Chapter Sixty: A New Legacy

My name is Illya.

Little Rin and little Sakura have left Fuyuki.

94:16:32

Matou Kariya's visit could be said to have completely caught Tohsaka Tokiomi off guard.

Although he knew Kariya was Aoi's childhood friend, maintained a decent relationship with Ryuunosuke, and deeply adored both Rin and Sakura, Tokiomi had never considered the possibility of becoming friends with him.

To put it more accurately, ever since Kariya refused to inherit the magecraft and abandoned the family estate, the two of them had existed in completely separate worlds—the world of the supernatural and the world of ordinary humans, with almost zero probability of their paths intersecting.

If Kariya had truly been lured into the Holy War by the prospect of the omnipotent wish-granting device, Tokiomi would have eliminated him without a moment's hesitation. Therefore, in Tokiomi's eyes, the fact that Kariya had relied on his innate magecraft bloodline to acutely sense the danger and leave Fuyuki before the Holy War even began already demonstrated an extraordinary level of performance on his part.

Thus, upon hearing that Kariya had come to call alongside Ryuunosuke, Tokiomi found it nearly impossible to conceal the astonishment on his face.

"If you do not wish to see him, I shall turn them away at once," Kirei Kotomine said, rising from his seat where he had been reviewing intelligence reports with Tokiomi from the previous night.

This second disciple of his seemed to have changed, yet somehow remained the same. While interacting with him using their usual demeanor presented no problems whatsoever, Tokiomi found himself subconsciously treating him with a touch more politeness.

"No, Kirei. Kariya is well aware of the disparity between us. If he has made a special trip here, and especially if he is accompanied by Ryuunosuke, it must mean something of great importance, something of which we are currently unaware." Tokiomi set down his marking pen on the map and stood up. "Let us go and greet them."

————

"I am terribly sorry, Master. An unexpected emergency arose last night, preventing me from returning in time."

Just as Tokiomi and Kirei stepped into the reception parlor, Ryunosuke Uryuu sprang to his feet and offered a profuse series of apologies, prompting Matou Kariya to stand up as well.

"No, that is of little consequence." Tohsaka Tokiomi gazed at the two men before him with an expression of profound surprise. By conventional standards, they were familiar acquaintances, but by the rigorous criteria of mages, they were now absolute strangers.

Ryuunosuke seemed relatively normal. Although his magical energy had increased substantially, and his magecraft traits had shifted from "flow" and "transfer" to "absorption" and "shaping," distinct traces of his tutelage under Tokiomi could still be detected within his fluctuating magical energy.

As for Matou Kariya...

With a probing gaze, Tokiomi took a few steps toward Kariya, then walked around him in a half-circle with a puzzled expression before coming to a halt—performing such an unrefined gesture was a testament to the magnitude of the shock within his heart.

"You have inherited the Matou lineage? No, that's not it..." Tokiomi attempted to pose a question, only to instantly dismiss his own hypothesis.

The Matou family's magecraft attribute was water, with the characteristics of absorption and transformation. This gentle nature allowed it to assimilate magecraft of virtually any other attribute, making it an exceptionally effective support mechanism during conflicts between mages.

It was precisely for this reason that Tokiomi had once considered passing Sakura—whose magecraft attributes were notoriously difficult to reconcile with others—over in adoption to Matou Zouken.

Yet right now, the magecraft attributes possessed by Matou Kariya simply took him by complete surprise.

The magical energy surrounding Kariya gave off the contradictory impression of being both ephemeral and undeniably substantial all at once, yet at a given moment, these traits would seamlessly interchange. No, it was not merely an interchange; they would transform into an entirely opposite quality.

This was the exceedingly rare dual attribute of "Void" and "Reality," paired with the exceptionally practical magecraft trait of "Conversion." An attribute of this caliber... even with Tokiomi's characteristic calm and self-restraint, he could not prevent his thoughts from drifting in a certain direction—this was a magecraft attribute tailor-made specifically for Sakura!

Could it be that Matou Zouken had already completed this preparation before withdrawing from the Holy War?

"We are all mages here, so I will spare you any superfluous pleasantries," Kariya said, noticing that Tokiomi had discovered and comprehended his newly acquired power. "If you suffer a defeat in this Holy War and the notion of putting Sakura up for adoption crosses your mind once more, I must ask you to give me top priority."

