Chapter 5
Using Water Movement, Sena, or his avatar, and the frozen Berserker arrived at the clearing where the Isekai Truck was, which was still in camouflage mode, invisible and undetectable from the outside.
Immediately after the two arrived, Sena deactivated the Water Soldier ability, and his avatar collapsed, becoming a pool of water on the ground.
Inside the truck, Sena opened his eyes, then let out a long sigh.
He hit the steering wheel with his forehead, then pressed them together before sighed again.
'You are a pathetic man, Sena Sitri! Did you have no shame!? Where is your moral? You were simping and flirting a little girl!!!'
Sena screamed in his heart when the flashback of what he had done resurfaced in his mind.
The embarrassment.
The cringe.
The shame.
He wanted to punch his previous self for making the present him and the future him having this shame!
But what made him feel more pathetic was not only his attempt to make Sakura have a childhood crush on him, but the results!
'It's one thing if you succeed! But you failed!!!' Sena wanted to bury himself with concrete when he remembered how Sakura just stared at him without any expression.
There was no blush or whatever on her face! Only blank stares!
'Fuck! The flashback!!! Get out of my mind!!!' He hit the steering wheel with his forehead a few times as he was tortured by the flashback of that time.
The shame was no joke when he recalled how old Sakura was, but what gave him the most critical blow was how he said something cringe to win her, and how his endeavor failed even though he gave his best!
To his excuse, it could be attributed to the fact that Sakura was still too little to understand something like that.
But that thought, while reducing the critical hit to his confidence, it instead intensified many times the guilt and shame he had.
'Really... Why did you do that, Sena Sitri...' He sighed.
He couldn't even make a little girl have a childhood crush on him despite his attractiveness.
'Romance really isn't my thing...' Sena lamented and raised his head, resting his head against the headrest.
'Next time, let's just copy the waifus template and have Water Soldier Harem instead of the original! It's easier, faster, and more effective! It's better than having to trouble myself with romance!' He declared a pathetic thing spiritedly in his mind, with conviction and confidence.
It was pathetic, he knew it. But he would just think of them as magical dildos or sex toys or something like that!
After all, what was the purpose of catching waifus? To get laid with them, wasn't it!?
To fuck them!
As long as they could be fucked, it's fine!!!
Fuck romance!!!
Go to hell, romance!!!
'Ugh... What the hell am I thinking about...'
From high spirited mode, he deflated again when he realized how pathetic he was.
"Really though... Romance sure is difficult... I have no confidence in making a woman fall in love with me without some kind of mind control..." Sena murmured a morally questionable thing, pulled himself into the 'Hentais scumbag group' a step closer as time passed.
Right, talking about hentai, he could go to the NTR hentai world and mind control the heroines there!
After all, rather than NTR'd by an ugly guy, it would be better to be NTR'd by an extremely good looking devil like him, wouldn't it?
Not to mention he had the Golden Dick!
The women there would definitely feel grateful for that!!!
'I'll definitely do that later!!!'
His eyes then catched a glimpse of the Command Spells on his forearm and reminded about what he intended to do with Berserker and Zouken's knowledge.
To summon extremely curvaceous MILF, Raikou.
But with him being sucks in the romance department, it was very doubtful whether he could have a fun time with her or not even if he succeeded in summoning her.
'If it was indeed possible, and I successfully summoned Raikou, let's discard the romance route and tread on the 'mind control hentais' route. Let's use the two spells left to first, command her to never betray me, and second, to command her to never refuse whenever I want to fuck her!' He thought self-deprecatingly.
He sighed again and extracted himself from the useless and stupid thoughts.
He really felt like an idiot.
But he really meant it about copying the waifus template.
If one day he really sexually frustrated, he really would just copied a woman's template and created one with Water Soldier. Even though it would looked phatetic, it was better than raped someone.
That was simply immoral and unacceptable.
Not to mention that, that would be bad for his conscience as well.
While his train of thought was treading that part, he suddenly realized something.
He was reminded about the nature of his existence.
The fact about what he was after the reincarnation.
About his race.
He was a devil, wasn't he?
Something known by many as evil existence.
Well, he reincarnated as a devil in the DXD world.
However, he died there, and at the moment, as a servant of the Holy Grail War, he was using a body which was provided by the Grail. And while he still had the characteristics, racially, he couldn't be said to be a pure devil with this body.
No, he was a spirit at the moment.
But at the same time, different from other servants, he was not a human hero, but a devil.
So instead of the Heroic Spirit, it would be more apt to say that he was a Devil Spirit? Or Evil Spirit? No, maybe Demonic Spirit?
Yeah.
After all, their power was called Demonic Power, wasn't it?
But enough of that.
The point of all of that was, because he was not a human anymore, should he still constrain himself by something called moral?
A moral, something he had when he was a human.
Something used to restrict and constrain humans to be able to fit in society.
With him not being a human anymore, should he still constrain himself with them?
Shouldn't he let loose of everything now, and embark on the dark path, as he was not a human anymore?
Also, was not there a saying like this, that 'Power corrupt! And absolute power corrupts absolutely!'
He had power.
A very OP one at that.
If he would be corrupted one day by them, should he just let himself be corrupted from the very beginning and had fun earlier?
Came to the dark side as early as possible?
'That's right! Let's just do it!' He smirked and snorted a chuckle amusedly.
He sighed and somehow felt a bit better.
'Why did I think about something like sexually frustrated and other useless thoughts like that...'
