57. Prelude To The Final Battle

===Godrick===

A tense silence filled the room as Kirei slowly stood up from his chair, ready to act.

A red flash came from his arm, and a sigh of relief came from Lancers lips before leaping towards Rin, spear in hand.

The Juggernaut was next to him in an instant, knocking his spear to the side with his bare left hand before his right impaled the servant in the chest.

"Thank you." Lancer whispered for only Godrick to hear.

The Knight nodded imperceptibly before pulling his arm from Lancers chest, and helping him sink to the floor.

"Get off of me you stupid bitch!" Kirei shouted, having been thrown to the ground by Jeanne the moment her ordered Lancer to kill Rin so he could use that moment to try and escape. His facade of arrogance slipping, he always gave off the feeling that everything was going to plan, but it had all derailed when the Juggernaut had showed up.

Gilgamesh had said that he would take care of the massive knight, but here he is, foiling everything again.

'Where is he?' Kirei thought to himself, wondering when the King of Heroes would show up. He had promised after all to come and collect Shinji and Rin.

Godrick walked over to Kirei who was now being restrained by Jeanne, not taking kindly to his use of the word bitch to refer to his… Girlfriend? Godrick was unsure what Jeanne and him were at the moment, but it didn't matter as he reached down with one mighty hand towards the fallen Priest.

Grabbing him by the back of the neck, the Juggernaut lifted him into the air before grabbing his right forearm with his right hand. He looked over to Rin, who shook her head.

Confused, Godrick dropped the man before Rin explained.

"Once you do that, we won't get any information out of him. We should wait until we are done questioning him." She said with anger in her voice.

"But that doesn't mean we can't loosen his tongue a bit before we start." She finished, causing Kirei's eyes to widen.

She walked over to where he had fallen to the floor, and stomped on his hand, eliciting another shout of pain.

"Rin, you don't have to do this!" He said, trying to plead with her.

"I'm sure my father said the same." Rin responded coldly before crouching down and looking him in the eye.

"Why did you do it? He treated you well, and you stabbed him in the back!" She said, her voice rising in anger as she spoke.

"I think you have him confused with someone else." Kirei said with gritted teeth, as Rin twisted her heel that was still on his hand.

"He never loved you, or anyone. He threw me away like a pawn, not caring what happened to me at all." Kirei said.

"You're wrong. He might have been a busy man, but I know he loved us." Rin retorted.

"You know nothing about your own father Rin. Everything was so that he could obtain Akasha."

The room went silent as those words sank in, and there was a pregnant pause before Rin broke it.

"That's impossible. Akasha… No…" Rin said in a daze, standing up and getting off of Kirei's hand.

"Rin?" Artoria asked, concern lacing her voice.

"I'm fine, Saber. I just need some time to think for a moment." Rin said, going and sitting in the chair previously occupied by the Priest.

Leaving her master to her thoughts, Artoria returned to the man on the ground.

"What does Gilgamesh plan to do with Berserker's master? And what's this ritual you keep speaking of?" Artoria asked.

"I will tell you nothing." He spat out before a massive hand came down on his back, causing a 'CRACK' to ring through the room, followed by a scream of pain.

Godrick pressed down, forcing pain to shoot through Kirei's whole body. He started to lose feeling in his legs, and lower body.

"You fiend-" Kirei breathlessly said.

"Talk, or it will get a lot worse than this!" Artoria said.

She was usually against torture, but seeing what had been done to Rin, and the situation they found themselves in hardened her heart against it all.

"Nev-er." Kirei got out, before more pressure was added to his spine.

"GAAAHH!" He screamed before Godrick removed his hand, and gripped the Priest by his collar before lifting him up.

" Gil- Gilgamesh plans to bring Illya into the Gate of Valhalla, so he can-" Kirei's words were cut off, as an arrow of magic came through one of the hopper windows, and completely obliterated his head, covering the Juggernauts face in blood.

"Damn it, get down!" Artoria said to Rin, shoving her to one side before standing in front of her with Excalibur drawn.

Illya came running down the stairs, as she, Shirou, and Berserker had been tasked with making sure that no one interrupted what was happening in the basement. She had a bandage over her left eye for the moment.

"Berserker has engaged Archer in battle!" She said out of breath.

Godrick dropped the body, and started walking up the stairs before pointing at Lancer, who was beginning to fade from existence.

Jeanne understood, and would make sure Lancer stayed alive for the moment.

Godrick took the stairs four at a time, and smashed through the door as he ran out of the house. He could see the destruction around the forest that Berserker and Archer had made in their skirmish, and soon caught up to Shirou who was running after the two servants.

Godrick shoulder checked him as gently as he could, wanting to keep him out of the fight.

Shirou was thrown to the ground as the Juggernaut kept running, weaving through the trees before he finally saw them.

Berserker was on the offensive, smashing his weapon through trees and rocks as he chased Archer, who was doing everything in his power to evade.

Adding in another Servant pushed Archer to his absolute max as he now had to evade Berserker as well as the Juggernaut, as Godrick made a massive tree explode as he charged through it, throwing his right arm out and clipping Archer as he leapt from one of Berserker's attacks.

