Chapter 381

Chapter 381: Chapter 381

At a secluded Matou estate on the outskirts of Fuyuki City, Kiriya’s return with two unfamiliar faces—one enormous and one very small—immediately attracted everyone’s attention.

Sakura, Rider, Caster, Ryuu, and Jeanne all hurried over to see what was happening.

"Huh? There are so many people here!"

Illya blinked as she looked around the mansion.

When she realized that everyone surrounding Kiriya was a beautiful woman, her already terrible impression of him became even more firmly established.

’He really is a pervert!’

Her hopes for her own future grew increasingly bleak.

"It’s over. I’m going to be ruined..."

Illya muttered the words quietly, yet they were enough to make every woman present except Esdeath turn toward her.

"Kiriya... you really shouldn’t do something like that."

Sakura’s face turned bright red. She nervously twisted her fingers together, struggling to finish her sentence.

"She’s still so young, so maybe... maybe you could..."

"Goodness! I never imagined you were this kind of person, Master."

Caster covered her mouth and giggled.

Rider, on the other hand, frowned.

The enormous amount of magical energy still flowing through her body was more than enough to convince her that Kiriya’s tastes definitely did not lean toward little girls.

So why was he showing such unusual interest in this one?

Ryuu and Jeanne said nothing, merely fixing Kiriya with quiet, questioning looks.

As for the enormous black tower of muscle standing beside Illya, everyone had somehow managed to overlook Berserker entirely.

"What I need is something inside her body."

Kiriya pointed toward Illya’s chest.

"More specifically, the Lesser Grail."

The Lesser Grail, which had been incorporated into Illya’s heart, possessed the ability to absorb and contain the souls of fallen Servants, converting them into an enormous accumulation of magical energy.

Once enough Servant souls had been collected, that energy would activate the Greater Grail system, allowing the supposedly omnipotent wish-granting device to manifest.

But there was a price.

The process would completely erase Illya’s individual consciousness.

That was the fate assigned to her from birth: to serve as a disposable tool, a vessel created for the sole purpose of being sacrificed once its function was fulfilled.

After hearing Kiriya’s explanation, everyone fell silent.

Caster and Sakura were reminded of their own experiences of being repeatedly exploited and treated as tools for someone else’s ambitions.

Rider thought back to the tragedies that had defined her life, while Ryuu and Jeanne looked at Illya with profound sympathy.

Their anger toward the Einzbern family grew with every passing moment.

’Those bastards... Just what do they think a human life is worth?’

"How do you know all of this?"

Illya’s expression changed dramatically, and she stared at Kiriya with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

Even within the Einzbern family, only a handful of its highest-ranking members knew the complete truth about her purpose.

Where could this stranger possibly have obtained such information?

"Heh. I know far more than you can imagine."

Kiriya smiled and drew the Dragon Fang Sword.

"What are you planning to do?"

Ryuu and Jeanne asked almost simultaneously.

"Remove it, obviously."

Kiriya answered as though the solution were perfectly straightforward.

"Something this important shouldn’t be stored inside a little girl’s body in the first place. That’s far too unreliable."

"Remove it? Just like that?"

Ryuu looked distressed.

"But it’s her heart! If you take it out, she’ll die!"

"Says who?"

Kiriya waved dismissively.

"As long as I’m here, she’ll live."

Rider and Caster exchanged doubtful looks.

Watching Kiriya prepare to perform surgery with an actual sword did very little to inspire confidence in his medical expertise.

Jeanne and Ryuu, however, saw the seriousness in his eyes and eventually decided to trust him.

After all, even if nothing were done, Illya would lose her identity and consciousness once the Holy Grail War reached its conclusion.

Compared with accepting that inevitable fate, allowing Kiriya to attempt a different solution seemed worth the risk.

"Hey! Hold on! What about my opinion?!"

Illya struggled desperately, but unfortunately for her, she had very little influence over the situation.

Kiriya created a Shadow Clone and turned toward Jeanne.

"Jeanne, prepare the chant for Flame of Salvation."

"All right."

Although Jeanne did not yet understand every part of his plan, she immediately began preparing the spell.

Kiriya carefully opened the front of Illya’s dress to expose the area over her heart.

Under the little girl’s horrified gaze, he brought the Dragon Fang Sword forward and made an incision.

"AAAAAH—!"

Illya screamed.

But the others had no time to focus on her protests, because something profoundly unnatural was emerging from the wound.

It was not crimson blood.

Instead, an extraordinarily concentrated black substance began seeping outward, thick and viscous like liquid asphalt.

Pure malevolence radiated from it.

The moment the substance emerged, malicious whispers seemed to fill the air, carrying curses and hateful words directly into the minds of everyone nearby.

Fortunately, everyone present possessed considerable mental fortitude, so the influence was relatively minor.

