It was none other than Ruler, Ishtar, who not long ago had deliberately given Alvin and Sajyou Manaka some space to be alone together, leaving herself with nothing to do at the moment.
Resting her snow-white chin in her hand, Ishtar gazed out from the mountaintop into the distance. Before long, she let out a heavy sigh and muttered to herself, "Why am I even doing something like this?"
She was clearly the Ruler of the Holy Grail War. She was supposed to be responsible for maintaining the balance of this war. Right now, Alvin's Master very obviously had taken actions that counted as cheating. According to the rules, she should be declaring their elimination.
And yet, here she was, waiting outside, giving Alvin and Sajyou Manaka the chance to talk.
Wasn't this basically blowing a biased whistle? Ishtar couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy about it.
But soon, she shook her head, scattering those messy thoughts.
Although Sajyou Manaka did have suspicions of cheating, the Greater Grail itself had already been polluted this time. If she could truly purify it, that would count as benefiting those who came after.
As the Ruler, as long as she ensured a certain level of fairness and justice, that would be enough.
Buzz!
Just as the thought crossed her mind, she suddenly felt an incomparably vast and unique surge of magical energy coming from deep within Ryuudou Temple.
Instinctively, Ishtar turned her head to look behind her, and her expression quickly changed in shock.
Logically speaking, the number of Servants eliminated should not yet be enough to allow the Greater Grail to descend. So why could she already sense its magical energy now? Could it be that Sajyou Manaka had tampered with the Greater Grail?
But she herself was connected to the Greater Grail. If anyone altered its rules, she should have been able to detect it immediately.
A flicker passed through Ishtar's eyes, and without hesitation, she set off toward Ryuudou Temple.
Not long after, riding Maanna, she arrived above the front courtyard of the temple. The moment she looked down, the scene before her made her gasp.
The Greater Grail was indeed intact, but beside Sajyou Manaka, several "shadows" formed from black mud had appeared. In the darkness of night, they looked especially eerie, radiating a dangerously sinister aura.
What surprised Ishtar even more was that within those shadows, she could clearly feel some extremely familiar magical signatures.
Rider, Assassin, Berserker… even Archer's magical energy.
'Archer… that golden guy got eliminated?'
'What on earth was he doing?', Ishtar's first reaction was disbelief.
As the Ruler, she could roughly gauge the strength of every Servant.
Gilgamesh was undoubtedly the pinnacle of this Holy Grail War. With his strength, there was no way he should have been eliminated this early.
And yet… he actually dropped the ball at such a critical moment?
That was far too careless.
Soon, Ishtar noticed that among the Servants present, only Alvin of the Saber class and Artoria of the Caster class remained. The two Masters who had lost their Servants stood frozen in place, not daring to make a move.
At this moment, the atmosphere felt strangely tense.
Narrowing her eyes, Ishtar looked over. Perhaps due to Sajyou Manaka's magical supply, Alvin's presence was far stronger than at the beginning. Yet he remained completely still, as if struggling with some internal conflict.
Then she looked at Morgan, her sister, and Sajyou Manaka. The three of them were all staring straight at Alvin, as though waiting for something.
Before long, Ishtar quietly descended from the night sky.
"Looks like I arrived just in time."
Her calm yet proud voice rang out in the darkness.
Everyone turned to look, seeing the goddess of the heavens descend gracefully to the ground.
Tohsaka Tokiomi felt a surge of joy and subconsciously called out, "Rin—"
"First, my name isn't Rin. Second, I'm the arbiter of the Holy Grail War right now. Don't try to get familiar with me."
Ishtar shot Tokiomi a cold glance and replied in a flat tone.
With the arrival of the goddess, Sajyou Manaka's attention quickly shifted to her. Smiling, she said, "Ruler, huh… Didn't I hear that arbiters don't interfere in the Holy Grail War? So what brings you here?"
Ishtar replied coldly, "I indeed do not actively interfere in the battles between parties… provided that all sides follow the rules of the Holy Grail War."
