Matou no more

A mature pale blonde in a slightly revealing attire and a tall white-haired man in a business suit with a purple-haired girl in sleepwear in his arms appeared inside a beautiful garden surrounding a luxurious mansion. From the outside perspective, they looked like a beautiful family of three.

"Where will you dump the kid? You are not thinking about adopting her, are you?" Morgan asked.

"What gave you the idea I would do that? She has a caring adoptive father who happened to be the Master of Berserker. Let's have some tea and then visit him." Raito replied.

"Good. Black tea for me." came the response.

• • •

Kariya Matou was losing it.

Since young he was always disgusted with his family's practices. Thus, he never received proper magus training and ran away from home to not become Zouken's pawn. Ironic, considering the situation he was in.

He joined the 4th Holy Grail War to save his adopted daughter Sakura, a girl born from the woman he loved. Her real father, Tokiomi Tohsaka, sold her 'to become Matou heiress'. Glorious title for the fate worse than death.

He made a deal with the devil to win the war in exchange for her freedom. He endured implantation of the disgusting Crest Worms, endured hellish training that sucked away his life force and worsened his physical and mental condition, endured excruciating pain of summoning a Servant... His hair turned white, his left eye became blind, and his legs stopped properly listening to him... He endured it all for her to not suffer anymore.

Now, she was gone.

In the place of where Matou manor once stood, only a crater with scattered debris of the dreaded building was left. From the alleyway he was in, he could see police surrounding the scene.

Who could've done it? How was there no sound of fighting whatsoever? The only possible conclusion was that it was the work of a Servant. But why would anyone attack an unrelated party to the Holy Grail War? Wasn't it common knowledge that by doing so, they turned the whole Moonlit World against them?

Most importantly, what happened to Sakura? She didn't die there, did she? He desperately hoped that it wasn't the case, that all his efforts weren't in vain, that at the end of all this suffering, there would be a happy ending... He wished for it to be so, but doubts kept growing, whispering that he failed and he endured hell for nothing.

He was on the verge of mental breakdown when suddenly a trio appeared before him. Among them was Sakura. She was standing there still in her sleepwear in between a pale blond beauty with pearcing sky blue eyes in black with blue ornaments and white cape attire who exuded cold regal aura that commanded attention to the left and a white-haired red-eye man in dark gray almost black business suit with an aura calm like a still lake yet deep as the Abyss. For some reason, despite the opressive feeling coming from the former, Kariya was afraid of the seemingly harmless later. It was as if his very soul was utterly terrified of this individual, even though it was definitely their first meeting.

Acting without thinking, he commanded Berserker to materialize and prepare for battle. A black knight with red gleam from the opening of his helmet and black smoke constantly releasing from under his armor appeared in front of his Master. He was quiet and ready, but ultimately only stood there menacingly without doing anything else. Of course, he recognized the woman before him. It was Morgan le Fay yet not the one he knew. She was stronger and gave off the same feeling Vivian did — one of the Fairy Great Mother. It was incomprehensible and dangerous. Very dangerous.

In this tense situation where one wrong move and a battle would ensue, Raito was having none of it.

"No fighting with a kid present." He said, releasing a controlled wave of his aura mixed with his 『Ruler of Monsters: EX』 skill to suppress all combatants and avoid harming Sakura.

Instantly, the black knight lost his ability to move while Morgan was only momentarily stunned, and Kariya jolted out from his stupor.

"Zouken is dead. Your deal is canceled. I have a new one for you. You will give Caster your Command Seals, leave Fuyuki City, and take care of Sakura from now on. Under these terms, I will heal you and give you 100 thousand pound sterling, which is approximately 15,8 million yuan under the current exchange rate. You have a minute to decide." Raito cut to the chase of his reason to be there.

One might think that these conditions are highly unfavorable for him, and it didn't make sense for him to show such kindness to a stranger. That was a case for Morgan a well, so she inquired about it via telepathy.

("This is very uncharacteristic for you, husband. What are you planning? Will you plant a soul-controlling spell into him, or have you already done it with the girl?)

("In both cases no. Actually, I took a page out of your book from the time when you were yet to face all those betrayals and were still ruling with compassion and well-being of your subjects in mind. Additionally, Aiko's teachings are still fresh in my mind. And who knows, maybe one day this decision might pay off? I don't lose anything anyway.

That money was given to me by Lorelei Barthomeloi, the assistant director of the Clock Tower, as a bonus for helping her develop a new spell. In actuality, it is a trap to find out my identity and whereabouts. As soon as a transaction is made, the bank will send her all the information they will get.

If I don't give it away, it will continue to gather dust on a shelf in my house. Now, through investigation, the pair will be deemed to be the only viable link to me, so Lorelei will be sure to keep them safe.

In the end, I get rid of potential trouble, gain debtors, and receive Berserker all in half a day without spending any resources. Liliana would be proud.")

("You could've just said that you are doing it for self-satisfaction of bragging in front of that human princess later. There was no need to describe all that to me.")

("Whatever you say.")