"I shall not fail," Tokiomi replied curtly, deliberately refusing to address the latter half of Kariya's statement.

He was well aware that should the unthinkable happen and he were to fail in this Holy War, preparing for the next conflict would inevitably mean he could not divide the family's magical crests and pass them down to both daughters. The one best suited for gemstone magecraft was his eldest daughter, Rin. As for Sakura—Tokiomi looked at the resolute expression on Kariya's face before him and decided to temporarily shelve the issue.

"Uhm... Master, to be strictly accurate, it is I who inherited the Matou family line." Sensing the stiffening atmosphere between his master and his friend, Ryuunosuke attempted to interject and smooth things over.

————

As if to enhance his persuasiveness, Ryuunosuke opened his right hand and gathered his magical energy. A pale blue magical entity, composed entirely of flowing water and bearing a striking resemblance to an Asian arowana, materialized in his palm. As he closed his fist, the magical creature gradually lost its form, dissolving into a cluster of water-attributed magical energy that enveloped his knuckles.

"So, what exactly transpired last night?" Tokiomi carefully observed the sphere of water before questioning his disciple.

"Ah, well, it went like this..." Ryuunosuke glanced around, walked over to a spacious table, and slapped the sphere of water downward. Instead of splashing apart, the water immediately began to construct a miniature estate.

The Matou residence? Tokiomi nodded and began to watch the playback of events conjured by his disciple.

————

Scene replay was an unfortunate spell that had plummeted from the rank of [True Magic] down to mere magecraft, only to be struck off the registry of magecraft altogether. The reason was the widespread proliferation of scientific recording devices such as cameras and video equipment, which had completely stripped away the inherent "mystery" the spell once held.

Coupled with the fact that the precision of its reconstructions fluctuated depending on the caster's degree of focus, if those scientists ever managed to perfect screenless 3D projection, this spell would likely vanish entirely, Matou Kariya thought with nonchalant indifference.

Within the perspective model of the house materialized on the table, lifelike miniatures of Ryuunosuke Uryuu and Matou Kariya could be seen navigating the tiny structure in search of the lineage, ultimately approaching the underground warehouse.

Whoosh—a colossal insect suddenly manifested, opening its jaws wide to swallow the miniature Matou Kariya whole.

"Hey!" Kariya gave Ryuunosuke an irritated slap on the back, causing the water currents forming the scene replay to ripple violently.

What was this guy playing at, trying to be a comedian? Didn't he see that both Tohsaka Tokiomi and Kirei Kotomine were smiling!

"Sorry, sorry... It was just so shocking at the time, my very first impression was that you got eaten." Ryuunosuke scratched his head, reached out to scatter the stereoscopic imagery, and recast the spell.

In the newly formed projection, Matou Kariya was knocked flying aside by a roly-poly creature just before the giant insect could bite him, and the beast even lashed out with its hind hoof to kick the giant insect right on the head.

Judging by its shape and proportions, it was a half-man-sized—pig?

"They seemed to be restricting that giant bug to keep it from leaving, and they weren't actually fighting each other, but the conflict escalated the moment the two of us entered." Ryuunosuke waved a hand, and the stereoscopic model of the underground warehouse gained the shapes of a giant tiger and a bird of prey.

The ensuing events showed three summoned beasts engaging in a fierce battle with the giant insect that was attempting to attack Ryuunosuke and Kariya. The two men tried to assist, but their impact was minimal. In the end, Kariya performed some unknown action that caused the summoned beasts to emit a radiant glow, significantly boosting their combat capabilities and finally allowing them to slay the giant insect.

At the very end, the projections of the three spiritual beasts and the giant insect respectively merged into the bodies of Kariya and Ryuunosuke.

————

"...So you passed the trial by empowering those three summoned beasts?"

Even by Tokiomi's discerning standards, Matou Zouken's trial for his descendants was truly excessive; one either had to slay the giant insect through sheer personal strength or utilize beast-taming talent to enhance the three "guardians."

Either path posed a formidable challenge for descendants with sparse magical aptitude.

"Yes. After subduing the three summoned beasts, we spent some time coordinating our efforts, and after a few attempts, we finally killed it and obtained the Matou family's magical crests." Ryuunosuke displayed the strange pattern etched upon his wrist.

