An hour later,
Tohsaka Mansion
In the Great Hall, Masters and Servants gathered, a grave silence bouncing off them unnaturally.
On one side, Medea was looming over Black, lying on a sofa.
Despite his instant regeneration, the wound dealt by The Shadow showed no signs of healing. Now, as he lay there half naked on the sofa, a blackness was crawling out of the hand-sized scar on his stomach.
Every time Medea cast a healing spell, trying to purify the wound and eliminate the curse, Black's body jolted.
The only good thing was that he hadn't lost a Quality because of the attack.
If he was being honest with himself, then they had truly underestimated how potent a threat the original Sakura would become once the Dark Sakura took control of her.
Imaginary Element only worked the best against Heroic Spirits and Mysteries.
The red-black strips of the dress could corrupt an ordinary Servant on the spot; still, against Mages, it wasn't as effective when it came to corruption, only lethal.
Now, Black just hoped that the corruption wouldn't spread anymore, reaching the Grail Heart.
Otherwise, the Angra Mainyu's Will will again seep into it, ruining all his plans.
Still, this was a necessary sacrifice — A sacrifice that Kai had methodically planned to force Shirou to create swords for him.
Lancer's sudden appearance at the battle site became another boon, letting Kai single out the Heroic Spirit before the War could reach its end.
All in all, the event had resulted in a fair amount of Rewards and Risks, as expected from Kai's Luck, which, by the way, now kept oscillating between -5 to 5 Points. It was as if all the Unlucky Gossip Selene was doing to bring down Kai's Luck had made an agreement with his monstrous Luck, maintaining a strange equilibrium.
If Kai willed it, then he could shatter the equilibrium, forcing Selene to ramp up the Gossips anytime.
However, with Black getting corrupted in the battle, such a move would only force the corruption within him even more. Not something Kai could afford at this moment.
Sweating and panting for breath, Medea stopped.
Black stopped twitching and opened his eyes. As Caster helped him sit up, he eyed the people within the Hall.
Rin was trying her best not to look at him. Shirou was looking at him, as if waiting for Black to stand up and march to the enemy in the next moment.
Assassin seemed restless, too. The Counter Force had forced its will upon him as a Guardian to eliminate All Evil. At first, using Rin's Command Spell, he had resisted it. Now, with every passing moment, this feeling to eliminate the All Evil with every inch of his power was getting stronger… unbearable.
Archer kept looking out of the window, lost in his thoughts.
A bloody ocean and gray sky kept appearing in his mind, his shoulders itching now and then, feeling the weight of Berserker's Will.
Saber was standing behind Shirou with her eyes closed, her right arm petrified.
It had taken both Berserker and Saber to keep Rider from going to the enemy to save Sakura. She didn't know how Berserker managed to hold her at the end, but it still left her with a useless arm. It would get better with her innate Magic Resistance, but it would take time.
Time… that neither of those presents in the Hall had.
"Six hours…" Assassin suddenly said, holding his head. "… Ten, at best. That's how much time we have. Beyond that, Angra Mainyu will incarnate. That will be the end of us. For the entire world."
Now that everyone knew who Assassin was and why he was here, no one doubted his word, as it might be the Counter Force itself speaking through him.
"Then, we need to go now!" Shirou suddenly shouted, unable to hold it anymore. "Why are we sitting here… when… she's suffering there!"
Black scowled. "… The moment The Shadow took control of our Sakura, she was already gone," he said, uttering the bitter truth. "Caster…"
Medea nodded. "It seemed to be a Death-based Possession," she explained. "It's an ancient spell, forbidden even in the times of the Age of Gods. The process is complex, but the result is simple. There are no two Sakura now… Only the Evil remains…"
Shirou's face paled instantly.
"This can work for us," Black said, catching their attention. "If we can defeat her, then, using Caster's Noble Phantasm, we can separate her from the All Evil. That's what I had been planning on doing all along that night… before being forced to separate Sakura into good and evil…"
Shirou suddenly remembered the strange zig-zag dagger, a touch of shame appearing on his face. All this time, he had been blaming Black for killing people, when he had just been trying to save Sakura.
"… Then, why are we not doing that?!" Shirou asked. "What's stopping us from going to them and defeating them?! We have the advantage of numbers, right?! Even the Ruler-Class Servant will act on our side now…"
Berserker had already killed Lancer.
That made one Servant less on the enemy's side, but…
"… Saber Alter," Rin said, voicing Black and others' thoughts. "… I wonder if getting completed, Evil Sakura can bring out the other devoured Servants…"
A chill ran down Shirou's spine.
He had seen Evil Lancer and Evil Rider getting devoured, becoming a source of nutrients for Dark Sakura. Black had told her that because of her unusual state, she was using them as a fuel, unable to call them out. Now that she was complete once again…
"We need to defeat her…" Black said, looking at Rin.
How does he know… Rin gasped within. "Sigh!" she shook her head. "There's only one weapon I know that can defeat her now…"
Rin stood up. "The two of you are going to need to work together," she said, looking at Shirou and Black. Take the Einzberns' memories and the memories of the land where the leyline flows. And use them to project a special weapon —
"— The Jeweled Sword of Zelretch!"
*****************
AN: Up to 60 more chapters are available in advance across three Tiers. [Use the link in my webnovel profile to access all options]
You can even subscribe Trial Tier for just 1 dollar to have an experience of exclusive chapters for an entire month. I hope a few of you will consider supporting the work.
100 Power Stones/day: +1 Bonus Chapter next day