Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Cerberus

Part XVI

The Sun shone down from clear skies on a city bustling with life, people going to and fro on their daily routines. Along a certain street, pedestrians went about on their business, ignoring the all-too-common sight of a young woman standing in an out-of-the-way corner, smoking a cigarette to pass the time.

And then heads were turning at the harsh sound of tires screeching against asphalt, and of brakes protesting against abrupt deceleration. They watched as a car turn the distant corner barely in control, miraculously staying on the road before speeding down, and then abruptly coming to a halt in front of a certain café. Curiosity lingered for a few more moments, and then people were back in their usual routine.

Doors opened and a faintly-exasperated Kiritsugu stepped out, followed by a cheerful Irisviel and a stoic Saber. Cerberus put out her cigarette, and then stepping out into the street walked towards the trio of misfits.

"Good morning," she cheerfully greeted them. "Nice driving…seriously. Who was the driver?"

Kiritsugu jerked a thumb in his wife's direction, Irisviel weakly laughing while rubbing the back of her head. "Seriously, that wasn't a bad drift at all." Cerberus said, Kiritsugu visibly tripping as Cerberus stepped up to his wife. "A bit more practice, and you'd be able to get into any informal racing circuit in this part of the world."

"Really?" Irisviel asked, intrigued.

"Yes, really!" Cerberus said. "Trust me, I know. My cousin runs a…racing circuit, in Tokyo, and sometimes goes racing at Hakone. Shame I can't introduce you, he'd very much love to meet you…or can I?"

Kiritsugu coughed pointedly. "Can we please get down to business?" he asked.

"Right…yes, of course!" Cerberus said, walking over and then past Kiritsugu towards the café. Above the old world façade, (deliberately) tarnished letters spelled out 'Ahnenerbe' in Roman characters. "Come on, I need to show you something. But first, let me warn you. There are…strange, sights in this café at times. Don't let it get to you."

Kiritsugu snorted. "We'll be fine." He said. "We've had our fair share of strange sights over the years."

"Right, I suppose you did. Still, just to make sure no one can blame me for not warning you…"

Pushing the door open, Cerberus led the way into the café, Kiritsugu following with his wife and Servant, the trio pausing just past the door to regard the café around them. The inside was just as old-fashioned as the outside, the floors paneled in wood, the round tables and their sturdy chairs also likewise made from wood.

The bar counter also seemed to be made from wood, and the wallpapered walls decorated with ornamental plates, displays, and even paintings. Small ones, but paintings still for all that. Together with the deliberate, smoky half-light of the interior, the café had a charming, old world air to it.

"Feels just like home." Irisviel remarked.

"Yes, it does." Saber agreed.

"Seems nice…" Kiritsugu began, only to trail off as…something, sitting at the bar turned to regard them, or rather Cerberus, in particular.

"Miss Matou," an anthromorphic…cat (?), said, holding a lit cigarette in one paw and blowing out puffs of smoke as he did so. "Considering your company, I imagine you're here for business."

"Yes I am, Chaos." Cerberus replied, already crossing the café, while Kiritsugu and his companions stared at the cat (?) person. Persons, actually: there was more than one of them. There was another next to Chaos, female going by the clothes, with pink hair and a tail waving around behind her.

The bartender was also one of them, blonde this time, looking tired and sleepy, murmuring to herself while cleaning a set of shot glasses. "Time machine's still in same spot, right?" Cerberus asked.

"Of course," Chaos replied. "It's not like any of us can move it, considering how big and heavy it is."

"Time machine?" the female cat-person sitting next to Chaos murmured while lifting a glass of whiskey to her lips. "So much effort and money put into building it, and for what? It's not like you can really change anything, can you? Destiny is…inevitable, one way or another."

Cerberus actually paused at that, and then laughing winked and mimed shooting pistols at the cat-person with her fingers. "Not if you're lucky," she said. "Luck changes fate ahead of time, remember?"

"Well, I wouldn't know." The female cat-person said. "I'm not a magus. I'm just someone unlucky in love or money, otherwise why would I be here?"

Cerberus laughed again. "Stay strong, Destiny." She said, resuming her walk towards a door towards the back. "I'm sure you'll get lucky someday."

