Artoria found Gilles de Rais too late; all the children had already been killed, and the last one was murdered right before Artoria's eyes.
"Joan! Oh! You are not Joan! Joan! I have come to greet you!"
Gilles de Rais completely ignored Artoria, apparently believing the departed star from last night was Joan. Although the face was different, the Noble Phantasm was definitely Joan's. He had been furious the previous day, thinking God had turned Joan into a man.
"Evil path!" Artoria watched the children being killed, her heart filled with rage. She drew her Holy Sword, hidden by the Invisible Air, and charged.
Gilles de Rais paid no attention to Artoria. Instead, he conjured countless monsters to deal with the rabble and, engrossed in his own delusion, shouted towards the castle where Li Xing was located: "Joan! Why do you not come out! My Saint!"
...
"Ah... this, he must have mistaken me for Joan," Li Xing felt awkward and kept pouring and drinking tea.
"Won't you go and see? If you can eliminate Caster, I will grant you the title of Prince."
Li Xing shook his head and refused. Being ennobled had no effect on him. He wouldn't be staying in the world of Type-Moon for long, so any title would be meaningless. Li Xing didn't kill indiscriminately, but having witnessed so much death, he no longer possessed the passionate spirit of a righteous hero.
...
On the other side, Artoria was blocked by a swarm of tentacle monsters, unable to get close. Gilles de Rais's magic seemed inexhaustible; for every batch killed, another appeared.
Just as Artoria was in a predicament, Diarmuid joined the battlefield, under orders from both Kayneth and Ying Zheng.
Although Diarmuid was puzzled by how Artoria's hand injury had healed, this was not the time for questions. He had to deal with the Caster at hand first.
Meanwhile, Kayneth had entered the castle alone. The moment he stepped inside, he saw Li Xing and Ying Zheng sitting in the living room, drinking tea. Just as he was about to summon Diarmuid, Li Xing stopped him.
"Magus from the Clock Tower, we are not participating in the battle. There is no need for you to panic. Just don't disturb our tea."
This suited Kayneth perfectly. Only a Servant could defeat a Servant. Kayneth then manipulated the Black Pearl into the castle, intending to duel the third-rate magus who had used explosives against him.
"I thought it was some mongrel giving orders to this King. So it is you, you mongrel who calls himself the First Emperor!"
Just as Kayneth was about to search for Emiya Kiritsugu, Gilgamesh appeared before Ying Zheng and Li Xing. As for the command of the Command Seals, Gilgamesh had simply thrown a sword before arriving here.
"Heroic King, do you have any grievances with me?"
Ying Zheng was naturally displeased at being called a mongrel. At this moment, their auras erupted, and golden light shimmered behind Gilgamesh.
"Forget it, forget it. Why don't we all sit down and have a chat?" Li Xing intervened to mediate, preventing them from fighting.
Ying Zheng considered Li Xing his subject. The will of the people was his kingdom, so he calmed down. He was willing to listen to Li Xing's counsel.
Gilgamesh was annoyed by Li Xing's presence, which carried an aura of the Age of Gods, but he did not underestimate him. He closed the Gate of Babylon and sat down.
"Would you like some wine?" Li Xing turned to Gilgamesh and asked.
"Inferior wine has no right to enter my mouth, and mongrels have no right to drink with me."
Seeing Gilgamesh's arrogant and chuunibyou behavior, spitting out "mongrel" every other word, Li Xing could no longer tolerate it. He snapped his fingers, and the three of them were transported to a desert within the Unlimited Blade Works.
"Speaking of which, I never fought you seriously in Mesopotamia. Let's try now!" Li Xing flew into the sky, and the desert sand swirled around them.
Gilgamesh erupted in fury: "You dare make this King look up to you!"
Ying Zheng smiled at this and immediately yielded space for the two. He was also eager to witness Li Xing's true strength.
Li Xing wasted no words. With a casual raise of his hand, a dragon formed from sand flew towards Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh continuously shot out treasures, but these weapons merely passed through Li Xing's sand. The sand dragon quickly reformed, unaffected by the attacks.
Seeing the sand dragon dive down, Gilgamesh was forced to close the Gate of Babylon and retreat. As a king, how could he possibly trade blows with a mongrel? Yet, this still infuriated Gilgamesh.
