Chapter 202: Crushing the Holy Grail, Sucking Dry the Curse

"Purpose?"

Hearing Gilgamesh's grim words, Lin Yu let out a helpless laugh.

"Could it not be for the Holy Grail?"

"In front of me, there is no need to speak such words."

Gilgamesh said calmly, "I absolutely do not believe you cannot see the true face of this Holy Grail before your eyes."

Lin Yu nodded, saying, "Indeed, I do know the true form of the Holy Grail, but even so, it still holds immense collection value in my eyes..."

Gilgamesh's heart sank, and he said displeasedly, "You intend to snatch a collection belonging to me?"

Lin Yu glanced at him, saying, "Your collection is merely the prototype of the Holy Grail; what relation does it have to the Great Holy Grail before us?"

Speaking thus, Lin Yu turned his head to look down at the crowd below and said calmly, "Originally, I intended to let you decide the victor yourselves, but unfortunately, I am in a hurry, so I can only trouble you to serve as the final person to fill the Holy Grail!"

Upon speaking these last words, Lin Yu's gaze settled upon Kirei Kotomine.

Kirei Kotomine's pupils contracted sharply, and he immediately shouted harshly, "Lancer, take me—"

"Pouf!"

Before the words had fully left his mouth, Kirei Kotomine's entire body exploded, instantly imploding into a sky-filling mist of blood.

Lancer stared in shock at the blood mist ahead, but could only watch helplessly as Kirei Kotomine's soul floated out, transforming into a cyan-blue streak of light that fell into Lin Yu's palm.

Generally speaking, a Master's soul is certainly insufficient to serve as the contents of the Holy Grail.

But Lin Yu had long since established communication with the Throne of Heroes, completely capable of milking the Throne of Heroes, transforming them into Heroic Spirit bodies, thereby obtaining the qualification to fill the Holy Grail with contents.

Quickly, Kirei Kotomine's soul was transformed by him into a Heroic Spirit body, and was immediately cast into that purple-black heart.

At the same time, silver light bloomed on the back of Bai Bai Zeming's hand, from which four equally massive surges of magical power erupted.

Once all the magical power had surged into the purple-black heart, Lin Yu finally turned his head, looking somewhat surprisedly down at Gilgamesh, who stood on a flying boat below with a gloomy expression.

"Truly surprising; you did not make a move to stop me?"

"Attempting to make war against the world is a delusion of mortals."

Gilgamesh said calmly, "I have already glimpsed your truth; how could I commit such a futile act?"

Speaking thus, Gilgamesh paused, staring at Lin Yu and saying, "Moreover, I am very curious; exactly what method do you intend to use to resolve the Holy Grail issue?"

"I see!"

Lin Yu's face showed understanding, and he immediately said with a smile, "If you are holding such a thought, then I am sorry; my method may disappoint you..."

Before the words had fully left his mouth, he threw the still-beating purple-black heart in his hand.

Generally speaking, to summon the Holy Grail requires far more than this; it also requires a Living Sacrifice who is a Master as the core, or knowledge of the magic array of the Third Magic, Heaven's Feel.

But these things were unnecessary for Lin Yu.

Because essentially, summoning the Holy Grail is to open a hole leading to the Root.

And since Lin Yu knew the location of the Root clearly, he naturally did not need those cumbersome steps.

As the purple-black heart landed in the center of the magic array on the Shi Zhu, the entire magic array suddenly lit up with red light.

Massive magical power surged from the red magic array patterns, then fiercely converged toward the Holy Grail at the very center.

In the next instant, a terrifying fluctuation of magical power spread out, and a huge and deep Kong Dong suddenly opened, as if the sky had opened a black single eye, causing the entire sky to turn gray and dark.

Infinite deep aura emanated from it, and the atmosphere between heaven and earth became incredibly Grim.

Below, the ruins of Ryuudou Temple, including everyone present with Bai Bai Zeming, stared blankly at the Kong Dong in the sky.

Within those pairs of pupils of various colors, the darkness within the Kong Dong, deep as the universe, was reflected.

"Whoosh-whoosh!"

Accompanied by a roaring sound like a rushing torrent, countless streams of scorching fluid in red and black colors gushed out from the Kong Dong, forming a strange spectacle like a waterfall of black mud, pouring continuously down toward the Shi Zhu carved with magic array patterns below.

"Hiss-hiss—"

The black mud dripping onto the Shi Zhu instantly corroded large patches of black smoke.

Everyone was startled, watching the ominous black mud flowing on the Shi Zhu with numb scalps.

"What is that?!"

"... It is a curse!"

Bai Bai Zeming said heavily, "Infinite curses!"

Gilgamesh, standing on the Vimana flying boat in the sky, glanced at them and said calmly:

"Correct, this is the true face of the Holy Grail!"

"... Are you joking?!"

Rin Tohsaka and Shirou Emiya, among others, looked at the black mud in disbelief.

Saber frowned tightly and asked heavily, "You knew this all along?"

"Of course." Gilgamesh chuckled lightly, "Speaking of which, this is actually your doing, Saber!"

"Ten years ago, when I was one step away from obtaining the Holy Grail, I was stopped by you, and the Holy Grail was thus cut in two by your holy sword right before my eyes..."

"What?! Saber cut the Holy Grail?"

Rin Tohsaka and Shirou Emiya were startled again and could not help but look at the silent Saber beside them.

