Chapter 17.1 - Supernova [1]

It's very much a normal night. The air is silent, the skies are dark and littered with glittering stars, and the cold wind sweeps through.

And yet, Arturia can't help but feel a strange sense of unease. Nothing is out of the ordinary, but that itself is strange. The war has been far more silent than she expected, and the disappearance of Hanami and her comrades doesn't bode well either.

So, as the others remain within the castle, she stands outside in the bitter cold, keeping watch for anything that might appear.

But, as she stands out under the glittering night sky, Arturia's mind begins to wander, reminiscing over the time she was once still king. She'd always do this, every night, simply standing and watching for potential foes as she basks under the cold of the night. In her time as king, those short moments of introspection gave solace to the pressure weighing down her shoulders.

'In fact…'

She distinctly remembers that one time Bedivere found out of her habit, and being the knight he is, he decided then and there to be by her side, every night, watching the night sky together with her. Occasionally they'd talk about the current situation, and others their silence would be filled by small, meaningless chatter.

It's there that she learned of Bedivere's particular love of sweets, his feelings of inferiority compared to the other knights of the round table, his admiration and determination. It was also on those cold nights that she confided some of her mind to him, and he had stayed there, listened and understood. He didn't speak, nor did he judge. He simply listened, and it was then she cemented him as one of her closest confidants.

"Thinking of old days, little girl?"

A voice says, and she quickly turns around to see Gilgamesh, clad in her golden armor standing by her side, a teasing smile on her face. Arturia quickly opens her mouth to retort, but she pulls herself back and simply nods, knowing that any argument she'll bring up would only be pushed and used against her.

"Mm. This night is quite beautiful, isn't it?"

"...Stop beating around, Archer." Arturia says, and to her surprise, Gilgamesh's smile slips into a frown. "I suppose I should." She says, and as she looks to Arturia, she sees for the first time the intense red of her eyes, the pressure within them that brought down armies with a single glare.

"The real war has begun." She says cryptically, and as she finishes, another figure appears, riding atop a mythical beast and holding a lance shining with light. The pink-haired Rider lands, his hippogriff roaring before it disappears, leaving Astolfo to gently land on the snow. "Hmm, I'm guessing Hanami called you to come here too?"

"I guess you can say that." Gilgamesh smiles back at the cheery Rider, and Arturia begins to feel left out. Which is then further amplified when Caster makes her entrance, gracefully dropping down from the sky and landing next to Astolfo. "Greetings, everyone."

"...why is everyone here?" Saber asks, and immediately everyone turns to her, their expressions varied. Gilgamesh is amused, Astolfo is comically surprised, and Caster is as stoic as ever, with only the slightest raise of her brows to indicate any sort of surprise.

Suddenly, Gilgamesh turns towards Fuyuki, her amusement gone. "Prepare yourselves."

What?

Everything goes silent, before hell breaks loose.

An incredible surge of pure prana surges out from the city. Tremors are sent through the earth, pulsating wildly from somewhere under the soil. The ground begins to crack and tear, and the once peaceful sleeping city is harshly awoken by a sudden earthquake of a power they'd never seen before.

The leylines under the city explode, blowing upwards and causing molten chunks of stone to fly out of the tears in the earth. Blue light shines wildly from them, making them look as if some strange blue magma had sprung from the cracks the earthquake has created.

The prana that shot into the sky scatter and mold together into one giant stretch, turning into a beautiful aurora that normally should've been impossible to see.

Screams of terror erupt from the citizens as they see the earth under them begin to crumble. People begin to fall to their deaths, while others are thrown into the exploding leylines, overpowering and burning them in mere seconds. Buildings that once stood strong atop the soil fall, houses that had people are torn down as their bases disappear.

It's a scene ripped straight from the end of the world.

"W...What…?"

"Saber!" Arturia turns to see Irisviel running to her, her eyes panicked. "W-What's going on!? Why is everything being destroyed!?"

"I-I don't know." She says truthfully. In the distance she can see Kiritsugu and Maiya approaching as well, but she turns back, more worried over what could possibly be happening. She glances at the others, and none of them seems particularly surprised by it.

