The dawn in Fuyuki City always arrived with exceptional slowness.
A cold wind, mixed with the salty, fishy scent of the sea, cut across the deserted streets like a knife.
A staggering figure dragged heavy steps, inching forward toward the dark corners of Miyama Town.
Kariya Matou felt as if his lungs were burning; it was the price of the Crest Worms gnawing away at his life.
With every breath, a nauseating stench of blood filled his throat.
Half of his face had suffered necrosis due to the Berserk state of his Magic Circuits, twitching neurotically and looking hideous and terrifying.
Yet, in those murky, bloodshot eyes, a faint spark of light called "Hope" burned.
"Sakura... hold on..."
"Uncle... has brought the Servant back..."
Behind him, a mass of ink-black mist followed closely like a loyal hound.
That was his Servant, the pitch-black knight of the Berserker class—Lancelot.
Although he had lost his sanity, this violent power was precisely the source of Kariya's confidence to challenge fate and Tohsaka Tokiomi.
He would rescue Sakura from the hands of that old bug!
Even if it meant winning this damned Holy Grail War, even if it meant killing everyone.
As long as he could see that girl smile again...
Harboring such tragic and humble thoughts, Kariya Matou turned the corner, where the ancient mansion that had haunted him like a nightmare for half his life should have been right before his eyes.
However.
In the next second, Kariya's steps froze.
His only remaining intact eye widened to its limit, his pupil trembling violently, as if he had seen something beyond the limits of his comprehension.
There was no eerie western-style mansion.
No decaying walls.
And none of that old immortal who always stood in the shadows of the second floor, emitting a nauseating laugh.
All that met his eyes was a scorched, flat expanse of land.
No, to be precise, it was a bottomless, massive crater!
The entire Matou Family mansion, along with its foundation, basement, and the surrounding ring of withered trees, had been stiffly and thoroughly erased from this map as if by an eraser.
"This... this is..."
Kariya opened his mouth wide, wanting to make a sound, but could only emit a hoarse, rattling wheeze.
He threw away his cane and rushed into the ruins like a madman.
The ground beneath his feet no longer had that cold, slimy, bug-crawling texture from his memories.
Instead, it was replaced by a hardness and scorching heat, the result of being thoroughly crystallized by high temperatures.
The air didn't even hold that nauseating stench of rot; there was only a faint scent of ozone, like after a thunderstorm, and a lingering trace of majestic warmth that made his soul tremble.
That was the aura of the Platinum Divine Fire left behind by Hansen; even as mere embers, it was enough to awe mortals.
"Sakura!!"
Kariya knelt at the edge of the massive crater, digging frantically into the scorched earth with both hands.
His fingernails broke, and his fingertips bled, but he felt nothing.
He was looking for that purple-haired girl.
He was looking for the girl who would timidly call him Uncle in the darkness.
But there was nothing.
No corpses, no remains, not even a single living bug!
The lair of ten thousand demons that had tortured him and Sakura for countless days and nights, the worm pit that had imprisoned Sakura, had now truly become a void of nothingness.
"They're all gone... they're all gone..."
Kariya's fingers touched a pile of ash.
That was the trace left by some kind of high-density protein being instantly vaporized—it was Zouken, and also the final remnants of the swarm.
An unprecedented panic instantly shattered Kariya's already fragile psychological defenses.
If that old bug was dead... then what about Sakura, who was with him?
Under such an attack, in such destruction... how could a child as frail as Sakura possibly survive?!
"Aaaaaahhhhhhh—!!!"
A piercing, wretched wail suddenly exploded in this deathly silent dawn.
Kariya knelt in the center of the ruins, clutching his head with both hands, his fingernails digging deep into his scalp.
"Who did this... who did this?!"
"Give Sakura back to me!!!"
After despair came monstrous rage.
An image flashed instantly in his mind: a face that was elegant and composed, always maintaining perfect poise, yet who had personally pushed Sakura into the pit of fire.
Tohsaka Tokiomi!
Yes, it must be him!
Or perhaps other Magi in this Holy Grail War!
Was this a purge between the Three Founding Families?
Or a bombing raid that stopped at nothing for victory?
Kariya didn't know, and he didn't want to know the truth.
His already shattered brain only needed an outlet now, a target to pour all his hatred into.
Since Sakura was gone... since the last bit of light he had risked his life to protect had been extinguished...
"Then... everyone just die."
Kariya slowly raised his head; what flowed from that eye was no longer tears, but hatred mixed with blood.
"Roar—!!!"
As if sensing the hatred in his master's heart that was enough to destroy the world, the black knight Berserker, who had been standing silently behind him, suddenly let out an inhuman roar toward the sky.
Violent magical energy erupted like a black tornado, sweeping the surrounding scorched earth into the air.
Berserker's crimson gaze, hidden beneath his helmet, locked firmly onto the other side of Miyama Town—the depths of that dense, primitive forest.
As a former Knight of the Round Table, even having lost his sanity, Lancelot still captured an aura that made his soul restless, relying on instinctive intuition.
That was his King.
That was the pure and unhidden magical radiance of the King of Knights, Artoria Pendragon!
In Kariya Matou's perception, that direction was exactly the stronghold with the strongest magical reaction in this Holy Grail War—Einzbern Castle!
The logical loop formed instantly in the madman's mind.
Only a monster family like Einzbern would possess such destructive power!
It must be them!
To eliminate the Matou Family as a competitor, along with Sakura...
"Einzbern... and the... Servant... there..."
Kariya stood up unsteadily, a twisted smile appearing on his face, uglier than crying.
The Crest Worms inside his body writhed madly due to the excessive extraction of magical energy, and the resulting sharp pain gave him a masochistic sense of pleasure.
He extended his withered arm and pointed in that direction.
"Berserker."
"Go."
"Destroy that place... kill everyone!!!"
Boom—!!!
The pitch-black knight turned into a black bolt of lightning, instantly crushing the scorched earth beneath his feet.
With an unstoppable, frenzied momentum, he charged toward the silent forest like a missile of vengeance.
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