IBHJ Chapter 859

"Gray, connect to Chaldea now! We need to get back before this whole place collapses!" he yelled. If they stayed here any longer, they'd disappear along with this conection point. Shirou, Artoria, and the others would be fine—their minds would just snap back to their main bodies. But for Gray and Ayaka, it was a different story.

Gray, understanding the urgency, didn't hesitate to try establishing the connection. But even with Abigail scared off by Saver and her game rules destroyed by the Evil Blossom, the wrist-communicator stubbornly refused to reach Chaldea. And without that connection, how could they return?

"This thing has always been a piece of junk!" Nero grumbled.

"Not the time, Nero," he said, a worried crease forming between his brows. "We need to figure out how to save Gray and Ayaka."

Before Evil Blossom's transformation, he could have used it to shield them, to try and keep them alive. But now? Even if they survived the world's end, Evil Blossom's curse would twist them into something horrifying, cursing them to a far worse fate.

What could they do? Just as the thought crossed his mind, a torrent of golden chains poured from the sky.

"Woosh—woosh—woosh!"

Artoria's gaze shot upwards, her eyes wide with surprise, "What is that?"

"The Chains of Heaven!" he said in surprise.

The chains, like a swarm of golden serpents, dove down and wrapped themselves around Shirou and his companions. With an immense tug, they were hauled into the air.

A faint magical circle shimmered above them.

"That's Chaldea's magic circle!" Gray cried out, a flicker of hope in her eyes. "But how did it get here?"

Before anyone could answer, they were yanked upwards, leaving the crumbling ruins behind. With a sharp "snap," Shirou and the others materialized in Chaldea's transfer room.

"Finally got through," a smooth, boyish voice chimed nearby. "Was about to give up on you guys."

Everyone turned to see a golden-haired boy lounging on a gilded throne, swirling a wine glass as he grumbled about retrieving the Chains of Heaven.

"G-Gil-kun?" Gray beamed at the golden-haired boy. "What are you doing here?"

A sly grin spread across his face. "To witness your pathetic plight, of course."

Gray's smile faltered.

Gil-kun chuckled and closed one eye, looking like a lazy cat. "Since my Sha Naqba Imuru couldn't see you anymore, I figured you were in trouble. So I came to lend a hand."

"Thank you, Gil-kun," Gray said with genuine gratitude.

"Don't mention it," Gil-kun replied nonchalantly. "Just make sure Chloe stops whacking me with her fan next time, and we'll call it even." He then turned his attention to Shirou, tilting his head in mock confusion. "Why are you staring at me, Fujimaru Shirou? Don't tell me you've developed a sudden crush on me? Never took you for that type!"

Gil-kun playfully clutched his chest, feigning shyness as if being ogled by a creep.

Shirou rolled his eyes, thoroughly unimpressed. "As if. I just ran into another version of you at the connection point."

He recounted the events at the connection point to Gil-kun.

"So that's what happened," Gil-kun mused, swirling the red wine in his glass. His crimson eyes held a thoughtful gleam. He couldn't help but recall his older, more hot-headed self during the Fourth Holy Grail War, and the special attention he'd given Shirou.

While he wasn't that same adult Gilgamesh, they were fundamentally one and the same, sharing the memories of that war. Initially, Gil-kun had been puzzled by his past self's fascination with Shirou. Why sacrifice his pride, even going so far as to incarnate as the Evil King to push Shirou towards his awakening?

Even after that, he'd continued to help Shirou, appearing on the path to the Root to fend off Heroic Spirits and Gaia's creatures, giving Shirou the time he needed to escape to Britain.

Gil-kun had chalked it up to his past self simply acting on a whim, perhaps due to an overheated brain. But now, everything made sense. There was a reason behind it all.

His interest in Shirou, becoming the Evil King to force his awakening, even tolerating their disagreements... the true cause was... That Connection Point, forged long, long ago, in a forgotten place known to no one. In truth, all connections had been made a very, very long time ago!

"To think there would be such a thing." Gil-kun sighed, reaching back to scratch his head. "It even involves that Outsider, no wonder Sha Naqba Imuru has been seeing less and less recently."

"Your Sha Naqba Imuru can't see those things?"

