FATE: Target of Grand Master

Xia Yan cursed inwardly, already preparing to use a Command Spell to summon Cú Chulainn.

Just then, Medea's Noble Phantasm, Manjushri's Wrath of the Law, finally broke through the obstruction and pierced Sakura's chest.

A surge of powerful magic erupted from Sakura's chest, creating ripples of magic like giant waves that affected all the nearby Masters and Servants, including Xia Yan and Cursed Arm Hassan.

Medea, who was closest to Sakura, was the first to be affected, but as a witch of the age of gods, she immediately summoned her magic wand and controlled the magical ripples that affected her.

Thanks to it, the battles in the other three battlefields ended simultaneously, and the four Servants returned to their respective Masters at their fastest speed.

As agreed, Medusa first brought Souichirou Kuzuki to Medea's side, and then wanted to go to Sakura's side.

Hassan, who wanted to unleash his Noble Phantasm again, was interrupted by Cú Chulainn who had rushed back, and had to create a considerable distance between them.

Meanwhile, Archer and Artoria returned to Rin and Shirou's side.

Although Rin and Shirou were both badly beaten by Kuzuki, neither of them was in mortal danger.

Due to the intervention of Hassan the Cursed Arm, there are now three factions within Ryudou Temple.

"what!"

Just as the Servants present were preparing to continue the battle, Sakura let out a scream of extreme pain.

"cherry!"

Xia Yan, Shirou, Rin, and Medusa simultaneously called out Sakura's name with concern.

But the next second, a strange phenomenon occurred.

Black magical energy emanated from Sakura's chest, then converged in mid-air, condensing into a mass of pitch-black, chaotic, and evil black sludge.

Everyone present, including Xia Yan, was seeing Black Mud for the first time.

In particular, all the Servants present immediately realized the pollution hidden in the black mud.

"Master, was this also part of your plan?" Cú Chulainn asked Xia Yan.

Xia Yan did not reply.

Removing the contamination from the Black Cup from Sakura ahead of time was a bold attempt by Xia Yan, and he was unaware of the consequences afterward.

Although he had considered several scenarios, Xia Yan still did not expect that the magic of the Black Cup would so directly gather into black mud and appear so plainly in front of everyone.

Everyone instinctively wanted to get away from the black mud the moment they saw it, but neither Xia Yan's Master and Servant nor Shirou and Rin's Master and Servant left because they cared about Sakura or wanted to keep their promises.

The only one present who took action was Hassan, the one with the cursed wrist.

Judging from his equally surprised expression, Matou Ryogen didn't even tell Hassan the Cursed Arm the truth about the Black Cup this time.

Hassan, the Cursed Arm, leaped out of the courtyard and fled in a direction far from Liudong Temple.

"Wait a minute, Assassin, where are you going?"

A middle-aged man with a vacant stare, a blank expression, and a gait like that of a zombie whose limbs have not yet been tamed called out to Curse Wrist.

It's no longer important who this middle-aged man is or what his name is, because the last worm with Matou Ryogen's consciousness is now parasitizing his body. It was also Matou Ryogen who was manipulating this middle-aged man to speak just now.

The cursed wrist stopped its movements, looked at the middle-aged man, and said, "Master, extremely ominous magical power has appeared in Ryudou Temple, and it was released from the body of the purple-haired girl you requested to abduct."

"Yes, I know," Matou Ryouken replied.

Cursed Arm, not expecting Matou Reiken to know, immediately asked, "Master, what's going on?"

"You don't need to know how this works, just follow my instructions."

Hassan, the Cursed Arm leader who was the leader of an assassination organization in his previous life, immediately upheld the professional ethics of an assassin and stopped asking about the reasons, but still offered advice: "Master, there are now as many as five Servants besides us in Ryudouji Temple, making it difficult to achieve the plan to capture that purple-haired girl."

Matou Ryouken let out a grating laugh, then said, "Hehehehe. No, Assassin, you're wrong. Now is the perfect opportunity. Just take me up there."

Inside Liudong Temple

Xia Yan and the other five Masters and Servants tacitly refrained from engaging in battle, instead carefully observing the black sludge in mid-air.

"This is the biggest secret that has always existed within Sakura. That guy, Matou Ryuken, implanted a corrupted fragment of the Holy Grail into Sakura's body. What I asked Caster to do today is to release all the corrupted magical power within Sakura."

While the black mud was still gathering, Xia Yan loudly explained to Shirou and Rin.

