Ch 140: Zouken Matou

It was close to 3:00 AM when Akeno, Chisato, Asuka and their servants gathered in the living room.

"Are we all ready to go? Asked Akeno.

"I'm feeling slightly tired, but I'm ready." shrugged Chisato.

"Same for me. My Red Empress is fully operational again, and Aife is in top condition." said Asuka, and Aife confirmed with a nod.

Asuka opened the door, and they left her house.

"So we're to find Rin's little sister Sakura and check on her, to see if she needs any immediate help." said Asuka as they walked down the street. "Do we know her exact location?"

"Rin gave us directions, yes." nodded Chisato.

"And I have those glasses that detect magic. I'll spot the wards surrounding the Matou Residence the instant I lay eyes on it." added Akeno, putting on the glasses Noah had made for her.

"It doesn't look half-bad on you."

"Thanks, Chisato." smiled Akeno.

"How do you intend to proceed, Akeno? I'm up for some door kicking! I hate that this rapist brother of hers share the same name as the Shinji from my world." asked Asuka.

"That approach is more than a little extreme at this point, and the information we got isn't necessarily reliable. I think we should first try diplomacy. There will be plenty of opportunities for violence later." shrugged Akeno. Then she thought about something.

"Speaking about violence, Chisato, Noah told me you're a pacifist. Are you okay with us putting an end to that guy and the grandfather, Zouken Matou?"

"…Yes." sadly sighed Chisato. "I still hate it, but after my experience in the Gundam 00 world, I realized that some people truly are beyond redemption… There was a time was when I had Ali Al-Saachez incapacitated, you know? He's a very good shot, but I'm faster and better… I only wanted him to spend the rest of his life in a cell. Heaven knows he's done enough terrorist acts for any judge to throw the book at him. And he was arrested. And yet, barely two months later, he was piloting a stolen Throne Gundam, and he killed Takina. Some wealthy magnate had bribed a few people and gotten him free."

"That's when I understood that I was too naïve. Sparing some evildoers only means more innocents will pay for it."

"That's a hard lesson to learn." nodded Akeno with a sympathetic smile.

"Yes. But I did learn." nodded Chisato. "And Tamamo made a suggestion earlier, regarding Medea and the evil magus."

"Yes!" came Tamamo's voice from Chisato's left. "I understand Noah's desire to secure Medea for our side and kill that evildoer. But do we really need to wait for him to summon her before acting? More innocent kids might suffer until he does."

"What are you suggesting, Tamamo?" asked Asuka.

"I propose that we take action as soon as we confirm he possess the catalyst. One of you Masters can do the summoning herself. Or we can force the evildoer to do the summoning after subduing him."

"That's a good point, and I do not see any demerit." said Akeno.

"Assassin." decided Asuka. "After we're done with the Matou, please find this Magus and keep an eye on him."

"Acknowledged."

It didn't take long for the group to find the Matou residence. It was slightly bigger than the Tohsaka house, and looked a little better maintained, but the atmosphere around the house somehow felt more sinister to Akeno. Maybe the knowledge of what was under that house affected her impression.

All the lights were off, but with her glasses, Akeno could see the wards being active. As well as the dozens of grotesque insects hidden in the bushes and grass surrounding the house.

The insects didn't move or made any sound, but it was obvious that they were aware of the approaching girls.

"Should we buzz?" asked Chisato as they stopped in front of the gates.

"Not necessary. Someone is coming to greet us." replied Akeno, as she stared at a particularly dark passage between two bushes, and all of them heard the sounds of countless things skittering and crawling. A lot of insects were coming out of vents and gathering together, forming a pile of disgusting, wriggling flesh. The pile grew into a humanoid shape, then into a very old, bald man with a gnarly cane and wearing dark green and black clothes. The man's skull was somewhat flattened at the top, reminding Akeno of the Kappa yokais from her world, and his prominent brows seemed to hide his eyes in their shadows. Eyes that had their color reversed, with black sclera and white pupils.

"It is a bit late for visitors." said the old man as he slowly came out from the shadows and stepped closer to the gate, into an area lit by the streetlights.

"Zouken Matou, I presume." nodded Akeno with the kind of smile she used when she had to welcome most devil nobles as Rias's Queen. "I am Akeno Himejima. I would say it is nice to meet you, but I do not like lying. My friends are Asuka Shikinami, and Chisato Nishikigi. I apologize for the late hour, but we wish to meet your granddaughter Sakura… And we might as well speak to Shinji, while we're at it…"

"Youngsters these days…" said Zouken with a slight shake of the head. "Always acting like they're invincible. Since you seem to know about me, you should know better than to offer me disrespect."