"Hmm…"

Kiritsugu and company quickly rushed over and joined Cerberus to the back. "Okay," Kiritsugu conceded. "That was the strangest thing I've seen in a long time, and by far the strangest conversation I've ever heard. And I've seen and heard a lot over the years. What were those…uh, people?"

"No idea," Cerberus said with a shrug. "They work and live here apparently, and considering what this place is, it makes sense in context."

"And what exactly is this place?" Irisviel asked. "It feels…strange. Disconnected…elsewhere…as though we're…everywhere…and nowhere, at the same time."

"It's a café." Cerberus answered. "And a very good café at that. They serve good food and drink here. But, like with many things in our world, there's more than what meets the eyes."

"Enough games, Cerberus." Saber snapped. "Answer us: what is the secret behind this place?"

"It sits on a convergence of timelines."

"WHAT?" Kiritsugu and Irisviel yelled in surprise.

"Yeah, I know it sounds unreal and unbelievable, but it's the truth." Cerberus said, looking at them in the eyes. "My – and my relatives' – investigation into this place have confirmed a connection with the Wizard Marshal, but like with all things involving that man, anything more than that is hard to get in concrete form. Again, like with all things involving that man, we can only trust that he had good reason setting all this up. Oh, we also uncovered possible connections with Miss Blue as well, but that's unsubstantiated."

"How exactly does sitting on a convergence of timelines work?" Irisviel worriedly asked. "I have my suspicions already, but seeing as you seem to have more…experience, with this place, would you care to enlighten us?"

"This place normally works at random." Cerberus said, resuming leading them through a maze of corridors and hallways past a number of doors. "Most of the time, nothing happens. Sometimes though…you come in, do your business, and then you come out to find yourself in a completely different timeline. The only constant is the café, which is apparently a constant, an absolute, given it stands on the convergence."

"…I assume you have good reason to risk that happening to us?" Kiritsugu ground out.

"I do." Cerberus said, opening the door and leading them out into the open.

There was silence, broken only by the sound of waves smashing against rock and sand, of seabirds flying overhead, and of the ocean breeze blowing through leaves and branches. "Whoa," Kiritsugu gasped. "Where are we?"

"A lonely, uninhabited island in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle." Cerberus answered, closing the door (which along with the surrounding wall stood sticking out like a sore thumb on a rocky promontory reaching out into the sea), and making her way up a dirt path, led them to where a machine was standing.

"You see," Cerberus began. "This all happened when a certain something happened to my older sister."

"What happened?" Irisviel asked.

"No idea," Cerberus said with a shrug. "All I know is that it really traumatized her. She moved in with me for a month – just for clarification, we're actually half-sisters, same mother but different fathers so we live in different houses – and literally slept in the same bed as me, and even going the extra mile to check in on me regularly. Oh, and she kept telling me she loved me and would never let me go…it was nice, but really…weird. She's not usually so…open, about her feelings. Very weird…"

Cerberus shook her head while Kiritsugu pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are you going somewhere with this?" he asked.

"Yes." Cerberus said. "Once she recovered, she began looking into the properties of the convergence under the café, which was the cause of said incident. She then looked into the experimental data she had gotten while replicating the Jeweled Sword of Zelretch, conducted a number of experiments with it and based on the data of all three…developed this."

"A time machine." Kiritsugu said.

"Not quite," Cerberus said. "More like an…anchor, that allows one to control the permutations of the convergence. Instead of operating at random, a user/s can now set their destination, or make sure they won't get…um, temporally-displaced, by just being in the café. Actually, that last is the default setting."

"Surprising the owner let your sister set it up in his café." Kiritsugu said before looking at the deep blue sea around them. "Are we still in the café, even?"

"Yes and no." Cerberus said, gesturing around them and then pointing at the door. "As for why…well, before he used to make money only from the usual café services. Now, he makes money as well from…temporal, tourism."

"Temporal tourism, really?" Kiritsugu asked, an eye twitching.

"Yes, really." Cerberus said, straight-faced.

Elsewhere, in a different time and space, a red-eyed blonde was sunbathing in golden swimwear on a beach in the Bahamas next to her redheaded boyfriend. Though she was much older than he was, and much of what he could do were mere forgeries, the best of him was without a doubt no forgery. A fine treasure indeed, very fine.

As for the age gap, well, what did it matter? She was the rules, after all.

"…what's your point, Cerberus?"

