"Ho ho ho ho..."
"Kariya, it seems you summoned a truly remarkable Servant."
"I hope that in this Holy Grail War, you achieve victory and gain the chance to make a wish."
"Otherwise, once the war ends—or if you die during it—Sakura will still return to the Matou Family, to me."
As an old monster who had lived for over five hundred years, Zouken Matou was extremely cautious.
He would not fight Kariya Matou's Servant without first understanding its true capabilities.
Taking a step back now did not mean Zouken Matou had admitted defeat.
In this Holy Grail War, he could thoroughly gauge the Servant Kariya Matou had summoned through the battles between Servants.
Moreover, as Kariya Matou had said, the Holy Grail War only lasted seven days.
After seven days, no matter how powerful this Servant was, it would return to the Hall of Heroes.
At that point, with Kariya Matou's half-baked Magic Circuits that he had modified himself, Zouken Matou would find it laughably easy to control Kariya Matou.
He might not even need to act personally. Sakura could simply be sent back to the Matou Family.
After all, Zouken Matou had long seen through the choice Kariya Matou would make if he survived.
He would send Sakura back to the Tohsaka Estate and reunite the Tohsaka family.
However, as the Head of the family of the Tohsaka family, Tokiomi Tohsaka only had one Magic Crest for Rin to inherit.
As one of the Three Founding Families, the Matou Family happened to have no descendant with Magic Circuits in this generation. Thus, Zouken Matou had proposed to Tokiomi Tohsaka that he adopt a descendant with Magic Circuits to continue the Matou Family's magecraft.
Since both Rin and Sakura possessed outstanding Magic Circuits, while the Tohsaka family's Magic Crest