Hanging Gardens of BabylonWP: Aerial Garden of Vanity (虚栄の空中庭園, Kyoei no Kūchū Teien?) is the Noble Phantasm of Nebuchadnezzar II. It is also usable by Semiramis due to stories about her owning it, though she did not actually own in life.
It is Semiramis' strongest and largest-scaled Noble Phantasm that she proudly owns, a giant floating fortress which the Red Faction uses for their main base in the Great Holy Grail War. Rather than an Anti-World Noble Phantasm, it would be more accurate to call it a giant Bounded Field. It is an enormous fortress capable of housing thousands of soldiers, assembled with systematically ordered floating masses, covered in floors of marble, stone balconies, many pillars, and every kind of plant life entangled and intertwined over the construct in a manner described as a "unification of unsightly disorder and luxurious beauty." It contains a throne room used as its main means of control, allowing Semiramis to cause it to activate by touching a large jewel on her throne's armrest.[2] The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are designed to look like an upside-down palace, with the interior being reversed so the floor is on the ceiling.[3]
The Hanging Gardens' upside-down hallways.
It is an irregular Noble Phantasm that is impossible to manifest with magical energy like regular Noble Phantasms. Like Avicebron's Golem Keter Malkuth, it requires worldly materials and time to construct before it can be utilized. It is "vanity" itself, so the conditions for its activation are strict. In a process of construction that takes at least three days, soil, stone, minerals, wood, plants, and water of a fixed amount must be gathered from the land in which she once lived, ruins in the vicinity of Baghdad, Iraq, and only with their preparation can the activation proceed. It requires enough money to buy a small country to obtain all of the necessary materials. The more money used in its construction, the more its Mystery deepens and the more the Garden is strengthened. The complicated ritual is due to that she did not create the construct, have anything to do with its construction, nor even have actually seen it during her lifetime.[2]
Due to the misunderstandings of countless people, their mental image of it being built by her resounding strong, and with the added Mystery to her legend after her death, it has become her Noble Phantasm that she instinctively knows it to have been inscribed into her legend. The ritual allows for the "illusion" to become reality, becoming a Noble Phantasm that should be impossible to exist. As a counterfeit turned real, it therefore possesses "vanity" in its title, allowing those who knows its truth to only feel a sort of scorn for its existence by feeling that "Semiramis didn’t build the Hanging Gardens." It can be said vanity is not fragile, and due to the materials having been gathered and the construct materialized, her vanity has been turned into "truth" in the modern age. Although previously an illusion, it is "far more absurd and ridiculous" than the real thing.
Rather than the description of a garden, or even a fortress, it is more aptly described as a floating weapon, manifested as an "enormous fortress hanging in the air" in line with its name. The act of it activating is enough to bring other Servants to awe, even eliciting a brief response from the normally stoic Karna. Although similar to a Temple constructed using Territory Creation, surpassing even the highest-grade normal Temples, it is not meant to be a fortification but a Noble Phantasm for offensive use. It does not boast great speed, taking an hour to travel a number of kilometers, but it is capable of moving towards an enemy stronghold and "hanging" midair to prepare for attack. The only way for enemies to attack is with flying mounts or planes, but she can easily defend it with her flying Dragon Wing Warriors and powerful magecraft. Preparing spells before battle, she can immediately generate magical circles around her, above the opponent, and below the opponent to be launched at her leisure.
Hanging Gardens' main defensive mechanism
Semiramis trying to shoot Astolfo and Sieg down.
The Booby Traps inside the Garden.
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Her abilities are normally fairly low, but she boasts that nothing is impossible for her within its confines. Even if it is to travel to another country, it is always treated as her personal field that increases all of her parameters in rank, boosts her fame level to the highest class, and revise attacks in her favor,[1] adding a plus modifier to her attacks.[4] It becomes possible for her to utilize magecraft that reaches into the realm of Magic, using EX-ranked blasts capable of overwhelming even A-ranked Magic Resistance. While she would not normally be able to construct an army sized amount of Dragon Tooth Warriors, creating three thousand for use in one battle is an easy task for her. The greatest weakness of this Noble Phantasm is that she only gains its benefits within it and becomes rendered nearly powerless upon leaving its confines, but it has no great impact on her due to it being a moving fortress that she has no need to leave. It can be compared to barricading herself in a fortress able to deploy weapons of mass destruction, likening a frontal assault on her as her enemies presenting themselves to be killed by her.
