How come the Ace of Cups isn't considered the Holy Grail?

An outsider has entered this house!

There were two of them, and they were definitely not ordinary thieves, otherwise they would not have been able to break through the warning barrier set up around the Matou residence.

They are magicians, or more accurately, a Master and Servant who participated in the Holy Grail War.

Having reached this conclusion, Medusa immediately revealed herself and whispered the news to Matou Sakura before she could open the door for Emiya Shirou.

"Sakura, the enemy has invaded."

Upon hearing this, Matou Sakura, who was still pondering what reason to use to refuse Emiya Shirou without letting him notice her unusual behavior, suddenly froze.

At that moment, she didn't care whether she would be exposed or not. All she could think about was getting Shirou Emiya out of this dangerous place as soon as possible. After saying a few words, she hung up the walkie-talkie.

Although she knew that with a door and a road separating them, Shirou Emiya outside the gate would never be able to see her face, Sakura Matou still subconsciously lowered her head.

Her neatly trimmed bangs concealed her unpleasant expression, and she coldly ordered Medusa beside her:

"Please, Rider, go and take care of those intruders. We absolutely cannot let them harm our senior."

“I understand, Sakura.”

Nodding, Medusa vanished from in front of Matou Sakura after transforming into her spirit form, heading towards the place where she had heard the commotion.

Sakura Matou remained where she was, gently brushing the last remaining Command Seal on the back of her hand, her eyes dark and unfathomable.

No matter who it is... I will absolutely not allow you to touch a single hair on my senior's head...

In a dark corner, ominous crimson lines flashed across Matou Sakura's shadow.

……

At this moment, after climbing through the first-floor window into the Matou residence, Yuwatari and Rin Tohsaka began searching for Sakura Matou's location room by room.

Because he was worried that the fluctuations generated when using magic might be detected by the other party, Yuuto did not summon the Shadow Mist Lady to help them with the search.

Perhaps due to Zouken Matou's personal preferences, there are very few places in the Matou residence that receive sunlight, and the interior lighting is almost entirely dependent on the mansion's own lamps.

After only a short while inside, Rin Tohsaka felt a chill creep over her entire body, and even felt her body stiffen slightly.

Rin Tohsaka: "!"

A sudden surge of magical energy appeared in the corridor ahead. Rin Tohsaka had just met the gaze of a pair of purple eyes with a ring of red markings when she felt something invisible wrap around her, gradually binding her entire body from bottom to top.

Rider!

Rin Tohsaka stared intently at Medusa, who appeared across the corridor. Ignoring her legs, which were beginning to turn to stone, her most unsettling suspicions were finally confirmed at this moment.

cherry……

Fortunately, Yuto had not let his guard down. After noticing Medusa's appearance, he realized that they had been discovered and immediately abandoned his infiltration plan, opening the card that he had covered in advance.

"Open the card! [Infinite Bubble]!"

Upon discovering that the intruders of the Matou residence were Yuwatari and Rin Tohsaka, Medusa, knowing full well how powerful the familiar they had summoned was, did not hesitate to remove her eyepatch and release the seal on her petrifying demon eyes.

In fact, if Sakura hadn't known that she didn't want Shirou Emiya, who hadn't gone far, to notice anything amiss, and that releasing her Noble Phantasm here would be too noisy, she would have actually planned to start with her Noble Phantasm right away.

In any case, Sakura is different from Shinji Matou; she is given plenty of mana, more than enough for her to fight another battle after unleashing her Noble Phantasm.

Unfortunately, because Shirou Emiya was still nearby, she had to abandon this plan and instead used her Mystic Eyes of Petrification to try to petrify the Master by sneak attacking him.

But what is that card?!

Medusa felt a stinging sensation in her eyes after seeing the purplish-red card standing in front of Yuuto.

She then discovered that her petrifying eyes seemed to have stopped reacting, just like when she was sealed by her treasure [Self-Sealing: Dark Temple].

Is it some kind of sealing-type Noble Phantasm?

Regardless, with her Mystic Eyes useless and her Noble Phantasm unable to be used, Medusa, however unwilling, had no choice but to charge forward with her chained short sword and fight Yuwatari.

With a flick of her wrist, Medusa pierced the wall beside her with her short sword. Relying on her restored A-level agility, Medusa swiftly transformed into a purple streak of light, weaving a 'spider web' of chains through the corridor.

At the same time, Yuuto pulled Rin Tohsaka behind him. The petrified area on Rin's feet shattered into layers of gray rock fragments after Medusa's petrification magic was neutralized.

