As expected, Shirou Emiya succeeded. Illya obediently waited for him in Zenith's manor, with her maid duo flanking her on the left and right, glaring at Shirou like two little lion cubs.
Shirou had cleared up the misunderstanding, untying the knot that had been festering in Illya's heart for years. She had always believed that her father, Kiritsugu Emiya, had abandoned her and her mother, but that wasn't the truth.
Kiritsugu Emiya had traveled to Europe multiple times, desperately trying to take his wife and daughter away. Unfortunately, the power of a single magus was ultimately no match for an entire magus lineage; the Einzbern family would never allow Kiritsugu to take them.
Illya was usually reserved when expressing her feelings, but at times, she could be far more passionate than an ordinary person. She would willingly sacrifice herself for Shirou's sake, simply believing that it was only natural for an older sister to protect her younger brother—even if she looked like a nine-year-old.
"As expected of Shirou, a total lady-killer." Zenith patted Shirou Emiya on the shoulder. "I've got the mana reserves ready on my end. My hands are cramping from crafting so many synchronized diamonds. Just looking at a Crafting Table makes me sick right now."
As everyone knows, continuous, repetitive labor is the absolute worst. Crafting synchronized diamonds like this was no different from working on a factory assembly line tightening screws.
"So, Uncle, can you really help me overcome the lifespan limit of a homunculus?"
Illya knew there was a ninety-nine percent chance that Zenith being her "uncle" was completely fake, but since Shirou accepted it, she naturally chose to accept it too. She might have the body of a loli, but she still had the heart of a doting older sister. Looking into Illya's eyes, Zenith knew a brand-new bro-con had just logged on. Shirou would probably end up as her foolish little brother.
"There is a way. I originally wanted to give you a Golden Apple, but it seems, uh, a bit weird. Is it because you're a homunculus?"
Zenith thoroughly ravaged—ah, no, *examined*—Illya from top to bottom and discovered something astonishing.
Illya had a durability bar.
Her lifespan was about to run out, meaning her durability had hit rock bottom. Honestly, Minecraft's judgment mechanics were completely absurd. Why would a homunculus even have a durability stat?
"Is it not possible?" Illya was visibly tense. Once a person found something to strive for and a taste of happiness, they became far more terrified of death.
"It's actually even easier." Zenith waved his hand dismissively, quickly popping back to the Overworld to dig out an Enchanted Book of Mending and an Enchanted Book of Unbreaking III, slapping them right onto Illya.
Even though it was called Mending, Illya obviously didn't have anything like experience points, but mana worked just as well. Her visibly red durability bar rapidly shot back up.
"All set. As long as your mana doesn't run dry, you can basically live forever. Even without mana, living peacefully to a hundred won't be a problem."
"That's so amazing..." Before Illya could even finish her sentence, Zenith tossed a golden, voodoo-like totem into her hands, then reached right into her chest and ripped her heart out.
The Totem of Undying activated instantly, restoring Illya to full health. Zenith stood there holding Illya's heart, looking incredibly proud of himself. "How about that? Zenith-brand painless surgery! Quick and easy. I extracted the Lesser Grail in less than thirty seconds."
"...It hurts, it hurts so much!" Illya's wound had healed before she could even spit out the blood in her mouth. Only the bloody red hole in her clothes proved that what just happened wasn't a hallucination.
The two maids silently swore to stab Zenith at least once, while Shirou Emiya and Rin Tohsaka gasped in horror. He was laughing one second and ripping hearts out the next, striking cleanly without a single ounce of hesitation.
"Even though you did solve the problem, I don't want to thank you at all." Illya clutched her chest, still feeling the phantom pain where her heart used to be.
"Just tell me if it's solved or not!" Zenith planted his hands on his hips, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. "Next up is civil engineering. I'll build Caster's shower room first, and then we'll summon the Greater Grail."
The location was, of course, Ryuudou Temple. After all, it was the core of the entire ritual, and the core bounded field was located in the limestone cave beneath the temple.
Zenith planned to build a three-tiered structure.
The top tier would act as a buffer—a 10x10 water reservoir, five meters high. A hole would be left at the bottom to allow the black mud to flow down to the next level.
The middle tier housed the Nether Portal frame. A slanted water trench would funnel the falling black mud directly into the portal. Any mud that failed to enter the portal in time or accidentally spilled out of the trench would drop into the bottom tier.
The bottom tier was a massive funnel-shaped structure with a maximum edge of 100x100 meters, ensuring that no black mud would accidentally spill into the city below.
The custom-built shower room for Caster was located between the top tier and the portal. It was a separate little platform with a door. A lever could be pulled to open and close the ceiling, guiding the black mud down.
As for the building material, it was naturally Obsidian. Ordinary blocks wouldn't necessarily be able to withstand the corrosive wash of the black mud.
"The prep work is done. I'm getting ready to start."
Under Zenith's command, everyone took their positions. Worried that the black mud might inflict negative status effects on Caster, he even prepared ten Milk Buckets and placed them in her stall.
It was about to begin—the end of the Fuyuki City Holy Grail War. Surprisingly, the Clock Tower and the other magus families hadn't interfered. This was for the best. They might have to deal with them in the future, and beating them all up right now wouldn't be conducive to harmonious communication later.
"The time has come! Bring out the Shinji-Grail!"
Shirou Emiya had no idea why Zenith insisted he yell that out, but he obediently followed instructions, dragging a panicked Shinji Matou forward.
"Don't worry, people get used to dying after a while." Zenith shoved Illya's heart straight into Shinji's body, ending the perverted scum's sinful life.
It could only be chalked up to fate and circumstance. If he had been born into an ordinary family, Shinji might have had a good ending. But there were no "ifs" in life. What's done is done, and mistakes must be paid for.
Twisted flesh and blood multiplied madly, and in the blink of an eye, the mass grew even larger than his grandfather, Zouken Matou. The Holy Grail was about to manifest.
A black hole appeared in midair. At Zenith's command, Saber unleashed a horizontal slash of Excalibur to avoid destroying the architectural structure below. The black mud cascaded down, flowing steadily along the trench and into the portal exactly as planned, plummeting into the endless Void.
"Nervous?"
Zenith looked at Souichiro Kuzuki. This perpetually calm, stoic, and stone-faced teacher couldn't stop pushing up his glasses. It was obvious he was actually quite nervous.
"Speaking of Caster—or rather, let's call her by her true name, Medea, since she's about to get a physical body and temporarily cease being a Heroic Spirit. What are you going to do after Medea gets her body? Marry her on the spot?"
Souichiro Kuzuki didn't reply. He just kept staring upward at the small platform where Medea was waiting.
"Lord Souichiro!!"
Wearing a long purple dress, Medea drifted down from the sky like a blooming purple rose, throwing herself into Souichiro Kuzuki's arms.
Zenith watched the two of them, gave a knowing smile, and turned around. Souichiro Kuzuki didn't have any mana, so in order to keep Medea's Heroic Spirit body from dissipating back then, how exactly did he supply her with mana?
How does a man without mana supply mana to Medea? So hard to guess. Zenith had no idea, but he did know one thing: Mr. Kuzuki's springtime had finally arrived.
Want more chapters? 50+ extra chapters are available on my Patreon :
<< patreon.com/Aragai_Sama >>