"I'm sorry, Master..."
The power erupting from the heart left True Assassin half-dead. Even though he had deactivated his Noble Phantasm at the fastest possible speed, his Saint Graph was still damaged.
"Such a... such a monster..." His eyes were filled with terror as he looked at Xia Yu. If one could see the face beneath his mask, the expression would surely be even more spectacular.
"This is not an existence we can stand against..."
Hearing this, Tohsaka Rin's heart sank.
She had gambled everything, even throwing the Jeweled Sword Zelretch out to self-destruct.
The result... the Firefly opposite them didn't even have a single scratch on her armor.
"Stand behind me, Miss Tohsaka!" The other Servants had all fallen. Only Mash remained, gritting her teeth and raising her shield to block Xia Yu.
"Don't work yourself too hard, Mash." Seeing this, Xia Yu stepped forward and lightly tapped the Great Shield in her hands. "Fujimaru Ritsuka, I'll give you one last chance."
"Begin the summoning. Pray to the Human Order."
She said with deep meaning, "Pray that it will send down a Grand Class to save this world on the brink of collapse. How about it?"
"...Mash, lower your shield." Hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka gave her a deep look before speaking.
"But Senpai..." Mash still didn't quite understand. As expected, kouhais are just pure and innocent.
"I need the shield as a catalyst for the summoning," Fujimaru Ritsuka reached out and patted her shoulder. "Without a Grand Class... we cannot defeat her."
Hearing this, Mash had no choice but to lower her shield.
Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka with eyes full of hope.
"I announce:
Your body rests under my command, my fate is entrusted to your sword!
Respond to the call of the Holy Grail!
If you wish to follow this will and this reason, then answer!
I hereby swear!
I am the one who shall become all the good in the world!
I am the one who shall pass down all the evil in the world!
You, Seven Heavens clad in the three words of power!
Cross the Counter Wheel and appear!
Guardians of the Scales!"
The magic circle deployed using the shield as a foundation, but even after a long time, no Heroic Spirit appeared from within.
"Do you still not understand?" Seeing this, Xia Yu spread her hands. "The Human Order has abandoned you."
"Fujimaru Ritsuka, your mission was never to stop me. I remember telling you that, right?"
"...I understand." Hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked somewhat unwilling, but she still pulled Mash along and made way.
Now, the only ones blocking Xia Yu were Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou.
"I won't let you pass!" Tohsaka Rin struggled to stand up, drawing a dagger from her clothes.
Emiya Shirou stood silently beside her, clenching his fists tightly.
"Even if you die here?" Xia Yu looked at them, tilting her head as she asked.
"Even if I die!" Emiya Shirou said through gritted teeth. "I won't let you anywhere near Sakura!"
As he spoke, he completely extracted his life force to use as Magical Energy, attempting to unleash his Noble Phantasm once more.
Behind them, Matou Sakura was moved to tears. Had it not been for Illya keeping her in check, she would have rushed out long ago.
But in the next moment, the two of them suddenly froze.
Medea lightly twitched her fingers, and black spell crests instantly crawled all over their limbs and necks.
"This is... Caster?!" Tohsaka Rin turned to look at Medea in disbelief.
"Sorry, you two," Medea revealed a dangerous smile. "After all, I am the Witch of Betrayal, aren't I?"
"Don't talk about yourself like that." Before the two restrained individuals could speak, Xia Yu shook her head and said, "What betrayal is there to speak of? After all, you've been my person from the very beginning."
"Hmph, since you know I'm on your side, why did you make such a huge commotion?" Hearing this, Medea looked at her resentfully. "If I hadn't been constantly using Magecraft to maintain this Great Hollow, the mere shockwaves of your battle would have leveled this mountain to the ground!"
"Especially that last wave. Don't you know how to hold back a little?" She pointed a finger at Xia Yu reproachfully. "It's not like you don't know how strong you are! Just now, to prevent you from blowing the mountain flat, I almost lost my life, you know!"
Hearing this, Xia Yu lowered her head awkwardly. True, she had gotten a bit carried away in the fight just now.
With so many Noble Phantasms going off, along with her own attacks, no matter how sturdy Mount Enzou was, it couldn't withstand it. If it hadn't been for the Magecraft Medea had spent the past few days setting up to maintain and defend it, the mountain would have collapsed ages ago.
