Right—Rin is just a child. How could she possibly know any profound secrets of magecraft? She must have picked up a few scraps of hearsay somewhere—or, in a panic to stop Sakura's adoption, made something up.
And yet he had actually wavered for a moment. Unforgivable. An insult to the judgment of the head of House Tohsaka.
Stung by self-reproach, Tohsaka Tokiomi hardened his resolve at once. He turned back, face colder and more severe than ever, and snapped at Rin:
"Rin! Enough! You have disappointed me greatly!
As the future head of the Tohsaka family, how can you be so rash, spout nonsense, and slander your elders?
Apologize to Elder Zouken this instant, then come home with me!"
"I'm not spouting nonsense! I'm telling the truth!"
Rin clenched her teeth until her gums ached. Seeing the absolute disbelief in her father's eyes filled her with helplessness and bitter grievance.
She was repeating what Rei Ao had told her. She didn't fully grasp what a "Lesser Grail" meant, but she could feel the grave weight in Rei Ao's voice, and his concern for Sakura. That was no lie. She was just a kid with no real leverage—why would he deceive her?
But her father wouldn't believe her. He would rather trust that old man who looked every inch the villain than his own daughter. Rin felt powerless.
What should I do?
Was she really going to stand by and watch Sakura be taken away, plunged into the dark future Rei Ao had described?
No. Never.
Just as despair was about to drown her, a glint—relief, almost joy—flashed in Rin's eyes. It was so brief that both Tokiomi and Matou Zouken, watching her closely, thought they imagined it.
Rin drew a deep breath, as if she had made up her mind. She stopped trying to persuade her father with words. In a preternaturally calm, even faintly icy tone that didn't fit her age, she said:
"Father, since you refuse to believe your own daughter and insist on pushing Sakura into the fire… then, as her sister, to protect her, I'll have to use my own method."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried strangely, as if she were declaring this not to her father, but to something beyond.
"I accept your deal. Please help me."
The last four words landed like the trigger of a hidden spell.
In an instant, the world changed.
There was no quake, no surge of mana. Instead, in the fog-shrouded empty space right before Rin and Sakura, clear, visible ripples spread outward, one after another. The ripples were not made of magecraft; they radiated a peculiar, ethereal energy that neither Tokiomi nor Matou Zouken had ever sensed.
It didn't belong to modern magical foundations, nor to any known secrets of the Age of Gods—more like a conceptual interference from outside the world itself.
Then, at the center of those ripples, a gentle yet steadfast light glimmered. It widened, stretched, took shape—as if an invisible brush were painting upon the air. A tall, slender human silhouette grew distinct within the glow.
The first thing to meet the eye was a sleek black outfit, its hem stirring though no wind blew, as if it carried the drift of years and starlight from afar. The newcomer stood straight.
He looked young, yet carried a serenity tempered by time. Most striking were his eyes—iridescent pupils that now regarded the scene calmly.
His gaze swept past the unsettled Tohsaka Tokiomi, past Matou Zouken whose eyes had gone fully dark, and finally returned to Rin, who was shielding her sister, hope and last-ditch resolve burning in her eyes.
He arrived without spectacle, yet he felt like an absolute "foreign object" forcibly set into the rules of this world, clearing the oppressive air around them.
Seeing the figure who had come as promised, Rin's taut heart finally eased a little. Softly, with a hint of unguarded reliance, she breathed the name:
"Rei Ao-san…?"
He dipped his head to her, offering a look of reassurance, then stepped forward and—almost imperceptibly—placed himself fully between the sisters and the two men, facing Tokiomi, who stood grim and braced as if before an enemy, and Zouken, in whose eyes anger and greed churned.
"My apologies," he said. His voice was clear and even, like a mountain spring, yet carried an unquestionable firmness that rang out at the gloomy gate of the Matou estate.
"Tohsaka Tokiomi, Matou Zouken—unfortunate to meet you in this manner. Regarding Sakura's future, perhaps we can resolve it another way."
His gaze settled on Zouken. Those red eyes had already seen through centuries of filth and obsession.
"Especially concerning the 'Lesser Grail,' soul materialization, and a rotten obsession five centuries old. Zouken-san—what do you think?"
"No—perhaps it's better to call you Makiri Zolgen."
Yes. Matou Zouken's true identity is Makiri Zolgen. On the registry he is the grandfather of Matou Sakura and Matou Shinji; in truth he is the family's first head from six generations past, a great magus who has lived for five hundred years.
He abandoned his original body and uses worms of magical nature to assemble a temporary one. As the Makiri family's founder, he is tied to the origins of the Holy Grail War.