Kariya Matou was dying. He felt it deep in his bones as his father's disgusting bugs writhed under his skin, the taste of copper heavy on his tongue as he once more vomited blood onto the pavement. The crest worms twisted and curled in the puddle of expelled blood, dying quickly without his body to support their existence. There were hundreds in his body. Thousands, even. His body served as a breeding ground and a source of nourishment for their existence.
A truly disgusting magecraft. One that he fled his family over, about a decade ago, only to return to his family when he discovered that young Sakura had been given to his monstrous father. Aoi, her mother, was ignorant of what that would mean for Sakura. She had even called it an act of kindness. Kariya wondered if she would say the same if she ever learned that Sakura had been violated in the worst ways imaginable for days on end by his father's insects. That she had screamed without pause for days before the light left her eyes.
"Damn it all," Kariya cursed, vomiting again, the puddle of blood growing. He had made a deal with the devil. He would bring the Grail to his father, and Sakura would be free of the Matou family. They could leave Japan. Maybe go to America - Sakura, Rin, and Aoi. They could find a beach to live near because both girls loved the water. He and Aoi could live together in a house by the beachside. A modest one - a freelance photographer didn't pay much.
They could be happy. They should be happy. But his damn body was giving out already.
"Berserker…!" he groaned, rolling to his side so he didn't collapse face-first into the puddle of blood. His body ached, his very existence pain. He could feel the worms in his brain, eating at his mind as they consumed his muscles and nervous system. For a year, he had acted as a breeding ground for his father's insects. His hair was now stark white, his infestation had left him blinded in one eye, and half of his limbs didn't work as they should - yet he never came so close to death than when Berserker fought.
The sheer mana drain on him was astounding. In minutes, his mana had been completely tapped out, leaving Berserker to drain his life force to continue fighting. The worms, which sustained themself on his mana, turned to feasting on his body to survive. The damn things not understanding that they would die after they killed him. But, he supposed that he wasn't so different from the worms - desperately reaching for salvation even if it destroyed him.
"Oi, you look mighty fucked up. What happened to you?" Kariya heard a voice say, and he looked up with his lone good eye. The worms must be feasting on his brain, because that was the only thing that could explain him feebly reaching out to the heavily scarred Servant. Caster. The one that had fought with Berserker. Who created that scene from hell.
"Pl.. pluh… please…!" Kariya rasped out, a hand landing on Caster's boot. "Save… Sakura…" he was reduced to begging. Pleading for a stranger to succeed where he failed. Because he was dying. Berserker's fighting had killed him. Had that been his father's plan all along? It seemed like something he would do - give him a Servant that would be his undoing, for no reason other than his own cruel entertainment.
Caster looked down at him, tilting his head to the side as he considered the request. "What is Sakura in need of saving from?" Caster questioned. That mocking edge that he had used on Archer was gone. Replaced with a quiet seriousness that unnerved Kariya. When he was playful, it was easy to forget that he was utterly terrifying.
"My father. Zouken… Matou," Kariya forced out, breathing heavily. Simply talking seemed to exhaust him. Breathing was becoming more difficult.
There was a long beat of silence that could have lasted a thousand years for all Kariya was aware. His mind wandered, grasping at stray thoughts, but it was getting difficult to think. "What are you willing to give me to save her?" Caster questioned, his voice even. Cold. Yet… not unkind.
What would he give? "Everything," Kariya answered, his consciousness fading. He thought he heard chuckling in response to that.
"Then the deal is struck," Kariya thought he heard before darkness claimed him.
…
I looked down at the unconscious magus, feeling… something. Something beyond the hatred that filled every thought. I hadn't lied to Lancer about that - I was filled with nothing but hatred. Yet, there was something about the act of a dying man begging to save the life of another that stirred something within me.
"Upsy-daisy," I said, grabbing hold of Berserker's master, and tossing him over my shoulder. The mad Servant didn't even have enough mana left to materialize. It seems that I wasn't the only one that had come dangerously close to running out of mana in that fight. "Sheesh, you need to put on some weight. It's a sad thing that even I can pick you up so easily, you know?" I told the unconscious master as I stealthed forward, an eyeball leaving its socket to peek around the edge of a ruined shipping container, to see myself speaking to Saber, Irisviel, and Saber's Master.