Gilgamesh paid no attention to their reactions and continued to speak on his own:

"... The Holy Grail fractured, and the contents flowing out of it transformed into flames, burning all the surrounding streets to ashes. I, who was directly beneath the Holy Grail, was naturally washed over by that torrent; from that time on, I obtained this flesh body that can remain in the world, and from that time on, I learned the true nature of the Holy Grail."

The contents within the Holy Grail transformed into flames and destroyed the surrounding streets?

Shirou Emiya stared blankly at Gilgamesh, those words echoing in his mind.

If this fellow is not lying, then the culprit behind the great fire that year is precisely this Heroic Spirit standing beside him now!

Seeing the blank expression on Shirou Emiya's face, Saber showed guilt, wanting to speak but holding back.

Rin Tohsaka beside her did not notice their expressions, because she herself had fallen into shock and confusion.

"If the Holy Grail is something like this, then the lifelong wish of our Tohsaka family has always been a joke..."

Hearing Rin Tohsaka's murmured words, Bai Bai Zeming glanced at her, shook his head, and said, "The Holy Grail has not always looked like this; it was corrupted into this state."

Light bloomed once more in Rin Tohsaka's eyes: "Corrupted?"

"Exactly." Bai Bai Zeming nodded. "This leads us to the Heroic Spirit of the previous Special Class!"

"In the Third Holy Grail War, the Einzbern summoned the first Special Class not belonging to the seven standard classes. His true name is Angra Mainyu, the head of the dark evil gods in Persian mythology, a terrifying existence representing absolute evil."

"So it was Him who corrupted the Holy Grail?"

"Yes and no."

Bai Bai Zeming shook his head and said, "As a Demon God symbolizing All the Evil of This World, Angra Mainyu should have been unsummonable. Therefore, what was truly summoned was a human who actually existed in history, someone whom ignorant villagers had labeled with the name of the evil god 'Angra Mainyu,' and who thus had to bear the burden of 'All the Evil of This World'!"

"..."

Rin Tohsaka frowned, likely recalling some similar famous events in European history.

Bai Bai Zeming continued, "Since he was not a Heroic Spirit created by his own or the surrounding wishes, Angra Mainyu only strengthened his specialized skills for killing humans; his true power was extremely weak."

"When he died, the soul bearing 'All the Evil of This World' entered the Holy Grail, completely corrupting the entire Holy Grail."

"Since then, the Holy Grail has never been the Holy Grail of the beginning."

"It carries billions of curses and has strengthened its ability to curse and kill humans. Once it flows out, all humans in the world will be killed by these curses..."

How could this be?!

Rin Tohsaka couldn't help but step back two paces, staring blankly at the black mud on the Shi Zhu.

And at this moment, Lin Yu, who had made no further moves, finally moved.

He saw him lightly step on the void, and the space within a thousand kilometers instantly twisted.

Streams of silver light burst forth, quickly weaving into a complex eye pupil outlined by dozens of silver lines.

The moment this silver eye pupil appeared, a great will as vast as the sea and as deep as an abyss surged forth, covering the sky and enveloping the entire sky over Enzōzan Mountain.

In an instant, the black mud surging from the Kong Dong churned up, as if it had lost gravity, transforming into floating balls of mud.

The next second, terrifying suction exploded, the suspended black mud suddenly accelerating, like a black mud waterfall flowing upward, rushing madly toward the silver eye pupil.

What?!

Gilgamesh's pupils suddenly contracted, his face showing shock.

He finally understood why Lin Yu had said those words just now—

Because this fellow indeed had no clever method; He intended to use the simplest and most brutal way to suck dry all the nearly endless curses within the Holy Grail!

... This is too reckless, isn't it?!

In Gilgamesh's shocked gaze, all the black mud emerging from the Kong Dong was swept up, transforming into countless black ribbons rushing madly toward the silver eye pupil.

Perhaps feeling this speed was not fast enough, that silver eye pupil suddenly swelled in size, turning in the blink of an eye into a terrifying eye pupil over a thousand meters long, blocking that Kong Dong directly like a sky curtain.

The invisible force was not only absorbing the leaking black mud but also flowing upstream, surging into the Kong Dong.

Gradually, the flow rate of the black mud decreased, and those black-red hot fluids also gradually diminished.

Until at a certain moment, the Kong Dong no longer flowed with hot black mud, and in the entire sky covered by silver light, only the palm of Lin Yu's hand continued to emit a faint black light.

Everyone looked up, seeing that Lin Yu was holding a beating black heart in his hand.

And the moment the black heart was seen, anyone who was human could perceive a deep malice that made one's scalp tingle and sent shivers down their spine...

"This is 'All the Evil of This World'!"

Lin Yu looked at this black heart with satisfaction.

Just then, the Kong Dong, which had originally calmed down, suddenly trembled.

Lin Yu frowned slightly, knowing his action had triggered the Akasha.

Without any hesitation, he decisively mobilized his authority and raised his hand to clench it.

"Vroom—"

In an instant, the space within a hundred li erupted into chaos.

Streams of invisible ripples surged forth, tearing the space and pressing in from all directions.

Countless black cracks spread wildly across the sky like a spider web; in just an instant, they destroyed the Shi Zhu of the Guang De Mo Fa array blooming with red light and crushed the floating black Kong Dong in the air.

But this was far from over; the torn space cracks continued to spread in all directions.

In the blink of an eye, the sea of clouds within a hundred li was swept clean, everywhere filled with dense black cracks, as if the entire sky had turned into a shattered mirror...

(End of Chapter)