Kariya has won the 4th Holy Grail War, and reflects on the events leading up to his victory.

I now have it. I killed them all; I made Tokiomi pay for what he did to Sakura, Rin, and Aoi. What an idiot, planning to use this weapon to reach the Root... not like it would have gotten him anywhere near his mythical goal. Hilarious, isn't it? I, someone who "abandoned the path of magic," a "disgrace," knows far more about this thing he has sought his entire life.

I remember him lying beneath me, begging me to let him live. Let him live for the sake of his family. Who the hell does he think he's fooling? He doesn't give a shit about his family; all he cares about is himself. He would sacrifice them for his magical ambitions in a heartbeat; he only sees them as tools for his research. As failsafes; contingency plans in case he can't reach his precious Root himself. Then he said he would share the Grail with me. That I could do what I wanted with it, as long as I allowed him to use it for research when I was done. At this point he must've been really desperate, to think that I would believe that. He would never let my heretical hands sully such an object; I knew he would kill me as soon as he could if I agreed.

So I killed him. Standing over his body contorted in fear, his face still somehow calm, I considered letting my insects devour him. But no, that was too good a fate for him. So I choked him. I choked him and I choked him. He started frothing at the mouth, and I got worried. I didn't want him to die just yet; he needed to suffer. After his limbs went limp, I put my ear to his breast and checked his heartbeat.

thump ba-dump

"Good, he's still alive," I thought. I then dragged his silent almost-corpse, soiled in his own urine and feces (so much for your "Honour of Mages"), to that accursed building. The place disgusts me to think about it, but at this moment only, I was glad it was there. It would make for fitting retribution for this man's evil. Start with him, and continue with the rest of the whole bloody lot.

Soon, we arrived in front of the Matou manor. I dragged the literal shit stain with me into the house, thinking about seeing Sakura in these halls. I wonder if Tokiomi ever thought about Sakura. Sakura, writhing in pain as the worms consumed her virginal essence. Sakura, who was just a lifeless shell after the worms had done their job, just sitting in the pit like a doll, unblinking. She was so happy, and he ruined it. How could any person do that-? No, no person could do that. No human. This thing I'm dragging here is not human at all; it is only a monster, a nascent vampire like Zouken. Oh, they're all the same. He might have looked at Zouken in contempt - no, wait. Who says he had anything but the highest respect for that mage among mages, Matou Zouken, a man who had practically achieved immortality through the practice of Magecraft?

"Fucking pig," I thought. Well, soon he would get what was coming to him.

We reached the door to the cellar. I opened it, and pushed him through the doorway. Lying on his back, I looked at his smug face. I bent down and punched it, feeling the satisfying break of a tooth. I opened his mouth and pulled out the tooth I had loosened, and stuffed it down his throat. He coughed violently, finally spat it out, as I watched in glee. He opened his eyes, and looked at me in disbelief, as if I couldn't possibly have defeated him. But I did, fair and square. I didn't resort to any of his trickery, preferring instead to fight with true self-respect, and not like a dirty coward masquerading as a brave man. His stupid face irked me.

I pulled him upright by his hair, and yelled at him, condemning him for what he had done. I told him how Sakura had suffered, and asked him if he regretted it at all. He just looked at me, and said he didn't know it would be so bad. This infuriated me. Of course he knew, how couldn't he? She was his dear sweet replacement, like a homunculus he could stick his ambitions inside for the next generation. He would never allow the pure vessel that she was to be ruined, nothing that would stop her from fulfilling his ambitions for the Root. I told him I was disgusted with him, and that if he didn't know what it was like, he would now.

He screamed not to be thrown in there, into the pit of worms that he knew perfectly well. Fucking liar. Not that I cared, of course. He wanted knowledge, didn't he? Well, the best kind of knowledge is experiential; sensory. And his senses would soon be overloaded with more pain than he could possibly withstand, with that pampered aristocratic body of his. So I threw him, revelling in his cries. And it only got better once he was in there.

Oh, he cried at first. As I stood outside, laughing at this amazing reversal of fortune, I began to think that this was too good to be true. What if he had another trick up his sleeve, a final trump card? Like the whole vile mass of worms would somehow jump out of the pit and devour me. Then I shook my head, and laughed instead at my own stupidity. Was I so used to being under the thumbs of these rotten mages that I still couldn't believe that I could win against them? Why shouldn't I be able to? I'm a million times better than they are; now that I've finally decided to take my rightful place above them, and cleanse the world of their evil, it's only right that I should be able to rejoice over their groaning corpses.

Forget that. I'm done being a sick, groveling pig destined to always live below others.

I rested in the mansion for a few days, as I gathered my strength for the next item on my agenda. Meanwhile, I came down to the cellar to check on Tokiomi a few times a day. As the flesh was slowly bitten off his bones, I got to see parts of him I never thought I would, and really didn't want to. It turned my stomach; the only reason I was able to handle the sight was the pleasure I got at knowing that this is how he met his end. I couldn't tear myself away from it, every bit of it simultaneously disgusting and satisfying me. After about two days, the meat on his skull was mostly gone, and I briefly considered separating it from the body and keeping it as a trophy. Well, more like a reminder; maybe put it in a glass case with a plaque reading "Sic semper tyrannis." Hmm... Mages are worse than any tyrant, though; tyrants kill our bodies, but mages kill our hearts and souls.

In the end I didn't feel interested in getting up close and personal with the Crest Worms again, so I let his skeleton remain where it was. Let them consume it totally. Live by Magecraft, die by Magecraft, as they say.

I had more important things to do, anyway. Before I could get my hands on the Grail and finally wipe out their whole miserable race, I had to get rid of one other Master: Waver Velvet.

Nothing personal, kid. You didn't seem too deep into this Magecraft shit and all the elitism that comes with it, and I'm sure you could probably have been a fairly decent person if you didn't get mixed up in this Grail War. It's a real pity, but for the sake of the children everywhere who would have to suffer under Magus parents and Magus elitism, never getting to experience true happiness, or love... I had to do this. I had to win the Grail to save them. It'd be great if you'd understood what I was fighting for, but maybe you were just too young to see the whole system for what it really was. A system of gears that grinds anyone caught in it to a bloody pulp. And sadly, you happened to be inside it when it was time for it to die.

Next time, I plan to go over Kariya's encounter with Waver. See you all then, and thanks for reading!