All three rituals had been carried out under the most perfect conditions he could conceive of. Even so, the compatibility rate between body and soul had already fallen below sixty percent. A "someone" who was not himself was gradually taking control of him.
Even if the next ritual succeeded perfectly, he would only become another person named Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia. Even if he retained his memories, even if every detail was completely recorded... that person would absolutely not be himself.
In other words, Darnic was attempting to devour the soul of Lancer, a Servant, without performing the ritual. It was nothing short of complete and utter suicide.
After all, it was the soul of a Heroic Spirit. A supreme, massive soul—one that could activate the Great Holy Grail simply by gathering seven Servants. It was fundamentally impossible for a human who was not a "vessel" to contain such a thing.
Absurd
"This is absurd. Impossible...!"
That was why it was only natural for Red Archer to cry out like that.
"Command Spells. No, even with those, it should be impossible. Darnic... no, you as you are now... are neither Darnic nor Vlad III, are you?"
Black Lancer... no, the "someone" resembling Darnic smiled and said:
"You are correct, Archer. Even if the Heroic Spirit soul called Vlad III were processed through the third Command Spell into... the ultimate state most suitable for me to fuse with, controlling a Heroic Spirit would still be impossible. So devouring one would be even more impossible."
That shallow laughter could no longer be distinguished as Darnic's voice or Vlad III's.
"But still. I can carve myself into him. At the very least, I can imprint my nearly century-long longing... and my obsession with the Grail... I am no longer Darnic, yet I am not