Chapter 38: Very Close Victory

When the sun had set and the darkness of night had enveloped the city, Ray assembled his gang and was ready to challenge the unarguably most difficult opponent in this war. With him are four thousand Elite Wraith which are not only ten times stronger than average Wraiths in stats, they also have more abilities.

Common Wraiths only have Ghostly Aura that debuff their opponent when attack hits and Devour which allows the Wraiths to eat the souls of their enemies to heal and strengthen themselves and eventually upgrade high enough to develop intelligence. Along with Wraiths universal abilities such as Possession to possess their opponent, Spiritual Body which made them immune to physical and most elemental attacks and finally Astral Realm Walker that allow them to enter special dimension that overlap with material world but the material world cannot interact with the Astral Realm.

The Elite have not only better intelligence. But a skill set to lead a small group of Wraiths. They can lead a group of ten Wraiths lower or similar rank than them. Then able to buff their group and sacrifice their minion to survive by substitution when hit by a fatal attack.

His goal is to end the war as soon as possible and he does not fear anyone but Gilgamesh with his current team composition. The others wouldn't dare to interfere and probably sit on fences like vultures, especially Kayneth. Kariya would definitely thank him for killing Tokiomi and he can even butter up Kariya by saving Sakura which is in his capability since that old fossil is easy as heck to kill after he discovers the worms that can revive him once killed. Rider would accept if Ray offered to fight him after dealing with Archer and his Master.

Saber is in her black gothic dress without her sword and armor but she can summon them in a heartbeat. Charlotte is equipped with the sword her beloved master handcrafted for her and Ghost King Blade on her dominant hand. Tanya rolled on her usual outfit with the usual load out of rifle and various accessories meant to step up her spell power and mana pool. Looking at everyone, Ray nodded with satisfaction and created a portal.

"Let's go! We are storming their front gate. Saber, you use your noble phantasm immediately. Charlotte, you stay hidden and try to assassinate Tokiomi while Saber and I are distracting Gilgamesh. Hopefully he underestimated us and didn't use Shub Naqba Imuru to peek into the future. Tanya you will fly there with the hostages." Ray refreshes the battle plan before the portal finishes forming. "Any question?"

"No need to worry too much master. My Dragon Reactor Core and your mana from that chess thing, I am near unstoppable. I can launch a hundred of my noble phantasms and still have more mana to spare." Saber couldn't help but want to chastise her master who worried too much simply because their opponent is Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes. "Just put your trust in your knight to return victoriously in your name, master" Saber said while tapping Ray's shoulder to reassure him. "Also don't forget your promise to upgrade the quality of my food." Saber suddenly remembered and exasperatedly reminded her master lest he dare to play tricks on him.

"Who do you think I am? I will definitely keep my word." Ray felt offended that Saber thought of him like that.

"A cheapskate that cuts corners on my food." Saber said without hesitation

"Bullshit! In one day you eat enough food to feed the entire starving population of the African continent. Do you have an idea how much I went in order to even afford money to buy the ingredients to feed you, you ungrateful Servant. Try to survive the harsh reality of the world and earn your own bread on the table and then you can call me cheapskate." Ray immediately gets triggered by the slander that Saber spouts out her mouth.

"Enough you two. Are we going to attack or waste our time bickering?" Tanya quickly diffuses the situation and brings it back to the track after it unexpectedly got derailed.

Saber didn't continue out of respect to the Lady of the Lord she is serving. Also what Ray said makes sense as earning money isn't easy unlike her time period where she is the King and everything is served to her if she desires. She nodded and stopped bickering with Ray. Ray also shut his mouth and looked away from Tanya's glare. Ray is in control of everything except on bed because a half step wizard in his previous life means he has no experience while Tanya somehow is talented and very natural that she easily dominates the pace if she wanted. If he wants to preserve his dignity on the bed, better not offend the lioness that holds every little grudge extremely well. At least every favor and affection is rewarded well.

