The Departing Servant

"Grandfather..."

A questioning voice came, tinged with fear. It was the voice of his granddaughter, to whom he was not related by blood. Upon hearing this voice, Zouken Matou became even happier.

"This is truly unexpected. You can actually sense my presence? Sakura."

Zouken Matou said, letting his body writhe in the damp environment. This was his body, but not the old one; it was an insect body, Crest Worms.

"You've studied Magecraft with me for so long, and you've also inherited the Crest Worms of the Matou family. I can say that I've taught you almost everything I know without reservation."

Sakura Matou's voice sounded somewhat confused and fearful, "Almost?"

"That's right, almost. As expected of my lovely granddaughter, you grasped the key point immediately. What I didn't teach you was how to use the Crest Worms to carry your soul and consciousness. This is also my biggest secret. Among the Crest Worms I implanted in your body, there is a most crucial one, which is my consciousness."

"Although I'm surprised you can sense my presence, unfortunately, simply sensing it is useless. As I speak to you, do you feel your consciousness gradually dissipating, as if your body is beginning to cease to belong to you?"

"That's inevitable. After all, your body will soon become mine. From now on, I will be Sakura Matou, and your soul will just be nourishment for these Crest Worms."

Zouken Matou said happily, "This kind of talking isn't entirely useless. By using communication to disrupt the other party's concentration, the Crest Worms can carry out their activities faster and more effectively. This is also a kind of tactic."

But soon, Zouken Matou sensed that something was wrong.

He found his surroundings strange. Although it was damp and smelled of blood, it didn't feel like he was inside a human body!

Blood vessels, blood, and so on gradually dissipated at this moment. Zouken Matou suddenly realized that he was not in a human body, but in a transparent container. In front of him was Sakura Matou, who was staring at him expressionlessly!

Standing beside Sakura Matou was her servant, the masked Medusa. But besides Medusa, there was another beautiful, mature woman who looked at her with interest and asked Sakura Matou, "Is this your family's Magecraft?"

"Crest Worms, using Crest Worms to perform Magecraft, are actually a special kind of crest." Sakura Matou nodded, then asked, "Medea- neechan, can I take care of him?"

"Have you made up your mind?"

A flicker of decision crossed Sakura Matou's face before she said without hesitation, "Yes, I knew this day would come when he was torturing Uncle Kariya. So many years have passed, and he's still as evil as ever. I have no regrets now, so it's better to get rid of him. At least that's the best choice for everyone."

Zouken Matou stared in shock at the scene. He never expected to be in this situation, and the most terrifying thing was that as his consciousness had completely transferred here, his physical body had collapsed and he couldn't go back at all!

"You... you were already on guard against me?! No, that's not right. I modified you very early on. You couldn't have found a way to deal with my Magecraft so early on!" Zouken Matou's insect body twisted and turned, trying to gather magical power to escape from this place, but strangely, he felt that he could not break through this fragile glass jar. He was completely locked up by a creation of human technology!

"Actually, apart from the first three days when the Crest Worms modification worked on me, the Crest Worms didn't affect me at all. The effect of deception was indeed very powerful. The Crest Worms, you, my brother, and everyone else were all deceived by deception."

Sakura Matou rarely showed a smile in front of Zouken Matou.

"But that's normal. After all, how could Magecraft of your level, Grandpa, possibly understand the True Magic cast by such a powerful True Magic? My body was repaired by his power, but the Magic Circuits expanded by the Crest Worms were preserved. It's like he only took the benefits without paying the price."

"But your magic power... if you didn't have the Crest Worms, your normal magic power..." Sakura Matou's total magic power was extremely vast. It was terrifying even before the Life and Sorrow Fragment was implanted, and it became even more terrifying after the Holy Grail Fragment was implanted. Even if that could be faked, magic power should be impossible to fake!

"Because my magical power is already enormous, and my body has been modified by Crest Worms, the life force of the Crest Worms, or rather, the magical power of the Crest Worms, is extremely compatible with mine. As long as the Crest Worms themselves are not killed, and they are brought to a near-death state and preserved, the rest will all be converted into magical power and become my power, there is no problem at all."

Sakura Matou spoke, she clapped her hands lightly.

Suddenly, the surrounding environment changed again. A huge nutrient solution tank appeared, filled with countless insects—all of them Crest Worms!

These Crest Worms will occasionally fidget with their antennae and other parts, but most of the time they remain motionless.

These insects were all in a coma, or rather, in a state of suspended animation. They instinctively converted their life force into magic power, and then converted the life force of their own companions into magic power. All of this magic power flowed into Sakura Matou's body.