Cerberus walked over to the control panel, and starting a diagnostics program, activated the holographic display. Kiritsugu and Irisviel watched as geometric diagrams began to play out in the air, the former beginning to speak only to break off as a hand from the latter touched his arm. Irisviel watched closely, her Trans-Human mind and her programmed knowledge allowing her to completely understand the geometries dancing before her.

"I see." She said with a nod. "If you can travel through time…then with some modification, you can travel through space as well."

"Yup." Cerberus said with a nod of her own. "At first I thought about assaulting Einzbern head on, but then I discarded that as we'd need an army to do so. Then I thought about infiltration, but the escape plan was problematic. And then I realized the solution was simplicity in itself: what if we could literally just pop in and out?"

"Yes…" Irisviel said with another nod. Moving away, she climbed up the dais onto the platform that made up the heart of the time machine, hand held out as she sensed the mysteries of the machine around her. Looking down at polished and translucent sapphire crystal, and thence into a spiraling cavity lined with kaleidoscopic gems, she then looked up, into a spiraling arrangement of polished and mirrored quartz segments, and sensed what they did. "Your sister is a genius."

"She is." Cerberus agreed. "I'll always be a better killer than her, but she'll always be a better magus. And in time, maybe, just maybe, she'll come to be known as the Lady Second, Wizard Marshal Tohsaka."

Cerberus paused and laughed. "Talk about middle fingers to the ossified hierarchy of the Clock Tower," she said with undisguised delight. "That an 'Oriental monkey' as they tend to see us Asians, would become the Wizard Marshal."

"Yes, yes," Irisviel said dismissively. "But more importantly…yes, this can work."

Stepping down from the dais, she hurried towards Kiritsugu. "We can do this." She said with conviction. "Open a portal, and get into Einzbern without worrying about its defenses. The bounded fields are useless, no matter they're over a thousand years old. Not when they're up against the Second Magic. If anything, they'll just short out the moment we open the portal."

"The response time is less than two minutes." Kiritsugu murmured.

"Then we'll just have to make the most of those two minutes." Cerberus said, and turning off the diagnostic. "Get in. Save the girl. Kill the bad guys who try to stop us. Get out like big damn heroes."

"I'm not a hero." Kiritsugu whispered, and then taking a deep breath, briefly closed his eyes. "Except for my little girl."

Pausing, he met his wife's eyes, Irisviel staring back resolutely. "You really think we can do this?" he asked.

"I do."

Kiritsugu nodded, and then turned back to Cerberus. "Then let's do it." He said. "We just have to be rid of the Grail first."

"Right you are."

The Sun was beginning to set when Kiritsugu and Maiya arrived at their predetermined spot. "Over there." Maiya said, adjusting the heavy pack she wore behind her. Kiritsugu nodded as he followed, also carrying a heavy pack with him. Locking their car behind them, they made their way to a door used by city personnel to access the undercity.

Picking the lock open, they slipped into the blockhouse and then down the stairs, into the undercity. "What exactly are we looking for?" Maiya asked.

"Nothing in particular," Kiritsugu answered. "Just an approximate point over one of the ley-lines running across the city, and plant a mystic code at that spot."

"You really think that mystic code will work?" Maiya asked.

"Yes." Kiritsugu answered. "I trust my wife, and she came up with this plan."

Empty mugs were everywhere, along with dirty plates and utensils. Maps marked with colored ink and grease pencils covered a large table, while holograms glowed overhead. Books taken from the libraries of Einzbern and Kotomine Church rested here and there, colored bookmarks sticking from their pages.

Irisviel affixed pins with colored heads at five points around Mount Enzo, and then another five around the city. "So basically your plan is to disconnect the ley-lines from the Greater Grail," Cerberus began. "And then use those same ley-lines to fuel a counter-magic ritual to short out the magic circuits which make it up, and thus fry the Greater Grail."

"Pretty much." Irisviel said.

"A bit complicated for my taste," Cerberus murmured. "But it does have the advantages of keeping you away from the Greater Grail, and again, to remove the need for us to actually enter the underground ritual chambers."

"Yes."

"We just have to assemble the mystic codes for it." Kiritsugu observed. "Easy enough to do, once we get back to Einzbern, and enlist the help of the others."

"There's one more problem, though." Cerberus observed.

