Kariya was confused, but since right now his body and mind were in too pitiful a state, he couldn't put up any resistance. Instead, he simply watched Assassin trying to withstand the tremendous force Assassin was exerting.
"You... Master?"
"Don't play dumb. If you don't become my Master, then you'll have no more use for me. So, I'll kill you and go find another way to get mana."
Toru let go of Kariya and the latter fell to the ground in pain. He could hardly move anymore and he knew that the life was already slipping out of his body.
"You should consider it. We both win with this. I get mana and ended this war with my own hands and you... well at least I won't kill you. I still haven't forgotten what you did to Aoi-sama. Right now I'm holding back the urge to tear you apart. So you should be thankful. She's still alive..."
Kariya opened his eyes and tried to stand up. With great difficulty, he grabbed Toru by the scarf.
"Is she okay!"
Toru pushed Kariya away and turned his back to him. He smiled wryly and said:
"The fact that you ask that makes me very angry."
He clenched his daggers tightly.
"If you say another stupid thing again forget about my mercy. Now..."
He turned around again and looked at Kariya. He held out his hand as the daggers vanished. He glared at him, as if saying this would cause him to be disgusted.
"Will you be my Master?"
And that was not a question, but an order. Kariya had no right to refuse. So he looked at the Command Seals on his left hand and closed his eyes.
"I... I... will... be..."
He had no choice but to accept. Thus, the pact has been sealed, and with that done, Toru immediately grabbed him by the neck once more and, like a leech, began to steal all the mana from him.
"Ahhh... Ahhhhhhhhhh!"
He cried out in pain, as the worms inside his body began to writhe and eat him from the inside as Toru stole the mana from him.
'It's surprising that, at this point, he didn't die.'
Kariya might have a weak body, but this one itself had plenty of mana thanks to the worms in it. That was a great gift for Toru after what he had to go through the night before in addition to being this Assassin's punishment for Kariya.
In the end, he will die in agony as this ghost steals his energy.
"This is enough. Now I'm really recharged."
Toru dropped Kariya and started to walk away as the gleam in his eyes intensified, but Kariya wasn't going to allow that. He still wanted to fulfill the wish that beats deep in his twisted heart. Knowing that Aoi is still alive and Sakura has a place to return to, he crawled on the ground like a bug and as one of the Command Seals began to glow, he said:
"Assassin... Save Sakura!"
The Seals glowed, and with the first command, one of these turned opaque until it almost disappeared. Still, even as he left that command, he continued.
"Get her out of that house!"
One Seal less.
"And make her live happily!"
He shouted with all the strength he had left as blood splattered from the maggot wounds biting into his skin. His eyes turned red, bloodshot and a crunching sound was heard.
After that, his body couldn't move anymore and he was left with his face pressed to the ground, watching as Assassin looked at him with those glowing eyes of death.
"You didn't need to spend so many Seals on something I was going to do anyway."
After hearing Toru say that, Kariya slowly closed his eyes, becoming unconscious as he was devoured by the monsters inside him.
***
However, this was a change of plans for Toru. Now that he left that place in his ghost form, he looked at the surroundings and realized that he could no longer control his body freely. The three orders Kariya gave him with the Seals are being carried out.
"I wanted to win this war before saving Sakura, but it looks like I have no choice left. I'll have to go get her fast. But..."
Who is Sakura supposed to stay with? Aoi is in the hospital. He doesn't know where Rin is, as he doesn't know the location of the Zenjō residence, which is also outside the city. No, even worse, surely that old man or someone from the Matō family possesses custody of Sakura. Leaving her even in the country would obligatorily make her return to that one with her legal guardian. In the end, seeking to execute any solution was a waste of time at this point.
Though he didn't want to see Sakura as a waste of time, for it was she who taught him that his own life was worthwhile. She pulled the real Toru from the depths of that ocean of blood. The least he could do for that little girl was to save her from that suffering and make her live a happy childhood.
'Yesterday, that I saw her like that, I felt something horrible...'
A pain that brought him back to reality.
This is not a game. From now on he had to move with that in mind. Sakura must be saved, and although he had planned to save her after he won the Grail, now he had to do it immediately.
