"Saber? How are you standing on the Sea of Mud? Ah! I get it. One of his three vows is, ‘I will obey no command but Marika’s.’ Entering the Sea of Mud means you can’t get out before being forcibly contracted, so it counts as a command. They’re rejecting each other, which is why it looks like he’s standing on top of it."
"So, Dr. Roman, Saber’s Noble Phantasm is rejecting the Sea of Mud?"
"Yes. But things are still hopeless. Gorgon has appeared, and Tiamat remains unharmed."
Is she trying to buy time here?
Hmm.
I had gathered a whole lot of runes by killing those strange creatures, but what was I supposed to do with them?
Saber had been killing Lahmu in other villages, but Ushiwakamaru and Benkei had ultimately died defending the villagers.
I could have killed and absorbed them myself, but I could not bring myself to do it.
I still couldn’t be heartless.
But that enormous goddess seemed to be the target. Why hadn’t I returned yet?
And my rank still hadn’t risen.
As I pondered that, Gorgon stood before me. Seeing her confront the goddess on the other side and seemingly trying to protect Ritsuka, I jumped onto her shoulder and landed there.
"Saber! Ana is over there! And the junior!"
"........"
Fortunately, Ritsuka had taken her senior away.
But had Gorgon become our ally?
"What is this? Aren’t you leaving like the others? Or will you perish at my side?"
What was this...? Hadn’t she said she would leave me half-dead the next time we met?
Why had she become so gentle?
Had Ritsuka persuaded her again inside Blood Fort Andur?
"...Hah. I suppose I can’t deceive Saber. I didn’t want the others to find out, but..."
Ah.
It was Ana.
Maybe she had eaten too much butter cake, because she had grown quite a bit.
She had eaten so much that her legs had gotten so fat they looked like one solid mass.
"...Didn’t you just think something incredibly rude? More importantly, Saber, run. I’ll destroy Tiamat’s wings. I’ll deploy my Noble Phantasm, so escape while you can."
No matter how large her body had become, I could not send a child—a friend—off alone.
I approached Ana’s enlarged head and stroked her cheek as though patting her head. Ana flinched for a moment, then her eyes hardened with resolve once more.
"Hah. You really are impossible. Still... it’s nice to have someone beside me at the end..."
All right, then. Shall we begin?
I’m sorry, Ritsuka.
I’ll apologize next time.
Ana was preparing her Noble Phantasm, while I discharged and condensed every lightning spear within my body into my left hand.
Then I severed my mana path with Ritsuka and gathered even more power. My body began to scatter into ash, while the flesh and skin around my left hand burned away from the lightning spears until only bone remained.
At last, a colossal golden lightning spear was complete. I leaped toward Tiamat’s face.
There was some kind of barrier, but I drove the spear through it anyway, then raised my right fist and hammered it down. I had meant to lodge it in her horn, but she turned her head, and it struck her eye instead. Her right eye was blown away.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!?"
She let out something like a scream of pain. Then Ana fired her Noble Phantasm in succession, striking the cracked section of one horn directly and breaking it off.
As expected, using lightning spears in this body was too much.
I did not have enough mana to do more than this, but it should be enough.
For now, I had to leave it to my friends.
[It does feel rather sad somehow.]
Perhaps it does.
She resembles you in many ways, Mari. Even her atmosphere.
But she will not leave my friends alone.
They—those children—are kinder than I am.
[You treat everything as a child. Then you don’t consider that enormous goddess a child as well?]
She is the mother of an entire other world. How could I treat her that way?
That would be disrespectful to her.
But why isn’t Alaya keeping its promise?
Didn’t it say it would raise my rank?
Mari, did you do something again?
[I’ll tell you later. Is this your first death here?]
It is.
I need to finish quickly and return.
I’m worried about Ritsuka, but I’ll be fine if I hurry.
For the first time in a long while, I died and returned to the Erdtree. Ana used her Noble Phantasm and died as well. In her place stood Tiamat, unable to fly with her horn severed, a golden lightning spear embedded in her as her face twisted in agony.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!"
When Saber completely scattered into ash, the lightning spear vanished. Perhaps in rage, Tiamat advanced even faster than before. The goddesses and Saber had held her back for only thirteen minutes.
*********
Even after reviving, this feeling was always foul.
And raising my rank after I died? What a nasty personality.
[Since you reject every command, Alaya probably sees you as a chess piece that won’t listen. It was in such a hurry during the first contract that it made the agreement on its own. It must have been quite desperate this time too. So it threw a little tantrum.]
Either way, there is no time.
Judging by the direction that enormous goddess was headed, she must have been going toward Uruk.
I had to hurry.
Spatial transfer would be difficult, right?
[Yeah. There’s strange mud everywhere right now, and you severed the mana path yourself. Besides, I’m busy with something else too.]
Then I had no choice but to run.
When I reached Uruk, I saw the ruined city wall and a huge hole. I sensed the presence of that enormous goddess inside and immediately leaped down. Then, as the goddess was climbing up, I drew my Longsword and Bastard Sword and slammed them down onto her head.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
The goddess had changed a great deal.
More importantly, where were Ritsuka and Mash?
