"...Good gods."
Beyond the veil... there was quite literally a mass of 'mud.'
Spewing forth like porridge boiling over in a cauldron that knew no end, the mud filled the bottom of the cavern, swelling and surging in size.
"Ah..."
"Tch, he's completely lost it. Consider a Berserker in that state nothing more than a puppet of the Holy Grail."
Berserker stood in the very center of that mud. His green hair had already been bleached white, and while I couldn't tell how his Saint Graph had been modified, an aura of ominous loathing radiated from his entire body.
Unable to watch any longer, Aoko-nee reached out and fired a Magic Bullet.
The Magic Bullet, which had vanished mid-flight toward Berserker, suddenly swelled in size and detonated with a thunderous roar, erupting in iridescent colors.
"Was that just now...?"
"An application of the Fifth Magic. I took the rebound from the Counter Force onto my own body, but I amplified the destructive power at the cost of the magical energy in the fired bullet... If that were an ordinary Servant like you said, he'd be more than dead, but..."
Unfortunately, Berserker showed no sign of taking damage. He began to writhe his body, his joints moving with an unnatural, jarring creak.
Soon, the boiling mud surged upward, taking shape like Kayneth's Volumen Hydrargyrum, and began to spray out like a water jet.
"Not a chance!"
The King of Knights swiftly swung her holy sword, parrying the mud attack. When Tristan deflected every stray droplet of the splashing mud, more mud rose like before, firing out in every direction.
"Dammit, if I don't get serious, we really might all die...!"
Spreading my arms, I deployed a maximum-output Shinra Tensei, shielding everyone present except for the King of Heroes. The Grail's corruption was repelled by the spherical radius, slamming into the walls with a wet thud.
"You mongrel! How dare you send this king outside the perimeter!"
"You have a decent amount of immunity anyway."
"Impertinence!"
While Gilgamesh and I bickered, Aoko-nee focused again and fired a Magic Bullet at the Grail, but this time Berserker threw himself forward to block the attack intended for the cup.
As expected of a Saint Graph being manifested through the power of a Beast, he seemed perfectly fine even after taking a direct hit from a Magician of the Fifth.
Meanwhile, Saber and Archer stepped to the sides, using Mana Burst and Failnaught to hack away the encroaching tentacles of mud. Rider, whose chariot was too large for the cavern space, didn't drive it, but he used the lightning striking from his Gordius Wheel to incinerate the surrounding mud.
The cavern was the perfect place to be buried alive if Excalibur was unleashed, and both Ionian Hetairoi and Failnaught were Noble Phantasms with compatibility issues—one being about crushing with overwhelming numbers and the other about slicing the opponent.
"Damn... We need to get that annoying Berserker out of the way first."
"Leave Berserker to me. If he is being supplied by the Grail's magical energy, my spear should be able to sever that connection."
"Right, Diarmuid... with your spear, it should be possible."
As if understanding our words, Berserker creaked his joints like a zombie and began generating crystal skulls and fireballs to fire at us. Diarmuid dodged the patches of mud, thrusting Gae Dearg into Berserker.
The skulls flying through the air, spraying mud, naturally lost their link and began to fall to the ground. Diarmuid took the momentum, repeatedly stabbing Berserker with the spear that carried the curse of unhealable wounds.
Then, at some point, Waver, who was watching the situation from behind, let out a shrill scream.
"Wah! It's coming from behind us too!"
"Dammit, I'm glad I left Sola-Ui behind...!"
The Grail mud had somehow moved to the escape route and began firing mud at the Masters. Kayneth deployed his Volumen Hydrargyrum and barely managed to defend, but the mud conversely tried to corrode the Mystic Code.
"To dare touch the Mystic Code of a Lord of El-Melloi!"
"Your life is more important than some Mystic Code, so move!"
While Aoko-nee fired a Magic Bullet larger than a human torso and Waver pulled his teacher back, I blew the mud away again. The mud quickly clumped together and began attacking me.
"[Bansho Ten'in]"
Fundamentally, the opposite of repulsive force is attractive force.
If I activate the attraction of Bansho Ten'in centered on myself, enemies are sucked toward me. However, if I activate it centered on a 'different focal point,' objects are pulled toward that point by the influence of gravity. Chibaku Tensei is the maximization of that ability, and its ultimate pinnacle is Tengai Shinsei.
"Amazing... you stopped the mud in its tracks."
"Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten'in have the weakness of a cooldown... but the gravitational core has no such thing. Aoko-nee, supply me with some magical energy!"
"Damn it, the phrasing sounds a bit weird!"
As Aoko-nee quickly reached out her hand, I began to absorb her prana and expanded the gravitational pull of Bansho Ten'in even further.
"Hahaha! Mongrel, is that not a rather useful trick? Keep a firm hold on it... this is a fine opportunity to dispose of a Beast of Humanity that has yet to incubate!"
"Don't just talk, do something already! Can't you see I'm about to die from having my magical energy drained?!"
