Roland was enjoying the agony coursing through his body.
The Winter Saint embracing him was the very core of the Holy Grail's central system-the endlessly expanding, multiplying Magic Circuits.
It was a human cosmos transposed through magical formulas, containing the system's own most earnest wish and ability.
The Third True Magic-Heaven's Feel.
Angra Mainyu had relied on this to obtain flesh, allowing him to turn black mud into flesh and blood, then use the Rat Talisman's power to forge a physical body.
Roland had long known that the Holy Grail was not an omnipotent Wish-Granting Machine, but there was one wish she could grant with ease: the materialization of the soul itself.
This was precisely the goal that the Einzberns had later come to pursue.
Shendu's goal as a Contract Spirit was resurrection, to obtain a body that matched his soul. What could be more suitable than a body created with his innate soul as its template?
However, this transformation was by no means easy. The Holy Grail's methods could only be called brutal.
It used Roland's own flesh as a blueprint and began engraving his new form onto it.
It felt like remaining fully conscious as pain spread from every part of his body, like a patient lying on an operating table who suddenly woke halfway through surgery.
Unable to wail or vent his agony, he could only feel the coldness of a blade piercing flesh in the darkness.
Roland's body swelled rapidly, every cell replaced as tough, noble flesh, bones, and scales were born from this embryo.
In Roland's own perception, his body had become a blur.
But with the infusion of nearly limitless magical energy, that hazy feeling was gradually fading.
In fact, he did not need to understand it rationally at all. Roland felt fulfillment radiating