Matou Manor.
Thick curtains covered all the windows. Even if moonlight managed to seep in, it could not dispel the dark and damp feeling within the mansion.
In a certain room, Matou Zouken, his body stooped and his limbs as withered as a mummy's, leaned on a cane. Through the insect familiars he had sent out, he had a clear view of everything that had happened in the warehouse district.
"This Holy Grail War is full of troublesome Servants... Hmph, damn you, Tokisaka Tohsaka. If he hadn't backed out at the last minute and sent his daughter to Finland, the Matou family wouldn't have had to dither around and be forced to summon the final Assassin."
As if recalling some unpleasant event, Matou Zouken stamped his cane heavily on the floor, and his already grim face took on an even colder air.
At that moment, as if awakened by his voice, a whimpering and struggling sound came from the darkness behind the old man.
"Oh, you're surprisingly energetic, Tsuruno."
Zouken chuckled lowly and turned around.
In the dim room, a man was tied securely to a chair, a cloth strip gagging his mouth.
The man had seaweed-like hair, but the strands that should have been dark blue had all turned a ghastly white. His skin was covered in unnatural wrinkles and protruding blood vessels. From time to time, a bulge would appear in a vessel and then slowly recede, as if some creature were crawling within his body.
—This man was Matou Tsuruno, Matou Zouken's eldest son.
Seeing his father finally turn his attention to him, Matou Tsuruno, as if unable to bear some kind of pain any longer, began to shake the chair beneath him violently. He wept and tried to get closer to the old man, hoping he would be spared.
But faced with his eldest son's pleas, Matou Zouken only let out a sinister laugh.
"Heh heh heh, don't resent me, Tsuruno. If you must blame someone, blame your younger brother for refusing to inherit the family headship, and blame that fellow Tokisaka Tohsaka. But you are a Matou, after all. To fulfill the Matou family's long-held wish, just be a good magical energy supplement for our Servant and try to survive until the end."
Gazing at Matou Tsuruno's despairing, tear-streaked face, Matou Zouken gave a telepathic command to his Assassin, who had been lying in wait near the warehouse district, to ambush the Lancer who gave him a sense of danger as soon as the opportunity arose.
After all, the Assassin he had summoned for this Holy Grail War had a certain ability to create copies of himself, so losing a few was no great matter.
And if he could inflict even a slight injury on that Lancer, it would undoubtedly be a profitable exchange.
Thinking about how he had specially ordered all of Assassin's copies to coat their weapons with a potent poison before they left the mansion, Matou Zouken couldn't help but laugh.
However, the old man's laughter didn't last for more than a few seconds before a clear and melodious girl's voice suddenly echoed through the gloomy mansion.
"Rei, that sparkly fellow is this Holy Grail War's Archer. His True Name is Gilgamesh, another troublesome Servant. We've gathered enough intelligence for tonight. The moment you find a chance, retreat immediately."
—Who's there?
There was no sign of the mansion's bounded field being triggered. Matou Zouken was stunned for a second, but he soon saw a figure slowly approaching from the dark hallway.
It was a beautiful girl with shoulder-length blonde hair, dressed in a green Western-style dress that swayed slightly with her light steps, as delicate and lovely as a wind chime in the night breeze.
As if oblivious to the old man's wary gaze and the turbid air around them, the girl simply looked at the crystal ball in her hand. As if talking to someone, a concerned expression would occasionally appear on her lovely face, a sweet smile playing on her lips.
"You're... the daughter of the Sajou family? Heh, I don't know how you managed to sneak into the Matou family's bounded field, but to dare come before me all alone... you're far too bold, little girl."
Looking at the girl who was completely out of place with her surroundings, Matou Zouken immediately noticed the Command Spells on the back of her hand and understood her identity as a Master.
As for Sajou Manaka's identity, when the Sajou family moved to Fuyuki, the Tohsaka family wasn't the only one paying attention.
However, Sajou Manaka did not respond to the old man's words. She continued to stare at the image in the crystal ball. When she saw that Gilgamesh was planning to attack Aozaki Rin again, a worried look immediately filled her eyes.
"Arrogant girl."
Seeing that she was completely ignoring him, Matou Zouken tapped his cane without ceremony.
The next second, an immense buzzing sound came from beneath the mansion, rapidly approaching their location.
"Since you don't want to say anything, you can just stay here and become food for my familiars!"
A sinister smile played on Zouken's lips, as if he could already hear the girl's tragic cries.
However, as if annoyed by his grating laughter, Sajou Manaka finally tore her gaze away from the crystal ball and glanced coldly at the old man.
It was a look one would give to a disgusting bug.
As the sound of the swarming insects grew closer, the girl suddenly raised her other hand, revealing a paper gun.
She tilted her head, and as if role-playing, a playful voice came from her lips.
"Bang."
In that instant, a crimson crystal bullet shot out from the muzzle of the "paper gun" without any warning, piercing through the old man's chest before his astonished eyes.
Then, with the bullet as the epicenter, as if the energy contained within could no longer be suppressed.
A scorching flame instantly erupted and expanded, turning into a fiery tornado in a matter of seconds that engulfed the entire mansion!
The flames shot into the sky, scattering the clouds, as if to burn everything to ashes.
Yet, from within the rolling heatwave, the girl, encased in a transparent barrier, slowly walked out, completely unharmed.
"I didn't expect the 'little toy' Rei made to be so powerful. Did he crystallize the four great elements? Although it's not yet perfect, that child truly has a talent for alchemy..."
"Well then, the first enemy has been dealt with. Five more to go. As for that one over there... I'll save them for next time."
Her enhanced vision looked towards the distant Tohsaka Manor. She knew that the commotion she had caused tonight was already quite large. Besides, the matter on the young man's end was over, and she had to return home before he did.
Sajou Manaka regretfully withdrew her gaze, but she quickly composed herself, making her expression look no different from usual.
"Alright, it's time to go home. But that boy really has no idea how much danger he was in tonight. I'll have to give him a good lecture."
Her grumbling mutters scattered into the air as the girl's figure gradually faded into the night.
—And the Assassin who had been waiting all night for a chance to ambush someone would probably never have predicted that he would be eliminated in this way.
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