The Secret of the Third Magic [Part 1] / The Secret of the Third Magic [Part 2]
"Mephistopheles!!"
Rin Tohsaka's slightly shrill voice reflected her anger and unease. She was already having enough of a headache, why did this guy have to make things worse?!
However, her attempt to vent her anger on Mephistopheles, or rather, to use this act of venting her anger on Mephistopheles to escape the scene, was instantly shattered by a single term of address.
"Elder sister..."
Sakura Matou's voice was low, but clear enough in this place. The address "older sister" reached Rin Tohsaka 'Rin Tohsaka ears, leaving her stunned.
How many years has it been since she last heard Sakura Matou call her that?
More than ten years have passed!
A soft "Sister" made her feel as if time had turned back, and she seemed to have returned to the carefree days when she played with her younger sister every day.
She remained silent for a moment, but ultimately did not choose to run away. Instead, she smiled at Sakura Matou and patted the spot next to her, saying, "Come and sit down."
His tone was gentle, as if he were afraid that he might accidentally hurt the girl in front of him with his words.
Upon hearing this, Sakura Matou smiled slightly, hummed in agreement, and jogged over to sit down beside her.
On the bed, there was a temperature both strange and familiar—the temperature of my sister, which I had forgotten for over a decade but had often felt in the past.
Mephistopheles listened to the sounds inside the room, a slight smile appearing on his face. He then walked towards his own room, just as he saw a figure suddenly appear – Medusa.
She looked at Mephistopheles and said softly, "Thank you."
"No need to thank me, it was just a small favor." Mephistopheles shook his head, watching Medusa disappear again. He sighed at her indifference as he continued walking towards his bedroom.
The Emiya Household was so large that it naturally had many rooms, so everyone was assigned their own little room.
"Looks like you're planning to become a psychologist in this era." Medea, who had been observing from the shadows, stepped forward and said to Mephistopheles with a grin.
"It's alright. I'm not really a psychologist, just someone who's been through it all, or rather, someone who helps these kids from an adult's perspective," Mephistopheles said, then, seeing Medea about to say something, he quickly added, "I may look young, but I have a lot of life experience!"
Just as they were about to continue talking, they suddenly fell silent and looked at the ground.
Sometime during the night, some black silt appeared on the ground. This silt flowed slowly, yet quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it had reached the two of them.
Moreover, it happened silently, as if it had appeared out of thin air!
Upon seeing this, Mephistopheles immediately raised his hand and flung Medea away. Almost at the same time, the Black Mud touched Mephistopheles's feet and even spread over his ankles!
"Mephistopheles!"
Medea called out quickly, only to see Mephistopheles smiling and winking at her.
"I've been invited, so I'll go check it out. You stay outside and don't let anyone in."
Medea, who had been through many adventures with Mephistopheles, didn't waste any words. She immediately went to the door and, just before closing it, said, "Be careful!"
"Don't worry, I'm safe. It's practically impossible for something like this to interfere with me."
After saying that, Mephistopheles loosened some of his defenses, allowing his consciousness to descend and dive into the black silt.
Then, he found that everything around him had changed. He was no longer in his room, but on a beach, with waves gently lapping the sand and rain falling from the sky.
There were no dark clouds, but there was rain, and it was black rain, like ink.
Looking up at the sky, there was a black void, from which black water flowed continuously, turning into the black rain that filled the sky.
"You are the most deserving person to receive the Holy Grail, so what is your wish?"
A clear, melodious voice came from behind him. Mephistopheles turned around and saw the woman who had fought alongside Kiritsugu Emiya during the Fourth Holy Grail War in the past.
Irisviel, who is also Illya's mother.
However, Mephistopheles knew that the person with Irisviel's appearance was not Irisviel, but another being wearing Irisviel.
Mephistopheles looked at the other person, his smile flat, "Is it interesting to deliberately mislead others like this?"
The imposter, cloaked in Irisviel's skin, also smiled and said in a very natural tone, "Everything I said is true. Shouldn't the so-called seduction be a matter of people's own greed?"
