With both Servants gone, Kariya felt himself on edge.
Even as Berserker vanished, the young priest still didn't move much. Although, that was most likely because he couldn't be in such a state, to begin with. However, even like this, Kariya couldn't help but feel intimidated by the Executioner. Rightfully so as the bloody mess of a pincushion had a small smile forming on his face.
"How ironic…" he began with a spat of blood to the floor. "You… the most pathetic Master… the one my teacher regarded as mere rabble, remain untouched while I can't even move." Kirei let out a light chuckle. "Oh, how tables turned… Haaah… So, I'm completely at your mercy now. What are you gonna do, Matou Kariya? Are you gonna finish your job and slay the student of your nemesis, seeing as you've dispatched him to hell twice over?"
In all honesty, Kariya didn't really care about Kirei. Until now, he simply thought the young priest just another pawn in Tokiomi's schemes. But he was mistaken.
After all, it was that same pawn that sold out his own teacher.
The bloody remains of Tokiomi yet again didn't bother the man who should've been the closest one to the magus. Apart from his own Servant that was. Still, considering how quick they were to turn the cripple over and allow Kariya to deliver Tokiomi's death blow for them, Kariya needed to reassess his earlier assumptions.
"You used Tokiomi as a bait," Kariya said. "Why? Why did you betray him?"
"Hm, why, huh…" Even wounded as he was, the stoic priest so easily made to casually sigh. "Why do people betray each other in the first place? Why break an oath of loyalty sworn on one's life? To achieve certain goals? Because of greed and desire? Or was it because… they felt betrayed themselves?"
"Don't give me riddles, priest!" Kariya spat venom from where he sat. "I know that you and your father did. You were Tokiomi's allies from the beginning! Your father is dead because of it! And now you decided to betray Tokiomi like this. Why? Because of your father's demise? Because of some selfish reasons?" Kariya might not have noticed, but the flesh under his skin squirmed with his rising temper. "Answer my question."
Kirei smirked. "Or what? Are you gonna try to strangle as well? In that case," raising both his hands despite the difficulty and pain it would've brought to his partially mangled form, the priest snorted. "You're welcome to try, Matou Kariya. But be warned that I'm not like my former teacher. I won't be as easy a prey as he."
Again, the sleeping bugs squirmed, but Kariya tried his best to reign back his anger. He'd already killed Tokiomi. There was no need to lose his mind for some nobody he didn't have any obligation to either.
"Just answer it, priest. You will bleed out before Archer will be able to save you. Even if not by Berserker's doing, Avenger will likely finish him off." Kariya clearly understood the plan Lelouch laid out for him. That of Berserker distracting Archer long enough before the boy's own Servant could eradicate him with her noble phantasm.
While not the initial objective, his suicidal bombing managed to clip Archer's Master. This was still a small victory he was allowed to revel in. Much less Kirei who had no chance of winning now, without an ally and soon to be without a Servant.
"I did it because it was enjoyable." The man's smirk didn't leave his face. In fact, as Kariya gave him a weak yet confused look, it widened.
"What… are you—?"
"What am I, indeed… I spent years trying to find something… anything… that would give my life meaning. A desire or goal… that would make me feel fulfilled." The smile was empty, blank. It was far from what a smile should ever be associated with. "I never had a want for anything and simply did as I was told. I experienced many things but none of them gave me the impression of joy… or satisfaction… That is until I was made to participate in this war."
"You… desired the Grail…"
"In the beginning, I did not. I merely questioned why such a device chose me… But, in my wondering, I began to ask why it ever bothered me to choose. That omnipotent wish-granting device… it considered, analyzed, and chose those most likely to desire what it could offer. My teacher was one such individual." Kariya watched as the bloody priest's gaze locked onto his own. "As were you."
"You're saying… the Grail is sentient…?"
