This time, Illya's body held out against the black light for even longer. A full three seconds passed before the black light dissipated, and Heracles died once again, then... revived!
At the very instant the black light vanished, Artoria and Mordred, who had been waiting for this moment, swung their Holy Sword and Royal Sword!
"Excalibur--!"
"Rise in rebellion against my glorious father!"
Two pillars of light, crimson and gold, shot into the heavens and earth, instantly swallowing the three Medusa Puppets. Without slowing, they crossed over a thousand meters in an instant and arrived before Sakura Matou.
Then... Sakura Matou blinked away!
This kind of beam attack without any locking capability was utterly powerless against a Flash Mage who had long been prepared.
However, Sakura Matou—or rather, All the World's Evil—seemed to have been frightened by Artoria and Mordred's combined attack. After using Flash, she immediately left the area, taking the remaining Medusa Puppets with her rather than continuing to entangle herself with Illya and the others.
Seeing this, Illya, whose nerves had been taut the entire time, finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.
She had guessed correctly.
At this point, Sakura Matou no longer needed to obtain magical energy through murder. All the World's Evil was only doing this to make Sakura Matou fall even further, beyond the point of return.
Who could forgive someone who had massacred thousands of innocent ordinary people?
Not even Rin Tohsaka could.
If Illya had no way to restore Sakura Matou's sanity and free her from All the World's Evil's control, Rin Tohsaka would have chosen righteousness over family and killed Sakura Matou herself.
So, after achieving its objective—taking three of Heracles's lives and draining another wave of Artoria and Mordred's magical energy—All the World's Evil withdrew.
Its most important