"Human, I'm deeply pleased and thoroughly entertained with the spectacle you put on for this princess," the Eclipse Princess said, clapping her hands.
Her manic grin stretched across her face, her eyes practically shining with twisted delight as she relished every moment of the betrayal and murder she'd just witnessed, the sabotage her master carried out against Caster, who hadn't seen it coming at all.
The look of pure shock and unwillingness on Caster's face had been deliciously fun for her, like savoring the taste of exquisite wine.
"Anyway, the deal is done. This princess will take her leave. Farewell, human." She gave him a mocking little wave as her spirit shimmered and dissolved into nothingness, vanishing without a trace.
The deal they'd struck was simple: he would heal Altrouge, restoring all the injuries she'd sustained and returning her to her full strength and prime.
In exchange, she'd help him eliminate every rival and enemy standing in his way in the Holy Grail War and ensure his victory.
And he'd done it.
He healed every wound Altrouge had suffered during her brutal fight with Arcueid, using the authority of the Root itself to erase her injuries completely, as if they'd never existed at all.
Despite how monstrous she was, Altrouge never once tried to cheat him or twist her end of the bargain.
She kept her word with a terrifying sort of pride. She personally hunted down every enemy Master and Servant, ripped them apart, and left their bodies as trophies of her loyalty to their pact.
She even helped Caster and his master eliminate the remaining threats and bring the Holy Grail War to its violent conclusion, crowning him the final winner.
Her pride simply wouldn't allow her to betray him or leave a promise unfulfilled.
More than that, she enjoyed every second of it.
He could see it in her eyes when she returned to him spattered in blood, her lips curled in a savage smile.
And when she left to return to her world, he knew she wouldn't stop.
The fractured, squabbling Dead Apostle Ancestors wouldn't be ready when she came for them.
Ryouma knew better than anyone: a massacre was coming.
Altrouge would spill oceans of blood to punish disobedience, and countless people were bound to die when she made her move.
Entire factions would be erased.
But even knowing that, he'd still healed her. He even wished her good luck, because he never expected her to stay chained to him forever.
She was a monster, yes, but she was honest in her own twisted way. If she wasn't going to devote her life to him, fine, he had no intention of forcing her to kneel forever.
With Assassin silently at his side, he lifted his gaze to the distant sky.
The Great Grail had begun to stir, reacting to everything he'd done.
If this had been Fuyuki, or any other normal Holy Grail War, he would have needed to kill all seven Servants, including his own.
But he didn't have to bother with that shit.
Thanks to the meticulous, almost surgical work of Caster when harvesting the spirit cores of Servants, the five who had already died didn't simply vanish into nothingness.
Even Caster himself, whose own spirit core ended up being wrenched out by the bloody hands of the Eclipse Princess, wasn't spared.
They took the fragments of those stolen spirit cores and used them as raw fuel for the ritual, feeding their shimmering energy into the Grail.
But it still wasn't enough.
He had forced Caster to rip apart the Masters' Command Spells, to strip away their Mystic Codes, and even tear the magic crests from their flesh if they carried any.
It was brutal, merciless, leaving some Masters screaming in agony as the crests were ripped from their nerves and bones.
All that stolen power, the lingering cores of fallen Servants, the carved-out Command Spells, the shattered Mystic Codes, the forcibly harvested Crests, he hurled it all into the Grail like dumping gasoline onto an open flame.
The Grail roared to life under his will, the dark mass swirling and expanding, trembling as though it were a living beast snarling for blood.
Sparks of mana cracked around its edges, casting flickering shadows over the stone chamber.
It might have been taboo, even unforgivable blasphemy in the eyes of the Clock Tower, but he didn't give a single fuck.
None of those dusty old magi mattered to him.
Now, he stood before the swirling vortex of the Root itself, the path torn open by his relentless ambition, his eyes reflecting the endless spiral of possibilities stretching out beyond mortal understanding.
And there, waiting for him in the infinite depths, was Akasha, the real one, radiant and serene, as she greeted him with a gentle smile.
"Welcome, Ryouma. I have been waiting for you here for a long time. So… what is your wish, Master of the Eclipse Princess?"
A wish, huh?
Ryouma stared into her eyes, his voice low and probing. "Did you already know that someone's been impersonating you, Akasha?"
"I know," Akasha replied softly, her crimson eyes glimmering with a dangerous calm. "That's why, Ryouma Sajyou… make your wish wisely. You're far too weak to fight against her."
He let out a sharp laugh, smirking at her warning. "If I didn't know better, I'd almost think you were on my side, Akasha. Since when does a GM give a fuck about helping the players?"
"But it's because of that, too, that I know you're real. You never care which side wins. You only want the sheer entertainment you get from it," he added, his tone carrying both accusation and wry acceptance.
He narrowed his eyes at her, fingers curling into a tight fist at his side.
His mind raced, thinking of all the possibilities swirling in the shadows around him.
A twisted grin spread across his face.
"I guess I finally know what wish I'm gonna make…" he murmured.
Akasha tilted her head slightly, her expression unreadable.
"I wish…"
Note: Hey, guys! Don't forget to check out my other stories. You might like them, or you might not, but either way, here's the premise:
The Smartest Man in Orario
What if you woke up in a world full of idiots with the intelligence of toddlers?
Despite having only above-average intelligence on Earth, you quickly become the smartest, most creative, and most brilliant person ever to walk the planet.
This isn't your average DanMachi. It's a version of DanMachi where every inhabitant has an extremely low IQ, and you're the only truly intelligent person in the world.
Can you build an empire and a harem in a world full of idiots?
Find out in this story!
Note: We've all seen countless fanfics that dumb down every character except the MC just to make the protagonist look like the smartest genius alive. What if we stop pretending and just admit everyone is stupid and only MC is smart one?
This is the story of...