Chapter 38

The Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City holds a deeper significance behind it.

It is not simply pursuing that Holy Grail regarded by the world as the ultimate goal; to a certain extent, although it indeed possesses a wish-granting machine-like function, it is more like a glamorous shell covering up the truth.

The reason the Three Families originally created and held this extraordinary Magecraft Ritual was to reach that unreachable "Root"——

Summoning Servants to fight and kill each other is merely the process of realizing this strategy.

And within the process of slaughter, letting the Servants die in a perfectly logical and reasonable manner is the true key.

Infusing the souls of the six dead Servants into the Holy Grail, utilizing the moment they return to the "Throne of Heroes" located outside the world, a path to the outside will open at that time, equivalent to opening a hole on the level of the world.

And as long as one can seize this opportunity, fix this slightly opened hole in place, Magicians theoretically have hope of traveling along this opened path to the outside of the world in the same way, even reaching the Root……

Although the final link to the Root has not yet been verified in practice, all preceding steps and theoretical bases have been proven correct without error.

——The Holy Grail War is fishing.

——The essence of the Holy Grail is a Fixed Device.

And now, as a pseudo Holy Grail transformed postnatally in a certain sense, Sakura is exerting her function as a Fixed Device. Although logically speaking, generally six Servants' souls are required to reach the soul quantity necessary to activate the Great Holy Grail.

However, in reality, in the judgment of this necessary soul "quantity," quality is far more important than quantity.

Just like certain Servants, due to their particularity, have a soul specific gravity far surpassing other Heroic Spirits' souls; one Servant's soul can equal several or even more, naturally possessing more decisive significance……

Of course, an even more crucial point is that the current Great Holy Grail is no longer the previous Great Holy Grail; it has been tyrannically refined into a True Elixir by Xian Dao techniques from another world, and both its form and function have undergone fundamental changes.

All its "medicinal properties" have been completely activated by Xian Dao alchemy techniques; no longer does it slumber like a giant dragon dwelling in the Great Void as before, but it radiates brand new vitality.

The power of this Leyline, or rather the power of the Dragon——

Has currently already thoroughly awakened, become lively, become proactive, become extremely aggressive.

————

————

"Hm?"

Xia Zhi raised an eyebrow, being the first to perceive the change in space.

In merely an instant, everything in the surroundings was overturned.

It was as if the scenery in reality was eroded, the space in reality replaced; in a microsecond of time imperceptible to awareness, the sky abruptly presented a stretch of red, a fresh red like blood.

——The surroundings are black mud rolling with waves like a great sea.

——Everywhere are corpse mountains composed of dried-up corpses; they are gradually sinking into the sea.

——The wind is one of curses and resentment; in the pitch-black mud rain, a black sun dominates the sky.

He seemed to have, in a sort of unconscious state, suddenly been pulled into such a space similar to an illusion; the surrounding Fuyuki City had already disappeared, replaced by a completely abnormal earth piled up as if from mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Reality Marble?

Or some domain deployed by Magecraft?

Raising both hands to look at his own palms, he seriously sensed his own body again, then walked back and forth a few steps casually while moving his limbs, wearing a thoughtful expression.

He roughly knew what place this was; it should be the inside of the Great Holy Grail, also the internal domain of that True Elixir in his abdomen.

"You've finally come here……"

Right at this moment, a line of speech carrying a warm tone rang out.

Xia Zhi calmly raised his eyes to look, only to see a figure quietly appear in front; clad in a black dress, silver hair shining brilliantly.

She walked with light steps, stepping over those corpses and pools of blood, not minding the black mud rain pouring down, and just like that walked to before Xia Zhi; on her cheeks bloomed a just-right warm and benevolent smile, her gaze tightly locking onto this youth guided to this place.

"I've waited for you for a long time……"

"……"

"……"

"You are…… the Holy Grail's consciousness?"

Xia Zhi stopped moving, looked this silver-haired, black-dressed woman up and down; his gaze lingered slightly on her soft, silk-like silver hair and her gentle eyes containing deep meaning, and a reasonable conjecture had already surfaced in his heart.

