FATE: Target of Grand Master

"Matou Tsuruken, you bastard!"

Shirou Emiya had never felt such rage before; all he could think about was tearing the man before him to pieces.

Before Shirou could make a move, Artoria rushed forward first.

Unleash the magic!

With a single slash, Artoria killed the three nearest magical beasts.

The remaining monsters immediately pounced, and Artoria alternated between using the Wind King Barrier and releasing magic power to eliminate the monsters in front of her as quickly as possible.

"Projection, begin!"

Emiya Shirou wanted to unleash a projection magic, but a day of continuous fighting had left him exhausted, and he couldn't even project Gan Jiang and Mo Xie.

"Hehehe, Shirou Emiya, you don't seem very motivated to rescue anyone. Why aren't we seeing any action from you?"

Matou Ryokon's words enraged Emiya Shirou, who, despite his exhaustion, was about to rush towards Matou Ryokon.

"Shirou, don't be impulsive. I can get rid of these monsters in no time."

Artoria shouted at Shirou to stop being impulsive, but seeing Saber trying so hard while he could only watch helplessly, Shirou's anger grew even stronger.

He used the last of his strength to try to rush over, but he felt his body being pulled back.

"Don't go over there, Shirou! He's deliberately trying to provoke you."

Xia Yan grabbed Emiya Shirou with his left hand and activated a Command Seal with his right.

"Lancer, come quick!"

A flash of red light appeared, and the figure of the blue spearman immediately appeared in front of Xia Yan.

Cú Chulainn landed on both feet, then pushed off forward with force, his crimson spear pointing directly at Matou Zangen.

Before being pierced by the spear, Matou Ryogen's body transformed into a black flying insect and escaped to a distance, but this gave Cú Chulainn a chance to save him.

Just as Cú Chulainn was about to smash the jar containing Fujimura Taiga, a thick, giant snake suddenly sprang out from a huge hole in the wall.

It is entirely purplish-red, has no eyes, and its entire head consists of only a large mouth. It is called a snake simply because of its resemblance to a snake.

The giant serpent aimed at Cú Chulainn and lunged to bite him, but Cú Chulainn immediately used his spear to block the serpent's sharp teeth.

"What is this thing?"

Cú Chulainn tried to escape, but found that the giant serpent was incredibly strong, dragging him around the cavern.

"Lancer!"

Artoria finally cleared away all the dozen or so monsters around her.

She ran along the stone wall to the giant serpent, and with her holy sword enveloped in magic, she severed the serpent in one strike.

However, the giant snake did not bleed; instead, like a severed thread, its body retracted back into the cave in the rock wall.

Xia Yan witnessed this scene, and his brows furrowed involuntarily.

Artoria and Cú Chulainn landed together, then exchanged a glance and immediately understood each other's meaning.

Cú Chulainn continued to harass Matou Ryouken, while Artoria went to destroy bottles and jars.

The plan worked perfectly. Matou Ryuken was entangled with Cú Chulainn and could only hide everywhere, while Artoria finally arrived at the bottle's side.

Without hesitation, Artoria immediately struck the bottle, shattering it, which became her last moment as Shirou Emiya's Servant.

Clang!

Artoria stared in shock at what was flowing out of the bottle. It wasn't the worm that Matou Ryouken had mentioned at all, but black mud, a whole bottle full of black mud.

"what!"

Artoria immediately cried out in pain as the black mud continued to erode her spirit core along her armor.

"Shirou, then, and then, right now!"

With all her might, Artoria threw Fujimura Taiga, along with the inner tube containing her, towards Emiya Shirou.

The black mud seems to only work on things with magical properties. The inner liner of the bottle not only prevented the black mud from eroding Fujimura Taiga, but there was also no black mud adhering to the outside.

After catching Shirou, Xia Yan smashed the inner lining with brute force, then immediately pulled Shirou away and ran outside.

"Lancer! Let's go!"

Cú Chulainn knew that Artoria was beyond repair due to the amount of black mud covering her, and he wanted to use his Noble Phantasm to give her a quick death, but he was hindered by another giant purple-red serpent in the cave.

