I Don't Want to Die → That Woman → I'm So... Pah, Satisfied.—By Makiri Zolgen

"Certainly, anyone would fear death when facing it. But I cannot agree with the twisted evil of someone like you, who, out of fear of your own death, has dragged countless others down with you."

"Answer me. Where exactly did you obtain this kind of power?"

Zouken paid no heed to Shinji's words. The urgency in his tone came solely from his desire to survive.

"And what price must be paid for such power?"

Shinji answered, "Didn't I already tell you? It's merely a power distinct from Magecraft, accumulated little by little in secret over the past ten years. As for the price, I probably paid it the moment I was born into this world. Say, Grandpa, you might not know this yet, but in a certain sense, I am the only special existence in this world—the Eternal Dreamless Sleeper. Having been robbed of one of humanity's basic functions—the ability to dream—perhaps the power I command is related to that."

"The Eternal Dreamless Sleeper..." Sakura's eyes widened, her pupils trembling slightly.

"Or rather, it might be more fitting to call me someone who eternally watches reality." Shinji turned back and smiled indifferently at Sakura. "Because there are no fantasies in my world."

Rider raised a question at that moment. "But you do not look like someone who has never slept."

Why are you talking so much? Can't you let me show off for once? Weren't you supposed to be the quiet type? Shinji grumbled inwardly.

"Ah, yes. My situation is a little special. My body and soul... no, my spirit can rest. It's just that I lack the human instinct to dream."

"If this continues, one day your mind will collapse as well, my grandson."

"No, it won't."

Shinji shook his head, his expression serious. "No matter what kind of reality I face, my mind will not collapse. Ten years, twenty years, a hundred years, or even longer—I will keep living while staring straight at reality. Unlike you, I will never pursue vain things. You pathetic, laughable, disgusting mages who keep trying to turn back the clock."

"You!"

"Wait. Don't rush to speak. This is already the final moment, and I still have questions for you. My father died because of you too, didn't he? I knew him. He hated Magecraft and had a weak tolerance for pressure, so perhaps he sometimes indulged himself, but there was no reason for him to do that. You... used Y-worms on him, didn't you? What was your purpose? Why exactly did you kill my father?"

"Hehe, so you noticed even that? As expected of a genius."

Zouken chuckled and replied unhurriedly, "Of course it was because you did not grow according to my expectations. Although some parts were as I had anticipated—you displayed an extremely strong obsession with Magecraft and possessed an abnormally twisted sense of pride—your attitude toward Sakura was always unsatisfactory. In my original plan, your jealousy and abuse would have become an important part of awakening Sakura's function as the Holy Grail. But... you never went that far."

Shinji stroked his chin and continued, "So you killed Father, intending to make me completely and passively become an unnecessary presence in this household. You toyed with the twisted pride I displayed, while the victim beneath that twisted pride was Sakura, who took my place as the Matou heir?"

Zouken praised him, "You truly are clever. But in the end, this old man still miscalculated one step. I never expected that for ten whole years, you had merely been acting for me. Your jealousy toward Sakura, your obsession with Magecraft, that twisted pride of yours—every bit of it was deliberately put on by you. In a sense, you truly are my grandson."

"This is the first time I've heard praise that made me unable to feel happy." Shinji let out a soft breath, his tone flat. "You know, Grandpa? Though I truly despise Magecraft from the bottom of my heart, there is one thing about mages that I can acknowledge. That is the thing called a Magic Crest. Parents leave it to their children, and those children leave it to the next generation. It is practically the continuation of a dream, passed down eternally from one generation to the next. I do not hate that kind of practice. I even think it is the only thing in Magecraft that I can acknowledge, the only thing that feels warm. But you completely abandoned all that. Dreams, long-cherished wishes—you selfishly kept them all in your own heart, unwilling to reveal them and unwilling to pass them on. Perhaps that way of thinking was the key to your gradual corruption. You corrupted your descendants, corrupted the world, and made them rot alongside you. Be a little more generous, damn it! Pass down your ideals like a real mage would! Aren't you a mage? Then do what a mage ought to do!"

"You certainly know how to talk." Zouken snorted softly.

"Ah, I've given up. I've already given up on making you recover your former ideals in this state."

As he spoke, Shinji released his right hand. At the same time, a miniature spirit-locking array covered in azure runes bound Zouken's true body in midair.

"Shinji! What are you doing?" Zouken, unable to move, sounded somewhat panicked.

"I once hoped that I could make you remember the ideals you had forgotten and have you take your own life without having to stain myself with your blood. But as expected, it cannot be done. In that case, let me, a true descendant of the Makiri bloodline, bring an end to your sins. I hope that in your final moment, you will remember your true long-cherished wish."

As he spoke, Shinji's right hand slowly clenched. At the same time, a trace of reluctance flashed across his face. No matter what, he truly did carry Makiri blood in his veins.

And besides... sixty thousand points were fucking going down the drain just like that!

"Stop... stop..."

Panic filled Zouken's voice. In the next moment, starting from its tail, Zouken's true body slowly turned into motes of light and vanished into the air.

"I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die." Zouken's voice grew increasingly frantic.

Yet Shinji showed no mercy. He continued controlling his mental power bit by bit, crushing Zouken's true body.

"Remember, Grandpa. Where did your desire to reach a miracle through the Holy Grail truly come from? What exactly was it for that you wished to strive, with a human body, toward a place no one else could reach?"

"I still don't want to die, I still don't want to die, I still don't want to die..."

"And where did this obsession with not wanting to die truly come from?"

As he spoke, a rolled-up painting appeared out of thin air in Shinji's left hand. Once unfurled, it revealed a breathtakingly beautiful woman with white hair and crimson eyes, dressed in the Dress of Heaven, vividly depicted across an ancient scroll!

"Grandpa, I found this too, in the corner of that dusty study."

As Zouken looked upon the woman in the painting—the Winter Saintess, Justicia Lizleihi von Einzbern—the memories he had long forgotten, or perhaps sealed away, gradually awakened.

Some Kaleidoscope: "To eradicate all evil, you need a miracle."

Some Tohsaka ancestor: "If this world is beyond saving, then as humans, we cannot separate ourselves from evil."

Makiri: "If the utopia lies somewhere beyond the reach of human intellect..."

Justicia: "Then we must pursue a new form that transcends humanity."

Three idiots: "That's right! To restrain all the evil in the world, we are willing to stake our lives on this wish!"

The memories ended. Zouken, now reduced to half a worm's head, spoke again with a hint of relief. "It has been more than five hundred years. Looking back, that long-cherished wish lasted no more than the blink of an eye..."

As he spoke, Zouken recalled what Shinji had just said: "Be a little more generous, damn it! Pass down your ideals like a real mage would!" He laughed soundlessly.

"Hehe, you are right. It seems this old man has been far too selfish. Shinji, I will leave what comes next to you. As you said, pass it on. I am counting on you—my outstanding grandson, so incredible that it is hard to believe, who saw through everything relying only on himself. And... I'm sorry. Sakura too..."

As his voice fell, Zouken completely disappeared into the air, along with his already decayed soul...