Ashes

Converging of Wills

Chapter 4

Converging of Wills

What defines heroism? The bravery of a person to stand in the face of evil? Or perhaps the stubbornness of a person to carry out their wills?

No, heroism is purely subjective as is good and evil. If one sees someone as heroic in their character and actions, another may see evil or a detrimental trait. Therefore, what makes a heroic spirit in the eyes of humanity or to the world?

Heroism, heroic, and hero are mere winds uttered in a pattern that only other humans and their creations can only understand. Therefore, the world does not have a definition of heroism.

The throne of heroes, a collection of humanity's greatest, is not the collection of humanity's greatest heroes but the collection of humanity's greatest humans. Villians, monsters, and pure evil are therefore recorded forever into the throne of heroes.

As long as people have seen, seeing, and will see their deeds as a great source of inspiration or larger-than-life motive, they will be recorded in the Throne of Heroes.

Therefore, even the most despicable of people can be found there and be summoned as a servant. Like, the golden bastard standing arrogantly before her.

Many shining golden circles at his back, ready to spew out its vast treasury.

In his hand, he held one of her Storch Ritter familiars, its form trying to squirm from his grasp.

"You are late, doll," he said, a look of irritation clearly on full display on his face as he crushed the familiar. "Do not test my patience."

Illyasviel felt a bit of a chill up her neck, feeling the full weight of the King of Heroes' anger. Yet, with a discreet glance at Berserker's back, confidence brimmed once again within her. "A gentleman waits for the lady, do they not?" she shot back, a practiced smile on her face.

"The world does not wait on the whims of women, doll."

A cultural conflict, one of the most destructive sources of conflict, was now brewing between them. A tense standoff occurred between the strongest archer and the strongest master.

"Tell me, how do you feel about Saber's fate?" she inquired, doing her best to diffuse the tension between them.

Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow at Illyasviel's words, a look of minor waterways interest replacing his previous irritation. "Oh? Tell me, doll, what makes you think I hold opinions on them?"

"I am not just a homunculus," Illyasviel said as she brought her hands from behind her and presented a book to the king. "After all, I have a father."

"I see, you're a spawn of the previous master of saber," the king noted with budding interest as he approached her. "Then I suppose that makes you less human than before."

The snow-haired Einzbern took the insult in stride, taking a step forward to the approaching Gilgamesh. "I suppose you are right, I am less than human. That makes me more of a perfect magus," she boasted, twisting the insult into a compliment.

"You have a lot of confidence for a doll who hides behind a beast." Gilgamesh continued his stride unimpeded, neither slowing down nor speeding up in pace towards her.