Looking at the murderous Artoria and Gilgamesh, Lin Jiuan snapped back to his senses. Black matter enveloped his body, and his mana condensed into a shirt and pants. "Actually, I feel like we can all sit down and talk..."
"Shut up!" Before he could finish, Gilgamesh and Artoria cut him off coldly.
"Unfaithful, cheap pet." Gilgamesh's blood-red eyes, now filled with brutality, fell upon him. She said cruelly, "After this king deals with these two cheating mongrels, I will deal with you properly."
Artoria's dark golden eyes were equally filled with contempt and dissatisfaction, with a hint of disgust for this man who would sleep with any woman.
"Jiuan, don't worry. Mama is not afraid of them anymore." Raikou, now filled to the brim with his mana and having formed a contract, was not scared at all. She said gently, "Wait until Mama kills these two pests who dared to disturb our private time."
Can you all please stop fighting! Looking at the three who had already started fighting—a chaotic mess that was either a two-on-one or a three-way free-for-all—Lin Jiuan sighed in his heart. Sigh, my damn charm.
If it were Artoria and Gilgamesh ganging up on Raikou, he would have intervened no matter what. But from the looks of it, even though they were furious that Raikou had stolen a snack while they were fighting, neither the proud Gilgamesh nor the increasingly perverted Artoria could bring themselves to team up against her. And Raikou, having contracted with him and been somewhat 'corrupted', was now overflowing with mana, her abilities greatly enhanced. Facing Gilgamesh and Artoria was no longer as difficult as before. She could hold her own.
In a three-way brawl, Lin Jiuan wasn't worried about Raikou's safety. Even if she died, he could pull her soul back with the Grail inside him and then resurrect her with his mana and Beast Authority. For now...
"Fight on, fight on," he mused. "When you've all beaten each other to exhaustion and can't get up, I'll catch you all, lock you in a little black room, and return the humiliation you've given me tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousandfold. I'll show you what a man's dignity is!"
As Lin Jiuan retreated to a distance, enjoying the spectacular fireworks show of gold, black, and purple, a mana fluctuation suddenly came. "Hm?"
He turned his head and looked towards the underside of Fuyuki City. He could feel the leylines being drained of mana at an abnormal rate, the center of the absorption being the Holy Grail hidden deep underground—or perhaps in another dimension. The Fuyuki leylines were under the control of the Tohsaka family. In past Holy Grail Wars, the Grail would accumulate mana in a gentle way, without damaging the foundation of the leylines. But now, it was absorbing spiritual energy at a frantic pace. At this rate, by the time the Grail was full, the Fuyuki leylines would be completely ruined.
"Can't wait any longer, huh?"
Lin Jiuan glanced back at the three women, who were now seeing red, then directly activated his Imaginary Numbers ability and stepped into imaginary space.
"Father? Why?" Rin looked at Tokiomi with fear and anger.
She had been brought by him to this hall where the Grail was about to appear. The young girl didn't sense her father's "draining the well to get the fish" actions on the leylines, but she could see everything happening in front of her.
Corpses. Young men and women, the elderly, children—bodies of all ages were piled up here. Their life force and magical energy had been completely depleted. Only their wide, lifeless eyes hinted at the torture they had suffered before death. And those Assassins were continuously dragging in new, living people and throwing them onto the altar. Amidst their pained screams, all their life force and mana were sacrificed to the greedy existence that was constantly absorbing from the void.
Watching living people die one by one before her eyes, no matter how young Rin was, she understood that her father was the true culprit behind the mass disappearances in Fuyuki these past few days. "Why are you doing this?!"
Tokiomi didn't answer his daughter's question. Instead, he stared with excitement at the nearly completed ritual, waiting silently. He let it drain the very foundation of the Tohsaka family—the vast leylines that spread throughout Fuyuki, second only to those in Tokyo and Kyoto.
It wasn't until he sensed that the great existence was about to descend that he turned to look at his daughter. "Why? Rin, you truly disappoint your father."
Rin momentarily forgot her anger and fear, looking up at him.
"You are a magus, not one of these ridiculous, weak commoners. Have you forgotten the way of the magus that your father taught you? Have you forgotten the wish of our Tohsaka family?"
"But..." Being questioned so righteously by her father, the young Rin was at a loss for a moment. Instinct told her that what her father was doing was wrong, that the man before her was not the father she knew. But his face, his body, and his temperament and tone, which were identical to her father's, made Rin—who both feared and revered him, who was afraid of disappointing him, and who had not yet established a complete set of values—feel a sense of self-doubt.
Am I the one who is wrong?
"Even for the sake of the Root, Father, you shouldn't..." Rin said weakly.
"Ridiculous. These commoners are just mindless insects who don't even know why they live. If they can become stepping stones on our path to the Root, it is their honor. As orthodox magi, for the sake of the Root, everything can be sacrificed."
"That's not right..."
"Enough!" Tokiomi's voice rose slightly, then he shook his head. "No matter. It's meaningless anyway."
Meaningless? Before Rin could understand the meaning behind her father's words, she felt herself being lifted up. Tokiomi, holding her, walked towards the altar. "Father, what are you doing?!" Having just witnessed countless people being sacrificed, she screamed in panic, struggling constantly. "Father! It's me, Rin! Wake up! It's me, Rin!"
"Don't kill me! Father! It's me, Rin!"
Tokiomi paid no heed to his daughter's cries, carrying her to the edge of the altar. "My foolish daughter, what are you afraid of? I am giving you a chance, a chance to become one with that great existence. A chance for a fool like you to reach the Root with your father."