Chapter 53 - eee

Matou family manor, reception hall.

"It seems Advisor Zouken Matou is quite busy, requiring such preparation even to receive guests."

"Hehe, just some rude old immortal magus wanted to enter Fuyuki City. To maintain the Holy Grail War ritual's order, this old man personally went to have a friendly exchange with her, making her voluntarily leave."

Pale moonlight scattered across every corner of the manor. The silent night enveloped all things.

Before even entering, he heard the elegant noble's steady voice from the reception hall. Leaning on his cane and arriving late, Zouken Matou smiled somewhat kindly and gently as he pushed open the reception hall doors, seeing the refined, handsome man properly seated on the sofa within.

The tea in the cup on the wooden table had already gone cold, and the half-full cup clearly hadn't been touched at all. This unexpected yet reasonable guest hadn't engaged in any tea-drinking behavior or actions.

Zouken Matou took slow steps inside, unhurriedly sitting opposite the man, then his sunken eye sockets squinted to size up the other.

Coming a bit too quickly. That afternoon, the Age of Gods magus informed him Tokiomi Tohsaka knew of Sakura Matou's treatment. How much time had passed, and the other personally came to visit, pointedly requesting to see him, this ostensible Matou family advisor? The tea in the reception room hadn't been touched, guarding against the Matou family. No matter how you looked at it, the other came with ill intent.

"Old immortal? Seems that American magus is an old acquaintance of Advisor Zouken Matou's?"

Obviously, through his own channels, Tokiomi Tohsaka also knew Prelati had recently tried to enter Fuyuki City. After all, as Fuyuki City's proper manager and Risei Kotomine's friend of many years, his intelligence network was no worse than Zouken Matou's.

It's just that neither the Holy Church nor he paid much attention to that outsider, simply assuming that unknown magus happened to be touring.

"Old acquaintance isn't quite right—just rather familiar. Moreover, this old man is already this age. Even old acquaintances would have trouble recognizing me. Who knows when I'll turn into a handful of yellow earth?"

Zouken Matou chuckled lightly in response. He'd indeed almost forgotten that old immortal.

But he could remember—that fellow had some passing encounters in his memory. A very perversely twisted neurotic magus, like him having different longevity methods. So he really didn't want to let such a character closely contact the Holy Grail War ritual. After all, who knew what troublesome chaos such a brain-damaged magus might cause?

Stinking outsider old thing, coming to Fuyuki City to beg. That he didn't directly beat her half-dead and send her flying out of Fuyuki was already because her attitude of backing down was acceptable.

If she'd been even slightly tougher, his bugs could have eaten well today.

"Truly worthy of the Matou family's veteran magus. Advisor Zouken Matou's connections and methods make me feel inferior." Tokiomi Tohsaka also praised somewhat flatteringly.

"You're too kind. With Head Tohsaka's talent and effort, having such magical accomplishments at this age—by the time you practice magic to this old man's age in the future, you'll certainly surpass numerous magi. It's this old man who feels inferior to Head Tohsaka."

Not accepting Tokiomi Tohsaka's deliberate flattery, Zouken Matou simply waved his hand to indicate he didn't dare accept it.

Tokiomi Tohsaka's coded message was: the Tohsaka family is Fuyuki City's ley line manager.

Your Matou family handling external magi on our behalf—isn't that somewhat overstepping and provocative? Though this was a small matter, looking at Tokiomi Tohsaka's attitude, if the other wanted to use this to make an issue of it, he'd inevitably find some leverage from this declining noble magus. In negotiations, whoever first grasped the other's leverage would gain more advantage.

"It's just that it's currently the Holy Grail War period. I wonder what business Head Tohsaka specially came to find this old man about? My Matou family's participant no longer has contact with this old man. According to Holy Grail War regulations, participants mustn't deliberately or intentionally attack non-participating magi..."

"Why must Advisor Zouken Matou feign ignorance? My Servant has already died—the Holy Church has officially announced this. With the Matou family's information channels, surely you don't lack even this news?"

"Hehe, this old man truly didn't know. After all, at this age, this old man never pays much attention to young people's affairs."

If Tokiomi Tohsaka could play dumb—

Zouken Matou naturally could too. He'd insist on the fact that Tokiomi Tohsaka was still a participant. Any other problems—wait until the Holy Grail War ended, then their two families could handle it carefully. If you move against me now, you're violating the rules.

After all, he wasn't an idiot either. Though he didn't fear Tokiomi Tohsaka, this young magus—

Since Tokiomi Tohsaka dared to come alone and brazenly intrude on the Matou family's magic workshop—

Having no confidence would be impossible. For such unknown confidence, avoiding his edge was definitely correct.

"Not paying attention to young people's affairs doesn't quite seem true. Doesn't Advisor Zouken Matou quite like little Sakura? I heard after she was adopted into the Matou family, her relationship with Advisor Zouken Matou has been very good—often inseparable."

Stroking the gem cane whose tip had already cracked, Tokiomi Tohsaka smiled elegantly and politely.

However, that smile held no warmth, instead revealing several degrees of coldness.

The Tohsaka family's resources had nearly been depleted by him. His eldest daughter Rin Tohsaka's future magical hopes were dim, cultivation resources almost down to just some inferior gems.

If problems arose with his younger daughter Sakura Matou as well, might as well directly declare the Tohsaka family's line extinct. After all, this generation of sisters with outstanding talent had basically lost the possibility of glimpsing the Root. To wait for another generation of genius descendants—probably he'd be dead hundreds of years and the Tohsaka family completely extinct before that happened.

"...What does Head Tohsaka mean by this? Sakura Matou is already my Matou family's person. Who she has good relations with—what does that have to do with your Tohsaka family?"

"It has nothing to do with us, but no matter what, I'm still Sakura's biological father. Occasionally seeing her shouldn't be too much, right?"

The reception room's air suddenly stilled.

The two magical family heads in the truest sense now both coldly stared at each other.

See her?

See what?

You clearly want to snatch her back!

Sakura Tohsaka had already been adopted into the Matou family. Saying you want to see her was no different from directly saying you want to spy on another's magical secrets. Even an idiot could understand this statement's meaning. This was provocation toward the entire Matou family, breaking the magus world's universally acknowledged rule that magi mustn't spy on other families' magic.

So Zouken Matou's tone immediately cooled: "Head of the Tohsaka family, I respect that you're Nagato Tohsaka's descendant, respect that you possess the magical inheritance of the former Marshal of Magic Zelretch, but that doesn't mean you can treat this respect as your capital. You yourself are far from qualified to drink and converse as equals with this old man."

"This old man will say one last time: Sakura Matou is now my Matou family's person. You were the one who adopted Sakura Matou to the Matou family. Now do you feel Sakura Matou has already learned my Matou family's magic and received my Matou family's Magic Crest, so you want to start reeling in the net?"

"Your Servant has completely exited, your family's foundation has been consumed to near nothing. If I were you, I'd now obediently wait under the Holy Church's protection until the Holy Grail War ends, earning more magical cultivation resources for my eldest daughter's future, rather than running to another magical family like an ill-mannered boor making such outrageous provocative actions."

Hand over Sakura Matou? Hand over what? If Tokiomi Tohsaka truly saw something else on Sakura Matou and ran to report it to the Clock Tower—

What awaited him, Zouken Matou, would most likely be Sealing Designation. This was no longer as simple as losing one vessel.

It meant Tokiomi Tohsaka wanted him dead, life worse than death, soaking in formalin for the rest of his life in the future.

That Caster really spoke truth in every sentence. Kariya Matou, that rebellious son, actually really told Tokiomi Tohsaka about Sakura Matou's treatment. If not for Caster running over that afternoon to notify him, he might not have had time to prepare anything, still kept in the dark when facing Tokiomi Tohsaka.

Though thinking about it was rather regrettable—his afternoon invitation to that Age of Gods magus was sincere. But truly worthy of a Heroic Spirit Servant who'd proudly established great achievements—before he even stated his offer, she refused.

"Please don't misunderstand. I only want to see Sakura Matou, won't inquire about any Matou family magic questions. Advisor Zouken Matou can supervise on-site."

Facing this decayed old man's coldness, Tokiomi Tohsaka still appeared composed, unhurried, elegant, and affable.

"I'm sure Advisor Zouken Matou also knows my Tohsaka family, to prepare for this Holy Grail War, has already been severely damaged. My eldest daughter Rin Tohsaka's future magical path will be very difficult. If I also lose my second daughter Sakura Tohsaka's future, my Tohsaka family will exist in name only."

He still wanted to reason. Even having received definitive news from the Holy Church, he didn't fly into a rage and fall out with the Matou family. This was already a sufficient display of cultivation.

Switch to a normal magus who knew their hopes of reaching the Root were slim, that their disciple and offspring also might have no hope of completing their lifelong wish—

How could they still be pleasant like him? They'd have already fought the Matou family to the death.

He wasn't a particularly qualified magus—he cared about family. The fundamental reason for sending away Sakura Tohsaka was still "Mage's Calamity" and worry about the Mage's Association's Sealing Designation. If not for this, how could he possibly give his second daughter, also possessing considerable talent, to others?

Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Tohsaka—as both magus and father, he hoped both sisters could be sufficiently happy. Even if disputes and confrontation might arise in the future, as long as they both grew up, they would both be happy.

"Hehe, does your Tohsaka family's business concern me? Sakura Matou is doing very well in my Matou family—no need for your worry. You'd better properly manage your own eldest daughter."

"Very well? Advisor Zouken Matou considers using Crest Worms to impersonate Magic Circuits and implant them into little Sakura, who already has outstanding magical talent, as a good display?"

"In the magical path, eating some bitterness is normal, isn't it? Moreover, I don't know where Head Tohsaka obtained these rumors. What basis do you have for assuming my Matou family hasn't given Sakura Matou a true Magic Crest? Don't be used by certain interested parties while helping them count money."

"Where I obtained the information doesn't matter. I can also treat the Crest Worm matter as training hardship for little Sakura. Magi needing to suffer hardship in cultivation is indeed very normal."

"...Then what do you mean? What do you want to do?"

"I'm just thinking, with little Sakura's talent, there are clearly many ways to train her. Why specifically choose Crest Worms? In the information I obtained, Crest Worms are used for individuals with innate deficiencies. Sakura shouldn't be in that category, right?"

