Chapter 717: Wings can't fly, only be ridden! The hard-mouthed and poisonous Joan of Arc Alter!
"This doomsday has already been controlled by you... it seems like there's nothing for us to do here, implies a boring fetch quest."
Kiana Kaslana folded her arms, her blue eyes scanning the grotesque scenery with a mix of curiosity and mild disgust. She kicked a pebble into the viscous black substance pooling nearby, watching it dissolve instantly with a sinister hiss.
Beside her, Joan of Arc Alter—the Dragon Witch—narrowed her pale golden eyes. Despite her usual arrogance, she felt a prickle of unease on her skin. She wasn't concerned with Kiana or the hacking noises coming from Silver Wolf's holographic keyboard; her attention was entirely captivated by the corrupted chalice hovering in the distance.
The Holy Grail. Or rather, what was left of it.
It wasn't the golden cup of legends. It was a weeping wound in reality, spewing torrents of thick, foul-smelling black mud that seemed to scream with the voices of a billion cursed souls.
"Ren, do you know what that actually is?"
Ria, the King of Knights, stepped forward, her emerald eyes filled with confusion and a rare hint of revulsion. The mana radiating from the object felt fundamentally wrong—an inversion of everything chivalry stood for.
"This is completely different from the Holy Grail I understood," Ria murmured, gripping the hilt of her invisible sword instinctively. "To think the Masters and Servants of the Holy Grail War fought and died chasing after such a chaotic, evil-filled thing... It feels like a mockery."
Ren Kazama stood at the edge of the abyss, his expression calm and unbothered by the psychic pressure radiating from the mud. The wind tugged at his coat as he gestured toward the corruption.
"That is 'All the World's Evil'—Angra Mainyu," Ren explained, his voice cutting through the eerie silence. "Simply put, the Holy Grail has been polluted to its core. It's no longer a wish-granting device; it's a cursed womb."
Irisviel von Einzbern, who had been standing quietly beside Ren, trembled. Her face paled as she looked at the black mud that mirrored the dark fate she had once been destined for.
"My dear... is it because of me?" Irisviel asked, her voice fragile. She clutched her chest, looking up at Ren with eyes shimmering with guilt. "Is this corruption... a result of my existence as the vessel?"
She felt a heavy burden. As a homunculus created by the Einzberns, she had always feared that her very existence was flawed, that she was the cause of this disaster.
Ren didn't answer immediately. Instead, he stepped closer, wrapping a strong arm around her waist and pulling her flush against his chest. He reached up, his fingers gently caressing her soft cheek, wiping away the tear that threatened to fall.
"It's not because of you, Iri," he said softly, his tone leaving no room for doubt. "Don't take the sins of the ancestors upon yourself. This all originated from the Third Holy Grail War, long before you were born."
Ren turned his gaze back to the bubbling mud, explaining the history to the confused group.
"The Holy Grail's pollution traces back to the cheating of your family's predecessors. In the Third War, the Einzbern family, desperate for victory, broke the rules. They used a foreign classic as a catalyst to summon a rogue 'Avenger' class servant instead of a Berserker."
"Avenger?" Jalter perked up at the mention of her own class, her interest piqued.
"Yes. He was a nameless anti-hero. Angra Mainyu," Ren continued. "In life, he was just a villager tortured and sacrificed to bear all the sins of humanity so others could be 'good'. When he was summoned, he was weak. He was defeated instantly."
Ren let out a cynical chuckle. "But that was the trap. When his soul—which was conceptually 'All the World's Evil'—was absorbed into the Greater Holy Grail, the colorless mana of the Grail was permanently dyed black."
"The wish-granting machine was infected with a virus," Silver Wolf chimed in, not looking up from her game console, though her ears were perked. "Corrupted data overwriting the OS. Classic rookie mistake."
"Exactly," Ren nodded at the gamer girl. "The twisted result is that the Grail now interprets any wish in the most evil direction possible. You wish for peace? It kills everyone so there's no one left to fight. It fulfills wishes solely through destruction and disaster."
Ria listened, her eyes widening in horror as the realization set in. The battles, the honor, the sacrifices of her past life...
"Then..." Ria's voice shook with suppressed anger. "Doesn't that mean this Holy Grail War is a scam? A complete farce from the beginning?"
"It can't just be considered a scam," Ren shook his head, a mocking smile playing on his lips. "It's a slaughterhouse disguised as a ceremony."
"The Three Great Families who hold the Holy Grail War don't know the full extent of this," Ren added. "Or perhaps, deep down, they suspect it but refuse to stop. Mages are creatures of obsession. They would burn the world if it meant taking one step closer to the Root. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the mages in this world are all insane."
Silver Wolf blew a bubble with her gum, the pink sphere popping loudly in the tense atmosphere.
"So, this boss fight seems pretty glitched," she drawled, finally pocketing her device. "If the code is that broken, let's just delete the file directly. I'm still waiting to go back and finish my dailies."
