"Oh my, isn't this the old grandpa from the Makiri family?"
Francesca, looking as if she had spotted an interesting rare animal, toyed with her scorched hair ends and asked curiously, "I heard before that you turned yourself into a pile of worms in pursuit of immortality? Seeing it with my own eyes today, it really is in poor taste."
"Heh heh, what an ignorant little brat," Zouken's voice was hoarse and grating. "You are five hundred years too early to show off such third-rate illusions in front of me."
Asuka ignored the verbal sparring between the two; the old man's appearance was outside his expectations. Under the current circumstances, he was undoubtedly a helping hand, but Asuka's trust in him was limited.
"Old man, why are you here?" Asuka asked in a low voice. "Where are the Kamado mother and daughter? And what about the Lancer's Master, Kayneth?"
Zouken glanced at Asuka, seemingly dissatisfied that he would care about such trivial matters when facing a formidable enemy. He slowly walked forward a few steps, leaning on his cane, while the worms followed him like a shadow, spreading across the ground like a black carpet.
"Heh heh... rest assured."
"That magus named Kayneth, although most of his Magic Circuits have been severed and his internal organs are a mess... I have already poured the best healing potion down his throat. He won't die for the time being."
"As for the little girls..."
Zouken paused, his withered face twitching as if forcing a bitter smile. "They are currently taking that useless Kariya and retreating toward the manor."
"Kariya lost?" Asuka frowned.
"Lost miserably," Zouken said with a cold tone, seemingly unsurprised. "In front of Tokiomi Tohsaka, his hastily learned Worm Magecraft was completely inadequate. If he hadn't run into the little girls halfway through his escape, his barely breathing body probably would have died on the side of the road."
Speaking of this, Zouken raised his head and looked at the two streaks of light still clashing fiercely in the sky, a flash of fanaticism and greed crossing his cloudy eyes.
"However, this is also what truly fascinates me..."
"His Master has already been defeated and fallen unconscious, and his magical energy supply is almost completely cut off. Yet that Berserker... can actually rely on some inherent trait of his to fight the King of Heroes in a battle of that intensity?"
"As expected of a Soul Reaper from another world... That power, that resilience of the soul, is exactly the form I have dreamed of..."
Hearing Zouken's words, Asuka tightened his grip on his sword. He thought of the greedy Amplification Worm inside Haruri's body, and remembered how Haruri had just overdrawn her life force to fight.
"Old man, about Haruri..."
"Young man."
Zouken suddenly raised his cane, pointing at the still-grinning twins ahead, interrupting Asuka.
"If you want to interrogate me, I suggest you put it aside for now. The most pressing matter right now is to eliminate these two troublemakers."
His voice turned incredibly cold. "That massive Sea Monster... if we don't cut off the magical energy supply from these two Casters, I'm afraid the entirety of Fuyuki City will be reduced to ruins. When that happens, let alone that mother and daughter, even our plan to seek the path to the Root will go up in smoke."
"You should be able to distinguish which is more important, right?"
Asuka swept his gaze over Zouken's sinister appearance and forcefully suppressed the anger in his heart.
He was right.
These two guys in front of them, especially the boy holding the human-skin book, radiated a malice that was simply too dangerous.
Asuka turned around, pointing the tip of his blade at the twins. "...Once everything is over, we will settle our accounts properly."
"Heh heh, very well," Zouken laughed sinisterly.
"Oh my, have you finished your little discussion?"
Francesca patted her scorched skirt and leaped lightly down from the railing.
"François, it seems they not only look down on us, but they also plan to do that... what was it called again? A mixed doubles match?"
"It's a righteous gang-up, my other self."
The boy, François, reopened Prelati's Spellbook in his hands. The grimoire bound in human skin emitted an ominous green light. The pages turned automatically, and obscure incantations crawled out like living creatures, rapidly blending into the air.
The space on the bridge began to distort, and a dense mist floated into the air.
The corners of his mouth curled up. "Since a new audience member has arrived, let us display some even more spectacular magecraft."
"[Illusion・Kaleidoscope]."
With the boy's low whisper, the surrounding space distorted once again. The originally pitch-black bridge suddenly became a kaleidoscope of colors. The jellyfish that had been floating in the air instantly transformed into countless mirrors, completely surrounding Asuka and Zouken.
Reflected in every single mirror were the figures of Francesca and François. They were either laughing loudly, weeping, brandishing daggers, or chanting incantations.
'A Reality Marble?'
Having just witnessed Ionioi Hetairoi, Asuka frowned, making a subconscious judgment.
"Not quite, it is merely a clever application of high-tier illusions," Zouken remained unpanicked, smiling as he observed their surroundings.
Even if it wasn't a Bounded Field, Asuka felt terrible; his perception seemed to have malfunctioned at this moment. The presences coming from all directions were real, yet simultaneously fake.
"Hehehe, big brother, come catch me!"
Countless Francescas spoke at the same time, their voices overlapping to form an echo that induced a strong sense of vertigo.
Swish—!
Asuka swung his sword without hesitation, slashing at the mirror closest to him. The blade sliced through, and the figure shattered like a soap bubble, completely lacking the physical sensation of cutting into flesh.
Bang!
Immediately after, the shattered figure turned into a cloud of purple poisonous mist, instantly spraying all over Asuka's face.
"Cough, cough!" Asuka held his breath and leaped backward.
But the moment he landed, the ground beneath his feet suddenly turned into a gaping maw, attempting to devour him.
'Is this an illusion?' Asuka stomped his foot down.
Sure enough, the giant mouth was just a trick of light and shadow; beneath his feet was still the hard concrete road. However, just as he thought it was another false alarm, a cold dagger silently thrust out from the empty air behind him.
Squelch—
His Shihakusho was torn, leaving a bloody gash on his back.
Asuka spun around to counterattack, but once again, he slashed at nothing.
"A combat style that interferes with perception? How truly annoying."
This feeling of having strength but nowhere to apply it made him very displeased. He thought to himself that if he ever got the chance, he definitely needed to find some techniques to counter illusions.
Naturally, Asuka did not know that this was the effect of the Rank A Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm named [Grand Illusion]. Legend had it that François possessed the bloodline of a god within his body. He could combine his illusions with his divine blood to create a mighty power comparable to a Noble Phantasm.
Relying on his superb illusionary skills, his magecraft could even deceive the very structure of the world itself, making the opponent suffer from the delusion that they were trapped within a Reality Marble.
Although Asuka possessed powerful combat instincts, he appeared somewhat helpless in the face of this magecraft that purely deceived the senses.
"Hehe, over here! No, over here!"
Another slash missed its mark as the opponent's figure split into dozens like mirrored reflections, each one waving mockingly. He could cut through steel and cleave through magical energy, but he could not sever light and shadow, nor could he slice through lies.
"What's wrong, Mr. Avenger? Are you already dizzy?"
The air was filled with Francesca's arrogant laughter.
"However, an illusion is ultimately just an illusion. It is not as formidable as a Reality Marble."
Zouken Matou, who had remained motionless until now, let out a disdainful cold snort. He violently thrust his cane into the ground.
"Go, my children."