12 Day 2 of The War

Fuyuki, Japan,

Matou Residence,

Roman POV,

An open room, certainly spacious but still gloomy and dark due to the closed and curtained off windows. A chandelier hung from the ceiling but it wasn't lit either. A table lay in the centre and at one side sat Roman, tapping his fingers against the wood as he hummed. Tamamo no Mae, ever the dutiful servant, stood to her Master's side, her gaze locked on the individuals across from them.

Zouken Matou, the head of the Matou Family, a line of magus that delved in activities that were by no means ethical or normal. They put most other magi to shame too though, to the point where calling them 'disgusting' was a severe understatement to their depravity.

Roman of course, was more than aware of this and would be done with matters as soon as possible. Only, it appeared that his business was purposely being impeded in some stupid attempt at trying to gain the upper hand.

Kariya Matou, stood a bit to the back, resting against the wall as he looked at the one eyed magus that was here as their guest. He didn't get why or how but, the old man was wary of the young man, so much so that he continued to smile despite the magus' less than 'pleasant' language, a shock considering how prideful the Matou were.

"I was of the belief the Trambelio were masters of General Fundamentals but seeing this level of control is indeed a surprise." A smile crossed Zouken's old and wrinkled face, it was no secret what the Great House Trambelio practised but still, it was something in an entirely different league.

"Hmm.." Roman chuckled at his words, "And your disgusting ways don't disappoint either." He could, after all, feel all that was crawling around in this mansion. Especially the innumerable bugs under the ground, he wanted to burn this place to the ground.

"It is the family trade, do understand." Zouken's smile widened at his words, he understood that the Trambelio was here for a certain purpose but also thought that said purpose was folly, destroying a magus family wasn't an act one could just walk away from. Especially not Roman, "Though, were you not labelled as a failure for your lacklustre talents?"

"Ja, I was and am. Though that won't be for much longer, I'm rather bored of it now." Roman rested his head in a hand, after this Grail War. Roman would truly be Roman Trambelio, he'd developed enough contingencies to deal with the plausible backlash of what he was about to do.

Tamamo could only fidget around in place, this place was extremely EXTREMELY nauseating. Her senses didn't help at all, hopefully her Master would burn it all to the ground, or at least, let her do it.

"I see. Then, the Matou Family will vouch for your talents." Zouken spoke in a normal tone, even as the insects in his basement twisted and turned, taking to the air and gathering under the room they were in. At the same time, the door to the room opened and a little girl that looked to be no older than 8 walked in.

The Matou magecraft revolved around 'absorption', this allowed them to take in completely unrelated people and have them function as 'family'. Their thaumaturgy was one that wasn't taught but was rather engraved onto the body via the use of insect familiars called 'Crest Worms' and the process was an excruciating but highly efficient one.

Still, their family had been devolving for a long time now and all had gone to total shit when the youngest child was born completely lacking in magic circuits.

"Ah, you must be little Sakura." Roman smiled calmly at the shy child that had walked in, yeah, he could be called a retard for doing this but he didn't rightly care, this family was going to stop existing, right here, right now for no reason other than this.

Sakura Matou, formerly Sakura Tohsaka, had been taken in after the latest failure so that she might serve to continue the falling Matou line... Of course, such an insane thing was unheard for lack of compatibility with crests. A problem the Matou didn't quite have thanks to their unique magecraft.

"Y-Yes." The purple haired girl didn't dare to look up, understanding that the man addressing was a magus too and magi, they were horrible people.... Her own father had sold her off (calling it a wise decision) and she'd lived in perpetual torture in this prison of a mansion since then, violated and tortured by black, ugly insects.... Her gaze lingered on Kariya Matou but only for a moment, she didn't have much hope anymore.

Kariya looked at the Sakura with guilt ridden eyes, his heart heavy, and not thinking clearly he turned to Roman, "I... I don't care what price I have to pay! If you can save her then you can do whatever you want!" He pretty much shouted at the smiling Roman.... Of course, what was perceived as a smile was actually a frozen expression, one that had formed after a structural analysis of the child.

Zouken laughed at his words, "Ever the fool." Magi weren't like that! They only sought their own benefits and this girl wasn't something a magus from a Great House would take pity on. Even if he did, it wouldn't be enough to outweigh the consequences!

"Have Berserker kill himself and I will, Ich schwöre es bei meinem Namen." Roman spoke calmly, not that he truly did want the mad servant dead. This was something he was doing either way, it would just be him maximising his gains.