"No rush."
Ren held up a hand, stopping Silver Wolf from summoning her reality-hacking keyboard. He looked at the Holy Grail, which was now gurgling violently, the black mud rising like a tsunami.
"Something interesting is coming," Ren said, his eyes glowing with a faint, anticipatory light. "The script is changing."
The moment his voice fell, the world screamed.
Space fractured. Unlike the glass-shattering sound of the Mirror Dimension, this sounded like wet fabric tearing apart. The sky above Fuyuki City turned a bruised purple, and crimson lightning began to arc violently across the clouds.
[Ding! Detecting group member Artoria coming into contact with an Uncertainty Doomsday factor, parallel fusion!]
[Ding! Detecting collision and fusion of group member Artoria's world's Abnormal Doomsday factor with an Uncertainty Doomsday factor!]
The system notifications flashed rapidly in front of Ren's eyes, a cascade of red text indicating a massive escalation.
[Ding! Uncertainty Doomsday level upgraded, adjusted from eight stars to nine stars!]
[Ding! Doomsday Companion cannot be changed during the period. Doomsday Companion personnel can choose to withdraw and re-derive Doomsday Companion!]
[Ding! If Doomsday Companion personnel forcibly resolve this upgraded doomsday, the doomsday points reward will increase to 10 times that of this level of doomsday!]
[Doomsday Companion]: Doomsday Termination
[Companion Time]: Unlimited
[Companion Personnel]: Unlimited
[Companion Task]: Resolve the product born from the fusion of All the World's Evil across all parallel worlds of Type-Moon.
"Parallel universe?"
Silver Wolf blinked, her apathy vanishing as she saw the readings on her visor spike off the charts. "Whoa, the server load just jumped by a few terabytes. Are we merging instances?"
"There are many parallel universes in this world," Ren corrected, shaking his head. "But technically, these are parallel worlds. The distinction matters."
In his eyes, the structure of the Type-Moon universe was unique. It wasn't a multiverse in the traditional sense, but a Tree of Time where possibilities branched off. Pruning Theoretical Phenomena, Lostbelts...
"However," Ren mused, watching the black mud erupt into a towering pillar of darkness that pierced the heavens. "The All the World's Evil condensed from all these potential timelines... plus the Uncertainty Doomsday factor itself..."
The mud began to take shape. It wasn't just sludge anymore. It was forming mouths, eyes, and limbs—a conglomerate beast of infinite curses. The sheer density of the mana was enough to crush a normal Servant into spirit dust instantly.
"It can indeed create a considerable enemy," Ren admitted. "A nine-star threat. Impressive for this setting."
Jalter stepped back, her flag planted firmly in the ground, flames licking at her heels. "Ren! That thing... it's trying to birth something! Are you just going to watch?"
Kiana had already summoned her pistols, the Herrscher of Finality's power glowing in her eyes. "Ren-senpai! It's getting big! Like, really big!"
Ren just smiled slightly, the chaotic wind whipping his hair but failing to touch his composure.
"Since the fusion is complete, and the points multiplier is active... you are useless to me now."
Ren didn't draw a weapon. He didn't chant a spell. He simply looked at the mountain of cursing mud that threatened to drown the planet.
He raised a single finger and tapped the air.
"Disappear."
One glance.
It wasn't an explosion. It was an erasure.
A localized singularity—a perfect black hole of authority—manifested in the center of the mud. There was no sound, no resistance. The All the World's Evil, the collection of every sin from every timeline in the Kaleidoscope, was instantly swallowed.
The screaming faces in the mud were silenced. The tower of darkness collapsed into a singular point, twisted into nothingness, and vanished.
The sky cleared instantly. The purple bruising faded, replaced by the gentle orange glow of the Fuyuki sunset.
"That... that thing is gone?"
Joan of Arc Alter blinked, her jaw slightly unhinged. She had prepared herself for a life-or-death struggle, a battle that would burn her Spirit Origin to ash. And it was over in a literal blink.
"Gone. Dealt with." Ren nodded casually, dusting off his hands as if he had just taken out the trash.
[Ding! Group Administrator Ren has eliminated the All the World's Evil fusion, Doomsday Companion ended, doomsday terminated!]
[Ding! Ren gained 6 billion doomsday points, Kiana and Silver Wolf each gained 50 million doomsday points!]
"Uh... so... so fast!"
Kiana slumped her shoulders, her pistols dissolving into motes of light. She looked utterly deflated. "I didn't even get to shoot anything! I charged up my mana for nothing!"
"Then didn't we come here for nothing?" Silver Wolf sighed, creating a pixelated chair to sit on. "This gameplay loop is terrible. Zero combat engagement."
"Who said that?"
Ren chuckled, walking over to the two complainers. In one smooth motion, he pulled Kiana and Silver Wolf into his arms, effectively trapping them.
