Tokiomi Tohsaka sat in his study.
His right hand pressed against his forehead, his blue eyes reflecting the fading light on the eastern horizon outside the window.
Saber has left the stage.
Through the contract, he received confirmation from Mayuri.
The sixth Servant left the stage.
One more person needed.
Tokiomi Tohsaka closed his eyes and went over the next steps of the plan again.
When Mayuri returns, let her rest at the mansion for a while to recover.
Then use the remaining two Command Spell--
An unexpected sound interrupted his thoughts.
The sound was very soft.
Like a fingernail rubbing against a wooden board, but finer, it comes from the cracks in the window frame.
Tokiomi Tohsaka opened his eyes and looked out the window.
The curtains were only half drawn, and moonlight shone in through the middle.
He listened for two seconds.
There was nothing there.
Something must have been moved by the wind.
Tokiomi Tohsaka closed his eyes again.
An insect crawled out from the narrow crack where the floorboards met the desk.
The insect is very small, only about one-third the size of an adult's little fingernail.
It squeezed out from the crack in the floor and slowly climbed up the table leg.
Something was also crawling out from under the sealing strip of the window frame.
A third insect peeked out from between the bottom shelf and the wall.
Then came the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth.
Insects were appearing in the crevices throughout the study.
Dark purple insects were crawling out at the floor seams, the junction of the baseboard and the wall, where the heating pipes passed through the wall, and under the window seals.
They climbed very slowly and did not attract the attention of the Tohsaka Residence's defensive barrier.
These insects did not actively emit magic, showed no hostility, and exhibited no aggressive Spirit Origin reactions.
From the barrier's perspective, they were no different from an ordinary cockroach.
This Insect Magecraft has been used by Zouken Matou for five hundred years.
His Crest Worms can conceal their magical signatures, leaving only the reactions of ordinary creatures within detection barriers.
The defensive barrier Tohsaka Residence has been continuously reinforced by successive heads of the Tohsaka Family and has been in operation for two hundred years.
Furthermore, with the authority of the Fuyuki City Spirit Vein Administrator, there is no problem in guarding against Magecraft, Servant, familiars, and magical beasts.
Insects are not within the scope of our defenses.
The insects gathered in the study for about thirty seconds.
They climbed to the corner next to the bookshelf and started piling up together.
Hundreds of dark purple insects were piled up on the floor, wriggling on the surface, and the swarm gradually rose higher.
When it grows to 30 centimeters, the worm cluster takes on a human-shaped outline.
When it grows to one meter tall, its curved spine and hunchback become visible.
About 1.45 meters tall, a complete human figure stood up.
Zouken Matou.
Bald, skin as dry as old leather, sunken eye sockets, completely black eyeballs, pupils not visible.
He was wearing a dark gray kimono with dark blue patterns on the fabric, and his right hand rested on a polished wooden cane.
Something is slowly crawling under the skin.
The old man emanated a putrid, damp stench, like a mixture of mud, moldy wood, and rotting flesh.
Zouken Matou stood in the shadows beside the bookshelf, watching Tokiomi Tohsaka sitting in a chair.
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
His yellowish-black teeth were exposed.
The Tohsaka Family kid did a good job.
Unexpectedly, the Tohsaka Family actually won the Holy Grail War this time based on their own strength.
That Caster's strength far exceeded expectations; she even defeated the King of Heroes and the King of Knights head-on.
But none of that matters.
The important thing is, now it's time for me to take the stage.
Zouken Matou, whose real Makiri Zolgen Makiri.
The first head of the Matou Family, one of the designers of the Greater Holy Grail System, and a monster who has lived for over five hundred years.
Logically, he should have died along with Saber when the Matou Family Residence was destroyed.
But the core Crest Worms that holds the soul is not in the mansion.
It has always been hidden inside Sakura Matou's body.
From the day Sakura was adopted into the Matou Family, Zouken Matou placed the Core Worm inside her body.
This is the insurance he left behind. As long as Sakura is alive, he will not truly die.
When the Matou Family was Mana Burst, their physical bodies were indeed destroyed.
The core worm remained inside Sakura's body.
Afterwards, it was taken to the Tohsaka Residence in Mayuri's Vulture Form and moved in with Sakura.
During this time, Zouken Matou kept it hidden.
The core insect maintains contact with the other Crest Worms within the mansion.
Through this sensor network, he saw everything that happened to the Tohsaka Family.
He witnessed Kayneth's visit and the signing of the testimonies.
I saw Tokiomi Tohsaka placing the Lesser Grail.
We also saw Diarmuid intercept Saber.
