Chapter 80: No Pride, No King
[Fragarach].
In his battle against Emiya Shirou, Bazett's [Fragarach] had been utterly useless... no, that's not quite right. In the department of "scaring oneself to death," [Fragarach] had performed exceptionally well. Bazett and Lancer, knowing exactly what kind of Noble Phantasm it was, were so spooked that they had accepted Shirou's alliance invitation with almost no resistance.
But that didn't mean [Fragarach] was truly useless.
Or rather, when Gilgamesh's ego is "manually piloting" the Gilgamesh account, he never bothers to activate [Sha Naqba Imuru (The Star Which Sees All)]. Naturally, he wouldn't see the information on Bazett's Noble Phantasm in advance. Even less would he deliberately hide his own Noble Phantasm to counter hers.
He didn't hide the process of opening the [Gate of Babylon], failing to prevent Bazett from identifying that his true Noble Phantasm was the Gate itself—and not the individual weapons fired from it, which could be released infinitely as long as he existed.
In other words: When Gilgamesh used his "trump card," and Bazett successfully perceived and locked onto that trump card, all the preparatory work was complete.
Bazett had no intention of dodging. Without anyone noticing, she had stepped in front of Shirou and the others. Blocking the trajectory with her own body within the range of the [Gate of Babylon], she met the volley of multiple projectile weapons head-on, swinging her fist with a direct, brute-force collision.
"FRAGARACH!!"
One by one, shields emerged from the [Gate of Babylon], interposing themselves before Gilgamesh. "Daring to point a weapon at this King is the most ignorant act in this world!"
As Kotomine Kirei's true Servant and strongest trump card, Gilgamesh vaguely recalled Kirei mentioning information about Bazett to him. However, as an arrogant King, he wouldn't give a magus a second glance—let alone a regular human. Even if the opponent were a Servant summoned by the Grail, Gilgamesh wouldn't necessarily look them in the eye.
Therefore, intel? What intel! He didn't need it, nor did he care to remember the details of such mongrels!
The only reason he bothered to defend was because while he looked down on Bazett, he did not look down on Saber. In fact, since he viewed Saber as his property, looking down on her would be equivalent to looking down on his own taste in choosing her.
Under these circumstances, Gilgamesh judged Bazett's actions as a desperate attempt to use her body as a shield to buy time for Saber to release her Noble Phantasm.
Without any accident, in the next second...
The Noble Phantasms and shields he had summoned through the [Gate of Babylon] all vanished!
"Wha...t!?"
Gilgamesh looked at the scene in astonishment. It wasn't just the weapons that had disappeared; even the magical energy used to open the Gate had returned to his body. It was as if everything that just happened was a hallucination.
It felt as though time had been rewound... No! It wasn't just a simple rewind!
SPLURT!!
By the time Gilgamesh realized what was happening, it was too late. The [Fragarach], shooting forth like a beam of light, had already reached him and pierced through his chest!
"I missed?" Bazett said, sounding a bit unsure of herself.
How many times was this now? It felt like ever since she arrived in Fuyuki City, her trusted [Fragarach] had been constantly hitting walls. It was like this before, and it seemed to be like this now.
"No, you didn't miss. It was a space transfer," Shirou corrected her as he watched Gilgamesh suddenly vanish. "At the last moment, Kotomine Kirei used a Command Spell to teleport Gilgamesh away."
As he spoke, Shirou—viewing the world through the perspective only a Stand User could see—was wrapped in the life-detection flames of [Pseudo-Magician's Red]. Sensing a flicker in the flames, he shifted his gaze toward a nearby crow.
"A familiar controlled by magecraft?
Because it's an ordinary bird whose mind is merely being controlled for visual sharing, its life energy is almost identical to a normal animal under the perception of the life-detection flames.
If it weren't for the fact that the battle scared away all the other animals, making this motionless crow stand out like a sore thumb, I might not have found it so quickly."
This was likely the difference between the world of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and the Type-Moon universe. In the JoJo world, where Stands are common, every Stand carries Stand energy, making it easy for life-detection flames to pick up. But the magical energy system of the Type-Moon world is different. At the very least, magi cannot see Stands.
However, this minor difference couldn't stump Shirou, who was both a Stand User and a magus. Even if his level as a magus was amateurish, he could still manage basic mana perception. He just needed to input this new parameter into the life-detection flames.
Based on the faint feedback of magical energy inside that crow familiar, Shirou confirmed the modification. With a casual flick, he sent out an invisible Stand flame, incinerating the crow and several insects hidden even deeper.
Acting as if nothing had happened, he continued: "By using that method to open the distance, Gilgamesh was able to avoid a fatal blow to his Spiritual Core just now.
Though we probably won't get another chance to kill Gilgamesh in one fell swoop like that, on the flip side, it's now Gilgamesh's turn to worry about how to deal with our [Fragarach]."
Shirou laughed, already imagining the teleported Gilgamesh shouting an angry stream of "Dammit, dammit...!!" in his head.
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