The fate of the world was important, but all the servants of one faction needed to die for that to happen, that gives you more than enough time to focus on the reason why you arrived, Roa.
"We're going after Roa Archer, the sooner we deal with him the sooner we can deal with that priest Kotomine. Still we're going to have to wait for a day to find him, as the nights almost over and that serpent tends to only be active during the night." You give a little sigh thinking about that, but trying to find Roa when he was hiding away was nearly impossible for you.
"Master this man Roa stole a portion of your power, correct? Normally I would agree with you, but since he has your power that gives the two of you a strong sympathetic tie, in other words I have several items that could help track him down right now." He finishes with a dazzling smile, you're starting to really like this kid.
"I'm not sure if I'm even surprised anymore, your Gate of Babylon is so convenient, alright let's do this that snake is going down!" you pump your fist in the air exuberantly.
"Here Master this medallion, was crafted by a powerful mage in ages past to find fragments of his power spread all over the world, this should work like a charm to find your enemy." He hands you a golden amulet with odd runic engravings all over its surface.
"Put it around your neck" You do so "Go on open it, that's all you need to activate it." You heed archer's words and behold a small golden and blue miniature world, slowly spinning inside it, you can't help but marvel at this trinket's beauty, at least for a while.
"Uhm, is this all it does, spin around looking pretty?" you note after several minutes of nothing special happening.
Archer merely grins in response "It's scanning the entire world for any source of power tied to your own, it will take a few more minutes to gather all that information, but once its finished all you need to do is think of which location your power is at and the medallion with guide you."
So basically, you needed to wait for a bit, that wasn't too bad considering you were going to have to wait the entire day if you didn't have this option. Still silence wasn't your strong suit and you wanted to ask Gilgamesh a few more things if only to pass the time.
"Gilgamesh servants fight to the death in this Grail War for others but why?" Archer looks at you puzzled for a moment before realization dawns on his face.
"I see, so you don't know, that priest was quite sparse on what he told you huh? The reason why servants compete is because they're also promised a wish by the grail if they win, well that's the reason for most servants but not myself." he gives you a sad smile, that's odd that's the first time you've seen him unhappy.
You give Archer a questioning gaze "What's wrong Gilgamesh" you ask worriedly.
Archer merely looks at you in surprise "Oh I didn't mean to look so down, and it's embarrassing to explain it but I already know so much about you it's only fair…" he pauses here looking like he's gathering his courage "I, My reason for answering your call is because for as long as I can remember I was always praised as a great hero and king, I was worshipped by my people, they revered me but at the same time, it was that worship that stopped them from approaching me." He gives you a hollow smile when he says this.
"I was lonely Master, I felt isolated from everyone else like I was destined to rule at the top alone forever, even in the throne of heroes I felt the same. So, when I heard your call, I could tell we were similar if only in the fact that we both felt isolated and alone for most of our lives, that we both wanted a friend, that's why I'm here." Archer says the last half with a blush on his face, he looks shyly up at you through his long lashes, you stand there stupefied for a second if only because his words struck a chord with you.
It's your turn to blush when you fully digest his words, were you really that lonely? You honestly couldn't tell you've been alone for far too long but when you think about it you really enjoyed spending your time with Len, as if just being around her healed something within you.
You frown at that realization, you were lonely how laughable that the fearsome and powerful White Princess of the True Ancestors could be hurt by something like emotions.
"Master are you alright?" Gilgamesh's question brings you out of your self-depreciation before in can start. You look at him before ruffling his golden locks all over the place "Master, you're making my hair messy." Archer whined in response, seems like even if he is unusually mature he's still a kid.
"Master are we friends yet? I've never had a friend before, so I can't tell." You look down, towards archer's beet red face and smile "Yeah we're friends Gilgamesh." Ruffling his hair even more as boy gives you the most radiant and cheerful smile you've ever seen in centuries, even as he tries to bat your arms ineffectually away from his hair.
Suddenly a susurrus of noise, the chiming of bells, the whisper of a forest and so many other things, ruins the moment.
Looking towards the source, it was the medallion Gilgamesh gave you, what was it doing?
"lt seems the Noble Phantasm is ready" you nod in response, and inside that golden globe you can feel it, see it, your power separated from you was in the town, you want to know where in this town though. As if in response to your thoughts the amulet starts to glow and lightly lifts off you neck, giving light tugs towards what you assume is Roa's location.
"Let's go Gilgamesh, we have a snake to hunt!" Gilgamesh gives a decisive nod as well, while responding to your words "I've never much liked snakes anyways."
59+38(overflow)+15(Gil's help)=112 Crit!
Quickly picking Gilgamesh up in a princess carry, you leap above the rooftops towards the direction the amulet was guiding you, not wanting to waste your time navigating the roads when you could take a straight path to your destination.
"Master I can walk, myself you know!" you ignore his protests, this way you can hunt down Roa all the faster, what you notice is odd though is the strange golden hued bounded field is following your pace, it must be a treasure Gilgamesh deployed instead of some regular mage craft.
With your blistering speed it doesn't even take you more than ten minutes to find where Roa's been hiding, it was a large castle, you were going to turn it into rubble by the time you were done with him.
