Fuyuki City — Enzō Mountain.As the only true spiritual convergence point in the entire city, this was the place where ley lines gathered most densely—and the single most suitable location to summon the Holy Grail.
"Rider… are you sure Assassin isn't lying to us?"As they climbed the mountain path, Waver asked nervously, sticking close behind the towering figure ahead of him."Are we really here to hear the so-called truth about the Holy Grail… and not walking straight into an ambush?"
After the battle with the sea demon, the King of Conquerors had lost even his beloved mount, the Divine Wheel of Authority, which had been blown to pieces. As a result, he now had no choice but to travel on foot.
Waver followed him with an anxious expression, glancing around uneasily as they made their way up Enzō Mountain.
To be honest, Waver had only entered the Holy Grail War out of stubborn pride—to prove himself. The fact that he'd survived to this point was already far beyond his expectations.
This Grail War allowed for two victors.Yet out of the original fourteen Servants, only six remained.
And among those six, three belonged to the same faction.
From a purely numerical standpoint, Waver was practically already a guaranteed winner.
"Hmph. I don't believe Assassin is the sort to rely on cheap tricks," Rider said confidently."And with the strength he's demonstrated, there's no need for such tactics anyway."
"There are still three Servants remaining in Assassin's camp. Assassin himself is extraordinarily powerful—most of the Heroic Spirits who've already fallen did so because of him."
"Even I must admit this," Rider continued."Though I've held back until now, even if I were to reveal my final trump card… my chances of defeating three Servants at once—including Assassin—are slim at best."
At the same time, other invited parties were also making their way to Enzō Mountain.
Rin Tōsaka and Saber.Sakura Matō and Medusa.
Just like Waver, Rin had hesitated when she received Ren Kuroda's invitation.
After some thought, however, she realized that the Holy Grail War was inevitably heading toward its final confrontation. Even if Assassin hadn't invited them, her faction—currently the strongest—would eventually clash with his anyway.
So in the end, Rin chose to accept.
When Ren had previously left Fuyuki City to visit the Ainsubāren estate, Rin had been fully aware of it. At the time, she'd even thought it was a golden opportunity.
Just like Kayneth before her, she had suspected that Assassin's true identity was one of the Three Great Yōkai—Shuten-Dōji.
And if that were true, then leaving Japan—losing the advantage of regional fame—had to weaken him.
Unfortunately, because of Shirō Emiya, Rin had already agreed to Kiritsugu that she wouldn't initiate combat before the final stage of the Grail War.
Saber had originally been lent to her by Shirō in the first place, and now, as the head of the Tōsaka family, Rin couldn't bring herself to break her word.
So she had no choice but to let that perfect opportunity slip through her fingers.
Then—
While sipping black tea at the Tōsaka residence in Fuyuki, Rin suddenly received shocking information from the Grail itself.
Lancer and Archer had both been eliminated.
Lancer aside, Archer—Gilgamesh—had always been one of the opponents Rin considered the most troublesome.
Among the remaining Servants, the only one capable of eliminating Archer without even giving him a chance to escape… was Assassin.
At the time, Assassin had clearly not been in Fuyuki City.
Yet now Assassin had returned—and Gilgamesh was gone.
That left Rin with only two possible conclusions.
Either her original hypothesis was wrong—Assassin wasn't Shuten-Dōji, and leaving Fuyuki hadn't weakened him at all.
Or—
Ren Kuroda was Shuten-Dōji.
And even while weakened, he had still defeated Gilgamesh.
If it was the first possibility, the situation was bad.
But if it was the second…
Then things were far worse.
"The truth of the Holy Grail…" Rin murmured."Come to think of it, when Archer was disappearing, he seemed like he wanted to say something about it."
"But after mentioning 'Avalon,' his injuries became too severe, and he was forcibly recalled."
"Now that I think about it… maybe there really is something about the Grail that we don't know."
"Sakura," Medusa said quietly, her voice tense,"I really don't think you should go up Enzō Mountain."
"Assassin clearly intends to wipe out everyone at once and claim the Grail outright. Going there now is walking straight into a trap."
At the foot of Enzō Mountain, Sakura Matō and Medusa stood together.
Unlike the others, Medusa was openly resistant to the idea of attending Assassin's invitation.
She had no interest in the Holy Grail whatsoever.
All she wanted was to protect Sakura—someone remembered suffering much like her own.
Compared to the Grail, Sakura's safety mattered far more to her.
That was why Medusa tried to stop her.
But for Sakura, the Grail itself was irrelevant.
Getting it would be nice—but failing to obtain it didn't matter.
What she wanted now was revenge.