"Actually, I've also cultivated quite a few Crest Worms myself, just in case you find out too many of Crest Worms have died, Grandpa. Although I can't directly cultivate Crest Worms like the Matou family's using ordinary people's techniques, cultivating a group of creatures with the instinct to convert magical energy shouldn't be a problem."

Sakura Matou finished speaking, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, revealing a hint of smugness.

"Insects are easier to raise than people. As long as there is enough food, they can reproduce quickly. Moreover, magic is contained in all life. Grandpa, I haven't remembered this knowledge wrong, have I?"

Zouken Matou was speechless as he watched this scene unfold. His mind was blank; he never imagined that the girl he had always suppressed and controlled would go to such lengths.

The most terrifying thing was not the other party's resistance and scheming, but that the other party had been deceiving him since only three days after he threw him into the insect hive, and had been deceiving him for more than ten years!

No one discovered this secret, no one found out until now, when I carelessly walked into their trap and became their prisoner!

"A special kind of puppetry. Although it looks disgusting, you're right. It's more efficient than killing people. Even if we disregard morality and focus solely on efficiency, insects are far more useful than humans. You currently rely on Magic Circuits to extract magic power, but in reality, life force itself is magic power. As long as there's a device to convert life force into magic power, we can quickly extract fresh magic power from these creatures."

Medea said, then shook her head. "Unfortunately, my Master doesn't have that kind of brain. He stubbornly believes that using people to refine magic is the most convenient and quickest method."

Sakura Matou smiled, "Many of the people I know have their own jobs outside, some are even in corporate management, and some even own their own companies. One of the principles they told me is that sometimes efficiency is not just about looking at the unit output of something, but also about considering many other factors."

"Just like humans are the objects from which magic is extracted, the efficiency is too low. Perhaps the unit ratio is high, but not to mention that the breeding is slow, the purchase is troublesome, and the price is not cheap, etc. In comparison, even ordinary livestock are cheap, easy to buy, and numerous. The magic output per unit may be a little less, but it can be completely increased by the quantity."

Sakura Matou sighed as she spoke, "Unfortunately, even if we abandon morality and consider only efficiency, there are still some people who won't think of that and instead think they're very clever."

"That's why I despise that guy. He can't draw magic directly from the Great Source, which is due to his insufficient mastery of Magecraft, and it's difficult to overcome in a short time. But he can't see the more efficient and safer way among the paths he can choose, so he's just plain stupid."

"Of course, I also hate that guy's behavior of persecuting children."

Zouken Matou strained to gather enough magical power. He didn't know who these two people were talking about, but he could deduce that the witch Medea's Master had already met with misfortune, and that Medea's current Master must be someone else.

He didn't want to worry about any of that right now; all he wanted was to find a way to survive. If he could break this jar, quickly find a dark corner to hide in, and escape through underground waterways or something similar, he would still have a chance to make a comeback.

Unfortunately, he no longer has that opportunity.

"Are you really letting me do it?" Medea asked.

Sakura Matou sighed, "I'm sorry, I don't really want to do it myself."

"It's alright, let me do it." Medea said, gently raising her fingers. In the next instant, the glass bottle shattered, and powerful magic transformed into an invisible hand that grabbed the Crest Worms.

Zouken Matou twisted his body frantically, trying to break free of his restraints. He even shouted, "You must have a lot of things you want to know, like how to obtain a physical body that can remain in the real world, or how to extend your lifespan. Just let me go, and I can tell you everything!"

"I have no intention of staying here. I have things to do and need to get back to the Throne of Heroes as soon as possible." Medea said, and with a slight exertion of her right hand, the magical arm in mid-air also exerted force. Under the immense force, Zouken Matou's body was directly crushed, and his plump juices spilled all over the ground.

The Magecraft had been plotting for hundreds of years, the ancestor of the Matou family, died without even a tombstone, or rather, without an urn.

Flames danced from Medea's fingertips, burning away the scattered Crest Worms juices, leaving only charred marks.

Sakura Matou stared at the shattered glass bottle for a long time, but ultimately said nothing and slowly walked out of the room.

After a while, her voice came from the doorway.

"Destroy those Crest Worms too; they're useless now."

Upon hearing the command, Medusa pressed the red button beneath the Crest Worms culture tanks.

Instantly, a massive electric current flowed in from the surrounding area, killing all the Crest Worms that were already on the verge of collapse. The current was then converted into basic magical energy and flowed into Sakura Matou's body.

The machine began to disintegrate, turning into fragments on the ground. Since learning True Magic from Mephistopheles and gaining more basic knowledge, she understood more ways to use magic, and these Crest Worms were no longer needed.