Like, come on…
Who was he?
In the DXD world, maids of the Sitri House already had a taste of his Golden Dick!
Even if centuries had passed, when he returned, if he wanted a sex or fuck very badly, they would delightedly provide him with that.
As much as he wanted on top of that!
So, there was no need for him to be worried about something like that.
'I am really a big idiot for thinking about those useless things...'
Sena wondered why he was so pessimistic about his sexual life suddenly…
Was his ego hurt that much by his failure with Sakura?
He sighed and readjusted his mind.
The thought about how to make his dick wet aside, the thought about morals and norms were something worth mulling over.
Because like it or not, the saying of "Power corrupt, and absolute power corrupt absolutely", has some kind of truth in it.
And he had power now.
He was OP in fact.
Thanks to his cheats.
And because of that, the power could possibly get into his head and make him disregard everything and thrust every woman's hole he landed his sight on.
Well, that still dick-wetting kind of thought actually…
But joke aside, deep inside, he knew that a day would come, when he would give in to the temptation, greed, desire, and lust, eventually, and did something morally wrong.
He was far from perfect.
He was not a good person either.
So that day would definitely come.
Well…
Mmm…
Actually... He did a few things that were morally wrong already, didn't he?
Like... He killed Ryuunosuke... Then he killed Zouken and Byakuya too…
And killing was some kind of morally wrong act, wasn't it?
Ryuunosuke was a serial killer, sure.
Zouken was a horrible and disgusting human being, if he still could be categorized as human, that was.
And Byakuya was... Well it was an accidental thing, even though the guy was an asshole and shit as well.
But even with those facts, still, he didn't have a right to punish them. Morally speaking, that was.
He thought about that, and rubbed his face.
'It's difficult to keep yourself in check.'
He was amazed by how easy he was carried away, and corrupted by the powers he had already.
Not even half a day and he already killed three individuals.
And he had little to no guilt over that, thanks to the excuse of 'they were horrible and deserve all of that.'
It might be true, but because he thought about this, the previous question popped up in his mind again.
Should he still constrain himself by morals then?
Wouldn't he have become a hypocrite? By not doing one morally wrong thing, but still did another one.
Rape and mind control were no.
But kill and steal was yes.
Apply them to one, but not to another.
And his judgment was the deciding factor for that.
For him to judge one was worth something and the other was not.
That sounded arrogant and conceited.
Also…
Wasn't that what people said as double standard?
The thoughts swirled inside his mind, rendered him more and more confused as new facts added one by one to the previous one.
He remembered that in his previous life, people used to say that he was a kind, honest, and polite person.
A good person.
But now he thought about that again, he was not that good actually.
He behaved like that not because he was a good person, but because he was a coward.
When his superior nagged at him for example, no matter how harsh the words, he kept quiet, and smiled at his co-workers after that showed them that he was fine.
But inside, he thought of many horrible things.
He thought about how to kill this piece of shit painfully…
He thought about mutilating the man alive…
He thought maybe frying the man little by little from his toes would be better…
He thought about how to rape this pig's wife in front of him…
He thought about did the same with the man's daughter too to torture him even more…
He thought all of that while smiling like a fool in front of his nagging superior, and some concerned and some delighted co-workers.
But all of them just ended as thoughts, as he never committed them in the end.
Not because he was kind and thought that it was something morally wrong, but because he was a coward.
He was scared of the consequences if everything went wrong.
What if the police found out…
What if he ended up in jail…
What if he catched a disease after his rape…
What if he suffers more after he commits all of that…
Could he survive after that with his almost non-existent power and authority…
While his conscience also stopped him, those thoughts were the ones which had dominant and stronger pulling power in stopping him from committing the things that could possibly make his life more miserable than it already was.
He was simply scared by the consequences, as his conscience had little influence in stopping him.
And as Sena recalled about it, it was actually not the only time he thought about those horrible things.
He thought about them on many occasions that annoyed him.
At times when he was pissed!
Maybe the reason he was summoned as Ryuunosuke's Servant was not only because the guy who reincarnated him pulled some strings, maybe it was because at heart, they were similar.
He had the tendency as well.
The tendency to become a psychopath!
He was not a good person in the end.
He was just simply tied by his cowardice.
But now, he was not being tied anymore.
He was not a human anymore.
He was not a pathetic weakling anymore.
He had power now!
An Overpowered one at that!
It was so overpowered that he didn't have to worry about many consequences he had feared before!
He was free to do anything!!!
Murder, butcher, rape!!!
All options were available for him!!!
But carefully thinking about them, he didn't want to lose control of himself either....
He mulled over it for a while, and got an answer.
He chose to make peace with himself and decided to just do anything he feels like to do.
What mattered the most was whether he felt like doing that or not.
He didn't want to be fully evil, and would not become a saint either.
He would become a hypocrite!
Everything would be decided by whether he wanted to do it or not without any apparent standard.
No.
The standard would be flexible.
Because what he wanted would be the standard, regardless if it was evil or good, it would depend on his want.
That way was better for the peace of his mind.
The first priorities were his safety, his well being, his happiness, his desire... His will.
'Let's not give a damn and just do whatever the fuck I want to do.' He closed his eyes and concluded, then released a sigh to calm his mind.
He reorganized his mind, then stretched his body.
He felt better now, and wondered what to do next.
He looked outside and the frozen figure of Berserker catched his sight.
Right.
He did that.
He was the one who incapacitated and defeated Berserker, in a very short time as well.
