As the trio made their way down the staircase leading to the basement, both Avenger and Kariya caught wind of the atrocious smell in the air. Something reeked of death along the walls, yet there wasn't a single bloodstain or carcass littering the place.
Instead, the walls were decorated with claw marks, gashes, craters and various holes.
"What the hell happened here?" asked their only guide, he needed to growl out his brother's name to get a response. "Byakuya?"
"… It… happened a few nights ago…" the man's shoulder's shuddered as he spoke. "Caster attacked, leading an army of tentacle monsters."
Considering that Caster was already dead, slain by the Servant guarding him this very moment, then it must've happened before then. He got Zouken's order to aim for Caster just the night before that, hence his appearance on the battlefield that night, but it didn't explain why the old worm went quiet soon after.
'… Did this mean…?' Realization struck him. "What happened?"
It didn't take a genius to recognize where Kariya's thoughts honed in on. His brother certainly didn't bother beating around the bush, scared as he was. "Sakura and I were ignored. But that monster… it did something to Zouken. I don't know what, but you'll understand it faster if you see him."
If he was taking him directly to the bastard, that meant Zouken was in the pit. Why there of all places after surviving a Servant attack, Kariya could only hazard a guess. It made things easier too. Less escape routes for the worm to take.
But the fact that Sakura was unaccounted for still had Kariya on edge.
"Where is she?"
"You'll understand when—"
"I said," the interruption was more guttural than before. "Where is she, Byakuya?"
He didn't bother with a reply or glance. Kariya only saw his brother's shoulders hitched. It appears, no matter the answer, his dear sibling already knew it would earn his ire. Hence, he opted to remain silent. Lucky for him, Kariya chose not to act on that silence. Not yet, anyway.
But then, Kariya heard something he never expected of his older brother.
"I'm… sorry." It was only for a short moment. Just a brief whisper that was soon blocked out by the creaking of a door. "We're here."
Before Kariya could ask, Byakuya led them into the cavernous basement. The stench the door kept at bay overwhelmed them all. Even as fresh air seeped into the place from the entrance they walked through, it wasn't enough to clear the reek of death and decay.
So many memories of the place caused Kariya's skin to crawl. Had his insects been awake still, they might've resonated with the skittering he heard within. The ravenous swarm ignited the trauma he so desperately suppressed with the bile welling up in his throat.
"Oh… You're finally here… Kariya…" Zouken chuckled lightly, his voice seemingly coming from all sides. But there was something else apart from the old man's mirth.
"Get back." Avenger's whisper caught him by surprise as well, but not as much as the earlier sensation.
Even before she materialized to stand by him protectively, he felt it. The blood thirst and hunger, the cold chill you get when someone, or something, was staring hungrily your way, permeated the room and was concentrated solely on his person.
It was as if the room that stank of corpses beckoned him to come closer, to join the pile in the dark pit below.
It was in the darkness of that pit that Kariya saw something that had him lose what feeling he had left in his limbs.
"… Uncle… Kariya…?"
There she stood. Or rather, there, in the centre of a mass of worms, a naked child was enveloped by a living cocoon.
A whole swarm of worms, insects, arachnids and more, all of them continued to crawl above, around, and all over Sakura's petite and defenceless form. Even as she stood there, her limbs looked lifeless as she was held aloft by the mass of fleshy creatures continuing to violate her being.
That he knew what she was going through without even asking had the bile in him escaping a little.
"Why…? Ngh!" Vomiting over the edge of the pit, he was then consumed by a rage he only felt once before. "What…?!" His fingernails grated on the cement floor as he continued to stare at the person who suffered despite his attempts to save her. "What the hell… are you doing to her, ZOUKEN?!"
"Oh, whatever do you mean?" again, the elder ignored him as his chuckling voice echoed throughout the hall. "Ho, ho! From what I can see, it seems you've got quite the Servant with you this time around… Hm… I sense a strong aura from her. Good job, my son…"
That he would claim fathership this late in the game was lost to Kariya who felt unbridled rage at the vampire who broke his promise. 'Why…? She wasn't supposed to receive any more treatment until the war was over! Why?!'
"What are you doing, staying up there? Both of you, get down here now. It's rude to keep a father waiting."
He could feel the stare Avenger sent his way, making sure he won't act bluntly and ruin their plan. But he couldn't help baring his teeth ferally at the horrid sight before him.
With some difficulty, he got off his knees and limped towards the steps. Byakuya fearfully trailed after him and Avenger who stayed close by, but Kariya could hardly give a damn about his sibling. Right now, all his eye saw was Sakura, going through something he should've saved her from.
He felt his fingers cut a wound into his palm again, eliciting a small trail of blood dripping to the stone floor.
When one of the many insects came closer to have a taste of the fresh red liquid, Kariya made a point of stamping on that one hard. When it exploded with a pop underfoot, the entire room rumbled with life.
"Oy… What do you think you're doing… Kariya?" He expected anger. Instead, there was amusement in the voice that seemed closer than ever before. So loud and… somewhat inhuman was the intonation that it caused Kariya to scan the area, searching for the source. "Hardly a week since leaving home… with my precious gifts… and not only did you lose respect… but you've forgotten… how to greet your loving parent?"