"Mhm, looks like you understand the current situation too…… this way of putting it isn't wrong; I am essentially an existence of nothingness, unable to communicate with people without borrowing this personality and mask, even unable to think, but……"

She gently placed a hand on her chest; this woman clad in silver hair and black dress seemed to be conducting self-revelation, her words full of sincerity and gentleness: "The me right now is both the woman named Alice, and simultaneously the Holy Grail's will made manifest."

"Oh, nice to meet you, I'm called Chen Beixuan."

Xia Zhi nodded calmly, his tone slightly perfunctory; while scrutinizing the appearance of this woman calling herself Alice, he pondered what relationship she had with that Loli.

His suspicion stemmed not only from them both possessing silver-white beautiful hair and gorgeous eyes like rubies, but more from the subtle similarity in their appearances, as if they were a mother-daughter-like existence.

"Chen Beixuan, huh…… so speaking of it, you really are a Heroic Spirit from the Huaxia side? How strange……" Alice revealed a thoughtful look, yet immediately shook her head lightly, "Logically speaking, the Holy Grail War should only be able to summon Western Heroic Spirits."

"……"

"……"

Xia Zhi quietly watched her; although he heard the probing intent in her roundabout words, he had no intention of explaining.

Alice paused slightly, then directly gave up on this probing meaning, and then smiled charmingly, changing the subject: "But none of that matters; anyway, those aren't important anymore. What's important is that the Holy Grail's preparations are already complete."

"Oh, the Holy Grail's preparations are complete?"

"Yeah, that child's potential is astonishing, right? Of course, we also have to thank that King of Heroes and that Greek Hero; if not for those two, relying solely on recovering four Servants' souls, making the Holy Grail descend might still have been a bit forced……"

Alice answered with a smile.

Immediately after, this silver-haired, black-dressed woman turned lightly, her skirt fluttering, pointing a hand toward that symbol of the end in the sky.

"Look, see it? That is the Holy Grail; although it still has no form, it is already waiting to be born……"

The pitch-black sun in the sky, or rather the pitch-black vortex.

It is the center of this entire world; being mistaken for a sun is very normal, although that is actually a "hole" in the sky, inside an unfathomable darkness, its density as if able to crush everything.

Turning back, Alice cheerfully and happily spoke: "Only you are qualified to define its form; have you thought of what 'posture' to bestow upon it?"

"So, how should I bestow a 'posture' upon it?"

The youth also looked at that pitch-black vortex in the sky, and lightly tossed the question back.

"It's very simple—just make a wish directly to it. Based on the entrusted wish, it will transform into a corresponding form, gain a posture and shape in the Mortal World, and truly appear in the Outside World..."

Finally getting to the real point, Alice smiled in response, and in those eyes that seemed to radiate warmth and kindness from the heart, a faint trace of helplessness and loneliness flickered. She knew this person would surely refuse.

"I suppose you've realized as well—the power of the Holy Grail has already been corrupted—"

However, at this critical juncture.

A calm voice slowly sounded, interrupting her further explanation.

"My wish is to make the power of the Holy Grail completely mine." Xia Zhi gazed at the "hole" in the sky, calmly expressing his will.

"..."

"..."

"Huh?" Alice, dressed in a silver hair and black dress, couldn't help but be stunned, as if she had just understood. She suddenly didn't know what to do, stammering: "Wait, wait, let me finish first—the way the Holy Grail grants wishes has already been twisted—"

"I get it, I get it, but can the power of the Holy Grail be completely mine?"

The youth nodded perfunctorily while agreeing, and once again seriously made such a request.

"Hey, what do you understand? Can you let me finish first? No matter what wish you make, the Holy Grail won't realize it according to your thoughts..."

Alice widened her eyes, feeling this development was completely wrong. The plot before her eyes had completely deviated from the track. Although her current role positioning was like that of a Devil, the other party's reaction made her deeply feel that her setup and design had met a Waterloo.

There was an inexplicable subtle sense of defeat.

