Why bother with the Holy Grail War? Let's play cards!

Chapter 154 Sakura: For world peace, dig out your brother's heart!

"Should I drink it?" Shirou Emiya stared at the black mud on the ground, lost in thought.

"How could he possibly drink it!" Rin Tohsaka still couldn't understand how Shirou Emiya, whose magical knowledge was basically equivalent to that of an elementary school student, could create a Reality Marble. "No matter..."

When Toosaka Rin looked back, she found that Emiya Shirou had already picked up the black mud and looked like he was going to drink it.

"Are you really going to do this? Hell is just ahead!" Archer feigned to stop Shirou Emiya, but he looked quite interested.

"Even so, I will keep going!" Shirou Emiya indeed rejected Archer's suggestion and opened his mouth.

"You really want to drink it!" Rin Tohsaka quickly swatted the black sludge off Shirou Emiya's hand. His thought process always seemed to go haywire when it came to saving the world. She kicked Archer again. "No one's going to think you're mute if you don't talk! Why don't you try a sip yourself?"

"Shall I drink it?" Archer stroked his chin, seemingly genuinely considering the feasibility. "But I've never heard of a Servant serving as a vessel for another Servant. At most, you can borrow a Spirit Origin. And I have a feeling that something bad might happen if a Servant were to come into contact with this thing."

"So—" Rin Tohsaka couldn't take it anymore. She kicked Archer, who was still rambling on, to the ground. "After everything is over, I'll give you a proper lesson in magic. Right now, the most important thing is to get you connected to the Holy Grail, Shirou, and become the 'Minor Grail'!"

"Become the 'Lesser Grail'?" Shirou Emiya had already learned from Rin Tohsaka about the consequences of becoming the Lesser Grail—it was essentially putting his life in someone else's hands—but he still didn't hesitate. "Tell me, what should I do?"

“Shinji Matou was probably implanted with a key item by Zouken Matou that could become a Lesser Grail. Such an item is usually placed in the most important part of the body, and if nothing unexpected happens, it would be the heart.” Rin Tohsaka looked at Shinji Matou’s appearance, whose body was still growing. “He became like this because his own magic circuits could not support the function of a Holy Grail, and it is not a proper Holy Grail.”

Rin Tohsaka continued, "If a normal magician were to become this incomplete Lesser Grail, he would likely be affected by this 'evil of the world,' becoming a vessel for Angra Mainyu. First, we'd have to pull Shinji out of there."

“But we Servants can’t touch this black mud directly, and there’s no place to land to get there.” Archer’s mobility is fine, but if he touches the Evil of This World, his Spirit Origin might be reversed, and he can’t be sure what will happen then. “Rin and the others are the only ones who can help us now.”

Toosaka Rin looked at the black mud flowing on the ground. If possible, she really didn't want to step into it. But after all, she was the actual manager of the Fuyuki Spiritual Vein. "Got it, got it. I'll go pull that troublesome guy out."

“I’ll do it. Even if something unexpected happens, I can directly accept Shinji Matou’s heart.” Shirou Emiya was already prepared to become a sacrifice, but he still didn’t want to sacrifice others to save others. “But what if Shinji Matou loses his heart…?”

"What to do?" Red A showed a disdainful expression. He hated his current naive appearance. "This is what a partner of justice is like. To carry out the rescue, he would create the fact that others are sacrificed. To sacrifice this guy for the future, this deal is worth it no matter how you look at it, right? Besides, he obviously became like this because of his own unwillingness. The cause and effect are all his fault."

"But……"

"No buts! Are you just going to let this guy spew nonsense here?" Archer couldn't stand Shirou Emiya's hesitant look any longer. He knew exactly how to attack him most effectively. "You want this guy's safety to lead to another Fuyuki incident from ten years ago? Is that what you want?"

"I won't be yours!"

"Oh? Then what are you going to do?"

Just as Rin Tohsaka was feeling a headache coming on from the tense standoff between the two, a soft hand landed on her shoulder. Rin turned around and saw a familiar girl: "Sakura?"

“Senior, there’s no need to trouble yourself with this. Leave things here to us.” Matou Sakura brought Medusa and Medea to the scene. “Medusa, I’m counting on you.”

Because Medusa has the ability to maneuver in the air, she can perfectly avoid the black mud and rescue Shinji Matou. She just needs to be careful to avoid the attacks of those proliferating limbs. With Medusa's riding level, it is very easy.

