"Hohoho…"
"Kariya, it seems you've summoned a rather remarkable Servant. I trust you'll secure victory in this Holy Grail War and obtain your wish. Otherwise, when the war ends, or should you perish, Sakura will return to the Matou household, back to me."
As an old monster who had lived for over five centuries, Zouken was cautious. He wouldn't engage Kariya's Servant without first assessing his capabilities. His retreat didn't signify surrender. He could easily gauge the Servant's true strength through the battles to come.
Besides, as Kariya himself had pointed out, the Grail War lasted only seven days. No matter how powerful this Servant might be, he would eventually return to the Throne of Heroes.
Then, with Kariya's meager Magic Circuits further hampered by Zouken's modifications, controlling him would be child's play.
Zouken might not even need to lift a finger; Sakura would be delivered back to him on a silver platter. He knew Kariya's intentions all too well. He would try to return Sakura to the Tohsaka family, to reunite them.
However, Tokiomi Tohsaka, the head of the Tohsaka family, had only one Magic Crest to pass on to Rin.
As one of the three founding families, the Matou, lacking a suitable heir with Magic Circuits, had petitioned Tokiomi to provide one, to ensure the continuation of their magecraft.
Both Rin and Sakura possessed exceptional Magic Circuits, but the Tohsaka Crest could only be bestowed upon one. Thus, faced with Zouken's request, Tokiomi had agreed to give Sakura to the Matou.
Therefore, even if Kariya managed to return Sakura to the Tohsaka a hundred times, Tokiomi would send her back to the Matou a hundred and one. He couldn't risk Sakura becoming a magical resource for another mage. Little did he know, Sakura's fate within the Matou household wouldn't be much better.
In truth, Zouken had no intention of passing his Magic Crest to Sakura. He coveted her exceptional Magic Circuits. He envisioned Sakura as a breeding vessel, bearing him a child with potent magical abilities, a child whose body he could then possess through his Worm magecraft, extending his own life once more.
For five hundred years, Zouken had survived through this gruesome method. Every head of the Matou family had been called Zouken Matou, not merely as a title, but because they were all the same person. He was both father and son to himself… Every generation's most magically gifted Matou heir ultimately became Zouken's new vessel.
Kariya, having sensed this disturbing truth within his family, had left home as an adult. His elder brother, lacking magical aptitude, had escaped this fate. His brother's wife, also without magical abilities, had borne Shinji Matou, similarly devoid of magecraft. Thus, for two generations, Zouken had been without a suitable vessel, his current body now frail and decaying. Sakura was his only hope for continued existence. He wouldn't relinquish her.
Zouken's parting words gave Kariya pause. The old monster had been momentarily cowed by Berserker, but once the Grail War ended… would he be able to protect Sakura?
The thought flickered through his mind before being resolutely dismissed. His expression hardened. With Berserker, he would undoubtedly win this war and claim the wish-granting Grail.
Dragging his weary body, ravaged by the Crest Worms, Kariya found Sakura in the Matou mansion.
"Uncle Kariya…"
"Sakura, let's go. I'm taking you away from here…"
…
"To think… after leaving the Soul Society, I'd end up here…"
Ailin sat atop the roof of a dilapidated shack wreathed in blackish-red flames. Having unleashed One-Sword Rakshasa, his spiritual pressure was almost completely depleted. Only years of intense training, the sheer density of his spiritual energy, had prevented his immediate annihilation within the chaotic dimensional currents outside the Soul Society. Even so, he knew he couldn't maintain this state for much longer.
Just as he sensed his imminent demise, a powerful force enveloped him and pulled his soul into a grand palace, where his strength was restored. Then, he'd heard the summoning chant of the Holy Grail War.
The familiar words had instantly revealed his current location and his state of being. He'd responded to Kariya Matou's summons, seizing the opportunity before another spiritual core could.
However, to his surprise, the Matou summoning ritual included a madness-inducing spell, rendering him mute, unable to communicate with Kariya. Furthermore, perhaps due to being summoned as a Berserker, his spiritual pressure wasn't that of a Shinigami, but of a Hollow. His combat skills, too, had shifted. Kidō was sealed, replaced by Cero. Unable to speak, he could only release his Zanpakutō's Shikai, unable to call upon its true name for Bankai.
Despite these limitations, his overall strength wasn't significantly diminished. And, as "Mad Enhancement" was only a C-rank skill, he sensed he could break free from its influence at any time and reclaim his speech, simply by unleashing his vast spiritual pressure.
However, doing so would lower all his parameters except Luck and Mana. While he would regain access to Bankai, his overall strength in that state would likely be weaker.
Looking down at the house below, he sighed inwardly. Had Kariya not included that maddening spell, he could have manifested as either Saber or Caster. Then, as a Shinigami, he could have used healing Kidō to treat both Kariya and Sakura, purging the Crest Worms from their bodies.
It was precisely because he'd sensed his Hollow form upon being summoned that he hadn't attacked Zouken Matou back at the mansion. Without healing Kidō, killing Zouken would only allow him to possess Sakura through the Crest Worm embedded in her heart.
