Sakura Matou wore a rare, serious expression. "The Crest Worms have been extracted. Grandfather Zouken has definitely prepared himself by now."
Zouken Matou was the old monster of the Matou family who had lived for five hundred years. He had completely transformed his body into worms, relying on them to achieve a low-budget version of immortality.
"He's just a moldy old magus," Zenith said. "I know Zouken Matou; all his mana goes into maintaining his rotting body. He can't even use any decent magecraft."
Rin Tohsaka agreed, stating that she knew this old immortal was all flash and no substance. A five-hundred-year-old magus sounded impressive, but in reality, he was just an old piece of trash.
The only thing they needed to worry about was the Matou family's magecraft workshop, which had accumulated five hundred years of history.
"I think that instead of waiting passively, we should take the initiative to strike," Zenith suggested. "Sakura's Crest Worms were just removed, so that old immortal from the Matou family is definitely on high alert right now. We'll rest for the night and ignore him, then charge right in tomorrow morning and catch him completely off guard!"
"And what if he rushes over tonight?"
Zenith first praised Shirou Emiya's rapidly improving cooking skills, then patted him on the shoulder. "If he comes over himself, he's just another ingredient on the chopping block. Whether we steam, braise, or deep-fry him will be entirely up to us."
The night of rest passed in a flash. If the others didn't sleep, it might affect their condition, but if Zenith didn't sleep, the worst that would happen was a few Phantom spawns.
Occasionally, Zenith actually acted like a decent human being, letting the others sleep while he took the night watch. He just didn't expect that old bastard Zouken Matou to actually refrain from launching a sneak attack last night.
He couldn't sense any obvious mana fluctuations either. Aside from the mana at Ryuudou Temple being a bit active, last night was completely peaceful—and since that place had been active ever since the Holy Grail War started, it didn't even count as an anomaly.
*'Did that old bastard live five hundred years just to become a cowardly turtle? He took such a massive loss and didn't react at all?'*
Having sat in the first-floor hall all night, Zenith stood up and stretched. It was getting late; it was time to wake everyone up and go demolish the Matou estate.
"True assassination is delivering a fatal blow when the enemy is at their most relaxed. O human who calls himself a Heroic Spirit, I shall claim your life."
Black mist condensed. Cloaked in a grim reaper-like black robe and wearing a white skull mask, the Assassin-class Servant, Hassan of the Cursed Arm, revealed himself.
He was the jungle-carry king who had 1v5'd in a certain Fate timeline, possessing overwhelmingly tyrannical assassination skills. Even Saber had died by his hands.
The low voice echoed in Zenith's ear, followed immediately by an irresistible, razor-sharp strike. A thrust that seemed infused with the very laws of reality pierced straight through Zenith's chest, and then...
He lost one heart.
*'Scared the crap out of me! With such an epic entrance, I thought you could actually one-shot me.'*
His health bar was steadily ticking down, and on his status interface, he could see a 45-second debuff: Bleeding.
Equipping his Netherite Sword, Zenith spun around and slashed, but hit nothing but air. Relying on his mana perception, he quickly whipped out a Shield to block, deflecting the incoming attack before instantly using an Ender Pearl to create some distance.
"Not bad. For an Assassin, managing to do that much is pretty good. But after failing your first strike, you should accept your impending doom."
In a head-on confrontation, there were plenty of people who could suppress or even easily defeat Hassan, but this guy always took the assassination route, making him impossible to guard against.
"No..." From beneath the black cloak, a grotesquely massive right arm reached out and raised high above his head. "Your fate is already sealed. Noble Phantasm—Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat!"
A beating, blocky, square-shaped heart materialized in his palm. This was an ancient Middle Eastern curse that worked by creating a mirror image of the target's heart and destroying it to enact a fatal hex.
The heart shattered. This wasn't a true physical attack, but rather "magic damage." As everyone knows, without the appropriate mods installed, a Minecraft player's magic resistance is absolutely zero.
With a resounding metallic shatter, the phantom image of a Totem of Undying flashed before Zenith's eyes. Regeneration II for forty seconds and Absorption II for five seconds were instantly applied to him.
"Six hearts? You actually one-shot me with that? My magic resistance must be in the negatives."
If it were physical damage, even if he stood in a pile of TNT and got blown sky-high, he wouldn't necessarily lose six hearts of health in one go. But magic damage was a whole different story; it completely bypassed the massive armor value of Zenith's Netherite armor.
"Battle Continuation? No, it seems to be some sort of body double or death-resisting magecraft. So, how many times can you use such a magecraft?"
*'Heh, you don't need to worry about that.'* Zenith's face darkened as he made a firm resolution: he was never going to act tough in an uncertain situation ever again. He knew exactly what the enemy's ability was but still didn't take it seriously—he definitely needed to reflect on that.
First, he would accelerate time for two minutes to give himself a little alone time to repent. Then, he'd take another two minutes to execute this "teacher" who had just taught him a harsh lesson.
"I'm never getting cocky again."
Zenith pulled out an M249 light machine gun produced by the Timeless and Classics Guns mod, and immediately unloaded two full magazines into Hassan of the Cursed Arm.
Eighty bullets fired out at high speed, pausing the very moment before they reached his body. Their kinetic energy hadn't disappeared; it was just that once they left Zenith's immediate vicinity, the bullets were no longer affected by his "Time Acceleration" buff and returned to the normal flow of time.
Once the time acceleration ended, all these bullets would rain down on Hassan of the Cursed Arm simultaneously.
"Just to keep you from running away, I'll place a Boat under your feet and slap two Cobwebs on you."
After confirming that this guy absolutely couldn't escape no matter what, Zenith pulled out his Mana Blaster, switched it to the light projectile mode, locked onto the target, and fired off another few dozen shots.
A full stack of Punch and Flame enchanted arrows—fire 'em up!
"Still doesn't feel safe enough. Let's top it off with a few Splash Potions of Harming."
The time acceleration ended. Unfortunately, Teacher Hassan of the Cursed Arm didn't even get the chance to utter his last words before he was blasted into a scattered mess of fragments. Amidst the lingering arrows and bullet casings, one could faintly see a few charred bits of bodily tissue scorched by the light projectiles.
EMIYA slowly walked down from upstairs. "So the battle ended in an instant again. Though, I can't help but feel this guy died a rather miserable death."
Looking at the wreckage of the battle strewn across the floor, EMIYA's mouth twitched. "Someone sent by Zouken Matou?"
"It was the Assassin-class Heroic Spirit. That old bastard Zouken Matou summoned a Servant too, but I insta-killed him."
Naturally, he couldn't just go around saying he had a life knocked out of him; he was definitely taking that secret to the grave. As a sign of respect for an opponent who had forced him to waste a Totem of Undying, Zenith decided to give him a little face—the guy was dead anyway.
Pausing for two seconds, he added, "He was an opponent not to be underestimated. But fortunately, I was just a bit stronger."
EMIYA couldn't listen to this anymore and turned around to head upstairs to wake the others. However, with such a massive commotion, everyone had already heard it and woken up.
The girls needed a little time to wash up, but since they didn't need to put on makeup anyway, it wouldn't take too long.
With everyone holding a slice of toast in their mouths, Zenith picked out a seven-seater commercial van from his garage and slowly drove out of the manor.
The Matou family's lair—they were definitely demolishing it today!
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