Swirl of the Root!

Tap, tap, tap…

Amid hurried footsteps, the black-haired man charged into the Black Mud. It was as though he had fallen into a swamp in an instant, and visions of everything from his past came for him once more.

Yet in Kiritsugu Emiya’s hollow eyes, there now seemed to be a resolute goal.

His body had long since been altered by that mysterious woman. At the same time, the Black Mud that had previously eroded him had instead become part of his body during the transformation.

This granted him a certain degree of immortality, allowing him to awaken from the sleep of death. At this moment, he also possessed some resistance to the Black Mud’s corruption.

Kiritsugu Emiya let out a low shout and reached into the Black Mud, directly grabbing hold of a withered body of flesh and blood.

He planted his feet, twisted his body, and prepared to throw the other person out of the Black Mud.

Creak!

Kiritsugu Emiya exerted too much force. The withered flesh in his hand made a strange sound, as if it had been torn apart.

His heart jumped, but in the next instant, a golden gleam suddenly appeared from within the Black Mud.

Boom!

Kiritsugu Emiya’s hand trembled, and he instinctively let go. Then, the Black Mud before him rapidly flowed and contracted.

His vision immediately cleared. Kiritsugu Emiya felt a stabbing pain between his brows and a heaviness in his heart.

A pitch-black, skeletal mummy stood ramrod straight before him.

The once tall and robust man had shriveled until he was barely around 1.7 meters tall.

His entire body seemed cast from Black Mud, with faint crimson light flowing across it. Yet within the hollow sockets of his eyes, a trace of golden radiance remained.

Kiritsugu Emiya instinctively focused his gaze. He was extremely close to Mercenary Tao, close enough to feel the warmth contained within that golden light.

It was utterly different from the feeling Mercenary Tao—and most people in this world—gave off.

Pure, idealized, the radiance of humanity.

Merely touching that light seemed to let Kiritsugu Emiya recall the utterly pure ideals of his youth.

"Why would someone like Mercenary Tao…"

Kiritsugu Emiya moved closer without thinking, even bringing his face before the mummy-like eye sockets. Through those pitch-black holes, he pursued that golden radiance.

Squelch, squelch, squelch…

It sounded like Black Mud churning, or like blocked blood beginning to rush again. Countless worm-like masses of flesh came back to life.

Pop!

Two full eyeballs suddenly emerged from the sockets. The malice in their gaze was undisguised, and those pure black pupils seemed to be condensed Black Mud itself.

"Tch. Unlucky partner of justice, what are you trying to do to me?"

The distinctive mocking tone, along with the sticky killing intent that seemed to cling to his skin, made Kiritsugu Emiya immediately retreat.

This guy was actually still alive!

Before Kiritsugu Emiya could figure out how to speak, Bai Cangshu had already shifted his attention away from him.

This fellow no longer posed any threat to him at all.

All the World's Evil

Type: Special Creation, Material, Ingredient

Quality: World's Rare Treasure

Description: Negative energy accidentally born from the Third Magic in the Type-Moon World, containing the malice of the entire world.

Effect 1: Consume 1 A-rank Anomaly Point and 35,000 Dimensional Points to pour it over any spirit body, inflicting intense malicious corruption upon that spirit body. A spirit body that withstands the corruption can be materialized and gain a physical body. A spirit body that fails to withstand it will be darkened, and the user will gain control over it.

Effect 2: Can be used as material for forging. (Warning: Using it as forging material may bring unforeseeable consequences upon the user, and this item will disappear after use.)

Effect 3: This item can be consumed as material for special abilities such as Elixir of Fortune, Wish Water, and wishcraft. However, the created items and abilities will be twisted into wishes driven by malice.

Effect 4: This item can be used as bloodline material for bloodline enhancement. Each use consumes a small amount of this item. The user will suffer corrosion while gaining additional bloodline traits.

Bai Cangshu’s lips curled upward, his smile obvious.

This "Black Mud" could be considered a kind of universal material to a certain extent.

It could be used to give spirit bodies physical forms, and it could also be fused into a bloodline like Tyrant Sky Blood to grant enhancement.

At the same time, it possessed special functions such as wish-granting. Although the wishes would all be twisted toward malice, for Reincarnators, malice often was not much of a problem.

Most importantly, if he wished, this thing could also be forged as Red Quality material.