Of course, even in his current state, he could still help Kariya and Sakura. He could simply dispel Mad Enhancement and unleash Unohana's Bankai. With Minazuki's ability, he could corrode and then regenerate their flesh and organs, completely eradicating the Crest Worms and restoring them to their original state.
BOOM!
As Ailin contemplated the best time to heal Kariya and Sakura, a massive surge of magical energy erupted from the center of Fuyuki City. Looking up, he saw golden spatial ripples appear. Two Noble Phantasms emerged, swiftly dispatching a cloaked figure wearing a white mask.
Ailin's expression shifted as he watched the golden ripples. In the Soul Society, he was the one who wielded the King's Treasury, overwhelming his opponents. To encounter the original King's Treasury in his first world outside the Soul Society… It was… unsettling. He wondered which King's Treasury was stronger.
Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon was the conceptualized form of his personal treasury, the "Golden Capital." Holding the key to this treasury, Gilgamesh could freely access any item within. As the gateway to this treasury manifested as golden ripples, and as all the treasures within were Gilgamesh's personal possessions, it had become known as the "Gate of Babylon" or the "King's Treasury."
Ailin's King's Treasury, however, was the fusion of his Reality Marble, Unlimited Blade Works, and the Soul Society's spatial treasure, the Royal Seal. The Royal Seal's spatial manipulation abilities had materialized Unlimited Blade Works, transforming it from a conceptual space into a genuine, independent dimension. This had allowed Ailin's power to evolve.
The most significant change was his Zanpakutō's Shikai, which had shifted from "Projection" to "Throwing." Previously, he could only project copies of the Zanpakutō within Unlimited Blade Works, their power a grade weaker than the originals. Now, with Unlimited Blade Works materialized, the Zanpakutō within had become genuine, their power undiminished. Upon releasing his Shikai, these genuine blades could be thrown from his Reality Marble, inflicting greater damage.
"Berserker!"
Startled by the explosion, Kariya Matou awoke, calling out to his Servant.
With a flash, Ailin appeared before him.
Kariya was visibly relaxed upon seeing him. "What was that explosion? What happened?"
The question hung in the air as Kariya shook his head with a wry smile. He'd already witnessed Berserker's abilities. Due to Mad Enhancement, Berserker had lost the power of speech. Asking him was pointless.
However, to Kariya's surprise, blackish-red light flickered at Berserker's fingertips, coalescing into a thin laser beam that etched words onto the floor before him.
"Servants battling in the city center. Disparity in strength. Swift conclusion."
"What?" Kariya gasped, staring at the message. "You… you haven't lost your mind?"
Although he'd only decided to undergo Zouken's modifications a year ago, Kariya was no longer a novice mage. He knew the basic tenets of magecraft and the Holy Grail War.
Berserker, the "Mad Warrior," was a class reserved for heroes with a fervent love of battle or those driven to madness in combat. Their class skill, Mad Enhancement, granted increased power in exchange for speech and sanity. Yet, here was his Berserker, communicating with him despite being mute.
"Indeed. This level of madness has little effect on me," Ailin wrote.
He had manifested as a Hollow. Hollows were beings of chaos, their consciousness formed from the fusion of hundreds of lost souls. Every Gillian-class Hollow and above had suppressed the hundreds of souls within to gain control of their body. A mere madness-inducing spell was insignificant compared to the struggle against hundreds of consciousnesses.
Of course, Ailin's current form was unique. He'd merged with the Hōgyoku directly from his spiritual form, completely transforming himself into a Hollow. While he hadn't experienced the struggle against hundreds of souls, his soul's strength was comparable to even a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow.
Kariya asked, "Berserker, regarding the two Servants who just fought, how confident are you against them?"
Now that he knew Berserker retained his sanity and could communicate, Kariya felt a surge of hope.
"The weaker one is insignificant. I could crush him effortlessly," Ailin wrote, pausing momentarily.
Gilgamesh was considered the pinnacle of Servant strength in the Type-Moon world. However, Ailin believed he was no slouch either. Within the Throne of Heroes, he hadn't sensed many Servants whose magical energy rivaled his own. Moreover, the Servants summoned in the Grail War weren't at their peak. It was difficult to determine who was truly stronger.
But as Kariya had asked, Ailin wouldn't give a dismissive answer. Based on his memories of Gilgamesh in the Fourth Holy Grail War, and his own current power, he continued writing:
"Against the stronger one, if he doesn't unleash his Noble Phantasm, I am more powerful."
While most Servants in the Type-Moon world were skilled in close combat, seeing his swordsmanship rated A++ by Alaya, Ailin believed that even if a Servant could match him in a sword fight, that Servant wouldn't be Gilgamesh.
"If he unleashes his Noble Phantasm, in my current state, I cannot call upon my own…"
Kariya's face darkened as he read Berserker's words. Initially, after seeing Berserker's impressive parameters, he'd believed victory was assured. He hadn't anticipated a Servant capable of rivaling his own.
And a Servant's greatest strength, without a doubt, was their Noble Phantasm…