"Of course I know about things like that."
Aoko Aozaki smiled nonchalantly.
"But how do you know whether what I'm doing now really breaks the rules or not?"
…What does that mean? Dark Saber narrowed her eyes.
Her mind worked quickly, but no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't grasp the deeper meaning behind those words.
"Just leave it at that, King Arthur."
Aoko didn't explain her actions, instead looking sternly at Dark Saber.
"Just this once, I won't do anything. If you want to act, wait until next time!"
"…Since the Magician says so, I shall withdraw for now."
Dark Saber was silent for a long while, frowning as if she couldn't quite see through Aoko, then finally put away her weapon and dropped her offensive stance.
"I hope you keep your promise and don't interfere next time."
As her voice faded, her figure vanished along with it.
The power of magic was strange and unpredictable. Even holding the Lesser Holy Grail, she remained highly wary.
Even though this magician was still young, she had no desire to recklessly provoke her.
"Whew, it's really great that she backed off!"
Aoko let out a sigh of relief.
"If it really came to a fight, it would've been a huge problem!"
Magic was undeniably powerful.
But the strength of a magician came from years of accumulation.
Aoko had only held her Magic for just over twenty years. Sure, she could summon her future, more mature self—but the resulting time distortion would have to be cleaned up by her, and she'd be unable to rest for a long time.
For Aoko, that was an absolutely intolerable price.
"Aoko, your timing was perfect..."
Roy staggered forward, his steps unsteady.
Truly perfect timing—thanks to her sudden return, Taigong Wang's true identity hadn't been exposed.
Over on that side, seeing the situation resolved and everyone out of danger, Taigong Wang silently disappeared, giving no one a chance to approach him.
"What would you have done if I hadn't come back?"
Aoko turned around with a kindly smile on her face.
Then smacked Roy hard on the shoulder.
With great force—Roy could feel his shoulder blade scream in pain.
"Stop, my bones are going to break—please stop..."
"As long as you can still feel pain, that's good."
Seeing Roy drenched in sweat, Aoko snorted coldly.
She seemed very displeased.
Roy didn't quite understand what she was so upset about. He had decided to participate in the Holy Grail War long ago, and Aoko knew that too.
And frankly, the relationship between Roy and Aoko wasn't that deep.
In the past three years, they'd seen each other fewer times than you could count on one hand, and the total time they'd spent together didn't even add up to an hour.
Which was kind of odd—Roy had been taken in by Aoko, but he was closer to Touko.
"I've got a lot of issues with you, but I'll save those for later."
Aoko turned around, her face openly showing displeasure and disgust.
"I smell a disgusting stench of rot—is that decrepit undead thing still alive?"
Suddenly—
There was a rustling sound from a nearby greenbelt.
The group turned to look, and a hunched, tiny figure came into view, fleeing in panic like a stray dog.
"Damn it, why is this old man being targeted by a Magician again?"
Zouken Matou had only come to observe the battle, but Aoko's presence startled him so badly that he turned and ran without a second thought.
"For the past three years, I haven't even dared to think about revenge—not even on that homunculus—and yet I'm tangled up with these two again! Does fate just hate me that much?"
"Zouken Matou!"
Rin didn't hesitate. She hurled a gem with enhanced strength.
The gem trailed a comet-like tail and exploded above Zouken's head, forming a cone-shaped prison that locked him in.
Zouken's expression darkened, but he quickly sneered indifferently.
"Hmph, fine, destroy this body if you want. But don't get too cocky. I won't give up that easily. Be ready—I'll be back!"
"This damned undead freak!"
Rin gritted her teeth and glared at him, wishing she could roast Zouken's soul in purgatory fire for ten thousand years.
She turned to Aoko and, after only a moment's hesitation, spoke firmly.
"Lady Aoko, forgive my boldness, but do you have a way to end him?"
"I'm not really good at this kind of thing."
Aoko dropped all pretense and spread her hands frankly.
She despised Zouken as well, but she really didn't have a way to completely crush him.
Using Magic would make it trivial—but time-based Magic couldn't be used lightly.
Specifically, any change in the timeline could disrupt the balance of entropy. Taking something from one point in time required putting back something of equal mass to maintain stability.
If you just take without paying a price, the world would eventually fall into chaos. Even a small butterfly could stir up a storm. Any tiny change in time could steer the world toward ruin—and you couldn't justify that just to kill a mere Zouken Matou.
"Aoko only excels at destruction."
With a pale face, Roy forced a weak smile and added.
"In other areas she's basically useless. Why do you think people at the Mage's Association call her a human rocket launcher?"
Aoko smiled faintly and—smack—slammed her right hand onto Roy's shoulder again.
"I really hate that nickname."
"Stop, please stop, it was my fault, my arm really hurts..."
Roy had to grovel to finally escape from Aoko's clutches.
"Leave it to me. Over the past three years, I've specially studied a soul-targeting ritual."
"This time, you won't be coming back!"
Roy stepped forward, passed through the barrier, and pulled a few Black Keys from his imaginary number storage, driving them into Zouken's head like wolf claws.
"Could it be—?"
Seeing the Black Keys Roy pulled out, Zouken Matou's expression suddenly changed.
"A baptismal rite? Someone like you actually has faith in God?"
"I never need to meet the conditions to use a ritual."
Roy forced a faint smile, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
It wasn't just pain.
He was also forcibly pushing his body to its limits, squeezing out life force to generate magical energy.
Mystic Eyes activated.
Holy white light surged from Roy's hand.
Baptism rites usually scaled in power based on the user's sincerity of faith—but with amplification from Roy's Mystic Eyes, the power surged from that of a believer to a zealot, then exploded to the level of a saint.
Zouken could feel it.
His already decayed soul was being seared like it was under the sun.
This attack bypassed his physical body entirely and targeted his soul directly for purification.
"D-Damn it… stop, stop! I haven't achieved immortality yet—!"
This level of baptismal rite could ignore all his clones and completely erase his soul.
In fear, Zouken screamed and begged.
But Roy was unmoved.
"Just looking at you is disgusting. Die already. Stop defiling the world by existing."
"UWAHHHHH—!!"
Like a stain under sunlight, Zouken Matou's body and soul both turned to black smoke under the screams, fully purified, with nothing left behind.
***
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