Medusa's silhouette behind Rei Ao vanished like a ghost.
An instant later, she was already at his front flank.
She didn't draw her chain-sword this time.
Instead, she lifted her head in the direction of the eyes hidden beneath her blindfold.
Even though the blindfold stayed in place, a vast and eerie surge of mana had already begun to gather.
It was the power of the Gorgon's Mystic Eyes of Petrification.
She wasn't even going all out—
yet that formless wave of magical energy spread outward like a rising tide, forcibly disrupting and eroding the mana framework and kinetic force contained within the golden torrent of Noble Phantasms coming at them.
Boom!
Boom! Boom boom boom—!!!
The golden flood of treasures crashed violently against four completely different, yet equally overwhelming, defensive and intercepting forces.
Deafening explosions roared one after another.
Blinding light washed over the Tohsaka estate's courtyard, making it as bright as day.
Wild mana turbulence rampaged in all directions, kicking up dust and fallen leaves from the ground and blowing so hard Waver could barely keep his eyes open.
Iskandar had to release some of his own mana to form a shield, just to stabilize himself and protect the young Master behind him.
As the smoke and glare gradually faded—
Rei Ao was still sitting calmly in his chair.
He hadn't even so much as shaken the wine glass in his hand; the liquor inside remained as smooth as a mirror.
The ground before him, however, was a wreck—charred black marks everywhere, littered with shattered fragments of Noble Phantasms.
But every single attack had been stopped firmly several meters away from him.
They hadn't been able to cross that final line even half a step.
Altria stood with her sword raised, breathing steady.
Ishtar curled her lip; motes of light still flickered along Maanna's bowstring.
The underworld's iron fence before Ereshkigal slowly faded away.
Medusa wordlessly stepped back behind Rei Ao again, as if nothing at all had happened.
The four Servants had casually blocked a full-power barrage of Noble Phantasms unleashed in the Hero King's rage.
The sight left not only Waver completely dumbfounded—
even Iskandar's expression showed outright disbelief.
He knew Gilgamesh was strong.
But these four female Servants were just as unfathomable.
The fury on Gilgamesh's face froze in an instant.
In its place came a look of utter shock—and the enraged fury of a king who had been thoroughly provoked.
He could not accept that his Noble Phantasms had been blocked this easily.
However, before he could let out a second roar—
Rei Ao's voice sounded again, flat but carrying an unquestionable authority.
"What are you all standing around for?"
He took a light sip of his wine, his gaze sweeping over Altria, Ishtar, Ereshkigal, and Medusa.
His tone was as casual as if he were assigning house chores.
"Didn't you hear me the first time? Don't hold back. Beat him—beat him until he can't take care of himself in daily life."
The four exchanged glances.
Altria's expression hardened with resolve.
The holy sword rose once more, shrouded in Invisible Air.
Her figure shot forward like lightning, taking the lead!
"Hmph! I've been sick of this guy for a long time!"
Ishtar shouted, almost excited.
The sky-boat Maanna flared with light again.
Countless god-powered light projectiles poured down like a meteor shower, raining toward Gilgamesh.
Ereshkigal said nothing, but her actions were just as swift.
Chains of the underworld shot out from the shadows like venomous snakes, coiling toward Gilgamesh's limbs in an attempt to bind him.
At the same time, a frigid aura of death began to gnaw at him.
Medusa's figure vanished once more.
Relying on her superb mobility, she flickered around Gilgamesh like an apparition, the chain-sword in her hand gleaming with a cold light as she hunted for every opening in his defenses.
What followed could only be described as a one-sided "lesson."
Gilgamesh was certainly powerful.
The Gate of Babylon allowed him to respond to almost any situation.
But faced with four top-tier opponents, each monstrously strong, perfectly in sync, and apparently unconcerned with mana consumption, he was forced into an extremely passive position almost immediately.
Altria's holy sword strikes were heavy and overwhelming.
Every blow forced him to deploy high-grade Noble Phantasms just to barely block.
Ishtar's divine light volleys blanketed a huge area, leaving him constantly scrambling to deal with them.
Ereshkigal's underworld chains and chill continued to interfere with and weaken him.
Medusa's ghostlike ambushes were nearly impossible to guard against.
He tried to pull back and open distance, wanting to fully unleash more of the Gate of Babylon.
But between Ishtar's long-range firepower and Medusa's relentless close-range pursuit, he couldn't get what he wanted at all.
He tried to call up even stronger Anti-World Noble Phantasms, like Enuma Elish, The Star of Creation That Split Heaven and Earth—
Yet under the four women's relentless, merciless onslaught, he never even got the chance to gather enough mana or focus his mind.
"Damn it! Mongrels! You damnable mongrels!!!"
Gilgamesh could only rage helplessly.
The golden armor covering his body had begun to crack and dent under the repeated blows.
The once-dazzling shine had dulled considerably.
He was forced to keep pulling out treasures from the Gate of Babylon to block and counterattack.
But just as he managed to parry Saber's slash, he'd be blasted by Ishtar's light rounds, or snagged at the ankle by underworld chains, or slashed across the back by Medusa.
The fight—if it could even be called a fight and not just a beating—didn't actually last very long.
Yet to Waver and Iskandar, it felt like an entire century had gone by.
Waver was completely stunned.
He gaped, and it took him a long moment to finally find his voice again.
Stammering in disbelief, he said, "Th-they… their mana… why isn't it weakening at all?!"
That was exactly what left Iskandar most shocked and troubled.
A Servant's strength is directly tied to the mana provided by their Master.
In a battle of this intensity—
especially with the kind of large-area divine power bombardment Ishtar and Ereshkigal were unleashing—the mana expenditure should have been terrifying.
Even the very best Masters would be feeling seriously strained by now.
Their mana reserves should be reaching their limits.
And the Servants' power should be starting to drop.
Yet looking at Altria and the others—
their offensive from beginning to end hadn't weakened in the slightest. If anything, they were only getting fiercer.
Their mana presence was still overflowing and surging, like they were drawing from an endless spring.
Gilgamesh, on the other hand—
His furious roars had gradually acquired a note of flustered desperation, and even… exhaustion.
The mana radiating from him was clearly growing weaker.
The speed at which he opened the Gate of Babylon and the frequency of treasure barrages were both dropping.
As one side rose and the other fell, his situation only became more and more miserable.
"Because…"
Rei Ao's voice rang out at just the right moment, answering their doubts.
"What we've given them—
is infinite mana."
~~~
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