"If it were not, why would it ever select someone as incapable a fighter as Matou Kariya?" The worms writhed a bit at that, nearing awakening, but Kariya managed to calm himself as the man continued. "It does not select a Master by one's capabilities. It chose those whose desires overflowed, those who sought a miracle. For my teacher, it was attaining a path to the Root. For you, it was salvation for Matou Sakura and revenge on the man you could never beat."
"What would you know of Sakura—NGH?!"
Hand gripping his deadened shoulder, he felt his blood pump slightly. The worms were now half-awake due to his anger and had begun draining away his mana again in an attempt to regain full awareness. But as they were tied to his mental state and excitement, his befuddlement of the priest's eager smile had them calming down once more.
"I know a great deal of all the Masters in this war, save for a few. You can thank my teacher's… ingenious strategy of faking my loss with one Assassin's demise while the rest continue to spy on you all." Kirei's gaze then drifted to the hole in the wall, as if waiting for someone to come in, only none did. "Thanks to that, I had become somewhat acquainted in what it is you all seek from the Grail. Fame, glory, the root, salvation. All of them similarly mundane as they are greedy."
"And you?" Kariya demanded. "What did you seek?"
"Nothing… that's the most perplexing thing. Me, someone who had no inherent desires from the start, was selected by a magical medium that only sought after those who desired a miracle. In my investigations, there was a certain individual that gave me more questions than answers. I wanted to meet him firsthand. The bane of all magi, you may know of him as the 'Magus Killer'."
Kariya was aware of the man, but mainly for what he'd done to Tokiomi. Apart from that, there was nothing, someone, as disconnected from the moonlit world as he would know. And though he might've been curious, the thought never weighed more than a passing question.
"For the first time in my life, I had an actual want to meet him. To fight that man and see for myself what kind of person he is. What would such a person desire from the Grail? In all my years, never have I thought I could yearn for something so… Then, I learned… even more about myself."
The priest's tone started to lighten. Instead of sounding cheerful, he began to swing towards hopeful. But… the air about him… Kariya felt it far too familiar. It felt as if he was listening to yet another of his own father's sermons before he'd left the Matou house.
It even began to resemble Kariya's own voice when he began hoping, praying, that he'd one day be able to achieve what he once could not. It was the tone of a man on the brink of lunacy.
"After my father's death, I started to think… I wanted to see it, to witness the dying face my father made as his life ended. Then, I began to want to see how my teacher would react the moment he encountered you again, albeit on the shorter end of the stick. How the two of you would come into conflict with one another, one at the end of his rope and the other at the end of his sanity." For once, Kariya looked upon the priest's smiling face not with fear but with a pitiful stare mixed with disgust. "I began to want to see it! Not just the agony and suffering you both endured to come to the fore, but to also witness the pain and suffering my actions wrought upon others! It was perfect! Both you and Tokiomi would meet and clash, seeking hope and destruction respectively… and both losing everything in the end. It was to be the grand prologue to a whole slew of suffering that I finally yearned to see!"
Kirei spoke with such enthusiasm… such passion… that even as Kariya looked at him with disgust, it turned into a horrified gaze.
"You're sick!" he said, spitting it out as he did. "A psychopath!"
"Please," Kirei sounded a little offended. "I am just a man who has finally found what he wants. Is it wrong to desire what makes one happy? Is it wrong to feel happy when you've accomplished said desires?"
"Not when it means others will suffer!"
"HAHAHAHAH! Such hypocrisy!" Kirei scoffed, blood dripping from the corner of his lips. "Matou Kariya, you are a hypocrite if that's what you think of me. You yourself wanted to be happy at the expense of others. You who loved another man's wife. You who yearned for another man's family, another person's happiness. You even went so far as to try to save her daughter, thinking it will win back her affections, did you not?"
Kariya froze. His teeth grit hard. And his grip on his deadened shoulder, although he couldn't feel it, caused his fingernails to draw blood under his ruined jersey's sleeve.
