Mana wreaked havoc midair as Zouken Matou died.
For a moment, the fluctuations even sundered the presence of The Shadow, blue and black Mana buzzing at a spot in the sky.
It was as if thousands of insects were humming and millions of worms were crawling, gathering at a spot.
Soon, a brown-green insect, with a worm's body, took shape midair.
Zouken Matou's Inheritance!!!
And the moment the Inheritance materialized, it called upon everyone who could inherit it.
On the ground, Lancer and Rider indulged in a fight, their figures blurring in and out of sight.
Kirei, after exorcising Zouken, coughed out a mouthful of blood, his heart bouncing against his chest. There was a reason why he hadn't joined the fight from the beginning.
Now, the Angra Mainyu's Will materializing over Sakura's head was affecting him as well.
Behind him, on the brink of losing another percentage of his Quality under the full onslaught of Grail's Corruption, Black couldn't even go for Matou's Inheritance.
Things had already taken a much stranger and dangerous turn from what he had predicted.
By now, he should have taken things under control.
However, the Grail Corruption had surpassed even Ad Infinitum and Lucky Intuitions' predictions, corrupting Black insanely fast.
If he waited a moment more, then who knew how many percentages of Quality he would lose next?
Grounding his teeth, Black tore off the Crystal sealing Angra Mainyu's Will from his Mindscape as thoroughly as he could and implanted it in Sakura's mind.
[Advance Ad Infinitum — Proficiency 50% (-5%)]
The entire world quaked.
The Crystal holding Grail's Corruption exploded and combined with Sakura's own.
Tearing space itself and making Sakura's figure glitch, The Shadow instantly descended, covering her from head to toe.
With a boom, Sakura's hair turned white as The Shadow became a gown on her body, representing her Magical Circuits as well.
Red-black bolts of lightning snaked around Dark Sakura, who now held the entire Grail Corruption, her shadow rippling under her feet.
If something wasn't done soon, then Angra Mainyu would truly incarnate in this timeline and obliterate everything.
Black couldn't let that happen.
As the blackness over him vanished, he shouted, "Caster!"
This was the moment when he needed to use Medea's Noble Phantasm — Rule Breaker — separating Sakura from Angra Mainyu's Will. Once done, it would cut off the channel between her and the Corrupted Grail, and everything would go back to normal.
To Black's utter surprise, Medea didn't answer.
Stunned, Black looked over his shoulder and found a petrified Medea looking at him over her shoulder. Only her eyes retained a touch of her life now, everything below them turning to stone.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Black hissed, his red eyes narrowing to the size of needles. "Selene!"
With a bang, the petrification crawling up Medea's nose stopped as Selene used Time Shift on her.
Then, with a monstrous urgency that made even his heart pound, Black snatched The Philosopher's Stone from Dark Sakura and planted it into the back of Medea's head.
With one gaze, Black broke her petrified body, taking out another Item simultaneously — Pumpkin Juice Bottle!
…
[
Item: Pumpkin Juice Bottle
Grade: Heroic (Consumable)
Sub-Grade: Low
Specification: A wizarding beverage made from pumpkins and was usually served iced
Requirement: NA
Attributes: Capacity - 750 ml
Effect:
— Regenerate 10 HP per ml
— HP Regeneration Rate: +5% per ml
— HP gained and the Regeneration Rate remain the same regardless of when and how much the juice is consumed
Quality: 100%
]
…
As Medea lost her body, and The Philosopher's Stone kept her alive, Black sent 100 ml of his precious juice directly into her remaining head.
A blinding red glow took over Medea as her body regenerated, her eyes holding shock beyond bounds.
"Rule Breaker!" Black shouted.
Looking at Black with a zeal that one couldn't have found even in Cersei's eyes, she handed over her Noble Phantasm to him.
Black grabbed the dagger's hilt and pounced toward the abomination…
Sadly, and unfortunately, when Selene used Time Shift on Medea, it hadn't stopped time in Black's surroundings.
Two black vortices appeared in the sky the moment Zouken's Inheritance had fully materialized.
From one, wearing a white suit and pants, a man walked out, his face hidden behind a Video Camera used to film movies.
"My, my," he said in a girly voice, despite having a burly body. "Quite the gathering of characters…"
Then, suddenly, he snapped the Video Camera up and right in front of him.
From the second vortex, a giant skeleton, wearing a purple gown, walked out.
In his left hand, he was carrying a golden scepter with snakes' heads at the top, holding many round jewels.
In his right hand, he was holding a head with a bloody spine attached to it. The eyes in the head were rolling left and right as if the person was still alive. Its mouth was slightly open, drool dripping from the corner of its mouth.
The moment this skeleton came out, two black crosses materialized out of thin air and plunged themselves deep into his eye sockets.
"Sigh…" The existence let out a breath. "Cutting my strength in half right off the bat?"
"How in the name of Order?!" The white-suited Man mumbled, the Video Camera shaking in his hand. "You are…"
Then, he panned the camera down toward the head with the spine. "A Contestant? Did you use his Candidacy of Zouken's Inheritance to bend the rules?! No…"
With a jerk, the Order's Contestant snapped the camera toward the black crosses within the skeleton's eye sockets. "The Root is rejecting your existence… You can't…"
Alas, before the man could reveal more, the skeleton existence snapped his fingers and stopped time.
Everything and everyone got rooted to where they stood and what they were doing, including Black, with the tip of Rule Breaker mere inches away from Dark Sakura.
"Nice to meet you, everyone," the skeleton said in a thick, deathly voice. "I have no interest in any Inheritance, but…
"I, Ainz Ooal Gown, will be laying claim to the Greater Grail in this timeline."
******************
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