"Rider..."
Watching the gradually dissipating Iskander, Waver knelt on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.
Seeing this, Takatsuki looked at his hand; in it, he held a surge of energy.
I am truly despicable...
Looking at this power, which originally belonged to Iskander, Takatsuki remained silent.
Although his body was pierced by Gilgamesh Alter's Noble Phantasm, an Heroic Spirit's physique doesn't die so easily.
At least there was enough time to leave a few last words.
And the one who truly made him retreat at the end was none other than Takatsuki. In a place unseen by others, Heaven's Stairway pierced through Iskander's body, taking his last life.
Although they were strangers and even enemies, Takatsuki still felt a slight pang of conscience.
Looking at the ability represented by this energy extracted by Heaven's Stairway...
Reality Marble?
Relying on Love Train, he plundered this power from Iskandar, but it wasn't his Ionioi Hetairoi. Instead, it was an empty mental landscape, whose specific content Takatsuki needed to fill with his own mental imagery.
But now was clearly not a good time.
"Enuma..."
Retrieving this power into his body, Takatsuki looked at Gilgamesh Alter in the distance, who had once again raised Ea and aimed it in his direction. Red and black energy filled the blade of that world-splitting sword.
"Elish!"
The space-tearing energy engulfed Takatsuki and Waver's location.
But in an instant...
This energy disappeared.
Gilgamesh Alter's expression froze.
No, it didn't disappear!
The destruction caused all around proved that Ea had unleashed its proper destructive power, but...
Where were they?
"In battle, if a person suddenly loses focus, it's a very terrifying thing, isn't it? But I think this is a trial."
The voice from behind sent shivers down Gilgamesh Alter's spine.
When did he...
Get behind me!
Noticing that the flood-like magic disappearing within him had stabilized, Takatsuki knew.
The battle with Durandal had ended.
Gilgamesh Alter didn't understand what Takatsuki meant by that statement.
He just subconsciously thought Takatsuki was referring to him losing focus and not noticing his and Waver's disappearance.
Several Noble Phantasms instantly bombarded the spot where Takatsuki stood.
"A trial from the past, and I accepted it..."
When Takatsuki reappeared, he held a seemingly unremarkable longsword in his hand.
But Gilgamesh Alter felt a powerful threat emanating from it.
And it was also the aura that the original Gilgamesh most detested.
The aura of a deity!
Even in different worlds, divinity seems to be interconnected.
Perhaps, based on the original plot's portrayal, divinity seemed like a debuff, but in reality, beings with divinity are not weak. In some special individuals, divinity even forms a suppression comparable to a higher rank.
Gilgamesh himself originally had A+ ranked divinity, but it was lowered to B-rank due to his hatred of gods.
But... if it's divinity, then it can be restrained by the Chains of Heaven!
Silver-white chains abruptly appeared from the golden gate.
But they missed again.
"How did he do that!"
Angola himself is not a hero, and Gilgamesh is not a martial artist, so naturally, he couldn't see how Takatsuki dodged.
"A person's growth is about overcoming their immature past self..."
When Takatsuki reappeared, wisps of green smoke began to rise from the blade of the sword in his hand.
And on the other side...
"Here it comes again."
Durandal made Krishna stop.
Her strong self-control, coupled with her heightened concentration in enemy territory, made her notice.
Something abnormal seemed to have been happening since a moment ago.
"Is it an enemy attack?"
After three occurrences, she finally figured out the truth of this state: memory deletion.
She had lost the memory of her recent movements.
"Is this an attack targeting me? If I had encountered this during the battle with Saber..."
Durandal thought of the recent battle. If she had encountered this then, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Unlike Artoria, who mindlessly squandered magic, Durandal constantly evaded attacks using speed and skill.
As someone affected by King Crimson's ability.
Without facing the user directly, or even without an explanation of the ability, it's easy to misunderstand this power.
At least, Gilgamesh Alter couldn't understand the essence of Takatsuki's ability. He even thought Takatsuki was dodging by relying on speed, and he didn't even use the All-Knowing Star to investigate the essence of the ability Takatsuki was using.
Because the original Gilgamesh was killed by Takatsuki's sudden burst of speed.
"Hmph! Do you think I'm like that Gilgamesh guy!"
Even after fighting for so long, Gilgamesh Alter didn't remove the shields around him, emphasizing his cautious nature.
In his view, Takatsuki's repeated "teleports" without attacking meant that the opponent couldn't break through his defense.
And the reason he didn't act earlier, even watching Iskandar being dealt with by him, was also for this reason.
But he was wrong.
The reason he didn't act earlier was because he had to maintain a combat state to trigger his own recovery effects, while also providing support to Durandal to ensure her magic supply.
Not using the pseudo-teleportation created by King Crimson to dodge his attacks was out of concern that the time-deletion effect might affect Durandal and cause her to be hit by Artoria.
But now...
That battle has ended.
"Hmm? You think so too, don't you…"
Buzz!
In Takatsuki's vision, the world shattered, and silver-white chains passed through his body.
Looking at Gilgamesh Alter a few meters away, Takatsuki walked over leisurely, as if strolling through a garden, and went behind him.
The shields around Gilgamesh Alter were indeed tightly guarded, and even if he could pass through them now, he would be squeezed out once the time deletion ended.
Currently, he could not interact with the material world except for the things already on him from the start, including all matter that entered this time deletion with him.
But it doesn't matter…
The four time deletions were all for this moment.
This was his second time using the Sun Rise Slash, and it was faster than when he fought Phantylia.
Compared to the Blazing Sun Slash, the Sun Rise Slash was very simple and unadorned.
But its destructive power was also incomparable to the Blazing Sun Slash.
Gilgamesh Alter looked at the ground, which was once again pierced by the Chains of Heaven: "Damn it! Why is it so fast! Where did he hide?!"
There was no Mind's Eye, nor was there Instinct.
Gilgamesh Alter couldn't sense the danger behind him at all.
What followed was a slash that tore through three shields and his armor.
The exact same injury as Gilgamesh appeared on Gilgamesh Alter again.
"Na…"
Although Gilgamesh Alter was killed once again, Takatsuki did not let Heaven's Stairway extract his energy this time, after all, he was not facing the original Heroic Spirit, but something corrupted.