You!

Damn!

On the surface, Zouken Matou remained unruffled, but inwardly he'd already felt a thread of crisis!

That Caster's information was right again. Tokiomi Tohsaka really had grasped certain clues about Sakura Matou—not just clues about using Crest Worms to fake a Magic Crest!

"Since there are other methods that don't require choosing Crest Worms, then why specifically use Crest Worms as training? Why?"

"Combining rumors about the Matou family from my household, plus the Matou family's insect magic information, I boldly speculate: Crest Worms' true purpose isn't deception or faking Magic Crests, but transforming the user's body structure, making them into vessels for certain ill-intentioned people prepared for life extension or substitution, or perhaps making them into puppet tools or such?"

Tokiomi Tohsaka sneered once, inadvertently glancing at tiny shadows swaying outside the window.

In the magus world, the speculation he made was completely reasonable and logical, because normal magi basically were all this vile in ordinary people's eyes.

His thinking was completely different from Kariya Matou's. Kariya thought the Crest Worms' torment of Sakura Matou was most important, but actually this really was just a minor matter.

Magi's initial cultivation suffered from much hardship. When he was young, the suffering he ate wasn't any less than Crest Worms devouring flesh and mana.

What was truly important was: what did the Matou family want to do, what were they preparing to do with Crest Worms?

Simply wanting to torture Sakura Matou?

Simply wanting to deceive the Tohsaka family?

Bullshit!

Kariya Matou was short-sighted. As the current head of a magical family, could his vision be short?

Magi engaging in human experimentation were everywhere in the magus world. Zouken Matou wasn't torturing Sakura Matou at all—he was clearly going in the direction of transforming her. For all they knew, he wanted to make her into some magic puppet, or more viciously use her as a specimen for magical research, or even make her into a special humanoid Mystic Code required for magical rituals!

His Tohsaka family also had resources to do this. If he really wanted to do this, would it be the Matou family's turn? Would there be any need to adopt Sakura Matou to the Matou family!

"Of course, this is all my baseless speculation. As long as Advisor Zouken Matou lets me see little Sakura, the remaining issues we can all carefully discuss anew..."

Thump, thump, thump.

The sound of a cane striking the floor rang faintly in the room, interrupting Tokiomi Tohsaka's words.

Zouken Matou's kind, gentle face had long vanished, leaving only coldness approaching gloom.

He'd somewhat miscalculated. He'd thought this was just an ordinary magus family head who hadn't even inherited Nagato Tohsaka's wisdom and talent. Didn't expect thinking to be this active and shrewd, a troublesome existence like his ancestor.

"You're very good. But still that same phrase: you're a Holy Grail War participant. During the Holy Grail War, follow the ritual's rules. Moreover, Sakura Matou is my Matou family's person. I said no, then it's no..."

"Excuse me, Advisor Zouken Matou, you may have misunderstood my meaning."

"?"

"I'm not requesting you. I'm notifying you."

Tokiomi Tohsaka smiled elegantly and peacefully.

It was notification.

Not a request.

Today, whether you agree to let me see Sakura Matou or don't agree to let me see Sakura Matou—both work.

Either way, the final result is I will see Sakura Matou. Your opinion isn't important.

"Good, good, good! Today's young people truly are young and hot-blooded!"

Zouken Matou suddenly also laughed—laughed in anger at Tokiomi Tohsaka's domineering attitude!

How many years had it been since anyone dared to be this arrogant and overbearing before him, this genuine Grand Magus, not knowing manners! Even that old immortal Prelati didn't dare!

"Then this old man will properly discipline Nagato Tohsaka's rude descendant on his behalf today!"

"Let's see just what ability you have, what strength and capital to dare risk violating the Holy Church's authority, to dare come to my Matou family and act wildly after losing your Heroic Spirit Servant!"

Crack! Black masses of insect swarms burst through windows, blade-winged insects crawled out from every corner of the room.

Those were nearly a hundred flying insect swarms, each possessing enough power to instantly kill an adult bull and devour it completely within seconds. Those were hundreds and thousands of disgusting insects crawling over floors and ceiling that could burrow into living bodies upon contact. Those were continuously lighting magical workshop formations—a Grand Magus's century of magical foundation!

Zouken Matou could contend with a third-rate Servant. This was absolutely not empty flattery but the absolute confidence of a veteran Grand Magus who'd built the Holy Grail system!

Within his magic workshop, he was the insect swarm's incarnation, an immortal, undying existence!

A mere Tokiomi Tohsaka, a junior magus around thirty years old—what qualification did he have to contend and compete with him!

"Junior, today this old man will spare your life for your ancestor Nagato Tohsaka's sake, but will definitely make you leave something behind as you fly horizontally out of the Matou family..."

"That line should be spoken by me."

Just as the words fell—

The sky outside the window lit up.

That was golden radiance illuminating the night, just like during the port battle.

Zouken Matou's pupils instantly contracted, detecting some abnormally fatal danger.

How is this possible—the other's Servant clearly already—!?

Feeling disbelief, he used familiars to scout. Only to see atop the Matou manor garden's streetlight, at some unknown time, a figure stood among them, deploying a full thirty-two golden rippling gates extending various weapons and Noble Phantasms.

Aimed at every corner and building of the Matou family, like an inviolable divine king with proud, cold crimson pupils. That was a silver-haired, red-eyed female figure, her expression and demeanor obviously carrying several degrees of stiffness, seeming both like a Heroic Spirit Servant and a true human.

Her body was irreversibly walking toward self-destruction from using power. Each action required extracting massive magical energy, like some magical tool that could only be used a few times before scrapping.

"Second summoning?"

"Servant transfer?"

"No—what exactly did you do?!"

Watching Tokiomi Tohsaka suddenly weaken and wilt from obviously excessive mana extraction, Zouken Matou finally realized the other's true source of confidence.

"Very simple—just an experiment. Don't worry. Before coming here, I'd already set up stranger-repelling magic. Whatever happens here, no one else will know."

Tokiomi Tohsaka smiled unhurriedly, elegantly and steadily, deploying Mystic Code defenses.

Clearly his experiment had succeeded, with his old friend Risei Kotomine's secret cooperation and support.

Certain things flashed through Zouken Matou's mind as he vaguely understood something.

Precisely because of this, he found it even harder to believe.

"That's a discarded homunculus... You transplanted your Servant's Spirit Origin into a homunculus?!"

Half an hour later, the Matou family estate returned to silence. Smoke and the scorching heat of magical energy had destroyed everything here. Thousands upon thousands of disgusting insects had been reduced to charcoal.

The magic workshop capable of resisting third-rate Servants was easily abolished and dismantled.

And not through magical means, but through pure Noble Phantasm covering bombardment.

This was one-sided domination, undoubtedly. As a veteran Grand Magus, Zouken Matou had completely no ability to fight back. Even though he didn't face a Heroic Spirit Servant in full condition, even though that Servant's consciousness and power couldn't compare at all to the port battle—it still didn't matter. After all, no matter how garbage that Servant's attributes were or how chaotic their thinking, as long as the completely unreasonable Noble Phantasm "Gate of Babylon" still existed—

Then he—or rather she now—would forever stand above first-rate Servants.

"How is this possible? Homunculi have numerous physical defects. Non-combat homunculi are especially weak and frail. Why can they carry a Heroic Spirit Servant's Spirit Origin and use its power? Even if such a body overloaded with power could miraculously integrate, the wielder should collapse before long..."

Both legs severed and shredded by Noble Phantasm explosions, lying in the smoking ruins, Zouken Matou felt no fear—only inexplicable confusion in his heart.

He could see Tokiomi Tohsaka's methods.

It was transplanting the Heroic Spirit Servant's Spirit Origin, organs and other magical constructs into a homunculus body.

This wasn't some high-difficulty operation. After all, theoretically speaking, Heroic Spirit Servants were Third Magic byproducts constructed from magical energy. As long as the Spirit Origin existed, it could naturally be transplanted into another's body. But theory was just theory.

In reality, this should be completely impossible to succeed, because a Servant's spiritual body had rejection reactions with modern human bodies. It was like how people of different blood types could theoretically transfuse blood to each other, but actually doing so was pure suicide.

Under what circumstances could humans fuse with parts of a Servant's body?

At minimum, it required near-identical conditions between the two people. For instance, a future Servant giving part of their body to their present self—this situation had some possibility of successful fusion.

But rejection reactions would still exist. Even with this kind of fusion, the human being fused would most likely not live long.

And if even fusion between a future Servant and their present self was difficult, how did Tokiomi Tohsaka manage to fuse King Gilgamesh's Spirit Origin with a homunculus?

This wasn't scientific, nor was it magical—it was quite miraculous.

"The collapse from rejection reactions might take months, or perhaps weeks. But this time is enough for my Tohsaka family to end the Holy Grail War."

Tokiomi Tohsaka walked elegantly and unhurriedly through the devastated Matou estate.

Behind him, the silver-haired, red-eyed girl followed closely, though her hair color now carried hints of gold—this was some kind of contaminating rejection from the Spirit Origin affecting her body.

The homunculus girl would increasingly resemble King Gilgamesh's appearance. But when she completely matched Gilgamesh exactly, that would be when this body completely collapsed and disintegrated—the moment of complete exit.

This was a trump card, a magical tool that couldn't be used many times. After all, since she wasn't King Gilgamesh the Servant himself—even if Gilgamesh occasionally possessed the body—many skills were missing and she couldn't use the Gate of Babylon to improve her own decay.

If not for Zouken Matou trying to cut off the Tohsaka family's future, he'd have prepared to hide until the very end before striking.

"Hehe, do you take this old man for a fool? Making a Servant's Spirit Origin fuse with a homunculus absolutely couldn't be something your Tohsaka family alone could achieve. Just this discarded Einzbern homunculus—in this old man's memory, your Tohsaka family shouldn't be able to produce one. Every Holy Grail War, the homunculi that flow out from the Einzbern family are fixed quantity and special. Even failed battle dolls or the most ordinary participant dolls—the Einzbern family always recovers them to prevent technology leakage. Only the Holy Church might possess a small quantity of obsolete specimens."

