—Was it her own hallucination?
Because of everything that had happened, had she gone mad?
"...For the first three days, she cried terribly. But from the fourth day onward, she did not make a sound at all. At dawn today, I threw her into the Insect Cage to see how long she could survive. I did not expect her to still be breathing now... Hmm?"
Matou Zouken looked at Matou Sakura, who was at the lowest level of the basement.
Matou Sakura was a daughter adopted from the Tohsaka Family. Because she possessed an Imaginary Number attribute, she was exceptionally valuable in magecraft.
To protect his daughter, Tohsaka Tokiomi had adopted her out to Matou Zouken.
But Tohsaka Tokiomi had not known that Matou Zouken's magecraft was so cruel.
At that moment, the swarm of insects was transforming Matou Sakura, changing her attributes into the Water Attribute better suited to the Matou Family.
The person who had come with Matou Zouken was Matou Kariya, a "friend" of Matou Sakura's mother. For Matou Sakura's sake, he wanted to take the other man's place and seize the Holy Grail.
Matou Zouken had brought him here precisely to watch this fine show.
Seeing Matou Kariya's furious expression, Matou Zouken felt delight.
That feeling was simply wonderful.
But at that moment, Matou Zouken saw a kind of holy mark appearing on her hand.
Only after making Matou Kariya leave did Matou Zouken return here.
"...Command Spells. They appeared a year early..."
He checked again.
What had appeared on Matou Sakura's hand were indeed Command Spells.
They were proof of a Master.
"Hehe, hehehehe." Matou Zouken had not held any hopes for this Holy Grail War. His target had been the Fifth Holy Grail War.
But now, things were somewhat different.
"If I can control