"And what's that?" Irisviel asked.

"We don't have a magic circle." Cerberus said with a sigh. "And without a circle to link the codes together into a coherent array…"

"Yes, we do." Irisviel interrupted.

"…what?"

"We have a circle." Irisviel said, before summoning one of her familiars. "We just need to map it out when the Sun rises, and adjust the predetermined positions beforehand."

"You don't trust Iri?" Kiritsugu asked Maiya.

"I do." She said. "It's just that this plan is very…grand. A lot of things could go wrong."

"…when all is said and done, she's still an Einzbern." Kiritsugu said with a sigh. "They like to go big. Though, I don't really mind."

"You really love her, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Hmm…"

The rest of the trip through the undercity was made in silence, until Kiritsugu's locator began to beep. "Hold up," he said while pulling it out. "We're almost where we need to be. Follow my lead."

Maiya nodded as Kiri and her continued down the corridor, the sound of rushing water growing louder along with beeping of his locator. And then emerging through a passageway, they found themselves in a wide gallery, water flowing through a deep canal in the middle, electrical wiring sheathed in thick, black rubber running overhead parallel to the canal. The locator's beeping was now a uniform tone, and Kiritsugu nodded in satisfaction.

"We're here." He said, and lowering his pack began to bring out their disassembled mystic code. "Come on, let's finish setting this up."

Stars glimmered in the velvet skies of the evening, as Waver and Rider set up another one of the mystic codes needed to disable the Greater Grail. "Hey," Waver said while driving the brass weight into the ground with a mallet, and then attaching the steel line running from the central mechanism. "What do you plan to do after this, Rider?"

Rider looked up from where he was doing the same thing as Waver had been. "Hmm," the giant Servant hummed. "That's a good question. I returned to this world on the basis of my greatest desire having a chance to be granted…only for said chance to be false. Thus, I do not know."

"I see."

"What about you, boy?" Rider asked, moving to another spot, equidistant from the others, and began to drive another weight into the ground. "What do you plan to do after the war?"

"I was going to go back to the Clock Tower, and continue my studies." Waver said with a sigh. "…when I joined this war, I hoped to come out of it with the respect of my peers and colleagues. But given the way it's going to go…I don't think that's going to happen."

"Is that so?"

Master and servant worked in silence afterwards, and once all weights had been driven into the ground and lines attached, Waver approached the central mechanism. A large cylinder of polished metal, it was suspended on a tripod over a basin planted into a depression dug into the ground, the basin in turn filled with mercury. A brass pendulum hung from a brass chain over the mercury, hanging from the mechanism's body.

Waver popped a panel open, twisted a set of dials, and then inserted and turned a key. Lights came to life and the machine hummed to life. "There," he said, closing the panel and stepping away. "It's finished."

Rider nodded. "Looks like it." He said, before taking a deep breath and looking up at the sky. "The world's changed a good deal since I've last walked it, hasn't it?"

"It has." Waver agreed, looking at his Servant and wondering where he was going.

"I've read a whole lot about those changes." Rider mused. "The ages that have come and gone, the Roman Era, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance…and it's not just the changes, too. The world's just so much bigger than we ever thought it was."

Waver stared at Rider, and to his surprise, found himself smiling as he realized where the King of Conquerors was going. "Off to see the world, I take it?" he asked.

Rider laughed, and patted Rider hard on the back. "Yeah, I am." He said. "There's more than one way to conquer the world, and while I haven't given up on taking it for myself, I think I ought to learn more about it before giving it a go."

"Hmm…" Waver hummed in thought, also looking up at the stars. "You know, a few centuries back, a common and respected alternative to studying at a university was to take a trip overseas."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Waver said with a nod. "See the world. Experience it. Let it change you. Build character and taste."

Waver paused and sighed. "I did join this war to earn respect and acceptance." He said. "And like I said, given how things have turned out, that's not going to happen. So…why not? It's not like I'm going to be welcome back at the Clock Tower, and I've got no family waiting for me."

Rider laughed, and grabbing Waver's shoulder squeezed hard. "Welcome aboard, boy." He said.

"You're going to need my prana anyway, to keep yourself around." Waver said. "Though we're both going to need money to live with."

"Wait…we do?"

"Yeah…I'll…have to think of something."