I looked around. It was obviously a desperate situation. They were trying to stop the goddess from emerging from the Underworld, but countless unidentified creatures around them seemed to be giving them trouble.
"Saber? How did you get here? More importantly, good timing! We have to stop Tiamat here in the Underworld. Help us again!"
"Saber... I’m sorry. I..."
"Well, you certainly vanished in a strange way, but to think you would revive from death. And your Saint Graph has even risen to Grand-class. I want to hear why, but this situation is far too hopeless."
There was Ritsuka, glad to see me; Mash, on the verge of tears; and Merlin, who had originally been a Servant yet had appeared in person. I placed a hand on Mash’s head as she looked ready to cry. Then Ereshkigal and Ishtar arrived.
"Saber! You’re safe. At first, I was shocked because I thought you had been dismissed!"
"I knew this guy would come back. But what is this output? How much did his Saint Graph rise?"
And then—
"Well, well. Is it just my imagination, or has the scene where I shine been stolen from me?"
"My king!"
"King Gilgamesh!"
"Servant Archer, King Gilgamesh. I shall graciously lend you my aid."
Good.
But when had this mountain-sized old man gotten here?
Don’t look at me like that.
You remind me of that damned old bird from long ago.
The first time I fought a palace battle, I nearly died.
"Let’s defeat Beast II, Tiamat, here! I’ll support you with everything I have. Saber! Let’s go together again!"
"Good. A fight, then! I may be clumsy, but shall we give it everything we have?"
"I will grant you the blessings and authority of the Underworld. Give it your all!"
"I’ll deal with the Lahmu from the rear. I used my Noble Phantasm up above, so I’m out of mana."
"Then I shall entrust this sword to my Master for once."
"Senior! I’ll give it everything I have. I’ll support you with my junior’s Noble Phantasm. Let’s go!"
My mana path to Ritsuka was connected again. Merlin and Mash supported us with their Noble Phantasms; Ishtar kept the emerging Lahmu in check and eliminated them; Ereshkigal both restrained Tiamat and supported us. The old man beside me and I charged forward, while Gilgamesh dealt with the Lahmu and unleashed countless weapons at Tiamat.
That was absurdly overpowered, just like Kingu.
But why had that skeletal old man been staring at me this whole time?
With countless petals and Ereshkigal’s assistance, footholds appeared around Tiamat. The old man and I stepped across them, slashing at Tiamat as we went.
"Why?"
Ghk!?
"Why? Why do you reject me? Why are you trying to leave me? Why are you trying to abandon me? I only want to keep loving you. I only want to remain by your side. Is my love wrong?"
Suddenly, Tiamat spoke to me, and my movements froze for a moment. In that brief instant, Tiamat opened her mouth and lunged forward, while Lahmu rushed in. Gilgamesh wiped out the Lahmu with a barrage from his Noble Phantasm.
The continuing barrage forced Tiamat’s mouth shut, but she charged straight through it, struck me, and sent me flying.
"Saber?"
"Saber!"
"You fool! Even I do not let my guard down. Do not grow careless even for an instant! Now rise. It is time for the next strategy."
She had been speaking all along, but I never expected her to address me directly.
She resembled Mari too much for me to completely ignore her.
Could the others not hear her?
[......]
Yes, Mari.
You are telling me to decide for myself.
You are even being considerate of me.
You are telling me to sever my lingering attachment to that previous world here.
The enormous goddess’s headbutt had left my body mangled, but the Erdtree’s grace and the Beast’s life restored me quickly. I rose and charged again, running over the petals.
With a body like this, I could never return anyway. And one day, I would leave this world too.
It seemed I had still been indulging myself.
I would leave my mother’s embrace, the world’s embrace, and go to a new world.
Childhood’s end...
It was something meant for me as well.
I rejoined the fight, and the speed of my slashes steadily increased. Soon, Tiamat could no longer follow Saber with her eyes.
Only the result remained: she had been cut.
"Aaaaah! You’re like me too, aren’t you? You think as I do, don’t you? You are me, aren’t you? Then why?"
I’m sorry.
I stopped slashing, landed on the ground, and sheathed my swords. Gathering both hands at my left hip, I shaped the lightning spear into a colossal sword and slashed diagonally upward.
There. I have cut through every defense.
The finishing blow should be left to the people of this world.
"Gilgamesh!"
"At last, the time has come to settle this. Fujimaru Ritsuka! Let this blow serve as our rite of farewell."
Having confirmed that Tiamat’s defenses had collapsed, Ritsuka called out. Gilgamesh drew a cylindrical sword and slowly raised it over his head.
"I speak of the beginning. Heaven and earth divide, and nothingness congratulates creation.
My Sword of Rupture that splits the world! Swirling vortex that turns the stars, hell of purifying blue, the final destination of creation’s dawn! Be silent in death!"
The three cylinders on the sword-like object spun in opposing directions, twisting space-time itself.
I see.
That sword was a spatial cutter, a Noble Phantasm that could cleave and tear apart the world itself.
By ending it with that, he would separate Tiamat from the world—a farewell in the truest sense.
If Mari and I had been too late, we would eventually have met a similar end.
"Take this!"
Goodbye.
If there is a next time, let’s talk again.
I think you and Mari would understand each other well.
"Enuma Elish!"
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