Chapter 57: The Contaminated Holy Grail

"Of course there is evidence, but whether you choose to believe it is up to you," Morgan said calmly. "After the Holy Grail War began, the day after I was summoned, I followed my Master to learn about Fuyuki's situation and thus discovered the location of the Greater Holy Grail."

The Ryudo Temple on Mount Enzo.

At that time, the three families—Tohsaka, Makiri, and Einzbern—under the supervision of the Magic Marshal, They established the system of the Greater Holy Grail, and it was gradually refined with each successive Holy Grail War. The location has become an open secret among the Masters.

Knowing that the Servant he had summoned was Morgan, it made perfect sense for Tatsuya to take this Berserker-class magus to explore spiritual veins and even the Holy Grail itself.

"So, did Your Excellency the Witch enter the underground cave where the Holy Grail is located and confirm the system of the Grail?" Tokiomi asked, clearly concerned.

Morgan nodded, then deliberately added, "Initially, I only intended to use the spiritual vein of Ryudo Temple as one of our bases once the Holy Grail War reached its midpoint, but—"

"You discovered that the Holy Grail was contaminated?" Artoria interrupted, her voice tinged with disbelief. The idea that the wish-granting device she had accepted a summons for could be corrupted was unbearable.

"That's correct. The magic of the Holy Grail has been tainted. Whether it's used as a wish-granting machine or for any other purpose—" Morgan responded calmly to Artoria, completely unfazed.

She had thoroughly analyzed the system of the Holy Grail. Given time, it wouldn't be difficult for her to create another one, and it could even be done at a lower cost.

"They're just broken tools," Morgan added.

"Broken?" Artoria's calm demeanor began to crack, but she closed her eyes and asked with difficulty, "What do you mean?"

"In simple terms, the way the Grail will grant wishes will be extremely extreme and negative," Morgan explained, turning to face Artoria. "Don't you want to use the Holy Grail to save Britain from destruction? If you make a wish on that Grail, it will choose to overturn the very facts that have been etched into human history. Only in this way can the destruction of Britain be reversed."

Cold sweat beaded on Artoria's forehead. "If I do that..."

"If you do that, the result will be that Britain will be severed from us, becoming a foreign entity that distorts human history," Morgan continued, her tone growing more serious. "In other words, it would become a singularity in human history, one that would eventually be eliminated by the force of inhibition."

Artoria was so shocked that she was speechless. She couldn't process such a tragic reality in that moment.

But Morgan wasn't finished, and as if to completely shatter Artoria's resolve, she added, "Don't be so quick to despair. The singularity I've described is just one possible outcome. Worse scenarios exist."

After all, Morgan couldn't definitively say just how far the corrupted Holy Grail's power could reach.

Moreover, Morgan herself was an exceptional summoning case, different even from Artoria.

"From the beginning, you've been repeating this idea of the Holy Grail being contaminated," Emiya Kiritsugu, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "You're just a Servant with some blood relation to the Knight King over there. How do I know you're not just trying to undermine the morale of the other camps?"

Kiritsugu was more suspicious of Morgan's claims than Artoria.

He had placed his wish on the Holy Grail, spent nine years preparing and waiting, so it was impossible for him to accept this reality easily.

"All the evils of the world," Morgan said, a cryptic phrase, followed by, "Or, Angra Mainyu."

This time, the first person to react was Kotomine Risei.

As the supervisor of the last Holy Grail War, he was certainly aware of the classes and even the true names of the Servants summoned by the participants back then.

"Judging by your reaction, Overseer of the Holy Church, I think you know exactly what I'm talking about," Morgan remarked, not even turning her head, but clearly aware of the old priest's response. "That is the source of the Holy Grail's contamination."

Tokiomi's expression shifted. He didn't know much about the previous Holy Grail War, focusing instead on how to secure victory in this one by safely preparing relics and other necessities.

After all, no one would choose to summon a Servant who had already been summoned in the past; doing so would make it too easy to expose their true name.

"Father Risei, could you explain what's going on?" Tokiomi asked politely, suppressing his anxiety.

As well-versed as he was in the ways of nature, Angra Mainyu was a Zoroastrian god, and this revelation troubled him.

The old priest's face grew stern, his brows furrowed. "That was the Servant summoned in the previous Holy Grail War. It appeared as an additional class: Avenger."

Having said that, he narrowed his eyes and looked at Emiya Kiritsugu, compelled by his sense of morality as a priest.

"Avenger?" Tatsuya, who had been holding back from speaking, couldn't help but blurt out, "A class that's out of the norm?"

"That's unclear. After all, it was Einzbern, one of the three families, who summoned Avenger," Father Risei answered truthfully.

Emiya Kiritsugu stood up, his expression displeased. "It seems there's no point in listening any further."

"Don't be so quick to judge, Einzbern magus," Father Risei said calmly. "I'm not using this as an excuse to rally the other Masters against you. I'm simply stating the facts. In the Holy Grail War sixty years ago, Einzbern summoned Avenger. However, the Servant was defeated on the fourth day, and the Lesser Holy Grail was destroyed soon after, resulting in a fruitless end."

Morgan, who found the old priest's explanation sufficient, resumed her own.

"Typically, the souls of Servants defeated in the Holy Grail War are absorbed into the Greater Holy Grail and transformed into pure magical energy. However, Angra Mainyu is different. He symbolizes all the evils of the world. The moment he was defeated and absorbed by the Greater Holy Grail, the evil within him corrupted it."

With that, Morgan calmly extended her hand, conjuring a mirror made of water in the chapel.

"And this is the current state of the Greater Holy Grail. If you don't believe me, go and verify it yourself."

Through Morgan's magic, everyone present could see the Holy Grail. Even though it was just an image, its corruption was clear to all.

"That's a load of nonsense."

But Emiya Kiritsugu simply left those words behind and stormed out of the chapel. Artoria, still harboring doubts, was forced to follow her Master.

While the other camps were convinced by Morgan's power to confirm the Grail's corruption, Emiya Kiritsugu remained steadfast in his belief that Morgan was lying.

In reality, what the man firmly believed in his heart had been fundamentally shaken, and so he "ran away."

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