"So, was the reason for scaring Illya also because of Illya's greed?"
"That girl has the right to know the truth, doesn't she? I just told her the facts." The fake continued to Mephistopheles curled his lip in response. "That's why I say you're a twisted and wicked guy. Sometimes you need to tell white lies, but that has nothing to do with me. Rather, you came to me directly because you realized you had no other choice?"
The imposter continued, "If I said I wasn't a bad person, would you believe me?"
"Why not believe me? Just like you said, you're only stating the facts. Although you're twisted and wicked, you're not a bad person in some ways." Mephistopheles smiled, snapped his fingers, and a chair appeared on the ground. Mephistopheles sat down, stretched his right hand to the side, and naturally a small table appeared on his right with a teacup on it.
Watching these actions, the fake object's eyes revealed admiration. "A breathtaking display of alchemy! There must be no more skilled alchemist on this earth than you, right? It's already comparable to the Marble Phantasm."
"It's only possible because of the special environment here. I couldn't do alchemy like this outside. I still need to keep moving forward on the path of True Magic." Mephistopheles appeared unusually humble. As he said this, he snapped his fingers again, and a chair appeared behind the fake object.
"Please don't be shy, have a seat."
At this moment, Mephistopheles seemed less like a guest and more like the host of this place.
Faced with this situation, the fake object simply smiled, showing no anger, and even sat down happily.
Seeing the other person sit down, Mephistopheles put his teacup aside and said, "Alright, let's get straight to the point, Mr. Angra Mainyu."
This imposter, cloaked in the skin of Irisviel, is the demon who embodies All the World's Evils, the chief dark god in Zoroastrianism, the source of all sin and darkness, and the nemesis of the benevolent god Ahura Mazda, representing evil in the dualism of good and evil.
He is known as Angra Mainyu!
Chapter 111 The Secret of the Third Magic [Part 1]
Angra Mainyu is not True God; he is merely an ordinary person referred to as the Dark God. He does not possess any of the power of the god of darkness and evil in mythology. All he has is the "attack against humanity" derived from the concept of "human malice."
It can be said that this ability is the weakest when facing non-human Servants. Those legendary heroes either have the bloodline of mythical beasts or the bloodline of gods. Pure humans are extremely rare, so the result of being summoned to participate in the Holy Grail War is predictable.
Mephistopheles briefly considered the information he had about Angra Mainyu, then smiled and said, "Actually, your current situation is due to your own unique circumstances. It can only be said that the Einzbern Family made their own goals impossible to achieve."
Upon hearing Mephistopheles's words, Angra Mainyu paused for a moment in confusion before asking, "Although I don't particularly like this family, and I heard you say they were happy about their own self-destruction, I don't really understand what you mean by 'I'm special'?"
"This relates to the Holy Grail's special nature. If wishes could be fulfilled simply by relying on a large amount of magical power, then there would be no need for the Holy Grail; simply gathering a large amount of magical power would suffice."
"The magic of the Holy Grail is actually a kind of fuel, a kind of currency, a kind of material needed for forging, and even the simplest part of it. The real difficulty of the Holy Grail lies in the foundation of its existence, which is the human heart."
"Human nature? What you're saying makes me want to laugh. Human nature, that can be incredibly wicked."
"But you can't deny that the human heart also possesses positive emotions; after all, this is essentially the foundation of your existence."
"I never deny people's goodness, but I also don't deny people's evil. As you said, this is the foundation of my existence." Angra Mainyu smiled, picked up the extra cup next to him, which contained delicious black tea.
Everything in this place is an illusion, and Angra Mainyu has long forgotten what the food and drink he used to eat and drink actually tasted like.
Now, relying on the black tea emanating from the man in front of him, he felt its sweetness, and his whole body and mind inexplicably relaxed.
It waited for the man in front of it to continue explaining its uniqueness.
"What I really want to say is that the Holy Grail is essentially made primarily of human prayers and uses those wishes as its foundation to open the path to the outside world. So, wouldn't an existence built on human prayers be a perfect match for you, who were born from human prayers?"
