The Next Day / The Entrance

"You..."

Upon seeing her changed appearance, Kariya was initially taken aback, but then immediately relaxed.

Sakura was leaning against the seat next to her, her eyes closed, seemingly asleep.

However, Kariya's condition was not quite right at the moment; it seemed that not all of the worms that the Old Worm had implanted in him had died. He was somewhat weak and appeared to be enduring unimaginable pain.

"I just went out and had a fight with Lancer." Kurotama sat down, put down the Yatsufusa, and poured herself a glass of wine.

After drinking it all in one gulp, she was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly said to Kariya, "Could you go buy me some Karaku and potato chips?"

Kariya was taken aback, not expecting her to make this request so suddenly. But then he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go now."

I'm really... happy.

Yes, Matou Kariya had never felt so close to success.

The Old Worm died, and he felt no sadness, only a sense that his efforts had finally paid off.

Arriving at the store, Kariya bought a large bag of snacks for Kurotama. After returning to the house, he discovered that the Heroic Spirit girl was talking to Sakura, who had just woken up.

"Is that so? Uncle Kariya endured all of that for my sake."

"Um!"

There's no need to deny it; Kurotama still has a very good impression of this Master.

As for Sakura, I felt more pity than anything else.

"Did you buy the potato chips? Hmm... so many? Let's all eat together." Kurotama revealed her snow-white teeth, and her slightly wicked smile made Kariya momentarily lose his composure.

Such a beautiful girl made him involuntarily think of Aoi.

However, the girl in front of him truly possessed an innate charm. If he hadn't fallen in love with Aoi, he might have fallen for her at first sight.

"Well, speaking of which, you don't know me very well, do you?" After taking a sip of Karaku, Kurotama pointed to herself and said, "You can call me Kurotama, and the red-haired twin-tailed one before was called Shikoku Danki. They are different versions of me."

After she finished speaking, she reached out and grabbed Yatsufusa next to her, lifting him up. "In addition, my Noble Phantasm cannot be touched casually. It has a life of its own and will automatically devour anyone except me."

"I'll be careful," Kariya nodded immediately.

"That's great."

With a wave of his hand, Kurotama summoned Hassan of the Hundred Faces, who bowed and immediately jumped out of the house.

"My Noble Phantasm, March of the Dead, can control the opponents I kill and make them unleash their full power from their previous lives. The one just now was the Assassin's personality that I dealt with casually. As far as I know, the Assassin in this Holy Grail War is the Hundred Faces, possessing many bodies with different personalities."

Listening to Kurotama's nonchalant words, Kariya roughly understood just how powerful the Berserker in front of him was.

The slender girl, with her legs together, ate potato chips like a child. Seeing Sakura's smile at that moment, Kariya finally showed a genuine smile on his face.

This is probably the image he has always been pursuing.

Chapter 289 The Second Day

Sakura woke up.

Awakened by the noise from the scene, Kariya happily walked over and asked, "Sakura, how are you?"

"It's alright." Sakura rubbed her eyes.

At this moment, Sakura, who is only six or seven years old, does not yet understand what Kariya has done for her. Since she spends most of her time at the Matou Household and occasionally enters the insect horde, the first thing she should abide by is "not to disobey Grandpa Matou."

Terrifying insects, unimaginable suffering.

The consequences of disobeying the Zouken are severe, and I imagine Uncle Kariya will be no exception.

But just now, before going to sleep, this girl named Kurotama told him that Kariya had willingly endured even more intense pain for his sake.

Yes, it was all for her.

Uncle Kariya didn't become like this because he rebelled against Grandpa; rather, he voluntarily took on everything in Sakura's place.

At that moment, seeing Kariya take the initiative to hug Sakura, Kurotama calmly picked up a sausage and stuffed it into his mouth.

After finishing her meal, she said calmly, "I'm going to do something."

"?" The two of them turned to look at her at the same time.

"If something happens to Tohsaka Tokiomi, I will put a huge pot on his tombstone, a really, really big one."

"..."

It was said in a vulgar tone, but anyway, it was all the fault of the Tokiomi, and this was the best way to prove him wrong.

Kariya listened to Kurotama's words in a daze, completely unsure of what to say in response.

Having spent several hours in the living room, Kariya felt a rare sense of relaxation. Because the old man wasn't there, the Matou Household's house seemed to have lost its dark and gloomy atmosphere.

Kurotama gives off the vibe of a girl next door. If he didn't know that she easily killed the Assassin, and if he didn't know that she was a legendary Heroic Spirit, he would definitely be deceived by her demeanor.

As night fell, Kariya went to the Old Worm's study and began to browse through the books.

"The ability to teleport instantly allows one to change from one form to another; the Noble Phantasm is a Japanese sword."

The Old Worm lived for five hundred years, had a rich collection of books, and recorded a great deal of research results.

In fact, when Kariya touched some books related to Magecraft, he suffered a dangerous backlash. Insects suddenly burst out of one of the notebooks, but fortunately, he reacted quickly and killed them with his meager Magecraft abilities.

"Who exactly is she? Did anyone in history dress so revealingly?"

Shikoku Danki's outfit is really too... unbelievable.

Excluding the outer garment, the outfit is about as revealing as a three-piece bikini. The chest is even wrapped with strips of cloth; walking down the street dressed like that, people would definitely point and stare.

After transforming into Kurotama, her black Sailor Uniform became very modern; it's hard to imagine that people in ancient times would wear such clothes.

After searching for a while, he still couldn't find such a person in the records.

But... Matou Zouken had actually made preparations for this summons long ago.

"Berserker... Lanstrom, impossible."

It couldn't possibly be that girl.