He couldn't deny it. Just as he became a Master to save Sakura, he couldn't deny he wished for such a thing. For the girl's mother and sister to appreciate his efforts. They, Aoi, Rin and Sakura, deserved a better life than what Tokiomi gave them. Maybe he couldn't provide that, but someone who else out there could've… or so he'd hoped.
He didn't want to admit it, but the truth had left Kirei's lips verbatim.
"Why fall silent now? Shouldn't you be celebrating? You finally managed to kill Tohsaka Tokiomi! You've achieved something you never thought possible… All that's left now is to slay the rest of the Masters and exchange the Grail for the life of the girl." The man even knew about that? Kirei chuckled, seemingly finding enjoyment in Kariya's squirming. "I'm sure Lady Aoi will be thrilled to learn that you bested her husband… More so now that you've left Rin and her sister without a father."
"Shut up! Tokiomi didn't deserve such happiness—!"
"And you did, right? You who chose to run away from the dying Matou lineage chose to turn your nose away from the people who stole your happiness away from you!" The priest's weakened state didn't deter the devilish smile as he enjoyed every second of Kariya's mental breakdown. "Until the girl took your place as the Matou's heir, you deserved that happiness, didn't you? What would've happened, perhaps, had you not left a vacant hole for Tohsaka Sakura to fill?!"
"SHUT UP! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Kariya howled, losing all composure as he stood up. All thoughts in his head drifted towards finishing the talkative man off. The sick priest smiled when he began limping over to do just that, but the smile vanished when after but a few steps, Kariya fell to the ground. "NGA—GAHAK!"
Blood and worms escaped his throat. The limp creatures still slumbered, but they were without a doubt slowly waking due to being fueled by his anger. Had they not, their poison wouldn't have seeped into him so.
"Hm. Even at the end of it all… you're still just a pathetic worm yourself, Matou Kariya." Kirei, despite being weak and trapped, wasn't scared enough to not say with a cold dismissive tone. "Weak… cowardly… a hopeless fool who rides on the coattails of others' victories… thinking yourself grand enough to deserve such happiness…"
Kariya couldn't raise his head. The crest worms started to move. The little monsters fed on his emotions even more. His rage was like caffeine, revving them up from their slumber. They squirmed, starting to resume eating his flesh from inside.
"Ngah—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" It was like his body was on fire. Didn't help that Berserker was fighting and needed mana. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"
Kirei merely looked on at the man's agony with amusement. As Kariya lay on the floor, however, the pleasant show soon ended when two new faces arrived. The partially-blasted doors of the Church were knocked aside by a whip of mercurial tendrils, sending them flying away past Kirei. The wounded priest could only look on with curiosity as two men made their way in.
Lelouch Lamperouge and Kayneth Archibald gave him and Kariya a once-over, assessing their conditions with but a glance.
The Master of Avenger walked towards the latter and tried to help him to stand up. However, when the boy touched his hand, he recoiled slightly. A worm wriggled frantically under the man's arm, forcing Kariya to let out a sickening scream in pain. The child's violet eyes went wide, recognizing the Crest worms at work.
But the boy didn't waste another second as he pulled out a small flask. It was a solution Sola-Ui had given to him. Considering Kariya's would-be state after the plan had begun, Kayneth's fiancé had been asked to prepare a little something in the case of needing treatment for non-lethal wounds.
The boy quickly forced his ally to drink it all down. Accepting it, albeit needing to be pressured, Kariya let out another cough as the worms settled and calmed down once more. Only then did Lelouch let out a sign.
"So… You are the young Master his Highness Gilgamesh took an interest in?" the boy's attention was drawn to the priest.
"Kotomine Kirei, you look like you'd seen better days. Well, maybe your father has, considering you still live in that state." Lelouch replied mockingly, earning the priest's sordid laugh. Kariya was silently sitting, his back pressed against the wall while Kayneth stood up between them and the wounded executioner.
