"So... that's what has been going on, huh?"
A normal girl had been taken from her family, and used as a test subject. She had to endure for years and years, until someone else stronger appeared and supposedly saved her. That girl's name was Sakura.
Yato felt weird.
A sigh escaped his mouth. "Sorry that I didn't notice it sooner, Sakura." It was another mistake of his. He wanted to be supportive of her past, without even understanding it in the first place.
"It's fine, Senpai." She had told her story without a drop of emotion. "I didn't want to tell you anyways. To be honest, I didn't want to burden you with something you couldn't solve." Couldn't... solve?
She continued. "I also... well, I didn't want you to leave... Sorry for being so selfish."
His eye twitched. "What part of that story would make me want to leave you...?" He almost felt offended that she thought that, but all his emotions were being clouded with something else.
Something he couldn't quite place...
Sakura giggled. "Hah... I like that about you, you know? How you're adorably clueless. I really don't want that to change... Though now that we had this talk, the future is up to you."
Caren interjected. "The future is obvious, is it not? My lord will strike your family down with the rage of a Campione..." Maybe Sakura should have kept this whole thing a secret after all.
Because telling Yato might cost Japan Fuyuki.
The Campione nodded. "Yeah. I'll go kill them all." He had figured out what this emotion was.
Cold rage.
Normally he was very much someone who would loudly express what he was feeling. In this situation however, he just wanted to stop wasting time and go kill those bastards already.
Sakura shook her head. "That's a lot more complicated then it sounds... Grandfather is immortal. He hides his sould amongst many insects... I think." She didn't truly understand how it worked.
"My lord is a Campione." Caren's reply was swift.
Sakura had to hold back a scowl. "Yes, and grandfather has to be careful around him, but strength isn't everything. I'm sure he has more trump cards up his sleeve." She knew she herself was supposed to be one.
Since her body was infested with the Matou's crest, it was like he could kill her at anytime. Illyasviel had temporarily fixed that problem by giving her Avalon and summoning Saber, but who is to say he didn't have any more tricks up his sleeve?
"You're stupid. My lord is a Campione."
This time she couldn't hold back her scowl. "Can you stop with that!? I already told you why it doesn't matter!"
"But it does matter." Caren rolled her eyes. "I suppose what they say is true, keep someone locked up enough and eventually they won't leave even if a door is opened." Was she accusing her of Stockholm Syndrome!?
A smile appeared on her face. "Allow me to repeat it once more, my lord... our lord is a Campione. His rage moves Hell, Earth and Heaven. Across the world all mages, many far greater than this worm, fear him. Why would it be any different for your grandfather?"
"Furthermore, even immortals such as the Dead Apostles have yet to cross the path of our lord... Do you really think your grandfather can compare? Please use your very tiny brain and—."
"That's enough Caren." Yato silenced her. He could tell the nun meant well, but she was just crushing Sakura's spirit. In the end her true nature was a sadistic one, she couldn't help it.
His gaze shifted towards Sakura. "Thank you for telling us this." He had to support her in such a situation, right?
It was hard to think of what he should be doing. He just wanted to go ahead and destroy the Matou family already. Still, this wasn't the time to let his body move before his admittedly stupid brain.
Sakura looked away. "It's... fine, Senpai." Since he had yet to punish her, she wouldn't be sent away or killed, right?
He took a deep breath. "So, did Rin know?" He really, really hoped she didn't.
Not to say knowing immediately condemned her in his eyes of course, she was just a teenager. But knowing and not telling him about it would be... the image he had of her would certainly die. That was for sure.
"No, I don't think she did..." Even though they were supposedly sisters. "The only person I know for sure did was Illyasviel." Oh? "She's been telling me for a long time now that I should just come out and tell you about this."
Sakura put a hand on her chest. "It's probably why she was so insistent on giving me Avalon. My grandfather... The Matou's..." How was she supposed to say this? "I have worms inside of me." Probably not in such a crude way!
"I'm pretty sure removing them would kill me, and that grandfather could kill me through them at anytime. With Avalon however, I would survive, but..." But it was currently inside Yato.
He clicked his tongue. "I see." Was Zouken watching him right here and now?
Well, not moving at all was probably going to be a bigger risk to Sakura's life than anything else, so he stuck his own hand inside of himself. Magician of course, he was going to remove Avalon.
Now that the Sun God... goddess was defeated, there was no need for him to have it anymore.
"S-Senpai!?" Sakura's eyes widened. She didn't even know he could remove it by himself.
Yato was doing it more or less by instinct of course, but he had this thing inside of him. Knowing how to take it off was a requirement. And so, before long he put Avalon inside of Sakura again.
Zouken didn't act.
Was he making some plan, or was he cowering in fear knowing the end was near? Or maybe he really couldn't watch things through Sakura. In the end Yato didn't particularly care, there would be no escape for the worm.
Now that was done... "Sakura. Was Shinji complicit?" If he was... Well, Yato wasn't going to particular miss him.