"As for the heart problem, Miss Medea can handle it." Although Medea's Noble Phantasm is the opposite of "Perfect Repair" from the Lily era, her healing magic is actually more refined than it was during Lily's time. She can guarantee survival for a period of time, but there's no guarantee for the aftermath. "Shirou-senpai, you can rest assured and dig out your brother's heart. The situation is urgent; you can be a little rough. He definitely won't mind."

Although Matou Sakura's smile was incredibly gentle and kind, Emiya Shirou sensed there was something else going on. But he still had to offer his thanks. "Sakura, thank you so much!"

“Heart transplant surgery? You should ask Asclepius for that. He would probably be interested.” Medea felt extremely tired; she had rushed here without stopping after stabilizing the barrier.

“There’s no other way; Jason is still in critical condition.” Matou Sakura had seen a charred humanoid figure in Jiang You’s book, and asking him to use his Noble Phantasm now would be too much to ask. “We can only rely on you, Medea.”

Medea then realized that it was her own fault and turned her head away in embarrassment. She planned to let Jason go for a while after these things were over and have a good rest.

A silvery-white meteor streaked across the tower's summit. Medusa precisely entangled Shinji Matou, the core figure, with her weapon and ripped him free. However, the speed was so great that several of Matou's bones were broken. Fortunately, Shinji was in a deep coma, his vitality draining away, or else his tears would have splattered everywhere.

Because of Sakura, Medusa didn't have a good face towards Shinji Matou, so Shinji was thrown to the ground like garbage.

Then, having lost its core, the meat mountain went berserk. It forcibly grew a giant hand, attempting to plunder the core that could sustain it.

Chapter 155 Are you really not from the JOJO set?

"The defense is up to you." Medea looked at the giant hand, which was all strength and no substance. Without the influence of the black mud, any of the Heroic Spirits here, except Hassan, could easily defeat him. However, due to the influence of the evil of this world, they couldn't engage in close combat. Only Heroic Spirits with high mobility and those skilled in ranged or wide-area attacks would be easier to deal with.

"Don't worry, I won't let that guy get any closer to here until Shirou Emiya becomes the Lesser Grail!" Archer was full of enthusiasm at this moment.

"Why not just destroy that hole?" Medusa felt that the hole wasn't very sturdy, and she could destroy it by unleashing her full power with her Noble Phantasm.

"It's no use. The hole will reappear after Shirou Emiya finishes the surgery. To be precise, the hole won't disappear until the magical energy carried by the Servant's soul contained in the Lesser Grail is completely consumed. Yes, don't waste magical energy here." Rin Tohsaka rejected the suggestion. The right thing to do was to defeat Angra Mainyu in a duel after Shirou Emiya became the vessel.

"Hurry up, my barrier won't hold for long. Mount Enzo is extremely high up, and once the evil of this world breaks free of the barrier, it will spread down the mountain. Those people who were just evacuated won't have time to escape." With that, Medea used her knife to cut open Shinji Matou's chest and ripped out his heart.

The crudeness of the movements shocked everyone present.

"What kind of expressions are those?!" Medea was exhausted and couldn't stand this. "I'm still maintaining the healing magic! You, yes, you, what's your name again... never mind, Archer's Master. Come and lend a hand."

Among the several masters present, only Toosaka Rin's magic skills were acceptable. If he asked others to help, Shinji Matou would be dead soon.

“It’s Jason’s Master.” Rin Tohsaka hadn’t forgotten that Medea had stolen her original Servant, otherwise she wouldn’t be the Master of this red traitor now.

Medea pulled Rin Tohsaka aside, placed her hand on Rin's, and instructed her on how to channel magic. She had no interest in arguing about Jason's problem: "Can you feel it? Maintain this magic channel. Until Emiya inherits this heart, his life or death depends on you."

"Tohsaka-san, I'm counting on you!" Emiya Shirou also cast an encouraging glance his way.

"You make it sound so easy!" Rin Tohsaka felt as if Shinji Matou, who had been thrown out of her chest, was like a dried fish that had been torn apart.

"Are you ready, Emiya boy!" Medea approached Emiya Shirou, holding a beating heart. "It will hurt, so bear with it."

Shirou Emiya nodded. He had already prepared himself. He took off his shirt and was about to lie down, but he saw Medea stabbing him with her heart.

