Although he had long known that Tohsaka Rin could sometimes get "emotionally carried away" in certain aspects, and that using a Command Spell at the slightest disagreement wasn't unheard of, Alvin still hadn't expected her to use up one so casually.
Just to ask a single question…?
There was no time left for him to think further.
Alvin in his Assassin state was different from other classes.
When the compulsory force of the Command Spell descended, his instinct was to resist its power, causing his body to stiffen slightly.
At this moment, Tohsaka Rin stared into Alvin's eyes and once again asked, "Tell me, Assassin… that night's events—were they really just my dream?"
Alvin opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Tohsaka Rin tilted her head slightly, seeming somewhat confused, even puzzled, and subconsciously said, "Strange… why didn't the Command Spell take effect…?"
"In Assassin state, my magical energy is indeed far inferior to the Saber class, but if I exert myself to resist, a single Command Spell still can't force me to act."
"Even so—"
Alvin let out a helpless sigh.
"If I refuse to answer, you'll probably just use the second Command Spell, won't you?"
The Holy Grail War had only just begun on its very first night, and if his Master were to directly use up two Command Spells like this… what would happen after that?
Tohsaka Rin was still pressing down on Alvin, silently staring at the boy from above, and after a long while, the weight of her delicate body finally shifted away from him.
She cast him a lingering glance, her gaze complex. "You've actually already answered, haven't you?"
"So that means… last night really wasn't a dream after all…"
At this moment, there was both a sense of daze and a kind of release in her eyes.
From the moment she woke up that morning, Tohsaka Rin had been feeling an indescribable sense of disorientation.
At one point, the girl had even suspected that she was simply overthinking things.
Yet the extremely shocking scene she had witnessed the previous night continued to echo in her mind, to the point that even on the following night, she was still recalling that image filled with taboo and moral transgression.
Her own younger sister, embracing her Servant in the living room late at night—if not for her sudden appearance, perhaps things would have gone even further…
Tohsaka Rin suddenly thought of something and said,
"So that means… I really was knocked unconscious by Sakura?"
"But with Sakura's level of magecraft, how could she…"
"Her magecraft proficiency is far stronger than you imagine."
Alvin shook his head as Tohsaka Rin froze.
Then took a shallow breath in, and slowly let it out.
"Alright, then let's rest for today."
She spoke next, her tone surprisingly relaxed.
This time, however, it was Alvin who froze.
He subconsciously looked at the girl, surprise evident in his eyes.
"What's wrong? Since everything is already clear now, there's nothing more for me to press you about, is there?"
Tohsaka Rin said as if it were only natural. "Although I do think it feels a bit strange for you and Sakura to be in a relationship… in the end, that's a matter between the two of you."
"Alright, you can step out now. I want to be alone for a bit and calm down."
After saying this, without waiting for Alvin to respond, Tohsaka Rin gently pushed him, urging him out of the room.
Standing before the tightly closed door, the young man soon let out a helpless sigh.
"I really didn't expect things to turn out like this…"
But taking advantage of this opportunity, there was just one more place he needed to go…
The massive number of Crest Worms in the Matou family's worm chamber, the barrier meant to purify the Greater Grail being destroyed, the blackened power formed from the mixture of black mud and the Tide of Chaos, and even Merlin's appearance… all of this was signaling that a massive crisis was lurking within this Holy Grail War.
And this crisis was serious enough that even Merlin, who used to love slacking off, was forced to take it seriously.
There was only one possibility Alvin could think of.
—Beast.
Yes. Only a Beast capable of affecting, or even destroying, Human Order would make someone like Merlin personally step onto the stage.
Although it was still unclear exactly which Beast it was, as long as the Tide of Chaos was involved, there was one existence that could never be avoided.
—Tiamat.
Since the enemy wanted to use the Tide of Chaos to allow a certain Beast to manifest… then could he perhaps use a similar method to give the enemy a small surprise?
As if having thought of something amusing, a faint smile quickly appeared on Alvin's face.
That very night, Alvin left the Tohsaka residence.
After activating the Authority of "Night Watcher EX," he moved through the snowy night like a shadow, silently infiltrating Mount Enzou.
After the previous Holy Grail War ended, the Greater Grail of Fuyuki seemed to have been relocated, but its core was still buried within Mount Enzou.