"Master wait!!!" your servant shouts at you urgently, why was he trying to stop you? You thought he was going to help you with this, you drop him down on the ground as he rushes to explain sensing your impatience. "That's the Black Factions headquarters, your enemy is a member of their faction."
That threw you for a loop, but then again Roa did always tend to choose magi or those with potential for mage craft as his hosts. Still even with multiple servants by his side you weren't going to hesitate, you would still storm this castle, servants or no servants!
"Master, while it's nice to see you so determined, we should do a bit more reconnaissance before we jump in otherwise we'll just dig our own grave, and It just so happens I have just the thing we need." Gilgamesh drops a golden pool out of one of his portals, you look at it with confusion what was it supposed to do?
Your confusion doesn't last long as Gilgamesh merely touches the golden metal surrounding the water, the water suddenly ripples, and you see a vast array of images reflecting upon the shimmering liquid of what you assume to be the inside of the castle while Gilgamesh mutters to himself "It's a woman, it's not a homunculus, no definitely not that sadistic lady even though she's mean, Ahah!" he shouts
"Master I found this Roa you were looking for, here she is, and boy is her head messed up." You look at the pool and see a young girl in a wheelchair, so this was Roa?
Gilgamesh answered even though you didn't ask "This girl here, is the current host of Michael Roa Valdamjong, she is Fiore Forvedge Yggdamellenia the master of Archer of Black as well as Assassin of Black. It seems as if Roa awakened a bit late, as the reason she hasn't been very active is due to the fact the leader of the black faction already had a powerful servant summoned, so she's been very careful not to reveal her activities to him, oh and she doesn't need the wheelchair anymore it's just for show, well that and it's a decent mystic code." Well that explained why there were so few dead apostles, Roa had to sneak around under nearly the whole black factions noses so that slowed his progress significantly but how did he have two servants?
Gilgamesh once again somehow anticipating what you were going to ask answered "It seems she summoned archer regularly and acquired assassin from a rogue element of the black faction during one of her hunts and quite recently too. She was hesitant in making any waves, since she wasn't confident enough that she could subvert the black faction under it's leaders nose fast enough, although with assassin that soon might change." Now that was bad, the thought of Roa with a whole faction of servants sent shivers down your spine, and not the good kind either.
"This isn't going to be easy then will it Archer?" He looks at you at shakes his head "It won't be master, but this can't be allowed to continue either. Two madmen attempting to subvert both factions what a headache. It's even worse because you can't kill the black factions servants." He gives a tired sigh.
"Why can't we kill the black servants?" Gilgamesh looks at the castle looming in the distance, then back towards you "If we kill all the black servants or even weaken them that just makes Kotomine's world ending wish that much easier to obtain, in fact killing the black faction will only serve to help him."
"Ehehe, I kind of forgot about that, now that I think about it isn't this even worse than I first thought? I mean how am I supposed to get to Roa if I can't kill the servants protecting him?" you give a nervous laugh at how bad the situation seems.
"Don't worry master I already have a plan. Or well it's in fact the plan I was going to go with in regards to the black faction anyways, we steal the servants instead of killing them." You look towards Gilgamesh as suddenly an oddly shaped knife and golden ring fall from his gate "Master meet Rule Breaker and a nameless prototype for Solomon's ring, these two Noble Phantasms in conjunction will allow you to break a servant's contract then highjack the command seal from the master, effectively allowing you to steal servants." Gilgamesh gave you a smug look before continuing.
"First use the Knife Rule Breaker on the servant that will disrupt the connection between master and servant leaving the bond vulnerable to interference, this is where the ring will come into play, merely press the ring on an enemy's command seals for a few moments while desiring to have their seals and they will become yours just like that." Gilgamesh's mouth was running a mile a minute, it was only through your superior senses that you were able to keep up with his excited pace.
"All right then what are we waiting for, we've got a snake to skin!" Your servant once again interrupts your charge with his words "Master shouldn't we wait for nightfall? It's already dawn and while I admit I'm somewhat worried what Roa can get up to with a new servant by his side, you'll be at a lot less risk and have an easier time subduing the servants if we fight at night."
This kid, even though he looks that young he's probably the wisest even if not the most knowledgeable person you've ever met, that title goes to uncle Zelretch. He's right though, but he said even he was worried about Roa's machinations, could you afford to wait even though it would help guarantee your victory? Again, Gilgamesh lays a hard decision on your lap, you're starting to wonder if this will become a habit of his.
"All right Archer, here's what we'll do…"
What does Arcueid decide to do?
[] Wait until nightfall to storm Yggdamellenia's castle although this gives more time for Roa to plot, your chances of victory rise with your strength.
[] Storm the castle now! Roa cannot be allowed to exist for a second longer than he must!
A/N: Finished the chapter, I wonder how many were expecting this? After all I left a few hints, maybe people thought I would make Roa an OC? I personally dislike making OCS, especially if canon characters will make it more interesting. So Fiore is Roa and Gilgamesh once more shows his omniscient capabilities, he so broken, I was thinking of making this story a huge mystery with so many angles but Gil's just tearing through the veil like its wet tissue paper.