Their dialog lasted only a few seconds in real time. It was the exact amount needed for the last Matou to recover from his surprise over the insanely good deal.

"I agree. Please, return Sakura to me. I have joined the war only for her sake. Please!" Tension from the recent events caught up to him, and now he was reduced to a begging mess.

("Husband, are you sure you want to leave the kid you through so much trouble for to this pathetic human?")

("Your disdain for humanity is leaking out. Well, in this case, I have to agree with you. It does look unsightly. But I won't change my decision. He is like this because he cares about her. Maybe a bit too much, but it will be okay with some intervention from my side.")

While this situation was playing out, the girl in question was looking at the scene with blank eyes.

Sakura was feeling disconnected from reality as if all that happened from this morning onwards was a dream.

A beautiful dream where a handsome man rescued her from that hell, then a beautiful woman destroyed the hateful prison she was forced to call new home and killed her tormentor alongside it. And now she was being handed over to the only remaining being that cared about her, even if she couldn't understand why.

Inside this dream, she had a better future ahead of her. It was giving her hope. The hope that would be once again crushed the moment she would wake up in her bed for another day of hell they call life.

She was tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of living. Tired of getting her hopes crushed. She had already accepted that there wouldn't be hope. Nobody would come to save her. Happy ending didn't exist for her.

Then why?! Why did she have this dream?! Why give her this illusion of hope?! Why continue breaking her when she was already beyond repair?! Why?!

Her dull violet eyes slowly started to accumulate tears. Soon, they were running down her cheeks. Her mind didn't even register them. She just kept her empty gaze on the events unfolding before her. Events of a beautiful dream.

• • •

"I am finished. Here is the bank card." Raito said, handing over 100k pound sterling worth of money to now perfectly healty black haired man.

Turning around, he was greeted with a scene of a very uncomfortable Fairy Queen standing near silently crying 6 years old girl not knowing what to do.

'How did it come to this?' He internally wondered. Meanwhile, he came closer squated down and embraced the child, guiding her head onto his shoulder. Then he stood up with her in his arms and motioned for Kariya to come closer.

"Matou are dead. Let's keep it that way. I you suggest changing your surname. How about adopting Shigo? It means 'after death'. Quite fitting, don't you agree?" He suggested handing over Sakura, who had stopped crying.

"Yes, we will do as you have told." Kariya answered absent-mindedly, tenderly hugging his adopted daughter.

("Morgan, Command Seals. As you have noticed, I completely locked Berserker in place. He can't even enter his astral form to escape. I will release him the moment you are done.")

She nodded and confidently strolled closer to the scene of the family reunion, but Raito noticed slight stiffness in her movements, indicating her discomfort.

'She really is hopeless. Especially with kids.'

"Give me your hand." Morgan commanded after coming to a stop before the duo.

It took a couple of seconds for Kariya to understand what Caster wanted from him. Then he presented his right hand with the Command Seals in the form of an edgy spiral on it.

'Humans and their incompetence.' Morgan thought irritated.

("Don't be rough. I don't want to heal him again. And not all humans are incompetent. I am a human, too, you know?")

("But you aren't human, husband.")

("At the base I am. Everybody has the potential to be something better. Don't discard humans based on their weaknesses, or you will fall due to their strengths.")

("I will keep that in mind.")

Ending their chat with an ambiguous answer, Morgan proceeded to transfer the Command Seals to herself. The procedure ended quickly, and she immediately used her Master privilege to view her Servant's stats.

~~~~~ • ~~~~~

Lancelot [Berserker]

Strength: A

Endurance: A

Agility: A+

Mana: C

Luck: B

Noble Phantasm: A

Class Skills

Madness Enhancement: C

Personal Skills

Eternal Arms Mastery: A+

Magic Resistance: D

Protection of the Spirits: A

Noble Phantasm

Arondight: A++

For Someone's Glory: B

Knight of Owner: A++

~~~~~ • ~~~~~

'So I was right. How ironic to see him as a Berserker... He will be useful.' Morgan mused.

"Shigo family, I suggest you leave Fuyuki City. It won't be pretty here very soon." Raito adressed the father-daughter pair.

"Of course. Thank you for everything you have done for us. Truly, thank you. One day, I will repay you for your kindness." Kariya answered.

The only remaining white-haired man merely nodded to this promise.

Then, for the very first time, Sakura spoke. "What is your name?" She wanted to know the name of the hero of her dream.

"My name... I will tell you my true name the next time we meet, but I am known as the spellcaster Ray in the Moonlit World. However, under the circumstances of the ongoing Holy Grail War, it would be more appropriate to call me... the extra class Saver." Saying so, he took Morgan's hand and placed another on Lancelot's shoulder. Then he added, "Goodbye, and have a good life." and vanished with the other two into thin air.

The newly created Shigo family departed shortly after.

• • •

The next day, Sakura woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. That was the moment she realized that all the events from yesterday were real. She was free from the nightmare. She finally had a future. For the first time since what felt like forever, she once again had hope.

With tears pouring streaming down her face, the tears of happiness, she vowed to herself to never forget the hero that saved her. The hero of her dream.