Elias, Rin, and Luvia walked quietly through the dark streets of Fuyuki City.
They did not go to a hidden base or a secret hideout.
Instead, Elias walked straight up the stone steps of the Fuyuki Church.
The church was supposed to be the absolute center of the Holy Grail War.
It was the official neutral zone overseen by the magic Church.
Elias pushed the heavy wooden doors open.
Inside the quiet, empty church, a tall man wearing a black priest outfit stood near the altar.
He held a small Bible in his hand and wore a completely fake, empty smile.
This was Kotomine Kirei, the overseer of the war.
The moment Rin saw him, her body went completely stiff.
Her blue eyes burned with intense, bitter anger.
She hated this man with everything she had.
He used to be her guardian after her father died, but she knew deep down that he was a cruel, untrustworthy snake.
"Welcome, Rin,"
Kirei said smoothly, his deep voice echoing in the empty church.
"It is always so wonderful to see my former student."
"Don't you ever call me that, Kirei,"
Rin snapped back, gripping her fists tightly.
"I am only here because of the Holy Grail War. Nothing else."
Kirei just smiled his fake smile and looked past her.
His dark, dead eyes landed on Elias.
"And you brought a very special guest,"
Kirei noted softly.
"Elias Thorne. I must admit, I did not expect you to walk right through the front doors of my church."
Elias walked down the center aisle, looking completely relaxed.
"I came here on purpose,"
Elias answered simply.
"Why is that?"
Kirei asked, tilting his head.
"Because this church is the center of the war,"
Elias explained, resting his hands in his pockets.
"I figured if I stood right in the middle of the neutral zone, the most aggressive and confident Masters would try to attack me. I wanted them to throw their best magic at me so I could adapt and learn."
Luvia sighed and shook her head.
"Only you would use yourself as bait just to learn new moves,"
Luvia muttered.
Kirei let out a low, dry chuckle.
"That is a very bold plan,"
Kirei said smoothly.
"But I am afraid you are going to be very disappointed. No one is going to blindly attack you tonight. In fact, most of them are absolutely terrified of you."
Elias raised an eyebrow.
"Terrified of me? Why?"
Elias asked.
"Because they already know exactly who you are,"
Kirei answered, closing his small Bible.
"You live with Devil Kings, Fallen Angels, and Yokai leaders. You think your power is a secret?."
Kirei walked slowly down the steps of the altar.
"The human mages in this war have deep connections to the hidden world,"
Kirei explained, his eyes fixed on Elias's dark gaze.
"They have heard the rumors. They know about the monster in Kuoh Town who adapts to anything and cannot die. Your true strength is not a secret at all."
Rin crossed her arms and smirked.
She actually liked hearing that her enemies were scared.
"So,"
Rin said proudly.
"They know they cannot beat him in a fair fight."
"Exactly,"
Kirei nodded slowly.
"Which means they will not fight you head-on. They will hide. They will form alliances. They will try to find a way to trap you using the rules of the Grail itself. Because if they face you directly, they know they will die."
Elias let out a long, disappointed sigh.
He looked up at the high ceiling of the church and shook his head.
"So, no one is going to come to me,"
Elias said, sounding a little bored.
"That means I have to go out into the city and hunt them down myself. This grand Holy Grail War just turned into a giant game of hide and seek."
Kirei smiled his empty smile, but Rin had already heard enough.
She quickly turned around, refusing to stay in the same room as the priest for another second.
"We are done here,"
Rin said sharply, walking fast toward the heavy wooden doors.
"Let's leave."
Luvia stayed completely quiet.
She gave Kirei a cold look and simply followed Rin out of the church.
Elias walked out of the heavy doors and stood on the quiet stone steps outside.
He raised his right hand.
A bright, glowing red magic circle instantly appeared on the ground.
With a flash of light, Scathach stepped out of the shadows.
She stood tall and proud, holding her massive red spear.
"The other Masters are too scared to attack us,"
Elias told his Servant calmly.
