Chapter 37: Holy Grail Descent

Xia Zhi was decisive.

This decisiveness stemmed from his prior prudence and vigilance.

From the very beginning, he had regarded that Miss Sakura, and that white-haired loli, as the greatest potential threats, at one point even suspecting whether these two outwardly harmless girls were actually the behind-the-scenes black hands of this Holy Grail War……

Judging by the current situation, such speculation might not be groundless after all.

After all, the once-mighty Gilgamesh had already fallen.

And yet this Miss Sakura chose this moment to appear right on cue, like the climax of a drama, akin to a major villain who only unveils her mask in the final chapter.

Even after seeing such a situation, she could still walk right in unhurried; faced with such circumstances, rather than imagining she was arrogantly overconfident like Gilgamesh, it was better to believe she truly possessed that awe-inspiring composure and strength.

In short, that is to say, she believed she could handle that Xia Zhi from just now.

Naturally——

After making such a judgment, Xia Zhi decisively made the most correct decision; it was perhaps somewhat rushed, the Golden Elixir's refinement still lacking a touch, but he could not risk waiting for a perfect moment of Golden Elixir completion.

Anyway, at this moment his body was in a gigantic state, and he could precisely utilize this massive frame to swallow that equally colossal True Elixir in one gulp……

After all, fundamentally, even if a Servant can materialize, their body is essentially nothing more than a form condensed from magical energy; there is no fundamental difference from the Guardian Body currently manifested through visualization in this domain.

Whether absorbing the True Elixir in the form of a Servant, or devouring it in the form of a Guardian, the substance is actually identical.

Having realized this layer of meaning, Xia Zhi resolutely chose to swallow that True Elixir refined from the entire Great Holy Grail in his current form.

One Golden Core swallowed into the abdomen——

Only then did I realize my fate is mine to command, not heaven's!!

At this moment, this saying could be said to have received its most thorough and vivid embodiment.

That brimming Great Holy Grail had been entirely smelted into a single True Elixir, gathering the abundant spiritual qi of the earth veins accumulated over a full sixty years; its power was incomparable.

In that very instant——

The incomparably vast energy essence carried by the True Elixir erupted like a volcano.

Xia Zhi experienced his form condensing and solidifying at an unprecedented speed; as an existence materialized from magical energy, under the continuous infusion of massive energy, he was undergoing a visibly rapid metamorphosis.

The vast and pure Pangea power did not even need to undergo conversion, directly turning into usable magical energy; at this moment, he felt his strength skyrocketing at a terrifying rate, reaching an unprecedented level of tyrannical might.

However, the excessively overflowing magical energy was equally massive; he felt a slight loss of control.

This was only natural, after all the Great Holy Grail is essentially a super-high-grade Magic Furnace Core.

For Xia Zhi, who refined this off-the-charts super-high-grade Magic Furnace Core into an elixir and swallowed it in one gulp, the scale of magical energy he would thereby possess was no longer a question a human could comprehend.

Likewise, controlling magical energy of such scale was not a simple matter either.

"……"

"……"

The purple-haired girl——no, the silver-haired girl now——halted her steps; her hollow eyes seemed to have regained some emotion.

Her expression rapidly darkened, as if a storm was about to break; the blackened magical energy swirling around her was like a tangible low-pressure zone spreading and expanding, as if negative emotions had been given concrete form, so thick it seemed it might overflow its bounds at any moment.

She stared fixedly at that towering figure that should not exist, without a sound, not uttering a single word or making any movement.

But……

Perhaps mirroring the girl's inner heart, shadows suddenly and continuously surged forth in the surroundings at this moment.

These shadows were like two-dimensional paper-cut phantoms leaping out into three-dimensional space, identical to the previous shadows, resembling sea jellies rising from the ocean onto land, only their size was obviously far more gigantic compared to before.

——If the previous ones still maintained the size of ordinary people, then now they had universally swollen to a towering height of over ten meters.

——Even three Heracles stacked together would probably fail to reach the lofty height of these "Shadow Giants" before our eyes.

Only because they appear to have no thickness, paper-thin, shaped like two-dimensional giants, these summoned shadows look somewhat comical; if not for each and every one emitting extremely ominous magical energy, they probably wouldn't have much deterrence.

And in the blink of an eye, this group of Shadow Giants rising from darkness and shadow had already silently encircled the remaining defenses before Liu Dong Si, unhesitatingly turning their attack upon Medea and Artoria who were joining forces.

