The Matou Residence

The Matou residence is styled after Japan's famous "Fish Scale House," an old Western-style building originally built for foreign residents.

It sounds odd that a Japanese family would live in a Western-style house for foreigners, but it makes sense, considering the Matou family originally came from abroad.

"The three founding families of the Holy Grail War really aren't short on money. Despite how poor the Matou family's magical prowess seemed in the original story, they're actually quite wealthy."

Standing at the gates of the Matou estate, Zuke rubbed his chin as he examined the Fish Scale House, thinking about how to bring Sakura Matou out.

Yes, from the start, he hadn't just intended to "check on how Sakura Matou was doing"—his plan from the beginning was to take her away.

That's why he'd specifically prepared Rin Tohsaka for the possibility of "Sakura Matou suffering inhumane treatment." This way, taking Sakura wouldn't count as breaking his agreement with Rin Tohsaka.

And why was he doing this?

Probably just because he found the Matou family's behavior distasteful—he really had no liking for anything involving insects.

With his decision made, Zuke stepped through the gates of the Matou estate.

As soon as he approached, the large, barred gate was sliced open by an invisible force, creating a massive circular gap, and Zuke walked right through it.

Conceal himself? Not necessary. When searching Dio's mansion in the JoJo world, he had concealed himself to avoid alerting the enemy, but here, that was unnecessary.

Even if he caused a disturbance, the Matou family head Zouken Matou wouldn't flee. Not unless he was willing to give up on the Holy Grail he'd pursued for two hundred years.

After Zuke forcibly breached the gates, the magical traps in the courtyard immediately activated.

As a mage family, the Matou residence was, of course, equipped with numerous magical defenses. When someone invaded, the courtyard and interior of the estate turned into merciless killing mechanisms.

But unlike the Tohsaka family's gem-based magic, the Matou family's head, Zouken Matou, specialized in insect-based magic, so naturally, the methods for dealing with intruders involved insects.

In the next instant, swarms of flying insects emerged from the grass and trees in the yard. Each one had sharp fangs and radiated a distinct magical aura as they rushed toward Zuke.

For an ordinary mage, these insects would quickly devour their body, reducing them to a pile of bones.

But Zuke didn't even glance at the insects and continued toward the estate's main door.

Snap!

Just as the insects neared Zuke, they disappeared in an instant, leaving behind a harsh sound like something had sliced through them.

If someone were watching nearby, they'd notice that within the spherical area centered on Zuke, no insect could enter.

Whenever the insects entered this spherical range, they vanished from existence like a drawing erased with a rubber eraser, leaving no trace behind.

This was the "Blackbird's Void," a space-devouring presence released by the Blackbird behind Zuke. There was no way these insects could break through that barrier.

The ability to erase space is difficult to counter in many stories, and the Matou family's insect magic was, of course, powerless against it.

With nothing in his way, Zuke easily entered the Matou mansion. The door, reinforced with magic, was mercilessly sliced open by the Blackbird's Void, leaving a large hole.

And as he stepped into the building, he saw a hunched, shriveled figure standing in the center of the main hall.

"Heh heh… Quite the rude guest, aren't you?"

Standing in the center of the hall was Zouken Matou, head of the Matou family.

This man's original name was Makiri Zolgen. He came to Fuyuki City two hundred years ago and, together with two other mage families, established the Holy Grail War system.

To achieve his goal, he refused to die before reaching it, so he chose to prolong his life by modifying his body with insect magic, managing to survive to this day.

In essence, his body was now merely a mass of insects, no longer truly human.

To ordinary people, Zouken Matou was an exceptionally powerful mage and a serious threat. Yet, in front of Zuke, it was Zouken who stood cautiously prepared.

He'd seen clearly what Zuke did on his way here, and to be blunt, he had no way to deal with Zuke.

The spherical space surrounding Zuke seemed like a death zone—anything entering it died. He'd sent countless insects to their deaths, yet hadn't even figured out how Zuke was doing it.

After all, Zouken Matou wasn't a Stand user, and having prolonged his life unnaturally, his soul had decayed to the point where he couldn't perceive the presence of a Stand...

Zuke had no interest in chatting. He asked directly:

"Where's Sakura Matou?"

In fact, Zuke had considered using his Ki-sensing ability to locate Sakura in the mansion, but after a quick scan, he found it unbearable.

Every corner of the place was filled with insects, even bizarre ones lurking on the ceiling.

These insects possessed only faint traces of aura, but given Zuke's complete mastery of aura, he easily sensed each of them.

For the first time, Zuke felt that his sensitivity to aura wasn't always a good thing. The sheer number of insects in the Matou residence was a severe assault on his senses.

Unable to tolerate the insects any longer, Zuke decided against using Ki to search for Sakura Matou's location. Asking Zouken Matou would be faster.

"...You came for that?"

Hearing Zuke's question, Zouken Matou's withered face struggled to remain composed.

Upon detecting Zuke's invasion, he had considered many possibilities: perhaps an outsider participant had come to make an example of the Matou family or to spy boldly on them.

He'd even prepared for the possibility that someone might intend to destroy the Matou family and eliminate a competitor.

But he hadn't expected that the first thing this intruder would ask was where Sakura Matou was. Was this some sort of prank by a modern youth?

"Could it be that you're an ally of Tokiomi Tohsaka? Sakura Matou was already given to the Matou family with Tokiomi's consent. If you have an issue with that, go find Tohsa—"

"Just answer the question. Why waste so many words?"

In the next instant, Zuke's body appeared right in front of Zouken Matou—he'd been at the entrance only a moment ago, but in the blink of an eye…

No, it hadn't even taken a blink. Zouken Matou's body was no longer that of an ordinary person; he hadn't blinked. Zuke had simply crossed the distance between the door and the hallway instantly, now standing right in front of him.

Seeing Zuke's cold gaze, the well-versed Zouken Matou felt an unexpected weight settle in his heart.

To be continued…

Psst, Ningen, you are under arrest. Hand over your Power Stones if you wanna Live!

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