The hero then was casting frankincense
into the sacred flames, and pouring wine
on marble altars, as his holy prayers
were floating to the Gods. The hallowed heat
striking upon his poisoned vesture, caused
Echidna-bane to melt into his flesh.
As long as he was able he withstood
the torture. His great fortitude was strong.
But when at last his anguish overcame
even his endurance, he filled all the wild
of Oeta with his cries: he overturned
those hallowed altars, then in frenzied haste
he strove to pull the tunic from his back.
The poisoned garment, cleaving to him, ripped
his skin, heat-shriveled, from his burning flesh.
Or, tightening on him, as his great strength pulled,
stripped with it the great muscles from his limbs,
leaving his huge bones bare.
Even his blood
audibly hissed, as red-hot blades when they
are plunged in water, so the burning bane
boiled in his veins. Great perspiration streamed
from his dissolving body, as the heat
consumed his entrails; and his sinews cracked,
brittle when burnt. The marrow in his bones
dissolved, as it absorbed the venom-heat.
Book IX NESSUS AND THE DEATH OF HERCULES (Nessus. Herculis mors.)
Ovid. Metamorphoses. Brookes More. Boston. Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922.
Shadow
When you think about it... it was a miracle they survived.
It was as simple as that. Against Gilgamesh, even several Heroic Spirits had no chance. In his time, the king of Uruk had succeeded in standing up to Enkidu, the Chain of Heaven, and - helped by his new friend- the First Hero of Humanity had defeated the Bull of Heaven.
Tohsaka Rin sighed, her clothes were torn and burned and she was exhausted from having to constantly use the Reinforcement Magecraft.
But she was alive.
Her gaze ran through the group.
Arthur Pendragon came out of that fight without scratches... because Emiya Pyrrha used a Command Mark to heal him. Nevertheless, with both hands on Excalibur's knob, he could barely stand. His face covered with drops of sweat he breathed with difficulty, unable to catch his breath.
His Master had placed a hand on his arm in a comforting gesture.
The gaze of the Magus focused on Bazett. Caster, her Servant, was treating the wounds she had received during the battle. In the end, it was Paracelsus who had done best in the anti-Kirei alliance. He had not been injured and still had energy.
The Red Devil turned to Luvia. The blonde Magus looked around with sadness. Her beautiful mansion was completely destroyed. The park was a lunar landscape, full of smoking craters. There was nothing left of the house but a heap of smoking rubble. Under the rubble laid the bodies of her employees...
The heiress of the Edelfelt family took a few steps and stopped in front of a large puddle of blood. The only trace recalling the death of Assassin. She knelt down and began to weep.
Rin remembered wishing to be there on the day that Luviagelita Edelfelt would experience humiliation. Her wish had been granted... however, the young Japanese girl felt no sense of triumph.
A few steps away, Illya was also watching Luviagelita, in the company of her maid Leysritt... the Einzbern Master had also lost her Servant. Certainly, Illya had to identify easily with the grief of the Edelfelt heiress.
Sighing, in an exaggerated way, Rin turned in the direction of Archer and, with one hand on her hip, pointed at him with an accusing finger.
"And now, I demand answers!"
The knight in red jumps and manages to look more frightened than seeing Gilgamesh attack him with the Sword of Rupture.
"Rin... I think we mostly need rest, care... we're all hurt... especially me, by the way."
The Wrought Iron Hero touched his chest. There was a hole in the location of the heart in his black armor and signature Red Plain Mystic Code.
But, as always, Rin was ruthless. Crossing her arms on her chest, she turned her head with a haughty air.
"And who healed you, you moronic idiot?"
Archer raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Calm down, Rin. I'm just saying I can answer your questions after a night's sleep, while you sit in the best chair in your living, enjoying a cup of my best tea."
Rin shuddered and blushed. Archer pretended not to like cooking and other household chores... Rin said breakfast was a waste of time... The Servant and the Master were very similar... they were not honest with themselves.
