Judging the Enemy's Movements Through Their Chest

Shinji watched as countless worms and the pocket dimension Zouken had set up in the magecraft workshop instantly swallowed him, and Sakura hurriedly cried out.

"Brother! Grandfather!"

"Rest assured, my grandson. I shall claim all your secrets—for the sake of my long-cherished wish..."

"Really? If it truly is for the sake of your long-cherished wish, I wouldn't mind helping you, but..."

Shinji's voice emerged from that dark, twisted pocket dimension. At the same time, a soundless shockwave shattered the entire space!

Countless savage worms were crushed into dust! Zouken included!

Meanwhile, Shinji stood there as if nothing had happened.

"It seems you've even forgotten your own true wish."

"Hahaha, it's useless. They're only worms. I can have as many as I want."

Zouken's voice echoed throughout the basement. Immediately afterward, densely packed worms crawled out from every corner with soft rustling sounds, swiftly forming Zouken a new body.

Standing atop countless worms, Zouken wore a strange smile.

"Is that so?" Shinji looked thoroughly unconcerned as he calmly reached his right hand into his pocket.

But...

Splat!

Shinji lowered his head and stared blankly at the short blade that had pierced through his chest from behind.

"N-No, it wasn't me, I didn't..."

Sakura, who had snatched the chained short sword from Rider's hand in that instant and stabbed it into Shinji from behind, widened her eyes and desperately tried to explain.

"Hehehe. If you thought I was your only enemy, then you were far too naive, Shinji. My grandson, who bore no killing intent toward Sakura and paid her no excessive attention—you let your guard down."

"Brother, it wasn't me..." Sakura's eyes remained wide as tears gradually gathered, eventually streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks.

"Honestly," Shinji said with a helpless scratch of his head, "as expected of a magecraft practitioner who has lived for five hundred years. Even in such an urgent situation, you can stay calm enough to pull off a scheme like this. That really was unexpected. Though whether it actually works is another matter."

As he spoke, Shinji took two steps forward, and the blade in Sakura's hand slowly slid out as well.

Watching blood trail from the withdrawn blade, Sakura felt her entire world slowly crumble apart.

What an unexpected delight! What an unexpected delight!

Sensing the shift in Sakura's state of mind, Zouken was beside himself with excitement. Who would have thought that his own grandson would be the catalyst to intensify Sakura's functions as the Lesser Grail?

"Sakura. Hey, calm down." With his back still turned, Shinji spoke without looking back. "Don't underestimate your brother. An attack like that doesn't even hurt me."

At that moment, Sakura noticed something. The wound on her brother's body was slowly healing!

"And don't blame yourself. That was only because Grandfather planted a suggestion in you. That action was never what you truly wanted."

"Brother..." Sakura murmured. It was the first time her brother had ever treated her so gently.

"You can even regenerate. Shinji, you've hidden yourself quite well."

"Grandfather, I don't bear any killing intent toward you either. Didn't I say so? I only want to grant you salvation."

With that, Shinji started walking toward Zouken step by step.

With every step he took, some of the worms in the Worm Pit were turned to dust by the soundless shockwaves produced beneath his feet.

As Shinji's unhurried steps continued, the number of worms in the Worm Pit plummeted at a visible rate.

Sensing that things were going badly, Zouken hurriedly shouted, "Sakura! Use a Command Spell! Have Rider stop your brother!"

At his words, Shinji stopped and turned back, looking at the bewildered Sakura with a trace of heartache.

Sakura still had no idea what was going on. Why was her brother attacking Grandfather? Where had he gotten such power? Her grandfather was actually the originator of the Matou Family—Makiri Zolgen. There were simply too many questions...

Just as Sakura was overwhelmed by all those questions and unable to think clearly, Shinji's gentle voice brought her back to herself.

"Calm down, Sakura. I'll answer those questions after this is over."

"Brother..."

Zouken seemed to grow impatient and directly roared, "Sakura! Do—"

But this time, Shinji truly made his move.

Thudthudthudthud!

Clangclangclangclang!

Countless sword phantoms appeared out of thin air with almost no interval between them, instantly flying before Zouken and piercing through him! They nailed him firmly to the wall!

"Th-This is..."

Looking at the countless faintly glowing sword phantoms that had pierced his body and pinned him against the wall, Zouken's first thought was that they resembled the technique of a certain former Heroic Spirit who should now be called a blond civilian.

But upon sensing the unfamiliar power radiating from those sword phantoms, he instantly realized that this power was not magecraft! Nor was it magic!

"A barrier capable of binding the soul, and swords materialized from the third element—spirit—capable of restraining this old man's body... Just what is your power..."

"Have you remembered?" Shinji softly interrupted Zouken.

"What?"

"Your long-cherished wish."

"My long-cherished wish is merely immortality. And my experience tells me that you can help me achieve it. I promise you, as long as you help me do it, I can agree to any condition."

"Ha." Shinji held his forehead and sighed softly, muttering under his breath, Honestly, does it really have to come to the final step? Do you truly not remember your original wish until the very end? The mission was only supposed to be salvation...

As he spoke, Shinji raised his head and looked at Zouken with clear eyes. "I'm sorry, Grandfather, but you're wrong. I cannot help you fulfill that twisted wish. With your soul already corroded and even incomplete, there is nothing I can do. And since you truly cannot remember, then I can only..."

Shinji raised his right hand and casually brought it down. The sword phantoms pinning Zouken in place flared brilliantly, and amid the blinding light, Zouken turned to dust and vanished...

Vanishing along with Zouken were the remaining worms in the Worm Pit, all of which had been crushed into dust at the same time by the force erupting around Shinji.

"Finally, it's time to bring this to an end."

Shinji turned around and looked at Sakura, whose face was filled with disbelief.

Her brother had just...

Sakura did not know how to describe how she felt. For the first time in ten years, all sorts of complex emotions had arisen within her, tangled together beyond words.

Seeing Shinji approach step by step, Rider moved without hesitation to stand before Sakura. Even though she did not understand the situation, she could not rule out the possibility that the man before her posed a threat to her Master.

"Calm down. If I wanted to harm Sakura, I would have acted from the very beginning. Stop adding to her burden, little sister of the three sisters who live on the Invisible Island in the far west."

"You... know my true identity..."

"The blindfold, along with the snake-shaped tattoo on your forehead. Your identity isn't hard to guess." Shinji drew closer and closer. "Wait. You don't need to take off the blindfold. Leaving aside the fact that your Petrifying Mystic Eyes won't work on me, even if they did, I could avoid looking at them completely and judge your movements through the rest of your body before counterattacking."

Rider:...

So from the very beginning, when you faced me, you kept staring at my chest? You judged my movements through my chest?

Leaving aside whether that was rude, wasn't that a little imprecise?

Looking at my feet or hands would be more precise, right? Why did it have to be there?

Then again, how exactly can you judge my movements through my chest?

Resonance?

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