Under normal circumstances, "All the World's Evil" was something any sane person would flee from at all costs.Yet now, atop Mount Enzō, an utterly bizarre scene was unfolding.
That abomination—something everyone else avoided like the plague—was being fought over instead.
Ren Kuroda's Reality Marble had now fully adapted to the power of All the World's Evil. His domain devoured the black sludge with reckless abandon, swallowing it whole in vast gulps, clearly intending to use that power to spawn even more oni soldiers.
On the other side, Sakura Matou had clearly not expected that there would be another person besides herself capable of accommodating such power. Unwilling to be outdone, she also began absorbing All the World's Evil with everything she had.
Unfortunately for her, Sakura's absorption speed was still noticeably slower than Ren's. Although the aura surrounding her continued to rise steadily, it was still far from the overwhelming level she had reached in the original timeline after complete corruption.
And as the mass of All the World's Evil visibly diminished, two figures slowly emerged from the black sludge where they had previously vanished—
Medea and the King of Conquerors.
The instant Ren spotted them, he flashed over to their side and immediately checked their condition.
Thankfully, although both were unconscious, neither showed signs of corruption—and it appeared they had successfully obtained physical bodies.
How did Ren know?
Simple. The feel of Medea's body in his arms was completely different from when she had been a spiritual existence.
"All the World's Evil" eroded everything, so after soaking in the black mud, both Medea and the King of Conquerors were—quite naturally—completely naked.
That was why, the moment Medea surfaced, Ren had already appeared at her side and draped his own clothing over her to shield her modesty.
As for the King of Conquerors…
Sorry. Ren firmly declined to scorch his own eyes. Besides, the man had his "beloved consort"—Waver would take care of it.
And after seeing Ren's actions, Waver, feeling it was his duty as the King's "beloved consort" to preserve his monarch's dignity, earnestly followed suit and removed his own shirt.
Unfortunately, while Ren's clothes were just enough to cover Medea decently, Waver's shirt on the far more burly King of Conquerors…
Looked like a tiny scrap of cloth.
Ridiculous as it was, it barely managed to preserve the King's dignity—barely.
Because of the two outliers—Ren and Sakura—the once terrifying threat of All the World's Evil had been completely eradicated. With its removal, the Holy Grail regained its ability to grant wishes.
However, to do so, the Grail still required the ritual to proceed according to its rules: the final two victors must be decided.
Since Medea and the King of Conquerors had acquired physical bodies, they were no longer Servants and were immediately removed from the ritual.
Which meant that the remaining Servants were now:
Ren Kuroda, Saber, Mordred, and Medusa.
As long as two of them emerged victorious, they would earn the right to have their wishes granted by the Holy Grail.
Ironically, among these four—including Ren—most had little interest in the Grail's wish to begin with.
Only Saber still earnestly wished to use the Grail to save her fallen kingdom.
As for Ren and the others, their reasons for answering the Grail had nothing to do with wishes.
It wasn't that Ren had become so arrogant as to believe anything he wanted was within reach, nor had he ascended to some enlightened state of desirelessness.
He simply knew all too well that this so-called "omnipotent wish-granter" wasn't nearly as impressive as advertised.
Only a fool like Kiritsugu Emiya believed the Grail could bring world peace.
Seriously—it was a Grail, not the Dragon Balls. If it were that powerful, wouldn't the Three Founding Families have already ruled the world?
Ren did wish the Grail could send him back to his original world—but was that even remotely possible?
With the Grail's limited power, it would probably struggle just to send him to another parallel version of the Nasuverse.
Rather than pin his hopes on this broken cup, he'd rather end the Holy Grail War as quickly as possible and see whether the system inside him would react.
Among the remaining four Servants:
Saber had Avalon as her trump card.Medusa, empowered by Sakura's absorption of All the World's Evil, had skyrocketed in strength—her magical energy now rivaled Ren's previous yokai-transformation state.As for Ren himself, although his raw magical output hadn't changed much, he now possessed a Reality Marble that bordered on absurd, making him arguably the strongest presence left.
