All Things Return to One / Justeaze, the Winter Saint

"What are you afraid of? Let's not separate. If we stay together, everything will be alright."

Illya hesitated for a moment and said, "But it's very dark inside..."

"It's alright, I have lighting tools here."

Little Jeanne pulled out a small searchlight from somewhere, shook it in her hand, and it made cute animal noises.

She bought this at a shop in Academy City last time. She secretly bought it because it looked cute, and now it came in handy.

"Let's go on an adventure!"

With the final problem solved, the children cheered and urged Illya to lead the way.

Rather than saying they were curious about the Greater Grail, it would be more accurate to say they were looking forward to the process of finding Greater Grail.

Under the light of the lamp held by Little Jeanne, the children slowly groped their way into the Great Chasm beneath Ryuudou Temple.

If Yuxian knew about this, he would definitely stop them, because there is not only the Greater Grail here, but also Angra Mainyu inside the Greater Grail.

All the World's Evil.

Section 249, Chapter Twenty-Eight: All Things Return to One

"It's so dark here, could there be monsters inside?"

"A yokai? Like Osakabehime, or like Ibuki?"

"No, I mean the kind that looks really scary and eats children."

"Abby, you're such a coward. It would be so much fun if there really were monsters like that."

"Don't worry, there are no monsters or anything here. I've been here before."

The dark, empty Great Chasm was very quiet, with only a beam of light in front of the children and the sound of their conversation.

The sound echoed in the Great Chasm, muffled and with a slight reverberation.

The atmosphere created by this environment was quite terrifying. The children slowly walked inside, and the timid Abby had tightly gripped Little Jeanne's arm, where there was only one light.

Where is the Greater Grail?

The children slowly explored the entire Great Chasm and found no cup-shaped objects, which made them puzzled.

In fact, the Greater Grail is very different from the Grail that children have seen before.

It is rooted in this land and is a large-scale True Magic circle composed of many complex spells. It is called the Holy Grail simply because its core part is shaped like a cup.

"There is no Holy Grail here at all, Illya, you've lied to us again!"

"No, I'm not lying to you. I clearly saw it last time," Illya quickly retorted.

She thought for a moment, then said as if she had just realized something, "I know, it must be hiding! Let's look around."

A long time passed, and the children still hadn't found the Greater Grail.

"This place is no fun at all; there's no Greater Grail at all," the others began to complain.

"Let's go, it's getting late, we should go home."

Seeing the disappointed looks on her friends' faces, Illya became angry.

She transformed into Magical Girl, flew into the air, picked up her wand, and began to wreak havoc everywhere.

"I'll teach you to hide! I'll teach you to stay out! I'll teach you to embarrass me!"

Her attack landed precisely on a raised platform within the Great Chasm, which was the core altar of the Greater Grail.

Perhaps it was because Illya's attack triggered the Holy Grail System's automatic defense mechanism, or perhaps it was because Illya's magic as the Lesser Grail resonated with the Greater Grail.

In short, the altar reacted without the children noticing.

A stream of Black Mud slowly gushed out.

Angra Mainyu has awakened.

The Black Mud slowly surged toward the children who had turned to leave, silently approaching from behind them.

The careless children did not notice this situation.

Little Jeanne and Abigail, who were originally at the front, are now at the back because the formation has been reversed.

"Ah!!!"

Little Jeanne suddenly realized something was wrong and screamed.

At this moment, Black Mud was already very close to her.

Abby, who was next to her, was startled by Little Jeanne's cry and fell to the ground with a shudder.

The Black Mud soaked her hands, which were supporting her on the ground.

"Abby, are you alright?"

The children asked with concern.

They tensed up when they found Abby lying on the ground and the Black Mud around her body.

"What's this!"

"How disgusting!"

"Abby, Abby, are you alright? Get up quickly, let's get out of here!"

Abigail said haltingly, her voice trembling with tears, "I... I can't get up..."

Little Jeanne was closest to Abigail, and she reached out to pull her up from the ground.

At this moment, the Gretel grabbed Little Jeanne and stopped her from doing so.

She frowned and said, "I remember now, this is Black Mud from Angra Mainyu. If it gets on us, we'll be contaminated."

"What do we do?! Abby's still there, we have to go save her!"