Archer was thrown away, chased after by the two servants who gave him no room to breath.

Dipping and weaving through the trees, Archer dodged what he could. When he couldn't dodge, he used his short swords as shields, and used the momentum from Berserker's and the Juggernaut's attacks to propel him farther.

They were slowly circling back around to the house where everyone else was, Archer's plan unclear to the two other servants.

Suddenly, Archer took to the air, flipping and shooting arrows which exploded on impact against his two attackers, but the two emerged from the smoke unharmed.

Archer clicked his tongue, but didn't let up his attacks as he materialized unstable Noble Phantasms, and shot them at his assailants.

Heracles ran forward, smashing through a tree, which Godrick, who came behind, picked up, and threw like a massive javelin.

"Holy shit," Archer said, leaping from tree to tree, firing off his arrows.

'He knows we're being watched. That's why he's so aggressive.' Archer thought to himself.

Godrick ran through part of the mountain, shattering the stone as he picked up one of the bigger pieces and threw it as well, to which Archer dodged.

Archer finally came to a clearing in the middle of the forest, not far from the house where Artoria, Jeanne, and the rest of them were.

There was already a man standing there, looking translucent as he crouched on the ground.

"Is it ready?" Archer asked, as Godrick and Heracles came to the clearing.

"It is." The man said, standing and disappearing as the ground began to rumble.

Suddenly, two massive stone pillars grew from the ground at a diagonal angle before meeting each other high in the sky, forming the Valhalla's Gate.

It's stone doors opened, and a sheet of ice cold mist seemed to break as it fell to the ground, and started to fill the forest.

With his mission completed, Archer retreated to the Gate, looking back to Godrick before walking through into the mists.

Then, shadows began to take form, and hundreds of spirits came from the Gate before forming themselves into a protective line.

"Skjaldborg!" One of the spirits shouted, and the shields clicked together, as spears, swords, and seax's poked through their places in the wall.

Godrick and Heracles stood where they were, deciding on the best course of acting before the decision was made for them, as the army charged.

===Archer===

Retreating through the Gate, Archer came into a world of vivid greens, browns, grays, and blues, as he laid eyes on the small reality marble Ivar had made.

The marble consisted of three rings. One being the grass field that's stretched out for a mile or so. Next was the ring of thick trees that encased the grasslands. Behind the trees was a massive mountain range that encased the trees, making it seem as though they were in a massive bowl.

A river broke the grasslands in two, and on the other side lay the massive hall carved into the side of the mountain. It had a massive wooden palace aid built around it, which made it look nigh impenetrable.

"So, how did everything go?" Ivars said, appearing out of nowhere next to Archer.

"It went well. Kirei is dead, but I wasn't able to get the girl, as Berserker must have noticed me after I killed the Priest." He said before turning and walking towards the mead hall.

"Ah, the Berserker. I mean to fight him when this all starts." Ivar said, walking with Archer.

"Him, not the Juggernaut?" Archer asked.

"Yes. I have no quarrel with the Juggernaut. I know he was sent to kill me, but it's just business. Now him," Ivar Said, pointing towards the peak of the mountain that stood higher than the rest, standing over the great hall.

"He has a quarrel with the Juggernaut. One that I fear to get in the way of. But something tells me that I'll have to fight that behemoth of a man anyway. But don't worry about old Ivar, I'll be fine!" He said, throwing an arm around the Archer.

"You just leave the Juggernaut and the lady to Gilgamesh. I'm sure he will be able to take care of them both. After all, he is extremely angry at the moment." He said, looking to the peak of the mountain.

===Gilgamesh===

"Those dirty mongrels dared to break one of my treasures. And even dared to defy EA when I used it. Why couldn't they have just laid down and died like the fodder they are." Gilgamesh said, fuming as he held his beloved Sword of Rupture on his lap, gently caressing its cylindrical blade.

"TSK" He clicked his tongue in anger before standing from the golden throne he had made himself, and looking out across the massive field below him.

An army stood before him, all with unique skills and personality, each with different weapons and armor.

Soon, he saw a unit of the army break off, and go to the massive stone pillars leaning on each other, and waited for the Gate to open. After a moment, it did, and Archer walked in and the small army walked out.

"The little snake comes back." Gilgamesh said, seeing Archer begin to walk towards the massive stone and wooden hall.

Ivar then appeared next to Archer, and threw his arm around the servant's as if they were friends.

"It won't be long now." Gilgamesh said, pulling golden armor from a golden ripple that appeared.

He normally liked to just materialize it directly on his body, but it had been ages since he put it on himself.

As he strapped his armor to his body, he felt nostalgic about the feeling. Soon, standing in his armor, he turned to one of the spirits that Ivar had given to attend him.

"You, do you know how to wield a sword?" He asked.

The spirit nodded, and Gilgamesh gave his next command.

"You will train me in the ways of the Sword until the Juggernaut shows up. If you know of someone better, you will retrieve them immediately, and bring them here."

The man nodded, and disappeared before reappearing with another spirit that held a sword in one hand.

The spirit bowed, then took a stance, ready to teach.