"You haven't seen disrespect yet." muttered Asuka, a hand on her red bangle.

"Respect is earned, Elder Matou." replied Akeno with a light shrug, then she decided to test him. "Are you aware that the Holy Grail is tainted, and that using it might release Angra Mainyu?"

This gave Zouken pause, as only two people alive were supposed to know about it, and he was one of them.

"Who told you that? Is it the Einzbern?"

Akeno was carefully observing Zouken and asked another question.

"Do you intend for Sakura to be Angra Mainyu's Master?"

"Of course not, what a nonsensical notion! She's not going to participate in the Holy Grail War."

Akeno had her answer. Her lie detection ability had triggered.

She turned to Chisato and Asuka and sighed.

"Heaven's Feel it is, then."

Then back to Zouken.

"Elder Matou, please send Sakura to live with her sister Rin Tohsaka, starting from today. We can't have her stay in that house where that rapist Shinji can get to her. If you agree to our request, we won't flatten your house, and we will spare Shinji's life."

Zouken, who had been puzzled by Akeno's mentioning the name of the Third Magic, became angry at last. He was about to do something to teach those impertinent girls a lesson, when he saw the one named Akeno nod to the side, and a huge, armored figure appeared, massive sword in hand, emanating power that could only belong to a Servant.

"The Matou haven't summoned their own Servant yet, am I wrong?" asked Akeno.

Zouken frowned as his gaze passed from the Servant to the three young women. He had noticed that all of them wore gloves before, despite the season being late spring, but had thought little of it. Now, he realized the gloves may be used to hide Command Seals. At least one of them was a Master. And they might have more than one Servant ready to act. Even with only the one in front of him, they likely possessed the power to back up their threat.

The Matou already had summoned a Servant on their own, but that Servant was currently in a severely weakened state. Zouken planned to summon a second one, but the catalyst wasn't in his possession yet.

No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't afford to fight against even a single Servant right now. He needed at least another week or two, and having Sakura live with Rin Tohsaka wouldn't interfere much with his ambitions. She would do his bidding, no matter how far away from the Matou household she was.

As for teaching those reckless young women a lesson… He was a patient man, and would only gather information about them for now.

"Very well." sighed Zouken. "I'll ask Sakura to pack her bags, and she will go to the Tohsaka house after school. You better take good care of my precious granddaughter."

"Thank you, Elder. We won't bother you any further. Good night, what is left of it." smiled Akeno as she walked away, the others following suit. The Servant dematerialized.

Zouken watched them leave silently, until they were out of sight. Those three had given him much to think about. They were obviously allied with Rin Tohsaka, and, considering what they had come for, Rin must feel lonely, of maybe worried about her sister, since they apparently knew what his grandson Shinji had done to Sakura. He scoffed at the human weakness. Magus who were driven by emotion only deserved to be used until they had no more use anymore, as far as he was concerned.

Still, this encounter showed him that his preparations were inadequate. He couldn't hasten the arrival of the catalyst he had found, as it was currently inside a cargo container, on a ship in the middle of the Indian ocean. What he had, however, was a fairly extensive network of contacts that would be able to tell him more about those three young women, and he would have to order Shinji to speed up the strengthening of their already summoned Servant.

And he really needed to know more about them. The last question of this Akeno Himejima seemed to imply that she knew about his plans. And that would be…

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the three flying bugs he had sent to spy on those women were suddenly attacked by arrows made of red light. He barely had time to register a woman with long red hairs, wearing a form-fitting bodysuit and yielding a blue bow before his insects were destroyed. Another Servant.

Zouken sighed and returned to the shadows of his garden, allowing the bugs making his temporary avatar to disperse. He considered for an instant sending more insects to follow them, before abandoning the idea. They had made clear that they were on guard, didn't want to be followed, and had the means to detect his bugs. Insisting might make them reconsider about attacking his house.

With at least three or the seven Servants already summoned, it looked like the Holy Grail War would start very soon.

…

"Good job, Assassin." smiled Asuka.

"A trivial matter. It was a given that he would use bugs to spy on us."

"Akeno, do you really want to spare Shinji? If we're on the Heaven's Feel route, that means he's done terrible things to Sakura for a long time." frowned Asuka.

"I intend to respect my word, yes. Being known as someone whose word can be trusted is important." smiled Akeno. But her sadistic side was showing. "But as they say, the devil is in the details. I said we would spare his life. Which leave a whole range of options for not-quite-lethal punishments. Such as, let's say, castration. And then, the agreement only concerns us, and maybe the servants accompanying us. But if, hypothetically speaking, Rin were to hear about some of the things Sakura had to endure, we can just hold her coat and eat popcorn as she takes matters into her own hands."

"I see." smiled Asuka.

