The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was close to going mad.
The human clearly had only five rings, yet he easily broke its defense. Its attacks landed again and again, but every method it used failed to so much as touch the hem of that human's clothes.
If that human had not carried the scent of a pure human, the tiger would have suspected he was a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast in human form. No matter what move it used, the other side had a way to answer it. The feeling was almost as if the human knew everything about it.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger roared wildly. Then it realized an opportunity had appeared. Wu Ling and the three clones were all gathered together.
Generally speaking, even a Soul Beast like the Netherworld Tiger could only create three clones. In the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's eyes, Wu Ling had no way left to dodge. It aimed its tail at him, and a small pitch-black hole condensed at the tip.
Wu Ling looked at that tiny black hole as it continued to expand. He knew the bait had worked.
That black hole could suck the opponent into another space and turn that opponent alone back into a childhood state. The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger itself, protected by its bodyguard defense, would not suffer the same effect after entering. Once inside, the tiger and its opponent would be forced into a duel to the death. Only after one side died would the Life-and-Death Arena end and release them.
Wu Ling was extremely wary of this move. Even with Soulcraft tools more powerful than hidden weapons, he could not guarantee he could kill the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger while reverted to childhood. So his plan was simple: make it unable to use the skill.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger suddenly felt all its fur stand on end.
Ambush.
It wanted to dodge, but the Life-and-Death Arena also placed a heavy restriction on itself. It could only accelerate again, trying to drag the person behind it into the black hole.
Then came a soft pop.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger felt every restriction on its body vanish at once. Before it could react, weakness spread from the inside out.
This weakness was different from exhaustion or injury. It felt as if all of its Spirit Power had frozen in place, and then, like a punctured balloon, that Spirit Power began pouring out through the cut.
Black sword light flashed. Blood dyed the grass red. The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's head was cut off with shocking ease. The last thing it saw, as the world spun through its eyes, was a red-haired human holding the lightning-shaped dagger and stabbing it into the tiger's tail.
Wu Ling looked at the headless corpse on the ground and shook the blood from his sword. Ember pulled Rule Breaker out from the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's tail.
"Bait it into releasing Life-and-Death Arena. While its attention is focused there, I use Rule Breaker to break the skill and stab it directly. Then the main body switches places with Rose, who has been hiding beside the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger all along, and delivers the killing blow."
"As expected of the main body. You made a plan we never could have made so easily."
Faced with Ember's praise, Wu Ling said, "What are you praising? How is this different from praising yourself?"
But his slight smile proved that he was just as pleased inside.
A short while later, a black Spirit Ring rose from the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's corpse. Wu Ling had the other clones keep watch around them while he and Rose began setting up the Magecraft array.
Using the black Spirit Ring as the center, Wu Ling and Rose drew a circular Magecraft array with silver powder, mercury, and other materials. Around the array, they placed four small bottles. Inside the bottles were essences that could be loaded into Soul Transformation Devices: two from Spirit Leaders and two from Spirit Daoists.
An ordinary Spirit Leader could provide roughly ten thousand years of ring age. An ordinary Spirit Daoist could provide twenty to thirty thousand. Above that, a Spirit King could provide fifty thousand, a Spirit Emperor could provide ninety thousand, and a Titled Sage could provide one hundred thousand.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's original age was over fifty thousand years, approaching sixty thousand. To raise it to one hundred thousand, the essences of two Spirit Leaders and two Spirit Daoists were already enough.
Wu Ling could imagine what would happen if he released this array to the world. Humanity would probably live forever inside a chain of suspicion. Unless he could create a device like a god-bestowed Spirit Ring, one that compressed Spirit Power from the air into a Spirit Ring, or perhaps a way to increase the age of already absorbed Spirit Rings, people would always take the risk of hunting their own kind.
Even if he eventually created such a device, there would definitely still be people willing to hunt others for profit.
Threads of pure Spirit Power drifted out from the four bottles. Under the Magecraft array's effect, they flowed into the black Spirit Ring left behind by the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
Gradually, the Spirit Ring's color grew darker and darker. At some unknown moment, a narrow line of red appeared at its center. As Spirit Power continued pouring in, the entire ring finally turned blood-red.
The hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring was complete.
"To become a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast. I never expected the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's goal to be fulfilled after death with my help."
As Wu Ling spoke, he guided the Spirit Ring toward himself.
"An evil god, huh? Please do not give me one of those Lovecraftian guys. The Count of Monte Cristo would be pretty good. Rasputin also seems like a decent match."
Like a player drawing from a gacha, Wu Ling had already started guessing which Heroic Spirit this time would be.
Half an hour later, Wu Ling's eyes snapped open. Two purple, two black, and two red Spirit Rings circled around him.
But unlike his earlier excitement, Wu Ling now looked deeply conflicted.
Because...
"Hah. Angra Mainyu!"
After sensing his sixth Spirit Ring, even Wu Ling's composure broke for a moment. The reason was simple: Angra Mainyu was far too rare.
The true Angra Mainyu was the dark lord of ancient Persian myth, the source of all evil and darkness, and the enemy of the good god Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism.
But in the game, Angra Mainyu was a zero-star character even rarer than five-star Heroic Spirits. His true identity was an ordinary young man from a village of Zoroastrian believers, falsely saddled with the name All the World's Evil. Aside from that, there was nothing special about him at all.
He had also appeared in Fate before, though not in the main Fourth or Fifth Holy Grail War. In the recollection of the Third Holy Grail War, the Einzberns illegally summoned him as the Servant of the eighth class, Avenger. He became the culprit behind the Grail's corruption.
Because he had been given the title All the World's Evil, he became a Heroic Spirit specialized in killing humans. Outside that narrow specialization, however, he was useless. On a battlefield beyond ordinary humanity, such as the Holy Grail War, he could do almost nothing. In the truest sense, he was the weakest Servant.
"Strength E. Endurance E. Agility A. Magical Energy D. Luck E+. Noble Phantasm C."
"Stats at that level would barely strengthen my current body even during possession. The reflected-damage Noble Phantasm might barely count as better than nothing if paired with my own defenses."
Just as Wu Ling was somewhat disappointed while sensing the ability his sixth Spirit Ring had granted him, darkness suddenly swept across his sight. A vast, hoarse, world-shaking voice rang beside his ear.
"Oh? Do you have a problem with me, brat?"