Shortly after Shirou Emiya, Rin Tohsaka, and the others were attacked by the unknown lucky bastard, after a series of coincidences, Shirou Emiya successfully summoned his Servant.
With the intention of the concubine, Lan Yuqin, they successfully formed an alliance and began a battle of wits and courage with the air.
Meanwhile, the daytime sun had already set in the west.
The massive shadow of the Fuyuki Bridge stretched a long path across the surface of the Weiyuan River, and the orange-red setting sun passed through the bridge's arch, creating a warm halo on the quiet shore.
The wind swept through the river's humidity, wrapped in the day's warmth. Locke stood by the water, his fingertips slowly unbuttoning his clothes, removing all his garments, and step by step, he walked into the river, dyed golden-red by the setting sun.
The burn scar on his right leg, extending from the base of his thigh to his ankle, was horrific, glaringly red in the sunset.
The Holy Grail's fire that had burned half of Fuyuki ten years ago had not only left an eternal mark on his flesh and blood but had also allowed the black mud of "all the world's evils" to seep into his flesh and bone marrow along the burning wound.
Even after ten years, the black mud, with its destruction and curse, still lurked deep within his right leg, never disappearing.
Gilgamesh stood tall on the riverbank, his fingertips twirling a gold stone, his burgundy pupils following the limping figure as it moved toward the center of the river, unblinking.
The boy's back was tall and lonely. The warm, red river water gradually covered his waist, stomach, and chest, until finally only half of his shoulders remained exposed, like a silent sculpture in the afterglow of the setting sun.
Looking at this scene, memories from thousands of years ago suddenly surfaced—the flowing water of the Jordan River, the holy light of the sky, and the image of the Son of God, bearing the sins of all humanity, completing his baptism in the river, overlapped with the figure before him.
This moment was like that moment.
"Aren't you worried something might happen?! What are you going to do if I change my mind halfway?"
Gilgamesh's shout broke the tranquility of the river in the daytime. The wind swept across the water in the orange-red sunset, carrying his voice to the figure gradually sinking into the golden-red water.
The Weiyuan River, the mother river flowing through Fuyuki, had never been an ordinary river.
It was the central node of Fuyuki's Dragon Vein, and its underground channel was completely connected to the void where the Greater Holy Grail resided. It was one of the few passages in the entire city that could directly lead to the origin of the Holy Grail, contaminated with "all the world's evils."
To stop this Holy Grail War, destined for destruction, and to fulfill his vow to all of humanity, Locke finally chose the most isolated path—feeding the tiger with his own body, sacrificing his flesh and soul in place of the Servant that should have been absorbed by the Holy Grail, and taking the initiative to step into the black, muddy abyss lurking deep beneath the riverbed, wrapped in endless malice.
The cold river had already overflowed his chest. Each step forward brought him one point closer to the source of the curse. He slowly turned his head, and the afterglow of the setting sun fell on his face, as if wrapping him in a sacred halo.
He looked at Gilgamesh standing on the shore. With complex emotions in his burgundy eyes, his voice was calm, but each word sounded clearly in the other's ear along with the gurgling water:
"I trust you, just as you choose to trust me. If I am destined to become the Emperor in the future, then I firmly believe that my royal path is inherited from you."
"In that case, I will not let you down, and you will never let me down."
The words of his heart reached his ears along with the gurgling water. Gilgamesh felt very gratified, and a strange feeling flowed in his heart.
Other than Enkidu, Locke was the second person to make him feel this way.
He subconsciously turned away, then covered up his lapse with a loud, cold snort, and made the most solemn promise in the most arrogant tone:
"Hmph! The ugliest thing is ahead—if you can't get out of this mud, this king will personally kill a bunch of annoying cultivators and drag you out of this black mud! When the time comes, don't cry and shout that the king is too curious!"
The orange-red afterglow of the sunset enveloped the entire river. The cold river water overflowed Locke's lips. But he still raised his head, his eyes looking directly at Gilgamesh on the shore, the confidence in his eyes burning hotter than the setting sun. His voice was very soft, but it pierced through the water and the wind, as if penetrating the other's heart:
"That won't happen in the future. If I cannot bear and endure all the evils of this world, then I am not qualified to speak of the future of all humanity."
"So... trusting is good."
As the last word fell, he closed his eyes and completely sank into the turbulent current of the river.
Fully submerged in the depths of the riverbed, the horrific burn on Locke's right leg instantly flashed with pitch-black light. The remnants of black mud that had slumbered for ten years became frantic and restless, like a beacon, frantically summoning the infinite cursed black mud deep within the riverbed, connected to the origin of the Greater Holy Grail.
In the murky underwater current, Locke's figure wavered for a moment, but he still stepped step by step toward the darkest depths of the river's center, without a word.
The surging black mud was like a frenzied shark smelling blood, desperately gathering toward him, transforming into countless sturdy, black chains, tightly binding and entwining his limbs and torso, gradually pulling him into the abyss.
For "all the world's evils," embodying all the malice of humanity, his soul had never been pure and unstained. But within this body, wrapped in layers of black mud, beat a unique origin of the soul from a higher dimension.
Combined with the power to distort reality, he had already been elevated to another being seated in Valhalla, and his dual soul traits perfectly matched the recycling rules of Valhalla, like bait thrown into the deep sea, precisely captured by the infinite black mud flowing from the Greater Holy Grail.
And this was Locke's game from beginning to end.
As a pioneer of arcane technology, he must first break down and devour the magical foundations of this world, then recast them, so that they could seamlessly adapt to the future Hex Core and Mutant Wild Runes.
Even if the Greater Holy Grail was now completely defiled by human malice and had become a vessel for breeding curses, for Locke, it was still the closest door to the "root."
As long as he could open this door and reach the origin of the world, he could find a way to continue walking along this stage production spanning galaxies and time.
All day long, he and his heroic spirit "self" had made countless attempts in the depths of his consciousness. Finally, he transferred the complete character card to the other party and simultaneously loaded another character card for his own soul.
The sticky black mud was like countless venomous snakes, entwining his body, completely pulling him into the underground depression beneath the riverbed of the Weiyuan River, where the Greater Holy Grail resided. Boundless darkness surrounded him, so quiet that he could hear the sticky sound of the flowing black mud, and even time seemed to stop at this moment.
At that moment, in the shadow beneath Locke's feet, a roulette wheel-like circle slowly glowed with a cold light, gradually appearing in the darkness.
"Begin adapting to all of this, Mahoraga."
Locke's voice sounded in the sticky black mud, still clear and resolute.
As if responding to the master's will, the roulette wheel suddenly broke free from the shackles of the shadow and hovered above Locke's head with a low hum.
The sticky black mud continued to surge and cover his entire body. And in this silent void, where even light could not penetrate, the sharp, locking sound after the wheel turned suddenly exploded.
"Click~"