"Rider, Caster, assist Lancer and the other Rider." Gilgamesh says, golden portals shimmering to life behind her. The other two servants nod in understanding, before they take to the skies. She desperately needs to ask, but before she could, a new individual makes herself known, and Arturia's blood runs cold.

It was a carbon copy of her, but her hair is platinum, her eyes a sickly yellow, her skin far too pale for any normal human. The regal armor she usually wore is stained black on that other her, and the sword she'd held dearly to her life is dark and tainted, bathed within the evils of the world she'd come from.

"Saber, leave with your masters."

"Wha-"

"Leave." Any argument Arturia had is stripped away as she looked into those eyes. Those red eyes that pierces into the hearts of men. She knows of those eyes, had seen them in the mirror she'd stood in front of a long time ago.

"...Very well." Her mind made, she turned back to her master and his companions and forcefully carried them away.

~~~

Gilgamesh remains silent as she stares at the altered Saber.

She knows of her, her Noble Phantasm providing ample information on her life and her legend. A king turned tyrant as she forced herself to lead, trampling over those that pleaded to keep her kingdom prospering. A being sitting above the lives of men and women, looking only towards the future and forgoing the present.

It sickens her, for it reminds her of who she once was.

But she did not judge. This Saber had only been a girl, thrust into the world of men. Training and preparations she may have had, but in the ruthless world those are not enough. It was only a matter of time before the girl snapped and broke.

A pitiful existence, broken by the world.

Saber Alter stares back, her yellow eyes meeting red, before she rushes forward. Her tainted Excalibur appears in her hands, brimming with malevolent energy.

Gilgamesh narrows her eyes. The portals behind her shine, and the key to the treasury of Babylon is opened.

Swords, spears, axes, halberds, scythes, pikes, and maces. Weapons from all over the world are fired out like bullets. Saber Alter slows herself as she begins to push through the rain of weapons. The weapons falling upon her are struck away, flying elsewhere and exploding on contact with the snowy ground.

More portals appear, and out from them comes the heads of magical staves, each as powerful as Noble Phantasms. Bolts of magical energy are fired, some erupting into flames, others crackling like lightning, some bolts of pure prana. Saber Alter continues to rush through it, using her sword to deflect as many attacks as she can, even as her armor begins to crack, chipped away by the hail of weapons and magic.

Then, with only a metre separating them, Saber leaps forward, her sword shining a deep purple. She takes a breath, and as weapons are flying, she shouts,

"[Excalibur Morgan]!"

A beam of tainted prana is shot out from her blade, tearing through all the weapons and magic Gilgamesh had shot out of her treasury. But Gilgamesh remains still even as the fired Noble Phantasm approaches.

Saber Alter looks on, confused, before a portal shimmers to life and a sword if fired, far faster than those before it. The sword clashes against her Noble Phantasm, breaks through it, and before she can move away, blows away her left arm. In shock she watches her arm fall together with the fired sword, before the sword disappears and reappears in Gilgamesh's hand. The golden king smiles,

"Surprised, tyrant king?" She says tauntingly. "All the world's treasures are mine. Did you not expect I had something stronger than that blade of yours?"

Casually, she observes the blade in her hands, with it golden pommel and its sleek blade. A peerless sword of miracles, once belonging to Roland, the leader of the twelve knights of Charlemagne.

The peerless sword, [Durandal].

Of course, there are other swords far more fit at taking her opponent out in an instant, but she wanted to test out an idea Hanami had so graciously offered. A wonderful idea, one that she simply couldn't ignore.

"What if you fired your weapons from your Dingirs inside of your Gate?" Hanami had said to her some time ago, and the result is far better than she expected. The weapon is fired at speeds far higher than her gate could do alone. That, and the sound it made as the weapon is fired sounds far more satisfying than normally firing it from her gate.

And thankfully, more targets had just appeared.

Just as Saber Alter recovers, three more individuals appear by her side, carrying within them the same orders given to them by the tainted grail. One a monster under human skin, wearing over it a frilly wedding dress, another an assassin with a thousand masks, and the last a sage of snakes, his soul twisted by the sweet words of an ancient tyrant.

In the face of opposition, Gilgamesh merely smiles.

For within her treasury lies infinite weapons, and victory shall always be hers.