Matou Kariya walked on the street in a daze, his expression almost frozen, his pupils dilated, and his fists clenched. This decadent look would inevitably attract the attention of some passers-by, but he didn't care about it at all.
Even though it was a truce during the day, it was enough to show that this man had thrown aside his principle of hiding himself as much as possible during the Holy Grail War.
Because, for Matou Kariya at this moment, none of this matters anymore.
After all, he had no idea about the so-called Holy Grail, and knew nothing about magic. Apart from possessing magic circuits, he was a complete layman in this area. He just swallowed the necessary instructions according to Matou Zouken's requirements.
And this morning, one of the reasons that supported him to join the war disappeared.
It was unknown which duo had razed the Matou family home to the ground. After confirming this with his own eyes, Matou Kariya began to walk aimlessly on the street, looking around.
Matou Zouken and the like are totally unimportant, but Sakura is innocent. As if to convince himself, Matou Kariya wanders around and searches.
When he was about to give up, he was attracted by a pleasant smell when passing by the shopping street.
That was the smell of freshly fried pork chops. Ever since the renovation began, he had lost the right to taste these things, but out of nostalgia, he still looked towards the store numbly, and then, the little girl wearing a purple dress with lace, black long cotton socks, and standing on tiptoe like a cute doll came into his sight.
"Will Roland-sama like this taste?"
Sakura Matou tried a piece of pork chop and thought about it with some distress. After hesitating for a while, she finally left with the small basket woven by the caster.
"That's about it. Let's go back today."
Just as she was about to start her journey back and turned into an alley, an excited call came from behind her.
"Sakura?"
"Uncle Kariya?"
After finding the right opportunity, Matou Kariya quickly ran over and stretched out his hand towards Sakura with some excitement.
"Why are you here? Did that old bug let you out? Never mind, follow me now. Now that the Matou family has been destroyed, you can return to Aoi..."
But before his hand could touch Matou Sakura, an invisible shield blocked his movement and caused blue electric light to quickly spread to his body, causing the outermost layer of insects to break away from the camouflage and fall to the ground as a burnt corpse.
When Matou Sakura came back to her senses from Matou Kariya's series of questions, what she saw was Matou Kariya's pitiful appearance, covering his mutilated hand.
"Are you okay, Uncle Kariya? This is the amulet that the master gave me. You were too emotional and it triggered its self-defense counterattack."
Matou Sakura looked at Kariya with some worry. Although she couldn't understand his naivety, his kindness was not false. As long as he didn't offend her, it would be fine.
"As for returning to the Tousaka family, that is impossible. Uncle Kariya doesn't need to worry about it anymore. So, please take care of yourself."
Before Kariya could find out who the adult that Matou Sakura was referring to was, the girl's words made his face suddenly turn ugly.
"Why! Sakura, you don't have to worry! You can go back to the past! You don't have to worry about Tokiomi, soon, he will no longer be able to interfere with you!"
Matou Kariya's face gradually became distorted, and his hoarse voice gradually became louder.
"But, Uncle Kariya, you never seem to ask me if I want to go back to the old days."
Until now, he still imposes this kind of self-kindness on himself without considering his own feelings. Although this starting point is impeccable, in the end, all that Matou Sakura can see in Kariya is the same twisted obsession as Matou Zouken to satisfy his own desires.
Looking at the somewhat crazy performance of Matou Kariya, her tone finally became cold.
"Although it was my grandfather's order at first, I wanted to stay with that adult myself. I don't belong to Tousaka, nor to Matou. Sakura only belongs to that adult. Please face the reality and put away those naive ideas."
Bowing slightly to Kariya, Matou Sakura bid a cruel yet polite farewell.
"Uncle Kariya, please don't come to see me again. I'm afraid that adult will misunderstand."
Seeing the usually well-behaved Matou Sakura looking like this, Matou Kirei looked incredulous. He gritted his teeth and decided to carry out his will. Such an opportunity was too rare. There was no one around Matou Sakura, and Old Bug was not there either.
"No, Sakura... I don't believe it. You must have been coerced to say such a thing... In that case, even if I have to use force, I will bring you back to Aoi!"
Although Sakura Matou has a high-level amulet on her, it is just a prop after all. Without energy replenishment, it will be exhausted sooner or later. If Sakura really wants to resist, she can only use servants.
"Please forgive me, Sakura."
Matou Kariya raised his hand, and suddenly, the buzzing sound of insects rang out in the silent street. Dense swarms of insects crawled out of his body, filling the gaps on his body, while looking eagerly in the direction of Matou Sakura.
But when she heard the voice that once frightened her, Matou Sakura just turned around and looked at Matou Kariya with indifferent eyes.
She clenched the bracelet in her hand. Compared to Matou Kariya, the half-baked one who looked down on others, Matou Sakura was even better at magic. With the help of caster's props, anyone who looked down on her would suffer a great loss.
Everything that belongs to Sakura belongs to Roland. This is a rule that has been engraved in her heart. She will never allow herself to be taken away by anyone else. Even her mother or sister will become Sakura Matou's enemy if they violate this rule.
Just when she was about to launch an attack, a hand pressed on her head. The familiar touch made the girl put her face against it, rubbing it with a happy look on her face. She looked at the person who appeared next to her and exclaimed in surprise.
"Roland-sama!"
Roland smiled, walked out of the shadows, and spoke softly as he looked at Matou Kariya, who was wrapped in a cloud of armor made of insects and ready to rush over, with a calm and indifferent gaze.
"Someone come."
The next moment, in the deserted alley, pairs of dark red eyes suddenly lit up in the shadows everywhere. Two black shadow ninjas appeared in front of Roland, and stretched out their hands on the left and right to form a barrier to protect Roland and Matou Sakura behind them, without any regard for Matou Kariya who was right behind them. It seemed that compared to the enemy, meeting the Eternal Lord was more important.
Then, they suddenly turned their heads, with undisguised hostility flashing in their dark red pupils.
More black shadow ninjas appeared on the surrounding walls and the entrance of the alley, sealing the place tightly. Then, they rushed forward and used the most primitive fists and feet to make Matou Kariya experience the long-lost pain again.
"I suddenly understand Gilgamesh a little. It's hard to be happy when people everywhere want to touch your things. But, Matou Kariya, it turns out that this crawling on the ground looks better for you."
Covering his abdomen, Matou Kariya, who was beaten by the Shadowkhan without any ability to fight back, vomited a pool of black insect corpses. He did not care about anything else and quickly called for his trump card.
"Berserker!"