The egg cracked open.
"Oh dear, what now?"
"Now we have to hit that thing with all the might we have."
"What thing?"
A loud roar could be heard. Out of its primordial home, a creature emerged. It had eight heads and eight tails, and an enormous body, covered in mushrooms and moss with a blood red belly.
"That's... that's the great monster from Japanese mythology..."
"Yamata no Orochi."
"No, not just that... it's..."
Before Gilgamesh could finish speaking, the beast attacked, trying to eat them all in one bite.
Galter summoned a huge cleaver and sliced his head in half, same as Nero and Saber.
"Stop, you fools!"
"What do you mean, Archer?"
"That thing is no mere monster... it's a Beast candidate... its Saint Graph has multiple creatures fused in, like the Hydra and the kulshedra... that's..."
"A dragon."
"In short terms, yes."
The dragon's heads that were cut regrew, doubling.
"Well this seems like a problem."
"Galter, leave Salter down and target his body. Saber, hit his legs. Nero, cut his heads as quickly as possible, and Jalter, use your dragon to burn the severed heads and the headless necks."
"Sure thing, Big Bro."
Galter said as he released a full arsenal and kept the creature occupied with his cover fire.
Artoria avoided two heads charging at her and fired a mini-Excalibur at one of the front legs. Orochi stumbled as Nero used one of the heads on the ground to climb up the neck and chop it off. The other heads faced her.
"He's about to spit fire. Cover her, you two!"
"You're being so loud..."
Jalter complained while summoning Fafnir and using him to burn the neck and releasing her own flames, while Galter created a drone strike. Gaining back her balance after the explosion, Nero moved to another target. Orochi tried to retaliate, but he suddenly slumped to the ground as Saber removed one of his legs completely.
Their progress continued steadily for the next two heads. However, just as Nero was slicing through the fourth head, Saber was about to target the hind leg when a big gash on her chest opened up, releasing a large amount of blood and stopping her movement immediately.
"I thought Avalon had healed me up completely... damn it... it seems like I still don't have complete control..."
Seeing an opening, the monster shaked off Nero and attempted to eat her, only to be stopped by Jalter and Fafnir. Meanwhile, the other heads were kept occupied by Galter, but what the others hadn't accounted for were the tails.
"Saber, watch out!"
All eight pointed tails tried to stab her. Moving quickly, a recovering Salter managed to use Blast Air to stop most of them, but two made it through.
Despite stopping the first, Artoria's movements were too slow, and the second one was fated to hit her. Blood splattered on her face. Her eyes widened.
"Archer..."
Saber whispered in disbelief as Gilgamesh stood in front of her, having been stabbed by the sharp tail. The creature's powerful poison quickly spread in his body, causing even more bleeding.
"Damn it all... come on, you useless thing... if you don't obey me... what even is your purpose?"
The King of Heroes gritted his teeth as the dragon lifted him up, ready to snack on him and absorb all his energy. He took no notice of it. Instead, he tried to visualise his treasury, in all its immense size and splendor. Then he thought of every single weapon he possessed, every prototype of every Noble Phantasm, just sitting there.
Having closed down the gate and being unable to reopen it with his key, Gilgamesh figured that the natural course of action was to pry it open by force. Using all of his strength, he believed he could control the weapons inside his armoury. And since to dare is to do, it might as well have been true.
And so he concentrated their flight in one specific point, right as he felt Orochi's poisoned breath on his skin. Just then, the monster cried out in pain as a golden light pierced through his abdomen.
"Excalibur!"
Moving around, trying to squash those annoying pests, the creature wasted precious time, as more and more weapons pushed and pushed as hard as possible on the imaginary wall that separated the King from his treasure.
"Come on... you belong to me... you are part of me... don't think I'd let you go so easily... don't even think for a second of going anywhere... you are mine... I am... your king..."
The fangs of the beast were about to pierce him and hack him into pieces.
"Archer!"
"Big Bro!"
"Goldie!"
"I am... your... KING!"
Answering his order, the Gate of Babylon burst open in an unstoppable wave of weapons that easily cleaved through all heads of the creature. Separating himself from the tail, Gilgamesh started crashing down, before Galter's flying mattress broke his fall.
"You did it, Big Bro! You're awesome!"
"It's not over, mongrel... burn them..."
The body of the creature suddenly sprang back into action as the necks started to regrow slowly. However, before the monster could completely get back up, a sound akin to a million fireworks echoed through the battlefield.
"BRAHMASTRA KUNDALA!"