Even with both legs废 and his magic workshop destroyed, Zouken Matou only laughed strangely without any panic, instead speculating on the reasons Tokiomi Tohsaka could achieve this step.

If his eyes weren't mistaken, the half-golden, half-silver-haired girl standing behind Tokiomi Tohsaka was an Einzbern doll, and not surprisingly, from the Second or Third Holy Grail War period—or perhaps a discarded homunculus the Holy Church itself had coincidentally recovered over these years.

Tokiomi Tohsaka, or even the entire Tohsaka family, might possibly have obtained one.

But they couldn't have prepared such a thing in advance, perfectly timed to successfully replace it shortly after their Heroic Spirit Servant died. So based on this point, clearly this homunculus came from the Holy Church—he'd received the Holy Church's covert assistance.

Combined with the Holy Church announcing Tokiomi Tohsaka's withdrawal, Zouken Matou didn't dare imagine how massive this conspiracy was.

"This old man miscalculated this time. The Holy Church is supposed to be the Holy Grail War's neutral supervisor."

"Risei Kotomine is your longtime friend, and his son Kirei Kotomine is your disciple. But this old man initially thought the Holy Church would at most provide you some informational help—not enough to perfectly coordinate with your Tohsaka family. Plus, this old man wasn't paying much attention to this Holy Grail War and didn't investigate deeply. Now it seems everyone miscalculated—the Holy Church's supervisor and you, Tokiomi Tohsaka, are simply colluding accomplices, all one family."

Zouken Matou sneered coldly. This Holy Grail War, he just wanted to send that rebellious son Kariya Matou to his death, causing him to pay little attention to the internal relationships and contexts.

And he understood Kariya Matou's twisted hatred and jealousy, thinking the other wouldn't reveal anything to Tokiomi Tohsaka.

Even if revealed, during the Holy Grail War period, Tokiomi Tohsaka shouldn't directly attack the Matou family, one of the Three Founding Families, over mere illusory enemy intelligence. After all, this was blatantly violating the Holy Grail War's order and rules.

In the end—who knew the situation would become this ghostly? Everyone killed until their eyes turned red.

The Holy Church's relationship with Tokiomi Tohsaka was actually this deep. Tokiomi Tohsaka went crazy and emptied his family's resources. He somehow learned about Sakura Matou's treatment from some channel, deduced he wanted to use Sakura Matou as material, and directly brought a homunculus Servant to his door to demolish his magic workshop.

"All of this is my personal action as Tokiomi Tohsaka, unrelated to the Holy Church."

"Please don't wildly speculate, Advisor Zouken Matou. Moreover, besides us, there's no one else here."

Tokiomi Tohsaka came before the disheveled Zouken Matou, speaking elegantly while looking down from above.

No matter what others said, he simply wouldn't admit it. Old Father Risei Kotomine had already done everything possible to help him greatly. If something happened and he threw the Holy Church under the bus, he'd be too unworthy of his old friend.

Where did the homunculus come from?

My Tohsaka family's coincidental collection from many years ago.

With just the Tohsaka family's magical inheritance, it's impossible to fuse a homunculus Servant in such a short time?

My Tohsaka family's inheritance is long-standing. Our ancestors leaving behind some one-time magical tools from Lord Zelretch is quite normal.

Then the Holy Church said you already exited the war, yet you're still participating—how to explain that?

Explain what? This is me, Tokiomi Tohsaka, falsely reporting my situation and misleading the Holy Church's judgment. It's my personal action. How can it rise to the Holy Church's entirety?

Anyway, whatever problems arose were Tokiomi Tohsaka's fault. If you're capable, produce evidence to speak...

"Hehe, you think this old man is afraid of you? If you kill this old man, you'll never see that brat Sakura Matou again in this lifetime. My Matou family has no future, your Tohsaka family has no future either—at worst, mutual destruction."

"That's quite unnecessary. Actually, I understand Advisor Zouken Matou's emotions quite well. Regarding little Sakura, I only want her to grow up well and study magic. I'm not necessarily insistent on taking her away from the Matou family."

After all, whether it was the Mage's Calamity or Sealing Designation, neither allowed the Tohsaka family to have an additional heir.

If Sakura Matou returned home, Rin Tohsaka would have to be sent away. Essentially, it was all the same.

So Tokiomi Tohsaka never planned to snatch Sakura Matou back from the Matou family from the start. He just wanted to give Zouken Matou a beating and incidentally return little Sakura's situation to the proper track.

Tokiomi Tohsaka politely and elegantly pulled out a yellowed magical paper from his coat, then tossed it to Zouken Matou like giving alms:

"Sign this contract, let me see little Sakura once, and I can immediately leave the Matou family."

"Otherwise, this Holy Grail War, even if I have to fight your Matou family to mutual destruction—no matter how many means Advisor Zouken Matou has that I don't know about, including having little Sakura die in the Matou family—I will hunt you down, and all Matou family members until you're all dead, leaving no one alive. I'll make the entire Matou family... be buried with little Sakura."

Speaking the final sentence, Tokiomi Tohsaka's elegant eyes revealed killing intent.

Zouken Matou knew the other was serious. Sakura's life or death was a constraint for Kariya Matou.

But for Tokiomi Tohsaka, it was a notification. Kariya Matou didn't dare openly oppose him out of fear he'd harm Sakura Matou, and lacking confidence in using a mere Berserker to kill him.

But Tokiomi Tohsaka had no such concerns—very normal magus thinking. The other simply wasn't afraid of him harming Sakura Matou. Between saving and compromising, he chose to kill everyone.

"You dare touch Sakura Matou? You think Sakura Matou constrains me? No, no, no."

"Sakura Matou's life or death concerns your lives. If Sakura Matou dies, you all must die."

"It's not that I want Sakura Matou to live, but you all must keep Sakura Matou alive if you want to live."

This was Tokiomi Tohsaka's thinking, also thinking that could directly seize all initiative.

And for Zouken Matou, who had no idea if Tokiomi Tohsaka had other trump cards, undoubtedly this typical magus thinking of "since my descendants have no future glimpsing the Root, you shouldn't have a future either" was very effective. Because as long as a magus treasured their life even a little, they wouldn't gamble on whether Tokiomi Tohsaka truly had unknown means to mutually destruct with you.

Taking Sakura Matou back definitely wouldn't work. Whether he could even win the Holy Grail War to the end was uncertain. In such a short time, where could he find a new family to adopt little Sakura to? And without adoption, the Tohsaka family lacked so many magical resources.

Plus, he still had to worry about the Mage's Calamity and the Mage's Association's Sealing Designation.

So, Sakura Matou remaining in the Matou family was undoubtedly best—as long as Zouken Matou bowed his head.

"Junior, your tone is quite arrogant. You have a few traces of your ancestor Nagato Tohsaka's bearing... Hmm?"

Zouken Matou gritted his teeth as he took the self-enforcing contract, wanting to say something to ease the atmosphere. But when he saw the clauses in the contract—

He froze completely, then flew into a rage.

"Tokiomi Tohsaka, have you gone mad? You think this old man would sign such an unfair treaty? If I signed this kind of contract, how would my Matou family differ from existing in name only!"

The contract was simple. Aside from trivial minor matters, there were only three key clauses:

First: The Matou family must not implant Crest Worms in Sakura Matou, nor attempt to transform her into a magic puppet tool. She shall receive treatment as the next designated family head in the Matou family.

Second: Zouken Matou must not deliberately or intentionally twist and guide other family members' wills to isolate, target, or oppress Sakura Matou. Everything shall be handled by herself.

Third: The Matou family shall teach Sakura Matou magic cultivation, must not maliciously interfere excessively with her growth trajectory. Discipline and scolding are permitted but must be controlled to ordinary human levels. After Sakura Matou grows to a certain degree, choose whether or not to grant the Magic Crest. After reaching adulthood, must not interfere with her interactions with the Tohsaka family.

Outrageous—purely outrageous clauses. This was practically hollowing out the Matou family!

Paving the way for Sakura Matou's future growth and life—paving it with a golden road!

"Don't sign? Then let's fight. Sign it, and according to the contract, my Servant won't attack Advisor Zouken Matou anymore."

"You!"

"This likewise isn't a request—just notification. Advisor Zouken Matou has ten seconds to consider."

"Impossible. I could never sign such an unequal treaty that humiliates my Matou family's honor even if you killed me. A mere homunculus Servant—my Matou family has likewise summoned a Heroic Spirit Servant. If you want to exterminate my entire Matou family, he similarly won't spare you!"

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five..."

"Tokiomi Tohsaka, you need to think clearly. You still have a chance to win the Holy Grail War. For a mere second daughter already sent away, it's not worth it!"

"Three, two, one. Alright, kill him..."

"Wait! Wait a moment! I'll sign! I'll sign! These restrictive clauses—I'll sign them!"

Seeing the magical formation lighting up before Tokiomi Tohsaka, Zouken Matou gritted his teeth in urgent fury and picked up an insect, using its blood to write his name on the self-enforcing contract. He didn't dare gamble on whether Tokiomi Tohsaka had other means.

He knew Kariya Matou inside and out, but Tokiomi Tohsaka united with the Holy Church was too troublesome. He had no need to stake his life and property on such uncertain results.

Moreover, this contract was actually quite lenient—just abandoning Sakura Matou as a vessel, going through normal magical family heir adoption procedures.

His earlier toughness was just trying to bargain. He just didn't expect Tokiomi Tohsaka to be far tougher than Kariya Matou, constantly threatening mutual destruction.

"Zouken Matou? Hehe, not this name, nor just this name."

"...What do you mean?"

"According to my Tohsaka family's and the Holy Church's records, you've existed for at least a century. So I have reason to suspect this isn't your true name. You need to add the names of all Matou family heads from six generations prior, including the Matou family's founding head, Makiri Zolgen."

"Self-enforcing contracts recognize the signatory's soul—what name is signed doesn't matter at all!"

"But—better safe than sorry, isn't it? The Matou family's existence isn't that long. There aren't many family heads from six generations ago."

Watching the elegant, casual Tokiomi Tohsaka, Zouken Matou, knowing he'd completely lost initiative, sighed deeply, hiding the towering fury in his eyes.

He had no choice but to swallow his anger and sign several names on the self-enforcing contract, including his true name.

