Dong dong dong dong...
It was a kind of seemingly unending knocking sound, accompanied by the noise of countless insects flapping their wings as thin as paper.
Dense and numerous, even an ordinary person would feel their scalp tingle upon hearing such a sound.
Matou Kariya stood at the doorway.
After the Holy Grail War began, the man's hair had turned almost completely white in just one night, and even his face had suddenly aged a great deal.
It was no wonder, for magi, mana was their very life, and among the Masters, Matou Kariya's aptitude for magecraft was extremely poor.
If not for Matou Zouken forcibly interfering, overdrawing his life force, perhaps Matou Kariya would not even have qualified to participate in the Holy Grail War.
And yet, even so, he still had not summoned the "White Dragon" that Matou Zouken had spoken of.
'Am I too weak...?'
All along the way after leaving the Matou house with Matou Zouken, Matou Kariya kept asking himself this question over and over.
"Looks like you're quite unconvinced, Kariya."
At the stairway, dressed in a traditional kimono, Matou Zouken's aged and gloomy face seemed quite satisfied with Matou Kariya's reaction, an intentional or unintentional eerie smile appearing on his face.
"I'm pleased. At least compared to those useless wastes of the Matou family, you still have some ambition..."
Even as he said that, when it came to summoning the White Dragon, he had never placed much hope in Matou Kariya from the start.
It was precisely because he had once been to ancient Britain, and because he had heard all kinds of stories about that demon dragon, that Matou Zouken knew very well that, with this descendant's 'capacity,' it was indeed very difficult to summon that dragon.
Because Matou Kariya was too weak.
Participating in the Holy Grail War, summoning a Servant, overdrawing his own life, everything Matou Kariya had done was driven by Matou Sakura and her birth mother, Tohsaka Aoi.
To save Matou Sakura, for another man's wife, he was willing to overdraw himself...
"Kind-hearted," "a strong sense of justice," or "simp" and "thinking with his lower body"... public opinion of this man was extremely polarized.
But in reality, that was simply the complexity of human nature.
Of course, Matou Zouken did not care in the slightest what reason this descendant had for participating in the Holy Grail War.
As far as he was concerned, so long as he could be used, that was enough.
However, this weakness of his might just become the biggest 'hidden card' in the Holy Grail War... Matou Zouken narrowed his eyes slightly, and spoke in a cold and sinister voice cold: "Kariya, I will give you a chance."
"Right now, during the Holy Grail War, Sakura more or less knows some things about the 'Grail'... If the ordinary citizens of Fuyuki were to learn of this, it would inevitably cause unnecessary trouble."
Matou Zouken slowly walked up from the stairway.
His steps were extremely slow and difficult, like those of a man on the verge of death, his life a candle flickering in the wind.
His back was hunched, yet his pair of dead-gray eyes silently watched his descendant, as he slowly said.
"After taking Sakura away, kill them."
Hearing his words, Matou Kariya's pupils widened sharply.
In the Fourth Holy Grail War, if every magus had some natural 'gift,' then Matou Kariya was, in the truest sense, an ordinary man.
Though born into the Matou family, because of his inherently kind nature, he had decisively severed ties with magecraft.
If not for Matou Sakura and her mother, Matou Kariya would never have returned to the Matou family.
To have him kill an ordinary family, in exchange for Sakura's safety...
There was no time for Matou Kariya to think, because in the next moment, Matou Zouken had already reached the doorway and knocked.
Then, leaning on his cane, the old man slowly backed away a few steps, speaking in a sinister tone. "Failing to summon the White Dragon is already your loss. If you fail again this time... you should know what will happen to Sakura, Kariya."
His words were calm, yet carried undisguised threat and coldness.
The Matou family did not have any proper bloodline left, so Matou Zouken placed his hopes on Matou Sakura.
But the Matou family's magecraft required first transforming Sakura's body, using crest worms to gnaw at her body as the price.
If he could obtain final victory in the Holy Grail War, then the transformation of Sakura's body with crest worms would be abandoned— this was the condition Matou Zouken promised Matou Kariya.
Of course, this honest man probably never imagined that, during his participation in the Holy Grail War, Sakura had already been placed into the worm storage, day and night enduring the gnawing of the crest worms, until finally falling into utter despair.
"So late at night, and there's still a guest visiting?"
