The next morning, Fuyuki City was blessed with rare pleasant weather.
A black Toyota van was driving along the coastal highway toward Fuyuki City’s newly built amusement park.
*Click, click…*
Kariya Matou sat in the driver’s seat, his hands gripping the steering wheel in a death grip.
Cold sweat drenched his palms, and his teeth clattered uncontrollably.
No one could blame him for being nervous.
Anyone carrying a walking nuclear warhead ready to detonate at any moment in their vehicle would hardly perform better.
In the passenger seat, Gilgamesh—wearing an extravagantly flashy black leather motorcycle jacket over a V-neck white T-shirt—gazed out at the scenery with utter impatience.
“This iron box called an ‘automobile’ crawls so slowly it resembles a maggot on the ground!” The King of Heroes sneered, disdainfully slapping the leather seat.
“Compared to my Vimana, the Soaring Throne of the King, how dare such crude industrial waste carry me?
And it shakes terribly!”
“Give it a rest, Boss Gold.
You’re lucky to have a ride at all—did you want to fly into the sky?”
Slouched shamelessly in the back seat was Yoru Hayashi, clutching a pink water bottle printed with Pikachu.
Sakura sat politely beside him, wearing her new pink trench coat bought yesterday, peering out the window in wonder at the ocean view.
Yoru yawned and shot back without hesitation, “If you think this is slow, wait till we get to the park.
There’s a thing called a ‘roller coaster’ that guarantees you’ll experience the full G-force of modern physics.”
Gilgamesh sneered.
“Bluster.
I shall see what tricks a mad fool like you can pull off.”
Half an hour later, outside the gates of the Fuyuki City Amusement Park.
“Brother Kariya, go get the tickets!
Grab three ice creams while you’re at it—two chocolate and one vanilla!” Yoru issued orders as naturally as breathing, treating Kariya entirely like a chief butler.
Wiping his sweat, Kariya scampered off to line up like a complaint-free ATM machine.
As long as he could see Tokiomi Tohsaka suffer, forget buying tickets—he would happily dress up in a mascot suit inside the park!
Before long, Kariya jogged back holding three ice cream cones.
Yoru handed a chocolate cone to Sakura.
The little girl’s eyes sparkled as she stuck out her pink tongue for a lick, instantly staining the corner of her mouth with a circle of black chocolate sauce, looking just like a mischievous little kitten caught stealing treats.
Yoru then held the vanilla cone out in front of Gilgamesh.
“Here, try it.”
The King of Heroes tilted his chin up slightly, his face radiating rejection.
“You expect commoner garbage made from frozen low-quality milk and industrial saccharin to enter my throat?
Take it away!”
“You really don’t want it?
It’s burning hot today.
Suit yourself, I’ll just eat two.” Yoru made a motion to pull his hand back.
“…Wait,” Gilgamesh’s eyes flickered, and he spoke coldly.
“Since you offer this tribute with such sincere devotion, if I were not to take a bite, would it not make me appear lacking in magnanimity?”
With that, he snatched the cone with lightning swiftness, taking an elegantly composed yet blazingly fast bite.
The chilly milky aroma melted across his tongue.
Gilgamesh paused briefly, then casually turned his head away and began devouring the ice cream cone bite after bite.
He ate so fast his hand left afterimages, yet his face retained that arrogant expression of “graciously bestowing a favor.”
*Tsundere behavior will be the death of you, Goldie,* Yoru snorted inwardly.
After having their tickets checked and entering the park, the four made a beeline for the indoor arcade.
In 1993 Japan, arcades were at the absolute peak of their craze and popularity.
The moment they brushed past the heavy door curtains, a wave of heat hit them—a mix of tobacco smoke, sweat, and deafening 8-bit electronic sound effects.
“What sort of foul, smoke-choked dump is this?!” Gilgamesh instantly covered his nose, murder flashing in his crimson eyes.
“Are these mongrels gathered here pounding on glowing metal boxes engaged in some demonic ritual?!”
“These are arcades!
The birthplace of modern male romance!” Yoru exchanged a giant basket of game tokens at the front desk and walked over to a machine.
It was a thoroughly retro claw machine.
Inside lay a pile of plush toys, the most eye-catching being a small golden lion wearing a crown.
Sakura’s eyes were instantly drawn to the little lion, freezing her in her tracks.
Though she didn’t say a word, her big eyes screamed “I want it.”
“You want that?” Yoru keenly caught the girl’s look and puffed out his chest confidently.
“Watch Big Brother work!
It’s just a silly plushie—two tries and it’s ours!”
*Clunk.* He dropped in a token.
Yoru operated the joystick and confidently slammed the catch button.
