The ter of fli the Fate Series that Aleph watched was the “omnist” Wish-granting Grail. The energy o power it es from the dead servants and masters, hence creating the y for a “seven-man war”, rightfully dubbed as the “Holy Grail War”.

  However, things weren’t always as it seems.

  In the case of the Fuyuki Grail War, the “omnist” Holy Grail was a huge scam. The Greater Grail, which was built to withstand impossibly vast amounts of energy, was corrupted during the third grail war.

  In simple terms, they summoned a puter virus and allowed it to corrupt all the system files, leaving a defunct holy grail that grants its wielder’s wishes in a twistedly evil way.

  “Cursed spirits… and this guy. Is there any difference?”

  Aleph stared at the bck mud approag his feet. The white light surrounding him began terag it.

  Moments ter, the bck mud split as if it hit a solid wall.

  The ground around Aleph was soo over by the bck mud. Only the pce he was standing remained incorrupt.

  “My authority works…”

  His fiapped his crossed arms.

  A mier, Aleph received the initial result from Great Sage.

  {Result: The target entity tains an unquantifiable amount of ive emotions. tag it directly will result in an immediate death for normal humans. The ways to teract it is to use the nullification authority, exorcise using cursed energy, annihite using honkai energy…}

  ‘...So this is the trouble of going to other worlds.’ Aleph mused.

  The Embryonic Power System was an example of that ‘happy trouble’. Though he could now switch his energy based ohings he came in tact with, it to him to research their nature. He didn’t have muowledge on other worlds iing together—say, honkai energy ag upon this bck mud.

  Everything for him to be experimented on. His elemental sight required practical experiences.

  Fortunately, he wasn’t alone.

  “The oh the biggest patibility was cursed energy. It does have better effects when dealing with ive emotions... and in this case, curses. Their cepts are good enough, too."

  Aleph recalled his time in Shibuya. Most of the people he entered did not have a strong raw power. Even Jogo, the cssified special-grade cursed spirit, fell short pared to the top bat forces in his world.

  heless, the merit of cursed teiques lies in their ability to affect cepts. So long as they had the same access to high amounts of energy—simir to Herrschers—and improved their output, the sorcerers’ potential would be better, though it mostly depends on the cursed teique itself.

  Aleph realized this early on and headed in this dire.

  Hum-!

  The bck mud’s direct tact caused the trees in Mount Enzou to start burning.

  “Alright.”

  Amidst the fmes and crawling bck mud, Aleph raised his hand. Cursed energy gathered in its pce. His surroundings turned vague as the gathered energy reached a focal point.

  ‘Juezhao was the prerequisite… because you still o gh it.’

  Aleph gathered the energy through Juezhao. However, it did here. His surroundings turning vague was a result of engulfing his radius in dense cursed energy.

  It was the sed part.

  bining these two parts make up Li Shuwen’s signature move—

  Bam-!

  Aleph’s fist tacted the ground. The sheer impact caused it to cave several meters in an instant. It was done in an instant, making it as if a portion of the ground disappeared.

  Cracks spread from his radius. The purple-bergy crept through the crevices and began slig through the bck mud.

  Sizzle-!

  “Cursed spirits…”

  Cursed energy was the antithesis of cursed spirits—even in other worlds.

  Aleph saw how his siack cut through thirty pert of the bck mud. The ones hit by him evaporated. The remaining bck mud did not dare touch the pces with crevices.

  “Alright. The one.”

  [version Successful.]

  [Cursed Energy → Honkai Energy]

  Aleph felt a portion of his brain ‘sleeping’. His frontal lobe where cursed teiques were ‘stored’ fell silent without cursed energy.

  It was one of the disadvantages he discovered. Perhaps it was still ‘undeveloped’, the Embryonic Power System does not support cross-usage of other worlds’ energies.

  Meaning to say, Aleph’s strengths as a Sorcerer could only be used with cursed energy, nothing else. The loss of it meant the loss of access to that power.

  In the end, it was a matter of advantages and disadvantages. It was pletely up to him to use which.

  Fizzle-!

  Circuit-like lines appeared all over his arms. It matched with the few scales in it.

  “At least Albion’s powers were not affected by the switch. He did wao find out about this myself...”

  The sheathed bde appeared in his grasp.

  Click.

  Zoom-!

  A transparent arc headed straight into the split grail statue.

  Bam-!

  Shatter-!

  The broken ‘mystical artwork’, a man-made treasure made up of thousands of circuits, was treated like a pung bag. It wasn’t just it—the bck mud too.

  “It accepted honkai energy. I see…”

  Aleph’s heart begaing faster and faster. He looked at the bck mud with a renewed gaze.

  “My perfect sparring partner.”

  At this moment, the evils of the world faced malicious is parable to it.

  *****

  A week had passed sihe three-day spar in the fifth institute.

  “The hero arrived on the se. Half expected, he thought of his rades’ desperate struggle. He always arrives on the se, on-time. Instead, his rades’ dismembered bodies greeted his—”

  Sakura swiftly took the magazine from her younger sister’s hands. She folded the magazine and patted her sister’s head with it.

  “Ow. Big sis—”

  “It is the usual se, isn’t it? The oh bloody ses.”

  Sakura hit the mark. For some reason, her younger sister, Rin, held an etric hobby of reading bloody entries. It was either that or horror short stories she often found in one of the magazines delivered to their house.

  “But—”

  Hearing her reprimand, Rin wao retort when a kno the door disrupted her.

  Knock.

  Knock.

  In Rin’s eyes, her usually stern sister showed a startled look. It was as if she kneas beyond the door.

  “I’ll open it.”

  Her eyes remaiu her older sister’s back as it headed to the tall pink fox ears. They trembled slightly, further expressing Sakura’s surprise.

  When the door ened, it revealed a tall young man with golden pupils.

  “This is a good time to visit, no?”

  Rin stood on the sofa and saw his figure. A sihought entered her mind:

  “It couldn’t be…”

  *****

  A/N: Bonus Chapter (1/3)