The ancient building gave off a strange, gloomy feeling. Dense jungle surrounded it on all sides; generally, only major families would build a house in a place like this.
For example, the renowned noble Tohsaka family, and the Einzbern clan that owned an ancient castle. And this place belonged to the Matou family, a house on par with those two great families.
Yet what was odd was that although it was built in the suburbs relative to the city, even with the lush trees all around, you couldn't hear a single birdcall or any other animal sound. Occasionally, a small animal like a squirrel would pass by, but once it entered the thicket near the Matou estate, it never appeared again.
"Yo, Sakura—after a few months, we're back again. This time, I'm here to vent for you." Two uninvited guests had arrived in front of the courtyard of this ancient building.
Meruem, dressed in white, and the cute, doll-like little girl Matou Sakura whose left hand he was holding.
"Why do we have to come back? Sakura doesn't like it here. Sakura wants to leave." From Sakura's tight grip on his left hand, Meruem could feel the unease in her heart.
Letting out a long breath, Meruem shrugged helplessly. He released Sakura's hand, scooped her into his arms, and gently patted her small back, as if soothing an anxious kitten.
"If I could, I wouldn't want to come here again either. The smell here makes me so sick I want to throw up. But I don't have a choice—some little dummy keeps waking up from nightmares over and over, then sneaking into my room, crawling into my bed, and crying in secret ┑(￣Д￣)┍."
After hearing Meruem, Sakura's little face turned bright red, like a fully ripened apple—so tempting you almost want to take a bite.
"Mm… you noticed." Her voice was as small as a mosquito.
Amused, Meruem ruffled the little head resting against his chest. "It'd be weird if I didn't. I wake up in the morning and find an extra person next to me—my nerves aren't that thick."
Because, as a living (meaning not yet dead) heroic spirit like Artoria, Meruem couldn't dematerialize like other Servants could.
There were pros and cons. Compared to the advantage of being able to draw a tiny amount of mana from food, not being able to dematerialize was, no matter how you looked at it, a loss.
"If we don't untie this knot, you'll probably have nightmares for the rest of your life. And besides, not rooting out trouble to the end isn't my style." Brushing aside a few stray strands of hair on Sakura's forehead, he lightly pecked it with his lips.
In an instant, a rosy cloud climbed across Sakura's face again. Her little head looked like it was about to start smoking.
But at least the hesitant, anxious look on Sakura's face finally eased.
"Then let's say hello to the homeowner." Gently setting Sakura down, Meruem shifted his gaze straight ahead.
"Lushan Rising Dragon Punch!"
With a massive dragon roar, a huge green dragon appeared from Meruem's fist and shot straight toward the Matou family's old mansion.
Midway, an invisible barrier seemed to appear to block the dragon's path, but it didn't last even one second before it shattered into a sky of fragments.
With a tremendous crash, the Matou mansion was reduced by about one-third.
Then countless rustling noises came from the mansion and from the surrounding grass and bushes. Strange-looking green flesh-worms kept bursting out.
They surrounded Meruem and Sakura in layers, including flying "wing-blade worms" about the size of mutated hornets. Of course, their head parts were just as disgusting.
"Who dares break into this old man's residence… What, it's you!" A nimble figure emerged from one part of the Matou mansion, walking through the encirclement of countless Crest Worms, and came to a stop in front of the two of them.
Zouken Matou—judging by his movements and speed, it was hard to connect him with the public image of a man with one foot in the grave.
Or rather, aside from the still-absent, rebellious Kariya Matou, the Matou family now had only Zouken Matou left.
That said, by the timeline, Kariya Matou's return to the Matou household would be happening soon.
"Perfect timing. This old man thought the Tohsaka family had broken their promise, and I was going to give them a deeply unforgettable lesson. What shocks me is that there's someone else—and it's someone this old man absolutely never would've expected: that trash. How interesting. Good thing that trash is already dead. Trash is trash—until the day he dies, all he does is cause this old man trouble."
"But you not returning Sakura to the Tohsaka family is beyond this old man's expectations. Tell me—if the Tohsaka family found out, what do you think they'd do?"
"Shut up! Brother Shinji isn't trash. You're not allowed to insult Brother Shinji!" A childish voice filled with anger—this was the first time Meruem had ever seen Sakura angry.
Normally, Sakura was always gentle and timid, looking extremely easy to bully.
But an angry Sakura really was adorable.
Ahem—off track, off track.
That Zouken Matou could tell who had summoned Meruem wasn't strange to Meruem at all. After all, Meruem had been summoned at the Matou estate—this was Zouken Matou's home turf. If he couldn't find out, Meruem would've found that strange.
"No matter what, Shinji counts as my first-generation Master. If you insult him like that and I just stand by, it doesn't sit right. And now you've also angered my current little Master. Old worm, are you ready to die?"
"I'm curious, old worm. After learning who I am, where did you get the confidence to dare show yourself in front of me? Those worms?"
Meruem merely flicked his arm lightly, and the Crest Worms that had tightly surrounded them seemed to sense danger and automatically retreated.
Zouken Matou stared at Meruem darkly. "Just a crippled heroic spirit. It would've been a bit troublesome to hunt you down, but I didn't expect you to deliver yourselves to me. My darlings—tear that man to pieces!"
With Zouken Matou's order, countless insects blotted out the sky as they surged toward Meruem in a dense, overwhelming swarm.
"I said it before: to deal with bugs, you need AOE. Try this—Diamond Star *Zero Light!" Facing that pitch-black army of insects, Meruem simply spread his right hand toward them.
A crystal-clear, six-pointed snowflake appeared within it.
Now it was time for ice and snow.
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