Midnight
The atmosphere of the Matou residence in this world was extremely familiar to Shinji. It was the same oppressive aura he had grown accustomed to since childhood.
Cold, eerie, and isolated.
From the magical barrier, he could even sense something slowly decaying...
Noticing that Kariya was still in his room and the summoning time had not yet arrived, Shinji did not enter immediately. Instead, he turned around to find and deal with the familiars placed around the residence.
There were five familiars, placed by the Tohsaka family, the Einzbern family (Maiya), Waver Velvet, and Kayneth.
Shinji quickly and precisely eliminated these five familiars without alerting anyone. After ensuring that there were no surveillance measures within a three-kilometer radius, he pulled down the brim of his hat (Hades' Helm of Invisibility) and silently entered his family home in this world.
There was still some time before the optimal summoning moment. Shinji decided to first find the brainworm, Zouken's core, and set up spiritual bombs around it in advance.
Spiritual bombs were a new trick Shinji had recently devised. They had nothing to do with his new system, actually. He compressed his internal energy, coated it with a solid layer of mental power, and called it a bomb. These small internal energy clusters or spiritual energy clusters could exist in the real world for up to two hours.
Of course, energy alone didn't make a bomb. There needed to be an explosion condition and a fuse. The simplest explosion condition was the principle of a balloon bursting. The fuse was a thin mental thread, designed to pierce the barrier and trigger the explosion instantly. This method was dangerous because if the connection wasn't severed at the moment of ignition, it could harm the user's mind.
It was all about timing.
Eventually, Shinji found the brainworm in Zouken's room, hidden in an old wooden box isolated from the outside world and magic.
Carefully setting up and disguising the spiritual bomb, Shinji estimated the time and headed straight for the second floor.
This house, like the one in the other world, had a passage to the basement on the second floor.
In the hallway, after a year of "training," Kariya had finally lost vision in his left eye the day before. As he stepped out of his room, he "coincidentally" encountered little Sakura, who was startled by his appearance.
Although it saddened him to realize that he had become something Sakura feared, he knew it was inevitable. He forced himself to smile, trying to look relaxed.
But to Sakura, his half-paralyzed face only looked more disturbing.
"Hey, Sakura, did I scare you?"
...
When Shinji reached the second-floor hallway, he saw Kariya kneeling on the ground, gently holding Sakura with his still-functional right arm, comforting the young girl while silently weeping.
Shinji understood Kariya's reason for this embrace: he didn't want Sakura to see him crying.
"...So, let's take Aunt Aoi from the Tohsaka family, little Rin, Uncle, and you, Sakura, and go far away, like we used to."
"—Will I see them again?" The doll-like girl asked softly, her eyes vacant and hollow.
Kariya's heart ached, and he hugged Sakura tightly.
"Yes, you will. Uncle promises you."
"And so does your brother."
The sudden voice startled Kariya. He raised his right hand, shielding Sakura behind him, tears still on his face.
To silently infiltrate a magus's house without alerting anyone... This person was beyond his ability to fight!
Kariya quickly assessed the situation, knowing he had to fight for even a second's escape for Sakura.
Before he could see the intruder's face, he was about to activate his circuits for a desperate battle. Then he saw a student ID card extended towards him and paused.
The hair and eye color in the photo...
Matou... Shinji...?
"Uh...?"
Seeing the confused expression on Kariya's face, Shinji knelt down, patted Sakura's head, and smiled at them both.
"Long time no see, Uncle Kariya."
"You are..."
"We can talk later. Leave Zouken to me. Uncle Kariya, guard the outside and make sure not a single worm escapes! Leave the inside to me."
"But who are you really..."
"Didn't I show you?"
Shinji handed the student ID to Kariya, then stood up and headed towards the basement entrance.
Pausing at the door, he turned back and gestured for silence.
Even after Shinji disappeared, Kariya remained dazed, picking up the student handbook and looking at the photo and name several times.
"Uncle, who was that...?"
Kariya, seeing the name "Matou Shinji," smiled as he considered an improbable possibility.
"Maybe... a big brother..."
"A big brother?" Sakura asked, confused.
"Anyway, go back to your room, Sakura. I have something to do. And no matter what you hear, don't come out."
After waving Sakura away, Kariya stood up.
Hesitating between the basement door and the stairs, he chose the latter, dragging his half-crippled body towards the stairs.
At that moment, Kariya chose to believe in the unbelievable miracle before him.
...
Standing outside the front door, Kariya raised his right arm, following the stranger's instructions, guarding the house's barrier, and watching for escaping worms.
Although he couldn't hear the sounds inside, Kariya could feel the barrier trembling abnormally.
And this kind of vibration meant one thing—there was a battle!
Focused entirely on the barrier, Kariya disregarded any thoughts or guesses about the boy's identity.
Not a single worm can escape!
About thirty minutes later, the barrier's vibrations finally stopped.
Unsure of the battle's outcome, Kariya remained vigilant—
Until the boy appeared at the door with a woman wearing a crown, with long purple hair, carrying a quiver, and holding a steel crossbow. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Waving to Kariya, Shinji turned back into the house.
After hesitating briefly, Kariya pulled out the student handbook, confirmed the photo and name, and then entered the house.
...
In the second-floor reception room, Shinji sat on the sofa, feeling a mix of emotions.
Of course, he had been careless.
He thought he could easily crush Zouken by exploiting his weaknesses. But he hadn't expected Zouken to be so decisive, summoning Berserker without hesitation!
Zouken's plan was clear: eliminate the intruder and then have Kariya continue the Holy Grail War as planned with Berserker.
If not for the Archer Queen's card, Shinji would have been in real trouble.
He wouldn't have died, but he couldn't have defeated Zouken and would have had to run.
"Return now; I don't have the life force to keep you in the present world."
As soon as Shinji spoke, the Archer Queen's body turned into light particles, gathering in Shinji's hand and forming a card.
Seeing the two remaining golden points on the card's back, Shinji shook his head.
He had been too careless. If he had been more cautious, he wouldn't have needed to use one of the card's three charges and the golden apple's life force for the Queen's powerful arrow—Darkness Arrow—to defeat Berserker.
Now he was barely hanging on with a sliver of life left.
But for some reason, his heartbeat quickened at the thought of this close call...
Maybe I'm a real pervert!
Why am I excited about starting with almost no life?!
Shinji suppressed his excitement, composed himself, and spoke to Kariya, sitting opposite him.
"Long time no see, Uncle Kariya."
"Are you really Shinji?"
"Yes, without a doubt. But you can think of me as Matou Shinji from a parallel world."
Before coming to the reception room, Kariya had checked the basement. Seeing the collapsed and devastated state of the basement, he could guess that Zouken had been dealt with by this boy.
"Uh..." Forcing himself to accept this incredible situation, Kariya asked, "That woman just now... was she your Servant?"
"No, it was something else. Zouken summoned a Servant in desperation, so I had to use something similar."
"Zouken summoned a Servant?!" Kariya was incredulous.
"Look at your hand. Zouken exploited a loophole in his authority to summon a Servant, replacing your qualification to represent the Matou family."
Only then did Kariya notice that the Command Seals on his hand had vanished...