For a heartbeat, Sakura looked like a cornered animal—eyes wide, knuckles white on the doorframe. Then, with visible effort, she steadied herself. The fear didn't vanish, but it was buried under a glacial layer of control.
"...I don't know what you're talking about," she whispered, voice brittle as old glass.
I tilted my head. "Really? Because I can see them. Little wriggling parasites acting as your magic circuits because your original ones are now too corroded. They've taken over your body. One's even sitting next your hea—"
"Stop!" Her composure shattered. She stumbled back, a hand flying to her chest as if to claw out an invisible horror. Tears welled in her eyes.
Way too direct, Kayden. You idiot. Causing her distress wasn't my aim.
I lowered my hand, letting the magic fade. "I'm not here to hurt you, Matou-san," I said with a more soothing tone. "I'm here to purge every last one of those things out of you. Permanently."
She stared at me, trembling. Hope and terror warred in her expression. "Why? Who sent you? Tohsaka-san? Kirei-san?"
A dry chuckle escaped me. "Sent me? Far from it. Let's just say… I happened to pass by and noticed your problem." I tapped the Elder Ring. "And I've got the tools to solve them."
I flicked my wrist.
A shimmering hologram materialized between us. A lifelike, golden, three-dimensional scan of her body. A network of Crest Worms pulsed beneath her skin like cancer. I connected the scan to let her mentally experience the simulated procedure
Sakura gagged, turning away.
"Look, Sakura," I said, calling her by her first name, voice firm. "Look and understand what I'm offering."
As she forced herself to watch, I snapped my fingers.
In the projection, the worms dissolved like sugar in water. Her magic circuits—previously corroded by the fragments of the holy grail in her body—flared clean and bright. The foreign soul clinging to her heart vanished.
Sakura swayed on her feet. Taking a peek of her mind, I found it was from the sudden, impossible absence of agony she'd carried for eleven years.
"That's what freedom feels like. I will grant it as long as I have your full consent," I said softly as the scan faded away. "Want it for real?"
Sakura Matou met my eyes. For the first time, the flicker of hope wasn't fragile.
It was a wildfire.
"...Yes."
"Then let's get started." I smiled, sighing in relief in my mind.
Strong protective charms that I placed down already covered this area, so no one should be able to disturb us. I conjured a comfy bed for her to lie down on as I began telling her what this procedure would entail.
"Lay down," I gestured to the conjured bed, my confidence momentarily faltering as the true scope of the infestation unfolded under my magical sight.
The culmination of eleven years of Zouken's "training" flickered to life in front of me. The worms were a living, pulsating nerve-crest, woven into her very nervous system, mimicking magic circuits while corroding her own. Zouken's main body pulsed like a diseased heart beside her actual one. One wrong move could cause paralysis, agony, even death.
The weight of that risk settled cold in my gut.
Sakura hesitated, sensing my tension. "Is it… dangerous?"
"Only if I sneeze," I forced a grin, pushing doubt aside. "Phase One: Diagnosis."
My connection with the Helmet of Fate flared. The Helmet's magical sight superimposed over my vision. Every worm, every neural entanglement, the corrupted grail fragments—it was a horrifying, intricate blueprint of violation that I precisely mapped.
"Phase Two: Isolation & Extraction." I raised my ring hand, gold light spiraling around it. "This will feel cold. Deep cold. But I'll make sure your internal organs aren't harmed. Ready?" At her nod, I began, voicing my spells to give them more power. "Glacies Intactum!"
Silver mist poured from the ring, sinking into her skin. Sakura gasped as the entire network of Crest Worms froze instantly, becoming inert crystalline structures within her nervous system, isolated from her living tissue and Magic Circuits.
"Phase Three: Surgical Removal." My voice was taut with focus. "Evanesco."
The frozen worms vanished.
Simultaneously, my Inventory activated. A tiny, localized portal opened inside Sakura, right beside her heart. The frozen main phylactery worm vanished, stored in timeless stasis.
I scanned her mind for a moment to check her mental condition.
Sakura tensed, expecting agony... but she felt only a profound, empty coldness where the infestation had been.
Great. No pain. With my worries swept away, I continued.
"Phase Four: Purification."
Fragments of the destroyed Holy Grail clung to her like tar, unaffected by my vanishing spell from before. My hands formed into gestures, glowing sigils appearing and vanishing between them as I called upon the power of Nabu. The Lord of Order's radiance burst from my hands, enveloping her in his light.
"Purgatio Anima!" I chanted the finishing touch.
The shadow within the fragments screamed in silence as it and the fragments evaporated under the purity of the magical force I channeled through her body.
"One last step, Sakura. Phase Five: Rebirth."
I drew a drop of blood from my fingertip.