A fiery spear passed by in a split second, igniting Orochi's upper body as the dragon wriggled in pain before crashing down, finally defeated.
"Who the hell was that?"
They all turned around and saw Karna, alive and well, as he called back his spear and got closer.
"Consider my debt repaid, King of Heroes."
"I'd say that more than works."
"Debt?"
"Oh, yeah, sorry guys, I left him alive. I healed him up just enough so that he could survive, but I never imagined he could recover so quickly... though it's a good thing you did."
"Oh, by the way, I also left Sasakin alive."
"I didn't kill Musashi either."
"I thought I killed that old geezer, but he has some weird curse, and I couldn't be bothered to keep trying."
"So basically, only us two killed our opponents?"
"No... I let... the kid live... I should probably summon my Potion of Youth before I end up dying..."
"Oh, ok... so I guess I'm the only asshole here..."
"Exactly, you witch."
"You damn dog! How was I supposed to know about this unspoken and improvised rule?!"
"Don't worry, old man Atharvan is pretty tough. See, he's already back."
"What?"
Behind Jalter, Atharvan was once again floating and praying.
"Wait, since when are you here? Why didn't you help us when we needed you?"
"..."
"Answer me, you creepy priest!"
"... learn some manners, young lady."
"Just drop dead already!"
"More importantly, Karna, why did you help us, even though because of us, you might never see your brother again?"
"Well, it's only natural for me to help those in need. No matter the circumstances, if someone could use a hand, I will never refrain from being the person who does that. That's who I am. I'm the Hero of Charity."
"I see, you certainly showed it... but now, what will you guys do?"
"I don't know..."
"Karna, the Hero of Charity, can you hear me? That was a rhetorical question. I know you can, same for the rest of you. Stay here and, once your allies fully recover, follow that path that I just created. As for you, party of heroes that wants to rescue Mordred, follow this other path. If you don't, your loved ones will pay. Good luck."
"Well, it doesn't seem like I have a choice. I don't suppose you can stay here for much longer. Thank you for sparing us, now that we're no longer enemies, I hope fate will make us meet once more and fight side by side as allies."
"We can only hope so."
"Thank you for rescuing us!"
"Just one more thing... as a favour to repay your allies' debt, I request a parting gift from your group."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because I'm the King. And I've grown quite used to receiving them by now."
"Well, I'm sure old man Atharvan can give you something."
"... such a hassle..."
Atharvan moved closer, returing with his feet on the ground, as he started clapping and chanting.
"Bring hither by thy shouts, O lord of wealth, the suitor, bend his mind towards her;
turn thou the attention of every agreeable suitor towards her!"
A golden ring with a ruby and several other precious stones appeared in Gilgamesh's hand.
"An auspicious gift to your future bride. If your love for her is true and honest, and if hers is of the same nature, then your souls shall be bound together as if they were one, and you'll find each other even in total darkness, even a world apart."
"Mmm, a fitting gift for a king like me, and for the woman lucky enough to be my wife..."
"Don't even think about it. We're both covered in blood right now."
"Shall I help you clean up?"
"Ugh, I'm going to throw up."
"Well, now that it's sorted, I bid all of you mongrels farewell, may luck be with you."
"Yeah, same for you."
Gilgamesh's group departed by foot in the direction indicated to them by Alaya.
After a while, they stopped to rest up a bit.
"Hey, idiot."
"Yes, Salter?"
"You really have to call me that stupid name when we're alone?"
"Practice makes perfect."
"Whatever... thanks for carrying me before."
"No problem, and sorry for my comment, it was just nonsense I spewed in the heat of the moment: you're actually pretty light."
"Ah, so my guess on what you said was right."
"Ops... busted..."
"Anyway, to return the favour, you can have this..."
"... wow, if I didn't know you, I'd say you were giving me a gift."
"That's what I'm doing, moron! Now take it, before I change my mind."
"Better be fast then... let's see... hehe, a snake, how funny, that's exactly the kind of gift I expected from you."
"Do... do... you like it?"
"Yes, of course, quite a lot! This is a perfect coincidence! Your necklace will pair up perfectly with the snake-themed bracelet Jalter gave me."
"That bitch!"
"I see... so you don't need mine..."
"Huh? Why would you say that? I do have a use for it... you see, this one goes on my arm, and this one on my neck... so now, you two are both close and connected to my heart... and to my mind."
"But... it's not..."
"Special? Do you really think so lowly of me? Artoria, everything you give me is special, because it comes from you, and I know that whatever you say or do, you mean it... this is an honest and pure gift, and therefore, there's no way I wouldn't find it special."