"So... am I that OP?" He muttered as the memories of the fight resurfaced in his mind.
If we could separate things to their own, his part in the fight was negligible.
Swap him with any other person out there, with the cheats in his possession, they would be able to do the same feat easily. Even possibly could do better than that.
It was not him that was OP to be honest, but his cheats were simply just too absurd.
One let him do literally ANYTHING he wanted with an element, and the other made him always in prime and peak condition all the time.
Lancelot was not a weak servant.
He was strong.
He was even known as the strongest knight of the Round Table.
Combined with Berserker class skill, Mad Enhancement, which raised the possessor's parameters, Berserker Lancelot was, without a doubt, a very strong and troublesome opponent.
But as soon as Berserker arrived and materialized himself, as Sena could tell his exact position through the Vapor Sense, he immediately created the ice chains around Berserker.
It appeared so fast, in every direction around Berserker, blocked him from every direction, then tightened it as fast as it appeared, captured Berserker before he could even do anything.
It happened so fast that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that everything happened in a blink.
He predicted that he would have a problem facing Berserker.
That was why he surrounded Matou Residence with a water bubble, to make sure that no one, even a worm, could escape when he faced the Berserker.
But to think that everything ended as soon as he used the ice chains…
Once again, Berserker was strong.
But Sena could incapacitate him in a blink.
That was enough proof that he was much much stronger than Berserker.
With his cheats, he was OP!
"Am I being too cautious..." Sena wondered after realizing how strong he was with his cheats.
He was that strong, but he cowardly moved using the avatar as a proxy, while he himself holed up in the Isekai Truck.
"No." He shook his head after a thought.
"There's no thing such as being too cautious. No matter what, safety is number one!" He nodded and patted himself with encouragement as he did the right thing.
"Now then..." He straightened his sitting posture and looked at the Command Spells.
'Let's integrate with a few of Lancelot's skills, and after that, Zouken's knowledge, to see if it was possible to summon another Berserker...' He thought and closed his eyes.
He dove deep into his consciousness, into the deepest part of his soul where the AWE existed, and controlled it using his will.
Accessing the Water Soldier ability, he immediately found Berserker Lancelot template stored there. Rummaging through many things contained, he chose a few things he wanted to integrate with.
First would be his fighting experiences. Then his aptitude. The Knight of Owner, Eternal Arms Mastery, etc.
In the end, he chose almost everything Lancelot had, leaving only a few troublesome things.
He then immediately started the integration process as he felt a familiar feeling from it.
Yes. It was familiar because the feeling was pretty much the same as how the AWE usually imprinted an ability he thought of into his mind.
The integration was Instantaneous as well, just like how Instantaneous the water-related abilities usually imprinted.
He opened his eyes and blinked a few times.
'Nothing changes...' He noted.
Yes, everything was pretty much the same, nothing about himself felt different.
Sena Sitri was still Sena Sitri.
Everything was the same, except he had a few more capabilities.
He looked at his hand, then clenched and unclenched it a few times.
'The process was as flawless as always.' He thought as he could tell how easy he could use the new abilities, as if they were his from the very beginning.
Opened his palm, water swirled on it, formed something, and froze, as a plain ice sword was made.
Nothing was special about the sword. Just like how a normal sword made by a normal human blacksmith would look like.
Nodded after inspecting it, Sena used the Knight Of Owner on the sword.
Blackish mana spread from the hilt, where his hand made contact with the sword, all the way to the tip of the sword, changing the previously almost transparent ice sword into pitch black in color with red veins decorated it.
At the same time, Sena could feel a strong familiarity from the sword.
A familiarity as if the sword had accompanied him for a very long time, and a familiarity which would enable him to use the sword like the extension of his hand.
The sword which he created just a moment ago, had become his noble phantasm, became a part of his legend.
'Even a toothpick will be a noble phantasm if I recognize it as a weapon.' He noted in his mind, amazed by Lancelot's Noble Phantasm.
Gilgamesh could be said to have unlimited noble phantasm for how much they were in his Gate Of Babylon.
But Lancelot, with his Knight of Owner, could be said to have unlimited noble phantasm as well, for anything he recognized as a weapon, even a pebble on the street could be a noble phantasm.
Tokiomi with Gilgamesh, and Kariya with Lancelot.
Husband, Wife, King, Love someone else's wife, the noble version, the cheap version but the same…
"Their relationship dynamic is amazing..." Sena couldn't help but be amazed by the nature of their relationship.
Tokiomi summoned Gilgamesh, and Kariya, with his hatred for the former, summoned Lancelot to oppose him.
'I bet Kariya would still have summoned Lancelot even without a catalyst, considering their compatibility and his wish.' Sena thought as he deactivated the noble phantasm and made the sword disappear.
"Now, talking about summoning..."
Sena readjusted his position and refreshed his mind.
The success of the first integration boosted his confidence, so he dove into his deep consciousness again and accessed the AWE.
Controlling it, he found the Extraction Water ability, and the extracted knowledge of Zouken.
Did the same thing as before, with his will, he started the integration process, and the magecraft knowledge that Zouken had instantly and flawlessly imprinted in his mind.
Just like with the knowledge and experience of his autopilot mode, he felt the same feeling from Zouken's knowledge.
It was as if he learned everything himself.
It was as if he was the one who derived and came up with the new theories and hypothesized them.
Every calculation, formulation, deduction, etc. It was as if he himself was the one who did all of them.
