Chapter Sixty-Three: The Fall of the Matou Family

To Rin Tohsaka's surprise, after she pushed open the rusty iron gate, apart from the creaking sound, there was still no movement from within the Western-style mansion. Logically, having stepped into a magus's workshop, the barrier should have detected her at once, but the manor remained eerily silent.

Taking a deep breath—this was, after all, a formal intrusion into another's magical workshop. Even if the Matou family didn't kill her, leaving her with a lesson or two would be something even her father could not object to. There was no turning back now. The biting wind lifted her twin tails, but could not extinguish the fire burning in her heart. If her little sister was truly in danger, she would go, no matter how perilous.

“There doesn’t seem to be any danger here for now. Let’s just go inside,” Ishtar’s words abruptly interrupted the resolve Rin had been building.

“You’re my Master, aren’t you? Is there really anything more to say about infiltrating a magus’s workshop? We’re not here to steal, just to check on your sister.”

“Hmph, I don’t need your commentary!”

Though Rin had found this goddess a bit eccentric before, at a moment like this, having someone by her side brought her comfort. She regained her composure, tossed her twin tails, and, her little leather shoes clicking crisply on the stone path, walked up to the manor and gently pushed open the front door.

Again to her surprise, the interior of the Matou residence, despite its sinister and unsettling exterior, was rather bright and well-kept—somewhat aged, yes, but not frightening. Still, Rin dared not let her guard down. Even her father, upon entering a workshop cultivated over centuries, would not have his fate in his own hands, let alone an apprentice like herself. If not for Ishtar’s power, she would never have dared such boldness.

Yet, as she wandered through several rooms in the manor, she saw no trace of anyone—not even the marks of daily life. It was as if, from the start, this place had been an uninhabited ghost house.

After hearing that Uncle Kariya’s body had been filled with bugs, she had imagined the Matou house to be overrun with crawling insects; she hadn’t expected it to look so normal. But remembering her own family kept their workshop underground and used the upper floors for daily living, it was no longer so strange.

Soon, she found what she had been searching for. A staircase, reeking of rot and seeming to lead down into the abyss, drew her on. Rin hurried down the steps, and halfway down, she could already hear the creaking, buzzing chorus of insects.

She pushed open the heavy door at the bottom, and the stench of decay and dampness wafted out to meet her. Darkness, murkiness, and a surging tide that churned like mud writhed just below the stairs, only a few steps from the entrance. The chorus of insects—chirping, crawling, the sticky sound of bodies colliding—intertwined into a melody of revulsion and horror.

“So this is the magic Sakura is meant to inherit?”

Rin clamped a hand over her mouth, holding her breath, trying not to vomit on the spot. Still, tears welled up in her eyes.

Even just witnessing this swarm was enough to fill her with despair. If she were truly to fall in and let those bugs burrow into her flesh, her mind would shatter instantly.

“Sakura…”

She could not imagine the torture her sister had endured, could not fathom what state she was in now. What sickened Rin most was the flicker of relief she felt in her heart—relief that their father had chosen her instead. Even if it was only a fleeting thought, Rin had never hated herself more.

Her body trembled uncontrollably—out of anger, pain, and guilt.

At that moment, the seething tide of insects rolled and parted, revealing a lean, withered figure.

“What a rude little girl. As the heir to the Tohsaka family, you barge into the Matou house unannounced, trespassing right into the heart of our workshop’s inheritance,” croaked a raspy voice from the old man standing in the midst of the swarm.

“But this way, even if I teach you a lesson, Tohsaka won’t have much to complain about, will he?”

Matou Zouken’s lips curled into a mocking smile. He had been vexed by that fool Kariya and his vanished allies, and now, as if on cue, someone had come knocking, offering him an outlet for his frustrations.

As he spoke, the dense, layered masses of insects began to stir restlessly, sending ripples through the swarm. Even though she had prepared herself mentally, seeing such a repulsive sight with her own eyes made Rin shudder, a chill racing up her spine.

Worse still, Matou Zouken’s gaze, brimming with malice and greed, made her skin crawl. But even so, she could not retreat.

In a trembling voice, Rin demanded, “Where is Sakura? What have you done to her?”

“Sakura?” At her question, Matou Zouken let out a cold sigh from deep in his throat.

“To care so much for someone of the Matou family… It seems Tokiomi Tohsaka hasn’t taught you the laws of magi after all.”

He smiled with grandfatherly affection, but his words dripped cruelty and malice.

“To come looking after a year has passed, isn’t that rather late? Still, it matters little to tell you now—the child no longer belongs to the Matou family.”

“What do you mean?”

Rin’s pupils contracted sharply, her fears cast aside as she pressed him with a forceful tone.

“Quite simply, she failed to inherit the Matou legacy. She is no longer one of us.”

“She failed? Where is she?”

The unbearable pressure made Rin feel as if her heart were being squeezed. She could no longer hide her emotions, exposing all her vulnerability.

“Isn’t she—right beneath your feet?”

Matou Zouken’s lips split into a wide, expectant grin. Over long years, he had grown to savor such perverse pleasures. He tapped his cane, and the writhing insects parted slowly, revealing a few fragments of white bone, not yet picked clean.

Rin’s expression shattered—despair, pain, suffocating sorrow. Tears streamed down her cheeks, unchecked.

Matou Zouken’s smile twisted further, putrescence and malice radiating from his decaying visage.

In the next instant, a violet-black flash pierced through his skull.

Rin, almost unaware, had raised her hand and fired her most practiced curse bullet. Even at her age, her talent made this basic spell as deadly as a bullet.

“Such power, even in the simplest curse. I look forward to your future, even more than I did with the one delivered to me before. But since you attacked, before I send you back, let me etch the true meaning of the Matou path into your body!”

The swarm of insects quickly filled in Matou Zouken’s missing head, and countless tiny sounds rose in chorus behind him. The chaotic tide of bugs responded to his will with the unity of a well-drilled army.

With a heavy bang, the door behind Rin slammed shut, deepening the sense of despair.

But she only stared blankly at the broken bones, wiped away her tears, and spoke in a low, heavy voice, “Ishtar, destroy this place.”

“With pleasure!”

Magnificent divine raiment and overwhelming godly power radiated outward. Ishtar soared upward, one hand gripping her great, strange bow, the other crushing three jewels between her fingers, pouring their magic into the weapon.

The surge of mana blasted her easily through the ceiling. Hovering above, she looked down on Matou Zouken in his insect pit.

“A Servant? Wait, this is a misunderstanding! Tohsaka’s eldest daughter, Sakura is still—”

In the next moment, a dazzling light fell like a meteor into the nest, exploding outward and swallowing everything—bugs, pit, and all—in a blinding storm.