Chapter 364

Chapter 364: Chapter 364

The instant Jeanne finished speaking, an enormous pillar of light descended from the heavens and struck Sakura Matou directly.

"Well, that’s quite a burden of sin."

Esdeath raised an eyebrow in surprise.

She hadn’t expected such an innocent-looking girl to be hiding something that severe.

Appearances really could be deceiving.

"AAAAAAAH—!"

A horrific scream immediately erupted from within Sakura’s body.

Zouken’s soul was engulfed in a heat unlike anything he had ever experienced.

The agony was hundreds, perhaps thousands of times worse than having countless insects devour his flesh.

And in that instant, his entire life flashed before his eyes.

He remembered being young and idealistic, swearing that he would devote himself to saving humanity.

He remembered finding companions who shared his dream and working beside them to construct the Greater Grail.

Once upon a time, Makiri Zolgen had genuinely been a good man.

But after failure upon failure, after stealing one body after another merely to prolong his existence, his will had gradually twisted beyond recognition.

The passionate young man who once wished to save humanity had eventually become something closer to a demon.

And now, that wretched life finally reached its conclusion.

’What an ugly thing I’ve become.’

With that final realization, the ancient, corrupted soul was consumed completely.

Zouken Matou died.

This time, even the final possibility of resurrection vanished with him.

His dying scream startled the three women, and once they realized where it had come from, all of them turned toward Kiriya with suspicious expressions.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Kiriya smiled.

"I know I’m handsome, but this is getting a little blatant."

"How did you know?" Ryuu asked.

"Heh. How else?"

Esdeath laughed.

"He has one of those mysterious special intelligence sources of his."

"Congratulations, you’ve learned to answer before I do."

Kiriya gave her an approving thumbs-up before turning toward Jeanne.

"Use Flame of Salvation on Sakura again. Clean her out from the inside this time. There are still things hiding in her body."

"Understood."

Jeanne immediately began chanting.

The sacred white flames of Flame of Salvation entered Sakura’s body without harming her, sweeping through her from within.

Every remaining Crest Worm hidden throughout her flesh was burned away, while much of the poison and corruption accumulated inside her body was purified along with them.

Kiriya followed by using Yang Power: Everflowing Vitality, carefully restoring and conditioning the damage that years of abuse had inflicted on her body.

By the time they were finished, Sakura felt lighter than she could ever remember.

The sacred flames seemed to have washed away everything at once—the pain in her flesh, the darkness in her heart, the suffocating despair that had haunted her for years.

There was no longer an endless sea of revolting insects waiting below.

No decaying, twisted grandfather watching her from the darkness.

No more nights spent enduring unbearable torment.

From this moment forward—

she was truly free.

"I... I’m free."

Sakura whispered the words to herself.

Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.

"Yes."

Ryuu’s normally cool voice softened in a way even she didn’t seem to notice.

"You’re free."

Sakura remained immersed in that overwhelming happiness for quite some time before suddenly realizing something.

She hadn’t even thanked the people who had saved her.

"Thank you... Thank you so much."

She immediately lowered herself into a formal dogeza, intending to press her forehead all the way to the floor.

A hand caught her shoulder before she could.

Sakura looked up.

Kiriya’s handsome face was directly in front of her.

"..."

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I wanted to show you how grateful I am."

For some reason, Sakura suddenly found speaking much more difficult than usual.

Her words came out awkwardly, almost stumbling over one another.

"If you want to thank us, there’s no need for all this ceremonial stuff."

Kiriya simply grabbed her and pulled her back upright.

"Let’s go with something practical."

"Hm?"

Sakura blinked in confusion.

She had no idea what he meant.

"What exactly are you suggesting?"

Ryuu placed a hand on Kiriya’s shoulder.

Her tone had become noticeably dangerous.

Jeanne’s expression was not much different.

Esdeath, meanwhile, looked thoroughly entertained and had no intention whatsoever of interfering.

"What do you mean, what am I suggesting?"

Kiriya looked genuinely baffled.

"I’m talking about the Command Spells. You know, the Command Spells?"

He pointed toward the bright red marks on the back of Sakura’s hand.

"She doesn’t like fighting in the first place. Wouldn’t it be better if she transferred them to me?"

"Oh. The Command Spells."

Ryuu’s cheeks warmed slightly.

