"This foreign friend, are you here to visit Ryuudou Temple?" The temple's head priest greeted Gilgamesh with a practiced, business-like smile. The surrounding passersby also cast curious glances at the golden-haired young man, seemingly intrigued by his foreign appearance.
Gilgamesh stared at the priest before him, his brows furrowing.
"If you need, I can guide you." The priest enthusiastically offered to lead the way.
His answer came in the form of over a dozen Noble Phantasms, raining down in an instant. The priest, along with most of the nearby pedestrians, was slaughtered on the spot, their blood dyeing the temple floor crimson.
The surviving bystanders let out terrified screams and scrambled to flee the temple grounds.
"It's just like something chewed up and spat out—absolutely repulsive." The golden ripples slowly faded as Gilgamesh withdrew his nonchalant expression.
He could clearly sense it—most of the creatures moving here were mere husks wearing their former skins, their twisted insides nauseating him. Unconcerned with the consequences of such a blatant massacre, he strode directly toward the entrance hidden within the temple, leading down to the hollow beneath the mountain.
The deeper he ventured, the more disturbed he became. The vast cavern had transformed into some kind of nest, crawling with abominations that did not belong to any real-world biology. At a glance, their original forms could barely be identified—once cats, dogs, birds, or other such creatures.
"Ah, welcome, welcome. I thought you lot wouldn't show up until your little contest was settled." A large figure at the cavern's center addressed Gilgamesh, its voice carrying an air of amusement. "Make yourself comfortable. Apologies for the lack of proper hospitality."
Gilgamesh turned toward the voice, his crimson pupils contracting sharply. "Impossible...!"
There, sprawled across the leyline, lay an enormous entity. Its upper body resembled that of a woman, adorned with hardened horns of various creatures atop its head. Its massive lower half, however, was a grotesque amalgamation of all beast-like concepts—limbs of assorted shapes and sizes sprouted haphazardly across its body. Three immense tails, resembling the scars left by a world consumed in flames, extended behind it, their ends opening into unfathomable voids.
"This magical signature… a Beast!" Without hesitation, Gilgamesh unleashed his Gate of Babylon.
Amidst the cascading golden light, he seized a sword of unique design.
Enuma Elish—Ea, the Sword of Rupture.
No declarations. No grandiose proclamations. This time, Gilgamesh unleashed his full power without restraint—
"Enuma Elish!!"
A crimson magical tempest erupted, a force capable of rending space itself surging forth to consume the Beast entirely.
"Oh, don't be so hasty." A woman's soft laughter echoed in the cavern. His attack had been completely nullified, the devastating strike failing to inflict even a scratch.
"This… is the effect of a Caster's Noble Phantasm!?" A profound sense of unease surged through Gilgamesh. He swiftly sifted through the knowledge granted by his treasury's many tomes.
"No, this is impossible! That Noble Phantasm only affects the seven Servants and their Masters within a Holy Grail War. How can you—?!" Gilgamesh once again poured magical energy into Ea. If she refused to accept his challenge, then his next strike would not miss.
"You think I don't know what you're doing?" The Beast extended a slender hand, and the burning strands from its tails fell like embers. As they touched the ground, they twisted into monstrous forms—part human, part beast—rushing toward Gilgamesh.
He scoffed, opening his treasury once more to intercept them. "So what if you know? Even without a Grand Servant's saint graph, I will take your head as my trophy, Beast!"
At last, he understood why a Grand Servant had been summoned—this Holy Grail War had drawn the attention of a Beast-class entity. However, something still did not add up.
Where was Romulus-Quirinus?
A Grand Servant's duty was to purge a Beast at the earliest opportunity. His absence made no sense.
But no matter.
Gilgamesh's second strike was already prepared. As he prepared to invoke Ea once more—
A thunderous impact came crashing toward him.
A chariot, wreathed in lightning.
With a mere glance, Gilgamesh deployed Enkidu, the Chains of Heaven, ensnaring both the chariot and its rider.
Yet in the fraction of a second it took him to restrain the first, two more chariots barreled toward him.
Now, he saw them clearly.
"Rider!?"
Before he could react, enormous hands sprouted from the Beast's body, tearing through the barrage of Noble Phantasms and seizing his arm—the very hand that gripped Ea.
The Beast's Saint Graph was on a scale far beyond ordinary Heroic Spirits. Its A-rank Strength completely overpowered Gilgamesh.
With brute force, it ripped his arm off.
His severed limb, along with Ea, tumbled to the ground—only to be swiftly dragged away by the surrounding monsters, vanishing into the shadows.
"Rider… and Saber?" Gilgamesh recoiled, his mind racing. His golden eyes darted across the battlefield, landing on the Servants resembling Gilles de Rais and Iskandar.
"Impossible. The Beast class shouldn't be able to replicate Heroic Spirits made of magical energy!"
"Oh? You seem quite knowledgeable," the Beast chuckled, clearly amused. "But I am not truly a Beast—only something borrowing its Saint Graph due to a similar concept."
It spread its many arms, as if reveling in its own nature.
"I was born from a certain human's thoughts—his desire for destruction, for turning humanity into a game where he collects 'rewards' from their annihilation. Doesn't that sound similar to a certain Beast of Pleasure?"
The monster's tails twitched, flames licking at their tips.
"Unfortunately, resources here are limited, so I had to make some adjustments. My tails now store Heroic Spirit data—weaker than the originals, but still quite useful!"
"You're nothing more than someone's stray thought!?"
The sheer absurdity of the revelation momentarily overloaded even Gilgamesh's mind.
"Who is it?! Who created you!?"
The Beast raised a finger to its lips. "Shhh. Don't be so loud~"
"In a way, I'm on your side."
The smile on its face deepened.
"Because I am the unbound fragment of his consciousness—untouched by reason or logic."
"I was summoned by the land itself. I alone have the power to kill him—to force his game into a BAD END. The moment he tries to restart, I will twist his 'death' into an irreversible end. I will replace him. I will send him into an eternal slumber."
The air grew heavy.
"If he hears too much, this world will vanish."
"So, allow me to devour you all. A crystallization of all human souls—that would be a magnificent offering, don't you think? The ultimate BAD END."
Once more, its countless arms lashed out toward Gilgamesh.
His Gate of Babylon had little effect. Though he counterattacked, the Beast pressed forward relentlessly.
And then—
He saw him.
A familiar figure had arrived at the battlefield.
"Perfect timing—Tohsaka Tokiyomi!"
At the very last moment, as the Beast's attack bore down upon him—
Gilgamesh yanked Tohsaka Tokiyomi into his grasp, using Enkidu to drag him into the line of fire.