Sakura flinched. "My brother, he... he has his faults, but—."
Caren interjected. "He's totally complicit." Yeah, it was pretty clear that Sakura wanted to avoid the subject.
Sakura desperately tried denying it. "No...! H-he may have done some good things, bu—."
Caren snorted. "Are you trying to come off as a generic abused wife? If so, you are doing a perfect job." As Sakura paled, Caren looked at Yato. "So my lord, will you kill the brat as well?" She had to know.
In case Yato said something crazy, like declaring he would tear Japan asunder, she would have to do her best to contain him. Not that she didn't approve of him taking revenge of course, she just knew Campione were Campione.
Yato put a hand to his chin. "Well... I'll have a talk with him first, I guess." Mostly because he wanted to respect Sakura... "And about Zouken... The guy has been lying to my face since the start, but I'll take his challenge." The old bastard was challenging his very kinghood by pulling this shit in his own turf.
There would be no nowhere to run... or more accurately, running would mean defeat.
"Yo, Shinji!" Yato lightly pat the boy's shoulder from behind.
The Seaweed jumped in fright as he turned around. "What...!? L-Lord Shibata...?"
Yato smiled. "That's me! Sorry for the sudden surprise, I asked my Caster to find you." Shinji was just hanging around the city, which would normally mean finding him was hard, but... Skadi was amazing.
"C-Caster...?" Shinji definitely knew what a Servant was, but he probably didn't know about Yato having one.
Yato nodded. "Ayup! Don't stress thinking 'bout it though! Let's hang out instead. We are going to compete in archery... and don't worry, I already rented a place." And by that he meant the school club. Skadi had cleaned the place for now.
Shinji gulped. "Why...?" And then paled. "Not that I'm trying to question you, Lord Shibata!" He awkwardly laughed.
Yato shrugged. "Because it's the only worth you have, right?"
"H-huh?"
"You aren't particularly liked by anyone." Besides maybe Shiro...? "And from what I heard, while you're talented, archery is the only skill you're good at it. So I'm gonna judge on whether I should spare you by using that as a metric."
"Ah, and don't worry about skill. Even if you're bad at it, as long as I see something special I will spare you." He was acting very kingly right now!
Though... really... he had already made his judgment.
Shinji stayed silent, but it was clear that he wanted to run away, he was terrified. More importantly however, it was clear that he was super confused.
So Yato clarified. "If you're wondering, this is all happening because recently I heard you did inappropriate things to Sakura. I don't neee to explain why that is completely unforgivable, right?"
"Honestly, I don't really know how far you've gone. I don't know if you simply slapped her, or if you raped her. It doesn't matter either way, I'm not a torturer, so the only punishment you will receive is death." Maybe not a swift one however...
Shinji exploded. "I-I...! I didn't do anything, Sakura... That bitch is lying—."
Yato raised a hand. "Shut it. I already decided I'll be looking into your heart with archery. I'm not very good at talking after all, but I'm good at fighting... it will be easier that way."
"And this will very much be a fight. Your life will be in the line, even if I'm not your target..." He tilted his head. "Well, if you defeat me, I'll let you kill me." He wouldn't become a Campione, but it would be something.
Shinji took a step back. He was not confident in his chances of victory.
Yato snorted. "Hey, don't worry. You don't even need to win, you just need to have a pure soul."
"Bullseye." Yato hit the very center of the target with his arrow.
Shinji trembled. "I... I'm surprised you're this good..." It wasn't fair!? How the hell was he supposed to compete with a Campione of all things!?
Yato shrugged. "I'm not good at archery, but I'm good at fighting. My instincts are screaming at me." The joys of being a Campione... Well, this was something he had even as a human. If he didn't have it, he wouldn't have ascended in the first place.
The Campione glared at him. "No need to flatter me by the way. It's your turn." Yato moved away.
With trembling steps, Shinji assumed his position.
Yato supposed his form was good enough. He couldn't quite tell with his level of inexperience... However, the fear of the situation was definitely affected him. Shinji was not at his best right now.
He took aim... and missed. The arrow didn't hit the target at all.
Shinji paled.
Yato waved him. "It's fine. You can go again and I won't count this one. Conquer your fear, Shinji Matou." He couldn't blame him for being afraid, but he couldn't magically turn Shinji into a brave man either.
Shinji gulped. "T-thank you..." He prepared himself, and aimed yet again.
Another complete miss.
Shinji immediately threw himself at Yato's feet. "Please forgive me! I... I was forced by my grandfather! I didn't meant to hurt Sakura! I swear it!" He certainly broke fast.
Yato sighed. "I don't completely doubt that..." He just didn't care. "But you need not tell me, your bow shall do it. Like before, I shall dismiss this pathetic attempt, and let you try again." He would let him try as many times as it took.
"B-but...! Grandfather, he...!"
Yato cut him off. "Stop bringing a dead man into things."
Shinji froze. "A dead man...?"
