Caelus stood alone in a quiet corner of Fuyuki City. He swung the longsword in his hand. From his initially clumsy, beginner-like posture, he could now wield it as naturally as an extension of his arm, appearing like a swordsman who had practiced for many years.
After the Night Practice sword was sheathed, Caelus placed it into the scabbard he had bought from the System Shop, along with the swordsmanship he now possessed.
Now, one might ask, where did the System Currency come from?
In fact, Caelus had received a notification from the system at dawn.
[Side Quest: The Future of the Matou Family completed. Reward: 5,000 System Currency.]
Caelus said, "System, what is the deal with this side quest?"
[System: "Side quests are hidden tasks. The specific completion methods and rewards are not displayed. They require the Host to experiment and discover them. The Host has just completed a side quest related to the Matou family, fulfilled the trigger conditions, and therefore completed the quest and received the rewards."]
Caelus said, "So killing that old man of the Matou family counts as completing a side quest?"
[System: "Yes."]
Let us temporarily return to a moment earlier.
The fact that Kariya had summoned a Servant had truly surprised Zouken. Moreover, seeing Lancelot in white armor and appearing perfectly rational made Zouken even more astonished.
Kariya found the already sleeping Sakura. Looking at the girl who had given him his final reason to persevere, and seeing her head full of purple hair, pity and pain could not help but surface in his eyes.
"Master, this girl's body has been modified, and there are parasitic insects inside her. Do you need assistance?"
"What!"
Hearing that there were parasitic insects inside Sakura's body caused Kariya's eyes to widen uncontrollably. He then clenched his teeth tightly. If not for the fear of waking Sakura, those words would have been shouted out instead of being suppressed in his heart.
Kariya left the room with light steps. With the veins bulging on half of his face due to the modification and the scar on his forehead, his expression looked exceptionally hideous and terrifying at this moment.
"That old worm clearly promised me that as long as I participated in this Holy Grail War and endured the suffering, he would not touch Sakura for the time being. That bastard actually broke the agreement!"
Lancelot's voice rang out again at that moment.
"Master, do you need my help?"
"Berserker, can you cure Sakura?"
Kariya's tone was filled with hope.
"I can. I can cure that young girl. But Master, this only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. If the source is not dealt with, that young girl will fall into this state again."
Lancelot spoke with disappointment at Kariya's hesitation.
"Master, will you truly allow that evil heretic to continue existing in this world?"
"But, I do not have that ability."
"But you have me."
"You..."
"Master, what is my name?"
"Lancelot."
"Then what kind of person is Lancelot, and does he possess the ability to save others?"
Recalling the past experiences of this famous Knight of the Round Table, Kariya's trembling body gradually calmed down. That exceptionally hideous expression slowly faded, but at this moment, his eyes were incredibly bright.
"Lancelot, please help me."
"As a knight, it would be my pleasure. Please state your request, Master."
"Zouken can no longer be allowed to remain in this world of hope. Send that old monster to hell."
"By your command."
Lancelot's figure suddenly appeared, followed by a gust of wild wind. In an instant, he broke through the so-called magical barriers and various concealment spells, then directly swung his longsword and slashed Zouken into pieces.
Zouken would not die so easily. His shattered body turned into swarms of insects flying in all directions, and a blurred voice came from everywhere.
"A summoned Servant, a mere familiar, dares to rebel? Kariya, it seems the power you have temporarily gained has made you think you can oppose this old man."
Just as Zouken was preparing to directly cause trouble for Kariya, he suddenly discovered that the white knight had reached out and grabbed a cloud of insects.
Finally, a colorless power climbed onto Lancelot's gauntlet.
"What is this!"
An unprecedentedly strong sense of erosion spread through the mental connection of those insects directly to Zouken's main body. Then it was replaced by a tide of past memories flooding in.
It was the past of a man named Makiri Zolgen.
As he recalled everything, Zouken constantly questioned himself about whether what he had done all these years had any meaning. He constantly doubted whether he had completely lost himself. He constantly wondered what the point of his pursuit of endless immortality was.
What meaning did infinite time hold when accompanied by an infinite lifespan? Witnessing familiar people and things leave him one by one, witnessing his original heart being worn down and changed little by little under the erosion of time, from the originally high-spirited youth to the monster he had become today, willing to pay any price just to stay alive.
Was there really any meaning?
Everything was meaningless.
What ideal of saving the world? What partner of justice? What desire to live eternally?
What was the point of any of it?
Endless doubt and endless questions filled Zouken's mind and reason. Amid these endless questions, the insect that served as the vessel for his soul gradually lost all color.
In the end, Zouken felt that everything in this world was meaningless. Since all things would eventually change and even be destroyed in the distant future, what was the point of his persistence?
He gave up his life. He gave up his persistence. He discarded everything he had held onto in the past and present and embraced eternal sleep.
In other words, he committed suicide.
The tiny insects in Lancelot's hand drifted down from his gauntlet like sand. He had only borrowed the Nihility energy that composed his body to erode Zouken. He could not use the Nihility ability to assimilate and devour existence like the main body could.
If the original Servant Lancelot were to deal with an old monster like this, one who possessed powerful vitality and whose main body was difficult to find, it would indeed be very troublesome. He might even have needed to sweep through the entire area with a large-scale cleansing to possibly kill the old monster.
However, for the puppet Lancelot created solely from the power of Nihility, it was actually much easier to deal with. This was because it only required using the power of Nihility to enter the opponent's mind and perform erosion.
Lancelot shook the remaining insect corpses from his hand and returned to Sakura's room. Looking at Kariya, who was still kneeling to one side, he said, "Master, mission accomplished. I have killed that monster."
Hearing this, Kariya's gaze became incredibly dazed. That old man who had always been his nightmare had really died so easily.
"Thank you, Lancelot. Thank you for answering my summons. Thank you for being willing to help a useless piece of trash like me. My life truly is a failure."
"Please do not say that, Master."
Lancelot looked intently at Kariya, who had begun to develop a faint death wish in his heart.
"Even a failed life is still a life. You have the right to experience this life until the very end. Even if your past life was full of failure, it does not mean you cannot write a successful next chapter in the rest of your life."
"This world does not lack geniuses or heroes who can create miracles, but most people are ordinary individuals living mediocre lives. Does that mean those ordinary people whose lives are filled with failure are all useless?"
"Master, failure has always permeated all of our lives. Even famous heroes and geniuses have experienced many failures. Do not fear failure, and do not become accustomed to it. Your life may have been full of gloom in the past, but that is over now. You can begin writing a new chapter of your life."
Lancelot reached out and smiled at Kariya, who was kneeling on the ground staring blankly at him.
"Moreover, Master, you are not as much of a failure as you say, because you successfully saved a girl, did you not?"
"But that was you..."
"No. The one who called forth this miracle was you, Kariya. It was because of your determination to save another that I was summoned. You are also a hero, this girl's hero."
"I am... a hero?"
"Yes. In the name of Lancelot, I acknowledge my Master, Matou Kariya, as a hero."
Looking at the knight in white armor before him, tears flowed uncontrollably from Kariya's eyes.
A hero. This was the desire and dream buried in his heart since childhood, the title he had wanted to obtain all his life when he was young.
And now, he had received that title, along with the recognition of a genuine hero.
The things one cannot obtain in youth will surely haunt them for a lifetime.
But now, Kariya has broken free.
(To be continued.)