Not long after, the hole closed on its own. Then the thirty-meter-long branch broke off and fell to the ground.
At that moment, Gilgamesh smiled, the corner of his mouth curling upward.
"Well done, Tokiomi!"
Tia was once again shocked by what she was seeing.
What the hell? Since when was Tohsaka Tokiomi this strong?
She felt like her brain couldn't keep up anymore. Everything happening here was beyond what she knew about the Fourth War.
Professor Waver had knowledge that never appeared in the original story. Emiya Kiritsugu's personality wasn't as cold and ruthless as in the original. Gilgamesh bringing out the Mooncell clearly meant he had been to the Moon's Holy Grail War and met BB, otherwise he wouldn't have handed the Mooncell over to Matou Sakura—yet he clearly had no idea about Chaldea. But the craziest part of all was Tohsaka Tokiomi. He had just pulled out a book that let him directly close the Greater Grail's hole by force.
"Oh my, oh my, too late now. You should've done this seven years ago. That tree has already absorbed enough mana as the Greater Grail. Even if you cut off its connection to the Fuyuki leyline now and stop its mana supply, it won't matter. Ten years from now, it will break out of the Greater Grail on its own. The Greater Grail still holds enough mana for it to keep feeding for another ten years~~" Angra Mainyu laughed as he spoke to Tokiomi.
"What! And you didn't say this earlier!" Waver shouted furiously. "You just said closing the hole might work! And now you say it's already too late! What the hell are you trying to pull?!"
"Hehehe… don't you think this is fun?" Angra Mainyu grinned.
Just then, Gilgamesh casually pulled out Ea and fired it straight at Angra Mainyu.
"Trash! How dare you spit nonsense! If not for my will being given the title of Grand, I wouldn't even grant you the honor of dying under Ea! Even as one of humanity's evils, a killer of men, you're nothing but filth!" Gilgamesh didn't even look at him as a storm of twisted wind surged forward and tore Angra Mainyu apart in an instant.
But then, from the very spot where Angra Mainyu was shredded, an identical twisted wind storm rose up and rushed straight back at Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh froze for a split second, his expression changing immediately as he pulled out a golden shield and slammed it into the ground. The shield was shredded instantly, but the attack was completely neutralized.
"Hehehehe~~ As expected of the King of Heroes! You can even block your own strongest attack so easily!" Angra Mainyu reformed from a heap of black mud. "I am humanity's evil, the very embodiment of all the world's evil. As long as people exist, as long as there is evil, I will always be here! I may be the weakest, and most of my strength has been drained by that tree, but I cannot die! And whatever attack kills me will bounce back at the one who used it! How's that? Pretty amazing, right?"
"Trash!" Gilgamesh roared in anger. He immediately bound Angra Mainyu with Enkidu, then unleashed a storm of treasures at him. He didn't care about the reflected attacks, since the incoming treasures would collide with the reflected ones and cancel them out. Besides, Gilgamesh was no longer Tokiomi's Servant. As the Grand Archer chosen by pure will, he now had to power himself.
But earlier, when Tokiomi seized control of the underground chamber, he redirected the Fuyuki leyline's mana, which had been absorbed by the Greater Grail, and secretly channeled it into Gilgamesh. That's why Gilgamesh's mana was now linked directly to the leyline, giving him an endless supply for a short time. That was also why he had praised Tokiomi earlier. Otherwise, after all of Tokiomi's lies, there's no way Gilgamesh would've complimented him.
At first, Angra Mainyu sneered, thinking Gilgamesh's frenzy was pointless, just venting his anger, unworthy of a Grand. But soon he realized he couldn't escape. Even though he could resurrect endlessly, he would also keep dying endlessly. As long as Gilgamesh didn't stop, Angra Mainyu would remain stuck in this cycle of instant death and rebirth.
Truly, dying and reviving without end.
"Ah…"
"No…"
Because of this endless loop of dying and reviving, Angra Mainyu couldn't even finish his words. He couldn't get past the first syllable before being destroyed again.
At that moment, Tia thought, If people's hearts truly held no evil, maybe he really would die. But that's impossible…
"Master, is there any way to kill him? He's not much of a threat, but he is still humanity's evil. If we just leave him, who knows what he'll do," Lancelot said.
Just bring Ryougi Shiki here.
That was Tia's first thought. But she knew Ryougi Shiki's Mystic Eyes of Death Perception hadn't awakened yet. Still, Shiki wasn't the only one with those eyes. There was someone else who already had them.
But Tia didn't know him well. Other than the princess, she didn't know much about the people around him, so she didn't want to get involved.
Then what should she do?
The Evil of Humanity, the Evil of This World. Weak, but endlessly dying and reviving. Alone. Manifested by himself. A trait of the Beast.
Wait. Alone? Manifested by himself? What if I just stab him with Medea's Noble Phantasm, the Rule Breaker?
Tia was about to ask Gilgamesh for Medea's treasure when her eyes fell on Lancelot. She suddenly remembered that Lancelot himself was a holy sword. His second seal was her own original creation: a Noble Phantasm that could heal people's hearts.
Maybe now was her chance to forge her own completely original Noble Phantasm—to purify Angra Mainyu once and for all!
Tia thought this through and reached out to Lancelot in her mind.
"Lance, I want to forge a weapon that can defeat Angra Mainyu. Help me."
"Alright! No problem!" Lancelot nodded, then transformed into a holy sword and flew into Tia's hand.
(End of The Chapter)
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