"Don't worry, I keep my word. I won't lay a hand on you—and I even got such a generous gift out of it."
Roy honoured his promise and extended goodwill toward Bazett.
However, his tone shifted in the next instant.
"But now that I think about it, your Servant is gone, so those Command Spells on your hand are useless, right? Mind handing them over?"
"Don't you think you're being a little too shameless?"
Bazett's eye twitched as she stared at him in disbelief.
"You just killed my Servant, and now you're asking me to give you my Command Spells? What kind of position do you think you're in to say something like that?"
Though she had lost, Bazett didn't hate Roy. Throughout the entire battle, his methods had been fair—she had simply been outmatched.
But demanding her Command Spells right after killing her Servant was like proposing to a widow before her husband's body was even cold. Wasn't that just brazen beyond belief?
"Haha, you're right, I don't really have any standing to ask."
Roy laughed brightly, like a cheerful, sunny youth.
Then he activated his Mystic Eyes.
"But honestly, I could just take them myself if I wanted. Which option do you prefer?"
His gaze locked onto Bazett's hand, where five Command Spells stretched from the back of her hand to her wrist.
If it were just one or two, he wouldn't have cared.
But five Command Spells, ripe for the taking? He wasn't about to let that slip away.
It wasn't like it'd take much effort anyway.
Command Spells were a type of magical crest invented by Zouken Matou—a crystallized magical stigma rich with mana, designed to control Servants. At their core, they were also a form of magecraft.
The moment Roy's Mystic Eyes flared to life, Bazett could only sigh in resignation.
So he was just going to whip out his Mystic Eyes at the drop of a hat, huh?
You think I won't—
"Fine, I'll do it myself!"
Bazett relented.
The outcome would be the same either way, so there was no point in resisting pointlessly.
"Thank you for being so reasonable."
Roy smiled gratefully at her.
"If you ever find the Mage's Association unbearable, consider switching sides. On behalf of Rin Tohsaka, I'd welcome you. It's not like your family has any real ties to the Association anyway, right?"
Bazett had lost. Chances were, the Mage's Association would punish her upon her return.
She came from an ancient lineage dating back to the Age of Gods, but she had left her hometown against her parents' wishes and joined the Mage's Association, unwilling to waste her life in obscurity.
Come to think of it, that had happened around the time of the Fourth Holy Grail War.
In the Mage's Association, she was respected on the surface due to her prestigious heritage, but that was merely formal courtesy.
The Association was a rotten cesspool of power struggles, reeking worse than a sewer. Talented magi who outshone the rest were instinctively ostracized. Over her ten years there, Bazett had been treated as little more than a disposable enforcer, thoroughly excluded and unwanted.
She wasn't stupid—she was well aware of her circumstances.
"You'd really accept a defector? What about benefits? Treatment? If possible, I'd prefer a higher salary!"
Bazett's eyes lit up as she earnestly considered the possibility of switching sides.
"...Are you that strapped for cash?"
"To be honest, my salary at the Mage's Association barely covers daily expenses and the cost of crafting Mystic Codes. If I take on missions, I need full reimbursement just to scrape by."
"Damn, you've got it rough too!"
Roy thought of the two money-devouring gremlins in his own household and felt a surge of sympathy for Bazett, looking at her with deep pity.
But he was still taking those Command Spells.
"If it's not too much trouble, I'd appreciate it if you could return my family's Crest. I'd be eternally grateful. Recreating it would be expensive and time-consuming..."
Roy pretended not to hear.
He could just mention the defection to Rin later.
He was sure Rin would be more than happy to welcome a straightforward, capable magus like Bazett into their ranks.
With this, both Illya and Bazett were out of the running.
The remaining Masters were now himself, Rin Tohsaka, Uemon Ji, and the still-unseen Matou family Master. As for Servants, while Heracles and Cú Chulainn were gone, the corrupted Saber and Berserker were still active—formidable foes by any measure.
Roy pondered his next move.
Just then—
BOOM—!
A deafening explosion erupted in the distance.
A mushroom cloud rose into the sky, and a shockwave swept through the area, the gust of wind strong enough to buffet even Roy and Bazett where they stood.
"A trap set by the Mage's Association?"
Roy's expression darkened.
"Impossible! I personally chose this location, and I didn't let anyone tamper with the letter!"
Bazett was equally shocked.
She had wanted to win, yes, but she had only ever intended to settle things with Roy in a fair one-on-one duel. She would never resort to underhanded tactics.
"That scale of explosion doesn't seem like something an ordinary magus could pull off. It might be the work of a Servant!"
"A Servant?"
Roy's gaze sharpened.
Now that he thought about it, wasn't Rin's house somewhere around here?
Could it be…?
***
Residential District
The once-tranquil neighbourhood was now engulfed in chaos, the very air seething like boiling water.
A shadowy figure clashed with a red-coated Servant, their movements so fast they were nearly impossible to follow.
Rin Tohsaka stood in her garden, protected by a bounded field.
Opposite her was a hunched old man in a kimono.
He looked familiar.
Very familiar.
"So the Matou family really has run out of heirs, huh, you old fossil?"
Rin's eyes burned with icy hatred as she stared at the withered figure.
"Showing up here like this—did you finally wake up to the mountain of sins you've committed and come to die by my hand as penance?"
"Kukuku… Little brat, even if I were guilty, it's not your place to judge me."
The old man's voice was hoarse and rasping.
Dressed in a dark blue kimono, his limbs were shriveled like a mummy's, his bony fingers clutching a cane. His face was sunken, skin clinging to protruding bones, and his entire body reeked of decay, like a nest of insects.
He looked like he could keel over at any moment, yet his eyes gleamed with unsettling vitality.
There was no mistaking it.
This was the head of the Matou family, who had vanished without a trace three years ago—Zouken Matou.
"I figured as much."
Rin's gaze was devoid of emotion, only murderous intent spreading within it.
"But to attack me with just the weakest Assassin—should I take this as a sign of your senility?"
"Kuhahaha! Bark all you like, girl. But tonight, you die, little Tohsaka!"
Zouken let out a grating laugh, his tone dripping with confidence.
"This old bastard… He really thinks he has me cornered?"
Though her face was twisted with rage, Rin's mind remained ice-cold.
"His Servant is the weakest Assassin—that class can only be one of the Hassan-i-Sabbah, so their strength shouldn't be anything special. And right now, that Assassin is clearly being suppressed by my Archer. Where is his confidence coming from?"
Not far away, Archer loosed an arrow that sent Assassin scrambling for cover, the ensuing explosion shaking the battlefield.
"You think I'd reveal myself after lying low for so long with just one card to play?"
A grotesque smile crept across Zouken's face.
***
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