Ironically, Mordred, despite having solid parameters and powerful innate skills, clearly lagged behind the others now.
"Saber first," Sakura said coldly. "Rider, eliminate her. Ignore the rest."
Although Ren's interference had prevented Sakura from absorbing nearly as much power as in the original timeline, All the World's Evil had still massively amplified her magical energy—and through her Command Seals, Medusa had grown even stronger.
With newfound confidence, Sakura no longer bothered hiding her intentions. She didn't care whether she obtained the Grail.
But Rin Tohsaka had to die.
She didn't know where Ren—the so-called Assassin—had come from, but the fact that he could absorb even more of All the World's Evil than she could made one thing clear:
She couldn't afford to provoke him.
However, that didn't matter. Her target had never been Assassin in the first place—it was Rin.
If he wanted the Grail, he could have it. She wouldn't compete for it, and she'd even help eliminate enemies for him.
Surely that meant Assassin wouldn't interfere.
The moment Medusa received Sakura's command, she vanished and reappeared directly in front of Saber. With a burst of monstrous strength, she struck, sending Saber flying away mid-battle with Mordred.
"Is my duel with my father something you think you can interfere with?" Mordred snapped.
Instead of thanking Medusa, she swung her sword straight at her.
Sakura turned her gaze toward Ren.
"Assassin, what is the meaning of this? I have no intention of claiming the Grail. The two wishes can go to you and that red Saber over there.I'm only settling my personal revenge. Are you really going to interfere with that?"
To be honest, in her corrupted state, Sakura wouldn't fear even fighting Saber and Mordred at the same time.
What she truly cared about was whether Mordred's actions were Ren's will.
"Mordred's a problem child," Ren said helplessly, spreading his hands. "And her Master is that Age-of-Gods witch, Medea—but she's still unconscious. I really can't control that kid."
He had no intention of interfering anyway.
After all, only four Servants remained. They were still locked in a chaotic brawl. As long as two of them died, Ren could win by doing nothing.
After burning through nearly all his resources stopping All the World's Evil, why wouldn't he take a free victory?
Just as Sakura was about to command Medusa to eliminate both Sabers—
A sudden, searing pain stabbed through her heart.
Then, a voice like a nightmare echoed in her mind.
"Sakura… I truly didn't expect you to make it this far. You're far more capable than that worthless Kariya ever was.Surprised to hear my voice? You didn't really think I'd died so easily, did you?"
Her blood ran cold.
"But you've genuinely impressed me. To reach this point—and Rider's strength has exceeded even my expectations.You say you don't care about the Grail? That you're willing to hand it over?"
"No, no. That won't do. Your grandfather has been obsessed with the Grail for far too long."
"It's within reach now. I don't care what grudge you have with the Tohsaka girl. I order you—join forces with her and eliminate the most troublesome one first."
The voice inside Sakura was none other than Zōken Matou—the man she believed had already died.
But when it came to survival, that old worm rivaled Orochimaru himself. Someone so obsessed with life would never perish without contingencies.
Zōken had indeed been killed by Medusa—but long before that, he had implanted a soul-storing Crest Worm inside Sakura's body.
He had been hiding within her all along, silently observing.
And now, he believed the perfect moment had arrived.
This Holy Grail War granted two wishes. Aligning with the strongest Servant—Ren—would have been the optimal strategy.
But Zōken was greedy.
He planned to use Sakura to eliminate Ren first. The remaining "trash" would never stand a chance against the current Rider.
In the end, there would be only one victor—
And both wishes of this Holy Grail War would belong to Zōken Matou alone.
"Sakura, think carefully," Zōken whispered."Help your grandfather obtain the Grail, and I'll help you complete your revenge."
"But if you refuse… you know the consequences."
"Don't be fooled by your current power. As long as I'm inside you, I can still kill you with ease."
"That pain just now was merely a warning."
"Now do as I say—immediately. Or I'll make you relive certain… unpleasant memories."