"Servant CASTER answers the summons. I ask you—are you my Master? However, forgive my bluntness, but you don't look to be in very good condition." A young man appeared before Kariya Matou. He wore a tall black tate-eboshi hat on his head and a white kariginu hunting robe, had fox-like eyes that nearly vanished when he narrowed them, was handsome to an inhuman degree, and yet radiated an extremely ominous air from head to toe.
Oh, no. More precisely, he should be called Zouken Matou now.
After Meruem destroyed the Matou family's old mansion, the hooded man who came to the ruins was Kariya Matou, who had learned from Aoi Tohsaka that Sakura had been adopted into the Matou family. According to the proper storyline, Kariya Matou could be considered the only man in the entire Matou family with a conscience.
But his ending was also quite tragic.
Unfortunately, this time he still didn't escape being toyed with by fate. He had the terrible luck of running into Zouken Matou's main body, which had survived. Kariya, who had some talent as a magus but whose actual magecraft level wasn't even half-baked, had no way to resist Zouken Matou's parasitism. So sadly, he was now completely under Zouken Matou's control and had been remodeled into a breeding bed for Crest Worms.
If Kariya could change classes and become a heroic spirit, his class would definitely be Lancer. (Lancers are cursed with Luck EEE since time immemorial.)
Of course, if he had a choice, Zouken Matou definitely wouldn't have chosen Kariya—he would've chosen Sakura or Rin. After all, whether a magus is "good enough," and how much mana they have, is closely tied to the magecraft crests inside their body. The magecraft crest within Kariya Matou could at best support him becoming a third-rate magus.
But compared to finding some ordinary person to parasitize, Kariya was already Zouken's best option.
Zouken spent nearly a year, using the erosion and remodeling of countless Crest Worms, to finally reshape Kariya's body into what it was now. Although it was still some distance from Zouken's peak, it was still a decent vessel.
And now, there was only one thing Zouken wanted to do: revenge. He would repay the humiliation Meruem had brought him—tenfold.
Of course, that wasn't all. He had another goal as well—the Holy Grail. Originally, he hadn't planned to participate in the Third Holy Grail War because the timing wasn't right. But now he no longer had that kind of time to wait. The fact that more than 99%99\%99% of the Crest Worms he had raised were destroyed by Meruem had caused him tremendous damage.
To the point that it affected the remodeling of Kariya's body.
So even though Kariya was only nearing thirty, he looked no different from the original Zouken Matou.
That was why the summoned Servant asked about his complexion, because Zouken Matou's complexion really was terrible right now—his eyes hollow and dead, his face bloodless, pale as a sheet.
"Hehehehe..." A string of deeply unpleasant laughter kept spilling from Zouken Matou's mouth. "You damned unknown heroic spirit—didn't expect it, did you? I, Zouken Matou, have returned. And I've summoned a heroic spirit as well. This time, I'll make you die in pain and regret."
"This is a Holy Relic I paid an enormous price to obtain. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him the strongest CASTER."
Zouken Matou never believed the name Meruem gave was Meruem's true name. After all, Meruem never told Zouken that he was an imaginary heroic spirit, not belonging to this world's ancient legends and history.
Even if Zouken Matou were a transmigrator, it wouldn't help, because Meruem now differed far too much from his original appearance. Probably only Yaoma, the younger brother of the oldest primordial god, could recognize him.
But the title "strongest CASTER" would likely make quite a few heroic spirits protest, such as: Leonardo da Vinci, Charles Babbage, and King Solomon, who possesses three EXEXEX-rank Personal Skills and an EXEXEX-rank Noble Phantasm—after all, Zouken Matou didn't know Fate/Grand Order existed.
"Hmph. Ahem, ahem." The summoned heroic spirit was clearly displeased at Zouken's way of ignoring his existence, and Zouken still hadn't answered his question. "Master, is this what Japan looks like a thousand years later? There's a feeling in the air that's incredibly pleasant."
"CASTER, state your True Name and let me see your parameters." Unfortunately, Zouken didn't seem to intend to answer him. Instead, he changed the subject again and spoke down to him.
But this time, CASTER didn't answer. He only stared at Zouken coldly, his eyes filled with danger.
"What? You want to defy my order?" Zouken glared back just as coldly, while revealing the three crimson Command Spells on his right hand.
Hmph. Just as I thought—Servants other than Assassin, especially those with fame, are all tools that aren't easy to use. It's necessary to make them understand who the master is, otherwise once they slip control, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"I wouldn't dare." CASTER instantly changed expressions and put on a "friendly" smile. Only, his eyes kept flickering, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
"My name: Abe no Seimei."
"Hey, what kind of attitude is that? I'm your Mas—" Waver, bristling, pointed at Alexander Iskandar as he took the world map from Waver's hands. But before Waver could finish, a single look from the heroic spirit he had summoned scared him into sitting down on the floor.
Even though he was summoned as a heroic spirit now, Alexander was still a man who existed as a king. How could he possibly allow someone to wave their hands around in front of him just because they carried the title of his Master.
Don't think every heroic spirit is as obedient as the ahoge King Artoria and Diarmuid. If you run into the Fourth Holy Grail War's CASTER, Medea, and you make her feel like you betrayed her, you'd better be ready to die.
"I know you're my Master. Didn't we form the contract properly earlier?" That said, as the King of Conquerors, he wasn't the type to kill people at the drop of a hat.
Although his Master's personality was somewhat timid, overall he was fairly satisfied. At least it was far better than a Master who came in acting arrogant and high-and-mighty from the start.
"Wow—so small. The lands where I once rode at full gallop are only this much? I'm getting excited." The King of Conquerors looked at the world map in his hand and let out a hearty, bell-like laugh.
After that, the King of Conquerors had a friendly philosophical talk about this Holy Grail War with his queen.
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