"What the hell about you is 'loving', you bast—Ngh!" When his eyes found the man, his stomach nearly emptied itself. Whether it was to vomit in disgust or shit his pants in fear, he did not know. In fact, it was because he didn't know what he was looking at that the horrible feeling overwhelmed his anger for a moment. "What… the hell?!"
A mannequin of flesh. What used to be a frail-looking old man now resembled a doll haphazardly made of living, convulsing masses of meat and organs. Or so they would appear from the outside.
SKREEEEE SHAAAAAAH SHIIIIIK
But the millions of insect noises, of worms and bugs and various other creepy crawlies created by Zouken's magic, proved it otherwise. Those were not mere flesh. They were monsters. A hive of horrors feasting, meshing, crawling all over one another in an attempt to replicate a humanoid shape.
"The fuck—?!"
As if hearing him, the mannequin of monstrosities raised its grotesque head. Or what was supposed to be a head but was actually a bulbous blob of slimily thumping meat. It was as if the whole thing was just an unruly mesh of pink arteries attached to the stump of a neck. And that wasn't discounting the ugliest maw of living teeth Kariya had ever seen.
When it opened wide, however, numerous sets of varying eyes peered to him through the dentures as a voice spoke once more.
"Do I scare you, Kariya?"
"HIII—!"
"Hahah… Ahahaha!" The second his anger melted to fear, the monster's shoulders shuddered with laughter. Its grotesque form seemingly unable to keep its voice from resounding along the basement's walls. "What's the matter? Where did all your fire go to, my 'son'?"
He had no response. Not when the inhuman creature turned its full body towards him. He very well damn-near pissed himself when whatever the thing was raised one of its worm-riddled arms his way.
"N-no! G-get away—!"
"Hah! I merely point and this is how you react… That's unsightly of you, Kariya…" the voice droned but echoed with the shrill squee of a thousand bugs every other word. "And here I thought… you'd be ready to call yourself a Matou… after all these years."
'And who the hell would want to be called that, to be associated with a monster like you—!' were the words that remained stuck in his throat. No matter how hard he wished to spit them in Zouken's face, he couldn't. Not when the thing didn't even have a face he could spit on without agitating what was likely a dozen or so of ravenous flesh-eaters.
'Fuck… Fuck!' Fear had overcome him once more, wilting his earlier determination to dust. 'What do I—?!'
"Stand up." Her commanding words came from behind. A quick glance over to Avenger, the not-too-amused Servant steadied a glare forward, towards the beast he cowered from. Her eyes were fire, as were his insides when she spoke again. "Or is this the extent of your resolve?"
No. Of course, it wasn't. He need not be told twice, nor follow the red headed woman's side glance over to the girl trapped in the mulching swarm. Kariya grit his teeth, biting down on his lip and cutting it, in an attempt to focus.
'Stand… Stand, damn you!' He couldn't falter. Not now. Not ever. 'For what reason did I choose to walk this hell anyway? Don't give in! Don't… cower to this bastard!'
"Hoh? Well, colour me surprised…" The thing mumbled in the voice of his bugs. "Kariya, I expected nothing but failure from you… and yet you of all people managed to recover? It must be that new Servant of yours, isn't it? Hehehe…Heheh…"
"What the hell are you on about?" he growled back at the worm who even now continued to mock him.
"Not only were you able to survive for so long… you actually bested someone… and even stole a better Servant for yourself…" The creature's dentures all wriggled like small bone spikes attached to tentacles. Kariya took it as Zouken's attempt at a smirk. "I heard you earlier… You said something… about defeating Archer and Tokiomi… Is this true?"
"Would I even be here if it wasn't?"
"Hehehe…Heheh…" He suddenly felt the walls rumble. A soft grunting resounding everywhere meant he was chuckling again. "Don't lie to me… Someone like you… couldn't even hold a candle to a single one of my worms before…"
Kariya bit his lip. Mockery as it was, he was wasting time. By now, he was close enough that he could smell the stench off of Zouken's walking worm corpse. Calling on Berserker and ending it should've been a done deal. But…
"… Father is… dead?" The faintest twinkle of hope could be seen fading from Sakura's hollowed gaze. As she stood there, being violated by Zouken's magecraft, she could only watch and listen as he brought the bad news. "… No… way… Uncle… Kariya… Did you…?"
Even in the midst of a rescue, it seems all he could offer the child was even more undue stress and grief. The tears streaming down her cheeks were quickly lapped away by one of the abominable insects.
Bleeding from the lip by now, Kariya held it in. He couldn't call on Berserker. Not when Sakura was in Zouken's grasp. While he didn't know what the old worm was capable of in such form, he was at least aware that anything he did out of place would only end up hurting Sakura further.
He didn't need to see Avenger's watchful gaze to know that she would warn him of the same. He shouldn't act immediately. However, that didn't mean he couldn't lure his 'father' into a false sense of security.
"Yes..." He tried his best not to see the girl's expression break down further. "I… killed Tohsaka Tokiomi… with my bare hands…"