[h1]Hot Place[/h1]

[h2]Svetleaze von Einzbern[/h2]

It seemed that she would have to be more careful in phrasing her orders in the future... not that she particularly cared about the soldiers being swatted away like flies in this case. Having Kintoki interpret her entirely too literally in the future would cause no end of headaches. Even this, which achieved the nice and simple objective of clearing a path, left an undeniable flaw in having to keep on her Servant's heels.

Not that this was beyond one such as herself, especially when the mass of bodies slowed Berserker down a little. No, the speed and effort required was fine...

Svetleaze was simply dressed entirely wrong for the scorching heat. A hot coat was grand for the snowy landscape the Einzbern claimed as their own or the middle of an ocean. It would have been perfect for the alternative destination. Babylon, though, a mostly arid land and nowhere near some of the mountains that might have brought relief? It was the wrong place to have come with a coat. A coat that she obviously couldn't afford to remove, lest some enterprising Master get the wrong idea and go for a fatal shot. Something would need to be added to the thing to prevent her from overheating. Soon.

Panting in the sweltering heat left the Einzbern as a naturally poor choice to convey any sort of major information to the King of Heroes.

[hr]

[h2]Honoria Sigurddottir[/h2]

It was too hot to run. That and, had she intended to do any running around, the magus would have chosen to wear something more practical for that than an elaborate dress. Besides, who thought that running around with your hands full of something as fragile as a guitar was a good thing? Anybody? No, she didn't think so.

Of course, climbing the stairs normally when everyone had been scattered like bowling pins was easy. It got even easier when you factored in how even very simple magecraft could dissuade most people from immediately approaching you--just keep them distracted with helping their friends. Keep repeating the same simple strain...

It was no wonder that the musician was the last one to actually reach the peak.

[hr]

[h2]Sir Lancelot[/h2]

Lancelot responded to Berserker's rush by taking his small Master under one arm and following, staying generally off to the side. It wasn't quite as safe as following right behind him, but it left his friend hand to deflect and disarm the stunned soldiers that might otherwise have pushed back towards the opened path once again--dropping the ladle towards the zenith and taking one of the disarmed spears instead.

It would have been a reassurance for his Master that the knight wasn't completely out of his mind by choosing to use cutlery as a weapon but she was probably more upset about being carried up the stairs like a sack of turnips.

The three Servants at the top of the Ziggurat put him on guard immediately. Yumi was stuck squarely behind the knight's voluminous cape as he viewed the King of Heroes with all the guarded suspicion that such a man warranted--the green haired... something that stood beside him too, as from his recollections of the war, the golden one had never shown anyone that sort of respect. Nor had he ever been addressed by name.

If he were to capitalise on his threat, it would be even more difficult to deal with him now: though he could compensate for his reduced speed by actually being aware of his surroundings and able to actively think ahead, their Masters were left with nowhere to shelter in such a confrontation. The top of a structure as this would make for a dangerously exposed place to fight. They would have to negotiate with Gilgamesh and hope that it avoided escalating into a fight.

"This world is but one that has been forced into an incorrect historical path. From the explanation we have received, the root of this problem stems from another false grail. If it carries the same corruption as the Fuyuki Grail, then its actions in summoning Servants and altering history can only be malicious in origin," the purple-haired knight explained, far too familiar with [i]that[/i] blackness. The Great Grail was a terrible thing, "If unchecked, this singularity will have catastrophic effects. Even the very history we remember and that remembers us could be unmade, King of Heroes."