"Irisviel..." Kiritsugu Emiya murmured.
His pupils dilated as he stared at Zoran. This guy... this guy...
He knew everything!
"Master!" Saber shouted urgently. She would rather fight to the death than simply hand Irisviel over to Zoran!
"Saber..." Kiritsugu's voice was low and heavy.
"I will not allow it—!" Even without her sword, Saber lunged at Zoran with reckless abandon.
In the next heartbeat, space itself shuddered. Boundless demonic chi transformed into irresistible, violet-black ropes that bound her hands and pinned her firmly in mid-air. Hampered by the restraint, Saber could only bend at the waist, her head lowered, forced to keep her arms hoisted passively in the sky.
Kiritsugu's face twisted in agony. He had no choice. From start to finish, even Caster hadn't intervened. Zoran alone had complete control over the entire situation.
"I know it's cruel, but there's no way around it. I'm just following procedure," Zoran remarked, spreading his hands helplessly.
He looked at Kiritsugu. "Mr. Kiritsugu Emiya, the Hero of Justice."
Kiritsugu stiffened. His inner self had been laid bare. "You... you know everything...?"
"Yes. And I also know that your wish will not succeed."
"My wish..."
"World peace, isn't it?" Zoran said.
Kiritsugu was a fascinating fellow, a man who strictly adhered to the principle of sacrificing the few for the happiness of the many. Before him, the "Trolley Problem" that plagued philosophers wasn't even a dilemma. He would undoubtedly choose to run over the smaller group without a moment's hesitation.
In fact, if he were placed in Gotham City, the Joker might find himself out of a job. The riddle the Joker posed to Batman, which ferry to blow up, would be a non-issue for Kiritsugu. He was a pure soul, unshakably firm in his conviction; the kind of person the Joker would find utterly boring.
Zoran's gaze wavered slightly. "I will offer you a deal you cannot refuse."
Kiritsugu snapped his head up.
"Master!!!" Saber tried to stop him.
Zoran raised his hand, and demonic chi swirled forth, muzzling her and reducing her protests to muffled whimpers.
"The Holy Grail has been corrupted. Even if you obtain it, a wish for world peace would be invalid. More likely, the Grail would simply kill everyone."
"Why?" Kiritsugu asked, confused.
"Because if there are no people left, the world is naturally at peace. Is that so hard to understand?" Zoran laughed.
"A simple yet twisted methodology," Kiritsugu muttered with a bitter smile, sighing.
He believed Zoran. Despite finding the man loathsome over their brief encounters, he knew there was no reason for a being like him to lie. Zoran was far too arrogant to bother with deception.
"And what about you?" Kiritsugu asked. "What wish would you make with the Grail? What use is a corrupted Grail to you?"
As he asked, Kiritsugu's heart pounded with tension. What was the goal of a being with such overwhelming power? Was it to reach the Root, the source of all things that every magus craved? But surely, even a magus who reached the Root might not possess power as great as Zoran's.
"I can purify the Holy Grail," Zoran said, dropping a bombshell.
"The spiritual pollution from Angra Mainyu, dating back to the Third Holy Grail War, is a mere side effect to me. I have no wish to make; I only require the mana stored within the Grail."
"Shendu!" Zoran called out.
At his words, Shendu's massive form manifested beside the throne, standing silent and still. They exchanged a look, as if they had long ago reached a silent accord.
"Caster..." Kiritsugu glanced at Shendu.
"I will have Caster commit ritual suicide. Of course, I will personally send his soul back to where it belongs. As for the mana that constructed this body, I will channel it into the Grail."
Kiritsugu was stunned. "Is Caster an existence without a wish?"
Every participant in the Holy Grail War, whether Master or Servant, surely had a wish. But Zoran's meaning was clear: Caster seemingly had no desire for the Grail.
Shendu's draconic head shook slightly, his maw pulling back into a grin. "My wish resides in another world, to be fulfilled by my brother on my behalf."
His gaze remained fixed solely on Zoran, as if nothing else in existence could hold his interest.
"And as for Saber," Zoran looked toward the bound, silenced Artoria, "I hope for her to return to the Grail as well."
"Mmph—!" Saber made an urgent sound, but it was unintelligible.
"Thus, with the mana of seven Servants filling the Grail, it will finally be... adequate for use," Zoran said indifferently.
Adequate for use...
Kiritsugu silently chewed on the weight of those words. Even a Grail filled with the mana of seven Servants was merely "adequate" in this man's eyes? Just what was he planning?
"For you, this is also a good thing," Zoran continued slowly. "I only need the mana. Once the Grail is purified, you can continue on to the Fifth Holy Grail War. At that time, perhaps the Grail will truly be able to grant your wish."
"Furthermore, your wife, Irisviel, is suffering from the pollution of the curse known as 'All the World's Evil.' Her destiny of pain should not be prolonged any further, should it?"
This was the condition Zoran offered, the one Kiritsugu could not refuse.
Silence fell.
Kiritsugu's gaze moved back and forth between Zoran, Shendu, and Saber. The fact that the Grail was corrupted by a curse was news to him. Such a Grail was not what he needed. If it came to that, he would rather have Saber destroy it.
The conditions Zoran offered were simply impossible to decline. Purifying the Grail to make it a true wish-granting machine...
"Kiritsugu Emiya, Hero of Justice, your time is running out," Zoran reminded him.
"How... how can I trust you..." Kiritsugu said bitterly.
Zoran gave a hollow laugh and shook his head.
He rose slowly from his throne, and a soul-shaking amount of demonic chi poured out. The sky and the earth trembled before him. The roof of the castle was torn away almost instantly, revealing the pitch-black night sky.
Boundless mana surged toward the heavens like a tsunami. For a moment, Kiritsugu and Saber felt like tiny boats tossed in a monstrous storm. The sheer magnitude of the magic enveloped all of Fuyuki City, racing toward the night sky.
Kiritsugu looked up, his expression freezing.
Above him, in the night sky, the bright full moon suddenly took on a faint, eerie violet-black hue, sinister and bizarre.
Gravity manifested as flowing demonic chi, and the full moon appeared like the tilted rim of a cup. The moon's gravitational pull, like overflowing wine, began to flow and fall from the sky, descending toward Zoran.
"It's just as well," he said. "I'm getting hungry."
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