Aaron's punch—naturally, did not insta-kill Lancelot.
Lancelot's endurance was already A-rank in the Berserker class. After releasing Arondight, his endurance naturally rose another rank.
Okay, as a newbie to Type-Moon settings, Aaron didn't know if "one rank up" meant adding a plus sign or becoming EX, but after throwing that punch, he was prepared for the fact that it wouldn't be a one-shot kill.
After all, this punch only utilized his Meta-Morph Factor and a Spirit Command. He didn't use Galvanism combined with Current Push to amplify the destructive power, nor did he activate his trump card, Ittou Shura.
Plus, the armor Lancelot wore actually had decent defensive capabilities. The goal Aaron wanted to achieve with this punch wasn't the unrealistic "kill," but "armor break" and "control."
As Aaron's fist struck, a burst of cold air exploded from within Lancelot's body.
This cold air not only began trying to destroy his body but also slowed his movements significantly.
Lancelot, of course, couldn't just stand there unresponsive and let Aaron pummel him.
But even though his strength and agility had reached the limits of a normal Servant, the situation was incredibly awkward: Aaron had grabbed Lancelot's right wrist, used the Meta-Morph Factor to freeze it with ice, and simultaneously injected electricity into Lancelot's wrist using Current Push.
Even if Lancelot's "Eternal Arms Mastery" tried to make the correct response, how could a hard-controlled Lancelot, unable to even draw his weapon, escape the enemy before him?
"Second punch—Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist!"
A heavy fist landed on the already nearly shattered breastplate. Aaron's second Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist thoroughly blasted apart the black armor.
"And then, the third punch."
Stimulating the Meta-Morph Factor in his body with Current Push, he combined the two forces and poured them into his fist.
He then manifested a gauntlet created from Honkai Beast Carapace on his right fist, turning it into a Noble Phantasm.
[Spirit Command—Valor, Activate.]
"Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist!"
With one punch, Aaron used this final strike to punch straight through Lancelot's body.
The Black Knight, his body heavily damaged, seemed to regain a shred of consciousness, looking unwillingly at the masked enemy before him.
Unfortunately, Aaron had no intention of communicating. He poured power directly into the body, destroying Lancelot's spiritual core and sending the enemy thoroughly back to the Throne of Heroes.
Nearby, Raiden Mei watched as Aaron canceled his Honkai Beast form and easily pulled the longsword out of his stomach...
[Um, Mr. Aaron, there are still pieces of your internal organs and intestines on that... you're hurt so badly—]
[Ah, this? Not a big deal.]
After tossing the dissipating Lancelot sword into his storage space, Aaron calmly communicated with Raiden Mei via consciousness.
[It doesn't matter. I'm used to it.]
Looking at his wound, which was spraying blood, Aaron calmly activated "Guts" to repair his body.
[See? Look, it's fixed.]
[But... that... looks so painful!]
[Ah, that's even less of a problem. I'm used to it.]
Seeing Aaron take out a new set of clothes and put them on, Raiden Mei was completely confused.
This... this is too reckless!
Although she knew Mr. Aaron had this terrifying regenerative ability, judging by the fact that he repaired his body *after* the battle, it seemed to be an effect he had to trigger actively.
But this fighting style...
Even having mentally prepared herself, seeing Aaron repair his body after battle was just too stimulating.
And Mr. Aaron was already used to this heart-wrenching pain... that meant the dream was likely completely accurate. It was all true.
This... this way of fighting simply doesn't treat his own life as a life at all, does it???
Ignoring the silent Raiden Mei behind him, Aaron, having dealt with one Servant, looked at Kariya Matou, who had collapsed on the ground and begun to convulse.
After releasing his strongest Noble Phantasm, Lancelot could drain Kariya's mana dry in minutes.
Of course, the actual time Aaron spent fighting Lancelot was less than a minute. Theoretically, Kariya should have been some distance away from being sucked into a dried husk.
But the problem was that the reason Kariya could quickly become a Master after abandoning magecraft was due to Zouken Matou's modifications.
And his modified body... merely consuming mana would cause the crest worms to stimulate his body. That intensity of mana consumption just now was enough to make this strong-willed man convulse in agony.
"Caster, you bastard..."
Kariya suppressed the pain radiating from within his body, forcing himself to put on a tough expression.
"If you're going to kill me, do it! Get it over with!"
"...Uh, what benefit do I get from killing you?"
Casually taking out an Empire-issue weapon and slicing off Kariya Matou's right hand, Aaron spoke very calmly.
"I came to your house today to do only three things."
"Kill bugs, kill bugs, and kill bugs—by the way, if you hadn't sent your Servant up, I wouldn't have bothered to send him off."
Using Current Push to directly kill the crest worms in Kariya's severed right hand, Aaron tossed the hand into his storage space... Say, isn't the stuff in the storage space getting a bit too random?
I really should find time to organize it.
Then, looking at Kariya, whose severed wrist was oozing worms and blood, Aaron punched him directly in the body.
