"The Beast of Rebellion?"
"Please be careful, Senpai."
Fujimaru Ritsuka stared at Wu Ling warily, while Mash raised her shield and moved to the front of the group.
Kadoc watched Wu Ling while also glancing at Moriarty. By coincidence, Moriarty happened to look toward Fujimaru Ritsuka and Kadoc at the same time. Their eyes met for three seconds. Moriarty could only roll his eyes helplessly and stand beside Mash.
"Let me say this first. I am not helping you people because you defeated me. The Counter Force's contract requires it, and I also want to see the power of an Evil of Humanity."
Looking at the two Masters and two Servants before him, Wu Ling hesitated. Should he kill them, or should he kill them? After all, he was not some demon. He had methods that could give them a painless death.
But when he saw Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash's familiar faces, Wu Ling hesitated again. Perhaps his memories from his previous life were influencing him, but he felt that killing Fujimaru Ritsuka just like this was too simple. As the Master who had saved the world so many times, even dying should at least be dramatic.
"Once every human parallel world disappears, and the planet becomes the main world, Human History will be only one of many possibilities on this planet. With my ability, I can destroy it completely. Without humanity, there is no Alaya. Once Alaya is gone and can no longer bind me through the Throne of Heroes, I can still leave this place."
After making up his mind, Wu Ling formed an idea. It would also let Fujimaru Ritsuka pass the time for him.
"Relax. I am not the kind of unreasonable Evil of Humanity. How about we play a game?" Wu Ling spoke to Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others like a suspicious uncle coaxing a child.
His complete refusal to follow the expected pattern left the group stunned. They had met several Evils of Humanity before, but Wu Ling was the first to suggest playing a game. More importantly, his current behavior did not match Rebellion at all.
At that moment, the virtual screen lit up, and Little Da Vinci's voice came through.
"Careful, Ritsuka. The Beast in front of you may look ordinary, but internally, it has already reached maturity."
Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others raised their guard even further. Wu Ling, however, frowned with dissatisfaction.
"Hey, hey, Little Da Vinci, saying it like that hurts me. What do you mean I look ordinary? Be careful. If I catch you, I will have to punish you."
"Confirmed. He is a weirdo too."
Hearing Little Da Vinci call Wu Ling that made Director Goredolf flinch.
"Hey, be careful. Do not provoke him."
Goredolf appeared on the screen. He cleared his throat and spoke to Wu Ling with a serious expression.
"Excuse me, Mister Evil of Humanity. What did you mean by a game?"
Wu Ling raised a hand and extended nine fingers.
"A Holy Grail War. A nine on nine Holy Grail War. I will summon nine Servants. Before all nine Servants are dead, I will not act. Of course, if you want to start the boss battle early and attack me directly, I will fight you together with any surviving Servants."
"What do you think? It does give me the feeling of a villain feeding soldiers to the protagonist for experience, but for certain reasons, I am willing to give you this chance."
Goredolf asked cautiously, "Mister Evil of Humanity, because of certain circumstances, we may not be able to dispatch Servants there in time, so..."
"That is none of my concern. If you cannot overcome a problem of that level, your journey ends here."
Wu Ling's answer blocked Goredolf's remaining words. His attitude made cold sweat bead on Goredolf's face.
"Ritsuka, accept it," Little Da Vinci said from the screen. Goredolf's anxious voice could faintly be heard behind her.
She then explained to everyone, "This is already the best solution we have. If we refuse, Ritsuka and the others will face an Evil of Humanity with no information at all."
"Yes, we have defeated other Evils of Humanity together before, but those victories all relied on the right timing, location, and allies. Right now, we have no information, no combat power, and no support. Our chance of victory is almost nonexistent."
"Hahaha. Excellent analysis, Little Da Vinci. Correct. This is not a choice. It is a notification. If you refuse, I will attack you now. After that, even if I go easy on you and you manage to escape, you will cease to exist once all of Human History is gone."
"I can tell you clearly. Under my ability, Human History is facing a crisis more severe than the Incineration of Humanity and Lostbelt invasion. If you do not defeat me, you will disappear. Not die. Disappear completely along with Human History."
Now everyone understood the gravity of the situation.
Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded. "All right. I accept."
Hearing Fujimaru Ritsuka's answer, Wu Ling smiled with satisfaction.
"Good. That is how it should be. Then let me witness it, Master who has created miracles again and again."
Suddenly, Wu Ling's smile froze. He lifted his head slightly and looked up. Through the channel inside him that connected to the Throne of Heroes, the wills of two little girl avatars directly entered his body.
"Alaya. Then the other one must be Gaia. A pleasure. What brings you here? Have you changed your mind?" Wu Ling's consciousness looked at the two little girls before him and spoke calmly.
"No," Alaya said. "I came to negotiate. Let victory or defeat be decided by the game between you and that human. If you win, I will no longer restrict your departure. If you lose, I hope you will remain in this world and withdraw your ability."
Wu Ling tilted his head, utterly unconcerned.
"Alaya, have you misunderstood something? Even if I do not make a wager with you, once every parallel world connected to Human History on this planet disappears, you will no longer have the ability to interfere with my departure. No, at that point you will disappear too, so I should say you will have no ability at all."
Alaya pressed her lips together. Gaia stepped forward from behind her, placed a hand on her shoulder, and asked expressionlessly, "Then, Mister Wu Ling, what condition would make you accept this wager?"
"Hm. Let me think. How about this? If I win, not only will you stop restricting my departure, you will also open the Throne of Heroes to me completely."
"No. That is absolutely..."
"I agree," Gaia said.
Alaya turned to Gaia with a confused face, looking as if she wanted to ask whether Gaia was an enemy agent.
"Alaya, at this point we have no other option. We can only gamble. In the end, this happened because you gave him part of your origin without asking anyone."
Remembering what she had been thinking back then, Alaya almost wanted to travel into the past and slap herself.
"Fine. I agree too."
Gaia nodded. Then she took Alaya's hand and extended it toward Wu Ling. Wu Ling stepped forward and took her hand.
"Then, under the witness of the Root, the contract is established."