How to put it? It was like she had shown the other party a button and told him that pressing it could grant a wish, but also warned him that granting a wish must come with an extremely heavy price.

Originally, she had envisioned that the other party would fall into struggle, inner conflict, and repeated weighing.

But the actual situation was that this fellow only heard half the sentence that wishes could be granted, and looked as if he couldn't wait to smash the button.

"What's there to say? Isn't the point to let me make a wish?"

Xia Zhi frowned, looking at her strangely: "Besides, isn't this exactly what you wanted? Why aren't you happy?"

"I..."

Alice was momentarily speechless, and also came to her senses.

It seemed indeed so. She should have been inciting him to make a wish, wasn't that her original thought?

Probably because no matter what was inside this body, the personality belonging to Alice truly existed. Her every word and deed, every move, and what she subconsciously revealed were all true emotions.

Taking a deep breath, this silver-haired, black-dressed woman gently shook her head. Her gaze at the youth before her was somewhat complex: "Ten years ago, there was also someone who arrived here, and faced the same choice as you..."

"I originally thought he was the most suitable for the title 'All the Evils of the World,' but now it seems, perhaps you are more suitable than him."

She could tell that this fellow might have already realized something.

After all, the Great Holy Grail was now inside his body, and the malicious Black Mud had already begun to seep out. Not realizing that would be strange.

However, the other party's performance was completely indifferent. He didn't care at all about the weight of that malice, and instead looked quite interested.

"Who was that person?" Xia Zhi's heart stirred slightly. Ten years ago, someone had also reached this step, already reaching the stage where they could make a wish to the Holy Grail? But obviously, they hadn't made a wish.

So could it be the person who set up the "Tumor" on the body of Yuan Cang Shan?

Perceiving the problem, wanting to end the Holy Grail War?

"He is already dead..." Alice seemed not wanting to talk about that person, and then directly changed the topic: "Since you have decided to make a wish, then prepare to welcome the birth of 'it'—"

"Take a good look at that weight of malice on the conceptual level..."

"I suppose you've already felt it. Let me make it even clearer to you. In terms of numerical value, it's already sixty million million..."

The moment the words fell, the scene changed again.

————

————

An illusion acting on the deep spiritual level; only upon looking back did one discover it was just the blink of an eye.

The moment he came to his senses, Xia Zhi discovered he was still standing above Fuyuki City. Inside his body was still that violent and overbearing "medicinal potency." Even though it had been swallowed as a Core Pill, the magic power swelling like a Savage Dragon was running rampant.

"The value of that malice is actually sixty million million—?"

He instantly recalled what had just happened, feeling slightly doubtful about it.

"How is this value quantified? Is it the number of Evil Deeds? Hmm, it seems... not that many? It feels like it's just so-so."

Xia Zhi subconsciously associated this and thought of that endless Time Loop. He instantly felt a rejection from physiology to psychology. He couldn't recall those values, and wasn't very willing to think back.

And just at this moment—

Terrifying magic power shook the Atmosphere, emitting a horrible whistle.

He cast his gaze over and just happened to see a black-red Light Pillar shooting into the sky, directly plunging into the Vault of Heaven. He immediately raised his eyebrows.

The Light Pillar tore through the Cloud Layer at thirty thousand meters High Altitude in the blink of an eye. Its momentum did not decrease in the least. Under the moonlight, it completely penetrated the Atmosphere, just grazing the edge of a Satellite that had changed course toward Fuyuki City not long ago and had just arrived above.

The heat of the vast magic power directly destroyed and evaporated it, turning it into space Garbage drifting in Earth's Orbit.

And above Fuyuki City, who knows how many people saw "it" in the Night Sky.

A pitch-black Sun.

Like a symbol of the end of the World.

Below the "hole," Sakura's entire body was suspended in mid-air. She was making a silent Miserable Cry in pain. Vast magic power visible to the naked eye rushed straight to the clouds. The Magic Power Pillar just now was also released from her body.

Connected to the black "hole" above the Light Pillar, it continued to overflow with seemingly Endless magic power. Like a sharp sword slashing the sky, it charged toward the higher sky above, causing the scene just now.

