Fate/Magus Path

171 Rescue

The Mesopotamian plains stretched endlessly under a sky unmarred by a single cloud, a vast canvas of serene beauty on this radiant day.

The heavens above shimmered in a pristine cerulean blue, dotted with wisps of white clouds that drifted lazily across the firmament.

The sun blazed with a golden brilliance, its molten rays cascading over the fertile lands between the two rivers.

A new day had dawned, and with it, the people who eked out their existence on this ancient soil braced themselves for yet another round in their ceaseless struggle against fate.

Far in the distance, within the hallowed halls of Uruk's royal palace, a flurry of activity stirred the air.

Crowds bustled to and fro, embarking on the day's reports and duties with practiced urgency.

High atop the divine tower, seated upon a throne of celestial grandeur, a mysterious figure stirred. His eyes fluttered open, revealing irises of vivid scarlet... eyes that bore the mark of a god's lineage.

"My king, you've awakened?"

The chief priestess, standing vigil beneath the throne, could scarcely contain her delight at seeing Gilgamesh rouse from his slumber. She stepped forward, eager to deliver the day's agenda, only to pause as the newly awakened king raised a hand to halt her.

He turned his piercing gaze upon her and asked, "How long was I asleep, Siduri?"

"My king," she replied with deference, "you've rested for three hours, from yesterday until now."

Three hours... A rare respite indeed, he mused.

"Very well," Gilgamesh said, a faint weariness etching his features as he nodded toward Siduri.

"Then, my king, today's matters in Uruk... " Siduri began, only to falter as Gilgamesh shook his head, cutting her off with a firm command.

"Put the work aside for now, Siduri. Tell those useless fools to wait outside a little longer. This king has other matters to attend to."

"As you wish..." Siduri bowed her head in compliance.

With that, Gilgamesh's attention shifted downward to a certain white-haired magus who stood below, a figure whose reliability was questionable at best.

His voice rumbled with authority as he demanded, "Merlin, where is this powerful ally you spoke of? Why hasn't he arrived in Uruk after all this time?"

"Are you mocking me, your king?!"

"Ah, well..." Merlin scratched his head, visibly puzzled by Gilgamesh's accusation. "It's been quite a while. By all accounts, he should have emerged by now. What could have gone wrong?"

Merlin's confusion was genuine, though the fault was his own. In his negligence, he had failed to warn Roy not to teleport directly to Uruk's inner coordinates. The moment Roy had arrived, he'd been flung back by the grand defensive barrier Gilgamesh had erected around the city.

Worse still, he'd been hurled straight into the lair of a beastly chieftain.

By the time Merlin's clairvoyance had spotted him, it was too late to intervene. Even at his swiftest, Merlin couldn't hope to dash from Uruk to the rainforests of Ur in a single breath.

Yet when he saw Roy dispatch the monstrous beasts with ease and refrain from clashing head-on with the golden adversary, opting instead to flee into the rainforest, Merlin had breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

That counterfeit Enkidu wielded the full might of the authentic Chains of Heaven, augmented by a formidable magical core... the Holy Grail itself. Paired with the relentless harassment of the beasts, a direct confrontation with the golden foe in such a place would have left Roy with little chance of timely reinforcements from Uruk.