"Wow, that's fast! Now, I'll activate the Trap Card [Neospace Expansion] from my hand! Appear! [Neospace Warrior Earth Mole], [Neospace Warrior Dark Panther], and [Elemental HERO Neos]!"

As Youdu summoned, a ring leading to a world of seven colors instantly appeared in the corridor, from which three streams of light of different colors—black, yellow, and white—burst forth.

A mole clad in drill-armored armor, a black panther with a cape, and the Neo-Universe Knight who had once severely wounded Medusa and forced her to flee appeared before her.

Seeing that the white familiar had brought two helpers this time, Medusa was unsure of their strength, but when she saw New Universe reach out to grab her chain, she immediately jumped off.

Bang-!

With its immense strength, Xinyuxia ripped the chain down along with a section of the wall.

Neo-Ultraman watched the chains dissipate into particles in his hand without paying any attention. He left Dark Panther and Earth Mole to guard Yuuto and Rin Tohsaka, and charged towards Medusa.

Despite still holding the short sword in her hand, Medusa felt that her short sword was of no use whatsoever.

She tried to stab the opponent with her short sword while dodging the attacks of the new hero, but it felt as if she had stabbed a hard block of iron.

The opponent possesses extremely strong physical strength.

Knowing this, Medusa believed that the best way to deal with such a strong and defensive opponent was to attack from a distance like a mage, and then rely on her A-rank agility to avoid being caught up by the opponent.

Instead of fighting her opponent in close combat like this, her attacks barely scratch her opponent, while her opponent's attacks would seriously injure her with just one strike!

Just as Medusa was preparing to leave, a voice made Rin Tohsaka momentarily lose her composure.

"Tohsaka...senpai?"

Chapter 32 Rin Tohsaka: "Zouken Matou!!!"

The familiar voice made Rin Tohsaka waver.

Although she had some suspicions when Rider appeared, Rin Tohsaka still couldn't help but close her eyes and sigh when she saw Matou Sakura in a white dress across the completely dark corridor.

"So... you are Rider's Master after all?"

"cherry."

Shila-

The light bulbs in the corridor began to flicker as Matou Sakura moved around, as if there was a malfunction. The filaments inside made a slight crackling sound, which made everyone present realize that something was wrong.

When Matou Sakura emerged from the darkness, Yuuto stared blankly at the red lines on her face that had not yet completely faded.

No, even though Zouken Matou is already dead, and Shinji Matou is gone too, so far only two Servants have left the Holy Grail War. The Black Grail has only collected the souls of two Servants at most, so why does Sakura Matou look like she's about to become Black Sakura?

After Zouken Matou was gone, did the Holy Grail fragments cause such severe damage to Sakura Matou?

Goodness, if this drags on for another two days, will the Black Grail just appear out of nowhere?

"Tohsaka-senpai..."

"Why? Is Tohsaka-senpai here to kill me?"

"It's like killing my brother and grandfather..."

Each step taken was accompanied by a question.

Matou Sakura stood expressionless in front of Tohsaka Rin, coldly watching Medusa, who was worried about her condition. Caught off guard by a moment of distraction, Shinu Kamen Rider punched her away, sending her flying past.

"cherry……"

Blood trickled from the corner of Medusa's mouth, and her body was beginning to show signs of dissipating, but her purple eyes remained fixed on the back of Matou Sakura in front of her.

However, Matou Sakura simply looked at Tohsaka Rin quietly, seemingly waiting for her answer to the question she had just asked.

Rin Tohsaka opened her eyes again and looked at Sakura Matou, who was clearly showing signs of something amiss.

Although she didn't know how the other party knew that Matou Zouken had also died at their hands, there was no doubt that the other party's current state was definitely related to Matou Zouken!

Matou Zouken!!!

At this moment, Rin Tohsaka suddenly regretted letting Zouken Matou die so quickly. She suppressed her anger towards the already dead Zouken Matou and was about to speak when the glass next to the corridor was suddenly smashed from the outside.

The person who came was none other than Emiya Shirou, who, after hearing Saber say that he sensed two magical energies inside the Matou residence, was worried that Matou Sakura was in danger, so he asked Saber to bring him in to rescue Matou Sakura!

Artoria, holding Shirou Emiya by the collar, had changed out of her casual clothes and was now wearing her silver armor. In her other hand, she gripped Excalibur, which was wrapped in the Wind King's Barrier, and stood up to guard both sides in the corridor.

Yuuto was dumbfounded when he saw Artoria appear out of nowhere. He looked at Matou Sakura opposite him, and then at Artoria in front of him.

This scene... it feels like the other side is about to be corrupted by the Black Grail at any moment, and then turn around and attack them with a beam of light...