Gil-kun scoffed. "Sha Naqba Imuru is limited to human affairs. If it goes beyond the scope of this planet, or deals with something from beyond the stars, it's useless."

Powerful as it was, Sha Naqba Imuru couldn't pierce the veil of beings from outside, or those who'd transcended, like the Enlightened One. Thirteen years ago, neither Sha Naqba Imuru nor Shirou's All Seeing Eyes could discern the true nature of Crimson Moon and Arcueid. If they had, perhaps she wouldn't have walked the lonely path to becoming the Moon Princess.

"Anyway," Gil-kun declared, "you all deserve a rest. Well done."

Shirou studied Gil-kun, as if seeing him for the first time.

"What's with that look? Why are you staring at me like that?" Gil-kun asked, perplexed.

Shirou chuckled. "It's nothing, it's just... I feel like I'm meeting you for the first time."

Gil-kun sputtered in annoyance. "Even I have a soft side, you know!"

"Sure you do," Shirou replied with a smirk, turning to leave.

"Damn it!" Gil-kun grumbled. "He's just as bad as his daughter! Such disrespect! A king deserves better than this!"

Gil-kun's protests were met with silence.

...

Amidst the crumbling ruins...

Space warped and twisted, and a figure cloaked in black emerged from the swirling void.

Sixth Seat glared at the sky, his brow furrowed in frustration. "Am I too late? Has Shirou already absorbed the Chairman's power? Damn it! Abigail, lurking at this connection point all along and not breathing a word to me!"

"That fragment of power was meant for the Chairman," he snarled, "and now Shirou's taken it... This is a disaster." Sixth Seat ground his teeth. "If not for this blasted connection point, none of this would have happened!"

This connection point was unique, only appearing after Shirou reestablished his connection with the Enlightened One. And Shirou only managed to restore that connection because of the Command Seal contract!

During the previous reset, when Surtr invaded, this connection point had briefly appeared. But in that timeline, Shirou hadn't managed to reclaim the Dark Vortex. Instead, he had accidentally helped Manaka escape from this connection point.

Reset after reset... endless cycles of reality twisting and turning. Even he was tired of it. And to be honest, the root of all this trouble could be traced back to three individuals: that meddling fairy, the Enlightened One, and Shirou himself!

"Shirou's nothing to worry about now," Sixth Seat muttered to himself. "That fairy's gone for good. As for the Enlightened One... damn him! If he hadn't reached enlightenment by mooching off the Bodhi Tree and transcending himself, he wouldn't be such a pain to deal with! Spouting nonsense about Buddhas not interfering with humans, yet still sticking his nose in sombody's business? Tsk."

Sixth Seat raised his head, gazing at the sky. His eyes didn't see the sky itself but pierced through it to the celestial bodies 650 light-years away. A low growl rumbled in his throat, and his eyes filled with grudge and hatred.

...

After handing over the recovered Black Grail to the Mission Center, Shirou received his reward for the operation.

300,000 gold coins!

Of course, this was just a portion of the total reward. Solving a Depth B Connection Point yielded a full 1,000,000 gold coins. Split six ways, it wasn't much. In fact, aside from Ayaka's share, Gray and Artoria had offered theirs to Shirou, but he'd declined. Still, the bulk of the reward ended up with him.

As for Ayaka's portion... it seemed there was no reward to be had. It all went towards compensating for the public facilities Altera had destroyed. This left Ayaka lamenting her ongoing poverty, with Altera offering only sheepish apologies.

It just goes to show, finding the right Master is crucial. Look at Artoria—despite joining Altera on her demolition spree, she remained financially secure.

These gold coins were, of course, the currency of Chaldea. Masters and magi typically used them to buy alchemy supplies, while Servants... well, they were more for fun and games.

300,000 might not sound like much, but considering Chaldea's inflation was stuck back in 2006, it was still a decent chunk of change. At least it beat Adam's measly 3,000 per month working at the power plant.

Of course, these coins were only good within Chaldea's walls. Who knew what would happen once human history was restored? Maybe they'd become collector's items.

But that was a worry for another day. Right now, Shirou was dealing with a mind-blowing revelation.

"You're telling me this is Miyu?" he asked, pointing at the babbling baby, his mind reeling.