Like a deity forgiving sinners, or angels welcoming the righteous.
Under the brilliant sword of light, the black mud melted like snow.
The black giant immediately dissolved and collapsed, returning to colorless, odorless pure magical energy, flowing in the Greater Grail's foundation.
The evil god's incarnation roared in pain, but the good god's incarnation recognized the goodness in the evil god's incarnation and personally ended his eternal suffering.
This mythical scene, like a sacred religious ritual, left everyone present stunned.
"Even the chief of evil gods can receive recognition... is this the magnanimity of deities?"
Even the well-traveled Artoria felt deeply moved.
"...Humans acknowledge, humans permit, humans bear sin."
Recalling Ryuga's earlier words, Artoria suddenly felt confused.
If everything was decided by humans themselves, whether her victory or defeat were humanity's own choices, then was her desire to return to the day of king selection and rewrite history too hasty?
If Britain's destruction was the path chosen by the people, then as their king, should she oppose the people for the country's sake?
If so, how could she be worthy of kingship?
While Artoria fell into confusion, though mischievous but ultimately inexperienced, Rin didn't have such deep feelings.
Seeing the enemy before them completely defeated, sharp-eyed she immediately noticed that where the black giant disappeared, something like a book had been left behind.
She immediately pattered forward on her small legs, swinging her twin-tails, and picked it up.
Then like offering tribute, she held it up with both hands and brought it back to Ryuga.
"Ryuga-san, he seems to have dropped something."
The book's cover was pure black with white flames burning in the center. Where the white flames met the black background was the fire's outer flame, showing a gradient orange-red.
The flame's design was the typical sacred fire emblem of Zoroastrianism.
From the book's spine, Persian text could be seen marking the title.
Rin didn't understand Persian script, so naturally couldn't recognize what it was.
But Ryuga had recognized it from the start.
Or rather, this book was one of his main purposes for coming here.
"Avesta."
Ryuga spoke the meaning in ancient Persian.
Hearing this, Rin immediately reacted.
"Isn't this Zoroastrianism's scripture?!"
For magi, the Avesta ranked alongside the Bible, Kojiki, Theogony, and Iliad as religious scriptures that were required study from childhood.
"Correct."
Ryuga nodded.
"It's also Angra Mainyu's Noble Phantasm—Verg Avesta, All the World's Desires."
As a Servant, Angra Mainyu's combat ability before contaminating the Greater Grail was extremely low, arguably among the weakest of all Servants.
Actually, even after contaminating the Greater Grail, his combat ability wasn't high.
With god-level magical energy, he could still be defeated by Servants in the original story—this was already negative combat ability.
Even among his Noble Phantasms, the one worthy of being named after the Avesta scripture, [Verg Avesta], had the most useless effects, with no damaging power whatsoever.
This Noble Phantasm's effect was automatically recording everything the master encountered, having no other function besides note-taking.
It could be said that in the Third Holy Grail War, he was completely worthless.
Any random Servant could kick him to death without even needing to release their Noble Phantasm.
After hearing Ryuga's description, Rin looked disappointed.
"Only note-taking effects—that's basically completely useless, right? Moreover, if this All the Evil of This World is just the evil god's substitute, this Noble Phantasm should also be just a false scripture, right?"
If it were an original scripture held by a deity, it couldn't possibly be only this level.
"From a general rational perspective, your assessment is correct."
Ryuga agreed with Rin's complaint.
"However, whether it's a false or original scripture isn't that important. As long as you fill it with sufficiently correct knowledge and can exert the same power, even a false scripture might become or even surpass the original."
In the Type-Moon world, stories of counterfeits defeating originals were countless.
For Ryuga, whether it was false or original didn't matter—what mattered was the knowledge contained within.
The Avesta in his hands was like a seed that hadn't yet sprouted.
Though it currently couldn't record content matching the original scripture, Ryuga believed that as his research into mythological powers continued advancing, this false scripture would eventually grow to match, or even surpass, the original.
Moreover, the Avesta before him wasn't truly completely without offensive capability.