The weapons from the Gate of Babylon had passed through Li Xing's body without him sustaining any injuries; Li Xing had used Divine Power: Phantasm.
"You scoundrel!" Gilgamesh roared, and countless chains shot down from the sky.
"Enkidu..." Li Xing did not dodge or block. He raised his hand and threw a punch, stirring up a storm within the Unlimited Blade Works.
Enkidu passed through Li Xing's body once more. Gilgamesh's lips curled upwards, but the next second, he spat out a mouthful of blood. Li Xing's punch pressure had not ceased, and Enkidu had failed to bind Li Xing. Instead, Gilgamesh's golden armor was shattered by Li Xing's punch.
"I must admit! Your strength! Very well, let your death appease my wrath!"
Gilgamesh's golden armor was broken, revealing his half-naked form. He then produced Ea, and red circuits appeared. Gilgamesh drew his strongest Noble Phantasm.
"Wait! I surrender!" Li Xing quickly surrendered. This was the Unlimited Blade Works, and his wives were still sleeping. Ea could cleave the world. Without the restraint of the World's Will here, a full-power activation would wake them.
"You want to fight, you fight. You want to stop, you stop. Do you take this King for a monkey!" Gilgamesh's movements did not cease as he prepared to charge Ea.
"Enkidu!"
Seeing that Gilgamesh had no intention of stopping, Li Xing immediately used Enkidu, binding Gilgamesh's body in an instant.
Gilgamesh was first shocked, then enraged: "You! How dare you touch my friend?"
Clearly, Gilgamesh had misunderstood, thinking Li Xing had stolen his Enkidu. In reality, it was a copied version.
"I believe you are mistaken. These chains are not your friend; they are my own creation. I even possess your Gate of Babylon. How about we stop here? Otherwise, you will be locked here by me forever."
Gilgamesh had never heard of a second Enkidu. Just as he was about to retaliate, he found that he could not move his body at all, firmly bound by Enkidu.
"A mere imitation!"
"A mere imitation? If an imitation can suppress the original, then the original becomes the imitation." Li Xing was nonchalant. What if it was copied? As long as the power was strong enough, it was sufficient.
"Very good. I am very pleased with you." Ying Zheng applauded Li Xing. Li Xing's authority was undoubtedly that of a god. As the First Emperor, he was satisfied with this descendant who had reached the realm of gods through his own strength, something even he, an emperor of a thousand generations, could not achieve.
"Shall we cease hostilities now?" Li Xing asked Gilgamesh again.
Gilgamesh was currently immobile. Although enraged, he could do nothing further and could only agree to Li Xing's truce.
"Hmph! I shall spare you this once, but you won't be so lucky next time."
Gilgamesh maintained his arrogant and unyielding demeanor, refusing to admit his mistake of underestimating his opponent, nor deigning to make excuses.
Li Xing withdrew Enkidu, and Gilgamesh retracted Ea. The three of them then returned to the castle.
However, outside, chaos had erupted. Artoria and Diarmuid had joined forces to pierce Gilles de Rais's Noble Phantasm. Kayneth had been hit by Emiya Kiritsugu's Origin Bullet, damaging his magic circuits. Diarmuid, sensing this, left with Kayneth.
Iskandar, driving his chariot, crushed a few tentacle monsters and wanted to see the castle. However, he found no one there. He then fought with Lancelot, who was crushed by the chariot and quickly retreated.
Assassin's Master, Kirei Kotomine, single-handedly defeated Irisviel and Maiya Hisau. However, due to Caster's retreat, Artoria had free time to arrive, forcing him to leave the scene.
As for Tokiomi Tohsaka, he was even more panicked. He had lost sense of Gilgamesh's presence earlier and thought he had been defeated. Fortunately, he had finally sensed Gilgamesh's presence again.
"Ho, so you are all here. That's perfect, let's have a drink together!" Iskandar spotted Li Xing, Ying Zheng, and the others, driving his chariot forward, with a barrel of wine on it.
Artoria also returned with Irisviel and Maiya Hisau. Irisviel had already healed thanks to the sheath of Excalibur, but Maiya was in a dire state, severely wounded and unconscious. Emiya Kiritsugu had already gone out alone to search for Kayneth.
"Wait, let me heal her." Li Xing looked at the unconscious Maiya Hisau and said. After all, they had prepared red wine and tea for him; it was only right to save her.