Already half consumed by darkness, she loathed everything around her.
She loathed Fuyuki City itself.
She loathed Tokiomi Tōsaka.She loathed the hypocritical Rin Tōsaka.
She wanted to destroy it all.
And besides—
Going to Enzō Mountain to meet Assassin was only part of the reason.
Deep down, Sakura could feel it.
Something on that mountain… was calling to her.
At the summit of Enzō Mountain, as the final "actors" gradually assembled, Ren Kuroda took out the Lesser Grail he had removed from Illya's body.
Without hesitation, he pressed it straight into the chest of an orange-haired young man standing before him.
The moment the Lesser Grail entered his body, the boy's face twisted in agony.
His skin rapidly swelled and distorted.
In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a grotesque, bloated mass of flesh.
To summon the Greater Grail using the Lesser Grail, a sacrifice was required—a vessel to contain it.
And this person… was the container Ren had prepared.
Under normal circumstances, Saber, with her unwavering sense of justice, would have stepped forward immediately to stop such an inhumane act.
Yet now, she stood silently, her expression calm as she watched the boy being swallowed by the Lesser Grail.
Because this "vessel" was none other than that unfortunate soul—
Ryūnosuke Uryū.
After Bluebeard's death, Ryūnosuke had continued his killing spree, chasing his warped notion of "art."
He had first been discovered by Kayneth, who used him as bait to restrain Gilgamesh.
After Gilgamesh's elimination, Ren and the others located the unlucky man again through Medea's familiars.
And thus, this scene came to be.
When they found him, all four of his limbs had already been broken.
Everything below his head had been submerged in mercury.
Having just escaped that hell, he was now immediately turned into a sacrificial vessel for the Holy Grail.
If there were a prize for the most miserable Master in this Grail War, Ryūnosuke would win it without contest.
Yet not a single person present felt even a hint of sympathy.
Because this was nothing more than what he deserved.
He may have looked human—but beneath that skin lurked a demon.
In pursuit of his laughable "art," he had slaughtered countless children.
Now, this chain of suffering was simply allowing him to personally experience the very "art" he adored.
As Ryūnosuke's transformation progressed—
The sky above suddenly tore open, like a vast curtain being ripped apart.
Before anyone could glimpse the long-awaited Holy Grail—
The accumulated Evil of This World, stored for decades, began to pour out from the裂 gap like thick black sludge.
"So this is the true form of the Holy Grail?"Rider stared in disbelief."No matter how you look at it, that doesn't seem like something capable of granting wishes."
As torrents of black mud spilled from the shattered space, both Saber and Rider stood frozen.
They had never imagined that the Holy Grail could be this.
As a "wish-granting miracle," it should have been a sacred relic.
Yet the sludge flowing before them radiated nothing but overwhelming ominousness.
Some felt instinctive dread toward The Evil of This World.
Others did not.
From the instant it appeared, Sakura could clearly sense it.
The thing that had been calling to her all along…
Was this.
As the black mud poured onto the ground, the earth was instantly corrupted.
Grass withered. Trees died.
Watching this unfold, Kiritsugu Emiya finally panicked.
"Assassin! What are you waiting for?!""Didn't you say that destroying the Grail's projection would end this Holy Grail War?!"
"Then why are you just standing there?! If this continues, the Evil of This World will spill out of Enzō Mountain and reach the city!"
Seeing Ren remain unmoved as the black sludge spread, Kiritsugu was frantic.
He wanted to use a Command Spell to order Saber to act—
But then he remembered.
Mordred was no longer his Servant.
All he could do was watch helplessly.
"The Evil of This World is extremely dangerous to humans and Heroic Spirits alike," Ren said calmly."But that doesn't mean it's completely useless."
"Medea. King of Conquerors."
"Your wish is to obtain physical bodies so you can remain in the modern world, isn't it?"
"Then here's a little bonus for you."
"As Heroic Spirits, if you immerse yourselves in this black mud… you can gain physical forms."
Both Rider and Medea froze.
Before either of them could react, Kiritsugu shouted in disbelief:
"Assassin, what are you trying to do?!Weren't you the one who said that touching the Evil of This World would corrupt Heroic Spirits?!Then why are you encouraging Caster and the others to bathe in it?!"
"You're right," Ren replied evenly."I did say that."
"But all things have two sides."
"The negative emotions carried by the Evil of This World are terrifying—yes."
"But if the Heroic Spirit being corrupted has a sufficiently strong sense of self…"
"They can turn that power around and use it instead."
"It's reckless," Ren admitted."But I'm not making this up."
"Someone has already succeeded in gaining a physical body this way."