Medea was kind-hearted. This behavior was like a chiropractor chatting with you and letting you subconsciously relax your body, which could appropriately reduce the pain.

Even with only E's strength, under the influence of the Age of Gods' strengthening magic, Medea's fingertip easily pierced Emiya Shirou's chest. The pain was beyond Emiya Shirou's comprehension. In that instant, his heart was forcibly removed, and the pain of his blood vessels being directly severed made Emiya Shirou scream out in agony.

Fortunately, Medea acted quickly and the process did not last long. Shinji Matou's heart was successfully connected to Shirou Emiya's blood vessels, and the function of the Holy Grail began to work.

"Such a healthy heart, this guy got off easy." Medea compared the two hearts and found that Emiya Shirou's was much fresher.

Medea casually threw the heart into Matou Shinji's body and then used healing magic to sew up the damage.

"Is that all? No need to connect it?" Rin Tohsaka stared in astonishment at Medea's actions.

Medea confidently raised her chin: "This is the difference between divine magic and modern magic. Prometheus's situation was much more serious than his; this level of repair is a piece of cake. You should worry about the rejection reaction instead of this."

"Rejection reaction?" Rin Tohsaka was stunned again. She really hadn't expected to hear such a modern term from a Servant from the Age of Gods. "Wait, magic can cause this kind of thing?!"

"Otherwise what? Otherwise why do you think Asclepius is called the god of medicine?" Medea looked in the direction of the meat tower. Under Medusa's cover, Red A used Imaginary Collapse to continuously inflict effective damage on it. Because it lost its core, the meat tower no longer had enough resources to regenerate and repair itself, and was slowly losing its vitality.

But after Emiya Shirou became the Holy Grail, more black mud gushed out of that hole.

"Ugh..." Shirou Emiya felt the immense magical power surging through his heart, affecting his normal actions. Like Irisviel in the Fourth Holy Grail War, he was losing his normal human functions.

Unknown lines began to spread from Shirou Emiya's heart and slowly spread to his entire body.

Toosaka Rin quickly pulled Emiya Shirou up, because the black mud was gushing out more violently, and the place would be covered with black mud in a few minutes. If no one helped, Emiya Shirou would probably drown here.

For some reason, Emiya Shirou's body became extremely heavy, and even Tōsaka Rin was unable to pull him up.

Rin Tohsaka then looked at Archer, who was closest to her. Archer seemed to be laughing at her troubled expression, so Rin called out impatiently, "What are you standing there for? Come and help!"

At this time, Medea had used magic to float herself up, and Medusa also used Pegasus to carry Sakura Matou and left the scene.

Red A naturally couldn't leave his Master and himself alone, so he picked up the two of them with his arms, ready to rely on the Servant's jumping ability to reach a higher place.

But it failed, and Red A looked at Emiya Shirou in disbelief. He immediately threw Tōsaka Rin towards Medea.

"Red Archer, what are you doing!" Medea was caught off guard and almost bumped into the mud by Rin Tohsaka. She increased her magic output to stabilize herself.

Then the next second, she saw a pair of strange weapons pierce through Red A.

"Hahahaha, so you naive guys are really stupid!" Emiya Shirou let out a laugh that was out of character for him. The black mud surged towards him as if it were a physical entity, engulfing him and Archer together.

When Jiang You arrived here, he saw a servant with quite dark skin, a flat top and snow-white hair.

"Where did Father Pucci come from?"

Chapter 156 We still don't know who the god Scáthach killed was.

"What are you standing there for! Don't get hit by his bullet!" Rin Tohsaka quickly warned Jiang You, who was just staring blankly at the corrupted Red A. Medusa's mount had been hit by a bullet from Black A, which unleashed Unlimited Blade Works within its body, causing the legendary creature to explode and die. This meant that Medusa could only rely on her mobility to kite Black A for the time being.

Because the entity currently controlling Shirou Emiya's body is not him, Jiang You's Noble Phantasm coverage was refreshed, causing Archer to be caught off guard and successfully ambushed by Angra Mainyu. He was then swallowed by the black mud.

Jiang You quickly realized that this thing that seemed to release the power of Heaven's Creation was actually Black Archer constructed from Archer's Spirit Origin. It was just a mindless version that borrowed the Spirit Origin, but even so, Black Archer, supported by infinite magical power and the corrupted Holy Grail, possessed almost infinite magical power, just like Black Saber in the original story.

