Chapter 532: The Giant and the Girl
Kaito Shirogane's fanatic smile gradually twisted. After experiencing several stabbing pains, he realized the commotions within his body seemed to have stopped.
Kaito Shirogane frowned. In the next moment, he directly reached out his hand towards his own chest, plunging it in with a pfft sound.
The reason Kaito Shirogane dared to have this crazy plan was because the Lesser Grail he saw was Illya. Unlike her mother, Illya was artificially modified into the Lesser Grail; she wasn't born existing as the Lesser Grail.
To be precise, Illya's heart was the core of the Lesser Grail.
And Kaito Shirogane had long transcended the restriction of ordinary biological creatures that would die upon leaving the heart.
Pfft!
Accompanied by flashing lightning and spraying fresh blood, charred black cracks were struck on the ground.
Kaito Shirogane's [Heart of the Thunder Emperor] was directly dissected out. On it, sure enough, an intense magical energy luster was flashing now.
Echoing with the light of magical energy erupting from the ruins of [Mount Enzou] in the distance.
That was the location of the [Greater Grail].
The [Greater Grail] was actually constructed by the ancestor of the Einzbern family, the Winter Saint Justeaze, using her own body as the core of the ritual, plus Zouken Matou (Makiri) providing the Command Spells, and the Tohsaka ancestor providing Mount Enzou and the underground leylines of Fuyuki City.
The Winter Saint was an artificial lifeform created by the disciples of the one who once mastered the [Third Magic (Heaven's Feel)] to research and pursue the Third Magic, but that wasn't because they had mastered the Third Magic and its technology.
It was merely an unprecedented and unrepeatable accident.
The Einzbern family was the product of this kind of research and experimentation.
To pursue the true [Third Magic], the Winter Saint used her own life and body to activate this ritual.
And it finally took shape under the witness of the Type-Moon world's top Magician, the [Marshal of Zelretch], [Zelretch of the Jewel], [Master of the Second Magic], Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg.
On the surface, it was a war where magi and Heroic Spirits slaughtered each other to realize their wishes. In reality, the massive magical energy capable of realizing wishes was nothing more than a byproduct of this ritual.
The three families, Einzbern, Makiri, and Tohsaka, all aimed to utilize the hole punched in space-time when the Heroic Spirits returned from the Lesser Grail to the Throne of Heroes after the [Holy Grail War] ended, and use the magical energy accumulated in the leylines for sixty years to fix it.
Thereby directly reaching the [Root]!
Kaito Shirogane held the heart high, but felt the impact of the Heroic Spirits wasn't enough. Not only had the so-called space-time hole not fully appeared, but even the Greater Grail hadn't fully deployed.
His gaze swept around. In the next moment, it landed on the pitch-black giant, Heracles.
This pitch-black giant didn't continue fighting with Kaito Shirogane. At the same time, he hadn't gone far either, seemingly just guarding Illya from afar.
Step, step...
Kaito Shirogane started his footsteps. In the next moment, the silver-haired, red-eyed girl spread her arms, blocking in front of Kaito Shirogane.
She frowned, showing incomprehension and intolerance, her eyes unwilling to look at the heart pinched in Mercenary Tao's hand.
"Assassin, what are you... going to do..."
"Berserker is my Servant. I don't allow you to slaughter each other!"
Kaito Shirogane remained completely unmoved. His force was tremendous, dragging Illya along as he moved, not much more difficult than picking up a cat.
The luster of Command Spells lit up on Illya's body. Kaito Shirogane frowned and actively stopped in his tracks.
Illya was covered in Command Spells all over her body. Theoretically, she was indeed one of the very few existences here right now capable of killing him.
But the young girl didn't have that intention. Looking at her expression, Kaito Shirogane saw she merely seemed to want to use the Command Spells to stop him from killing Heracles.
The tearing pain of the soul continued, but probably some incident had occurred in the sea of consciousness. Just as Kaito Shirogane was hesitating whether to actively enter the consciousness space, he heard thud, thud footsteps.
Berserker, polluted by the black mud, actually actively walked towards him, dragging the heavy, huge axe-sword on the ground.
