One of my final gambles.
The abilities of the Six Paths of the Rinnegan each possess a versatile utility that can be applied to almost any situation, or they are comprised of powers with immense tactical flexibility.
The Asura Path grants the versatility to transform the body into dozens of weapons and various types of equipment, while the Preta Path is a dependable, bread-and-butter ability that allows me to replenish magical energy at any time.
The Naraka Path is a rare power capable of repairing even treasures like the Three Great Ploys, which are impossible to fix in the modern era. The Human Path, though it functions as a pseudo-imitation, possesses abilities that graze the fragments of the Third Magic. Then there is the Animal Path, an astounding power that can summon ancient Phantasmal Beasts—the kind that would make the Clock Tower's Department of Botany foam at the mouth—at almost no cost.
And then… there are the most special of them all: the Deva Path and the Outer Path.
In the case of the Outer Path, I wouldn't even dream of using the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, as it is a one-time use that could result in death. Furthermore, I wasn't even sure if the Gedo Mazo existed. Since 'resurrecting the dead' is something the Counter Force keeps an incredibly sharp eye on, I had no intention of using it in the first place. After all, a power that 'revives' the deceased could never be considered normal within the laws of the TYPE-MOON world.
In contrast to the Outer Path, I had been making frequent use of the Deva Path's abilities like a daily staple.
These two abilities, which operate on the fundamental mechanism of manipulating gravity, grant the power to apply repulsive or attractive forces to a specific point, oneself, or a target.
Shinra Tensei, the repulsive force, was primarily used for blowing back opponents, destruction, or occasional defense. Bansho Ten'in, the attractive force, was used to bind a target's feet or to pull an opponent into a strike from the Asura Path.
But I knew.
Since these were fundamentally powers that manipulated 'gravity,' I would eventually be able to wield 'that technique' which appeared in the original source material.
A technique that grants immense attractive force to a specific object or an arbitrary point, creating a sort of core. By maintaining it semi-permanently, it blankets the core with all surrounding matter to perfectly seal a target away.
"Deva Path—Chibaku Tensei."
The effect of the magecraft was exceedingly simple.
It exerts a powerful gravitational pull centered on a designated target, dragging everything in, and maintains a seal using the accumulated debris.
Of course, it has a weakness; if the central core is destroyed, the technique naturally unravels… but…
[Graaaagh! You… how dare you attempt to seal ME?!]
It didn't particularly matter.
Because the thing I designated as the core of the seal was none other than that monster itself.
Angra Mainyu began to resist by firing the mud that served as its body, but the mud, pulled by the intense gravity, was simply absorbed back into the epicenter of the Chibaku Tensei. Soon, even the remnants of the Matou residence began to be sucked in.
"…This is insane. We're going to get caught in it too!"
Aoko, who had been suppressing the Servants one by one, quickly retreated to escape the range of Chibaku Tensei. The Servants who failed to move in time were dragged into its radius and began to be crushed and ground into the mass.
Seeing this, Aoko spoke in shock.
"Wh-what's going on now?! I thought you said it was a sealing ability!"
"Ordinarily, it is. But to put it differently, if you use it for the purpose of killing rather than sealing… you can set the gravity at the center a bit higher… It drains more magical energy, but I have the Preta Path to compensate."
The technique absorbed the prana of the Servants being dragged into the Chibaku Tensei, reusing it as the motive power for the seal. By increasing its scale, it acted like a vacuum cleaner, sucking up the remaining mud.
If I had designated a separate core, that thing might have broken it and escaped, or perhaps even blown the Chibaku Tensei away. Unfortunately for it, the subject being destroyed right now was the very mud itself.
"If you're going to hide and run through the leylines, I don't need to go looking for you. I'll just lift the leylines themselves!"
* * * * *
At first, it was the question: 'Why?'
After all manner of curses, torture, and pain, the youth was cast into a cleft in the rocks. The villagers began to celebrate and feast, rejoicing that they had exorcised the devil.
Then came the rage.
Rage toward the villagers who abandoned him, rage toward his own weakness, rage toward the God who gave him such a fate, rage toward the parents who brought him into this world, and rage toward the magical tattoos that still kept him alive…
But naturally, those intense feelings of rage and hatred could not withstand the passage of ages and slowly began to dull.
Then one day, something appeared before the youth.
A girl who had heard the story of the 'devil' passed down by the villagers came to the rocky mountain out of curiosity to see if it truly existed. There, she found the youth, sealed in a wretched state.
She tried to save him, but the curses layered over long years were beyond her ability to break. The youth, too, had surrendered to complete resignation, having abandoned all hope.
She visited him every day, employing all sorts of methods just to free the 'pitiful youth,' but she failed every time. As the days passed, the youth began to question his own fading desire for revenge.
