A cold, indifferent voice quietly rang out in the snowy night.
The woman wore black robes that concealed her entire face beneath a loose hood.
Her waist-length hair cascaded down like a waterfall, flowing freely, with glimpses of a dazzling luster, like a starry night, visible through the strands
"Sorry..."
Rider murmured and Merlin's gaze sharpened slightly as he said quietly, "This is Rider's Master...?"
Sajyou Manaka frowned unconsciously. "All the Evil in This World...?"
She had been the final "winner" of the previous Holy Grail War.
In that war, Manaka had manipulated the black mud, so she was very familiar with the aura from the Master behind Rider.
However, the aura on this opponent... wasn't simply All the Evil in This World.
It seemed mixed with something even deeper and more terrifying than the black mud.
At that moment, Illya seemed to realize something and blurted out almost instinctively, "It's you... It's you! You're the source that polluted the Greater Grail. You actually escaped from the Greater Grail?!"
In the previous Holy Grail War, the Greater Grail had been contaminated.
Though it was later destroyed, the contaminating source, the black mud known as "All the Evil in This World"—had not been completely purified.
Over these years, Fuyuki's Three Great Families, along with the Holy Church, had been purifying the Greater Grail.
By now, the remaining black mud should have been nearly eradicated.
Yet at this very moment, Illya clearly felt an incredibly terrifying, dangerous power gathering behind this mysterious woman.
Merlin had been silent from the start, simply staring intently at the mysterious woman behind Rider.
His gaze was profoundly deep.
After staring for an unknown length of time, he finally spoke quietly, "No wonder I saw a future where humanity's rationale is destroyed... So that's how it is."
"The fusion of All the Evil in This World and the Tide of Chaos... That's your true nature, isn't it?"
Illya instinctively turned to Merlin.
In that moment, her eyes held both shock and understanding.
When the Greater Grail was destroyed back then, the contaminating black mud had nearly been wiped out too.
Logically, the small amount left should have been almost completely eradicated after ten years of purification.
That was the consensus judgment of Fuyuki's Three Great Families, including the Winter Saintess.
Yet no one had expected that, over these years, someone had been secretly contaminating the Greater Grail further, mixing the black mud known as the "Tide of Chaos" into it.
The woman behind Rider, or rather, the blackened Matou Sakura, froze slightly for a moment.
Then she quickly burst into charming laughter as she hugged herself with both arms, laughing so hard her body shook.
"Caster... the court mage of Britain. Your Clairvoyance really can see many things."
"But I have a question too."
"Blackened Sakura" smiled as she looked at the white-haired mage behind Illya, her voice carrying a trace of seductive charm.
"Since your Clairvoyance can see so far... have you ever seen your own death?!"
Her gentle voice suddenly turned ice-cold, as though devoid of any emotion, splitting into two different voices asking the question simultaneously.
The bounded field Merlin had set up in advance at Ryūdō Temple let out a faint cracking sound.
His heart jolted as a chill ran down his back.
Almost simultaneously, everyone present felt the magical energy fluctuations emanating from Matou Sakura.
It was a terrifying power like a mountain slowly shifting from afar, suppressing everything and making it hard to breathe.
Whether the Root Princess, the mage of Britain, or Fuyuki's Little Grail, as long as they were in Fuyuki, she was the sole god.
Even if the Greater Grail hadn't been fully eroded by the Tide of Chaos yet.
The Tide of Chaos surged around Matou Sakura.
Beast-like patterns crawled along her pale skin.
Even her proud chest was covered in red markings, adding a touch of demonic allure.
"Blackened Sakura" raised her right hand, condensing black mud capable of annihilating everything.
Merlin's bounded field let out glass-like cracking sounds under the terrifying magical pressure.
"This is bad. Things are really bad now... This guy hasn't even fully 'Beastified' yet, but she seems to have some special boost from the Greater Grail..."
Cold sweat beaded on Merlin's forehead.
If it were his true self, he naturally had ways to deal with it.
But in the end, he was a Servant manifested based on the Greater Grail...
As a Servant in the Holy Grail War, it was impossible to oppose the power of the Greater Grail itself.
