[133] Matou Zouken

"Oh, oh, that's Archer's Noble Phantasm, isn't it? It's truly spectacular," Rider exclaimed in amazement from atop his Noble Phantasm, Gordius Wheel.

"Tsk! Damn it..." Kayneth muttered with an unpleasant expression. "What on earth is happening? So many people have already seen the Holy Grail War. This is a major blunder!"

"Hmm? What's the impact of this?" King of Conquerors casually inquired. In fact, the current situation was somewhat within his expectations.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have concealed someone he didn't even know during the last encounter at the Ryuudou Temple.

"Of course, this makes it much more difficult to cover up this matter," Kayneth replied.

"Is it just difficult?" King of Conquerors asked.

"Well, not entirely... Some level of mystery is bound to leak out due to this incident, but... No, forget it. Rider, take me up and then release bounded field! Although it might be too late now, we still need to maintain some level of concealment."

"Hahaha, understood, understood! Then, up we go—Alalalalaal—"

Berserker, who had just recovered from being blown up, listen to King of Conquerors' shout, he roared as if in response.

As if echoing the call, Berserker joined in the howling.

"Roar—"

Matou Zouken's expression turned grim.

That last attack had wiped out what had remained of the many people's flesh and blood that he had consumed.

He had come dangerously close... he had almost faced death once more.

Although he had hidden the Worms in his brain, if he completely exhausted all his magical energy, the Worms would become useless, mere insects, vulnerable to being crushed by anyone, anywhere.

However...

This time, he had directly placed his Worms in that black mud.

But even so, if he failed, it wouldn't be a quick process to recover his mobility. By that time, Berserker, who had already died six times, might have been eliminated.

A truly dire situation!

For now, he needed to distance himself, quietly hiding. Otherwise, amidst the battle of so many Heroic Spirits, he wouldn't survive the aftermath of the next battle.

"Sleep!" Just then, Matou Zouken's face changed as a hand silently landed on his shoulder!

"What—?"

"Sleep!"

"Hypnosis? Hahaha—such hypnosis won't work on me!" Matou Zouken said, as he began to transform into a swarm of insects, intending to fly away.

However, it seemed that each individual insect was somehow glued in place!

"What... is this?" Matou Zouken's face changed. Seeing half of an unknown person's hand on his shoulder!

The other half seemed to have turned into numerous threads, connecting within his body's individual Worms.

He couldn't escape!

He was doomed!

Matou Zouken reverted to his human form with an ashen face. In this state, his current body might be eliminated, and when he recovered, Berserker might have been taken out already.

"Sleep! Sleep, sleep, sleep!"

"Hmm... Already falling asleep."

Kazuya watched as Matou Zouken "fell asleep" with satisfaction, making sure he wasn't faking it. His Stand, "Death Thirteen," had indeed successfully captured him!

"Death Thirteen." This Stand, though it was a Stand of dreams, didn't necessarily require the user to be asleep to use it. Even when the user was awake, they could employ this Stand. For example, in the manga, the baby Stand user had pulled the protagonist's group into a dream while he was awake, intending to kill them all.

Now, he was maintaining this state and had pulled Matou Zouken into a dream.

Although he could have destroyed his body right here.

But that would only destroy a single body.

If... he used his current Stand to attack, he might be able to eliminate the entire person and possibly the Worm hidden somewhere as well!

Magus weren't considered human...

This Old Worms were even less so...

So... he could take action.

"Really, although I wanted to pull all these Masters into a dream to see the situation, it's impossible if they don't sleep... Also, even my Stand has its limitations in terms of distance."

...

"What's going on here?" Matou Zouken felt dizzy. When he came to his senses, he looked around. "An amusement park?"

Although he had never been there, he knew that something called an "amusement park" existed...

What's the situation now, and why is he at amusement park?

"Why am I in a place like this?" Matou Zouken stood up, picked up the cane that had been nearby, and observed his surroundings with a sinister look. "I remember... I should have been captured by that Caster... If only I hadn't used up all my Command Spells earlier, I could have called Berserker!"

Yes, he had used up all his Command Spells earlier.

But he was, after all, the creator of the Holy Grail Command Spells for Fuyuki City.

Even without Command Spells, he could maintain some level of connection with Berserker. That Berserker was still his Heroic Spirit.

There was no choice; he had to use up these Command Spells to enhance Berserker completely.

"Is this one of that Heroic Spirit's abilities?"

"Indeed, this is your dream." 

Matou Zouken hurriedly returned to his senses, seeing a figure with a comical face holding a gigantic scythe. It looked like a Grim Reaper!

"Are you Caster?"

"Alright, I don't need to explain to you. Experience it for yourself—experience death!"

"Hahaha, even though I don't know what's going on, I'm not ready to give up just—" Before Matou Zouken could finish his sentence, he froze. "What... What's going on? I... can't use magecraft??"

"Oh, it seems that way," Stand Death Thirteen spoke with a tone of amusement, and with his current face, it looked like he was perpetually grinning. 

"Just like how Kotomine Risei couldn't use his Baptism Rite earlier... Now you can't use magecraft either. Truly... this Stand is quite powerful!"

Swoosh—

In the next moment, Death Thirteen, Kazuya's Stand, swung its gigantic scythe down toward Matou Zouken's head!

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