Illya, however, was another matter entirely.

Her crimson eyes abruptly turned pitch-black.

When she looked toward Kiriya and the others again, her gaze was filled with undisguised hatred.

"What... what in the world is that?"

A thin layer of cold sweat appeared on Caster’s forehead.

"All the World’s Evil, from inside the Greater Grail."

Kiriya’s expression remained completely composed, and his explanation was delivered with a calmness that bordered on coldness.

"Jeanne. Flame of Salvation."

Jeanne nodded and rapidly completed her incantation.

A small, milky-white flame appeared in her palm before descending upon the tar-like substance seeping from Illya’s chest.

The reaction was immediate.

The sacred fire erupted into a brilliant blaze, following the corrupted fluid back through the wound and penetrating deep into Illya’s body.

"AAAAAAAH—!"

Illya released a piercing scream.

Her face contorted hideously, her expression shifting with such unnatural ferocity that she resembled a vicious spirit rather than an innocent child.

An overwhelming urge to tear Kiriya and Jeanne apart surged through her corrupted consciousness, but her restrained body could do nothing to act upon it.

Meanwhile, the holy flames continued their work.

Flame of Salvation possessed extraordinary effectiveness against corruption and negative energy.

The magical energy contaminated by All the World’s Evil was precisely the kind of substance against which the spell was most devastating.

Under the relentless purification of the sacred flames, the corruption began disappearing at tremendous speed.

Before long, Illya’s entire body was enveloped in soft white fire.

The malice twisting her features gradually faded, and her expression slowly returned to one of peace and tranquility.

Kiriya activated his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and carefully examined the condition of her body.

Only after confirming that no traces of malevolent energy remained did he proceed with the next stage.

He opened her chest and carefully extracted the heart containing the Lesser Grail, then handed it to Esdeath.

Esdeath understood his intentions immediately.

She received the organ and gently encased it in ice, preserving it at a carefully controlled temperature.

Kiriya’s Shadow Clone then sealed the frozen Lesser Grail inside a sealing scroll.

Their coordination was seamless, and the entire procedure had taken only a few seconds.

Unfortunately, the condition of the girl lying before them was deteriorating rapidly.

A heart was a vital organ.

The instant Illya’s was removed, her life force plummeted, and within the blink of an eye, her condition had reached a critically dangerous point.

"Kiriya!"

Ryuu and Jeanne called out anxiously.

"Don’t worry."

His voice remained steady.

The Mangekyō ability in Kiriya’s left eye activated.

"Time Reversal!"

A mysterious power of time enveloped Illya’s body.

Countless shimmering fragments of temporal energy drifted through the air as the effects of the procedure began reversing themselves.

Her opened chest gradually returned to its original condition, while the life force that had nearly vanished surged back with astonishing speed.

Within moments, the girl’s terribly weakened aura had recovered completely.

Illya was once again brimming with vitality, as though the operation had never happened.

"This... is the power of time?"

Caster stared at Kiriya with enormous eyes, her expression resembling that of someone who had just witnessed a god descend into the mortal world.

"That’s a domain only gods and True Magic should be capable of reaching!"

"Just a basic operation. Nothing special."

Kiriya waved a hand casually.

"Calm down. No need to make such a fuss."

Caster nearly choked on her own disbelief.

But after examining Illya again, she suddenly noticed another problem.

"Wait. If you’ve reversed the damage, doesn’t that mean her heart is still the Lesser Grail? Nothing has actually changed!"

"Of course something has changed."

Kiriya looked at her.

"As long as I gather all the other Servants under my control and prevent them from dying, Illya won’t have to serve as a vessel for their souls anymore."

"Prevent the Servants from killing one another?"

Caster’s eyes widened once again.

"Then how are you supposed to make the Greater Grail manifest?"

"The only reason the Lesser Grail needs to collect Servant souls is to accumulate sufficient magical energy."

Kiriya shrugged.

"And as it happens, magical energy is one thing we have plenty of."

He continued with complete confidence.

"When the time comes, I’ll handle the energy requirements myself. Your responsibility is to properly analyze the Greater Grail system and make sure there aren’t any mistakes in the activation process."

At last, everyone understood what Kiriya was planning.

He intended to bypass the normal sacrifices required by the Holy Grail War, supplying the necessary power himself while using Caster’s knowledge to control the ritual.

That way, there would be no need to sacrifice Illya—or any of the Servants he managed to recruit—merely to complete the summoning.

Illya remained silent for a long moment.

Her expression was extraordinarily complicated as she looked toward the young man who had captured her, frightened her, and then saved her from the fate imposed upon her by the Einzbern family.

Finally, she spoke in a quiet voice.

"Why...?"

Her crimson eyes searched Kiriya’s face.

"Why are you helping me?"