Kirei had probably left Berserker to buy time and gone to the Greater Grail.
"Rin, we don't have time for this. There's no telling what kind of insane thing Kirei might do with the Greater Grail."
"But Berserker is still holding on…"
"Wait a moment."
I took the strongest sword I had, the [Longsword of the Thunder God], from my inventory and ran toward where Shirō and the others were fighting.
"Clear out!"
When I shouted to Shirō and the others who were fighting, they recognized my voice, created distance from Berserker, and quickly moved out of the way. I then bisected Berserker in a single blow.
Slice!
"Gwaaagh!"
Hit by my blow, Berserker immediately turned to dust and vanished. Berserker had already fought Gilgamesh and then fought Shirō and the others, so he had likely consumed many of his [God Hand] ability's twelve lives.
That was probably why I could take him down in one hit. I had thought it might take time, but fortunately it didn't.
Ding~
[You have acquired the abilities (SS) God Hand and (A) Mad Enhancement.]
"We need to get to the Greater Grail quickly!"
Suddenly, not only had I appeared and taken down Berserker, but my urgent shout made everyone hesitate for a moment. However, they quickly snapped out of it and followed me, moving swiftly toward the Greater Grail.
From a distance, the Greater Grail resembled the Tower of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings. It was entirely a blood-like red, with what looked like the entrails of a giant creature forming a tower shape, and a black sphere floating above it.
Moreover, an immense amount of malice was radiating from the Greater Grail in all directions, enough that even an ordinary person could feel it.
"That's impossible! That thing is the Holy Grail… What on earth were we fighting for?"
Saber found it hard to accept that the Grail she had fought so hard to obtain to realize her wish was something like that.
As we approached the Greater Grail, Kirei was standing in front of it. Seeing us arrive, Kirei smiled and said,
"Hahaha, my victory. You are too late."
Tōsaka Rin asked Kirei, "What exactly did you do to the Grail?"
"What did I do? I did nothing to the Greater Grail. I merely opened the way."
Kirei's words were true. Because people were competing and fighting over who would make their wish on the Grail, in the end, no one made a wish, and only power accumulated in the Grail.
In that situation, when a young man (Avenger) who had been subjected to all kinds of curses and sacrificed was summoned as a Servant, the curses that young man had received affected the Grail. The Grail accepted the wish "be the evil of this world" and became the corrupted Grail it was now.
At this point, all the evil of the world was using the Grail as a womb, waiting to be born inside it. If someone used the Lesser Grail to open the Greater Grail, then all the evil that had been waiting to be born inside the Greater Grail—the true 'Angra Mainyu'—would be born.
"Enjoy the end of the world."
With Kirei's final words, the black sphere floating above the Grail fell below the Grail. A loud throbbing sound came from the Grail, and cracks began to appear on it.
In that instant, using [Observation Color], I saw a future where all of Shirō's group behind me would die the moment Angra Mainyu was born. I urgently shouted,
"Everyone grab my hand!! Hurry!!"
Shirō and the others realized the situation was turning dire and quickly grabbed my hand. I immediately teleported to Shirō's house.
"Huh? This is Shirō's house."
Everyone looked around. The situation was urgent, so I explained briefly.
"As you all saw the Grail, you saw that something inside it was trying to be born, right?"
"Y-yeah."
"Right now, Tokyo—no, possibly all of Japan—could be destroyed. So listen carefully to what I say."
I immediately took the Talaria RV out into the yard.
"Right now, load Illya and Taiga onto this and leave Japan. Head to the Clock Tower of the Mage's Association in England and request support from the other mages."
"What do you mean?! What are you saying?"
"There's no time! Talaria!"
[Yes, Master.]
"Personnel Rescue Mode, total of three: Illyasviel von Einzbern, Fujimura Taiga, homunculus maid Sella. Locations: Einzbern Castle, Homurahara Academy. After rescue is complete, move to the Clock Tower in England."
[Understood, Master.]
I took the USB from the [Nano Buckle] I wore on my waist and handed it to Tōsaka Rin.
"I've recorded everything that's happened so far. If you take this, it will be easier to persuade the mages. Keep it safe and take it with you."
"Ah, okay. Then what are you going to do, Jin?"
"I'll try to hold things off here as best I can. Though I don't know if it's possible."
"No, come with us!"
I didn't have time to argue, so I immediately struck Rin on the neck, knocking her unconscious, and placed her inside the RV.
"All of you, hurry and get in!"
My actions seemed urgent, so everyone got into the RV without objection. After that, I took a large amount of gold bars from my inventory and loaded them into the RV.
"Use this abroad in case Japan is destroyed. Rin will know what to do with it."
"O-okay…"
I gave the signal to Talaria. Talaria immediately took off and flew toward the nearby Homurahara Academy.
