NOVEL NEXT Chapter 75: Sweet home Alabama~~
While still cradling her crying and shivering sister against her body, Rin sneered at the crumpled old man with absolute disdain and hatred. She turned her attention to me and asked, “What are my options?”
A cruel smile formed behind my fan as I answered, “Nearly endless. How long do you want him to suffer? Do you want him to keep existing after you're done? These are a few of the questions you need to ask yourself going forward.”
Rin tilted her head a little as she asked, “You can control time or something? What do you mean by "how long?”
With a soft giggle, I answered, “Time is a bit out of my reach currently. What is not, however, is the mind. I can combine your minds into a sort of mindscape. There, you would have full control over everything. And I do mean, EVERYTHING. From what tools you use, to how much pain he feels, to even preventing his mind from shattering eventually. With a little bit of magic mixed in your perception of time will drastically increase to the point where one single second out here could be millions of years in there. So in effect, time control~.”
Rin gained a thoughtful look on her face as she started to caress her sister's head while she contemplated what to do. She nudged her sister gently to get her attention as she asked, “Would you like… to join me? To repay all the pain. All the horrors he had done to you?”
Sakura looked up to Rin and with a weak voice asked, “Would it be... Fine? Safe?”
Turning her attention to me I answered Rin’s unasked question, “He will be completely at your mercy. What he can and can not do will be up to you.”
She gave me a nod and said, “Do it.”
Vanishing my fan, I smiled at her and closed my eyes as I focused on the spell. It was kind of an amalgamation of the ones I knew as Artoria and a few from the Potterverse. Soon, a small orb that was pitch black formed in the middle of the room. Seconds later, beams of purple light shot out striking the three in the middle of the head and the sisters joined the lump of meat on the floor.
Moments later, I witnessed something rather interesting. Sakura’s form was suddenly enveloped by my corruption mana! Less than a heartbeat later, it was absorbed into her and revealed her changed form. Seconds after that, the old man let out a wondrously harrowing scream full of pain. I watched as his body rapidly aged, much to my confusion considering how he already looked, and as wounds would appear and vanish all over it. It wasn’t long before his body crumbled to dust, and then it was his soul's turn to start screaming.
I was genuinely surprised that my spell was also able to lock in his soul, as I only expected it to lock his mind with them. It wasn’t long before his howling subsided and he started to fade. With a cruel smile, I bound him in magical chains and prevented him from moving on. While I can’t control time, I can most easily prevent a soul from vanishing for a while.
Hearing a subtle crack from the orb, I take a quick peek to see how long they’ve been inside. It seems Rin and Sakura were satisfied with just a little over two thousand years of torture. And it seems they did a few other... “things”… when they took a few years off and left the old man drowning in a comically large toilet. To say that was an unexpected turn of events would be a lie honestly, after all, they spent the last two thousand-ish years with just themselves as company.
Their new form of “sisterhood” would also explain how my corruption was extended to Sakura without my actual input. Seems Rin shared my gift with her~.
My musings were broken by the sound of a mirror shattering and the little orb fading away in a puff of dust. A couple of groans from the sisters drew my attention to them as they both sat up, and I took note that they were also holding hands as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
They were both blinking lazily as they gazed around the room before Rin said, “We’re back…”
Sakura nodded her head and said, “We are. Oh! It seems my change was real after all~.”
They both looked at her new form which had changed to the classic “alter” look, and I must say she did rock the colour palette rather well. With a smirk, I asked, “So, did you enjoy your vacation, ladies?”
They both looked at each other, smiled and took their lips into a deep passionate kiss. I could only smile at the open display of love. I very much doubt anything will be able to break up this family bond anytime soon. I also noted that it seems Sakura was the more dominant one, which surprised me a bit honestly.
With a sly smirk, I thought, ‘Well, that makes sense. Two thousand or so years is more than enough time for a person to experience change.’
With a wet smack of their lips, Sakura broke off the sensational kiss and giggled. As she gave her sister a hug she turned her head to me and asked, “I am honestly surprised you’re not making a big deal out of this, considering what period you are from.”
With an amused smile, I asked, “Oh? And why is that?”
She shrugged and said, “Well, from what Rin has told me, you’re from back when women were looked down on, let alone same-sex couples. Don’t even mention lesbians.”
I barked a laugh and said, “Child, I am several million years old. And, my current potential wife is a woman. A strong, sexy, wonderful woman…”
A cough from Rin breaks me out of my rapidly lewding thoughts of Barghest, causing me to do a fake cough and say, “Right. Anyway, no. You get nothing but my blessings and well wishes for your coupling.”
Sakura smiles as she tightens her hug on Rin before she stills and then asks, “What is THAT thing still doing here….”
