In fact, by any common sense, the ultimate goal of the Holy Grail War was to eliminate the various Servants and emerge as the final victor, claiming the omnipotent wish-granting machine known as the Greater Grail.
Thus, even if Manaka Sajyou wanted to eliminate all the Servants present, there would be no issue with that.
If one had to point out the biggest problem, it was probably... she had made too many enemies.
A single Servant would be one thing, but there were over four Servants here right now.
She actually planned to take them all on single-handedly, eliminate them, and feed them into the Greater Grail?
Has she gone mad...?
When they saw Manaka Sajyou make the first move against Gilgamesh, nearly everyone present had the same thought flash through their minds.
No matter how strong a Master was, they still had a human body...once critically injured, no Command Seal could save them.
...Or at least, that's how it should have been.
But Manaka Sajyou had clearly taken a direct hit from the Gate of Babylon, even right through the heart, and yet she was still perfectly fine.
And not just that... she had even launched a sneak attack on Gilgamesh.
At this moment, the black mud at Manaka Sajyou's feet had already coalesced into grotesque shadowy figures, standing in the night like malevolent ghosts.
The golden king looked incredulously at the blood at his throat, then stared at Manaka Sajyou ahead with utter astonishment.
The mighty Hero King... the Servant proclaimed as the apex of the Holy Grail War, defeated by a little girl?
His first reaction was daze, followed by a surge of fury from deep within.
Hum!
In the space, the Gate of Babylon quietly manifested; within the golden ripple, the symbol of an exceptional Noble Phantasm...'Ea'—quietly emerged.
He gripped Ea tightly in his right hand, seething with unprecedented rage. "You mongrel, how dare you—"
However, before he could finish, several 'shadows' condensed from black mud around Manaka Sajyou shot forward as countless blood-red bandages pierced through Gilgamesh's body from all directions.
Then, the shadows dragged the Hero King into the black mud.
As if sensing an unprecedented surge of magical energy, the black mud trembled violently, like it had gained human consciousness and was now reveling in excitement.
The sudden turn of events left not just Tokiomi Tohsaka, Gilgamesh's Master, stunned, even Alvin was taken aback.
He had always trusted Manaka Sajyou's talent in magecraft and believed she could purify the Greater Grail, completely severing the black mud from it.
But Alvin never could have imagined that Manaka Sajyou's method of purification would be to strip the black mud away and turn it into her own weapon.
If she tampered with the Greater Grail's rules, Ishtar as Ruler would inevitably sense it.
Thus, from the start, Manaka Sajyou had no intention of touching the Greater Grail itself.
The 'black mud,' in essence, was already a part of the Greater Grail, it could even be said to embody its rules.
No Servant summoned in this Holy Grail War could oppose the 'black mud.'
Of course, with Gilgamesh's abilities, if he had taken it seriously, he could have escaped; after all, Manaka Sajyou hadn't yet perfectly mastered this special power.
But from the beginning, Gilgamesh hadn't taken her seriously at all.
In the eyes of that arrogant golden king, the only one in this Holy Grail War worthy of fighting him was Saber, and only Alvin merited him unleashing his strongest Noble Phantasm, Ea.
Who would have thought that before he could even clash with Alvin, the King of Heroes would become the first eliminated in the Holy Grail War.
Silence enveloped the front courtyard, with multiple gazes fixed on Manaka Sajyou, yet no one spoke.
Tokiomi Tohsaka seemed not to have recovered from Archer's elimination—or perhaps he simply couldn't accept the reality.
Waver's face was etched with fear, while Morgan's gaze toward Manaka Sajyou brimmed with cold malice.
Artoria remained expressionless from start to finish.
Alvin instinctively turned toward Manaka Sajyou, opening his mouth: "Manaka..."
"Saber, aren't I amazing?"
The latter looked at him with a sweet smile, speaking in a soft voice.
"Once we send all these people into the Greater Grail, the purified Grail can finally descend... and the 'black mud' problem you were worried about will be resolved just like that."
"Oh, of course, you can rest assured, this stuff may erode others' sanity, but I'm not in that category."
"Once the Greater Grail descends, I'll personally place it in your hands."
At the end of her words, the girl looked up at the boy with a beaming smile, her expression one of seeking praise.
Alvin finally snapped out of his stunned state.
Even he hadn't expected that when he asked Manaka Sajyou to purify the Greater Grail, she would go so far as to manipulate the black mud and make it her own.
If she wanted to, she could indeed end the Holy Grail War in a single night, by leveraging the black mud.
However, just as Alvin was about to speak, a cold smile suddenly appeared on Morgan's face.
"The black mud, huh... In the end, it's just a byproduct stripped from the Greater Grail, which is why it can impose restrictions on Servants."
"But thinking you can take a shortcut to victory with something like this, you're being a bit too naive, Miss Sajyou."
Behind Morgan le Fay, a dark surge of magical energy quietly emerged.
At first, it was just a faint glimmer, but in less than half a second, that black light expanded violently, covering the entire front courtyard almost instantly.
The dark radiance blotted out the sky, like a black sun, eerily striking in the snowy night.
A few seconds later, an overwhelmingly powerful magical energy, almost suffocating, surged forth with Morgan at its center, completely isolating the black mud's power.
Waver stared at Morgan in utter shock.
For a moment, he even wondered if he was dreaming.
Why would a Master's magical power be so absurdly overpowered...?
If it was just Manaka Sajyou, that would be one thing, but now, even Caster's Master was just as formidable.
...What in the world was going on?
"Finally getting serious, are you?"
Manaka Sajyou didn't seem surprised, merely appraising the enchanting and beautiful woman with a giggling smile, saying. "But aren't you afraid of being restrained by the Counter Force?"
Having crossed over from the end of the Age of Gods to the modern era, as a magus from the Age of Gods, Morgan's power was far too immense, and thus, the Counter Force in the modern world would impose restrictions on her.
"While Servants may be restricted by the black mud, you shouldn't be able to perfectly control that power yet, should you?"
Morgan saw through Manaka Sajyou's essence in a single glance.
The girl narrowed her eyes, remaining silent. "Caster, plus the Ruler outside will likely sense this commotion soon... You have no chance of winning."
"Not to mention, he's here."
At the end, Morgan glanced toward Alvin.
Manaka Sajyou's expression remained neutral. "He's my Servant... Do you really think he'd side with you?"
"That's not necessarily true."
Morgan looked at the restless 'shadows,' smiling alluringly.
"After all, I'm his lover."
"As for you," She glanced disdainfully, as if looking down from on high,
"Miss Sajyou, frankly speaking, you're just an outsider."
Manaka Sajyou didn't respond, merely looking up at Alvin.
For some reason, a trace of unease seemed to flicker in the girl's eyes.
Despite her confidence all along, and indeed, her strength was enough to back up that confidence, she still felt uncertain.
The last time Morgan invited Alvin to become her Servant, he had decisively rejected her and chosen Manaka.
But back then, to stay with Alvin forever, she had faked her death and even kept it from him... which led to a crisis of trust and eventually their parting ways.
Even with her omniscience and omnipotence, she wasn't certain Alvin would once again firmly choose her.
Morgan, at this moment, also looked at Alvin with a half-smile, as if saying: Choose between me and her.
At that moment, an interface quietly appeared in his field of vision.
[On one side is your former lover and even your wife; on the other is your Master, who yearns to pursue the 'true thing' and is utterly devoted to you.
Please choose one of the two to fight alongside in this Holy Grail War.]
[The choice you make will lead to different CGs and endings. Please decide carefully.]