Chapter 37: Tohsaka Rin's Psychological Shadow Area
Seeing the reward for killing Emiya Shirou, Su Xiao was quite surprised. Although he had long expected that killing a plot protagonist would yield generous rewards, he hadn't anticipated them being this generous.
However, upon seeing the reward [Chest: Epic (1%)], Su Xiao was somewhat puzzled. This was his first time obtaining an Epic Chest. He had originally thought he wouldn't have a chance to get one until the Fifth Rank, yet he obtained this item by killing a plot protagonist in a Fourth Rank world. Still, the (1%) suffix left him confused.
After inquiring with Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao spent 3,000 Paradise Coins to receive an answer. That 1% didn't mean he had only obtained 1% of an Epic Chest; rather, it represented the World Force content within the Epic Chest—commonly referred to as its gold content.
The higher the percentage suffix on a chest, the more valuable that Epic Chest was, and the higher the chance of drawing high-tier items or equipment. As for 1%, it was clearly the lowest gold content among Epic Chests.
Better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. Even an Epic Chest with a 1% suffix was more valuable than a Legendary Chest—that was an absolute fact. Who knew, it might turn a bicycle into a motorcycle.
Compared to the Epic Chest, the completion of "Sky-Shattering Storm" was actually more difficult to achieve. Once the completion rate of the "Sky-Shattering Storm" mission reached 75%, the mission became completable.
Su Xiao had triggered this mission when he was still a First Rank Contractor. If he didn't count the trial in the One Piece World, that was the first world he had ever experienced.
From his first world all the way to a mission nearing the Fifth Rank, Su Xiao truly hadn't expected this situation. And now, the mission had become completable.
At present, he had two choices. One was to immediately complete "Sky-Shattering Storm" and obtain the minimum mission reward. Even so, that would still be quite an exaggerated reward. Or he could continue accumulating progress. When "Sky-Shattering Storm" reached 100%, the mission reward would be unimaginably generous.
With only 25% completion left to reach 100% for "Sky-Shattering Storm," this was a mission Su Xiao had been working on for nearly 20 world progressions. Therefore, he wasn't in a hurry. Perhaps in the future, when the situation became critical, he would choose to complete this mission to gain a sliver of hope for survival. For now, it was clearly unnecessary.
Inside the forest, Su Xiao lit a cigarette. A breeze blew, and the smoke slowly drifted away.
The current situation was already very simple. Su Xiao had nearly steamrolled the Fifth Holy Grail War. If he didn't even have this level of strength, he wouldn't have come to this world to settle old scores with the Blood Gate—that would have been deliberately feeding himself to the enemy.
Aside from the Matou Sakura faction, there were no other Master and Servant combinations left. The current problem was that Su Xiao had no idea where Matou Sakura was.
In this world, Matou Sakura was no longer the little loli who followed behind him, choking on a steamed bun until her eyes rolled back but not daring to ask him for water. She was now the Master of the Rider class Servant.
Su Xiao and his group quickly descended the mountain. Tohsaka Rin was still unconscious after being beaten by the ordinary teacher. Illya also looked like she was about to ascend to heaven at any moment. With five Servants already eliminated, the Holy Grail inside her was about to be filled. When this piece of junk was full, it would likely continue spewing sludge...
Thinking about the Holy Grail he was about to obtain, Su Xiao felt a strong urge to storm the Mage's Association. It was these people who had led the creation of this piece of junk. Or rather, their ultimate goal wasn't even the Holy Grail.
Boom, boom, boom...
Explosions came from the Ryuudou Temple on the mountain. Before long, the flames inside Ryuudou Temple began to spread to the surrounding mountain range, threatening to set the entire mountain ablaze.
Half an hour later, in front of the old Matou residence, Su Xiao looked at the charred remains before him. For the moment, he had no good way to find Matou Sakura. However, as long as he eliminated Matou Sakura's Servant, the Holy Grail War would end.