Rin and I both turn our attention to the shackled spirit of Zouken Matou. With a shrug of my shoulders, I answered, “I wanted to know what you want for his final fate. To be released and wiped clean at the seat of creation? To be forever cursed and tormented for the rest of existence? Or to be erased.”
They wasted no time at all and simultaneously said, ““Erased!””
With a soft chuckle, I walk up to the remnants of the man's soul and reach out with my right hand. Gripping his throat, the soul barely acknowledged the touch before I started to coat him in NULL. Without so much of a squeal of pain, he was gone in seconds, forever removed from existence.
I then turned to the still-floating form of Shinji Matou and asked, “And him?”
They both turned to where I was looking and Sakura gasped and said, “Oh my, I completely forgot that little shit existed! He looks…. Broken though.”
Rin barked a laugh and said, “Oh, he is dear. He most certainly is. His mind was broken by a very nasty torture spell. I vote we just have him erased as well. Thoughts sis?”
Sakura shrugged her shoulders and said, “Yeah, just remove him.”
With a soft hum, I walked over to the braindead boy and coated him in NULL. And again, not so much of a peep escaped his lips as he was removed from existence, soul and all.
Rin released a heavy sigh and said, “I am tired. It’s been a trip, to say the least. How about we go back home, and ‘relax’?”
She started to wiggle her eyebrows at Sakura when she said “Relax.” Which caused an adorable blush to appear on the girl who merely nodded her head. Without needing a queue, I teleported them to Rin's room.
Turning my attention to Rider I asked, “So? What are you going to do now?”
She simply replied, “What I will always do. Protect my master.”
She dashed out of the room and started to make her way to where Sakura and Rin were. With a shrug, I ignored her and shot through the roof of the house until I was a good bit away from it.
Looking down at the house of horrors, I simply extended my arm out and with my index finger point down I said, “Bang”
The entire house, and several houses around my intended target, exploded like a volcano had erupted in the middle of them.
Bringing my hand back down to my side I raised an eyebrow and thought, ‘Odd. I only meant to explode one house, not all of those. Oh well.’
With a soft snap, I was gone and appeared in the living room of Rin’s home. I smiled as I looked at the slightly blushing Rider who was sitting on the couch. It seems Rin didn’t activate the privacy wards in her room, and we can hear Sakura howling in bliss.
With a slight chuckle I snapped my fingers and put up such a barrier around the bedroom which earned me a small nod of appreciation from Rider and a tiny, “Thank you…”
I waved her off and said, “It is no trouble. So, back to what I had asked you. You said you want to protect your master. But what about the grail?”
She just shrugged and said, “It’s as good as yours. There is zero chance I will be able to do anything to resist you should we fight. So, while I am around I’ll instead just protect my master until it is time to say goodbye.”
I was only slightly surprised by that answer because it was rather well-known that Rider was sweet on Sakura, and genuinely wanted to protect her.
With a soft hum, I walked over to the loan recliner and sat down. I reached out to the little pebble I had given Barghest and sort of “asked” if she could talk.
Moments later, her sexy voice echoed in my head as she asked, “Yes, Artoria?”
I sighed in contentment at merely hearing her voice before answering, “My Barghest. How’re you? Do you want to go on a date sometime soon?”
Even though it really shouldn’t be possible, I was able to feel her excitement through the connection as she said, “Yes! Oh, and I am fine. Things are boring here, with a lot of scheming and boring things. How about we go on a date tomorrow? I should be free then!”
With a smile, I answer, “Then it is a date. Tomorrow it is! Just contact me the moment you want to go and I’ll come pick you up, okay?”
With a jubilant vibe in her voice, she answered, “Yes! Okay! See you tomorrow… sweety!”
She then quickly disconnected before I could say anything. With a smirk, I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll get you back for that little tease, my Barghest~.’
As I was relaxing in the chair I suddenly felt a fundamental change happen to one of my sisters. Frowning, I focused on the link we shared and was soon surprised to find out that Neo was now closer to my levels of darkness. I was a little flabbergasted, as I thought Neo was more of a chaotic neutral kind of girl.
I could only sigh in annoyance since I was currently cut off from everyone with the situation being what it was. While I would more than welcome a much darker Neo, I also understood that she wasn’t like me. Casting a glance at Rider who was just resting as well, I sent a silent prayer to Mother Lilith that whatever was happening would end with benefits for her.
Returning my gaze to the ceiling, I did a bit of self-reflection, ‘I am a little surprised with myself that I am worried for Neo. I mean, yeah, she is my sister but she is not Tearwyn.’ I couldn’t help the ghost of a smile forming as I continued my thoughts, ‘I guess they are all worming their way into my blackened heart slowly. Oh well, they are family. No one will replace my Tearwyn… but I don’t feel disgusted if others join her I guess.’