"Deriving fun in another person's misfortune is quite the sinful thing, young Lamperouge," Kirei said. "Then again, I guess you won't head advice from a priest, considering you murdered one in cold blood."
"You can't really lecture me, on that, now can you, teacher-killer?" Kirei narrowed his eyes. "What? Disappointed that you couldn't induce guilt from me? Or is it because I stole your kill?"
"… Eavesdropping is a grave sin as well. For a lamb that is your namesake, you're quite the bloodstained sheep, aren't you, boy?"
"You can drop the pious act, fake priest. There's no point in faking it now." Lelouch waved the man's stern glare away. "We've heard quite enough of your babbling already. Quite the dramatic prose, I may add, even if it is from scum who betrayed others for something as pointless as mindless murder."
"But in the end, my little entertainment gave you an edge, no? Then, you should be thankful to me for having carried myself like so until now." Kirei levelled a glare not just on the boy, but Kayneth as well.
"S-silence, Executioner!" The blonde magus immediately collected himself. "You betrayed your own teacher for what? Amusement? What foolish motivation. I would understand if you sought to plunder the Tohsaka family's magical secrets, but to waste them away for mere sport—you're nothing but a disgrace to all magi, a selfish cur who consigned value in worthless thrills!"
Kirei nodded with a short laugh. "Hah… Indeed, my reason was born out of a selfish want to be satisfied. However, not everyone can be like you, Lord Archibald. Maybe, for a tool like myself, it is hard to comprehend betraying others for your own benefit—"
"Silence!" Kayneth shouted, cutting off the man's words as he closed the distance between himself and Kirei. A simple wave of his hand had his mystic code striking the dying man via a stab through Kirei's leg. The maimed man's body tensed slightly, but his smug expression didn't waver. "Any more of your lies won't get you out of this mess, priest!"
"Kayneth, further torture is pointless," Lelouch called out. The young master kneeled near Kariya, waiting for his fellow Master to catch his breath before they moved out of the half-destroyed Church. "And you can drop the act as well. I am well aware of his implications."
"Wha—? Lamperouge, you—?! Wait, what?!" Kayneth froze. Voice tense, he took a step back but kept himself between the downed priest and the young man. "W-What do you mean you know? What is he—What are you talking about—?"
"Relax, yourself, Kayneth." The raven-haired boy's calm attitude in the face of the blonde man's panic was as sharp a contrast as night and day. "I am quite aware that you two had made a deal behind my back. In fact, I was expecting something like this anyway."
"H-how did—?! When—?!"
"Lady Sola-Ui told me," Lelouch said casually, while Kayneth's face became pale. "She also gave me this."
Pulling out something from his person, both the priest and magus recognized the Self-Geis scroll, the one Kayneth had hidden away from him. The Lord of the Clock Tower quickly roamed his hands all over his pockets searching. Shock overtook him when he was certain the scroll that was on him this whole time was the same one in the boy's hands.
Unlike the promise of safety for Matou Kariya, the second scroll had a different description. According to it, one Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald had sworn to help the Tohsaka backstab Lelouch in the most critical moment. In exchange, he and his fiancé were guaranteed protection from all else including their collaborators, not to mention a subsequent agreement between two magi families. Everyone wins, except Lelouch who was now obviously not as pleased as his polite smile made him out to be.
'How could Lamperouge have gotten it—unless?!' The blonde's eyes went wide. "Sola-Ui, she—she?!"
"Quite an understanding lady when you know what she wants. Of course, it was a bit difficult to convince her, but hey, what's a better motivator than love and vengeance, wouldn't you say?" Lelouch's smile turned into a devilish grin as he cornered the man with a mocking tone. "I told you to be wary of her, that she might act against you. How ironic that it just needed me as well to give her one final push."
"But—! How—?! When did you manage to trick my fiancé into betraying me?!" Kayneth screamed with rage. Kirei didn't move, more focused on the show before him. Bleeding aside, it couldn't stop the smile creeping upon his face.
