Just as Shichen was about to catch up to that psycho kid, he suddenly heard a faint buzzing in his ears—like insects.
He looked toward the sound and spotted a man in a hoodie standing not too far from Rin Tohsaka and the others, just… watching.
Surrounding him were countless insects, crawling and squirming all over him. Just the sight made Shichen's skin crawl.
He frowned and looked away. With his eyesight, he could see everything in sickening detail—the bugs' grotesque body structures, squirming around.
Disgusting.
And just thinking about how many more might be crawling inside that guy's body made his stomach churn.
Yeah. He knew who that was—Matou Kariya, the Matou family's representative in this Holy Grail War.
A tragic guy.
But hold on—hadn't he already taken Sakura away? Why was this guy still participating?
Whatever. Not important.
To keep his dinner from coming back up, Shichen quietly slipped away.
He quickly picked up the psycho's trail again.
Honestly, how was this guy still running? He had broken ribs and a busted arm, yet he was still limping forward like a man possessed. Guess the will to live was stronger than expected.
Shichen rembered him—so twisted murderer obsessed with death. He wanted to "understand" it, to "master" it.
A freak like that? Absolutely deserves to die.
Bleeding heavily, the guy finally made it to his destination: a sea cave.
Shichen suppressed his presence and followed silently. But even before reaching the entrance, the overpowering stench of blood hit him in the face.
Even as a half-vampire with a natural affinity for blood, this stench was revolting. Thick. Rotten. And underneath it… sothing worse—decay.
That kid he rescued earlier was only one of many. And the rest? The ones who'd gone missing for longer?
This sll said it all.
Shichen held his breath, steeled himself, and stepped into the cave.
And instantly regretted underestimating how bad it would be.
At the back of the cave was a large open space, with sothing like a stone altar in the center. The floor was coated in a dark, sticky mixture of red and black.
Blood.
Everywhere.
All around were bodies, severed limbs, bits of bone—and they were all children.
It looked like hell.
A normal person would've thrown up on the spot.
What Shichen had seen through a screen before didn't even co close to this horror.
Goddammit.
He scanned the area—but the mastermind wasn't here.
"Master? Master, are you there? It hurts..."
The psycho kid—Ryuunosuke—was moaning, crawling weakly toward the altar and collapsing in the blood.
Shichen stared at him but held back the urge to kill him right away. As the Master of this whole ss, he was connected to the real culprit.
Killing him now would alert the Servant.
Better to wait and take them both out at once.
Yeah, technically, without a Master, a Servant would run out of mana and vanish… but Shichen didn't want to take chances.
And he definitely wanted to end this himself.
After a while, just when it looked like Ryuunosuke might bleed out, soone finally showed up.
A man in a long robe.
He looked surprisingly young—smooth face, not many wrinkles—but his bulging eyes were freakishly large, like they were ready to pop.
"Ryuunosuke! I'm back! I saw her—the saint! It was Jeanne! It had to be her! She's still as beautiful as ever!"
…Huh?
Shichen raised an eyebrow.
Jeanne d'Arc wasn't even part of this Holy Grail War. The only one she could be mistaken for was Saber.
Which ant… this creep had seen Saber.
"Master…" Ryuunosuke groaned weakly.
"Ryuunosuke!" The robed man rushed over, panic in his voice. "What happened?! Who did this to you?!"
"I'm sorry, Master… I ssed up…"
"No! We'll fix this—hang on!"
That was enough. Shichen had seen enough of this twisted little drama.
A red spear appeared in his hand. No hesitation. He launched it.
"Who's there?!" the robed man turned just in ti to dodge, but the spear struck Ryuunosuke square in the chest.
Dead. Instantly.
"Ryuunosuke!"
"Damn. Missed a double kill," Shichen muttered, stepping onto the altar.
"You're… Saber's Master?" the robed man asked, wide-eyed.
He was Caster. Of course he'd seen the previous fight between Saber and Lancer.
Shichen knew exactly who he was. His eyes went cold.
"Gilles. You're beyond redemption."
"You… you know who I am?" Caster suddenly lit up. "Did the saint tell you? She rembers , doesn't she?!"
Only one lunatic would be this obsessed with Jeanne d'Arc—Gilles de Rais. Once a war hero, now a monster.
He'd joined this war just to bring Jeanne back.
What a joke.
Shichen rolled his eyes. "Keep dreaming. Saber doesn't know you. And more importantly—she's mine."
"…What did you say?" Caster's voice went quiet and cold.
"I said Saber is mine. So get over it."
Shichen smirked, offering no clarification about Saber's real identity.
That hit the nerve he wanted.
Caster went silent, then glanced down at Ryuunosuke's corpse and whispered, "Don't worry. I'll avenge you."
"Yeah, no. You won't."
Shichen summoned his yellow spear and launched it—fast.
But Caster vanished.
"You bastard! How dare you steal my Jeanne! I'll make you suffer for this!"
His voice echoed in the cave—and then faded.
Outside, a surge of mana erupted. The sea roared.
Caster had used his Noble Phantasm.
Shichen scowled. He'd underestimated him. Should've finished it sooner.
He glanced around the blood-soaked cavern and sighed. Golden flas flared in his hand, then swept across the cave.
There was no saving the children.
This was the least he could do—send them off with sacred fire.
Only after the cave was cleansed did he step outside.
A bestial roar shook the sky.
Out at sea, a monstrous creature had erged—massive, covered in writhing tentacles, its body hidden in a purple fog. Like a squid, but worse.
A deep-sea horror. Caster's Noble Phantasm: Prelati's Spellbook.
Shichen looked at it—just once—and imdiately turned away.
Too nasty. Worse than the bugs.
Tumorous tentacles, grotesque growths—it was a nightmare.
He raised a barrier over the entire area, shielding civilians. Then summoned Ho-Oh—his Phoenix King—to burn that thing out of existence.
Any one of his sacred beasts could wipe it out.
But before he could act—
"Shichen!"
Saber dropped from the sky, landing beside him in her armored dress.
"Saber? What are you doing here?"
"I saw the explosion—what is that thing?" she asked, eyes locked on the sea monster.
"Caster's work."
"Him?"
"You've t him."
"That creep who thought I was Jeanne?"
"Yeah. He's behind the missing kids. He's already killed a lot of them."
"What?!"
Saber's face turned grim. Her invisible blade shimred into existence.
"Then I'm ending this—right now."
She was furious. As she should be. Her justice didn't allow monsters like Caster to exist.
"Wait," Shichen grabbed her wrist.
"Shichen?" she looked at him, confused.
"Soone else is coming."
They both looked up.
Hovering above them was a golden ship, gleaming in the sun. Onboard was a man in golden armor, radiating arrogance and beauty.
Then—laughter.
A wild red-haired man riding a chariot burst through the sky. Next to him was a terrified boy in a suit, clinging for dear life.
The chariot landed. The red-haired man hopped off, dragging the kid along casually, like it was no big deal.
"Yo, Saber! And Saber's Master! What a party, huh?"
Four Servants—face to face once more.
~~~
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