"The Command Seals are yours now, so you should give Sakura back to me," Kariya said, his body already in terrible shape, with insects crawling under his skin.
"Give her back? With the way you look now?" Waver replied coldly.
"I can still take care of her like this!" Kariya shouted angrily. "King of Conquerors! You can't go back on your word!"
"Forget it. Take care of yourself first. How long do you think you can live like this?"
Just then, Kariya suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, mixed with squirming worms. The sight made both Waver and Tia frown.
Tia had kept quiet this whole time because she was wary of Zouken's tricks.
"See? You're barely hanging on," Alexander the Great said, his eyes serious.
"No! Even without a Servant I can still live a long time! At least long enough to raise Sakura…" Kariya forced himself to sound strong.
"Stop kidding yourself. If you don't get rid of those worms, you won't live much longer," Tia said impatiently. "And don't forget who gave you those worms. Do you see any of them dying?"
"What?" Matou Kariya froze, then quickly turned to look at Zouken's crushed body nearby. "Zouken! You're still alive!"
At that moment, Zouken's body broke apart into swarms of insects and vanished.
"Well now, little one, I don't know who you really are, but I didn't expect you to know my secret. Not bad. Tell me, the news that Berserker is actually Lancelot—that didn't come from you, did it? I remember seeing a strange child at the warehouse last night. Thinking about it now, your sudden appearance there was already suspicious," Zouken's voice echoed from all directions.
Tia frowned, leaned close to Waver's ear, and whispered, "Teacher, can you take out someone's heart and put it back in?"
"What? Of course not! Probably only the priests at the Holy Church could do that," Waver replied, shocked at Tia's question.
"Good. Then let's head to the Holy Church! Hurry, King!" Tia ordered sharply. There were probably other ways to solve Sakura's problem with Zouken, but at that moment none came to mind. Tia wasn't a genius, just someone who knew the story ahead of time.
"Oh?" Alexander the Great raised his brows. "I don't know what goes on in your little head, but… fine, I'll take you there! Hyah!"
With a loud cry, Alexander whipped the ox-cart forward. It smashed through the house and soared toward the Holy Church, leaving Kariya and the unseen Zouken behind.
Riding on the flying ox-cart, Tia looked toward the direction of Einzbern Castle. "Over there, Kiritsugu Emiya and Kayneth should be fighting tonight. Diarmuid and King Arthur are holding back Gilles de Rais outside the castle, but Kiritsugu nearly killed Kayneth. Diarmuid had to leave Arthur and rush back to save him. But I wonder how it's going now. Without Gilles causing trouble, could Kiritsugu actually finish Kayneth off?"
"No way! There's no chance Kiritsugu could beat my teacher!" Waver protested at once.
"Don't be so sure. Kiritsugu's a killer. He doesn't fight head-on. He hunts from the shadows, and he's especially skilled at assassinating arrogant magi. With Kayneth's pride, he doesn't stand a chance against someone like Kiritsugu," Tia said with a smirk.
"No! Rider! Forget the Holy Church, we need to head to Einzbern Castle now!" Waver still worried about Kayneth.
Tia rolled her eyes. "Going to the Holy Church is more important. That battle won't end anytime soon, but here we can't waste even a second."
By now, the Holy Church was already in sight. At the ox-cart's speed, they arrived quickly. At the gate stood Kotomine Risei, the overseer of the Holy Grail War.
"So it's King of Conquerors, Alexander the Great, and his Master, Waver Velvet? And this child is also a Master? Berserker's Master, perhaps?" Risei instantly recognized Tia's role.
"Father! Please save her! Pull out the core worm Zouken planted in her heart! Otherwise that old bug will take over Sakura's body and be reborn through her! She's the daughter of Tokiomi Tohsaka, sent to the Matou family only as an adoption!" Tia cried out, clutching Sakura in her arms.
"What?" All three men were stunned, especially Risei, who looked completely shocked.
And just then, Sakura's expression twisted in pain.
"Zouken is trying to take over her body!" Risei shouted. "Damn it! Tokiomi gave his daughter to you so she could be raised into a fine magus, not to be ruined like this! And the proud Matou family, one of the Three Great Families of the Holy Grail War, has fallen this low? Turning yourself into worms and trying to steal a little girl's body? Do you actually want to live forever? Has the Matou family fallen so far?"
Risei roared, stepped forward, and grabbed Sakura's body, immediately beginning his work.
Inside the church, Kotomine Kirei witnessed it all. He turned and quickly contacted Tokiomi. Originally, Kirei had planned to attack Kiritsugu at Einzbern Castle tonight, but after seeing this, he changed course.
When Tokiomi received Kirei's message through the magical communicator at his home, his face darkened instantly. He rushed out toward the Holy Church without delay.
And Gilgamesh, having spotted Alexander's ox-cart long before, had also come over to watch the show.
At this moment, Diarmuid told Kayneth that he had just seen Alexander the Great's chariot charging toward the Holy Church. That caught Kayneth's interest, so he gave up on his plan to go after Emiya Kiritsugu for now and went to the Holy Church to watch instead.
After all, Kiritsugu had attacked him the night before, so tonight Kayneth had planned to get even.
Kotomine Kirei, however, had already set his eyes on Emiya Kiritsugu as his main target. He knew for sure that Kayneth would try to attack Kiritsugu tonight, and he intended to use that chance to get rid of him.
For a moment, the attention of all the Masters in the Fourth War was gathered at the Holy Church.
(End of The Chapter)