IBHJ Chapter 962

Unless one possessed the strength of a mighty god capable of lifting the entire island of Britain, there was no escaping the Black Madonna. It was infused with the very concept of the British Isles.

Of course, there were rare exceptions, like Merlin, who could undo it through his own brand of magecraft. But back when Merlin had broken her Black Madonna, she hadn't yet reached her full potential.

Now, she had mastered most of the world's magical foundations and fairy secret techniques, becoming a truly complete and flawless magus.

In terms of sheer magical skill, even Merlin might not be her equal.

If she were to become a Heroic Spirit after death, she would undoubtedly be a strong candidate for the title of Grand Caster. As for the requirement of having Clairvoyance EX, that was nothing to worry about. She could learn it somehow, just as Merlin had learned Independent Manifestation.

So, even if it were Merlin trapped in her Black Madonna now, he wouldn't be able to cleverly undo it again.

"Don't get too cocky, sis. Let's add another layer of security," Shirou said, focusing his will to direct Evil Blossom to latch onto Morrigan's Black Madonna.

In this world, accidents tend to happen when you least expect them - that was a lesson he'd learned the hard way.

He'd been in too many situations where victory seemed certain, only for something unexpected to mess everything up. Better to be safe than sorry, to add a bit of insurance.

The Black Madonna kept the magi's bodies trapped, while the Evil Blossom suppressed their divine authority. It was a foolproof combination, sealing both their power and their ability to move.

"Perfect," he thought. "This should make interrogation much easier."

But the moment Evil Blossom made contact with the trapped magi, everything changed.

A violent tremor ran through the black mud. The power of the Lord of Salvation, usually dormant within Evil Blossom, suddenly erupted. It was as if the mud had touched a live wire, setting off a chain reaction of unstable energy.

The Lord of Salvation's malice, long contained within Evil Blossom, broke free. It surged from the black mud in waves of hatred and rage.

Shirou's eyes widened in genuine surprise. "What the—"

He watched as the pitch-black mud, like a fully formed moth bursting from its cocoon, tore through the surface of Evil Blossom and rushed out, instantly corrupting and devouring Morrigan's Black Madonna.

"Shirou, what are you doing?" Morrigan cried out, startled, and quickly retreated from the encroaching tide of mud.

"I don't know! That thing's out of control! Stay away from it!" he shouted back, hastily severing the flow of Evil Blossom towards the magi.

But the mud, now infused with the power of the Lord of Salvation, ignored him and spread across the bodies of the four magi. Then, like writhing worms, it converged on the space between their eyebrows.

A gust of wind whipped through the air, tearing away the magi's hoods, revealing their faces and the bloodshot eye stuck right between their brows.

The eye of the people of Gandhara.

"They really did transplant it..." Enos said with a complex expression.

Just like that, the situation spiraled into a nightmare.

The pitch-black mud of Evil Blossom, once under Shirou's control, now moved with a will of its own. Like parasitic worms finding their perfect hosts, it surged towards the four magi and went straight for their hidden Gandharan eyes.

"Aaaaahhhh—"

The magi's screams pierced the air, a chorus of agony that chilled everyone to the bone. Their bodies began to dissolve, melting like wax under an intense flame. Flesh, bone, and sinew liquefied, reduced to puddles of putrid sludge that spread across the ground.

All that remained were four Gandharan eyes, suspended in midair, pulsing with an otherworldly glow.

They watched in horror as an unseen force took hold of the eyes. They began to rotate, drawing closer to each other, spinning faster and faster until they blurred into a single entity.

The merged eyes pulsated, growing and shrinking rhythmically. Flesh and organs materialized around them, only to peel away and vanish moments later. This grotesque dance of creation and destruction continued until all that remained was a dense, pulsating point of mass.

The moment this mass fully formed, reality itself seemed to rebel. The surrounding Reality Marble—the very fabric of this pocket dimension—shuddered and cracked. Like a broken mirror, it shattered into countless fragments, dissolving away and collapsing back into the real world.

Grandma Enos stumbled, "Impossible..." she whispered, her voice trembling. "My Lord's divine authority... it's gone."

Grandma Enos stood in shock. She could feel it—the last bit of the Wisdom God's power within her had been completely destroyed by that point of mass. Her body sagged, her skin wrinkling as she aged decades right before their eyes.

Shirou stared at the mass, and his heart felt like it stopped beating. He clutched at his chest, his face twisted in pain. His physical heart still beat, but the feeling of choking, of his heart seizing up, was all too real.

He knew this wasn't physical pain. It was something deeper, something in his soul. It was spiritual.

The formless vortex within his soul was reacting to that point of mass!

It seemed to have infinite weight, its very existence too much for reality to bear.

"Crack, crack, crack—"

The fabric of reality splintered, revealing the ghostly plane of dimensions.

At the same time, endless tides of mud surged, swirling around that central point of mass.

An Inverted Vortex appeared before their eyes.

"Mmm...!"

Looking at that Inverted Vortex, Shirou felt the sensation of his heart stopping grow even stronger. He clutched his chest and crouched down, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Thump.

Thump.

His heart hammered in his chest.

But he knew it wasn't the sound of his physical heartbeat. It was the agonized cry of his soul.

The formless vortex he had inherited from the primordial fairy Tethys was spinning wildly, bursting with unfathomable power, as if it wanted to rip his soul apart, manifest itself, and confront that Inverted Vortex.

"Shirou, are you okay?" Morrigan rushed to his side, gripping his arm. Her face was filled with worry, but she felt helpless.

The Lord of Salvation, the Vortex – these mysteries were far beyond her comprehension.

All she could do was watch and worry.

"Quick... run," Shirou gasped, his face contorted in pain. The agony in his soul was suffocating, but he still managed to warn Morrigan.

He could feel it.

Something.

Something unimaginably dreadful was about to emerge from the Inverted Vortex.

But it was too late.

Not one had anticipated the Lord of Salvation's power reacting like this to the Gandharan eyes. The Vortex wasn't supposed to open so fast - it was a dimensional rift, a wormhole between worlds. And now, it was too late to stop what was coming through.

"Crack, crack, crack—"

Reality itself was crumbling.

Within the fracturing fabric of existence, an eye appeared.

That eye gazed down on everything, making everyone feel completely insignificant.

And then, a voice resonated through their minds:

—You are me, I am you.

A bizarre sensation of unity swept over them, blurring the lines between mind and body.

Shirou's sense of self, confronted by this voice, began to fade, drawn towards the essence of that vortex, that eye. But just as his self was about to fade away, the formless vortex attached to his soul whirled into motion, its immense power pushing back against the seductive call of that otherworldly voice.

He snapped back to his senses, looking at that inverted vortex, that all-seeing eye, with a face full of fear.

He understood. That was—

The Lord of Salvation!