Chapter 536: Swirl of the Root!
Tap tap tap...
Amidst the hurried sound of footsteps, the black-haired man charged into the black mud. He seemed to fall into a quagmire in an instant, various illusions of the past finding him once again.
But Emiya Kiritsugu's hollow eyes at this moment seemed to also hold a firm goal.
His physical body had long been altered by that mysterious woman. At the same time, the black mud that eroded him previously actually became part of his physical body during the transformation process.
This gave him a certain degree of immortality, able to revive from the long sleep of death, and at this moment also possessed a certain resistance to the erosion of the black mud.
Emiya Kiritsugu let out a low shout, reaching out and directly grabbing a withered body of flesh and blood from the black mud.
He exerted force beneath his feet, twisting his body, intending to throw the other party out of the black mud.
Creak!
Emiya Kiritsugu exerted too much force. The withered flesh and blood in his hand made a weird sound as if being torn apart.
This startled his heart, but in the next moment, a golden luster abruptly appeared from the black mud.
Boom!
Emiya Kiritsugu's hand shook, and he had already subconsciously let go. Immediately following, the black mud in front of him rapidly flowed and shrank.
His field of vision suddenly cleared. Emiya Kiritsugu felt a stabbing pain in his glabella, his heart sinking.
A corpse, pitch-black as ink and shaped like a withered log, stood straight in front of him.
The originally tall and robust man's body had shrunk to barely about 1.7 meters at this moment.
His whole body looked like it was cast from black mud, faintly flowing with a scarlet light. But in the hollow eye sockets of his eyes, a little golden luster still remained.
Emiya Kiritsugu subconsciously focused his eyes to look. He was extremely close to Mercenary Tao, even able to feel the warmth contained within that golden light.
Completely different from the feeling radiating from Mercenary Tao and most people in this world.
Pure, idealized, the radiance of humanity.
Just touching that light, Emiya Kiritsugu seemed to be able to recall that incomparably pure ideal from his youth.
"Why would a guy like Mercenary Tao have..."
Emiya Kiritsugu subconsciously moved closer, even leaning close to the other party's corpse-like eye sockets, through those pitch-black holes, chasing after that golden radiance.
Squish, squish, squish...
Like the sound of churning black mud, and also like blocked blood beginning to rush. Innumerable bug-like pieces of flesh and blood were rejuvenating.
Pfft!
Two full eyeballs abruptly appeared from the eye sockets. The malice in the eyes was unconcealed, those pure black pupils seemingly condensed from black mud.
"Tsk, unlucky ally of justice, what do you want to do to me?"
The signature mocking tone, and the sticky killing intent like it was glued to his body surface. Emiya Kiritsugu immediately retreated.
This guy, actually really didn't die!
Before Emiya Kiritsugu knew how to speak, Kaito Shirogane shifted his attention away from the other party.
This guy completely posed no threat to him anymore.
[All the World's Evils]
[Type: Special Creation, Material, Ingredient]
[Quality: Wonder of the World]
[Description: Negative energy accidentally born due to the Third Magic in the Type-Moon world, containing the malice of the entire world]
*[Effect 1: Consuming A-Class Singularity 1 and Dimensional Points 35,000, can be poured onto any spirit body, causing intense malicious erosion to that spirit body. A spirit body that resists this erosion can be materialized and obtain a physical body; a spirit body that fails to resist will be blackened and the user will obtain its dominion]
[Effect 2: Can be used as a material for smelting (Note: Smelting as a material will cause unpredictable consequences for the user, and this item will disappear after use)]
[Effect 3: This item can be consumed as a special ability material such as Felix Felicis, Wishing Water, Wish spell, etc., but the created items and abilities will be twisted into malice-oriented wishes]
[Effect 4: This item can be used as a bloodline material for bloodline enhancement. Every use will consume a small amount of this item. The user will suffer erosion and simultaneously obtain extra bloodline traits]
The corners of Kaito Shirogane's mouth hooked up, his smile obvious.
This "black mud" could probably be considered an omnipotent material to a certain extent.
It could be used to give a spirit body an "incarnation," and it could also be smelted into the bloodline like the [Heavenly Tyrant Blood] to obtain enhancements.
At the same time, it also possessed special functions like [Wishing]. Although the wishes would all be twisted towards malice, for a Reincarnator, malice was often not a big problem.
Most importantly, if he wanted, this thing could also be smelted as a red-quality material.
