Dating Caster

Beneath the calm tone of Zouken Matou lay a churning murderous intent. He would absolutely not allow any mishaps to befall the thing he had pursued for so many years.

Driven by Zouken Matou, the mindless insects surged forward once again.

However, this time, Kayneth did not sit idly by. The mercury mystic code beside him transformed into sharp blades, beginning to slaughter the encroaching insects one by one.

But even the sharpest attacks have gaps, and the mercury mystic code had its own limitations in range. A few insects seized the interval between blade strikes to slip past the defensive perimeter, lunging rapidly toward Wang Xiaoming and his group.

Watching the insects flying swiftly toward them, Medea made her move—

Magic circles flashed, and those few insects were reduced to dust the moment they were struck by her magic bolts.

"So there are helpers after all?"

Zouken Matou's expression turned ugly. He had originally assumed these were just a few ignorant nobodies looking for trouble, but it was clear now that these people had been prepared from the start.

In that case, going head-to-head with them now would be a reckless move.

A hint of retreat suddenly surfaced in Zouken Matou's heart.

However—

"How is this possible?!!"

Zouken Matou suddenly discovered that he could not perceive anything outside of this room, as if a restriction had been placed upon him.

"Finally noticed?"

Seeing Zouken Matou's face change drastically, Wang Xiaoming guessed that he had realized they had tampered with the area.

"It was you—"

Zouken Matou stared at Wang Xiaoming with a gloomy expression.

"Facing an old monster who has lived for five hundred years, how could I not make a few preparations?"

This was the strategy everyone had agreed upon: Kayneth would face the enemy head-on, while Medea secretly set up a barrier to seal off this space. Although it had taken some convincing for Wang Xiaoming to persuade Kayneth, he had finally accepted the plan.

There was no other way.

When it came to an old worm like Zouken Matou, one had to root out the evil completely!

Wang Xiaoming's reply caused Zouken Matou to erupt completely. The insects in the worm pit were no longer held back, and a black torrent began to relentlessly batter Kayneth's defensive line.

"&—"

Incomprehensible words spilled from Medea's lips, and the next instant, dozens of magic bolts fired from the magic circles, bombarding the sea of insects.

Under Medea's precise control, the coverage of the magic bolts did not overlap in the slightest, and the insects let out shrill screams amidst the bombardment before being reduced to dust.

With the fire support from Medea's side, the pressure on Kayneth's side was suddenly eased.

Seizing this opportunity—

"Scalp!"

Following Kayneth's command, the mercury mystic code slashed toward Zouken Matou, who was hidden within the sea of insects.

Sla!

As the mercury blade swung down, Zouken Matou was split in two, but not a drop of blood seeped from the wound. Upon closer inspection, the wound was filled with nothing but constantly writhing insects!

"Heretical filth!"

Seeing this disgusting sight, Kayneth's face turned livid as he pulled Sola behind him.

"Heh—not bad."

A hoarse laugh echoed throughout the worm chamber.

The two halves of Zouken Matou's "body" fell into the sea of insects and vanished, replaced by a black mist rising from the spot where the "corpse" had been.

"Do you have a way to deal with this thing?"

Wang Xiaoming turned his head to ask Medea.

"..."

Medea did not answer, instead extending her hand to point at the mass of mist.

As if pulled by an invisible force, the black mist began to gather toward Medea.

Finally—

"Is this thing the old worm's soul?"

Wang Xiaoming curiously examined the "bead" in Medea's hand; black mist constantly churned within it. One could vaguely see the shriveled face of Zouken Matou.

This thing couldn't help but remind him of the glass marbles he played with as a child.

"What exactly do you want? Let me go and everything can be discussed!"

Seemingly not expecting Wang Xiaoming's side to possess a means of imprisoning souls, Zouken Matou's expression was one of extreme terror.

"Heh—"

Studying the Zouken Matou inside the bead, Wang Xiaoming suddenly sneered:

"The old worm's acting is quite good. Tell me, who is the brain-worm currently inside?"

"Matou Kariya or Matou Sakura?"

Hearing Wang Xiaoming's question, Zouken Matou, the great magus who had lived for five hundred years, revealed for the first time an emotion known as despair.

A bit late, Orz.

Terribly sorry.

Chapter 33. The Matou Family

What is a magus?

Every one of them is a person who walks a path apart from the common man; that is what a magus is.

Two hundred years ago, in order to escape the Church—which was openly hostile toward magi at the time—a group of Westerners set foot on the land of Japan, a place the Church had not yet reached, to avoid their prying eyes. They consisted of two families, and the heads of these two families were a man and a woman. The woman was named Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, and the man was named Makiri Zolgen. They sought out the disciple of the great magus Zelretch, who was the most renowned magus in Japan and also the head of the Tohsaka family, which governed the ley lines of Fuyuki. The three hit it off immediately and decided to create the Holy Grail to fulfill their respective wishes.

The Tohsaka family provided the ley lines, the Makiri Zolgen family was responsible for creating the familiars known as Servants, and the head of the Einzbern family—who had created the Holy Grail War system and would later be known as the Saint of Winter, Justeaze—even offered herself up, sacrificing her life and erasing her personality to become the core of the Greater Grail.

However, after they had worked together and paid a tremendous price to create the Holy Grail, the three families were stunned to discover that the Grail could only grant one wish.

Conflict arose, former allies became enemies, and this is the origin of the Holy Grail War that occurs every sixty years.

After the Holy Grail War was established, the Einzbern family returned to their homeland, but Makiri Zolgen, who was in love with the Saint of Winter, chose to stay in Japan with his family.