The demonic grin was just as, if not more than, sadistic as Kirei's. "As I said, I just gave her a final push. The one she loved, Lancer is dead, while the man who brought his demise, the man she would still be forced to marry, still lives. No one wants to live a loveless marriage, Kayneth. Certainly not Lady Sola-Ui who has tasted the love she craved for who knows how long."
"Since… Lancer's death?!" the man was heaving, frothing at the mouth. "You seduced her just as that useless fool did?!"
"Not in the slightest, no. She already had all the makings of a traitor ever since the beginning when you summoned him, Kayneth." The boy kindly replied like he was giving directions to boil an egg. Kayneth's head was certainly balding by this point. "All she needed was to reach her breaking point. Apart from time to grieve over Lancer's death, of course. Ever since then, Lady Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri has agreed to help me. She acted as my eyes and ears, so long as it meant I will help her escape this war, escape from you. Considering that I don't really have any plans for Lady Sola-Ui, it was the convenient way to have her exit this whole affair."
After the death of Lancer and Caster, Lelouch made sure to speak with Sola while Kayneth wasn't looking. It was clear enough from the get-go that the woman was reluctant to continue with the struggle, unlike her fiancé. Life as Kayneth's wife, seemingly even before this war, was only a means to an end. Now that she'd lost her will to fight, he made a deal with her.
Lelouch gets a spy, Sola-Ui gets an out, a proper excuse to rid herself of the man who ruined her brief romance.
"No… That's a lie! That's... impossible…" Kayneth mumbled as he slowly walked backwards, leaning against a broken bench and collapsing to the floor as the wood snapped. "Why…? My Sola-Ui, how… How could she—?!"
He was still trying to comprehend what he just heard. His fiancé, the one he wanted to protect, did something like this behind his back.
Kirei watched on with a pleasant smile seeing as it was now Archibald who was in pain. "Hm… It seems you might've been a talented magus, but not the best when it comes to people, Lord Archibald—"
"SHUT UP, YOU PLEBEIAN!" SMASH went the shattered pillar above Kirei's head as a wild mercury tendril thrashed around. "You're the one who came to me with this deal, and for what?! Neither of the Geis scrolls were worth anything! Especially since Tokiomi's word was useless from the start!" Kayneth yelled before quickly turning to Lelouch. "Lamperouge! You don't have a right to judge me! I was doing only what was best for my fiancé and I. I—I needed to make sure we would both survive his war! To continue our lineage! At that time, the deal was the best option. But now, I can see that I fell for a cruel trick. T-Tokiomi was nothing but a puppet! That's right! So that deal means nothing now! So it means, we're at an understanding? Right?!"
Kayneth heaved and gulped. It was as if he was trying to save face while begging the child. Since he didn't have time to betray him and the deal was useless anymore, Kayneth has technically done nothing wrong. Or, at least, he didn't have time to do anything traitor-like worth mentioning.
And it was unlikely he would be extended the same courtesy by the remaining masters. No way he will work with one of his students. The same could be said of reverse. And the Einzberns had allied with the Magus Killer! Such sloppy disgraces of a mage family didn't deserve his consideration.
Kayneth simply didn't have anyone else who could help him, therefore he had no choice but to stay with Lelouch and Kariya. So it should be fine right?
"Hahahahah, ah…" the laugh that left the boy's mouth was hollow as was the question that followed ridden with sarcasm. "Surely you jest, Kayneth-dono?"
Without so much as a hesitation, he turned his back to the priest and magus and lifted Kariya with his shoulder. The man's only working eye was focused on the boy, but he opted to stay silent. This wasn't his issue to intervene. And besides, the man who'd never been born a real magus never held any care for the Clock Tower or magi in general, let alone the blonde who was just as likely to betray him as he'd almost done to Lelouch.