…Did he truly still hate the world enough to want to destroy it?
Watching her strive to save him by any means, the youth's hatred was gradually whittled away. And then one day, just as the girl was clearing away rocks and striking at the Bounded Field to save him, he drew his final breath and thought:
'Ah, this world is still beautiful. I can forgive them.'
[No. The world does not allow that.]
In the end, something that can forgive everything does not exist.
As long as they are human, they cannot help but harbor evil in their hearts.
That is only natural. It is the most natural thing of all.
As long as they are human, they cannot help but hate, loathe, and envy one another.
Forgiveness is merely a form of self-satisfaction taken because one cannot enact revenge.
Recall the logic of retribution. Establish your own existence.
The youth who, by rights, should have forgiven everyone.
However, the curse that the villagers had collectively placed upon him distorted the forgiveness he offered before death, forcing it to be interpreted in a different direction.
[I am Angra Mainyu, All the World's Evil. Thus was I born.]
All of humanity's malignancy.
That malignancy finally became a monster that sought to perish all of mankind.
A weakling of a monster, the world's feeblest malignancy.
Furthermore, because he was filled with hatred for humanity, he could never obtain the qualifications of a 'Beast.'
Yet, his original self had forgiven humanity, and the tattoos covering the youth distorted that reality.
[I am the malignancy that kills all of humanity. Those whom I forgive are the only true 'humans' worthy of survival.]
To kill all of mankind.
And to let those who can be forgiven live.
That is the principle of Angra Mainyu, and his love—Retribution.
[I will… never forgive you!!!]
* * * * *
The first thing I felt upon hearing that roar was the sense that something had gone wrong.
As I kept the land, leylines and all, suspended in the air, I slowly recovered my nearly exhausted prana and fired a flare into the sky, waiting for the other Servants to arrive.
Artoria Pendragon arrived first, likely having run at full sprint, followed by Gilgamesh and King Iskandar on foot.
"Time is of the essence. Why didn't you come on your chariot or something? You're so late."
"I have become unable to draw them out, mongrel."
"…What did you say?"
"It means my Noble Phantasms have all disappeared."
"What kind of bull… I mean, what does that mean? If you don't have your Noble Phantasms, how are we supposed to deal with that thing's main body?!"
I had planned to have Saber spam Excalibur… or at the very least, have the King of Heroes unleash Ea to blow that damned thing away, but a sudden sealing of Noble Phantasms?
"Don't tell me that bastard is actually performing reverse-calculation on the Noble Phantasms… Wait, Gilgamesh, shouldn't your Gate of Babylon be an exception?"
"There is a sort of key-sword that serves as the opening and closing mechanism for the vault. If that is seized, the vault can be shut… It requires the body of the Grail and transcendental computational ability, but it seems he has fulfilled the requirements as an Evil of Humanity."
"Hey, is it not possible to blow that thing straight into space?"
"Listen to yourself, King Iskandar! To blast that thing into orbit, I wouldn't have enough energy even if I drained all of your prana!"
At that moment, along with a low hum, its voice began to echo throughout the area.
[The ghosts of the past have appeared yet again, refusing to stay dead. Do you think I will die simply because you destroy my source?! I can never be killed. All of you have lived by hating and trampling upon others! I am the Heroic Spirit of Retribution who feeds on hatred from the lowest depths; as long as existences like you remain, I shall never die!]
"That bastard… Karma, how long can you maintain the Chibaku Tensei?"
"…I can maintain the seal indefinitely, but it's essentially nothing more than a containment measure. Besides, if it's an Evil of Humanity, it'll eventually erode even that seal… Kiritsugu, your Origin Bullets won't work, right?"
"Firing an Origin Bullet at a Mystery of that level is nothing short of suicide."
[And… do you think there is anything I won't do for the sake of revenge! The fundamental part and core of a Heroic Spirit is their Noble Phantasm. Since you have stolen my foundation, I shall steal your very existence!]
At that moment, a strong vibration was felt from within the seal. Mud on an entirely different level from the waves of sludge seen before began to burst out from the Chibaku Tensei.
A black light tinged with red flickered inside the seal. Occasionally, a few droplets of mud would fly out before being sucked back in, only to explode again with an inexplicable tremor.
Suddenly, something that looked like a half-broken straight sword flew toward me. It grazed my cheek before embedding itself in the remaining rubble of the Matou residence.
The blade, which had half-penetrated the wall, soon softened into mud and was dragged back into the Chibaku Tensei by the powerful attraction.
Realizing something, Kiritsugu spoke up.
"He couldn't be… summoning the Noble Phantasms he stole, could he?"
As if confirming his words, a voice heavy with static roared out.
[Revenge enacted with the very blades that harmed oneself… is truly sweet.]