I had a reason for making this choice. Given the amount of magical energy latent in the Grail, this was not going to be a simple matter. I doubted whether even using my full power would be enough to stop it.
The truth was, the amount of magical energy I felt from the so-called mages in the Fate universe wasn't that great, and I had not been without some complacency, feeling superior because I knew the future.
That was why I had always acted so leisurely. I had never imagined the amount of magical energy accumulated in the Grail could be that great.
"Sigh… I'm in no position to criticize Gilgamesh."
I immediately teleported to the location of the Greater Grail. What I saw there was a broken Grail and a giant baby, about three meters tall, crawling out of it.
The baby's entire body was black, and it was crawling out while shedding a thick black liquid from its body. The moment the liquid touched the floor, it emitted smoke and melted the ground.
Beside it, I saw a corpse whose entire body had turned black and was rotting away. It looked like Kirei.
"If that's what was going to happen, he should have just died alone…"
If I didn't have [Status Ailment Immunity], I would probably have been in danger as well. From the baby's body, a malice that seemed to curse the entire world was pouring out into the surroundings.
I compressed the surrounding earth, used [Matter Conversion] to turn it into an enormous vibranium sphere, then charged it with as much energy as I could, starting to create a massive energy bomb.
My total mana was nearly 2000. I put about half of that, 1000 mana, into the vibranium sphere. Then, as if reaching its limit, the sphere began to vibrate and emit light.
Hum, hum, hum~
"If this doesn't work, I'm out of ideas…"
About thirty minutes had passed while making the energy bomb. Considering the speed of the Talaria vehicle, I thought Shirō and the others should have escaped far enough. I picked up the sphere and threw it at Angra Mainyu, which had been born from the Grail in the form of a baby.
Whoosh~
Boom~
The moment the sphere touched Angra Mainyu, it caused a tremendous explosion. I immediately teleported to Shirō's house, then used the [Rumble-Rumble Fruit] ability to turn into lightning and quickly escape the area.
KABOOOOOM~~!!!!
A mushroom cloud of enormous size and thickness formed, laying waste to the entire surrounding area. Making a rough estimate, it seemed about one third of Japan, centered on Tokyo, had been devastated. In an instant, at least 40 million people in Japan seemed to have died.
"This is insane. If I had dealt with it quickly, this never would have happened…"
Just then, I suddenly felt an enormous amount of magical energy behind me.
"No way!!"
I immediately turned around. There, no longer a baby but in the form of an adult, Angra Mainyu was standing, looking at me with red eyes.
"Oh no…"
Judging that if it had survived an explosion like that, it would be difficult to defeat, I tried to end the entertainment life immediately. But suddenly, Angra Mainyu communicated with me not through words, but through will.
[I was not born for this.]
"…"
[Judging that you are the only one who can kill me, I ask for your help. Before I am completely consumed by the darkness, return me to nothing.]
I didn't fully understand the situation, but thinking this was my only chance to resolve this disaster, I immediately took Ea from my inventory, reinforced it with [Busōshoku], and poured all of my [Haōshoku] and all of my remaining mana into it.
Ea hummed, swirling as if absorbing all the surrounding air. As all the power was compressed and gathered at the tip of the weapon, I unleashed it at Angra Mainyu.
"Enuma!!! Elish!!!"
THWOOM~~!!!
Angra Mainyu accepted my attack without any resistance. Hit by Ea's attack, Angra Mainyu disintegrated without a trace and vanished.
"Haah, haah, haah!"
With all my mana drained at once, an overwhelming sense of fatigue washed over me.
Ding~
[You have acquired the ability (SSS) Greater Grail.]
[(SS) Lesser Grail has been absorbed into (SSS) Greater Grail.]
Fortunately, this attack seemed to have definitely dealt with Angra Mainyu. However, I didn't know why Angra Mainyu had made that choice.
It seemed that the first attack had weakened it, and the consciousness of the ordinary, cursed, and suffering young man sleeping inside Angra Mainyu had briefly awakened, but this was just my conjecture; I couldn't know for sure. I could only think, 'I got lucky.'
I rested a bit, recovering my mana, and then established communication with Shirō and the others. Rin, her voice choked with tears, answered the call.
"Jin! You're alive. Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Yeah. I managed to deal with the Grail, fortunately."
Rin, relieved that I was safe, then became extremely angry.
"You—! If you knock me out like that again, I'll never see you again!!"
"Ahaha, y-yeah… By the way, where are you?"
"I don't know. We're in the middle of the ocean. We got caught in the explosion too. It took some time to convince Fujimura-sensei because she was in the middle of class."
"I see. I'll come to you."
I asked the Talaria RV for its status and location. Talaria reported that its thrusters were damaged and it had crashed, but fortunately it had fallen into the ocean, and thanks to the tubes I had attached to the vehicle for emergencies, it was simply floating on the water.