Just where did the Three Founding Families hide the Greater Grail back then, though…?
Alvin was about to close his eyes and sense the presence of the Greater Grail.
At that moment, he suddenly noticed a sneaky figure struggling to climb up the steps from the back of the mountain.
Dressed in white mage robes and holding a staff, the figure looked nothing like a Grand Caster...instead, he radiated an overwhelming sense of sneakiness.
—Merlin!
The man furtively scanned his surroundings, then his expression darkened. "Come out. I know you're hiding here."
Alvin was startled inwardly thinking.
'I've already activated the highest-tier presence concealment Authority—how did this guy discover me…?'
Don't tell me this Assassin class of mine is fake?
Just as he was feeling depressed and about to step out of the darkness, the suspicious-looking white-haired mage instead withdrew his gaze with apparent satisfaction and headed toward a certain direction near the mountaintop.
Seeing this, the expression on Alvin's face quickly turned strange.
Clearly, Merlin hadn't detected his presence at all, he had simply been bluffing just now.
And yet I almost fell for it…
Compared to Sister Morgan, he's even more of a con artist, Alvin muttered in his heart.
However, Seeing that Merlin had already gone some distance away, he maintained his presence concealment and continued following closely behind him.
Speaking of which, these two could be considered nemeses among nemeses.
Merlin possessed Clairvoyance that could peer into the present across great distances, yet he alone was unable to see Alvin when "Night Watcher EX" was activated.
Meanwhile, Alvin possessed absurdly unreasonable brute strength, yet he happened to have little way of dealing with a mage like Merlin who specialized in illusions.
If he couldn't win, Merlin would just rely on illusions to escape… capturing this white-haired mage was no easy task.
The top of the mountain at night was filled with wind and snow, exuding a bone-piercing chill.
But for Servants, they felt no cold.
Footprints pressed into the ground were immediately buried by wind and snow.
Following behind Merlin, Alvin found himself growing increasingly puzzled.
Logically speaking, they were both Servants who had only recently entered the Holy Grail War, so how did Merlin know the location of the Greater Grail's burial so well?
And why was he secretly coming to a place like this without letting Illya know…?
With these doubts in mind, before he realized it, the two of them had arrived at a cliff at the mountaintop.
Merlin raised his staff and lightly tapped it against the ground.
Buzz!
In that instant, the entire Mount Enzou seemed to emit a faint rumbling sound.
Alvin had just stepped across an icy patch when he suddenly saw a flying insect with incomparably complex patterns pass right before his eyes.
The insect's abdomen was semi-transparent, and within it, the vague silhouette of the Holy Grail could be seen.
"...A Crest Worm?"
Alvin's pupils shrank, his heart filled with shock.
Because he very quickly saw a scene that was enough to raise countless goosebumps.
More and more Crest Worms poured out from the cracks in the ice, weaving together in midair into an inverted Tower of Babel.
And at the very center of the swarm of Crest Worms, one could vaguely see what seemed to be a temple.
It was a temple that looked as though it stood amid snow-covered mountains.
When did such a temple get built on Mount Enzou?
That thought had barely flashed through Alvin's mind when he saw Merlin turn around with a smiling face.
"These little guys have already transformed the entire mountain into a Beast incubation ground…"
"Do you have any thoughts on this, Alvin?"
In the darkness, the shadows twisted slightly.
A moment later, Alvin stepped out from the shadows and looked the white-haired mage up and down a couple of times. "When did you discover me?"
"At the beginning, I really didn't notice anyone following me. It wasn't until that thing appeared just now that I realized you were here."
Merlin smiled as he pointed toward the illusory outline of the snow-mountain temple ahead.
"A Beast is sleeping inside there… it absorbs the emotions of others and turns them into its own power.
You might not have realized it yourself, but your emotions were already noticed by it just now."
"Normally speaking, a person's emotional coloration wouldn't be this intense… looks like earlier, at your Master's place, you must have run into something that caused a violent fluctuation in your emotions."
"Did you come out late at night to clear your head?"
Merlin asked with a cheerful smile.
"Sometimes asking too many questions isn't a good thing."
Alvin said calmly.
"You already knew about the monster hidden inside Mount Enzou?"
"On the very first night after I accepted my Master's summoning, it tried to devour my emotions."
Merlin shrugged and spoke.
"But it failed—after all, I don't have that kind of thing at all."
