A black shadow rushed toward Alvin like a ghost.
Along with it came countless Desire Insects.
Alvin threw out a punch, and even the air seemed to shake as the surrounding mana was instantly drained away.
The force of the punch carried the pressure of a mountain. The shadow was blown apart in an instant, sending insect corpses and blood flying everywhere. Thick fluid burst open beneath Rin's feet like bloody flowers.
"Go to Mount Enzo and find Merlin and Illya!"
Alvin picked Rin up and jumped down before pushing the girl toward the street corner.
Those shadows were equivalent to the "Greater Grail's" rules. The moment he exchanged blows with them, Alvin already understood that only one of them could leave.
As a Servant, the only thing he could do was make sure Rin escaped safely first.
Rin hesitated for a moment. When she saw the shadows behind Sakura dancing like a swarm of demons, she bit her lip and finally turned around, running through the snowstorm toward the end of the street.
At the same time, the shadow Alvin had destroyed silently reformed into tentacles that wrapped around him and dragged him in front of Sakura.
"Are you still worried about Sister, Senpai?"
Sakura floated above the whirlpool of Black Mud. Beneath the crystal skirt, her pale feet were exposed. It looked as if she were standing in the air itself. Even while surrounded by Black Mud, her toes remained spotless.
She looked at the boy and suddenly laughed softly, "Don't worry. I won't chase after her... Besides, even if Sister climbs all the way to Mount Enzo, it won't matter."
Those magi and Servants might be strong, but in Fuyuki, she alone was the only "god."
"What exactly are you trying to do?", Alvin asked quietly.
"You should know that if the magic of the Desire Barrier is truly completed... you might be replaced by 'It.'"
"That's not something I need to think about right now."
Sakura suddenly leaned close to Alvin's ear. The breath she exhaled carried a faint sandalwood scent.
"Let me take you somewhere first. I think you'll be very surprised."
At the same time, the Black Mud vortex beneath Sakura's feet slowly began to turn, pulling both her and Alvin into the depths of the "Black Mud".
———
The buzzing of space sounded sharp enough to pierce the eardrums, bringing a suffocating feeling like falling into the deep sea.
As the Black Mud covered Alvin's vision, he vaguely smelled a sweet scent that made his head spin.
Alvin held his breath and looked around. Shock quickly appeared on his face.
The surroundings were no longer the street from before, but a temple.
When he raised his head toward the ceiling, his breathing stopped for a moment.
Pink crystals hung upside down across the dome, and inside every crystal were scenes of different couples together.
Among them, Alvin even saw Sakura at different ages: the helpless girl trembling in the worm pit, the admiration in her eyes after being rescued as she looked toward the boy, the lonely girl secretly envying her bright and outstanding sister from the corner, the girl speaking with "another self" in the mirror, and, the Kama incarnation floating before the throne at this very moment.
"Pretty spectacular, isn't it?"
Sakura's voice came from ahead.
She leaned sideways against a throne carved from black ice, her legs crossed. A crystal dress formed from flames barely covered her soft body, showing off her full and attractive figure.
Alvin stared at the Desire Crystals above and asked in a low voice, "Where exactly is this?"
"Sakura" raised a finger and lightly tapped the edge of the throne.
Shadow tentacles wrapped tightly around Alvin's body and gently carried him to the center of the hall.
"Welcome to my temple."
Sakura stood up and walked barefoot across the stairs covered with a red carpet. Every step caused waves of mana to spread outward.
"Every trace of mana here is filled with people's strongest emotions. Hatred from being abandoned, overwhelming desire for a lover, or perhaps it should simply be called, love."
As Sakura spoke, she walked up to Alvin and gently touched his chest.
The cool touch of her pale hand seemed to lower the temperature of the temple itself. Sakura looked up with a smile.
"Senpai's heartbeat... sounds just as wonderful as those people whose emotions were devoured."
"I really want to feel that heartbeat even more closely. It would be nice if you could hand that desire over to me."
The Desire Crystals absorbed a person's strongest emotions. Alvin and Rin had clearly kissed not long ago, yet the Desire Crystals could not extract those feelings from him.
Alvin stared at the seductive beauty before him, "You're not Sakura, are you? Where did you hide her?"
"You're that certain I'm not her?"
Sakura circled around Alvin before suddenly leaning close to his ear and breathing out warm, damp air.
"Is it because you think Sakura would never do something like this to you?"
"But everything I'm doing right now is originally that girl's desire, you know?"
"Everyone has desires, but having them doesn't mean they'll definitely act on them. Most people just bury them deep inside and keep them under control."
Alvin looked over "Sakura's" tall and curvy body, "And you're amplifying those desires."
Sakura blinked and paused briefly.
"Pfft!"
She quickly burst into laughter, her body shaking lightly.
"I never expected to hear such righteous words from Britain's Demon Dragon."
Her slender fingers moved upward and lightly touched Alvin's face as she smiled.
"But... when you kissed my sister tonight, it didn't seem like you controlled your desires very well either?"
"Or perhaps... Senpai thinks being intimate with your own Master is something forbidden and immoral?"
'Bringing this up now feels pointless,' Alvin's expression became a little strange as he silently glanced at the smiling Sakura.
If he didn't know this wasn't the real Sakura, he might even suspect these were her true thoughts.
"You're something from inside the Greater Grail?", Alvin suddenly asked.
Sakura glanced at him and replied calmly, "I'm different from that trash born from hatred after failure."
"All the Evil of This World" was a remnant left behind from the Third Holy Grail War.