Archer smiles... a real smile without his usual irony.
Surprise, Rin jolted, blushing and for once totally out of words. The Red Devil looked away... why... why her heart had missed a beat?! It was just Archer!
Suddenly, it was as if everyone present had received a bucket of ice cubes in the neck.
A fearful presence had just entered the ruins...
Hearing someone clapping in his hands, they all turned to the entrance of the park.
The slow applause was ironic. Retrieving his cane, the abominable ghoul took a few steps toward them. He looked like a hundred-year-old man, hunched over, shrunken, skinny, bald, and deformed by arthritis... but he wasn't a human being anymore.
The part that was white in a human eye was black in his eyes... and the center was white... as if the colors had been reversed.
Illya, Rin, and Luvia recognized him immediately.
"Zouken."
Pyrrha was startled.
"Matou Zouken?"
Arthur looked at the monster in human form and shivered with disgust.
"Yes, he's the head of the Zouken family."
So he was Sakura and Shinji's grandfather?
Pyrrha tried to hide her disgust, but she didn't have to do it as well as she would have liked. Nevertheless, the old man merely laughed.
"The horror I inspire in you is written on your face, my child."
"Forgive me, I... "
But the old man interrupted her with a gesture of his cane.
"No, you don't have to apologize. I'm hideous. I'm horrible... I know that very well. That's all that's left of me. I'm so horrible that even my old friends don't recognize me anymore."
Having said these few words, Zouken turned to Caster. A troubled expression appeared on the face of Paracelsus.
"Will we know each other, Herr Matou? I don't remember."
The horrible ghoul shrugged.
"I have changed my name since our last meeting. I came to this country with Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern. We were looking for a land rich in Ley Lines, far from the watchful eye of the Church. The Old Man of the Jewels made us meet Tohsaka Nagato. Together, we had great plans, we thought we would end misery and suffering in this world, create a paradise on Earth, and bring magic into a new age... we were foolish... Justeaze sacrificed herself to bring the Fuyuki Greater Grail to life. But all we've managed to do is... a succession of pathetic, grotesque, bloody failures... all for nothing. I came to this country, I changed my name, I established my lineage in these distant lands, hoping to perpetuate the work of Justeaze..."
He had spoken these last words in a grandiloquent tone while smiling with contempt.
"I was young and stupid. Transplanting my bloodline to Japan was a mistake... the Magic Circuits of my offspring have dissipated... This land has rejected us."
Caster turned pale... he recognized these aspirations... he had known a young idealist who had said the same words to him.
"But... that was the right thing to do. The role of the Magi is to... "
"No!"
Sharp as a knife, cold as ice, Zouken's voice stopped Paracelsus' lyrical flight.
"The pathetic ambitions of the Clock Tower, our youthful dreams, now all I can do when I hear about it is laugh... the truth is that humans are stupid, small, and uninteresting. They live... then they die... and for the World, it is as if they never existed. They are forgotten. I have lived for centuries... I have perpetuated my existence at the cost of the greatest suffering... remaining for decades in hibernation... still waiting for the next Grail War to become truly immortal. But, over the centuries, I have lost everything of the man I once was, except the fear of death. Can you imagine what it's like to see your soul start to rot after exceeding the maximum life expectancy of a human being?! Can you imagine the horror I felt when I realized that the only way to prevent my end was to devour a human being... alive!? Can you imagine how I felt... my hesitations... my repugnance? When I did it, I killed what was left of me... I stopped being human. But even that was just a stop-gap. I had to start again... at the beginning, years passed between two 'renewals'... but my body was decaying more and more quickly... the years became months. Now I have to eat one person every three weeks. The decay is getting faster and faster!"
"Who... who are you? What do you want?"
Zouken's smile was perfectly evil when he answered.
"Who am I? You really don't recognize your old friend Makiri Zoulgen?"
