As the light faded, a childish voice aroused Sakura's curiosity. Peeking cautiously around Guixu's hand, she looked ahead.
A little blonde girl wearing a purple-black puffy dress was hugging a plush doll in her arms. The voluminous dress completely enveloped her, leaving exposed only her slender, snow-white calves and tiny feet shod in little white socks and leather shoes.
At that moment, she was gazing over with an expression that mixed fear and curiosity, as if she were seeing a stranger for the very first time.
Sakura was very curious about the little girl standing before her.
Since the girl only looked a little taller than herself and couldn't possibly be much older, could even a child her own age become a Heroic Spirit?
Guixu shared the exact same thought as Sakura, the shock on his face lingering for a long time.
Such a tiny child?
Weren't Heroic Spirits supposed to be widely renowned heroes and legendary figures who took form after death, or entities mutated through the reinforcement of legendary concepts?
A Heroic Spirit's appearance was generally fixed at the moment of death—had a child this young truly experienced great events worthy of being called a mighty achievement before her demise?
Or perhaps she was some counterpart from a parallel world?
Judging from the Fate works uploaded by the group leader, Saber Artoria seemed to have a multitude of counterparts across different classes.
Still, Guixu didn't dwell on it too much, fearing he might neglect Abby.
He merely muttered a silent inward complaint about his strange affinity for little girls, which seemed to have been flourishing inexplicably of late.Could it be that after breaking away from the Terminal, he had inexplicably awakened to the attributes of a doting dad?
"Hello, Abby. My name is Guixu, and I am both your Master and your friend. Please take good care of me."
Guixu crouched down, reached out his hand toward Abigail, and flashed a gentle smile. He could tell that she was a rather introverted child and knew he shouldn't be too serious, or he might frighten her.
Abigail was deeply touched by Guixu's considerate gesture. In an instant, the lingering fear in her eyes vanished, and she broke into a lovely, sweet smile. She withdrew her small hand from her wide, puffy sleeve and placed it right in Guixu's palm.
"Then... Master Brother, please... take good care of me too."
Guixu smiled, gently clasping Abby's slightly chilly little hand in his larger one and nodding.
"I will!"
The expression on Abby's face instantly relaxed. The deep, keyhole-like opening atop her head emitted a faint purple glow, reflecting just how happy she was at that moment.
Only after greeting Guixu did Abby shift her attention to Sakura standing nearby. Although both little girls appeared somewhat shy, they were both pure and kind-hearted by nature, so they quickly hit it off and started playing together.
The two little girls dangled their legs from the sofa, sitting close together as they watched television.Guixu took the opportunity to check Abby's stats as a Servant. This was something any mage participating in a Holy Grail War could do, and Guixu saw right through them at a single glance.
Servant: Abigail Williams
Class: Foreigner
Strength: A
Endurance: A
Agility: B
Mana: EX
Luck: C
Personal Skills:
Light Transformed at the Abyss A: Draws a massive amount of dark mana from the fictitious gates and converts it into pure light mana through her ability as the "Key." Functions similarly to Mana Burst of the same rank, while granting attacks an effective special attack modifier against Chaos and Evil attributes.
Loss of Sanity B: A fragmentation of sanity caused by contamination from the power of an Evil God. When activated, she transforms into her dark persona, Abigail, altering her six stats to a certain degree while leaving the fictitious gates half-open, allowing her to wield powerful dark mana that translates into a special attack modifier against Lawful and Good attributes, though she cannot use the Personal Skill "Light Transformed at the Abyss" simultaneously.
Witch Trial A+: Inflicts curses originating from an Evil God upon the enemy, plunging their mind into confusion and bypassing Personal Skills of mental types of Rank A and below. The confusion effect takes effect based on the target's willpower strength.
Noble Phantasm: Qliphoth Rhizome
Rank: EX
Classification: Anti-Human to Anti-World Noble Phantasm
Description: Opens a "door" leading to a heterogeneous world incompatible with humanity, bringing severe distortion to the target's mind and body, accompanied by the rhizome born alongside the evil tree Qliphoth. The affected target is bound by Abigail's personal perception as the "Key." This is why it is an Anti-Human Noble Phantasm. However, when bolstered by sufficient mana, its infinite nature can even be described as reaching the level of an Anti-World Noble Phantasm.
"Hmm? So this is the special Foreigner class? To think it could actually be tied to an Evil God. Those nameless entities are no angels."
Guixu furrowed his brows and pondered inwardly, feeling somewhat concerned for Abby.
Although he figured the World Will of the Nasuverse wouldn't be foolish enough to let something like an Evil God in, even the slightest connection to one could draw the gaze of those nauseating things.
When he used to travel across the universe back in the day, he had passed through quite a few great worlds and encountered those creatures before. The bone-deep, maggot-like mental corruption was something to be feared immensely.
He had even run into an Evil God once—that fellow who called himself the Crawling Chaos. He had just survived a cosmic storm while traveling through space at the time, and almost got pestered by that guy.
If it hadn't been for bumping into a silver giant whose status was similar to Little White's back in the beginning, he wouldn't have been able to break away so quickly.
