When people hear the name Angra Mainyu, many of them are left blank-faced. Even FGO players usually think first of the starless Shirou-faced character.
But the true Angra Mainyu is the dark lord of ancient Persian myth, the source of all evil and darkness, and the archenemy of the good god Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism.
Many people may not be familiar with Zoroastrianism, but before Christianity rose, it was one of the most influential religions of the Middle East. Before Islam arose, it was also one of the most influential religions of West Asia. It was the state religion of the ancient Persian Empire and was later known to many as the religion of fire worshippers.
Anyone who watched Problem Children Are Coming from Another World, Aren't They? would probably recognize that tradition. The dragon lord Azi Dahaka from that story is one of the seven evil gods created by Angra Mainyu, representing evil thoughts. In FGO, that same figure is also one of the existences fused into Rasputin's Spirit Origin.
In Fate, Kirei Kotomine was soaked in black mud polluted by Angra Mainyu. In FGO, his counterpart fused with a god created by Angra Mainyu. Whether that was a coincidence or a coincidence pretending not to be one was hard to say.
At first, Wu Ling was still lamenting that he had summoned the Servant Angra Mainyu. Now, however, he suddenly realized he was wrong, and wrong in a massive way.
Because the thing before his eyes was absolutely not a Servant.
In Wu Ling's vision, the entire world seemed to have been wrapped in darkness. Before him existed a colossal being hidden inside that darkness.
Its body was covered in scales. Its two blood-red eyes were each larger than Wu Ling himself. Its face was hidden in the dark, impossible to describe. Just looking at it made endless malice surge into Wu Ling's mind like a tide: arrogance toward others, lust for beauty, greed for wealth, and countless more.
For a heartbeat, Wu Ling felt as if countless clones were tempting him, guiding him step by step toward depravity.
"So that is how it is. I was wondering what magus dared to summon me, and could even succeed. I did not expect it to be you."
Hearing the being before him, apparently the true Angra Mainyu, actually know who he was made Wu Ling's gaze sharpen in shock. From words such as magus and summon, he more or less understood that the one before him might not only be the true evil god Angra Mainyu, but also an existence from the FGO world.
Wu Ling wanted to ask questions, but merely resisting the malice in his mind was already difficult. Even mental skills like Vitrification could not lighten the pressure at all.
Rather, without those skills, even an ordinary Titled Sage might have been burst apart by this overwhelming malice.
"Still not enough."
With those words from the being, the pressure on Wu Ling's mind loosened. All the malice vanished without a trace.
When Wu Ling lifted his head, the colossal existence was gone. In its place stood the Shirou-faced Servant Angra Mainyu.
Although the appearance had changed, the premonition from Mind's Eye told Wu Ling that this being was still the same one. He had only adopted a shape Wu Ling could withstand.
As if Angra Mainyu had heard Wu Ling's thoughts, he walked over, circled Wu Ling several times, then nodded at him.
"Not bad, not bad. Your strength is still insufficient, but your temperament and wisdom are passable. Barely above the line."
Wu Ling forced a smile. He could easily imagine what might have happened if he had failed to reach that line.
"Enough. You and this world are both approaching your limits. If this continues, even if you do not go mad, this low-level world will collapse from a single trace of my power."
"Since you dislike the strength of that dependent of mine, I will provide a little myself. According to your way of thinking, call it a small investment."
As he spoke, Angra Mainyu lightly tapped a finger against Wu Ling's forehead.
Wu Ling felt his mind blur. When he opened his eyes again, what entered his sight was a wasteland of dead soil and withered trees centered on himself.
If not for the tiger-shaped skeleton several meters away, Wu Ling would almost have thought he had transmigrated again.
Looking farther out, even with Wu Ling's eyesight, he could only see a thin trace of green in the distance.
"This must be at least ten kilometers. And judging from the condition of the land, it does not seem to have been drained of life force or destroyed. It was simply scared to death."
All things had spirit. Humans could develop all kinds of mental and physical problems from extreme fright, so plants, the land, and even a world dying from excessive terror should also be normal enough... right?
Before Wu Ling could keep making things up in his head, he felt power flowing from his sixth Spirit Ring. That rich sensation of fullness immediately pulled him back into reality.
"Strength E to A. Endurance E to A. Agility A to A+. Magical Energy D to A. Luck E+. Noble Phantasm C to EX."
In Wu Ling's perception, aside from Luck, every one of Angra Mainyu's parameters had risen dramatically. The Noble Phantasm had even become EX-rank. He quickly checked the Noble Phantasm, meaning the visible Spirit Skill expression.
A little while later, surprise flashed through Wu Ling's eyes. His Spirit Skill had now become two abilities. Or rather, two forms of one Noble Phantasm.
The first form was a domain skill called Domain of Evil. Its suppression effect had directly devoured Wu Ling's old Deathgod Domain.
Inside Domain of Evil, Wu Ling was completely immune to mental damage and immune to fifty percent of physical damage. It also granted him immortality. Even if his head were cut off inside the domain, once the domain ended, he would return to normal at once. The heavier the injury restored, the longer the domain's cooldown became. If he simply died outright, the cooldown could even stretch to a full month.
At the same time, the domain possessed a reflected-damage effect. Like a curse that reached straight to the soul, it reflected Wu Ling's injuries onto every marked enemy inside the domain. Someone at Wu Ling's own level, Spirit Daoist, would receive one hundred percent reflection. Someone one major rank higher, Spirit King, would receive ninety percent reflection, and so on.
Then came Wu Ling's second Spirit Skill, or the second form of the Noble Phantasm: Malice of Extremity. It abandoned area, damage reduction, and immortality, then fixed the target to one person. A medium such as that person's blood or something containing their soul was needed. Once the target was established, it ignored level and reflected one hundred percent of the damage.
For anyone else, this ability would be exactly what its name implied: an absolute mutual-destruction skill.
But Wu Ling still had Heracles's twelve lives from God Hand.
In other words, if the conditions were met, Wu Ling could now spend five lives and silently kill the five members of the Divine Realm Committee without anyone knowing.
Of course, since he had no medium, that was impossible for now.
Just as Wu Ling was preparing to try his new Spirit Skill while no one was around, a voice rang from the distance.
"Wu Ling, are you all right?"
Wu Ling lifted his head and saw Ghost, whom he had forgotten about since earlier, flying toward him from afar.