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*****
Inside the grand Matou family villa.
Sakura Matou, bringing Rider Medusa with her, hurried to her grandfather Zouken Matou's room. Her voice was filled with panic as she spoke:
"Brother... he's dead!"
"Dead?"
Zouken Matou, leaning heavily on his cane, allowed a flicker of genuine surprise to cross his withered face.
Following that, Sakura Matou relayed all the information that Medusa had transmitted to her, recounting every last detail to Zouken Matou.
After Shinji Matou had obtained temporary control of Medusa, he had immediately started associating with the supervisor, Kirei Kotomine. He had even gone so far as to set up a soul-devouring bounded field within the school.
This very evening, he was supposed to accompany Gilgamesh to provide support for Kirei Kotomine, but he was killed almost instantly by a direct headshot from George, right at the beginning of the confrontation.
As soon as Shinji Matou died, Medusa's connection to him was severed, and she naturally returned to the side of her true Master, Sakura Matou.
As for what transpired after that—who ultimately won and who lost—Medusa had no way of knowing.
"He truly was a waste of space, just like his father."
Regarding the death of the Matou family's sole remaining bloodline, Zouken Matou's face showed not a single trace of sadness or grief. It was as if what had died was nothing more than a common insect.
What he was currently considering in his heart was his probability of achieving victory in this Fifth Holy Grail War.
The participants in the Fourth Holy Grail War had simply been too powerful. After his second son, Kariya Matou, had failed, Zouken had chosen to give up on that war.
But this time, he had used a fragment of the Lesser Grail—one of the pieces shattered by King Arthur in the Fourth Holy Grail War—as a catalyst to generate a new crest. He had stored this crest deep within Sakura's body, gradually transforming her into an incomplete Lesser Grail.
If Sakura could somehow achieve final victory, he could then guide Angra Mainyu from within the Greater Grail and channel it directly into Sakura's body.
At that precise moment, the special Crest Worm he had left hidden deep inside Sakura would be able to seize complete control of her flesh, and by using this method, he could indirectly achieve his long-sought goal of eternal life.
So, even though Shinji Matou was dead, Zouken actually felt this was a good thing.
At the very least, everyone else would now assume the Matou family was out of the running. This would cause them to lower their guard, allowing him to become the proverbial fisherman who reaps the rewards while others fight.
Just like the situation at the church right now... they must have all beaten each other's brains out by this point.
He was very clear on just how strong Gilgamesh was. Adding Kirei Kotomine and Lancer to the mix, that side could absolutely contend with the forces of Saber, Berserker, and Archer.
The best-case scenario would be for both sides to completely annihilate one another. If that happened, he would only need to help Sakura deal with the remaining two at Ryuudou Temple, and his plan would be complete.
"Since things have come to this, then from this moment on, you will continue to represent the family and participate in the Holy Grail War!"
"But... Grandfather, I... I don't want to participate..."
A desperate, pleading look appeared on Sakura's face.
The moment she officially participated in the Holy Grail War, her peaceful life would be over. She might even be forced to stand on the opposing side of Shirou Emiya and her older sister, Rin Tohsaka.
However, upon hearing Sakura's plea, Zouken Matou's face instead twisted into a cold and cruel expression.
"You have no right to refuse! If you do, I will first go and kill Shirou Emiya, and then I will make your life a living hell, a suffering worse than death!"
He activated the Crest Worms buried deep within Sakura's body. An agonizing sensation immediately assaulted Sakura, and she collapsed weakly to the ground, her body unable to support her.
"Rest assured. As long as you win this Holy Grail War, I will remove the Crest Worms from your body. I will let you live just like an ordinary person. Shirou Emiya will never know what you've experienced all these years. You can marry him, have children, and live out the rest of your life in happiness."
The classic carrot and stick. It was a strategy that always proved effective.
After hearing the promise Zouken Matou had just made, the resolve in Sakura's eyes began to waver.
As long as she could live a happy life with Shirou Emiya, she was willing to do anything.