Naturally, Aaron didn't use the Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist for this punch; after all, he wasn't aiming to kill.
With one punch, the power of Current Push rampaged through Kariya's body, easily killing the crest worms inside him.
"This... what did you do?"
Watching Aaron actively use healing magecraft to close his wound, Kariya's hostility towards Aaron almost completely vanished.
Okay, although this man had knocked out his brother and casually exploded his Servant, judging by his subsequent actions, he didn't bear much malice—if he really had malice, Kariya would have been sent off immediately.
From this man's actions, aside from taking the Command Spells he had used once, everything else he did was helping him.
The crest worms indeed gave Kariya the power to fight magi, but they also caused his lifespan to plummet.
According to the original estimate, Kariya would have died in a few months under the gnawing of the crest worms.
But now, with all the crest worms killed by Caster, Kariya's body felt a long-lost sensation of "relief."
"Wait! Mr. Caster!"
With the crest worms gone, Kariya's brain was working even faster.
"Since you're helping, please help me to the end! I have a presumptuous request! As long as you help me, I will do everything I can to repay you!"
"...Save it. In your state, you don't have shit to repay me with."
After giving him a look of utter disdain, Aaron stood up and walked toward the Matou residence's basement.
"No inheritance rights... no, you don't even have a stable job. Forget repaying me; you'd struggle just to feed yourself and a kid."
"...Wait, do you mean?!"
Struggling to climb up from the floor, Kariya realized the implication: Caster clearly knew about the Matou family's situation.
"Oh right, Master, I personally suggest you stay outside. The visuals inside are too stimulating—"
"Nothing is more stimulating than seeing you spurting blood just now, Caster."
Retorting grumpily, Raiden Mei followed their footsteps.
"Don't treat me like a three-year-old child. No matter what, I won't faint just from seeing something scary."
"...Well, I warned you. Don't blame me later."
Aaron, walking down the passage to the basement, calmly activated [Demon Armor: Incursio].
Walking in front, Aaron let the magical traps Zouken had placed outside the worm pit bombard him, using this method to adapt to "magical attacks."
And those methods—naturally, had little effect on the current Aaron.
Upon reaching the door to the worm pit, Aaron punched it directly, sending fragments of the door drifting before everyone's eyes.
"Um... Miss Magus, I personally suggest you don't look inside."
Kariya had realized Aaron's intention and actively spoke to the girl as a concerned party.
"Inside... it really isn't suitable for you to watch."
Although Kariya disliked magi, he didn't sense much "magus" vibe from the girl before him.
That nasty sense of "not treating people as humans, feeling superior to others" typical of magi was completely absent in her.
So, whether out of selfishness or other reasons, Kariya chose to warn her.
"Is it really that... *Urgh*..."
Seeing the scene inside, even Raiden Mei, who had guessed, was thoroughly sickened.
The scene in the worm pit needs no excessive description. Just seeing the girl with lifeless eyes lying in a pile of worms was enough to make Raiden Mei retch.
A sense of disgust and anger filled Raiden Mei's heart.
"You... how could you do this!"
"...The reason I chose to participate in the Holy Grail War was to rescue Sakura from this."
Exhaling deeply, Kariya spoke to Raiden Mei, looking slightly more relaxed.
"But now that Mr. Caster is here, I don't need to fight. With Mr. Caster here, Sakura is saved."
"Hmm, let me see."
Using Current Push to pull the lifeless girl to his side, Aaron used Current Push to peel back the skin over the girl's heart.
"????"
"Mr. Caster! What are you... is that?!"
Kariya, who intended to scold him, looked at the fat, writhing worm in Aaron's hand with utter disgust.
"I'll give you five seconds for last words. Five—"
"Wait young man this old man knows his mistake I won't be your enemy so—"
"Forget it, I don't want to listen anyway. Your voice is too ugly."
With a *squelch*, Aaron crushed Zouken's main body. He immediately used Current Push to purify his fingers, then used a much gentler attack method than before to destroy the crest worms inside Sakura Matou.
After using healing magecraft to treat Sakura's wounds and hypnosis magecraft to put her to sleep, Aaron calmly placed the girl in Kariya's arms.
"Alright, find a time to take her for a physical checkup—I can't say exactly what magecraft has done to her body, but when in doubt, trust modern technology."
Confirming Sakura was breathing smoothly, Kariya bowed deeply to Aaron.
"...Sir, I cannot thank you enough! But I am still curious. We are strangers; why would you help me like this?"
"Ah... honestly, it was just convenient. I told you, I came to kill bugs—you know better than I do how disgusting your dad is."
"He might pull some flashy moves in the Holy Grail War to disgust me. Thinking about it, since he's not a good person anyway, I figured I'd kill him in advance. As for you and your brother, you pose no threat to me. If you're not a threat, there's no need for me to kill you in passing."
"Besides..."
Glancing at the white-haired Kariya, Aaron spoke indifferently.
"Even without the crest worms, you probably won't live much longer. Why would I bother struggling against a dying man?"
"...True enough."
Without the crest worms, Kariya felt his mind becoming increasingly clear.