He wondered if he would ever have the chance to run into Him again. Having hurried away in the vastness of the universe, he still hadn't thanked Him.
Guixu snapped out of his memories, cast his gaze toward the two little ones sitting on the sofa, and prepared to carry out that task."Sakura, Abby, play here at home for a bit. I have some business to take care of and I'll be right back."
Sakura turned her head, as if thinking of something. Her face showed a trace of worry, but remembering Guixu's strength, she said nothing more.
"I want to go with Master Brother too."
Abby tried to jump off the sofa to follow, but Guixu stopped her.
"Abby, I'm worried about leaving Sakura home alone. Stay here and protect her."
"But..."
Abby looked at Guixu with concern. When she was summoned, she had been imbued with modern knowledge, including information about the Holy Grail War. Moreover, she was the last one summoned; what would happen if Master Brother went out alone and ran into enemies?
Guixu smiled and released a tiny trace of his aura to explain.
"Don't worry, Abby. Your Master Brother isn't some weak, powerless mage. If I wanted to, a mere Holy Grail would be effortless to take."
Sensing Guixu's terrifying divine might, Abby finally let out a relieved sigh.
"Then Master Brother, come back soon."
"Abby and little Sakura will wait for Master Brother at home."
"Alright, got it."
Guixu acknowledged, and his figure instantly vanished from the living room.
...
Fuyuki City, the Matou residence.
A stooped old man with a face full of wrinkles stood at the basement entrance, staring down at the writhing mass of various insects at the bottom.
The squirming friction and hissing of the bugs sounded particularly grating in the empty, silent basement.
That dense, crawling mass was enough to give anyone goosebumps.
Leaning on his cane, Matou Zouken looked at his worm pit, feeling extreme anger.
"Damn Tohsaka Tokiomi, actually giving that prime material to someone else!"
"Everything was prepared, we were just waiting for the material. Now that the material is gone, what use are these preparations?"
"Still, it's a good thing I used Sakura's name to trick that fellow Kariya back. A piece of trash with such low magical potential will just have to do."
Matou Zouken was so furious that the wrinkles across his entire face looked like torn burlap, wrinkled and utterly repulsive to look at.
"Who on earth is that fellow who took Sakura away?"
"If I ever find out, I'll turn you into a worm nest!"
Matou Zouken cursed viciously.
He had no inkling of Guixu floating in mid-air directly above the Matou residence.
Seeing everything happening in the Matou house from above, Guixu gave a disdainful, cold snort.
"A lingering old wretch, and you dare plot against me."
Guixu rubbed two fingers of his right hand together, and a small, pitch-black sphere ringed with a yellow halo appeared between them.
With a cold laugh, sensing the few lingering presences inside the Matou residence, Guixu tossed a trace of condensed Terminal divine might downward without a care in the world.
"Heh, you lot of the Matou family, all of you, return to dust."
The unassuming little sphere plummeted instantly, making everyone in all of Fuyuki City tighten their hearts as if sensing something terrifying.
The next second,
"Boom!!"
A towering mushroom cloud instantly rose within Fuyuki City, waking everyone across the entire town.
Especially the few Masters currently in Fuyuki, who sensed the commotion and immediately set off toward the location.
Except for Gilgamesh, who remained calm and unruffled, and Tohsaka Tokiomi, who was still inwardly anxious.
Everyone else was thoroughly startled by the explosion.
The commotion was so loud that even the Einzbern Castle far out in the suburbs could see it clearly.
As the instigator, Guixu checked the location of the Matou residence—now replaced by a massive crater—with his spiritual perception, and then simply left.
He didn't even bother with the lingering divine might of the Law of Destruction remaining on the ground.
He hadn't dared to use the Law of Terminal, fearing he would raze the entire city of Fuyuki to the ground, so he had only used the lower-tier Law of Destruction.
Inside the Matou residence, Matou Zouken, Matou Kariya, and a Servant clad in pitch-black armor had all been ground to dust.
Even Matou Zouken's worm-body hidden deep underground was directly pulverized, dead as dead could be.
Guixu hadn't spared the seemingly innocent Matou Kariya either, because that fellow had Zouken's avatar-worms hidden inside his body, and his modified physique wouldn't have allowed him to live much longer anyway.
Of course, the main reason was that Sakura had said she wasn't actually close to this so-called Uncle Kariya; it was just that whenever her mother took her out to play, this uncle would always come over.
Although Sakura had seen Matou Kariya's attempts to save her in the anime, Sakura wasn't stupid—she knew this Uncle Kariya only had designs on her mother and wanted revenge on Tohsaka Tokiomi. Any desire to save her was simply because she was her mother's daughter, not because of her.
As for Matou Byakuya and Matou Shinji mentioned by the group master, they weren't here; they were probably sent off somewhere else.
They were just two ordinary people without any magical talent anyway. Now that the Matou family had been destroyed, their magecraft heritage was also broken.
As for those two fellows, let them fend for themselves.
Guixu turned back for home, having no intention of meddling in the upcoming battle of Servants.