[X] Reliving that battle of the plaza; the new meeting between friends should echo that of the first
It was obvious really, there was only one thing for these two friends and equals to do now that they were reunited once again. The first meeting of the present should reflect the first meeting in the past, echoing across time for all the world to recognize. With reckless abandon and jubilation, both Gilgamesh and Enkidu prepared to fight, to relive the single moment that started their everlasting friendship.
Enkidu spread his arms out wide, and sang with joy and ferality; the world itself singing alongside him. The earth trembled and quaked, the skies churned and roared; and all throughout the city, the people mindlessly fled, driven by the most primal and instinctual of fears. The fear one feels when confined with a predator, the looming sense of inevitable death at the hands of something stronger; of being the insignificant prey to the vastly superior hunter. Enkidu's song brought forth that feeling in everyone who heard it, yourself included.
Yet, there was also an absolute joy within it as well, a instinctual feeling of longing and love; of finding that which you cherished most once more and basking in the euphoria of reuniting with it once again. It was only that combined with your determination to not back down and flee that kept you there. As Enkindu sang and roared, Gilgamesh opened the Gate of Babylon and pulled forth something from it, tossing it at you. When you caught it, it turned out to be a bundle of cloth wrapped around what you knew to be Bab-ilu, the key to the king's treasury.
"Hold onto to those for now, Hakuno. I have no need of either of them, the key is pointless and the garment is distasteful. However, you may use them to shield yourself from the repercussions of our glorious battle. You are only human, after all, and not even the gods would be able to withstand the aftershocks of what is to come. Either wear the vestments or get away using the key, or else you'll die in an instant."
That was rather considerate of him, giving you something to pro-wait. Was he going to start fighting
right now? Shouldn't they move somewhere else before starting?! Sure, nobody's here anymore because of Enkidu, but that doesn't mean they should so casually destroy peoples' homes!
Before you could even protest further though, Gilgamesh vanished into a golden ripple that opened beneath him. You looked frantically around for him all over, and it was only when you looked to the sky that you found where he went. For up in the distance, there was but a faint speck of gold, growing bigger as it came down from on high.
You immediately put on the clothes Gilgamesh gave you and grasped the key tightly, preparing for the worst.
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He descended from the skies, as befitting of one of his greatness and stature. The King of Heroes dove straight down at his enemy, at his friend, at his equal. As he fell, he withdrew the greatest of his weapons within his vault; Ea, the Sword of Rupture. The tool of the gods used for the act of genesis, the falling star that divided heaven and earth to make the world. A weapon that rarely saw the light of day or the field of battle, for so few were worthy of facing it's power in the King's eyes.
Save for the one below, the one he was fighting at this very moment; the one he declared as his equal, the one who was his first and truest friend.
There was no pride in this act, none of the haughtiness or arrogance that was expected of the mighty Gilgamesh. Nay; there was only the glee and satisfaction of being able to face his brother in arms, Enkidu, in venerable combat once again. The blade began to glow, churning and rumbling as power flooded into it; power capable of rending the world, a strike that would herald only the end.
A strike that was but a greeting and gesture of joyous reunion to the two. Even as the skies were being compressed into the blade, neither saw it as anything more than the starting signal of their glorious battle.
Gilgamesh grinned, and gleefully cried out, "Awaken, Ea! And sing with all your heart!"
The blade erupted, spinning and churning even faster; glowing even brighter as more and more it compressed and ate at the wind, the sky, and even space itself. Reality straining under the inescapable void devouring everything around it. Gilgamesh flipped in freefall, adjusting the sword in his hand and pointing it directly at his friend below. With a mighty bellow, he cried out-
"
ENUMA..........
ELISH!"
Reality fractured; the ever-growing fissure that was consuming the very world itself erupted at that very moment, consuming the sky and earth and rending it into oblivion. The earth was naught but crumbling clay and sand, and the heavens but fragile paper being torn asunder by this omnipotent force. All of it was shredded and blended into an incomprehensible mess, an inexorable mass of what once was the world; but could only be called hell now.
It was the 'Truth', the reality of what the world was before it was truly the world; and it was horrifying. It was nothing but oblivion and death. And still it descended onward towards it's intended target, the sword and it's wielder looking exactly like the star from heaven that it was; dividing heaven and earth as it fell...
