Above the riverbank battlefield in Fuyuki City, Gilgamesh's demigod body hovered in midair, his normally arrogant face twisted into a rare expression of sheer ferocity.
"Mongrel! Do not touch my body with your filthy tentacles!"
He let out an unprecedented roar of fury.
However, at this moment, his voice carried not only his usual high-and-mighty arrogance but also a mix of shock and rage at being violated, as well as...
A trace of panic that even he refused to admit.
Metastacia, the grotesque monster from Hueco Mundo, was now displaying its most terrifying aspect.
Right now, it had no physical form; it was merely attached to a bone mask, clinging desperately to Gilgamesh's face.
Or rather, it was essentially a puddle of highly aggressive, sentient tentacles.
Like a burrowing rat desperate to survive, it frantically drilled into the depths of the King of Heroes' spiritual body.
That nauseating voice exploded directly within the depths of Gilgamesh's mind.
Metastacia was attempting to seize control of this body, just as it had done to Kaien Shiba.
If it were an ordinary Heroic Spirit, even the King of Knights with her A-rank Magic Resistance, they would likely lose the ability to resist such a parasitic and soul-corroding attack aimed directly at their Spirit Core.
But Gilgamesh was different.
He was a demigod possessing two-thirds divinity, and his sense of self was strong enough to warp reality.
"A mere parasite clinging to others dares to dream of devouring a king?!"
Gilgamesh's eyes were bloodshot, looking as if they might drip blood.
He forcefully mobilized the vast, ocean-like magical energy within his body, constructing golden barriers inside his spiritual body to desperately fend off the invasion of that dark will.
This was not just a clash of magical energy, but a wrestling match of souls and willpower.
The intertwining of pain and anger drove him to act with involuntary madness.
"Aaaargh!!!"
Gilgamesh roared in agony, "Get the hell—out of my body!!!"
"Enuma Elish—!!!"
The Sword of Rupture, Ea, in his hand began to spin frantically as he wildly swung the terrifying Noble Phantasm capable of splitting heaven and earth!
*Ooom—Rumble!!!*
The red wind pressure formed a devastating storm field around him.
Dark red pillars of light erupted erratically into the night sky, like a maddened giant swinging a pillar of fire that reached the heavens.
Every swing left a pitch-black rift in space.
The already shattered banks of the Mion River now faced total annihilation.
The sand and gravel on the shore instantly vaporized, the river water evaporated into mist, and the entire magical energy field of Fuyuki City began to violently fluctuate.
Spatial rifts spread like spiderwebs; the Fuyuki City Bridge collapsed, and massive chasms split the ground.
Such overwhelming world-breaking power not only severely destabilized Fuyuki City's magical environment but also left the entire city teetering on the brink of destruction, as if the apocalypse had arrived early.
Buildings in the distance swayed incessantly, and explosions triggered by the rampaging magical energy echoed one after another.
Even the clouds in the sky began to twist...
*Ooom—*
A low resonance, sounding as if it came from the very bottom of the world, instantly echoed throughout Fuyuki City.
Whether it was the Servants dodging Gilgamesh's shockwaves or ordinary people fast asleep, everyone felt their hearts violently clench at that exact moment.
The sky had changed.
The once pitch-black night sky now featured a massive, slowly rotating void.
That void was not purely black, but a chaotic hue so profound it seemed to contain every color in the world.
It looked as if the skin of the sky had been burned through, revealing the indescribable, terrifying true face of the outside of the world.
In the center of that void, a speck of golden light was gestating, exuding an alluring yet dangerous aura.
Heaven's Feel had manifested prematurely.
It originally required the elimination of more Heroic Spirits to fill it with energy, but Gilgamesh's Anti-World Noble Phantasm had torn apart the equilibrium of the magical energy field, causing the vessel of Heaven's Feel to expand unstably.
"Master, this is..." Artoria looked at Kiritsugu Emiya beside her.
"We retreat," Kiritsugu stated decisively. "Finding Irisviel and recovering the Lesser Grail is our highest priority... We cannot afford to get dragged into this here."
"But, that Archer is..."
"I don't have the luxury to debate chivalry with you right now, Saber."
Kiritsugu cut her off roughly, a flash of anxiety in his eyes. "If anything happens to her, none of this has any meaning! Both you and I will be utter failures!"
He raised his hand, the red light of his Command Spells flashing on the back of his hand. "Do not force me to make you leave."
With that, he ignored Artoria and dragged his heavily injured body into the woods.
Artoria gritted her teeth, took one last deep look in Asuka's direction, and turned to follow Kiritsugu.
On the other side, Asuka, carrying the weakened Kaien on his back, was continuously dodging the shockwaves of Ea.
"Hehehe... It's starting. I didn't expect it to start so soon..."
Zouken stared at the void in the sky and let out an obsessed laugh, seemingly unable to even feel the pain of the wind pressure striking his body.
"The hole of the Greater Grail has opened, though unfortunately, it's not yet perfect... We need to speed up our progress."
Just as Asuka was about to say something, he felt a sudden swelling sensation in his brain, followed by Sumire Kamado's voice.
"Mr. Asuka!"
Sumire Kamado's anxious cry echoed through their mental link.
The young girl must be using a Command Spell to communicate with him.
Through the Command Spell's connection, she briefly relayed her recent experiences to him, causing Asuka's brow to furrow deeply several times.
What dissatisfied him was that this little girl had actually acted on her own, nearly getting herself killed in the process.
But at the same time, he confirmed that Sumire was currently with Irisviel... This was an unexpected harvest.
After explaining everything, Sumire's voice trembled. "...Something is very wrong with the silver-haired lady!"
"She looks like she's in a lot of pain, and she's glowing... Moreover, that hole in the sky... it seems to be calling out to her!"
Hearing this, Asuka's heart sank heavily.
That woman was the key to everything right now.
He glanced at the still-struggling Gilgamesh. The king's fury was continuously destroying the entire battlefield, and there was no need to clash with him head-on.
"Let's go."
Asuka turned to look at Zouken. "To Ryuudou Temple."
"Ryuudou Temple? How do you know about that place?" Zouken was clearly surprised that Asuka would mention that specific location.
The underground cavern beneath it was the core of the Holy Grail War, the central site where he, the Tohsaka, and the Einzbern families had constructed the Holy Grail system.
"...The Lesser Grail is there. Of course, if you want to stay behind, I won't stop you."
Zouken let out a sinister chuckle. "Hehehe... To think it would be there of all places... Should I call this the arrangement of fate?"
The two of them, one after the other, quickly left the riverbank that had already been reduced to ruins, speeding toward Mount Enzou.
Behind them, Gilgamesh's roars grew increasingly frenzied.
The swings of Ea tore through more space, but Metastacia's tentacles clung on tenaciously, making it impossible for him to break free for the time being.
From the void above the canopy of the sky, a black-red light began to pour out.
Like some ominous dye, it was silently spreading.