‘Sister?’
The slippery, nauseating sensation came from every part of her body every second. The rustling sound of insects crawling echoed in her ears. Sakura Matou, who had long since gone from despair to apathy, merely stared blankly ahead.
Perhaps it was a hallucination, but she suddenly saw the shadows in front of her wriggling. Her sister, Rin Tohsaka, walked out from within, and beside her was a handsome black-haired youth.
“A hallucination?”
Watching Rin Tohsaka get closer and closer, her lips moving as if she were saying something to her, Sakura Matou's dull eyes looked up at the dark ceiling. If it had been her younger self, she would have been very happy to see such a scene, feeling that Rin Tohsaka had come to rescue her.
However, for Sakura Matou, who had long since despaired and given up struggling, hope had become an unattainable thing... Moreover, she didn't need Rin Tohsaka's salvation, as long as Senpai was by her side, that was enough.
“Caster, I'm counting on you!”
At this moment, Rin Tohsaka, who had been calling out to Sakura Matou but received no response, looked at the densely packed, wriggling insects on her body. Rin Tohsaka turned to look at Lu Minghao, she wanted to completely destroy everything here.
“Understood, Master.”
Facing Rin Tohsaka's call, Lu Minghao smiled slightly and raised his palm. White-gold flames ignited, and as Lu Minghao waved his hand, the flames transformed into long snakes and flew out. Wherever they passed, the insects nurtured by Zouken Matou let out piercing screeches.
It was as if what was being burned was not insects, but humans in the shape of insects.
However, that was indeed the case. Over the long centuries, the soul and body of Machiri Zolgen, who once had great aspirations and was full of dreams, had decayed, leaving behind only the existence known as Zouken Matou.
Because he didn't want to die accomplishing nothing, he gradually turned into an obsession, integrating his soul into the insects, relying on parasitizing his descendants to prolong his life, becoming a monster that looked like a human, but was essentially an insect.
“The Tohsaka brat, and Caster!”
At this time, Zouken Matou, who had just arrived above the insect pit, saw Rin Tohsaka picking up Sakura Matou and putting his coat on her, as well as Lu Minghao who was setting fire to kill the insects on the side. Densely packed insects crowded together to form a several-meter-high insect tide, but under Lu Minghao's flames, it was of no use.
Before they could even get close to Lu Minghao, the high temperature of the flames had already burned their bodies to ashes. Even if a few insects hid inside, approaching Lu Minghao by sacrificing their companions, before they could launch an attack, invisible gravity crushed them in mid-air.
In just a few seconds, tens of thousands of insects were wiped out by Lu Minghao in front of Zouken Matou's eyes.
“Oh, the old bug showed up.”
After clearing away the last insect in front of him, Lu Minghao raised his head and looked at Zouken Matou above the insect pit. This old fellow was indeed a guy who had lived for hundreds of years and was extremely afraid of death. Just now, Lu Minghao had deliberately revealed a few flaws.
But Zouken Matou didn't have the slightest intention of getting close, even watching him clean up the insects in the insect pit.
“Did you follow Assassin here?”
Looking at Rin Tohsaka and Lu Minghao below, Zouken Matou suddenly understood why they would suddenly appear here. Because of Lu Minghao's previous actions of wanting to directly destroy the entire Fuyuki City, Zouken Matou had locked onto them.
Early this morning, he sent out Assassin's clones to secretly follow and investigate the situation of the two.
Just now, Zouken Matou tried to have Hassan contact the other two clones, but there was no response. Only then did Zouken Matou understand why the two would appear here today.
“However, daring to swagger into my magic workshop, this will be your biggest mistake in this Holy Grail War. Here, even Servants will not be my match!”
In the next second, a crazy smile appeared on Zouken Matou's disgusting old face, coupled with his dry and old face, it was disgusting to say. At the same time, the rustling sound came again from the insect pit that had been cleaned up by Lu Minghao.
Even the sound of insects crawling could be heard from overhead.
Countless insects crawled out from all directions like a tide. Insects on the ceiling fell like a rainstorm. In just a few seconds, the insect pit, which was nearly ten meters deep and hundreds of meters wide.
The figures of Lu Minghao and the others could no longer be seen. The completely filled insect pit was filled with densely packed insects. A large number of insects were crowded inside, and the fat, disgusting insect bodies kept wriggling and squeezing. This scene was simply hair-raising.
“Hmph! The arrogant Tohsaka brat, you will withdraw today.”
