Professor Lev.
To everyone except Naoki, this was their first encounter since the control room explosion.
Although they had already heard from Naoki about Lev's betrayal, hearing about it and actually witnessing it were two entirely different things. For Mash, it was no different. In her memories, even though Professor Lev was a traditional Magus, he occasionally surprised her by showing unexpectedly gentle, human sides—and he often helped her with various matters.
But now, seeing the Professor Lev standing before her, Mash felt every hair on her body stand on end. Instinctively, she raised her shield and pointed it directly at him.
"Oh, oh, oh, why are you so wary of me, Mash?"
Seeing this, Professor Lev laughed as if he were watching an utterly amusing scene.
Mash stared at him seriously: "Professor Lev… No, I should call you one of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods? Although your appearance is still that of Professor Lev, I can sense a powerful evil nature radiating from you."
"…"
After a brief silence, Professor Lev sighed, then made a face full of disgust and revulsion: "Aaaah~~~ So Natsukawa told you. Only he could've done it. Somehow, he always knew most of what was going on. He's known about our existence for a long time too… What a thoroughly repulsive man."
These were Flauros' sincere words from the depths of his heart.
Though to Chaldea employees, their public relationship seemed harmonious—apart from occasional ideological disagreements—only the two of them knew that outside public spaces, they never interacted personally at all. They hadn't even met once in private.
Chaldea wasn't such a large place. Normally, people would naturally cross paths occasionally. Yet surprisingly, Flauros and Naoki never encountered each other outside the control room—not even by chance in the corridors.
[I thought you'd been completely destroyed, Flauros.]
Naoki's voice came through Ritsuka's wristband.
[Judging from your current state, you haven't revived. Considering the nature of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods as a unified entity, have you now split off a new terminal directly from your main body?]
"This terminal shouldn't have appeared at all." Flauros said with disdain. "The seven Singularities have formed, and Humanity has successfully been burned away. The remaining tasks are merely cleanup. I am no longer needed."
"But… damn it, this really pisses me off! Destruction was inevitable—why does Chaldea still fight so desperately? Why do you remnants of Humanity keep getting in the way?"
The more Flauros spoke, the wilder and more distorted his facial expression became.
At that moment, behind Flauros, Jeanne Alter—whose chest and spiritual core had been pierced and who should have been incapable of fighting—suddenly swung the banner in her hand and struck Flauros's head with all her strength!
*PU-CHI!*
Yet, before the banner could land, Jeanne Alter was impaled again by the tentacles!
Blood sprayed violently.
Shaking off the useless banner dangling above his head, Flauros turned and glared at the three impaled figures: "I almost forgot about you. You were given the Holy Grail, yet couldn't even accomplish the simple task of destroying this place. Fake beings remain fake. Servants are utterly worthless."
"If I'd known, I should've acted alone from the start."
As soon as Flauros finished speaking, the Holy Grail in Jeanne Alter's hand instantly transferred into his own. This wasn't just a physical transfer—it was a complete shift in ownership.
"Ugh!"
The moment she lost the Grail, Jeanne Alter's face turned deathly pale. Her entire body rapidly began dissolving into illusion!
"Ohhh! My Lady! Jeanne!"
Gilles de Rais cried out in anguish at the sight.
"Please, wake up! Jeanne! Please don't disappear before my eyes again—"
*PU-CHI!*
Another fleshy pillar erupted from beneath the ground, and like smashing a watermelon, it crashed down onto Gilles de Rais's head from above. Pure pressure crushed him flat beneath it!
"Gilles!"
Jeanne Alter instinctively cried out in distress, her face twisting uncontrollably with rage. Though she struggled to maintain calm and indifference, the changes in her eyes and expression clearly revealed her true feelings.
Anger. Hatred.
Jeanne Alter was an existence created by Gilles de Rais when he used the Holy Grail to fulfill his desires. She was not another Jeanne born from Jeanne's dark side, as she claimed.
She had been imbued with Gilles de Rais's ideology—to take revenge on France that betrayed you, to take revenge on the people who abandoned you, to take revenge on the god who failed to save you. Thus, the only emotions Jeanne Alter could ever feel were anger and hatred.
And now, those emotions had been stimulated to the extreme.
"You bastard…"
Sudden crimson karma flames burst from Jeanne Alter's body!
But—
"Noisy."
*PU-CHI!*
Along with Flauros's icy words, the tentacle piercing Jeanne Alter's body violently expanded outward. Like inflating a balloon already filled with air, a massive hole suddenly ripped open in her torso. From her left chest down to her left leg, that entire section vanished instantly from her body!
Looking at the helpless remains of Jeanne Alter lying on the ground, Flauros didn't even spare her a second glance. He completely ignored her furious gaze and raised the Holy Grail high in his hand.
*ZING!*
An intense light burst forth from within the Holy Grail. Like overflowing liquid or a volcanic eruption, endless waves of Mana surged out and enveloped Lev.
At that moment—
[Mana reaction spiking drastically! Far exceeding Servant levels! Even higher than Aozaki's attack earlier! And the nature of this Mana… There's no mistake! It's identical to what King Solomon summoned in Fuyuki City back then!]
[Fujimaru! Mash! Akuta! Be careful—what's emerging there is—]
Ritsuka didn't fully hear Roman's warning, because before she could, a colossal creature had already begun slowly emerging from within the blinding light. What her eyes beheld shook her consciousness and soul so profoundly that she could no longer hear any sound from the outside world.
It was a Pillar of Flesh.
A gigantic flesh pillar, mountain-sized in scale. Shaped like a column, its surface covered not only in black flesh but also countless blood-red eyes.
"This is…"
"The same as in Fuyuki City back then…"
[Yes. This is—the Demon God Pillar.]