Beneath Ryuudou Temple—that was where the Greater Grail of Fuyuki City's Holy Grail War resided.
Inside the large cavern within Mount Enzou where Ryuudou Temple was located, a magic circle was set up with the function of adjusting Fuyuki's land to be suitable as the Grail's descent location.
This was the Greater Grail's main body. The golden cup that appeared outside was merely a "hole" used to connect to the Greater Grail and release its abilities.
When Zuke arrived here, what he saw was the black mud overflowing in the cavern, and Waver standing not far from the black mud.
"Mm? Ah, it's Zuke-san."
Seemingly sensing someone approaching from behind, Waver froze, turned to look, and when he saw it was Zuke, his expression clearly showed relief.
"Why did you come?"
"Of course I'm looking for you—why did you suddenly think to investigate the Greater Grail?"
Zuke looked at the black mud in the cavern—these were all "magical energy" accumulated from the last Holy Grail War, released in the form of black mud.
At the end of the last Holy Grail War, Zuke had absorbed all the black mud overflowing from the small Grail, but still left a large portion of black mud stored in the Greater Grail.
It was precisely this black mud, replacing about 50 years' worth of "magical energy," that allowed the Fifth Holy Grail War to open again with only 10 years of accumulated magical energy.
Otherwise normally, 60 years would be needed between Holy Grail Wars to accumulate sufficient magical energy.
"Actually, after hearing from you about 'All the World's Evil' during the last Holy Grail War, I wanted to come see, but just never had the chance."
Waver answered with a bitter smile, his gaze at the black mud in the Greater Grail somewhat grave.
"This really is inauspicious 'magical energy'... This also made me realize that continuing the Holy Grail War like this isn't a solution."
"So you're planning to dismantle the Holy Grail War?"
Zuke smiled at Waver—in fact, in the original timeline, it was precisely Waver and Rin Tohsaka who together dismantled the Grail system, completely ending Fuyuki City's Holy Grail War.
So Waver having such thoughts while looking at the black mud in the Greater Grail was quite reasonable.
However, in the original timeline's ability to dismantle the Greater Grail, there were multiple influencing factors, and these factors had now disappeared due to Zuke's interference.
So if Waver still wanted to dismantle the Greater Grail, he had many more issues to consider than in the original timeline.
"I have this idea... Conveniently, among the Holy Grail War's Three Founding Families, both the Matou and Einzbern families have disappeared. We just need to seek the Tohsaka family's opinion."
Waver nodded, not hiding his thoughts—or rather, he knew hiding his thoughts from Zuke was meaningless and might as well say them directly.
Perhaps he could even gain Zuke's support. After all, with Zuke's strength there, if he took action, he should be able to instantly remove the entire Grail system.
"However, this kind of thing must be hidden from the Mage's Association... If the Mage's Association learns that Fuyuki City's Holy Grail War can actually reproduce the Third Magic..."
As Waver spoke, thinking of those "orthodox" mages in the Mage's Association, he couldn't help feeling somewhat troubled.
Having mixed in the Mage's Association so long, he understood quite well the thought processes of those Mage's Association mages.
If they knew Fuyuki City's Holy Grail War could truly reproduce the legendary Third Magic, they wouldn't care about the danger of "All the World's Evil"—they'd just rush forward one after another.
"Don't want the Mage's Association to know? Then it's actually quite simple."
Hearing Waver's words, Zuke grinned at him.
"Just make everyone in the Mage's Association obediently listen. That way, they won't care where you went or what you did."
"How could such a thing be so easy? Don't look at how I'm currently acting as El-Melloi Lord—El-Melloi's voice has seriously declined now."
Waver sighed lightly, first shaking his head, thinking Zuke was completely unaware of the Mage's Association's internal power dynamics.
However, Waver's brain still worked quite fast. He'd just finished the previous sentence when a thought flashed through his mind.
"Wait! Zuke-san, could you mean you want to...?"
"Exactly that."
Seeing Waver's face change, seemingly understanding his idea, Zuke's smile grew wider.
"Let's make a trip together, Waver. After all, I don't know where those Mage's Association Lords are. I'll need you to lead the way."
About half an hour later, in Waver's office at the Clock Tower, Zuke heard Waver's somewhat tired voice:
"Done, Zuke-san. I've contacted the other Lords... Except for Gaiusling, the other Lords are all in the Clock Tower."
Although the El-Melloi Lord position Waver inherited was teetering on the edge of collapse, at the end of the day it was still a Lord position—he still had the authority to contact other Lords.
So Waver spent some time using the Mage's Association's unique communication tools to confirm with other Lords, finally determining most Lords were in the Clock Tower.
"However, don't worry about Gaiusling. He completely obeys Barthomeloi—calling him Barthomeloi Lord's puppet isn't an exaggeration. So dealing with Barthomeloi is equivalent to dealing with him."
Zuke nodded—he knew something about the Barthomeloi name. It was mentioned in another Type-Moon series work "Tsukihime" as the Lord family at the Clock Tower's pinnacle.
If he remembered correctly, the current Lord, Barthomeloi Lorelei, was female.
"Just contacting other Lords—why do you look so exhausted?"
While drinking coffee, Zuke raised an eyebrow at the seemingly tired Waver and curiously asked.
When he'd grabbed Waver and flew back to the Clock Tower earlier, Waver hadn't looked this tired. Yet after contacting the Lords, Waver looked like he was about to collapse.
"The other Lords aren't as easy to deal with as me. Just chatting with them makes me feel immense pressure."
Waver sat down in his chair helplessly, gasped a few breaths, then spread his hands to explain.
"Zuke-san, you're strong enough naturally not to feel pressure from them... But I'm different from you."
"That means you really should improve your strength."
Zuke smiled and put down his coffee, then stood up.
"Alright, let's go. Time to meet those Lords, then... give them a new master."
To be continued…