“Karna versus Arjuna…
when those two fight, this is the only logical outcome,” Sebastian said.
“So that’s how it is.” He nodded, sat down next to Sakura Amagiri, and added, “Then we have to win this, for Karna’s sake.”
He thought everyone was feeling sad about their comrade’s elimination and wanted to offer a few comforting words.
Instead, Sakura looked at him with complete surprise.
Beside them, Ingvild covered her mouth and chuckled.
Opposite them, Artoria gave him a strange look.
“Master, you don’t actually think we’re sad about a comrade being eliminated, do you?”
“If not, then why does everyone look so serious?” Sebastian scanned the room.
Shirone and Irisviel both shook their heads.
Finally, Sakura leaned over, tugged on his sleeve, and whispered, “Sebastian-sama, we were just discussing…
how to handle my sister.
Grayfia-nee caught her earlier.”
“Rin is locked in the basement right now,” Sakura added.
Sebastian was silent for two seconds.
“So you’re not sad at all—you’re just deciding what to do with your sister?”
Sakura nodded.
Sebastian stood up and let out another sigh.
Fine, time to head to the basement.
Sakura didn’t argue with Sebastian’s comments about family.
She just walked quietly down the hall, her voice very soft.
“Even if you don’t do anything, Sebastian-sama, just having you beside me makes me feel at ease.”
Her feelings were deeply complicated.
“By right, she is my sister.
The man in the Amagiri household is my father, and then there’s my mother…
But I was sent away when I was six years old.
My memory isn’t very good; I can only recall things back to when I was four.
I only spent two years in that house.”
“Those two years were peaceful, but there is nothing special to remember.” She paused, her lips pressed tight, before continuing.
“When I was six, that man gave me away with his own hands.
After that, I lived in hell for ten years.
Ten years of suffering, compared to the happiness of these past few days…
both feel far more real to me than the two years I spent in that house.”
She turned to look at Sebastian.
“Sebastian-sama, do you believe that blood is thicker than water?”
Sebastian knew that at a time like this, a normal person would nod, smile, pat her shoulder, and say something positive—that blood ties mattered most.
But he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
In his past life, he was an orphan.
In this life…
it was even worse.
His grandfather had killed his father, his half-brother Vali had run away, and his relatives had either died or fled.
He had gone from being completely ignored to being treated like a tool.
With a family background like his, how could he tell anyone that blood was thicker than water?
Seeing his silence, Sakura turned her eyes back to the path ahead.
“It seems you don’t have an answer either.
I feel the same way.
You might not believe it, but when Rin saw me, she recognized me instantly.
Yet when I stood outside the Amagiri home, watching their family together, I had to guess who they were based on their ages.”
“Ten years…
is just too long,” Sakura said softly.
“That’s why I didn’t let you knock on the door, nor did I go inside.
My memories of that home are completely blurry.
Father, mother, Rin…
I can no longer picture their faces in my mind.”
“Maybe we count as family on paper.
Rin probably thinks of me as family, too.”
They reached the basement door, but Sakura kept talking.
“To me, Sebastian-sama, Kuroka, Shirone, Grayfia-nee, Ingvild, Irisviel, Artoria, and even Mr.
Karna…
all of you feel much more like my family.”
“Sharing happy memories, surviving hard times together, teasing each other, showing genuine kindness…
isn’t that what truly makes a family?” Sakura looked up at him.
“People you have no real memories of, people you can’t see or touch, people who never showed you kindness…
Sebastian-sama, can they really be called family?”
Sebastian didn’t open the door right away.
He stood there with his hand on the doorknob, staying silent for a few moments as he gathered his thoughts.
“I’m not very good at giving advice, and I don’t have the right to make this choice for you,” Sebastian said.
Sakura started to speak, but he gently interrupted her.
“But I do know that the past is in the past.
If something makes you feel bad, you don’t have to do it.
If something makes you happy, do more of it.”
“Don’t worry about complicated relationships, bloodlines, or painful memories.
To be honest, I’m really glad you shared all of this with me.
If you bottle it all up, you’ll only make yourself miserable.”
Sebastian smiled and gave her a small wink.
“Try to live a little more freely.
Take a lesson from Kuroka.”
He leaned in slightly.
“—Just don’t tell her I said that.
If she gets any more free-spirited, she’ll tear down the Lucifer Clan’s castle.”
With that, he pushed the basement door open.
A small smile tugged at the corners of Sakura’s mouth.
Freedom, huh…
Sebastian’s words hadn’t completely solved her doubts, but thinking about them made her feel much lighter inside.
Deep down, she realized she didn’t want to force herself to choose a side anyway.
Sebastian had noticed it, too.
As he opened the door, he glanced at Sakura from the corner of his eye.
Seeing the faint smile on her face gave him a sense of relief.
