The Exorcism Tale of Hachiman

The mountainous areas of Fuyuki City, located by the sea, are often suburbs closer to the mainland.

By a twist of fate, a fox, after inspecting a large cave in the mountains behind Fuyuki City, accidentally wandered into a side path...

Okay, that's just what the Inari God Fox said when reporting to Hachiman Hikigaya.

The truth is that when this Inari fox was planning to return the way it came, it encountered some strange insects and became playful. It secretly followed the marking insects and found the hiding place of Matou Zouken.

Although Hachiman Hikigaya couldn't understand why the silly fox squatting in front of him with droopy ears would find creatures like Crest Worms amusing, it was really great that he had found Zouken Matou's location.

"Sakura and Karna can stay here. I'll take Saber with me."

Considering the example of Kiritsugu Emiya from last night, Hachiman Hikigaya decided to leave Karna, whom he personally felt was more powerful, to take care of Irisviel and Sakura, while taking Artoria to capture Zouken Matou as a substitute for summoning the Lesser Grail.

No one objected to Hachiman Hikigaya's plan.

I glanced up at the clock on the wall; it was already past four in the afternoon.

There were less than four hours left until the time I agreed to meet with the rider.

"Then, I'll leave it to you this time, Saber."

"Ah, please leave it to me with confidence!"

After saying that, Artoria twisted the throttle of the motorcycle in her hand.

With a deafening roar of the engine, the two people and the car quickly disappeared at the end of the street.

Twenty minutes later, on a winding mountain road several kilometers away from Zouken Matou's hiding place.

Before Artoria could even stop the motorcycle, Hachiman Hikigaya rushed to the side of the road and started vomiting.

"Master, are you okay?"

After parking the motorcycle, Artoria frowned as she looked at Hachiman Hikigaya's distressed expression.

She had thought Hachiman Hikigaya was physically strong after seeing him fight, but she never expected him to be so weak after just a 20-minute motorcycle ride...

"No, I think this has absolutely nothing to do with whether I'm weak or not..."

Looking at the expression on Artoria's face, Hachiman Hikigaya guessed what she was thinking and immediately began to defend himself.

Anyone would find it unbearable to ride a motorcycle at speeds up to 120 km/h, with constant drifting and swaying.

Especially since Artoria was wearing a layer of hard armor, it almost killed him along the way...

After resting for a while and feeling that he had recovered, Hachiman Hikigaya led Artoria slowly toward Zouken Matou's cabin.

With the help of the Inari foxes along the way, they perfectly avoided all the insect sentries that Zouken Matou had placed around them and arrived outside the cabin.

"Ok?"

While resting in the wooden house, Matou Zouken vaguely sensed that something was amiss in his surroundings.

Although none of the insects scattered around the perimeter detected any trace of the enemy, Zouken Matou, adhering to the principle of "better safe than sorry," decided to move on.

However, just as he stood up, an air cannon shot destroyed the wooden house he was in, leaving him completely exposed in the wilderness!

"This move is...Saber?!"

Although the Matou family did not participate in this Holy Grail War, Zouken Matou was still gathering information on the various Servants participating.

Therefore, upon realizing that the air cannon had destroyed the wooden house, Zouken Matou instantly recognized the attacking Heroic Spirit as Artoria.

However, Zouken Matou's face immediately showed a look of confusion.

Artoria's Master, Kiritsugu Emiya, was confirmed dead last night.

Normally, Artoria should have been forced to leave the scene due to the loss of her magic supply.

How does she still have the magic to maintain her body, and why is she specifically coming to cause him trouble?

However, the reason for seeking him out is no longer important.

After confirming that the one who had come to attack was Saber, the leader of the three great knights, Zouken Matou decided to run away.

His body rapidly split into countless Mark Insects that burrowed into the ground.

But after burrowing only a few centimeters into the ground, the marking insects felt they had hit a hard rock wall and could not go any further...

"The same escape method won't work the second time."

Hachiman Hikigaya stepped out from opposite Artoria and surrounded Zouken Matou in a pincer movement.

"It's you? Why?"

The Crest Worms reformed into human form, and Zouken Matou frowned as he looked at Hachiman Hikigaya.

Zouken Matou couldn't understand why Hachiman Hikigaya was causing him trouble, especially since he was the one who suffered greater losses a year ago...

"Just based on your previous plans for my sister, isn't that enough to warrant a death sentence?"

Hachiman Hikigaya indeed had no conflict of interest with Zouken Matou, but that didn't stop him from wanting to kill the old man in front of him.

Especially the thought that Sakura would have been violated by those disgusting insects if he hadn't transmigrated, intensified the murderous intent in Hachiman Hikigaya's eyes as he looked at Zouken Matou...

"In that case, there's no room for maneuver between us..."