"Nobles like you are the same no matter where I go. Treachery like this… it was expected from the likes of you." Lelouch commented like it wasn't him who'd been betrayed. "I'm not angry for your actions, Kayneth. Just disappointed you didn't do anything worthwhile when you could've."
"And… what are you going to do now?" Kayneth snarled, venom finally seeping into his tone. "Does it mean the end of our alliance? After everything, I did for you?! Why? We still can work towards our goals and get Grail—!"
"Oh, right, I hadn't informed you, have I?" the boy said as he levelled an uncaring glance at the two men before him and Kariya. "I have no need for Grail. I don't have a wish, or at least nothing I desire that I can't attain with my own two hands. Not anymore. But I still have a goal in this war, that being making sure no one else gets the Grail."
Kirei was first to speak, preceded with laughter. "Hahah… Ahahah… Gilgamesh was right! There is something unusual about you, Lelouch Lamperouge."
"Is that what his Highness thinks of me?" Lelouch asked as if he was genuinely surprised. But it didn't fool the adults in the room who could tell sarcasm from curiosity.
"I can still help you with that!" Kayneth said, doing his best to not let the opportunity to survive slip away. "If it means I and Sola-Ui will leave alive, we can! Lamperouge, you aren't a fool! This, I'll admit! Why not let's forget about this Geis incident and continue working together? As adults?!"
The man even offered his hand, as if hoping patronizing would get Lelouch to agree. However, the Demon Emperor shook his head.
"Sorry, but you have nothing more to offer me, Kayneth-dono. This little team of ours was… an interesting experience. At the very least, I've come to understand how many of you magi think and act. Not a very promising sample size, but it is still reassuring that you'd continue to think so protective of your treacherous fiancé. Not many would've put up with such a betrayal from one's betrothed. I respect your feelings for her in that regard. Even if she thinks otherwise."
Lelouch said and pulled out a small device. Kayneth, being a magus that abhorred modern technology, didn't understand what it was. However, next to him, Kirei quickly realized what was going to happen. Shutting his eyes, the priest prepared for the worst.
Or maybe, he shouldn't have to. Perhaps… this was his punishment for trying to finally enjoy himself. It may have been worth it… but why waste any more effort feigning pious falsehood?
"I thank you for your tutelage, Lord Kayneth. Our time together was short, but let it not be said that I didn't learn a great deal from your example."
Regardless of the priest's internal musings, Kayneth didn't have time to react when Lelouch pressed the detonator, switching on the small device that Sola managed to hide within her fiancé's clothes while he wasn't looking. The former master of Lancer couldn't do anything when a small homemade bomb under his clothes beeped to life.
"Wait," for the last time, the magus tapped his pockets until he met the devilish smile forming on the boy's face. "What did you—?!"
"Nothing personal, Kayneth. But… this is war." The teenager didn't avert his eyes from the next death his plans brought upon another hapless victim. "The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed."
"Wai—!" BOOM
The second explosion wasn't as powerful as Kariya's suicide vest. Lelouch didn't want to hurt himself and only needed enough firepower to kill Kayneth. Blasting the already-crippled Kotomine was just a bonus.
All that remained of the two men were a splattering of blood and freshly burnt flesh. Quite an unpleasant end for a man, but it was fitting for two traitors. Or so Lelouch told himself as he shoved any form of guilt aside for the task at hand.
With one grappled onto Kariya's dead one and the other on his lower back, the boy ushered him. "Let's go, no point for the sinners to remain here anyway."
Kariya said nothing, now a little terrified by how Lelouch was willing to go. That the master of Avenger seemingly didn't care about the mess he'd made…. It was unsettling. Three dead in a blast engineered by a child no older than a high-schooler, how else should Kariya feel about the boy helping him limp out?
'If… I'm a sinner… who murdered for his own selfish desires…' the cripple kept to himself. 'What does that make you, who slaughters without a care in the world?'