As Mephistopheles spoke, he continued to observe the Angra Mainyu who was disguised as Irisviel. Although he was the one in his past life, a young man, the other party could only be referred to as "it" at this moment, and his gender could not be determined.
It's even impossible to say that the other party is a human being!
"I am Angra Mainyu. I am not Angra Mainyu. I am just an ordinary person who has been burdened with the evil of humanity because of human prayers rather than by my own will." Angra Mainyu smiled and echoed Mephistopheles' words. It had already understood why it had been imprisoned in this place for so long.
"You're absolutely right. My compatibility with the Holy Grail is just too high, and that's what led to the tragedy of the Einzbern Family. They tried to cheat, but they didn't expect that their cheating would cause them to lose in the subsequent Holy Grail War."
Its smile was so beautiful, almost identical to that of Irisviel in the past. "The Einzbern Family has indeed brought this upon themselves. This time, they will also fail to achieve their goals, because I can see that you have no intention of doing things their way."
She stood up, placed her hands behind her back, and spun around, her skirt fluttering slightly with her movement. Like a young girl, she tilted her head slightly and winked at Mephistopheles: "The man of the past understood the truth of the Holy Grail's power to grant wishes from my words and chose to destroy Holy Grail. So what about you? What will you do? Destroy the Holy Grail again?"
"I don't intend to destroy the Holy Grail; I intend to bring Holy Grail forth," Mephistopheles said, looking at Angra Mainyu. "You should leave this place too. Being locked up here isn't a good thing. Although the Throne of Heroes must be quite boring, it's still more comfortable than being locked up here."
Angra Mainyu paused for a moment, then laughed even harder, "Are you pitying me?"
"That's right, I'm just pitying you. You're inexplicably being treated as the God of Darkness and summoned out of nowhere. If I were in the Third Holy Grail War, I might choose to summon the real Angra Mainyu to show the Einzbern Family."
That would lead to the destruction of the world.
Mephistopheles grinned. "Then just summon Ahura Mazda again."
The ancient dualism of good and evil places evil gods in opposition to good gods, but it is only when good and evil coexist that a complete world is truly constructed.
Mephistopheles wanted to free Angra Mainyu, or rather the young man called Angra Mainyu, who was imprisoned in this place, so that he could achieve his own liberation, even if that liberation was only to return to the Throne of Heroes.
But at least, as long as he returns to the Throne of Heroes, there will always be a chance to truly leave the Throne of Heroes and go to the human world.
"You can try to break free from the Throne of Heroes. Although it's impossible to determine when you'll reappear after breaking free, it's certain that your breaking Throne of Heroes will happen, as long as you keep trying."
Are you going to talk to me about math?
"The probability is extremely low, roughly analogous to a human passing through a wall. But with endless time, you can make endless attempts. With nearly the Infinite attempts, you will inevitably succeed one time." Mephistopheles shrugged. "Although it sounds somewhat despairing, that sliver of possibility is actually hope."
"How long it will take to break free is uncertain; the probability of breaking free is extremely low; the location where you will appear after breaking free from the Throne of Heroes is uncertain; and the exact time in that location is also uncertain. If you were to reveal this kind of plan, you would definitely get beaten up."
Mephistopheles grinned. "You want to fight me?"
"I can't beat you." Angra Mainyu immediately shook his head. "I can see your specialness. In some ways, my connection with the Holy Grail is so close that I am the Holy Grail itself. Although you are human, you possess divinity, and even power similar to divine authority. Even if you don't have divinity, your specialness makes it difficult for me to have any influence on you."
Mephistopheles did not answer these questions, while Angra Mainyu continued, "You possess the blessing of a god, the blessing of a powerful god. If you hadn't lowered your guard, I wouldn't even have been able to pull you in here. Even Gilgamesh would have found this impossible, and he is the most powerful Servant I have ever seen."
Mephistopheles initially thought he had some kind of divine protection, but upon hearing the other person's words, he immediately understood that they were referring to the protection provided by Mephistopheles's own clothes. These protections were all True Magic, but in reality, they all utilized Angelic Power, so calling it divine protection was indeed not in question.