The mechanical claw slowly lowered, accurately grasping the lion’s head, and ascended—only to open with utmost “naturalness” right at the apex, just before panning sideways.
*Plop.* The little lion fell back down.
The smile on Yoru’s face froze.
“A fluke.
Absolutely a fluke.
Again!”
Second try, third try, fifth try, tenth try…
After wasting twenty full tokens, the cursed mechanical claw released at the highest point every single time, as if mocking Yoru’s incompetence.
Sakura tugged on Yoru’s shirt hem and said sensibly, “Big Brother, forget it.
Sakura doesn’t need it.
It looks really hard to catch…”
I am officially at war with this broken machine today!
Did the owner loosen the grip?
This place is rigged as hell!” Frustrated, Yoru rolled up his sleeves.
Just then, a hand adorned with golden rings pushed Yoru aside.
“Move aside, useless mongrel.
Failing to retrieve even a crude ragdoll brings utter embarrassment upon me.”
Gilgamesh stepped forward with a cold expression.
Despite his verbal disdain, he had noticed earlier that the doll was a lion.
As the King of Beasts, this plushie barely scraped by his aesthetic standards.
What was more, this machine dared to embarrass his Master, which was equivalent to slapping Gilgamesh in the face!
“Is it not merely a matter of extracting that plush doll?
Watch!”
Gilgamesh casually tossed in a coin, clumsily gripped the joystick, and aligned the mechanical claw with the lion.
He pressed the button.
The claw dropped, grabbed, lifted…
*plop*, and dropped it again.
The air suddenly turned dead silent.
Beside him, Yoru was clutching his stomach, holding back laughter so hard he was almost cramping, while Kariya Matou turned around completely, his shoulders shaking hysterically.
Gilgamesh’s expression darkened visibly, veins bulging one after another across his forehead.
“This cursed piece of junk metal…
dares to make a fool of me?!
How dare it release its filthy claws?!”
The pride of the Oldest King had suffered an unprecedented critical hit!
This was no longer about a plush doll; it was a modern creation shaped like an iron box openly defying his majesty as absolute ruler!
*Hum—!*
Accompanied by a dangerous surge of magical energy, golden ripples instantly spread across the void behind Gilgamesh.
The tip of a golden sword gleaming with cold sharpness slowly emerged.
“Trash that cannot even present tribute to me deserves to be utterly crushed by Gate of Babylon!!!”
“Holy crap!
Goldie, calm down!
This is a claw machine, not Tokiomi Tohsaka’s mage workshop!
You don’t need to unleash Noble Phantasms over this!”
Yoru’s scalp went numb with terror.
If a sword slashed down here, the whole amusement park would be leveled to ashes!
He quickly lunged forward and grabbed the arm Gilgamesh was about to swing down, raising his foot to deliver a heavy kick—*thud*—squarely against the claw machine’s side panel.
*Clang!*
As the machine shuddered violently, the crowned lion plushie stuck on the edge tumbled straight down into the prize chute from the vibration.
Yoru acted with lightning speed, bending down to retrieve the doll and stuffing it into Sakura’s hands before dragging Gilgamesh deeper into the arcade.
“See?
Dealing with rigged machines takes special tactics.
Come on, let Big Brother show you a real, hardcore game for real men!”
Although Gilgamesh withdrew his Noble Phantasm, his rage had not subsided.
He scoffed, “Foolish tricks.”
Yoru shoved him down into a stool before a popular arcade cabinet.
On the screen, the gritty title of *Street Fighter II* flashed boldly.
“Alright, Boss Gold, don’t say I took advantage of you.
This game is simple and fair: joystick on the left controls movement, buttons on the right hit people.
Whoever’s health bar empties first loses.”
Yoru skillfully inserted a token and picked the poster character, Ryu.
Gilgamesh stared at the screen for two seconds.
His innate pride forbade him from backing down in any domain.
Mimicking Yoru, he grabbed the joystick and randomly selected Zangief, a heavily muscled, punchable-looking Russian.
“Hmph.
In a childish squabble inside a box like this, I could defeat you with my eyes closed.”
“Round 1, Fight!”
The battle began.
Just as Gilgamesh’s Zangief tried to step forward—
Yoru’s fingers flew across the panel, flawlessly pulling off a quarter-circle forward punch.
“Hadoken!”
A blue energy wave slapped straight into Zangief’s face.
Gilgamesh froze.
Before he could react—
“Hadoken!
Hadoken!
Shoryuken!”
Relying on his modern gaming expertise, Yoru resorted to the notoriously cheap fireball-and-uppercut strategy.
Spam fireballs from a distance, then execute an anti-air Shoryuken the second the opponent jumped over.
In under twenty seconds:
“K.O.!”