"I suggest we join Rin's school as well." said Chisato. "She and Sakura need protection over there during the day, too. And the other Champions may try to meet them in school, assuming they didn't know where their homes were located."

"That's true. We'll ask Rin how to best proceed about that later today. And if the other Champions have any knowledge about this world, we'll find them at or around the school, the church, the bridge, or the Tohsaka residence."

"Don't forget the temple, too." added Asuka.

"Yes. Bell won't be hard to find, unless they hole up somewhere. Cute albinos are going to stand out. Same for Genos. Darkness… She's going to stand out even more." mused Chisato, before she grimaced.

Akeno chuckled. "If all fairness, the world she comes from is inspired from a comedic fiction, so it's not really her fault."

"We should get our hands on her quickly and confine her at home, before she gives the rest of us a bad reputation. I don't think she'd object." snorted Asuka.

Akeno nodded.

"Let's reach your home, Asuka, and I'll use an artifact Noah gave me so we can all get a good night's sleep. In about… three hours from now, we'll meet with Rin to talk about joining her school and moving in with her."

"Okay." said Asuka and Chisato.

…

Rin's most hated foe, the Alarm Clock, blared its unpleasant ringtone, causing her to flinch awake and glare from under her cover.

"Shut up!" she exclaimed as she swatted it away.

The alarm clock, a model specifically designed to withstand abuse from its owners, bounced once of the ground before stopping face down, not having suffered any damage, and kept blaring.

With a heavy sigh, Rin, dressed in a yellow pajamas with a bunny pattern, got out of her bed. She reached the alarm clock, turned the alarm off, and put it back on the bed stand.

For a minute, she looked longingly at the bed, then shook herself and headed for the shower.

A while later, she was in the kitchen, cooking eggs and veggies for her lunch at school, when someone rang her doorbell.

She frowned as she turned the fire off and opened her door. Akeno and Chisato waved at her, and they were accompanied with a third young woman, just a beautiful as they were. With a sigh, Rin opened the gate of her courtyard to let them in.

"Hi, Rin. Is this your school uniform? It looks nice on you." grinned Chisato as she came closer.

"Hi. Thank you." replied Rin, unconsciously brushing off her uniform as if to get rid of some dust. It consisted of brown leather flats, black stockings, a black skirt ending at knee level, a white shirt with red rims, a beige sleeveless coat, and a red ribbon tied as a neat bow around her neck.

"Good morning, Rin." smiled Akeno, gesturing toward Asuka. "This is Asuka Shikinami, another Master like us. Her Servant is Assassin."

"Greeting." smiled Asuka.

"Hi. Are you also one of their rivals?"

"Not anymore." shrugged Asuka. "We fought it out yesterday, and Akeno is our leader."

"Rin, you likely don't have much time before you have to go to school, but can we speak a few minutes?" asked Akeno.

"Sure, come in. I'll keep cooking as we talk." nodded Rin.

She returned to her cooking, as Akeno, Chisato and Asuka sat nearby.

"So, why have you come?"

"We have a few things to discuss. First, we met with Zouken Matou last night. We had to reveal one of our Servants, Lancer, and threatened to just crush him and take Sakura by force. But it paid off. Zouken agreed to have Sakura move into your house today, after school."

"Thank you." nodded Rin, with a complex expression.

"You don't seem very happy. Do you not get along with your sister?" asked Asuka.

She had heard about Noah's quick description of the Heaven's Feel timeline that the fiction ended with both sisters fighting each other, then reconciling, but he hadn't given them too many details about the cause of their conflict.

"… It's, complicated." sighed Rin. "What do you know about families of Magus, and their Magic Crests?"

"Not too much, actually." said Asuka. "I heard families of Magus like the Matou sometimes have a hard time finding successors, because their children's talent for magic is inconsistent. And that is why the Matou adopted your sister."

"That's true. But there is more to it." said Rin as she unbuttoned the left cuff of her arm and revealed her left forearm. A complex web of glowing, blue lines appeared on it.

"This, is the Magic Crest of the Tohsaka. A set of specially forged Magic Circuits, where we magicians store many, if not all of our spells. And we can pass it down to a successor. This is the reason Magus families tend to be more powerful the older their family is, with each generation of Magus adding to the Crest."

Asuka, Akeno and Chisato nodded.

"But there is only one Crest. Sakura and I were both equally talented for Magic, while the Matou had no successor. Father decided to let them adopt Sakura, in order to gain their favor."

"I see." nodded Asuka.

"But there is another reason. By letting Sakura become a Matou, Father also saved her. Otherwise, she would likely have received a Sealing Designation from the Mage Association."

"A Sealing Designation?" frowned Akeno.