Seeing everyone ready, Ray told Saber to charge her noble phantasm and release it upon arrival. Then he tears open the space and time to bridge the location to create a shortcut.

"Come on! Tri Formation Array." Ray instantly opened the portal and summoned his rifles and jumped through the portal.

On the other side of the portal.

Annihilation Tactic - Explosive spell. x73

"Excalibur Morgan!"

*CRASH* *BOOM*

Sparing no effort, Ray and Saber unleashed everything they had on the mansion of Tohsaka. The explosion was so grand that its sound was heard dozens of miles away and the beam from Saber's noble phantasm exploded into the heavens and cleared the dust on the impact zone.

"Hmph! Mongrels dare to enter my garden and wreak havoc. Die!" Weapons coated with golden aura and shiny as if just polished, flew down from the sky and aimed at Ray.

Ray easily adjusts his position and flies a little to the left to evade all the weapons flying toward him.

"Mongrel?" Ray smirked and looked at the sky provokingly. "This lowly ones do not dare to claim as the mongrel in front of the King of Mongrel himself." Ray bowed respectfully in Chinese etiquette when greeting a senior. "No one between heaven and earth is more worthy of this title than this distinguished one." He mocked before looking at the floating golden ship in the sky.

The golden king in his imposing golden armor sat on his golden throne while drinking wine and accompanied by his Master. Vein immediately popped up and he smashed his goblet before looking at Ray like he is the person that exterminated his entire bloodline.

"What? Can't even handle the truth yet dare to call another mongrel when you are history's first and only mongrel, O KIng of Mongrel." Ray continues to taunt Gilgamesh in hope to capture his full attention.

"You! Mere lowly human. You normally don't worth taking out my treasures. However, an outsider dare enter this world. I wonder why it hasn't sent its guardian to clean this place up."

'Oh shit, he knew!' Ray panicked when Gilgamesh casually revealed his identity. 'To think he actually didn't underestimate me and actively kept tabs on me. No wonder he broke the script last time.' Ray thought Gilgamesh used his clairvoyant noble phantasm on him but actually didn't. Instead Tokiomi simply summoned him early and sensed Ray's arrival and simply used a small portion of his noble phantasm to view Ray as such ability have large drawback befitting its capability to look into the future, all the way till the end of time or to the Land of Steel period where human civilization ends.

"Not good. Not good at all. Saber, go all out now. No need to wait." Ray ordered before Trace her sword, the blackened Excalibur.

"Excalibur Morgan!" x2

Two dark beams appeared and cleaved everything on its path before they were directed at the golden king.

"Tch, imprudent ants." Gilgamesh opens a golden gate and the weapon Ray feared the most appeared and its three columns rotate to produce crimson winds that carry primordial forces that tear the very foundation of space apart to open a void.

"It seems he isn't holding back either." Ray cursed when sees Gilgamesh didn't even hesitate to draw out Ea, the Sword of Rupture while in a daze.

"Stay back, master. You cannot resist those winds." Saber grabbed Ray's collar and pulled him away before activating Mana Burst to scatter those winds with a slash.

"Sorry." Ray apologized before composing himself. He went into a daze when seeing the Sword of Rupture and he couldn't suppress his greed to obtain it. If he has Ea, there is little opponent he doesn't dare to fight against.

"Fighting Gilgamesh in range is incredibly disadvantageous to us." After all, Gilgamesh is Archer and his vault gives him endless projectiles to use against Ray and Saber. 'However, Gilgamesh is a treasure collector instead of a weapon master. Unlike you, he will not win against you in skill and could only compensate with strong weapons.' Ray flies higher with the Flight spell and switches to telepathy communication. 'I'll find a way to force him down to the ground for you to fight. Corner and kill him as fast as possible.'

"Time Alter - Triple Accel." Ray casted on himself and felt an acute pain as his body accelerated all bodily functions by thrice. It's burdening but still manageable after reinforcing his internal body. As for his mind, it can handle the sudden increase of information without any issue although Tranquil Mind is needed to mitigate his inadequate pain tolerance.