"What do you mean, from the very beginning?" Tohsaka Rin couldn't hold back anymore. She looked at Medea with red eyes. "Furina... is she on Firefly's side too?"
"Hmm, that answer is a bit tricky." Hearing this, Medea's eyes darted around. "It's better if you see for yourself."
"Actually, the answer is quite simple." As Xia Yu spoke, she deactivated the SAM Armor, and Firefly's slender body appeared before them.
"Oh right, Ritsuka, you asked me earlier if I had been deceiving you the whole time, right?" She turned to look at Fujimaru Ritsuka.
"Should I thank you for remembering?" Fujimaru Ritsuka said grumpily.
"Sorry, you're just too sharp. I really can't fool you," Xia Yu shrugged. "If I had been exposed right then, it wouldn't have been fun anymore."
"So, now, everyone..." Xia Yu's form shifted. The Glamoth veteran vanished on the spot, and Furina elegantly removed the hat from her head, placing one hand on her chest as she bowed to them.
"I'm so sorry for tricking you all," she said with a cheeky smile. "How about it? Are you surprised? Were you caught off guard?"
"Neither surprised nor caught off guard," Fujimaru Ritsuka said irritably. "You weren't even really acting. Only those two, whose minds have been completely occupied by Miss Sakura for a long time, failed to notice."
"Now I'm starting to doubt how much of what comes out of your mouth is actually the truth!"
"Take a guess?" Hearing this, Xia Yu blinked at her, then turned and slowly walked towards Matou Sakura in the distance.
"Hey, Berserker," Illya's gaze was extremely dangerous. "How come I didn't know you had this kind of ability?"
"Just a minor transformation technique, nothing worth mentioning." Xia Yu giggled and rubbed Illya's head, then reached out and pulled Matou Sakura over.
"Mmph!" Seeing this, Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou began to twist their bodies forcefully, trying to break free from their restraints. Their mouths had also been gagged by Medea.
"Sakura, do you trust me?" Xia Yu swapped back into Firefly's body.
"...I trust you." Hearing this, Matou Sakura recalled the figure who had rescued her from the crest worm pit that day, and nodded.
"Then..." Xia Yu held her hand, interlacing their fingers. "Come, absorb my life force, and let it be completely born!"
Hearing this, Matou Sakura closed her eyes. The red and black attire wrapped around her body once again, but the difference this time was that her entire head remained exposed.
As she absorbed more and more Magical Energy into her body, the surrounding air grew increasingly heavy.
The surrounding Servants were lying scattered on the ground. Emiya Shirou and Tohsaka Rin were restrained, and Chaldea... wasn't an enemy either.
Therefore, the gestation of the Beast went exceedingly smoothly.
Thump.
That was its first heartbeat.
"This is bad," the Doctor's voice came through the Communicator. "The Saint Graph of a Beast is rapidly constructing itself... This scale... If it is truly born, the consequences will be unimaginable!"
"But there's nothing I can do, Doctor," hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka shrugged helplessly. "We really can't beat her."
"I'm not..." the Doctor was suddenly at a loss for words.
"How could the Human Order possibly sit idly by and watch a Beast be born..." he muttered.
"That's right, the Human Order won't sit idly by," hearing this, Xia Yu turned her head and smiled. "But it doesn't dare enter the fray itself, so didn't it pull you guys in as an insurance policy?"
"I dare say, the moment I show even the slightest sign of not being able to handle this, you guys would immediately be able to summon a bunch of Grand Class Servants to jump it, and finish me along the way."
"The reason the Counter Force is acting so hesitant is entirely because they can't gauge my true strength. Therefore, the birth of the Beast is necessary for them."
Xia Yu looked calmly at Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou. "This world is just that cruel. It is merely a whetstone the Counter Force is using to test me."
"From the very beginning, you were destined to never defeat me."
Hearing this, Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou's struggles intensified once more. Unfortunately, Medea's curse was not so easily broken.
Thump!
The second heartbeat.
That demonic figure slowly emerged from where the Greater Grail was. It had been there all along. Those uncomfortable, clustered giant eyeballs silently watched everything unfold.
Thump!
The third heartbeat.
Matou Sakura felt her sense of self being devoured by a massive, malicious existence.
"It's about to be born..." the Doctor muttered.
"Yes, very soon," Xia Yu looked at the twisted figure behind her. "Unfortunately, it won't get the chance."