Black mud surged overwhelmingly, mingled with countless swarms of insects, every one a crest worm eroded by the Tide of Chaos.
"It's over—"
Matou Sakura raised her right hand indifferently, but at that moment, she seemed to sense something and her voice cut off abruptly.
An extremely familiar magical energy fluctuation pierced through the blizzard, slicing through her chaotic consciousness like a sharp blade.
—Alvin's aura!
The black mud in mid-air shattered in an instant into thousands upon thousands of flying insects.
Matou Sakura's head snapped up.
At the far end of the wind and snow, the black-robed young man was rushing toward them, holding his Master in his arms.
Those golden vertical pupils, bright as daylight in the darkness, seemed to pierce straight through the storm toward her position.
Sajyou Manaka's eyes lit up in an instant and she nearly blurted out, "Alvin?!"
"Master...?"
Rider noticed the abnormality in the girl behind her and instinctively spoke.
Matou Sakura staggered back.
Her fingertips under the black robe dug deeply into her palms.
"Take me away from here, Rider."
She desperately suppressed the impulse in her mind that kept repeating "kill everyone," her voice trembling as she spoke.
"It's not time yet. I don't want him to see me like this..."
Seeming to sense Matou Sakura's intent to flee, Merlin's staff already bloomed with rainbow light.
Sajyou Manaka's magical crests spread across the ground into golden thorns.
At the same time, Alvin's figure drew closer and closer.
But at that moment, black mud beneath Matou Sakura's feet quietly wrapped around her ankles like a living thing.
A crest worm silently flew to the snow ahead, with star-like sparks seeping from its abdomen.
"Master, careful!"
Merlin's pupils contracted sharply.
Realizing something, he immediately raised his staff as pink petals formed a barrier enveloping Illya.
Alvin set Tohsaka Rin down from his arms. "Wait here!"
He was about to step forward when a deafening explosion suddenly rang in his ears.
BOOM!!
The next moment, the explosion triggered by the crest worm engulfed more than half the area.
Alvin braked in time at the edge of the blast.
The corner of his eye seemed to catch something.
He stepped forward and picked up a piece of unburned insect wing from the ground. Dark red patterns writhed in his palm.
—Crest worm.
Why are there crest worms here too...?
Alvin's eyes flickered slightly.
An involuntary thought surfaced in his mind as he quickly looked up ahead.
When the smoke and dust finally cleared, all that remained was a patch of charred snow and winding trails of black mud, like mocking snake shadows pointing toward Ryūdō Temple.
"What's wrong, Assassin?"
Tohsaka Rin's voice, laced with a hint of worry, pulled Alvin back from his earlier thoughts.
He released his palm, letting the insect wing drift away on the wind. "It's nothing... Probably just my imagination."
With that, he turned and returned to Rin's side.
Only then did he notice that not far away, three gazes were fixed directly on them.
Immediately after came Sajyou Manaka's voice, filled with surprise and delight.
"Saber...?"
Alvin froze for a moment, instinctively turning his head to look at the person in front of him...and the moment he saw her, the expression on his face quickly stiffened.
"Manaka...?"
Though the girl looked to be in her early twenties now, her overall appearance hadn't changed much, so he recognized her identity at first glance.
Tohsaka Rin's heart stirred and asked with some concern, "You know her?"
Alvin finally reacted, withdrawing his gaze. "She was my Master in the previous Holy Grail War."
The Master from the previous Holy Grail War... is participating in the Fifth one too...?
Tohsaka Rin looked anew at Sajyou Manaka, a strange feeling rising in her eyes...
At that moment, the girl suddenly had an incredibly subtle sensation.
It was almost like her current boyfriend's ex-wife had shown up at the door... something like that.
One Illya was already enough, and now there's a Sajyou Manaka too...?
But as his current Master, shouldn't she properly greet the ex?
Just as Tohsaka Rin thought this, she suddenly saw Manaka's figure flash past her eyes.
Under the girl's bewildered gaze, shr threw herself straight into Alvin's arms.
Like a little cat, she gently nuzzled against Alvin's chest.
Her clear, sweet voice was full of longing.
"I finally get to see you. I've missed you so much, Saber~"