"So Matou Sakura didn't show up at school today either?"
Illyasviel sat atop a desk, swinging her little legs.
"Nope."
After searching fruitlessly, Tohsaka Rin had come to school, hoping to pick up a lead on Sakura's whereabouts. Unfortunately, Sakura still hadn't appeared.
"And how did you even get in?!"
"I just walked in like normal. Actually, I've never been to school before. Being around this many kids the same age... it's kinda fun, don't you think?"
Illyasviel's appearance at Homurahara Academy caused a minor uproar. A foreigner with porcelain-doll looks? Impossible not to draw attention. Rin had to haggle with Student Council President Ryuudou Issei for quite a while before she could sneak Illyasviel away into an empty classroom.
It wasn't until now that Rin remembered Illyasviel was a homunculus—her life path was nothing like a normal person's. A pang of pity rose in Rin's heart.
But that wasn't the focus here. A homunculus from the Einzbern family falling in love? Sakura barely interacted with men besides Shirou. So how on earth did she and Illyasviel end up fighting over the same guy? Rin felt like her brain was overheating from processing all of this.
"So, what did Matou Shinji say?"
After temporarily teaming up with Illyasviel, Rin had infiltrated the Matou family's magecraft workshop. With no magus present to defend it, the protections Zouken Matou had left behind were no match for two magi and two Servants. But upon seeing the Crest Worm breeding pit, Rin felt like her heart had been ripped in two.
Words couldn't compare to seeing it with her own eyes. Rin couldn't imagine how young Sakura had survived such a place. She couldn't help but wonder—if it had been her instead of Sakura who got adopted into the Matou family, would she have survived eleven years of this? Maybe she would've gone insane long ago.
"Saber interrogated him... if you can even call that an interrogation."
Shinji's mental resilience was laughably nonexistent. Who knows what kind of environment he grew up in. Jason barely needed to threaten him before he spilled everything.
"Zouken Matou, as the Matou family's only senior magus, had been away recently managing the family's spiritual land holdings. He's expected to return to Fuyuki by this evening. His destination is the Matou family's sole spiritual land within the city."
"And it's obvious Matou Sakura has been chosen as a Master too."
Illya picked up Rin's words, unconsciously mimicking Jiang You's habit of pacing in circles while thinking.
"She disappeared before probably to avoid being detected by Zouken. When she did return to school, her confrontations with Shinji suggested she had someone backing her. And now she's vanished again—this time clearly tied to Zouken's movements. So..."
"She's planning to strike at Zouken there!"
They both came to the same conclusion simultaneously.
"Did you manage to get the exact location?"
Now that Sakura's trail had been found, Illya was growing impatient.
Rin hesitated. She was worried that Illya, driven by jealousy or personal grudges, might seriously harm Sakura. You couldn't really expect a mage to have a strong moral compass. But considering Sakura wasn't completely blameless either, and they were both Masters, Rin decided to share the information. With that strange Caster's Noble Phantasm in play, Sakura shouldn't be too disadvantaged.
"It's in the woods southeast of the Tohsaka estate. The Matou family, being foreign magi who settled here, were granted that land by our family back in the day."
Back when the Three Families were still on good terms, they often helped each other out.
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Illya urged her on. She had a lot of questions for a certain someone—someone who had made such bold promises, only to respond to another summoner's call.
-
Twilight. In the forest southeast of the Tohsaka estate.
Zouken Matou placed his hand on a large stone carved with defensive and spirit-gathering runes, feeling the magical energy surging through the land.
He quickly reinforced the formations—routine work for him.
"Hmph, judging by the rate of decline, the spiritual energy's leaking again. I'll need to make a few more 'vessels' to stabilize it."
"No successors at all... Even this kind of thing requires me to do it myself."
He retracted his hand and knocked his back with a wince, feigning the demeanor of a feeble old man.
"You agree, don't you, Sakura? Or are you here to help this old man maintain the spiritual land?"
A hooded girl in purple stepped out from the woods. After removing her hood, Sakura Matou stared at Zouken with an expressionless face.
"Gone for so long, and now you come back only after receiving a Command Seal. Got yourself a Servant and suddenly think you're tough now?"
Zouken leaned on his cane and let out a raspy, cackling laugh.
"Looks like someone needs a refresher course."
He tapped his cane against the ground a few times, trying to awaken the Crest Worms inside Sakura's body. But the magical energy he sent through her didn't trigger anything.
"Your magic circuits... Ah, I see. They're no longer water-aligned. Looks like someone helped repair your body."
Zouken was now thankful he hadn't implanted his vital worms and the fragments of the Lesser Grail inside Sakura. Anyone capable of fully restoring her circuits would've had no trouble eliminating his fragile creations.
"That expression… You want revenge, don't you? After all I did for your sake, you're still so ungrateful."
With centuries of experience, Zouken could sense that Sakura still couldn't fully control her new circuits. Her magical energy was high-quality, but poorly utilized. The scent of wasted mana was obvious to the worms inside his body.
"But you think just coming here with an unknown Servant is enough to take me down? So naïve!"
"Allow me to teach you what it means to respect your elders!"
Zouken was ready to recapture Sakura and rework her circuits again. He was curious to see what kind of expression she'd make—now that she'd seen the light of day, what would she become when dragged back into the dark?
And as for the unknown Servant hiding in the shadows? Zouken wasn't worried. At worst, he had plenty of tricks up his sleeve to stay alive.
-
"I don't think something like you qualifies as an elder!"
A sudden voice rang out. A gem flew through the air and exploded in front of Zouken. The blast vaporized half of his body.
"Sakura, I've come to help you!"
Rin leapt into the battlefield, planting herself firmly between Sakura and Zouken.
"Gem magecraft..."
Zouken's blown-apart body reassembled from swarming insects and returned to his humanoid form.
"So now the Tohsaka family wants to meddle in our Matou business?"
"Not just the Tohsaka family."
Before anyone realized it, two birds woven of silk thread swooped in from either side. Light projectiles known as Zahre pierced Zouken's head and heart.
"The Einzbern family's getting involved too!"
Surrounded by several white birds, Illya also stepped into the battlefield.