Bai Cangshu vaguely remembered White Face mentioning something called the Stairway of Spirit and Flesh. Judging from the name alone, it was probably the same type of thing as the God’s Staircase Knight Sister had mentioned.

This Black Mud, which had effects somewhat similar to the Third Magic, Heaven’s Cup, was very likely connected to the Stairway of Spirit and Flesh.

Now that both All the World’s Evil and White Face’s spirit body were in his hands, he had plenty of time to study it.

At this moment, something else was probably more important.

Bai Cangshu raised his head and looked at the blood moon hanging high in the sky, as though it did not belong to this world.

Complete darkness surrounded them.

It should still have been daytime.

Yet all light had been taken away.

Bai Cangshu’s flesh filled out as if inflated. Soon, as the corruption of All the World’s Evil weakened its suppressive effect, his regeneration speed grew faster and faster.

Before long, he had nearly recovered completely.

With the Black Mud fully absorbed, Illya and Shirou Emiya also began walking over.

But in the next moment, Kiritsugu Emiya shouted.

"Don’t come over!"

He sensed an unimaginably terrifying presence beginning to emerge, and the world seemed to blur before his eyes.

Illya instinctively stopped and grabbed Shirou Emiya in front of her. Her feelings toward Kiritsugu Emiya were complicated. She resented him, but still held onto a faint hope that she herself was unwilling to acknowledge.

And this "younger brother," who had just stood before her with a sword in hand, gave her an inexplicable sense of closeness.

Thus, Illya, who ordinarily did not care about her own life or death, took the initiative to stop together with Shirou Emiya.

In the next instant, Illya saw her powerful Servant, Assassin Mercenary Tao, turn around and give her an inexplicable smile.

His body was tall, his mouth stretched fully open. Whether it was called brilliant or cruel, that smile was incomparably vivid.

She did not understand what he was trying to convey. Perhaps even he himself did not know.

After all, Illya had seen Mercenary Tao’s heart. It was even emptier than hers, complete and utter nothingness.

He was a beast with no origin and no home to return to, seemingly living only to pursue power.

But if power had no purpose, what value did it truly have…?

Illya did not understand.

But Mercenary Tao had already raised both hands. An unprecedentedly powerful force of magical energy absorption erupted.

Illya’s face turned pale. At this moment, she roughly understood that Mercenary Tao’s smile had been a malicious joke.

"Noble Phantasm Release, Vortex of the Heart!"

Illya collapsed to the ground. The Magic Circuits throughout her body shone brilliantly as she rapidly drew magical energy from the earth’s veins, only for Mercenary Tao to absorb it.

She saw enormous translucent tentacles rise behind Mercenary Tao like tails shooting into the heavens, before violently plunging into the blood moon in the sky.

They intertwined with the invisible vortex spreading outward from it.

That was… the power emanating from the Swirl of the Root…

Mercenary Tao wanted to enter the Root?

But he was clearly a Heroic Spirit. In the end, he should return to the Throne of Heroes beyond the world…

Thoughts raced through Kiritsugu Emiya’s mind, but he was powerless to explain. He could only press one finger against his brow.

Bai Cangshu looked at Illya, his gaze seeming to ask her a question.

Do you need me to kill this person, Master?

Bai Cangshu had already sensed the immense tearing force coming from the sky. Compared to the remaining Side Missions in this world and the other rewards…

He was more interested in the Root beyond the temporal void that was about to vanish.

Although he knew that Sakura Matou must have undergone some sort of change because of the Human Instrumentality Project, and that Matou Zouken had most likely already been killed or absorbed by her.

Staying behind would certainly allow him to unravel this mystery and obtain some rewards. The magical knowledge of the Matou Family and Tohsaka Family, even the legendary Jeweled Sword blueprint, were not beyond reach.

But… the Swirl of the Root was likely a place that even other top-tier Reincarnators might not have the chance to enter.

Illya understood what her Servant meant. In the end, she shook her head.

In the next instant, crimson magical light descended from the blood moon and completely enveloped Mercenary Tao.

Boom!

The ground shattered. The Vortex of the Heart tangled with the Swirl of the Root, and the enormous tearing force directly sucked Bai Cangshu in.

In an instant, Bai Cangshu felt his body being torn apart. His Constitution of over 50 offered absolutely no resistance.

His consciousness was suddenly struck by a torrent, and he completely lost consciousness in an instant.

You have come into contact with… the Swirl of the Root