Matou residence.
Byakuya wasn't very fond of the daytime.
The pesky sun that shone in through the windows and blinded one's eyes, the hot weather that made one sweat needlessly, but also the large number of people bustling around with life and going about their business.
Or maybe his hate of the day stemmed more from dealing with a hangover he earned for drinking his sorrows away the night before. Who knows? Who cared? He didn't, that was for sure.
The morning was an annoyance to him, but it was still far better than staying the entire day at the house with his newly adopted niece and his own 'father'. Then again, should he be venting his anger on a child? Little Sakura didn't do anything to him. Even after her first training, the poor girl merely spent days just sitting in her room. Quiet. Eerily so. Had he not the small modicum of humanity he had left, he wouldn't have brought her some food. The girl had been far too shellshocked to come out for dinner.
That was a long time ago, barely a few days after she'd first arrived. Now, she was but an empty shell, an obedient doll to his father and the torturous machinations he'd commit in their basement.
'Hmph… Kariya and I went through that training dozens of times in the past… but we were older.' Any attempt at mockery deflated when he realized it. Tohsaka—no, Matou Sakura was far too young to comprehend the hell she was being put through. Using himself and his brother as a comparison, it wasn't fair. 'That girl… she must just be around Shinji's age.'
Just thinking about what if Zouken decided to train his son as well made Byakuya freeze. Neither he nor his son saw much good out of their father-son relationship. As a somewhat sober alcoholic at the moment, he preferred to avoid his only child. Not because of hate, but because Shinji was a stark reminder of Byakuya's deceased wife. The memory of his beloved being eaten alive by Zouken's little parasites haunted Byakuya to this very day.
More so when he realized those same bugs were what had eaten and consumed the rest of their predecessors to prolong Zouken's life. It led to the morbid yet hopeful thought 'Would Shinji and I… reunite with her someday?'
Such thinking nearly had him vomiting. Glass shattered as his hangover retching jerked him to kick an empty bottle aside.
'Dammit… Dammit!' He cursed. But he could only curse himself for even thinking about it. 'I… I should've been the one to run… It should've been me who left Kariya here. Not… the other way around…'
Such a curse, he could never say aloud. Not to the brother who was already knocking on death's door. Escaped once but returned for the sake of the child who was now being reared by the fiend in the magic workshop beneath the floorboards.
Zouken hadn't so much as complain. Quite opposite, the old worm preferred it this way. That was despite the fact the old crone enjoyed Kariya's continued suffering.
Between them, Kariya was at least capable of some magecraft. Neither Byakuya nor Shinji were able to, but neither of them suffered for it. Instead, it was Byakuya's wife who paid the price. No doubt Zouken did it to punish Byakuya as well. Instead of rotting in a pool of ravenous maggots, he was to live out his life in guilt and mental stress.
Had it been Byakuya who escaped… would he have returned for Shinji's sake? He didn't know himself. But he doubted it would matter now.
He wasn't his little brother. He couldn't just leave this damned house and forget this accursed home. Byakuya had nowhere else to go. Besides, even if he hated Zouken, it didn't mean he hated their family as a whole. Rather, it was because he depended on the Matou household now more than ever that he couldn't come to reject it.
The Matou clan wasn't poor by any means. Dead as their lineage was in magecraft, it was still wealthy to an extent all due to Zouken's ancient hoarding. No matter how much Byakuya spent on booze, he wouldn't ever run out of funds to satiate his addiction. And, not having a proper job, in the moonlit world or otherwise, it meant he was as much a parasite to this family as the worms were to his brother.
He thrived in this environment. Perhaps, it was the depression, the lack of motivation, the fear and distress accumulated over the decades… but it all resulted in a man as broken down and devastated as he.
It was enough to keep him satisfied enough with his place in the world. He was never happy. Not since losing the one thing, he hoped his family could never corrupt. But he was alive. That, in itself, was enough.
Besides, what could he do? He was a terrible magus. Even Kariya who ran away from family was still a better magus than him. Forced and rushed as the training was, his little brother still managed to become good enough to summon a Servant. And though that ghost of a hero was strong enough to rend people to shreds, it was still not enough to overcome Zouken.
Byakuya could see it. Kariya could never fight against Zouken. The immortal parasite was far too powerful to confront. And even if Kariya tried, he still had a hostage.
'I wish this damned war would end faster!' A migraine had started to consume him again. It has been happening more often these days. 'Just hurry up and win, you damned fool! Before your enemies decide to aim for us instead!'
Their family had long since been participants in the Holy Grail War. It was a risk that they'd soon come for them instead of beating around the bush. The Tohsaka themselves had their mansion torn asunder and they were the best magi family in town, Zouken's secret immortality be damned.
Yet still, that was the result of an attacker with severe disregard for human life. In any case, a Servant's rampage meant more danger to him who was basically just another normal human. With the apparent explosion at the Church and the confirmed bodies of the priest and his son, as well as the scattered remains of Tohsaka Tokiomi, that meant the only magi left that were considered of note were the Einzberns and them.
An enemy Servant could come breaking down their walls at any moment now, a thought that didn't sit well with the morning drunkard. That Caster once attacking Zouken for sustenance supported that theory.
