The Evil of This World / Strategic Retreat

This was an unrealistic thing, but Fujimaru Kyoya to scoop up the little moons from the puddle, and they flew up to the giant moon in the sky.

In the air, they merged together, then grew larger and larger, finally merging with the largest moon in the sky to become an even larger moon.

If you absolutely must use a simple adjective, then please refer to the game "Big Watermelon Fusion".

Clearly, the Demon God Pillar could not easily destroy the moon, which had grown so much larger, and a stalemate could only be reached.

A stalemate—that's victory.

Everyone knew that without the help of the Demon God Pillar, Solomon would have no chance of escaping unscathed from so many Servant.

The Chains of Heaven appeared from the void beside them. Even though this enemy had no Divinity whatsoever, delaying them by even a second would greatly increase their chances of winning.

"Yes, we've been driven into a corner."

Solomon, as if Prophet, erected a powerful Barrier around his body, protecting himself and his Master. However, this Barrier could not withstand such a dense attack for even a minute.

Even Solomon had to admit that he was driven to the brink of despair.

I originally intended to control the most unstable element, but now it seems I've overcomplicated things.

"Have you run out of options, King Solomon?"

Although Marisbury appeared calm, it was merely a facade. As a Magecraft, there was very little he could do against the menacing Servant before him.

"Marisbury, why do you underestimate me time and time again?"

Solomon's voice remained calm and emotionless. He was indeed driven to the brink, but people don't necessarily die in dire situations; on the contrary, they may unleash even greater power.

"I didn't originally intend for it to be like this."

A Command Seal glowed, but that wasn't enough to scare away the Servant beside him. Even if he could still unleash such a powerful beam attack, the moment Solomon used it would be the moment of his death.

After all, such a light cannon cannot attack from all directions without blind spots.

"In the name of the Command Seal..."

Solomon was certainly aware of this, so what he needed to do was not to fill the light cannon, but something else entirely.

"Now bring what you've found back to me, Jack the Ripper."

Using the power of Command Seal, Servant from afar can be teleported here, even if this is the Mental Landscape Fujimaru Kyoya's heart.

"Mom, are you calling me?"

Jack is back, but what good is it for a little girl to come back?

Of course it's useless, because Solomon was something Jack brought, the other Lesser Grail — Matou Sakura.

Chapter 173 The All the World's Evil

"Sakura? Why?"

Emiya Shirou looked at Matou Sakura, who had appeared in the center of the battlefield. Shouldn't she still be at the Matou Residence?

"It's Assassin, that Caster actually Illegal Summoning."

How could Shinji Matou not see that what had just happened was Servant summoning Servant using Command Seal? This was a completely Illegal Summoning.

"Although the Matou Family has Barrier, it can't stop Assassins who are most skilled at stealth."

Shinji Matou originally intended to come here to form an alliance with Illya. When he encountered Solomon's attack, he planned to help out to show his sincerity. But who could have imagined that Solomon would be able to fight against so many Servant all by himself?

All plans were disrupted.

More importantly, what does Caster want Matou Sakura to do?

Solomon's goal was, of course, the Lesser Grail. Only by controlling the Lesser Grail could he control the Black Mud within it and purify the Holy Grail that had been corrupted by Angra Mainyu.

His first target was Illya, after all, she was the Holy Grail from the Einzbern Family, a foolproof choice. In addition, the Seventy-Two Demon Gods were good at countering Berserker, making it much simpler than the already allied combination of Saber and Rider.

Originally Matou Sakura was not in his plans, but as more and more enemies joined the fray, Solomon began to feel powerless to stop.

"This shouldn't be my method, but I must resolve the Holy Grail issue."

Solomon sensed the crumbling Barrier; he didn't have much time left. Having been summoned from the Holy Grail, sensing the Greater Grail through the Lesser Grail was incredibly easy for him.

A speck of Black Mud appeared from the wound on Matou Sakura's body, and then a large amount of Black Mud appeared to form a heart that sustained Matou Sakura's life, ensuring that she would not die during the Holy Grail War.

What is that?

The moment the Black Mud appeared, all the Servant felt uneasy; it seemed that the substance was inherently capable of both restraining and corrupting Servant.

