With the Reality Marble shattered, Rin and Jalter returned to the previous stone corridor. Jalter closed her eyes and, after sensing with her Heroic Spirit's spiritual perception, frowned and said:
"Master, that old worm you wanted to kill is gone."
"He ran away?" Rin asked in surprise.
She had originally thought Matou Zouken would be waiting here for them to be defeated by the "African Warlord Chief" to collect their corpses, or even plan to use her to replace Sakura in creating a black greater grail or some other foolish delusion, and then be easily killed by them after they broke out of the Bounded Field.
Does he have that much faith in our strength? Three command spells enhancements just to buy some time?
Rin frowned and said, "Is there no trace of him at all?"
In Rin's mind, Matou Zouken had to die, absolutely not after the official start of the Holy Grail War. Not only because of everything he did to Sakura in the original work/canon, but also because of the present.
No matter how much confidence Rin had in herself, she couldn't guarantee that she would return 100% safely from this highest-level war in the Nasuverse. And she couldn't absolutely guarantee her father Tokiomi's safety either.
Now that Tokiomi was still alive and Rin was still alive, Matou Zouken hadn't made any moves on Sakura. If Rin and Tokiomi both met with misfortune during the Holy Grail War, would Matou Zouken still stand by idly, allowing Sakura and Aoi to live as orphans and a widow, letting Sakura grow up day by day?
Judging from the Darius III he illegally summoned, he might very well have intended to use Darius III to ambush her and Tokiomi during the Holy Grail War, directly using an Reality Marble sneak attack, pulling only her or Tokiomi into the Reality Marble. No Magus could directly contend with a legion of ten thousand elite soldiers.
Even for Rin and Jalter, it was an unexpected surprise attack that created a one-on-one scenario between Darius III and Jalter, completely avoiding engagement with the Persian Undead Army. Darius III also effectively lost in a one-on-one battle with Jalter without his noble phantasm.
Rin absolutely could not tolerate the existence of this extremely dangerous hidden threat; it had to be eliminated.
Matou Zouken must die tonight!
Before Jalter could answer, chaotic buzzing and chirping of insects came from deep within the corridor, rapidly approaching. Compared to the previous organized, targeted swarms, the blade-winged insects now flying were completely erratic, haphazardly flying towards Rin and Jalter.
Black demonic flames, born from the concept of avenging the world and burning everything, roared to life. The blade-winged insects in the corridor were quickly cleared, spreading from one to ten, then to a hundred. Jalter turned back to answer Rin:
"That old monster is very clever. He already knows that my fire of vengeance tracks souls to burn the main body, so he cut off his connection with all his insect familiars and, before that, made these insects fall into emotional frenzy. The mental fluctuations of tens of thousands of insects are enough to cover his escape from my soul detection range."
There was no need to stay in the deserted basement anymore. In the Matou Family's front hall, Rin gritted her teeth, frowning in thought about how to track Matou Zouken. Jalter didn't disturb her. Rin told Jalter to take the Evil Dragon Battle Standard and walk deeper into the corridor, to burn all these unmanned insect familiars before they flew out of the Matou Family, otherwise, these magically modified carnivorous insects would definitely cause a disaster. If they were allowed to fly into the forests and wilderness to breed, it could cause a global problem.
Never underestimate the power of insects.
Super-wide-area detection magic was unusable in Fuyuki at this time. With the awakening of the greater grail, the magical field within Fuyuki had become severely chaotic, rendering any detection magic ineffective.
Burning insects didn't take long at all. Jalter soon emerged from the Matou Family's inner chambers. Jalter watched the clear moonlight illuminate Rin, who was leaning against a support pillar, through the broken doorway. Rin stood with her back to the door, so the moonlight only touched her profile.
Her skin, as clear as jade, shimmered with a faint glow under the moonlight. Perhaps there was no one in this world more suited to the phrase "ice skin and jade bones" than Rin. For the sake of becoming stronger, for self-preservation, and for the desires of her past and present lives, she had completely abandoned the feminine beauty that originally belonged to a girl. Hard as steel, luminous as jade, cold as ice – this was probably the most apt description of Rin at this moment.
The stunning beauty of the sixteen-year-old girl, with her black hair like lustrous crystal threads swaying in the gentle breeze, Rin seemed to have found a solution. She stepped out from the shadow of the pillar, faced the main gate directly, and looked up slightly at the full moon, like a jade disk, hanging in the night sky.
Perhaps this was the difference in experience, personality, and life. At this moment, Rin was wearing the same red blouse and black skirt as she did in the original Fifth Holy Grail War, but she gave off a completely different feeling.
However, the original Tohsaka Rin, when looking up at the moon from the rooftop during the Fifth Holy Grail War, was a perfect young lady: confident, charming, elegant, strong, noble, mature, and reliable. But at this moment, Tohsaka Rin, dressed in the exact same outfit, stood under the moonlight looking up at the night sky, exuding a powerful aura of fortitude, resilience, and indomitable spirit. This was perhaps what it meant to say a woman is no less than a man, a distinct beauty like a Valkyrie under the bright moon.
Rin's left hand suddenly clenched into a fist, causing the veins on the back of her hand to bulge slightly due to the excessive force. The explosive magical energy tore her left sleeve, revealing her fair, jade-like left arm. On Rin's left forearm were etched the three crests left by Future Rin.
At this moment, under Rin's activation, the crest closest to her wrist glowed with a faint blue light, and an infinitely complex and mysterious magic array unfolded beneath Rin's feet. A sharp glint flashed in Rin's right hand, and the Jeweled Sword appeared in her palm. Then, activating the "Free Transformation" that God had once inscribed on the Jeweled Sword, the Jeweled Sword transformed into a chain of jewels, coiling around Rin's bare left arm.
Boom!!!
The magic array beneath Rin's feet finally revealed its true form! A violent current of air, like an eight-level typhoon, suddenly erupted, instantly dismembering and shattering the entire Matou Residence, sending it flying into the sky! Even Jalter had to stab her battle flag into the ground to ensure she wasn't blown away by the strong winds. A large expanse of steam-like magical mist, accompanied by the surging magical wind, enveloped Rin.
The true importance of this crest was not the massive amount of magical energy stored within it, but a mysterious inscription that rushed into the sea of consciousness. This was a magical formula from the future!
Rin raised her left hand, wrapped in the Jeweled Sword chain, towards the sky, her five fingers slightly bent. The steaming magical mist rapidly gathered in Rin's palm. Subsequently, the spatial layer in Rin's palm, which was linked to the Second Magic of Spatial Law: Parallel World Interference's noble phantasm sword, began to glow with a mysterious magical light, and then it shattered—
"Virtual Image Projection · Parallel Displacement!"
Space shattered! A five-meter spear, shining with the light of countless stars, crossed the infinitely deep spatial rift and fell into Rin's hand!
Projection: A Knight Does Not Die Empty-Handed!
A fine, crack-like pattern covered the surface of the spear. Rin held the spear in one hand, pointing it towards the sky—
"I hereby declare! This spear shall annihilate Matou Zouken!"
The radiance on the spear intensified with Rin's declaration, the dazzling starlight echoing the stars in the night sky—
"Gungnir!!!"
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