I, Matou Sakura, Third of the Flame-Chasers! Chapter 3

Matou Sakura frowned slightly, somewhat dissatisfied with her current body.

Though it did not affect her combat ability, she only needed to make

a few minor adjustments, but it was still a nuisance.

Forget it. She did not want to change bodies again, especially now that she had already fused with the Kryptonian Bloodline.

Changing her body again under these circumstances would be downright insane!

It did not matter if she was not used to it. She would get used to it!

In the Flame-Chasers, the first thing she had learned was to make herself adapt to things she was not accustomed to!

Night had fallen, and Matou Sakura stepped out of a Clothing Store.

Divine Sound could do more than stimulate the brain and body; it also had a certain hypnotic effect.

Though she was not particularly skilled in that area, with her now-evolved brain, completely hypnotizing an ordinary person was no problem.

A brand-new outfit, a simple style—everything was for the sake of fighting better.

Still, this body had an excellent foundation. Even such a simple style looked beautiful on it.

Though she did not care much about clothing, Eden had been around in the Flame-Chasers. After spending so much time with her and wearing so many clothes she had prepared, it was inevitable that she would pay some attention to it.

Come to think of it, Eden had made more clothes for her than for anyone else in the Flame-Chasers. Others had, at most, two or three sets: one set of everyday clothes suitable for battle, along with two daily outfits.

But those people had never worn their daily clothes at all. Outfits suitable for both combat and everyday use had instead become standard, while she was probably the one in the Flame-Chasers who changed clothes most often.

If Eden saw her now, she would probably enthusiastically design brand-new clothes for her.

Thinking of that woman... even she could not help feeling a touch of bitterness in her heart.

Eden had probably vanished along with the era that belonged to her, just as she had said. She belonged to that era and should have perished with it.

Elysia had said the same. Even Mobius had said something similar.

Eden was a reflection of that era's brilliant civilization. She belonged to that era, and because of her existence, that era had bloomed with golden radiance.

"Eden..."

She softly murmured the name. Her relationship with Eden was like that of an older sister and younger sister. It was nothing unusual; Eden had such a relationship with most people.

She was simply a warm and kind Big sister.

Still, sisterly relationships were relatively uncommon. Most Fusion Warriors were women, while powerful warriors like Kevin and Kalpas were anomalies among the male-to-female ratio of Fusion Warriors.

She was the same.

As for Su...

Elysia had come up with that ratio, and at the time, she had not known which side Su should be placed on.

And after she accidentally discovered another Su while observing other worlds, she became even more conflicted over it.

Her gaze turned toward the night. Though the sun no longer hung high in the sky, Solar Energy still drifted through the air, merely far thinner than it was during the day.

Her body continued absorbing the Solar Energy drifting through the air. This time, she did not activate Divine Sound. Such a small amount did not require it, and the previous high-intensity use of Divine Sound had already allowed this new body to adapt to and record the way it operated after Divine Sound stimulated its brain and body.

Even without actively using Divine Sound, because of its own memory, her body would operate in a state inclined toward using Divine Sound, accelerating its absorption of Solar Energy.

Still, it had to be said—the Kryptonian Bloodline was simply a bug.

Though she had not yet returned to her peak, she already possessed half the strength she had just after becoming a Fusion Warrior. Combined with the abilities gained from the Kryptonian Bloodline's absorption of Solar Energy, her current power was enough to resolve most matters in this world.

Drawing her gaze back from the night sky, Matou Sakura changed direction and headed toward the Matou Family at a speed beyond that of ordinary people.

She moved swiftly, yet no one noticed anything unusual. They merely felt a gust of wind blow past them.

Controlling one's strength and avoiding unnecessary destruction was something every Fusion Warrior had to learn.

She and Kalpas were especially outstanding in that regard.

She had learned how to control her power, but Kalpas had not.

He rejected that approach and had no need for it. Yet in the end, to be safe, a commandment had been placed upon him. For certain reasons, she had broken that commandment and become the only Fusion Warrior completely unaffected by it.

That had also led to her being targeted to a certain extent afterward.

But all that was in the past now. One day, she would return to that world and drive Honkai away completely!

The cold night wind swept around the silent Matou Manor. Inside the estate, the old man sat gripping his cane, his eyes closed as though deep in thought. Then he suddenly opened them, and those black eyes reeking of decay seemed to burn with raging flames! "You dare come back!!!"

Four, King of Wrath

The Matou Family of old was now a blazing ruin.

Matou Sakura looked at the old man before her, who was already at death's door, and said nothing.

Crimson light gathered in her eyes, and Heat Vision erupted once more.

Accompanied by Old Worm's shrill screams, the decayed creature finally received the release known as death.

Her slightly hurried breathing gradually calmed until it was nearly silent.

As expected of an Old Worm who had lived for five hundred years—he truly had no shortage of tricks.

If she had not quickly found the Life Worm and forced him into a direct confrontation, things would have become troublesome.

It was probably on the scale of destroying three to six houses.

It wasn't just the Matou Family that had been destroyed. Two nearby houses were also engulfed in raging flames.

Though the temperature of Heat Vision had not yet reached Clark's level—let alone the flames in Kalpas's hands—it was more than enough to set houses ablaze.

Especially since the houses in this country were all made of wood.

It was time to go.