"Oh…well, alright. I'll leave it to you then."

Cerberus held out a trio of passports, along with three tickets for first class flights to Helsinki in Finland. Aoi stared, and then took them with shaking hands. "Your flight will be for tomorrow afternoon." Cerberus said. "But, I suggest you take the time this evening to pack up what you want to take, and then leave for Fukuoka Airport. A lot of things can happen tomorrow morning, and I didn't go to all the trouble involving you three just to see it all wasted if you get caught up in something going wrong. If something going wrong."

"I…see…" Aoi breathed. "And…Tokiomi?"

Cerberus smiled thinly. "Someone has to take the fall." She said simply.

"I…see…"

"Once you get to Helsinki," Cerberus said. "One of your mother-in-law's relatives will be there to pick you up. You'll take a train to Rovaniemi, and then seeing as it is winter, a sleigh to the family estate in the Lapland countryside."

"…what about you?"

"I've got to see things through." Cerberus said, and then she blinked. "Oh yes, I almost forgot. One more thing…Sakura?"

"Yes?" the little girl said, looking up from where she was quietly sitting in the corner. She didn't flinch as Cerberus drew her sword, though Aoi did.

"Show me your tummy."

"Okay."

Sakura got up, and bared her belly. Cerberus' eyes glowed, and then narrowing, homed in on a point weakly flashing inside of Sakura's womb. "Ah," she thought. "With barely a year of 'training', plus the crest worms gone, few if any of their concepts have been imprinted. Good, very good…and with this, even those will be gone."

"This might hurt a bit." Cerberus warned, holding her sword flat and aimed at Sakura's belly.

Sakura didn't say anything, and Aoi looked away, blinking away tears as Cerberus slowly – carefully – stabbed Sakura in her belly, cutting through skin and muscle and into her undeveloped uterus, until the tip of Cerberus' sword struck the point. It gave way with no resistance, the Matou mysteries engraved into Sakura body crumbling into nothing.

There were still be scars. Nothing will ever be as they ought to be.

But…

…it's better than the alternative.

Cerberus pulled out her sword, and then holding a hand over the bleeding cut in Sakura's belly, cast a healing spell that closed all the wounds both inside and outside, and disinfected the surrounding flesh. "All done." Cerberus said, getting up and patting Sakura on the head

Sakura nodded, and then to Cerberus' surprise, gave a very small, nigh-unnoticeable smile. "Thank you." She whispered.

"…you're welcome."

"Is something the matter, Saber?" Irisviel asked, walking up to the forlorn-looking King of Knights.

"…yes." Saber said softly, lowering her head from where she'd been looking out over the foggy expanse of the Einzbern forest. "I accepted the Grail's call to have the chance to save my kingdom, but in the end it was for naught. I…"

Saber trailed off and sighed. For a long moment, Irisviel was silent, and then smiling, stepped up next to Saber. The King of Knights stared at the woman next to her as Irisviel took Saber's hand and squeezed it.

"It wasn't for naught, as you put it." Irisviel said with a reassuring smile. "Yes, your wish wasn't granted. But, if the worst happens, you'll be helping stop a god of evil from ending the world. How many lives will that save? And even if the worst doesn't happen, you'll still be helping save a little girl from being twisted against her will, and reunite her with her parents."

"But…"

"You're the King of Knights, aren't you Saber?" Irisviel interrupted. "Just as much as you are the King of Britain…in that you have not failed. Thank you being here, and for what's to come."

Saber was silent, and then squeezing Irisviel's hand back, turned once more to the forest before them. "Even if we rescue your daughter," she said softly. "Do you really think your relatives would just let her go?"

"Probably not…" Irisviel sadly said. "But if so…I'll be really grateful if you could stay and help…"

"Hmm…I'll consider it."

Irisviel smiled, and then nodded. "Thank you." She said.

Silence fell, Irisviel and Saber watching the forest in the light of the Moon. Neither knew how long they stood there, until they saw a car make its way out of the forest, and pull up in front of the castle.

"Well," Cerberus said as she walked into the room, surprisingly carrying her sword with her. "Ryuudo's evacuation is well underway, though I've had to use mental interference quite heavily to make it work for so many and to be done in so quick a time. The Tohsaka – minus the delusional loon – have gone and are taking their things from their mansion. By daybreak, they should be at Fukuoka, waiting for their flight to Finland."

