Matou Residence
At this moment, the entire Matou estate had become a world sealed in ice.
Even a fly could not escape.
The worms that had scattered in panic were frozen mid-motion, each one lifelike within the crystal.
Just like the figure standing before Leon—
Matou Zouken.
"Kariya, what are you doing?!"
Frozen into an ice sculpture and unable to move—yet still able to speak—Zouken shouted in terror.
"I'm sorry," Matou Kariya said, taking two steps toward Leon and Sakura, who sat on Leon's thigh like a doll.
"For Sakura's sake… it would be better if a vampire like you simply died."
"I'll use the power you gave me to do it."
Once he had gained the power of a Servant, the father he had once feared and resented now seemed like nothing more than prey waiting to be slaughtered.
What bitter irony.
"You fool!"
"I'm your father!"
"For the sake of another man's wife and daughter, you're really going to turn against me?!"
"Do you actually think killing me will free Sakura, return everything to the way it was, and make Aoi Tohsaka abandon Tohsaka Tokiomi and fall into your arms?!"
"Stop dreaming!"
"You'll regret this, Kariya!"
"Shut up!"
"I said shut up!"
Kariya swung his fist in fury and struck Zouken's frozen statue.
The ice shattered—
and with a sharp crack, Kariya's own right hand broke as well.
Snap.
Leon casually snapped his fingers.
The massive ice crystal filling their vision shattered instantly.
The frozen worms and ice alike dissolved into countless glittering particles, drifting through the air like a nearby silver galaxy.
Yet strangely—
the Matou mansion itself remained completely intact, unaffected by the destruction.
"Uncle Kariya… does it hurt?"
Sitting on Leon's thigh, Sakura asked in a flat tone.
"It doesn't."
"Sakura… you won't have to let those worms do those things to you ever again."
Kariya forced a bitter smile.
He could clearly feel that his body was like a water tank with a hole in the bottom—his life was draining away.
That was why he had rushed to kill Matou Zouken while he was still alive, and while Leon was still present.
"He's not dead yet," Leon suddenly said.
"All the worms in this mansion are his incarnations."
"If you don't destroy every single one… he'll eventually come back."
"I figured as much…"
Kariya wasn't surprised.
After all, if a five-hundred-year-old parasite like Zouken could be killed that easily, that would have been the truly abnormal outcome.
But—
The Crest Worms Zouken had implanted into him were connected directly to his life.
If they were completely destroyed—
Kariya would die instantly.
And yet—
I can't die yet.
There's still one thing I must do.
With that thought in mind, Matou Kariya made a deal with Leon.
Though Leon didn't actually need anything in return—he could take whatever he wanted.
Still…
There was a certain satisfaction in someone thanking you even while you were ruining them.
"Here."
Leon pulled a jet-black sword from his shadow and tossed it to Kariya.
For a moment—
the seal placed by the All-Father loosened.
The cursed blade resonated perfectly with a soul driven by vengeance.
Kariya's heart contained nearly every one of the Seven Deadly Sins:
Rage toward his own weaknessEnvy of others' happiness and strengthGreed for another man's wife and daughterSloth born from accepting realityPrideful desire to become someone else's heroThe hidden lust lurking in every man
A mortal burdened with such sins—
under the fuel of hatred—
was easily consumed by the sword's curse.
Only one obsession remained in his heart:
"This is all Tokiomi's fault!"
Leon even crafted a set of jet-black Vibranium plate armor for him.
The design was modeled almost exactly after Berserker Lancelot's armor.
Combined with the Ebony Blade's physical enhancement and its blood-thirsty curse—
Kariya was transformed into something far more savage than a Berserker.
Looking at the monstrous humanoid he had just created—
Leon couldn't help but laugh in amusement.
"TO—KI—O—MI!!!!"
Twisted posture.
Savage growling.
The gentle man Sakura once knew had completely vanished.
In his place stood a howling monster.
For the first time in a long while—
a faint ripple of emotion appeared in Sakura's otherwise empty eyes.
She trembled.
Then buried her face into Leon's chest.
With Zouken "dead" and Kariya now insane, the only person who had shown her any kindness—
was this handsome stranger.
And so—
driven by pure survival instinct—
the drowning girl clutched desperately at the rope extended to her.
Whether it led to salvation or ruin no longer mattered.
Heaven or Hell—
Sakura had long since lost the right to choose.
Only one thing remained.
The fate that had chosen her.
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