Made the knowledge become his as it integrated perfectly and flawlessly with him.
But because of that, the experience of doing the experiments that Zouken ever did in the past also became his, making it as if he was the one who did all those disgusting experiments himself.
But thanks to the Tolerance that he had, or maybe it was because he prepared himself enough beforehand, overall, he was fine and could bear with it somehow.
He still felt uncomfortable, though. Even though it was just a little bit.
Reorganizing his mind, he browsed through the newly acquired knowledge and compared them with another magical knowledge he had.
He found some similarities, but as expected, only some of the theories, because fundamentally, they were completely different.
'They heavily depend on mystery and 'The World' acceptance...' He commented.
Not to mention the 'common sense' factor and how the thoughts of the majority of the population impact the world, magecraft sure was a unique kind of magical system in Sena's opinion.
'It sucks in some aspects though.' Sena remarked as he compared them further and closed his eyes.
Time passed as Sena was absorbed by the magical knowledge he had acquired through the autopilot mode, and the one he acquired from Zouken.
This knowledge fascinated him so much that after he was done absorbing himself in them and opened his eyes, the sun rose already.
Looking at the sun, he thought that it might be around eight or nine in the morning.
He remembered about Kariya and Sakura, and used the Water Sense.
Matou Mansion was still covered by his water bubble, so he could see what was happening inside even from his position.
He looked inside of the bubble and could see two figures standing with suitcases beside them.
One of them, Kariya, was filled with worry and anxiety as he looked at the water membrane in front of him.
'They should have been waiting for long...' Sena smiled wearily and hesitated whether he should send them out of the city or made them stay.
Sena wanted them to leave the city before, because he didn't want Sakura to be involved in the Holy Grail War.
After all, no matter the result of his attempt to summon Raikou, whether it was a success or a failure, his plan was to leave this world after that and go to another world.
Without him, the Caster, and highly likely Berserker as well, he didn't know how the War would end with the absence of two servants.
He didn't have any intention to participate either, after all, the Grail was corrupted.
That was why, before the reincarnation, his plan was to leave this world after he killed Ryuunosuke, and not be tied to a master anymore.
But then, when he tried his cheats, he found that it was possible to save Sakura with them, so he changed the plan a bit.
He would save Sakura first before leaving this world, made her have a childhood crush on him, and came back when the fifth Holy Grail War started, or if not, when she was around twenties.
If she was still single at that time, then good. If she was not, then it couldn't be helped.
NTR was a thing, no?
He was a devil anyway…
Forcefully at first but with his Golden Dick, surely…
Well that was a joke…
Maybe…
But he changed his original plan and wanted to save Sakura first before he went to another world. In the process, he could capture Berserker as well to copy his template for his Water Soldier.
And so, he did just that.
He captured Berserker, copied his template, and even though he failed to make Sakura have a childhood crush on him (again, in his opinion), he managed to save her.
But in the process, when he looked at Zouken, he suddenly recalled how grotesque the Samurai Assassin was used as a catalyst by the old man to summon the true Assassin.
As he had Berserker at the moment, he wondered if he could do the same and summoned another Berserker, Raikou.
So because of that, his plan was changed yet again.
After saving Sakura, he would not immediately leave the world, but would try to summon Raikou first.
But even so, the fact that he would leave didn't change, that was why he told Kariya and Sakura to leave the city.
Because if something went wrong with the Grail, the first that would be fucked up, without a doubt, would be this city.
This city was dangerous at this time period.
Kariya knew about that as well, and agreed to leave the city immediately.
Sena then extracted Zouken's knowledge after that. To understand the inner workings of the Grail in particular, and to understand the magecraft of this world in general.
All for the sake of finding a way to summon Raikou.
He got the knowledge.
He integrated that knowledge with himself.
He compared it with the knowledge of magic that he knew after that.
And after carefully analyzing them, he got very satisfying results.
He was 100% confident that he could summon Raikou using Berserker as catalyst!
And thanks to the magical knowledge and theories the autopilot gathered and comprehended, even though the two magical system were different, because they were from different world, there were many schematics and formulae that he could customize with the theories from the two systems, to came up with a feasible way to easily summon Raikou!
Even without the catalyst to specifically connect with Raikou in the summoning process, he found a way to bypass that.
With this, according to the plan, after he summoned Raikou, he would leave this world.
But when he integrated Zouken's knowledge about the Grail and its inner workings, he got a deep understanding of this ritual called Holy Grail War.
The Heavens Feel system.
The Servant Summoning.
The Construction of the pathway to the Root.
The Magical Energy Storing and Releasing process.
And all of the diagrams and concepts that applied, the wish granting aspect, the stitching process, he got a clear understanding of all of them when the integration process was done.
After that, he analyzed them to understand them further and compare it with the magical knowledge he had, and when he thought about how the Grail was corrupted, with magical theories of the DXD world and this world that he got from Zouken, he actually found a way to fix that.
He analyzed them even further to make sure that his conjecture and calculation was correct. But not only correct, it actually led him to find a few other ways to purify the Grail from its contamination.
'Am I... become a genius overnight or what...'
Sena himself couldn't believe that he was the one who came up with all of these.
Whether he was motivated so much because of Raikou, or maybe he was possessed by something, he was not sure himself and didn't know.
But as he had a complete comprehension of all magical knowledge in his possession, everything felt so easy to think about, and his mind was so clear when he used them.
It was just like trying to find D when he knew that A was 1, B was 2, and C was 3.