I took out a regular Talaria vehicle, drove it to where the RV was floating, teleported the people back to Japan, then teleported again to retrieve the broken-down Talaria RV.
Since Tokyo had been completely obliterated, I took a vehicle from my inventory and we moved to Fukuoka, which had suffered relatively less damage, and stayed at a hotel there. The TV was constantly noisy with news about the explosion in Tokyo.
For about a week, Taiga, who had survived alone leaving her students behind, and Shirō, feeling guilty about the many deaths, lived like recluses. As the one responsible, I felt somewhat apologetic because my [Strong Will] meant I had no mental trauma.
In the morning, we gathered in the hotel restaurant for a meal, but Shirō still hadn't shown up, likely still in shock from the mental trauma. Taiga had started eating with us again from yesterday.
"Shirō still seems to be struggling with guilt."
"Yeah, I know…"
As Rin and I were talking about Shirō, Sakura, who overheard us, stood up and said,
"I'll go see him."
"Yeah, please take care of Shirō."
Sakura asked the hotel to prepare some simple food and took it to Shirō's room.
The next morning, as I left my room to eat breakfast, I witnessed Shirō and Sakura coming out of the same room. I pretended not to notice and went down to the restaurant.
"I'm glad Shirō seems to have loosened up a bit."
"Yeah, you're right."
From that day on, Shirō ate well and began working hard to help the people who had lost their homes and evacuated due to the explosion. Sakura seemed to have persuaded him well to pull himself together.
After we had been here for over two weeks, a representative from the Mage's Association came. The person was Bazett Fraga McRemitz. We told them about everything that had happened without omission.
"I see. Then, Tōsaka Rin, can you come to the Clock Tower and testify?"
"I will do so."
"Then, I'll see you at the Clock Tower."
Bazett left like that. It seemed she was reasonably persuaded, but since the Clock Tower was full of crazy people, I used [Sha Naqba Imuru (Clairvoyance)] to read Rin's future and thoroughly instructed her on what to say and when to present the video evidence to her advantage.
"Understood."
"And I'd like Saber to go with you, if that's alright. It's her homeland, and I thought she might like to see how it's changed."
"Hmm… that's true. Alright."
Since Shirō said he was too busy to go, I obtained Shirō's permission, used [Rule Breaker] on Saber, and then formed a new contract with her. A new Command Spell for my contract with Saber appeared on the back of my hand, behind the existing Command Spell from my contract with Rider.
This was a precaution because Shirō's magecraft proficiency wasn't yet high, and I wasn't sure what might happen in England.
"Well then, we'll be back."
"Take care, Sis~"
Sakura, Shirō, Rider, and Taiga waved from the airport.
"Bring us souvenirs~"
"Okay."
We arrived at the Clock Tower in England and testified before the Mage's Association. Fortunately, things went as prepared, and there were no major problems. However, when the events of the Holy Grail War were made public through the video, the Mage's Association used Kirei's atrocities as a pretext to publicly criticize the Holy Church.
The Holy Church side initially protested, but once the video was shared, they too had nothing to say.
Eventually, after some high-level meetings, the Holy Church took responsibility and agreed to help Japan, and the meeting concluded with a decision to prohibit the creation of Holy Grails in the future.
We spent our time going back and forth, attending as witnesses and giving our opinions, and were finally released. Rin was extremely exhausted.
"Ah~ I'm tired…"
"But it's over now. Let's go on a trip around England starting tomorrow."
"Yeah, let's do that."
After resting well, we started enjoying our trip around England from the next day.
At lunchtime, we stopped at a restaurant for a meal. Saber ate deliciously and proudly told us,
"Just as expected! They are the descendants of Britain, being able to make such delicious food."
"Saber… that's Italian food…"
"What? Then what about British food?"
We went to a traditional British restaurant for our next meal. Saber came out looking extremely disappointed. The next British restaurant was the same.
"Why! Why is British food so tasteless? This is a problem! Have the descendants of Britain not put any effort into their cuisine?"
"Well, Britain is an island nation, and the crops that can be grown there are limited, so cuisine inevitably didn't develop. Ah~ politics played a part too."
"I cannot accept this! That the descendants of Britain have been making such things and calling them cuisine… I would even use the Holy Grail to… Ah… it's gone now…"
Saber was very serious about food, but British cuisine couldn't be helped. Saber spent the whole day mumbling with a depressed face.
"Ugh… the descendants of Britain… cuisine… damn… fish and chips…"
Still, starting from the next day, she enjoyed sightseeing, visiting tourist spots. Then, suddenly, Saber said to me,
"Jin! I have seen the light! Cuisine has no borders! Hahaha."
"R-right…"