Golden light erupted as the drop fell on her forehead. Fountain of Youth acting as a catalyst, guided by my intent, flooded the voided pathways. Healing and rebuilding what was damaged. Pristine, uncorrupted magic circuits spun from her own latent power, the Fountain's potent life-force, and the pure energy drawn from the artifacts of Fate. The state of her cells and her Elemental Affinity returned to what they once were.
After this procedure, no longer would Sakura be a bird with the potential of flight being placed in water, forced to die or adapt as best it could.
Sakura arched off the bed, eyes wide, cheeks flushed red. "Warm… It's so warm!"
I lowered my hands, breathing heavily. "Done." Sweat beaded my brow. The mental strain of that neural disentanglement had been immense. "Perfectly executed."
Sakura sat up slowly, movements tentative, then increasingly sure. She touched her chest, her arms, her face, seemingly marveling at the absence of constant, gnawing pain and the phantom wriggling that had been her reality for over a decade. Her skin glowed. The violet in her eyes vanished, replaced by eyes that shone a clear and vibrant teal.
"They're… truly gone?" Her voice trembled.
"Gone. Forever. And as proof…" I summoned the main phylactery worm from my Inventory. It hovered above my palm, frozen in a layer of magical ice, grotesque and pulsating faintly despite its stasis—a small, spiral-tailed horror with a head resembling a dick's. Zouken's soul-anchor.
Sakura recoiled, nearly falling off the bed as a visceral shudder ran through her. "I-Is that… the one you said was next my heart? Grandfather?"
"Not for long." I walked away, holding the frozen worm aloft. Sakura's eyes followed me, wide with a mix of revulsion and dawning triumph.
"This," I declared, my voice cold, "is the end of the line for Zouken Matou." I hurled the frozen worm high into the air above us.
As it reached its apex, I raised the Elder Ring and drew upon the power of Doctor Fate. Emerald and golden light, dark and pure, crackled around my hand—power utterly alien to this world bent to my will.
"Avada Kedavra!"
A blinding bolt of killing green and golden light lanced from my hand with a crackle. It struck the frozen worm with unerring accuracy.
The frozen worm vanished to nonexistence. Not disintegrated, not destroyed. Erased from existence. The very concept of Zouken Matou, centuries of rotten ambition and cruelty, unmade by a spell designed for instant death.
The light faded. Silence hung over the rooftop, broken only by the distant sounds of the school below.
Sakura stared at the empty spot in the sky where her grandfather had ceased to be. Not a trace remained.
Slowly, she turned to me as I scanned her mind to make sure nothing went wrong. The fear, the shame, the tension… some of it remained. Those years of torture wouldn't just vanish along with Zouken. But a profound, almost terrifying serenity had settled within her.
A single tear, different from all others she had shed before, traced a path down her cheek. It was a tear born from clear, pure relief.
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice stronger than I'd ever heard it. A genuine smile touched her lips. "I... I can't believe it. He's... really gone."
"He is," I confirmed, a sense of accomplishment swelling within me. "The Matou legacy of pain ends today. Your life, Sakura Matou, begins now."
After the procedure, I convinced her to join me for lunch. I did take up some of her lunch break, after all. I conjured a square table and some chairs for us sit on.
Opening a rippling blue diamond portal beside me, I raised my hand to reach in and grab everything we needed.
"Excuse me, Kayden-san."
"Hm?" My hand paused. "What is it?"
"Where are we getting food to eat?" she asked, tilting her head in confusion.
I replied with a vague smile. "You'll see."
Reaching into the portal, I took out a warm bowl of Tonkatsu, which was simply breaded and deep-fried pork cutlet on top of rice, along with an assortment of vegetables added on.
"Here," I said, handing it to her, along with some chopsticks and a glass of water. "Let me know if you're hungry for anything else or want a different drink. I have all kinds of desserts in here, too, if you're up for one."
Her eyes widened before she received the food and utensils with a smile.
"A-Ah, thank you, but I'm fine with this," she stuttered, her eyes shifting towards the portal that I grabbed a bowl of pork ramen from. I could practically see the questions bouncing in her head.
Clapping my hands together, I thanked the random omnipotent beings that granted me my powers that allowed me to eat this food for free. "Itadakimasu!"
"Itadakimasu," Sakura said, following my lead.
We ate in peaceful silence. And since Sakura didn't want to ask questions yet, I focused on my meal.
In the first minute, I ate at a slow pace, simply savoring the flavor of the egg and the broth. But after that, I was like a famished beast and began devouring the ramen like it was my last meal. It didn't take long for me to finish the entire thing.
Oh, man... I groaned, patting my slightly bulging stomach. Celestial Inventory was perfect for a foodie like me, and what made it even better was it being free. And free food always tasted great. However, I still had room for dessert.
Just like that, I began pulling out desserts from my Inventory portal. An entire tub of cookies and cream ice cream, tiramisu, churros and salted caramel dips, strawberry cheesecake, and more.
