MMMS 70

While the King of Conqueror remained oblivious to the shifting atmosphere, Gilgamesh's red eyes focused intently on the boy's face. For the first time that night, his expression turned serious.

"Ah... so the circus lion has a clown for company?" Gilgamesh's eyes narrowed to slits. As the atmosphere shifted, even the King of Conqueror's face grew serious. The courtyard air suddenly felt charged with danger.

"I'm in a hurry here, and I'm really not in the mood for this." Ryuuto's voice broke the tension. "So let's skip the theatrics. King of Conqueror Iskandar, King of Heroes Gilgamesh, do me a favor and die here tonight."

"Hahahaha! Are you actually saying you'll kill me and Archer? Right here, right now?" Iskandar burst out laughing.

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"...Huh, you're not kidding around." Iskandar scratched the back of his head, looking genuinely puzzled. Was he really supposed to take this kid seriously?

"Any last words?"

The voice came from above.

Ryuuto looked up. At some point, the golden-armored King of Heroes had moved to the castle parapet, gazing down at him with an eerily calm expression.

Anyone who dared challenge a king's authority had to pay in blood, even a child. That was Gilgamesh's law.

Ignoring the death threat hanging in the air, Ryuuto glanced sideways at Irisviel, who stood frozen beside him. "I told you to get back to the castle... geez." He turned to Artoria. "Lancer, get Iri out of here."

"Wait, what about you? You can't seriously be thinking of fighting Archer alone! That's reckless!"

He flashed a smile and pressed a finger to his lips. "Didn't you want to know who I really am, Lancer? Just watch from over there."

Artoria's expression grew complex as she seized Irisviel's wrist, pulling her companion back a dozen meters in one leap. "Master, don’t get yourself killed."

He couldn't help but smirk at the irony. Great, now both sisters with the same face are saying the exact same thing. What happens if I accidentally call out the wrong name in bed?

Even from across the battlefield, Artoria's icy stare pierced him like an arrow. "Master, you're thinking out loud again."

He winced. "..."

"How dare you ignore me." Gilgamesh's voice dripped with anger as he looked down at him. "If you have nothing to say, then die."

The air behind the golden king began to shimmer and warp, rippling like disturbed water as countless weapons materialized from the void. Noble Phantasms glowing with magical energy erupted forward, streaking through the air like a deadly rain of missiles aimed directly at Ryuuto's position.

Rider had already sensed the incoming danger. Without hesitation, he scooped up Waver in his arms and bounded away from the banquet, carrying his Master to safety in a far corner of the courtyard.

In the vast garden, only Ryuuto and Archer stood facing each other. Countless Noble Phantasms screamed through the air, racing toward their target at supersonic speed.

Ryuuto didn't even flinch. His expression remained perfectly calm as he spoke. "Last words? Those are for people who are actually going to die. Definitely not me." He planted his feet firmly and raised his right hand, a wide grin spreading across his face.

The slender boy made no move to draw a weapon. Instead, he simply held up his pale, delicate hand against the overwhelming barrage of incoming Phantasms. To everyone watching, it looked as if he was peacefully welcoming his own death.

They all understood the gravity of the situation. Every single projectile the Golden King had unleashed was a genuine Noble Phantasm. Even from where they stood, the watchers could feel waves of magical energy radiating from Archer's arsenal.

When those weapons struck, the courtyard would explode. The ground would erupt into the sky, and the boy would be obliterated. There was no question about it.

"..."

Irisviel couldn't watch any longer. She turned her head away and pressed her hands over her eyes.

Maybe Ryuuto really was strong enough to defeat Kiritsugu. Maybe he truly was the most powerful Master in the history of the Holy Grail War. But against this relentless storm of legendary weapons, even someone like him seemed hopelessly small and fragile.

But what happened next completely defied everyone's expectations.

The boy stood there untouched, moonlight washing over him. The King's Noble Phantasms had simply disappeared.

“What?” Gilgamesh’s expression froze.

"..."

Everyone watching this one-sided confrontation, whether out in the open or hiding in shadows, were masters of their craft. Tokiomi Tohsaka carried a reputation that reached even the Clock Tower. Irisviel represented the Einzbern family's greatest achievement. Kirei Kotomine had years of experience as a battle-hardened Executor.

And then there was the King of Conqueror himself, who had once built an empire that spanned continents.

Yet none of them could comprehend what they'd just seen.

The dozens of Noble Phantasms the Golden King had launched simply ceased to exist the moment they should have pierced the boy’s body. It wasn’t like any magecraft they knew. It looked more like a street magician’s sleight-of-hand trick.

"Hmm, this is getting a bit dull." he looked up at Gilgamesh, and as if to taunt him further, he casually slipped both hands into his pockets. "Come on, kid. Show me what you're really made of. Bring out Ea."

Anyone who knew Gilgamesh would have thought Ryuuto had lost his mind. This boy, who couldn't have been older than his teens, had just called humanity's most ancient king a "kid."

"What did you just say?" By now, Gilgamesh should have been consumed with fury.

But strangely, his anger had grown so intense that he actually found the whole thing amusing.

"Is this really all the King of Heroes has to offer? Uruk's standards have really gone downhill, haven't they?"

Artoria could only stare in disbelief as her Master continued to mock the Golden King so brazenly.

"At the end of the day, you're just a high-level player from the Age of Gods coming to the Modern Era to beat up on newbies. What's there to be proud of? Come on, kid. Let me teach you some manners."

"..."

Gilgamesh kept his smile perfectly composed even as he clenched his teeth. "Those who dare speak to me this way are either completely insane or mindless beasts."

The King's treasury burst open across the entire courtyard. Golden ripples spread out in every direction, surrounding Ryuuto like the eye of a storm, twisting and churning through the air.

Noble Phantasms burst from the treasury like bullets from a machine gun, creating a deadly spiral high above. Hundreds became thousands as weapons flooded toward the boy trapped in the center.

Blades whistled through the air alongside spears. Curses crackled between bolts of lightning and tongues of flame. Dragon-slaying blades spun past world-ending swords and god-piercing lances. Every legendary weapon humanity had ever dreamed of creating, every original form that inspired countless copies throughout history, now flew without restraint. The courtyard filled with a hellish rain that could grind entire civilizations to dust.

Artoria sucked in a sharp breath. Beside her, Iskandar's eyes widened at the display. No other Heroic Spirit could match the Golden King's raw destructive power. The sheer scale of it defied comprehension.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, the tornado of weapons disappeared.

The air fell still. The golden light faded. Everything simply ceased to exist, as if it had never been there at all.

Only Ryuuto remained, standing exactly where he'd been, completely unharmed. His presence alone proved that the impossible spectacle hadn't been some shared hallucination.

Irisviel's hand flew to her mouth. "Amazing..." Her voice came out as barely more than a whisper. "To overcome an attack like that..." She shook her head, unable to imagine what kind of magecraft could possibly achieve such a thing.