Kiritsugu. I didn't like him. Which might not mean much coming from me on account of the fact that I hated everyone, but I especially hated Kiritsugu. I decided it the moment that I saw him. And I knew that the me that was speaking with him was only going to confirm that decision.
But, for now, I had other plans. I had secured a temporary alliance with Saber, but I knew that it wouldn't last. So, I was giving myself some extra options. Me and Berserker were best pals - he was the only Servant that I felt was on the same page as me. We would make a great team. Even better, because I was made the source of all evil, the usual barrier of communication wouldn't be an issue with Berserker. We might not be able to chitchat, but I could understand his intentions.
And if betrayal ever happened, I would know long beforehand.
I watched as the other me began to walk away with Saber and her group. It was a puppet, in a way. It was still me. However, this current form possessed the spirit core. A prudent measure until I got a read on Saber and her Master - Saber, I didn't think would betray me. It wasn't in her nature. Kiritsugu, on the other hand… it was only a matter of time.
"Let's get you out of here," I said, taking off as I began the long trek back to my base under Ryuudou temple. It was a long trip on foot, but there were no issues. Most people just assumed that Matou was drunk or something and paid me no mind. Of course, that came at the cost of hiding my real face, but needs must.
An hour later, I dropped Matou off next to my master, who was still dead to the world. Some drool dripped down his chin, and he had soiled himself. Not cleaning that up.
{PB}
Though I did pour a little water into his mouth and gave him some nutritious yogurt. It was kinda a pain in the ass, to be honest, but I needed a mana battery.
I had burned through my mana reserves with that bounded field. It had been worth it, especially considering the cool spear I got, but also draining. Which led me to my current actions. Basically, ensuring that I had a surplus of mana batteries. Matou groaned as he lay next to my master, still unconscious. I had spared a thought to burn away his arms and legs so he couldn't get away, but that left a bad taste in my mouth.
Matou was not my master, but he was providing me with mana. A trickle, barely anything at all, but that would change in time. I also had another source feeding me mana in addition to the two - the daemon I had created out of Lancer's Master. He was a familiar of sorts. More of a proto familiar. By bringing forth the evil within him, I bound him to me. The evil that changed his body allowed me to treat him as a familiar, though, much like with Servants, it wasn't like he was an animal that would easily obey my orders.
For now, I was content to let him roam the city as he provided me with mana by the familiar connection we shared. It was also very little, but once Lancer healed his wounds, I suspected that would change.
In all, on top of an excellent mana-rich location, I had three sources of mana to sustain myself.
"Not enough," I remarked to myself, giving Matou some food and water as well. It wouldn't be enough for the next bout with Archer. Or Rider. Even with Saber. That meeting at the docks had been us Servants feeling each other out, getting some licks in, but holding something in reserve. All except Archer and myself. The next time we clashed, I was going to need a lot more mana to even keep up with the fight, much less win it. "And I'm not supporting just myself anymore," I remarked as my gaze dropped to the back of my hand.
Command Seals. Given freely by Berserker's former Master, so no need to cut his arm off or anything. Three of them in total, so I had three absolute orders to Berserker. Or three power-ups to use the command seals for the mana that they contained.
Well, six in total. Since my master didn't need them, or his arm anymore, I helped myself.
Still, "Not enough," I decided, standing up. Behind me, Berserker had materialized. He was a tall man, and the black mist that surrounded him obscured the details of his armor. And his stats. A true enigma. His body was healing from the wounds he had suffered from Archer. I could feel the hatred and wrath inside of him. He hated me. Despised me. He wanted to rip me apart limb from limb.
Yet, now that he was… well, calm isn't the word I would use, but calmer than he had been, I could understand his hatred more clearly. As much as he hated me because of his madness enchantment, there was a greater hatred within him.
King Arthur, his hate whispered in my mind. It was blind with rage and ill intent, more of a maddened howl in the distance than a true whisper.
"I know, I know, buddy," I said, tapping him on the chest, wondering what Saber had done in her life to piss Berserker off so much. The hatred felt personal, meaning that Berserker was also from her era. A Knight of the Round Table, maybe? Or a rival king? King Arthur had defeated a number of enemies in her legend as well as made a number of enemies. Berserker could be any one of them. "One way or the other, you'll get your shot at Saber. Just gotta be patient." I told him, walking by as Berserker dematerialized to conserve mana.