Zouken Matou has been waiting for this moment.
The Servant have all finished their battles.
The Lesser Grail has absorbed enough energy; the Greater Grail is about to descend.
All he needs to do next is deal with Tokiomi Tohsaka, and he can take the final spoils.
Inside the cuffs of the kimono, a dozen or so insects, larger than ordinary Crest Worms, were crawling.
Those are Crest Worms used for attack.
Their shells are as hard as steel knives, they fly very fast, and their mouthparts at the front can cut through human flesh and bones.
Zouken Matou tapped the floor with his cane.
The sound was very soft.
Tokiomi Tohsaka opened his eyes.
Just as he turned his head, more than a dozen aggressive Crest Worms flew out from his sleeve.
The dark purple insects, leaving afterimages, split into several groups and pounced towards Tokiomi Tohsaka's right hand.
There were two Command Spell on the back of that hand.
The insect's mouthparts cut into the wrist, severing the skin, muscles, tendons, and bones together.
Blood spurted from the cut.
Tokiomi Tohsaka's right hand landed on the floor.
His fingers twitched twice.
"--!"
Tokiomi Tohsaka stood up from his chair, pressed his left hand against his right wrist, and knocked over the chair behind him.
A sharp pain shot through the wound.
He suppressed the pain with his Magic Circuits and immediately turned around.
A short, elderly man stood beside the bookshelf.
Bald, hunchbacked, wearing a dark gray kimono, and thin.
The putrid, damp stench filled my nostrils.
"Matou... Zouken?"
Tokiomi Tohsaka looked at the old man.
This person should already be dead.
On the second night, Saber destroyed the Matou Family Residence.
The Mana Burst erased the building along with its foundation.
Afterwards, Tokiomi Tohsaka also ordered Kirei Kotomine to send the remaining Assassin clones to search the ruins.
No survivors were found.
Zouken Matou's body was not found.
At that Tokiomi Tohsaka attributed the disappearance of the body to complete evaporation.
In hindsight, that was a mistake.
" The Tohsaka Family brat."
Zouken Matou's voice was squeezed out from his throat, hoarse and moist.
"You did a great job, much better than your grandfather."
Zouken Matou glanced at Tokiomi Tohsaka's bleeding wrist.
He didn't rush to continue the attack.
After losing his Command Spell, Tokiomi Tohsaka is no longer a threat.
Command Spell are credentials used by Master to issue commands to Servant.
Without Command Spell, Tokiomi Tohsaka cannot summon Caster back to his side in an emergency.
As for Tokiomi Tohsaka's own combat strength, Zouken Matou has already assessed it.
The Tohsaka Family's Jewel Magecraft is exquisite, but Tokiomi Tohsaka's practical experience is far inferior to that of an old man who has lived for five hundred years.
"How... are you still alive...?"
Tokiomi Tohsaka's voice was slightly weak, but his tone remained steady.
"Alive?"
Zouken Matou revealed his yellowish-black teeth.
"That's not the right question. To be precise, I've never lived, and I've never died."
The cane fell to the floor again.
"My body completely decayed two hundred years ago. This thing in front of you..."
He pointed to himself with his cane.
"It's just a shell pieced together from a bunch of insects. My true self has always been safely and soundly somewhere."
"Saber blew up that house, but all she did was kill a bunch of bugs."
Tokiomi Tohsaka glanced at his severed right hand.
Why didn't Zouken Matou die?
Where is the true form hidden?
Why did it have to happen at this particular time?
The Lesser Grail.
Zouken Matou is waiting for the Holy Grail War to end, for the Lesser Grail to accumulate enough energy, before he comes to kill the final victor.
A five-hundred-year-old fox.
Blood was still flowing from her right wrist.
Tokiomi Tohsaka's thoughts did not stop.
Zouken Matou is right.
After losing the two Command Spell on his right hand, he was unable to recall Caster in the normal way.
However, Tokiomi Tohsaka possessed more than just those two Command Spell.
Remove your left hand from the broken surface.
He moved it just a little, and the inside of his left arm was exposed.
Beneath the sleeve, on the inside of the upper arm, was a Command Spell.
That's a spare Command Spell.
Before the Holy Grail War began, Tokiomi Tohsaka his old friend Risei Kotomine do this.
As the overseer of the Holy Church, Risei Kotomine possesses a considerable reserve of Command Spell from previous Holy Grail War.
Tokiomi Tohsaka, just in case, asked him to transfer one of the pills to the inside of his left upper arm.
Risei Kotomine agreed.
That Command Spell has been hidden there all along.