This name—he'd already tossed it into the corners of memory. Now being brought up again—

Still brought up under such humiliating circumstances—he felt he truly couldn't suppress it much longer.

"There, satisfied now?" Returning the signed contract to Tokiomi Tohsaka in burning fury, Zouken Matou knew he'd lost this round:

"Sakura Matou is in the main residence's basement undergoing trials. According to the contract, this old man will take you to her now..."

"Intensive einascherung. (Grant my enemies harsh cremation)"

However, the next moment!

What responded to Zouken Matou was a wave of flames like a swarm of small snakes!

That was a Fire Formation, an offensive defensive formation modeled after the Tohsaka family crest's shape, burning everything it touched to ash—highly aggressive offensive-defensive integrated magic. Fire snakes surged from the magic circle to assault Zouken Matou's body. In just an instant, he became a burning person!

"Ah! Ahhh! Ahhhhh! Tokiomi Tohsaka! You don't keep your word!"

"I keep my word very well. Just like Advisor Zouken Matou—after signing the self-enforcing contract, didn't you sense you can no longer harm little Sakura?"

Watching Zouken Matou about to be burned to ashes with a flat expression—

Tokiomi Tohsaka curved his lips slightly, putting away the signed self-enforcing contract.

With this contract existing, even if the Matou family people didn't want to acknowledge it, they'd have to acknowledge Sakura Matou's legitimacy. And after this, Zouken Matou was no longer needed:

"Moreover, the contract says 'my Servant' won't attack Advisor Zouken Matou again."

"Not 'my Servant and I' won't attack Advisor Zouken Matou, right?"

If there's blame, blame Advisor Zouken Matou for being too presumptuous. Little Sakura remaining in the Matou family was certainly fine, but with an ancient Grand Magus-level existence like you around—even if you signed a self-enforcing contract, how could I completely trust you?

On that night when Caster suddenly assassinated me, I'd already made enough mistakes.

Or rather, that night I'd already made all the mistakes I could make.

This was a painful lesson. Speaking of which, I should thank that Caster quite a bit for letting me truly view the Holy Grail War from a war perspective starting that night.

Touching the wound on his neck that hadn't fully healed, glancing at Zouken Matou struggling painfully with only half his body remaining, Tokiomi Tohsaka shook his head faintly.

Then he turned and walked straight toward the relatively intact Matou estate's main residence.

"Please follow me, respected King. Please forgive my presumptuous actions. I know you still have a sliver of consciousness remaining, but unless it's a critical moment, please don't expose yourself. This homunculus body cannot bear your complete will and power."

The two figures gradually departed. Zouken Matou stared fixedly at the receding backs of Tokiomi Tohsaka and the homunculus Servant, releasing his final unwilling fury.

Finally transforming into a puddle of ash, blown away by a gust of wind.

I cannot die!

A full several hundred years—my desire is immortality. How can I die in such a place!

If my wish can be realized, then even if I must slaughter all people in the world, I won't hesitate!

Several insects that had burrowed deep underground long ago crawled out from below—that was Zouken Matou's consciousness. His main body was never here. Long before that Age of Gods magus warned him, he'd already transferred his main body elsewhere.

So even if burned to ash here, as long as these insects weren't completely dead, he still had a chance to revive. After all, it was just a body—at worst, he'd change again, change to another shell.

The wriggling, charred insects crawled out of the Matou estate, crawled across the deserted streets outside, crawled through dark alleys, desperately struggling to survive.

His consciousness was becoming increasingly hazy, with insect swarms continuously emerging around him trying to reconstruct his body.

This was a sign his main body had begun overloading. His power was depleting.

"How pitiful, this appearance of desperately struggling to survive."

"Already living in such pain, yet still wanting to survive. We're quite similar."

From deep within the dark shadows of the alley, a helpless girl's voice emerged from the darkness.

Hearing this familiar yet strange girl's sigh, Zouken Matou, trying to reconstruct his body, paused. Pale moonlight fell on that shadow.

It was a beautiful girl who'd removed her tattered black robe hood, with silver threads and red pupils but no coldness whatsoever.

Her pretty little face held only some goodwill toward rescuing a small animal. In Zouken Matou's eyes, she was like a snow elf—both sacred and inexplicably captivating and desirable.

She came to rescue him. He could understand this.

Precisely because he understood this, he felt dazed and some inexplicable discomfort.

"Saint of Winter, Justeaze—is it you..."

I cannot die. Hahaha, Tokiomi Tohsaka, you're too naive and too young.

You cannot kill me. My heart main body is divided into three parts. My longevity technique—no matter how many bodies you kill, at most it'll just make me temporarily disappear for a while. Before long, I can use insects to condense a new body. Just like you hid during this Holy Grail War, I can also hide until this Holy Grail War ends, until you're slain by other Heroic Spirit Servants.

I knew from the start what you wanted. You just needed the pretense of Sakura Matou still belonging to the Matou family. The moment I signed the contract was my death sentence, because you simply don't need me to teach Sakura Matou magic. You only want Sakura Matou to enjoy the Matou family's resources and become the Matou family's master.

You possess a Heroic Spirit Servant, and a超-first-rate one at that. I know I'm no match for you, so I needed to make you think your scheme succeeded, fade from your sight, make you think you deceived and killed me.

Struggling, surviving, acting—you were reverse-deceived by this old wretch and still don't know it.

So what if the self-restricting contract took effect? So what if I can't actively or passively attack Sakura Matou?

Self-enforcing contracts—this old man has plenty of ways to handle them. Though soul-binding contracts are quite troublesome, this old man hasn't lived these many years for nothing.

You can exploit loopholes in contracts—do you really think this old man has no ways to exploit loopholes?

"How pitiful, this desperately struggling appearance. Why does Mister Zouken Matou, already living in such pain, still struggle so much?"

"Is there something you want to accomplish while living, or do you simply want to live for the sake of living?"

Through the hazy insect perspective looking up at that sacred white figure under moonlight, and the playful gentle teasing and sighs, they lingered endlessly in the mind of Zouken Matou as his vessel collapsed. This was the little girl who told him upon first meeting that surviving wasn't wrong, also one of the few Heroic Spirit Servants whose views closely resembled his.

She saved him, brought away his collapsing body with silver thread familiars.

He felt somewhat dazed, as if some figure from distant memory overlapped with her petite body. They were equally beautiful and sacred.

One was like an inviolable saint desiring to save the world.

The other was like a snow elf extending aid.

Didn't want to die.

He didn't want to die.

But why didn't he want to die?

Clearly knowing he couldn't die, why did he still fear death so much after his body collapsed?

The snow elf girl before him shared his views—both believing that living on was correct. But were their inner views and essence truly the same?

The snow elf girl lived for happiness. So what was Zouken Matou living for?

"To eradicate all evil at its root, you need a miracle."

That was a pertinent yet familiar-strange magus voice echoing.

That was pure white memory. A long-haired handsome man on the far right stepped forward, joining those who harbored the same ideals, collectively swearing that oath nearly impossible to achieve in the present world—the oath they dedicated their entire lives to.

He was Nagato Tohsaka, ancestor of the Tohsaka family, one of the magical inheritance holders of the former Marshal of Magic Lord Zelretch, a martial genius who comprehended gem magic from it.

"If this world is already beyond salvation, humans as people cannot separate from sin."

The blue-haired, red-eyed man in black on the far left—this was a handsome man who looked somewhat rigid and serious, reportedly born in the European region, the Russian area.

Once friends with the Renaissance universal man Leonardo da Vinci, a genius magus, the Matou family's founding head and patriarch, Makiri Zolgen.

"If utopia is unreachable for humanity—"

He looked toward the girl in the center wearing pure white ceremonial dress, her appearance nearly identical to modern Einzbern homunculi, his eyes holding only determination.

"Then we shall pursue a form surpassing humanity, a completely new mode of existence."

The pure white silver-haired, red-eyed girl opened her eyes. Her gentle, calm voice echoed in the white memory. She was the Einzbern family's existence closest to the Third Magic.

Called the Saint of Winter, who influenced the later Einzbern family—Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern.

Three magi all harboring the same ideals faced each other and simultaneously raised their hands.

"To restrain all evil in the world, we are willing to stake our lives for this wish. In the name of Justeaze, in the name of Nagato Tohsaka, in the name of Makiri Zolgen!"

Under the witness and hosting of the Second Magic user, former Marshal of Magic Lord Zelretch—

The ritual called the "Heavenly Cup" was constructed. That was also the initial embryonic form of the Holy Grail War.

There were many magical rituals in the world crowned with the Holy Grail's name, but Fuyuki City's Holy Grail War was covered with the Holy Grail's name. Even the Clock Tower didn't know it could glimpse the Root, thinking the victor's reward was like other ordinary rituals named Holy Grail—just a rather decent magical mass.

Distant memories returned to dark silence. That memory so strange Zouken Matou no longer even found it familiar left him dazed.

Over five hundred years—looking back, he'd long forgotten the meaning of wanting to live.

Just as Miss Illya said, he seemed to only live for the sake of living.

Or rather, now among the Three Founding Families, besides the homunculus Einzbern family, who still remembered the initial desire? Time would wash everything away. Perhaps after another few centuries, even the Einzbern family would begin to forget.

Just like how the Tohsaka family now only wanted to glimpse the Root. Just like how Makiri Zolgen only wanted immortal longevity. Just like how he, Zouken Matou, felt somewhat unfamiliar even with this name.

Too pitiful.

Makiri, have you fallen to this extent? Have you truly forgotten our desire, why we craved a miracle's descent, why exactly we, as mortals, attempted to challenge domains only gods could reach?

You want eternal life, want immortality—is it the process or the goal?

Scheming and counter-scheming for over five hundred years, harming countless lives, not even sparing a child under ten like Sakura Matou—so after doing all this, what exactly is your goal and ideal?

"I..."

"I don't know..."

The brilliant sunlight outside the window, Zouken Matou who'd reconstructed his decayed body and gained new life opened his sunken eye sockets. He murmured blankly like a senile old man.

This was a courtyard residence covered in dust, clearly uninhabited for a long time. Nearly a hundred insects hidden throughout various Fuyuki City locations converged here to construct his decayed shell. Excess insects hung from beams and dark places on the floor, densely opening disgusting eyes to observe and guard against enemies everywhere.

