Shirou: So, Illya. Why did the Holy Grail War turn out like this? Kotomine said there's something in the Holy Grail. So is this that Avenger thing? And he's not in the Holy Grail, Sakura or Ilya, but in the magic circle you called the Great Holy Grail?
Illya: Oh, Kotomine would know, wouldn't he? He's a magus tainted by Avenger, just like Sakura. He already knows what's inside the Holy Grail.
Rin: Eh? Kotomine and Sakura are the same?
Illya: That's right. This concerns you two. This is about what Zouken's trying to obtain, what's changing Sakura, what's hiding in the Holy Grail, and what's tainting the souls of the heroic spirits. Its class name is Avenger. The heroic spirit that's about to take a living form through the power of the Holy Grail, a successful example of the Third Sorcery.
Rin: …What? What was all that about sorceries not having to do with this? It does concern them.
Illya: No. Avenger's materialization isn't sorcery carried out by the Holy Grail. From the start, it is a heroic spirit with that specific attribute. It can take form within the Holy Grail because it's Avenger. The Holy Grail merely summoned an avenger that can use the Third Sorcery, so it doesn't mean that the Great Holy Grail used the Third Sorcery.
Rin: ……? So in short, it's a monster that can materialize? It's someone who can embody the Third Sorcery even if the Great Holy Grail doesn't?
Illya: Yes. It all started during the third ritual. The first one was a failure. Einzbern was defeated quickly in the second war, and in desperation, they summoned a spirit that specialized in killing. They used an old scripture, a foreign folklore they obtained, as catalyst to summon the worst evil possible. They summoned what they shouldn't have summoned to kill all the other Masters, to activate the Great Holy Grail, and to keep all the achievement to themselves. The spirit's name is Angra Manyu. A murderous anti-hero that embodies every curse in this world.
Angra Manyu is the name of the ancient Persian devil. It's the embodiment of evil, the greatest devil in Zoroastrianism. It fights a nine-thousand-year battle against Ahura Mazda, protector of human goodness. Zoroastrianism is a story mainly about the battle between these two gods. It's the first religion to come up with the doctrine of duality, the angels and the devil. But the story contains no hero named Angra Manyu. First of all, how can someone crowned with the name of the king of devils become a heroic spirit?
Rin: That's not possible, Ilya. The Holy Grail can only call on heroic spirits, and you don't need the Holy Grail if you can reproduce phenomena on the divine spirit level. No, first of all, there can't be a heroic spirit with the name Angra Manyu. Even if there was, it would be a nameless evil spirit that left no mark on history. Even if it were summoned, its soul wouldn't be compatible with the Holy Grail. Illya, what did the Einzberns' Master summon?
Illya: I said Angra Manyu, Rin. He was certainly nameless, and not a devil. But a hero with the name Angra Manyu did exist. Yes, the story takes place a long time ago. Insanely long ago, in a very small world. It was a hero that lived in a small, nameless village that practiced Zoroastrianism. I don't know how distorted their doctrine was. I don't know what led them to that idea. But they lived cleanly and righteously in accordance with their precepts. People are supposed to value goodness, protect the light, and live virtuous lives. For these people, segregated from the rest of the world, this supplication was absolute. It was probably the only source of human pride that they knew.
Illya: Yes. The people in the village earnestly wished for everyone to live in peace. So everyone could be free from malice and live pure, upright lives. They renounced such human concerns as hunger, conflict, love, and hate. They were proud to be worthy of God's blessing. But it was impossible. People can't be freed from malice just through clean, righteous living. From the moment we are born, there is evil in us. You must take certain measures if you want to separate evil from yourself. And those measures were taken. They came up with a way to save not just their small village, but the whole world. It's hard to make everyone do good. But you can prove everyone's goodness; you just need one person. If one person embodies all the evils of the world, the rest of the people cannot be evil, no matter what. They seriously believed in such a simple, child-like theory.
Illya: And one young man was chosen as a sacrifice. They captured him, carved every cursed word onto his body, forced every sin imaginable upon him, and held him responsible for all evils in the world. That's all. A small world. But an ultimate evil was born in this one complete world. The people cursed, scorned, feared, yet adored this man. They believed they were pure and righteous, since all the world's evil was within him. They seriously believed it'd save everyone in the world and created a devil. To demonstrate human goodness, they continuously tortured one man until he went insane. No, they would not allow him to die until he succumbed to old age. The name of the devil that corrupts men. He was given the name Angra Manyu, and was irrationally hated by everyone in the world.
Illya: I don't know if he really did turn into a devil during the process. But everyone in his village believed him to be so, and they treated him accordingly. They hated and feared him, but he was the proof of their goodness. They revered him as the sign of their salvation. He was the object of everyone's hate, but he saved people. His existence pardoned everyone of their evil deeds. Though his method was unusual, he still saved people. He became a hero for the villagers. And a hero was born. Hated by people, losing his self… Someone who transformed into exactly what they wanted. A helpless sacrifice that came to represent all the world's evil. That's the anti-hero Angra Manyu. An ordinary person without any special talent that was determined to be all evils of the world. The king of devils that approves of all six billion evils in Zoroastrianism. He's a curse made by a concept of ancient people.
Illya finishes her story with no sign of bitterness or contempt. Anti-hero. Kotomine introduced me to the term when the war started. But, if Illya's story is true, the guy who turned into Angra Manyu is still burdened with all the sins. It's because that's his reason of existence. A heroic spirit who's had six billion sins pushed onto him. If a guy like that is summoned, all that'll happen is a big massacre. it'd only be natural for him to hate people, and first of all, everyone around him established him to be evil. Angra Manyu. So the man is using Sakura to take revenge on the people...no, to carry out the role pushed onto him?
Rin: So I understand the story of Avenger, Angra Manyu. But why is he in the Holy Grail? He's just an ordinary person, right? Even if he's given a devil's name and treated like one, he's still just a human. That wouldn't turn him into a monster capable of eating the entire town.
Illya: Yeah. Angra Manyu is human. He was just an ordinary man, but was forced to become a heroic spirit. So there wasn't any problem, originally. The Einzbern family summoned Angra Manyu in the third war. But the summoned heroic spirit was weak. The anti-hero was defeated in the early stage of the war, and the Holy Grail took him in. The Master of Einzbern grieved how this ordinary human could be a devil that destroys the human world. Yes. The heroic spirit was merely human. A human that cursed the world. A human who everyone wanted to represent their evil. So he had no power. He was merely constructed by the people around him. But everything reversed the instant he was taken in by the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail grants wishes. When defeated, Servants are reduced to raw magical energy and are taken in by the Holy Grail to await their release. They lose their individual personalities and stay in the Holy Grail as an omnipotent power. But Angra Manyu was different. He was a heroic spirit that others wished for. He was intended to be evil, regardless of his personality.
Rin: No way, could he be...
Illya: Yes. The Holy Grail grants every wish. He was a mere human, but wasn't treated as one. So he was an embodiment of people's wishes. So the instant Angra Manyu was taken in by the Holy Grail, the Holy Grail accepted a wish. An existence that should not be. The heroic spirit constructed from people's selfish wishes was finally given flesh within the wish-granting Holy Grail. …Five hundred years under the Makiri and a thousand under the Einzbern are nothing. After all, he's an ideal human that has been wished for since the age of gods, over two thousand years ago. That's what that shadow is. It finally obtained form as a heroic spirit. Angra Manyu used Servants' colorless magical energy to embody all evils of the world. Wanting only to be evil. It slowly matured with an ability to curse all six billion people.
Originally Posted by Sandstorm77
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