Sword Art Online Crossover: They're all close friends, how did I become a player?

Fuyuki City Tohsaka House

"Kirei, can you sense it? A Master has withdrawn from the Holy Grail War."

Tokiomi Tohsaka sat upright on the sofa, gently swirling a glass of red wine in his hand, his brows slightly furrowed, and asked his disciple Kirei Kotomine beside him.

"Yes, Mr. Tokiomi."

Kirei Kotomine's voice remained calm and composed; he showed little emotional reaction to the decrease in the number of Masters. In any case, he didn't understand why the Holy Grail had chosen him as its Master.

Kirei Kotomine, who was still unclear about some of his own thoughts, felt that the Holy Grail must be malfunctioning, for it had chosen someone like him as its Master.

After all, he believed he had no desire for the Holy Grail; in fact, he found the Holy Grail War utterly boring.

"Hmph hmph hmph~ Hahahahahaha, how interesting." A burst of loud laughter broke the silence of the room, drawing the attention of Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kirei Kotomine.

In the dimly lit room, golden spiritual particles rippled outwards, and then a figure clad in golden armor appeared before Kirei Kotomine and Tokiomi Tohsaka.

Her short, golden hair flew back like flames, and her blood-red eyes gleamed with a chilling light, giving the impression of being stared at by a large carnivore.

The man in armor was exceptionally handsome, but most people wouldn't notice his appearance at first glance. Instead, they would be overwhelmed by his powerful aura and wouldn't dare to look him in the eye.

"King of Heroes, you have arrived."

Upon seeing the visitor, Tokiomi Tohsaka respectfully put down his wine cup, stood aside, and bowed as he spoke.

Gilgamesh walked straight to Tokiomi Tohsaka's wine cabinet without looking to either side, took out the most expensive bottle of red wine without ceremony, poured himself a glass, took a sip, and curled his lip in disdain: "Tsk, this wine is not even as good as the most ordinary wine in my treasury."

"The wines of this world are naturally no match for the fine wines treasured by the king." Tokiomi Tohsaka didn't care at all about Gilgamesh's behavior of taking his wine for free and then complaining about it.

When Tokiomi Tohsaka summoned the oldest king, the King of Heroes, to become his Servant, he wanted to laugh out loud and declare to his disciple, "Kirei, we've got this in the bag!"

Although the hero king appeared with a burst of golden light from behind him, a long spear suddenly stabbed towards him.

If it weren't for my decent strength and quick dodge, I would already be a corpse by now, achieving the feat of being killed by my own Servant at the start of the game.

But! It's okay, I'm still alive, aren't I?

Given that Gilgamesh is a Hero King and appears as an Archer with high stats, he can be considered the pinnacle of all Servants in every respect.

In addition, there are seven Masters in the Holy Grail War, one of whom is his own prized disciple: Kirei Kotomine.

Kirei himself had no particular desires; his purpose in participating in the Holy Grail War was simply to help himself achieve final victory.

The Church, which should have remained neutral throughout the Holy Grail War, has now completely sided with them. Furthermore, the Heroic Spirit summoned by Kirei Kotomine is Hassan-i-Sabah, the Old Man of the Mountain, an Assassin highly skilled in eavesdropping and concealment.

With this combination, Tokiomi Tohsaka shouted loudly: Who else is there!

Hmph, hahahahaha~ How can he possibly lose now!

"My lord, now that there is one less of the seven Masters, I wonder if this will affect the Holy Grail War."

After a brief moment of inward laughter, Tokiomi Tohsaka composed himself and asked Gilgamesh a question. He hadn't forgotten that one of his Masters had withdrawn from the Holy Grail War.

He'd rather quit; losing one person could even improve their team's chances of winning. But if losing a Master affected the start of the Holy Grail War, he wouldn't be happy about that.

Gilgamesh gently swirled the red wine in his glass, the crimson liquid shimmering alluringly in the sunlight. He said casually, "Hmph~ They're nothing but deserters. The Holy Grail will choose a new Master to fill the vacancy."

As Gilgamesh had predicted, not long afterward, all Masters and Servants once again sensed the birth of a new seventh Master.

Meanwhile, the seventh Servant has also appeared.

At this point, all the Masters and Servants involved in the Holy Grail War have arrived in Fuyuki City.

The conflict is about to begin; the enemy will arrive on the battlefield in five seconds.

Get ready for a full-scale attack!

……

In the same familiar hotel room, Yu Bai, with his green hair, put the Heavenly Lock back into his game backpack, then stared at the Command Seals on the back of his hand, lost in thought.

Not long ago, after deciding to go and cause trouble for Gaia, I considered that Changge Mowen was a long-range sonic attacker, and it wouldn't be as satisfying to fight him.

As a god of blessing, fighting is completely out of character for him. In this case, only Enkidu's brutal, visceral punches are what truly satisfy him.

So after making the decision, Yu Bai instantly released all of Enkidu's power. Green hair and green eyes once again replaced silver hair and golden eyes. After taking out the anti-god weapon, the Chains of Heaven, from the game space, Yu Bai ran off to fight Gaia head-on.

After a good fight and having taken a lot of good stuff from Gaia, Yu Bai originally wanted to return to his citadel.

Unexpectedly, as he was about to leave, Gaia stubbornly clung to his leg, refusing to let him go, despite his badly injured body.

While hugging her, she cried and begged to be her Master.

Looking at the god at his feet, who had no form whatsoever, he had already beaten him and dug a pit for him. But he couldn't really kill the god, because killing him would cause a violent upheaval and countless deaths on earth.

"Let go."

"No, please be a Master just this once. It was my mistake to drag you here by force. Now one of the Masters has been eliminated, and the Holy Grail War is about to begin. It's too late."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"...Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, has participated in this Holy Grail War!"

Thinking back to this, Yu Bai sighed.

Gilles' unexpected appearance in this Holy Grail War was truly unexpected. While reuniting with his dearest friend was undoubtedly a joyous occasion, why did he feel a strange sense of unease?

Is this what they call feeling apprehensive about returning home?

……

After summoning Gilgamesh

Tokiomi Tohsaka: Who else is there?! Who else?! Kirei! We've got this Holy Grail War in the bag!

Tokiomi Tohsaka: Hehehe~ Hahahaha~ (ecstatic)

Gilgamesh: Hmph hmph hmph~ Hahahaha~ (Staring at Kirei, he noticed something)