Both of their complexions changed slightly at the same time.

Clearly that silver-haired girl on the opposite side was just confronting that fellow, yet without a sound she turned around and struck back at them?

——What kind of situation is this?

Only, despite being somewhat shocked, Artoria's first reaction, urged by battlefield experience honed through countless trials, was to immediately raise the Holy Sword in her hand, her gaze instantly turning sharp.

Medea was even more direct, completely without hesitation; a wave of her staff unleashed countless light bullets matching Great Magic in an instant, densely crashing toward those enlarged shadows like falling stars.

However, even with such fierce and dense attacks pouring down, the encirclement formed by the Shadow Giants remained unshaken, still wriggling and rapidly closing in, touching and fusing with each other——

As if merging into an airtight giant black bowl, directly enveloping the two Servants tightly within.

Faint light flickered in the gaps, but in the blink of an eye, even these gaps were stitched shut, as if suppressing even that resistance along with them.

Watching as in just a single exchange, two more Servants were about to be caught off guard and devoured.

Boom——!!

Without any warning, a shining light beam split the heavy night into two halves, like thunder plummeting from the horizon; the instant it caught the eye, it had already accurately struck and torn apart its target.

Forcibly piercing through several "Shadow Giants", forcibly tearing open a breach in the encirclement.

The rumbling dull sound was like muffled thunder, rolling across the earth.

The shockwave tearing through the air triggered waves of scorching heat waves; even after several seconds, the scorching afterimages in the air only slowly faded.

"Quick! Let's get out of here!"

Artoria's reaction was extremely fast; the moment she saw a breach torn open in the Shadow Giants' encirclement, she immediately decisively chose to break out.

"This is…… a Curse Bullet?"

Medea also reacted immediately, yet still had some shock and doubt.

Relying on the eyes of an Age of Gods Magician, she naturally immediately identified the essence of that light beam just now; it was fundamentally just a very ordinary Curse Bullet, its essence merely a curse that destroys health, but with high enough magical energy concentration it can directly cause physical damage.

But…… just how high must the magical energy concentration be to produce an effect like a railgun?

Even Medea herself could not achieve this.

The only possibility is…… that mass of dazzling radiance that fellow just swallowed is absolutely the Mana Source made from the Great Holy Grail!

The Greek witch couldn't help but grit her teeth, glaring resentfully at the direction of the sky. She had sensed something was wrong from the moment the magical storm began, and had immediately realized the truth — that fellow had deceived her.

Otherwise, that prepared backup plan would have directly detonated the entire Yuan Cang Shan.

Rather than triggering that kind of magical storm.

Although she didn't know the specifics, Medea still understood that fellow had absolutely utilized her. It was just that at that time, she was being suppressed by Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasm rain, and simply had no spare mental capacity to think too much.

—Until now, Miss Witch finally realized the truth.

"Don't leave!!"

Watching the prey escape right under her eyelids, the silver-haired girl's complexion instantly turned even gloomier. Subconsciously, she wanted to urge those Shadow Giants to pursue.

However, immediately after, another thunderous boom rang out. A shining, scorching magical light beam struck down again, directly tearing open the obstruction in front of Artoria and the others, directly evaporating several Shadow Giants that had just appeared.

Xia Zhi naturally knew what this Miss Sakura wanted to do. It seemed that as long as she successfully devoured a Servant, absorbing the Servant's Soul, her Function would gain a massive Enhancement.

Frankly speaking, on this point he and the other party should be kindred spirits. He eats the Holy Grail, the other party eats Servants. To a certain extent, it's practically heroes seeing things the same way. Anyway, neither planned to conduct the Holy Grail War by the book.

But there was no choice. Right now the other party was clearly an enemy.

Without a doubt, what the enemy wants to do is exactly what he must Destroy...

So Xia Zhi, while attempting to control that terrifying magical power so vast it threatened to run wild, deployed the simple offensive Magecraft he had learned from Vivian. Curse Bullets like laser cannons erupted from his fingertips, beams of magical power slicing across the Horizon.

He had currently only learned some basic general-purpose Magecraft, and even fewer that could be directly used in combat. However, the vast magical power surging in his body at this very moment was his absolute confidence right now.

Because for a Magician, magical power is Resource and ammunition.

If one possesses nearly unlimited magical power Resources, to a Magician it's like possessing enormous Wealth —

Similar to how money lets you do whatever you want, only magical power is even more Omnipotent. Many things can be achieved through Magecraft, producing all sorts of results called "Miracles". It can be said the more magical power Resources one possesses, the closer a Magician gets to being Omnipotent.