Sensing the murderous intent in Hachiman Hikigaya's eyes, and knowing that things wouldn't end well today, Zouken Matou appeared even older.

"If it's just a little trick, I advise you not to bother. Wouldn't it be better to just obediently wait to die?"

With his right hand summoning the Demon-Slaying Sword, Hachiman Hikigaya, without turning his head, unleashed two sword slashes, pinning two black beetles that were attempting to ambush him to the spot.

At the same time, Artoria instantly dispatched dozens of unknown insects with hard skeletons that were slowing her down.

"I have lived for hundreds of years, how could I be captured by you so easily?"

To Zouken Matou, Hachiman Hikigaya's words were nothing short of a joke!

His body collapsed with a crash, turning into a pile of Mark Insects that split into four groups and fled in four different directions.

Meanwhile, the various insects he had hidden in the forest revealed themselves, blocking Hachiman Hikigaya and Artoria's path and buying time for the Crest Insects carrying Zouken Matou's soul to escape.

The Crest Insects, carrying Zouken Matou's soul, easily escaped into the forest under the cover of numerous other insects.

Just as Zouken Matou was controlling the Crest Insects to escape while lamenting that Hachiman Hikigaya was still too inexperienced, suddenly, a huge white figure blocked the path of his swarm of insects!

Chapter 253 Battle on the Bridge

"Is this the person the master is looking for?"

A giant three-tailed fox stood before Zouken Matou, followed by several miniature foxes that resembled her but were much smaller.

Several foxes, led by the three-tailed fox in the center, surrounded the swarm of insects where Zouken Matou was hiding.

Who are these guys?

Looking at the foxes blocking his way, Zouken Matou clearly felt their natural restraint towards him, or rather, the insects he controlled.

However, pursuers were right behind him. Despite being wary of the foxes' identities, Zouken Matou had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue his breakout attempt.

"Hmph, looking for death!"

Seeing that Zouken Matou still dared to resist, a fierce glint flashed in the eyes of the white three-tailed fox, and then it spat out white flames at the swarm of insects.

The flames that were spewed out seemed to have a life of their own, and the moment they came into contact with the Mark Insects, they spread into the interior of the swarm.

In just a few seconds, the flames that were originally only on the periphery of the swarm had spread into the interior of the swarm and continued to spread toward the core protected by the swarm.

"Um, Second Master..."

Just as the white fox was admiring the power of its flames, a fox suddenly spoke up, reminding it, "Lord Hachiman said he wanted it alive..."

"Alive?!"

Upon hearing his subordinate's words, the three-tailed fox's ears immediately perked up.

She quickly looked back at the swarm of insects in the flames, but as soon as she turned her head, the smell of burnt corpses wafted over her.

"Damn it! I've messed things up!"

The three-tailed fox looked at the charred insect corpses scattered on the ground and felt like crying.

In that moment of distraction, several small insects suddenly burst through their encirclement from among the dead insects and continued to flee into the depths of the forest.

"Sir, the target has escaped!"

"Of course I saw it! Go after them right now!"

The three-tailed fox glared at its subordinate who had just warned it, then angrily chased after the insect in the direction it had fled.

A few minutes later, in the now completely silent pile of charred insects, a jet-black marking insect slowly crawled out from the bottom of the corpse.

"Were you completely fooled by those little tricks?"

Looking around, there was no trace of the fox anymore.

Realizing he had successfully tricked those foxes, Zouken Matou felt a surge of pride and disdain.

However, before he could rejoice for long, another scorching aura rushed toward him from afar.

"We've been discovered? That shouldn't be the case."

Sensing a massive magical force approaching him, Zouken Matou was startled and quickly controlled the Crest Insects to flee in another direction.

However, before the Crest Insect had escaped a few hundred meters, Zouken Matou was "pleasantly surprised" to find another three-tailed fox in front of him, leading several smaller foxes and searching for his tracks.

After a slight hesitation, Zouken Matou turned around again and ran in the last direction.

This time, he hadn't even run a hundred meters when a golden fox stepped over from behind the Mark Bug and blocked his way.

"You hiding inside the bugs, you can't escape!"

The chief priestess looked at Matou Zouken, whom Hikigaya Hachiman had specifically asked to see, with disdain in her eyes.

Although her strength has not fully recovered, it is more than enough to deal with enemies like Zouken Matou!

“Damn it…”

Sensing the immense magical power within the golden fox, Zouken Matou instantly realized that he was no match for her.

He once again manipulated the insects that filled the forest, intending to make them create chaos to facilitate his escape.

However, Zouken Matou was surprised to find that, apart from the few extremely fast beetles that had previously lured the white three-tailed fox and the others, all the other insects in the forest within a three-kilometer radius had disappeared!

"Are you kidding me? They've all been wiped out?!"