Zouken Matou looked at the densely packed insects in front of him, and his mind had already begun to imagine how to torture the Tohsaka brat later. She had the qualifications of a magus that were not inferior to Sakura Matou. After training her like Sakura Matou.
It was also a pretty good choice to use her body as a spare.
“Hmm?”
Just as Zouken Matou was indulging in fantasy, he suddenly noticed that the insects in the insect pit in front of him were making uneasy insect noises. One disgusting insect after another grew larger and their bloated bodies wriggled frantically, wanting to escape.
“Not good!”
In the next second, Zouken Matou noticed a trace of firelight lighting up in the insect pit. A huge, terrifying magical aura overflowed from the bottom of the pit, and he quickly turned around and ran towards the exit of the basement.
Boom!
However, it was too late. In the instant that Zouken Matou just turned around, a sky-high flame erupted from the bottom of the insect pit, and a huge shock wave mixed with flames directly blasted Zouken Matou's body away.
“What a delightful sight for this King.”
Not far from the Matou residence, a certain enthusiastic citizen, Mr. Jin, stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the scarlet pillar of fire that shot straight into the sky not far away. Most of the Matou family's century-old mansion had been destroyed by the pillar of fire, and the remaining places were also burning with raging fire.
Pa! Pa! Pa!
A few seconds later, numerous insect corpses that had been scorched by the flames fell in front of the enthusiastic citizen, Mr. Jin. Looking at the disgusting insects in front of him, Mr. Jin's handsome face subconsciously revealed a trace of disgust.
Raising his head and looking around, he saw that the streets, rooftops, and courtyards near the Matou family were covered with a thick layer of insect corpses. The air was mixed with the scorched smell of insects and baked lake, as well as the stench of the insects themselves, like a rotten sewer.
“What a disappointing fellow, but seeing that you have dedicated a good performance to this King today, this King will forgive your rudeness for the time being.”
After saying that, the enthusiastic citizen, Mr. Jin, turned around and left with his hands in his pockets.
“Eh? Goldie?”
On the other side, Lu Minghao, who had just flown out of the pillar of fire with Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou in his arms, noticed the back of the enthusiastic citizen, Mr. Jin, leaving, but Lu Minghao was too lazy to pay attention to him now.
“Caster, is Zouken Matou dead?”
On the other side, Rin Tohsaka, who was being held by Lu Minghao, looked at the real burning Matou residence below, and asked with a trace of joy on her face. Witnessing this hell being destroyed with her own eyes, and also rescuing her sister, Rin Tohsaka's heart was greatly satisfied.
"No, that old bug didn't die that easily."
As he spoke, Lu Minghao gently tossed Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou in his arms onto the street below. At the same time, his body began to dodge rapidly in mid-air, with short swords flying past Lu Minghao's body.
"Damn it!"
Below, Zouken Matou, his body tattered in the burning courtyard, was staring angrily at Lu Minghao in the sky. This guy had actually destroyed the lair he had spent hundreds of years building, and killed a large number of bugs.
It could be said that Lu Minghao's attack just now caused Zouken Matou to suffer heavy losses. You must know that each of those dead bugs contained a part of his soul.
"As expected of a bug, its vitality is really tenacious."
Lu Minghao, who landed opposite Zouken Matou, watched as bugs crawled onto Zouken Matou's body one after another, repairing the wounds on his body. He had to say, this guy was really disgusting to the extreme.
"Hmph! Assassin, kill him!"
Facing Lu Minghao's ridicule, Zouken Matou snorted coldly. One by one, the voices of Hassan emerged from the surrounding shadows. Beneath the skull masks, their eyes, filled with killing intent, stared at the vital parts of Lu Minghao's body, and wisps of curse aura began to spread on their withered and terrifying arms.
"Hundred-Faced Hassan, huh?"
Lu Minghao looked at the endless stream of Hassans emerging. This thing seemed to be a group fight skill, but in reality, in Lu Minghao's opinion, it was simply trash. Every time a clone was created, the original power would be divided equally.
Now, with so many clones split up, the strength of each Hassan was only slightly stronger than an ordinary magus. To Lu Minghao, they were just small ants that could be easily wiped out.
"Go!"
With Zouken Matou's order, nearly a hundred Hassans launched an attack at the same time. In an instant, all of Lu Minghao's escape routes were blocked, and a series of deadly daggers attacked his body.
Not far away, some Hassan clones did not choose close combat, but began to use the Cursed Hand of their right hands to curse and kill Lu Minghao.
"Boring trick."
