Mercenary Tao’s Ambition

"What was your name again, Qiu Luo?"

"Fine, Qiu Luo. I suppose you know that the Matou Family wanted to steer the Holy Grail War toward that outcome, then have Rin Tohsaka wield the Jeweled Sword to end everything."

"But unfortunately, that was already destined not to happen."

Mercenary Tao’s words left both Rin Tohsaka and Heroic Spirit Emiya baffled. Rin Tohsaka in particular had never known that she had become part of Qiu Luo’s plan.

Besides, although the Tohsaka Family possessed so-called blueprints for the Jeweled Sword, it was fundamentally not something a human mage could create. That was… Magic!

Qiu Luo’s expression turned solemn. That had indeed been his intention.

Their team was roughly equal in strength to the Man-eating Flower Team, but in theory, the Man-eating Flower Team, backed by Sakura Matou, who could turn dark at any moment, held the greater advantage.

They could only capitalize on their knowledge of the plot, have Rin Tohsaka cooperate with Shirou Emiya, and use Shirou Emiya’s Projection Magecraft to find a way to bring forth the Jeweled Sword. Then Rin Tohsaka could naturally wield it and slaughter her way through everything.

And with a treasure on the level of the Jeweled Sword, what Reincarnator wouldn’t have ideas about it…

Thinking of how Mercenary Tao had already attacked the Matou Family estate, he wondered whether the other party had already killed Sakura Matou.

But Bai Cangshu gave him no further information, merely changing the subject abruptly.

"White Face contacted you, didn’t she?"

Qiu Luo froze, his expression shifting slightly, but he did not answer.

Bai Cangshu merely sneered.

"I’m guessing White Face promised you quite a lot. After learning that I’d appeared, she probably even told you that we could join forces to hunt me down…"

At that moment, another voice came through Qiu Luo’s earpiece.

"Boss, White Face spotted us. She contacted us and said she could send Gilgamesh to help us hunt down Mercenary Tao…"

Though the voice in Qiu Luo’s ear was faint, Bai Cangshu’s senses had become sharp enough after his physique surpassed fifty that he could clearly hear even the number of times flies beat their wings.

He merely curled his lips and looked at Qiu Luo.

Qiu Luo’s face paled, and he immediately refused.

"Tell her we’re not interested. Tell her to get lost!"

He felt somewhat guilty, but Bai Cangshu did not care about that.

After choosing to hunt White Face, he had not only paid attention to the Type-Moon World she was about to enter, but had also specifically gathered information about her past exploits.

He discovered that White Face truly possessed considerable talent as a Reincarnator. No wonder she had obtained a special card sequence.

Over the course of her growth, White Face had toyed with and driven more than ten teams into collapse. The most famous among them was the Fifth Element.

Kai of the Fifth Element was a Reincarnator with outstanding combat potential, a martial artist, yet White Face had completely played him in the palm of her hand.

White Face enjoyed toying with other Reincarnators. Things like credibility had absolutely no reason to exist in her eyes.

She often leveraged her unique research into Plot Worlds to grasp the greater trend of the world, then used that trend to force other Reincarnator teams into cooperating with her.

Those Reincarnator teams clearly knew White Face’s vile nature, yet out of fear of the greater trend, they could only cooperate with her while clinging to false hope. In the end, without exception, White Face abandoned them.

At the same time, White Face was exceptionally skilled at uncovering hidden plots and finding all kinds of secret items. She was a genius Reincarnator outside the realm of combat.

Bai Cangshu had already experienced this once in the Jujutsu Kaisen world. At the time, he had merely assumed White Face had relied on some special card ability to perform the Mount Tai Imperial Lord Ritual in that world, but based on what he learned afterward…

White Face herself was extremely skilled at excavating hidden information in these Plot Worlds.

She had probably realized even earlier than Bai Cangshu that connections existed between those Derivative Worlds, and had deliberately collected items to allow herself to complete a unique ascension across worlds.

With the enhancement of the Noble Phantasm Vortex of the Heart and this information, Bai Cangshu understood White Face’s true objective clearly.

All these other Reincarnators were merely tools White Face had found to delay him. The reason Bai Cangshu had not continued trying to kill the Matou Family was because he now had a clearer plan.

White Face’s ultimate goal was to initiate the Human Instrumentality Project in this world. Though he did not know how White Face intended to initiate the Human Instrumentality Project in a world without Angels…

Since White Face had not had Gilgamesh directly attempt to kill him during their first meeting, even considering that she could not control Gilgamesh very well…

At the very least, White Face’s desire to kill him was not all that strong.

That could only mean White Face’s plan still needed time.

Bai Cangshu actually had a more direct guess. In this world, the most reliable way to turn all humanity into "orange juice" and completely merge them together was probably only that one method.

The All the World’s Evil contained within the Greater Grail would twist a person’s wish and fulfill it in the most evil way possible.

White Face’s wish happened to complement that Black Mud perfectly.

In other words, White Face actually wanted Bai Cangshu to hunt people everywhere. All she needed to do was form an alliance with the other Reincarnators and Masters.

Then she could watch Bai Cangshu fight those people to the death.

Whether Bai Cangshu won and ended the Holy Grail War ahead of time, or Bai Cangshu died and she slowly harvested the aftermath, both were excellent outcomes.

If Bai Cangshu wanted to kill Sakura Matou, he would inevitably have to fight Rider Medusa. Even though Bai Cangshu was now quite confident he could win, he did not wish to start a battle at this moment.

Because he had his own plan as well.

If White Face desired the All the World’s Evil that would descend after the Holy Grail War ended, then what Bai Cangshu coveted was something that came before it.

He wanted… Heroic Spirits.

Yes, after seeing that unleashing the Noble Phantasm Vortex of the Heart allowed him to acquire qualities identical to those of his target, Bai Cangshu came up with a bold idea.

There was now Illya, a Lesser Grail, in this world, as well as Sakura Matou, who was akin to a Lesser Grail. But he could completely become the third Lesser Grail.

Moreover, Illya and Sakura Matou would suffer severe problems from having Heroic Spirits stored within them, ultimately dying.

But he was not afraid…

His insides had long since become a battlefield for all kinds of spirits. In this world, he had successively captured a Guardian Spirit and the fragmented spirit body of a Death God, enriching the varieties of spirit seeds within his Consciousness Sea.

Heroic Spirits, however, differed from those complete dead spirits. How exactly did the so-called amplification from legends function? Could so-called Noble Phantasms be contained within his Consciousness Sea…

Bai Cangshu’s exploration of Plot Worlds was far less profound than White Face’s, but his obsession and madness toward every kind of power surpassed hers.

That was why, contrary to his usual behavior, he had not begun a slaughter. Instead, he was magnanimously offering to cooperate with others, hoping that the Servants would not die before he was ready.

And once he was ready… it would be best if all the Servants died in an instant.

Bai Cangshu smiled, exposing a mouthful of white teeth.

"Perhaps you don’t know this, but I’m a very good partner. I honor my contracts."

Qiu Luo was skeptical. There truly had been no rumors of Mercenary Tao breaking contracts. On the contrary, that woman Crimson Lotus Mage · Luo Xi had regained Lord Life of Silence’s trust through her cooperation with Mercenary Tao and had rallied again.

Qiu Luo looked at Mercenary Tao, who stood right before him, hesitated, and finally nodded.