As for Gilgamesh, Su Xiao had no idea where that guy was. After their last battle, Gilgamesh had vanished like smoke, and his figure could no longer be seen. This didn't fit Gilgamesh's personality. Based on Su Xiao's understanding of that guy, when he had slaughtered his way through Ryuudou Temple earlier, that bastard should have shown up to show off.
Finding an uninhabited house in Fuyuki City, Su Xiao crashed and went to sleep. Although he had recovered some stamina earlier, he realized during the battle that the physical exhaustion from using Flash of Oblivion twice in a row wasn't so easy to recover from.
The sky gradually brightened. Su Xiao slept until the afternoon of that day before being awakened by Tohsaka Rin's "screams of agony."
"It hurts so much! That damn teacher, why is he so strong?"
When Su Xiao arrived at the living room, he found that Amu was helping Tohsaka Rin bandage her wounds! This girl had lost her mind, actually coming to Amu for help with bandaging.
In reality, Tohsaka Rin was too afraid of Su Xiao to ask him for help. As for Bubu Wang, Tohsaka Rin was also very afraid of him. According to Tohsaka Rin's summary, if you got followed by this dog, your life was basically over. It was practically a three-headed hellhound. That's why she came to Amu for help. The result was tragic.
"You're awake."
Tohsaka Rin's expression was somewhat dejected. She had been completely traumatized yesterday.
"By the way, what's wrong with Illya? She's been unconscious this whole time."
"Nothing."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, Tohsaka Rin felt a slight relief in her heart. But Su Xiao's next sentence nearly made her faint.
"This is the normal process of becoming the Holy Grail."
"The Holy Grail..."
Tohsaka Rin looked at Illya lying on the sofa, then turned to Su Xiao.
"Barring any surprises, after we defeat your sister, your friend Illya will become the Lesser Holy Grail. Based on the experience from the last Holy Grail War, the Holy Grail will continuously spew sludge. After all, this thing has been corrupted by malice. A conservative estimate is that it could burn down most of Fuyuki City."
"..."
Tohsaka Rin was stunned. She was no longer just traumatized; she was starting to doubt her entire life. If what Su Xiao said was correct, then what she had to do next was defeat her own little sister and let her friend become the Holy Grail, thereby destroying Fuyuki City.
"No way, you're lying, right? Something like this..."
Tohsaka Rin muttered to herself, even forgetting to ask Su Xiao what was going on with her sister.
"That's right, this has been your goal all along."
Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the sofa, looking relaxed. After all, the Holy Grail World was about to end. He was holding an oversized pizza and eating it in large bites. Bubu Wang and Amu beside him would occasionally grab a big piece.
"Impossible. You, I..."
Tohsaka Rin was momentarily at a loss for words. She had worked so hard for so long, and the result she got was destruction.
"Can I stop this from happening?"
"Theoretically, it's impossible. Unless... you find your sister and explain the current situation to her."
"Who... is she?"
"Matou Sakura."
"You're lying to me, right? The surnames are different."
"This issue involves 'It's all Tokiomi's fault.' You wouldn't want to know. In short, if you want to prevent this tragedy, you'll need to work hard. Find your sister and use familial affection to move her."
Hearing Su Xiao's last sentence, Bubu Wang almost spat out the pizza in his mouth. Even he didn't believe it, let alone Tohsaka Rin.
"Is this the only way?"
Tohsaka Rin assumed a contemplative pose. Bubu Wang was dumbfounded. It seemed Tohsaka Rin actually believed it.
In truth, Tohsaka Rin didn't fully believe it. This girl was quite clever. She believed half of it—that there really was a Master who was her little sister.
"So saving Fuyuki City depends on you. If you can't find your sister, I'll place Illya in the central street and forcibly summon the Heaven's Hole. Don't doubt it; it's not difficult. The amount of sludge flowing out of the Heaven's Hole could probably burn down four Fuyuki Cities."
After Su Xiao's "encouragement," Tohsaka Rin felt like crying.
Su Xiao continued eating his pizza. For now, he didn't know if playing the family card could lure out Matou Sakura and her Servant.