Summoning the Holy Grail / Sakura Matou's Revenge

"The Holy Grail should be able to make some inferences or prophecies about the future, though not necessarily completely accurate, but it can show some situations. And in a way, I suspect that Angra Mainyu's choice is also a point that needs to be considered in relation to Shirou Emiya becoming the Master this time."

Mephistopheles, glancing at the somewhat downcast little girl, chuckled, "And after this conversation with it, I've gained some confidence in something: perhaps Shirou will have another mother in the future."

"Huh?!" Shirou Emiya gaped, completely bewildered.

Illya jerked her head up, her eyes wide with shock. She asked incredulously, "You... you mean...?"

"Your father is Kiritsugu Emiya, Shirou Emiya is Kiritsugu Emiya son. So, there's nothing wrong with Kiritsugu Emiya's wife being Shirou Emiya's mother, right?"

Shirou Emiya remained completely bewildered, but Illya's reaction was unusually intense. "Mom, Mom, didn't she... completely lose her personality?"

Mephistopheles shook his head. "The completion of the Lesser Holy Grail will cause the Holy Grail's functions to cease and his personality to be erased, but that's just his personality."

"In fact, before the Holy Grail is completed and used up, it becomes a safe house to protect the integrity of the soul. Angra Mainyu acted in the form of Irisviel, absorbing everything about her as his own, including the tone of her voice and even her memories."

"But in fact, these connections also illustrate one thing: Irisviel's soul is preserved in the Holy Grail and has never dissipated. She has only lost herself. As long as her soul is awakened and her self is restored, it doesn't matter even if her soul's memories become blank."

"Because Angra Mainyu's existence is a backup of Irisviel's memories, all we need to do is extract the memories belonging to Irisviel from this and inject them into Irisviel's blank soul. In this respect, we can ask Angra Mainyu for help."

"Most importantly, because Angra Mainyu absorbed everything about Irisviel, it possessed all of Irisviel's memories from her entire life!"

Mephistopheles declared again, "So, the mother of your two children is coming back soon!"

Shirou Emiya didn't know how to answer, while Illya was so excited that she couldn't say anything. She had so much to say, but not a single word could come out of her mouth.

At that moment, her mind was almost entirely filled with one thought.

"Mom's coming back?!"

Chapter 114 Summoning the Holy Grail

Shirou Emiya was extremely nervous, lying on his bed, but he found he couldn't fall asleep at all.

"Can't sleep?" A sudden voice made Shirou Emiya look at the person who had spoken.

Seeing the figure that had appeared in his bedroom at some unknown time, Shirou Emiya grunted in response, then said, "Mr. Mephistopheles, your entry was rather sudden."

"It's alright, we're all men anyway, it's not very offensive." Mephistopheles casually sat down to the side, then asked, "Is it because of Illya's mother?"

"Yes." Shirou Emiya nodded, then added with a sarcastic remark, "Isn't Mr. Mephistopheles Britain? I think one should be more careful around people of the same sex in Britain, especially men."

"Not bad, you actually made that kind of joke." Mephistopheles nodded, then said naturally, "Don't worry, Britain is still safer than Ancient Greece. When I was in Ancient Greece, I only associated with cute girls!"

Seeing Mephistopheles about to recount his tales of womanizing, Shirou Emiya quickly interrupted him, "Mr. Mephistopheles, can Illya's mother really be resurrected?!"

Mephistopheles nodded and said, "It's true. If the soul is preserved, resurrecting a person becomes much simpler. Often, resurrection becomes difficult because the soul is no longer there."

"So this is related to the soul?"

"There are many True Magic that can quickly heal physical injuries, but how to save a soul is an extremely profound subject in True Magic. The ultimate goal of alchemy is to create new life, and the difficulty lies not in constructing the body, but in constructing the soul."

"If it were possible to directly construct new souls, then it would be tantamount to stepping into the realm of gods."

Mephistopheles smiled after saying this, "Well, you can understand it that way, but whether truly creating new souls equates to stepping into the realm of gods, we can only know after it's actually achieved."

Shirou Emiya listened intently to Mephistopheles's explanation, but after it was over, he complained, "Ugh, how did it turn into a True Magic class again?!"

"You asked me that yourself, so I explained it to you."

Shirou Emiya had to admit that Mephistopheles's explanation was indeed due to his question, but his current headache wasn't about that; he had other things to worry about.

"What should I do if, and I mean if, Illya's mother comes back?"

"What? Don't know how to face your adoptive father's wife?"

Instead of referring to Illya's mother, Shirou Emiya said he was Kiritsugu Emiya's father, a description that perfectly addressed the problem that was currently troubling Shirou Emiya.

"Hmm, I don't know how to face that person... Even though I've never met her, and we're practically unrelated, she's somehow like my adoptive mother because of Kiritsugu, right?"

"At least Illya considers you her brother, so to Irisviel you are indeed her son."

"By the way, regarding androids, I mean these dolls, they're actually a bit more pathological and strange in these kinds of emotions than humans. I think it's even possible for them to treat you like their own son."