The children started to get anxious; at that moment, they were like ants on a hot pan.

The usually confident children never expected to encounter such a situation and were immediately at a loss.

Gretel Rhyme shouted angrily, "Angra Mainyu! Get out here right now! If you dare to hurt Abby, I'll never forgive you!"

However, no other sounds came out from the Great Chasm; the Gretel seemed to be talking to the air.

The Black Mud is still slowly eroding Abigail...

Illya burst into tears, feeling that her impulsive actions had brought disaster upon Abby.

She rushed toward Abby with all her might, trying to rescue Abby.

But Kuro held her tightly. If they let Illya into the Black Mud now, it would cause them even more trouble.

Abigail was corrupted by the Black Mud malice within it assailed her—a vast malice containing All the World's Evil.

Abigail, a little girl, was unable to bear such a malicious attack; her face showed signs of pain.

"Hehe, this seems quite interesting."

"Ia, Ia...hehehe..."

"Hahaha...!"

Abigail's voice, unlike her usual self, appeared in the Great Chasm.

"Abby, don't scare us!"

"Abby! Abby! Wake up!"

Abigail slowly stood up, and a deep, dark keyhole appeared on her forehead.

She glanced at the children and said with a grin, "So you're bad kids too."

"We're doomed... Abby has turned into a bad kid, Abby. Master will definitely kill us."

The children stared blankly at Abby in front of them; they hadn't seen Abby in this form for a long time.

For a long time, Abby had been with them as a good child, but now Abby felt like a stranger to them.

"You guys are useless. You can't even do bad things properly. Watch me."

Abby shook his hands violently, getting rid of the Black Mud that was stuck to them.

She took out a huge key, propped it up on the ground, and disappeared into the Black Mud.

"You think you can corrupt me with this little bit of malice?"

"Please make yourself at home..."

"How about this?"

Several indescribable tentacles extended from the ground where the key touched, slapping and splashing the Black Mud.

The other children stepped back, a little afraid of Abby now, and also afraid of getting their hands dirty with the Black Mud.

But they were overthinking it. The bad girl Abby is still Abby, and there's no doubt that she won't harm her own friends.

However, her current condition does look a bit frightening, so it's normal for the children to be afraid to approach her.

Abigail, however, didn't care at all, and even happily hummed a song she couldn't understand.

Finally, Abby seemed to get a little tired of it. She put the key away, and a little light shone from the keyhole on her forehead.

"I will inflict pain upon you!"

"Door! Open it!"

A dazzling light emanated from Abby, and an unknown door was opened; no one knew what lay inside.

Everyone on the other side of the door went mad; no one could bear to look directly at its presence.

The One who gives birth to all things, and all things return to oneness, the Outer God, Yog-Sothoth!

Chapter 29, Section 250 Winter Saintess Justeza

Angra Mainyu, All the World's Evil.

He was just an ordinary young man, like countless other ordinary young men, with nothing special about him.

However, he was sacrificed.

The youth was chosen as 'the evil that threatens the villagers' kindness', 'the culprit that makes everything go wrong', and 'a certain existence that can be unconditionally belittled'.

He was imprisoned on the mountaintop and plunged into a living hell.

The young man, who had experienced every kind of suffering that humans can endure, died as a matter of course.

But the hatred for this entanglement burned within the rocky prison, and he became a nameless ghost.

In a world of dualism of good and evil, there is only one evil: Angra Mainyu, who is all the evil in the world.

Because he is evil, everyone else can only be good.

He was just an unnamed victim, someone who did nothing great, but based on this achievement, he was summoned as Heroic Spirit.

Ironically, driven by the Holy Grail's desire, he transformed into a true demon, becoming Angra Mainyu.

During the Third Holy Grail War, after being summoned by the Einzbern family through illegitimate means, he corrupted the Holy Grail and resided within it.

The Third Magic contained in the Holy Grail, 'Soul Materialization', allows him to exist for a long time.

At this moment, Angra Mainyu attempts to corrupt the little girl before him with Black Mud, and his malice surges toward Abigail.

However, just as he felt he was about to succeed, a change occurred in the little girl that he could not understand.

Twisted, insane, an indescribable presence blocked all his malice.