After resolving Cú Chulainn, Zuke prepared to head to Ryuudou Temple—Zuke had already instructed Waver and the others to wait at Ryuudou Temple with the Lesser Grail. As soon as Cú Chulainn died, the Holy Grail would officially manifest.
However, just as Zuke was about to leave, Bazett expressed that she also wanted to go see—although Zuke said the Mages Association wouldn't make things difficult for her, she was obviously still somewhat worried.
After all, Bazett didn't know about Zuke's relationship with the Mages Association, so naturally it was hard to believe what Zuke said.
Since winning the Grail was impossible, at least she had to go see the Holy Grail's manifestation. When reporting to the Mages Association later, she would at least have something to say.
Otherwise, if Bazett reported that she summoned Lancer, then let Lancer scout for a few days, returned empty-handed, and was finally hunted down and solo-killed by Zuke.
That sounded really incompetent. Bazett could already imagine what kind of looks her Mages Association colleagues would give her if she reported like that.
Bazett was one of the strongest Sealing Designation Enforcers in Mages Association history. She didn't want to go back with such a pathetic report.
Hearing that Bazett seemed to already have follow-up arrangements, Zuke nodded and didn't ask further.
After all, Zuke wasn't some impressive management talent either. After using "King's Army" to subdue these forces, he basically acted as a hands-off boss, letting others continue managing these forces.
Zuke didn't refuse either, picking up Bazett and flying straight toward Ryuudou Temple—although the posture was a bit inelegant, with Zuke's speed, it only took a few seconds.
Actually, it wouldn't normally take even a second, but Zuke worried that flying too fast would make Bazett unable to withstand the reaction force, so he slowed down a bit, taking several seconds to arrive at the scene.
"Zuke-san, you finally came."
At Ryuudou Temple's central plaza on Mount Enzou, seeing Zuke descend from the sky, Waver also breathed a sigh of relief.
Before him, the Lesser Grail he had brought was already beginning to overflow with magical power—at first, what flowed out was indeed normal magical power, but very quickly, a trace of black began to emerge from the Grail.
If nothing unexpected happened, the black mud from the Greater Grail would soon seep out through the Lesser Grail.
Apart from Zuke, the people present had no means of dealing with that black mud representing "All the World's Evil," so seeing Zuke, Waver relaxed.
"Zuke-san!"
Reines also unhesitatingly rushed over, throwing herself into Zuke's embrace—Zuke felt that in this world, Reines seemed to be the person who most liked getting close to his body.
However, after throwing herself into Zuke's arms, Reines also saw Bazett whom Zuke had set down, and her face showed a somewhat peculiar expression.
"Bazett is here too?"
"We're at least acquainted. Why do you have such a disgusted expression?"
Bazett, now set down by Zuke, looked at Reines's expression and couldn't help but complain—although she and Reines weren't very close before, they had at least known each other far longer than they'd known Zuke, right?
Yet now Reines was so attached to Zuke. Even Bazett, who had never experienced romance before, could tell at a glance what kind of feelings Reines had for Zuke.
"However, there really are a lot of people here..."
After complaining about Reines, Bazett also looked toward Ryuudou Temple's plaza—she hadn't paid much attention before, but now calming down to look, she discovered there were quite a few people here.
Not only were there Waver and Reines, Sakura Matou was also standing to the side with Medusa, and even Rin Tohsaka and Mordred had come.
Originally, Bazett was just marveling at how so many people had gathered here waiting for the Holy Grail to manifest, but very quickly, Bazett realized something was wrong.
Because Bazett was a Master, she could sense the presence of Servants... In her perception, Medusa and Mordred were unmistakably both Servants.
"Wait, why are there three Servants here? Generally speaking, don't you need to gather five Servants' souls to obtain the Grail's power?"
Bazett hurriedly looked at Zuke, asking somewhat incomprehendingly.
In a Holy Grail War with seven Servants, the Lesser Grail could only gain its proper ability after five of them died, connecting to the Greater Grail—but now there were three Servants present, meaning only four Servants had died?
"Actually, there's another Servant alive, just not here."
Rin Tohsaka on the side helplessly held her forehead, answering Bazett's question—these matters were things Waver had told them just before Zuke came here.
Zuke used a special method to fill the energy the Lesser Grail needed, allowing it to manifest prematurely without obtaining enough Servant souls.
Although it sounded somewhat incredible, the number of Servants was clearly right there. Even if it seemed unbelievable, she could only believe it.
"Let me explain the situation in detail..."
Seeing this, Waver sighed and began explaining the situation to Bazett.
He had personally witnessed how Zuke turned the Holy Grail War into a complete mess, so these matters were most appropriately explained by him.
"So these Servants were all left behind by Zuke for various reasons?"
After listening to Waver's explanation, Bazett felt even more of a headache—she discovered that the entire Holy Grail War seemed to be under Zuke's control.
Just coming to participate in a Holy Grail War, she never expected it would be so dark—the entire process was manipulated by one person. Was there anything darker than this?
But Bazett couldn't say anything because Waver also mentioned that Zuke had made a trip to the Mages Association and gained the allegiance of the Clock Tower Lords.
It sounded absurd, but this kind of news that could be confirmed just by contacting the Clock Tower—Waver, as Lord El-Melloi II, shouldn't have any need to tell such an exaggerated lie.
So Bazett understood why Zuke said not to worry about the Mages Association—because the Mages Association had already become Zuke's echo chamber.
With matters having reached this point, Bazett accepted reality—no wonder in the last few days, Cú Chulainn went out to gather intelligence but couldn't encounter a single Servant.
It turned out these Servants had basically all been packaged up and taken away by Zuke.
Mordred was kept because of a strange agreement she had with Zuke, something about having Mordred gain Zuke's recognition—otherwise Zuke might be constantly pestered by Mordred.
Medusa was kept on the grounds of "needing to care for Sakura Matou's daily life in the future." Medusa seemed to have no objections to this either.
Sitonai was kept because of Zuke's personal reasons, something related to Sitonai's host Illya, which was why he kept Sitonai as well.
Looking at it this way, the Servants who were killed were only Assassin, Archer, and her Lancer.
To be continued…