Caster jumped and stepped back... eyes wide open. He remembered his first meeting with a young Russian by that name while teaching medicine (and Magecraft) in Lithuania (1).
But the fact that Zouken claimed to be Makiri Zoulgen caused one of the phenomenal anger so characteristic of Paracelsus.
"Liar! Makiri was a young idealist who wanted the best for humanity. Not... not a monster that devours humans! Swindler, usurper... a hair of my beard is wiser than a counterfeiter in your genre. Blatant liar, false doctor, a disciple of Gallienus. Usurper of a friend's name. But you are not worthy to be compared to my friend. A hair of his head was more worthy of being considered a man than you at whole. You are not him. And I refuse to breathe the same air as you. Souffleur! Sophist!"
Zouken laughs.
"Times are hard for idealists!"
Calmed down a bit, Caster looked at Zouken with suspicion.
"And what do you want? You must have a reason to come here, a reason that's not pleasant to hear and I expect the worst."
"Oh, I just came to help you against Gilgamesh, my old friend. My plan was to pop up at the right time, kill the King of Heroes and then convince you to become my Servant. I had not imagined that a Servant would use a Reality Marble. Nevertheless, I am not unhappy with the result..."
Zouken's cruel smile became even crueler.
"Because I know that you will not refuse to become my Servant... unless you want me to kill all the others present
A cry resounded... a cry that was nothing human... the cry of a beast... all froze on the spot, looking around them with a worried expression. Except for Illya...
"Berserker !"
The little girl's face was transfigured by joy.
For anyone else, Berserker's cry would have been a threat, a challenge. But Illya's heart leaped into her chest. As Lesser Grail, she kept in herself the spirits of the Servants who had fallen during the clashes... except that she had never received the spirit of Berserker (2). But Illya had not allowed herself to believe that her protector was still alive. It wasn't by hiding from herself a painful truth that the young Einzbern had survived until then. Old Man Acht had ensured that the Einzbern Master was properly 'educated' to carry out her mission. And his methods made the lessons hard to forget. As Illya no longer felt the bond that had united her to her Servant, she had to admit that Berserker was dead. The fact that the spirit of Heracles did not join Rider in her was just another anomaly... in a Grail's war full of anomalies.
Except that a grey-skinned colossus had just jumped near Zouken. Without paying attention to the anxious appeals of Pyrrha and Arthur, Illya ran to him... But her joy vanished in an instant, and she stood still, her eyes filled with horror.
It was really Berserker. The Einzbern Master recognized his coarse rock-like skin, his tangled hair similar to the mane of a lion, and his primitive brute face. But horrible wounds appeared on his chest... and in these wounds swarmed horrible insects... Other insects appeared in his mouth when he cried again. The most horrible thing was that the eye sockets were empty... except for a swarming mass of insects...
"And yes" laughed Zouken. "Berserker is mine now."
Saber had just caught up with Illya. Pushing the child behind him with a gentle gesture, he brandished Excalibur.
"By what right did you turn Zeus' son into a... zombie?!"
Zouken laughs...a scornful laugh.
"A Servant is only a tool that the Magi can use at their convenience."
The old vampire raised his finger as he prepared to demonstrate the power of his slave, but he froze. He looked at a strange being... and his gaze was now filled with pure bare unbearable terror.
"Impossible..."
The most surprising thing was that no one saw the Shadow appear.
The moment before where he was standing was empty... and suddenly it was there.
It looked like a few creatures from the abyss of the ocean, a creature with a smooth, oblong body, as tall as a man, thin. The creature had no distinctive features but flat tentacles, similar to strips of fabric, slowly contorting around it.
The horror of Matou Zouken was obvious. Of all those present, he alone recognized the monster.
Panicked, he pointed the creature at his undead slave.
"Berserker, kill him!"
And the undead shouted and leaped, brandishing his stone axe-sword...