Gilgamesh ignored me, merely laughing as he pulled a massive cup from his bosom.
"Even a Holy Grail is ultimately but a counterfeit of the treasures I possess. No matter how grand a Grail it may be, it is a mere imitation before the Great Cup of Uruk in my possession!"
"Holy... you're actually bringing out a real Holy Grail?!"
Of course, even for Gilgamesh's Grail, no resource actually existed within it.
It was merely an ordinary cup with an overwhelming 'capacity.' Unless it was filled with the resource known as magical energy, it was just a piece of scrap metal useless for anything other than decoration.
"O Malice of Humanity, yet to emerge. Know that while harboring resentment is natural, clinging to it ensures you shall never move forward."
"Now, Wise King!"
As Gilgamesh thrust the Great Cup of Uruk forward, the mud began to be absorbed like dust into a vacuum cleaner.
It wasn't a feat possible through the functions of the Cup of Uruk alone. In the air, over a hundred ripples formed, and the Noble Phantasms slowly emerging from them were all emitting light. Gilgamesh also seemed quite focused, as sweat poured from his brow.
When the mud surging across almost the entire floor—sparing only where the Masters and Servants stood—was half-absorbed, a sudden, powerful vibration occurred, followed by a sound like a scream.
[◼︎◼︎◼︎◼︎◼︎◼︎◼︎!!!]
"W-What was that just now!"
"A scream you needn't concern yourself with. Nothing good comes from trying to understand the voice of a twisted thing!"
"No, I think I really should concern myself with this?!"
The mud that was being gathered into the Great Cup of Uruk suddenly swelled and began firing mud in all directions.
Unlike before, it was clearly attempting to flee.
It was a desperate struggle, trying to send even a single drop outside Ryuudou Temple.
"Not a chance!"
Saber struck away a glob of mud flying toward me as I held the mud in place, disregarding my own defense. Behind her, Archer began to surround the area with the strings of Failnaught as if spinning a web.
"Not a single finger shall be laid upon my Master!"
"That's the spirit, Sir Tristan. Your Master is the key to victory, so protect him well!"
As the Servants blocked the attacks, I shifted from defense to offense again, seizing the mud. The mud flowing haphazardly on the floor was mostly sucked in, until barely anything remained but what was in the Grail itself.
The final pool of mud exploded its mass as if to make one last stand, but Artoria's Mana Burst blew it all away. Gilgamesh meticulously collected the very last drop of the Grail's dregs and placed a massive lid over the cup he held.
"...Is it safe now?"
"A Beast of Humanity is fundamentally a creature that is terribly influenced by 'humanity' itself. Do you not know it as well? I speak of the Beast of Comparison."
Hm, is he talking about our cute Fou-kun? If so, it certainly makes sense. Even as a Beast that would gain monstrous power in just a few months if thrown into an ordinary village, it eventually surrendered its position as a Beast of Humanity within Chaldea, where humanity was absent or where there was an overwhelming alignment toward Good.
Of course, this 'Angra Mainyu' was defeated far too easily for someone bearing the grandiose title of a Beast.
"It is because this fellow has not yet hatched. Had it properly emerged... I could not guarantee victory even if I brought forth my most precious treasure."
"...Even for you, Wise King, a Holy Grail must have been a significant expenditure."
"Hmph, it had no use other than as a decoration and its needlessly vast capacity. I am satisfied to have gained an interesting toy for my treasury."
"In that case... since it is safe where there are no humans... do you intend to seal the Beast within your treasury?"
"Hmph, for a mongrel, have you not improved quite a bit? My warehouse fundamentally has the function of sealing, so I intend to keep it inside. Of course, it would have been impossible had it emerged as a True Beast, but an immature pupa that failed to hatch is well within the capacity of this king's treasury to contain."
"Whew... so is it finally over?"
Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kiritsugu Emiya looked wistfully at the Holy Grail, now empty and hollow after its resources had been drained into Gilgamesh's cup. Waver simply put his hands behind his head as if relieved it was finally done.
The Wise King manifested a ripple and pulled out his key-sword, tossing the Great Cup of Uruk—now tightly wrapped in cloth—into the gate. Kayneth retrieved his Volumen Hydrargyrum, which had shrunk slightly in volume but had somehow endured the mud.
As everyone caught their breath, Saber, who had been guarding the front, stood up and spoke.
"We should head back to the city soon. Irisviel and those in Lancer's camp will be waiting for our return."
"I agree."
Kiritsugu quickly stood, likely worried about Irisviel, as did Kayneth, concerned for Sola-Ui. Waver brushed off his pants, clearly not wanting to stay in this place a moment longer.
With Saber and Gilgamesh at the lead, we began to exit the Ryuudou cavern, leaving the Greater Grail behind.
Finally emerging from the cave and looking down upon Fuyuki City, we were met with a sight: three separate locations in the downtown area were engulfed in bright red flames.
"What the hell?!"
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