As for the so-called Holy Grail, when it comes down to it, its Essence is also just a high-density Mana Crystal. Why can it grant wishes?

It's because it possesses nearly Endless magical power. This power is so abundant that falling into a Magician's hands, there are almost no impossible things.

Pushing low-grade Magecraft with a terrifying Quantity of magical power, unleashing astonishing destructive power, he Easily helped his two colleagues — or rather, former colleagues — escape their predicament, while simultaneously continuing to cautiously Pay Attention to Miss Sakura's movements.

Preventing the opponent from suddenly playing some especially outrageous, especially Terrifying trump card.

However, judging from the current situation, aside from continuously Summoning Shadow Giants, the girl didn't seem to have used any other Move.

Watching the situation seem to lose hope, she even began unwillingly Biting her Lip. Her hollow gaze was in a Trance and had lost its luster. Subconsciously, she Muttered "This isn't fair—" and such.

Wait...

Could it be that she also merely possesses vast power but lacks concrete attack Skills?!

This thought Inexplicably Flashed through Xia Zhi's mind. He had originally thought this final-appearing enemy should be the exceptionally strong, exceptionally troublesome type. Maybe possessing heaven-defying Skills or heaven-defying Mechanisms, possibly even a super BOSS with a Second Transformation...

And the result is just this?

Finding this conclusion somewhat hard to believe, he slightly Squinted his Eyes. No longer just cautiously Observing, he directly extended his Fingertip toward the girl below, preparing to directly probe for possible trump cards the opponent might have through Attack.

Magical power instantly Condensed...

Then erupted forth!!

The gigantic laser, like cutting through air, instantly pierced through the massive Shadow blocking the front. Even the Holy Grail's Shadow, manifested through the girl's unique constitution by manipulating Black Mud, could hardly block this kind of great-force-creates-Miracle Attack.

It's not some Noble Phantasm, nor some Servant Skill...

It's purely Magecraft violence!

"Sakura—!!"

Rin Tohsaka, panting heavily, had just come up from the mountainside. After a difficult trek over the mountain path, she had rushed back to the summit. What met her eyes was this cruel scene — the moment the magical laser tearing open the night sky pierced through the silver-haired girl's body.

She couldn't believe this would be the result, nearly collapsing as she rushed over.

"Master, don't be Careless!" Fortunately, Artoria, who had just retreated to this side, had quick eyes and fast hands, grabbing Rin Tohsaka in one hand.

The Swordswoman girl also didn't believe that girl, who seemed like a final-appearing villain BOSS, would be resolved this simply. Not only did Reason tell her it was unlikely, even her Instinct was Faintly issuing an Alert.

The next scene seemed to confirm her Ominous premonition.

Clearly pierced by the giant magical Curse Bullet, she didn't fall just like that. She still stood in place with that same hollow gaze. Yet contrary to those completely calm eyes, Sakura's Expression became extremely unstable, gritting her teeth in resentment.

It was as if she heard someone urging her over and over in her ear, bewitching her.

"Don't Hesitate anymore..."

"Don't hold onto illusory hope anymore..."

"Even now, you're still unwilling to accept my full power..."

Sakura opened her mouth but said nothing. She Slowly Turned her Head, looking toward Rin Tohsaka who had appeared over there. Looking at that emotionally Excited face, those eyes full of Concern, she suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her heart!

Meaningless!

It's completely Meaningless! What exactly is she still longing for? What exactly is she still praying for!

No one will truly hear her cries for help. No one can truly empathize and understand her pain and resentment!! Even her former sister won't understand. Will never understand —

The more she sees her Concern, the more she feels resentment toward it!

"Aaaaaaaah—!!"

Opening her mouth, letting out a Meaningless Miserable Cry, the girl's Emotions collapsed completely like a breached dam, venting all resentment and Darkness.

At this moment, everyone could see that her body had clearly been pierced, yet didn't present any bloody hole.

Instead, a "Hole" appeared...

As if connecting to a hollow on the World's outer side...

This is Sakura as the Holy Grail, revealing her true Essence. After all, she is the Holy Grail's Vessel. And the so-called Holy Grail, in a certain sense, is indeed a Fixed Device. Wanting to fix that "Hole" leading to the World's outer side... Something wants to be born from that side into this World.

(Chapter End)