He wouldn't die. At most, only the shell died. Unless all insects in Fuyuki City were slaughtered—

And his main body heart divided into three parts was destroyed and killed—otherwise, he only needed to expend some time to revive.

This was a secret Tokiomi Tohsaka didn't know. Even those two Matou brothers Kariya didn't know, because magi like him whose physical body had long ceased to exist were, even in the magus world, an extremely, extremely rare type.

"I died once more, and that night, did I see Justeaze before dying..."

"Incorrect. Not Justeaze, but Advisor Zouken Matou's best ally—Caster, Age of Gods magus Medea."

"?"

A little girl's voice sounded from his side. Zouken Matou's reconstructed human eyes glanced slightly.

He saw at the end of the small house in a dark corner, a cute little girl surrounded by several exquisite silver thread familiars, beautifully tasting sweet cake. The table was already piled with empty pudding packaging and two emptied cake plates.

"I warned Mister Zouken Matou early on. It seems your preparations still weren't sufficient, or you truly underestimated Mister Tokiomi Tohsaka too much, not anticipating he had different confidence and trump cards."

Miss Illya spread her spoon. Honestly, she was actually quite surprised too. As a Grand Magus within his magic workshop, he was beaten in less than an hour, seemingly only barely able to save his life with all his might.

Fortunately she had foresight and didn't personally run to attack Tokiomi Tohsaka's magic workshop trying to knife him. Otherwise, the person getting beaten and lying there might have been her.

"Hehe, this old man indeed was careless, not anticipating the Holy Church would actually collude with Tokiomi Tohsaka and produce such a special trump card as a homunculus Servant."

Seeing Miss Illya, Zouken Matou only chuckled and shook his head.

Admitting his underestimation and defeat this time. After all, who knew the Holy Church, this historically neutral supervisory force, an existence that had always despised magi since ancient times, would so irregularly unite with a magical family head, providing dazzling assistance? Plus time was too urgent, his preparations insufficient—he really was caught off guard by Tokiomi Tohsaka's sudden attack.

"Homunculus Servant? What do you mean?" Miss Illya blinked in puzzlement.

"It's transplanting a Heroic Spirit Servant's Spirit Origin into a homunculus. This technology and materials—the Tohsaka family couldn't possibly gather them in such a short time. The only possibility is the Holy Church provided covert assistance."

Regarding this, Zouken Matou didn't hide anything. After all, he needed Tokiomi Tohsaka to die in this Holy Grail War. Concealing intelligence from Miss Illya had no benefit:

"Moreover, you came to rescue me—weren't you after intelligence? This old man doesn't think you're that kind-hearted. Though this old man didn't need your rescue or favor, this old man isn't someone who repays kindness with enmity. The intelligence you want, this old man will naturally tell you everything."

He also sensed something fishy about the Caster before him, even somewhat suspecting she indirectly revealed Sakura Matou's information to that Tokiomi Tohsaka fellow.

But thinking carefully, it seemed quite impossible, because she had absolutely no need to do so.

First, Tokiomi Tohsaka couldn't easily believe intelligence about unknown enemies. Whoever revealed the information to Tokiomi must be someone he trusted. And those Tokiomi could trust were only the Holy Church.

And if we further assumed this Age of Gods magus's Master behind her was actually someone from the Holy Church who revealed information to Tokiomi Tohsaka—then what was her purpose in doing so? Simply wanting Tokiomi to rescue Sakura Matou?

Impossible. So her purpose could only be to obtain intelligence.

Second, if she and the Holy Church were together, her purpose would be completely reversed. How could someone from the Holy Church not know what Tokiomi Tohsaka's trump card was? Why would they need to borrow others' power to probe?

Finally, she saved his vessel's life. If she had connections with Tokiomi Tohsaka, how could she possibly rescue him? The high probability reason for rescuing him was to obtain information.

Overall, this Age of Gods magus indeed had purposefulness but wasn't closely related to the Holy Church and Tokiomi Tohsaka. The biggest fishiness was most likely knowing through some unknown magical means that Tokiomi Tohsaka was coming to cause trouble, then running to warn him about Tokiomi Tohsaka's issue, fishing to see if she could catch anything. If she caught nothing, she could still make someone owe her a favor.

"Mister Zouken Matou, you jest. Aren't you also wanting me to help you take revenge, which is why you're willing to reveal Tokiomi Tohsaka's intelligence without reservation?"

Miss Illya set down her finished cake plate, tilted her head and smiled politely, exposing his thoughts.

Don't act like she wasn't a good person when he similarly wanted to scheme against her.

"Hehe, you're not wrong either. I increasingly feel our compatibility would be very good. If the next Holy Grail War convenes, this old man might try to find your holy relic and summon you again to participate with this old man."

"Then remember to use the three knight classes, Mister Zouken Matou. I'd also very much like to experience the feeling of being powerful."

"...An Age of Gods magus has three knight class compatibility? Aren't you the betraying witch Medea?"

"Age of Gods magi having three knight class compatibility is very normal. Look—even with the magus class, don't I similarly possess considerable magical stealth skills?"

Seemed right. After all, Age of Gods magi were reportedly quite all-around.

Perhaps he really could try summoning her.

However, the holy relic of Age of Gods witch Medea seemed somewhat difficult to find.

Would require considerable time and wealth to prepare and acquire.

Zouken Matou pondered for a moment, unaware Miss Illya was purely lying through her teeth, because she had no holy relic. To summon her at most could only be compatibility summoning like Kirei Kotomine's—unable to guarantee specific strength.

"Tokiomi Tohsaka's Servant didn't revive. Based on magical energy proportions, roughly one-third of that night's port battle—perhaps even less. Moreover, the homunculus vessel, due to physical limitations—if he, or rather she, unleashes large-scale Noble Phantasms, in this old man's view, she'll inevitably collapse and disintegrate. Skill-wise, many should be lost as well. Similar to a half-Servant. Each power usage requires large-scale extraction of the Master's magical energy. Otherwise, most of the time, she's just an ordinary homunculus."

"Extremely limited, drains the Master, and physically weak. That's still manageable..."

Miss Illya stroked her chin and nodded. Out of caution, she hadn't directly entered the already bombed-to-smithereens Matou family. Looking now, she'd been somewhat mistaken.

According to Zouken Matou's account, Tokiomi Tohsaka now belonged to that type that could only fight one burst. He probably couldn't support his Servant in sustained combat.

"But these are all speculation. This old man feels very strange, because do you know how Tokiomi Tohsaka finally killed this old man?"

"The homunculus Servant attacked?"

"No. He personally used the magic Fire Formation—a type of offensive-defensive integrated magic achieved using gems. It has considerable restraint against this old man's insect magic."

"...Tokiomi Tohsaka's magical energy should have been completely exhausted." Miss Illya also realized Zouken Matou's implication. Having already consumed massive magical energy driving the homunculus Servant, how could Tokiomi still have remaining strength to use other magic?

And not minor magic, but Fire Formation—this kind of offensive mid-sized magic.

"Though this magic can use gems to offset consumption, the Tohsaka family's resources have been consumed considerably these past days. What he had left should only be some inferior gems. But this old man didn't see him use those. Instead, I only saw the gem at his staff's tip crack—its magical energy was nearly overflowing."

In other words, Tokiomi Tohsaka received support, and it was the purest magical energy construction support.

He purchased gems through Holy Church channels, or directly obtained gems from his Servant's treasury.

Wait...

That wasn't right either. The Holy Church wasn't that omnipotent. How could a homunculus Servant precisely extract magical gems? The probability of accomplishing all this was almost negligible...

"Ley lines!"

"Tokiomi Tohsaka cheated as the ley line manager!"

Miss Illya quickly realized this. Fuyuki City's Three Founding Families all seemed to have unknown cheating methods. The Tohsaka family as ley line managers—

Secretly manipulating ley lines a bit to recharge special gems' magical energy was too easy.

After all, that staff gem wasn't ordinary goods. Even after tanking her sneak attack initially, it wasn't completely destroyed. If thrown into ley lines to recharge, it could definitely be used again.

"What this old man can tell you is only this much. The rest is unrelated to this old man."

Zouken Matou waved his hand, glancing at the squirming insects around him. He no longer paid attention to Miss Illya, who already had new plans. That she could immediately think of Fuyuki City's ley lines was enough proof her information channels weren't inferior to his.

The warm brilliant sunlight outside the window—his sunken eye sockets inadvertently glanced at that light he hadn't observed in a long time, finally lowering his decayed, strange head while remaining in shadow.

Makiri Zolgen.

This was a name that, if not mentioned by Tokiomi Tohsaka last night, even he had forgotten.

Since moving to Fuyuki City and living under the name Matou, probably only ancient existences among the Three Founding Families might know this name.

Speaking of which, it was quite laughable. Just like how people initially wanted to earn money to realize everyone's ideals—

In the end, earning more money instead became the new ideal.

He really couldn't remember clearly. Perhaps it was a sudden whim after becoming decrepit.

He wouldn't change in the slightest—just felt some emotion at the distant name being mentioned.

Figures long vanished from memory inexplicably overlapped with others last night.

"Caster, what are you living for? Don't misunderstand—just consider it a talkative old thing's curiosity. If you don't want to answer, just consider this old man talking to himself."

"Well, does living require a reason?"

"..."

"As long as there's life, there's a future. As long as there's a future, everything has the possibility of realization."

"So your wish is to survive, and for that you want to compete for the Holy Grail?"

"Not at all. Living is just the means. As for the goal—that's a secret."

Having obtained sufficient intelligence, Miss Illya vanished.

Leaving only the decayed old man half-lying in shadow.

He wanted to say something.

But in the end, he still didn't speak to make her stay.

Just like long ago when he was young, unable to speak to Justeaze.

"Caster, Medea—it seems for the next Holy Grail War, this old man needs to find your holy relic..."

Tokiomi Tohsaka indeed made a big splash.

But not particularly big, because the homunculus Servant he possessed had too many drawbacks. It wasn't truly systematized, regularized, artificially created Heroic Spirit Servant magic—just a type of destiny's favor after a madman staked everything.