The implosion version of Infinite Sword Works was constantly mixed in with the ordinary bullets. If it weren't for the need to recite a short spell, Jiang You felt that every attack would probably be Infinite Sword Works.

"So, Archer's Spirit Origin was reversed, turning him into this state? But that shouldn't be the case... Is the Sesshouin Cult here?" Jiang You quickly brought Angra Mainyu and Archer (Black Archer) into the range of their Noble Phantasms. He checked the script's identifier; it was indeed FSN, so he hadn't strayed into the Fate/Extreme Challenge world.

Jiang You then looked at the person bathing in black mud under the hole. The guy covered in tattoos had a face exactly like Shirou Emiya's, so in a sense, he was still following the original work: "So Archer said that the vessel he was looking for was Shirou Emiya. It's amazing that he came up with such a thing, and he actually succeeded."

But Red A also got himself involved.

Angra Mainyu seemed to realize something and immediately ordered Black A to stop attacking. He must have gained some of Emiya Shirou's memories, for his gaze towards Jiang You was full of interest: "You're the master of that Noble Phantasm? You want to destroy me with that kind of thing? Too bad, you can't. I am the evil of humanity, born from inner desires. As long as humanity has desires, I will exist. Look at this guy, talking about saving the world, yet he's still following his own desires, constantly taking other people's lives!"

Jiang You didn't quite understand whether he was talking about the red A or the black A, but both fit the description.

"First of all, you underestimate my Noble Phantasm." Jiang You stated that there are countless things that can be done in a duel within the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe. Although he didn't know where the limits of the Fate collaboration lay, eliminating an evil in this world was more than enough. "And secondly, don't secretly elevate your own level. Do you really take a title seriously? Look at Scáthach with the title of Godslayer, look at who she's killed?"

Fortunately, Cú Chulainn is no longer here, otherwise, if he had heard Jiang You mention his master, he would have definitely started arguing with Jiang You.

“No, Scáthach really did kill quite a few gods.” Rin Tohsaka, having at least studied various myths for the Holy Grail War, spoke up for the now-deceased Cú Chulainn.

"So you've changed history again, Yue." Jiang You said this with a blank expression, though no one present understood what he meant. He then pressed, "So, who exactly did Scáthach kill? Give me a name."

"..." Rin Tohsaka really couldn't answer, because the legend didn't mention what kind of god it was. It was only mentioned briefly in the legend, so it probably wasn't a well-known or famous being.

"See?" Jiang You shrugged. Even if the history of the Moon World differed from reality, it was still based on real legends. "So you're just an ordinary young man labeled as 'the embodiment of all evil in the world.' You can't possibly be a Dark God."

If it weren't for the fact that Heroic Spirits would correct the legend, this Angra Mainyu wouldn't have been able to corrupt the Holy Grail at all. The real person with that name could never have been successfully summoned in the Holy Grail War; in fact, the real Angra Mainyu might not have even cared about the Holy Grail.

"You know me?" Angolan Manu didn't expect that even after his name was removed from "The All-Encompassing Records," someone would still know his past. But considering that Jiang You's Noble Phantasm also had a similar recording function, "A Noble Phantasm that records the past and future, that makes sense."

"Then you should know why I'm doing this. Humans are like that—blaming others for their own mistakes and hurting others for their own desires. Look, even those who claim to be righteous are paving their own path with their lives." Angolan Manuel laughed, the markings on his body emitting a blue glow from the infusion of magic. "Let me see if humans can bear their own desires and their own malice."

Servants who derive from a dualistic view of good and evil are prone to extremism. However, what Angola Mainyu said was actually the King of Heroes's thought.

The black mud gushed out of the hole even more violently. With the addition of one more Servant's soul, the hole would be fully formed.

Jiang You understood his hatred and knew that what this guy named Angola Manuel actually wanted was a peaceful daily life.

But that doesn't mean Jiang You will allow him to continue doing so. His presence has already affected Jiang You's ability to unleash a HE: "Stop spewing nonsense here and get back to the Throne of Heroes!"

"Ilya, let's save the world together again." Jiang You pulled Ilya aside. In the end, it was the Einzbern family's own fault for their actions in the Third World War; otherwise, there wouldn't have been so much trouble. Now, working with Ilya to deal with Angra Mainyu would be a fitting end to the conflict. Plus, he could gain some goodwill in the process—it was a win-win situation.