He had guessed correctly—she wasn’t looking for a perfect answer, just reassurance.
Sakura was usually quiet, gentle, and easygoing, especially compared to the rest of the wild Devils in the Lucifer territory.
Smiling to himself, Sebastian stepped into the room.
Inside the basement, Rin was bound tightly within a blue magic circle.
Her entire body was pinned down, and a barrier sealed her mouth, keeping her from uttering a word.
Sebastian’s smile turned playful.
“The two Heroic Spirits from your faction are already gone.
The only ones left on your side are your father and a traitor with a Heroic Spirit.
Given your father’s condition, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets eliminated any moment now.”
He paused, keeping his tone light.
“So, Rin, care to surrender?”
“We Devils are very serious about contracts.
Come on, sign a lifetime labor contract with me, and I might consider saving your father.
What do you say?”
Meanwhile, in a dimly lit room elsewhere in the city, blood pooled across the floor.
Tohsaka Tokiomi’s eyes were wide with shock.
He tried to speak, but he couldn’t squeeze out a single word.
In the mirror in front of him, he could see the reflection of the man standing behind him—holding the very mercury sword Tokiomi had given him, now driven straight through Tokiomi’s heart.
Tokiomi collapsed to the ground, his life fading fast.
Kotomine Kirei watched his teacher draw his final breath and smiled.
Tokiomi had never been cruel to him; in fact, he had been a patient and generous teacher.
Yet, killing someone so close to him brought Kirei a twisted, overwhelming sense of pleasure.
He stepped slowly toward the exit.
Looking back at the familiar room, the dark joy inside him surged like a tide.
“I can’t go back,” Kirei whispered to himself.
It wasn’t because he had killed his master.
It was simply because he had finally embraced his true nature.
He no longer belonged in a normal world.
Snap.
The door closed behind him.
The master of the Tohsaka household was dead.
Back in the basement, Rin tossed her dark twintails sharply, let out a harsh snort, and rejected the offer instantly.
Sebastian wasn’t angry at all.
Instead, he laughed.
“Grayfia, look at her.
Now I almost want to let her go just so she can find out her father is already gone.
I wonder what face she’ll make then.”
“Nobody is losing their father!” Rin snapped, her face flushed with anger.
“I know Kotomine Kirei is annoying, but I will never believe he killed my father!”
Sebastian sat down on the sofa, crossed his legs, and glanced at the others watching the scene.
He pointed toward Rin.
“Don’t blame her for acting tough while trapped.
Her life was traded to protect her father’s.
Let her vent a little longer, or her father’s sacrifice will be for nothing.”
Rin was so angry her head felt like it was going to explode.
She glared at Sebastian, her whole body trembling, but she was so furious she couldn’t squeeze out a single word.
Sakura stepped forward and asked softly, “Sebastian-sama, will Kotomine Kirei really kill Father?”
Seeing that it was Sakura asking, Sebastian dropped his sarcastic tone.
“It’s practically guaranteed.
Remember when I went to the church to take the Command Spells?
The old priest had thirty Command Spells given to him by the Matou family.
I didn’t kill him—his own son, Kotomine Kirei, did.”
Kuroka and the others looked surprised.
Rin refused to admit it out loud, but she couldn’t help listening closely.
“It makes total sense,” Sebastian explained.
“I’m a Devil.
When Karna used Sakura’s magic power back then, he carried a Devil’s magic aura.
Fighting near the church was fine—it just looked like a Stray Devil causing trouble.
But if a Devil had murdered a church official directly, the Angels would have stepped in immediately.”
“If a Stray Devil had killed someone high up in the church, Heaven would have sent an execution team right away.
But have any of you seen the Angels move?”
Grayfia nodded in agreement.
“That explains it.
I’ve been watching for any movement from Heaven, but they haven’t reacted at all.
It turns out the killer wasn’t an outside enemy, but someone from inside their own faction.”
Sebastian looked at Grayfia.
She was the one who had once taught him how to eliminate targets without leaving a trace, yet now she was playing along with his explanation seamlessly.
He wasn’t sure if she was just acting to help him convince the others, but her support made his story completely believable.
Everyone else found Sebastian’s logic solid.
They turned to look at Rin with a mixture of sympathy and pity.
“Stop looking at me like that!” Rin yelled.
Kuroka let out a soft sigh.
“Keep acting tough…
it really is kind of pitiful, nyan.”
Rin felt like she had been punched in the chest.
Finally, Sakura looked at her sister.
“Sebastian-sama wouldn’t lie about something like this.
Sister, I think it’s better if you believe him.”
“I told you, Father wouldn’t—” Rin started to shout back, but suddenly froze.
She stared at Sakura in shock.
“Sakura…
what did you just call me?”
Sakura maintained her gentle smile, looking at her quietly.
“I called you Sister.
Is something wrong?”