Messed Up

"Ah... what a pain!" Iskandar looked troubled, then seemed to think of something and slapped his forehead. "How about this! The Holy Grail War has seven Servants, so I'll select seven of the strongest warriors from among my own retainers to challenge you. If you win, I'll admit defeat in your challenge. Otherwise, you admit defeat to me!"

Diarmuid looked at Kayneth, who said, "O Conqueror King, are those seven retainers of yours also Servants?"

Iskandar shook his head. "No. They exist only within my Ionioi Hetairoi, and Waver Velvet's mana couldn't possibly support even one additional Servant. They're merely Heroic Spirits with powerful foundations and no other abilities."

"Even so, they probably shouldn't be underestimated... Diarmuid?" Kayneth looked toward his Servant.

Diarmuid's expression darkened slightly. "If that is all, then Conqueror King, you underestimate me too much."

"No, no. It's simply that there are too many men under my command for you. You wouldn't be able to finish fighting them even if the Holy Grail War came to an end. Besides, you haven't yet passed my challenge. A chariot charging openly down the road—that is the path I use to decide victory!"

"Then let us fight!"

Remove All the World's Evil from the Fuyuki Greater Grail entirely, completely eliminate Angra Mainyu, and severely alter the fate of the Fate world. Reward: 30,000 Fate Points and 3 lottery chances.

Mo Li's hands paused as he played a game with Justicia.

"What's wrong?" Justicia tilted her head and glanced at Mo Li, her face full of smiles. "Don't even think about running away halfway through~"

Mo Li carefully examined the utterly alluring Justicia. "So even if Angra Mainyu and All the World's Evil are simply removed, you'll still remain that Black Grail?"

"The reversal that occurred in Third Magic Heaven's Feel isn't something so superficial~ It is a reversal from the soul to the will. Since you helped remove that annoying fellow, I'll graciously tell you a few things!"

Justicia gathered up her hair and played with it in her hand. "Actually, the Winter Saintess Justicia of Third Magic Heaven's Feel still exists too~ I am her opposite, and she is my positive side. I am the corrupted Winter Saintess you know. I did not exist before. Only after the Winter Saintess Justicia was affected by All the World's Evil, causing Third Magic Heaven's Feel to reverse, was I created—the Black Holy Grail, the corrupted Winter Saintess."

"But now there is only one Greater Grail. Since there is only one body, naturally it isn't enough for the two of us to share. And because of the existence of All the World's Evil and Angra Mainyu, the Winter Saintess Justicia sank down while I rose to the surface to maintain this Holy Grail, continuing to carry out the Fuyuki Greater Grail's necessary functions. Such as the Holy Grail War, and granting wishes no matter how much I might twist them."

Mo Li said, "So?"

"So... although my mana hasn't accumulated enough yet, so I can't grant your wish, in a sense, I can still grant your wish. Or rather, I am willing to grant your wish and let you complete my salvation~ Mo Li~ Don't think about running away~" Justicia revealed an innocent smile.

Justicia wore an expression as though she had broken down, staring at Mo Li with an eerie look on her face. "I'll follow you forever, and you'll save me forever~ We'll be together forever!"

Mo Li: "..."

Well, damn. After playing around so much, he had gotten himself dragged into it...

Compared to the Winter Saintess, Black Grail Justicia was practically an innocent young beauty with an entirely different, extreme kind of charm. It was just that she came with that corrupted trait...

In any case, as long as she did not turn out like the Moon God shooting that pathetic Grand-class-colored teddy bear, it was fine. His standards were not high.

If she had been the ascetic-like Winter Saintess, things naturally would not have been this troublesome. But this was the Winter Saintess's opposite—the corrupted Justicia...

Mo Li glanced at the center of Justicia's forehead beneath her crown. There was a black hole there, its edges radiating a purple halo.

Fine. There was nothing more to say. It was not a big problem.

Mo Li said, "If I said I would save you, then I definitely will. I will save Justicia. Whether it is Black Grail Justicia or the Winter Saintess Justicia of Third Magic Heaven's Feel, both of you will be resurrected."

"If you don't keep your word..." Justicia's expression became even more distorted, her sickly smile enough to make one shudder.

But Justicia was not yandere; she was corrupted. Mo Li understood the distinction clearly and immediately said, "If I didn't intend to keep my word, then wouldn't I have spoken to you in the form of a wish from the start? Saying the word 'wish' so casually before the Holy Grail is not some insignificant decision."

"Hehehe~" Justicia turned back around and continued slaughtering the players without another word, though she was clearly in an exceptionally good mood.