Logic said that I was in a good spot. I had a temporary alliance with Saber, which was great. I had my best buddy Berserker as an ace in the hole. Lancer was fucked up pretty good and his master was my familiar. Yet, all the same… "Still not enough," I decided as I headed out of the caves. It was a risk, but I needed to make as many moves as I could with the opening that I had.
Everyone would be licking their wounds, making it the perfect opportunity to step out. To that end, my body became a swarm of insects as I dematerialized, flying out towards the city far faster than walking to my Workshop had been. I sailed through the air, letting the evil of the city wash over me. There were over a million people in Fuyuki City. Over a million sources of evil. In a way, it was overwhelming.
When I was alive, there were thirty people in my village at most. My previous summoning helped a bit to adjust to the insane influx of humans, but it was only now that the white noise of so many evils began to die down. Now, I could see the trees for the forest instead of only being able to perceive the forest itself. Down below, I felt the evil that was harbored in the hearts of humans. Just as I felt the evil that was being inflicted upon others.
A father drunkenly beats his son. A wife was having an affair to spite her husband. A child tormenting another to feel empowered. And on and on and on. Thousands of examples. I felt their resentments just as easily - a man hating a thug that inflicted pain on him for failing to pay a debt, a child hating her father for sneaking into her room at night and molesting her, a wife hating her family for being forced into an arranged marriage to provide for them.
Not all evils had the same weight. Suffering had no standardized unit of measurement. Someone that had a great life could perceive the suffering of a minor setback with the same severity as a person who had a horrible life would perceive a major setback. Likewise, something that most saw as horrible could be easily dismissed.
"Sakura Matou," I said the words aloud as I spotted the Matou estate. I felt the hatred coming from her. The resentment. Just as I felt the malice from Zouken Matou. The intensity of the evils in his heart were like roaring bonfires compared to the flickering candle flames that surrounded him.
A deal was a deal.
I descended to the street below, my body condensing into a human shape. I spared a glance down at the back of my hand, considering something for but a moment. "Save Sakura Matou," I said, inflicting a command seal on myself, and I felt power flowing through me. The command seal augmented my stats temporarily, granting me additional power to complete the absolute order. My stats were raised from E to D and my mana was replenished. It might not be the most prudent use of the command seals, but I had a few to spare.
And this way, I couldn't cut out and run if things looked dicey. A deal was a deal.
Do or die. That was a command seal.
I rematerialized as I strode forward, my body slipped through the cold iron gate with no difficulty. In doing so, I tripped a bounded field that would alert the inhabitants to my presence. I didn't care as I strode up to the large double doors. The Matou estate was an impressive sight. If less impressive than the castle that my other self was at. A large building made of gray stone, rows of windows with iron grating woven into the glass. At a glance, it looked as much like a prison as it did a Manor.
Reaching the large double doors, I stepped into them, my body sliding through the crack under the doors as well as underneath the doorframe. When I stepped on the other side of the doors, I saw a lovely guest room that was richly decorated with old English-style furniture. It was a bit after Saber's time, but it might make a nice 'please don't use the holy sword Excalibur on me' gift. I hadn't been joking that she could kill me with that thing. It was literally made to kill evil.
The faint sound of buzzing reached my ears as I looked around, taking a moment to admire a fifteenth-century painting before moving on. All around me, I heard the sound of chuckling. "It seems I underestimated my foolish son. To think he would find someone to do his dirty work for him," Zouken Matou spoke, and I just about scoffed.
Seriously? He was trying this on me? I literally wrote the book on scaring the shit out of people.
"He made a deal with the devil," I spoke, coming to a stop in front of another painting. "Do you have anything from the fifth or sixth centuries?" I asked, pinching my chin as I considered the splotchy painting. Abstractism wasn't really my thing. You were supposed to fill in the blanks yourself, but… well, all I saw was hate, malice, and ill intentions. Kinda made abstract paintings a downer.
"For dear Sakura, or for my life?" Zouken spoke slowly, that same amusement in his tone as the sound of buzzing got louder in the hallway I was in. Ignoring my question. How rude.
"For Sakura, but killing you would be the cherry on top," I answered with a shrug as I kept moving. "So, are you going to hand her over?"