She tore away the tattered fabric on her right arm. The wound there had already healed completely, leaving her skin snow-white and utterly untouched by the battle.

After taking a deep breath, Sakura's body shot straight into the sky, soaring into the night.

Superman's signature move—flight!

By the following morning, news of the Matou Family's destruction by fire had spread throughout Fuyuki City.

The official explanation was that terrorists had attacked the Matou Family, accidentally rupturing the Gas Pipeline beneath the estate and setting it ablaze. The resulting explosion had also affected nearby houses.

Those houses had been unoccupied at the time, so fortunately there were no casualties. The Matou Family, where the fire had originated, had not been so lucky.

The entire house had been reduced to ruins. Everyone registered as belonging to the Matou Family was missing, suspected to have perished in the flames, and the blaze had been so fierce that not even bodies remained.

But the terrorist attack story was only for public consumption. It was an altered account.

At that moment, at the Tohsaka Family residence, its head, Tohsaka Tokiomi, gracefully saw off the Fuyuki City police officers who had come to question him.

The day before the Matou Family fire, Tohsaka Tokiomi, as head of the Tohsaka Family, had adopted his second daughter, Tohsaka Sakura, into the Matou Family. Even if the Tohsaka Family had not caused the fire, that connection meant they still had to be investigated.

Once the officers who had come to investigate were gone, Tohsaka Tokiomi's elegance immediately vanished. His expression darkened as he walked over to the sofa in the living room.

Tohsaka Tokiomi folded his hands beneath his chin and grimly contemplated the matter of the Matou Family.

What exactly had happened?

Everything had come too suddenly. There had been no way to foresee it.

After learning that the Matou Family had been burned down, he had used his network of connections to obtain more detailed information about the fire. The result was that no one from the Matou Family appeared to have survived, and every item had been destroyed in the blaze.

Was that really the case?

Tohsaka Tokiomi thought of the Matou Family's head, Matou Zouken.

He found it hard to believe that such a powerful elder Magician had simply died in a fire.

Yet according to the police investigation, no one from the Matou Family had been seen after taking Sakura away. Although there were gaps in the timeline, the police's conclusion was that everyone in the Matou Family had died in that fire.

"Tokiomi."

Her gentle voice carried unmistakable sorrow. Tohsaka Aoi, Tohsaka Tokiomi's wife, emerged with a grief-stricken expression.

Tohsaka Tokiomi knew what she wanted to say, but at present, he knew nothing beyond the news of the deaths.

Tell her that Sakura might already be dead?

Impossible. Who knew what might happen if he said it aloud?

Besides, he did not believe Aoi had failed to consider that possibility herself.

In the end, Tohsaka Tokiomi chose to answer with silence.

Seeing that Tohsaka Tokiomi gave no reply and looked utterly dejected, how could Tohsaka Aoi not understand the answer?

She covered her mouth and wept soundlessly.

Neither Tohsaka Aoi nor Tohsaka Tokiomi noticed that their other daughter, Tohsaka Rin, was hiding around the stairway corner, her fists clenched tight.

Sakura...

At that moment, Matou Sakura was no longer in Fuyuki City. She had boarded a train bound for Misaki City.

In this city known as Misaki City, a story called Mahoutsukai no Yoru was about to unfold.

She sat on the train. The carriage was spacious and nearly empty.

A young girl traveling alone naturally drew quite a few looks, but she used Divine Sound to make everyone ignore her presence.

Perhaps she should find time to learn how Clark concealed his identity.

Sitting in her seat, she looked out the window.

The rapidly retreating scenery was all perfectly clear to her.

She appeared to be looking outside, but in truth, she was looking at the system.

A virtual screen visible only to her appeared before her.

Two blood-red characters in the center were especially conspicuous.

Debtor.

The word referred to the system.

And she was the one in debt.

To repay it, she needed to find things in this world that possessed a certain degree of value for the system, such as the Holy Grail from the Holy Grail War, the Magic pursued by countless Magicians, or the Root.

According to the price list provided by the system, the Holy Grail could repay ten percent of her debt, while she owed the system a total of sixty percent.

So the human nature she had given up at the beginning really had been worth quite a lot.

A single Holy Grail was worth ten percent, while her human nature accounted for forty percent—equivalent to four Holy Grails—whereas even a single spell was only worth twenty percent.

She had no idea how the system calculated it.

Still, this deal was very valuable to her.

After all, she had activated the system and obtained the bloodline of the Kryptonians.

The value of Kryptonian Bloodline went without saying; it far surpassed the so-called Root.

With a thought, the virtual screen before her shifted and turned into a quest list, packed with missions.

This system had a distinctive feature: most of the missions in the quest list did not need to be completed compulsorily.

Other than a few necessary missions, whether she chose to do the rest was entirely up to her.

Complete them and receive rewards; ignore them and get nothing. It was that simple.

The rewards for such missions were all the same: one lottery chance.

These lottery chances could draw items, talents, characters, and more from different worlds. It all depended on luck, and there was also a special pity system.

That was, the system's lottery would never give out useless junk meant to disgust her, like toothbrushes or towels.

The rewards for mandatory missions were slightly better, with a higher chance of drawing good items. Their name was also simple and straightforward: Advanced Lottery.

There were currently only two mandatory missions, one of which had already been completed.

Mission One: Revenge Must Be Taken!

Mission Objective: Defeat, kill, or subdue the Herrscher of End.