Mephistopheles then reached out and patted Shirou Emiya on the shoulder. "Congratulations, kid, you've gained another mother, and a very gentle one at that."

Shirou Emiya could only manage a wry smile in response to Mephistopheles's behavior. After a moment of silence, Shirou Emiya said, "I understand. I'll try my best to adapt to this new relationship!"

"Alright, why think so much? Whether she's your mother or not, it takes time to get to know her. From what I know of Irisviel, she's very easy to talk to and a kind person. If you want to know more, you can ask your Servant."

"You mean Saber?"

"Yes, although Artoria is your adoptive father's Servant, Artoria collaborator during the Fourth Holy Grail War was actually Irisviel, and the two of them got along quite well." Mephistopheles smiled as he said this, "Besides, I think you should think about your future path, like which department you should study."

"True Magic?"

"No, I'm talking about your choices after graduating from high school, that is, going to university for further studies."

Such a realistic statement instantly pulled Shirou Emiya out of the Holy Grail War and back into the world called reality, even making him so powerful that he could separate the Holy Grail War from Magecraft and everything else.

"I think it's fine to choose according to your own dreams, or choose what you are good at. Of course, if you ask me, I would definitely say to learn more languages and related fields such as history, archaeology, and mythology."

"But actually, these can all be learned in your spare time. The scientific knowledge that True Magic knows is very helpful for their True Magic learning. Even that guy Aleister specifically studied things like relativity."

"Aleister?"

"Don't worry about him, he's just a guy with decent strength, enough to kick a hundred of me together like a ball."

Mephistopheles's words surprised Shirou Emiya. His house was filled with heroes from various eras, including King Arthur, the great Greece hero, the Irish Child of Light of Light, and even Medusa. But none of them were as powerful as Mephistopheles. Even the one who was called the King of Heroes was easily crushed by Mephistopheles.

In Shirou Emiya's mind, Mephistopheles is the most powerful, even more so than legendary heroes. Mephistopheles is someone who is connected to the gods in mythology!

But now Mephistopheles is saying that this guy named Aleister can kick a hundred Mephistopheles together like a ball. Shirou Emiya can hardly imagine how powerful this kind of human would be.

"It's not that strong; it can only unleash ten times the power to create the Infinite universe energy in an instant, and it's an incredibly precise single-target attack."

Shirou Emiya saw Mephistopheles saying these things and even pouting, seemingly quite unhappy.

This was the first time he had ever seen Mephistopheles with such an expression.

"Moreover, much of the True Magic knowledge you are learning now was actually created by this guy and his classmates."

At this moment, Shirou Emiya finally understood who these people Mephistopheles was referring to were.

"Are you from the Golden Dawn faction you mentioned?!"

"Yes, that's right, but Aleister should be called the former Golden Dawn, since he's already run away."

"So that's how it is, but to be honest, I still find it hard to imagine what it means to create an attack with ten times the energy of the Infinite world? And this kind of attack can be so precise as to target a single individual?!"

"It's just imagination, and then turning imagination into physics, but I don't know how it's done either." Mephistopheles shrugged. "To me, this theory is like putting an elephant in a refrigerator in three simple steps."

Shirou Emiya nodded slightly. He also felt that this kind of attack, which transformed imagination into physics, was rather abstract. It sounded simple, but how to implement it was something he really had no idea how to do.

After waiting silently for three days, allowing his created Lesser Holy Grail substitute to grow sufficiently, Mephistopheles finally began the most crucial step of his plan.

Gilles's soul was released, and the moment Gilles was released, the inner and outer sides of the world were opened up. This opening was a channel based on the rules, not a forced breakthrough through sheer power.

With the help of this rule, the passage appears quickly and steadily, but it will inevitably close the moment the servant's soul passes through.

The Lesser Holy Grail imprisoned Gilles' soul, faithfully performing its function and maintaining the existence of that passage.

However, a passage constructed from the power of a single Servant's soul is far too weak to serve as a conduit for the Greater Holy Grail to descend.

If the Greater Holy Grail forcibly brought down through this channel, its destruction will be inevitable.

Of course, the Greater Holy Grail will not descend if these conditions are not met; this is the Holy Grail System's self-monitoring mechanism.

"The soul of a Servant serves as the key to open the passage, and the magical power that forms the Servant's physical body is actually also collected when the Servant is retrieved, and used as an energy source to stabilize the passage."

Mephistopheles thought to himself, and gently grasped the scepter that was floating in his right hand.

Mephistopheles was wearing his trench coat, and besides the scepter in his right hand, three other symbols representing the elements floated around him.

Elemental forces began to gather around Mephistopheles, and under Mephistopheles's control, these forces continuously poured into the Lesser Holy Grail before him.

The initially somewhat unstable passage began to be continuously strengthened and became increasingly stable under the supply of Mephistopheles's immense magical power.

Once things had stabilized to a certain extent, Mephistopheles finally breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that he only needed to wait a little longer for the Greater Holy Grail to descend upon him!