Ray casted Optical Decoy to buy him time while casting Artillery Shot spell. Meanwhile, Gilgamesh holds his action and allows Ray to finish his move. He didn't know why but it's beneficial to him.

Once he was within 20 meters range from Gilgamesh, the rifles behind Ray fired salvo of spells which hit Gilgamesh but did almost no damage. The proud king smirked at Ray for his futile effort. After all, the armor he wore is a treasure that is resistant to magic.

"Fucking hax pay to win whale. Fight me without your treasures if you dare." Ray cursed after his attempt results with nothing. He however, has yet to give up and move to the next step and Trace Gae Bolg and throw it at Gilgamesh then Black Excalibur, all within the time span of a few breaths.

Gilgamesh easily evades Gae Bolg as his luck is beyond chart. Meanwhile Excalibur was deflected again by Ea's wind. If this continues to keep up, he is bound to fail once Gilgamesh's patience runs out.

———

Tanya, who finally reached the edge of the battle, quickly finds Tokiomi when Ray, indeed unable to fight Gilgamesh, decides to have an aerial battle instead of on the ground. Charlotte is also unable to find an opportunity to kill Tokiomi because Gilgamesh is very close to Vimana.

"Tokiomi Tohsaka!" Tanya shouted after landing on top of a building nearby where Tokiomi could easily see her. "I have your wife and daughter hostage. Order Archer to suicide with all your Command Seals or I kill them." Tanya huffed a little while threatening Tokiomi because she is slightly exhausted from flying at top speed with two luggage on tow.

Tokiomi is busy spectating his servant and the man claimed as Caster fighting to death when he suddenly hears his wife and daughter will be killed. He immediately turned his head to the source of the voice to see the person indeed had both of his loved ones as hostage and held at gunpoint. He hesitated as this war guaranteed his victory and he could finally realize his ancestor's wish to reach the Root. However, he also loved his family.

"Make your decision quick or I'll start killing." Tanya's face hardened because this is the only turning point of the battle between Ray and Gilgamesh.

On Ray's side.

"You dare use such a method just to defeat me." Gilgamesh sounds more amused than worried. "Such a half baked method." He sneered before making a gesture which sent a few treasures out his golden gate toward Tanya but Saber moved quick enough to deflect each projectile while Ray made his decision and divided into Gilgamesh.

Since his magic isn't enough to pierce the armor's resistance, he decided to get more touchy and unexpectedly slug his fist on Gilgamesh's only exposed part, his head. Desperation time calls for desperate measures.

"Time Alter - Double Stagnate!" Ray applied the spell on Gilgamesh before Trace against the Black Excalibur and slashed the hand that was holding Ea.

"You mongrel! How dare you sullied my majesty!"

"Fuck you and your mongrel. Is that all in your vocabulary, you piece of half-breed dog shit." Ray roared and laughing gloriously inside because now Gilgamesh doesn't dare to shoot his treasure at Ray because they will hit him too. "Come and shoot me with your treasures! Hahahah!"

Without hesitation, Ray pumps mana into the armor using Alteration with intention to break the armor's down from the atomic structure by overloading the weak part to burst while continuing latching on Gilgamesh like a leech and dealing punches.

While Ray and Gilgamesh's is brawling and struggling mid air, Tanya still blackmails Tokiomi but without success because the guy keeps hesitating and Tanya was forced to shoot one of his wife's legs which made the wife jolt awake and whimper in pain.

"The clock is ticking, Tokiomi Tohsaka. Next will be your daughter's leg." Tanya continues to threaten. But she also saw Gilgamesh being occupied fully by Ray right now and told Charlotte to attempt the assassination.

'Roger, sister!' Charlotte replied telepathically before traveling, using an Astral plane to sneak up on Tokiomi completely silent.

Back to Ray.