"Hey!" Kiana squeaked as she was pulled against his left side.
"Objecting to physical contact," Silver Wolf droned, though she didn't struggle as she was pressed against his right.
Ren's hands, seemingly with a mind of their own, began to roam. Not explicitly inappropriate, but certainly possessive—resting dangerously close to sensitive areas, his fingers tracing the curves of their waists.
"Hey, there are people here!" Silver Wolf complained with a charming shout, her cheeks dusting pink despite her cool persona.
"Damn it! Let go of my vessel, you lecherous servant!"
Suddenly, Kiana's eyes flashed gold. Sirin—the Herrscher of the Void personality residing within—jumped out, even more embarrassed and annoyed than Kiana. "Do you have no shame? Doing this in front of others!"
Ren looked at the furious Sirin and the blushing Silver Wolf with a righteous expression that would compel anyone to punch him.
"So what if there are people? Why should I be ashamed of holding my own?"
Ren pulled them tighter, looking towards the setting sun with a philosophical gaze.
"You are all my wings."
Silence descended on the group.
Ria, Irisviel, and Jalter exchanged glances. Their faces flushed various shades of red.
"Wings..." Ria muttered, trying to process the logic.
"He... he actually said it," Kiana whispered, stunned. "The forbidden line."
What wings? No wings.
In the end, they would all be ridden.
Although... in the end, strictly speaking, riding is similar to flying. If you ride fast enough, you ascend to heaven.
Only two people were different in their reaction.
Little Illya, with her innocent red eyes, swayed Irisviel's thigh and asked, "Mom, what are wings? Why does Onii-chan want wings? Is he turning into a bird?"
Irisviel froze. She met Ren's suggestive gaze over Illya's head. He winked.
Irisviel cleared her throat, her face burning, but she patted Illya's head and reassured her with a motherly smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Illya is too. You are also... a precious little wing."
"Really?" Illya beamed.
"Later, Brother Ren will teach you what it means to fly," Ren interjected smoothly.
These words drew strange, horrified looks from Kiana and Silver Wolf.
Silver Wolf stared at him deadpan. "Ren, I suspect you should be arrested. I'm calling the Interastral Peace Corporation. Or the FBI. Whichever gets here faster."
Kiana also strongly agreed this time, nodding furiously. "I feel this isn't good! Ren-senpai, you're sounding like a villain!"
Ren gave them a clear look of feigned hurt.
"Who do you think I am? I am a gentleman."
Immediately, to clear his name (or perhaps dig the hole deeper), he explained the situation regarding Sakura and Rin, and the timeline manipulation he had performed.
"Time is fluid to me," Ren shrugged. "Age is just a number in the face of eternity and chronomancy."
The two Valkyries were stunned.
"This works too?!" Kiana gasped.
Is being able to manipulate time really so unrestrained? Does this man have no limits?
"Anyway, the work is done," Ren clapped his hands. "I plan to hold a big celebration party at the Einzbern castle before we leave this world."
He counted on his fingers.
"All the Rias—Saber, Lancer, Alter. The Sakura-Rin family. The Irisviel family. Plus Kiana and Silver Wolf... we won't be able to go back for several days. Prepare your stamina."
Wait.
It seemed there was one more.
Ren turned his head slowly. His gaze landed on Joan of Arc Alter, who was standing slightly apart from the group. She had her arms crossed, looking isolated and uncomfortable, like a stray cat that wanted to join the huddle but refused to ask.
Seeing his gaze fall upon her, Jalter stiffened. She tossed her short, pale hair and glared at him.
"What?" Jalter coldly snorted, baring her teeth slightly. "Don't look at me with such disgusting eyes, you pervert. I'm not joining your... flock."
"..."
Ren stepped closer to her, invading her personal space until he was towering over the Avenger.
"Your mouth is truly poisonous, my Joan of Arc Alter."
Jalter's breath hitched as he got close. She tried to step back, but found herself backed against a broken pillar.
"What are you saying? Who... who's yours?!" she stammered, her tough facade cracking instantly under his pressure. "I am the Dragon Witch! I belong to no one! especially not a—"
"Tsk."
Ren interrupted her, reaching out to lift her chin with his thumb and forefinger. He looked deeply into her golden eyes, seeing the loneliness hidden behind the flames.
"Not only is it poisonous, but it's also very stiff. Always denying what you want."
Ren leaned down, his lips brushing against her ear, causing her to shiver violently.
"Come, let me taste if your mouth can become sweet and soft. I have a few days to break that shell of yours."
"You—!"
Jalter's face turned the color of a ripe tomato. Before she could unleash her flames or curse him further, Ren activated his authority.
With a whoosh, everyone disappeared from the spot, leaving only the empty crater where the evil once stood.
Fuyuki City had another peaceful day, apart from the usual mysterious gas explosion and the sudden disappearance of its most beautiful residents.
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