There was no one else around him, in order to prevent any accidents during the experiment from endangering the people who came to watch the show. Although Mephistopheles felt that the success rate of his plan this time was 99%, he was still unlucky enough to fall into that 1%.

After waiting for a while, a huge hole began to appear in mid-air, like a hole from a solar eclipse.

This void was exactly the same as the scene Mephistopheles saw inside the Holy Grail. Dark liquid flowed out of it, fell to the ground, and then continuously gathered on the ground, turning into a large amount of bizarre flesh and blood, constantly pulsating, as if it were gestating something.

The Greater Holy Grail has finally appeared!

"What do you want to know? Or rather, have you decided what you want to wish for?" Appearing before Mephistopheles was Irisviel, or rather, Angra Mainyu.

After saying this, Angra Mainyu looked up at the passage in the sky, a hint of surprise on its face:

"You truly astonish me. You stabilized the passage and even replenished the missing magic power simply by relying on the soul of a Servant. If the Magecraft who fought to the death several times before knew that the Holy Grail was summoned by you so easily, they would probably jump out of their coffins in anger."

Mephistopheles didn't waste any words. He said, "Can you extract Irisviel's memories? Or copy them?"

"What do you want to find out from her memories? This woman doesn't have any major secrets. What's a big secret to her is nothing to Magecraft, things they wouldn't even care about."

Angra Mainyu smiled and said, "Of course I don't see anything wrong with that. On the contrary, I admire this kind of person. She is more of a human being than many Magecraft, possessing human virtues."

"I only want to resurrect her. Her soul is still within the Holy Grail, but it's incomplete. Even if it's repaired, her memories might be damaged. But you possess her memories, so it's perfect."

Angra Mainyu opened his mouth, then shook his head with a smile, "As expected of you, I'm not surprised by anything you do now."

It then suggested, "You can first construct Irisviel's body, and then I can inject my memories into it."

It then looked at Mephistopheles and said, "So let me guess, after you obtain the Holy Grail, you probably plan to explore the knowledge of physical reconstruction."

"Cloning technology isn't nonexistent," Mephistopheles muttered, reaching out and grasping the Holy Grail, which existed between reality and illusion.

The Holy Grail was connected to Mephistopheles's consciousness. At this moment, Mephistopheles finally had the opportunity to communicate with the Holy Grail, which had little self-awareness but would react instinctively.

My wish is...

Mephistopheles took a deep breath and then voiced his wish, which he had long considered.

"Answer all the questions in this book I have."

His actions were still completely unexpected by Angra Mainyu. Mephistopheles actually took out a notebook filled with many things written on it, clearly containing a lot of questions. Originally, if one were to ask the Holy Grail, asking just one question and receiving an answer from the Holy Grail would fulfill one's wish.

But now Mephistopheles has actually integrated all the problems into a single notebook.

Answering all the questions in the notebook—this is just one question, but it contains a whole host of questions, and the Holy Grail truly needs to answer them all.

"Actually, there aren't many, only a dozen or so. The reason it seems like a lot is because I provided a more detailed description and limited the range of answers to prevent the Holy Grail from being unaware of the problem, so as to prevent it from trying to outsmart me."

Mephistopheles even made sure to explain things to Angra Mainyu.

"Ha!" Angra Mainyu chuckled. It was still connected to the Holy Grail and could see the questions written in Mephistopheles's notes.

Most people would consider it a huge gain to ask just one of those questions and receive the answer from the Holy Grail, but he pulled out more than a dozen!

For example, the question, "How many ways are there to become the child of the Scarlet Mother, that is, the Child of the Abyss? Please list them one by one," is a question that even the Holy Grail struggles to answer.

This level of difficulty is roughly the same as the question Mephistopheles asked last time about how to cross the Abyss and become 8=3.

However, Mephistopheles was kind-hearted and added a condition.

"If you really can't answer, just skip it. If you can't answer any of them, then just change your wish later."

In the dimly lit room, Zouken Matou raised his head and revealed a slight smile.

"Finally, I've been summoned... So it's time for me to take action..."

Chapter 115 Sakura Matou's Revenge

Zouken Matou is a very cautious person. Although he watched Sakura Matou grow up from a young age and had educated and controlled her from childhood, he could proudly say that Sakura Matou was the most perfect creation that grew up according to his will. However, he was still wary of her.

He doesn't trust anyone, not even non-human beings. Any being with independent thinking ability, even a dog, is not someone Zouken Matou would trust.

He has always trusted only himself.

Therefore, even though Sakura Matou became the Master this time and participated in this battle, and even though she followed his orders to monitor Shirou Emiya, Zouken Matou still made other preparations.

"Using Crest Worms as Magecraft of the Matou family, these things have more useful and bizarre characteristics than other things. Compared with other Magecraft, they are more unpredictable and difficult to defend against, especially in terms of controlling people."

Zouken Matou smiled as he carefully manipulated the most special Crest Worms, constantly interacting with and merging with it.

"Soon, I will obtain a young and powerful body, and based on this body, I will seize the Holy Grail and gain the power of immortality through Holy Grail!"

Zouken Matou thought happily, and even couldn't help but laugh.