NOVEL NEXT Chapter 74: Who needs friends when you have Family?
I nodded my head and said, “As you wish.”
As I raised my hand to snap us to, I instead had to make a small wave and halt the momentum of a large, black, vicious-looking arrow from ripping through Rin’s head. With a raised eyebrow I joked, “My, aren't you popular today Rin?”
Crossing her arms under her breasts, she released a huff of annoyance and said, “Hump. Trying to take out a Magus of such calibre of myself from this war is only good planning.” She then narrowed her eyes in the direction the arrow had come from and continued, “Not that I will forgive such a transgression. Return to sender for now. After we save my sister, we will kill the Master and Archer this came from.”
I softly hummed as I flipped the metre-long arrow 180 degrees, and then got a playful smirk on my face as I snapped my fingers once causing the arrow to flash purple briefly. Noticing Rin’s questioning gaze I explained, “Just turned it into a little bomb is all~.”
Rin nodded her head and motioned for me to continue, and so with another snap of my fingers, the arrow shot off with a loud snap as it broke the sound barrier. Rin had to hold down her clothes from flapping too much from the sudden rush of air and looked like she was going to complain before there was a brilliant flash of purple on the horizon.
While there was no sound coming from the magical explosion it did offer quite the light show, even if it was still bright out because of the time of day. Rin watched with an interested gaze as the purple magical sphere expanded rapidly while red and black lightning arced off every which way. The whole thing suddenly started to twist clockwise into itself before winking out of existence like nothing was there from the start with the only signs that anything had happened being the little plumes of smoke rising from random spots.
Tossing an inquisitive glance my way Rin asked, “Did you get them?”
Narrowing my eyes slightly in the general direction I stretched my senses, but much to my expectation I still sensed a Servant and a Human just beyond the point of impact. Shaking my head I said, “No, as I expected the Archer was fast enough to get themselves and their Master out of harm's way.”
Rin released a huff of air before saying, “Well, it would have been too much of a disappointment if they died so easily I guess. Anyway, moving on to much more important matters.”
When she turned to me, I had a massive internal smile on my face upon seeing Rin’s eyes; they were now a wondrous dull yellow. Raising my hand to teleport us I thought, ‘My, she’s turning faster and faster! She is also embracing her new feelings with all her heart, further speeding up the conversion. I look forward to just how dark you’ll become, Rin~.’
Just before I was about to transport us Rin suddenly spoke up, “Wait. Bring the failure with us. I want that entire household to see his state before they join him.”
Smirking at her, I simply nodded my head and waved my left hand at the catatonic Shinji causing him to float over to us and hover gently. Sending a questioning gaze at Rin, she takes a quick look around before turning her attention back to me and gives a simple, single hard nod. With a small smile on my lips, I finally snap the fingers on my right hand.
Instantly we were at our destination, which seemed to be a very humble-looking bedroom. A startled gasp drew my attention to the bed however where one Sakura Matou stared at us in surprise. She was mid brush of her hair and it also looked like she was getting a report from Rider. Who was now very much on guard and standing in front of her Master ready for a fight that wouldn’t come.
I couldn’t help the smirk forming on my face as I summoned a fan of darkness to cover up the lower half of my face. With clear amusement in my voice, I asked, “Are we too soon, Rider?”
She ignored my question and gripped her chained weapon tighter while standing in a pose that would let her react to anything. I chuckled softly before turning my attention to Sakura who had all of her attention on Rin, with a very stunned and worried look on her face.
To her credit, she collected herself rather quickly and asked, “Si- Rin. What… happened to you?”
Rin assumed her normal stance, arms under her breasts while adopting an air of importance, as she gave a single nod and said, “I am done, Sister. Done listening to my father and that slime Zouken. They both insist you are fine when you are not! They must think me simple, that I can not sense the disgusting things this branch ‘family’ implanted into my SISTER.”
As Rin went on and on about the situation, my smile hidden behind the shadow fan was only growing wider and wider. Rin was rapidly converting now! Corruption lines were starting to spread from her heart, and her skin was starting to grow even paler. Her once rich black hair was now very much dulled in colour, and her eyes left no trace of their former aqua colour and were now a vibrant yellow-gold. With glee, I thought, ‘Seconds! In mere seconds the conversion will be done, and the old Rin will be dead! Giving birth to a much better, stronger Rin~.’
And true to my senses, the corruption was finished just as Rin finished her rant about how she was a shitty sister and how things were going to change. The presence she naturally emitted drastically shifted as the last of the corruption lines crept up the sides of her cheeks and came to a rest mid-way. Gone was all Light, natural or otherwise, from her soul. She was well and truly an entity of darkness now, and I couldn’t be prouder of her!
Tossing a glance at the others in the room, it was clear they didn’t share my jubilant feelings about Rin’s transformation. Sakura looked horrified after watching her sister transform in front of her, while Rider was simply on guard still. Though it was clear she was a great deal more wary of Rin now.
I silently snickered as everyone was still completely ignoring the sack of shit that was still gently floating behind Rin, in clear view.
Sakura looked at Rin with a clear mix of emotions as she asked, “Rin ar-”
Rin interrupted Sakura with a shake of her head while saying, “No. Not ‘Rin.’ We’re sisters. However, if you feel I need to earn the right to be called a sister again, I will.”
Sakura’s eyes widened for a few moments before she simply nodded her head softly and then asked, “Alright… we can work on that… but. Are you okay? Or…?”
Rin smiled at the first half of Sakura’s question before raising an eyebrow and tilting her head to the right while asking, “Am I okay? I am fine. No, more than fine now that I am finally doing something about your situation.”
Rin then frowned slightly before continuing, “Speaking of. You are no longer a member of the Matou family. You are once again a Tohsaka.”
