Tohsaka Rin carefully considered Souta's plan—and in the end, she approved.
With the butterfly effect at play, she wasn't confident that following the original timeline would allow her to save her family without mistakes.
So instead, they'd eliminate the ones causing the problems. That was the most reliable method.
Wipe out the troublemakers, and Fuyuki City's chaos would vanish with them.
Rin suddenly realized she had found the perfect solution to everything.
Of course, this plan only worked if you had overwhelming power.
"What about the corrupted Greater Grail? How do you plan to handle that?"
Rin raised the unavoidable question.
"Once we take out the other Servants, the Grail will probably materialize, right? And then all that malice will start pouring out."
"Well..." Souta rubbed his chin. "We could do what they did in the Fifth War—destroy the 'hole' where the mana leaks out. But that's just a temporary fix."
"Let's stick with my original plan. I'll try burning away the malice using divine fire. If that doesn't work, I can always brute force it with divine power."
"But you don't have much divine power, right?" Rin frowned. "If you waste it like that, you might not have enough left for combat. That's too dangerous!"
If anything happened to Souta, she'd be wracked with guilt. Safety was non-negotiable.
"Ah, you're thinking too rigidly!" Souta laughed.
"If I run out of divine power, I'll just go back to the Akame world and refill my faith. The system doesn't forbid world-hopping during a mission, as long as I don't bring other group members along."
Rin sighed in exasperation.
"Isn't that way too convenient!?"
"It gets better," Souta smirked. "Once I have enough 'Couriers' in my divine realm, I'll get faith delivered daily—without lifting a finger. Divine power will roll in on its own, and I won't even need to travel."
"Damn it..." Rin couldn't help feeling jealous.
Is it too late to ditch magecraft and become a god instead?
Unfortunately... it was just a fantasy.
The system's store listed divine sparks at 1 million points.
Even if she sold herself, she couldn't afford one!
"No time to waste. Let's visit Ryuudou Temple after dinner."
Souta finished his cola and stood.
The Greater Grail lay deep beneath the temple—a massive magical construct, essentially a gigantic ritual array.
Based on his calculations, purifying it wouldn't happen overnight—it would take time.
Luckily, there was still one year before the Fourth Grail War...
"Oh, right!" Souta suddenly remembered something.
"Rin, since we have a year before the war starts, how do you plan to take care of Sakura?"
Beside him, little Sakura paused mid-bite, glancing nervously at her sister and Souta.
She already knew her sister had come from the future, though at five years old, she didn't fully understand it.
Souta ruffled her hair, smiling.
Sakura relaxed slightly and resumed eating the mountain of sweets before her.
Hopefully she doesn't get chubby...
Well, if she does, it better be in the right places.
"No worries. I'll stay and take care of her for the year. You guys can jump back through time when the war begins."
Rin looked at Sakura with a soft expression, then added,
"And based on the timeline, Uncle Kariya should be back soon. He can help me look after her. Once the war ends and everything's settled, I'll take Sakura home. For now... it's not time to confront Father yet."
Kariya was due to return four days after Sakura was adopted.
Since they hadn't left the Matou residence, they hadn't altered that event.
"You're really going to stay here for a year?" Souta asked.
"What choice do I have? I'm not leaving Sakura alone."
"Don't worry. I'll limit my activities to the Matou estate—no chance of early exposure."
"Alright, that's fine then." Souta nodded.
"If you can handle the boredom. I'll drop by every few months to keep you company."
"I'm not a kid!" Rin protested.
"I can take care of myself—and Sakura!"
They finished dinner quickly.
After a bit of prep, Rin led Souta to Ryuudou Temple.
Considering possible dangers, she didn't accompany him into the underground chamber.
Souta's divine shield only protected him. Shielding others would cost extra divine power—and Rin couldn't just wade into the black mud like he could.
Thankfully, Souta's guess was right—his divine fire could burn away the malice within the Grail.
In D&D, gods were easily influenced by mortal faith. The thoughts and desires within faith subtly altered a deity's personality. Some even became wholly assimilated by their worshippers' beliefs.
But the system's modded divine spark was different—it burned away all mortal attachments, refining faith into pure divine power.
With it, Souta slowly purified the Greater Grail.
Unfortunately, the malice was overwhelming. One afternoon wasn't enough to burn much.
So, over the next few days, Souta visited the temple regularly.
Angra Mainyu's will frequently resisted him.
Too bad—Souta, protected by divine shield, feared nothing.
He even created a lounge chair, sprawled in it with soda and popcorn, watching movies on his iPhone with the sound on full blast.
Angra Mainyu's mental corruption was useless, and the black mud? Please.
Using his infuriating immunity, Souta chipped away at Angra Mainyu's will.
He burned the Grail for three days straight.
On the fourth day, he didn't go.
Because Kariya Matou had returned.
"Sakura... Sakura...!"
Kariya burst into the Matou residence, frantic.
He had just learned from Aoi that Tokiomi had given Sakura to the Matous.
It was like a nightmare—he knew what kind of monster Zouken was.
He had left the Matou house precisely because of that.
If Sakura fell into his hands... there was no hope!
But then—Kariya froze.
Waiting for him were a strange young man and a girl who looked like a grown-up Rin.
The youth greeted him with one sentence:
"Relax. We've already taken care of your father. It's safe now. Come in—we need to talk."
"..." Kariya stepped back, terror in his eyes.
"Ugh, can't you not say it like that?"
Rin dragged Souta behind her, then said,
"Uncle Kariya, it's me—Rin. I've come from the future... Just come in. I'll explain everything."
PS: Only managed 6k characters yesterday... weak performance.