Although they didn't know the specific reason, they understood that once they got involved with that stuff, Immortality or suffer serious injuries.

The Barrier shattered, but what followed was not Solomon's death; instead, endless Black Mud gushed forth from it, and Heracles was the first to be affected.

They charged too far forward and too fiercely, and were immediately covered by the Black Mud. The curse on it had a powerful devouring effect on these Servant originated from the Holy Grail.

"Roar~"

Even though Heracles used all his strength, he was too close to the source of the Black Mud. The Black Mud weakened him and covered him layer by layer, making it difficult for him to escape.

"As expected of the King of Magecraft, he can even control something this dangerous."

Gil, standing in the sky, was arguably the safest Servant. The Black Mud had difficulty attacking him, and it also circled around Solomon and his party, allowing Gilgamesh to control the Black Mud unaffected by their presence.

"Marisbury, do you see this? This is the Holy Grail you so crave."

"His true form? But shouldn't he be..."

According to Marisbury, the Three Founding Families shouldn't be pursuing something like this; these Black Mud gave him only a strong sense of curse and resentment.

This kind of thing shouldn't exist in the world at all.

"This is the bitter fruit of human greed."

Solomon stared at the churning Black Mud before him. The reason this thing had appeared was during the Third Holy Grail War, when the Einzbern Family exploited a loophole in the Holy Grail to summon Servant of other classes. They thought that Servant summoned in this way would not only be powerful but also catch their opponents off guard.

As it turned out, they were indeed caught off guard, but it was only the Einzbern Family that was caught off guard.

The boy who descended as an Avenger was killed before his death under the name "Angra Mainyu," and was an extremely weak Servant to begin with.

Without the slightest surprise, he returned to the Holy Grail in the very first battle of the Holy Grail War. However, burdened by human malice and the imposed concept of "evil," his return completely corrupted the Holy Grail, which is the origin of the Black Mud.

Is the Holy Grail a lie?

"No, the Holy Grail's wish-granting function still exists, but it has been distorted."

If the Holy Grail's function were completely damaged, Solomon wouldn't be in a hurry to retrieve the Lesser Grail; the key issue was this distortion.

"If you desire world peace, then the Holy Grail will likely achieve it by destroying the world, accomplishing it from the perspective of absolute 'evil.' That is the Holy Grail at this moment."

"Can't the Holy Grail fulfill the Animsphere Family's long-cherished wish?"

Marisbury felt utterly powerless. His Animsphere Family was a long-established and wealthy clan, never lacking in funds, yet the resources needed to establish Chaldea remained unfathomable.

Aside from the Holy Grail, Marisbury had virtually no other way to acquire that much money.

"No, it's possible."

"Ah?"

Marisbury is a bit speechless. Could this originator of Magecraft please stop pausing for breath? Would it kill him to just say everything in one breath?

"Give me time, and I can purify the Black Mud inside the Holy Grail and restore Holy Grail to its original power."

Solomon's words gave Marisbury hope, but their immediate task was still to eliminate the enemy before them.

A golden beam of light shone from afar; Marisbury hadn't forgotten that this was Saber's Noble Phantasm.

The Black Mud was instantly evaporated under the impact of the beam of light, and at the same time, the bright moon in the sky pressed down even more unreasonably, bursting forth with an even stronger sense of oppression as if in a final burst of light.

A crimson "meteor" was hurtling towards them, its target Marisbury's heart.

"Noble Phantasm that reverses Karma? Hmm, not too troublesome."

Solomon immediately noticed Cú Chulainn's Noble Phantasm, and like Gilgamesh, he immediately thought of three ways to Noble Phantasm with it.

He also chose the fourth method.

The "shooting stars" that were soaring through the sky suddenly seemed to lose their direction and began to fly erratically. What had Solomon done?

"Since it's Noble Phantasm that reverses Karma, then I'll just disrupt Karma."

No special incantations are needed, nor is extensive preparation required. If Solomon is willing, performing a Magecraft is not much more difficult than breathing.

But... these were still just illusions; something was getting closer to him.

"I'm finally getting close to you."