The Zolgen clan integrated into Fuyuki, adopting the new surname Matou, and continued on, with Zolgen becoming Zouken Matou. However, due to the incompatibility with the local environment, the bloodline of the Matou magi gradually weakened generation after generation, their magic circuits slowly diminished, and the inheritance of their magic crests was severed. The Makiri family lineage was beginning to decline by his generation, and he spent his entire life struggling against this fate.

The result of that struggle was his participation in the design of the Holy Grail War system, with the goal of achieving the evolution of the human race through the Third Magic, "Materialization of the Soul." Realizing he could no longer achieve this wish himself, he decided to use magecraft to extend his life, intending for his descendants to feel the will to never abandon a wish, no matter how difficult it might be.

Yet, after the long passage of time, his soul gradually eroded, accompanied by intense pain caused by that erosion. This pain was no longer a problem that could be solved at the level of "someone's fault"; no matter how strong one's spirit was, it was unbearable. The pain and the fear of death gradually drove him mad, until all that remained was the obsession of "not wanting to die."

He used magecraft to turn himself into something that was no longer human, mimicking humanity. His body became a collective of worms, and human functions were operated by these worms. His original flesh had perished long ago. After his current body decayed or wore out, he could consume the flesh of others as a substitute to be resurrected.

That is how Zouken Matou continued to survive, constantly parasitizing the bodies of others.

But such magecraft had its limits. Although he had theoretically escaped the limitations of genetics and could mold himself into any desired image like clay using only one person's worth of flesh, in reality, he was still bound by the memories of his soul. Therefore, Zouken could not assume a form other than that of his own soul.

Desperately concealing and resisting—this was the entirety of the life known as Zouken Matou.

After hearing Wang Xiaoming recount these little-known secrets regarding the Holy Grail, the group looked at the black mist in Medea's hand, then recalled the old man who had been filled with the stench of decay just moments ago.

"To live as such a wretched, inhuman thing while clinging to an obsession—how pathetic!"

Kayneth glanced at the restrained soul of Zouken Matou and commented with disdain.

"Anyway, this old worm can't pull any more tricks now. Let's go see how the battle outside is going."

Wang Xiaoming shifted his attention away from the orb and spoke to the group.

The others had no desire to stay in this disgusting room for even a second longer and quickly walked out of the worm pit.

Wang Xiaoming, walking at the back, suddenly called out to Medea. After whispering a few words to her, Medea, standing at the entrance of the worm pit, raised her hand and fired several magic blasts that struck the ceiling supports of the chamber.

BOOM—

The struck support points could no longer bear the weight of the ceiling. The ceiling cracked, and countless rocks fell, crashing into the worm pit. The mindless worms began to struggle frantically out of instinct, but it was all in vain.

As the rubble gradually filled the worm pit, the worms were crushed into pulp one after another. The entire room collapsed completely.

The collapse of the worm pit also meant that Zouken Matou's hundreds of years of hard work had been completely wiped out!

"Who are you?"

A man suddenly appeared before Wang Xiaoming and his group as they emerged from the worm pit.

The man was wearing a hoodie, his hood pulled up, and he was staggering as he walked.

"Matou Kariya, the Master of Berserker, right?"

Stopping Kayneth from taking action with a look, Wang Xiaoming stepped forward and spoke to the man.

"..."

"Don't be agitated, we mean no harm."

Seeing Matou Kariya's guarded expression, Wang Xiaoming held out his hands, pressing them downward to signal him to calm down.

"The Lancer outside must be one of yours as well. What exactly is your purpose in coming to the Matou residence?"

Matou Kariya was already prepared to summon Berserker at any moment. If the other party made any untoward moves, the black, berserk Servant would instantly appear here.

Even if it meant death—

He had to protect Sakura.

Wang Xiaoming did not expect Matou Kariya to believe his words immediately. He then signaled Medea to bring out the restrained soul of Zouken Matou.

"Kariya, hurry and have Berserker kill them all, otherwise that child Sakura—"

Upon seeing Matou Kariya, the black mist suddenly churned violently, and Zouken Matou's raspy voice reached everyone's ears.

However, the old worm's words were cut off by Medea's magecraft before he could finish, and the churning black mist returned to silence.

"This is?!"

Matou Kariya looked at the orb in Medea's hand and asked instinctively, his tone carrying a trace of imperceptible hope.

"As you can see, this is the soul of that old worm, Zouken Matou. If you don't believe me, you can go check the basement, though I doubt you'll be able to make much of it now."

Hearing Wang Xiaoming's reply, Matou Kariya didn't care about anything else; he pushed past Wang Xiaoming and stumbled toward what used to be Zouken Matou's nest.

"Why keep someone so lacking in manners?"

Kayneth looked at Wang Xiaoming with dissatisfaction, wanting an explanation. As someone who championed aristocratic values, he found such rude individuals intolerable.

"I keep him around naturally because he still has value to be utilized."

Wang Xiaoming didn't want to explain too much about this matter.

But come to think of it—

"What are you looking at me for?"

Feeling a bit unnerved by Wang Xiaoming's stare, Kayneth asked uncomfortably.

"The two of you... you might actually have more to talk about than you'd expect."

Withdrawing his gaze from Kayneth, Wang Xiaoming said with a smile.

After all, they were both hopeless romantics...

"What a joke, he's nothing but a commoner."

Kayneth scoffed at Wang Xiaoming's words.

"Then just wait and see~~"

Wang Xiaoming smiled quite craftily.

"Thank you so much!"

After seeing the collapsed worm pit with his own eyes, Matou Kariya returned to the group and bowed deeply to Wang Xiaoming and the others.