Dodging the giant snake's bites, Cú Chulainn led Xia Yan and the other two as they sped towards the cave exit.

"Hehehehe."

Disgusting laughter echoed from the cave again.

Looking at Artoria, who was still stubbornly resisting magic with her own power, Matou Ryogen laughed and said, "Saber, all of this is a scheme I've set up today to obtain you, the strongest class of Servant. You'd better obediently be swallowed by the black mud and become my Servant."

"what!"

Suddenly, a deafening female roar came from behind the huge stone wall.

"Hehehe. That one is still conscious enough to struggle. It's just a slightly stronger familiar. As long as it obeys its master, it's fine. Having too much self-awareness is completely useless."

"You...you...bastard...you are not allowed...to insult...the heroic spirits..."

Artoria was so weak she didn't even have the strength to speak.

"Since you still have so much energy, Saber, I'll take you to see your future companions."

With that, Matou Ryouken summoned a magical beast, which carried the powerless Artoria into a huge cave in the stone wall.

The cave wasn't long, but on the other side of the cave was a space several times larger than the previous one they had been in.

Countless magical beasts prostrated themselves here, like devout believers worshipping their gods, bowing in unison to the enormous, god-like being located on the other side of the huge cavern's stone wall.

It possesses a beauty that rivals that of a goddess, with a female upper body and a serpentine lower body. The giant purplish-red serpent formed by its hair is the same one that attacked Cú Chulainn earlier. Three pairs of golden wings overlap behind it, giving it a feeling that is both sacred and enchanting.

"What is this?"

Artoria could sense that the enormous being before her was also a Servant, but its terrifying spirit origin was on a completely different level from that of the Servants participating in the Holy Grail War; it had probably reached the level of a god.

"The greatest characteristic of the Matou family's magic is its mastery of creation and control, especially the creation and manipulation of familiars. The invention of Command Seals is also a manifestation of our Matou family's magic. Although you are Servants, you are essentially familiars, so my magic is very suitable for modifying you."

Looking at Artoria, who was still putting up a stubborn resistance, Matou Ryogen laughed and said, "Of course, my magical power alone is not enough to complete such a massive transformation. However, thanks to the Black Mud, I can now also act as a Lesser Grail, possessing immense magical power. Therefore, I can make more effective adjustments to you Servants. For example, like this."

Matou Ryouken raised his right hand, and the crimson Command Seal flashed slightly, causing Artoria's body to tremble immediately.

"In this way, the contract is complete. Not only that, I can also use the black mud to give you self-proclaimed heroes a reversal of your heroic spirits. I imagine the reversal of King Arthur will be quite interesting."

The black mud on Artoria's body quickly climbed upwards, covering Saber's entire body.

The further erosion by the black mud caused Artoria's consciousness to begin to dissipate, and the last thing she could recall in her mind was the figure of that red-haired youth.

She recalled how Artoria sacrificed herself to save her, learned swordsmanship from her, projected her own sword to defeat Berserker, and rejected Gilgamesh's marriage proposal before she did. These fragments surfaced in Artoria's last moments of consciousness.

I'm sorry, Shirou, I can't fight for you as your sword until the very end, but at least I won't let Matou Ryouken get his way completely.

The black mud completely merged into Artoria's Spirit Origin, and Artoria Alter was born, clad in black armor, wearing a black eye patch, and wielding a black holy sword.

"Um?"

Matou Ryogen seemed to sense something was wrong, and then immediately understood.

"So you actually destroyed your own consciousness, leaving me with only an empty shell of a spirit core? I really shouldn't humiliate these heroes with excessive pride too much. Although excessive self-awareness isn't a good thing for a familiar, an empty shell without any self-awareness will still reduce your strength considerably. Oh well, an empty shell is fine. At least I can control it completely according to my will. Anyway, I have plenty of Servants; I can capture another one anytime."

After muttering to himself for a while, Matou Ryogen resumed his sinister smile.

"Saber".

The Black Knight Princess did not reply, but instead took a step forward with her sword in response.

"Let me proudly introduce to you the most praiseworthy feat of my life in this Holy Grail War, no, in my entire life: the Avenger-class deity—the Gorgon."