He was amazed by it himself!
He had an inkling that it was mostly thanks to the comprehension of magical knowledge the autopilot gathered in the DXD world.
But even without that, only with Zouken's knowledge, he was confident that he would be able to fix the Grail using only the abilities he got from the AWE! Because using them, after much consideration, was actually the safest, easiest, and most effective way to fix the Grail.
So…
As he had a way to purify the Grail easily, safely, and effectively, Sena was tempted to participate in the war.
And because of that, his plan needed to be changed yet again.
He wanted to leave after summoned Raikou, previously, but because he wanted to participate, he would stay until the very end of the Holy Grail War.
That was why he hesitated to let Kariya and Sakura get out of the Matou Mansion.
It was mainly because of the fact about Kariya who was not Berserker's master anymore, he wanted to keep it as secret from the other masters, to not make them have any suspicions.
But thinking about it for a while, changing a master was not an unusual thing in the Holy Grail War.
After all, Keyneth gave his fiancee the Command Spells of Lancer in Fate/Zero.
So about Kariya who was not Berserker's master anymore, while Berserker was not eliminated yet, the others would highly likely think that something happened and Zouken decided to participate himself.
That was a plausible excuse actually considering Kariya was not a proper Mage, but had a servant with Berserker class.
If Matou wanted to have a chance in the Holy Grail War with Berserker as servant, having Kariya as the master was not the right answer.
So it would make sense for Zouken to take the reins, and participate himself.
And by evacuating Sakura and Kariya outside of the city, like how Tokiomi did with his wife and daughter…
'This excuse is plausible...' Sena nodded and created a new avatar.
A swirl of water appeared outside of the truck, took the form of a human figure, and in no time, Sena's new avatar was made.
Controlling the avatar, he teleported using the Water Movement, and the avatar disappeared from the area, and reappeared inside the water bubble, behind Kariya and Sakura who were waiting.
"Sorry for making the two of you wait..."
Sena (avatar) said as soon as he appeared, startled Kariya and Sakura who immediately turned around to face him.
Kariya in particular, put his guard immediately and stood before Sakura, protecting her.
Sena could tell clearly that the guy, while not hostile, still could not trust him.
But Sena could tolerate that.
He understood why he behaved like that to his savior.
After all, savior or not, they were strangers. And he got a terrible treatment from his own family member, his own closest people, his own father. So it was understandable for him to have a trust issue because of that.
That was why, looking at how on guard Kariya was, Sena just shrugged his shoulders with a smile and little chuckle, raising both of his hands.
Looking at how Sena put that gesture, Kariya realized that maybe his attitude was too much, so he relaxed a bit and apologized.
"Sorry..."
"No... That was my bad as well to appeared suddenly." Sena just brushed it off.
"I guess you are ready to go?" He then asked the both of them as he eyed the suitcases on the ground.
Kariya nodded, and nervousness could be seen clearly on his face.
Understandable, as the both of them were at the mercy of the man in front of him.
This Sena Sitri was strong.
So strong that even a servant as strong as Berserker was powerless against him, and a cunning old man like Zouken was easily killed by him.
He had nothing to confront him in a fight.
So if the man changed his mind and wanted to kill him and Sakura…
Kariya clenched his hand.
Frustrated by how powerless he was.
Sena could see clearly all of that.
The anxiousness.
The frustration.
But he decided to ignore that, and just nodded slightly.
"Alright then." He said simply and walked to the water membrane before them.
When he was right before the membrane, however, he turned around again to face Kariya and Sakura.
"But before you get out of the city, I want you to help me with something." Sena said, looking at the nervous Kariya.
Kariya hesitated for a while, but then, "What... help?" He brave himself and asked what Sena wanted from him.
"Don't worry, it's nothing life threatening or something like that. On the contrary, it would ensure your safety because even though you are not anymore right now, you are one of the Seven Masters of the Holy Grail War before. So it's necessary for you to inform the other masters that you are not a participant anymore."
Sena told Kariya about his status in the Holy Grail War, and knew what Sena wanted him to do after a thought.
"You... want me to go to the Church and inform them that I am not the Master of Berserker anymore?"
"Correct." Sena nodded and continued.
"You need to get rid of your status as a master, because if not, the other masters will surely target you, still, as the Master of Berserker." He said and stopped there as he remembered something.
"Actually..." Sena trailed, thought about something for a while, and said, "even though you already renounce your status as a Master, there's a possibility that some Master would still targeting you..."
Hearing what Sena said, Kariya was startled and confused.
"Why!? If I'm not a Master anymore, why are they still targeting me?"
Kariya couldn't understand that at all.
If he was not a Master anymore, then he had nothing to do with the Holy Grail War. So why would the other Masters still target him?
Sena shrugged his shoulders, "Because you are still a threat for them even though you are not a Master", and told Kariya why the other masters would still targeting him.
"A threat?" Kariya was confused. What threat?
"It was simple, really. In this war, the easiest way to win is not to defeat the Servant, but the Master." Sena said, and started to explain the reason.
"As a Heroic Spirit, Servant was strong. Naturally. On the other hand, as a human, even though the Master was a Mage, they're (usually) not as strong as a Servant. On top of that, a Servant needs their Master as anchor to the world and to supply them with mana. If a Servant loses their Master, they usually won't last long as they would lose someone to supply them with mana and the anchor to exist in the world."
Sena looked at Kariya, and could see he understood where the conversation was going.
