Battle to Recover (Male Reader x High School DxD x Fate Series) Volume 4

Chapter 10: The End of a War

Ryuudou Temple

Rin and Artoria rush to the top of the temple to see the ground littered with swords and other weapons stabbed into it. In the middle of all the weapons are (F/N) and Gilgamesh. (F/N) is covered in cuts which are causing him to lose quite a bit of blood. Gilgamesh is having to use one of his lances as a cane to stay upright as the poison that (F/N) shot into his leg has completely paralyzed it. Gilgamesh also has several wounds, with the worst being a large gash in his stomach from an attack that (F/N) got in. Both are clearly exhausted from fighting each other. However, they press on.

Seeing that Rin has arrived with Artoria, (F/N) rushes forward at Gilgamesh so that he must focus all his attention on (F/N) and won't get the chance to strike against the two women that have arrived. Gilgamesh was expecting this and is able to block the strike using several swords that he summons. He then uses the chains of heaven to bind (F/N) and says, "Watch as I now will kill your comrades you mongrel."

Before Gilgamesh gets the chance to do much Artoria rushes in to battle him. While in his weakened state Gilgamesh is still able to fight Arotira with relative ease. Neither one of them is at full strength as they have both suffered many injuries in the battles that they have been fighting. However, Gilgamesh is able to get the upper hand when he launches attacks at Rin. Artoria is forced to move back to block these strikes. She then gets assaulted by a barrage of weapons from Gilgamesh that slowly start to break her defenses.

Gilgamesh says, "You may as well just give up. You don't stand a chance in the condition you are in against me." Artoria says, "I will always fight for what I believe. I will never give up." Gilgamesh laughs at this comment. He says, "How foolish can you be? This world is ripe with chaos. It needs to be cleansed. That is what I am doing. I will cleanse this world of the filth on it. That is why I have come to this world as a heroic spirit and that is why I have been reincarnated in this world. I have been chosen to see this new world come to pass. You and no one else can stop me." Artoria asks him, "What happened to you? You were always arrogant, but this is a new low even for you." Gilgamesh replies, "I saw the truth as the pollution of the grail poured over my body during the last war when you destroyed it. I saw how corrupt this world really is. I also was given this body, so that I could resolve this. I was given this body so I could finally cleanse this world that is so rife with corruption. That is what I will do with this Holy Grail. You and no one else can stop me." Following this Gilgamesh returns to striking Artoria.

(F/N) has been using a special poison that can melt through any metal, to melt the chains of heaven. It takes a short amount of time to work. Luckily Artoria is able to block the strikes from Gilgamesh as (F/N) works on the chains. She buys him all the time that he needs to get through them. Gilgamesh grows tired of toying with Artoria, and decides since the grail is near competition it is best that he just finish them all at once. He summons his most powerful weapon Ea to his hand. Before he can strike, (F/N) has melted free and charges Gilgamesh. This catches Gilgamesh off guard. With a single slash (F/N) cuts off Gilgamesh's arm that was holding Ea and it falls to the ground.

Gilgamesh is now enraged. He shouts, "How dare you melt Enkidu? I will make you pay for that." (F/N) prepares for a barrage of swords. However, he realizes that the weapons are not aimed at him. They are aimed at Rin. (F/N) jumps in the way of the attack as the weapons go flying towards Rin. By pushing Rin out of the way, (F/N) is able to save her from getting hit by any of the weapons that are flying towards her. He on the other hand does not get off so lucky. Over twenty weapons pierce his body as he is stabbed into the ground. Rin and Arotria rush to (F/N)'s side.

Miraculously this does not kill (F/N), but it does prevent him from moving. Gilgamesh decides to start talking once more seeing that he has won. He says, "You see none of you stood a chance against me. I will admit that boy was more trouble than I was expecting. He put up a really good fight for a mortal. I would dare say that is deserving of being praised for his efforts. Given any other opponent he would have come out on top. Even more so, had he not tried to save you girl, he would have been able to kill me. However, I knew that he would jump to your aid. It is obvious that he cares about you." Rin says, "That is not possible, we barely know each other. He is just being an idiot and trying to play hero." Gilgamesh laughs, "Perhaps you are right. Now let us all admire the grail as it comes forth."