A voice came from behind Solomon. It was a figure with a dark face. Solomon was not afraid of being approached, but the problem was that he could feel an extremely unstable power within the other person.

With the path cleared by the Holy Sword and the Hades' Helmet given to him by Gil, Fujimaru Kyoya finally approached his goal.

The waters stirred, the water in the sky and the water on the ground, as if commanded by the master of the Barrier, they began to converge and envelop Solomon and his party.

"Choose: protect yourself or protect your Master."

Fujimaru Kyoya, and his two Spirit Origin finally collapsed at this moment. This not only contained unparalleled power but also an extremely strong Anti-King Special Attack.

Chapter 174 Strategic Retreat 31/102

The opposing Spirit Origin finally gave way and exploded directly inside Fujimaru Kyoya's body. However, due to the special nature of Players, most of that power passed through Fujimaru Kyoya's body, causing less than one percent of the damage.

Even so, it was enough to cause Fujimaru Kyoya pain; this was the inevitable price to pay for breaking a taboo.

Solomon possesses more than ten Command Seal, which essentially grants him unlimited Mana in a short battle. Moreover, countless Black Mud are flowing from Matou Sakura's body.

Although I feel a little sorry for Shinji and Shirou who have been working so hard for this, it really is the only way to defeat the person in front of me now.

The walls built of water were constantly reinforced, not only to prevent Solomon and his party from escaping, but also to avoid the power of his Self-Destruct harming others.

This was all that Fujimaru Kyoya could do in this battle.

The Demon God Pillar on the ground seemed to have lost all their power, unable to withstand the moon above and were completely smashed. A huge roar came from the water wall, and then the water wall collapsed. The strong wind and rain hit people and made them feel a little painful.

With the disappearance of the bright moon and the Reality Marble, Fujimaru Kyoya naturally couldn't maintain their existence after the collapse of his Spirit Origin. So, had he achieved his goal?

As the smoke cleared, Solomon had been so composed, appeared somewhat disheveled, with blood on his body for the first time. However, he had managed to protect the people behind him perfectly, ensuring they were unharmed.

"Ahem~ A straightforward and effective tactic; in a normal Holy Grail War, I would have already lost."

Solomon coughed up blood. He had just retrieved the power of all the summoned Demon God Pillar and used up all his Command Seal, leaving him with only nine.

Replenish Mana, restore the body, repair Barrier, and chant at high speed...

Even with such hastily constructed Barrier, Solomon was unable to withstand the attack, and he fought back with his bare hands. He was clearly badly injured by this point, but...

"In the name of the Command Seal..."

Everyone knows that Solomon intends to use Command Seal to heal his injuries. Although Fujimaru Kyoya still has one Command Seal left, the damage from the Spirit Origin explosion, while not fatal, has left him with severe injuries.

With the surrounding Black Mud acting as a barrier, Gil unleashed a barrage of Noble Phantasm from the sky, no longer caring that the Black Mud might "taint" his collection.

At this moment, Gil prioritized saving lives.

"Don't disturb Mom."

Even though Assassin isn't Servant skilled in direct combat, Jack still wielded her dagger for Solomon. She could sense that Solomon was very weak and couldn't withstand any more damage.

"Heal Caster's injuries."

With eight Command Seal remaining, Solomon's injuries were healed.

"You've seen these things too. The Holy Grail absolutely cannot be given to you. I need these things to purify it."

Solomon said this, but the Mana in his hands began to gather. He was ruthless and showed no mercy. As a king, he would not leave his fate to be controlled by others.

Most of the Servant are proud and arrogant. If they were to obtain this omnipotent wish-granting machine, who knows what kind of chaos would ensue, not to mention that the Holy Grail has already been corrupted.

Is this the end?

Fujimaru Kyoya looked at the eight Command Seal. He could sense Solomon's sense of responsibility, but he also wanted to change the outcome of this Holy Grail War.

"Bang!"

The once tranquil Black Mud exploded, and Heracles, who should have been swallowed, broke free from its Black Mud and charged toward Solomon.

Whether it was the Self-Destruct that dispelled the binding force of the Black Mud, or whether Heracles broke through these shackles through his own will, no one knows the answer.

"Roar~"