Ray manages to break a small part of his armor and quickly Trace a sword and plunge it in through the opened gap.

"You mon- Arghha." Gilgamesh roared in pain before his eyes turned bloodshot and his flesh stiffened all of a sudden.

Making use of Ray's weakened grip due to wielding a sword, Gilgamesh shook off Ray to the left and elbowed him hard on his abdomen. Ray flinched and lost his grip on Gilgamesh before slipping off him. Gilgamesh took this opportunity and kicked Ray as hard as he could with all the resentment he gathered. Then open hundreds of gates all at once to shoot Ray.

Never had he struggled this much and suffered such humiliating loss against a mortal like Ray. He basically had enough of holding back and wanted to immediately exterminate Ray at all cost.

Meanwhile Ray shot like a cannonball to the ground after being kicked by Gilgamesh. He fractured at least half his bones and ruptured a portion of his lungs as blood came out his mouth with a heavy cough to drain his lungs for oxygen to enter.

He quickly cast Analgesic and Medical spells to reduce pain and heal his injury. However, Gilgamesh didn't give him the chance to do so as a volley of weapons rained down from above with speed exceeding the sound barrier. Once the weapon hits, they cause a large cloud of dusts being kicked up the air.

But before the weapons actually hit, Saber uses Mana Burst to increase her speed explosively and swoop Ray in her arms while escaping and dodging more weapons that are raining down continuously from above. Gilgamesh didn't spare any effort bombarding once his opponents were in range to prevent a repeat of before. Though his attacks cut short when he felt something happened to his master.

"By my Command Seal. I order you to suicide, Archer." Tokiomi, who looked odd and slumped while standing, ordered Gilgamesh to take his own life. But a Servant of Gilgamesh's caliber can resist the command because of his strong ego. Charlotte also knew this. That's why she didn't stop and continue.

"By my Command Seal. I order you to suicide, Archer." The second Command Seal is exhausted and Gilgamesh now shows visible strain to resist as his body weakens and pain assaults his head like blades stabbed his head and carved out his brain and cut it into microscopic thin strands.

"Saber, ignore me and go attack Gilgamesh as hard as you can while he can't resist." Ray stopped Saber and forced himself out of her arms.

"*Sigh* As you wish, master." Saber understands this is a golden opportunity. But, at the same time she is worried if her food provider will die outside of her watch. She would rather not return to the realm of the afterworld, Throne of Heroes that has no delicious food that suits her palate or any food at all to fill her stomach and a master that can afford to feed her is very scarce.

Saber dashed from the edge of the battle, back into the center where Gilgamesh is. There is no holding back as her master requested. Jet of blackened mana exploded like a torrent and created a deep ravine on the ground that stretched longer following the sword's trajectory until it reached Gilgamesh.

The once proud King of Heroes now looks like a beaten dog with scratches and scrapes littered his body, a bloody wound with sword still inside as Ray purposely snaps the blade and leaves the blade buried inside him and cannot be healed unless it is removed. Even his armor no longer looks majestic which is riddled with cracks and small holes as Ray made significant progress on breaking the armor's structure. He saw the dark beam coming for him and wanted to deploy his strongest means of protection, the Shield of God. But just when he tied to summon it.

"By my Command Seal. I order you to suicide, Archer." The third and last Command Seal had been exhausted and distract Gilgamesh from taking any action but to stand there in sheer disbelief and wrath. He knew he would die, he instinctively tried to peek at the endless possible path to victory but none of them could be achieved because all he saw was an endless darkness which occurred every time he tried to view the future that was related and connected to his accursed opponent, no. His mortal enemy that he swore he will pay back full with all the interest.

"Curse you, Foreigner! I shall acknowledge your victory this time. Pray we don't cross paths again in the future or I will exterminate you with my full might." Gilgamesh shouted before he was swallowed by Saber's noble phantasm which was overloaded with 10 times the amount of mana needed to trigger it.

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