On screen, Zangief lay flat on his back.
He glared intently at Yoru’s character striking a victory pose on screen, his breathing turning heavy and harsh.
“You despicable mongrel!” the King of Heroes roared.
“Why do you hide at a distance hurling those glowing blue spheres?!
As a warrior, why do you lack the courage to engage me in honorable hand-to-hand combat?!”
“Huh?
That’s called strategy, got it?
All’s fair in war, Goldie!” Yoru bounced his leg arrogantly.
“If you lose, admit you’re bad—don’t make excuses.
Win the next round if you’ve got what it takes.”
“Again!!
I shall tear you and your red-gi mongrel into shreds!” Completely enraged and red-faced, Gilgamesh slammed a handful of tokens onto the control panel.
“Round 2!”
While the two fought tooth and nail before the cabinet, with Gilgamesh cursing furiously as Yoru pinned him in infinite combos—
In the shadows of the ceiling air vent above the arcade, an unnaturally large black moth stared down at the four below with its compound eyes.
It was Zouken Matou’s remaining familiar.
Although Zouken Matou’s physical body had been shattered by Yoru, he was still using this concealed insect to stealthily track Tohsaka Sakura’s whereabouts.
“Kekeke…
Though I know not where that arrogant brat recruited his blond helper, as long as you remain in Fuyuki City, this old fool will sooner or later reclaim Sakura…” Zouken’s sinister voice echoed from within the moth.
However, before he could finish his thought—
Gilgamesh, furiously inputting commands while fuming over Yoru cheaping him out with a low kick, suddenly scowled in annoyance.
“Where did this bug come from, daring to ruin my mood at a time like this?!”
While his left hand continued working the joystick, he casually flicked his right index finger upward.
*Shoosh—!*
A tiny flash of golden light shot from his fingertip like an embroidery needle, piercing through the noisy air in an instant and embedding itself perfectly inside the vent.
*Splat.*
A faint popping sound echoed.
The moth carrying a fragment of Zouken’s soul, along with the sheet metal of the duct, was instantly obliterated by the golden spike!
Miles away in a sewer, a sludge-like pile of worms let out a blood-curdling shriek.
Zouken Matou’s remaining soul had suffered irrecoverable damage!
“I win!”
At the exact second the moth was vaporized, Yoru seized the moment of Gilgamesh’s distraction to unleash a super move that emptied Gilgamesh’s health bar completely.
“K.O.!”
“Damn you, mongrel!
You dared attack while I was cleaning out trash?!” Enraged, Gilgamesh slammed his palm on the control panel, making the entire arcade machine groan under the strain.
[Ding!
Congratulations to the Host for introducing modern esports culture to the Oldest King and defeating him using shameless tactics.
Title Reward: [Cyber Street Loiterer] (Reaction speed slightly increased)!]
The system notification chimed in right on cue.
Grinning like a triumphant fox, Yoru threw an arm around Gilgamesh’s shoulder while the King was still teetering on the edge of fury.
“Don’t get mad, Goldie!
There are dozens of characters in this game.
Come on, let Big Brother teach you how to pull off special moves today!”
…
At the same time.
Fuyuki City, Miyama-cho, the Tohsaka family underground workshop.
Tokiomi Tohsaka’s hair was disheveled, and his usually immaculate handlebar mustache looked unkempt.
Standing before the newly drawn summoning circle, he took a deep breath and placed a rusty piece of iron at the center of the array.
Legend held that it was an armor fragment belonging to a Knight of the Round Table.
“Although I have lost the King of Heroes…
this is the glory of Britain, the highest class, Saber!”
Tokiomi bit his finger, eyes flashing with desperate resolve.
“Let it be declared—Thy body shall be under my command; my fate shall be attuned to thy sword…”
Accompanied by a lengthy and orthodox chant, violent winds surged within the basement.
A blinding silver-white light shot into the sky!
When the light dispersed, a towering knight clad in heavy silver full-body armor and holding a greatsword knelt on one knee at the center of the magic circle.
The palpable sense of sorrow and savage murder intent forced Tokiomi Tohsaka to take half a step back.
The knight slowly raised his head, and a low, raspy voice echoed from beneath the helmet:
“Servant, Berserker…
comes forth upon thy summon.
I ask of you, are you my Master?”
Tokiomi Tohsaka froze.
The ruby cane in his hand fell to the ground with a *clack*.
“Ber…
Berserker?!
That’s impossible!
The catalyst I prepared was clearly for Saber, and I didn’t even add the chant for mad enhancement!
Why did a Berserker appear?!”
Tokiomi Tohsaka’s despairing shriek echoed through the empty basement, lingering for a long, long time.