Kaien thrust his spear straight at the python's head.
Under the eruption of Spiritual Pressure, the giant python's head was blasted to pieces. Black insect fluid splattered against the rock walls, emitting a sizzling, corrosive sound.
His own body had multiple spots corroded by the fluid, blood seeping out, yet he still laughed heartily. "Come on! Give me more!"
Tokiomi stood behind Kaien, his cane raised high, its ruby glowing with intense light.
He focused on chanting his Magecraft incantation. Magic Circuits converged at the tip of his cane to form a complex hexagram array, and scorching fire runes began to materialize in the air.
"Flames, become my shackles and my judgment..."
Zouken sensed Tokiomi's magical fluctuations. The sea of worms surged madly, splitting off more tentacles in an attempt to bypass Kaien and lunge straight at Tokiomi.
But Kaien protected him perfectly, stubbornly refusing to let even a sliver of danger approach Tokiomi.
In truth, as a Magus, what Tokiomi needed most was a powerful vanguard warrior like a Saber or Lancer. With one, he could maximize his Magecraft capabilities.
Of course, Gilgamesh was theoretically so strong that he didn't even need Tokiomi to use his Magecraft.
"Purgatory!"
With a fierce wave of his cane, the hexagram array fully expanded.
A massive firestorm erupted from the tip of the cane, the flames swallowing the sea of worms like a tsunami.
"Aaaargh!!!"
Mournful shrieks echoed from within the insect swarm.
Their exoskeletons were softened by the heat, their internal organs boiled, and they fell from the altar in massive droves.
"Damn it! Damn you, Tohsaka! Damn you, Soul Reaper!!"
Zouken panicked.
If he only had to deal with Tokiomi Tohsaka, he would be confident.
Even if he had to add those half-dead other Masters into the mix, he was confident he could put up a fight.
But he never expected that this Berserker, who had already been severely injured, could still unleash such power.
Despite having barely any magical reaction and a completely battered Saint Graph, the blue magical energy he brought forth when wielding his spear seemed to possess the special effect of purifying souls.
Every swing not only shredded the physical bodies of the worms but also directly sent tremors through Zouken's soul fragments hidden within the swarm.
It hurt so much.
He was so unwilling to accept defeat.
This was not just a defeat in strength, but a complete strategic collapse.
"It's not over... I haven't lost yet!!"
Zouken desperately wriggled the swarm, trying to gather them back together.
At this final moment of life and death, the string of reason in Zouken Matou's decaying brain finally snapped completely.
A look of madness flickered within the compound eyes of the Crest Worms.
It was the kind of madness that dictated: if I cannot have it, then I will destroy everything, and seek a sliver of survival amidst the ruin.
"Since you want to force me to my death... then none of you will live!!"
Deep within the pile of worms constantly pressured by the flames, a bizarre, dark red bug with a human-face-like pattern suddenly burrowed out.
That was Zouken's true body, the progenitor of the Crest Worms.
It didn't flee; instead, it dove headfirst into the pulsating core formula of the Greater Grail behind it!
"Reversal! Collapse! Pass through!!"
Zouken issued his final incantation.
"Oh no! He's gone mad!"
Tokiomi Tohsaka paled in shock, wanting to stop him, but it was already too late.
He wasn't trying to dismantle the Holy Grail, nor was he trying to close the hole.
He was going to detonate it!
"Come forth! All the World's Evils!!"
"Drown everything here! Turn this world into hell!!"
"Within this endless black mud... perhaps I can reconstruct my flesh! Perhaps I can use that massive magical energy to eke out a living!"
"Even if I become a monster... even if I become part of the sludge..."
"I will survive!!!!"
Hum----!!!!
Following his incantation, the giant orb of light originally sealed in the center of the altar suddenly turned pitch black.
A terrifying magical fluctuation erupted instantly. The entirety of Mount Enzou began to shake violently, transforming into a volcano on the verge of eruption.
The rock ceiling overhead began to crack, and black mud seeped from the fissures. It was pure malice, a curse potent enough to destroy human civilization.
Kaien Shiba's eyes widened as he watched the dark torrent about to burst its banks, subconsciously stepping in front of Tokiomi to shield him.
'It's over.'
'Looks like the Tenth Division is going to need a new Captain again,' he thought to himself.
One second before this countdown to destruction reached zero.
The world suddenly fell silent.
There was no explosion, no collapse, no roaring of flames, and no shrieking of insects.
Everything came to a standstill.
Tokiomi Tohsaka remained in his spellcasting posture, the terrified expression frozen on his face.
The spear in Kaien Shiba's hands stopped in midair, the glow of Spiritual Pressure on its tip looking like frozen ice crystals.
The flames and ash dancing in the sky hung suspended in the air, completely motionless.
Even the black mud that was about to gush out maintained its splashing posture, frozen in midair.
Time had stopped.
In this absolutely still, grayish-white world, an abrupt voice softly rang out.
"Sigh... how truly ugly."
It was an elderly yet robust voice.
In the center of this frozen Great Cavern, atop the altar, a figure had appeared at some unknown point.
It was an old man who looked quite hale and hearty.
He wore a neat black tailcoat draped with an exquisitely crafted black cape, leaning on an ornate cane inlaid with various gemstones.
His head of silver hair was combed neatly, and he sported a silvery-white beard.
He appeared there so abruptly, as if he had always been there, just never noticed.
The old man ignored everything frozen around him.
He slowly walked up to the altar, his leather shoes stepping on the ground with crisp tapping sounds.
He arrived in front of the swarm of worms that was about to burrow into the core formula.
Within that frozen mass of filth, the Crest Worm with the human-face pattern maintained an extremely twisted posture, half of its body already thrust into the formula's circuits.
Madness and smugness still lingered in its compound eyes.
"Is this your end, Makiri?"
The old man crouched down and looked at the bug.
There was no disgust or anger in his gaze, only a kind of compassion and helplessness that had seen through the vicissitudes of the world.
In this frozen spacetime, only this bug seemed able to maintain a faint trace of cognitive activity.
Perhaps it was because the essence of his soul had already been alienated, or perhaps it was because he was currently connected to the miracle of the Third Magic.
The old man's figure was reflected in the bug's compound eyes.
In that instant, a shudder more terrifying than death instantly pierced through Zouken's long-decayed soul.
He knew this person.
How could he not?
That was the pinnacle of Magi, the master of the Second Magic, the witness to the oath of the Three Founding Families, and moreover...
The existence he once revered and feared the most.
'Zel... Zelretch?!'
Zouken wanted to scream, wanted to flee, but he couldn't move a muscle.
In front of this Magician who possessed the ability to interfere with parallel worlds, he was worse than an ant.
Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg.
The Wizard Marshal, known as—Zelretch of the Jewels.