"Ouch...it hurts! Oh right! Sakura, are you alright?"

After getting up from the messy ground, Shirou Emiya rubbed his head, which had bumped into a piece of glass, and quickly began to look for Sakura Matou.

Purple stood out among the group, and Shirou Emiya quickly spotted Sakura Matou, whose face still bore the undiminished red, crack-like lines.

And the Command Seal with only one stroke remaining on her hand.

"Tohsaka? What are you doing here? And Sakura, what happened to your face? And that thing on your hand... is that a Command Seal?"

Rin Tohsaka had no interest in dealing with this yet another acquaintance she had met in the Holy Grail War. She simply showed the Command Seals on the back of her hand to indicate that she was a participant in the Holy Grail War.

On the other side, Matou Sakura lowered her head to avoid Emiya Shirou's gaze, her body trembling slightly.

"...Senior, I clearly told you to leave here immediately, so why did you still come?"

The secret she had been trying so hard to hide was suddenly exposed, and the thought that Shirou Emiya might look at her as an enemy filled Sakura Matou with negative emotions.

The lines on her face appeared even more crimson, as if her body was about to shatter and something was about to emerge from within.

Even Shirou Emiya could tell that Sakura Matou was acting strangely. He stood up, his brows furrowed, and asked her with concern.

"Sakura? Are you alright?"

"Are you alright? Ah, of course I'm alright, senior..."

When asked by Shirou Emiya, Sakura Matou looked up and answered him with her usual smile.

But the smile looked particularly terrifying against the backdrop of the cracked lines on her face.

"Watch out! Shirou, I have a feeling something's off about this girl!"

As soon as Artoria finished speaking, Medusa, who had collapsed, finally had to leave the scene due to her severe injuries. Her soul was absorbed by Matou Sakura, becoming the last straw that broke the camel's back.

The familiar red-patterned black bandages reappeared, slowly wrapping around Matou Sakura as they spun. But what appeared in the end was not the black Sakura that Yuuto had imagined, but the shadowy figure that he and Rin Tohsaka had encountered at Ryudouji Temple the night before.

That was due to Matou Sakura's special constitution, a materialized Holy Grail shadow that appeared through Sakura.

However, he remembered that this dark figure only appeared when Matou Sakura was asleep, right?

So that's how it is. It was because he absorbed the souls of three Servants that the power within the Holy Grail fragments was further eroded. Coupled with his emotional distress, he fainted. Wasn't he corrupted?

Now that we know the problem, the rest is easy!

While Artoria was entangled with the shadowy figure, Yuuto patted Rin Tohsaka on the shoulder to calm her down. After all, it was inevitable that she would be emotionally affected to see her own sister suddenly turn into such a horrible state.

Yuto then told her his conclusions, casually mentioning that he sensed the Holy Grail's aura within Matou Sakura's body, as evidence for his conclusions.

"A materialized Holy Grail shadow?! Sakura actually has a fragment of the Holy Grail inside her?! How can this be—"

Upon hearing what Yuuto said, Rin Tohsaka instinctively wanted to deny it, but looking at the dark figure, she couldn't bring herself to utter the words of denial.

Is this really impossible?

Rin Tohsaka didn't know, but she knew that no matter what, letting Sakura continue in this state was definitely not a good thing!

call……

"Archer, do you have any ideas?"

Knowing that Yuuto must have already found a solution before telling her about it, Rin Tohsaka looked at him with hopeful eyes.

"Of course, you haven't forgotten my Noble Phantasm, have you?"

Yuuto smiled and waved the Duel Disk in his left hand at her. Meeting Rin Tohsaka's surprised gaze, he turned and shouted towards the shadowy figure.

"Hey! You dark figure over there! Want to have a thrilling duel with me?"

Chapter Thirty-Three: Erosion

Yuuto's words seemed to have flipped a strange switch. The dark figure that had wrapped Artoria's calf with its bandage-like tentacles immediately stopped and slowly withdrew them.

Artoria breathed a sigh of relief after escaping danger. When she was wrapped in those strange bandages, she found herself completely unable to resist and felt something was eroding her.

Fortunately, You Du's actions somehow successfully attracted the attention of the shadowy figure, otherwise she wouldn't know what she would do after being corrupted.

"Saber! Are you alright?!"

Seeing that the shadowy figure had shifted its target to Yuuto, Rin Tohsaka's Servant, Shirou Emiya seized the opportunity to help Artoria up and bring her to the side.

Emiya Shirou had expected that he would inevitably provoke the shadowy figure and be attacked during the process, and he was prepared to dodge. However, the shadowy figure did not even glance at him, which made him feel relieved but also a little puzzled.