She had always felt that these Crest Worms would be useful in the future, and this mindset made her keep them. Now, after Zouken Matou witnessed this scene, Sakura Matou realized that.

The purpose of those Crest Worms left behind has now been realized, making Zouken Matou realize that his plan had failed from the very beginning—it was precisely the purpose of those Crest Worms.

Now that these things are no longer useful, they have naturally lost their value and can be destroyed.

"Your body is very healthy now, and your vitality is very strong. It's unlikely that you'll get any diseases, as long as you don't deliberately get infected with threatening infectious diseases." Medea stepped out and looked at Sakura Matou, who had now absorbed all the life force of these Crest Worms. "You might be able to live longer than a hundred years, approaching the lifespan limit of an ordinary person."

A strong vitality naturally leads to a long lifespan and a healthy body!

Based on this alone, Sakura Matou will have a significant advantage over ordinary people on her future path of True Magic training!

Chapter 116 The Departing Servant

Mephistopheles did not interfere with Sakura Matou's choice. He also knew that Medea was going to help, and he thought it was great. With Medea backing him up, that old guy would definitely have no chance of turning the tables.

In terms of both skill and understanding of Magecraft, Zouken Matou was Sakura Matou and Medea.

Now that he had sensed the old man's death, Mephistopheles knew that this Holy Grail War could come to an end.

The Matou family will inevitably cease to be a family of Magecraft in the future, because Shinji Matou lacks the talent of Magecraft, and the Matou family's Magic Crest was passed down to Sakura Matou. Sakura Matou has no intention of continuing to pass on such a disgusting thing, so the Matou family's Magecraft is about to die out.

Without his identity as Magecraft, Shinji Matou is just a somewhat disgusting human being who still knows what he can and cannot do, otherwise he would be killed by the police. Mephistopheles can understand this phenomenon.

After all, the identity of Magecraft is essentially the foundation upon which Shinji Matou can say "I don't eat beef." Without this foundation, he would naturally become a relatively honest ordinary person.

This world should be a normal Fourth Holy Grail War Fifth Holy Grail War world, but due to Mephistopheles's intervention, its development has already undergone tremendous changes. If we follow the original Type-Moon setting, then from the moment Mephistopheles intervened, the entire world diverged into a special parallel world. This parallel world is constantly developing and has its own future.

However, for Mephistopheles at this moment, these are not the main points. The main point is the answer that the Holy Grail, which exists in front of him, gives him.

The densely packed content transformed into knowledge, or rather, information, which flowed into Mephistopheles's mind. This content contained the answers to the questions in the book he had written.

These answers only addressed four questions, but for Mephistopheles, even obtaining the answer to just one of them would be a tremendous gain.

The safest way to use the Holy Grail is through pure information exchange, without asking the Holy Grail for any power. By confining the information within a safe and familiar range, there is no risk of making a wish upon the Holy Grail.

Even the Black Holy Grail, tainted by All the World's Evils, cannot be distorted under such standardized operation. After all, the rules and restrictions themselves were designed to limit beings such as demons.

When it comes to the misinterpretation of textual information, the devil is the true ancestor.

As Mephistopheles browsed through the contents the Holy Grail had given him, he couldn't help but nod.

The content is vast, but it's real enough, and eerie enough.

This is perfectly normal. True Magic is something that defies common sense. So-called common sense is not truth; it is just something that people summarize based on their own experience.

Truth, by definition, must be verified. But True Magic, which exists in the world yet seems like a bug, is like poison to humanity. If left unchecked, it will damage the human brain.

Among all this toxic knowledge, the so-called original texts are the most toxic. At this moment, what Mephistopheles is seeing is similar to the original texts being further filtered and viewed through the description of the Holy Grail.

There will inevitably be some distortions here, but it's still much safer than reading the original text directly. At least you don't have to sew his eyes shut and then stay quietly in True Magic circle for months just to dispel the toxins in his body.

"However, is the actual stone sword Gilgamesh possesses located at the bottom of the sea? And it has no blade, only a stone tablet..." Mephistopheles muttered in surprise. Of all the questions he had raised, this one was probably the least valuable, but it was one of the four questions the Holy Grail answered.

The address is very clear, down to the point that the deviation might be within a few meters.

As for the other three questions, two of them are relative: "Is every goddess included in the concept of the mother goddess?" and "Is every male god included in the concept of the father god?"

The Holy Grail provided the answer, which was extremely complex and contained numerous theories, amounting to tens of thousands of words. However, after reading through all of this, according to the school of thought to which Mephistopheles belonged, or rather, according to Kabbalah, there was only one answer.

All goddesses are contained within the Mother Goddess, and all male gods are contained within the Father God.