"But judging by this, you clearly haven't been following the rules properly, Saber's Master."
She looked toward the "shadows" beside Sajyou Manaka and said in a low voice, "These things should not exist in the Holy Grail War."
Originally, the war was meant to be battles between Servants. But the shadows behind Sajyou Manaka could restrain Servants summoned by the Grail itself… they clearly did not belong to this system.
"I simply separated them from the Greater Grail while purifying it and put them to use," Sajyou Manaka said with a sweet smile, "I didn't tamper with the Greater Grail itself, did I?"
"You're just exploiting a loophole in the rules," Ishtar said coldly.
Then she turned to Alvin and asked, "Do you also think there's no problem with her, Saber?"
'Why do I have to be the one making the choice? Can't I just stay low-key,' Alvin complained inwardly. The selection interface in front of him still hadn't disappeared. And based on the earlier notification from the CG system, choosing a side would affect the final CG ending of this Holy Grail War.
But the system never told him which choice would lead to a bad ending.
In the end, Alvin felt like this was an unsolvable situation. No matter which side he chose, the other would inevitably be dissatisfied… he didn't really have a choice at all.
"Saber…"
At that moment, Sajyou Manaka looked at him, her eyes carrying a trace of unease and expectation.
They had reached the point where a final decision was imminent. Dragging things out any longer wouldn't solve anything.
After a long silence, Alvin opened his mouth.
"Manaka—"
Whoosh!
Before he could finish, a cold flash of light streaked through the air.
At the entrance of Ryuudou Temple, a knight clad in silver armor charged in at full speed.
Like a divine soldier descending from the heavens, she drew her sword the moment she stepped into the courtyard and swung it directly at the shadows.
One of the shadows couldn't dodge in time and was instantly shattered by the greatsword crackling with red lightning.
Everyone looked over. For the first time, a hint of surprise appeared in Morgan's otherwise calm eyes.
"Mordred?"
"Didn't expect things to be this lively tonight. Looks like I'm a bit late."
Immediately after, at the gate, a blond man with slicked-back hair stepped over the threshold.
Lord of the Clock Tower, Kayneth.
His gaze swept across everyone present before quickly landing on the shadows beside Sajyou Manaka with clear disdain.
"Something that interferes with the rules of the Greater Grail, having this kind of thing in a Holy Grail War completely violates its rules."
Kayneth said slowly, "Ruler, if I were you, I'd deal with these things first before talking about fairness."
At that moment, Tohsaka Tokiomi finally stepped forward as well, staring darkly at Sajyou Manaka.
"Indeed. These things have already affected the foundation of the Holy Grail War. Archer was eliminated because of them. If they aren't dealt with first, what fairness is there to speak of?"
Morgan crossed her arms under her chest, subtly lifting her impressive figure. Her cold gaze fell on Sajyou Manaka as she spoke crisply, "Seems I'm not the only one thinking this."
Noticing that all the Masters present, including his own teacher, were looking at Sajyou Manaka with clear hostility, Alvin fell silent.
His original intention had just been to have Sajyou Manaka purify the Greater Grail. She had indeed done it, but somehow, no matter what she did, it always felt like she was heading toward becoming the final boss.
He had just barely pulled her back from the edge of "going dark," and now it seemed like things had instead deepened that path.
"Saber…", Artoria looked at Alvin, a faint expectation in her eyes.
But Alvin still didn't move.
He understood now. Sajyou Manaka had become the common enemy of all Masters. Choosing her meant becoming the enemy of everyone.
But if he abandoned her, and she fell into darkness, things would only become even more troublesome.
Facing Artoria and the others' gazes, Alvin took a deep breath and looked at her.
"Big Sis King… Lily, during the Holy Grail War, I only have one Master. As long as it doesn't cross my bottom line, I am her Servant."
His words were tactful, but his stance was clear. He chose Sajyou Manaka.
Artoria lowered her eyes. After a moment of silence, she suddenly looked up, expressionless.