"They are going to hide in the shadows and wait. I don't feel like playing their slow games tonight. So, you can do whatever you want."
Scathach looked at him, her fierce red eyes glowing with pure warrior excitement.
"Whatever I want?"
Scathach asked, a bright smile appearing on her beautiful face.
"Yes,"
Elias nodded simply.
"Who do you want to fight first?"
Scathach didn't even have to think about it.
"There is only one warrior in this city who is truly worthy of my time tonight,"
Scathach answered confidently.
"The King of Heroes. I want to fight Gilgamesh."
Rin and Luvia both gasped.
Gilgamesh was known as the absolute strongest Servant in history.
To challenge him directly was usually a death sentence.
But Elias didn't have a problem with it at all. He actually smiled.
"Sounds like fun,"
Elias agreed easily.
He closed his dark eyes for a brief moment.
His massive perception reached out again, covering the entire sleeping city like a giant, invisible net.
Finding the King of Heroes was incredibly easy.
While every other Master and Servant was desperately hiding their magical energy to stay safe, Gilgamesh was doing the exact opposite.
He was standing somewhere high above the city, and his magical energy was burning as brightly as a massive, golden sun.
He was far too arrogant and proud to ever hide his power from anyone.
Elias opened his eyes and looked toward the tallest skyscraper in the center of Fuyuki.
"I found him,"
Elias smirked, resting his Naginata on his shoulder.
"He is waiting for us. Let's go say hello."
Elias, Rin, Luvia, and Scathach jumped swiftly across the rooftops.
They moved very fast, heading straight for the center of the dark city.
As they traveled, Elias felt cold eyes watching him.
Other Servants were hiding deep in the dark alleys and on distant buildings.
They were secretly observing the group, trying to gather information.
Elias didn't stop moving.
He simply turned his head and looked exactly at the dark spots where they were hiding.
The moment his dark eyes locked onto them.
They instantly masked their magical energy and retreated as fast as they could.
"They are running away,"
Elias chuckled softly, looking forward again.
"Are you going to chase them down?"
Rin asked, staying close behind him.
"No,"
Elias answered calmly.
"Let them hide for now. We have a golden king to meet."
They finally reached the absolute tallest skyscraper in Fuyuki.
They landed softly on the wide, empty roof.
Standing right at the very edge of the building was a man wearing shining, heavy golden armor.
He had bright blond hair and sharp, snake-like red eyes.
It was Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.
He stood with his arms crossed, looking at Elias with a deeply proud and arrogant sneer.
"So, you are the strange anomaly everyone in this city is whispering about,"
Gilgamesh said.
His voice was smooth, but it carried an incredibly heavy pressure.
Elias stopped walking.
He rested his Naginata on his shoulder and looked right back at the golden king.
"And you are Gilgamesh,"
Elias replied simply.
Gilgamesh narrowed his red eyes.
He stared deeply into Elias's calm, dark eyes.
Suddenly, the arrogant king's expression changed.
His sharp senses picked up on the incredibly cold, ancient magic clinging perfectly to Elias's soul.
He could feel Dee's heavy blessing.
"I see,"
Gilgamesh sneered, his voice filling with deep, bitter annoyance.
"I can feel the heavy presence of a goddess on you. You carry the absolute scent of the end."
Gilgamesh shook his head, looking disgusted.
"I have already done my fair share of dealing with annoying goddesses in my life,"
Gilgamesh said, clearly remembering his own ancient past.
"They are nothing but a massive headache."
He slowly turned his head and looked at the tall woman with flowing purple hair standing a few feet away.
Gilgamesh's red eyes instantly widened.
His bored, arrogant look completely vanished.
A bright, incredibly excited smile grew on the golden king's face.
His warrior blood began to boil.
"You..."
Gilgamesh breathed out, his voice full of pure, absolute thrill.
He uncrossed his arms and spread his hands wide.
The air behind him began to ripple and glow with a massive, blinding golden light.
"Scathach,"
Gilgamesh laughed loudly, his voice echoing over the sleeping city.