Therefore, all goddesses are contained in the highest femininity, and all gods are contained in the highest masculineness.

These two positions correspond to 8=3 and 9=2 respectively, with the absolutely pure and supreme single above them, which is 10=1.

Perhaps it is the unique nature of its Root that allows the Holy Grail to obtain this answer, but that is all it can do; even the Greater Holy Grail cannot obtain a higher answer.

This answer was more than enough for Mephistopheles.

With this foundation, he has a greater sense of confidence in the path he is on now.

As for the last remaining question, it is. "The method by which God created humankind from clay, and the technology born from this method, without discussing the structure of the soul, only requiring the physical body, please tell me the technique, True Magic, or Magecraft knowledge that is closest to this method, to the best of your knowledge."

There were plenty of restrictions, and the answer given by the Holy Grail surprised Mephistopheles. It included puppet-related technology, which wasn't unusual, but there was another technology that was ranked before puppets, a method that was closer to the way God created humanity.

Cloning technology!

If the brain can be completely locked down by True Magic, preventing it from developing consciousness, then the body created by cloning technology will be the most perfect imitation of God's creation!

However, this is also the most difficult step. Trying to interfere with the brain through True Magic and Magecraft to prevent it from developing its own soul is the most difficult step and the easiest to fail at.

"Your wish has been fulfilled, though only a very small number of your questions have been answered. But according to your request, your wish has been granted," Angra Mainyu said, looking up at the hollow of the Holy Grail. "The path to the Root has been opened; it awaits the victor's entry. Do you wish to go in?"

"I tried to contact the Root a very, very long time ago, but the Root resisted me, so there's no need to try." Mephistopheles shook his head with a smile, touching the Holy Grail in his hand. As the terminal connecting to the Greater Holy Grail, Mephistopheles had some ideas about the Holy Grail System.

God connects with the Root and gains power, and the Holy Grail also connects with the Root. Although this connection is like a hacker's implantation, in terms of true power or authority, the Holy Grail has far more capabilities than God.

If someone could truly continue to develop this technology of the Holy Grail and apply this structure to humans—not the current Illya, but a more complete structure—it might be possible to create Mystic Code that allows humans to directly connect with the Root and obtain corresponding powers.

That was definitely not a model similar to Shiki Ryougi, but rather closer to the model of the gods in the Age of Age of Gods, and even more free than the gods.

The so-called Mystic Code that everyone can become a god!

But the thought that such a god would ultimately be limited by its Root made Mephistopheles shake his head and banish the idea from his mind.

The upper limit is too low, and the effect is similar to the Third Magic, so there's no need to consider it.

"Your sister is over there." Angra Mainyu pointed to a spot not far away. As the Black Mud receded, a woman's body emerged from Black Mud —it was Bazett, who was missing an arm.

"Thank you for saving her. She's too naive and easily fooled," Mephistopheles said, bowing respectfully to Angra Mainyu.

"Having someone to talk to at least keeps me from being so lonely, even though she's mostly unconscious and we haven't been able to talk for very long." Angra Mainyu shook his head, then looked up at the sky. His body gradually began to dissipate, drifting into the void.

"This summoning is complete, the Holy Grail ritual has been truly completed, so now I am finally going to disappear." As he spoke, his whole body gradually floated up, and at this moment, a light, or rather a ball of light, suddenly floated out of the void.

The ball of light slowly descended, heading towards Mephistopheles.

Seeing the sphere of light appear so suddenly, yet clearly with its own objective, Angra Mainyu was taken aback at first, then smiled and said, "Hmm, it seems something has come looking for you, perhaps even from outside this world."

"That was an alarm clock, or rather, a coordinate." Mephistopheles looked at the ball of light that had landed in his hand and then disappeared, feeling the power flowing from it. The ball of light was like a guide, as if it were telling him, "You can stay here for a few more days, and then it's time to leave."

"Do you know who gave this to you?" Angra Mainyu asked, even though he was about to disappear and return to the Throne of Heroes, he still wanted to know the answer.

If he can't find out the answer, he'll definitely be in pain for a very long time after returning to the Throne of Heroes.

"It could be me in the future, or it could be Alaya, or it could be Human Order." Mephistopheles listed several possibilities, and finally gave one answer, "Of course, it could also be Yog-Sothoth."

"There are so many possibilities, especially the last one. If it really is Him, then you're being watched."

After leaving behind these words, Angra Mainyu vanished completely, and a ball of light fell from the spot where he disappeared, landing in Mephistopheles's hand.

Unlike the previous sphere of light, this one is a special kind of Magecraft performed using the power of the Holy Grail. What's locked inside is memory, not Angra Mainyu's memory, but Irisviel's memory.