"A Beast?!"
Artoria's pupils contracted. She reacted almost instantly, lunging out of the car, pulling Irisviel with her. Her armor materialized, the holy sword appeared in her hand, and she entered combat readiness in a flash.
"Saber?" Irisviel was completely baffled. She had been educated by the Einzberns since birth and knew almost everything about magecraft, but she had never heard the term 'Beast'. She couldn't understand Artoria's extreme reaction. "A Beast? What is that?"
Artoria kept her eyes warily on Lin Jiuan, who had also gotten out of the car, ready to strike at the slightest wrong move. She explained, "A 'Beast', in full, a Beast of Calamity, also known as an Evil of Humanity. They are disasters born from humanity's own bestial nature, great calamities rejected by Human History itself."
"The full explanation is too complex. Iri, you just need to know that if one is allowed to mature, all of human civilization will be destroyed." As she spoke, Artoria's tension turned to confusion. Is this harmless-looking little boy really a 'Beast'?
"Destroy human civilization?" Irisviel was terrified, looking at Lin Jiuan in shock. "Jiuan, are you really a 'Beast'?"
"Mhm." Lin Jiuan raised his hand. A mass of dark, mud-like flesh appeared in his palm. Instantly, Irisviel and Artoria felt an aura of evil and depravity radiate from him. It was only for a moment, but it was enough for Artoria to confirm it. He really is a 'Beast'!
To think he masqueraded as a human and lived with us for over a day, and I didn't even notice? Artoria felt a chill run down her spine. The potential, growth rate, and upper limits of a Beast of Calamity were terrifying. Given enough resources, they could quickly reach a level that threatens Human History. Of course, their weakness was also obvious. As beings formed from humanity's 'evil', there was no record of them actively integrating into human society. When they appear, they invariably cause a huge commotion, making them easy to detect and eliminate. But this one had infiltrated human society?
Artoria almost instinctively wanted to release her holy sword, to unleash her strongest attack and physically erase this innately evil little brat.
"Saber!" Irisviel, still reeling from the shock and confusion of his identity, sensed Artoria's intent and immediately stood in her way. "What are you doing?"
"Move, Iri! We have to kill it, or it will destroy human civilization!"
"Jiuan isn't that kind of bad child! He wouldn't do that, right, Jiuan?"
Looking at Irisviel's urgent and expectant gaze, Lin Jiuan smiled faintly. "Mrs. Irisviel, today was the happiest day of my life."
"Eh?"
Lin Jiuan seemed to gaze toward the distant Tokyo, his eyes lost in memory. "I was born in the Greater Grail beneath Tokyo. I have no parents, no relatives. From the moment of my birth, I was in that Grail, in the sunless underground, all by my 'self'." He laughed self-deprecatingly. "If I can even be called a 'person'."
He let out a long breath, his expression growing sadder. "Countless negative emotions accumulated within me. I didn't know what they were. I didn't even know what I was or why I was born. I just lived in constant pain under the weight of those emotions. Until one day, a group of people like Sister Artoria came. They said I was a 'Beast', that my very existence was evil, and that they had to eliminate me."
"I don't understand. I didn't do anything. I was just born, and I lived there, without..."
[Congratulations Host, Aoi Tohsaka has reached High-Level Fallen. Reward: Magecraft Knowledge (Complete)].
Seeing the sudden system prompt, Lin Jiuan's expression twisted in pain. I'm trying to hold it in.
Seriously? I'm in the middle of spinning a tale for Irisviel and Artoria, I haven't done anything to you, so why do you keep falling on your own? It takes time to build up the mood, you know!
The Tohsaka Safe House.
Aoi, having finished preparing dinner, watched her daughters obediently help her bring the dishes to the table, a blissful smile on her face. She hadn't made her move on Tokiomi yet. Not because she had changed her mind, but because she had something very important to do first.
Aoi sat at the table and, along with her daughters, said, "Let's eat." They ate dinner as usual, but without Tokiomi, everyone was much more relaxed. Rin and Sakura chattered about whatever they wanted.
"Mother, where is brother Jiuan?" Sakura asked, looking at her mother.
Rin also looked up, her gaze filled with worry. Since the day she had overheard Lin Jiuan's "threat" to her mother and the misunderstanding was cleared, allowing her to keep her sister, her impression of him had changed drastically. Now that he had suddenly disappeared, she was very worried for his safety.
Under her daughters' gazes, Aoi's smile faded slightly. She placed her chopsticks on her bowl. "Sakura, Rin, if your father and I were to divorce, who would you go with?"
"Why?" Rin asked urgently.
Sakura answered without hesitation, "I'll go with Mother!"
"Sakura?"
"Rin, what about you?"
"I..." Rin looked pitiful. "Why, Mother? Is there some misunderstanding between you and Father that you can't talk out?"
"Because he hurt Jiuan. He is the reason Jiuan is missing. For that alone, I will never forgive him."
"Why would Father do that?! Was there a misunderstanding?"
"I went to see him today. He told me himself." Aoi looked at Rin. "Rin, answer me now. Will you go with your father, or with me and Sakura?"
"I..." Rin bit her lower lip. To choose between her father and Lin Jiuan... even with her changed attitude toward him, she would still have chosen her father. But now, it was a choice between her father, or her mother, Sakura, and Lin Jiuan. The choice seemed difficult, yet it wasn't. Her father was her goal, an object of admiration, but in her life, the busy and stern man had always been too distant. But Sakura and her mother, they were with her every day. They were her most important family.
Rin lowered her head, her voice pitiful. "I choose Mother."
A smile appeared on Aoi's lips. It was different from her usual gentle smile; it was almost bewitching. It was so beautiful that both Rin and Sakura were stunned.
Jiuan, wait for me. I'll soon rescue you from the fiery pit of the Einzbern house.
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