"Enough! This is pathetic..."
Half an hour earlier, Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kariya Matou, expelled from the assembly, stood at the gate. An invisible barrier divided them, as if separating the worlds.
Merely touching it sparked instinctual fear, their survival instincts warning that one step closer would erase them from existence.
Kariya glanced at the courtyard ahead. Though he longed to see Sakura again, his intuition screamed to stay back, to not linger.
It was an instinct granted by an indescribable deity, a primal sense from a higher being.
"Sigh!"
He knew he had to leave. He couldn't die here. Alive, he might see Sakura again; dead, he never would.
But he flashed a scornful smile at Tokiomi, kneeling like a man dying of thirst begging for water.
"Pathetic! Either die or get out like me! You know it, don't you? You'll never glimpse your 'mystery' again. The Grail... is forever beyond you."
Kariya mocked the man mercilessly, his smile vicious.
For him, the man who abandoned him for "mystery" never attaining it was the sweetest revenge.
"Tch... if you weren't Aoi's husband, Rin's father, I'd kill you here. Congrats, you've got a dog's life left!"
Kariya's words held truth only he knew, but sparing Tokiomi was indeed for Aoi and Sakura's sake.
Aoi was his friend, Rin a child he cherished. Causing them grief... wasn't worth it.
Tokiomi had already suffered the worst punishment. Making Aoi lose her husband, Rin her father, was unnecessary.
"Yes... yes... I'll never obtain the Grail, never see the truth of mystery... I..."
Tears slid down Tokiomi's face, his expression a mix of joy or agony.
"Tch! Disgusting..."
Seeing Tokiomi like this, Kariya found no joy as he'd expected.
He turned to leave, to abandon Fuyuki...
"Kariya!!!"
Familiar arms locked tightly around Kariya's chest.
"Get off, you bastard! Let go!"
Kariya's face twisted with fury, struggling, but his strength—capable of shattering mountains as a "servant of an eldritch god"—failed to break free.
"I... I can't accept this! For that dream... for my family's magecraft... I can't accept it!!!"
Tears fell like a faucet, soaking Kariya's clothes.
"...Get off... what's this got to do with me..."
Kariya's heart trembled. The man, always so strong, elegant, and rational, was now reduced to this.
In all their years since youth—knowing, loving Tokiomi—he'd never seen him like this.
"Hah, so reluctant to let go? That magecraft? The Root? You... didn't shed a tear that day! I thought you couldn't cry!"
"Aaaaaah!!!"
Under the dark night, the man clung to his love, sobbing.
He couldn't accept it. From childhood, he trained in magecraft, every moment dedicated to it, until he met the man in his arms in a park.
His life gained a new facet.
But when forced to choose, the sacrifices piled up, the cost sunk into the Holy Grail War— a quarter of his life.
He couldn't let go... so that day, he rejected Kariya.
On his wedding day, despite the joy, he felt none. It was his first tears since age six...
Mages didn't believe in tears. They were useless, meaningless.
That was his upbringing, his strict discipline. But that day... he couldn't hold back.
That day, his desire to pursue mystery, reach the Root, and win the Grail War swelled like never before.
He cast his love into the lake, the sunk cost immense. Without the Grail, he'd lose everything!
He had to have it, at any cost.
So... he sought the world's oldest serpent skin...
So, he became a lapdog of the Holy Church.
He abandoned everything, only to face this end...
"I can't accept it!! Kariya... thank you... thank you for staying with me in the end... I know you won't forgive me... but thank you for being here... If I can't have the Grail, let me sink into the lake's depths... let my life be buried with it!"
His arms released Kariya. Tokiomi, wild-eyed like a madman, charged toward the line between life and death without hesitation.
"Stop, you idiot! You're Aoi's husband, Rin's father..."
"I'm not Aoi's husband, nor Rin's father. I'm just a filthy mage, using Aoi as a vessel to birth a magecraft heir with ancient jewel magecraft..."
"You mean?"
"I... never had a real connection with them... I never touched her..."
Tokiomi answered, his steps unwavering, marching toward the divide.
Zzt!
A bolt of lightning, capable of reducing all to nothingness, flashed. Kariya's body disintegrated by nearly eighty percent, blood spraying, its metallic scent spreading.
"Kariya!!!"
Tokiomi stood shielded by Kariya, drenched in blood, his elegant suit stained crimson. Kariya's once-vital body was now lifeless.
"Just a warning?"
Kariya knew it was only a warning. He wasn't dead, but the loss was catastrophic.
But he had no time for that...
"You fool! You still owe me... you think you can escape like this? You must make it up to me, with the rest of your life!!! You're not allowed to abandon me again, to walk away again!!! This time... you're coming with me!!!"
***
If you enjoyed this story, don't forget to drop 5 stars and your power stone. And if you want to read more than 70 chapters in advance, feel free to visit: pat reon . com / KangTL