...But Enkidu was not afraid, even facing this absolute oblivion he stood firm; arms wide as if accepting a loving embrace, all the while a smile of absolute wonder and remembrance on his face. Yes, this was the strength of his friend; this was the full force of the King of Heroes, of his equal - Gilgamesh.
He drew his arms back, and called out to the world.
'I am the weapon, use me to your heart's content'.
And, faced with it's oncoming death,
the world answered. Power flooded Enkidu's body as both Gaia and Alaya heeded the call, an endless torrent of mana that rose up and confronted the void that was consuming it. Like a tornado, it whirled and roared with reckless abandon, and dove right into the void. Enkidu brought his hands forward, clasping his hands together and cried out-
"
ENUMA..........
ELISH!"
What was torn apart was stitched together, what was blended into nothingness was pulled back into form; the heaven and earth that were separated was connected together once again. The hell of genesis was confronted with the ember of life that created paradise. For even if the world was hell and the gods made it as such, then man would confront it regardless and make it into paradise.
The divine weapons clashed at one another; the Sword of Separation against the Spear of Binding, that which tore apart against that which wove together. Equal and opposite, neither was the superior, even as both brought their full power to bear.
Eventually, the calamity ended. The two forces exhausted one another and brought a close to their efforts; the world was destroyed, the world was created. The world was torn apart, the world was stitched together. It was an endless cycle until both spear and sword expelled all their power and could not carry on any further. The world was calm once more.
Though the damage was done; the entire city of Trifas was no more, blown away to oblivion by the mere echoes and aftershocks of the calamity that took place above it. Nay, the entire landscape as far as they eye could see in any direction was obliterated; rendered into a gaping scorched crater of glass. Even the hill upon which the citadel of the lords of the area was marred by the aftereffects - a charred pitch black that no fire divine or mortal could create.
It was a conflux of power and might that even the greatest of heroes would be proud to call their final clash. But to these two, it was but the beginning.
Indeed, even as the smoke cleared and the clash ended, the sky immediately shone gold from horizon to horizon; endless weapons without peer erupting forth. And among them was the golden King of Heroes, perched atop a magnificent flying vessel that even gods would envy. With but a move of his hands the weapons all aimed themselves at one target, and fired.
And on the ground, Enkidu merely grinned savagely, and from his flesh erupted weapons of his own to match them. Weapons of man and weapons of beasts; spines and spears, fangs and swords, axes and claws, all confronted the endless armory of his friend and brother. And they were equal to the infinite Noble Phantasms of the King; swords of flame clashed with spines of ice, axes of gods met claws of demons, and blades that erupted with the force of elements met their equals and opposites cast from the flesh of the Divine Weapon of the Gods. All the while, wings erupted from his back; and he, mighty Enkidu, strode forth to confront glorious Gilgamesh face to face.
What soon came after, was a battle that none who bore witness could forget, nor could they recognize it as nothing but the greatest battle ever experienced in human history.
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Within their citadel, the Yggdmillennia and their Servants quivered in fear; bearing witness to the unimaginable might that occurred right before their doorstep. The magi quailed as they desperately tried to comprehend what just happened, as they tried to understand just
how something could have brought forth that much power. The fact that it was a clash between Servants needn't be said, but even then it was incomprehensible; for what Servants could be
that powerful? Had they not called upon the greatest of Heroic Spirits they could? Had they not retrieved the finest catalysts for the best possible candidates of Servants.
Among them was the hero of Transylvania himself, Vlad III of Wallachia; who equaled might Herakles and noble King Arthur in his domain. Also on their side was the wise Chiron, trainer of countless heroes who's knowledge and wisdom couldn't be matched. And, known only to their leaders, there was also the stalwart and noble Siegfried; slayer of dragons who was nigh-invincible and who bore transcendent skill with a sword. Even the lessers of their side were great: Astolfo, who's steed was the noble hippogriff; Frankenstein, who was an unyeilding machine that never stopped; and Avciebron, crafter of golems who was capable of recreating Adam himself.
And yet...what they all just witnessed was beyond any of those heroes; Chiron could not work out a strategy to overcome it, Seigfried and Vlad the Impaler paled vastly in comparison despite how powerful they already were, and there was no thaumaturgy in the world that Avciebron could concieve of that would even come close to stopping it. And if even the great Heroic Spirits of legend couldn't find a way, what hope did their Masters, mere mortal magi have of doing so?
Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, clan head of the Yggdmillennia and leader of the Black Faction, felt true and absolute fear for the first time in ages. He had prepared for the Clocktower's retaliation against his actions, he had prepared for the oncoming clash of Servants in this Great Holy Grail War. But he hadn't prepared for...
this. How could he? How could anyone prepare for a force of that magnitude, something that could even bring down the terrible Dead Apostle Ancestors with a
single strike?
The other masters were already a wreck; Caules and Gordes were switching back and forth between catatonic and gibbering wrecks, Fiore and Roche were pale and just shy of a complete nervous breakdown, and even Celenike was shaking in fear. What they all saw, the power they bore witness to, it evoked the most basic and primal of fears within them. Something ingrained into the very nature of mankind itself; that of oblivion, of the absolute and unavoidable end of things, that no one can fight off or escape from.
Eventually, it was Avciebron; Caster of Black, who broke the silence. "Trifas is gone, completely obliterated into nothingness. Everything in a...20 km radius is gone, the citadel's defenses and position is the only thing that kept it from being destroyed alongside the city. Even then; the defenses are obliterated, the golems outside the castle destroyed, and the citadel itself is just shy of falling to pieces. All that's there are two beings that I can only believe are Servants, and they're
still fighting. Whatever they just did was just the...
beginning of their fight."
Darnic paled even further, and shivered in fright; for it seemed that he had vastly underestimated what he had unleashed with this Holy Grail War...
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On the outside, Shirou was calm, but inside it was two steps away form a complete mental breakdown. The fact that the Grail had changed the rules on him wasn't bad enough; no, it had to make things worse by deciding to
remove any semblance of subtlety or tact in the entire Grail War. He had to work double time, using his abilities as Ruler to make sure the Red Masters were still as pliable as he wanted so he can eventually claim their Servants as his. He'd already written off trying to hide this from the public, it was impossible; no amount of pull from the Church or the Association will be able to hide this. It was simple on too large of a scale to be written off no matter how its spun.
He was also planning to accelerate the creation of Assassin's Hanging Gardens, the fortress was to vital to his plans and
needed to be completed before this new factor in the war ruined everything. He managed to talk Semiramis into allowing Caster to use his Enchantment skill to help speed things up, though he could tell that she was just as rattled as he was and desperately wanted her Noble Phantasm up and running ASAP. Even if it meant dealing with Shakespeare more than she wanted to.
Speaking of Shakespeare, it was at this very moment that he rushed right in, frantic and with obvious fright in his eyes. "Oh alas, he'll not budge an inch. No matter how hard I tried to reason with him, he would not stop! Forgive me Master, but Berserker is rushing straight towards the devestation of Trifas. No matter how hard I tried to steer him towards our enemies of Black, he would not listen! He rushes headlong into his doom; oh, the common curse of mankind, - folly and ignorance! Oh, now is the winter of our discontent..."
Shirou jolted to a stop, one though running through his mind as he moved even faster to accelerate his plans; 'God...
dammit..."
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Your mind was completely numb, blank to what it just witness. No, not blank, just impossibly trying to comprehend what you just witnessed. True, you've seen Gilgamesh use his Noble Phantasm plenty of times by now, but seeing it clash against Enkidu's was...
unreal. You don't think any mortal mind was meant to grasp or comprehend it. You're not sure you even wanted to.
You looked around you, seeing nothing but desolate waste and glassed earth around you. Wait, was that...it was; that was definitely someone off in the distance, blonde with a battle flag in her hands. You didn't believe it was possible for someone else to survive that; yourself only surviving due to the Noble Phantasm Gilgamesh gave you. But for her to survive, meant that she was also a Servant and that the flag was her Noble Phantasm.
You looked back to the skies, seeing nothing but gold and explosions as the endless barrage of weapons from the two of them clashed as they soared against each other in the skies; moving far too fast for you to see anything save the brief momentary clashes that lasted more than an instant and the explosions from their Noble Phantasms colliding with one another. Though far less destructive than the cataclysm that came before, the sky was still nothing but a chaotic mess of destruction stretching from horizon to horizon.
It's obvious that this fight is still just at its beginnings and wasn't going to stop anytime soon. With that in mind, you decide to...
[X] Move towards the blonde Servant, see what's up with her
[X] Just keep watching the fight, moving along with it as necessary
[X] Go see how the castle on its last legs is doing, maybe even loot it
[X] Hmm, was that a gray speck in the distance you saw?
[X] Write-in