This Servant's quality was practically the glass cannon type. Fortunately, the Spirit Origin was King Gilgamesh, this type of Archer Servant who didn't particularly need close combat.

Otherwise, switch to Servants who specialized in blade combat—with that homunculus physical strength not matching a single Heroic Spirit Servant hair, whether she could even swing her own weapons was questionable.

So overall, this thing indeed had considerable strength, but the strength wasn't high. Spirit Origin fused with homunculus couldn't possibly inherit the Servant's pre-death memories and experiences. At most, it was just a high-level magical tool that couldn't be used long before scrapping. From Tokiomi Tohsaka's inability to command that homunculus Servant to precisely extract a better body from the Gate of Babylon, you could tell this thing's strength was actually uncontrollable—similar to a weakened version of King Gilgamesh, and lacking an active tactical brain.

Um, of course... for King Gilgamesh, having no brain and only needing to follow orders might be considered an enhancement.

Just not enhanced by much. For instance, magical energy consumption on the Master increased way more than a bit. The flesh would also approach collapse and disintegration faster the higher the output.

Simple summary: Tokiomi Tohsaka now had capital to enter the final circle.

But couldn't stably kill everyone else in the final circle. Could only see Tokiomi Tohsaka himself micro-managing to accumulate advantages.

Originally, the Holy Grail War for Tokiomi Tohsaka was a musou game. Now it became a hiding strategy game.

"So, Master, do you have anything to explain? You're not going to tell me everything done to Mister Tokiomi Tohsaka was without your knowledge, right?"

Today's sunlight was intense, as if to sweep away the filth left by last night's Black Magician and Matou family's destruction by bombardment. Through the noon sunlight beyond the restaurant's private room, Kirei Kotomine listened to Miss Illya casually tasting sweets directly opposite him, only feeling like sitting on pins and needles, his back being soaked with cold sweat.

Half an hour ago, she returned to the Holy Church, directly spirit-forming to take him hostage to this restaurant. Obviously she'd already learned certain circumstances at the Matou family that he hadn't told her, sensing she'd been betrayed.

Their relationship had actually always been delicate. Though compatibility was excellent, neither needed to worry about the other's safety or exit. Each only needed to do their own assigned work.

But between them lay something like plastic wrap—a thin safety line.

Both being evildoers, they'd never trusted each other. Kirei Kotomine understood this very clearly himself.

He also believed Miss Illya understood this. Everyone tacitly maintained surface respect.

It's just this incident was too big—big enough that even buying Miss Illya cakes and pudding couldn't make her pretend not to see. She directly stealthed back, rapidly ate all the purchased snacks clean, then like escorting a prisoner, pressed him to pierce through this membrane.

"If Assassin is referring to last night when the Matou family suffered an unknown attack, I truly didn't know. Last night the Holy Church had numerous affairs. I was busy until dawn before returning to my room to sleep. Moreover, all familiars around the Matou family were cleared out. I truly know nothing about the hidden secrets within."

Kirei Kotomine steeled himself and pushed a pudding toward the casual Miss Illya.

He wasn't lying about this either. When Tokiomi Tohsaka went to the Matou family, Tokiomi dismantled all Holy Church surveillance familiars along the route into pieces. This morning, his father Risei Kotomine complained to him that Tokiomi was now too cautious in his actions—preferring to mistakenly kill three thousand rather than spare one.

As long as they were visible familiars, he directly打掉 them all. The highlight was a hands-on approach of being too lazy to distinguish whether they belonged to the Holy Church or other Master-Servant camps.

"Moreover, Assassin, you understand me. If I'd truly betrayed you, Tokiomi Tohsaka wouldn't spare me either. After all, I've already deceived him. With his current cautious and meticulous state, for me—a Master who grasps most of his information—he'd have already attacked by now."

"Master, you continue. This pudding's existence time is your last remaining time in this world."

"Waiter! Add ten more puddings—all the sweetest!"

"...Now your survival time has increased tenfold, but you're not allowed to exploit bugs again (・`ω・́)."

Miss Illya glared fiercely at Kirei Kotomine. Damn, exploiting bugs here, huh? But Master, you can only exploit this bug once, because I'm almost full!

After all, he was truly too excessive. Tokiomi Tohsaka having such a trump card without even giving her a hint—if that night she'd been the one raiding Tokiomi Tohsaka's magic workshop, she didn't dare imagine whether that homunculus Servant would have bombed her to death on the spot.

No one knew where the other's limits were. Though both Zouken Matou and she could speculate that unleashing ultimate moves equaled activating a suicide sword for mutual destruction, the homunculus body would directly explode into mush—

But whether damage could be dealt, no one could say. The other would indeed explode, but if you were the one eating the opponent's ultimate move damage, you'd also have to explode.

Belonged to having an upper limit in direct combat that wasn't high, but a baseline with high probability of trading one-for-one ability.

And based on her current aggro value, Tokiomi Tohsaka might rashly have that homunculus King Gilgamesh trade with her—this also couldn't be ruled out.

"Assassin... No, Illyasviel, listen to me explain slowly."

Kirei Kotomine exhaled deeply and wiped his forehead. As long as he stabilized her emotions first, it would be fine.

He wouldn't naively think that Miss Illya not killing him in the Holy Church's basement meant she still didn't want to off him.

Because with her twisted sense of humor, she truly might just want to drain his remaining value before letting him die... that is, his wallet.

Don't ask why he'd think this way. After all, Illyasviel really could do such things.

"First, regarding Tokiomi Tohsaka's matter, I truly didn't know most of it. Probably my father—that is, Risei Kotomine—didn't want me to see him helping Tokiomi Tohsaka cheat so blatantly. So during this time, many places were concealed from me. After all, the Holy Church as a neutral force that despises magi—in my father's eyes, I'm a devout clergy member. Participating in the Holy Grail War and allying with Tokiomi Tohsaka was already the limit. If he let me contact such obviously irregular matters, he might fear I'd grow increasingly close to becoming a vile magus in the future."

"Second, I've indeed been rather busy lately, but I've also provided Holy Church intelligence, haven't I? And helped you define Gilles de Rais as the eighth irregularly summoned Servant, letting you more easily resolve him. Plus, backup supplies morning, noon and night haven't missed once, right?"

"Finally, I still have all three Command Seals, never using Command Seals to constrain your soul, never making you execute tasks you're unwilling to perform. Everything tries to cooperate with your plans as much as possible. This point should sufficiently prove I have no betrayal toward you."

Explaining Tokiomi Tohsaka's matter, demonstrating his contribution and help, displaying Command Seal sincerity.

Must say, Kirei Kotomine's line of thinking was indeed very clear, explaining away the betrayal of knowing but not reporting as perfectly as possible.

And he was indeed very useful. His information intelligence network was comprehensive. Backed by an official underworld organization like the Holy Church, he could directly bounty-exit even one Servant.

He never interfered with Miss Illya's decisions, just being an AFK player.

For most Servants with strong autonomy, this type of Master was undoubtedly the best choice.

"You can sit here now purely because you haven't used Command Seals to force me."

Miss Illya bit her spoon and finished the fifth pudding. If Kirei Kotomine had used Command Seals to force her, right now she'd have to pitifully seek other magi to take her in.

"Continue. Five puddings remain. Master, if you don't recognize your mistake, I'll be very happy to off you and dump your body in Tokyo Bay."

"I've already said everything I should. If you..."

"Fun fact, Master—I have a skill that can grant wishes to some degree. Very unfortunately, after the port battle, to prevent recurring situations where I can't contact you, I wished to sense when you're sharing your perspective with me. After all, this isn't a big deal—just minor adjustment in the magical Master-Servant contract. It's quite easy to accomplish."

"..."

Kirei Kotomine, about to say something—

Suddenly fell silent.

No—what kind of monster was his Servant? Could frontally attack and defend against three knight classes?

Could create smoke and escape with ridiculously high Agility when fleeing. Could summon highly flexible familiar legions in group combat like magical energy was free. Information gathering work even had disguise comparable to high-level charm plus breath concealment skills. Strength seemed to constantly surge every moment. Now even a wish-type skill popped out?

Was this mechanism really reasonable with so many abilities? Even King Gilgamesh, publicly recognized as the strongest Servant in this Holy Grail War, didn't have this many mechanisms. This entire person was a walking mechanism patchwork monster. Did the Holy Grail personally descend to fight?

"So you see, Master—things you think I don't know, I actually know. Things even you don't know, I actually also know. For instance, how long you watched when subjugating Caster, whether you peeked at my cooperation with Zouken Matou, what you were doing when that shrimp-headed overly familiar pretty big sister claimed to be my mother—I'm clear about all of this in my heart."

"Why do you think I didn't notice? Well, want me to guess more?"

The sixth pudding went down. Miss Illya picked up another dessert plate with a polite smile.

Seemingly very innocently licking the spoon still tasting of sweetness.

She really loved sweet food. Sure enough, eating sweets made one feel very, very happy. Even unpleasant moods were healed by sweetness.

"Actually, that night at the port battle, you watched from start to finish. But you just didn't want to recall me, wanting to watch me die or King Gilgamesh be subjugated, because you wanted to see my or Tokiomi Tohsaka's despairing expressions, right?"

"...This is just your speculation, Assassin. Can we have even a little trust between us?"

Kirei Kotomine immediately choked, forcibly suppressing the impulse to directly stand and bolt out the door.

Because he understood clearly—at this distance, if Illyasviel's words weren't false, that unfathomable wish skill—one Command Seal absolutely couldn't suppress her. And with her terrifying Agility, he simply wouldn't have time to use a second or third Command Seal.

He had to try persuading her as much as possible. Otherwise today might really be him getting dumped in Tokyo Bay to feed fish. After all, Illyasviel believed he could do such things.

And he even more believed Illyasviel could do these things.

"Trust? Master, you're an evildoer, I'm also an evildoer, Ryuunosuke Uryuu is even more an evildoer. So please tell me—is there any credibility between evildoers?"

From the port battle period, when Kirei Kotomine didn't use Command Seals to recall her when she was severely wounded and near death—

She and Kirei Kotomine never had the slightest trust. Just because they were both evildoers meant they wouldn't harm their own?

This was the funniest joke Miss Illya had ever thought of. Even good people and善people would have suspicions arise. Expecting trust between evildoers was pure comedy.