Somehow, Sakura’s eyes managed to get even wider as she stumbled with her question, “Wh-what?? Rin, what is going on?!”
Rin narrowed her eyes as she answered, “I am taking control of the situation, and no longer keeping my head in the sand from the crushing guilt. I am the head of the family, not our dead father. The father who abandoned you, like the coward I now see him as. ‘For the good of the family,’ my ass. He could have bred a friendly family rivalry between us, causing us to push each other to great heights! But no, he chose the coward's way out and threw away his own flesh and blood to some monsters!!”
My smile was still going strong behind the fan as Rin laid into the failure of her father. She was now thinking about her own goals and the family she still had, instead of following the dreams and will of those long dead.
Rin stomped her foot angrily as she explained, “Well, not anymore! I am taking you back into the family you deserve to be a part of! And I am going to wipe out this disgusting household from the face of the earth for what they have done to you!”
Rin took several breaths to calm herself down before she turned to me and asked, “Caster, can you remove the horrible little bastards I sense in my sister?”
Snapping the fan shut and dismissing it I turned to look at the still very much stunned Sakura. Focusing on the little leeches that were wiggling around in her, I couldn’t help being disgusted at the man who put them there. As I narrowed my eyes I thought, ‘While I won’t disparage someone from trying to earn immortality, the way he went about it is vile. To sacrifice family? Disgusting trash.’
Returning my full focus on the little bastards infesting Sakura for a few more moments, I gave a nod and turned to Rin while saying, “Yes. I can remove them. Honestly, your sister is impressive to live with such an ‘affliction’ for so long, and not be insane. Luckily, even now her body refuses to ‘adapt’ to the crest worms and still treats them as a foreign object. Removing them will not endanger her life in any way.”
I frown slightly as I add, “But her body has gone through some changes because of the Grail pieces that were fused with the worms. She can be sacrificed and used as a Lesser Grail, even with the worms removed because of the affinity she has gained over the years. She’ll need protection for the rest of her life from the mages of your world if that little tidbit ever gets out. Or rather, when that tidbit ever gets out. Secrets never stay that way when Magus are involved after all~.”
Tears started to drip from Sakura’s eyes as she whispered because her voice was so weak, “You can… remove the taint from me?”
Glancing at Rin, she nodded her head and said, “Do it.”
Returning the nod, I held out my right-hand palm up and snapped the fingers on my left hand. Without any real fanfare, there were suddenly hundreds of squirming little worm-like creatures floating above my hand in a disgusting fleshy ball shape.
Sakura let out a surprised gasp as she grabbed her shoulders while crumpling into a small ball. Rin rushed past Rider, completely ignoring her, and was quick to embrace her long “lost” sister in a hug.
As she hugged her sister tightly Rin asked, “Sakura! Are you okay?!”
Rider backed away from the sisters and finally let down her guard as we both watched Sakura give the tiniest of nods. A few moments later with a weak voice, she said, “I… I don’t feel the constant pain anymore…! I- I forgot what it was like to not experience the constant pain…”
Rin moved Sakura so she was resting her head against her bust as she said, “It’s okay now, Sister. I will NEVER let anyone ever hurt you again. Soon, this family will be wiped out, and all of this will be nothing more than a horrible nightmare. I am so, so sorry it took me so long to gather the courage to face you and your situation like a true Tohsaka should have.” With a sly grin, Rin softly added, “Well, how I envision a true Tohsaka anyway.”
Sakura started to cry into her sister's chest while gripping her tightly as she asked, “Why?! Why now?! Why did you leave me to those monsters for so long?!”
Rin gently rubbed Sakura’s back and head as she answered, “Because I was weak before. Weak, scared, and ashamed of letting our father throw you away like that. In my guilt, I blinded myself to your suffering and convinced myself you were happy.”
She tightened her hold on her sister as she continued, “But no longer. With Caster, I finally have the power to change your situation. To make lasting changes to this family even. And the power to punish those who hurt you. Permanently.”
Sakura simply nodded her head and continued to cry into her sister's breast. Rin continued to coo at her and did her best to make her feel safe in her embrace.
While this heartwarming scene continued Rin eventually looked at the disgusting mass of crest worms that were helplessly wiggling above my hand with pure, unadulterated hate in her eyes. Her voice was mixed with hatred and venom when she commanded, “Caster, destroy those disgusting creatures!”
With a hum, I answered, “Gladly.”
A simple finger snap later, and the whole mass glowed an eerie purple as I used my Authority of NULL to remove them from existence itself; permanently and completely.
No sooner than as the last crest worm vanished from reality did we hear a maddened howl of pain and anger from deep within the home. The screech was quickly followed by the loud sound of feet stomping in rapid succession as the source of the scream made its way to Sakura’s room.
Moments later another scream filled the hallway behind Sakura’s door as someone yelled, “Sakura! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”
Suddenly her door exploded into thousands of splinters as a decrepit old man moved with an alacrity that shouldn’t have been possible with someone of his age. I could instantly tell this man, Zouken Matou, had long abandoned the human species and become something else.
As he took in the situation in the room, he was quick to formulate a plan and raised his left hand towards the sisters. It was most unfortunate for him that I was faster.
With almost a casual dismissiveness to his interruption, I said one word, “Stupefy.”
And like a rather ugly puppet with its strings cut he crumpled to the ground in an unconscious heap. For a bit of dramatic flare, I summoned my shadow fan again to cover my lower face as I turned to the sisters. With amusement and expectation in my voice, I asked, “Well, here is the tormentor. What will you do, Rin? Sakura?”
Leaning forward slightly I continued, “Just how much pain do you want to visit upon this… thing I wonder?”
