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After dinner, Wang Chong was just about to rest and open some champagne with his two little goddesses. But at that moment, Wang Chong felt the mansion's main gate open again. A man walked straight in and headed directly for Matou Zouken's room.
"Hmph, finally here, are you? Kariya Matou. Little Medusa, go hide Sakura first." Wang Chong finished speaking and walked towards the basement. He wanted to set it up properly to give Kariya Matou a surprise. At the same time, he used Ruinous Power to control Matou Zouken to have a plot-related conversation with Kariya Matou there.
Arriving at the deepest part of the basement, this was where Matou Zouken used to store a large number of Crest Worms and other disgusting worms. It was also the place almost used to physically transform Sakura Matou. Of course, those insects had long since been completely destroyed.
"Desolate Earth."
However, Wang Chong now poured his Ruinous Power into it and let the phantoms run rampant inside, creating a state even more eerie and terrifying than the worms. Although it wasn't as disgusting or uncomfortable as the worms, the terrifying atmosphere alone was enough to make people tremble and dare not enter directly.
As for the old worm, he naturally scoffed at Kariya Matou's proposal to win the Holy Grail in exchange for Sakura Matou returning to the Tohsaka Family. However, since Wang Chong had already set up the trap, he naturally let Matou Zouken steer the conversation towards Sakura Matou at this time.
"If your goal is not to involve outsiders, Kariya, it seems a bit late now." Matou Zouken said with a cruel smile.
"You old scoundrel... Don't tell me...!" Thinking of Matou Zouken's disgusting worms, Kariya Matou's heart immediately filled with an extremely bad premonition. Matou Zouken didn't say much more, only telling Kariya Matou to follow him towards the basement.
...
"Roar—!"
"Ah—!"
Screams and curses echoed continuously. Phantoms constantly flowed. Kariya Matou's face was somewhat pale. He originally thought this old scoundrel only dealt with those perverted worms, but he never expected that he had bred so many resentful spirits full of grievances in the basement. How many lives must have been harmed to create such horror and resentment?
What chilled Kariya Matou even more was the impenetrable black mist deep within the basement. And within that black mist, even more resentful spirits were piled up. Sakura was now thrown into that kind of place for her so-called transformation.
"For the first three days, she cried very loudly, but from the fourth day onwards, there wasn't a sound. This morning, right at dawn, I placed her in the very center of these resentful spirits. I wanted to see how long she could last. She's been entangled and tormented by these resentful spirits for half a day and still hasn't breathed her last. This material from the Tohsaka Family is indeed quite valuable." Matou Zouken said calmly, as if this matter was nothing significant at all.
"Sakura!" Even though there was terror inside, Kariya Matou still suppressed the fear in his heart and stepped downwards.
"Alright, what is your choice? This little girl has been thoroughly ravaged, body and soul, by those vengeful spirits, and is only one step away from collapse. If, even so, you still want to save her, I can consider it."
"Of course, I want to save her," Kariya Matou answered without hesitation.
"Hehehe, but until you produce results, Sakura's education will continue, and I will still place my biggest bet on the next Holy Grail War. However, if you really obtain the Holy Grail, then this little girl will be useless. In that case, her education will only need to end in one year," Matou Zouken said with a chuckle. The 'one year' here was deliberately stated by Matou Zouken because Kariya still thought the Holy Grail War would only begin in one year.
"You won't go back on your word, Matou Zouken," Kariya Matou asked.
"As long as you go down now, accept the transformation by those vengeful souls, and endure it, I will consider you serious," Matou Zouken finished, staring at Kariya Matou as if anticipating his performance.
Kariya Matou clenched his fists and walked down without thinking. But he had barely taken a few steps when he suddenly heard a cold male voice from the bottom of the stairs: "How foolish."
"Who?" Kariya Matou stopped in his tracks. He had never expected that besides himself and Matou Zouken, there would be a third man present here.
"Thump... thump..."
The sound of footsteps ascending the stairs gradually grew louder. From the dark mist deep below, something was about to emerge. This undoubtedly made Kariya Matou, who didn't understand the situation, feel heavy-hearted and nervous.
"This is a trial!"
A man emerged from the thick black mist, pulling up the corners of his grabbed clothes. As he walked, he took off his upper garment and continued speaking:
"I believe this is a trial to overcome the past. Only by overcoming that immature and escapist past can a person truly grow."
After taking off his clothes, the man stood in a classic angled pose and slowly spoke to Kariya Matou above: "Hmm? You think so too, don't you, Kariya Matou?"
"You... who exactly are you?! Old geezer, what in the world is this...!!!" Kariya Matou was about to turn around and question Matou Zouken when he immediately noticed Matou Zouken's body gradually dissolving, finally turning into a similar wailing phantom drifting about.
"Silence," the man said calmly, making all the screaming phantoms quiet down. At this scene, even though Kariya Matou was shocked, he reacted and said, "It's... it's you, all this black mist is your doing... and that old geezer Matou Zouken, you killed Matou Zouken?"
"That's right, Kariya Matou, now the entire Matou Family is already a shell of its former self," the man said calmly.
"Sakura, Sakura, she's in... ugh!!!" Kariya Matou tried to question further, but the black mist condensed into a claw and tightly gripped Kariya Matou's neck.
"Watch your tone, and you have no right to question Sakura's condition. You, who are late to the party," the man said, then released the black mist's claw. Kariya Matou fell onto the stairs, clutching his neck and coughing violently.
"As I just said, this is a trial, a trial to overcome an immature past. Unfortunately, Kariya Matou, you failed," the man said.
"You... what nonsense are you spouting?" Kariya Matou completely didn't understand what was going on. Why was the old worm dead? Where was Sakura now? What did this guy want to do?
"Don't you understand? Just as Matou Zouken said, who do you think was the reason that girl was adopted into the Matou Family?" The man looked at Kariya Matou, who was sprawled on the stairs, and continued, "You shirked your responsibility as a member of the Matou Family, and ultimately passed that responsibility to an outsider. Am I wrong? I imagine I'm not the only one who has said similar things to you, have I?"
Kariya Matou bit his lip, speechless. Matou Zouken had said these words, his elder brother Matou Tsuruno had said them, and even Tōsaka Aoi had said them to him so cruelly.
"But I am not an unreasonable person. Every wrong has a cause, and your evasion was not actually wrong. The one truly at fault is Matou Zouken. If he hadn't practiced those disgusting worm magic, if he hadn't degenerated, then the later mistakes wouldn't have occurred. In this regard, I understand you very well, Kariya Matou," the man said calmly.
"Then why..."
"That's why I killed Matou Zouken. That's why I set up this situation to test you. What a pity. You didn't pass," the man said, shaking his head.
"Hey! What test! At least explain it clearly," Kariya Matou managed to stand up and said.
"I was testing whether you had truly overcome your past and genuinely wanted to save the child Sakura from the bottom of your heart. However, regrettably, you failed. You couldn't overcome your past."
"Of course I want to save Sakura! What right do you have to question that I don't want to save Sakura?" Kariya Matou said, somewhat emotionally.
"Are you unconvinced? Alright, then I'll ask you two questions," the man said, holding up two fingers. "The first question: when you knew Sakura was sent to the Matou Family, why didn't you tell Tōsaka Aoi about Matou Zouken's worm techniques? The second question: when you personally saw Sakura in this kind of hell, suffering torment every day, why did you continue to agree to the condition that Sakura would suffer for another year? Why didn't you feign compliance with the old worm and then quickly inform Tōsaka Aoi and Tokiomi Tohsaka about what was happening to Sakura? To let Sakura escape purgatory sooner."
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