Looking at the imminent attack in front of him, Lu Minghao even had the leisure to yawn, watching indifferently as the many Hassan's short swords stabbed towards him. As for that bit of curse, it was not enough for the Abyss of Evil in Lu Minghao's body to moisten his throat.
In this world, what curse could be more powerful than the Abyss of Evil in Lu Minghao's body, which was condensed by destroying an entire world?
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The next second, a series of sounds of sword blades breaking rang out. In Zouken Matou's unbelievable gaze, the Hassan's short sword attacks seemed to be attacking not flesh and blood, but steel that had been tempered a hundred times.
"How is that possible? Aren't you a Caster?"
"That's right, I am indeed a Caster, but which rule says that a Caster can't have a strong body?"
As he spoke, Lu Minghao raised his left foot and kicked it out directly. The air was compressed into an incomparably sharp air blade under the powerful force. The closest few Hassans to Lu Minghao were directly cut in half, and the two sections of their bodies fell to the ground, their blood evaporated by the high temperature of the flames.
"Alright, the playtime is over. Actually, if your Servant was a beautiful girl, I wouldn't mind playing a little longer, but I'm really sorry, facing the two of you is really disgusting."
Lu Minghao raised his fist, and substantial magic power began to wrap around it. If Zouken Matou's Servant was replaced with the Rider from the original work, then Lu Minghao wouldn't mind playing around, but facing Hassan plus Zouken Matou, this old bug.
I can only say sorry, their existence is really disgusting to Lu Minghao, even if his main body is here now, he would not choose to devour these two guys.
"Farewell!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Minghao's fist, which had condensed a large amount of magic power, slammed heavily on the ground. Bottomless cracks spread in all directions from Lu Minghao's fist, and the only small part of the Matou family's house that was still standing collapsed directly.
"Bye-bye."
The next second, Lu Minghao retracted his fist, put his hands in his pockets, and walked out of the Matou family, waving to Rin Tohsaka and Sakura in front of him. Behind him, countless crimson lava erupted from the cracks, directly destroying the entire Matou family completely.
When Lu Minghao put down his hand, the Matou family behind him had already turned into a huge pit, and the boiling flesh in the pit was still churning constantly, emitting scorching heat.
"Success."
At this time, Rin Tohsaka also felt a stream of magic power flowing into the Holy Grail, which also meant that one Servant had completely left the stage, and the Holy Grail was still five Servants' worth of magic power away from descending.
"Destroyed... really destroyed..."
On the side, Sakura Matou, who was originally listless and like a doll, suddenly staggered to the front of the Matou family, which had turned into a deep pit, and sat weakly on the ground, looking at everything in front of her. This nightmare-like home was really destroyed.
"Sakura... let's go home."
"Go home?"
Sakura Matou, who was sitting on the ground blankly, turned her head to look at Rin Tohsaka, who looked concerned. The tears in her eyes could no longer be held back, and she grabbed Rin Tohsaka's clothes tightly with both hands.
"Why! Why! Why did you only come now? Go home... I don't have a home anymore!"
"Sakura... you can still go back to the Tohsaka..."
"Tohsaka-senpai, please call me Sakura Matou. From the day that man sent me away, that place is no longer my home."
Sakura Matou raised her head and interrupted Rin Tohsaka's words, saying with sarcasm and despair in her purple eyes. Ever since she experienced that incident on the first day she came to the Matou family, she had never regarded that man as her father again.
Afterwards, Sakura Matou stood up and took one last look at the location of the Matou family before turning around and leaving.
Watching Sakura Matou's leaving back, Rin Tohsaka wanted to reach out and call her, but after opening her mouth, she couldn't say a word. She didn't know what expression or identity she should use to face Sakura Matou now.
In the end, Rin Tohsaka, who couldn't let go of her worries, quietly followed Sakura Matou. Although she didn't know how to face her, it was impossible for her to leave Sakura Matou alone.
A few minutes after Lu Minghao and the others left, the residents who originally lived nearby began to gather here because of the previous explosion, looking at everything in front of them in disbelief. Many of them began to vomit incessantly when they saw the bug corpses all over the street.
"Could this also be an explosion caused by a leaking underground gas pipeline?"
"Yes!"
A team of police officers who had just arrived nodded seriously and earnestly in response to a resident's inquiry, indicating that this was an explosion caused by a leaking gas pipeline. They even pointed to the bugs on the ground and began to forcibly explain when faced with the crowd's disbelieving expressions.
Didn't you see that these bugs living in the sewers were all blown out?
If it wasn't a gas pipeline explosion, what else could it be? It couldn't be Ultraman fighting monsters!
