However, just as everyone's attention was drawn to the events unfolding in front of the Tohsaka Residence, elsewhere, two shadows, like spectral cats of the night, rapidly approached another renowned Magus family in Fuyuki City: the Matou Family.
Compared to Assassin's stealthy, surreptitious infiltration, these two were far more overt; cloaked in full-body black robes, they leaped over walls and across rooftops, speeding towards the Matou Family's direction.
The Matou Residence, which had been burned down two years prior, had somehow been restored to its original state, and the defensive barrier, capable of withstanding a noble phantasm attack, had been re-erected.
Facing the defensive barrier that stood before them, one of the two shadows stepped forward, standing before the gate sealed by the barrier. She extended her right hand horizontally to her right, and her gauntlet-covered fingers clenched in the air. A black battle standard, over three meters long, appeared in the paint-black figure's hand, and then—
Boom!!!
The staff of the rolled-up battle standard, wielded by a petite figure barely 160 centimeters tall, was like a colossal pillar crashing down! Everything around them seemed to slow down under this blow, twisted by the immense, space-warping force, as if everything had been submerged in glue.
The seemingly slow, yet actually swift, strike landed on the Matou Family's defensive barrier gate. Instantly, a hundred-meter radius around the impact erupted as if struck by a magnitude 7 earthquake! All the houses and buildings seemed to detach from the ground as the earth violently shook!
Following the powerful blow, comparable to a noble phantasm, the barrier runes running along the doors, walls, and inside the Matou Residence flashed with chaotic electric light, then emitted a burnt black smoke, and finally extinguished. The defensive barrier, meticulously set up by Matou Zouken himself, was once again breached in the Holy Grail War two years later.
After the obstruction was destroyed, the figure holding the standard led the way, with the slightly taller figure following behind. The two directly entered the inner chambers of the Matou Family. At this time, all the Maguss behind the low-level familiars monitoring and gathering intelligence had their attention fixed on the Tohsaka Residence, and the commotion from the distant Matou Family went unnoticed.
Upon entering the luxurious yet gloomy main hall on the first floor of the Matou Residence, there was no need to call out. From various corners of the unlit hall, countless grotesque winged insects swarmed out, finally converging in the center of the hall to form a short, emaciated old man.
But merely describing him as emaciated would be an understatement. Bald, with limbs shriveled like a mummy, his sunken eye sockets revealed a sharp glint, a hunchbacked dwarf—a strange individual, both in appearance and behavior, who was far from ordinary. His appearance was accompanied by a foul, decaying odor. He wore a kimono in a combination of ultramarine and dark grey, and carried a short wooden cane.
Matou Zouken, the being Rin most detested in this world, an old monster who could no longer be called human!
"Crack!" The crisp sound of a clenched fist emanated from beneath the cloak of the figure standing in the rear, leaving no need for further words!
"Jalter, act!"
A scorching black flame instantly erupted from the figure standing in front. The black cloak was instantly incinerated into nothingness. Jalter, clad in a sexy, alluring, pitch-black battle suit, held her empty left hand forward, with black demonic flames burning on her palm.
"Roar, my wrath!"
A deep, angry roar called out the noble phantasm's true name. The noble phantasm, elevated by an unparalleled desire for vengeance, made its first formal appearance!
Jalter's black-flame-burning left hand swept through the air in front of her chest, and the black demonic flames, as if igniting space itself, drew a doorway before Jalter. Immediately after, an evil dragon, five meters long and formed of black flames, leaped out! It flew to a high point and then swooped down towards the ground—
Boom—!
Fierce flames blanketed the air! The black flames, fueled by hatred, resentment, obsession, longing, karma, and all filth and impurity, instantly engulfed the entire spacious hall! A scream, coming from the soul level and containing boundless pain, echoed in Rin and Jalter's spiritual seas.
"Did you get him, Jalter?" Rin pressed.
"No," Jalter replied with a frown, clearly displeased with the outcome. "My Flames of Vengeance will pursue the karma and soul link of the burned object until it is completely incinerated without a trace, otherwise it will never extinguish. Logically, as long as an avatar linked to his soul is ignited, the Flames of Vengeance can follow the linked soul thread to burn his main body and soul together, but..."
"But fortunately, this old man reacted quickly, little girl from the Tohsaka Tokiomi family," an incredibly dry and gloomy old voice came from all directions in the burnt-out, empty hall.
"To force this old man to self-mutilate his soul, today's juniors are truly formidable, even summoning a Heroic Spirit capable of incinerating souls. No, this level of ability is already considered an Evil Spirit, isn't it? Little girl, two years ago, the one who burned my residence, killed my descendants, and stole my Matou Family's command spells, that was you, wasn't it, Tohsaka Tokiomi's eldest daughter, Tohsaka Rin."
Rin casually unbuttoned her chest and tore off her cloak, her sixteen-year-old figure and face exposed in the dim light.
"Interesting. As far as I know, you are only one year older than your sister, yet you possess a physical appearance nearly a decade beyond your age. Your vitality is even so strong as to be inhuman. Coupled with such a powerful Heroic Spirit, it's no wonder you have such confidence to come knocking. But no matter how you look at it, this old man is the victim. The perpetrator from back then is now aggressively and hatefully charging in. It makes no sense, does it?"
Rin scoffed, "Matou Zouken, this old monster who is no longer human, would he care about the lives of one or two descendants?"
"Indeed, the lives of my useless eldest son and grandson are not worth caring about, but that has nothing to do with you, does it?"
"Hmph!" Rin snorted angrily, saying, "It's true it's none of my business, but Matou Zouken, I ask you, two years ago, did you not discuss with my father the idea of adopting one of us sisters into your Matou Family?!"
"Indeed, our Matou Family, having moved away from the family's Magic Crest, saw its descendants' Magic Crest bloodline gradually wither, and by your generation, it had completely died out. However, your Tohsaka Family coincidentally produced two Magic geniuses in this generation. But your Tohsaka Family only has one Magic Crest. For this old man to adopt one of you to inherit my Matou Family's Magic Crest, this is a mutually beneficial good deed..."
"Shut up!!!" Rin roared, unable to bear it any longer. "Why do you think I left my own home?! Why do you think it happened at that exact time?! Why do you think I've become like this and appeared here?! Matou Zouken, you wanted to adopt my sister into the Matou Family to transform her! To use your 500 years of research on insect magic and the fragments of the last Holy Grail to transform her into a degraded Black Holy Grail! To possess her body when the Holy Grail devoured her soul, as for the method and process of transformation..."
The hatred and fury in Rin's heart had reached their peak. Her tightly clenched teeth caused her gums to subtly bleed. Her heart pounded, thumping at ten times its normal speed due to her emotions. The foreign blood in her heart flowed into her body at an accelerated rate, and a faint blood-red glow began to shimmer deep within Rin's pupils!
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