Kaito Shirogane vaguely remembered White Mask saying something about a [Stairway of Spirit and Flesh]. Just hearing the name, this thing was probably the same type of thing as the [Stairway of God] that Knight Girl mentioned.
This black mud, which possessed certain effects similar to the [Third Magic · Heaven's Feel], was highly likely connected to that [Stairway of Spirit and Flesh].
Now both [All the World's Evils] and White Mask's spirit body were in his hands. He had plenty of time to ponder that thing.
At this very moment, what was more important was probably another matter.
Kaito Shirogane looked up at that blood moon in the sky, suspended high in the sky as if it were not something of this world.
All around was complete darkness.
Clearly, the time at this moment should still be daytime.
But all the light had been taken away.
Kaito Shirogane's flesh and blood plumped up as if inflated. Soon, as the erosion and suppression effects of [All the World's Evils] decreased, his regeneration speed also became faster and faster.
Before long, he had almost completely recovered.
Because the black mud was completely absorbed, Illya and Emiya Shirou also walked towards this side at this time.
But in the next moment, Emiya Kiritsugu immediately shouted loudly.
"Don't come over!"
He perceived an extremely terrifying aura beginning to appear. The world seemed to become blurry in his eyes.
Illya subconsciously stopped in her tracks and grabbed the Emiya Shirou in front of her. She had complex feelings towards Emiya Kiritsugu, resentful, yet faintly holding a hope she herself was unwilling to admit.
And this "younger brother" who had just held a sword to protect her made her feel inexplicably intimate.
Therefore, Illya, who didn't care about her own life or death, actively stopped with Emiya Shirou at this time.
In the next moment, Illya saw her powerful Servant · Assassin Mercenary Tao turn around and reveal an inexplicable smile to her.
The other party was tall, his mouth completely wide open. Whether you call it radiant or cruel, that smile was incomparably vivid.
She didn't understand what exactly the other party wanted to express. Perhaps the other party himself didn't know either.
After all, Illya had seen Mercenary Tao's inner heart. It was even hollower than hers, a complete nothingness.
The other party was a beast with no origin and no home to return to, seemingly living only to pursue power.
But something like power, if it has no purpose, what value does it actually have...
Illya didn't understand.
But Mercenary Tao had already raised both hands high, and an unprecedentedly intense magical energy extraction force erupted violently.
Illya's face turned pale. At this time, she roughly understood that Mercenary Tao's smile was like a joke in bad taste.
"Noble Phantasm release, Swirl of the Heart!"
Illya prostrated herself on the ground at this moment, the Magic Circuits all over her body glowing brightly. The magical energy in the leylines was rapidly extracted by her and then absorbed by Mercenary Tao.
She saw that behind Mercenary Tao, translucent huge tentacles, like tails shooting into the sky, violently plunged into that blood moon in the sky.
Entwining with the invisible eddy current spreading outwards there.
That was... the power radiating from the Swirl of the Root...
Does Mercenary Tao want to enter the Root?
But he's clearly a Heroic Spirit; he should ultimately return to the Throne of Heroes outside the world...
Emiya Kiritsugu's mind constantly pondered, but he was powerless to explain, only pointing a finger at his glabella.
Kaito Shirogane looked at Illya, his eyes seemingly asking the other party.
[Do you need me to kill this person, Master?]
Kaito Shirogane had already perceived the huge tearing force coming from the sky. Compared to some side missions remaining in this world, and other rewards.
He was more interested in the Root outside the space-time hole that was about to disappear.
Although he knew that Matou Sakura must have undergone some changes because of the Instrumentality Project, and Zouken Matou had highly likely already been killed or absorbed by her.
Staying behind would definitely be able to unravel this part of the mystery and obtain certain rewards. At the same time, the magical knowledge of the Matou family and the Tohsaka family, and even the design blueprint of that legendary [Jeweled Sword], weren't impossible to get.
But... the [Swirl of the Root], probably even other top-tier Reincarnators wouldn't necessarily have the chance to enter.
Illya understood the meaning of her Servant, and ultimately, she shook her head.
In the next moment, scarlet magical energy light fell from the blood moon, completely enveloping Mercenary Tao.
Boom!
The ground shattered. The Swirl of the Heart and the Swirl of the Root entangled. The huge tearing force directly sucked Kaito Shirogane in.
In an instant, Kaito Shirogane felt his body being torn and split. Constitution exceeding 50 points completely had no ability to resist.
His consciousness was abruptly hit by a torrent, and completely lost in an instant.
[You touched... the Swirl of the Root]
(End of Chapter)
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