Artoria rushes at Gilgamesh for one last fight to see if with all his injuries she can beat him. While the two servants are fighting (F/N) whispers to Rin, "Please start removing these weapons from me. I have one last trick up my sleeve to beat him, but I need to be able to move to do it." Rin says, "No I will not. You will die if I remove these weapons. You will lose too much blood." (F/N) coughs up blood, "I am pretty sure if you leave them in I will die also, so what is the harm in removing them? I promised you I would not die, remember. So even this will not kill me." Rin starts crying, "You idiot just because you say you won't die does not mean that you won't." (F/N) says, "Trust me I have a way of healing myself from this. However, I need these weapons out of me to do so." Rin finally agrees and starts removing the weapons.

The battle between Gilgamesh and Artoria is now evenly matched as neither is able to defeat the other. Both are wounding each other, as they are both growing much weaker. Rin finally pulls all of the weapons out of (F/N) who then says, "There is a small vial in my left pant's pocket pull it out and pour that into my mouth." Not questioning him, Rin pulls it out and pours the contents into (F/N)'s mouth. This vial contained Phenex tears. It was the only vial that he had on him. All of (F/N)'s injuries are healed in a manner of seconds. Rin is stunned, but before she can say anything (F/N) opens up his pocket dimension and pulls out a lance. It is the lance that Lancer during the Holy Grail War was using. Unbeknownst to anyone he had put it in his pocket dimension right after Lancer died.

Now with spear in hand (F/N) prepares to throw it. Rin yells at Artoria, "Get out of the way." Artoria quickly moves and (F/N) hurles the spear calling out its true name, Gae Bulg, as he releases. The spear flies true as Gilgamesh is unprepared for the attack. The spear flies straight into his heart. The poison of the spear then kills him quickly.

With Gilgamesh now gone, (F/N) rushes over to Artoria and starts to heal her wounds. He then says to her, "We need you to quickly use your noble phantasm on the grail, we don't have much time. Artoria prepares to do so. Rin uses all three of her command spells to strengthen the attack of Artoria. Meanwhile (F/N) goes around and starts picking up weapons that Gilgamesh was throwing around before they can disappear. Among those he grabs are Gae Bulg out of Gilgamesh, Clarent, Arondight, several miscellaneous weapons, and Ea. Rin sees him doing this and says, "What are you a thief or something?" (F/N) replies, "No need for them to go to waste. I figured I may as well take them. Also I will have you know that I have been in this world without any money for quite some time now. It really sucks to not be able to buy food or anything you know. So I ended up having to beg for food, or steal from others. I am not a big fan of it, but that is what it took to stay alive. So I have no issue with taking these weapons that belong to an enemy that I have successfully bested."

Before the conversation can continue Artoria screams, "EXCALIBUR!" and her noble phantasm is released. A golden arc of light is shot at the Holy Grail. When it comes into contact with it the light starts to destroy the grail Seeing this has his cue, (F/N) opens his dimensional pocket above the grail. As the grail is destroyed tentacles of mist come out of his dimensional pocket and start to draw in the power before it can go anywhere. These tentacles are being controlled by Ophis who is drawing the power inside so she can use it to start healing (F/N)'s body."

With the destruction of the Holy Grail Artoria begins to glow as she starts to fade away from the world. She turns to Rin and (F/N) saying, "(F/N) make good use of that power. I am sure that you will be able to save your world if you put forth all the effort that you did in this battle. I saw in you the makings of a real king. Someone that is willing to sacrifice their own life for the greater good if that is what is required. That is why you jumped in front of Rin to save her. You knew that she was more valuable at this point than you, since I would need her strength to destroy the Holy Grail. I hope that you are able to save your world. As for you Rin, I was not your servant for long, but I am glad I got the chance to spend what time I did with you. My only regret is that I was not able to save Shirou. I wish that I could have. I know that you cared for him deeply, and I am sorry that I was not able to do more. You have lost so much as a result of the Holy Grail. Both of your parents, your sister, and many friends. I hope that you will be able to put all of this behind you and find the path that really awaits you in life. You have been living to fulfill your father's wish up until now. It is time that you figure out what it is that you really want and seize it. I know that you will be able to do it, if you put all of your effort into it. I wish you both good luck." Artoria then disappears to her time and the throne of heroes.