Just as she opened her mouth, about to agree to his terms, a new voice suddenly rang out within the dark room:
"Little girl, I actually have a much better option for you right here. As long as you are willing to hand over your Command Spells to me, I can not only remove those Crest Worms from your body, but I can also help you remove the pseudo-Holy Grail this old man embedded inside you. And, if you need it, helping you kill him isn't a problem either."
The person who had arrived was, of course, George, having just finished collecting Caster and Assassin at Ryuudou Temple.
"Who are you?! How dare you trespass in the Matou household?"
Zouken Matou's expression changed instantly when he saw a young man suddenly materialize behind Sakura Matou.
He merely waved his hand, and a thick swarm of Crest Worms immediately flew toward George to attack.
But George simply opened his mouth wide and spat out a ball of three-colored flame, instantly incinerating all of the incoming Crest Worms to ash.
"I am the Master of Saber that you were just discussing. I'm also the person who killed your grandson."
"So, you are saying... Kirei Kotomine lost?"
Zouken Matou's eyes narrowed to tiny slits.
Inwardly, he had truly felt that the probability of Kirei Kotomine winning the battle at the church was much higher.
Although the Servants were two against three, and the Master himself was one against three, Kirei Kotomine was, after all, the man who had fought to the bitter end of the Fourth Holy Grail War and had come incredibly close to victory.
Moreover, he was insidious and cunning to the extreme; even Zouken himself was very wary of him.
As for Gilgamesh, his strength was simply abnormally powerful, a complete anomaly even among Servants.
But he had never expected that the final winner would actually be this stranger standing before him, a person about whom he had absolutely zero intelligence.
"That's correct. You guessed right, but there's no prize."
George didn't waste any more time talking nonsense with Zouken Matou. Instead, he stepped forward directly, preparing to forcibly search the old man's memories.
He had a strong feeling that this head of the Matou family, whose entire body was composed of insects, must be hiding some profound secret. Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to embed a pseudo-Holy Grail inside Sakura's body.
"Sakura, kill him!"
When Zouken Matou saw George making a move against him, he immediately shouted an order to Sakura. However, he quickly discovered that both Sakura and Rider Medusa were completely immobilized, as if they had been hit by a petrification spell. They couldn't move a muscle.
"You trespass in the Matou household and then maliciously attack this old man! Are you not afraid of facing sanctions from the Church and the Mage's Association?"
Discovering that both Sakura and Rider had been subdued instantly, Zouken's expression changed drastically. As his body completely dissolved into a swarm of insects in an attempt to escape the attack, he simultaneously issued a threat to George.
Without even using a Servant, relying solely on his own magecraft, this man had easily subdued both Sakura, who possessed an immense well of magical energy, and Medusa, whose strength was almost fully restored thanks to Sakura's abundant supply.
Even Zouken, in his prime, would have found such a feat extremely difficult to accomplish.
Clearly, this strange young man's power was even greater than his own had been at its peak. He was absolutely not someone his current, withered self could hope to handle.
Therefore, his only recourse was to bring up the Church and the Mage's Association, hoping to scare his opponent.
The Holy Grail War had its rules. As Saber's Master, this man could attack fellow competitors like Sakura and Medusa. But he could not, without just cause, attack him—the official head of the Matou family. If this were discovered, he would undoubtedly face a collective hunt from both the Church and the Mage's Association.
"Freeze!"
Seeing Zouken Matou dissolve into insects and try to flee, George simply raised his hand and cast a Freezing Charm, instantly locking the swarm of insects in a block of ice in mid-air.
The Church and the Mage's Association? He didn't put them in his eyes at all; they meant nothing to him.
Besides, as long as he made sure Zouken Matou was dead, there would be no one left to report the incident. The people from the Church and the Mage's Association didn't have that much free time to investigate every little thing.
The nefarious deeds Kirei Kotomine had committed were far more severe than this, and hadn't he managed to just gloss them all over?
"Now then, let me see what your whole deal is."
Having completely immobilized the insectile form of Zouken Matou, George began to read the memories stored within his mind.
After a good long while, he finally withdrew his hand, his face etched with genuine surprise.
"I never would have thought... you are actually the first-generation head of the Matou family. One of the primary creators of the Holy Grail War."
(End of Chapter)