This prompted him to move through the trees at full speed.
'I know where the Matō family's house is, so it won't be a problem to get there. But it will take me half an hour to get there...'
He couldn't help but think that if he had the Rinnegan, everything would be easier. On the bright side, in life he didn't rely so much on his eyes, or at least he didn't get used to using them all the time. The Eternal Kodō Shigan is his most valuable weapon in this war so he will simply move around using everything he has at hand.
'Haa... These Command Seals sure are garbage. I can't even resist their influence.'
Complaining some more, Toru shook his head and increased his speed.
-Residence of the Matō family-
She held out her hand looking at the sharp dagger, this dagger that she happened to find in a pile of things stacked in one of the subway rooms.
Sakura could sense that this dagger was a magical object, something very dangerous for a girl of her age. Still, she was practicing a bit to avoid cutting herself when using the sharp weapon.
"Onii-san... please... I want you to be by my side... I want both of us to die together. Then we can live happily in death. Nothing will separate you from my side anymore..."
Her gaze turned grim, at the same time the worms inside her body writhed clinging to her magic circuits. Sakura dropped the dagger and hugged herself breathing heavily. After so long, she still couldn't get used to the hot sensations inside her body that these worms generate.
'Onii-san, you will never leave me, right? I'm not going to stay alone, am I? You are not capable of betraying me like otō-sama and onee-san did. You were always with me. You never left me so I won't stay alone...I know...I feel it inside me. You are going to save me'
She timidly picked up the dagger from the floor and looked out the window. And strangely enough, Sakura really 'feels' that Toru will be by her side. It was a strange feeling; the feeling that arose that night in that dark room full of insects, when that mechanized voice echoed in her mind.
He will always be with her even if they can't see each other. That's how this little girl perceived the situation.
-Minutes later. Outside the house-
Toru looked at that gloomy house again and everything that happened the night before came to his mind, but this time he didn't let himself get carried away by his emotions. So, materializing, he advanced with the daggers in his hands.
'Hmm..."
The large barrier was rising around the house, but Toru's eyes glowed slightly and with a single movement of the daggers, he cut the barrier and it vanished in front of his eyes.
With that same look, he slashed the door to pieces and advanced silently.
He didn't care if there was anyone in this house. Anyone who got in his way would die. However...
'This place... there is no one. I don't feel the presence of anyone other than Sakura.'
Strangely enough, he looked at the house which, oddly enough, was very different on the inside than on the outside, for the inside of this place was more colorful than anyone could imagine compared to the gloomy exterior.
...
Toru frowned.
"This pretty decoration does not hide the putrid smell of death..."
It was thanks to his eyes and his out-of-human senses that he could sense that this fancy and colorful decoration was only a facade to hide the rottenness lurking in the depths.
He continued down the stairs until he reached the hallway where the rooms spread out. He entered the first room and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Though there were some notebooks scattered on the bed.
"Matō Shinji..."
Judging by the calligraphy on the name, this is a boy's room.
"Looks like Sakura is in the next room."
So he closed the door and moved on to the next room.
At the next door, Toru stared silently. On the other side of this door will be Sakura and he didn't know what to say to her when he sees her. There were many things to say, but few words to express it. All this time she has been here, suffering in loneliness.
Even if that part of Sakura reminded him of his past self, now he wasn't going to let her suffer anymore.
'I will fulfill the first two orders of the Command Seal.'
Without waiting any longer, he opened the door. He opened his eyes slightly, because what he saw when he entered the room was Sakura sitting on the bed looking at the door.
For a moment, Sakura's eyes lit up and small tears peeked out of the corners of her eyes. Even though her eyes were empty, she still had that slight gentle smile, and that very thing was what calmed the troubled heart of Toru, who approached her kneeling down to be on the same level as her.
"Hello, Sakura."
He said. Sakura answered him in kind.
"Hi, onii-san."
And they both looked into each other's eyes in silence. Toru tried to say something to her, but before he could say anything, Sakura beat him to it.
"It's been a long time... a long time..."
"I... Sakura, I'm sorry."