While the Noble Phantasm [Verg Avesta] might lack killing power, the Avesta's other usage—Angra Mainyu's final Noble Phantasm [Tawrich and Zarich]—still had some utility.
As long as one didn't die, all damage received could be reflected back to the opponent in full.
For the weak, this Noble Phantasm was full of traps—any random Servant could deliver a fatal blow to Angra Mainyu, making this power seem useless.
But for the strong, this Noble Phantasm was overwhelmingly powerful.
Even for Ryuga, this was power that could rival or even surpass mythological techniques.
"Using a false scripture to surpass mythological originals?!"
Hearing Ryuga's words, Rin was stunned for a moment, completely shocked.
If anyone else said this, she'd think they were presumptuous, but if Ryuga said it, she truly believed he could do it.
After storing away the Avesta, Ryuga looked at Artoria, whose eyes showed slight confusion.
"The current Greater Grail is sufficient to fulfill your wish. Setting aside whether Alaya would allow you to do so, I ask you—do you still insist on your former wish?"
In Ryuga's view, Artoria could be said to have been deceived by Alaya, working for it for free.
After all, even if Artoria won the Holy Grail War, Alaya couldn't allow her to rewrite history and create a Lostbelt.
That would lead to the troublesome situation of Human Order Incineration.
"My... wish?"
Facing Ryuga's gaze that seemed to see through everything, the girl who had given everything for her country shook her head in confusion.
"I'm sorry, Master. I don't know."
Hearing this expected answer, Ryuga extended his hand to the Ahoge King.
"Since you can't determine your own thoughts yet, would you like to sign a new contract with me?"
"Sign a new... contract?"
Artoria was somewhat puzzled.
"That's right."
Ryuga patiently explained.
"Our previous contract was a master-servant contract lasting until the Holy Grail War's end. Since you still have doubts about your wish, would you like to sign a new contract?"
"In the new contract, you would need to serve as an experimental subject... I mean, attendant, offering your loyalty, and I will repay you with the answers you seek during our journey!"
Though it was a quite frank conversation, Rin on the side felt something was off.
She couldn't shake the feeling it sounded like temptation, whether it was her imagination or not.
Also, what Ryuga initially wanted to say clearly wasn't "attendant" but "experimental subject"!
Besides that—
That idiot Erica actually went offline over a few bugs.
You're about to have your home stolen, you know!
Struggling to suppress her intense complaints, Rin's eyebrows twitched.
As a friend, she should warn Erica, but Ryuga was also her benefactor, leaving her caught in the middle.
While Rin hesitated and worried, Artoria quickly made her decision.
She immediately knelt on one knee, assuming the posture of knightly fealty.
Unlike the temporary contract of the Holy Grail War, this was a long-term master-servant contract.
"Master! I accept your proposal. In the name of the Knight King, I will defend your will with my life until the moment the contract ends."
The straightforward girl seemed to forget to ask Ryuga when the contract would end.
In their brief interaction, she seemed to have misjudged Ryuga's character, thinking he was an extremely compassionate and upright good deity.
A deity's invitation to travel together was naturally like a blessing—there was no reason to refuse.
"I accept your fealty."
Ryuga lightly tapped Artoria's shoulders three times with Excalibur, completing the ceremony.
At the same time, a mythological technique based on the Boar incarnation with Mithra, god of contracts, at its core activated, successfully wrestling Artoria's sovereignty from Alaya, who had failed to fulfill the agreement.
From now on, even without Command Spells, Ryuga could use his authority as master to forcibly command Artoria to obey his orders.
Of course, given their current power difference, even without a master-servant contract, Artoria had no possibility of resisting him.
After successfully acquiring the Ahoge King, Ryuga turned his gaze to the Greater Grail's structure.
There was still about a year until the Holy Grail War officially began—no rush to end the war.
Compared to the unsuspenseful Holy Grail War, there were more valuable things to study here.
"I remember the Greater Grail was a magical apparatus structured by the Winter Saint Justeaze, which means... its structure itself contains fragments of the Third Magic?"
To be continued…