"Do-...!!" Zouken hurriedly tried to stop his stupid 'son' but it was too late. Kariya's mind had already mostly rotted away thanks to the bugs crawling inside of him and seeing Sakura afraid had been the last nail in the coffin.

Raising his hand, the white haired Matou shouted in defiance, perhaps his last act of defiance, "Berserker! By my command seals, I order you! Kill yourself!"

The servant appeared out of thin air, roaring in uncontrolled and unfathomable rage as it crashed around and howled, trying to resist the impulse.

"Grab the girl!" Roman stood up, his magic circuits flickering on as he applied reinforcement on his body multiple times over and flipped over the table with his free hand.

"Yes, master!" Tamamo smiled widely, wrapping a hand around a confused Sakura who was yet to process what was going before jumping back, blowing through the concrete walls of the mansion which were more like paper against the servant's monstrous physical prowess.

Roman used his proper leg to kick at the ground, holding out his other hand to the back, "Oh fuck, too much!" He shot back like a bullet, blowing a hole through the ceiling as he practically shot to the blue cloudless sky above.

Berserker howled, reaching for his Master with hands outstretched in fury, even in his mad state, the servant felt betrayed at the treatment he was receiving. At the same time, countless worm-like insects with wings and tails burst out the floor but managed to do nothing as the servant stabbed himself through the chest, falling to the ground and disappearing into wisps of magical energy soon after.

Outside, magical energy surged out like lightning from the Trambelio flying through the sky, even as he waved his hand with an uncharacteristically serious look on his face,

"Gott soll dein Richter sein."

Massive beams of white light shot down from the sky, centring on the Matou Residence and yet, contrary to what one would expect. They did nothing to the surroundings, it only appeared as if more intense and whiter sunlight was falling on the mansion.

"What have you done, boy?!" Zouken shouted, his voice betraying his frail figure and fury burning in his eyes. It wouldn't, it couldn't end like this. He had much to do! And he was close too! One more war and he would have what he'd been longing for for centuries! The old magus stumbled around as his body evaporated into particles of dust that disappeared into nothingness.

"Can't say I appreciate the necessity of chants." Roman spoke in a low voice, observing what he'd wrought with an apprehensive gaze. Of course he could have just bombarded the place with raw power but, this was much better no? No collateral damage and looked amazing nonetheless. Beams of holy light falling from the sky was a great spectacle.

"Ja." Tamamo imitated her master with a sheepish grin, observing the phenomenon with impressed eyes. If she didn't know him beforehand, she'd think he was a high ranking member of the Church with the 'baptism' he'd performed.

Now then, a bit of an explanation to this 'holy ritual'.

One of the most widespread Thaumaturgies in the entire world was that of the Holy Church who thought of Magical Energy as the power of prayer and used it to perform sacraments and holy rites of varying kinds, all holy in nature due to the belief that served as their foundation or rather, the Thaumaturgical Foundation they came from.

What Roman had done was create a more focused, sophisticated and powerful version of the standard church exorcism sacrament, the Purification Incantations. Of course, that in itself was a spell invoked by a rather lengthy chant and wasn't quite powerful in nature depending on it's user. Reducing it to a single line chant (as a way to pay homage) and using it on such an impressive scale was nothing short of 'awesome' so to say.

Doing it was rather simple, he'd seen it happen once before and recreated the thing using his own ability, tampering with it at the same time.

The principle was simple too, Zouken Matou was a 'heretical' and 'evil' existence and as a 'believer of God', Roman had exorcised this evil from the world, removing it's existence. (A/N: Kyrie Eleison, Kirei.)

"Tamamo, do you think you can save her?" Roman sat up, his gaze fixed on the unconscious Sakura. Of course with Zouken removed, the Crest Worms which were his familiars too would disappear from this world. They couldn't serve as ways for him to come back because he'd been deleted.

The Crest Worms though, from what he could see, had indeed taken up root inside her. If they were removed out of nowhere then massive injuries would be left behind, ones she wouldn't be surviving for more than a few minutes at best.

"If Master can supply me with the necessary prana." Tamamo looked up at him, while she wanted to praise and spoil him for doing something actually altruistic, unlike traditional magi, the girl's situation was indeed dire.

"Of course." Roman clenched his head, the surrounding area was now prana deficient and now it would take from his own Od. At the same time, his ability did leave some degree of mental strain and making a sacrament on the spot wasn't exactly a small endeavour. Thankfully, he could skip the 'process' and all the necessary calculations that came with it.