And Sakura was the other side of All the Evil of This World, born within the Greater Grail itself.
Her name was Kama, a special being that descended as Beast III/L.
If Kiara Sessyoin was the embodiment of self-love that "fills the universe with the love of one person," then Kama was the embodiment of love for others that "dries up the universe with love for all humanity."
She hated humanity and hated everything in the world, yet she could still love every living thing in existence. But that love was never for their sake. It existed purely to make them fall.
So when Alvin spoke about "controlling desire," "Sakura", or rather, Kama, felt both disdain and irritation.
She studied him for a few moments before suddenly laughing softly, "Speaking of which, Senpai just said you could restrain your desires, didn't you?"
She raised a hand, and a Desire Crystal slowly floated into her palm.
"There's still time anyway, so let me have a little taste."
If things went smoothly, maybe she could devour the White Dragon's emotions before the evolution ritual was complete.
What would he taste like, she wondered.
As though she had thought of something amusing, a charming smile quickly spread across Kama's face.
"I'm curious too, just how far someone can go when it comes to suppressing desire."
Her moist eyes stared into Alvin's. The shadow tentacles tightened around him, forcing him to look directly into Sakura's affectionate gaze.
Alvin's eyes briefly lost focus. Even though he clearly knew what she was trying to do, his gaze still fixed itself onto "Sakura," and the desire in his eyes slowly increased.
As an Assassin-class Servant, he did not possess especially high magic resistance. And the one before him was a Beast that had been hiding in Fuyuki for ten years, making resistance far more difficult.
"Sakura's" eyes looked soft and alluring as she gently held Alvin's face.
Then her soft lips lightly pressed against his, greedily taking in his warmth. Yet within those beautiful eyes was a trace of pleasure from looking down on him.
After a while, she slowly pulled away. The crystal dress on her body burned like flames, revealing glimpses of her figure.
"So you're not actually that good at controlling desire either."
Like a little devil, the girl smiled and leaned close to Alvin again. Her soft and charming voice reached his ear once more.
"Senpai~"
The luxurious crystal dress covering her body burned away within the flames.
———
[Mount Enzo]
"You called me here just to discuss cooperation, Mr. Merlin?"
At the staircase near the mountain peak, a blonde girl looked at the white-haired mage with a cold tone.
"If it's about that, then there's no need to continue, I'm not interested in cooperation."
"If you can make him become my Servant, then I might consider it."
Merlin smiled brightly and tried persuading her.
"Don't say that, Miss Sajyou... The situation is urgent right now. If we don't deal with the Beast in Fuyuki first, then what future will there even be?"
As he spoke, Merlin looked toward the girl standing in the darkness with her arms crossed and smiled.
"And Miss Reines, I know why you joined this Holy Grail War, but now isn't the time for everyone to work separately, right?"
"I never expected the legendary Court Mage himself to personally persuade me, I'm honestly a little flattered."
Reines stared at the smiling white-haired mage.
Not long ago, she had been secretly gathering information from every side when her Servant suddenly informed her that there was a Servant's presence on Mount Enzo.
Merlin had made no effort to hide his presence after arriving at the mountain. His goal was clearly to attract every Master.
She originally thought he was plotting something... yet the first thing Merlin said after meeting them was that he wanted cooperation. It was almost unbelievable.
"What do you think, Lancer?", Reines asked quietly.
Merlin's ears twitched as he looked toward the Servant beside Reines.
At some unknown moment, a woman in a tight combat suit slowly stepped out from the darkness.
Scathach!
She observed Merlin for a few moments before speaking.
"If everything Caster says is true... then now really isn't the time for a Holy Grail War."
The existence of a Beast would affect human order itself. If allowed to continue developing, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Hearing this, Merlin seemed to quietly relax inside.
Honestly, he had really worried that Scathach's side would be just as hard to persuade as Sajyou Manaka. If it were only them fighting alone, things would become troublesome.
Thinking that, Merlin looked toward Sajyou Manaka again, "Miss Sajyou, why not reconsider and deal with the Beast together first?"
Sajyou Manaka smiled faintly, "I'm not interested in cooperation, Mr. Merlin."
If Alvin were the one persuading her, that would be one thing. But Merlin, she had no interest at all in things like saving the world or protecting human order.
She originally thought he had something important to say. Turns out it was only about saving humanity, something completely boring.
With that thought, Manaka turned around, clearly losing interest and preparing to leave.
At that moment, she suddenly heard hurried breathing and footsteps coming through the snowstorm.
Merlin turned toward the sound and soon saw a girl in a school uniform climbing up the mountain peak in a miserable state.
"Rin?"
Illya sensed that something was wrong and instinctively asked,
"What happened?"
"Alvin..."
Rin tried her best to steady her breathing as she spoke in a low voice beneath Sajyou Manaka's slowly stiffening gaze.
"Alvin was taken by the Beast."
———
The Snow Mountain Temple, or more accurately, the "Inner World" formed around "Sakura."
Everything here was completely under her control. Without exaggeration, in this world, she was the only "god."
At this moment, the crystal dress on "Sakura's" body burned with brilliant flames. Her appearance looked like a goddess descending into the world, yet the revealing outfit outlined the curves of her body, creating a strange charm that mixed innocence with seduction.
'I'm actually thinking that this thing 'parasitizing' Sakura is pretty beautiful, and I want to fu—Could this also be the Desire Beast's power? Because my magic resistance is too low, am I only having such bold thoughts now because of its influence?'
Thoughts flashed through Alvin's mind, but his face showed nothing.
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