"However, because my magecraft attributes shifted to Void and Reality after subduing them, I was completely incompatible with those crests, so I had no choice but to transfer them to Ryuunosuke first," Kariya said, rubbing the beast-band on his wrist as the phantom images of a golden pig, a jade tiger, and a feathered parrot flickered behind him.

"Don't worry, the moment any of your descendants possesses the water attribute, I'll deliver it straight to you no matter how far away they are," Ryuunosuke said, giving Kariya's shoulder a hearty pat.

"Ryuunosuke, if I recall correctly, I taught you the methods for preserving and transferring magical crests?" Tokiomi felt a sudden surge of territorial crisis regarding his disciple being poached, and thus posed the question.

Generally speaking, unless one was a direct blood relative, accepting a crest transplant was utterly impossible. Even with an attribute as accommodating as the Matou's, one still had to adjust oneself to a suitable degree, yet Ryuunosuke...

"But it's about to dissipate." Ryuunosuke summoned the silver arowana once more. If it were to stand upright and be outfitted with some armor and arthropods, it would indeed bear a striking resemblance to that giant insect.

"Uncle Kariya—" "Uncle Kariya, you— Jeez, why is Ryuunosuke here too?"

Two little girls, one with twin-tails and the other with short hair, burst into the reception parlor. Little Sakura gazed curiously at the spiritual beasts, while little Rin once more made her dissatisfaction with Ryuunosuke known.

Seeing that his daughters, who had been running about all day yesterday and had gone to bed early, were finally awake, Tokiomi temporarily suspended his questioning of Ryuunosuke and Kariya.

"It is nearly noon, let us dine first," Tokiomi said.

"Very well, I shall take Sakura and Rin back to Aoi this afternoon," Kariya naturally chimed in.

"...Very well, thank you." Tokiomi had intended to do so anyway, so he nodded in agreement.

87:18:32

"When you take them back, please find a way to reassure Mistress so she need not worry. I will protect Master's safety with all my might."

"You worry about protecting yourself first. How does someone like Tokiomi ever need a powerhouse like you to protect him?"

"Because Mistress has no concrete concept of magecraft. Why don't you put on a live demonstration for her when the time comes?"

"Forget it, the Zenjou family is..."

Today's endeavor had been a complete failure, and Rin had no idea how she was going to be lectured upon her return. She slumped despondently against the car window, looking outside while the sound of Kariya and Ryuunosuke's endless, nagging mutual instructions drifted into her ears.

Come to think of it, Kariya's newly learned magecraft was rather interesting. Sakura was still clutching that... chubby pig and refusing to let go; it was suffocatingly tight. Rin glanced sideways at her younger sister, who was happily embracing the golden pig. Even with Rin's fastidious standards, she couldn't call it dirty, seeing as it was a summoned beast capable of taking spirit form.

Besides, the red-haired uncle and white-haired sister they had encountered actually turned out to be Heroic Spirits—she never would have guessed at all. But that Wente—no, Caster's gemstone magecraft was truly exceptional.

Rin pulled out the now-useless projection ruby, tilted her head to examine it, and channeled her magical energy in an attempt to transform it into a horse.

Following a tiny popping sound, the projection crystal transformed into... a fat, stubby horse.

It was all the fault of having a reference object right beside her! Rin grew exasperated with embarrassment and hurled the crystal away.

Thud! "Ouch."

The gemstone struck the head of a passing young boy with orange hair.

"I'm sorry, please give it back to me." Recalling her father's reprimand about not letting ordinary people see gemstones casually, Rin offered a completely insincere apology and held out her hand.

"No, it's nothing. Say, you made this pig pretty accurately."

The boy picked up the gemstone good-naturedly and handed it back.

"It's a horse, a horse!"

Rin gritted her teeth.

"Uh... alright..." A faint trace of magical energy, almost too imperceptible to notice, flickered across the boy's hand, causing the plump, stubby gemstone horse to gradually grow taller and more vigorous. "Here you go."

Rin was completely dumbfounded. At that moment, Matou Kariya started the car engine. Clutching the gemstone horse, she hurriedly called out to the boy as the vehicle began to move: "My name is Tohsaka Rin! What is your name?"

"Name?" The boy tilted his head slightly. "Shiro."