There was a long pause as I made my way through the house. I could feel where Zouken was. It seemed I wasn't the only one with tricks up my sleeves because I felt him spread across the house - the bugs were his familiars. I felt a number of them down below. Just as I felt Sakura's presence. "Very well. She is upstairs," Zouken said, making me sigh.
"You should know better than lie to me," I said, coming to a stop where I stood. Emerging from the shadows in response to my words were insects. Large ones. That asshole totally ripped off my design - large, a head that was filled with teeth, dagger-like appendages, and a nasty-looking stinger. There were dozens of them floating in front of and behind me, and I could feel the evil intentions behind their presence.
"You should know better than to enter a mage's home uninvited," Zouken responded with contempt. "My son and I had a deal. He reneged on it. Young Sakura shall be my heir and give the Matou family plenty of children with her supple body."
"Is that so?" I questioned, my tone flat. Zouken chose to respond with action rather than words. The insects flew forward, shooting at me as if they were bullets, and slammed into my body. I allowed the action to happen, black blood erupting from the entry points as the insects eagerly devoured my body.
"You-" Zouken had but a moment before he realized his mistake. Physical contact was ideal for my curses to work, but acting through a familiar was a decent enough substitute. The insects began to claw ineffectually at the inside of my body as curses sank into them, and by extension Zouken. The insects around me began to drop to the floor, seemingly in intense pain, before they began to suicide themselves directly at me.
In response, my body became my own insects and the hallway was filled with the sounds of our battle. My body tore through Zouken's - our design might be similar, but in terms of quality, we couldn't be compared. Corpses of his insects marked a trail as I continued through the house, searching for a way to descend. All the while, my curses took root.
I'm sure Zouken could be considered a powerful magus by some. A swarm of carnivorous insects would be difficult for most to beat. Each one acting as a phylactery for the mage, letting him reform from whatever insect he kept in reserve. In a lot of ways, we had a very similar approach to combat. However, because of that, I knew his weakness. A weakness that was compounded by the fact that I was a terrible match up for him.
All his swarm did was give me a surplus of targets, making it like shooting fish in a barrel.
"What a hideous soul," I remarked at a swarm of insects as I pushed open the door to the basement, revealing a large cavern with stone steps lining the edge of it. Zouken stood across from me, and the sound of his insects was almost like thunder in their echoes around the caverns. Zouken himself was an old man, bald, with glazed-over eyes. He clutched a walking stick, leaning on it as he sweated bullets, my curses working through his system.
His soul was rotting. No, it was already rotten. Seems like he found eternal life, but not eternal youth. His entire existence was agony driven from the rot in his soul, like a festering wound. That was the only reason why he was able to remain intact. The level of suffering I inflicted upon him wasn't enough to destroy his mind like it had my master. He was already used to it.
"I thought I recognized you, Angra Mainyu. Your last showing was so pathetic that it seems I underestimated you," Zouken rasped out, his skin darkening where my curses took root.
I smiled, "I'm Caster, now. The change in class has some definite perks." I said before I cast my gaze below, seeing a vast sea of insects that covered the floor of the cavern. Or crypt, it would seem based on the holes in the walls that seemed to pour more insects by the second.
At the center of the insects, kept propped up by them crawling over her skin, I'm guessing was Sakura. Small. Naked. Dark purple eyes and hair, her expression blank despite the hell she was in. I felt something stir in me. Something I had to search for the word to describe.
Empathy.
I knew that gaze. I had worn it thousands of years ago when I was her age, driven insane by the torture my village inflicted on me. When I was devoid of anything, so broken I couldn't even hate them anymore. Sakura was a child, and she was completely dead inside. The only thing keeping her anything close to sane was her resentment.
"Take her, if that is your wish," Zouken spat, as the insects crawling over her retreated. Sakura dropped into a heap, completely naked, and made no move to get up. He was cutting his losses. Some might call that a cowardly move, but those that would were fools. It was simply practical. After all, so long as Zouken lived, the world was full of nothing but possibilities. He was one of the few that understood that fact.
I hummed as I walked to the ledge of the dark cavern and without hesitation, dropped into the sea of insects. They retreated from my feet, clinging to the darkness in writhing masses. They parted for me as I walked to Sakura, taking the jacket off of my body and placing it on her. Sakura's empty gaze shifted over to look upon me, no emotion in her eyes. Not even confusion.