"..."
"Mm? Are you ok, Salter? You seem to have a fever."
"What would make you think that, stupid?"
"Your cheeks are all red. Let me see if you're hot... ow, ow, ow, not the ears, Jalter."
"We don't have time to waste on stupid things like this. Let's focus on what truly counts."
"So I guess we're not going to focus on you."
"You damn dog! I'll show you."
"Yeah, show me what a loser you are!"
While this was happening, Saber felt a hand on her shoulder.
"You're in pain, aren't you, Saber?"
"Archer..."
"I see it was a mistake, giving you the Potion of Youth without considering the particular structure and makeup of your body... let me see."
"No, there's no need."
"I insist, I need you to remove your armour so I can apply a healing lotion on you."
"I said I don't need it, Archer! Leave me alone, your pathetic attempts-"
"I'm not trying to do anything, I swear on my honour as King. I just want to treat you. I'm only trying to make you feel better because I don't see why you should be in pain when I have the resources to help you."
"... fine, but if you make any weird move-"
"I know."
Artoria made her armour disappear, leaving her in her typical blue dress. Through its fabric, Gilgamesh could see the mark of the cut that she had received. Putting some of the lotion on his hand, he started to slowly put it on Artoria's shoulder, and it immediately penetrated through the vest. He moved his hand, following the trajectory of the strike, until just before he reached a point that would make Saber uncomfortable.
Then, he lifted his hand and moved to the other shoulder, repeating the same motion. He then pulled out bandages and began to wrap them around her wound.
"I can bandage myself without your assistance."
"I doubt that."
"What do you- what kind of game are you playing, Archer?"
"I'm just saying that you might be capable, but I doubt you'd do a good job. Tell me, Saber, you've just now realised that you have another cut on your side, right?"
"..."
"Just as I suspected... to be so used to pain that you can just ignore your wounds... I can't imagine what you could have been through that made you this way... this used to suffering..."
"Archer... this is so unlike him... I don't understand... the man I knew... perhaps, he really did change... after all, I did too... how does that concern you?"
"It concerns me to see you in this state, Saber. And I'd like to know why you're like this."
"You would already know if you didn't just laugh in my face during our banquet and listened to what I was saying..."
"... you're right, that was my fault... but I'm glad you seem to have abandoned that mentality and stopped walking the path of the idol figure..."
"I didn't abandon anything, Archer. I just accepted that my ideals are something I need to tend to, not an objective I must achieve, but a reference, a compass to my actions, an aspiration. I may not be perfect, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't strive to be, even if it's unobtainable... if I abandoned my ideals, Archer, I wouldn't be me, I would be lost, I would be... nothing. I am those ideals, and those ideals are part of me. That's just how it will always be."
"... I see... you're as stubborn as ever, Saber."
"And you're as brazen as ever, Archer."
"I'm merely helping..."
"I doubt I truly needed this many layers of bandages..."
"You can never be too sure... and honestly... I'm not that good at bandaging."
"I can see that, hehe... but thank you, Gilgamesh."
"Just doing what I can, Artoria."
"Come on, we don't know how much more time we'll have to follow this road."
"You're right, though I hope it's enough time for me to enunciate every thing I like about y-"
"No."
"Damn it!"
Meanwhile, in a place outside of space and time...
"Well, I'm going for a walk."
Gaia jumped up the sofa and started stretching.
"Are you sure?"
"They're just walking for now. By the way, do you really think that was a good idea?"
"If I hadn't done anything, those two groups would probably have teamed up, and that would have been pretty boring, don't you think?"
"Yeah, superboring, 10/10 boring, boring with a capital B, a capital O, a capital R, a-"
"Ok, I get it... good lord... at least try to cover up decently..."
"What's the matter? Don't you like my body~"
"Even if I did, it's not like-"
"Ew, what a perverted companion I have."
"Don't try to pass the blame to me!"
"Well, I'm going to run a bit in the nearby forest, without all these clothes... maybe there's even a natural hotspot... anyway, if you don't want to take a peek, I'll see you later~ ... also, make me toast, please."
"You're always eating... are eating and stripping the only things you can do?"
"No, I can also throw tantrums, but I figure you don't want to see that, right, Alaya?"
"Most surely..."
"Ok, bye~"
"Damn Gaia... always making me do her chores while she relaxes... well, good thing those guys can't see the truth, otherwise... we'd be screwed if they knew we don't have any prisoners here. Not anymore at least... all because of that damn wizard..."