Roy sat atop the Sibuxiang, surveying his surroundings.
The moon still hung high in the sky as it always did.
The thunder, storms, and flames that had once raged around Mount Enzou had completely vanished.
The battle was over.
Only the lingering aftershocks continued to ferment in the hearts of Fuyuki's citizens.
"So… it's finally over."
Roy let out a long breath, as though exhaling all the lingering gloom from his chest.
The catastrophe unleashed by the Greater Grail had at last drawn to a close.
Roy's gaze turned to where Gilgamesh had vanished. There was nothing left.
"To be honest, your whole 'exterminate humanity' plan had nothing to do with me…"
In the end, Roy had never been interested in saving the world.
When Gilgamesh declared his intent to annihilate mankind, Roy didn't feel the slightest ripple of emotion. If anything, he almost wanted to applaud.
But in the end, he still gave his all to defeat Gilgamesh.
Not for humanity's sake.
"It was only for Jeanne's revenge. That's the sole reason I needed to bring you down."
Roy murmured softly to himself.
Then, riding the Sibuxiang, he turned and descended toward the ground.
The battle was over.
But the Holy Grail War itself was not yet finished.
The gaping rift in the sky—a hole formed by the souls within the Lesser Grail—still hung suspended, showing no sign of closing. Meaning, the wish made by Kotomine Kirei was still active.
"We won!"
At the city hall, Bazett let out a long, relieved breath as she stared at the now-silent Mount Enzou.
"I can't believe it was my Mystic Code that decided the final outcome! No wonder he wouldn't give me back my Magic Crest."
Thinking back to the two times she'd asked for her Crest to be returned, only to have Roy brush her off, it finally dawned on her, and she couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction.
Everything had been planned for this moment.
With the power of those Mystic Eyes, he could ignore the bloodline requirement to activate her Fragarach. Though, it could still only be used against trump cards.
Even so, it was absurdly overpowered.
"I wonder if he'll return my Magic Crest now…"
Bazett, carrying that faint concern, made her way toward her temporary office.
Around her, the city hall staff still wore anxious expressions, gazing toward the ominous hole suspended in the sky.
But Bazett wasn't worried anymore.
She had already seen how this Holy Grail War would end.
Though the Greater Grail would continue to stir restlessly, destroying it would resolve everything, restoring peace to the world.
And with Roy victorious, as she knew him, this was how it would conclude.
"We won!"
Elsewhere, in the Aozaki residence, the gathered girls burst into tears of joy.
Thank goodness—the world wouldn't be destroyed a second time!
Even Illya couldn't help but let out a huge sigh of relief, a carefree, innocent smile blooming across her face.
Now, all that was left was to wait for Roy's triumphant return.
***
Mount Enzou, The Great Hollow.
The mountain itself had been vaporized, leaving a vast open-air crater, no longer a so-called underground hollow.
"I thought I was dead for sure!"
Rin stumbled out of a crimson magic circle, her legs giving way as she fell to her knees, gasping for breath, her eyes filled with the terror of surviving certain death.
She'd seen a colossal iron whip descending from the sky, certain she was about to be crushed, when a sudden flash of red light transported her out of the cavern. Only after the battle ended had she been teleported back.
"Where's Kirei?"
"Dead."
Standing before her, Roy gestured to the side with his chin.
Rin turned her head and realized they were back at the crater's rim.
Not far away lay Kirei's corpse.
His skull had been blown open—entirely gone. Only a headless body remained.
A miserable end.
Knowing how these villains always had a way of clinging to life and coming back for revenge, Roy hadn't hesitated to have Taigong Wang crush him the moment they landed.
Before, Kirei had been useful alive.
But now that his role was over, there was no reason to let him live.
Letting scum like that breathe air was a waste, and Taigong Wang was happy to oblige.
Though Rin still felt it was too merciful a death.
That bastard had orchestrated this entire catastrophe—and had murdered her father. Dying like this was far too easy.
"Where's my Archer?"
Rin looked around, but there was no sign of her Servant.
"Probably eaten by the Greater Grail by now."
Roy glanced toward the gigantic, crimson orb at the bottom of the pit.
Archer hadn't known Roy had altered the Grail's activation mechanics. And being so close, second only to Angra Mainyu—his soul must have been absorbed and consumed soon after Angra's demise.
"Eaten?"
Rin looked dumbfounded.
What kind of man-eating Holy Grail was this supposed to be?
"It's a long story…"
Since the battle was over, Roy no longer needed to hide anything. He explained all his prior preparations, the functions of his Mystic Eyes, and how he'd ended the battle.
"Mystic Eyes that can control all spell formulas, you altered the Grail's activation, and forcibly triggered Fragarach…"
Rin took a sharp breath, then massaged her temples.
It was too much, her brain was overheating. She felt like her mental CPU was about to fry.
She'd always known Roy's Mystic Eyes were powerful, but this was beyond comprehension.
To control every ritualistic formula in existence—wasn't that essentially the True Magician's domain? What magus could possibly stand against him?
"Wait, since you can control the Holy Grail, can't you stop it?"
Rin's eyes lit up as she grabbed Roy's sleeve.
She turned toward the massive crater, where a sinister curse still writhed.
Angra Mainyu was dead.
His soul had been entirely erased from the Great Grail—but the curse he left behind persisted as a masterless force, continuing to pollute the Grail.
"Impossible. That much curse energy would kill anyone who touched it."
Roy shook his head, giving a grim answer.
The current Great Holy Grail—anyone who touched it would die.
"Didn't you alter its activation system? Maybe you added a self-purification function?"
Seeing how calm Roy looked, Rin couldn't help but ask, eyes full of hope.
"No—that's impossible too."
Roy shook his head again.
"My Mystic Eyes can control existing ritualistic formulas, but I can't give them abilities they didn't already have. Like, if a Reinforcement spell boosts physical strength, I can manipulate it to amplify that effect, but I can't make it suddenly project objects."
"It's the same with the Greater Grail. The reason I could alter its activation was because its system already had terms like 'Servant,' 'mana,' and 'consumption.' I could manipulate and rearrange those terms to absorb the Servants' souls."
"But 'self-purification' isn't one of its keywords—it doesn't exist in its system core."
The Greater Grail could grant virtually any wish because it could absorb all the world's leyline mana—an immense power capable of performing almost anything. But it wasn't because the Grail itself was inherently omnipotent.
If it had possessed a self-purification function, it wouldn't have been corrupted by Angra Mainyu in the first place.
***
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