"The immortal Queen of the Shadow Realm! A true god-slayer!"
Scathach stepped forward.
She spun her massive red spear effortlessly in her hands and pointed the sharp blade directly at the golden king.
"Are you ready, King of Heroes?"
Scathach challenged him, a rare, beautiful smile appearing on her face.
"Ready?"
Gilgamesh laughed again, his golden portals opening wider and wider.
"I have been completely bored out of my mind! Finally, a truly worthy opponent stands before me. Show me your power, Queen of Shadows! Do not disappoint me!"
The battle started instantly.
Dozens of golden portals opened in the air behind Gilgamesh.
It was his famous Noble Phantasm, the Gate of Babylon.
Legendary swords, spears, and axes shot out from the portals like deadly, glowing missiles.
But Scathach did not back down.
She spun her red spear so fast it looked like a shield of fire.
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
She parried every single golden weapon easily, knocking them away like they were just toys.
Gilgamesh laughed with pure, wild joy.
"Excellent!"
He roared.
He didn't just stand back and shoot from a distance.
He reached into his golden gate, pulled out a massive, glowing sword, and charged right at her.
He wanted to fight the Queen of Shadows head-on.
Their weapons crashed together.
The massive shockwave shook the entire skyscraper.
While the two legends fought fiercely, Elias calmly walked across the roof.
He looked at the legendary weapons Gilgamesh had thrown.
They were scattered all over the concrete floor.
Elias reached down and pulled a sharp, silver sword out of the ground.
The weapon was still completely covered in Gilgamesh's heavy, golden magical energy.
Rin and Luvia watched him carefully.
"Elias?"
Rin asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What are you doing?"
Elias didn't answer right away.
Instead, he flipped the sword around and violently stabbed the sharp blade straight through the palm of his own hand.
"Are you crazy?!"
Rin screamed, her blue eyes going wide in panic.
Luvia gasped loudly, covering her mouth in complete shock.
Elias simply pulled the sword out of his hand.
Because of his broken Adaptivity and his immortality, the bloody hole in his hand instantly healed. It left no scar at all.
"I needed to feel his power,"
Elias explained calmly, dropping the bloody sword.
"His magic didn't hit me during the fight. So, I had to hurt myself with his weapon to force my body to adapt."
Elias held out his empty hand.
He focused on the golden energy he had just absorbed from the blade.
Suddenly, the empty air behind Elias began to ripple.
A bright, glowing portal opened behind his back.
It looked exactly like Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon.
Rin's jaw completely dropped.
"You... you copied the Gate of Babylon?!"
Rin gasped in pure disbelief.
Elias looked at his new glowing portal and smirked.
"Yes,"
Elias said.
"But there is a small problem."
"What problem?"
Luvia asked, completely amazed by his power.
"Gilgamesh is a king. He has a massive vault filled with thousands of legendary treasures,"
Elias chuckled lightly.
"I am just a teenager. My vault is completely empty."
Elias reached into his glowing portal.
The only weapon he could pull out was his own dark weapon, the Naginata.
He sighed and let it vanish.
Elias looked over at the intense battle.
Gilgamesh was swinging his sword wildly at Scathach.
They were moving incredibly fast.
Gilgamesh was having so much fun fighting the immortal Queen that he wasn't paying attention to anything else around him.
Elias looked back down at the floor.
There were dozens of amazing, powerful swords and spears lying everywhere.
Gilgamesh had just thrown them away and left them there.
Elias smiled a very sneaky, clever smile.
He walked over to a golden axe lying on the ground, picked it up, and tossed it right into his own glowing portal.
Then, he picked up a silver spear and threw that in, too.
Rin stared at him, absolutely speechless.
"Are you... are you stealing his weapons?"
Rin whispered loudly, making sure Gilgamesh didn't hear her.
"I am not stealing,"
Elias smiled warmly, picking up another legendary sword and tossing it into his empty vault.
"I am just cleaning up the roof."
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