In a normal Holy Grail War, this Noble Phantasm wouldn’t be used in the first place. Though there’s also the material cost, the real problem is the three-days-three-nights ritual for it. This is a necessary ritual in order to hammer in the nails of “truth” into this falsehood. This three-days-three-nights duration has no special allegorical significance to it; Semiramis’ chant simply requires seventy-two hours to complete. The bigger the Garden is made, the more nails are needed to be driven into it all over. Therefore, in a normal Holy Grail War, as long as Semiramis doesn’t secure an excellently concealed location beforehand, the Hanging Gardens is useless as a Noble Phantasm. And most of all, Semiramis won’t willingly try to make the Hanging Gardens unless her Master is interesting enough.[2]
Class Skills
■ Presence Concealment: C+
Hides one's presence as a Servant. Suitable for spying.
The rank of presence concealment drops considerably when preparing to attack.
However, this condition does not apply to poisoning something.
■ Territory Creation: EX
Creates an area that is advantageous to oneself as a magus.
By gathering specific materials, it is possible to create a "Hanging Garden", superior to a "Temple".
■ Item Creation: C
Allows the creation of items that carry magical energy.
Semiramis specializes in poisons, so she can't make any other types of tools.
Personal Skills
■ Familiar (Doves): D
Allows the use of doves as familiars.
They can be directed by thought alone, without need for a contract.
■ Dual Summon: B
Grants the Class Skills of both the Assassin and Caster classes.
An exceedingly rare trait, possessed only by a select few Servants.
■ Divinity: C
Semiramis was the daughter of the Syrian fish-goddess Derketo and a mortal.
Noble Phantasms
■ Hanging Gardens of Babylon: Aerial Garden of Vanity
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-world Noble Phantasm
Range: 10~100
Max Targets: 1000
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. In reality, Semiramis had nothing to do with its construction.
However, due to the misunderstandings of countless people, it became her Noble Phantasm.
Because this Noble Phantasm is "vanity" itself, the conditions for its activation are strict.
It is necessary to gather a fixed amount of soil and stone from ruins in the vicinity of Baghdad, Iraq, and only once these materials are prepared can the activation proceed.
(This entire process takes at least three days.)
As the name suggests, it manifests as an "enormous fortress hanging in the air".
And, within this fortress, all of Semiramis' parameters are increased in rank.
On top of that, her fame level is also boosted to the highest class, and attacks are revised in her favor.
■ Sikera Ušum: Arrogant King's Alcohol
Rank: B+
Type: Anti-Army
Range: 1~20
Max Targets: 10 People
A Noble Phantasm that can only be invoked at the throne in the Aerial Gardens of Vanity.
The atmosphere and magecraft receive a "poison," environmental property.
When this Noble Phantasm is invoked, the magecraft Semiramis uses is granted a "poison," attribute.
Heroes who posses legends that say "Poison had no effect" are granted a debuff bonus, on the other hand, if they have an episode where they died to poison, damage is doubled. Different types of poison can be selected as well.
In regards to the image, the poison's appearance manifests as chains.
CLASS アサシン
マスター：シロウ・コトミネ
真名：セミラミス
性別：女性
身長・体重：１６９ｃｍ／５１ｋｇ
属性：秩序・悪
Aerial Garden of Vanity [Noble Phantasm]
Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The strongest and largest-scale Noble Phantasm that Assassin of Red proudly owns. Rather than being Anti-World, perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a giant Boundary Field. Assassin? The Servant that specializes in hiding and killing Masters? This is a dumbfounding Noble Phantasm that throws away such common knowledge to the other side of the horizon.
It was already referenced in the novels, but Semiramis didn’t actually create the Hanging Gardens. However, this “falsehood” that was included into Semiramis’ legend at some point over time eventually became true.
However, since it brings something false into the real world, it has to use real materials for its construction. If this were the true Hanging Gardens, it would be able to activate—to manifest just by releasing its true name like a normal Noble Phantasm, though.
It basically requires enough money to buy a small country in order to obtain all the necessary materials. Rather, the more money used in its construction, the more its Mystery deepens and the Garden is strengthened, “so, if it’s for the sake of obtaining the Holy Grail, you should have the resolve to become bankrupt, my Master”—is Semiramis-sama’s way of putting it.
In a normal Holy Grail War, this Noble Phantasm wouldn’t be used in the first place. Though there’s also the material cost, the real problem is the three-days-three-nights ritual for it. This is a necessary ritual in order to hammer in the nails of “truth” into this falsehood, this three-days-three-nights duration has no special allegorical significance to it; Semiramis’ chant simply requires seventy-two hours to complete. The bigger the Gardens are made, the more nails are needed to be driven into it all over.
Therefore, in a normal Holy Grail War, as long as Semiramis doesn’t secure an excellently concealed location beforehand, the Hanging Gardens are useless as a Noble Phantasm. And most of all, Semiramis won’t willingly try to make the Hanging Gardens unless her Master is interesting enough.