Except, in a strange... sudden... and totally unnatural way, the shadow of the abyssal creature extended in the direction of Berserker.
What followed was brief.
As soon as Berseker set foot in the shadow, he began to sink as if he had just entered quicksand. Immobilized, the undead struggled with all his immense strength, trying to free himself. But tentacles... short dark tentacles... came out of the shadow of the creature of the abyss and took hold of Berserker, surrounding and immobilizing his arms, tying themselves around his neck, his thighs, pulling him towards the abyss.
Howling with rage, trying to strike the tentacles with his stone axe-sword, the body marbled with red under the effect of his rage... the undead sought to escape... but he was powerless. Even his immense strength failed to free him from the tentacles that bound him. Only a few seconds after the shadow of the sea monster had so grotesquely extended... Berserker's hand disappeared into the pothole... never to reappear again.
A strange silence reigned on the battlefield.
A moment earlier, Zouken had been about to attack the survivors of the anti-Kirei alliance...
Then the monster appeared and it had just destroyed Berserker.
Everyone should have been relieved... the monster had just saved them...
Yet... no one was reassured.
In fact, the humans, the Servants, and even that monster, Zouken, were terrified by this faceless creature, silent, motionless, and... completely alien...
All felt that this creature had the power to annihilate them with one thought.
Suddenly, the creature moved.
Rin swallows, suddenly dry mouth.
The creature had turned towards her. Although the Shadow had no eyes, the Tohsaka Magus felt that the strange abyssal monster was looking at her.
And the shadow of the strange being expands again... heading straight towards her.
Archer wanted to jump forward, to act as a buffer.
But Merlin's voice echoed.
"No... no servant should come near this... thing. Above all, don't touch its shadow! "
Accustomed to obeying bossy women, Archer stopped in a Pavlovian reflex.
Exhausted, the Tohsaka Master remained frozen on the spot and would not have reacted in time to avoid the attack. Fortunately, EMIYA was not the only one who wanted to protect Rin.
Pyrrha hit Tohsaka on the shoulder, pushing her violently out of the shadow's path... but her arm was briefly immersed in the strange dark projection.
In Pyrrha's head, it was as if a bomb was exploding.
It was impossible to describe this phenomenon differently...
A hurricane of shapes and emotions both blurred and too distinct had invaded her mind... She felt herself falling into a red and black void where thousands of screaming faces were convulsing, distorted by madness and suffering; all were shouting simultaneously.
Sight... hearing... taste... smell... taste... every sense is a door through which sin enters.
Die.
Man is born... lives... procreates... begets... but begets only evil.
Die. Die.
The man gets up in the morning. He goes to work. Rivalry, lies, resentment, laziness, this is his daily life.
Die. Die. Die.
From birth to death, man only does evil.
Die. Die. Die. Die.
Evil is his only reality.
Die. Die. Die. Die. Die.
Evil is his only truth.
Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die.
By his words... by his secret lusts... by his actions... man only spreads jealousy, vengeance, and betrayal.
Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die.
DIe. Die. DiE. dIe. DiE. die. DiE.
DiEdIedIeDiEdIeIe...
DIE!
Pyrrha collapsed.
Immediately Arthur ran to her and took the Invincible Girl's face into his hands. But the teenager had her eyes rolled back and drooling, her body shaking with spasmodic tremors.
[She was not physically injured] Merlin's mental voice said. [Pyrrha has only been grazed by the Shadow... However, her mind was in violent shock. ]
Arthur turned in the direction of the creature that had just attacked his Master but... where it had stood, there was nothing left.
The Shadow had gone back as fast as it had come.
Zouken had watched the scene frozen in terror. Like the other participants, he had not seen the thing disappear.
He was too shocked to react. His mind was spinning.
It was not possible!
He had managed to manifest outside the Greater Grail.
All the World's Evil.
The King of Daemon.
Angra Mainyu.
But standing still, Zouken was a perfect target.