"Zouken, get your filth out of her," I told him, scooping Sakura up into my arms. Her head resting against my shoulder, too weak to do anything. I felt his familiars inside of her. Inside of her organs and heart. Zouken could kill her with a thought as it was.
The rotting old man let out a dismissive snort, "For what reason shall I do such a thing?" he questioned, knowing that his leverage over Sakura was the only thing keeping him alive. Despite the fact that I stood in the heart of his place of power, surrounded by his familiars. We both knew that I would win if it came to a fight.
I smiled, "The deal I made with your son was to save Sakura, not to kill you. I'm not the kind of guy that does unnecessary things when I can avoid it." There was a pause as Zouken considered that, sensing a trap. So, I held up a hand, tugging at the curses that I had placed on him. With a pull, the curses reversed, flying to my body as a single drop of black blood, which was absorbed into my body. "A gesture of good faith," I explained.
A small beat of silence, "My apologies," Zouken spoke, a chuckle in his voice. "I misunderstood who I was dealing with. I've learned to expect moralizing when outsiders discover the worm pit. I had forgotten that I was dealing with all the world's evils." My expression didn't change. It was expected. Actually, it was what I was counting on.
"Very well," Zouken spoke, his tone carrying a sense of finality. Sakura grimaced in pain, clutching at my shirt with her hands, her shoulders trembling for a moment. Then she turned to the side and vomited, crest worms spilling out from her mouth. I felt Zouken's evil leaving her body, leaving her free of his familiars. She sputtered, puking again, before passing out in my arms from the trauma of the experience. The had been embedded in her pretty deeply.
My smile grew. "What an idiot," I remarked, holding up a hand with a finger outstretched. Zouken thought we were cut from the same cloth. And maybe he wasn't wrong about that. He believed because I had no reason to kill him, I wouldn't. He looked down on me because I was a Servant. But, more than that, he was so blinded by his own hubris - just because he had lived for hundreds of years, he was certain that he would live on for hundreds more. Simple stupidity combined with arrogance.
A deadly combination.
A drop of black blood fell from the tip of my finger, falling on the crest worms at my feet. Zouken's eyes widened before he dropped to his knees, clutching his heart. The insects around me began to shriek as my curses sank their fangs deep into the rot of his soul. Zouken screamed in agony, falling from the balcony above and landing in a heap. I chuckled as I approached, the old man struggling to look up at me.
"W-why?" he demanded, coughing up black blood as his body began to rebel, shifting and changing as the insects that comprised his body began to die.
"Why do I need a reason?" I asked him, my smile growing as he made a pathetic whimpering sound. "Oh, Zouken… we are going to have so much fun together," I said with a chuckle, his pained cries music to my ears. I didn't care about justice or doing the right thing. Punishing evil wasn't really my thing either. This was for Sakura, for no grander reason than that I understood what she had endured better than anyone else in this world.
For I was all the evil in the world… and the sacrifice to that evil. I was the perpetrator and the victim.
His body began to fall apart, but he wasn't dead. He still lived in the familiars that surrounded us. But I had a tight grip on his soul as I peeled away the rot in it with no mercy, the curses that I inflicted upon him dragging something up that he had long since suppressed. I saw a glimpse of it in my own mind - a woman on a stone slab with another above her, the feeling of love and resolve, and hellish horror as she was crushed.
Zouken cried. "Justeaze!" he wailed, dozens of copies of his voice overlapping around us as his familiars spoke as one. The name of the woman. The one he had loved. Who he had sacrificed for a goal. A utopia. "Kill me," Zouken begged, in a moment of realization of what he now was and how far he had fallen. He became everything that he hated about the world. A heart once pure with noble intentions had festered and rotted, transforming into the pitiful creature that surrounded me.
It was hilarious. So, I laughed, the sound of my laughter echoing in the worm pit, the sound nearly drowning out his pathetic, heart wrenching sobs. After a moment, my laughter settled down into chuckles as I shook my head in disbelief.
I tsked as if he were a naughty child, "Begging for death already? I thought you were made of sterner stuff, Zouken." I remarked as I began to walk to the stairs, his insects desperately clinging to my legs with each step, begging me to release him from his disgusting existence, but they failed to stop me. As I left, I spoke. "Death would be the greatest kindness I can give you Zouken…"
"And I am everything but kind."