There are no records for either the Shikoku Danki or Kurotama.

What surprised him most was that berserkers typically consumed an absurd amount of magic power, but this heroic Heroic Spirit hardly used any of his magic power at all. Even at the height of the battle, she relied entirely on herself.

After working late into the Kariya was feeling a bit exhausted, so she went back to her room and lay down to rest.

The following day, Hassan, whom the March of the Dead had been controlling, returned.

The events of last night have been confirmed: one of Hassan of the Hundred Faces's personalities was killed by Archer in public.

Archer is the strongest being in this Holy Grail War, and is the oldest King of Heroes of mankind summoned by Tohsaka Tokiomi — Gilgamesh.

This scene proved the terrifying power of the King of Heroes to all participants in the Holy Grail War, and of course, it also left the Master and Servant with the illusion that Assassin was out of the game.

"Master, in the upcoming battle, I will use my clones to protect you and help you hide."

Unsure of how Kariya's accident would affect her, Kurotama decided to protect him.

Upon hearing this, Kariya quickly focused his attention on a particular word.

"A clone?"

"Um."

The next instant, Yukino appeared on the scene.

For convenience, she planned to have Yukino cover her main body. This way, even if attacked, she could instantly change her appearance.

Unless absolutely necessary, there's really no need to use X. The purpose of coming to this world is different from before. Let's enjoy the battle while trying our best to keep the Servant alive.

Diarmuid and Artoria are very good opponents.

As for the others, they couldn't find the thrill of swords clashing.

"This is..."

Faced with yet another girl with long, straight black hair and a completely different aura, Kariya was bewildered once again.

"Yukino Yukinoshita, apart from being a little stronger, is not much different from an ordinary person." Kurotama shrugged.

Currently, Yukino's pure arm muscle strength is 30 tons, and a full-power punch can instantly exceed 100 tons. Her leg strength even surpasses that of her arms.

The terrifying power—how to put it—the pressure of a casual punch he threw was actually more powerful than a large truck crashing into him. After all, all the force was concentrated in his small arm.

After giving his confession, Kurotama left the scene with the knife.

In this battle, if they encounter an enemy, she doesn't plan to rely on Rikku's assistance; instead, she'll have Shikoku Danki and Kurotama fight together.

Two weak against one strong, experience the thrill of life and death.

Oh, no, that might be too much; you could easily crash if you're not careful. Let's give you an electromagnetic buff instead.

Upon arriving at the main streets of Fuyuki City, I deliberately chose to walk in areas with very few pedestrians in order to increase the probability of encountering Servant.

And as it turns out, it is incredibly difficult to find an opponent in such a city.

Around noon, worried that she wouldn't have enough time to transform, she canceled her spirit form and didn't go out again until evening.

Then...

I saw Saber and Lancer confronting each other.

Irisviel stood behind Saber, watching the two Servant before her.

Soon, the two Servant started fighting.

Is it this time?

Although it's been a while, Kurotama still vaguely remembers that when the battle between the two sides was halfway through, the Rider and Golden Flash would come out one after the other to cause trouble.

Lancelot originally intended to show off in this battle by catching Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasm with his Golden Flash hands, but now that he has been replaced by the Berserker Class, it is up to him to decide what to do.

As she squatted there, Kariya from the Matou Household suddenly said to Yukino, "As Master, I can't be a coward and be protected by my Servant in the back."

Yukino was eating ice cream, looked up, paused for a few seconds, and then nodded. "Alright, you can go near the battlefield, but be careful to hide."

Chapter 290 Appearance

Eager for battle Diarmuid encountered Artoria this time, and unlike his encounters with Kihara and Kurotama, he gained the upper hand in the first exchange.

He not only broke through the Invisible Air by relying on the additional attributes of his Noble Phantasm, revealing the true appearance of Artoria's invisible sword, but also pierced Artoria's outer armor and injured her body by severing her Magic Resistance.

Halfway through the battle, Irisviel became very tense.

"Saber, watch out."

"I have no problem," the King of Knights said confidently.

Her strength is far more than that; this isn't even a warm-up yet, and the opponent has already revealed their Noble Phantasm.

However, Diarmuid suddenly laughed, "You're no good. Yesterday's battle against Berserker wasn't nearly as easy. Perhaps the contrast was too stark. Before meeting her, I might have felt some pressure facing you. But now, you, with your noble qualities, only make me very disappointed."

"Enough with the nonsense, get ready to take this."

Artoria felt contempt. She had initially believed that Lancer was inferior to Berserker, but today, facing him, she actually had to concentrate fully. This could only prove that the berserker Kiritsugu had seen yesterday was even more powerful.

The two sides clashed again.

The sound of metal clashing could be heard hundreds of meters away. The battle was spectacular, and Kurotama, who was hiding far enough away, didn't have to worry about being detected by Saber's intuition.

She leaned against the wall, picked up a bag of snacks, took out a cookie and took a bite.

"Phew, that feels good, but the taste is just awful."

Kurotama took a deep breath, stuffed several pieces into her mouth, then tossed them into a space allocated by the system, before taking out snacks and starting to enjoy them.

Kariya, who was rushing over, took a deep breath... no, he should say he gasped for air.

Does anyone still feel like eating snacks at a time like this? Now I understand why they're called Berserkers.

The battlefield is 400 meters away from Kurotama. If a fight breaks out at this distance, the two Servant could easily reach her if they moved quickly in this direction.

It's life-threatening!!

But Kurotama didn't look at the battlefield at all, and just kept eating by herself.

On one hand, it was because she kept the puppet Hassan in a state of Presence Concealment, observing the scene from a distance.

On the other hand, it was also because of the Shikoku Danki.