"Found him. The criminal who committed the serial murders." Mapo's voice, devoid of any worldly passion, rang out from a strange speaker next to Tokiomi Tohsaka.
It was a wondrous magical tool Tokiomi used to contact Mapo.
"Kirei, who is it?" Tokiomi's voice trembled slightly. Finally found him, the guy who dared to play him for a fool.
"It's Berserker's MASTER, Teacher." Perhaps it was Goldie's instigation, or perhaps this was Mapo's inner thought all along—in any case, the current Kirei Kotomine felt that his once respected teacher was boring.
Well, maybe he did respect him once.
Forcing down the restlessness in his heart, Kirei continued to report respectfully to his teacher on the surface.
"Him? Who is that guy? A magus from where?" Tokiomi once again put on the expression of having everything under control.
As long as he dealt with this Master, he would still be in control of the overall situation. RIDER's strongest trump card had been fully exposed; although indeed powerful, as long as he was careful, it wouldn't be a big problem. As for LANCER, his Master was crippled by SABER's MASTER, so the danger level was minimal. Then there was CASTER—that kind of Heroic Spirit wasn't suited for frontal combat, and based on current intelligence, CASTER didn't belong to the category of powerful Heroic Spirits to be feared.
Then the only threat left was the seemingly not-so-powerful SABER and her MASTER. He was the man with the strongest Servant; Gilgamesh simply couldn't lose to that King Arthur. His winning rate was still above 90%.
However, there was also that KING... Thinking of a certain man, Tokiomi's face darkened somewhat. Although based on current data, this man was very likely his daughter Sakura Matou's Servant, he absolutely couldn't let the insult he suffered slide just like that.
Moreover, the suspicion that someone else in the Matou family was controlling things from the shadows couldn't be ruled out. He just didn't know how the other party summoned this Imaginary Heroic Spirit, who was even slightly more imposing than his Oldest King.
Wait until I deal with Berserker's MASTER, this magus from unknown origins, then I'll dispose of that guy KING. The biggest winner of this Holy Grail War will ultimately be my Tohsaka family.
"Teacher, according to my investigation, Berserker's MASTER doesn't belong to a magus family, or rather, he once belonged to a magus family but doesn't anymore." Mapo's hollow voice interrupted Tokiomi's thoughts.
"In other words, the other party is just a member of a declined magus family? Participating in the Holy Grail War might even be a coincidence? Kirei, I'll leave this guy to you to handle." Hearing Kirei's report, Tokiomi breathed a sigh of relief again. He originally thought some faction had intervened and killed so many people to set something up; turns out he was just overthinking it. It seems he's been a bit too nervous and paranoid lately.
Even heaven is helping him. Tokiomi suddenly felt relaxed all over. Should he have a drink to celebrate?
"No, Teacher. There seems to be traces of CASTER in this. And..."
"CASTER? What is this guy trying to do?" Hearing this, Tokiomi frowned again.
If other Servants were involved, then things weren't that simple.
"And what?"
"Traces of the Matou family's Crest Worm magecraft were found at the crime scene."
"Matou..." Tokiomi's pupils constricted sharply upon hearing this name.
"KING!"
"Subjugate KING? The culprit of the serial murders? How is that possible?" Waver was shocked looking at the news transmitted back from the church by his familiar. "Conqueror King... that man is actually such a brutal person? Then before... no no no, I should say we are in danger now. Ah geez... our location is already known by the other party, could it be..."
Waver panicked and was on the verge of losing control, but a large hand patting his head calmed him down again.
"Kid, calm down." Unlike Waver, the Conqueror King was, after all, a character who had experienced countless storms. Regardless of whether this news was true or not, the more critical the moment, the calmer one needed to be.
"Although this king doesn't acknowledge KING's status as a king, I don't think that man is someone who would commit such sins. Besides, do you think that man's MASTER is the type to issue such cruel orders?"
"Conqueror King, what do you mean?" Waver recalled the shy little girl he saw. He shook his head vigorously; the other party was just a child, how could she issue such orders?
Then this news released by the church...
"Just ignore them." After speaking, the Conqueror King lay carelessly on the tatami, eating rice crackers while watching TV.
"That's the church! The church! The overseer of the Holy Grail War!" Unlike the Conqueror King's open-mindedness, Waver was still making a fuss.
"Sigh..." Looking at his nominal MASTER, the Conqueror King shook his head helplessly. This guy was good in every way except being too immature. He sat up cross-legged and looked at Waver.
"You said it yourself, the church is just an overseer. Who do they think they are? Commanding us at will? Kid, why should we listen to them? Besides, don't you think there's something strange about this? Maybe next time the target of their subjugation will be us." In his military life, the Conqueror King had also seen countless darkness and conspiracies.
He just didn't like using conspiracies and tricks, but that didn't mean he couldn't detect them.
Tokiomi Tohsaka's stratagem wasn't brilliant; it might fool those ignorant MASTERS, but MASTERS of Kiritsugu and Kayneth's level would have already noticed the church's anomaly.
Otherwise, why do you think Kayneth killed Risei in the original story?
Since you are a fair and neutral overseer, don't interfere too much. Doing it too often crosses the line.
"Tokiomi, that guy... is he courting death again?" Meruem's tone was filled with mockery and anger upon learning the news of the church's subjugation order against him.
What a fool. Did he not notice such an obvious framing attempt? True, with Tokiomi's intelligence, I can't expect him to discover that there is actually another person from the Matou family participating in this Holy Grail War. To actually think I committed the serial murders... I've already made it very clear that Sakura is my MASTER.
Whatever, Tokiomi... you can try and see how many Masters respond to your call for subjugation.
Zouken Matou, that old worm... still stirring up trouble in the dark. Do you really think I can't find you?
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