"Because of that, rather than killing the Servant, some Master opt to kill the Master instead. That's also why when the Servants fight, their Master also usually fights each other as well."
Looking at his expression, Sena could tell that Kariya understood what he was trying to say.
"So... You mean... that... they are afraid that I will... make a contract with a Servant who lost their Master?" Kariya looked at sena as he hesitatingly asked for a confirmation.
Sena nodded in confirmation, sending Kariya into yet another anxiety.
"Depending on the class, Servants have different periods of time they could last without a Master. Archer, among them, has the longest time period he could last without a Master. In that time period, they will be able to look for a new Master to provide them with mana upkeep and become their new anchor as well. And for them, the most ideal for that role was a Servantless Master." Sena concluded at that.
"But I'm not a Mage!" Kariya strongly denied his status as a Mage.
"Not a proper one." Sena corrected him, stumped Kariya, because he received a Mage training under Zouken for the past year.
"But still!" Kariya looked at Sena in denial, "Without the Crest Worms, I can't use my Mana properly! Let alone become a Master and provide a Servant with it, I can't even properly use Mana for a simple magecraft!"
"That's true. However," Sena looked at him with one eye closed, and said, "How could the other masters possibly know that you have no Crest Worms in you anymore? Even if you tell them that, how much of a percentage of the probability they would believe what you said? Do you expect them to believe everything just like that? I bet they will have suspicion instead, that you are brewing something nasty to win the Grail."
As what Sena said dawned on him, Kariya couldn't say anything anymore and looked at Sena with despair.
Believed everything he said to them?
Impossible!
Kariya knew well what kind of creature someone called Mage was!
His own father was the proof of that!
Like what Sena said, rather than believe him when he told them that he had no Crest Worms anymore in him, even if he let them inspect his body, they would suspect that he was planning something and just removing them temporarily to deceive them.
After all, he was a Master before.
Even Kariya himself would not believe just like that if one of the Masters did the same!
Thinking about that made Kariya more and more anxious.
Sakura, who was silent from the start, could see clearly how anxious he was as well.
But she didn't say anything and just silently looked at them.
"Then what should I do? Didn't you tell us before leaving the city for our own safety?" After a while, Kariya asked Sena what he wanted him to do. Because in the first place, Sena was the one who told them to leave the city.
"Well..." Sena could only groan while rubbing his neck when Kariya asked him that.
"Actually... I forgot about it before, and remember about that just now..." He smiled wryly as this fact came into his mind just recently.
"What should I do then? Will it be alright if I leave far enough from Fuyuki?" Kariya asked hopefully.
He was powerless.
He had nothing to face other masters.
So he hoped that if he left far enough…
His hope, though, was crushed as Sena shook his head.
"Before they lost track of you, they would definitely do something. They will never let an unknown factor, something that could possibly become a wild card, be just like that."
Kariya suspected that as well. That was just how the Mage was.
"You could seek shelter from the Church, but that will inconvenience me instead..." He said apologetically to him.
"Inconvenience you?" Kariya looked at sena confusedly.
"Well... You know... I want to keep the fact about Zouken's death a secret, as I want the other masters to believe that he becomes the new Master of Berserker. But if you seek shelter from the Church..."
Sena gave Kariya a look that said 'you understand what I mean', and Kariya indeed understood.
It was one thing if Berserker was eliminated, but it would make no sense for him to seek shelter from the Church while Berserker was still in Matou's possession.
After all, he could also act as a substitute Master in case something happened to the current Master.
Seeking a shelter from the Church would only imply that the new Master was not on the Matou's side. Something that Sena didn't want to happen, as he wanted the other masters to believe that the new Master was Zouken.
That was why…
Sena looked at Kariya and Sakura, who looked back at him, and Kariya in particular, looked back at him with nervousness.
"How about this..."
"How about you two stay here for a while until the end of the Holy Grail War?" Sena suggested to them.
"Stay? But..." Kariya said unsurely, and looked at Sakura with worry.
"It's dangerous, I know. But I promise you, that as long as she is inside this water bubble, nothing will be able to hurt her." Assured Sena confidently, as he looked at them, and gave Sakura a reassuring smile, who, to his surprise, smiled back at him.
She still had her timidity, but Sena could see that she was brighter now.
On the other hand, Kariya was hesitant.
Should he accept the suggestion or not?
Honestly, he didn't have any other choice but to accept, because he was also reluctant to seek shelter from the Church. Mainly because Zouken had a suspicion that the Church had some kind of alliance with Tokiomi.
If Zouken's suspicion was true, and they had an alliance with Tokiomi…
Kariya clenched his jaw.
But on the other hand, even though Sena until now did not show any kind of hostility, and in fact he was the one who saved them from Zouken, Kariya knew very little about him.
His true objective was still unknown.
Why did he save them?
What did he want from them?
'No. He wanted nothing from me.' Kariya thought in his mind as he looked at Sakura, and then at the pendant she had on her neck.
If there was something that he knew about Sena, that would be for an unknown reason, he was so fond of Sakura.
He realized that Sena was not saving them, he was saving Sakura. So if he wanted something, it was definitely not from him, but from Sakura.
But why?
Kariya asked Sakura before, whether she knows anything about Sena or not. Sakura said that she didn't know him, and never met with him before, which confused Kariya even more.
But then he realized something when he wondered about Sena's identity.
He recalled how strong he was.
How otherworldly attractive he was.
How he appeared and disappeared at will.
All of that pointed him into one thing.