Thrown by Archer, Kanshou and Bakuya cut the old Matou into three pieces. Two of the pieces fell to the ground and decomposed in the space of a few seconds... the third piece... the head and part of the bust... turned into a cloud of hideous insects that flew to a crater that communicated with the sewers.
Having finished examining Pyrrha, helped by Caster, Rin stood up.
"Merlin, you can hear me?"
There was a brief silence and then the female voice was heard.
"Yes, I can hear you... normally I shouldn't answer you... but I guess you want to ask me about what just happened?"
"Right. What was that thing?"
"I'm not supposed to help humans. But since the world is in danger of destruction, I guess I have to make an exception. What you just saw is the Lesser Grail."
Illya always stood at the place where Berserker had disappeared, her eyes turned towards the ground. She was far too shocked to react. Nevertheless, Bazett did it for her.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Miss McRemitz, I keep an eye on what's going on around Saber and Pyrrha, the ambushes, the presence of enemies... and everything magical in nature. I can assure you that the Shadow was emitting a very special energy signature, the same energy that powers the Servants, the magical signature of the Fuyuki's Grail."
"I thought the Lesser Grail was some sort of homunculus created by the Einzbern. And that it was only supposed to manifest once six Servants had died."
"Well, in this case, there must be a second Lesser Grail. And he's not behaving the way he should. Decidedly, the Heaven Feel ritual accumulates abnormalities. This Formalcraft becomes more unstable with every passing minute. At this point, even if a Master emerged victorious, it would be better if he gave up his wish. The Grail would probably grant it in such a distorted and absurd way that the result would probably be more dangerous than useful... in fact, the consequences of such a wish would be potentially apocalyptic."
"I agree." Caster intervenes.
With a gesture of his hand, he had brought forth glass vials and stills and was busy making a drug for Pyrrha, which didn't stop him from following the conversation.
"You remember when Atrum Galliastra asked me to trap you at the Ryuudou Temple? I took the opportunity to do a fairly complete study of the Grail, its functioning, its true purpose... I discovered that it had been 'hacked' by a presence formed by all the curses of the world. And it was this Shadow that grabbed Berserker..."
"The shadow is the entrance to the Greater Grail," interrupted Merlin.
Paracelsus nodded his head.
"Exactly... and the body of the Servants was created by the Grail. So we cannot oppose it. If we touch this shadow we will be... how to say? Digested? Absorbed? In any case, I doubt that it would do much good for a Servant to be swallowed inside the Grail... while the latter is filled with... All the World's Evil."
Arthur was alarmed.
"But Berserker has just been absorbed by the Grail a moment ago! What will happen, now? Should we fear that All the Word's Evil will invoke a distorted version of Berserker?"
Caster remained thoughtful for a few moments.
"No, I doubt it. Zouken's puppet was not a real servant, just a zombie with no will of its own, animated by the insects that are the basis of Matou's Magecraft."
Rin had a wrinkled forehead, she reflected intensely, rubbing her lips.
"You mean the Servants can't face this... thing?"
"Rin," said Archer. "The Grail has summoned us, it keeps us alive. You heard Caster... if the tentacles of the Shadow touch us, we will be absorbed and transformed."
"Indeed, the Servants cannot oppose the Grail... at least directly. This means the only people who can intervene are you, the Masters."
The words of Paracelsus startled Bazett and Luvia.
"Us?"
"Well, especially Illya... she too is a Lesser Grail. She's your only asset. To stop the Grail, there is no other choice, you must go to the caves under the Ryuudou Temple and destroy enough ritual circles to stop this monstrosity. And since the Servants cannot attack the Grail, you are the only ones who can intervene. We'll do what we can to prepare you, but..."
Paracelsus looked alternately at Bazett, Luvia, Illya, Leysritt, Rin, and Pyrrha. A group of young women, the oldest was not even 25 years old. No man (3).
"I fear the fate of the world is in your hands, Meine Damen."