Then, she immediately reached back and pierced straight through Matou Sakura's chest, tearing out her heart with her right hand.
"Mmph!!!" Seeing this, Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou's eyes almost split open in rage.
"Senpai... Sister..." Matou Sakura felt all the strength in her body being rapidly swallowed by the massive hole in her chest.
"I... ugh..." She reached out a hand weakly towards the two of them.
"Alright, stop acting like this is a final parting," but in the next moment, a Senzu Bean was flicked into her mouth by Xia Yu. "I said I'd keep you from dying, so I'll keep you from dying!"
Matou Sakura swallowed the Senzu Bean subconsciously.
In an instant, everything that had just slipped away returned to her body, as if time was flowing in reverse.
She subconsciously stumbled, then reached out to touch her chest.
What her hand touched was smooth skin... and a continuously beating heart?!
But... she turned her head to look at big sister Firefly, whose hand was still gripping her own bloody heart...
"Go hug them," Xia Yu smiled at her. "They really put their lives on the line to save you."
At the same time, Medea also released Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou.
"Sakura?" The two reached out to her with trembling hands.
Tears streamed down Matou Sakura's face as she rushed forward, opening her arms and hugging them.
"Senpai... Sister..."
In the distance, Artoria breathed a sigh of relief seeing this.
Then, she exchanged a glance with the other Servants who were playing dead together.
Actually, they had sensed it long ago. Mainly because, given Firefly's strength, if she really wanted to cause trouble, they absolutely wouldn't have been able to stop her for this long. That was why even someone as stubborn as Artoria hadn't recklessly stood in her way regardless of the cost.
"Going through all this trouble, it was just to make them reconcile, right?" Cu Chulainn gossiped in a low voice. "These two sisters... they had a very deep rift between them before."
"Tch, making such a huge fuss over something like this, how willful."
Hearing this, for some unknown reason, Artoria recalled Tristan's words: The King does not understand human hearts.
If... if she had a knight like her, would things have...
And just as Tohsaka Rin, Matou Sakura, and Emiya Shirou were hugging each other and crying bitterly, Xia Yu looked at the heart in her hand.
"Come on, we've already reached this step," she said with a smile. "You aren't still hesitating, are you?"
This was her plan.
It wasn't that she couldn't solve the problem with Matou Sakura's body. But the issue was, if she solved it first, how would they purify the Holy Grail?
So she had to wait until All the World's Evil invested more and more into Matou Sakura's body, and the sunk cost grew higher and higher, until it could no longer bear to part with this chance to be born!
"This is your only chance," Xia Yu narrowed her eyes and said. "Medea didn't spend these past few days studying the Holy Grail for nothing. Although she can't purify you, she did figure out how to dismantle the Greater Grail."
"In other words, this is your last chance to be born. There will never be another Holy Grail War in the future."
What she had to do was force All the World's Evil into a corner where it had no choice but to fight desperately, completely cutting off its route of retreat. Only then would it obediently be born.
And since the Beast was to be born, it absolutely wouldn't incorporate the Greater Grail System into its own body. Because Medea had already prepared the Magecraft formula to dismantle the Greater Grail. If All the World's Evil dared to do so, it would gain an absolutely fatal weakness.
And for it, as long as it was born, it would have to face Xia Yu. It already didn't know if it could win, and to willingly hand a fatal weakness to the opponent on top of that...
A dam of a thousand miles collapses from an anthill. Even if there was only the slightest possibility, its instinct as a living being to seek advantage and avoid harm would make it completely abandon this idea.
So, the moment it was born, it would leave the Greater Grail. At that point, the Greater Grail would be clean.
And her own goal would be achieved.
A perfectly interlinked chain of events, to which Medea had contributed quite a few ideas.
Thump!
The fourth heartbeat.
All the World's Evil had made its choice.
It chose to be born.
That heart was continuously absorbing Magical Energy from Xia Yu. Due to the lack of a host body, it had no choice but to first use the heart as a foundation to complete this physical form.
Soon, a twisted body that vaguely retained Matou Sakura's appearance hung from Xia Yu's hand.
It was entirely an empty shell, just waiting for its tenant to move in.
Thump!
The fifth heartbeat.
Xia Yu smiled very happily.
Ever since its first heartbeat sounded, it had no other choice.
Life will instinctively seek to be born.
On this point, Kotomine Kirei was absolutely correct. Even a Beast is a living being!