"And your equipment?" Kiritsugu asked.

"Disassembled and taken to Ahnenerbe." Cerberus said. "I've also phoned the Kotomines. Kirei is ready and waiting in case things go wrong."

"I see." Kiritsugu said with a sigh. "Guess all we can do now is wait and hope."

"Hmm…there's one more thing we can do."

"Oh?"

Cerberus gestured at Irisviel. "Disconnect her from the Grail." She said.

"…can it even be done?"

Eyes glowing, Cerberus raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it could be…in theory." Irisviel chimed in. "With proper training, a person with Mystic Eyes of Death Perception could cut spells or even concepts."

"In theory?" Cerberus echoed. "I've done it before."

"Well yes but…have you cut mysteries going back several hundred years? Because that's about how old the Grail system is."

"More like two hundred years or so…" Cerberus said. "But yes. One vampire I've killed was about five hundred years old or so, so yeah, I should be able to do it."

Irisviel and Kiritsugu stared at each other. "I don't like this." Kiritsugu finally said. "It's too risky. Too many unknowns. Too many variables."

"I know." Irisviel swallowed. "But we might have no choice. As long as I have a connection to the Grail, no matter how tenuous, there's always a risk that something might…rebound, through that connection. Whether it's Avenger possessing me, or a backlash from the Grail's destruction, or something else entirely."

"There has to be another way."

"…you know as well as I do that there isn't." Irisviel said. "Not without returning to Germany, to my family, and they will never help us. Not without the Grail. And we cannot bring that back."

Kiritsugu grit his teeth, and then looking away for a few moments, nodded.

Cerberus pointed at Irisviel's torso, and sighed. "Your ancestors were messed up." She said.

"What?" Irisviel asked.

"Whether it's you or your connection to the Grail," Cerberus growled. "Or the younger Tohsaka girl's…engraving, with Matou mysteries, it's always rooted in the womb for some reason."

"Well, there's certain symbolism there, and…"

"Yes, I know all about the symbolism behind it, and how it can be…meaningful, for magecraft." Cerberus interrupted with a sigh. "It doesn't make it any less disturbing."

"…true."

Cerberus drew her sword, and pointed it at Irisviel's belly. "This is going to hurt." She said.

Irisviel looked unimpressed. "You've never had a child before, have you Cerberus?" she asked.

Cerberus looked confused. "What?" she asked.

"I asked if you've never had a child before."

"No…and I've got no plans to, why?"

"Trust me as someone who's had a child before." Irisviel said. "There's nothing as painful as childbirth…and nothing is as joyful as what comes after."

"I'll…take your word for it."

Irisviel raised an eyebrow, and then smiled mischievously. "Oh?" she said. "Are you…afraid, of having a child? Or could it be that the incarnation of death is an innocent?"

"That is below the belt!" Cerberus hissed, her face red. "Let's…let's just get on with it."

Irisviel giggled at her expense, Assassin struggling to hold back her laughter while Saber's cheeks were red. Kiritsugu…was impassive, though he winced as he saw Cerberus' wakizashi piercing his wife's belly.

And then it stopped, and then was withdrawn. "Is that it?" Irisviel asked, quickly applying a healing spell to herself.

"Yeah, it's done."

"…I don't feel different…oh wait…yes, there it is. Or rather, it's not there anymore. Huh…thank you…though…"

"Hmm?"

"No, it's nothing." Irisviel said with a sigh, and beginning to put her clothes back on.

Cerberus cleaned her sword, and then sheathing it, glanced at her wristwatch. "Now," she began while glancing at Kiritsugu. "All we can do is wait and hope."

A/N

Let's bring things to a close, boys and girls. Teams Emiya and Cerberus scheme to use Rin's time machine to open a wormhole into Illya's suite in Germany, while evacuations are performed in case Irisviel's plan to burn the Grail from the inside-out has unexpected side-effects.

And as shown in Kara no Kyoukai, MEoDP allows its user to cut spells or even concepts. Shiki Tohno's flawed eyes might not let him do that, but Shiki Ryougi and Cerberus' eyes don't have his flaws, and so the latter can. In this case, what Matou mysteries the crest worms engraved into Sakura's body, and again with Iri's connection with the Grail.