"That does sound like the kind of choice you'd make."
As she spoke, a special weapon symbolizing the "Staff of Selection" quietly formed in her hand.
"In that case, I'll respect your decision."
"Just in time, I'd like to see how much of your strength from your Britannia days remains in your current Servant form!"
'It sounds righteous, but she is clearly angry,' Alvin let out a quiet sigh.
Why was it that all he wanted was to save his teacher, yet he ended up having to fight against every Servant present.
As that thought crossed his mind, Artoria in the distance had already swung the Staff of Selection toward him.
She wore a beautiful dress with a black-and-white cloak, dazzling even in the night. But in Alvin's eyes, the aura she radiated now was terrifying.
Since the start of the Holy Grail War, Artoria had never gone all out. But now, with Morgan's support, she seemed to be using true Age of Gods magecraft.
'Just how strong is Caster Artoria at her peak?'
Alvin didn't know.
But he could at least be certain of one thing, the magical power she was releasing right now was unprecedented.
Any ordinary Master would already feel fear at this sight, but there wasn't the slightest trace of fear in Sajyou Manaka's eyes. If anything, she looked even more excited.
She gazed at the boy tenderly and said softly, "Saber, let's fight together… and claim the final victory."
In an instant, the black mud erupted completely, surging toward everyone in all directions.
———
A dim yellow lamp lit up the room, bringing a faint sense of warmth to the winter night.
Irisviel frowned slightly, as if she had been having a nightmare.
A small, cool hand gently touched the woman's flawless face, waking her from her sleep.
Irisviel slowly opened her eyes. What came into view was the delicate, pure face of a silver-haired little girl.
Illya was staring straight at her mother and said softly,
"You're awake, Mama?"
"Illya…"
Irisviel called out instinctively, then looked around in confusion.
"This is?"
She rubbed her temples lightly. Soon, fragments of memory began flooding back into her mind.
She had been abducted at the castle, imprisoned, then rescued by Saber. After that, she met Illya. And later, under the influence of that entity within the black mud, she had tried to manipulate Saber while in a corrupted state.
The memories surged like a tide, and Irisviel gradually understood everything.
'So it was Saber who saved me. While I was unconscious, a fragment of Lady Justeaze's consciousness had been residing within my body…'
As that thought crossed her mind, she suddenly remembered something that had happened not long ago. A faint blush quickly spread across her pale, flawless face.
Even though it had been due to the influence of the black mud, in order to bring Saber under her control, she seemed to have done something a bit… over the line.
If he didn't know the full situation, would Saber think she was a bit… indecent?
Just as that thought appeared, a cool and pleasant voice suddenly echoed in her mind, ["Don't worry. He doesn't hold any prejudice against you. After all, he understands what happened to you back then."]
Irisviel froze for a moment, surprise appearing on her face.
'Lady Justeaze?'
["How is your consciousness still inside me?"]
Logically speaking, the fragment of Justeaze residing within her should have been fleeting and unable to persist. So why was she still there after Irisviel had awakened?
Justeaze let out a cold laugh.
["Thanks to a certain girl, the consciousness I left within the Greater Grail has fully awakened."]
'Sajyou Manaka?'
Irisviel asked inwardly.
Even though she had been unconscious during this time, she had still glimpsed what happened through the body's memories.
Justeaze nodded.
["If nothing unexpected has happened, she should already be carrying out the final ritual for the Grail's descent."]
["Irisviel, you must go to Mount Enzo. I have a feeling she still can't perfectly control that polluted power."]
Irisviel hesitated.
'But I'm no longer the Lesser Grail…'
["Then you're underestimating the Third Magic."]
Justeaze's voice turned cold.
["The Root Princess can at most transfer the magical formula of the Lesser Grail onto herself, but she overlooked one thing… your body itself is the Grail. No matter what she does, she cannot replace you as the true Grail."]
["The Servants' souls have all been collected by the Root Princess, but once the Greater Grail descends… you are still the most advantageous candidate."]
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