Sakura watched me demolish the ice cream tub, a strange mix of awe and concern in her newly teal eyes. "Kayden-san... you summoned all this? Even the ramen?"
"Yep," I mumbled through a mouthful of cookies-and-cream, snapping my fingers to vanish a drip of it on my arm. "Perks of my magecraft. And also—" I nudged the tiramisu toward her. "—this one's for you. Try it out."
Hesitantly, she took a tiny bite. Her eyes widened. "...It's wonderful."
"Right? Free dessert beats dessert you pay for any day of the week." I leaned back, studying her. The rigid tension in her shoulders had eased. "So. Questions burning a hole in that now free brain of yours?"
I wasn't too worried about her asking about my powers since I framed it as my magecraft. And for magus, asking about another magus' magecraft was an act of great disrespect.
She set down her spoon, fingers tracing the edge of the conjured table. Her gaze turned serious, piercing. "How?" she asked quietly. "How did you know about Grandfather and... about the Crest Worms?"
There it was. The question that could unravel everything if I fumbled. I met her gaze, keeping my tone steady.
"This," I said, summoning the scrying orb I used before and having it hover beside me.
Inside it, hazy images flickered. The shadowed entrance of the Matou basement. The oppressive bounded field surrounding the manor. The faint, sickly pulse of corrupted magic emanating from deep underground.
"To give you some context, I heard about the Holy Grail War and got interested in it, so I came to this city to observe the war as a spectator. And whenever I scout a new place," I explained, keeping the orb's view deliberately vague. No basement close-ups, no direct shots of the site of her suffering, "I look for power. Big magic. Big threats. Sometimes, I even encounter big... wrongness."
I dismissed the orb.
"That was what first caught my attention. Zouken's 'wrongness' lit up like a bonfire made of sewage. Saw the worms' magic signature clinging to the house, the land... and eventually, saw it anchored to you when you walked home one evening. I noticed what they were doing inside your body. Eleven years of that?"
I let my disgust show, sharp and real. "Couldn't unsee it. Couldn't just walk away."
Sakura shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. "You... saw them? In me?"
"Not like an X-ray," I clarified quickly. "Not details. Just... the aura of the worms. The weight of having them. Like seeing chains dragging behind someone." I met her eyes. "Enough to know what kind of monster placed the chains."
She drew a shaky breath, her eyes searching mine. "Then why intervene? Why not just... observe?"
"First reason?"
Time to pull out high-level bullshit.
"Efficiency. Had the tools. Had the ability. Problem presented itself. Seemed like an efficient way to do things. Second reason? Curiosity." I tapped the Elder Ring. "Never tried rewiring someone's Magic Circuits with my Mystic Code and Magecraft before. It was an... interesting challenge."
"But the main reason? The look on your face." My voice dropped as I recalled how she appeared in the anime and the empty expression she sometimes wore. This reason wasn't fake. "When you walked into school yesterday with your head down, but shoulders straight. It was like you were carrying the whole damn Matou manor on your back... and refusing to let it crush you. That, I think," I met her gaze, "deserves intervention."
Sakura went still. Her breath hitched once, then twice. She looked down at her hands, trembling slightly.
"...Oh."
Just one syllable. Thick. Wobbly. Like a dam cracking.
She didn't thank me. Didn't weep. Just slowly, deliberately, picked up her chopsticks and took a full bite of tonkatsu. Chewed. Swallowed. Like it was the first real meal she'd ever tasted.
A faint, incredulous puff of air escaped her. "...And this?" she murmured, gesturing weakly at the sugary avalanche. "Is solving 'problems of curiosity' always so... excessive?"
I followed her gaze. Okay, maybe I'd gotten a bit carried away with the desserts. Just a bit.
"Priorities," I deadpanned, plucking a churro from the edible landslide. "Celebratory feasts like this require volume. Also," I added, eyeing the teetering ice cream tub as I tried coming up with something ridiculous to change the topic, "there's a sentient cake in my inventory that gets lonely if you don't summon backup desserts. It has abandonment issues."
Sakura stared. Then, slowly, a sound bubbled up. Not quite a laugh, not quite a sob. It was a raw, startled exhalation of pure disbelief. It was the sound of someone who'd just traded a living hell for a comedy sketch.
"Sentient... cake?" she echoed, her voice trembling with the absurdity.
"Kidding!" I grinned, telekinetically tossing her an eclair. "Probably."
Nope. There actually were sentient cakes of every kind in my Inventory. I checked just now. Actually might try one later.
She caught the eclair reflexively, looked at it, looked back at the impossibly tall mountain of dessert, then looked at me.
And finally, genuine, bewildered laughter burst free, bright and startled, washing away the last shards of tension. "Your world is... very strange, Kayden-san."
"Stick around," I said, warmth blooming in my chest as I stole a strawberry off her plate. Her laughter was music to my ears. "It gets weirder."