Yato nodded. "I offscreened him." His authority was the complete counter for someone like Zouken. The Campione hadn't even seen him die... but he most definitely had.
Well, Skadi would be scouring the city... and beyond just to be safe. Yato would also publically announce his hatred for the old man, so even if he somehow outsmarted the authority of a Campione, some other mage who wanted a Campione's favor would definitely kill him eventually.
Shinji looked up at him. "You... um... offscreened him?"
"Yup. Now start being good with a bow unless you want to get onscreened." This kill would be much more satisfying. That was for sure.
"Y-you can't have done that... Grandfather wouldn't just die like that!" Much like Sakura, Shinji saw the man as invincible. As a god... but Yato was a god slayer.
The Campione glared at him. "I'm losing my patience with you."
Shinji immediately shut up and got up. He aimed his bow and... hit. Not the center of the target, but at least that was something. Especially since he had yet to truly conquer his fear of the Campione.
Yato smirked. "Well, that wasn't too ba—."
But he didn't have time to finish, because Shinji dropped his bow and began to run away. "Wahhhh...! I don't want to die!" Did he assume not hitting a bullseye meant death!? Yato wanted to drag this competition for a bit longer.
Before he could completely get away, Yato extend his hand and grabbed him by the scruff. "Oi, this is getting tiring..." This was going as planned... that was for sure.
"Shut up! Stop toying with me you bastard! I don't care if you're a Campione, I won't die like this!" Hah... Yato would feel bad for the boy, if he didn't know his true nature.
Yato sighed. "Okay then, if you don't want to compete, I'll just kill you." Faster than Shinji could think, Yato moved his other hand and crushed Shinji's skull.
And like that, it was over.
"That was lame..." Skadi had offered to torture Shinji, maybe he should have accepted that offer.
If he had done that though, Sakura would have definitely heavily disapproved that. She was already against this, and he didn't want to make her feel even worse than she already was.
He pinched his nose. "Why did he have to realize I was toying with him?" That's right, toying. There would be zero chance in hell Shinji was ever going to leave this place alive.
Talking through battle? As if that would change Yato's decision. Though he really would have let Shinji kill him if the Seaweed ended up throughly winning against him. Which was an unlikely thing to happen, to say the least.
He just wanted to humiliate him.
He wanted to show Shinji that he wasn't special even in the things he thought he had talent in. Even in the things he had put effort in.
In the end though, Shinji just ran. And now Yato didn't feel particularly happy or anything... He didn't even feel empty like some revenge story. It was just a meh feeling, as if he had bought and eaten an okay cake. Like he had just gone to McDonalds.
It didn't matter what Yato felt however. This was never his revenge. He had done it out of anger, but the prize had always been Sakura's safety...
He hoped she was okay.
As soon as they arrived, Waver began chewing on his nails. "Fuck..." This wasn't good at all.
Gray came to check on him, clearly worried. "Is there something wrong?" Waver had suddenly gone pale as soon as they left the plane. That couldn't be good.
Reines interjected. "Yes. Isn't the air around here a bit too heavy?" It made her feel uncomfortable... No, it wasn't just the air. Her eye was itching, which wasn't good.
Waves nodded. "It is. I think Lord Shibata has used an authority for some reason." Typically he wasn't very good at sensing mana. It was a talent he lacked... really, he lacked pretty much all talents.
Now though, the mana was so thick that he felt as if he was being crushed. It was like a normal human had been taken to the Age of Gods... No, it wasn't that awful, but it was certainly bad. Without a doubt even the common people must be feeling it right now.
Reines licked her lips. "So this is Lord Shibata's doing...?" She knew Campione were powerful, so she shouldn't be surprised at such a basic display of might, but still...
Waver immediately glared at her. "I just know you're thinking of something stupid! And you better stop it!" This was an emergency situation.
Sure, Yato could have just used his authority to train or something, but Waver knew he had recently... seduced a goddess, and that Aoko Aozaki was here, which probably spelled trouble. Actually, maybe this air was caused by the goddess in the first place!
Reines pouted. "You're so awful... If Lord Shibata falls for me, I just might beg of him to discipline you."
"Trust me, if Lord Shibata starts accepting your orders, I'll gladly beg for death." That was truly the worst case scenario. Aoko Aozaki was a better romantic partner.
Reines looked away. "Geez... There are things worse than death." Worse case scenario indeed.
Gray cleared her throat, getting their attention. "So Teacher, what should we do?" She hoped she wouldn't have to fight that lustful beast! Even with Rhongomyniad, killing a Campione would not be easy...
But if she hit the target with enough seals unlocked, she could definitely do it!
"For now let's look for Lord Shibata. Japan itself may be in danger." Or worse. Campione were completely unpredictable after all... And this was the city which housed the wish granter.
And to think he was responsible for possibly the most docile Campione of them all! What was the planet and the Counter Force thinking!?
The planet needed condoms.
AN: This fic is ending in 5 chapters.
That is a joke.