An intense aura rose instantly, like two fierce beasts.
Illya was startled. Turning her head as well, she constantly waved her hands.
"Berserker, I also don't allow you to fight Assassin!"
"I hope you can survive together..."
She actually knew that even if the Servant died, the Heroic Spirit wouldn't die.
But the end of the Holy Grail War inevitably had to be accompanied by death. She hoped that for that sorrow, she herself was enough.
Kaito Shirogane perceived the young girl's thoughts. His eyelids lowered, and he spoke coldly:
"Heracles, if you don't let me end the Holy Grail War in this state now, Illya is destined to die."
"No matter who ultimately wins the Holy Grail War, she will die."
Kaito Shirogane's voice was incomparably indifferent, but certain.
Tap tap tap...
Amidst the messy sound of footsteps, a black-haired man with dull eyes sprinted wildly from afar.
It seemed that the abnormal phenomenon of the blood moon currently displayed finally allowed the other party to act unscrupulously.
Emiya Kiritsugu's eyes first noticed that terrifying Mercenary Tao, an unprecedented Servant focused on slaughter.
He had even thought before that if he had teamed up with a Servant like Mercenary Tao in the Fourth Holy Grail War, he probably could have ended most battles through assassination in the early stages when the Holy Grail War officially started.
But then he recalled that what was carried in the current [Greater Grail] was completely not a dream.
That was completely twisted malice.
Absolutely cannot let that kind of thing descend!
Emiya Kiritsugu ran. He actually also knew clearly that if the one who survived that battle just now was Mercenary Tao, then he completely had no way.
In the next moment, the running Emiya Kiritsugu saw the red-haired boy slumped against the wall, clutching his neck, with bloodstains seemingly appearing between his fingers.
His heart sank, and he was about to run towards the boy, but in the next moment, he froze completely in place.
A silver-haired girl with ruby eyes just like Irisviel stood timidly between Mercenary Tao and that pitch-black giant, spreading her arms as if to stop the two from fighting.
Bang!
Emiya Kiritsugu subconsciously shot directly at Mercenary Tao. Mercenary Tao's left hand instantly raised, and the bullet fell directly between the other party's two fingers.
Mercenary Tao flicked his finger.
Pfft!
The bullet directly pierced through Emiya Kiritsugu's throat.
Illya...
Emiya Kiritsugu reached out his hand. That was his daughter, his biological daughter!
He had gone to the Einzbern family countless times after the end of the Fourth Holy Grail War, wanting to pick up his daughter. But influenced by the black mud, his body gradually necrotizing, he completely couldn't even see his daughter.
He didn't expect to see her again at this moment.
The pitch-black giant slowly raised his hand, that huge axe-sword raised high.
"No, no no no... No!"
Emiya Kiritsugu once again recalled everything he saw in that illusion.
The pain of losing loved ones made him roar like a madman.
He didn't want to be an envoy of justice anymore.
He didn't want to choose anymore.
He also didn't want to compete anymore.
He only wanted... to not lose anymore!
Like a whining defeated dog, another person who once harbored noble, cruel, and mechanical ideals broke completely at this moment.
Pfft!
Fresh blood sprayed.
Emiya Kiritsugu's whole person stiffened.
Illya's pupils also dilated, her expression twisting bit by bit.
Kaito Shirogane half-closed his eyes, the corners of his mouth seemingly smiling, yet seemingly sorrowful.
He stretched out his hand, looking at Heracles who slashed his huge axe-sword into his own neck.
"Yin Spirit, Body Possession!"
An intense suction force surged frantically like a storm. Heracles's body instantly turned into pitch-black particles, pouring into Kaito Shirogane's body.
In the next moment, in the purest form of spiritrons, they directly broke through Kaito Shirogane's physical body and soul.
As blood sprayed from Kaito Shirogane's face, that heart in Kaito Shirogane's right hand immediately emitted a golden luster.
The Holy Grail had appeared.
"Berserker!"
Amidst Emiya Kiritsugu's joyful smile, the young girl let out a despairing wail.
(End of Chapter)
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