—As the incarnation of the Black Grail, the result of being directly connected to the Holy Grail was that Sakura's magic power Quantity also reached an extremely terrifying level.

—If it were said that a first-rate Servant like Artoria could only reach a magic power Quantity in the "thousands" unit, then this Miss Sakura's stored magic power Quantity was over a hundred million.

It was just that previously, limited by her Circuit as a Human, her output Efficiency was not high. Despite having over a hundred million magic power, each time she could output at most a little over one thousand magic power value. Although this was already terrifying, it was still far from enough.

And now, she was no longer Human. She had completely become the "Vessel" of the Holy Grail.

The output power naturally followed the level of the true Holy Grail. When the rationality and Function as a Human were completely stripped away, the Function as the Holy Grail finally climbed to the extreme theoretical value.

As a Fixed Device, she was now outputting magic power at maximum power, opening that tightly closed "Gate," allowing things from the Other Side to be born into this world.

Xia Zhi watched coldly from High Altitude.

He just watched like that, as if completely disregarding all the commotion and panic below, until every scream and disturbance came to an abrupt halt, turning into dead silence.

—Black Mud.

—That was endless Black Mud, like a surging black wave descending from the heavens, instantly pouring down onto this world.

The pitch-black color of the curse emitted extreme malice, falling down as if endlessly, instantly about to raise a black tsunami, flowing from Yuan Cang Shan to the entire surrounding city, then ceaselessly eroding the farther lands and world.

Without any suspense, everything around was quickly devoured completely…

Time slowly passed, the Black Mud flowing down from Yuan Cang Shan seemed endless, the entire Fuyuki City was swept up and swallowed by the Black Mud, turning into a black surging sea surface…

That black tide like chaos did not stop its steps, continuing to endlessly spread toward the farther outskirts, striking and sweeping across the earth like a tsunami…

And on the sea surface covered by endless Black Mud, slowly a huge shadow rose from the deeper sea surface below, it bulged on the sea surface, wriggling, and finally like a beauty bathing, turned into an extremely tall slender outline of silver hair and black dress.

As all the Black Mud poured down from the "Gate"…

"It" was finally truly born into this world…

Looking toward that figure in the high altitude, "It" revealed a greedy expression, but at that very moment, the night sky seemed to slowly be covered with cracks, like a glass container unable to bear the heavy pressure.

Pitch-black cracks spread bit by bit, from the horizon spreading to the void atmosphere.

On "Its" face appeared a very human-like, astonished expression, and the next moment saw the surrounding space completely peeling off, with clattering fragments constantly falling down.

Yuan Cang Shan and Fuyuki City that had just been swallowed not long ago…

Everything, everything, became illusory at this moment, disappearing like something transparent…

That seemingly endless black surging wave was simply and directly held in the palm of a hand, five fingers like ancient sky-supporting Celestial Pillars, in that palm, as if time and space were stretched.

"Yes, just now those were all fake, I manipulated the splicing of time and space, as long as there is the power of the Holy Grail, this kind of thing can of course be done…"

That figure like an immortal stood above the cloud layer, staring at the Black Mud in the palm for a half moment, seeming to see through "Its" doubt, and laughed with bad taste.

"So this is the true power of the Holy Grail, before it was just because you, this fellow, were mixed in, causing me to find it very difficult to control that power before, but when you chose to come out from the Great Holy Grail, instead you helped me greatly… otherwise why do you think I helped you make a wish?"

"Oh, right, you can't escape either…"

As if remembering something, he added another sentence, he suddenly closed his palms, and casually kneaded it into a ball of black pill.

Then, under the watch of Rin Tohsaka and others, he pressed that black pill-like thing backhand into the deepest part of Yuan Cang Shan, this "Alchemy Furnace."

What malice…

What conceptual weight…

He seemed to have no feeling about this at all.

————

(PS: A bit more than expected…)

(PS: At night I heard someone reported this book, making me quite troubled… orz)

(Chapter End)