"Shirou, can you explain this?"
The matter had been settled—at least for the time being.
That black Irisviel seemed to be nothing more than the black mud lingering within the Lesser Grail. It did not possess any particularly great power. All it could do was continuously produce black mud and control Shuten Douji's soul to fight Anno. That was all.
According to Adelson's speculation, although the Lesser Grail would transform into an inhuman form, the memories it had possessed while existing as a human should still remain within it. After all, the current Lesser Grail was not merely a Lesser Grail; it also contained the element of the black mud.
The previous generation's Lesser Grail and this generation's Lesser Grail were both connected to the Greater Grail. Therefore, it was not impossible for information related to the previous Lesser Grail to be obtained from the Greater Grail and transmitted into this generation's Lesser Grail.
In other words, the records of Irisviel stored within the Greater Grail—her memories, personality, and so on—would flow together with magical energy into the Lesser Grail of this Holy Grail War, Illya's body. The form it took was that brown-haired Irisviel whom Shirou Emiya had slain.
The only question was what the black mud's exact objective had been.
The black Irisviel was merely a malignant existence that had gained consciousness by using the real Irisviel's memories together with magical energy. The true black mud still remained within the Greater Grail.
That was Adelson's current hypothesis. Since quite a bit of evidence supported it, it was highly convincing.
"This... seems to be a power that has been inside my body for a very long time. At least, that's what it feels like."
Shirou Emiya gave an awkward laugh and scratched his head.
To be honest, although he