Although Xia Yan's words seemed absurd to the two of them, the ominous magic released from Ying's body was irrefutable proof that they had no choice but to believe.

"So what should we do next?"

Shirou asked the question that everyone present was most concerned about.

"Let's observe the situation first. Once this magical power is completely released from Sakura's body, Caster, please use magic to control it. Rider, go and bring Sakura over here."

This black sludge doesn't seem to be controlled by Sakura's consciousness in the Heaven's Feel route; it's very likely just a mass of unconscious magical energy.

Although this magical energy is immense, it can be controlled if handled properly, and will naturally dissipate over time.

Of course, Xia Yan did not forget Ying. If Ying died after all his hard work, then all of this would have been for nothing.

Gradually, the black magical energy released from Sakura's chest began to weaken, and before long, the connection between Sakura and the black mud was completely severed.

To everyone's surprise, the moment the black mud was disconnected, it seemed to gain consciousness and fell towards the cherry blossoms below.

"Caster! Now!"

At Xia Yan's command, Medea summoned a semi-transparent cube-shaped magic barrier, completely enveloping the black mud within it.

However, this black mud has an extremely strong corrosive effect on magical products. The bottom of the translucent cube was corroded into black the moment it came into contact with the black mud. In just a few seconds, the black mud broke through Medea's control.

Medea was also greatly surprised. As the great witch of the Age of Gods, she had great confidence in magic, even in the magic of the Age of Gods, regardless of other aspects. However, her magic cage only delayed the black mud for a few seconds, which was unbelievable to her.

Fortunately, although it only lasted a few seconds, Medusa still touched Sakura before the black mud.

Medusa then used the high mobility unique to the Rider class to instantly create distance between herself and the Black Mud.

Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief for Sakura, a bizarre scene unfolded.

The black mud, which was originally in free fall, turned at a right angle before landing, just like a tracking missile, and chased after Rider.

"Rider, keep running, don't stop! This black sludge is trying to get back into Sakura's body!"

Xia Yan saw through Hei Ni's intentions and immediately reminded Medusa.

Meanwhile, the others also sprang into action to buy Medusa time.

Rin and Archer are the first to be affected.

Rin took out another gem and threw it towards the black mud, while Red A held the black bow and fired a barrage of shots at the black mud.

Cú Chulainn followed closely behind, unleashing rune magic, while Medea released countless magic bullets.

At the same time, Artoria released the Wind King Barrier towards the Black Mud, firmly locking the previous attacks within the range of the whirlwind.

If the opponents were Servants, even the King of Heroes Gilgamesh wouldn't be able to withstand the combined attack of so many Servants, but unfortunately, they are now facing the Black Mud.

All the attacks were like throwing mud into the sea, causing no real damage to the black mud, only making it pause for more than ten seconds.

"No, normal attacks have no effect on it at all, Shirou, let me use my Noble Phantasm."

Artoria decisively prepared to release the curry stick.

Now, the black mud seemed to finally sense the threat. Instead of relentlessly chasing Sakura, it dispersed into several streams of magic and attacked all the Masters present.

"Master, watch out!"

"Rin, get out of the way!"

"Shirou, get out of the way!"

"Lord Soichiro, grab me!"

All Servants immediately used their own methods to resist the black mud and protect their Masters.

Fortunately, none of the black mud touched any of the Masters present; unfortunately, the black mud, having missed their target, circled around and came back again.

By analyzing Black Mud's attacks, Xia Yan suddenly understood Black Mud's purpose. It realized that it was just a magical energy and could not exist alone for long. Therefore, it wanted to find a Master to parasitize.

Its primary target was naturally its original owner, Matou Sakura, but due to the obstruction of the crowd, the black mud seemed to have changed its mind and decided to parasitize any Master present.

Xia Yan immediately shouted a reminder to everyone.

"Never get touched by this black mud; it's seeking to parasitize its Master. Servants should also avoid direct contact as much as possible, as this black mud can also corrode them."

Therefore, everyone's strategy immediately changed from prevention to avoidance.

Medea shouted to Xia Yan, "My mission for today is complete."

Then, without any sense of loyalty, he took Kuzuki Souichirou and ran away first.

This instantly increased the pressure on the remaining four groups of Masters and Servants.

"Hehehe. You guys really don't know what's good for you."

Hassan, the Cursed Arm, who had returned, appeared in everyone's sight with a middle-aged man.

"Since none of you want them, then I will accept them all."

In a middle-aged man's voice, Matou Ryogen said, "I command you with a Command Spell, Assassin, to touch all the black mud."