Toru stood up and voiced what he was feeling. This past year he'd been acting like an idiot until Rin came along and managed to talk some sense into him. He was always a very foolish person, from his past life to the present. His mentality, as well as his heart, are very fragile, but his will has always been very strong. At this moment he had his willpower to change and this time express what he really feels.
"I'm sorry I didn't come for you sooner..."
Sakura stood up on the bed and looked Toru in the eyes. She grabbed him by the cheeks and calmly said:
"Don't worry. I haven't blamed you for anything. There's nothing you need to apologize for. If you came to visit me, it means you never forgot me, just like I said that day. Onii-san is onii-san, and nothing will change that."
Hearing this, she sighed with relief. He still couldn't forgive himself for not coming for her sooner, but right now she can leave this place. Before winning the Grail, Sakura has to go somewhere safe.
"Thank you..."
He simply thanked her. There was nothing more to say. He was finally able to let his guard down in front of someone. These past few days everything had been constant battles for survival. This peace was something Toru missed very much.
"Now I'll save everything I have to say. I need to get you out of here. I will save you from this hell."
"So you're not just visiting me. You're taking me back home..."
"Yes. You don't have to worry. I'll seriously see to it that you and Aoi go back to living happily together with Rin."
To get Sakura out of this house, he walked over to the window and opened it. When he turned around to shake Sakura's hand, he opened his eyes feeling a stabbing pain in his abdomen.
"Uh..."
He looked down immediately as he felt his strength leave his body. As he did so, he saw that Sakura was holding a very sharp dagger. His blood covered the little girl, who had a vacant look on her face and a slight gentle smile showing on her face.
"We'll go home together..."
She said.
Toru stared at her for a second that seemed like forever. He saw the strange smile this girl had and remembered a certain boy who laughed as he killed people. A child covered in blood, a prisoner of his obsession with killing. So, with that memory, as he fell to his knees, he hugged Sakura and closed his eyes caressing her hair.
"It's okay. No one will ever hurt you again..."
He understood that everything this little girl had to live through was not good for her mental health. She, even though she used to have these strange attitudes before, like throwing herself off a building just to get caught, her mentality was still that of a normal girl, but now that changed.
"If only I had come to this place earlier... Forgive me, Sakura..."
"...?!"
With a soft blow to her neck, Sakura fell unconscious. Toru held her in his arms and laid her gently on the ground. He looked down at the unconscious little girl and sighed wearily.
"Now the biggest problem is where or with whom you can stay."
There would be time to think later. Sakura is now covered in Toru's blood and the latter is bleeding out.
"Burning the wound will do for now."
Said and done. He touched his abdomen and burned it with the Shakuton. Once that was done, he took a couple of bandages from the seals on his wrists and wet them with Suiton. He brought these wet bandages close to Sakura's face and wiped the blood off.
"You're also going to need clothes."
He held two fingers together in front of his face.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."
Puff. The clone appeared and immediately grabbed Sakura's suitcase that was stored under the bed. However, he noticed that under there was a small box about the same size as the dagger next to a piece of paper.
"Hey..."
Said the clone. Toru looked at it and took the box and the drawing it held. As he looked at the drawing, he closed his eyes with his breath cracking, then flashed a soft gentle smile. On the drawing was him along with Sakura, Aoi and Rin, all along with two simple words.
"My family..."
He turned the sheet of paper over after that, and as the clone put Sakura's clothes away, he wrote something on the paper. When he was done, he folded the paper and put it in the dagger box next to the dagger itself, which was cleaned with the Shimikomaseru.
"We have everything. Let's go."
He lifted Sakura in his arms like a typical princess and climbed into the window frame. But just as he was about to jump, he felt a pain in his chest. The sensation of a loss in his pounding heart.
"I didn't know losing a Master felt this way."
That man could not resist any longer. Matō Kariya has died and with this Toru is once again left without a Master to provide him with mana.
"It doesn't matter anymore."
He left together with the clone and ran at full speed as he went into the trees of the forest.
He looked at Sakura and thought:
'I've already fulfilled two orders of the seal. I'm missing the last and most difficult one...'
Make her happy...
-Mion River Bridge-
And there the tears fell as slowly Gilgamesh faded into golden particles in front of him.
Waver has lost... lost Rider. He lost his king...
To be continued...