Matou Sakura stopped, leaning with a trembling hand against a wall.
She was panting. Her forehead was covered in sweat.
Her mind was feverish... Her memory was blurred.
She looked at the sky, the night ended and the first rays of the winter sun lit the roofs of Fuyuki. It must have been around 7:00 in the morning.
She would meet people on their way to work. They would turn around and look at her. Several people called her, asking her if she was okay, but Sakura continued walking, awkwardly moving towards her goal. She did not answer. In fact, she had not even noticed that she had been spoken to.
What was she doing there?
The young Matou had a confused recollection of leaving her home but...
Where did she go?
What did she do?
Sakura didn't remember.
Without knowing how, she arrived in her bedroom, remembering only vaguely to have arrived at the Matou Residence and to have climbed the stairs.
Her room was a nice and bright room with two well-oriented windows. Below the first was her desk with some shelves for books, trinkets, and green plants. Her bed was under the second window. Between the two there was a frame full of photos and a rattan chair.
The rest of the furniture was limited to a closet, a coffee table with an ottoman.
Falling on the green quilt of her bed, Sakura hugged a huge teddy bear.
What happened that night?
Where did she go?
Under her closed eyelids there were strange scenes...
She could see herself climbing a long staircase.
Did she go to the Ryuudou Temple?
Then... caves... a vast cave system with luminescent circles of invocations on the ground... the walls were covered with strange unhealthy drawings...
Sakura held her hands to her temples. A dull migraine made her brain vibrate.
Briefly, she saw red faces contorting...
Kill. Kill. Kill.
"Sakura!"
The young teen with purple hair opened her eyes and sat down on her bed, recognizing Shinji's voice.
"Oniisan?"
The teenager was furious, his eyes wide open. Walking up and down in his room, he began to speak. He mentioned names: Lancer, Kirei, Gilgamesh but also Pyrrha and Rin... as a leitmotiv he repeated "All incapable, all!" But Sakura was too weak, too confused to understand what he was talking about.
Suddenly, Shinji stopped and turned towards her with a concupiscent smile.
"Well, it's time to de-stress."
Despite her weakness, Sakura understood perfectly what her 'brother' meant.
"No... no... not today..."
But without listening, Shinji pushed her back. He pressed her against her bed. One of his hands was on her chest. With the other, he sought to lift her skirt. The expression of lust on his face transformed him in a hideous way.
"No... no..."
Sakura couldn't fight, she was too weak and her rapist wouldn't listen.
Neither of the two teenagers noticed that the corners of the room were blackening.
With a truly supernatural speed, dark spots spread on the walls and the light dimmed...
"No... no..."
Sakura continued to protest.
But there was another voice inside her.
Kill. Kill. Kill.
She began to hit her 'brother' with weak blows... without strength... and tears appeared in her eyes.
Kill. kILl. KiLL.
"No... Please... no..."
KILL!
Suddenly.
Shinji stopped at once.
His eyes rolled back.
"O... oniisan?"
Shinji did not move. He was completely inert.
Feeling a warm liquid pouring down her belly, spraying her chest, Sakura turned her gaze to the quilt. A large puddle of red blood widened.
On Shinji's back, three long black and red tentacles stood out.
In the room now completely blackened, Sakura remained for a long time motionless REFUSING to understand. Then...
All the windows of the Matou Residence exploded simultaneously as a long cry of despair echoed throughout Fuyuki.
Author's note: with this chapter begins the ultimate Arc of Invincible Girl Return.
(1) Paracelsus' stay in Lithuania is mentioned by the latter in a text written in 1528, but we do not know the exact date of his stay... probably between 1517 and 1524. Yes, Zouken is over 500 years old!
(2) Illya also did not receive the spirits of Gilgamesh, Assassin, and Lancer. The second Lesser Grail received them.
(3) Shirou harem... minus Shirou!... So peaceful... so calm...