---o---
Zouken Matou—
This name had appeared in the light curtain more than once, and whenever it was mentioned, most people's blood pressure would spike.
As a villain, the Old Worm had absolutely no charm to speak of. Never mind comparing him to charismatic villains like DIO or Aizen; even Gilgamesh, whom the audience initially considered a villain, was nowhere near as detestable as the Old Worm.
Everything the Old Worm had done so far seemed to be born from pure, malicious sadism.
And the more this was the case, the more repulsive he became. Aimless persecution and sadistic pleasure were even more disgusting.
Unfortunately, just when everyone was hoping the Old Worm would drop dead on the spot, he would always manage to survive using his revolting insect magecraft.
If nothing else, his survival skills were more astonishing than a cockroach's.
And now... as Emiya Shirou's words fell, the Old Worm had nowhere left to run.
---o---
[Inside the Light Curtain—
"Zouken Matou... you bastard. You're hiding on Sakura's body, aren't you!"
Emiya Shirou turned his head, his icy gaze fixed on Sakura... or more accurately, on the Crest Worm hidden on her body. That was Zouken Matou's true form!
As if in response to Shirou's words, countless insects burst forth from behind Sakura.
They then coalesced into a humanoid shape—an old, withered body and a decrepit face. Without a doubt, it was Zouken Matou.
He had always appeared in this form before. That was why no matter how powerful Emiya Kiritsugu's Origin Bullets were, or how strong the Heroic Spirit Servants were, all they ever hit was a pile of insects, never his true body.
"Oh my, so my hiding spot has been discovered."
Saying this, Zouken Matou looked at Sakura with his deep-set eyes. Sakura's vacant expression held only despair and fear.
As if confirming something, he nodded in satisfaction. "As long as you are all right, Sakura. No matter what, you are a member of the Matou family now. As your grandfather, it is my duty to protect you..."
He then tried to reach out with his withered hand to stroke Sakura's head.
The sheer revulsion of this scene could not be described with words. A perpetrator acting this way towards his victim—is this something a human being is capable of?
Just as the audience outside was about to close their eyes, unable to bear the sight, Emiya Shirou made his move.
Swish—
A white throwing knife flashed by, directly cleaving the hand Zouken was using for the "head pat" in two. If his body weren't made of insects, blood would have likely gushed from the arm.
Emiya Shirou's face was grim. In all his long years as a Guardian, his blood pressure had never skyrocketed like this.
"Old Worm... in the original history, you weren't in such a hurry to obtain the Holy Grail. What is your goal? Did the appearance of that Outer God make you unable to sit still?"
Though he was furious, attacking now would definitely harm Sakura.
Dealing with the Old Worm without hurting Sakura was no simple task, especially with his cautious and troublesome nature.
To be honest, in this Holy Grail War, the only ones with the ability to pinpoint the Old Worm's location and kill him flawlessly were Caster Solomon and Archer Gilgamesh. The other Heroic Spirits might be able to defeat him, but killing him was next to impossible.
Upon hearing Shirou's words, Zouken Matou paused for a moment, then lowered his head slightly, his voice growing deeper.
"Heroic Spirit of the future, look at this flesh. It decays with every passing second..."
Saying this, Zouken spread his arms, displaying his hideous body to Saber and Emiya Shirou.
A black, dreg-like, rotten substance began to fall from his body.
Then, a disgusting, carapaced worm dropped to the ground, covered in a revolting black fluid.
"It reeks of a foul stench..."
More and more carapaced worms fell, scurrying away at an incredible speed. The full appearance of these insects was revealed—they were Zouken Matou's Crest Worms.
"Even the wisdom I have accumulated over the years is constantly fading..."
"This pain, this agony of rotting alive... can you even begin to comprehend it?"
His body began to emit black particles, rapidly decaying and shrinking, turning into countless insects. Finally, his completely rotten body collapsed, and his voice became hoarse and hollow.
"No one does not fear death. If this old one could truly achieve his wish of immortality..."
The worms reconvened, melting together. Zouken Matou's body reappeared in a fluid, twisted manner, finally revealing a horrifying face that was both melting and covered in countless fleshy tumors.
That face was contorted in a hideous grin.
"Then, if I had to kill every human in the world, or even become a thrall of the Outer God, I would do so without a moment's hesitation!"
Madness. Cruelty. Perversion. Ugliness.
In this moment, Zouken Matou seemed to embody the ugliest and most disgusting aspects of humanity.
The Outer God, the Holy Grail, pleasure—to the Old Worm, the only thing that was real was survival. The young man who once aspired to save the world had long since twisted into something inhuman.
If Makiri Zolgen from five hundred years ago were to witness this scene, one wonders if he would kill himself out of shame.
The people of the multiverse watching this felt nothing but disgust, nausea, and a chilling numbness in their limbs.
It was true. The Old Worm had to die.
The mere existence of such a creature was the greatest sin in the world.
At the same time, people were now completely certain that Zouken was telling the truth: if Sakura were devoured by All the World's Evil, the Holy Grail would descend in its most wicked and complete form.
This mad Old Worm had an incomprehensible obsession with 'staying alive'. He was the kind of lunatic who would genuinely destroy the world just to live.
His goal in pursuing the Holy Grail was now laid bare. It was the purest, most cliché wish of all—to live, to be immortal!
As the Old Worm's speech ended, Emiya Shirou knew there was no point in talking further.
Since the Old Worm had completely lost his mind, then he wouldn't mind putting him down for good right here!
However... to do that, he needed Mom's... or rather, the scabbard inside Irisviel.
