That said, there actually was one more person who would also be suitable to be his Master. That person was right in front of him—Sakura.
Sakura was different from Shinji. Shinji would, for his entire life, only ever be someone with no talent for magecraft. Sakura, on the other hand, was born with Magic Circuits that ordinary people couldn't even imagine, and she was in no way inferior even compared with her older sister, Rin Tohsaka. What's more, her bodily attribute was the extremely rare imaginary element—Void.
And in FATE's HF route, the power that the corrupted, darkened Sakura could unleash after being polluted by the black mud of All the World's Evil was unimaginably terrifying. That was the black Holy Grail, something that ran counter to the Holy Grail itself.
Although she was still young and hadn't received any systematic magecraft training yet, after Meruem descended into this world, he obtained this world's knowledge. Teaching Sakura to become a Master wouldn't be a problem.
But dragging such a little girl into a war like this… Wouldn't that be far too cruel?
If possible, Meruem still hoped to send Sakura home, back to the Tohsaka family. No matter how weak he was, he wouldn't fall so far as to rely on a little girl just to cling to life.
That was the dignity of the strong, and also a man's self-respect.
However, even though Zouken Matou hadn't succeeded, what happened last night left no small shadow in Sakura's heart.
Right now, she was unwilling to trust anyone other than Meruem, the one who had rescued her—including her parents, Tokiomi Tohsaka and Aoi Tohsaka. Tokiomi, who had pushed her into the Matou family's fire pit with his own hands—you really brought this on yourself.
Sakura's stubbornness far exceeded Meruem's expectations, and Meruem couldn't bear to forcibly take her to the Tohsaka house. Because Meruem himself also had concerns: what if, after he sent Sakura back, that good-for-nothing Tokiomi went and sent her back to the Matou family again?
And honestly, if Tokiomi really lost his mind, who could say? You say Tokiomi loves his wife and daughters, yet he could be cruel enough to send his younger daughter to the Matou family and never ask about her again—then dress it up as "for her own good." Just listen to that: calling it cold-blooded is putting it mildly.
That's your own daughter, not some freebie that comes with a pack of toilet paper. She's only a few years old. Aren't you worried she'll be abused?
In the end, after thinking it over again and again, Meruem still couldn't bring himself to do it. After all, he'd promised Shinji, and he truly couldn't stop worrying about Sakura.
"You've thought this through, right? If you follow me, you could be in danger of losing your life," Meruem said seriously as he looked at Sakura.
"Yeah. Sakura will be good," Sakura—expressionless like a doll—finally smiled at that moment, like a porcelain doll.
I really want to protect that smile.
"Uh—" Just then, a wave of emptiness surged inside Meruem. His legs turned soft, dizziness washed over him, and Meruem actually collapsed in front of Sakura's bed.
Meruem's condition startled little Sakura into flustered panic; she nearly burst into tears.
"Damn it. I have to find a way to replenish mana fast, or at this rate I'll dissipate in less than two days."
In the restaurant, every diner all around stopped what they were doing, staring dumbfounded at one table. The plates stacked in front of that person were already taller than he was—and he was still eating nonstop. That appetite was like a humanoid tyrannosaurus.
"Ah, about eighty percent full… Finally made up a bit," the man said, patting his barely swollen belly after polishing off another ten servings and letting out a long breath.
"I'm sorry. It's all because Sakura is too stupid," said the doll-like black-haired little girl beside him, hanging her head in dejection.
"That's not true. In just a little while, Sakura will be able to provide me with mana."
That glutton was Meruem. If it weren't absolutely necessary, Meruem wouldn't want to transform into some foodie—let alone a big-eater foodie. But since Sakura hadn't undergone systematic magecraft training as a child, it was impossible for her to become Meruem's Master right away and provide the mana needed to sustain him.
You have to eat one bite at a time—you can't do it all in one go. Still, the fortunate part was that Meruem, as a living heroic spirit, could, like the King of Knights Artoria (SABER) in FATESTAYNIGHT, draw a tiny amount of energy by eating food.
However, that little bit of mana was only enough to barely keep his body from disappearing. Meruem's current condition could only be described as steadily worsening. As he was now, forget fighting—even using a few minor tricks left him feeling strained.
Meruem had also gone to Ryuudou Temple, originally planning to draw mana from the ley lines. Unfortunately, although the ley lines contained a certain degree of mana, Meruem couldn't absorb it directly. The only lucky thing was that Meruem hadn't sent Sakura back to the Tohsaka family—at least until Sakura could become his Master, Meruem still had hope.
Otherwise, Meruem could only wait to disappear, or just find some magus at random and form a contract.
Besides that, Meruem had one more thing to be thankful for: his Personal Skill, Independent Action, was B+B+B+. Although it wasn't as good as Goldie's Independent Action AAA, which allowed him to remain manifested even without a Master,
it was still much better than Independent Action BBB, which only sustained him for two days.
Even so, if this continued without any replenishment of mana, Meruem would probably dissipate in another day.
"No… don't, don't… Is there really no way to stay by Sakura's side?" Though he didn't want to put too much pressure on Sakura, Meruem had underestimated just how sensitive she was.
Especially now, Meruem was Sakura's only support.
His body fading in and out, even if only for short periods of time, was painfully obvious to Sakura, who watched Meruem every moment.
For Sakura, who possessed considerable potential as a magus, her keen sensitivity to mana was something Meruem couldn't hide even if he wanted to. Or rather, with his mana depleted, he no longer had the spare strength to keep up appearances.
"Sakura doesn't want to be alone again. Don't leave Sakura."
This was the first time Sakura said something so willful.
"Hm… it's not like there's no way," Meruem said, and as he spoke, even his own old face couldn't help but flush with embarrassment.
There was a way—it was just… a little too degrading.
Looking at Sakura's innocent face, it was really hard to say out loud.
"As long as Sakura can do it," Sakura's small figure looked up at Meruem.
"Mana replenishment" came from one of FATESTAYNIGHT's most classic scenes. Put simply, it was the exchange of bodily fluids for mana—or, more bluntly, doing it. This method could obtain mana and was also the fastest way to replenish it.
In the FATE series, Shirou Emiya had once done this with Artoria (SABER).
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