Chapter 817: Sakura’s Plight — Rider’s Noble Phantasm?!
In a grand room within the Einzbern Castle, Black, Medea, and Rider gathered around a bed, the maids, Leysritt and Sella, standing behind them.
On the bed, dressed in pristine white robes, was Sakura Matou, now the lone survivor of the Matou family.
But — even to those who weren’t proficient in the medical field — it was clear that something was wrong with her.
Sakura’s body had gained a pale appearance. It was like someone had stopped time while turning into a mummy. If someone were to look at her for the first time, they would have never guessed that she was still a human, running away from her, calling her a ghost.
It wasn’t just about the frailness, either.
She was reeking of death.
Black stepped forward, and Rider shifted on her feet, the corner of Medea’s lush lips lifting in mockery.
Behind them, Leysritt and Sella frowned.
"We will not allow any of you to destroy our mistress’ mansion!" Leysritt hissed, narrowing her eyes at them.
Sella nodded. "But, if a fight breaks out, we will help the demon holding our mistress imprisoned."
Black let out a wry smile.
He looked up at Rider, then. "Please..." he said, moving forward. "I need to touch her to know what’s going on inside her."
Rider wasn’t the same Rider anymore.
Without Berserker’s help, Black wasn’t sure he could hold back Rider if she decided to go all out. It was better to keep using Sakura as a faux hostage to manipulate Rider instead because —
— Killing them wasn’t an option.
Even though Black had borrowed Illya’s fate, while Kai had borrowed Berserker’s, they hadn’t stopped being Contestants. Given the constant appearance of notifications, they had already confirmed it.
That meant, even though Fate timeline allowed much lenience when it came to confronting the Storyline Characters, unlike many other Random Worlds, killing a character would still attract Timeline Backlash.
If that happened, Black would need to use Timeline’s Applaud to counter the Backlash.
However, once used, that ridiculous Skill would become unusable for the rest of the Mission Time Limit in this timeline.
It wasn’t wise to randomly use Timeline’s Applaud in such a case, then.
That was one of the reasons he had asked Kirei Kotomine to kill Zouken Matou.
That’s also why he had goaded Sakura to kill Shinji, breaking her delicate emotional state and letting The Shadow materialize.
Not to mention, Kai wanted to assimilate this entire timeline into his Verse Fusion Random World. What would be the point of doing that if he just killed off all who made the timeline a timeline?!
In this perspective, Kai had very specific plans for both Medea and Sakura.
Medea had already become his through Black. Now, he wanted Sakura as well... but not in the same way.
Black’s hand landed on Sakura’s head, sending a yellow crystal inside her.
The Ad Infinitum
instantly scanned through her entire body, processing the data and letting Black know the results.A heavy frown settled on Black’s face.
"What?" Rider hurriedly asked.
"The Crest Worms had replaced her organs during the last ten years," he explained, backing off. "When I pulled them out and regenerated fresh organs, it happened too fast for her body to adapt. But I had prepared for that — if all had worked out as I had wanted it to be."
Rider blinked in front of Black and looked up into his eyes. "What do you mean?"
Black raised a hand, stopping Medea from acting out. "No need to be uncivilized."
The two maids harrumphed, gaining blushes, as they had already seen him and Medea do more uncivilized things than they had ever in their lives.
"I am talking about All Evil," Black said, smiling. "If it had merely ceased to exist as I had planned, then it would have been okay. However, because of the sheer amount of time it took for her to separate from that thing, it has affected her life force — and the new organs are failing."
For a moment, Black and Rider stared at each other.
Then, the Servant turned around and took Sakura in her arms. "I am taking her..."
"To the Overseer?" Black smirked. "He cannot do anything, either. Don’t get me wrong. Her state is serious, but the solution is an easy one, too."
Rider paused. "... What is it?"
Black shrugged. "We just need to keep refilling her life force until her organs adapt to her body... You already have a way."
"No." Rider flatly rejected. "Sakura would never want me to use that ability."
The Rider-Class Servant, Medusa, had a Noble Phantasm called — Blood Fort Andromeda.
It was a Bounded Field through which she could gather life force and turn it into Mana to sustain her existence.
"Think about it," Black said. "It’s already hard for her to keep herself alive. On top of that, she’s losing her Mana to keep you here as well. And... It’s not like she can stop you from saving her. You will not be killing anyone. A little life force from a much bigger group will do the trick as well."
Rider spun fast, holding Sakura’s body delicately. "You!"
It didn’t take a genius to guess where Black was suggesting to place the Bounded Field – Homurahara Academy.
"The Holy War has already started," Black warned, his tone gaining a grave touch. "How long do you think other Masters and Servants would let you roam free like this? If Sakura doesn’t get better soon, she and you will be slaughtered. Let’s not forget... there’s another Sakura that will be coming after her as well — and the Servant she has... will not have pointless limitations like you."
Black could see Rider’s hand shaking as the Servant made up her mind.
He wanted to reenact the things from the original storyline to see where it would lead him. Still, it wasn’t like he had lied.
Sighing, Rider put Sakura on the bed. "I can last even without Sakura for some time," she said. "So... if something were to happen to her, even Berserker won’t be enough to save you..."
With one last look at Black, Rider disappeared.
At the same time, a purple flame sprouted midair in front of Medea, making their eyes narrow. It was a letter from Kirei Kotomine. Getting Black’s nod, Medea opened it and read, her eyes widening.
"... You were right, Master..." she said, disbelieving the contents. "Assassin has been summoned... again."
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