"Really... to think he'd manifest as an Archer, the least restrained class? What a hassle..."
Tokiomi Tohsaka walked down the street, occasionally glancing at the towering demon by the seaside, dwarfing buildings.
As the magical overseer of Fuyuki, he felt duty-bound to confront such a monstrosity.
But it was clearly a Servant's summon, and with his own Servant, Kingu, having gone AWOL, Tokiomi lacked the firepower. He worried whether he'd return alive if he went.
"Well, well, well! If it isn't the refined Tohsaka? A few days, and you're looking this pathetic?"
A mocking voice echoed from a nearby alley. A hooded figure, cradling a child, emerged from the shadows.
"An enemy!"
Instinctively, Tokiomi pegged the figure as a Master in the Holy Grail War—his foe.
Few in Fuyuki knew him, and only a mage could stay lucid under such mana surges.
A mage in Fuyuki now was almost certainly a Master—his enemy.
"Trying to take me out while I'm vulnerable?"
The rift between Tokiomi and his Servant was obvious to anyone who'd witnessed the prior battle.
Kingu had openly berated him, after all.
Now, this foe seemed to seize the moment when Tokiomi's Servant was absent to strike.
"By the power of my Command Spell..."
The Command Spell's power was futile. No matter how Tokiomi called, there was no response.
"Look at you—a beaten dog. Just like I was once."
The figure sneered, a dark, cursed wind rising. A black knight appeared beside him.
Handing the child to the knight, he removed his hood, revealing a face Tokiomi knew all too well, one he dreaded facing.
"Kariya Matou? You're not..."
Tokiomi's expression shifted from concern to shock, then hardened into a formal mask.
"Oh, how touching! The lofty, victorious Tohsaka remembers a failure like me."
Kariya's words were a double-edged blade, cutting at both Tokiomi and himself.
"You've changed, Kariya Matou. I never thought you, who abandoned magecraft, would show up here. Why? Seeking a wish from the Holy Grail?"
"Hah! That's none of your business. I've got one question, Tokiomi Tohsaka! Why did you entrust Sakura to Zouken?!"
Kariya couldn't comprehend, nor would he ever. He refused to believe Tokiomi was ignorant of Matou Zouken's true nature. To him, mages were all cut from the same cloth, but he couldn't fathom why a father would cast his child into hell.
Hearing Kariya shout his name again, laced with fury, a flicker of complexity passed through Tokiomi's eyes.
"Answer me, Tokiomi Tohsaka!!!"
Kariya roared, demanding an answer today.
"There's nothing to ask. I only wished for my daughter's happiness."
"What did you say?"
Kariya couldn't grasp Tokiomi's words. To him, the Matou household was an abyss, a purgatory. He couldn't see how sending a child there equated to wishing for her happiness.
"A mage with two heirs faces a dilemma. Only one can inherit the family secrets, forcing a choice to let the other live a mundane life. My wife, an exceptional vessel, gave both Sakura and Rin unparalleled potential. Both sisters needed a mage family's protection. To secure one's future, I had to sacrifice the other's potential. What parent would wish for such a tragedy?"
Tokiomi spoke calmly, but Kariya couldn't relate. Their perspectives were worlds apart—Tokiomi, the exemplary mage; Kariya, a mage but still human at heart. They were never on the same wavelength.
Yet, that wasn't the main reason. Arrogant as it sounded, the Tohsakas had options beyond the Matous for Sakura's adoption.
From a mage's perspective, the Matous were the worst choice, offering nothing but an old alliance.
Tokiomi's decision was personal.
But why would he explain himself to Kariya?
"You bastard! Are you planning to pit the sisters against each other?"
Kariya roared in fury.
"If it comes to that, my heirs will find happiness. Victory brings glory; defeat adds luster to the family name. What's to hesitate?"
When lying to someone unyielding, one lie begets a chain of them.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't a lie—Tokiomi truly believed this.
"Damn you!!!"
Kariya charged, fist clenched, swinging at Tokiomi's face.
Before the punch landed, Tokiomi raised a cane—a magical armament imbued with jewel magecraft, ready to unleash flames with a thought.
But... he hesitated.
The fist slammed into Tokiomi's face, knocking him to the ground. Blood spilled from his mouth, a tooth skittering across the pavement.
Kariya's punch, with over fifty tons of force, could shatter castle walls. Yet Tokiomi only lost a tooth, his head intact.
Medically, it was a minor injury.
"Kariya..."
Slap!
Kariya backhanded Tokiomi, his eyes blazing with hatred. "You don't get to call me that!"
Once, Kariya dreamed of tearing Tokiomi apart piece by piece. Now, with his nemesis before him, he was at a loss.
"Tokiomi Tohsaka! I'll never forgive you—not for what's between us, nor for Sakura!"
Kariya turned, his gaze complex, pulled up his hood, and vanished into the darkness.
"Sakura? What do you know, Kariya...?"
***
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