Just as Matou Kariya was hesitating, someone inside had already opened the door, accompanied by a gentle voice of a boy.
He wore a black long robe, a hood covering most of his face, yet one could still faintly see his rather handsome features.
Under the hood, a pair of eyes as though dyed in ink quietly looked at him.
A 'child'...? Matou Kariya couldn't help but be stunned.
"Kariya, aren't you still moving yet?"
Behind him came Matou Zouken's old, impatient urging.
Matou Kariya's heart trembled slightly, the struggle on his face deepening.
Do I really have to strike at an ordinary person?
For Sakura and Aoi's happiness, was he willing to sacrifice others...?
But if he didn't move, Zouken would certainly not let Sakura go afterward...
Matou Zouken stood behind, silently watching the struggling face of Matou Kariya, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Looks like I still have to give him a push...
Thinking this, Matou Zouken raised his cane and lightly tapped the floor.
Behind Matou Kariya, a crest worm flapped its wings, quickly burrowing into the boy's body.
"Hesitating like this—, this will be the key reason for your defeat in the future Holy Grail War... Remember this lesson, Kariya." Matou Zouken spoke in a chilling tone.
The old man's sinister voice lingered constantly in the man's ear as Matou Kariya instinctively clutched his forehead, cold sweat covering his face.
He panted heavily, and after struggling for a long time, finally let out a low roar and swung his arm.
Countless crest worms behind him surged toward the boy at the door!
The dense swarm of crest worms was unspeakably terrifying and disgusting, surging like a tide, blotting out the sky as they flew at the boy.
Matou Zouken's face was just about to show a satisfied smile, but at that moment, he suddenly saw that the swarm of worms rushing at the boy had vanished in the next instant.
Matou Kariya instinctively widened his eyes, seemingly full of disbelief, murmuring: "What's going on..."
Matou Zouken's face sank.
"Kariya, are you trying to make a fool of me?"
"I'm not!" The latter blurted out, "Those worms clearly already burrowed into his body..."
Matou Zouken let out a cold snort. "Whether or not the Crest Worm is gnawing at his body, I can confirm that right now."
The very first Crest Worm he had just released was still inside this boy's body.
The blood flowing through the boy's veins, his bones, even his magical energy , the Crest Worm could dissect and devour them in an instant.
To try playing such little tricks in front of him, deliberately letting this boy leave… one could only say that his child had somewhat underestimated him.
Matou Zouken raised his cane and lightly tapped the floor.
In that instant, a Crest Worm flew out, beginning to dissect the boy's bodily structure.
Matou Kariya's expression tightened, frantically trying to signal the boy at the door with his eyes to run.
Buzz!
Just then, the Crest Worm scanning the boy's body was as if burned away completely by some high heat.
Immediately afterward, from behind came the old man's scream of pain.
Matou Kariya instinctively turned his head, seeing Matou Zouken clutching his forehead in agony.
The Crest Worms inside his body, as though sensing some threat, were frantically fleeing from his body in all directions.
What was going on…?
The ashen-gray pupils of Matou Kariya carried a trace of puzzlement; he still could not understand what had happened.
It had to be known that Matou Zouken's body could practically be said to be a union of "Crest Worms."
He was the hidden head of the Matou family, and when it came to manipulating worms, nowhere in all of Fuyuki could one find anyone to match him.
But now… these Crest Worms were actually fleeing wildly from Matou Zouken's body.
Just what was happening…?
Even as Matou Kariya's mind was still in disarray, a withered hand clamped tightly onto his shoulder.
Matou Zouken forced himself to suppress his inner turmoil, yet his voice still carried a faint tremor.
"Quick—quickly run… no, quickly give me your magical energy!"
The old man could feel it, when the Crest Worm burrowed into the boy's body, the other party had actually used that very Crest Worm as a medium to devour his magical energy!
If he didn't escape soon… he would definitely die!
Nearly five hundred years had passed without Matou Zouken's mentality wavering much, yet at this very moment, his heart surged with an intense fear and desire to live.
Matou Zouken's cane struck the ground, and it was as if something under the surface of Matou Kariya's skin squirmed.
Kariya's back arched like a shrimp, his hands clutching his abdomen in pain, as countless Crest Worms spilled out of his body, swiftly drilling into Matou Zouken's own.
At that moment, a dazzling golden light shone in the dim stairwell ahead.
"Excalibur——!!!"
"Saber!!!"