"..." Mo Li suddenly felt somewhat melancholy. From the beginning, he had anticipated that the corrupted Holy Grail might not be directly dealt with without destroying it. Therefore, the Holy Grail purification plan naturally included the step of creating a second Holy Grail system—or simply replacing the Greater Grail altogether.

As for this Fuyuki Greater Grail that Justicia had become, it could only be dealt with slowly.

The mana within the Fuyuki Greater Grail had already been replaced from the inside out, yet it was still the Black Grail. There was truly no other option now. They could only continue waiting for Medea to handle the problem.

The core of the current Fuyuki Greater Grail was the Winter Saintess Justicia. Replacing Justicia meant the collapse of this Greater Grail, so she simply could not be replaced. The entire Greater Grail had to be replaced instead.

"Justicia, when the Winter Saintess is resurrected too, what should I call you two? Both Justicia?" Mo Li suddenly asked. At the same time, his game character remained at Justicia's side, continuously picking off those sneaky players hiding in dark corners.

Justicia flicked her gun twice, shooting through the wall and killing the person hiding behind the stone wall. Then she said, "Mm... of course. We are both Justicia. It's simply that she is Third Magic Heaven's Feel, the Winter Saintess, while I am Justicia, who appeared after Heaven's Feel was reversed into the Black Holy Grail under the influence of All the World's Evil. Fundamentally, there isn't much difference between us apart from one being positive and the other negative."

"I hope the Winter Saintess doesn't mind."

"Eh, she most likely won't mind. I am her, and she is me. She knows my will; she has always been listening. Since she has said nothing, she naturally does not object. Anyway, when you call our names, we can just respond together."

"...All right." Mo Li still looked rather helpless, but the fact that the Winter Saintess had been listening to their conversation was somewhat unexpected.

"I have a question. If I save both of you, how will this Fuyuki Greater Grail continue operating? The Fuyuki Greater Grail exists because of you. Without you, won't it become useless?"

"The Holy Grail's shell does not need to be restored. You want to resurrect us, not turn the Fuyuki Greater Grail back into what it was. If you turn it back, you cannot save both of us at once. Only by following Third Magic Heaven's Feel's method of granting wishes can it be done. Creating two bodies perfectly suited for us is something Heaven's Feel can accomplish."

Justicia spoke indifferently of the method to save herself.

As they talked, an easy, natural smile unknowingly appeared on Justicia's face. "Come to think of it, you really are too much. You actually want to forcibly impose your desire to save us upon us, without caring whether we are willing to be saved, just making us accept your goodwill."

"Honestly, behavior like yours would get you beaten up in the human world too. Third Magic Heaven's Feel is what we have pursued so desperately. Reaching the Root or connecting to the Root—we were already so close to achieving it, yet you want to forcibly drag us away from that pursuit..."

Mo Li smiled. "Can something you cannot grasp with your own hands truly count as something you have pursued? And with everything you have, can you truly enter the Root? You probably can't even connect a single Magic Circuit to the Root, can you?"

Justicia: "..."

"You know, Justicia, I actually find you Three Great Families rather pitiful. You exhausted every method and scheme in pursuit of something none of you could ever reach. Third Magic Heaven's Feel sounds impressive, but in truth, not a single person achieved your ultimate goal. Let alone reaching or connecting to the Root, very few people could even make a wish. And you, who were sacrificed for this... perhaps you could call it my selfishness, or say that I value what you sacrificed for your ideals. Either way."

"My desire to save you has never been a joke. Your path began correctly, but the arrangements that followed were wrong to the extreme..." Mo Li thought of how the Greater Grail system would be dismantled only a few years after the Fifth Holy Grail War in the original story, and his expression immediately became somewhat strange.

Thinking of everything that would happen later, including even the birth of that work called Fake, Mo Li could not help revealing an odd smile. "The Greater Grail system created by you Three Great Families, the ultimate goal you pursued—from beginning to end, no one will ever use it correctly! Forget about you personally holding Third Magic Heaven's Feel and heading to the Root. You cannot even witness someone else reaching the Root and accomplishing everything you wished for!"

"No one will use it correctly from beginning to end?" Even Black Grail Justicia fell somewhat silent upon hearing that answer. No matter how corrupted she was, she was still the Greater Grail. From the very beginning, she had existed to open a hole and connect to the Root.

Yet Mo Li's words had fundamentally branded both Justicia and the Greater Grail system as complete failures. Could a design that could not be properly used truly be considered a successful creation?

Was it the participants' fault for being unable to reach the Root, rather than the Holy Grail's? But were not the participants selected by the Holy Grail in the first place?

And if one considered it in an even harsher light, if no one would ever use the Holy Grail to reach the Root at all, then that would be a complete mockery of the Holy Grail system's entire design philosophy.