"It is something that the Mage Association uses to maintain and protect special thaumaturgical abilities which cannot be acquired through study. It is something that ranges from simple confinement within the Mage Association's headquarters in London, all the way to… having your blood, flesh and organs preserved in special jars. To be used for future experiments."

"And we're supposed to join them after the Holy Grail War ends?" exclaimed Chisato, looking at Akeno and Asuka with anger.

"We are, in order to be at the right place and time do deal with the second crisis." said Akeno. "I'm just as disgusted as you are, but, one step at a time. Once Noah and the others get there, will be the time to deal with that matter. And deal with it we will."

"Well, what I said about being dissected and put into jars rarely happens." said Rin. "Most of the time, the Magus having received a Sealing Designation is offered the option to cooperate with the Association and willingly participate in experiments, that are typically unpleasant but not dangerous, and other minor things such as donating some of their blood every month and such."

"I see." said Asuka, sighing as she relaxed. "Thank you for explaining. But is that why you do not get along with Sakura?"

"No." sadly admitted Rin. "When Sakura left the family, Father wanted a clean break. He ordered Mom and I to stop treating her like a member of our family, and… The distance between us grew. I still want her to be safe and happy, but… I do not know what to say to her."

"It seems you and Sakura have years to make up for." softly said Akeno. "We'll help you with closing that distance. But, Rin, I should inform you beforehand, so you will know what is coming. Once Sakura gets there, we'll have to perform some minor surgical procedure on her."

"What?" exclaimed Rin, her eye widening.

"The Matou's way of doing things is, different. And utterly revolting. Sakura herself doesn't possess the Magic Crest of the Matou family. Instead, the Matou use something they call Crest Worms. We'll have to get them out of her body, because they constantly leech her mana and life force."

Rin paled, her cooking forgotten, as she stared in horror at Akeno.

"Don't worry, we have ways to get them out with a hundred percent success rate, and we will restore any damage they will have caused. It will only take a few minutes."

Akeno decided not to tell her about the other piece of news that Noah had given them, considering a peculiar bug deep inside Sakura's chest, one who had connected itself to her central nervous system. A special bug that actually hosted the consciousness of Zouken Matou.

Akeno didn't doubt for an instant that this played a large role in Zouken's decision to let Sakura come to the Tohsaka residence. He would be in an ideal position to spy on them, and would be able to take over Sakura's body to stick a few knifes into their backs if the opportunity presented itself.

His plan was to have Sakura be Angra Mainyu's Master, and himself taking over Sakura's body as his new flesh suit.

But even the best plans could fail when new variables were introduced.

"Those Matou bastards! How could they do something like this!" shouted Rin, starting to pace around the kitchen, her hands closed into tight fists.

"Yes." nodded Akeno. "As I said, we'll save Sakura and get those things out of her body. The second matter we wished to discuss with you is that we intend to join you at school. It will make things easier, in case some other Master would be bold enough to attack during the day. I can make uniforms for us without issue, but we do stand out, and it would be a bother to be constantly asked which class we belong to. So, we'd like your help to join your class officially."

Rin had stopped pacing as she considered.

"That should be easy enough. I can use hypnosis on the Principal and have him do the paperwork."

"Thanks." smiled Akeno. Then she used her Cooking skill to create a few dishes.

"Feel free to fill your bento box with those, since we sort of interrupted your cooking."

Rin blinked, then looked at the eggs on the pan, who were starting to char. With slightly reddened ears, she put the fire out, then took long chopsticks and cautiously touched some veggies on one of the dishes.

"How did you do it? Are these real?"

"They are real, and healthier than ingredients from the market, because they have no pesticides or preservatives. Mana converted into matter. Do not ask me how that works, I do not have a clue. But I can replicate any food I tasted... Ufufu, I have an extensive repertoire by now." grinned Akeno.

Rin tentatively sampled one of the dishes, nodded, and started filling her bento box. She glanced at the clock on the wall.

"I'll have to go to school right away. I'll hypnotize the principal at lunch break, and you guys will likely be able to attend class starting tomorrow."

"Thank you, Rin. When do you return from class?" said Akeno.

"It should be around 18h20."

"Let's meet up then. Chisato, Asuka, our servants and I will patrol the city, to try to find the other Masters."

"Are they all going to end up in my home?" frowned Rin.

"Maybe not. And if they do, they will pull their weight, to make things easier for you. Caster and I can do the cooking." replied Akeno.

"Yes, I love cooking!" said Tamamo, remaining dematerialized.

Rin glanced back as the dishes, before she nodded silently. The food she had tasted was delicious, and if she could eat that every day, she could tolerate a lot better the idea of Akeno and the others living there.