Apparently, she had misunderstood what Kiriya meant.

Of course he wasn’t that kind of person.

"Okay."

Sakura agreed without hesitation and extended her right hand toward him.

Kiriya had already gained experience transferring Command Spells during their time in the Fate/Apocrypha world, and Sakura was cooperating willingly.

The process went smoothly.

Before long, Kiriya became Medusa’s new Master.

"Mmm..."

The instant the contract changed, the tightly restrained Medusa released a long, muffled sound from where she lay on the floor. A noticeable flush spread across her face.

"What happened to her?"

Esdeath nudged Jeanne lightly with her elbow.

"Why does she look like that?"

Ryuu also turned toward Jeanne curiously.

Jeanne examined Medusa for a moment and quickly understood the reason.

Class: Rider

Master: Kiriya

True Name: Medusa

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Strength: B

Endurance: B

Agility: A

Mana: A+

Luck: A

Noble Phantasm: A+

Compared with the weakened state she had suffered under Shinji Matou, Medusa had undergone an almost complete transformation.

Her parameters had risen across the board, reaching close to the theoretical peak that her current Saint Graph could support.

And the entire reason was her new Master.

Kiriya did not specialize in magical energy, but his Sage Physique was already nearing completion and contained an enormous amount of life energy.

That same life force could be converted into the energy needed to support a Servant.

The sheer volume flowing through their contract was so immense that Medusa, who had effectively been starving under Shinji, suddenly found herself almost overwhelmed by abundance.

With Shinji as her Master, she was usually no more than a second- or third-rate Servant in terms of raw performance, only reaching the level of top-class opponents when she unleashed her Noble Phantasm.

Unfortunately, Shinji’s magical reserves were nowhere near sufficient to let her use that Noble Phantasm at full power.

Otherwise, the Bellerophon she had unleashed earlier would have been considerably stronger.

Now, however, even Medusa’s basic parameters had entered the upper ranks of first-class Servants.

With an abundant supply of magical energy, she could also use her Noble Phantasms far more freely, pushing her overall combat ability close to the very highest tier.

Even when Sakura herself had been her Master, Medusa had never experienced such overwhelming magical support.

"Master."

Once the bindings around her were removed, Medusa immediately rose and knelt on one knee before Kiriya.

The sincerity in her voice was unmistakable.

A Master with absurdly deep magical reserves who had also shown genuine kindness toward Sakura?

Medusa could hardly have asked for anything better.

Kiriya and the others were equally satisfied.

Their side had gained another powerful fighter—and another excellent sparring partner.

Sakura was happier still.

She had finally escaped the nightmare that had consumed most of her life, and she was no longer responsible for participating in the Holy Grail War.

For the first time in years, she had nothing weighing her down.

Everyone involved seemed to have found a promising future.

"Oho."

After hearing Jeanne explain Medusa’s new parameters, Esdeath immediately began cracking her knuckles.

"She looks pretty strong now."

Her eyes lit up.

"Hey. Want to exchange a few moves?"

Medusa stared at her in complete confusion.

’Aren’t we allies now?’

Why did this woman look as though she couldn’t wait to cut her down?

She turned toward Kiriya for an explanation.

"Ahem. She’s always like this."

Kiriya waved casually.

"The moment she meets someone strong, she wants to test how capable they are."

’A fight?’

Medusa’s first instinct was to point out that she was a Servant.

Then she stopped herself.

Yes, she was a Servant.

But these people clearly weren’t ordinary humans either.

What kind of human beat a Servant around as though disciplining a child?

What kind of human wielded sacred flames with such bizarre properties?

And what kind of human casually released freezing power on that scale without even using Magecraft?

Perhaps these people weren’t humans at all.

Maybe they were already incarnated Heroic Spirits themselves.

If that was the case, there was little reason to worry.

Besides, Medusa was curious about how much power she could actually display now that she finally had a proper Master.

"All right."

Kiriya looked between the two women.

"The upper chamber is spacious enough, and it’s hidden from the outside. You can fight there."

Then he raised one finger toward Medusa.

"Medusa, you can use anything except Bellerophon."

His gaze shifted toward Esdeath.

"And Esdeath, no Secret Art: Freezing Ray. Everything else is fair game."

Both women nodded.

Then, with battle intent already rising around them, Medusa and Esdeath rushed toward the upper levels together.