"....Ngh."
While Elius held his ground against Gilgamesh, Rin Tohsaka dove into the river of filth. To separate Shinji—the core of the corrupted Holy Grail—from the source of the curse, she plunged her body into the cascading stream of malice.
As she waded through the viscous mud, her face contorted in agony as the curse began to seep into her very pores through her submerged limbs.
"This... there is a limit to how repulsive something can be! Ugh! How did Berserker even endure this mire?"
To her senses, this curse felt less like a magical effect and more like a Heroic Spirit itself—a concentrated mass of ego and malice. It was an existence lethal to any Servant.
Any ordinary Heroic Spirit would have had their consciousness eroded instantly, their being devoured by the sludge.
A Servant capable of withstanding 'All the World's Evil' was a concept that shouldn't exist...
And yet, there were such monsters.
The images of Berserker and the Golden King flashed through Rin's mind, and she let out an irritated cry.
"...Honestly, there isn't a single sane person in this Holy Grail War! Not one!"
A supervisor priest who committed every foul play imaginable; a Servant who sought the extinction of humanity; another who tried to dissolve a whole school of students into prana.
It was a catastrophe of the highest order.
Lost in these thoughts, Rin finally reached the island of pulsating flesh. She placed a hand upon the surface, wincing at the sickening sensation crawling up her palm, before mustering her strength to pull herself fully onto the mound.
'...The curse is draining the strength from my limbs.'
Rin stared at her trembling palms. She had expected her innate Magic Resistance to offer some protection, but the corruption was permeating her circuits faster than anticipated.
At this rate, she might collapse before she could even reach the vessel. Gritting her teeth, she broke into a run toward the summit where the core was located.
Gasping for breath, she finally arrived at the peak and gazed upon the centerpiece of the monstrosity.
"....Shinji."
There stood Shinji Matou, gripped by a massive, fleshy hand emerging from the ground. Rin looked down at him with an expression of pure disdain.
"To be honest... I have no desire to save you."
Shinji Matou.
He was her sister's tormentor. A piece of human waste who had assaulted and violated Sakura, fueled by nothing more than petty jealousy and a deep-seated inferiority complex.
The urge to leave him there to rot was overwhelming. Every fiber of her being screamed to let him die... and yet.
She, who had stood by and failed to notice the suffering for so long, had no right to judge him. It was galling. Utterly infuriating. But she had to drag him out of here.
"But remember this. The only reason I'm pulling you out is because only Sakura has the right to punish you. When we get out, you will beg for her forgiveness on your hands and knees. If you don't... you'll die by my hand instead."
Rin seized the bound Shinji, hauling him up and draping his weight over her shoulders. She forced herself to stand upright.
She turned to leave, but had barely taken a single step before something clamped around her ankle. She looked down, a hollow, bitter laugh escaping her lips.
"—Ha. What, you can't even let go of this pathetic vessel? Dream on. This wretch isn't even worthy of being a core—he's barely human. Why do you even want to keep such trash?"
She kicked the grasping appendage away, scowling as more hands began to sprout from the meat to hinder her path.
She peered down at the sheer height of the meat-mound. Finding no other choice, she let out a weary sigh and shook her head.
"....Fine. Let's get this over with. —We're jumping, Shinji...!"
The two plummeted into the black mud with a heavy splash.
***
CLANG! CLANG! CRASH!
"....Ugh!"
I grit my teeth as a Noble Phantasm grazed my cheek, my focus entirely consumed by parrying the relentless barrage of the King's treasury.
Gilgamesh watched me, a smirk playing across his lips.
"Hah, flagging already? We have not yet spent even a tenth of Our treasury. Try harder to amuse Us, Knight."
CLANG! CLANG!
"—Khk."
A groan escaped me as I weathered the violent deluge of gold. The number of portals in the air had definitely increased since our last encounter; it wasn't just my imagination.
A 360-degree bombardment of Noble Phantasms was simply absurd. It was all I could do to maintain my position, let alone attempt to close the distance.
Damn it all. I know I've served him more than a few bitter drafts of humiliation, but this was overkill.
The only saving grace was my current state. Because I was incarnated via the Grail's mud, the strain of magical energy consumption was lessened. My parameters were closer to those I possessed in life, allowing me to move without constantly worrying about my prana reserves. Without that boost, I would have been a pincushion for his blades long ago.
Yes. If I can at least endure, it's a win. I just need to hold him until Rin secures that seaweed-haired brat or Artoria's group breaks through.
As if responding to that thought, the earth beneath us groaned, followed by the thunderous roar of an explosion behind Gilgamesh. The King of Heroes narrowed his eyes, turning his head.
"—What?"
"....Oh?"
Looking toward the source of the sound—the place where the flesh-Grail had been—I saw a colossal hand made of putrid meat reaching toward the sky.
'She did it. She saved him.'
As if confirming my suspicion, Gilgamesh watched the approaching mass of flesh with cold indifference.
"It has lost its core and seeks Me as a replacement..."
—Clink.
Gilgamesh reached into his golden treasury and withdrew the Key of the King's Law. As he turned it, red ley-lines spiraled out like branching veins.
The lines eventually condensed into a single point, and from the light emerged an anomaly. It was a weapon that defied the very definition of a 'sword.'
A cylindrical blade divided into three rotating segments. To the uninitiated, its shape might have looked strange, but the moment I saw it, my instincts screamed in terror.
That weapon was a divine authority that could shred any defense I possessed with a mere flick of the wrist. Gilgamesh held the blade as the massive hand of flesh loomed over him.
"—Sweep them away, Ea."
It was a mere gust. The three cylinders rotated independently, and though it was far from its full power, the compressed wind pressure erupted in all directions.
The colossal hand was instantly shredded into atoms, and the surrounding area of Ryuudou Temple was leveled as if hit by a cyclone. The carnage was absolute.
But Gilgamesh simply brought the rotating Sword of Rupture to a halt as if he had done nothing more than swat a fly.
He lowered the sword and looked at the mangled remains of the flesh-vessel before turning his gaze back to me.
"—I did not expect to have to draw Ea here..... Hmm?"
His eyes widened as he scanned the space where I had just been standing. I was no longer there.
Agitation clouded his regal features as he scanned the wreckage and shouted.
"—You cur! Berserker! You dare hide your presence from Me? Show yourself before your Sovereign!"
"—With pleasure."
CRUNCH! GRAB!
The response came from below. Surprised, the King looked down, but my hand was faster. I burst through the tiles of the roof and seized his ankle in a crushing grip.
"—You've looked down on everyone from up here long enough. Come down, 'Your Majesty.' Let's play in the dirt for a change."
"—You... YOU FILTHY BERSERKERRRRRR!!!"
Don't blame me. Who told you to look away in the middle of a fight?
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