A spirit.
And coincidentally, a few hours before Sena attacked the Mansion, Zouken told him that the last Servant, Caster, had been summoned, and the war officially began.
Connecting the dots with the clues that he had, it was highly likely that sena was a Servant.
He was a Heroic Spirit summoned in this Holy Grail War into the Caster class.
So, it was not Sena, it was his Master.
Looking at the man in front of him, Kariya decided to make everything clear and asked the man directly.
Kariya braves himself and faces Sena.
"Before I answer your offer, could I ask you something?"
Kariya asked Sena, who raised his brows slightly, but just shrugged to show Kariya that he didn't mind.
"You are a Servant, aren't you?"
Hearing what Kariya asked him, Sena answered him lightly with, "Well... Yeah, I am."
After all, there wasn't a need to keep it a secret.
"And your point in asking that is?" Sena raised one eyebrow, not sure about why Kariya asked him about that.
"Then is it alright to say that everything you did until now was your Master order? I won't ask about his identity, but could you tell me what his objective is? What does he wants from Sakura?"
Kariya decided to be blunt and asked directly what was inside his mind.
He wanted to make everything clear before he decided on what to do.
Sena was silent for a while, but then he smiled and let out a chuckle.
"Ah... I see... So, you still troubled by my objective in helping the both of you?"
"Let's see... How I put this..." Sena murmured, as he thought about what he wanted to say.
"Let me ask you this, then, Kariya. As you were a Master before, and trained by Zouken to participate in the Holy Grail War, you should know a thing or two about Servant, right?"
Sena looked at Kariya, and when he said, "I know a bit about them." Sena continued.
"Because you know something about them, did you know what Servant was?"
"What Servant was?" Kariya repeated Sena's question, a bit confused by it.
"Yes. Tell me what you know about Servant."
Kariya mulled over it for a while, before he answered the question.
"They are... Heroic Spirit summoned by the Grail into seven vessels provided by it. Though from what Zouken told me, they're just copy of their original self, because it's impossible, even for the Grail, to summon their real self from the Throne of Heroes..." Jogging his mind, Kariya slowly and carefully answered Sena's question.
He then looked at Sena to confirm his answer, and received a nod from him.
"You know pretty much about it..." Sena praised him, and Kariya shook his head.
"No. I am just repeating what I heard from Zouken, and understand very little about it." Kariya said, then looked at Sena again and asked, "So am I correct? And why are you asking me that?"
"You are correct." Sena nodded, and continued, "So, because you mentioned the Throne of Heroes, do you know what kind of place is that?"
"A... heaven? for a heroic figure of the past?" Kariya answered unsurely with creased eyebrows.
"Well... from a perspective, it indeed could be said to be a heaven... But actually, what is inside is not only people from the past."
"What do you mean?" Kariya was really confused now.
"What I want to say is that the concept of time doesn't apply to the Throne of Heroes, as it exists outside of the time axis. That's why I said that inside it, there's not only people from the past, but also..." Sena trailed, and looked at Kariya before him.
"The... future!?" Kariya finally said after being silent for a while.
"Yep. And guess what, because the Grail summoned figures from the Throne of Heroes, then there's a possibility..." Sena stopped, looked at Kariya, and then smiled at him.
'There's a possibility that someone from the future will also be summoned!' Kariya said the rest of Sena's words in his mind, surprised.
If it was someone from the past, he could understand. They would be like dead people from the past reanimated in the current era.
But from the future? Let alone still alive in the current era, there was a possibility that even their great great grandfather was still an infant, or had not existed yet at all!
Kariya was really surprised by the discovery, but then realized something.
'Wait, why did he...'
Kariya asked himself why Sena told him about all of this.
Then he recalled that the conversation started with him asking Sena of his Master objective…
He thought about it until an understanding dawned on him.
He looked at Sena, then at Sakura, then at Sena again.
He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out as he didn't know what he wanted to say.
Husband? Son? Grandchild?
Looking at how shocked Kariya was, Sena chuckled as he tried his best to not laugh about the misunderstanding.
"No. I'm not from the future." Sena said amusedly.
"Then..." Then what all of these questions were about, was what Kariya was trying to say.
But he was stopped as Sena started to speak again.
"Well, in a sense, I indeed could be said to be coming from the future, but also not at the same time..." Sena looked at Kariya, and could tell that he was confused.
"It would take a long time to explain, so let's just say that I somehow know the teenager Sakura, know her story, and know the hell she went through. That's the reason why I helped her."
"But the most important thing is that I didn't have any intention to harm her. If I did, rather than saving you so that you could take care of her, I will take care of her myself instead, as it would be more convenient for me to harm her."
Kariya couldn't help but agree.
He remembered that Sena said to him that he saved Kariya because he wanted him to take care of Sakura in case Tokiomi refused to take her back.
As Kariya knew now that Sena was a Servant, he understood why Sena wanted him to take care of Sakura.
After all, as a Servant, once the Holy Grail War ended, Sena would disappear as well.
So in Kariya's opinion, Sena Saved him because it was simply impossible for him, a Servant of the Holy Grail War, to take care of her himself, as he would disappear when the war ended.
Thinking about that, he looked at Sena, and then nodded.
"Alright. We will stay for a while." He said and then looked at Sakura.
"Is it alright?" He asked and Sakura nodded.
"It's fine." She said softly as Kariya rubbed her head.
Looking at them with a smile, Sena stretched his hand to the side and swirls of water appeared.
