A Heroic Spirit? No, the Holy Grail still needed nearly a year to gather sufficient Mana.
Could an early summoning be done like this?
Besides, Sakura didn't even have Command Spells on her hands.
"Is that so?"
Zouken twisted his grotesque face into a sycophantic smile, despite being old to this extent.
But he wasn't senile, so he didn't believe Aslan's words.
Although Aslan appeared to him as bright and powerful as the sun.
He gripped his cane, standing in place to buy time.
Meanwhile, he controlled his core insect to flee frantically.
After gently calming the frightened Sakura, Aslan slowly turned and looked at Zouken.
"Truly disgusting."
A rotten, filthy, foul soul immediately came into Aslan's view. On Zouken, the only thing worthy of praise might be his original ambition.
But that original desire had, in Aslan's eyes, turned into an obsession for life.
"Wait! I'm your Master's grandfather—"
Zouken instinctively wanted to beg for mercy and gain time.
But how could Aslan give him this chance?
He had set up a Barrier from the beginning, precisely to prevent Zouken's escape.
Yet his body—his body made of insects—died of fear when facing Aslan's malicious intent.
Zouken didn't even have time to utter a word before instantly turning into a pile of rotten flesh.
Finally, it was completely burned away by Aslan's flames. He didn't even use Golden Wing Flame.
He felt that using Golden Wing Flame would be an insult to a divine fire like Golden Wing Flame. Karyou would kill him if she found out.
However, after Zouken's corpse had completely turned to ash,
Somewhere beneath the roots of a tree in the Matou Manor garden,
A creature with extraordinary vitality recovered from a state of apparent death.
This creature was Zouken's core insect. As long as this insect didn't die, Zouken wouldn't die.
"Ugh... light like that—it's clearly not a Servant, not a Magus, and not a Phantasmal species. What kind of existence is that?"
The sticky, grotesque insect spat out a large mouthful of blue blood. Just from seeing the light emitted by Aslan,
Its soul suffered considerable damage. And that was only a small amount of malicious intent radiated by Aslan.
That light, that will, that ability to see through souls—
This made Zouken think of only one kind of existence: a God.
Why had a God appeared within the Matou family?
Thinking this, Zouken froze for a moment. His core insect desperately tried to escape.
Though he didn't know why the other party wasn't chasing him, he was certain that with divine sight, the other party must be able to see that he wasn't dead.
If the other party pursued him, no matter how many tricks he had, they would be meaningless before a God.
As long as he escaped and delivered the news of a God descending in the modern age to the Mage Association,
He would surely gain unimaginable benefits from it.
With these benefits, the next Holy Grail War would certainly have hope.
Thinking thus, Zouken's core insect accelerated its wriggling speed, desperately crawling outward.
But as it was about to leave the Matou Manor, as its body passed through the entrance of the manor,
A flame ignited within it, burning the core insect and its soul.
In an instant, its soul and the remaining insects were completely incinerated into ash. Even Aslan didn't realize Zouken had already died.
"What? Already dead?"
Aslan froze for a moment. If he hadn't felt the darkness that had shrouded the Matou family for hundreds of years disappear, he wouldn't have even realized the Barrier had been triggered.
"So, Zouken was only this much?"
Aslan shook his head helplessly. Indeed, he had overestimated Zouken too much. He thought the other party could use some tricks.
Then Aslan looked at the little black-haired girl, Matou Sakura, clinging to him and gripping his sleeve.
Or rather, Sakura, still young and not yet modified by the Crest Worm.
"It's alright, Sakura. Everything's fine."
Aslan adjusted his posture, supporting Sakura with his arm so she'd be more comfortable in his embrace.
"Umm, are you the knight who came to save me?"
Perhaps influenced by the bright aura Aslan carried, or perhaps because the grandfather who brought fear and shadow to her had disappeared,
The darkness shrouding the Matou Manor had also vanished. Sakura had now regained some of her vitality.
Facing the little black-haired girl's eyes, hidden with hope and fear,
Aslan gave a faint smile, gently stroked Sakura's head, and showed a gentle smile.
"Knight Arthur has come to protect his Master."
Sakura's eyes immediately sparkled brightly. After hesitating briefly, she jumped down from Aslan's arms.
Following the story from the picture book she'd read with her older sister, Tohsaka Rin, she awkwardly bowed to Aslan.
Then she placed her small, soft hand onto the hand of King Arthur • Arthur • Aslan.
"Mother said, in times like this, we must say thank you!"
Only, when she mentioned her mother, Sakura's eyes dimmed for a moment, but she quickly brightened again.
"Thank you, Brother Arthur."
"Hiss, I still feel a bit uncomfortable."
Hearing Sakura call him Arthur, Aslan felt a chill. But facing Sakura's shining eyes, he endured it.
"Let's go, Sakura. From now on, we'll live together."
Aslan squatted down, lifted the little black-haired girl, and carried Sakura out of the underground chamber that had once been an insect nest.
Hearing this, Sakura obediently nodded.
"Umm."
As Aslan carried Sakura and exited the underground chamber, a gloomy blue-haired man wearing inappropriate clothing looked at Aslan and Sakura.
"Who are you? Why are you holding my adopted daughter? Where's my father?"
The gloomy man was actually Matou Byakuya, the current head of the Matou family. He was also Sakura's adoptive father.
A man who only drowned himself in wine and desired the Matou family's wealth and a worry-free life.
"Your father? That old insect is already dead."
Byakuya froze for a moment, then burst into extremely joyful laughter.
"Hahahaha! That old insect is finally dead! The Matou family's wealth is finally mine!"
"Hahahaha!"
"So, can you move aside?"
Aslan said, slightly disgusted. He found the man's laughter extremely unpleasant and slightly painful to his ears.