"Be honest, Master. Three puddings remain. This is your last remaining time... And don't think about ordering more, because I'm almost full."

Using her spoon to scoop the top of the seventh pudding into her mouth, Miss Illya still maintained polite elegance.

Just like a young lady from an aristocratic family, always remembering ancestral family teachings.

"...I admit I deceived you, Assassin. But that time at the port battle, I truly thought you'd already escaped. I didn't expect you'd return to the battlefield to fight King Gilgamesh desperately." Seeing this, Kirei Kotomine hesitated for less than two seconds.

He had no choice but to honestly confess. Who knew Illyasviel, having clearly already escaped the battlefield with the swordsman girl's Master, would turn back to ambush King Gilgamesh? Forget him not expecting it—even the ambushed King Gilgamesh himself didn't expect it. Who understood why Illyasviel suddenly became so brave when previously she'd been like a timid little kitten?

But aside from that time, the matters he'd deceived Illyasviel about really weren't many. Moreover, most of them were things he wasn't certain about—shouldn't count as betrayal and turning coat, right?

"Since you already know, I'll speak plainly. I didn't watch the Caster battle in detail—you know this too. After all, I thought he was certain to die, planning to eat something first before slowly watching upon return. By the time I came back, it was already when Assassin was sparring with Lancer and Saber. From there, I never left. Especially the part where Irisviel came to find you—I watched the entire thing with my eyes closed while eating mapo tofu, thinking it was quite interesting..."

"Good! Master, you really did deceive me! I knew you couldn't possibly go offline every time (▼ヘ▼#)!"

"?"

Miss Illya's ahoge directly exploded in fury!

She had no ghostly method to sense when Kirei Kotomine logged on to peep. The wish mechanism did exist, but this could only trigger under certain relatively extreme circumstances.

Otherwise, her attributes after the port battle wouldn't have dropped to nothing after that battle. Purely real-time strategic mechanics that rapidly disappeared after disengaging combat.

Of course, couldn't really say disappeared—could only say in most situations it wasn't an active skill. This was a passive skill. The specific trigger principle was probably when her heart had a strong desire to accomplish something, and the Lesser Grail heart's wish would provide certain assistance.

So she had no ghostly anti-peeping mechanism. At most, she knew when Kirei Kotomine left, but when he came—only when he spoke would she know.

"I..."

"How much more do you know? Speak quickly! Did you also know I went to meet Zouken Matou to gather intelligence? Did you see me panicking when Irisviel initially scammed me and I stabbed her? Good, good, good—Master, I trusted you so much, believed in you, never imagined you concealed so many things from me. You definitely knew crystal clear about Tokiomi Tohsaka obtaining a discarded Einzbern homunculus from the Holy Church!"

Not even eating pudding anymore.

Miss Illya directly climbed onto the table, grabbing Kirei Kotomine's collar to angrily interrogate.

While Kirei Kotomine looked bewildered, watching this silver-haired girl in a white dress so close at hand, he couldn't help but be dazed, immediately understanding she was bluffing him.

She had no yarn-like wish-type skill. Just because she had too many mechanisms—

It made him subconsciously think she might really have a wish mechanism.

"Assassin, calm down first. Regarding Tokiomi Tohsaka's matter, I did hear some things, but only heard. I know my father secretly contacted him multiple times during this period. The homunculus aspect truly has nothing to do with me..."

"Then please tell me why you deceived me? Why did you only start probing with words at the very end regarding Irisviel's contact with me?"

Kirei Kotomine fell silent again.

As if not understanding why Miss Illya would ask such a strange question.

After all, both rationally and emotionally, normally speaking, in such a mother-daughter private situation, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to speak, right?

"Irisviel is your biological mother. We both know this."

"You don't trust me, but how dare I trust you, the biological daughter of Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel?"

It wasn't that Kirei Kotomine didn't trust Illyasviel—it was that she was the daughter of Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel. How could he, as her Master, trust her?

From the day Illyasviel revealed her surname was von Einzbern and that she had connections to the Einzbern family, Kirei Kotomine began investigating Miss Illya's true name. Naturally, he started by researching Einzbern ancestors, since everyone knew modern-era Heroic Spirit Servants were pure nonsense. Even Clock Tower Grand magi wouldn't necessarily become Heroic Spirit Servants in the modern era.

So Miss Illya could only be from the Einzbern ancestor generation, possibly even Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern herself—that legendary Saint of Winter who came closest to completing the Third Magic and becoming a Third Magic user.

The Holy Church moved quickly with vast influence, so in just one day, Kirei Kotomine found numerous historical texts about the Einzbern family.

And then... nothing. Completely useless. A total waste of time.

The one and only Einzbern most likely to achieve Heroic Spirit Servant status, the Saint of Winter Justeaze—

Neither her physique nor recorded personality matched Illyasviel at all. Aside from similar hair color, eye color, and appearance, nothing else matched. And all female Einzbern homunculi basically looked like that anyway.

At that time, Kirei Kotomine even suspected Miss Illya had given a false name.

Perhaps she really was that Saint of Winter, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern.

After all, such terrifying magical energy reserves did seem somewhat like those unreasonable Magic users with infinite mana.

But something seemed off about that too. After all, a Magic user wouldn't need to fight in a Holy Grail War, right? Plus Justeaze's fame wasn't that high—whether she could even become a Heroic Spirit Servant wasn't completely certain.

Then, harboring such thoughts, plus Illyasviel's obvious resistance toward Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel...

"I found out. The afternoon of the second day after the port battle, I received records from the German Holy Church regarding the Einzbern family's recent activities."

"Illyasviel von Einzbern, located at the Einzbern family's main castle, just turned eight years old this year. The biological daughter of the Magus Killer Emiya Kiritsugu and Einzbern homunculus Irisviel."

"Moreover, according to the data description, her appearance and physique are almost identical to yours, Assassin. I can almost confirm that's your true identity. This was a chance inquiry aided by luck, and it made me understand why you feared Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel learning your true name, and better understand why your repeated assassination attempts against them ended in failure—instead helping them eliminate this Holy Grail War's greatest obstacle: King Gilgamesh."

The restaurant's private room fell utterly silent. At this moment, even the air seemed to freeze.

Kirei Kotomine looked expressionlessly at the little girl before him. The fury burning on her small face returned to calm, then her small hands released his collar she'd been gripping tightly.

She slowly climbed back down from the table to her original seat, silently picking up the eighth pudding she hadn't finished.

The conflict between them was obvious—mutual distrust, with both sides having very sufficient reasons not to trust the other.

Illyasviel believed Kirei Kotomine pursued pleasure, wanting to watch others—even her—suffer.

Kirei Kotomine believed Illyasviel was untrustworthy, and incidentally wanted to watch this peculiar family drama unfold.

Neither trusted the other. Just as Miss Illya had said from the beginning—if trust existed between evildoers, that would be the world's greatest joke.

"Oh, so I'm Irisviel's real daughter? So what? What's the problem?"

"The Holy Grail War—either I die or they die. Master, aren't you similarly wanting to personally kill your own wife?"

Miss Illya kept her head down eating pudding, her voice flat and casual.

As if completely unconcerned by Kirei Kotomine's words, she countered—since you yourself want to kill your own critically ill wife, why the hell don't you believe a pure evildoer like me would commit patricide and matricide? This was compatibility summoning, not holy relic-designated summoning. If you don't understand me, don't you understand yourself?

Everyone here was scum. This reasoning of yours was somewhat lacking, wasn't it?

"But at least I wouldn't want to kill my own father. Unless forced with no alternative, or if he was terminally ill—I still care about such blood-related kin."

Detecting Miss Illya's sudden calmness, Kirei Kotomine felt somewhat strange.

But he still kept his eyes locked on her dessert-eating movements, not daring to relax even slightly.

Kirei Kotomine said seriously: "You attempted to assassinate Emiya Kiritsugu once and failed. The second time, when King Gilgamesh arrived, you hid behind Saber—you had a chance to kill Emiya Kiritsugu but similarly didn't act. The third time, you'd already extracted Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel from the battlefield but still didn't kill them. All things come in threes—how do you expect me to interpret these three failures?"

"Fighting Heroic Spirit Servants, including the publicly acknowledged strongest Servant King Gilgamesh—Assassin, you could exchange blows with all of them, even often suppressing enemies in reverse. At worst, it was a 50-50 stalemate. Yet assassinating magi is where you failed most."

"Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel can't compare to even a third-rate Heroic Spirit Servant. You failed repeatedly—shouldn't I find that problematic?"

Speaking from the heart, his wariness of Illyasviel as Kirei Kotomine was perfectly normal.

Switch to any normal Master—seeing their own Servant fight other Servants in close and ranged combat evenly matched, yet being unbelievably terrible at killing a few magi—

Any person with normal thinking would conclude Illyasviel herself was holding back, fundamentally unwilling to kill Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel.

Only fighting high-level matches against Heroic Spirit Servants? Yeah right.

He didn't believe Miss Illya was actually bad at low-level matches but could go 50-50 with everyone in high-level matches.

"The first failure was Emiya Kiritsugu's overloaded use of Innate Time Control magic plus a flashbang catching me completely off guard. It's like how ordinary people can casually swat a mosquito, but if that mosquito suddenly threw a flashbang and accelerated the instant you swatted, an ordinary person failing to kill that mosquito would be quite normal."

"Fine. What about the second and third times? Assassin, do you think you can still explain those?"

Hearing Kirei Kotomine's doubtful questioning, Miss Illya silently switched to the ninth pudding. She couldn't explain this clearly either. The battle situation was changing by the second—constant reversals upon reversals. Kirei Kotomine was severely overestimating her strength at that time.

What ability did she have to kill Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel during that time period and still escape unscathed?

Miss Illya silently ate several spoonfuls of pudding, thought for a moment, then spoke: "Why can't it be explained? The second time, everyone present was unilaterally surrounded by King Gilgamesh alone. If I'd moved against Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel, that Knight King big sister would've dared to turn and fight me to the death right there. Without her cover, could I withstand that carpet bombing of dozens or hundreds of Noble Phantasms at once? That was unavoidable compromise—an alliance of the weak."