Took a form of humanoid bodies, and the next moment, two Berserker Lancelot kneeling beside them.
"Be- Berserker!" Kariya was stunned as two Berserkers appeared.
Not one, but two!
"They are copies. But even so, they are as strong as the original." Sena explained then faced the two Berserkers, and gave them a command.
"Protect Sakura at all costs. Obey her every command but her safety is the very first priority. Make sure to, at least one of you, always by her side. Understood?"
The two Berserkers nodded and dematerialized themselves.
They were copies of a spirit, so like a spirit, they could materialize and dematerialize themselves.
"If you need anything, just call Berserker, okay?" Sena said to Sakura softly, like how a reliable big brother would to their cute little sister.
Addressed by Sena suddenly surprised Sakura, but after a bit of hesitation, she nodded slightly.
"Thank you... Se-... Sena onii-chan..." Sakura said timidly to Sena.
Chuckled a bit, Sena nodded, then turned his attention to Kariya again.
"I will keep the water bubble... no let's call it Water Barrier, I will keep it intact for the duration of the war. Do you have anything to do outside?" Sena asked and Kariya shook his head.
"It's fine. We'll be alright for a few days. Maybe five, before we run out of some groceries..." Kariya said, but then as if remembering something, he looked at Sena hesitatingly.
"Right... Caster... Did you... Did you killed Byakuya, too?" He asked Sena carefully.
'Oh, right...' Sena forgot to say that to him.
Still calmly facing Kariya, Sena raised one of his eyebrows.
"Do you still care about him? Despite how much he resents you?"
Kariya looked troubled and looked away.
"... I..." Kariya started after a while.
"All of this... All of this wouldn't have happened if I accepted my fate as a Matou and not ran away..." He said with deep regret.
He looked at Sakura and his expression became even worse as he recalled what she went through.
If he accepted his fate, Sakura wouldn't have been adopted and went through that hell.
If he accepted, even though Byakuya would still resent him for his talent as a mage, his older brother wouldn't have to take the pressure Zouken gave to him.
His wife wouldn't have been thrown into the worms' pit either.
If he accepted his fate, then... then... He wouldn't have to give up on Aoi... He could…
He clenched his hand, showing how much he regretted everything. Drowning him deeper and deeper into the dark and muddy feeling called regret.
Sakura looked at him and could not help but felt a bit worried.
"Kariya Oji-san..."
Kariya pulled out of his thoughts by Sakura's voice and looked at her.
He could see in her eyes that she was worried, so he smiled a bit and rubbed her head softly to show that he was fine.
"How about you fix that then?" Sena said, attracting Kariya's attention.
"How about you become the head of the Matou family? Like, Zouken and Byakuya were no more. You and Sakura are the only Matou..." Sena trailed off as he remembered about someone.
'Oh right! Shinji!!! Where is that shit?? How can I remember about Byakuya but forget about that shit!?' Sena thought and looked at Kariya.
"Kariya, where is Shinji? I'm sure that there were only the four of you in the Mansion last night."
Asked about his nephew by Sena, Kariya was a bit surprised.
"You know Shinji?"
"Well... I know Sakura and you... Zouken and Byakuya as well. Of course I will know about Shinji, won't I?" Sena answered, shrugged his shoulders.
Sena's words reminded Kariya about the previous topic of the conversation.
'Heroic Spirit of the future, huh...' Kariya thought, then answered Sena's question.
"Shinji is studying abroad. Probably to keep him safe from the Holy Grail War." Kariya said, recalling the pieces of information Zouken and Byakuya gave him previously.
"I see..." Sena muttered, 'So that was why...' He thought, then continued.
"Then you need to take the family head position even more. You have a nephew and niece to take care of. And all of that requires money. So, why not use the assets which the Matou has? I believe as a prominent family, both magically and mundanely, their possession won't be small."
"Actually, it should have been a huge amount of money, considering how old Matou was from ordinary people's perspective."
"So, use them. Even if it's not for yourself, use them for both of them."
"Besides, I doubt Tokiomi will treat Sakura well even though he accepts her back into the Tousaka Family with his only one successor, traditional belief. So, I think it's better for you to stay even after the war, and become the head." Sena said, plunged Kariya into a thought.
What Sena said was right.
Kariya himself didn't want to give Sakura back to that Bastard after he threw her for his traditional belief bullshit.
But to take care of her, he required money, and while he had a job, he wanted to give her a comfortable life. So, his job as a freelancer won't be enough.
And now, with Byakuya confirmed to be dead, he needed to take care of Shinji as well.
"Well, it's your life, so decide for yourself. Take your time. Think about it carefully. So you will never regret it in the future, like how you regret it now."
Sena said lastly to him then approached Sakura.
He kneeled to level their height and said, "Remember to call Berserker when you need anything or are troubled by something, okay?"
Sakura nodded, and said "Thank you, Sena onii-chan..." to him.
Sena smiled and rubbed her head.
"Then..." He said before disappeared from the scene, leaving the both of them, Kariya and Sakura, standing there, looking at where he was before.
"Bye bye… Onii-chan…" Sakura said, even though Sena was not there anymore.
Kariya on the other hand had many things to think about, not only for himself, but also for the other members of the Matou's family, namely Sakura and Shinji.
But well, he had time to think about them, even though he was inclined to accept, as he had responsibility.
He sighed, then looked back at the Mansion.
'Fated, huh...'
He released a long sigh and returned back into the Mansion, together with Sakura.