot of tricks... Hmm?"
To Gilgamesh's surprise, the Cero did not shoot directly at him.
Instead... it split apart.
The massive red pillar of light suddenly detonated in midair, fragmenting into hundreds of tiny red beams. Like a sky full of falling petals, they indiscriminately blanketed all the space surrounding Gilgamesh!
"What?!" Gilgamesh was taken aback.
The power of these beams was not significant; they might not even be able to pierce the armor on his body.
What was the point of such an attack?
The King of Heroes waved his hand, commanding the Gate of Babylon to fire Noble Phantasms in suppression.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sky-filling Cero beams clashed with the Noble Phantasms, causing continuous explosions in the air and kicking up a massive cloud of smoke and dust!
Seeing this scene, he suddenly understood.
The moment Gilgamesh instinctively tried to disperse the smoke, a black shadow pierced through the explosive flames like a phantom and appeared right in front of him!
It was Berserker!
At this moment, he had completely abandoned all defense.
His entire body was battered and bruised by the shockwaves of the explosions, leaving only his left arm intact.
He was riddled with fragments of Noble Phantasms, dripping with blood, looking exactly like a vicious demon crawling out of hell.
But his speed had reached its absolute peak!
Using the recoil generated by the Cero explosions, he treated his own body like a bullet, forcefully launching himself right in front of Gilgamesh!
The distance was less than five meters.
His body flowed like liquid as the tentacles beneath his mask extended, wrapping toward the opponent's spiritual body.
"Mongrel! Get lost!" Gilgamesh roared in fury, instinctively raising Ea, but Berserker's speed had spiked to its absolute limit in this instant.
Since Metastacia was already disregarding everything—no longer caring what happened to Kaien's body—the strike was incredibly fast and ruthless!
The tentacles found an opening in the gaps of the Noble Phantasm barrage and viciously stabbed into the flank of Gilgamesh's spiritual body!
Gilgamesh's body stiffened, shock flashing through his crimson eyes.
These barbed tentacles actually carried some kind of toxin capable of eroding spiritual bodies. The golden armor was instantly corroded, melting away to reveal a large gaping hole.
A wound was torn open on his side.
Golden particles splattered outward, and for the first time, a look of agony appeared on the King of Heroes' face.
"You...!!"
Before he could react, Metastacia's tentacles burrowed into the wound, probing into the spiritual body like a parasite.
He tried to blast the tentacles apart with his Noble Phantasms, but Metastacia had already dispersed into streams of dark currents. The power of Hollowfication began to spread within Goldie's body...
Metastacia's voice echoed directly in Gilgamesh's mind, laced with unparalleled ecstasy.
"You vile beast!!" Gilgamesh raged, but a wave of dizziness washed over him.
The golden, radiant King of Heroes began to flicker unsteadily.
His body trembled, and he plummeted from the sky.
Even Tokiomi Tohsaka, who had defeated Kariya Matou and was preparing a large-scale Magecraft in the distance, sensed the anomaly in the King of Heroes' Spirit Core. His expression changed drastically!
"Has he been interfered with by Madness Enhancement?! How is that possible!" he exclaimed.
'That is the King of Heroes! The oldest king who possesses divinity!'
Tokiomi's shock was not without reason.
Gilgamesh was a legend surpassing ordinary Heroic Spirits, the archetype of almost all Heroic Spirits.
His spiritual body was not a 'replica' from the Throne of Heroes, but rather the spiritual body itself choosing to manifest after being invited by the Holy Grail system.
In other words, his arrival was not a summons by Heaven's Feel, but rather his own willingness to participate in the war in the form of a Servant just for amusement.
He was a demigod born of the Sky God Anu and the Queen of Uruk, Ninsun, possessing a naturally high resistance to Magecraft, contamination, and Noble Phantasms.
How could such an existence be contaminated time and time again?!
If this were an ordinary Holy Grail War, Tokiomi's shock would be justified.
But the problem was that someone who shouldn't exist had been summoned into this war.
Under Asuka's influence, the world had responded to Metastacia's wish.
Originally, he had no ability to tear through Gilgamesh's defenses, much less use his crude parasitic methods to interfere with a demigod's Spirit Core.
The catalyst was that over the past few days, in order to figure out Berserker's condition, Asuka had come into contact with him too many times, tainting him with the aura of karma.
Gilgamesh's body tumbled off Vimana, plummeting rapidly into the river below.