"Fine. What about the third time? What threat did you face then? You could have completely killed Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel and escaped entirely. No one could keep up with your stealth speed if you truly wanted to flee. But what did you do? You let Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel go, then uncharacteristically returned to the port battlefield?"

"The third time, I was crafting a persona. Because in my view, killing Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel at that time was meaningless. No one could handle King Gilgamesh. If not for gathering all those various coincidental conditions, wouldn't I be on a dead-end road later fighting him solo?"

"...You don't believe I could handle Tokiomi Tohsaka alone, nor believe I'd already betrayed Tokiomi Tohsaka."

"...You similarly don't believe I spared Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel for the overall situation by taking down the strongest first. You think I have emotional attachments to them."

The black-robed priest and white-dressed little girl made eye contact, then both fell into silence.

When did this chain of suspicion begin? Probably even they couldn't say clearly.

Because they were both evildoers. Between evildoers, there was no trust—only mutual wariness and scheming.

Moreover, Miss Illya's thinking wasn't fundamentally wrong. With King Gilgamesh's world-favored-son-level strength, by mid-to-late game when most people were dead, no one could really handle him. Who knew what unreasonable Holy Grail War game-breakers that treasury—which legend claimed collected all the world's treasures in life—could pull out?

If they didn't take him down when five Servants were gathered, whoever faced him one-on-one later would be unlucky. That thing wasn't something you could handle by competing in Masters or networking. You could only gather all available forces and stake your life against him for a glimmer of hope.

"Moreover, Master, it's not that I don't believe you could handle Tokiomi Tohsaka. Given King Gilgamesh's attitude toward Tokiomi Tohsaka, I could even sense that if Tokiomi died, he'd pull out some resurrection-type Noble Phantasm and revive him on the spot."

Initially, she'd thought—can't beat King Gilgamesh, but surely I can beat Tokiomi Tohsaka?

After all, from the very beginning, King Gilgamesh and Tokiomi Tohsaka's relationship wasn't good.

Even when she assassinated Tokiomi Tohsaka, King Gilgamesh only acted under the pretext of teaching him a lesson—only intervening when he was certain to die.

But later on, who knew what happened? Perhaps her assassination awakened something in Tokiomi Tohsaka. King Gilgamesh's relationship with him—you couldn't say it became very good, but you could say it became scalp-numbingly close.

"These explanations are all quite reasonable. But Assassin, do you think I should believe them?"

"No. Just like I fundamentally don't believe Master truly knew nothing about Tokiomi Tohsaka."

Miss Illya kept her head down continuing to taste the dessert, only inexplicably feeling the pudding in the plate wasn't sweet anymore—instead somewhat difficult to swallow.

She and Kirei Kotomine had pierced their paper-thin facade. Kirei Kotomine had also pierced the facade between her and certain others.

This feeling made her somewhat displeased. Or rather, she didn't want to hear these annoying words.

She really loved eating cakes and puddings and such sweets, because these foods brought the most direct happiness and pleasure. But when someone was already in a bad mood, no matter what they ate, they wouldn't feel so-called happiness or joy.

"Then what do you want to do, Assassin? At least now, neither of us has acted against the other's interests. We're both just acting according to our own purposes."

Kirei Kotomine didn't notice Miss Illya's emotional state, only flatly watching her nearly finish the ninth dessert. This time, Miss Illya ate very slowly—completely unlike the beginning when she'd finish one dessert in minutes or even dozens of seconds.

She'd become silent and taciturn. Her words completely lacked the earlier aggressive momentum.

Like a suddenly dispirited kitten who'd lost interest in the cat teaser.

"My purpose is wanting to survive, killing all enemies—anyone in a different camp from me. Of course, if conditions permit, I don't mind achieving goals through certain amusements, like using the Matou family to probe Tokiomi Tohsaka. Both sides thinking the me behind the scenes is a good person, thanking the me who's joyfully mocking them."

Miss Illya set down the spoon in her hand. She had twisted humor, just not much of it—all built on the premise of achieving goals.

After all, the Peering into Evil of This World skill seemed to conflict with the Lesser Grail's Heart skill.

Making her appear sacred and kind in others' eyes on the surface, while secretly vile and gleefully amused.

"I'm also pursuing survival, wanting to know my life's meaning. Just as Assassin initially said, others' pain and despair makes me feel pleasure. But this can't truly satisfy me, so I'll continuously pursue malice. Before that, I won't let a powerful Servant who's completely mine without needing commands exit the stage."

Kirei Kotomine also stated his thoughts and wishes. Because this was the final test Illyasviel gave him. Once he answered wrong, the outcome would be mutual destruction.

He genuinely didn't want Illyasviel to exit. After all, if she exited, he'd be the one suffering.

He didn't think he alone could wander through this Holy Grail War where the version patch changed daily, the version champion changed daily—

Where everyone was either enlightenment party, whale party, or skill party crazy people brawling. Many matters would be inconvenient to handle.

"Mutual non-interference, intelligence sharing. But your three Command Seals make me quite uneasy. I have no Magic Resistance skill, nor an Archer or Rider's Independent Action skill. Master, your three Command Seals really worry me."

Glancing at Kirei Kotomine with deep meaning, Miss Illya pushed away the remaining half plate of pudding. Command Seal power had extreme effects on Heroic Spirit Servants.

In most cases without countermeasure skills, one Command Seal could even make one's own Servant commit immediate suicide.

Of course, she also hadn't completely revealed her own situation. Because according to her skill combination—the Lesser Grail's Heart's wish-granting, the Peering into Evil of This World—these two maxed-out retention skills could more or less offset one or two Command Seals' forced commands.

"Then..."

Kirei Kotomine said no more, only flatly raising his hand. The crimson Command Seals slowly glowed:

"By Command Seal, I grant Assassin the privilege to subjectively accept or resist Command Seal orders once. Valid throughout this Holy Grail War."

Just as the words fell, Miss Illya across the table—who'd constructed silver thread daggers ready to knife someone—lowered her weapon. As if nothing had happened, she hid the hand holding the dagger behind her back with a polite smile.

Then used her other hand to casually push the last remaining pudding toward Kirei Kotomine.

"How could Master spend so extravagantly? Sigh, I never doubted you—just appropriately venting and complaining~"

"..."

What were you trying to do just now?!

You were going to kill me!

Definitely, right? You'd already pulled out silver thread daggers constructed from your hair!

"Alright, alright, I'm full. Master, you retrieved one life."

"Remember to pay the bill. Prepare some snacks for me on the way home. I'll head out first."

Under Kirei Kotomine's gaze, Miss Illya looked somewhat embarrassed but still forced composure, waving as she activated spirit form and Presence Concealment.

She quickly vanished from this restaurant's private room, as if she'd never been there.

Watching several emptied dessert plates and the half-finished pudding still glistening with saliva—

Kirei Kotomine only rubbed his forehead helplessly, appearing exasperated with his Servant.

Actually, his back was already soaked with cold sweat. Because Illyasviel's guess was correct—he truly didn't know much about Tokiomi Tohsaka and his father Risei Kotomine's covert cooperation, but he knew Tokiomi Tohsaka left his magic workshop yesterday to visit Ryuudou Temple.

That was the biggest deception. Though for the current Illyasviel it might not matter much—she probably already grasped intelligence about Tokiomi Tohsaka using ley lines to recharge magical gems as cheating. But if she investigated deeply, that would be bad. After all, in his view, Illyasviel was truly moody and unpredictable. Sometimes like an ordinary elementary schooler, easy to appease.

Other times, like a deranged madwoman who'd smile elegantly and politely at you, then casually kill you when you let your guard down. In her eyes, there wasn't even a concept of good and evil. She wasn't some true evildoer.

She was an existence more terrifying than evildoers—without distinction between good and evil, a chaotic person who purely acted on interest.

"Phew... Fortunately, she didn't realize..."

"Ehehe, Master, what are you muttering to yourself? Could it be some mistake I didn't discover, and you're suddenly relieved now that I left~?"

"?!"

Before Kirei Kotomine finished speaking, Miss Illya had somehow deactivated spirit form and was standing beside him, tilting her head.

How could this be? The contract response clearly indicated she'd left. How could she return so quickly?

"Assassin, I, this, um..."

"Don't misunderstand, Master. I just thought wasting food was very bad. I suddenly remembered I hadn't finished half a pudding, so I specially came back to take it away~"

Miss Illya watched the once-again forcibly composed Kirei Kotomine, curved her lips in an elegant smile and blinked. Then bounced over to the other side of the table, picked up the unfinished half dessert pudding, and departed again.

Click.

The private room door opened and closed.

She has countermeasures against the Servant-Master contract. Kirei Kotomine immediately realized.

This made him feel even more wary, understanding this was a warning.

The final warning. Just as he'd said—all things come in threes. For Illyasviel, this would also be the last warning. He wouldn't have another chance to explain.

"One remains—the last one..."

Kirei Kotomine looked at the tenth pudding before him but didn't touch it, only sighing deeply, planning to have the waiter pack this pudding later.

He also couldn't discern how many more methods Illyasviel possessed, whether that wish-granting ability was real, because her mechanisms were truly too numerous.

Almost so many that even he, her Master, felt an inexplicable instinctive dread.

It seemed he couldn't make any more小 moves from now on. At least not moves that harmed her.

Because he kept feeling he'd contracted the same illness as Tokiomi Tohsaka.

The illness of seeing Illyasviel everywhere, feeling she'd appear anytime, anywhere to kill him.

However, what he didn't know was that the little girl he now feared...

Was currently unhappy because of something he'd said...

"So annoying, so annoying, so annoying! Everyone already knows—why can't we just tacitly understand?!"

"Why must you say it out loud? Why must you make it explicit? Don't you know how annoying that is?!"

Walking on Fuyuki City's commercial street—

Miss Illya carried the plastic bag containing pudding, seemingly very irritated as she kicked a beverage can someone had carelessly discarded by the roadside. Like a runaway delinquent girl.

Her mood was terrible. Or rather, very chaotic. Because she knew certain things.

But she didn't want to say them, pretending they didn't exist. But some annoying people kept bringing them up to her.

Tired of playing, she sat hugging her knees by the roadside in a sulk, her mind increasingly messy.

"Survival and happiness—I want both. Why make me choose? Why must you say it out loud..."