"Then..." Tamamo nodded seriously, pulling out a number of ofuda from her sleeves and throwing them all around to form a small bounded field that served to enhance healing factors. At the same time, she slapped multiple tags on Sakura's body, narrowing her gaze as she used the arts she slightly despised... Still, she wanted to help her Master do good so she'd bear with it.

Possessing an EX Ranked Cursed Arts Skill, there were none who could match the Caster's knowledge, skill and proficiency in them. An art that unlike traditional magecraft which 'recomposed what was around' instead 'recomposed what was in one's own body'.

They weren't without their own side effects though but oh well, it wouldn't really be detrimental. The purple haired girl would grow up to be even more of a beauty than she already would be for the most part but with a slightly weaker physical constitution. Tamamo too of course paid a price for using them in such a manner but again, her current body was just a vessel. It would fade away anyway.

Trusting his servant with Sakura's healing, Roman pushed himself to his feet with mild difficulty and limped over to Kariya who was lying against a wall, coughing out blood with a hand over his stomach, "Well Kariya, you look like shit."

Roman had a slightly difficult smile on his face, this man too had a number of Crest Worms inside his body... Only, his condition was far worse due to the hurried manner in which they'd been implanted in him. It would be a lie to say Roman felt truly sad but, it was a rather inexplicable feeling. Seeing Kariya die like this was.... unpleasant to witness.

"Y...Yeah..." Kariya Matou spoke with difficulty, coughing violently, he knew it was a little too late for him. With what was probably the last of his strength, he extended a hand towards Roman, one the one eyed magus took into his own, slightly pitying the white haired man.

"Do me... a favour.... That c-child, please... Take her to her mother..... And, keep her... safe." Kariya found no shame in begging a magus, a man that had already done so much for him because deep down, he'd always known that none of this would have happened had he not run away because he found his family disgusting. For a fuck up like him, nothing mattered so long as the child was safe.

"Eh? What do I get in return?" Roman smiled 'innocently', slightly tilting his head.

"..." Kariya chuckled in defeat, once more coughing out blood.

"I joke, I'll take her to her mother." Roman gave his hand a firm grasp before pulling his back. If the woman didn't want her, then he'd just adopt her into the family. His father did a lot so why couldn't he? Besides, he had a bit of a soft spot for the girl, not for her treatment but because he knew her well... even if it was just through a screen.

With that, the one eyed magus walked away, finding it slight difficult due to his missing cane and was greeted by the sight of the Shrine Maiden Fox looking at him with a happy smile, her eyes excited and her rather fluffy tail wagging around as she patted the unconscious girl in her lap,

"Master, Tamamo is really proud of you."

Tamamo no Mae could now shamelessly say she was glad to have such a man as her Master.

Roman hummed with a hand on his chin, "I like how you think that makes me feel better." The magus smiled at the servant. Well, Zouken was down but this may as well only have been because he knew beforehand just what would be effective against him. Had he come here blind, no doubt the old cunt would have ripped him to shreds within seconds. This world of his was technical like that.

"Master, can you tell Tamamo how you got your abilities?" Tamamo asked in a cutesy voice, unable to hold back her curiosity.

"The Root."

Tamamo's ears stood on end, her eyes widening, "Is.... Is that not how one obtains a True Magic?"

-x-X-x-

On the second day of the 4th Holy Grail War, the Master of Berserker died.

Cause of death, internal injuries.

His Command Seals were later confirmed to have been taken away by his yet unknown killer.

Nothing that could be traced was found other than the words, "SUCK MAH DI-" written across the walls of the strangely empty Matou Family Residence.

The aftereffects of a holy sacrament of considerable power were still present in the area however, leaving the Church Supervisor confused as he was certain that no other participants had been sent by the Vatican other than the one he personally knew.

Damages included a significant part of that high class residential district Miyama Town with multiple buildings destroyed along with vehicles and government infrastructure. A mass hypnosis spell had to be used to explain the incident as a chain of explosions resulting from a faulty pipeline and the perpetrator was to face repercussions once found.

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Share thoughts mfs.

Day Two and a mf is dead. Roman wildin'.

250 P.S, extra chapter?

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Right, there was this one dude that suggested that he could cleanse the angry mango to obtain the divine core of a god. If you don't mind, can you explain how that would work? It's an interesting idea but kinda implausible.... Well not completely, I see a few ways but I am interested in how you think it's gonna work.

Oh and for the genius that said he should feel a sense of detachment from reality with all that's going on. He's a reincarnator you bloody twat, how in the fuck would that work?