Before, when he agreed to join the Holy Grail War for that old worm, his head was hot and he didn't care about anything else, thinking only of "saving Sakura" and "killing that dog Tokiomi."
But now that his mind was clear, Kariya felt he had been too impulsive.
After being eroded by the crest worms, his lifespan was only a few months.
Even now that the worms were destroyed, even if he nursed his health promptly, he probably wouldn't live much longer.
During this time, he had to find someone suitable to raise Sakura.
Tokiomi Tohsaka was definitely out. Since he sent Sakura to the Matou family, it meant he didn't value his daughter's happiness.
Aoi Zenjou would have been suitable, but considering she couldn't defy her husband... that wouldn't work either!
Leaving her in the Matou family... with the old worm dead, the Matou wealth might actually become bait attracting other villains.
Even leaving aside the Matou family business, the "collection of books of the Three Families" held considerable attraction for many magi.
Although the two magi he met today weren't bad people, Kariya wouldn't change his prejudice against magi because of their appearance... No, that wasn't prejudice at all.
Because the magus demographic was fundamentally a group of scum with low morals. He absolutely wouldn't think the group was "actually not that bad" just because a few good people appeared.
This gentleman and lady were good magi because their own moral standards were high. Their high morals had nothing to do with others.
"Alright, think about the future slowly on your own. I personally suggest you don't go out much for a while—you understand what I mean, right?"
"Of course. I wish you grand fortunes in battle."
Watching the two disappear before him, Kariya began to think about what to do next.
Honestly, he didn't like his big brother.
But dislike aside, in this situation, the only person he could trust was his brother.
Byakuya Matou had no talent for magecraft, but for that reason, he hadn't been "groomed" by Zouken, preserving his humanity in a sense.
After Kariya died, if there was anyone who could raise Sakura properly, his brother was a backup candidate.
Hmm, then the task now was simple.
Shaking Byakuya's body vigorously, Kariya looked at his just-awakened brother. Calming himself slightly, he said:
"Brother."
"Kariya... there are enemies! Quick, take Shinji and Sakura... wait, what happened to your hand?"
"That... calm down and listen to me."
"My Servant was just taken out. Also..."
"Our father, Zouken Matou, was just killed."
.................
Hearing the startled cries behind them, Aaron and Raiden Mei, who had concealed their presence using the [War Fog] skill, sped through the uninhabited streets.
According to Aaron's original plan, he intended to find the Matou residence and scatter the old worm the day after acquiring Current Push to see if he could get control of Lancelot.
But on the second day, he discovered a small accident.
He had found the addresses for both the Matou and Tohsaka residences, but when he prepared to tentatively go in and look, he realized...
Damn, damn, damn, both places were "doubles," inhabited by ordinary people under hypnosis magecraft.
Completely expecting this, Aaron retreated immediately.
Over the next three days, he frantically used the Spirit Command [Scan], which he hadn't used before, to investigate houses across Fuyuki City. Only by expending a massive amount of mental energy did he manage to dig out the true addresses of the Matou and Tohsaka residences, as if digging three feet into the ground.
If Raiden Mei hadn't provided him with large amounts of mental energy and mana-replenishing food, he felt it would have taken at least another two days to dig out the Matou residence.
It feels like the tactics of these bastards are getting increasingly outrageous compared to the original work. This...
It's definitely not my imagination!
System, get out here and explain. Why did you make it so OOC!
[Um, Tester 233, this has nothing to do with this System. This System is just responsible for sending you here and ensuring certain existences on your side don't notice anomalies. The changes in this world aren't this System's doing.]
[The world will generally operate according to the original trajectory, but the premise is—no "foreign matter" invasion.]
[With Raiden Mei replacing Gilles de Rais as Caster, is it strange for the world to have some weird changes?]
[That sounds somewhat reasonable...]
[Besides, apart from Waver being a hothead and Kariya being half-mad, the rest of these people aren't fools. Is it strange for them to use magecraft for camouflage during the Holy Grail War?]
[Let's just pretend nothing happened.]
Cutting off the conversation with the System, Aaron sighed slightly.
He gave up. The hard power of these people hadn't changed, but the problem was...
—As long as these people utilized their normal IQs, they became incredibly difficult to deal with.
And now it seemed like everyone's brains were online—hiding, camping. Aaron even suspected those bastards might have already allied.
Otherwise, with his high-intensity reconnaissance, it was impossible not to find any traces of battle left by Servants in three days.
It was as if after Gilgamesh kicked the bucket, everyone started camping.
Even though the Holy Grail War had a short timeframe, theoretically, the others should be getting impatient.
But now, why did things turn out like this?
Even if he went to the Tohsaka residence next and dealt with that pair of master and disciple who hadn't turned on each other yet, the remaining opponents...
He didn't know where Waver and Iskandar were camping.
Kiritsugu Emiya, that old schemer, might not necessarily be camping in the castle in the forest right now.
Hah, am I that scary?
When exactly did they become the prey, and I was forced to become the hunter?
..........................