Once Elysia's crystal flower took effect and Irisviel became a normal human, the scabbard used to sustain her life could be retrieved. With Avalon, wouldn't Saber's fight against the Old Worm be a complete slaughter?
Unfortunately, that meant making Elysia wait a little longer. And to extract the Grail fragment from Sakura's body, he would likely need Elysia's unreasonably powerful Authority as well...
As Emiya Shirou thought this through, he prepared himself for battle.
---o---
In the Light Curtain's comments—
If one were to speak of someone with a tremendous obsession with survival, there was no one more fitting than him.
Muzan Kibutsuji: "Yes, that's it exactly! This is the most perfect choice. The instinct of life is to survive."
As the biggest coward of a villain in history, Muzan Kibutsuji had taken self-preservation to the extreme. As such, he was one of the few who could agree with the Old Worm's methods. If not for the screen separating them, he would probably be trying to become sworn brothers with Zouken, hoping to use magecraft to allow himself to stand in the sun and truly become the ultimate lifeform.
However... people like Muzan were ultimately a minority. Most people found it simply incomprehensible.
Countless emperors and nobles throughout history had pursued immortality, yet even they could hardly match the Old Worm's obsession.
First Emperor Qin Shi Huang: "Foolishness!! What a laughable reason. Even at the height of my desire for eternal life, I would never have allowed myself to become such a twisted, inhuman creature!"
Fu Xuan: "Does he truly believe that long life is a blessing? As expected... this creature's existence is no different from an Abomination of Abundance. If he can be located, the Xianzhou will surely execute him!"
---o---
[Inside the Light Curtain—
As Emiya Shirou and Saber were entangled with the Old Worm, the scene suddenly shifted back to Elysia.
She was holding back the Outer God almost single-handedly. While there was a large element of clever tactics involved, plus the help of Ruler Jeanne d'Arc, if not for Elysia, this world would have already been destroyed...
"Is it not over yet? At this rate, the Spirit of Origin won't be able to hold on."
On the back of the Spirit of Origin, Elysia appeared relaxed, but upon closer inspection, one could see the anxiety on her face.
On the body of the Outer God, the wound that Gilgamesh had created with his life had completely vanished. It was clear the Outer God had fully recovered.
As the Outer God launched its offensive, the Spirit of Origin was steadily pushed back. Even a Judgment-class Honkai Beast could only admit defeat in the face of such an existence.
Right now, Elysia could only trust that Emiya Shirou and Saber would bring her the Holy Grail. She urgently needed its help to break the stalemate.
While it might be possible to achieve her goal through the world's own mechanics without the Grail... the consequences of that path were too unpredictable and could very well lead to destruction.
Therefore... Elysia needed to pursue a more stable method.
At this point, all of Elysia's actions seemed highly unusual. What did she need the Holy Grail for? What was her true purpose?
The audience outside was filled with curiosity... And as the light curtain continued, the mystery was gradually unveiled—
As everyone knew, as the Herrscher of Origin, Elysia possessed the power to rewrite reality and fate, which was why she could hold off the Outer God for so long.
But... this was only temporary. Origin represented hope and new life; it was difficult for it to vanquish the world's enemy before her.
As an old saying from Fu Hua's homeland goes, you have to use magic to defeat magic.
Yes, the Herrscher of Origin was special, an exception. Her Authority was practically cheating; the power to rewrite fate and reality was a supreme-level power in any world.
However... Elysia's Authority had a very limited effect on the Outer God. Its unseeable nature even caused her Authority to fail. Defeating the Outer God through conventional means was impossible. One could only use an extraordinary method to fight an extraordinary enemy!
And in Elysia's understanding, there was only one enemy more powerful than the Outer God, an existence even more threatening to the world!
And that was... the Herrscher of Finality!
The Herrscher of Origin could not stand against it. Even all thirteen Flame-Chasers combined were not its match. It was the true enemy of civilization, its oppressive might and power far exceeding the Outer God before her.
The terror of the Herrscher of Finality could no longer be described with words. Although Elysia had not truly participated in that final battle... as a Herrscher, she could fundamentally sense the burgeoning power from within the Cocoon.
Therefore, Elysia's purpose in obtaining the Holy Grail was simple. She was going to... exploit a loophole and become this world's Herrscher of Finality!
---o---
As everyone knew, Honkai Energy could explain anything, and the Herrscher of Origin could do anything she wished. When Honkai Energy and the Herrscher of Origin came together, the result was true infinity.
This world had no connection to the Imaginary Tree or the Sea of Quanta. It was a world with a completely independent and complete set of rules and operating principles.
Therefore... the so-called Honkai and Herrschers were a non-existent "0" to this world.
Elysia's appearance turned that "0" into a "1". And the most difficult thing in the world is the transition from "0" to "1".
Once you have a "1", the appearance of "2" and "3" is a matter of course. Therefore... Elysia could fully take on the title of Herrscher of Finality, or even the God of Honkai.
As the "founder" and "creator" of Honkai in this world, Elysia could interpret Honkai through her own will.
At that point, never mind the Herrscher of Finality, Elysia could even create Herrschers according to her own will!
But all of this had one prerequisite. The Nasuverse itself had to fully acknowledge Elysia's existence. That was why she was in such a hurry to get the Holy Grail.
As long as the Nasuverse acknowledged her existence, Elysia... could use the world's own rules to become the Nasuverse's Herrscher of Finality!
And with her ability to define Honkai, she could become a Herrscher of Finality who fights for humanity!
Perhaps this Herrscher of Finality wouldn't be as powerful as the one from the Honkai world, but... on some level, they would be of a completely equal standing.
To use an enemy of the world to fight an enemy of the world, to use an enemy of civilization to fight an enemy of civilization—this was Elysia's plan!