"Not just you! You too! Kiritsugu Emiya!"
Saber's sword pointed toward Kiritsugu Emiya nearby. "I originally thought that our methods were merely different, and that our results would eventually converge. But now, it is absolutely impossible for me to trust you!"
"Kiritsugu Emiya, why exactly do you crave the Holy Grail!"
"I've said it already—I no longer crave the Holy Grail. It is by no means some omnipotent wish-granting machine; it is nothing more than a Pandora's Box filled with curses."
Saber seemed stunned by Kiritsugu Emiya's tone. In her memory, this was the first time Kiritsugu Emiya had spoken to her, but she never expected him to say such things.
"Lancer is dead. This means the souls of three Servants have already been absorbed by the lesser grail. How are you feeling, Irisviel?"
Akatsuki suddenly spoke up. The mentioned Irisviel looked at Akatsuki in surprise; Irisviel shouldn't have told anyone about the negative effects brought by the lesser grail absorbing the souls of three Servants.
"Iri?"
"Irisviel?"
Four gazes turned toward Irisviel, making her smile somewhat unnaturally. "It's fine. There's no problem yet."
"Only for now."
Akatsuki looked at Saber and Irisviel with a calm gaze. Originally, she had planned to strike while the iron was hot tonight and send both Lancer and Saber away. However, considering Irisviel's current physical condition, if Saber weren't there to provide magical energy to the Avalon inside her, Irisviel would likely collapse first.
After exchanging a few words with Kiritsugu Emiya and telling him to explain the cause of the events to Saber, Akatsuki left the Einzbern Family castle.
Tonight, she still had to find the other Servants and Masters. Three Servants—Lancer, Caster, and Berserker—had already been dealt with by Akatsuki. With Kiritsugu and the others handling things on Saber's side, only Rider, Assassin, and Archer remained.
As for Rider, Akatsuki was quite at ease; after all, Rider was easy to talk to. Considering that Matou Sakura would need Waver's guidance in magecraft in the future, Akatsuki did not intend to have a falling out with him yet.
"In any case... let's try to persuade him first."
Late at night.
Inside the residence of Glen Mackenzie within Fuyuki City.
"Hey, kid, wake up."
"?"
Drowsily, Waver seemed to hear Rider calling him. Opening his eyes, he found Rider standing by his bed, fully armed. "Kid, we have a situation!"
Those words instantly chased away Waver's sleepiness. He immediately scrambled out of bed. "An enemy Servant?"
"No, it's that little girl."
"???"
Waver followed Rider's gaze toward the window, only to see Akatsuki leaning against the window frame, looking at him with a smile.
"What exactly do you want?"
Opening the window to let Akatsuki in, Waver looked at her in confusion. A second later, he seemed to remember something. "I haven't completely finished with Makiri's Notes yet. It'll probably take a few more days. Are you in a hurry?"
"It's not about that."
Akatsuki snapped her fingers, using Marble Phantasm to manifest a small sofa in the room. The already small room felt even more crowded now. "I've come to ask you to withdraw from this Holy Grail War."
"Huh?"
"Putting that aside for a moment, I am quite interested in your ability to create things out of thin air. I wonder if you would be interested in cooperating with Us to conquer the world? After all, if that ability of yours could forge divine weapons to complement Our Noble Phantasm, it would surely create an invincible army! Even if it cannot forge divine weapons, it is still a powerful ability capable of supplying an entire army!"
Akatsuki smiled. "We can talk about that later."
"Wait! What do you mean, ask us to give up on the Holy Grail War!"
"The greater grail has been corrupted," Akatsuki spoke unhurriedly. "During the Third Holy Grail War—the previous one—the Einzbern used a foreign Scripture to summon the Eighth Class, Avenger—Angra Mainyu, also known as all the worlds evil. Of course, he couldn't possibly be the actual evil god of legend. The summoned Angra Mainyu was extremely weak and was killed by another Servant within days. However, he corrupted the interior of the greater grail, leading to a massive catastrophe in the last Holy Grail War."
"Angra Mainyu remains inside the greater grail. If a winner were to make a wish upon the greater grail, it would only be granted in a twisted manner."
"Waver, I remember your reason for participating in this war was to get those people at the Clock Tower to give you a proper evaluation, right? Even if you obtained the corrupted Grail, you wouldn't be recognized by the Clock Tower crowd. Instead, you'd be placed under a sealing designation by the Clock Tower for leaking the Mystery and possessing the Grail, or be hunted down by the Church's agents."
Hearing Akatsuki's words, Waver froze in place. He had long heard of the notoriety of the sealing designation, and the Church's agents had an abysmal reputation among Magicians. He never dreamed he would be associated with these two terms.
"Then... then what should we do now?" Waver asked somewhat frantically.
Akatsuki crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly. "There is only one way now: destroy the greater grail."
"Destroy the greater grail? How is that even possible?" Waver's eyes widened.
"It's not entirely impossible." A faint smile played on Akatsuki's lips. "The Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City is, in a sense, a large-scale Evocation Ritual. Although it combines the Fuyuki City Leylines with the techniques of the Matou Family and the Einzbern Family, any ritual can be broken. Nothing is eternal."
Waver grit his teeth. "You make it sound so easy, but that's the greater grail! The Holy Grail War has continued in Fuyuki for hundreds of years—do you think you can just destroy it like that? And would the other participants even agree?"
Summoning his courage, Waver shouted at Akatsuki, but a single look from her sent him back down onto his bed. "Saber's Master has already agreed. As for the Masters of Archer and Assassin, I will persuade them myself."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
"What I'm saying is, do not let any more Servants be eliminated until I give the signal. The vessel for the lesser grail is nearing its limit; in two more Servants, the shell of the lesser grail will collapse."
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