Nightmares do not understand human emotions.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say the opposite...nightmares themselves are creatures that enjoy savoring "emotions."
"Is that why you accepted Illya's Heroic Spirit summoning?"
Alvin lifted his head and stared gravely at the temple within the snowy mountains.
He could feel an extremely terrifying aura coming from within.
These Crest Worms were probably transporting "negative emotions" to Mount Enzou every night, feeding the Beast inside the temple.
Merlin nodded noncommittally.
"If my guess is correct, this thing should have already existed since the time of the last Holy Grail War."
"Absorbing ten years' worth of negative emotions as nourishment…
if the thing inside were to come out in the future, it would be a huge problem."
For Merlin to even use the word "problem" was enough to show just how wary he was of the creature inside.
"Speaking of which, did you find out where the Crest Worms came from?"
At this moment, Merlin suddenly changed the topic and asked with a smile, "You should have investigated this tonight, right?"
When Rider's Master "escaped" earlier that night, a fragment of a Crest Worm's wing had been left behind, and Merlin had clearly already noticed that at the time.
Alvin's eyelid twitched slightly as he replied indifferently, "No real clues."
"Is that so… what a pity, then."
Merlin pretended to sigh.
"If this thing isn't dealt with, when it awakens in the future, it will surely devour the girl behind it who is manipulating the Crest Worms, won't it?"
"When that time comes… her consciousness probably won't belong to herself anymore."
Alvin cast the man a faint glance.
"Merlin, you really are just as rotten as ever."
"I genuinely want to save Human Order."
Merlin smiled helplessly. "Staying cooped up in the tower was perfectly fine, do you think I actually wanted to come out and work, Alvin?"
"Do you have a solution?"
Alvin asked succinctly.
"Even a Beast in its infancy—if allowed to run rampant, possesses destructive power far beyond what Human Order can withstand…"
Merlin turned his head toward the illusory outline of the shrine behind him. "But what a Servant can do is also very limited…"
'You're saying you're planning to stop being human, aren't you…'
Alvin said in a low voice, "Stop beating around the bush. Spit it out."
"The Beast inside there likely intends to use the Tide of Chaos, the black mud, and the negative emotions of this city's people as a medium, so that it can properly manifest."
Merlin said with a cheerful smile. "But it probably never considered one thing, who the Tide of Chaos actually belongs to."
Alvin revealed a look of approval. "Seems like we're thinking along the same lines."
After all, in order to allow the being inside the Greater Grail to manifest, the Crest Worms had been working tirelessly for nearly ten years.
Who knew how much "black mud" had already accumulated within the Greater Grail by now.
Ordinary people might have no way to deal with black mud, but if it were Tiamat…
Alvin and Merlin exchanged a glance, and the latter very sensibly walked off to a corner.
Alvin took a deep breath. "Mom—!"
Along with a low roar, the pitch-black night sky seemed to split open with a crimson fissure.
From within that fissure, an incomparably beautiful and graceful figure quietly descended.
—Tiamat.
She drifted lightly down onto the ground, her skirt softly brushing past the accumulated snow.
Wherever she passed, the "black mud" hidden within Mount Enzou boiled like a jubilant song.
In an instant, countless Crest Worm corpses fell like rain.
…She was absorbing the black mud that was meant to serve as nourishment for the Beast of Desire!
…
Late at night, the Matou household.
The night was desolate, snowflakes drifting down from the iron-gray sky.
Matou Sakura suddenly jolted awake as if from a nightmare.
The moment she opened her eyes, instead of changing clothes, she whispered, "Rider!"
The door was pushed open, and a mature woman with flowing purple hair silently appeared before the girl.
"What is it, Master?"
"Go to Mount Enzou… someone is making a move on the thing hidden there."
Matou Sakura's voice was low.
The weakness that usually lingered in her eyes was gone, replaced by an extreme, abyssal coldness.
Clearly, at this moment, this was no longer Matou Sakura's own personality, but another consciousness within her body.
—Beast III / L, the Beast of Desire named "Kama."
Although she had made an agreement with Matou Sakura at the beginning, no matter what, she must not act against the White Dragon, there was also a major prerequisite to that…
That was, the fellow had to obediently listen and submit beneath her feet.
Otherwise…
That so-called White Dragon… was nothing more than her food.