As long as one doesn't encounter a high-level anti-magic power like "Imagine Breaker" that can instantly shatter magic, a skilled True Magic's defenses are strong enough to withstand a nuclear bomb.
As for those top-tier True Magic, with sufficient preparation, Mephistopheles suspected they could withstand even attacks that could destroy an entire galaxy or even a world.
"What is your wish? I will tell you how to make it come true. I will not lie."
"For example, could you directly grant my wish to become Third Magician instead of an ordinary person?"
"Is this your wish?"
"No."
Mephistopheles rejected the Third Magician's wish, and after a moment's thought, said, "What if my wish is to cross the Abyss and reach the state of 8=3?"
Angra Mainyu fell silent; he realized he couldn't understand a word the other person was saying.
"In the beginning, there was nothing in the world, not even the concept of a world. Then, a mysterious power descended from the void. This power extended continuously from high to low, spanning ten regions. When it reached the lowest region, the world we know today was born."
Angra Mainyu looked at Mephistopheles with some surprise, seemingly not expecting to hear such a description.
"The scene of creation..."
Mephistopheles chuckled and continued, "And what I meant by 8=3 is actually the third region out of those ten regions."
"The Holy Grail can't achieve that, it can't even distort it..." Angra Mainyu said in a low voice, "The only way the Holy Grail can work is to grant you immortality of your soul, which is the Third Magic."
Are you suggesting that the Third Magic will bring me closer to my goal?
"No, I'm just giving you enough time to try and see if you can reach that level." Angra Mainyu shook his head, a hint of pity in his eyes as he looked at Mephistopheles: "This is something that might not be successful even with the Infinite time, and even if you reach the Third Magic, the time you have is not the Infinite."
Hearing this, Mephistopheles showed no sadness; he even laughed, "So the Third Magic is actually a connection between itself and the universe, and when the universe is destroyed, the user of the Third Magic will also face destruction?"
He doesn't need to rely on the Holy Grail to make a wish; he can make enough judgments simply by relying on Angra Mainyu's desire to express himself.
Angra Mainyu looked annoyed. "You managed to trick me into telling you this."
Chapter 112 The Secret of the Third Magic [Part 2]
Although Angra Mainyu appeared annoyed, it seemed more like an act than a form of self-amusement.
Then, Angra Mainyu laughed and said, "If the Great Source has enough magic power, then there will be no cutting. The occurrence of Pruning is fundamentally due to insufficient magic power."
Mephistopheles laughed heartily, "So essentially, the universe isn't the Infinite, but finite."
The future of the world is inevitably destruction. Even if we escape the Pruning, the day of the universe's destruction will inevitably come. This has led Mephistopheles to a new conjecture.
A main universe can give rise to a vast number of parallel universes. Although it allows for the Infinite possibilities, this the Infinite possibility is actually just a literary description and cannot be applied to actual mathematics.
Since the energy of the universe is finite, it is impossible for the Infinite number of parallel universes to be created. Therefore, this main universe and the finite number of parallel universes that branch out from it can be referred to as a collection of universes.
Within this collection of universes, all the civilizations within these universes can be added together, resulting in a finite but absolutely enormous number—far exceeding the upper limit of the Inner Universe the collection.
The destruction of the universe occurs because of the depletion of energy; otherwise, it would not be destruction but Pruning. This also illustrates that all universes within a set of universes essentially share a finite energy source.
Therefore, the destruction of one universe means that a vast collection of universes, all the universes within that collection, are also destroyed!
This also signifies that the vast number of civilizations in these universes have all met their end!
Mephistopheles recalled the ancient story Hecate had told him: the home of the Greece gods was another universe, which had been destroyed, and Chaos had left that universe and come to the present universe to begin its development.
So, besides Chaos, were there any other civilizations that successfully escaped destruction?
Given Mephistopheles's understanding of Type-Moon, he racked his brains trying to recall, but couldn't remember any related descriptions of Servants or civilizations. It could be said that the only connection was the Greece gods.