Kariya's Servant would've been some help, but even the presence of Berserker had Byakuya terrified. He was afraid of that thing almost as much as he was afraid of Zouken. As far as he knew, his old man was just playing with Kariya. There was no way his younger brother could win this war. It was stupid to even believe that Zouken would willingly give up a potential heir even after, by some miracle, Kariya won the Grail. That man cared little about the outside world and treasured magecraft more than even his own children.
Byakuya felt sorry for Sakura but, regardless of whether Kariya won or not, there was no hope for the girl. It was useless to fight against Zouken. That lesson had been ingrained in him years ago.
Speaking of his dear father, "Byakuya! Come!"
Zouken's voice cracked as it was heard throughout the house. It was no longer human. In fact, it rang clearly in every room despite the thing that was his father not being present in it.
But Byakuya could only take in a deep breath, trying to gather strength, before obeying the old worm.
As of a few nights back, only two humans resided within the Matou residence. Whatever Caster did to Zouken, it changed the old man for the worse. Before, the parasite was pettily cruel as he was bossy. But recently, he rarely wasted words and more enforced others to do as they were told. He would always demand something before going on his way. Maybe even chide his only remaining son for lazing about and being drunk again. Now, however, Zouken was ordering Byakuya non-stop, always ordering his failure of a first child to act in his stead for his current state was pretty much crippled if not half-dead.
Because it was always magecraft related, Byakuya's inability to understand or do anything in the art of magic made the old worm even more furious. He was threatened with death far more often than before.
Silently making his way towards the basement, Byakuya maintained a tired scowl. The place had always been used as a training ground for the magi of the family. But in truth, it was just a breeding ground for Zouken and his Crest worms. The secret facility held only bad memories for Byakuya, no doubt for Kariya and now Sakura as well. Some part of him hoped that at least Shinji wouldn't have to suffer the same fate.
As stepped inside the giant room, he immediately felt the cold air and terrible smell. The small sounds of squishing and squirming told him as much of the monster's presence as the echoing footsteps alerted him to Byakuya's. Looking down at the pit, his father stared back up at him. A pair of glazed blacks were met with the compound-eyed stare of a nearly two-hundred-bug swarm.
The worms continued to mulch together like living organs in a pool of flesh and muck.
Caster's last and only visit left Matou Zouken in a condition that Byakuya would declare as near-death. He wasn't an expert of magecraft, far from it. But the old man had been knocked down far too low to even be considered alive at this point.
He needed his Crest worms to survive. He needed hundreds—thousands of them. But Gilles de Rais took almost everything. A majority of the bugs eaten by Caster left the fiend writhing at the bottom of the basement's pit in a deplorable rancid state of eternal decay. Forget smelling like a corpse, the entire basement was hell on earth. All that was needed now was the eternal flames of damnation.
Zouken was running low on his supplies, and it was clear with his need to pester Byakuya with his magecraft work. But, of course, because his father was calling in the morning, there was only one other task he had for his 'son'. Even now, Byakuya tried his best to not vomit at the thing writhing below.
"Byakuya! Did you bring my food?!"
His face squirmed. The 'food' the thing below demanded was the same one its abominations ate when they took away his beloved. That is to say, human flesh.
Ever since the man was reduced to this state, Byakuya had been forced to bring corpses for him to feast upon. Needing human flesh, however, he had to resort to meagre kidnappings and stealing from the morgue. All of which was aided through the use of one or two hypnosis-capable bugs the wretch would lend him, yet it still wasn't easy.
Police were on high alert as enough as it is already. Missing children, a terrorist attack on a hotel, add last night's incident with the church. The whole city was in a panic. So much so that a few places he'd buy alcohol at claimed everything was going to shit.
In the commotion, he was able to snag a few bodies here and there. It still wasn't enough though.
"I couldn't procure one last night—" His voice cut mid sentence. A growl seemed to emanate from all over yet came more from the bottom of the pit. Frustration beat back the fear as he cried out. "What am I supposed to do?! The police are everywhere! I can't even—!"
"Excuses! Always excuses! You're a worthless failure!" roared the mass of worms. "Ah… Both you and Kariya are a waste of my time! Not only was he a failure who allowed this to happen to me, but you are also still a disappointment without any use besides giving me useless offspring!" The words stung, but he bit back the bile to blame the monster. Even in this state, Zouken would still be able to kill him. If he was resentful enough, it wouldn't be quick either. "I've had enough of you. Go and prepare Sakura. Tonight, I will complete her training. At least the girl will be good for something!"
Byakuya opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but quickly shut his mouth. Not desiring to become food himself, the false patriarch of the family decided to do as he was told. This was and always will be the safest choice so long as Zouken lived. There would be nothing he could do to stop it, much less hinder the monster of the pit.
And although he knew Kariya was doing it all, suffering through this war on the back foot because he wanted to save the girl… it would appear that he wasn't fast enough. A shame.
'Sorry girl… But this is the family that accepted you.' Swallowing his pride as well as the guilt that welled up within, the parasite of the Matou home grit his teeth in shame and fear. 'Better you than me…'
***
Author notes:
New update! After the last chapter, I was happy with the positive feedback and hope you enjoyed the calm chapter. So what we had in this chapter? Lulu and Nobu flirting while planning how to kill others. And yeah, we're going after Zouken next. I had ideas about using him as big bad of the entire war, but I feel like Kiritsugu will work better in such a role.
Special thanks to Beta-Reader for amazing work: ReavesTheReader!